DJ-Since the direct risks of the "war" in my opinion are now far greater then risks of the ongoing-worsening pandemic and climate collapse some extra links etc.
Yves Smith has a post up about Putin's roubles-for-gas declaration. This is in her wheelhouse and worth a read. She also discusses the Dallas Fed's new paper on the impacts of sanctions on the oil market. Conclusion: at least as severe an impact as OPEC in the 70s.
To my many friends on Instagram: I am being shadow banned. Unfortunately, Zuckerberg is blocking you from receiving many of my messages. This mini-tyrant is also de-prioritizing my name/account in the discover/search pages and …telling many who @ mentoin me "this account has posted false information," but he fails to provide any examples of such so-called "misinformation.”
… All of us will continue to be under this Big Tech dictatorship so long as cowardly leaders from both parties are in their pocket. I need your support. Join me at http://tulsi.locals.com and on platforms that believe in free speech and democracy.
DJ....media, politics all telling the same unbalanced propaganda makes me wonder what kind of "democrazy" we live in....
I just heard a commentator on CNBC say there is no recession with initial jobless claims as low as 187k. Last time this happened? September 6th, 1969. When did the recession begin? Try… December 1969. This is otherwise known as classic late-cycle! #RosenbergResearch
An economic depression is a period of sustained, long-term downturn in economic activity in one or more economies. It is a more severe economic downturn than a recession, which is a slowdown in economic activity over the course of a normal business cycle.
Economic depressions are characterized by their length, by abnormally large increases in unemployment, falls in the availability of credit (often due to some form of banking or financial crisis), shrinking output as buyers dry up and suppliers cut back on production and investment, more bankruptcies including sovereign debt defaults, significantly reduced amounts of trade and commerce (especially international trade), as well as highly volatile relative currency value fluctuations (often due to currency devaluations). Price deflation, financial crises, stock market crash, and bank failures are also common elements of a depression that do not normally occur during a recession.
It is part of denialism to keep talking about "recession". The economic conseqeunces for the West of the wrong recent choices (confrontation in stead of cooperation, NATO moving east...why ? It does not bring more security-it is bringing us close to nuclear war...) will hurt that west very bad !
And the US, UK, EU all are in different positions...(EU now lining up behind biden is simply not taking responsibility...more empty bla-bla...an insult to politics and public service !)
The whole Global South is fast adapting to the new paradigm. The US dollar and the euro - and everything denominated in dollars and euros - are HIGH-RISK ASSETS.
DJ, The US tried to use the dollar as weapon...now others are playing the same game....
So Biden has assembled a Tiger Team to think through responses to a Russian chemical attack in Ukraine that exists only in the minds of politicized intelligence analysts here in America. And people wonder why we’re losing the strategic battle…
In Syria the "west" did claim Assad using chemical weapons when he was winning....h.clinton-via Turkey-did send Libyan chemical weapons to "moderate terrorists" in Syria-then blaming the Syrian dictator....
The West is creating the next "al Qaeda" in Ukraine, an insurgency to survive after Ukraine's surrender. It took years but the al Qaeda the CIA created in Afghanistan in the 70s eventually created a major blow back.
I believe the CIA loves to swim in shit. So creating blow back is manna from heaven to the CIA.
MoA comments....A US plan could be to keep the war in Ukraine going on endless...In that way trying to stop EurAsian integration...Problem however could be;
-Most of the world may by now welcome to do bussinesses without that west...
-Ukraine may get fed up with "moderate western backed neo-nazi's"...The longer the Ukraine war lasts the more likely is that "ethnic Russians" want to "join" Russia...most likely the east and south (Black Sea coast) will become part of Russia/a pro-Russian Ukraine...Like in NW Syria the "moderate terrorists" most likely will do most damage in the pro-western part of Ukraine after the war ends...(Russia has experience both in Syria, Libya and Chechnya in how to deal with such groups).
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rode to power on pledges to clean up his country, but the Pandora Papers reveal he and his close circle were the beneficiaries of a network of offshore companies, including some that owned expensive London property.
DJ-It looks like the G7, EU and NATO top main message is "we are united"....and that is it....even disagreement on further sanctions (and against who)....Do western leaders still think ? Or is it an international club-of-clowns going for profit...without any strategy at all ?
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. ~Albert Einstein
Biden says Russia should be booted from G-20; Russia's economy has shrunk in half since invading Ukraine: March 24 recap
Biden says Russia should be booted from G-20; Russia's economy has shrunk in half since invading Ukraine: March 24 recap
John Bacon, Maureen Groppe, Rebecca Morin, Christal Hayes, Michael Collins and Celina Tebor, USA TODAY
·16 min read
In this article:
Joe Biden
46th and current president of the United States
This page recaps the news from Ukraine on Thursday, March 24. Follow here for the latest updates and news from Tuesday, March 25, as Russia's invasion continues.
President Joe Biden said Russia should be kicked out of the Group of 20 nations in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine, a major step that would further isolate the Kremlin and restrict Russia's say in the global economy.
Russia’s membership in the group, which represents the world’s major economies, was discussed during an emergency meeting with key U.S. allies, Biden told reporters Thursday during a news conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
He noted that the decision on whether to boot Russia from the group is up to other G-20 members. If the other members decline to revoke Russia’s membership, Ukraine should be permitted to attend G-20 meetings, Biden said.
The G-20 includes not only Western democracies but also tyrannical and authoritarian countries such as China and Saudi Arabia. The group works to address major issues impacting the global economy.
Russia, which had the world’s 11th largest economy before the invasion, will fall out of the top 20, according to the official. At the same time, the official said, sanctions are cutting off all sources of potential growth, including blocking Russia from purchasing cutting-edge technology.
Fence-sitting is a bigger diplomatic gamble now than in the past, given that Russia's invasion of Ukraine is one of the worst aggressions in decades and India's relations with the West have never been stronger."
India has abstained from voting in the United Nations - three times in a week - on resolutions condemning Russia. There have been reports of a surge of Indian imports of discounted Russian oil as energy prices spiked in the wake of the war. And it has pointedly stopped short of criticising Russia which it has called a "longstanding and time-tested friend in the past.
The two countries share a decades-old relationship harking back to the Cold War, and Russia is also India's biggest defence supplier.
The US is now trying to persuade India that things have changed. For one, the relationship between the two countries has deepened - bilateral trade between India and the US is $150bn, compared to $8bn between India and Russia.
