According to Chomsky, the contemporary record shows that Minsk 2 wasn't a sham and the Germans and French were sincere about negotiating with Russia; remember the British and US were purposely kept away from Minsk, and they wanted to 'freeze' the conflict and avoid escalation into a full-blown civil war in Ukraine.

A war inside Ukraine would clearer drag Russia in, because their are millions of Russians in Ukraine and it has colossal strategic importance for Russia, not least Crimea.

It's only now that the Germans offer the idea that they were only involved in Minsk 2 as a clever way to string the Russians along whilst they poured money and weapons into Ukraine and prepared for war. But is this new rationale, in fact true? Or is it an exercise in damage limitation?

The Germans politiciasn would prefer, in relation to public opinion in Germany, to appear like 'smart liars', than 'cowed vassals' under the yoke of London and Washington. The idea that if Washington wants a war in Europe, it gets a war in Europe, regardless of what Germany or France might want; is really explosive territory to get into, with potential massive consequensces.

The Americans destroyed Nord Stream 2, effectively crippling the Germany economy, and there's nothing the Germans can do about it, because Germany isn't sovereign and isn't in charge of its own destiny. It's a vassal state.

The awkward question then arises, is Washington ready to see Germany destroyed, and other European countries, surely a small price to pay for defeating Russia? Of course no European leader dares go anywhere near such a frightening scenario.

One can imagine Washington calculating that they can keep a nuclear war confined to Europe and the Russians won't dare hit the continental United States. That's some gamble!