Tag: Russia

The Roots in the Rebellion

It’s impossible to even begin to understand why Russia has invaded Ukraine without understanding the recent history of Ukraine and the Donbass republics.

April 5 and May 1, 2014 was the heart of the Ukrainian “Maidan” debacle. Elements of the junta, governors appointed from Kiev, moved southeast to the Donbass to take the profitable firms there to sell them off to the west to pay debts. A quickly organized revolt was labor’s answer and an armed uprising was the result. Russian volunteers, especially Cossacks, quickly came to the aid of the Donbass and reinforced their armed forces. On March 16, a referendum in Crimea overwhelmingly joined with Russia, as the population there had always been pro-Russian. Early May was the first failed Kievan attempt to retake the area. In response, a group of thugs burned alive more than 40 sympathizers in Odessa on the same day as the invasion failed.

While referendums were the norm in the Donbass and Crimea, in Kiev, no elections were ever held. The billionaire oligarch Poroshenko was appointed president by western bankers who held Ukraine’s debt. Russian gas chief Alexei miller said little had been paid on the Ukraine’s gas debt. Russia offered a loan to Ukraine to assist them since, by early April, Ukrainian economic production had come to a halt. Foreign aid was her only means of staying afloat.

As with the protests of 2004, all promises made by the leaders of the coup were immediately discarded and broken. In Kiev, the new government decreed 20-40% cost increases on public transportation. Prices went up by about 30% the first week. Most hospitals operated at 20-30% capacity. Volunteers were needed to staff what remained. Hot water and heat went up by 65%. Ministry of Finance of Ukraine admitted that drug prices increased by 60-70% in the country in the first week of the Junta. Over the past two months, Ukraine has not officially admitted 13.5 thousand. Russian citizens, 98 of them are denied entry into the country for long periods. The pharmacy chains in Kiev more than three-fold increased sales of antidepressants. Drug prices in Kiev have increased by 1.5 – 2 times, there is a shortage of essential drugs, including insulin. To cover for this, Ukrainian media continue fanning hysteria and intimidation. One headline from the online news agency “UNIAN” (owned by the Jewish oligarch Kolomoisky): “Russia instructed the separatists to kill 100-200 people” and that “Kievan s should construct bomb shelters” due to the alleged invasion of Ukraine.2

The governor of Dnepropetrovsk region, the oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, promised $10,000 for each DNI soldier or sympathizer killed. Oleg Tsarev was the coordinator of the Southeast resistance in the Ukraine. The Coordination Center will be located in Donetsk. The oligarch Kolomoisky was paying mercenaries to attack the DNI, since most of the Ukrainian army fled or went over to the rebels. Kiev was promising Berkut members $100,000 and up to attack DNI positions. The general Staff in Kiev wrote themselves bonuses amounting to almost 10 million hyrvna.

About 5000 Ukrainians a day were applying for visas to move to Russia. Putin and Medvedev sought cooperation to rebuild the moribund Ukrainian economy. In Donetsk to help the defenders of the Donetsk region miners organized themselves into three battalions of 200 people each. Leadership of the Donetsk People’s Republic announced the creation of a “people’s army” and the beginning of the preparation of the referendum to be held on 11 May.

Under Donetsk activists with St. George ribbons blocked, and deployed artillery brigade of the Ukrainian army. The authorities began the “anti-terrorist operation” in Slavyansk. The operation began after a confidential visit to Kiev by CIA Director John Brennan. He confirmed that 20 US citizens were lost in the attacks on the DNI from the Blackwater group.

To cover for Ukrainian defeats, the story of a “Russian invasion: was invented from whole cloth. It was covered and repeated without evidence and without question. Ukraine began plans to nationalize Russian assets. Public debt was now 60% of GDP, though the real figure is much higher. Much of Kiev saw regular power outages continually. The Rovno and other nuclear planet sere shut down for lack of personnel and money to operate. In the mining industry and metallurgy the decline in production was about 10.7%; the chemical industry, by 5.3%, in engineering, almost 20%. Gas prices went up 20% further in march.

