JFK'S ALTERNATIVE INTERPRETATION OF REALITY: HOW TO RE-EVALUATE WEST's NARRATIVE OF PUTIN
Gordan Dzadzic
Management Consultant | Business Coach | Life Coach | Assertiveness Trainer | Public Speaking Trainer
MOTIVATION TO WRITE THE ARTICLE
Why now? The risk of nuclear escalation during Kennedy’s years was far lower than today. Compare the time until "Midnight" (nuclear Armageddon) on the Doomsday Clock . Kennedy increased it from 7 minutes in 1960 to 12 minutes in 1963. But ever since the Cold War ended, the time reduced from 17 minutes in 1991 to just 90 seconds in 2024. For, JFK’s goal was genuine World Peace. For Bush, Clinton, Obama, and Biden the goal was to expand NATO. (Here’s a thought: rate your political candidate on his/her capacity to extend the time to “Midnight.”)
Why this topic?
“I have chosen to discuss a topic on which ignorance too often abounds and the truth is too rarely perceived – yet it is the most important topic on earth: world peace.” JFK
Why is the truth so rarely perceived?
Why me? My coolheaded and rational approach to the discussion. After all, I am a coach. I also keep abreast of the most important world affairs inheriting this passion from my father, an uncompromising bold investigative journalist. And so like father, like son, I believe
“It is a sin to be silent when it is your duty to protest” – Lincoln.
Note, that I wrote an article on the chronological causes of the current war in Ukraine, which comes down to the relentless push by White House Administrations to add the former Soviet Republic to the NATO roster. It has a wealth of references, official documents, audio files, etc.
?INTRODUCTION
You 'subscribe' to the conventional wisdom in the West that Putin is a cold-blooded imperialist bent on enslaving the rest of Europe after he’s done wrecking Ukraine to revive the Soviet Empire. He is a disturbed dictator who one day woke up and, just like that, invaded Ukraine. Your country is next!
Article's Hypothesis and Goal. President Kennedy's unprecedented bold peaceful approach to his 1963 American University speech - if applied today - would generate a nuanced view of the Ukraine crisis and, as a result, a balanced view of Russian President Vladimir Putin. You may think - given the unscrupulous media and politicians - that I'm a 'Putin apologist' or 'Kremlin's agent.' JFK faced similar bellicose and kept his speech confidential to prevent political attacks before delivery.
Structure. The article first outlines JFK’s masterful goal-oriented diplomacy with intricate compassion to transform the US-Soviet high-risk confrontations into a security-focused collaboration. The next section uses JFK’s approach to evaluate American attitudes toward Russia, especially regarding the Ukraine crisis. The concluding remarks generate a different view of Putin as a rational, balanced, tactful leader aiming for an encompassing European security structure amidst NATO expansion.
Call to Action. The last section lists the names of numerous American experts (scholars, investigative journalists, ex-military and ex-intelligence officials, etc..) and alternative news channels that criticize the Western narrative, and its politicians, and offer an alternative interpretation of reality- one backed in facts. Religiously follow them until there are at least 5 minutes 'till Midnight.
RATIONAL GOAL-ORIENTED DIPLOMATIC APPROACH
Goal-Centered Approach. JFK made a strong case that genuine peace is attainable through a problem-solving process with clearly established goals, which are communicated to gain the support of peoples of both nations and where joint work is aimed towards established milestones like agreeing on nuclear anti-proliferation treaties.
Tactful Diplomacy and Communication. JFK unapologetically substituted the dominating hawkish rhetoric with open and respectful communication channels that persisted – especially so – during crises to elevate mutual understanding, reduce misperceptions, and mitigate escalation risk.
Objective Balanced View of the Adversary. While calling communism “repulsive,” JFK stressed how important it was to apostrophize Russian people’s contributions to science and space, and other positive qualities like bravery, etc..
Global Security Through Law (Shared Responsibility and Accountability): JFK advocates for a world order based on law and the United Nations.
ALTERNATIVE COMPASSION-BASED INTERPRETATION OF REALITY
The empathetic recognition of appalling suffering. Kennedy acknowledged the immense suffering of the Soviet people during World War II, noting that no nation lost more lives (27 million Soviet casualties). He visually depicted the scale of the USSR's wartime devastation by comparing it to the destruction of the eastern United States.
Empathy-based de-escalation. Perhaps the most important point JFK made was warning of the actions that force the nuclear adversary to choose either a "humiliating retreat" or war that can then easily become nuclear.
Compassionate appeal to our common humanity and mutual interests. Kennedy transcended the US-Soviet divide by stressing the "mutual abhorrence of war" and the shared goal of stopping nuclear proliferation to make the world safer. Perhaps the most shivering statement in the entire speech:
"Our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal."
APPLYING JFK’S APPROACH TO RUSSO-AMERICAN PROXY-CONFLICT
Goal Centered Approach? America never had a clear vision of what it wanted to achieve in Ukraine. Or, perhaps, you believe in ‘spreading the democracy over a rifle barrel’ (a John Mearsheimer formulation)? But “bleeding Russia,” “the best money ever spent is money to buy weapons to kill Russians”, and “removing Putin” are not rational statements and don’t even qualify as goals, and certainly not a diplomatic approach either.
With Russia, the objective has always been clear. As Julian Assange uncovered now famous 2008 “Nyet Means Nyet ” cable from William Burns (then Ambassador to Russia, now CIA Director) to Condoleeza Rice (then US Secretary of State): Ukraine in NATO is “the brightest of red lines” not just for Putin but for all Russians, from the elite to the last government nut screwing apparatchik. The goal is to stop Ukraine from joining NATO as this is perceived as an existential threat. This famous cable proves not only that this is not “Putin’s war” as the Western media and politicians claim, but that this is mostly NATO's proxy war.
