Blinken Reiterates False History, Accusations and Non-Negotiables on the Eve of Negotiations with Russia

Jan. 9, 2022 (EIRNS)—This morning Secretary of State Antony Blinken appeared in video interviews at 9 am on both the ABC and CNN Sunday talk shows, reiterating his litany of accusations against Russia, false history, and threats. On the eve of the U.S.-Russia talks in Geneva beginning tomorrow, he offered up the formalism of “two pathways ahead:” Either “dialogue and diplomacy,” or “confrontation and consequences.”

From this, he gave three points to back up his assertion that, “we will not see any breakthroughs in the coming weeks.” First, because “any progress has to be reciprocal,” from which we can infer that the U.S. and NATO will be making demands they know are unacceptable. Secondly, there can be “nothing about Europe, without Europe,” from which we can infer that he means that the U.S. will use this as an excuse for obstruction. Thirdly, “It is hard to see progress when Russia is holding a gun to Ukraine’s head.” This is the Big Lie, going back to denying the Anglo-American Maidan coup in 2014.

Blinken’s explanation for “how we got here,” was a repetition of his false history. He charges that Russia has been practicing aggression for years, against Georgia, Moldova, Belarus and Ukraine, adding in a mention of Kazakhstan too. “Fundamentally, one country can’t change the borders of other countries,” Blinken said, stressing, “One country can’t have a sphere of influence.”

MICIMATT is in hyper-deployment on all these points this weekend. For example, today’s Washington Post runs an infographic showing a map of the “pushback against Russian sphere of influence,’ ” from the nations of Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

Blinken ridiculed President Putin as causing “just what he didn’t want” about Ukraine. Blinken said that in 2014, only 24% of the population favored joining NATO, and now 60% want to be in NATO.

Answering the CNN moderator’s question about what will be the “massive consequences” Russia will get, if they do not comply with what the U.S. wants, Blinken said that, “it’s not just us,” but we are working with the G7, EU and NATO, and we have been working out economic, financial and other consequences. “I’m not going to telegraph it.”

The one area where Blinken gave faint indication of room for actual negotiation is in terms of nuclear forces, and also conventional force levels. On CNN, he made reference to “confidence-building measures,” and “risk reduction measures,” while continuing to blame Russia for all imputed violations. Regarding the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty , which prohibited stationing of medium-range nuclear missiles in Europe or in Russia, Blinken said on ABC, “There may be ground for renewing that.” On restricting possible deployments and exercises of conventional forces, he said, “Those are certainly things that can be revisited—if Russia is serious about doing it.”