State Terrorism and the Collapse of NATO

The Despair of a Losing Empire

By Frank Dumon
 

The geopolitical tectonics of the world have irrevocably shifted, and this earthquake runs straight through the Ukrainian steppe. While the West clings to the remnants of its unipolar hegemony, Russia is making something painfully clear on the battlefield and beyond: the time of Western illusions is over. The West, and NATO in particular, finds itself at its weakest point this century. The United States proves unable even to manage an asymmetric confrontation with Iran to its advantage, let alone win a symmetric war against a nuclear and industrial powerhouse like Russia. Europe, reduced to a collection of vassal states desperately trying to secure their energy supplies while serving American interests, is militarily and economically hollowed out.

In this context of systemic Western weakness and strategic panic, we see a dangerous and telling escalation. Ukraine, under the leadership of Vladimir Zelensky, has begun what he himself calls a "40-day drone campaign." But it is not the military threat of these drones that reveals the true nature of current Western policy; it is the rhetoric and tactics that accompany them. Zelensky has publicly dared to threaten Russian civilian aviation, speculating about shooting down civilian aircraft and then playing the victim when international flights are cancelled.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has rightly classified these threats for what they are: **state terrorism**. The fact that the West refuses to condemn this open threat to innocent civilian lives definitively tears off the mask of the so-called "rules-based international order." What we see today is not the convulsion of a determined alliance, but the pure, unadulterated desperation of a paper tiger that can only bite through terrorism. In this article for *Jakobijn*, we dissect the anatomy of this Western defeat, the myth of their military supremacy, Ukraine's demographic suicide, and the definitive, metaphysical rupture between Russia and a Europe that has fallen back into its oldest, darkest reflexes.

The Anatomy of State Terrorism: The Last Refuge of the Weak

When a military alliance that together represents more than half of global gross domestic product and military spending has to resort to threatening passenger aircraft, you know that conventional warfare has failed. NATO's military leaders and their political masters in Washington, London, and Paris are not just arrogant; they are fundamentally incompetent. They still live in the delusion that they can act with impunity, driven by an imperial hubris that is blind to the reality on the battlefield.

Kyiv has been systematically dismantled for days, and in fact for months. Russian forces have been conducting non-stop airstrikes on military, industrial, and storage facilities for more than eight days. We are talking about eight to nine airstrikes per day, with the population of Kyiv rushing from one shelter to another. This is the new reality of Ukrainian life. But the impact goes far beyond the capital. An estimated 90% of Ukraine's transport infrastructure is currently paralyzed. Access to the Black Sea, particularly around Mykolaiv (Nikolaev) and other coastal areas, is completely cut off.

When a state loses its regular military capabilities, terrorism remains as the only weapon. And terrorism is precisely the only weapon left for a weak NATO. The West has become a paper tiger. Western strategic planners think they can break the Russian will with targeted acts of terror, sabotaging infrastructure, or threatening civilian aviation. They do not understand the implications of their actions, or worse: they do not care. They are willing to hold the entire world hostage to mask their own incompetence.

During a recent press conference in Bishkek, on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), Putin was asked by a British journalist whether British defence facilities on British soil had now become legitimate military targets, given direct British involvement in long-range strikes on Russia. Putin refused to name specific targets, classifying the answer as "secret." But the message was crystal clear and understood throughout the West: *You wanted this, and you will get it.* The West has blurred the line between warfare and state terrorism, and Russia will respond accordingly. The time for gloves is over.

The Myth of Western Military Supremacy

To understand the current desperation of the West, we must look back at the foundations of their military strategy, or the lack thereof. There is a persistent myth in the West, perpetuated by a compliant press and a complacent political elite, about the "finest fighting force in history." The reality of recent years, and in particular the catastrophic failure of the Pentagon-planned Ukrainian counteroffensive in the summer of 2023, has shattered this myth.

Let's recall the facts of 2023. The counteroffensive was planned down to the smallest detail by American military and NATO officers. Operational control extended to the battalion and company level. Russian commanders watched in disbelief as these so-called "experts" sent Ukrainian troops to their deaths. The result? An absolute catastrophe. Two hundred thousand pieces of human "cannon fodder" were sacrificed, and Ukrainian troops did not even manage to reach the *first* line of Russian defences, let alone break through the minefields and the "Surovikin Line." They were destroyed in the "security zone," far in front of the main body of Russian forces.

This fiasco revealed the deep, systemic incompetence of the American and European military establishment. The men and women who planned this war are amateurs. They were trained in an academic environment more reminiscent of a university campus than a military academy. Take, for example, the British army, to which the US recently seemed to want to delegate operational command of the war against Russia in an attempt to evade its own responsibility. The British officer corps is a laughingstock. Their military training lasts a mere 44 weeks and is full of courses in philosophy and English literature, instead of the harsh, ruthless reality of modern, combined arms operations against a near-peer adversary. They produce "well-known comps" (well-dressed officers in suits) who have absolutely no idea how an industrial war in the 21st century is fought.