A group of veteran Russian human rights activists plan to publish an open letter calling on Russia to end its war in Ukraine, declaring it “our common duty” to “stop the war, protect the lives, rights and freedoms of all people, both Ukrainians and Russians”.
The “manifesto”, signed by 11 prominent activists including Lev Ponomaryov, Oleg Orlov, and Svetlana Gannushkina, announces the creation of a new anti-war council of Russian human rights defenders and is the broadest collective statement against the war by the Russian human rights community to date.
The activists say they will seek to help Russians avoid taking part in the war against Ukraine and to demand that the Ministry of Defence releases accurate information about the number of Russian soldiers killed in the war.
“Russian citizens are being involved in military operations on the territory of Ukraine, where they become accomplices in war crimes and die themselves,” a draft statement says. “Our first goal is to help them avoid this, relying on the constitution and Russian legislation, and to assist all those who are illegally forced to participate in hostilities.”
The Russian ambassador to Italy, Sergey Razov, has said he is suing Italian newspaper La Stampa over an article that had raised the possibility of killing President Vladimir Putin.
“Needless to say that this goes against the rules of journalism and morality,” Razov told reporters in front of the prosecutor’s office in Rome after he had deposited the suit.
Reuters report that, speaking through a translator, Razov said his suit accused the newspaper of soliciting and condoning a crime.
On 22 March La Stampa published an analysis headlined “If killing the tyrant is the only option”. The piece said if all other options failed to halt the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the only solution would be for someone to kill the president.
How Russia is using tactics from the Syrian playbook in Ukraine
Entire settlements reduced to rubble, attacks on civilian targets and the bombing of refugee exit routes were all part of Moscow’s brutal Syria campaign
Some observers predicted Putin would not import the tactics of Syria to Ukraine because close ties of family and friendship straddle the border. While Syrians were distant, anonymous victims to most in Russia, the people of Mariupol include relatives, classmates and former colleagues.
But over the past month, the targets have been the same: hospitals, schools, markets, bread queues, a theatre. Russian troops have promised escapes and then attacked civilians on the roads.
The horror of the attack on a maternity hospital in the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol stunned the world. But it was not the first time Russian bombs had fallen on women as they gave birth.
The woman in labour stared out from the stretcher, as medics rushed her over a wasteland left by a Russian attack on a maternity hospital. In a different hospital and feeling her baby slipping away, she begged doctors: “Kill me now.” Hours later, both she and her child were dead.
As Russian strikes reduce Ukrainian cities to ruin – killing, injuring and terrorising thousands of civilians – comparisons have been made with the second world war, but there was a much more recent precedent. The tactics, and even some of Russia’s soldiers, have come direct from the civil war in Syria – which Moscow joined in 2015 to support President Bashar al-Assad.
In an important development on Friday, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval amid the faceoff at the Line of Actual Control. This marked the first visit to India by a senior leader from China since the Galwan Valley clash in June 2020. While both countries remained tight-lipped on the possibility of his India tour, he arrived in the national capital on Thursday night after visiting Islamabad and Kabul in the last couple of days. As per sources, the talks were held in a cordial atmosphere and both officials stressed on completing complete disengagement in the remaining areas along the LAC.
They also called for removing impediments to allow the bilateral relationship to take its natural course. Maintaining that the continuation of the present situation is not in mutual interest, they reportedly agreed that the restoration of peace and tranquility will help build mutual trust and create enabling environment for progress in bilateral relations. Sources also revealed that both Doval and Wang affirmed the need to continue positive interactions at diplomatic and military levels for the restoration of peace and tranquility, which is a prerequisite for normalisation.
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in India on a surprise visit Thursday evening, in a first minister-level visit since bilateral ties between the Asian neighbors took a nosedive after the June 2020 military clashes along their disputed Himalayan border.
The Chinese foreign minister is expected to meet his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Friday, reported ANI news agency that confirmed Wang's arrival in New Delhi .
Wang's flight landed in New Delhi at 7:40 pm local time (10:10 pm BJT) from Afghan capital Kabul.
The India visit is chiefly aimed at putting bilateral ties, that had remained cold for the past two years, back on track at a time of intense geopolitical flux that may need both China and India, as two of the largest economies and powers outside the Western world, to re-engage constructively in the spirit of multilateralism that both nations espouse.
Wang's visit is also being seen as laying the groundwork for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to China later this year to attend the BRICS Summit.
Earlier this month at an annual media briefing on the sidelines of the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress in Beijing, Wang admitted that China-India ties have "suffered some setbacks," noting that the situation "does not serve the fundamental interests of the two countries and peoples."
He stressed the boundary question, an issue left over from history, shouldn't disturb bilateral cooperation while urging the two sides to manage differences through dialogue and consultation.
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Russia-Ukraine conflict bring China, India on same page
The Chinese foreign minister's previously unscheduled visit comes at a time when India is facing enormous diplomatic pressure from the U.S. and Western allies to change its position on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, insisting that New Delhi severs its defense and oil ties with Moscow.
Besides discussing bilateral issues and the progress on border talks, the Russia-Ukraine conflict is expected to figure prominently during Wang's interactions with Indian officials.
Both China and India have taken identical position on the crisis, refusing to side with the U.S. and Western countries in condemning Russia while calling for an end to violence and peaceful resolution through negotiations. China and Indian have also sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine with an aim to provide immediate relief to the victims.
At the same time, China and India have also refused to implement any economic sanctions against Russia while devising ways to continue trading with Moscow in local currencies to circumnavigate Russia's expulsion from international banking network and the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT).
"India's stance on the Ukraine crisis, which is ambivalent and similar to China's approach, also represents an opportunity [for both countries to mend ties]," Wang Dehua, an expert on South Asian affairs at the Shanghai Municipal Centre for International Studies, told the South China Morning Post.
DJ, Both China and India claim some sort of neutrality in the Ukraine crisis. They both need Russian energy...are on their way to be the major global economies...
It might appear to be just a simple switch from dollars to the Yuan, or the Renminbi, but it is a very significant deal. Saudi Arabia is considering pricing some of its oil sales in the Chinese Yuan rather than US dollar.
The ramifications of this would threaten the supremacy of the dollar and comes comes amid uncertain times for the Saudi relationship with the West, in particular the US and the UK.
