The war in Ukraine, stoked in part by NATO expansion and the violation of promises made to Moscow at the end of the Cold War, now looks set to become a lengthy war of attrition—one funded and backed by the United States. What will be the consequences of the United States’s commitment to long-term conflict, and where will we be when the war finally ends?
Andrew Bacevich explains in this interview how the end of the Cold War triggered a new bout of American military interventionism that has now spanned decades. Moreover, as Bacevich argues, if the fighting in Ukraine ceases without a geopolitical plan for peaceably bringing Russia back into the community of nations, we risk setting the world stage for even greater conflict.
Andrew Bacevich is a West Point graduate, retired Army Colonel, and Vietnam war veteran. He is also an emeritus professor of history and international relations at Boston University and the co-founder and president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. His books include The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism and his latest, After the Apocalypse: America’s Role in a World Transformed.
Chris Hedges interviews writers, intellectuals, and dissidents, many banished from the mainstream, in his half-hour show, The Chris Hedges Report. He gives voice to those, from Cornel West and Noam Chomsky to the leaders of groups such as Extinction Rebellion, who are on the front lines of the struggle against militarism, corporate capitalism, white supremacy, the looming ecocide, as well as the battle to wrest back our democracy from the clutches of the ruling global oligarchy.
Studio: Adam Coley, Cameron Granadino
Post-Production: Adam Coley
Watch The Chris Hedges Report live YouTube premiere on The Real News Network every Friday at 12PM ET: https://therealnews.com/chris-hedges-report
Listen to episode podcasts and find bonus content at The Chris Hedges Report Substack: https://chrishedges.substack.com/
Help us continue producing The Chris Hedges Report by following us and making a small donation:
Donate to TRNN: https://therealnews.com/donate-yt-chr
Sign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-yt-chr
Like us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnews
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews
#chrishedges #therealnewsnetwork
** (Disclaimer: This video content is intended for educational and informational purposes only) **
America would become a different country I wish that was very true I've been on this Earth for fifty years and every year of it America has been at War
"Promises"……"where was that written ?"……..ðŸ‘🻠Welcome to U.S. lost empire politics.
Bacevich's stating how "disastrous the second worldwar was" , forgets that it was all planned, and made the U.S. boss of the western world. The Jews got Israel as a result. Some wouldn't want to change this "disastrous" history even if they could.
It is interesting to revisit this interview a year on. Andrew Bacevich, reflecting the Western perspective of the time, completely misunderstood Russia's strategy and underestimated its competence. Globally, Russia has risen in power and influence, both militarily and economically, while the power, influence, and even relevance of the West has declined. It is clear that the West can not win this war, of course, but moreover the world beyond the United States and its few remaining puppets has rallied towards an end to US and European hegemony. Not only has the United States weakened and destabilised Europe whilst strengthening Russia, it has lain bare the ruse that is NATO—a vehicle for US military and economic control of Europe.
Unfortunately, I have had a completely different view of Russian society and politics from the start. I have had since Putin's first visit and his speech in German in the Bundestag. a sympathy for the honest efforts. to draw a line under the past world wars with Germany. And even in the current situation. In the non aggressive Russia versus Germany position I can't imagine. This traffic light government. red-green-yellow goes against everything that my mostly left-wing teachers have taught me. Resist the beginnings. critical thinking and insights into how propaganda and conformity work. This bad government all times democracy in Germany has alkes wss nsn had worked out. destroyed. It is a government against the people. against the middle class and against science and common sense.
The past is so often definable in the present and often, without change, a predictor of the future. As a member of The Silent Generation, I am appalled that we still are driven by stupidity, fear and greed
Russia is winning. And I think this all comes down to the Epstein class. If the US doesn't defeat China, then these pedophiles are finished once they can no longer print trillions in fake money.
Quite a load of b.s. from this guest, I'll pass on this nonsense.
Ollie north is 2 face lier
Another delusional American exceptionalism buffoon .
Thankyou
The comments didn't age well. The predictions even less so.
After the fall of the USSR in 1991. America became the only "Super-Power" on Earth. And the Federal Government came to believe they are "Invincible" in whatever they wanted to do. But that was over 30 years ago. Nearly everything has changed with the Baby-Boomers dying out in 2020 to 2040. With the American Empire (informal) in the process of disintegration.
But the above was totally ignored in Washington DC. So the Military-Industrial Complex indulged its self in the Ukraine-Russia war which it created. To use the proxy war to enrich itself. Except Russia saw the war could be used to reclaim the lost territories given to Ukraine by Nikita Khrushchev.
So Vladimir Putin used the current Ukraine-Russian War to reclaim those lost territories as he sees America in obvious decay. Now with the Ukraine-Russia war won by Russia. Vladimir Putin is only waiting for Washington DC to recognize obvious "Reality". And drop the Military-Industrial Complex madness when it stops making money off the Ukraine war. And agrees to Russian Peace Terms.
