Finian Cunningham Strategic Review June 15, 2023

The NATO military alliance holds its largest-ever air force maneuvers since the bloc was formed 74 years ago. From June 12-23, the German Luftwaffe will lead the massive mobilization across the Baltic territories and Central Europe in an undisguised provocation to Russia.

The United States will deploy the most warplanes out of the 25 participating NATO partners. But Germany is the lead nation for the drills.

Whats even more provocative, the date for the so-called Air Defender 23 exercises falls on the 82nd anniversary of Operation Barbarossa. On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany and its Axis allies launched the biggest military invasion in history, against the Soviet Union. That invasion turned out to be a military disaster for Germany, heralding its historic defeat nearly four years later, along with horrific suffering and millions of deaths.

Its not just the dates that provide an uncannily grim echo. The sinister symbolism today of the German balkenkreuz (Teutonic cross) emblazoned on warplanes flying close to Russias border is reinforced by the participation of many of the Third Reichs former Axis allies in the present day. Finland and the Baltic territories were the staging post for Hitlers master plan to conquer Russia and carry out its Final Solution of genocidal extermination.

Meanwhile, on the ground in Ukraine, German Leopard tanks also bearing the balkenkreuz are today pounding Russian forces from Ukrainian territory, which also served as the invasion path for Operation Barbarossa. So far, many of these modern German tanks have been destroyed in todays battles, which does not bode well for NATOs sponsored Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Of course, Air Defender 23 pales by comparison of scale with 1941. NATOs warplanes flying in exercises over Germany and the Baltics number 250 with a total military personnel of 10,000 taking part. In Operation Barbarossa, the number of aircraft was at least 10-fold greater and involved up to 4 million ancillary soldiers. Nevertheless, the symbolism is conspicuous and staggering for anyone with a keen sense of history. Amazingly, no Western media have made any historical reference to Barbarossa, not even in brief passing. Then again, thats not that amazing when you consider the Western medias role is to propagandize this war against Russia.

And its not simply a mere symbolic historic echo, appalling though that is of itself. The NATO leaders are increasingly openly talking about the objective of crushing Russia. The air mobilization over the next fortnight is billed as rehearsing offensive scenarios against Russia.

The timing of the NATO-sponsored ground offensive beginning last week in Ukraine in conjunction with the unprecedented deployment of air power this week has the hallmarks of a...

BY ANDREW KORYBKO | JUNE 18, 2023

Newsweek published an extended interview with Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Saturday in which this official repeatedly returned to the state of democracy in his country. This de facto theme pervades the entire text since he continually referenced this falls elections as supposedly being the key to resolving Pakistans economic crisis. Asif insists that theyll be free and fair without any meddling from his countrys military-intelligence structures, The Establishment, but this isnt true at all.

Former Prime Minister Imran Khan (IK) was deposed in April 2022s post-modern coup precisely because The Establishments leading representative at the time, former Chief Of Army Staff Qamar Javed Bajwa, colluded with his domestic opponents to oust him after first securing tacit American approval. Pakistan then entered into a series of cascading crises that continue to this day, with its economic one being the focus of considerable international attention due to the countrys potentially impending bankruptcy.

Political stability is the prerequisite for resolving the economic crisis from which the others have largely stemmed, but The Establishment refused to allow truly free and fair early elections like IK and his supporters requested because then their post-modern coup would have been for naught. Those who carried out that regime change have financial, ideological, personal, and professional stakes in preventing his return to office, which explains why theyve so passionately opposed him since then.

The approximately 18 months between IKs removal in April 2022 and the next scheduled national elections in fall of this year were supposed to give The Establishment enough time to meddle in Pakistans democratic process to ensure that he doesnt win. This was first done through indirect means by having their media proxies falsely allege that there was supposedly no basis to the oil deal talks that he claimed to have held with President Putin during his trip to Moscow in late February 2022.

The associated innuendo was that his claim of being overthrown by an American-approved but superficially democratic plot as punishment for his independent foreign policy...