The Kiev government began a round up and execution of its enemies. From January to February 2014, 5172 were executed in Kiev prisons. 10,000 were killed immediately after the coup and another 5,000 in March. Kiev cut off the canal supplying fresh water to Crimea’;s farmers, ruining the harvest. Strikes in industry and mines in western Ukraine turned pro-Russian….

One of the most bizarre developments in foreign policy in recent memory is the constant demand for war with China and Russia. No one is entirely sure what either nation has done.

Now they’ve got the war that they’ve been demanding, but apparently, not the sort of war they were expecting.

It’s evident that what currently passes for the Russo-Ukrainian war is not over Ukraine’s territory or its people, but rather, is aimed at the neocon-funded Orange Revolution that installed the current regime. The fact that the US, NATO, and EU are all willing to go to extremes to keep the illegitimate Zelensky in regime should suffice to show the delicate state of the neo-liberal world order, just as the fact that the Russians were willing to upset what was a stable and mutually profitable situation tends to indicate either a) something was developing in Ukraine that absolutely had to be stopped by force or b) this limited conflict is simply the first stage, and the initial front, of a much larger Sino-Russian challenge to the global satanists and their imperial disorder.

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The Bad Guy Tell

It’s not hard to discern which party to the Russo-Ukrainian conflict are the bad guys. Here’s a hint: it’s the one that publicly punishes people for nothing more than daring to hold an opinion about their homeland.

Russian grandmaster Sergey Karjakin is facing disciplinary action from the International Chess Federation (FIDE) after expressing support for his country’s military operation in Ukraine.

In an open letter to President Vladimir Putin shared on social media on Sunday, the Crimean-born Karjakin said he fully backed the effort to fight “for the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine.”

“I appeal to you at this difficult time, when our country, led by you, is fighting for the safety of the peaceful Russian population of Donbass and the Lugansk People’s Republic,” wrote the 32-year-old.

“It is fighting for the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine with its ruling regime, which has put the security of all of Europe and our country at risk, for the sake of its political goals and ambitions.

“I am closely following the ongoing special operation, in the lands where I spent my childhood, where I learned to play chess and where my relatives still live.

“For eight long years we have been waiting with hope for salvation from countless shelling and loss of human lives, the ongoing genocide by the still acting Kiev regime.

“I express to you, our commander-in-chief, full support in protecting the interests of Russia, our multinational Russian people, eliminating threats and establishment of peace! I wish you the speedy fulfillment of all the tasks assigned to our valiant army.”

Anyone who actually looks into the matter will quickly discern that the Russians are not only in the right, they are being very careful to keep the violence and bloodshed to a minimum. Globohomo, on the other hand, is lurching about and lashing about on all sides, from chess federations to soccer games, in its attempt to control the narrative.

Ask yourself this: do you think China’s response to Taiwan and Singapore joining NATO, installing US missiles, and talking about using nuclear weapons against China would be anywhere nearly as circumspect as Russia’s has been?

And what do you think the reaction from the media would be if everyone who supported Ukraine started being similarly disciplined?

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That Makes Sense

The Saker explains why the Russians are surrounding the Ukrainian cities, but neither entering nor bombarding them immediately. Hint: it’s not because the brave Ukrainian grandmothers and beauty queens have been destroying dozens of T-80 tanks with tuna can openers and wine levers.

Speaking of the Chechen war, in the first one the Russian military lost a big part of an entire brigade which had quickly entered the city, moved into the city center only to find itself surrounded and cut off, with terrible communications, quasi-non existing reconnaissance capabilities. That debacle left a very painful memory in the Russian collective memory and if somebody was expecting Russian APCs to reach the Mariupol or Kharkov at full speed with flags and screams of “hurrah!” – they don’t understand what is taking place: the mistake made by Eltin’s generals during that first Chechen war will never be repeated by modern Russian commanders.

Any defeat is always a terrible tragedy, the only and best thing anybody can do after a defeat is to understand why and how it happened, and never repeat such a mistake again. That is the true reason why today Russians stopped on the outskirts of so many cities.

