Western Day of the Long Knives
by Stephen Lendman
In mid-1934, Hitler’s night and day of the long knives, Operation Hummingbird purge, eliminated regime enemies, executing them to solidify power, Ernst Rohm the best known victim, longtime SA leader.
On March 26, Washington, 21 European nations, Canada and Australia expelled over 135 Russian diplomats as of Monday, a coordinated political conspiracy, including Britain ordering 23 Russian diplomats out of the country days earlier.
More Russophobic Western shoes are likely to drop ahead, anti-Russia political and economic war raging.
Each hostile action piled on previous ones risks heading things toward something much more serious.
Hostility by the West against the world’s dominant superpower is madness. If current actions lead to military ones, an increasing possibility, Russian super-weapons can turn Western nations to smoldering rubble overnight – easily penetrating defenses against them.
It remains to be seen what if any actions Moscow takes other than responding tit-for-tat against nations expelling its diplomats.
Hostile Monday actions require strong Russian resolve to hit back hard. Weakness or indecisiveness will encourage further unacceptable Western actions, a slippery slope toward greater trouble than already.
A statement by Russia’s Foreign Ministry isn’t enough – tough, but not tough enough, saying:
“We express our strong protest in the wake of the decision taken by a number of EU and NATO member countries to expel Russian diplomats.”
“We consider this as an unfriendly step that is not consistent with the goals and interests of establishing the underlying reasons and searching for the perpetrators of the incident that occurred in the town of Salisbury on March 4.”
“The provocative gesture of the so-called solidarity of these countries with London, which blindly followed the British authorities in the so-called ‘Skripal case’ and which never got around to sort out the circumstances of the incident, is a continuation of the confrontational policy to escalate the situation.”
“Presenting unfounded charges against Russia in the absence of explanations of what happened and refusing to engage in meaningful interaction, the British authorities have de facto adopted a prejudiced, biased as well as hypocritical stance.”
“This is an attempt on the lives of Russian citizens on the territory of Great Britain.”
“Despite our repeated requests for information addressed to London, Russia does not have any information in this regard.”
“British allies (sic) don’t have any objective and exhaustive data and blindly follow the principle of Euro-Atlantic unity at the expense of common sense, the rules of civilized state-to-state dialogue and the principles of international law.”
“It goes without saying that this unfriendly move by this group of countries will not go unnoticed, and we will respond to it.”
It “goes without saying” that it’s time for resolve and toughness, diplomacy a waste of time.
Outreach by Russia to the West while being politically and economically assaulted is a sign of weakness in the face of deep-seated hostility toward its government and leadership, encouraging more if not confronted forcefully enough to show Moscow won’t take it any more.
The Kremlin has lots of options. A good first one would be to expel US and UK ambassadors, scores of their diplomatic staff, and recall Russian ambassadors to these countries – along with a message to other Western nations explaining they’re next if unacceptable actions continue escalating.
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My newest book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."