The British PM was forced to travel to Saudi Arabia and the UAE to see what he can do to shore up oil production.
DJ Bojo left Saudi Arabia and the UAE with empty hands...Why should OPEC (+ Russia) increase oil production when the west wants to decrease oil/fossil fuel consumption ?
India did invest in Iran-oil and port facilities. It may get oil/gas via a pipeline on the sea-floor bypassing Pakistan. But a link with a pipeline transporting oil/gas from Russia to China may be welcome for India...
Point is India, China, Pakistan are all involved in the Kashmir-conflict...
DJ, Maybe India, China can help Russia in getting out of the Ukraine crisis-in return Russia may be able to help find solutions for Kashmir ?
DJ-The west created this Ukraine crisis...unable to get out of it..."The East" may be able to come up with solutions...(and since both Turkey and Russia also have a European part it could be seen as Eurasian integration...).
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. ~Albert Einstein
DJ-US now jumping to become the very major economic partner of the EU may not be very welcome in most European countries...I expect Europe could react with more nationalism...
By Pepe Escobar, posted with the author’s permission and widely cross-posted
The supreme target is regime change in Russia, Ukraine is just a pawn in the game – or worse, mere cannon fodder.
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A quick neo-Nazi recap
By now only the brain dead across NATOstan – and there are hordes – are not aware of Maidan in 2014. Yet few know that it was then Ukrainian Minister of Interior Arsen Avakov, a former governor of Kharkov, who gave the green light for a 12,000 paramilitary outfit to materialize out of Sect 82 soccer hooligans who supported Dynamo Kiev. That was the birth of the Azov batallion, in May 2014, led by Andriy Biletsky, a.k.a. the White Fuhrer, and former leader of the neo-nazi gang Patriots of Ukraine.
Together with NATO stay-behind agent Dmitro Yarosh, Biletsky founded Pravy Sektor, financed by Ukrainian mafia godfather and Jewish billionaire Ihor Kolomoysky (later the benefactor of the meta-conversion of Zelensky from mediocre comedian to mediocre President.)
Pravy Sektor happened to be rabidly anti-EU – tell that to Ursula von der Lugen – and politically obsessed with linking Central Europe and the Baltics in a new, tawdry Intermarium. Crucially, Pravy Sektor and other nazi gangs were duly trained by NATO instructors.
Biletsky and Yarosh are of course disciples of notorious WWII-era Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera, for whom pure Ukrainians are proto-Germanic or Scandinavian, and Slavs are untermenschen.
Azov ended up absorbing nearly all neo-Nazi groups in Ukraine and were dispatched to fight against Donbass – with their acolytes making more money than regular soldiers. Biletsky and another neo-Nazi leader, Oleh Petrenko, were elected to the Rada. The White Führer stood on his own. Petrenko decided to support then President Poroshenko. Soon the Azov battalion was incorporated as the Azov Regiment to the Ukrainian National Guard.
They went on a foreign mercenary recruiting drive – with people coming from Western Europe, Scandinavia and even South America.
That was strictly forbidden by the Minsk Agreements guaranteed by France and Germany (and now de facto defunct). Azov set up training camps for teenagers and soon reached 10,000 members. Erik “Blackwater” Prince, in 2020, struck a deal with the Ukrainian military that would enable his renamed outfit, Academi, to supervise Azov.
It was none other than sinister Maidan cookie distributor Vicky “F**k the EU” Nuland who suggested to Zelensky – both of them, by the way, Ukrainian Jews – to appoint avowed Nazi Yarosh as an adviser to the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi. The target: organize a blitzkrieg on Donbass and Crimea – the same blitzkrieg that SVR, Russian foreign intel, concluded would be launched on February 22, thus propelling the launch of Operation Z.
All of the above, in fact just a quick recap, shows that in Ukraine there’s no difference whatsoever between white neo-Nazis and brown-colored al-Qaeda/ISIS/Daesh, as much as neo-Nazis are just as “Christian” as takfiri Salafi-jihadis are “Muslim”.
DJ, Again...most likely Russia, China have reason to believe the US want regime change in Moscow, Bejing...The US is attacking them...(first via support of islamist extremism in Russia, China...now via neo-nazi's-sanctions, open war...).
How the Anglos loved the Nazis
The United States government openly cheerleading neo-Nazis in Ukraine is hardly a novelty, considering how it supported Hitler alongside England in 1933 for balance of power reasons.
In 1933, Roosevelt lent Hitler one billion gold dollars while England lent him two billion gold dollars. That should be multiplied 200 times to arrive at today’s fiat dollars. The Anglo-Americans wanted to build up Germany as a bulwark against Russia. In 1941 Roosevelt wrote to Hitler that if he invaded Russia the U.S. would side with Russia, and wrote Stalin that if Stalin invaded Germany the U.S. would back Germany. Talk about a graphic illustration of Mackinderesque balance of power.
The Brits had become very concerned with the rise of Russian power under Stalin while observing that Germany was on its knees with 50% unemployment in 1933, if one counted unregistered itinerant Germans.
Even Lloyd George had misgivings about the Versailles Treaty, unbearably weakening Germany after its surrender in WWI. The purpose of WWI, in Lloyd George’s worldview, was to destroy Russia and Germany together. Germany was threatening England with the Kaiser building a fleet to take over the oceans, while the Tsar was too close to India for comfort. For a while Britannia won – and continued to rule the waves.
Then building up Germany to fight Russia became the number one priority – complete with rewriting of History. The uniting of Austrian Germans and Sudetenland Germans with Germany, for instance, was totally approved by the Brits.
But then came the Polish problem. When Germany invaded Poland, France and Britain stood on the sidelines. That placed Germany on the border of Russia, and Germany and Russia divided up Poland. That’s exactly what Britain and France wanted. Britain and France had promised Poland that they would invade Germany from the west while Poland fought Germany from the east.
In the end, the Poles were double-crossed. Churchill even praised Russia for invading Poland. Hitler was advised by MI6 that England and France would not invade Poland – as part of their plan for a German-Russian war. Hitler had been supported financially since the 1920s by MI6 for his favorable words about England in Mein Kampf. MI6 de facto encouraged Hitler to invade Russia.
Fast forward to 2022, and here we go again – as farce, with the Anglo-Americans “encouraging” Germany under feeble Scholz to put itself back together militarily, with 100 billion euros (that the Germans don’t have), and setting up in thesis a revamped European force to later go to war against Russia.