The bottom line is this. These are things which the Russians are trying to achieve

(1) Destroy the Ukie armed forces but kill the absolute minimum number of Ukrainian soldiers. Why? Because these surviving Ukrainian soldiers and officers are the ones who will play the main role in finally cleaning the Ukraine from the Nazi scum.
(2) Get to the outskirts of as many major Ukrainian cities and gradually begin the steps I outlined above. Convince civilians to flee and convince Ukrainian solders to lay down arms
(3) Delay any Russian penetration inside the cities until the moment is “just right”.

Why? Because Russia has ZERO intention of occupying or, even less so, rebuild or police the Ukraine, that’s why. The LDNR is as far as the Russians will go (with only a few possible exceptions).

The Kremlin decided that the goal of the operation was to 1) disarm and 2) to denazify the Ukraine. As soon as these goals are reached, the Russian want to get the hell out of the Ukraine and back into the LDNR and let the Ukrainians fight their own anti-Nazi civil war. That means that:

The Russians now must identify reasonable Ukrainian commanders and/or politicians to negotiate with
That Russia needs to offer the leftover Ukrainian ground forces the same deal which the Ukrainian forces which were tasked with the control of the Chernobyl nuclear planet were given today by the Russian forces: let’s secure this facility together and keep it secure together, with no combats of any kind. The Ukrainians gladly accepted, by the way, and now they are jointly patrolling area.
The Russian might also try something which worked well in Chechnia: tell the local town/city authorities that if they guarantee that not a single bullet will be fire from that town/city not a single Russian bullet will fly back and not a single Russian solider will enter the city, unless accompanied by locals and in order to ascertain the reality of the situation. But if a city is declared “open and peaceful” and then is used to attack Russian forces, it will be simply flattened with artillery. I call that the “Shamanov ultimatum” and, after a few false starts (and subsequently flattened towns) it worked very well.

“Ze” released a video in which he offered to negotiate directly and unconditionally, even about neutrality and any other topic. The Russian reply was simple and to the point:

(1) Russia is immediately ready to start negotiations after the Armed Forces of Ukraine lay down their arms.
(2) The Ukraine must be demilitarized and declared neutral.
(3) The Ukraine must be denazified.
(4) Russia will no longer allow the Nazis to rule in Ukraine. Ever.

After that reply, “Ze” and his aides stopped communicating.

I personally doubt that he has any control over anything. And the fact that a huge amount of weapons has been distributed to whomever wanted one today in Kiev shows that “Ze”‘s handlers have given him the order to make the biggest possible mess and bloodbath before he is evacuated.

There has been a definite air of charade and shenanigans about the media coverage of the war, to say nothing of a distinct lack of casualties and video footage. It appears the Russian approach combining quantum operational speed with strategic patience is confusing both the would-be defenders as well as the media.

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Bold Move, Cotton

I wonder if any of these brilliant “soft power” strategists have taken into account the fact that a) Russia has prepared for this move, and b) Russia and China already have a SWIFT alternative in place and ready to go.

The leaders of the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States issued a statement on Saturday, announcing the latest round of restrictive measures targeting Russia’s economy in response to Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine.

In particular, they concern “selected Russian banks,” which will be “removed from the SWIFT messaging system.” Russian Central Bank, meanwhile, will be prevented “from deploying its international reserves in ways that undermine the impact” of the sanctions.

The leaders said they will also “limit the sale of citizenship — so called golden passports — that let wealthy Russians connected to the Russian government become citizens of our countries and gain access to our financial systems.”

Finally, the countries announced plans to launch “a transatlantic task force” that will identify and freeze the assets of sanctioned entities within their jurisdiction.

As usual, the provocation is a bluff. The Prometheans aren’t willing to simply shut down SWIFT entirely because that would result in Russia simply replacing it with the Sino-Russian alternative. And because it would shut off natural gas shipments to Western Europe for lack of payment. So, they’re trying to cause enough pain to encourage submission, but not so much that would result in rejection and competition.

