Admittedly, no one knows Vladimir Putin’s real intentions or degree of determination with regard to Ukraine. But in this unprecedented crisis, it is the American intelligence services which play the role of whistleblower, which provide the day-to-day status of the forces involved, which almost reveal the countdown of the adversary. Never seen. For little, Russia would pass for an arsonist who would seek to circumscribe the disaster that he himself triggered. We are witnessing a new type of psychological warfare, in which bluffing and brainwashing culminate on both sides.
We already know that Putin obtained at this stage what he was looking for from the start, namely a direct and exclusive showdown with the United States. Exclusion from Europe is a goal achieved. Certainly, Emmanuel Macron was well inspired to go to Moscow and Kiev, since the immobility would have been reproached to him, but he did not derive any progress likely to authorize him to speak of “de-escalation”. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz applied the same diplomatic axiom. The fact remains that the game is being played behind closed doors, between the two ex-superpowers of the Cold War.
Paradoxically, it is Washington which seems to communicate in place of Moscow to announce that Russia could attack Kiev “at any time”. This puts the Kremlin in the no less paradoxical position of having to denounce American “hysteria”. Putin’s goal: to escalate the tension to obtain satisfaction of a series of demands, in particular the guarantee that Ukraine will never enter NATO. Biden’s response: push the Russians to show off all their might, then unveil their device to the rest of the world. A diabolical Kriegspiel, which is played over the heads of the Ukrainians – and of all the other peoples of Europe.
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