A Coup Within The World's Largest Nuclear Power? Sounds Good To The Biden Admin
_Submiited by Liam Cosgrove_,
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)Whether or not what transpired over the weekend was a legitimate coup attempt or strategic theater by Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin **, it was understood by the western press and US government to be an attempted coup**. This article will operate under that assumption to scrutinize the first-order thinking displayed by many hawkish pundits and Biden officials.
**There were reports that Prigozhin occupied — in under 24 hours — Rostov-on-Don on Saturday.** This city is the headquarters for Russia’s Southern Military District. Just 60 miles from the border of this district is the Engels-2 airbase, home to several (https://www.timesofisrael.com/blasts-rock-two-russian-bases-one-housing-nuclear-capable-bombers/) long-range nuclear bombers. Considering the proximity between these nukes and Russia’s most notorious mercenary, this should have been a wake-up call to the Biden administration.
Still, at Monday’s State Department briefing, the administration seemed unphased if not a little pleased by the coup:
> A supposed "coup" in the world's largest nuclear power resolved peacefully.
>
> While State Dept seemed to welcome Prigozhin's revolt, it refused to engage questions from The Grayzone's @cosgrove\_iv (https://twitter.com/cosgrove_iv?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) on the dangers of Russia's nuclear arsenal falling into the Wagner leader's hands. pic.twitter.com/6t3RreCrAe (https://t.co/6t3RreCrAe)
>
> — The Grayzone (@TheGrayzoneNews) June 27, 2023 (https://twitter.com/TheGrayzoneNews/status/1673509380602339333?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
**The reaction came just one week after President Biden warned (https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2023-06-22/biden-admin-pressed-reckless-escalation-us-involvement-ukraine) a group of California donors that the threat of Putin using a nuclear bomb is "real."** Prigozhin’s main gripes with Russia’s top military brass is that they haven’t been aggressive enough in their fight, saying (https://news.yahoo.com/prigozhin-says-wagnerites-no-longer-024943884.html) earlier this year that his mercenary group would not be taking any more prisoners of war and would instead “kill everyone on the battlefield.”
This man could have commandeered part of the Russian nuclear arsenal over the weekend… and that’s a good thing?
**While State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller withheld his excitement, other “experts” were not so coy.** Stanford professor and former US ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul celebrated the chaos over the weekend, saying it proved that the West should get even more aggressively involved in the war:
> Instead of doubling down with more force to crush the mutiny, Putin accepted humiliation instead. He was the rat trapped in the corner that so many Putinologists have told us to fear. But he didn't lash out & go crazy. He negotiated & with a traitor. 4/
>
> — Michael McFaul (@McFaul) June 25, 2023 (https://twitter.com/McFaul/status/1672930752785448961?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
**This really sums up the neocon mindset.** After miraculously averting what could have been an existential crisis (civil war in a country with 6,0000 nuclear warheads) and with minimal bloodshed, McFaul’s instinctual emotional response is not gratitude and relief but greed and self-assurance, which he immediately uses to further his interventionist dogma. Like someone with a gambling addiction, he thinks: _Great, I didn’t lose on that hand. Surely I can win a couple more while I’m hot_.
Here was the analysis of ”no comment” (https://twitter.com/TheGrayzoneNews/status/1668732465635119106) Paul Massaro from the The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe:
> russia is weaker than ever
>
> — Paul Massaro (@apmassaro3) June 24, 2023 (https://twitter.com/apmassaro3/status/1672676644731990018?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
This reaction may take the cake. **It’s Peter Ziehan — the guy whose appeal is his ability to discuss geopolitics with the factual rigor and vocal inflections of a gossiping housewife — calling the coup “delicious”:**
I cannot not sum up the establishment’s reaction to the weekend’s events any better than venture capitalist David Sacks, whose long-form tweet (https://twitter.com/DavidSacks/status/1672716197379596295) from Saturday evening I’ll include in full below:
**_What’s better: negotiated peace or nuclear chaos?_**
_It looks like the crisis in Russia is abating after many premature predictions, dunks, and celebrations. We’ve come to expect such behavior from mids like Kinzinger, but the participation of so many more serious American policy makers and …
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/coup-within-worlds-largest-nuclear-power-sounds-good-biden-admin