DJ-NATO and nazi's have the same roots....We just do not want to know it, denialism...again...
There must be a limit "the world, even the EU" can accept US promotion of war....Trump-may have been a disaster-biden only proving he can do even worse...
The U.S. has tried to use yesterday's NATO and G-7 meeting to push the Europeans towards sanctioning Russian hydrocarbon exports. It also tried to attach China to Russia and to get the Europeans to sanction its biggest trading partner. Both attempts failed. There will be no additional sanctions on Russia. And while the NATO communique mentions China it only urges it to leave its neutral position. Everyone knows that that is not going to happen.
The only thing NATO agreed on is the release of a new load of fresh propaganda.
Numerous, (and I mean really a lot) of reports are flooding-in claiming Mariupol, Ukraine has been conquered by Forces from the Donetsk People's Republic and Russian Army. Ukraine's AZOV Battalion/Regiment is widely being reported as having been "Exterminated."
As readers are surely aware by now, very much of the information coming out of Ukraine is FALSE. It has become painfully obvious that both sides in the conflict make exaggerations and even outright false claims. Yet, this morning, there are literally so many reports flooding-in saying Mariupol has fallen to Russia that I get the sense the reports are factual.
With the Fall of Mariupol the symbolic power and the Legend of Azov is destroyed and from now onwards the leftover are just bunch of demented Nazi terrorist thugs on the run. I'm glad to see it was done so fast.
after breaking reports of a major fire burning uncontrollably at a Saudi Aramco facility in the port city of Jeddah. According to unconfirmed reports, a Houthi missile or possible drone strike hit the facility from Yemen. The Saudi Press Agency tweeted that a projectile fell on a power distribution station in Samtah, causing a fire; No casulties have been reported. Meanwhile, Al-Arabiya reported that a strike hit the tanks of the National Water Company in Dhahran Al-Janoub, adding that civilian vehicles and residential houses were also hit.
Today's alleged attack follows a series of recent attacks from Yemen on various Saudi sites, including a last Sunday drone and missile attack also on Jeddah.
On March 24, units of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces crossed the ceasefire line in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and seized the village of Farukh after forcing Armenian forces to retreat.
Following the Azerbaijani move, which represents a violation of the 2020 ceasefire agreement, Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh were reportedly placed on high-alert.
The ceasefire agreement put an end to a large-scale Azerbaijani offensive on Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh. Under the Russian-brokered agreement, hundreds of Russian troops were deployed in the region on a peacekeeping mission.
In an effort to contain the situation, Russian peacekeepers were sent to Farukh to discuss the violation with Azerbaijani forces.
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As of March 25, Azerbaijani forces are still in Farukh. The situation in Nagorno-Karabakh could escalate even further. There are already reports of Azerbaijani drone strikes on Armenian forces near the village.
DJ, Azerbaijan also major oil-producer. North-West of Iran...in between Turkey and Russia...
The mainstream financial industry is finally grasping that the comfy tectonic plates they sit on are not just shifting but smashing into each other. Yesterday saw a Bloomberg op-ed titled ‘Putin and Xi Exposed the Great Illusion of Capitalism’, It read like a greatest hits of this Daily, referring to Norman Angell, imperialism, WW1, The Treaty of Versailles, imbalances and fascism, WW2, Bretton Woods 1, and communism and the Cold War. The conclusion: “Unless the US and its allies mobilize to save it, the second great age of globalization is coming to a catastrophic close…. Unless something is done quickly and decisively, the world will divide into hostile camps, regardless of what happens in Ukraine. And this divided world will not suit the West.” Likewise, Larry Fink of BlackRock states: “The Russian invasion of Ukraine has put an end to the globalization we have experienced over the last three decades.”
Short of no-longer-unthinkable WMD usage, it’s the market’s worst-case scenario.No quick end to the war. No quick political settlement. No quick back to normal. And the Balkans are smouldering; North Korea just test-fired an ICBM and stated it will prepare for long-term confrontation with the US; Armenia and Azerbaijan are close to conflict again; and Iran is primed for action in the Middle East, with Houthi proxies having targeted Red Sea oil tankers recently. At least a cease-fire has been agreed between Ethiopia and Tigray.
The G-7 is hence split over the issue of energy boycotts. That, as the US promises to send LNG to the EU --totaling 4% of its consumption(!)-- and Russia leaves Europe unclear over when/if it will shift to rouble payments for gas, and is saying gold can be used instead, or perhaps Bitcoin. In which case, the latter two are arguably about to run up against Western sanctions.
DJ, Erdogan yesterday visited the NATO-top in Brussel...now going for his own plans in the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. Or is this part of some NATO-idea ? Houthi's further disrupting Saudi oil export-on top of an allready major energy crisis...Iran linked ?
North Korea testing an ICBM...DJ-always wondered how North Korea-China links are...is Kim doing what he thinks Xi would like him to do ?
In this atmosphere "dirty weapons of mass destruction" the US/NATO allready blaming Russia for may open the doors for further "NATO unification"? The US enforcing the EU to do what the US is telling them ?
I wonder how the French presidential elections will react...Macron may be the most "moderate" candidate...two other are far right wing...nationalistic...and possibly more willing to work with Russia then the US....but Macron needs succes in peacedeals...
The London-based monitoring group said that the unit, which moved in specially equipped SUVs, stayed in Jazrah base for several hours before leaving.
“The forces of the international coalition have recently intensified their visits to the area, amid information about them redeploying in the abandoned base,” a source familiar with the matter told the SOHR.
In October 2019, the US-led coalition withdraw all of its forces from areas held by its proxy, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in the northeastern Aleppo countryside and Raqqa. The withdrawal was carried out to facilitate a Turkish-led attack on the SDF. During the withdrawal process, coalition troops evacuated several key bases, like the one located near Jazrah.
DJ US looking for confrontation(s) with Russia in Syria, Iraq ?
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. ~Albert Einstein
Russia’s defence ministry said on Friday that the first phase of its military operation was “generally” complete, saying the country will focus on the “liberation” of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.
The defence ministry stated Russian-backed separatists now controlled 93% of Ukraine’s Luhansk region and 54% of the Donetsk region. The two regions together are commonly known as the Donbas region.
“The main objectives of the first stage of the operation have generally been accomplished,” Sergei Rudskoi, head of the Russian General Staff’s Main Operational Directorate said during a briefing.
