Ray McGovern

Sixty years ago today (October 28) the U.S. and Russia stepped back from the brink of nuclear war by making a deal. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev would yield to President John F. Kennedy’s demand that Soviet missiles be removed from Cuba; Kennedy pledged not to invade. There is an instructive analogy with Ukraine today. Soviet … Continue reading “Ukraine: Will US Back Off as Russia Did on Cuba?”

It’s a privilege to be on the Antiwar.com team. I was happy when Eric Garris asked me to write a piece to support the fundraiser. I do hope you will be generous. Writing for Antiwar.com is a perfect fit. As a CIA analyst for 27 years, I learned the most while doing "current intelligence." My … Continue reading “The Gift of Antiwar.com”

A Rose has bloomed In the Blinken/Sullivan/Biden desert of ideas on Ukraine. I refer to Rose Gottemoeller, 69, who was Under Secretary of State for Arms Control during the Obama/Biden second term and knows much more about the real world than the boys Biden has in the back room (if I may risk damning her … Continue reading “Biden Has an ‘Off-Ramp’ on Ukraine”

On Oct. 6, President Joe Biden warned: "First time since the Cuban missile crisis, we have a direct threat of the use (of a) nuclear weapon if in fact things continue down the path they are going … I’m trying to figure out what is Putin’s off ramp?" Biden did well to cite the Cuban … Continue reading “Relentless: JFK on Cuba; Putin on Ukraine”

The New York Times is going full-bore for war in Ukraine. It is difficult to explain the yellow journalism, but the so-called "paper of record" did the same thing on Vietnam (see below). In other words, the Gray Lady is whoring again. It may be, as some allege, that the NYT has never met a … Continue reading “The New York Times on Ukraine: Vietnam Déjà Vu”

Thanks to Establishment media, the sorcerer apprentices advising President Joe Biden – I refer to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, national security adviser Jacob Sullivan, and China specialist Kurt Campbell – will have no trouble rallying Americans for the widest war in 77 years, starting in Ukraine, and maybe spreading to China. And, shockingly, under … Continue reading “Brainwashed for War With Russia”

Corporate media somehow missed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s shocking charge, at his press conference Friday: "We even see attempts at perpetrating terrorist attacks in the Russian Federation, including – I am not sure if this was made public – attempts to carry out terrorist attacks near our nuclear facilities, nuclear power plants in the Russian … Continue reading “Putin: Terrorists Near Russian Nuclear Power Plants”

In the official Chinese and Russian statements regarding Thursday’s meeting between Presidents XI Jinping and Vladimir Putin in Samarkand lies not a scintilla of evidence that China’s support for Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has weakened. In my view, if Putin decides to up the ante in Ukraine, XI would be likely to support him. Most … Continue reading “‘Dear Friends’ Xi and Putin: Project Unity”

Did President Joe Biden’s economic advisers not warn him that the lemming leaders of NATO will not be able to protect their people from the winter cold? (Lemmings of the animal world are protected from the Arctic winter by their very thick fur, with no need to hibernate. Lock-step NATO unity on Ukraine is likely … Continue reading “Was Biden Unaware That Human Lemmings Freeze?”

The US has thrown down the gauntlet. A showdown may come "in the coming weeks," if sanity does not prevail. White House and Pentagon spokesmen keep insisting, as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl did on Aug. 14: "What’s important for us right now is to make sure that Beijing understands that our … Continue reading “Will China Mess With US Warships Headed for Taiwan Strait?”