by Stephen Lendman

At risk is US-led NATO war on Russia. Lunatics influencing policy in Washington make the unthinkable possible.

On December 5, over 60 prominent Germans argued against war in Europe in their names. Madness if happens.

Expressing their views in Zeit Online. Translated from the German text. More on this below.

On December 27, RT International headlined "Russia's new military doctrine lists NATO, US as major foreign threats." For good reason. Given Washington and rogue EU partners' irresponsible Russia bashing.

Putin approved Moscow's new doctrine. Reflecting new national security threats. Its core policy remains unchanged.

US-dominated NATO is an aggressive killing machine. Russia's military strength remains defensive. Including its nuclear arsenal.

It's intercontinental delivery systems. Able to strike global targets with pinpoint accuracy. Russia's entire military strength "is to deter potential enemies from attacking" its heartland, said RT.

It's ready to use its nuclear and conventional weapons "to protect itself from a military attack…threatening its existence."

Updated Russian doctrine calls NATO's eastward expansion a strategic threat. Assuming "global functions (in) violation of international law."

Including "the creation and deployment of global strategic antiballistic missile systems that undermines the established global stability and balance of power in nuclear missile capabilities, the implementation of the 'prompt strike' concept, intent to deploy weapons in space and deployment of strategic conventional precision weapons."

Domestic threats "aimed at violent change of the Russian constitutional order, destabilization of the political and social environment, disorganization of the functioning of governmental bodies, crucial civilian and military facilities and informational infrastructure of Russia."

Emerging "hotbeds of inter-ethnic and/or inter-religious tensions, the operations of militarized international radical groupings and foreign private military companies in the areas adjoining the borders of the Russian Federation and its allies, as well as the presence of territorial contradictions and a growth of separatism/extremism in separate regions of the world."

Protecting its Arctic interests. Stressing multi-world polarity. International cooperation. Organizations like BRICS nations. OSCE ones.

Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Others. Sharing likeminded interests. Including preventing destructive wars. Especially with weapons of mass destruction.

In November, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said Moscow and Beijing should jointly stand against Western color revolutions.

"(T)hese experiments by Western spin doctors, including those from the United States, are being implemented somewhere far from China and the Russian Federation," he said.

Targeting both countries. "(W)e believe Russia and China should work together to withstand this new security challenge to our countries."

Antonov cited Ukraine. Exhibit A. "(W)here a coup took place…(W)e now see the trials this brotherly country is living through…"

How much effort is needed to restore "peace, tranquility and order?"

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov calls so-called democracy exporting color revolutions hugely destabilizing.

A "negative trend." Vital to stop. "(I)f we all would stand the grounds for the benefit of the mutually respectful dialogue, agree to abstain from containment policies, from belief in self-impeccability, from the practice of unilateral actions and the so-called 'games with zero result.' "

Over 60 prominent Germans expressed opposition to war in Europe. Figures from politics. The economy. Culture. The media.

In an open letter. To Germany's government. Initiated by Horst Teltschik. Former Chancellor Helmut Kohl advisor.

Former senior defense ministry official Walter Stutzle. Former Bundestag vice president Antje Vollmer.

Urging European detente. Appealing against war with Russia. Saying "(n)obody wants" it.

"But North America, the European Union, and Russia are inevitably driving towards war if they do not finally halt the disastrous spiral of threats and counter-threats. All Europeans, including Russia, are jointly responsible for peace and security. Only those who do not lose sight of this goal can avoid fatal actions."

Ukrainian crisis conditions show "quest for power and domination has not been overcome." After Soviet Russia's dissolution, "we all hoped it would be."

Successful detente and peaceful transitions made people "lethargic and careless." Americans, Europeans and Russians "lost…their guiding principle…"

Ending wars forever. Unfortunately, the letter's signatories ignored Russia's all-out quest for peace and stability worldwide.

Throughout the Putin/Medvedev era. Claiming otherwise reinvents history irresponsibly. Saying Putin annexed Crimea ignores a historic mistake.

Near unanimous Crimean support for reversing it. Putin accommodated their wishes. What any responsible leader would do. What letter signatories failed to mention.

Holding America, Europe and Russia equally responsible for failing to banish war. Ignoring US-dominated NATO's full responsibility.

If Europe erupts in war, blame Washington. Its rogue NATO partners. No one else. It bears repeating.

Russia is fully committed for world peace and security. Going all-out to achieve it. Despite America and European partners acting otherwise.

Continental war is possible. Maybe global war. Rogue Western countries bear full responsibility if the unthinkable happens.

Letter signatories responsibly blamed "the West's eastward expansion without simultaneously deepening cooperation with Moscow." Calling it a policy Russia (justifiably) sees as a threat."

"At this moment of great danger for the continent, Germany has a special responsibility for the maintenance of peace."

Its devastating defeats in two world wars are reasons enough. The madness of war matters most. Look at how Moscow helped Germany.

"Without the will for reconciliation of the people of Russia, without the foresight of Mikhail Gorbachev, without the support of our Western allies, and without the prudent action by the then-Federal government, the division of Europe would not have been overcome," said the signatories.

"To allow German unification to evolve peacefully was a great gesture, shaped by the wisdom of the victorious powers. It was a decision of historic proportions."

Signatories claimed peace and security followed East/West detente. Ignoring devastating 1990s Balkan wars. Transforming one nation into seven.

