Two of America's most outstanding abilities are that of a master manipulator and its ability for "double talk'. The recent Russian ultimatum proposing guidelines for its own security against NATO's increasing containment and military aggression against Russia invoked a response that it "will not go above the heads of European countries, including Ukraine” which could, potentially, make Volodomyr Zelenskiy a "king-maker' in the upcoming, January 10th — 12th negotiations.
In addition to this, it suggests that Zelenskiy and Ukraine have an equal say in NATO's alliances and policy. Zelenskiy will seek full, American backing if the negotiations fail and Russia invades Ukraine, but "backing' will not happen. Such a scenario will, of course, leave President Zelenskiy twisting in the wind and seeking asylum in America when his government is replaced by an interim, Russian council.
America's tough-talk will be replaced by more sanctions, but they may have less force and effect than previously imagined. With world political power rapidly shifting toward Russia and the Far East — and their new military, political and trade alliances — the US, and past allies, will weaken significantly and their threats will be that of a toothless tiger.
Furthermore, America's troubles at home include it becoming a nation at the brink of civil war between its two, extremist political parties, and its popular division down the middle. With this in mind, the US has its own serious, internal problems to contend with. Disagreements with Russia over Ukraine and China over Taiwan only complicate its own disintegrating, democratic world, so other, prickly foreign matters will fall to the "back burner'.
The decline of the American Empire — and popularity abroad — are now further complicated by the rise of China in the Far East and the steady, rising influence of Russia as a regional power in Europe, East Europe and Asia as an important, and necessary, trading partner. Such a global shift in power condemns America to a lesser position on the world stage — something it is having difficulty adjusting to, and accepting.
America's decline has intensified over the last few decades by its repeated double-dealing and keen intent in using its monetary and military powers to bolster its less-obvious desire of obtaining global supremacy. Its rapid development and expansion of NATO in the years following WWII have shown its true colours and its designs for this planet. Of course, such designs come without concern, consideration, or input by affected nations and citizens. All decisions are made under the guidance of US policy-makers and their money-backed benefactors who are driven by their own personal pursuits, goals and agendas — all done at the expense of others.
Russia, therefore, should be prepared for an outright rejection of its recent proposals, since the US and NATO will not waiver from its dream of obtaining universal hegemony under American leadership. The January 10th rejection may be placated with an agreement to one or more minor articles which it perceives as harmless, to appease Russia. This begs the question as to what Russia's response will be after the rejection since it has lost much, valuable time; every minute lost by Russia is valuable time gained by America's duplicity.
America will not risk a world war over Ukraine which may bring a fearsome, modern war inside its own borders, so Ukraine has been relegated to America's game-plan position as "disposable'. The addition of Ukraine into Russia's orbit will then provide much-needed security for Russia, but it will do so at the expense of sanctions by the US, all Western nations and, of course, NATO members pressed into compliance.
The decision of many East Bloc and Warsaw Pact nations to join NATO after the fall of the USSR was done through Western coercion, bribery in different forms, and an unfounded fear of the rise of neo-Stalinist and neo-Soviet-style governments which vanished decades ago. Russia, today, is the new, Modern Russia of the 21st Century which in no way resembles the governments of the past but whose spectre is repeatedly recounted in the West to raise fear and anxiety, and to disparage Russia in every way possible.
East Europeans member-nations will then have to make an important and definitive decision as to where they stand. Such a stand will be a George Bush-style ultimatum of "you're either with us or against us”, and a decision as to whose economic, trading orbit they will join for the next few decades. They can then choose the Western-style, American-guided orbit which provides them almost nothing, or accept a much more realistic, common-sense, regional, trading-partner relationship with its ethnically, socially, and culturally-based next-door neighbour, Russia, which provides them with almost everything they need.
The decision made in Washington, D. C. on/before Russia's January 10th deadline is already a forgone conclusion, so many East-European NATO member-states will soon have to politically, morally, and socially reassess their stance in the emerging, new global order of power, politics, economics, business, commerce, and military alliances.
And, should former East-Bloc (now NATO) members remain thoroughly embedded in Western ways and military alliances, they may soon live to regret it when their now-pleasant worlds disintegrate like America's into bizarre groups of ungodly sub-cultures, strange religions, animosities, hatreds, cultural divides, guns, gang-warfare, murders, multiple mass-murders, school shootings, unsafe streets, global monopolies, low incomes, spiralling inflation, outrageous home and food prices, economic slavery, hunger, poverty, and rapidly-rising homelessness — opposite to what is portrayed in American movies.
America will provide its East-European sub-ordinates with only two things — heartache and empty promises.