Ukraine: “The Worst Case Scenario is World War III”

In your opinion, what could this worst case scenario be about? And do you think that we’ll see even further deterioration of diplomatic ties between Moscow and Washington?

Before answering this question I should mention that what’s happened in Ukraine is part of a US-NATO military and intelligence agenda. It is also part of a global economic agenda. It is in fact an act of warfare, because it is a coup d’état, which was supported by foreign powers and there is ample evidence to that effect.

We also must address the fact that the US and its allies, including NATO, are involved in a very complex decision-making process – military, intelligence, diplomatic, economic actions, covert operations. And under those circumstances, history tells us that the possibilities of errors are there. And there is also the danger of escalation.

We are at a very dangerous crossroads. We are observing the confrontation between the two major nuclear powers, namely the US and Russia. The worst case scenario is World War III. I’m not suggesting that it is going to occur, but I should also mention, having reviewed military documents over the last 10 years, that WWIII, from the point of view of US military planners – Pentagon and NATO – is not an abstract concept.

They have been involved in various exercises with the so-called WWIII scenarios. One of these famous exercises was called TIRANNT, which stands for Theater Iran Near Term. That’s when Iran was the object of military threats from the West. But in fact, this particular WWIII scenario involved several countries, including Russia, China and Iran, and North Korea. These were the stated enemies of the Western military alliance.

That particular WWIII scenario was leaked to the Washington Post. It is well-documented and it is a very detailed simulation of different actions and failures of diplomacy leading up to a WWIII scenario. So, let’s be under no illusions – the weapons systems are devastating, the decision-making processes are very complex and errors and misjudgments can take place.

The second thing I’d like to say is that at present we have a self-proclaimed coalition government which is integrated by neo-Nazis. If you look at the composition of this government, the key portfolios are still held by members of the other parties within the coalition.

But what is revealing is the fact that that the neo-Nazi parties, including Svoboda and the Right Sector, control the National Committee on Defense and National Security, which oversees the armed forces, the police, intelligence. And ultimately, it is this committee which is now calling the shots on the deployment of the Ukrainian forces.

We also have a situation where a Minister of Defense has been replaced. Several key commanders of the Ukrainian forces have been dismissed. And what seems to be unfolding is the neo-Nazi control over the law enforcement and the Ukrainian armed forces.

This does not necessarily imply that they will achieve their objective, because within the armed forces and the police there still are large sectors which are loyal to President Yanukovych.

The people who are in charge of national security in this coalition government, they have control over the national security apparatus. These are not the people who actually decide. The whole basis of a coup d’état supported from the outside is to install political puppets.

And why did they choose to install these neo-Nazi puppets? For the simple reason that those individuals obey orders. And the orders will emanate from Washington and Brussels.

We see that Andriy Parubiy, who was the co-founder of the neo-Nazi Social National Party, which was, subsequently, renamed Svoboda, was appointed Secretary of the National Security and National Defense Committee (RNBOU). And that is s key position involving the coordination of the armed forces.

And another individual who is very important – Dmitry Yarosh – who is the leader of the Right Sector and essentially the head of the brown-shirt neo-Nazi paramilitary during the Maidan protest movement, he is number 2 in this key organization RNBOU.

To return to your question, I think what could occur in the immediate future are actions by the Ukrainian forces controlled by the neo-Nazis. This is more of a creating instability scenario, of creating a continued chaos. And it will be coupled with other initiatives at the diplomatic and economic levels.

I should mention that one component of the scenario is the impoverishment of the Ukrainian population under the brunt of the Western creditors and the IMF. The Western countries have already made promises to the new coalition government. They have said – we are going to help you, we are going to give you money. But knowing the logic of IMF reforms – this money is fictitious. If they lend billions of dollars of IMF loans to a new government, that money is already earmarked to pay back debts.

The country will be going into a situation of an increased debt which will be coupled with conditions, which invariably mean the freeze of wages, austerity measures and so on. In other words, the scenario of economic collapse is already ongoing. The Ukrainian population will be impoverished beyond bounds.

I should mention that the IMF has been involved in Ukraine right from the outset in 1992. And the reforms that it implemented in 1994 were absolutely devastating. So, I expect that that kind of economic scenario of impoverishment and destruction of the Ukrainian economy will continue.

Michel Chossudovsky is an award-winning author, Professor of Economics (emeritus) at the University of Ottawa, Founder and Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), Montreal and Editor of the globalresearch.ca website. He is the author of The Globalization of Poverty and The New World Order (2003) and America’s “War on Terrorism”(2005). His most recent book is entitled Towards a World War III Scenario: The Dangers of Nuclear War (2011). He is also a contributor to the Encyclopaedia Britannica. His writings have been published in more than twenty languages.