Tactful Diplomacy and Communication? As stated above, US officials today employ warmongering hostile rhetoric (kind of like during the Kennedy era), especially about Putin but also about Russians. This combination of dehumanizing and stopping (or minimizing) communication elevates possible escalation risks. It should be unacceptable to every American that Biden and Putin have not talked for more than two years. Further, it should be deemed inappropriate to use platitudes like "you're a Putin apologist," "Kremlin's agent," and similar inanities in the public discourse just because someone's gentle ears heard a counterargument contradicting the mainstream narrative.
Objective Balanced View of the Adversary?
Russia is a gas station with nuclear weapons. John McCain
Ever since McCain so eloquently downgraded Russia's economic rating other American politicians followed suit cherishing this idiotic statement as wisdom. Facts? The World Bank listed Russia as the 4th largest world economy per 2024 PPP adjusted GDP and classified it as a ‘high-income economy.’ Lack of balanced view and respect for the enemy leads to wrong decisions, which, in turn, lead to bad outcomes. For example, stealing Russian assets led to speedier de-dollarization, de-treasurisation, and BRICS expansion. Sanctions on Russia led to higher oil prices and higher inflation already elevated during the Covid pandemic, Is it an accident that Saudi Arabia ended the petro-dollar? Etc.
?Global Security Through Law (Shared Responsibility and Accountability): JFK’s law-based world order symbolized in the United Nations, for example, has been repeatedly broken by the recent White House Administrations. Take, for example, the US’ disinterest in finding who destroyed the Nord Stream pipeline, the biggest act of industrial eco-terrorism ever. Another example is that the US-led “defensive alliance” (NATO) initiated offensive wars without the UN mandates (i.e. Iraq, Libya), under fabricated pretexts.
Empathy-based de-escalation. JFK warned against forcing the nuclear adversary into a "humiliating retreat" as that may trigger nuclear escalation. Despite that, US administrations since 1990 have reneged on their security assurances by expanding NATO to Russia’s borders, which Gorbachev called “humiliating” - hear it yourself: link .
"I believe it's a mistake, a bad mistake. And I'm not persuaded by the assurances that we hear that Russia has nothing to worry about. You may not humiliate a nation and a people and think that it'll have no consequences." Gorbachev on NATO expansion
Verbal and written assurances from all major NATO members and its highest representatives are stored in the US National Security Archive . To this day, there is still a narrative that NATO expansion has nothing to do with Putin’s war; except when someone has an inadvertent slip (link ):
"The background was that President Putin declared in the autumn of 2021, and actually sent a draft treaty that they wanted NATO to sign, to promise no more NATO enlargement. That was what he sent us. And was a pre-condition for not invade Ukraine. Of course we didn't sign that." Jens Stoltenbert, head of NATO,
This is only natural when the highest US officials suffer from hubris and distort reality:
“If we have to use force, it is because we are America; we are the indispensable nation. We stand tall and we see further than other countries into the future. Madeleine Albright, US Secretary of State
"Fuck the EU!" Victoria Nuland, US Undersecretary of State
Shared humanity of suffering? Russia’s greatest contribution and the highest price paid for winning WW2 is not only not acknowledged in the West, it’s being negated. Russia wasn’t invited to attend this year’s D-day celebration in France. Wouldn’t that event be a perfect chance to discuss peace? More importantly, 27 million casualties means every Russian lost a family member in WW2. So did Putin.
Humanity triggered research. Can you even begin to imagine the scale and scope of the death? This should trigger your curiosity enough to research the Russian “propaganda” that Ukraine has a neo-nazi problem. It appears controversial given that Zelensky is Jewish.
Finding. According to a 2015 University of Ottawa study by a Ukrainian professor Ivan Kachanovski, neo-nazis killed protesters and police during Maidan protests in 2014 and blamed it on legitimate democratically elected president Yanukovich to overthrow his government. The US supported the coup , and this started the civil war between the government and Russian speakers. This view is shared among some of the respected experts and scholars.
?
CONCLUSION – VERDICT ON PUTIN
Per John Mearsheimer, University of Chicago Political Science Professor, there is zero (0) evidence to support the mainstream narrative that Putin is a cold-blooded imperialist bent on reviving the Soviet empire. The narrative gets so unrealistically distorted one could hear that Putin is so evil to bomb his own Nord Stream pipeline.
If you applied JFK's rational compassionate approach to this conflict and if you've referenced this article's links, the mainstream view of Putin is debunked. So much so, that he is not in focus anymore. The magnifying glass should be on the Western elite that has no empathy and humility ("stands taller and sees farther than other nations"), that pretends to be democratic in international relations, that yaps about yet disrespects international law and human rights, that has no rational sane goals evident by repeatedly breaking security assurances- and bringing us to the brink of nuclear escalation and World War III.
The evidence supports views that:
CALL TO ACTION - REFERENCES FOR THE FUTURE
US experts listed below claim that it is the US push for Ukraine into NATO that caused this crisis. They also repeatedly evaluate Putin as a tactful leader employing restraint to numerous Western provocations.
Judge for yourself, and keep judging until the time left on the Doomsday Clock is at least 5 minutes.
I invite you to practice JFK's rational goal-oriented diplomacy with compassion to understand the viewpoints of those you disagree with - especially in matters of World Peace. Please share what you found most insightful about this article. Please like and subscribe.
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About the Author
Gordan Dzadzic, the coach who’ll guide your ambitious mindset from emotional imbalance to strategic focus and success. With a top-to-bottom resume and transformative expertise (like REBT , NLP , TA , and more), he'll shatter your self-sabotages and refine your influence and impact. No babysitting, just results-driven personal and professional leadership development. Contact him for a free consultation.
?2024 Gordan Dzadzic, Coach and Management Consultant, All Rights Reserved