In Friday’s announcement, Russia also appeared to hint that Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine may be turning to more limited objectives, adding that the main goal of the operation was the “liberation of the Donbas”.
“The combat potential of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has been considerably reduced, which ... makes it possible to focus our core efforts on achieving the main goal, the liberation of Donbas.”
Russia has been shifting its objectives in Ukraine throughout the war. Russian president Vladimir Putin earlier said that the “denazification” of the Ukrainian leadership - generally understood as regime change - was the main motivation for the invasion.
Michael Kofman, the director of the Russia studies programme at the CNA thinktank on Friday tweeted that the military briefing suggested Russia would focus on “taking as much of the Donbas as possible,” while claiming the Donbas region was always the main goal of what Kremlin refers to a “special military operation.”
“I had a hypothesis that the more minimal aims Moscow could have at this point is to try to take all of the Donbas, pursue some political settlement, then turn around and claim that’s what this operation was really all about in an effort to salvage something & declare victory,” Kofman tweeted.
Ukraine says 400,000 citizens have been forcibly taken to Russia
Ukraine accused Moscow on Thursday of forcibly taking hundreds of thousands of civilians from shattered Ukrainian cities to Russia, where some may be used as "hostages" to pressure Kyiv to give up.
Lyudmyla Denisova, Ukraine's ombudsperson, said 402,000 people, including 84,000 children, have been taken against their will to Russia, and some have reported shortages of food and water there.
The Kremlin gave nearly identical numbers for those who have been relocated, but it said they wanted to go to Russia. The country's rebel-controlled eastern regions, for example, are predominantly Russian-speaking, and many people there have supported close ties to Moscow.
Mutinous Russian forces ran over a Russian commander with a tank, western officials said.
My colleague Dan Sabbagh reports the details:
Western officials have said they believe a Russian commander was run over and killed by mutinous forces during the fighting in Ukraine, in a sign of what they described as the “morale challenges” faced by the invading forces.
They highlighted – and repeated – reports from earlier this week from a Ukrainian journalist that a colonel of the 37th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade was run over by a tank and subsequently died of his injuries.
One official said they believed that the brigade commander was “killed by his own troops” as “a consequence of the scale of losses that had been taken by his brigade” in the bitter fighting.
However, while there was some evidence to corroborate the claim that the commander had been run over, it was less clear whether, as the western officials claimed, the colonel had died. ...
Britain and other western countries believe that Russian forces are suffering from increasingly poor morale as they incur heavy losses in the fighting. The US has estimated that 7,000 Russians have been killed, out of an invasion force of about 150,000.
Over the last month, Russian forces have repeatedly attacked Ukrainian hospitals, ambulances, medics, patients and newborns, according to the Associated Press, which is now reporting that it has independently documented 34 assaults.
More details from the AP on the growing calls for war crimes prosecutions against Putin, his generals and top Kremlin advisers:
To convict, prosecutors will need to show that the attacks are not merely accidents or collateral damage. The emerging pattern, tracked day by day by the AP, shows evidence of a consistent and relentless onslaught against the very civilian infrastructure designed to save lives and provide safe haven to Ukraine’s most vulnerable.
AP journalists in Ukraine have seen the deadly results of Russian strikes on civilian targets first hand: the final moments of children whose tiny bodies were shredded by shrapnel or had limbs blown off; dozens of corpses, including those of children, heaped into mass graves.
Deliberate attacks on hospitals will likely be a top priority for war crimes prosecutors.”
Putin signs law to jail those publishing news Russia deems fake - amid denials that Russia has even invaded Ukraine
Russian president Vladimir Putin on Friday signed into law a bill introducing jail terms of up to 15 years for publishing “fake” information about any of Russia’s actions abroad, AFP reports.
This gives a much broader reach, expanding on a previous law relating more directly to the ongoing invasion of neighbour Ukraine.
Agence France-Presse further writes:
The bill, adopted by Russia’s parliament this week, sets out jail terms and fines for people who publish “knowingly false information” about actions abroad by Russian government agencies.
If the false information “caused serious consequences”, it is punishable by up 15 years in jail.
The new bill expands on a law passed earlier in March that allows for up to 15 years in jail for publishing false information about the Russian army.
Meanwhile, The Associated Press news agency is reporting that Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov denies Russia has even invaded Ukraine.
The US vision of that is; NO China and India may not get cheaper energy, goods from Russia...they are financing the war...while the "West' is still buying energy from Russia-soon to pay for it in Russian currency...
So the US thinks it can tell China, India NOT to do trade with Russia when even the US is still doing trade with Russia (energy-tankers on their way...Venezuela, Iran not willing/able to replace Ural-oil...). At the same time making it harder for Chinese companies to start doing bussiness in the US (and still claim "free trade"...).
Yedioth Ahronoth says Israeli officials turning blind eye to program run by group of former IDF soldiers; ‘We’re not only fighting for Ukraine, but for ourselves,’ says instructor
DJ, Maybe Israel following Turkey-still most likely selling weapons to Ukraine-if possible...(getting them there may be another job...US may pay for those Turkish weapons (a.o. drones)-meant for Ukraine-most likely never going there...).
In the eyes of the "West", both China, India "to close" to Russia...so Turkey, Israel may be acceptable for the west as mediator...?
That "united" 'West" see French companies still active in Russia...may even increase marketshare ? IKEA, McDonald closing their bussines-in reaction to western sanctions-become nationalized-so ending up in Russian state hands-likely selling it to the highest (non western) bidder...? (McDonalds-India, IKEA-India ? IKEA is Swedish but on paper-for tax reasons-in many ways it is "Dutch"...).
The "very united West", even divided over the next secretary general of NATO is also very divided-most likely at breaking point-on further sanctions...
The US now pushing for more sanctions, not only against Russia but also China, North Korea...maybe soon also including India, South Africa...
The EU is starting to feel the pain allready...Transport costs are getting to high-truckers protests...Growing social unrest...why do Ukrainians get houses when their own population is also facing a housing crisis...Inflation going up...More sanctions-against more countries-are allready doing major damage to EU economies...
Other countries also see "complications"; sanctions on most Asian countries-would destroy their economy...
This is exactly what NATO-trained Jihadists did in #Syria when they killed a Syrian army soldier; Take his phone and call his family. Inhuman.
