Secretary Blinken Rebrands His Department From State to War

 by Walt Zlotow 

Posted onApril 16, 2022

Since he took office 15 months ago, Secretary of State Antony Blinken appears to be under the delusion he’s U.S. Secretary of War, not State. Blinken has completely abrogated his role as America’s chief diplomat, refusing to talk with his Soviet counterpart Sergey Lavrov for the past 61 days, an interval encompassing the entire 52 day Russian invasion of Ukraine.

We just learned Wednesday from Blinken counselor Derek Chollet that Blinken’s negotiating team refused to even consider Russia’s security concerns regarding NATO’s membership for Ukraine, a red line to Russia they’ve been warning us about for two decades. Chollet spilled the beans on Blinken saying “We made clear to the Russians that we were willing to talk to them on issues that we thought were genuine concerns they have that were legitimate in some way, I mean arms control type things of that nature. But the future of Ukraine was a non-issue.”

That’s a good way to completely abrogate diplomacy, provoking the world’s most nuclear armed country to launch a criminal war. Now, Ukraine is in ruins, thousands are dead on both sides, with no end in sight. Worse, triggering the slightest tripwire between the two real combatants, the US and Russia, brings nuclear Doomsday.

Another State Department official reports that Blinken informed his NATO counterparts that though the war will likely continue throughout 2022, his diplomacy is focused on how best to end it as quickly as possible.

For Blinken, “quickly” means negotiating with allies to join America pouring endless billions in weaponry into its client state Ukraine. That guarantees the war will fulfill Blinken’s prediction, possibly even that of Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Mike Milley, who predicted several years of war.

Would somebody please inform Secretary of Blinken that the War Department was abolished 75 years ago this September 18, when Kenneth C. Royall, the 56th and last War Secretary, stepped down?

However, having spent the past 13 years advising first Vice President Biden, President Obama and now President Biden on America’s senseless wars, it understandable how Blinken could be so thoroughly confused on how to actually have prevented and now end the current war.

Walt Zlotow became involved in antiwar activities upon entering University of Chicago in 1963. He is current president of the West Suburban Peace Coalition based in the Chicago western suburbs. He blogs daily on antiwar and other issues at www.heartlandprogressive.blogspot.com.

https://www.antiwar.com/blog/2022/04/16/secretary-blinken-rebrands-his-department-from-state-to-war/