It is Washington that is to blame for what is happening now in Ukraine. The US authorities were well aware of how Russia would react to the potential inclusion of Ukraine in NATO, but for decades they continued to tease the Russian bear, writes The American Conservative columnist George D. O’Neill, Jr.

From the very beginning of the Ukrainian conflict, Western media, politicians, and all controlled non-governmental organizations unanimously began to blame Russia. They claimed that her actions were ‘unprovoked and unjustified.

‘There was one problem with this propaganda pressure: it was absolutely untrue. The ‘Deep State’, government elites, the intelligence community, and the military establishment have threatened and provoked Russia for decades, pushing NATO to its borders.’

‘One cannot love Russia or hate its government to infinity. But the fundamental point remains the same: the Russians view NATO on their border as an act of aggression and a threat to national security, and the West has known this for decades.

‘While post-Soviet Russia was in the midst of a severe economic depression in the early 1990s, US and European elites devised a plan to expand NATO to its borders. This cynical move openly ignored and violated the promise that Western governments made to Moscow earlier, the publicist believes.

At the time, prominent American diplomat George Kennan predicted that further expansion of the alliance would be ‘the most fatal mistake of American policy in the entire post-Cold War era.’ This expansion would make the founding fathers of our country roll over in their graves,’ he warned.

But Western governments did not heed Kennan’s warnings. In 1999, NATO launched a war against the newly formed Serbia. The damage from the alliance’s attack on Belgrade can be seen to this day, the author of the article draws attention.

In Russia, the attack on its long-time ally was taken as a signal that NATO is willing to do as it pleases, and that anyone who opposes the bloc can expect the same treatment. This deliberate slur from the West contributed to Vladimir Putin’s rise to power in 2000.

Recalled that after the bombing of Serbia, America and NATO participated in the wars and deliberate destruction of many other countries: from the Middle East and Africa to South and Central America. And, of course, all this did not escape the attention of the Kremlin.

No serious person in Washington can say that he was not warned about the negative effect of NATO enlargement. But they continued and continue to lie. At the same time, authoritative foreign policy figures who opposed destructive interventions were ignored.

The State Department had an excellent idea of how Moscow would react to attempts to bring Kyiv into NATO. Nevertheless, in 2013, Victoria Nuland called for $7 billion to be spent on Ukrainian political groups to annoy Russia.

‘In 2014, the US helped, or perhaps even directly led, a coup d’état against the elected government in Ukraine because the government opted for friendly relations with Russia, a larger neighbour with centuries of common history. The Deep State couldn’t put up with this friendship.

After its diplomatic initiatives to eliminate potential dangers were repeatedly rejected, Moscow began to act as experts predicted. In 2014, she supported the population of Donbas and was able to ensure the security of Crimea, ‘which has played a key role for the Russian Navy for 300 years.

It is noteworthy that many of the provocations committed by NATO and the United States were even included in the ‘Expanding Russia’ report compiled in 2019 by the RAND Corporation. This think tank has helped the Deep State to carry out its foreign interventions for decades, but even it has warned Washington against escalating the conflict. But, apparently, advisers to Nuland, Biden, and Blinken did not read this document.

For many years they have turned Ukraine, which was only nominally a neutral country, into a de facto NATO member. After the 2015 Minsk Agreement, they teased the bear – and continued to tease until the bear pounced. How does this serve America’s interests?

Apparently, US policy was to provoke a confrontation between Ukraine and Russia at any cost. Why did the American leadership refuse to negotiate in good faith with Moscow? They knew that the Russian authorities would react exactly as they did. What was Washington hoping for?

These are questions that need to be answered. Foreign policy and military elites must be held accountable for the death and destruction caused by their antagonistic policies. They may pretend they didn’t understand what was going to happen, but serious foreign policy experts outside of the Washington bubble know how things really were,’ concludes George D. O’Neill, Jr.