European air defence has been systematically suppressed and demilitarised by the Russian General Staff. This was no accident; it was a deliberate, steady operation to erode NATO's air cover over Ukraine. What many people in the West still refuse to see is that Ukraine was merely one of NATO's military 'buffers'. NATO would never have dared to enter into a direct conflict with Russia, because in that case, they, along with their armies, would simply cease to exist. The defeat of the West on the battlefield is complete, and they are now trying to conceal this with smokescreens of drone strikes and media productions.

'Shock and Awe': The Cowardice of the American War Machine

If the American military is incapable of winning a symmetric war, what *can* they do? The answer is as predictable as it is morally reprehensible: bombing defenceless civilians. American military doctrine, often packaged in the euphemistic term *Shock and Awe*, is essentially nothing more than state terrorism on an industrial scale.

It has become a time-honoured tradition for the United States to bomb weddings. From Vietnam to Iraq, from Afghanistan to the recent tragic incidents in Iran and Yemen; the US Air Force has an "impressive" track record of killing civilians, women, and children. Look at recent events in Iran, where the US, in its arrogance, thought it could ignore Iranian air defences. They were humiliated. The Iranian response showed that US bases in West Asia are extremely vulnerable. But when the US faces an enemy that fights back, or when they cannot defeat an enemy in open battle, they direct their cruise missiles and drones at civilian targets.

The USS Abraham Lincoln is rusting. And with it, US hegemonic power.

After 286 days at sea, the American aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln finally arrived in port, giving the outside world a clear view of the ship that had attracted much attention for months. What the cameras captured was shocking: a massive warship covered in rust, visibly exhausted. The rust was not just on the hull. It revealed the hidden costs and mounting strain of America's overstretched hegemony.

On Wednesday, the Abraham Lincoln docked at Laem Chabang in Thailand after a gruelling and record-breaking mission in the Middle East. It was the aircraft carrier's first port visit since November last year. The crew is expected to use the stop to "rest and recharge" amid media reports of their deteriorating mental health, before returning to their home port in San Diego.

The nearly 335-meter-long warship was heavily rusted from bow to stern. On social media, some users joked that the ship had "barely escaped the Persian Gulf," while others wondered if it was heading for the scrapyard. Even the ship's captain admitted to the media that the aircraft carrier "looks like a dirty car in a parking lot."

With four of the total eleven aircraft carriers deployed in the Middle East for Washington's war against Iran and other ships requiring long-term maintenance, the US Navy is forced to keep ships in service longer than necessary. There are broader problems facing the US Navy, including limited shipyard capacity, weakened maintenance capabilities, and a shortage of skilled labour, which exacerbates the situation.

The United States has maintained a massive military presence in key regions for decades, including the Asia-Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East. In its pursuit of maintaining so-called "global leadership" through a widespread network of military missions, Washington has placed increasingly heavy burdens on its ships, personnel, and logistical systems. But the Lincoln's prolonged deployment in the Middle East, the increasing maintenance delays, and crew fatigue point to something much larger than the condition of a single aircraft carrier. Together, they reveal the strain on a global military machine that has been running at full throttle for far too long.

It is a tangible manifestation of the "muscle atrophy" of American hegemony, exposing a growing gap between hegemonic ambitions and actual capabilities. Aircraft carriers are more than just weapons. Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once called American aircraft carriers "100,000 tons of diplomacy," highlighting their role in exerting pressure, reinforcing deterrence, and projecting American global power. That is why the US regularly sends aircraft carriers to other regions to show their military muscle and send deterrence signals to the world. Today, this "muscle," which once symbolized American military might, is covered in rust. 

The only military capability the US truly masters, without risking a crushing defeat in an open conflict, is terrorising the Third World. They can no longer conduct large-scale, combined operations. They lack the Table of Organization and Equipment (TO&E), the logistical backbone, and the industrial base to compensate for material losses. The United States simply no longer produces high-quality ammunition and armoured vehicles in the numbers needed for a war of attrition. The M1 Abrams tanks, presented by the West as the holy grail of armoured power, proved extremely vulnerable to Russian drones and anti-tank missiles on the Ukrainian battlefield. All the US can do now is upgrade existing equipment or add heavier armour, which does not fix the fundamental design flaws.

When we look at US actions, whether in the Middle East or through proxies in Eastern Europe, we see a pattern of cruelty that is no mistake, but policy. Bombing civilian targets is a conscious choice, born of military impotence. And the Western mainstream media, including the editorial boards of newspapers like *The New York Times* and broadcasters like *Fox News*, serve as the propaganda mechanism that justifies these war crimes. They should answer to an international tribunal, because they are the architects of the lies that make these massacres possible.