DJ, By using those phones Ukraine soldiers make themselve a target (Russian soldiers were not allowed to have those phones with them ?)...And for moral reasons a high risk target...
I’ve gotten some questions from people who are not familiar with the term “shadow ban” and are asking exactly what it is. So I want to take a minute to show you.
How can one get a balanced view if you not only block rt.com etc...but also stop using citizens from spreading info....? What kind of democrazy are you turning your country into ? We do see "banning", "de-funding" also in climate "change", this pandemic [url]https://covid.joinzoe.com/data#levels-over-time[/url] or https://covid.joinzoe.com/data#levels-over-time UK cases going up high speed-BA.2.1-very unwelcome info-so defunded by bojo party king...
end of part 1
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. ~Albert Einstein
Kremlin vet says aides would kill Putin before sharing ‘bad news,’ now Putin orders house arrests
Vladimir Putin has now put some of his own intelligence officials under house arrest, according to sources who spoke to The New York Times, as Russia suffers a high death toll in its Ukraine invasion. The report suggests Putin may be insulated from solid information, or worried that these aides might try to overthrow him, as former Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev told MSNBC in a recent interview. In this segment, MSNBC’s Ari Melber reports on the intrigue at the Kremlin, with analysis from Council on Foreign Relations President Richard Haass, who says Putin may be "paranoid" about his aides trying to oust him, and NYU history professor, Ruth Ben-Ghiat.
A-Risks for nuclear war, B-Who do sanctions hurt most...DJ As far as someone can say something usefull on them both...
A,
If NATO would intervene in a (major) military way Russia made clear it could use nuclear weapons to stop such an intervention. The US-biden-claiming Russia would use bio/chemical weapons in its war as far as I can see is incorrect, irresponsible and dangerous. Has to be seen-based on the Syria war-as a pretext for NATO/Ukraine "groups" using such weapons and then blame Russia...
The US-biden-did "make clear" use of such weapons could cause a NATO/US re-action....Most likely that could be a US goal...
So far the US goal of stopping Eur-Asian integration has not been reached...OPEC(+) NOT willing to replace Russian energy export, increase production...Russian energy export into Asia going up (as far as I know-for now-pipeline capacity is much smaller then Russian pipeline capacity towards Europe-Northstream 1+2, Ukraine pipeline, Turkstream)-but part of it may be going by tankers (via the East China- and Caspian Sea-Iran) or truck...US also unable to get enough US-LNG into the EU (at 3 times the price of Russian alternatives...).
IF (again IF !!!) a false flag NATO chemical attack in Ukraine-blaming Russia-would take place and result in NATO "moving in" I think we may be very close to a nuclear conflict.
IF (!!!) NATO in such a scenario would go for a "no fly zone" and sending in major land-forces and/or navy in the Black Sea Russia could-after warnings to stop it-bring a Russian nuclear attack on such forces. A US reaction could then be against Russian energy exports...
One has to be "very optimistic" to believe that would end a "limited nuclear conflict"...I think "first strike" scenario's may be around the corner once the first nuclear weapons are being used...
-However Russia-US may not be the only possible nuclear scenario. North Korea may be a second factor...Like China, North Korea may get hit hard with CoViD BA.2 variants...allready doing a lot of damage in South Korea. North Korean economy is "weak"...(coal-export to China...Some "Economic Zones" with South Korea letting jobs be done at low costs in North Korea).
IF The US would put nuclear weapons in South Korea (they do not have that now-maybe a new SK-conservative-government may be willing to have another view) the North could react ? Maybe doing the "dirty work" for China ? (DJ-I can not escape thinking there is some sort of "job sharing", China trying to look diplomatic, North Korea doing the more agressive part).
Maybe a further risk could be "the West" going nuclear against Iran as a warning for Russia, China....but in the hope of avoiding a nuclear reaction from them...The Iraq-Wars showed how hard it is to beat a country-much smaller then Iran-in a "conventional" war ...
-Once nuclear weapons do get used in one conflict I do think risks increase those weapons getting used in other conflicts...North Korea hitting US nuclear weapons in South Korea (with nuclear warheads) may increase risks of Israel using nuclear weapons against Iran...
-Surprises like Saudi Arabia, Ukraine (or others) using nuclear weapons further complicate matters...
-Pakistan-India-China all have nuclear-limited-capacity...in a "global chaos" who knows...
Zemmour has argued for a distancing of France from the United States, a closer relationship with Russia,[148] as well as an increased independence from the European Union and its foreign policy. He has stated that the Normandy landings had been both a liberation but also a "colonization" of France by the United States.[149] He has also called for a strengthening of the French Armed Forces, arguing that the only influence that France has retained on the international scene was due to the strength of its armed forces and its nuclear defense capabilities.[149] Zemmour supports a withdrawal from the NATO's integrated military command.[150][151][152] Zemmour supports Brexit and Britain's vote to leave the European Union, and described the EU as a "pure technostructure that has got rid of the people," but has claimed that he would not seek to fully secede France from the EU if elected president, arguing that France's war record made it harder for the country to follow Britain's example. Instead, Zemmour has summed up his position as "I want France to be in Europe, but I want France to come before Europe," and pledged to withdraw France from the EU's immigration and asylum policies, put French law above EU law and halt accession talks with Eastern European countries aiming to join the bloc.[153][154]
In addition, Zemmour has expressed support for Rattachism, the integration of Wallonia, the French-speaking part of Belgium, into France, pointing to a 2010 opinion poll in which 49 per cent of Walloons were ready for such a move.[155] He described Belgium as having become largely a fiction, and likened its separation from France to that of East Germany from West Germany, calling it "France's GDR".[156]
Zemmour condemned Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine despite his previous pro-Russia stance.[157]
Also sanctions can not be seen on their own, political fall out (a.o. in the French presidential april-10 elections) and refugees, increase spending on the military, increase of US role in the EU are also factors.
Both the US and Russia produce most of the energy they need themselves. The US could import more a.o. from Canada...The EU however has a problem...between 25-40% of its energy coming from Russia. Increasing other capacity/production does take time-major changes take years...
Higher energy prices for Europe can bring exploration of reserves not making a profit at lower prices...bur still energy intensive production may move towards countries with lower energy costs...(often that could be still Russian energy...).
With Russia switching its export-and prices for its export going up-partly being paid for in Russian currency-Russia may be better able to deal with "western sanctions" then the EU might be...Russia is working hard on more pipelines to China...China/Russia and Iran may increase shipping of energy (a.o. to India, Pakistan).