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China is Unimpressed

The imperial US rhetoric attempting to paint Vladimir Putin as the Hitlerist of all the Hitlers that ever Hitlered does not appear to be impressing China. Just as it is failing to convince anyone outside of the Anglo-European globohomo-controlled government-media order:

Since dramatic changes took place in Ukraine, the US, which had repeatedly promised to protect Kiev at critical moments and continued to “add fuel to the fire” of the situation, has once again come into the spotlight. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a video speech complained that Western countries have abandoned Ukraine and left it to defend itself alone. Some Western netizens even asked: Where has the US been which provoked the war and said it “stands with Ukraine?”

However, has the US really disappeared? On the contrary, it is quite busy gaining more “strategic interests” from the flames of war in Ukraine. The latest remarks by the US on the Ukraine situation released by the White House have underlined two points: First, turning Russia into “a pariah on the international stage” through sanctions and other measures; second, NATO has been “more united and more determined than ever” and this is “good news.”

As for Ukraine, which Washington uses as a pawn, in addition to reiterating that the US wouldn’t send troops there, Washington only simply said it “will support the Ukrainian people as they defend their country,” and “will provide humanitarian relief to ease their suffering.” Washington has once again displayed its selfishness and hypocrisy to the world. People have seen that after the US pushed Ukraine into the fire, it stood aside, pretending to care about the country and saying “I support you, keep fighting!”

It is fair to say the evolution of the situation in Ukraine until today is a geopolitical tragedy. From the very beginning, it’s a bitter result of the US’ strategic selfishness and shortsightedness. As early as 1998 when the US Senate approved NATO’s eastward expansion plan, the late senior US diplomat George Kennan had foreseen today’s tragedy. He said then, “This expansion would make the Founding Fathers of this country turn over in their graves.”

The US often talks about humanity, justice and morality, but what it really does is calculating interests. Washington’s strategic selfishness and hypocrisy have been laid bare again and again in international political practices. Reports indicate that at least 37 million people have been displaced in and from Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, the Philippines, Libya and Syria as a direct result of the wars fought by the US since September 11, 2001. There is even a saying that wherever the US “intervenes,” conflicts, chaos and terrorism will appear.

US’ real strategic color of selfishness, hypocrisy revealed in Ukraine crisis, Global Times, 25 February 2022

The Chinese leadership knows perfectly well precisely who, and what, is responsible for the current Russo-Ukrainian war. Notice how the official Chinese English-language mouthpiece for the CCP is very careful not to attack the American people, but focuses entirely on “the US” and “Washington”. They clearly understand the difference between the nation and The Empire That Never Ended which rules over it.

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Why Russia Would Roll On

The US Secretary of State suggests that Russia might press past Ukraine into NATO territory:

Vladimir Putin may not stop once he has taken Ukraine, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has warned, as satellite images show Russia assembling troops, armor and artillery along Belarus’s border with Poland. The massive buildup was spotted in the Belarus city of Brest, just 10 miles east of the the Polish border.

‘Russia has assembled troops, armor, artillery, and more than 50 heavy equipment transporters at a training area in Brest, the Polish border. Russia has also added more equipment at a nearby railyard in Belarus,’ said reporter Jack Detsch, a Pentagon and national security correspondent at Foreign Policy magazine.

Blinken was asked by ABC News on Thursday night whether he felt the Russian president would recall his forces once Ukraine was conquered.

‘Is it a possibility that Putin goes beyond Ukraine? Sure, it’s a possibility,’ Blinken told host David Muir.

But he stressed that progressing beyond Ukraine into neighboring Poland, Slovakia, Hungary or Romania would mean invading a NATO member country, and would automatically draw in the US, UK, France, Canada and the other nations that form the 30-country alliance.

‘There is something very powerful standing in the way of that, and it’s something we call Article Five,’ said Blinken.

In theory, sure. But Article Five is precisely why Russia is highly incentivized to attack any of the four countries concerned. Vladimir Putin now has a low-risk, low-cost opportunity to shatter NATO once and for all, and he would be remiss if he did not seriously contemplate taking advantage of the opportunity that now presents itself. This is so obvious that even the dementia-addled Fake Biden Administration is aware of it.