The Demographic Abyss and the Slaviansk Meat Grinder

While the West loses itself in rhetoric about "democracy" and "freedom," a demographic tragedy of unprecedented proportions is unfolding in Ukraine. The figures, even those reluctantly admitted by the demographic departments in Kyiv themselves, are chilling. Ukraine began 2022 with a population of about 32.5 million. Now, in 2026, that number has plummeted to barely 22 million.

We are talking about a loss of 10 million people in just four years. Where have these people gone? About 5 million of them have fled; some 2 million found refuge in Russia, while the rest moved to Europe. But Europe, already groaning under the internal tensions of migration, is about to turn its back on these people. The remaining 5 million? They have been killed, maimed, are missing, or taken prisoner. Ukraine is not just losing a war; it is losing its future, its workforce, and its biological survival.

The desperation of the regime in Kyiv is so great that it is now resorting to mobilising women. They are trying to build an army that requires decades of training, doctrine, and institutional building, simply by going out into the streets and kidnapping random passers-by and sending them to the front lines. This is no longer an army; this is a meat grinder.

On the battlefield, we see the results of this madness. The Russian offensive around Kramatorsk and Slaviansk has entered a new, relentless phase. The northern group of the Russian army is in full motion southward, towards Slaviansk. Russian reconnaissance groups (DRGs) are already operating within the city limits. What lies south of Slaviansk is a series of flat fields, without significant forest cover or natural barriers. It is a direct, unprotected road to Pavlohrad and ultimately to Dnipropetrovsk. At this moment, heavy fighting is already taking place around the Seversky Donets River and the supply routes.

There is no escape. Ukrainian troops are being systematically encircled and destroyed. They lack air support, they lack ammunition, and they lack training. Western deliveries of Patriot air defence systems and HIMARS rocket launchers have been largely disabled or proven ineffective. The MIM-104 Patriot missiles, touted by the West as the ultimate shield, have proven in practice unable to intercept Russian cruise missiles or hypersonic weapons. They can at best shoot down a stray, slow-flying aircraft. Ukrainian air defence has been blinded, and the Russian air force is now flying unhindered over Odesa and other deep rear areas for the first time since the start of the war.

The Strategic Stranglehold: Infrastructure and the Black Sea

Russia has kept its gloves on all this time. In the first and second years of the conflict, Moscow deliberately chose a war of attrition. They did not want to cause mass civilian casualties, nor did they want to unduly harm the world economy by completely cutting Ukraine off from the Black Sea, which would jeopardise the grain deal. There was a certain restraint, an attempt to stabilise global markets and offer the West a way out.

That time is over. The West mistook Russia's restraint for weakness. Now that NATO and Kyiv have resorted to acts of terror and are attacking Russia's own infrastructure, Moscow has rewritten the rules of the game. If a civilian facility is used as a barracks, as an ammunition depot, or as a shelter for launch installations, it loses its protected status and becomes a legitimate target.

The Ukrainian army has systematically hidden behind the civilian population. They placed ammunition depots in shopping malls, they parked HIMARS launchers in the courtyards of apartment blocks, and they hid radar installations in residential areas. They counted on Russia not daring to attack for fear of the Western media reaction. It was a calculation that perfectly illustrates the West's moral bankruptcy: the use of human shields as a cornerstone of NATO strategy.

Now that Russia has taken off the gloves, we see the result. Transport infrastructure is 90% paralyzed. The bridges are gone, the railways are destroyed, the power plants lie in ruins. Ukraine is effectively cut off from the Black Sea. The grain deal is a dead letter; Russia no longer cares whether food prices rise in Europe or whether energy markets are disrupted. Ukraine as a functioning state is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. The West can still send some grain and electronics, but it cannot stop the demographic and infrastructural drain.

The Metaphysical Rupture: Russia's Definitive Farewell to Europe

Perhaps the most profound and irreversible change brought about by this war is not military or economic in nature, but psychological and cultural. A **metaphysical rupture** has occurred between Russia and Europe. This is a fundamental shift in the Russian state and popular consciousness that has no parallel in modern history.

Even during the Cold War, when ideological antagonisms were sharp and the threat of nuclear apocalypse constantly loomed, there was still a certain cultural connection with, or at least respect for, Europe in Russia. One saw Europeans as a people with a shared, albeit contested, history. That time is irrevocably over. The vast majority of Russians today look at Europe with pure contempt, if not outright hatred.

Europe has returned to its historical basic instinct: the *Drang nach Osten*. It is a continent driven by a neo-Nazi ideology, a deep-rooted Russophobia, and an insatiable hunger for Russian resources. And this is no longer limited to the political elites in Brussels, Berlin, or Paris; this sentiment has penetrated deeply into the masses of the European population. The average citizen on the streets of Brussels, Milan, Paris, or Berlin does not care if Russian children die. They do not care if the Russian people are wiped off the map, as long as they have access to the riches of Siberia.

