Press TV: In your opinion and
given your extensive investigations on the issue at hand, what
is the crux of the problem?
Chossudovsky: Well the crux of the problem is that we are
at very dangerous crossroads in terms of strategic, geopolitical
relations and of course warfare and this is not what we might
describe a new Cold War because the Cold War had some safeguards
with regard to nuclear weapons.
There was dialogue, there was
consultation and what is happening in recent years is the
breakdown of communication, East-West communication.
It is coupled with what we might
describe as the globalization of NATO, in other words NATO is
extending its grip beyond the so-called Atlantic region.
It has a military agenda which is
one of conquest, it states that it is a defensive agreement but
in fact its actions on Russia's borders are in fact of an
aggressive nature and we have various areas of potential
confrontation that are not limited to the Ukraine.
We have now the issue in southeastern Europe with confrontation
between Armenia and Azerbaijan which is also on Russia's
doorstep, we have the issue of sanctions, we have also the issue
of maritime routes, the confrontation between
the United States and China in
the South China Sea, bearing in mind that China and Russia [are]
allies under the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)
and then we also have the situation in the Middle East in
particular in Iraq and Syria which in effect is a war of stealth
between Russia and NATO.
And… about the war on terrorism, we know that
the war on terrorism is bogus
and that the only effective force which is fighting the
terrorists is in fact the Syrian government forces together with
the support of Russia, Iran and Hezbollah and that the United
States and its allies, and that includes
NATO, are covertly supporting
terrorist organizations and in fact NATO right from the outset
in 2011 in liaison with the Turkish high command has been
involved in the recruitment of foreign fighters to join the
ranks of the al-Qaeda affiliated opposition in the Syrian war.
Press TV: In your opinion, what are the dynamics behind
this, let's say, expansion of Russian influence
throughout the region not just in Europe but also in the Middle
East region which you just touched on?
Chossudovsky: Well I think certainly
Russia is playing a different role.
First of all it has military
capabilities which the Western military alliance has to take
account of, and it is both in terms of strategic and
conventional forces.
But I think the problem is that the
people who are making decisions particularly within the US
governmental apparatus and NATO, first of all they have very
little understanding of military issues, they are civilians and
they are not aware of the impacts, let's say of the use of a
tactical nuclear weapon.
Ninety of those tactical nuclear
weapons are stored in
Incirlik in Turkey and they are
under Turkish command. They are designated as harmless to the
surrounding civilian population in Pentagon documents which is
absolutely nonsensical.
They have an explosive capacity
between one-third and six times Hiroshima bomb, and then
Hillary Clinton says nuclear
weapons are on the table.
So that when we have that kind of discourse where people in very
high levels of government are making statements that actually
point towards a World War III scenario, we are at a very
dangerous crossroads and I think we have to hope that some
people within that political spectrum of Western leaders will
start to see that building a relationship with Russia and China
to avoid military confrontation is ultimately the solution
because World War III is terminal.
We cannot get into that debate but
'World war III' is not an option and the United States will not
win World War III.
Nobody will win World War
III...