It’s clear that the USA, let alone the larger European states, have no desire whatsoever to go to war with the highly formidable Russian military. Even their ability to do so has to be in question given the way in which the larger Ukrainian military has melted before the Russian quantzkrieg, especially given the fact that the third-largest European military – Germany’s – is considered to be roughly comparable to the now-defeated Ukrainian forces.

So Putin now has the chance to prove to the various NATO member states that their precious treaty, including Article Five, is as worthless as the Anglo-French security guarantees given to Poland prior to World War II. In light of the strategic brilliance exhibited thus far by the Russian strategists, I cannot imagine that this thought has not occurred to Putin or any of his generals. They know there is no need to sweep across Eastern Europe to shatter NATO and render all of its promises null and void. A simple incursion in force that destroys a few NATO bases would almost certainly suffice to accomplish their objectives without risking World War III.

Words are often no more than just that, words. And history demonstrates that the average military treaty is worth less than the paper on which it was signed. NATO is a literally paper tiger, and it is in the Russian interest to demonstrate that to its members.

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The Great Predictor Strikes Again

Scott Adams wants to be fact-checked in the future. And yet, it’s already clear that he’s wrong.

Fact-Check me:

Probable Winners: China, USA, NATO unity

Probable Losers: Russia, Ukraine, Europe

24 Feb 2022·

Correction: Russia and China are the winners here. Europe will be better off if the EU is a loser along with the USA, NATO, and the ever-feckless UN. Ukraine will almost certainly be better off too. Most importantly, Scott left off the Western Democratic Neo-Liberal Rules-Based New World Order, aka Globohomo, which is the primary loser.

I have far more confidence in John Bradley’s prediction.

1 Month Later: “Hey, I just said they were the probable winners/losers, which they objectively were. That unanticipated events changed the outcome, well heck, you can’t blame that on me! I still called it correctly!”

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Quantenverschränkungskrieg*

It appears the war, such as it is, is already over. And if Vladimir Putin manages to achieve his declared objective of decapitating the evil and illegitimate government of Ukraine with such minimal force and minimal bloodshed, and replace it with a pro-Russian government that will actually govern for the benefit of the Ukrainian people, his name will rank with Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Napoleon, and Charles of Sweden as one of the greatest military leaders of all time.

Kyiv is expected to fall to Russian forces within days and the country’s resistance effectively crippled, US security officials fear, after the first day of conflict left around 100 Ukrainians dead. Troops are already closing in on the seat of Ukrainian power after taking control of the strategic Chernobyl nuclear power plant today, and will seize it within 96 hours.

Keep in mind that it took the USA three weeks and more than 30,000 dead Iraqis to take Baghdad, an astonishing performance of modern blitzkrieg that shocked and awed the world, including the Chinese military leadership. And also note that this is a report from distinctly unfriendly sources in the British media, as the spelling of Kiev clearly indicates. The Russian strategic brilliance goes well beyond lightning war and into the futuristic realm of quantum entanglement. And yet, the media is still bloviating falsehoods about the highly surgical operation.

Few expect Ukraine to emerge victorious from what is almost certain to be a prolonged, bloody, and vicious war – but so far, Kyiv’s forces have managed to inflict heavy losses on Putin’s troops.

The Russo-Ukraine war is “almost certain” to be over by this time next week, and the initial indications are that it will have been neither prolonged, nor bloody, nor vicious. Which, of course, is why the Jewish comedian who heads the preposterous, but violent puppet regime has already been reduced to publicly shrieking at the neocons and globalist leaders who egged him on rather than commanding his military forces.

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky has raged at Western cowards after his country was ‘left alone’ to face Russian troops as officials warn that Kyiv will be seized this weekend. In a video address to his nation after midnight, the president called his fallen compatriots ‘heroes’ after 137 were killed on the first day of fighting, and insisted he will stay until the bitter end.