Most of the economic growth-and younger population-is in Asia...so also Arab countries-if forced to choose-may "go east"-not west....
So-my idea-for now-is the EU may be hit the hardest by its sanctions...doing more damage to themselves then they harm Russia...it will further increase social unrest...
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. ~Albert Einstein
Iran says it reserves the right for drilling in Arash gas field in the Persian Gulf, warning that an agreement between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to produce gas at the shared field is illegal.
"The Arash/al-Durra gas field is a joint field between Iran, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Parts of it are located in areas between Iran and Kuwait whose water boundaries have not been defined,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Saturday.
"According to international regulations and procedures, any measure to operate and develop this field must be done through coordination and cooperation among the three countries. Therefore, the recent move by Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in the framework of a cooperation document is contrary to current procedures and previous negotiations, and is illegal. It has no effect on the legal status of the field and is not approved by the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
In a statement released on Monday, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said the country’s energy minister had signed a document with his Saudi counterpart to develop the gas field.
The Arash field is expected to produce 1 billion standard cubic feet per day of gas and 84,000 barrels per day of condensates.
“As it has stated many times, the Islamic Republic is ready to enter negotiations with neighboring countries, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, on how to exploit the joint field. At the same time, it is ready to continue bilateral talks with Kuwait within the framework of previous discussions on delimiting the continental shelf and start trilateral talks on defining a triple point," Khatibzadeh added.
DJ, Maybe a few years ago Saudi Arabia would seek US support-go into conflict with Iran over this gasfield. Now maybe Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iran could seek/accept "other countries" mediating...
Written by Lucas Leiroz, researcher in Social Sciences at the Rural Federal University of Rio de Janeiro; geopolitical consultant.
While Washington refuses to give answers about its scandals in biological weapons research in clandestine laboratories in Ukraine, other facts are revealed, which point not only to inappropriate conduct on the part of the American government, but also to the Biden family itself. Hunter Biden, son of the US president, who is proven to be involved in several corruption schemes in Ukraine, is now suspected of being one of the main financiers of US laboratories on Ukranian soil. The suspicion is already generating strong international repercussions, with Moscow demanding an immediate response from Washington. With this situation, once again the Biden administration is approaching a crisis of legitimacy.
Rosemont Seneca Partners has been accused of being a major financier of US laboratories in Ukraine. The company would sponsor the entire Pentagon’s biomilitary program, sending more than 2 billion dollars in resources for the maintenance of several laboratories abroad, including more than thirty facilities in Ukraine. The company would be acting in partnership with other key military companies, such as Metabiota, in addition to many NGOs and international foundations.
DJ; If countries like Brazil. India, Indonesia take these claims serious the US has a further problem....
Three soldiers of the Defense Army of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh republic, Artsakh, were killed in strikes carried out by Azerbaijani combat drones.
The strikes were carried out on March 25 morning, when units of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces crossed the ceasefire line in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and seized the village of Farukh.
“On March 25, as a result of the provocations of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, particularly the use of Bayraktar TB2 attack drone in the eastern direction of the line of contact, servicemen Davit Mirzoyan(1978), Ishkhan Ohanyan (1994), Ararat Tevosyan(1990) were fatally wounded,” the Artsakh Defense Army said in a statement.
According to Armenian sources, at least 18 others Armenian soldiers were wounded as a result of the Azerbaijani drone strikes and the clashes near Farukh.
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Russian peacekeepers, who were deployed in Nagorno-Karabakh under the ceasefire agreement, were dispatched to Farukh to discuss the violation with Azerbaijani forces.
Despite Russian efforts, Azerbaijani forces didn’t withdraw from the village, according to the Artsakh Information Center.
Armenian sources warned that the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh could escalate even further. Azerbaijan forces are reportedly planning to captured the Karaglukh hill, which is located near Farukh. Armenian forces in the region have been placed on high-alert.
Azerbaijan appears to be trying to take advantage of the ongoing war in Ukraine, to expand its control in Nagorno-Karabakh. Most of the region remains in the hand of Armenian forces.
DJ Part of the Russian peace keeping force is now in Ukraine...Turkey may be a major factor. Azerbaijan would not restart the conflict without Turkish (NATO) help/support...Armenia has limited Russian military presence...
[url]https://liveuamap.com/[/url] or https://liveuamap.com/ Now also Alexander Mercouris mentioning Ukraine-organized-defense has ended in Mariupol..."clean-up" operations ongoing...DJ-Mariupol is in the Donbas...most likely militia, limited Russian army will stay behind. Further goals are;
-Encircling/beating Ukraine forces in the east of Ukraine-north of Mariupol
-Odessa (?) -control of all of the Ukraine Black Sea coast where a lot of ethnic Russians live
The Belarusian battalion named after Kastus Kalinousk is a volunteer group of Belarusians, which was created on March 9 to “protect Ukraine from the Russian invasion of Ukraine”. It is named after Kastus Kalinouski who was the Belarusian leader of the January 1863 uprising against the Russian Empire.
As of March 5, 2022, about 200 Belarusians joined the ranks of the battalion. Since March 13, at least two members of the battalion were killed.
The “battalion” was created after the start of Russia’s special operation in Ukraine by formations opposed to the Belarusian authorities, including Svetlana Tikhonovskaya. The Belarusian oppositionist and failed President of Belarus, staying in Warsaw, is actively involved in mobilizing volunteers to protect the Kiev regime.
Tikhanovskaya held a meeting with Pavel Kukhta, coordinator of the training center for mercenaries to be sent to Ukraine, including the battalion named after Kastus Kalinousk. Tikhonovskaya is acting in close cooperation with the Ambassador of the United States to the OSCE, Michael Carpenter, who promised her the full support of Washington.
Belarus "nationalists" a risk for Lukashenko ? If Belarus joins Russia in the war, the (very limited) Belarus "group" (+ "volunteers") to start fighting in Belarus-regime change there ?
Update(1435ET): Quite awkwardly and bizarrely, and a mere minutes after multiple headlines hit which emphasized that Biden just called for regime change in Russia with the words "this man cannot remain in power" in reference to Putin, the White House is seeking to clarify that supposedly it was "not" a call for regime change:
White House official explains what Biden actually tried to say: “The President’s point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region. He was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change.”