So now its up to the Federal Government to recognize its fantasies of the Ukraine-Russian War can not be achieved. And to make Peace with Russia through the Ukraine Government.
Or have the Ukraine Government collapse into utter ruination. And Russia make a separate Peace with Ukraine and EU. No matter what Washington DC believes. With the Military-Industrial Complex moving on to a profit making war with China about Taiwan.
So Russia's Putin is just waiting for America to come to its senses. And recognize it has lost the Ukraine-Russia war and to make Peace with Russia. And restore the EU to what it was before this war madness happened. A simple plan easily achieved.
THE UNITED STATES IS THE WEAKEST SUPERPOWER; CHINA DOMINATES THE ECONOMY AND RUSSIA DOMINATES THE MILITARY. THE USA IS IN DEBT TO THE POINT OF VIRTUAL BANKRUPTCY; ITS PEOPLE ARE DIVIDED AND ON THE VERGE OF CIVIL WAR AND EVENTUALLY POVERTY BECAME THE MAIN PROBLEM OF THIS COUNTRY.
THE UNITED STATES IS ON THE VERGE OF CIVIL WAR. DIVISIONS NEED TO BE ENCOURAGED AND ACCELERATED. THIS COUNTRY MUST SPLIT INTO SEVERAL COUNTRIES SO THAT IT NEVER AGAIN CAN CONSTITUTE A THREAT TO THE SECURITY OF OTHER COUNTRIES. CUTTING THIS EVIL EMPIRE BECOMES THE PRIORITY.
AS GENERAL SCIPIO IN ANCIENT ROME SAID AT THE END OF EACH OF HIS SPEECH: '' CARTHAGE MUST BE DESTROYED '' IT MUST BE SAYED AND REPEATED TO INFINITY '' THE UNITED STATES MUST BE DESTROYED '' this empire of evil by which all our misfortunes come.
NATO CANNOT GUARANTEE THE SAFETY OF ITS MEMBERS
IT IS DANGEROUS AND RIDICULOUS TO HAVE AS A SECURITY OBJECTIVE TO ENTER NATO. THE NATO WAR AGAINST RUSSIA IN UKRAINE DEMONSTRATES CLEARLY THAT NEITHER NATO, NOR THE EUROPEAN UNION, NOR THE UNITED STATES HAS SUCCEEDED IN PREVENTING RUSSIA FROM IMPOSING ITS LIMITS ON REPEATED ATTACKS BY THE UNITED STATES DIRECTLY OR THROUGH NATO OR THE E.U. THE CONCLUSION IS THAT ONLY AN INDEPENDENT NATIONAL POLICY CAN ENSURE THE PEOPLE'S SECURITY THROUGH REASONABLE BILATERAL RELATIONS. IN OTHER WORDS, UKRAINE WOULD HAVE BEEN SAFE IF INSTEAD OF TRUSTING THE CRIMINALS OF THE CIA AND THE US SECRETARIAT, THE GOVERNMENT OF UKRAINE HAD ENTERED INTO AN AGREEMENT WITH RUSSIA ASSURING THE NEUTRALITY OF THE 'UKRAINE. ZELENSKI IS THEREFORE A TRAITOR WHO MUST BE SHOT WITH ALL MEMBERS OF HIS GOVERNMENT.
USA PERMANENT STATE OF WAR
The real worry comes from the fact that the United States has maintained a permanent state of war since 1945 and destroys all nations that try to escape its imperialist domination. But this cannot last forever. At some point the US will have no choice but to give up its imperialist power or maintain it through total war which involves the use of nuclear weapons. Europe could have prevented this by having an international policy independent of NATO and the USA to force the USA to accept a multipolar world, but the idiots who run the European countries did nothing in this direction. Now the world is at the mercy of error, provocation or misunderstanding. The end of humanity as we know it is near and the danger is not Putin but the US military-industrial-financial complex.
USA ARE A TERRORIST STATE FOR A LONG TIME
SINCE THE UNITED STATES, ISRAEL AND OTHER NATO COUNTRIES ASSUME THE RIGHT TO ELIMINATE POLITICIANS AND MEMBERS OF GOVERNMENTS THEY DEEM HARMFUL TO THEIR INTERESTS, RUSSIA AND CHINA MUST DO THE SAME.
AMERICAN WOKE MILITARY.!
ðŸ³ï¸â€âš§ï¸ðŸ‡ºðŸ‡¸ðŸ³ï¸â€ðŸŒˆSWEET PANTS.!
This guy has no idea what he is talking about. He even contradicts himself. The only military threat to the US is Russia and everyone knows that. Don't underestimate Russia military conventional force. Right know the country with more urban warfare experience is Russia and they haven't all its military might against Ukraine.
Good show Chris, but Bacevich is clearly watching too much of the Corporate Owned News and believing their narratives. This is a major problem in the US where too many people think that Russia is weak and failing, and that we just need to send a few hundred billion more in weapons and they will collapse. This is dangerous and I don't see any way to get people to stop paying attention to the PsyOps on TV.