He said: ‘They’re killing people and turning peaceful cities into military targets. It’s foul and will never be forgiven. We have been left alone to defend our state. Who is ready to fight alongside us? I don’t see anyone.’Who is ready to give Ukraine a guarantee of NATO membership? Everyone is afraid.’

He added that the enemy has already entered Kyiv.

What on Earth did he think would happen? How could he possibly have imagined anything else was ever going to be the case? What Zelensky should do is surrender to Putin tonight and accept whatever terms the Russians require. The war is already over, whether the puppets or their masters want to accept that fact and its inevitable consequences or not. No one wants to fight for the Drag Queen Democratic New World Rules-Based Neo-Liberal Order, aka globohomo, or whatever the satanists are calling themselves this week.

*Quantzkrieg for short.

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The Saker was Right

And I, quite clearly was not. I was under the impression that Russia was content to permit Ukraine to keep running its “Russia is going to attack, send us money and arms that we can sell on the black market” grift while making serious bank on the rising oil and natural gas prices as long as the globohomo governments were willing to fund it. But what I failed to account for was the active threat that was being posed by the Ukrainian forces with their constant attacks on the two Donbass republics, or the significance of the civilian evacuations there.

To his credit, the Saker saw the Russian operation coming the day before it happened.

Until the time of writing this, the Ukronazis have continued shelling and shooting, but there has been no fullscale ground attack (yet!). The Ukie special services have sent a few diversionary groups into the LDNR and even into a small strip of Russian land. These groups were detected and intercepted by the Russian Border Guards. The Ukies tried to send a BMP few infantry fighting vehicle to rescue their soliders only to have them destroyed by the Russian military’s anti-tank weapons.

Today the Ukies continued to direct their artillery attacks and diversionary groups at the LDNR. Water and electricity are off in some parts of the LDNR. People are still dying every day and there is no signs of the Ukie bombardments abating. Especially violent combats are taking place near the town of Nikolaevka.

The Ukies have also declared a state of emergency (to be approved by the Rada) and are now making more and more noises about re-arming themselves with nuclear weapons. Smart move when Putin says that the Ukraine must be disarmed… Frankly, I think that the Ukies are terrified.

I know I sure would if I was in their place.

They cannot simply retreat, there is no way Ze can order that and not be overthrown.

They cannot attack because now it is too late, all these force comparisons between the Banderastani forces and the LDNR forces have become, if not irrelevant, than at least a lot less relevant now that Putin has basically prepared both the military and the legal conditions necessary for any kind of Russian military operation, from strikes with standoff weapons, to a ground and/or amphibious assault. All he has to do now is say “go”. Judging by his tone yesterday, not only do I feel that he is willing to give that order, but I also think that he has accepted that this is the “least bad” option for Russia and the LDNR.

Again, Putin said that he fully intends to disarm the Ukraine, at least from all her heavy weapons. Since the Ukies won’t give them up, I see only one way to achieve this: disarm them by force.

So, in one way or another, I expect major combat action in the Eastern Ukraine in the next couple of days.

Keep in mind that the West’s response to Putin’s words and actions only serve to further convince Russia that 1) more sanctions and subversion is inevitable 2) violence is unavoidable.

Remember these famous words by Putin: “Fifty years ago, the streets of Leningrad taught me one thing: If a fight’s inevitable, you must strike first“?

It appears to me that the Kremlin has concluded that a violent fight is, indeed, inevitable. You figure out the rest 🙂

So where do we go from here?

I would say that major combat operations against the Ukie forces in the LDNR republics are probably inevitable and, barring some last minute miracle, the Russians will soon disarm a good part of the Ukie forces. Remember that Putin specifically added the disarmament of the Ukraine as one of his demands.

Does anybody think that anybody can stop the disarmament (we are talking about major weapon systems, not AKs) of the Ukraine by Russia in the near/middle term?

I don’t.

Next, I think that Putin will successfully impose all his demands upon the Ukraine, which means two things:

The Kiev regime will collapse, at least de facto. The rest of Banderastan will eventually break-up into different regimes and successor states.

