Discover more from Praying Mantis
On the Razor's Edge
Broken promises. Regime change and global power plays. Moving past soundbites, history reappraised. Who profits? Trump vs. the endless wars. America at the brink.
In mid-August, while attending Phyllis Schlafly’s honorary celebration at Trump Bedminster, I met the son of a former Ukrainian Attorney General. He could have been one of my own boys: early 20s, bright-eyed—old enough to understand but too young to know what to do. He told me, sadly, that he’d been living in England when the war broke out and hadn’t returned to his motherland since. If he did, he’d end up as fodder for the war machine.
There was a time we were all like that young man, watching the Berlin Wall come down on CNN as we played Billy Joel’s "We Didn’t Start the Fire”. Too young to truly grasp the moment, but now old enough to weave the threads of how we got here.
Shortly after the fall of the wall, on February 9, 1990, then Secretary of State James Baker assured Gorbachev that NATO would not move an inch eastward if he agreed to German unification. The rest, as they say, is history. A new peace era should have been ushered in, the vestiges of the second World War finally put to bed.
However, in 1994, the United States reneged on Baker’s promise when Clinton signed a plan to expand NATO eastward, all the way to Ukraine. The expansion began in 1999 with Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic—though no borders with Russia were shared, the threat was indirect. At the time, Russia was hardly in a position to object, still reeling from decades under communism.
In 1999, the US led a NATO bombing campaign in Serbia, using military force against the European capital of Belgrade for 78 days to break the country apart. On December 31, 1999, following Yeltsin’s resignation, Putin was appointed Acting President and relations were such that he even entertained the idea of joining NATO.
Then 9/11 came, followed by the invasion of Afghanistan. Russia lent support to root out terror, yet in the name of national security, we accepted measures like the Patriot Act—measures that haunt us today. In 2002, the US unilaterally withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and began installing missile systems in Eastern Europe, which Russia perceived as a direct threat. Ostensibly for defense, these Aegis missile systems had Russia asking: could they be nuclear-tipped? After all, they were positioned just minutes from Moscow, with potential to decapitate their capabilities.
In 2003, the US invaded Iraq under pretenses now known to be false. Then in 2004, NATO expanded again, adding seven more countries, including Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—shredding the promise of "not one inch eastward" with many miles closer.
In 2004 and 2005, the US engaged in a soft regime-change operation in Ukraine, known as the Orange Revolution, bringing Viktor Yushchenko to power and meddling in another country’s democratic process. In 2009, Yanukovych won the Ukrainian election, running on a platform of neutrality. The US pushed for NATO expansion, but the Ukrainian people resisted, aware of their divided identity between ethnic Ukrainians and ethnic Russians.
Then, on February 22, 2014, the US actively participated in the overthrow of Yanukovych’s government—a textbook regime-change operation. With Victoria Nuland and Geoffrey Pyatt, the US Ambassador to Ukraine, handpicking leaders, they chose Yatsenyuk, with “the big guy” lending his prestige and perhaps something more to “attaboy” him.
For nearly a decade since, NATO’s expansion has presented an existential threat to Russia, which pleaded for a halt. In 2017, the US withdrew from the JCPOA with Iran, and in 2019, from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty—foreign policy moves that, instead of fostering trust, might confirm suspicions of ulterior motives.
On December 15, 2021, Putin offered a draft US-Russia security agreement: in essence, “NO NATO expansion” to avoid war in Ukraine. An olive branch that was rebuffed. The “special military operation” began, and within days, Zelensky consented to neutrality. Turkey offered to mediate, and a workable agreement was in reach—but the US and Britain said, “No way. Fight on. We have your back.” Boris Johnson flew to Kyiv to urge Ukraine to stand firm, and since then, 600,000 people have perished, most in the flower of their youth.
Under the guise of “Standing with Ukraine,” the Biden-Harris administration convinced Ukrainians to abandon a peace deal that would have cost only half of the territory Russia now occupies. For this “opportunity” to loose double, Ukraine has paid in hundreds of thousands of lives. We cannot ignore the obvious, this was done for the control of the $11 trillion worth of minerals in Donbas, to bleed the Russian war machine dry, and to funnel billions to US hedge funds now dividing up rights to Ukraine’s fertile land and mineral resources.
“Stand with Ukraine” was never about its people; it was a slogan, a marketing campaign meant to sell naive taxpayers and easily agitated students on the idea of prolonging a profitable war that has robbed Ukraine of its land, youth, and future. The war hawks and bankers are no friends to Ukraine—and yet another $100 million has just been allocated to a war with no endgame in sight.
“Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.” – Mark Twain
How long can we sustain another war with no clear end, mounting civilian casualties, and dwindling public support? Vietnam, Iraq, Ukraine—all cut from the same tattered cloth. Meanwhile, here at home, we’re on the decline: $33 trillion in debt, a population slipping into poverty, malnourished and unhealthy children with the highest rates of chronic disease in the developed world, and a life expectancy of seniors six years behind other Western nations.
What you sow, you reap. The same regime-change tactics used abroad have now turned inward. Look at our intelligence agencies operating within the media, the suppression of information like Hunter’s laptop, and 50+ former intelligence officials lending their clearance as a stamp of credibility. We’re left with sound bites and scripted narratives designed to install political actors who serve the establishment, not the electorate.
This is why Trump’s rise has not only disrupted the status quo but represents an clear and present threat to the entrenched bureaucracy and those who treat this world as their dominion, rather than a creation to be stewarded responsibly. The casualties of America’s foreign policy are no longer confined to distant lands and anonymous faces; they’re now embedded in the struggles of our own people—our youth sent into endless wars, our economy weighed down by debt, and our liberties eroded.
To sustain this agenda, they’ve sought to imprison, bankrupt, and even threaten Trump’s life. Though our hopes are set on this election, and there’s no doubt his support is monumental, we have no illusions that the road ahead will be smooth or without resistance. Expect the unexpected. We must prevail, the whole world is watching.
Father in Heaven,
You have shown Your special provision for Donald J. Trump, miraculously sparing him from the assassin’s bullet and protecting him in moments of peril. If ever there was a need for us to recognize Your purpose, these moments have been it. We stand in faith, knowing You have appointed him for a purpose over our land and people.
We pray that our nation awakens to the evil agendas being carried out in the name of the American people. This is not a nation of aggression; we are a caring people who desire goodness. Confound and confuse those who plot harm; may their schemes dissolve and their plans falter. Let them stumble in darkness, and may their attempts at sabotage and subversion meet with failure.
Send Your divine and angelic forces to intercept and counter every diabolical intent. Arrest those who act under the spirits of Jezebel and Baal, and let righteousness and peace reign over this land.
Amen.
For a fuller understanding of this topic, listen to Jeffrey Sachs here:
Although Dr. Zelenko has passed, the company he created lives on. I highly recommend his supplements, click on this link to get at 15% discount and support my work: