{"id":331955,"date":"2026-10-12T06:08:48","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T06:08:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=331955"},"modified":"2026-10-12T06:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T06:34:08","slug":"pusillanimity-leads-to-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=331955","title":{"rendered":"Pusillanimity Leads to War"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul Craig Roberts \u2013 paulcraigroberts.org Oct 8, 2026<\/strong><\/h1>\n

\u201cThe reputation of one\u2019s arms in war is everything, and equivalent to real forces.\u201d<\/em> \u2014 Napoleon<\/strong><\/p>\n

Russian President Putin\u2019s neglect of Napoleon\u2019s 14 words explains why Gideon Rachman has endorsed the conclusion by me and Gilbert Doctorow that \u201cno one takes Putin\u2019s nuclear threats seriously any more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Years ago I made the point that Putin\u2019s nonresponse to Washington\u2019s overthrow of the Russian-friendly Ukrainian government and installation of an anti-Russian puppet, Putin\u2019s refusal to accept the Donbas vote to be reincorporated into Russia like Crimea, Putin\u2019s nonchalance for 8 years while Washington built an Ukrainian army, Putin\u2019s naivet\u00e9 in trusting the Minsk Agreement, and once Putin was forced unprepared into conflict, Putin\u2019s refusal to fight to win or even raise sufficient forces indicated a leader who was war averse at all costs.<\/p>\n

Having placed myself outside the approved narrative, I was subjected to abusive language by ignorant and indoctrinated \u201cexperts\u201d who are too stupid to bother to hold to account.<\/p>\n

As time passed Gilbert Doctorow also saw that Putin\u2019s pusillanimous non-response to violations of his own red lines was destroying Russian deterrence, and Doctorow joined my camp, a lonely one. And now Doctorow notes that the Financial Times main opinion editor has entered our camp with his declaration: \u201cPutin\u2019s nuclear threats no longer work.\u201d\u00a0 https:\/\/gilbertdoctorow.substack.com\/p\/financial-times-journalist-gideon?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1203055&post_id=219095552&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=dx5km&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email<\/a><\/p>\n

Over the years of Russia\u2019s conflict with the West, sometimes acknowledged by Putin, sometimes not, Putin has rolled out a growing assortment of new nuclear weapons of extraordinary destruction power and that cannot be intercepted.\u00a0 Each time Putin\u2019s purpose was to warn, to check, to curtail the West\u2019s aggression toward Russia increasingly expressed with ever more Western weapons \u201cthat would never be sent\u201d sent to Ukraine.\u00a0 But as Putin took no military steps to bring the conflict with Ukraine to a military victory, belief that Putin would use such weapons evaporated.\u00a0 The question actually arose in my mind and perhaps in Doctorow\u2019s whether Washington\u2019s best weapon against Russia was Putin\u2019s pusillanimity.<\/p>\n

Now thanks to Israel\u2019s possession of America\u2019s president and Republican Party as the champions of the Zionist agenda of Greater Israel, the US finds itself also in conflict with Iran.\u00a0 Compared to Russia as a military power, Iran is a midget.\u00a0 But Iran stood up and fought and kicked Washington\u2019s teeth down Washington\u2019s throat and drove Washington out of the Persian Gulf.\u00a0 Compared to Iranian toughness, Putin looks like a pushover.<\/p>\n

Consequently, more countries have joined NATO.\u00a0 More NATO members are willing to have US nuclear missiles on their territory on Russia\u2019s border. Europe is, according to reports, preparing for war with Russia and also for an attack on Kaliningrad. Thus are the fruits of pusillanimity. Putin is not preventing a wider war.\u00a0 He is causing one.<\/p>\n

It is the US that is attacking Russia. \u00a0Ukraine is the US proxy. \u00a0Putin has accepted the deception.<\/p>\n

It is Israel that is at war with Iran. America is Israel\u2019s proxy. \u00a0Americans have accepted the role of fighting wars of conquest for Israel. Iran is fighting its enemy\u2019s proxy, not its enemy.<\/p>\n

The difference is that while Iran ignores its real enemy\u2013Israel\u2013Iran at least fights back against its enemy\u2019s proxy. \u00a0Putin not only ignores Russia\u2019s real enemy, Putin has consented to an ever-widening war while half-heartedly fighting its enemy\u2019s proxy for 4.5 years, longer than WW II, thus destroying the West\u2019s belief in Russian military capability. \u00a0It is this kind of stupidity that brings nuclear war.<\/p>\n

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