It will remain to be seen how extensive the Russian operation – which, contra the mainstream media reports, is clearly not “a full-scale invasion” yet – turns out to be. However, I am very, very dubious that NATO, the USA, or any European government is going to send any troops to Ukraine, because that would not only guarantee the very full-scale invasion it was supposed to prevent, but increase the risk of Russia declaring war on the governments responsible.

That being said, the Saker was correct about the timing of the operation and its focus on disarming the Ukrainian forces. So, perhaps he is correct about the US/NATO being foolish enough to attempt a military intervention. Regardless, I think he is absolutely right about the threat that the Russian demonstration of force poses to the existence of NATO, and perhaps even the EU as well.

I think that there is a high probability that the US/NATO will move some forces into western Ukraine, to “protect their people and infrastructure” in and around Lvov, and to declare that “their show of unity and determination stopped Russia from invading the entire Ukraine”. I don’t think that Russia will object too much against any NATO move inside and limited to the Lvov/Ivano-Frankovsk region. These are not historically Russian lands and they are basically irrelevant to Russia.

If the US wants to Poles to oppress the Ukronazis in their own western Ukraine, nobody in Russia will care.

As for the West, to take credit for a defeat is a long US/NATO tradition, so such an operation can be used to save NATO’s face.

But that won’t be enough.

The West has already been beaten politically, and now a military defeat of some kind is probably inevitable.

I am not talking about an invasion of the entire Ukraine (God forbid!) but it will be clear to all that the Russian bear forced NATO to retreat, politically and militarily. The Anglos are too smart to volunteer for a war with Russia. The Polaks are, as always, only hiding behind the backs of their latest masters. The Balts are irrelevant.

So the only option is to fight the Russians down the the last Ukrainian and when that happens, it might not be an “NATO defeat” legally speaking, but like on 08.08.08 it will be a crushing defeat for NATO publicly. Maybe not as bad as Kabul, but much worse than Georgia in 08.08.08.

At that point, a lot of folks will be wondering if NATO is worth the money spent on. And once that process begins, there will be no stopping it.

DISCUSS ON SG

A Tale of Two Narratives

Russia announces a “special military operation” intended to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine:

Russia has taken out Ukraine’s air defenses and airforce with a series of precision attacks, the country’s Defense Ministry has said in a statement, after airports and runways across the country were rocked by explosions.

Officials also claimed on Thursday morning that Ukrainian border guards are not resisting advancing Russian troops, who have moved in after President Vladimir Putin signed an order to begin a “special operation” in the Donbass. At the same time, officials denied claims made by Kiev’s defense chiefs that Russia had lost at least one military plane over the country during the offensive.

In an earlier statement, Moscow reported that it was carrying out strikes at elements of Ukraine’s military infrastructure. Russia launched the offensive against Ukraine on Thursday morning on the orders of President Vladimir Putin, who said the goal of the operation was to demilitarize and “de-Nazify” Ukraine.

The Russian leader claimed military action was necessary to stop Ukrainian attacks on the two breakaway regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, which Moscow recognized as sovereign states on Monday. He claimed Russia could come under attack by Ukrainian radicals, unless their influence in the country is diminished, and accused Western nations of arming Kiev against Russia.

The Western media, on the other hand, reports a “Ukraine in flames” and a “full-scale invasion” by Russia.

War in Ukraine begins as Putin launches full-scale invasion: Missiles rain down on Kharkiv and tanks roll across border from Belarus as ‘hundreds’ of Ukrainians die, martial law is declared and five Russian jets are shot down.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has imposed martial law and defiantly urged his people to stay home after warmonger Vladimir Putin launched an invasion of Russia’s neighbour, plunging mainland Europe into its worst military crisis in decades.

In a video message published on Facebook after the Kremlin began its attacks, Zelenskyy said Moscow had carried out missile strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure and border guards, and that explosions had been heard in many cities, in the north, south and east of the country.

Later, the President cut diplomatic ties with Russia and pleaded with Western leaders to provide large-scale defence support and to protect Ukraine’s airspace from the ‘aggressor’.

