Stockman: The Real Story Behind The Russia-Ukraine War... And What Happens Next

Stockman: The Real Story Behind The Russia-Ukraine War... And What Happens Next Authored by David Stockman via InternationalMan.com, Notwithstanding the historic fluidity of borders, there is no case whatsoever that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was “unprovoked” and unrelated to NATO’s own transparent provocations in the region. The details are arrayed below, but the larger issue needs be addressed first. Namely, is there any reason to believe that Russia is an expansionist power looking to gobble up neighbors which were not integral parts of its own historic evolution, as is the case with Ukraine? After all, if despite Rubio’s treachery President Trump does manage to strike a Ukraine peace and partition deal with Putin you can be sure that the neocons will come charging in with a false Munich appeasement analogy. The answer, however, is a resounding no! Our firm rebuke of the hoary Munich analogy as it has been falsely applied to Putin is based on what might be called the double-digit rule. To wit, the true expansionary hegemons of modern history have spent huge parts of their GDP on defense because that’s what it takes to support the military infrastructure and logistics required for invasion and occupation of foreign lands. For instance, here are the figures for military spending by Nazi Germany from 1935-1944 expressed as a percent of GDP. This is what an aggressive hegemon looks like in the ramp-up to war: German military spending had already reach 23% of GDP, even before its invasion of Poland in September 1939 and its subsequent commencement of actual military campaigns of invasion and occupation. Not surprisingly, the same kind of claim on resources occurred when the United States took it upon itself to counter the aggression of Germany and Japan on a global basis. By 1944 defense spending was equal to 40% of America’s GDP, and would have totaled more than $2 trillion per year in present day dollars of purchasing power. Military Spending As A Percent Of GDP In Nazi Germany 1935: 8%. 1936: 13%. 1937: 13%. 1938: 17%. 1939: 23%. 1940: 38%. 1941: 47%. 1942: 55%. 1943: 61%. 1944: 75% By contrast, during the final year before Washington/NATO triggered the Ukraine proxy war in February 2022, the Russian military budget was $65 billion , which amounted to just 3.5% of its GDP . Moreover, the prior years showed no build-up of the kind that has always accompanied historic aggressors. For the period 1992 to 2022, for instance, the average military spending by Russia was 3.8% of GDP - with a minimum of 2.7% in 1998 and a maximum of 5.4% in 2016. Needless to say, you don’t invade the Baltics or Poland-to say nothing of Germany, France, the Benelux and crossing the English Channel-on 3.5% of GDP ! Not even remotely. Since full scale war broke out in 2022 Russian military spending has increased significantly to 6% of GDP, but all of that is being consumed by the Demolition Derby in Ukraine-barely 100 miles from...

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