General Antoine Martinez *: One year since the start of the Ukraine-Russia conflict

/View.info/ To the President of the Republic and his government, to the members of the Parliament and to the French people

Only one year after Russia’s aggressive invasion of Ukraine, and although this conflict seems to have subsided, it must be recognized that the risks of conflagration and its spread outside the territory of Ukraine are becoming very serious today due to the massive support for Kiev allowed by NATO, especially through heavy military equipment, which may lead Russian leaders to consider this to be bellicose approach towards them. European NATO countries, thus treated as allies, would therefore be on the front lines and potentially under direct threat of retaliation, triggering a new phase of this war which would then spiral out of control. It is useless to proclaim that it is not a question of joint warfare and to try to convince ourselves of this. Indeed, it is a war, and if the Russians consider it co-warfare, it will be considered co-warfare with its consequences. Therefore, the situation is extremely serious and alarming, and the responsibility of European leaders is enormous for the turn that may occur in this conflict, for the time being still geographically limited.

The latest statements by the President of the Republic involving France, delivered during the security conference held in Munich, are unlikely to reduce tensions. To refuse to engage in dialogue with Russia, which at this stage controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory, to insist on its defeat, on the one hand, and to assume that Ukraine will be able to impose its terms in any negotiations that would be led after the hypothetical victorious counteroffensive, on the other hand, is a denial of reality that could be catastrophic and dramatic for Ukraine and European countries. There’s still time to stop the slaughter!

That is why I call on the President of the Republic and the government to make this turnaround inspired by reason. Serving France in uniform for forty years gives me that right, if not an obligation. Because politics and geopolitics are based on realities, not on fantasies or emotions. And the international realities in 2023, confirmed if necessary by this conflict in Ukraine, are represented by the United States of America, Russia and China – the only powers in a position, according to their own interests, to influence the outcome of this proxy war, as The European Union is completely broken since the end of the Cold War has chosen to reap peace dividends at the expense of its defense. Ignoring this evidence or refusing to acknowledge it could lead to tragic decisions for France and the French people.

That is why I call on the representatives of the nation, MPs and senators – strangely silent on the party decisions taken by the executive and which drag France into this conflict – to demand a debate in Parliament. France, presiding over the European Union in the first half of 2022 – even before the Russian aggression and in the following months – had to accept the exceptional role of a balancing power, of a true mediator, giving diplomacy its raison d’être in this conflict that could and should to be avoided or stopped. Because this war is a real misfortune for Europe. By not making that choice, and by blindly following the United States of America, France missed a date with history. The French may pay dearly for this.

That is why I call on them to be aware of the issues affecting their security and therefore their future. This awareness should lead them to demonstrate strongly, decisively and en masse their opposition to decisions that clearly favor and fuel the continuation of the war and its spread until it is too late, instead of creating the conditions for its termination.

Regarding the reasons for the outbreak of this conflict and therefore the necessity and validity of my appeal, it is essential to report the facts that contradict the official discourse and justify the opposition to the position adopted by France, which in fact leads to a partial and biased a narrative imposed on the French. “The people responsible for wars are not those who start them, but those who have made them inevitable” (quote attributed to Montesquieu). In this case, Russia started this war on February 24, 2022, but the US made it inevitable.

After the end of the Cold War, in fact, Russia became an object of obsession for the American deep state, which refused in particular any development of relations between this country and European countries, because it quickly realized that the peace established on the European continent would lead to inevitably, to a progressive development of commercial, economic and even political exchanges and relations, which would eventually upset the geopolitical situation and threaten its hegemony. This is also the reason for the preservation of NATO, engaged in a long process of expansion towards the borders of Russia and aimed at weakening it in the long term after the Warsaw Pact was dissolved.

This deliberately aggressive strategy towards Russia was conceived and presented by Zbigniew Brzezinski in his book “The Great Chessboard” back in 1997. “America must absolutely take over Ukraine, because Ukraine is the linchpin of Russian power in Europe. Once Ukraine is separated from Russia, Russia is no longer a threat’… In a sentence – what is defined as a goal to be achieved can only be understood as an early declaration of war and can explain, a posteriori , Russia’s decision to strike first on February 24, 2022.