I thought, one year back, that the judgement of this guy is more emotional than analytical in consequence inaccurate and utterly ridiculous and time has proven my thought and the thoughts of most of the comments ..
Calling Russian millitary incompetent is wrong. They could have bombarded them but chose not to. Instead chose to not risk human lives. Ukraine forces take a level of a building and force the civilians to stay so the Russians can’t just destroy the building. Also hiding in schools and hospitals are the types of tactics Ukraine has been using
A lot has changed since…Bakhmut has fallen etc…
Fantastic!
Crap forgot to check when this was published. I hate the algorithm.
I have been enlightened by Andrew's opinions for many years! He would never compromise his opinions for media bucks , as so many american military historians have done.
Who the hell is that. 🤡
This dude is so blabal trash. Not a single interesting thouggh
These naive pipe dreams of a U.S. imperialist have nothing whatsoever to do with the realities. In the medium term, he will have to prepare for the decline of America rather than the destruction of the Russian state and its elected government.
Who the fuck is this guy to say that the Russians are militarily "incompetent" and "not very well led"? Dude, I think you're actually referring to the United States military, correct? 😄🤣😉 Seriously, this guy's a twerp.
This guy is delusional but mature enough to admit that he cannot predict anything correctly and was mistaken multiple times.
Again he is mistaken on Russian competence and military expertise.
If in germany the russians were selling cheap trinkets is because they were ill equipped because of lack of money, it has nothing to do with their competence as military professionals.
To make such a flawed conclusion, this guy cannot even be considered in mature discourse.
In the Ukraine conflict russia has not suffered a single military defeat with huge losses which we cannot say the same of Ukraine.
He is either misinformed to a point that he is forced to wrong conclusions or he is in denial of the facts.
We have reports from hospitals in Ukraine that they are forced to put beds in nearby buildings because there is no space for injured soldiers.
We have reports that they receive 100 injured soldiers a day per hospital.
Ukraine is running out of troops and lowered the conscription age to 16.
Russian shells are killing 90+% of ukrainian army losses and wounding 10% of them.
You do the simple math and come to a conclusion that Ukraine is losing approx 1000+ troops a day through shelling alone.
Ukrainian children are being sent in a forced traumatic experience because Ukraine is losing the war of attrition engineered by the military competence of russian leadership.
War loving tash has always existed in America,to them it is the call of God,no matter how corrupt they ill suport it.
Bull sh*t propaganda :Thanks chris.
"Nothing forgives the Russian Criminal Invasion"????????? Let's just get real. I thought a lot better of you but I am DONE with you now.
It is so important to listen too, even a year later.
This guy is an old clown who never learned anything in his 70 plus years of life.
Very classy of Chris Hedges to host such ignorant individuals. I guess, thanks for freedom of speech and I listened to what this guest had to say just out of respect to give him a chance.
That's BS Russia has more nukes than U.S. Bacevich is out of touch about why Obama was allowed to win, besides the Cold/ Forever War never really ending. He is right about the U.S. Manifest Imperial Destiny part, and the new commercial selective service slave system.
Lol . This guy is saying that Russians are getting pummeled in the battlefield and Ukrainians are the 10 footers .. thats not what it looks like in reality . Russia annihilate Ukraine's crack NATO trained troops last year in Mariupol.. and now they took Bakhmut and it looks like they took out 2 of our billion dollar Patriot System . This war is a scam as usual perpetuated by the small powerful group of the usual suspects
When as a country we were the great manufactures, we had extreme power that coupled with banking sector led the world. Now that we no longer manufacture anything our leverage is waining
Lmao this video aged poorly… abysmal performance lol a country of 1.5tril gdp and 150mil people destroyed the best trained and armed country of Europe. I want to see the US try that and (while I am sure it would perform better) see how many losses it gets. Can take the guy out of the military industrial complex but you can take the military industrial complex out of the guy…
Mr. Bacevich was military I think. How can he demean the Russians for incompetence over and over without a smidgen of acknowledgement of Ritter's or MacGregor argument against that. Please explain.
How odd? The neocons have never, nope, not even once, not even for pretend have they done anything other than LOOT. So, no, they do not have a core belief in democracy OR capitalism. Try another one.
This interview isn't ageing well.
That Bacevich predicted a short conflict with the Russians over Ukraine tells you he doesn't know what he's talking about.
It’s laughable to hear Russia being described as incompetent and weak in Ukraine. Since Russia “alone†has been beating all the US/NATO provided weapons, arms, technological/satellite/guidance/military advice and direction, plus the $150+ Billion that have been lost. Russia with all incompetent military has managed to take control of 1/3 of Ukraine, is dividing Europe, destroyed all the US sanctions and it’s the EU and the US who are suffering economically.
Seems Mr. Bacevich is still wearing his US military patriotism glasses and its blinding him from reality
Ask the former states of the USSR that are now 15 independent countries if they want to return to Soviet dominance.