“Washington's bias toward war.”

“Washington’s bias toward war.”

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A conversation with Col. Lawrence Wilkerson.

Once again, war clouds gather over eastern Ukraine. 

In recent weeks we have witnessed a surge in fighting in the Donbas region of Ukraine, accompanied by what is said to be a massing of Russian troops on Russia’s border with the tragically fractious nation caught in America’s geopolitical crossfire. The Pentagon’s European Command has raised its alert status to the highest level.

A press release from the Pentagon tells us that Defense Secretary Austin now assures his Ukrainian counterpart that the U.S. is committed “to building the capacity of Ukraine’s forces to defend more effectively against Russian aggression.” 

All this as Ukrainian President Zelenskiy pushes for Ukraine to join NATO amid a chorus of new Cold Warriors in Washington and Brussels calling for more sanctions against Russia.

The Scrum counts this a major crisis in the making. And to discuss these developments, we are very honored to be joined in this webcast by the astute, ever-pithy Lawrence Wilkerson. 

Col. Wilkerson had a long and distinguished career in the United States Army, where he was a member of the faculty of the U.S. Naval War College. He later served as special assistant to General Colin Powell while the latter was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the administration of George H.W. Bush. Wilkerson later served as director of the U.S. Marine Corps War College at Quantico, Virginia.

Wilkerson returned to public service in the early 2000s, this time at the State Department, as associate director of the Policy Planning Staff under Richard Haas and, from 2002 to 2005, as secretary of state Colin Powell’s chief of staff.

He is currently a distinguished adjunct professor of government and public policy at The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. 

Our conversation covered ground ranging from the proximate causes of the Ukrainian crisis to the “venality” of America’s foreign policy elite—those running “a predatory, crony-capitalist state in league with a national security state that finds its raison d’être in making war,” as the colonel not-so-delicately puts it.

Wilkerson’s critique of U.S. foreign policy since the end of the Cold War is nothing short of devastating. If only Washington would wake up and listen.

—James W. Carden and Patrick Lawrence.