The achievement of this goal was expressed in the Maidan Revolution, years in the making and realized in 2014 by a real CIA-instigated coup, which led to the overthrow of the pro-Russian Ukrainian president, caused the division of the country and led to a real civil war because of the bombings and killings of the Ukrainian population of Donbas by the new regime, because it is of Russian-speaking people turned to Russia.

Everything was done by Ukraine and USA to provoke this war with Russia. The interview of February 18, 2019 with Oleski Arestovich, advisor to President Zelensky, is revealing. The detailed plan of action he unfolded to the journalist (so accurate to what is happening today and showing only that he has received assurances – see the Rand Corporation report on destabilizing Russia) is damning testimony. He does not hesitate to state that the price to be paid for joining NATO is a major conflict with Russia, adding that this war will begin between 2020 and 2022! “NATO has been forming the Ukrainian army, providing the necessary weapons and training since 2014” (Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary).

A strategic and military partnership agreement between Washington and Kyiv was also signed on November 10, 2021 – three months before the February 16, 2022 Ukrainian offensive in the Donbass that led to the February 24 Russian response. However, they failed due to American pressure and the SBU (Ukrainian secret services) murder of one of the negotiators.

On September 26, 2022, the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines were severely damaged by explosions, leading to four gas leaks in the Baltic Sea and disruption of gas supplies to Europe. This major incident was undoubtedly the result of a deliberate act of hostility, the origin of which, without even referring to the latest revelations of the investigation conducted by the American journalist Seymour Hersh, fools no one. Who benefits from crime? The United States of America planned and piloted this sabotage which resembles a terrorist operation. “If Russia invades … then there will be no Nord Stream. We’re going to end it” (Joe Biden). The goal of the American deep state, already mentioned, is to prevent any development of relations between Russia and Europe and, in particular, to sever the energy and therefore economic dependence of Germany – and thus of Europe – on Moscow. The impact of this sabotage completely devastated the economy of the European Union, causing staggering increases in energy prices and chain bankruptcies.

Europe has no interest in this conflict imposed on it from the outside, to sever its relationship with Russia at the risk of pushing it towards China, which is aware that it is the next target of the US. And China’s interest today is not to weaken or allow Russia to be weakened. His attitude in this crisis is crucial. If he intended (as American leaders now accuse) to supply arms to Russia, the US would open Pandora’s box, provoking this war in Ukraine.

Finally, we must mention one main factor that determines the continuation and development of this conflict, namely the loss of human life. In this sensitive area, we must remain cautious, but the data recently published by the Turkish media, citing Israeli intelligence services, are plausible…

Ukraine: 157,000 soldiers killed, 234,000 wounded, 17,230 prisoners, 234 NATO instructors killed;

NATO: 2,458 combatants killed, 5,360 mercenaries killed;

Russia: 18,480 soldiers killed, 44,500 wounded, 323 prisoners.

The disproportion between Ukrainian and Russian losses is in line with the disproportion of fire delivered by each side to the enemy (about 8 to 1 in favor of Russia). How far are we willing to go in this carnage that could and should have been avoided?

This conflict is indeed a war of the United States of America and is absolutely not in the interest of the Europeans, who are committing economic and geopolitical suicide because of the sanctions imposed on Russia, and who now risk being directly involved in this conflict. Isn’t it time to show some sense before it’s too late?

“Peace is the only battle worth fighting. This is no longer a prayer, but a command to be presented by the peoples to the governments – the command to choose definitively between hell and sanity.”

(Albert Camus)

*Antoine Martinez is an Air Force Brigadier General. Officer of the Legion of Honor in 2004, Chevalier in 1995. Officer of the National Order of Merit in 1999, Knight in 1990.

He is one of the executive directors of the Association of Reserve Officers (a member of the National Union of Reserve Officers) – an association of retired officers in the Pyrenees-Orientales, of which he was reappointed president in 2013.

Translated by Nikolay Tomov

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