Russia expert on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight': US 'sleepwalking' toward new 'Cuban Missile Crisis'
Clinton Ehrlich warned of dire consequences for Americans at home if a war is commenced
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The United States and the D.C. "warmonger" establishment is "sleepwalking" the country into a war with Russia by its potential intercession in the affairs of Ukraine, a Russian policy expert told Fox News on Tuesday.
On "Tucker Carlson Tonight," host Tucker Carlson implicated media figures in what he said was cheering on a potential conflict with a rival nation that has a 4,000-strong nuclear weapons arsenal.
Carlson criticized Joe Scarborough, who recently claimed on MSNBC that the United States must be "aggressive" in defense of Ukraine as an American ally.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Despite what you hear, we have to defend our Democratic allies," Scarborough said. "It is time for the Biden White House to start speaking more clearly and more aggressively, and telling us how they are going to stop this invasion from happening."
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Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images)
Carlson asked Russia policy expert Clinton Ehrlich about Scarborough's comments, as well as a hypothetical situation in which neighboring Mexico were suddenly occupied by Chinese forces; comparing it to what could happen in Ukraine if the United States acts similarly toward the Russian neighbor.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I would say that’s Russia’s perspective," Ehrlich replied. "But here we have people arguing even if the Russians don’t invade Ukraine, that we need to invade and kick the Russians out of Crimea — that was in an op-ed from a senior Obama official this week. I would say we're dealing with warmongers — unserious people whose policy prescriptions have deadly, serious consequences."
Carlson replied that such officials and pundits have decades-long records of failure and have helped diminish the United States' position in the world since the end of World War II.
U.S. President Joe Biden. (REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst )
"They like to portray themselves as Cold Warriors, but the architect of America’s strategy during the Cold War, George Kennan, warned that NATO expansion could lead us to a war with Russia — and he has been vindicated. We're now on the precipice of that kind of conflict," Ehrlich said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Many NATO officials don't want Ukraine in the alliance because of its history of government corruption, he added.
"It’s more of a liability than it would be a military asset. People are pushing this simply argue that it needs to happen because Russia shouldn’t have a veto over who is in NATO," he said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Russian President Vladimir Putin. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool)
"Even when it’s in our mutual interest to not have a state in NATO, we have to insist they will be added just to spite the Russians."
Ehrlich said an escalated conflict with Putin's Kremlin over Ukraine will be "sleepwalking toward conflict with a country with more than 4,000 nuclear weapons."
"The Russians are talking about potentially deploying strategic forces to Cuba and Venezuela in a repeat of the Cuban Missile Crisis. It’s shocking that people are not more upset about this because the lives of Americans are being threatened over a situation where we have no vital strategic national interest."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Ehrlich added that unlike the United States in the time since 1865, Russia has had recent wars fought on its soil. Therefore, Putin understands the risks of such a war.
"Our policymakers just imagine that war can never reach us," he said. "The reality is you and I are in danger from this conflict. The people we love are in danger. It’s incredibly disturbing that this is happening."