Major General Valeriy Zaluzhny, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said this morning that he had received orders from the Ukrainian President to repel Russia’s invasion by inflicting ‘maximum losses’. The Ukrainian military claim to have killed ‘50 Russian occupiers’ so far today, shooting down six Russian planes in the process.

The mere fact that the Jewish comedian at the head of the neocons’ puppet government is still in a position to impose martial law tends to indicate that the Western media narrative is false. It’s fascinating to see the difference between the way a) Russian missile strikes on Ukraine, b) Israeli missile strikes on Syria, and c) US missile strikes, well, pretty much anywhere, are reported. It’s also informative to note the restrained tone of the Russian statements in comparison with the Baghdad Bob-style statements being issued by the Ukrainians.

This doesn’t mean that Russia won’t launch a “full-scale invasion”. But a close reading of the reports does not tend to currently support the media’s “official story” and we’ll know who is telling the truth if Kiev isn’t completely occupied by Russian troops by the end of the weekend.

There is also a third narrative, as Clandestine notes that the location of the reported Russian strikes appears to be suspiciously in harmony with the location of the US bioweapon laboratories in Ukraine. But I doubt we’ll hear much about this narrative even if it is the most consistent with what’s actually happening.

Always keep in mind that the official story as reported by the media is the one thing you can be certain is not true. I’m confident it will shock the media to discover how much support Putin has across the West, especially after two years of unrestrained vaccine dictatorship on the part of the so-called liberal democracies. The media is already openly stating that “this is not just an attack on Ukraine, it is an attack on the Western liberal democracy system and the entire Free World.”

I, for one, certainly hope so. It’s long past time to end Clownworld and its unrestrained satanry.

China has already signaled its support for Putin’s protection of the Donbass republics, has blamed the situation on the USA, and is publicly encouraging everyone else to stay out of the conflict, so I very much doubt NATO forces are going to get directly involved regardless of how comprehensive the Russian operations turn out to be.

It should be noted that it is very regrettable that the Ukrainian issue has evolved so far. The US has continued its intensive containment on Russia, which finally forced Russia to try to realize its security demands in such a way. This is the outburst of the dissatisfaction of the party whose security demands have been ignored for a long time since the end of the Cold War… all sides should leave some space for Russia and Ukraine to solve the problems. Confrontation, sanctions, or even a direct battle will not help ease tensions. The flames scattered in eastern Ukraine are reminding all parties of the fact that blindly imposing pressure will only lead to an escalation of conflicts.

All sides should give Russia, Ukraine some space to resolve issue, Global Times, 23 February 2022

But no one knows precisely how this will develop, and don’t believe anyone who claims they do.

UPDATE: It appears the Ukrainian military is already running away.

Romania scrambled two F-16 Fighting Falcon jets on Thursday morning to intercept a foreign military aircraft, the country’s defense ministry has said. The intercepted target was identified as a Ukrainian Air Force Sukhoi Su-27 air superiority fighter jet. It was directed to land at a military base near the city of Bacau in eastern Romania, the statement said. The ministry said the pilot of the Ukrainian jet surrendered himself to the Romanian authorities.

UPDATE: This may mark the end of the European Union before this is all over. Putin now has the option to take the EU’s rhetoric literally. If the EU wants war with Russia, Russia is more than capable of giving it to them, and very, very few of the EU member states are even remotely interested in fighting Russia. And breaking up the EU is absolutely in Russia’s interest.

We condemn Russia’s unprecedented military aggression against Ukraine. It must withdraw its military and fully respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity. The EU leaders will discuss and swiftly adopt further restrictive measures against Russia. The EU stands with Ukraine.

EU President Ursula van der Leyen

UPDATE: Don’t expect NATO to do anything except issue strongly-worded statements to the press. As literally everyone except the neocons and their puppet government expected, the European militaries have no intention of fighting the Russian army.

“There will be no military confrontation between NATO and Russia,” – head of the German Bundestag Committee on Defense.

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