Is war with Russia inevitable? Reading the Western press, one would have the impression that the Russians are not only poised to "invade" Ukraine but ready to nuke all of Europe. But how serious is the ‘Russian threat’? Is there even such a thing as a Russian threat? Is Russia threatening anyone? If not, who is doing the threatening and why?

To answer these questions, one needs to consider some constants of Anglo-Saxon geopolitics. Alfred Mackinder, the British geographer who invented the discipline, said that if the British were to dominate the world, they would first have to ‘divide the World-Island.’ The World-Island is Eurasia plus Africa. If you look at the map, you can see one continuous landmass. Ukraine represents a key strategic target for dividing the Eurasian landmass, cutting off the European peninsula from integration with Russia.

Anglo-American interests started First World War
At the start of the twentieth century, the German industrial domination of Europe threatened British global hegemony. The Berlin to Baghdad railway would have enabled Germany to gain access to Mesopotamian oil reserves, gaining a significant advantage over the British. Germany’s alliance with the Ottoman Empire was propitious to that end. To weaken and eventually break up the Ottoman Empire, the British supported ethno-nationalist separatism; to destroy Germany, they would have to force it into a protracted war. And once war erupted in the Balkans, Germany’s plans for the Berlin to Bagdad railway would be frustrated.

The result of a largely British orchestrated system of fragile alliances was the First World War. The war led to the death of about forty million people. France lost over a million of its fittest and bravest young men. Europe never really recovered from the First World War.