Look at Germany. Germany has emerged as the arch-enemy of the Russian people. The complete break with the West is a fact. Russia no longer sees Europe as a negotiating partner, let alone an equal. Europe is a "decomposing terrorist structure" – a disintegrating, morally bankrupt entity. Moscow will no longer talk to Berlin, Paris, or London. If any negotiations take place about the architecture of the new world order, they will be exclusively between Moscow and Washington.

Even figures like Marco Rubio in the US occasionally show a glimmer of common sense by advocating for maintaining communication lines, regardless of the situation. But Europe? Europe has put itself out of the game. They have chosen the role of fanatical, irrational crusader, and Russia has classified them as terrorists. And you do not negotiate with terrorists; you neutralise them.

Institutional Decay: CIA, Media, and the Monroe Doctrine 2.0

The West's defeat is not just a failure on the battlefield; it is a symptom of a deeper, systemic decay of Western institutions. The CIA, once feared for its global intelligence networks, has become an organisation that is primarily good at facilitating drug trafficking, orchestrating coups in Latin America, and carrying out targeted assassinations. The ability to gather strategic intelligence, analyse it, and accurately assess an adversary's intentions has completely disappeared. They misjudged the war in Ukraine, they underestimated the resilience of the Russian economy, and they miscalculated the Iranian response. The CIA is a relic of a bygone era, led by bureaucrats who do not understand how the multipolar world of the 21st century functions.

American politics is equally a victim of this decay. We see leaders who, surrounded by psychopaths and military amateurs (like the current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who is a pilot and knows nothing about large-scale ground operations), base their decisions on what they see on television. When a president or candidate, like Donald Trump, lets his worldview be shaped by the daily dose of propaganda from *Fox News*, you are witnessing the infantilisation of American geopolitics. The editorial boards of these media outlets, and their liberal counterparts like *The New York Times*, are complicit in war crimes. They feed the population with a Gibsonian propaganda machine, an alternate reality in which Ukraine wins, the Russian economy collapses, and NATO is invincible. They are not just lying to the public; they are lying to their own policymakers.

The US finds itself in an untenable position. They have exhausted their strategic reserves, their industrial base is weakened, and their allies are unreliable or weak. The inevitable consequence is that the United States will be forced to withdraw into its own hemisphere. We already see the contours of a **Monroe Doctrine 2.0** emerging. The US will be compelled to abandon its imperial overstretch and focus on its own region, leaving the shards of its European empire behind.

And what happens to those European vassals? Take France. Demographic studies point to an inescapable reality: France will cease to exist as a united, sovereign state, probably sometime between 2035 and 2050. The official figures on immigration (which claim it is around 25%) are a gross lie; the actual numbers are much higher and social cohesion has long since disappeared. France is losing its land, its identity, and its future. Germany stares into the abyss of de-industrialisation and energy poverty. The United Kingdom, which thought it could project its "Global Britain," is a military and economic shadow of its former self. They are not only defeated on the battlefield in Ukraine; they are defeated by history itself.

Conclusion: The Crucible of the New World Order

What we are currently experiencing is the birth of a new world order, and the crucible in which it is being forged is the battlefield of Ukraine and the ruins of Ukrainian cities. The West asked for this fight. They fuelled this conflict, they pushed for NATO expansion, they swept Russian security concerns off the table, and they chose confrontation, not only with Russia but also with Iran and China. They thought they had fixed the rules of the game forever in the unipolar moment of the 1990s. They have been sorely mistaken.

The consequences of their actions are now fully visible. The blowback is no longer a theoretical concept; it is the reality of paralyzed Ukrainian infrastructure, destroyed Western armoured vehicles, the demographic collapse of Kyiv, and the loss of European industry. The West is being forced to confront the consequences of its own imperial overreach.

Russia has not only won the war; it has demonstrated the will and the capacity to redefine the architecture of global security. While NATO stoops to state terrorism and threatening civilian aviation, Russia is building a multipolar reality in which sovereignty, military strength, and industrial independence are the only currencies that matter.

For the readers of De Jakobijn who have always taken the systemic critique of Western capitalism and imperialism seriously, this should come as no surprise. The military-industrial complex has failed. The propaganda machine has failed. The moral superiority of the West has been exposed as a hollow lie, covered in the blood of civilians and the ashes of burned cities. History is ruthless towards empires that start believing their own myths. And as the sun sets on the unipolar era, only one certainty remains: the West chose this war, but it is Russia that will dictate the peace.

Sources

Andrei Martyanov is a veteran, maritime strategist, and internationally recognised expert on Russian military doctrine and geopolitics. He is the author of several groundbreaking books.

Global Times a leading media channel.