From Jordan to Japan: US invites 14 non-NATO nations to Ukraine defense summit

From Jordan to Japan: US invites 14 non-NATO nations to Ukraine defense summit

Interestingly, the inclusion of Kenya, Liberia, Morocco and Tunisia may be less about Russia and more about combating China’s growing influence on the continent, said Elizabeth Shackelford, a former State Department official who served in several East African countries.

“China has been a strategic partner to both Kenya and Liberia, but the US still holds greater sway in each. Kenya is an influential country on the continent, so getting it on board with the west is important,” said Shackelford, now with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

“Inviting these countries to this meeting signals that their position on [Ukraine] matters, to the US and to the broader coalition,” including host Germany, a major economic power, she added. “This is a level of engagement that China’s transactional relationship doesn’t offer. Don’t forget, it’s an election year in Kenya. International engagement on major global issues at the invitation of the US is a good look.”

All of the African countries are part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Just How United Is NATO (And the World) Against Russia?

It’s been obvious the entire world and some of NATO is not in sync with US edicts concerning the Russian/Ukraine situation. One can’t help but notice China, India, Pakistan, Brazil many nations in the middle east are NOT on board with the way the US is conducting international relations at this time. Turkey was not appeasing the US either.

Just How United Is NATO (And the World) Against Russia?

Related:

The Polish outlet Onet.Pl has gained access to a secret project to deploy peacekeepers from a number of NATO countries to Ukraine developed at Poland’s Ministry of National Defense. Warsaw is expected to officially present it at the NATO summit on March 24. The US does not want to participate but may agree to a mission of several other countries.

However, Poland kept trying to secure support, and apparently had found it. Government spokesman Piotr Muller had stated that Poland has received positive responses from separate NATO countries despite official sceptical responses. He did not disclose which countries these were, but officially, Lithuania and Denmark had previously expressed support for such a mission. Poland is currently in talks with other Western capitals.

A [not-so] secret plan to deploy NATO peacekeepers to Ukraine is brewing in Poland

Putin’s Nuclear Threat

The disconnect between the Western and Russian narratives in the current conflict could prove fatal to the world, writes Scott Ritter.

Vladimir Putin is a madman. He’s lost it. At least that is what the leaders of the West would like you to believe. According to their narrative, Putin — isolated, alone, confused, and angry at the unfolding military disaster Russia was undergoing in Ukraine — lashed out, ostensibly threatening the entire world with nuclear annihilation.

Putin’s Nuclear Threat