Culminating with US-led NATO raping Yugoslavia in 1999. For 78 days. Unleashing unprecedented bombardment up to that time.

Signatories correctly said Europeans "are forced to live in fear once again." Prioritize peace, they urged.

"We, the undersigned, appeal to the Federal Government of Germany to assume its responsibility for peace in Europe. We need a new policy of detente…"

"This is only possible on the basis of equal security for all and mutually respected partners. The German government is not pursuing a go-it-alone policy, as long as it continues to call, during this stalemate, for calm and dialogue with Russia."

"The need of the Russians for security is as legitimate as is that of the Germans, the Poles, the Baltic States, and the Ukrainians."

"We must also not push Russia out of Europe…Since the Congress of Vienna in 1814, (it's) been a recognized global player…"

"All who have tried to change that have failed violently, the last being the megalomaniacal Germany of Hitler, which set out in 1941 to murderously subjugate Russia."

"We call upon the members of the German Bundestag, delegated by the people as their political representatives, to deal appropriately with the seriousness of the situation…"

"Whoever is constructing a bogeyman, putting the blame on only one side, is exacerbating tensions, when the signals should be for de-escalation."

"We appeal to the media, to more scrupulously adhere to their obligation to provide unbiased reporting than they have hitherto done."

"Editorialists and leading commentators are demonizing entire nations, without fully taking their histories into account."

"Any journalist experienced in foreign affairs would understand the Russians’ fear, since members of NATO in 2008 invited Georgia and Ukraine to join the Alliance."

"It is not about Putin. Heads of state come and go. What is at stake is Europe."

October 3 is German Unity Day. Commemorating reunification in 1990. East and West reunited. No longer separated.

A Federal Republic of Germany national holiday. On October 3, 1990, German President Richard von Weizäcker said:

"The Cold War has been overcome, and freedom and democracy will soon be in place in all countries…This is a challenge."

"We can achieve it, but we can also fail. We are facing the clear alternative to unite Europe or fall back again into painful historical examples of nationalist conflicts in Europe."

Ukrainian crisis conditions threaten continental Europe. A reminder of the fragility of peace.

Forgetting history's lessons. The horrors of war. Especially global ones. It bears repeating. Madness by any standard.

Signatories in alphabetical order include:

Mario Adorf (actor)

Robert Antretter (former Bundestag parliamentarian)

Professor Wilfried Bergmann (vice president of the Alma Mater Europaea)

Prince Luitpold of Bavaria

Achim von Borries (director and writer)

Klaus Maria Brandauer (actor/director)

Eckhard Cordes (Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations chairman)

Professor Herta Däubler-Gmelin (former minister of justice)

Eberhard Diepgen (former Berlin mayor)

Klaus von Dohnanyi (former Hamburg mayor)

Alexander van Dülmen (A-Board Company Filmed Entertainment AG)

Stefan Dürr (Ekosem-Agrar GmbH CEO/managing partner)

Erhard Eppler (former federal development and cooperation minister)

Professor Heino Falcke (Propst iR)

Professor Hans-Joachim Frey (Semper Opera Ball Dresden CEO)

Father Anselm Grun (Fr.)

Sibylle Havemann (Berlin)

Roman Herzog (former German president)

Christoph Hein (writer)

Burkhard Hirsch (former Bundestag vice president)

Volker horns (retired academy director)

Joseph Jacobi (organic farmer)

Sigmund Jähn (former astronaut)

Uli Jörges (journalist)

Professor Margot Kaßmann (EKD council president/former bishop)

Andrea von Knoop (Moscow)

Professor Gabriele Krone-Schmalz (former Moscow-based ARD correspondent)

Friedrich Küppersbusch (journalist)

Vera Gräfin von Lehndorff (artist)

Irina Liebmann (writer)

Lothar de Maizière (former German prime minister)

Stephen Märki (Bern-based artistic director)

Professor Klaus Mangold (Mangold Consulting GmbH chairman)

Reinhard Mey and Hella (songwriters)

Ruth Misselwitz (Protestant pastor)

Klaus Prömpers (journalist)

Professor Konrad Raiser (World Council of Churches general secretary)

Jim Rocket (photographer)

Gerhard Rein (journalist)

Michael Roskau (retired secretary)

Eugen Ruge (writer)

Otto Schily (former federal internal minister)

Friedrich Schorlemmer (theologian)

Georg Schramm (comedian)

Gerhard Schröder (former chancellor)

Philipp von Schulthess (actor)

Ingo Schulze (writer)

Hanna Schygulla (actress/singer)

Dieter Spori (former deputy prime minister)

Professor Fulbert Steffensky (theologian)

Wolf-D. Stelzner (Institute for WDS analyzes in cultures mbH managing partner)

Manfred Stolpe (former prime minister)

Ernst-Jörg von Studnitz (fomer ambassador to Russia)

Professor Walther Stutzle (former defense secretary)

Professor Christian R. Supthut

Professor Horst Teltschik (former federal office for security and foreign policy advisor)

Hans-Jochen Vogel (former federal justice minister)

Antje Vollmer (former Bundestag vice-president)

Barbel Wartenberg-Potter (retired theologian)

Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker (scientist)

Wim Wenders (director)

Hans-Eckardt Wenzel (songwriter)

Gerhard Wolf (writer/publisher)

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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