(Sir) Tony Brenton interviewed by Afshin Rattansi
GOING UNDERGROUND / RT.COM
![](https://www.greanvillepost.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Screen-Shot-2021-06-20-at-6.34.11-PM.png)
In this episode of Going Underground, we speak to the former British ambassador to Russia, Sir Tony Brenton. He discusses the latest on the Ukraine crisis, the possibility of a Europe-wide war between NATO and Putin’s Russia, whether a last-minute breakthrough could be achieved by the US, NATO and Russia, the background of hostility between Russia and NATO, the alliance’s involvement in regime-change wars, its legacy, and much more.
STATEMENT ADDITION:
Statement from the Embassy of Serbia:
“NATO aggression on FR Yugoslavia was a grave violation of international law, completely illegal and unjustified. It caused devastation, suffering and huge civilian victims: almost 4000 deaths, 6000 heavily injured, with 2700 children among them. There were enormous destructions of infrastructure, highways, bridges, electricity grid, factories, with estimated economic loss at the level of $100 billion.
The bombing of the Chinese Embassy, clearly marked as a diplomatic premises, has left 3 people dead and 21 injured. This heinous crime, as well as the whole NATO aggression on FR Yugoslavia, remains a mournful historical reminder of disrespecting international law tragic consequences.”
FOLLOW
Going Underground https://www.youtube.com/user/GoingUndergroundRT
Going Underground on Twitter http://twitter.com/Underground_RT
Afshin Rattansi on Twitter http://twitter.com/AfshinRattansi
PODCAST
https://soundcloud.com/rttv/sets/going-underground-2
With 3 select comments from original thread
Sir Brenton nose was gradually enlarging & enlarging as the interview advanced. Afshin did a great job with his timely & respectful rebuttals, while maintaining the decorum of professional conduct, though I'd rather a more direct challenging to the rubbish nonsense asserted.
Mr. Brenton, you are no longer an active member of UK diplomatic arm & will not have FM or PM in your future resume, so why not cut the crap and start assuming responsibilities for all the harm caused by your & other western governments to so many (global south) countries & people, instead of repeating the same old lines of falsehoods, uncorroborated assumptions & deceptive propaganda given to you on a cheat sheet
Sir Breton, I urge you to reconsider offending the viewers' intelligence as most are well-read, well informed, highly objective and peace-loving than your wildest imagination.
As such you may want to tell the survivors of Yemen war - fully supported/armed/assisted by US/UK - or Iraqis, Afghanis, Libyans, or Syrians or....with the complicity of what you refer as "defensive" NATO of why their countries were completely ruined, millions dead, millions maimed for life, millions lost their livelihoods and homes, complete destruction of the fabrics of their families, communities, societies...with highly remote recovery of at the least two generations out. Please explain to any survivors of any region of your choosing of "western values & ethics", "mistakes" or "defensive [NATO] strategies" or...
Please tell the orphans with dead parents or parents with massacred children why their loved ones were decimated - as if the color of their blood has less viscosity than yours - by invasions, occupations or regime changes and always under the façade of Human Rights or spread of God-given western-style democracy or values. And you want all to believe that western values are exceptional in human history and act out of concern for others with no evil bone and always for the benefit of other people interest.
Please remind them that what they were gifted with came at west's huge cost of blood & treasure for their own good, and hence they should be thankful for being endowed with the keys to civilization and values of democracy, individual rights, freedom, or whatever else is the new 21st-century propaganda lines.
And explain if sometimes the news leaked out where deception, diversion or denial was impossible, then the harms inhibited were always due to "mistakes" and not intentional and for sure NEVER due to geo political gains driven by commercial interests; e.g. international banking, oil & military industries, etc.
Well, we have war-monger bloodthirsty vultures like recently "Sir-ed" Blair, Bush, Cheney, Johnson, Pompeo, Trump, Blinken...to say those garbage lies justifying the needs of sometimes harsh actions and only to save them from tyranny, dictatorship, lack of freedom....and introduce them to western values and principles.
Notwithstanding the official curtain, I sense a modicum of decency & honor in your presentation. Given the fact that you may be retired from public office and will continue to receive your retirement perks, why not consider walking across to the side of humanity and defend the disenfranchised - you may even impress yourself.
NATO was purportedly established (and even designed) as "A DEFENSIVE ORGANIZATION" of countries. Very odd in retrospect when you thereafter add nations like the Netherlands (no military), North Macedonia (no military), Denmark, Luxembourg, Slovenia (again no militaries). How can countries with no meaningful military nor substantive measures of defense conceivably design to help "A DEFENSIVE ORGANIZATION"? More importantly, you then start to add tiny little pieces of previous nations like Herzegovina, Montenegro or South Sudan?? This is no "defensive organization" but clearly AN OFFENSIVE ORGANIZATION". So why would "An Offensive Organization" conceivably add tiny little, insignificant "countries" (if we can even call them that) to its membership?? Simple! NATO is now "THE NORTH ATLANTIC TERRORIST ORGANIZATION". In short, a group of organized racketeers who collude together to steal the shit from everyone who is not also a member. What are the benefits of membership in this terrorist organization? Well, you get the privilege of contributing 2% of your own annual GDP as a "membership fee"(called a defense budget so you can purchase the weapons to support the originating members) to help fund their efforts to steal everybody else's shit who is not a member. It simultaneously insure your shit will not get stolen by these racketeers. (since you're a member now) Sort of a protection fee like in the mafia. Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq, Yugoslavia, etc. should've recognized before it was too late. Membership has its benefits! lol (harsh truth).
Don't you think it strange that one of the founding members of nato, the Netherlands, according to you joined the club later on? True at the moment the Dutch army is far smaller than at the time of foundation, the same is true for more European countries. Germany and the Netherlands borrow tanks from each other whenever they feel the need to do some exercises. Inspite of having a small army the Netherlands has contributed to nato. Apart from having had to buy the junk F35, I personally know Dutch troops who were stationed e.g. in Afghanistan. Btw I would be in favour of leaving the terrorist organisation, the extended arm of the Pentagon. Nothing good comes from the bloodthirsty warmongers.
The views expressed herein are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of The Greanville Post. However, we do think they are important enough to be transmitted to a wider audience.
All image captions, pull quotes, appendices, etc. by the editors not the authors.
YOU ARE FREE TO REPRODUCE THIS ARTICLE PROVIDED YOU GIVE PROPER CREDIT TO THE GREANVILLE POST VIA A BACK LIVE LINK.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
[premium_newsticker id="211406"]
Don't forget to sign up for our FREE bulletin. Get The Greanville Post in your mailbox every few days.