Our President calls for regime change in Russia the same week he promulgates policy that embraces preemptive nuclear strikes in non-nuclear situations. His administration is planning on deploying Dark Eagle hypersonic missiles in Europe later this year. A madman rules America.
What is the world to make of these grotesque statements? Is regime-change in Russia now official US Government Policy?
Moreover, let's talk facts: For eight years, Ukrainian Presidents Porochencko and Zelensky waged actual war against Russian-speaking Ukrainians in Luhansk and Donetsk. That warfare killed 13,000 to 14,000 citizens of Donetsk and Luhansk. Are THEY called "Butchers?" No.
But somehow, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who met his responsibility to protect, is called "a Butcher" for putting and END to Ukraine slaughtering people in Donetsk and Luhansk!
President Joe Biden is clearly out of touch with reality, and severely unable to discharge the duties of his office. No President of a nuclear power has __EVER__ referred to the President of another nuclear power in such terms, nor has any US President EVER called for regime change in another nuclear power. These occurrences are utterly astonishing.
Biden should be removed from Office by Congress via the 25th Amendment to the US Constitution. Immediately. Before his ignorant, Dementia-addled mouth gets us into a nuclear war.
DJ...The US "democrats" still sticking to the insane phantasy Putin placed trump in the White House, was able to steal the presidency from h.clinton...with biden close to starting a nuclear war with Russia for that reason....
The western total stupidity of regime changes, sending in weapons, decades long wars has to stop....
As AM mentions as well NATO, EU, G20 all very divided....A first major testcase will be the april 10 French presidential elections....Macron still leading...trying a "balance" to be a "bridge" between Russia and-at least-the EU/France...
DJ, Russia is not a real democracy, just like Iran-both countries do have "restricted elections", however-goes for China as well-the regime needs some backing by the public...
DJ-Maybe the "only good news" is the White House now claiming biden is NOT seeking regime change in Russia....Maybe the US starting to realize hysteria is not a basis for politics...Maybe also other countries wake up, realize we are "running towards nuclear war" this way...
People have different opinions, different back grounds, nobody is perfect...but respect for other views has to be the basis for human interaction...
Our Grandfathers fought and died in North Africa, the North Atlantic, Italy, France, the BeNeLux, and Germany for the sole purpose of defeating Nazi ideology. This ideology lives today in Ukraine. Russia is in the business of killing Nazis. That we are against them is insane.
DJ
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. ~Albert Einstein
So in a mere 24 hours Biden seems to have leaked or let slip that we're eventually going to likely have boots on the ground and that regime change in Russia is the goal.
KREMLIN SAYS NEW BIDEN COMMENTS ABOUT PUTIN FURTHER NARROW POSSIBILITIES FOR MENDING RELATIONS -TASS
Here's what he said only yesterday, also from Poland...
BIDEN SLIPS AND TELLS 82nd AIRBORNE THEY’RE GOING TO UKRAINE?
I think a lot of people have that question....In my opinion (and this forum is about opinions) maybe even the bigger problem-again-is "politics out of control"....
I’ve never seen such a level of self-delusion as what I’m witnessing on CNN this morning. They think Ukraine is winning the war. How are they going to spin Zelensky’s inevitable surrender, which is going to happen sooner rather than later?
Amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict that has continued for over a month, Director-General of the World Trade Organisation Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has warned that rising global food costs due to conflict could lead to riots in the developing countries. As per Guardian, the WTO Director-General also raised alarm about the spillover effects of Russia's invasion, noting that many African countries rely on agricultural supplies from the Black Sea region, which is in the middle of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
She further stated that they ought to be concerned and war could have a significant influence on food prices this year and next year. She also claimed that the poorest countries will bear the brunt of the consequences of war. Okonjo-Iweala noted that 35 African countries rely on food imports from the Black Sea region, with Russia and Ukraine accounting for 24% of global wheat supplies.
DJ, Food, energy, transport all going up in price around most of the globe...
The U.S. is engaging Russia in three "wars." Let me discuss them in increasing order of importance and the likely repercussions on the U.S.-led global order.
The first is the military war taking place on the ground in Ukraine. Then there is the propaganda war taking place at Western media outlets like CNN and on social media platforms like Twitter. Finally, and most significantly, there is the economic war which may accelerate the destruction of the US-led power structure that has dominated the world since the end of World War II.
DJ; The currency war may be very unpredictable...but "creating growth by printing money" may be over....
Risks for nuclear conflict(s) - in my opinion - still are increasing. With several countries having nuclear weapons a North Korean nuclear attack on Vladivostok could be seen by Russia as a US nuclear attack on its Pacific fleet...may start a chain reaction....
We have to get out of escalation and start talking...
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. ~Albert Einstein
Imagine continuously posting garbage from convicted child sex offender Scott Ritter and another convicted felon, Hal Turner. At least these human scum have a lot in common with Putin...
Be careful what you wish for...
Reports of Russians deporting Ukrainians to camps troubles Stalin survivors
Ukrainian ombudsman Lyudmyla Denisova first sounded the alarm that as many as 400,000 civilians were being taken by force to Russia after Putin’s troops began laying siege on March 2 to the now-destroyed city of Mariupol.
Questioned about the “filtration” camp reports, the Russian Embassy in the United States denounced the Ukrainian claims as “lies” and has called the departure of more than 380,000 people from Ukraine to its territory "evacuations."
But Ambassador Bathsheba Nell Crocker, the U.S. representative to the Office of the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva, wrote in a letter that they have “credible information that indicates Russian forces are creating lists of identified Ukrainians to be killed or sent to camps following a military occupation.”
"and when the Russians get you,they're never going to get to me"
Vladimir Putin Considers Killing Of Children Success That Meets Pre-approved Plan: Ukraine
Ukraine's permanent envoy to the UN, Serhiy Kyslytsia, avered that Putin described the murder of children as a success that matches pre-approved objectives.
Ukraine's permanent envoy to the United Nations, Serhiy Kyslytsia, said Russian President Vladimir Putin described the murder of Ukrainian children as a success that matches pre-approved objectives. According to a Ukrinform, the diplomat mentioned this at a UN Security Council (UNSC) meeting called by the US and the UK to address the situation in Ukraine amid Russia's relentless military aggression.
"The operation is going well and in strict accordance with the previously approved plan," Putin said the day before, according to Kyslytsia.
According to the Ukrainian ambassador, the world community has been puzzled for three weeks as to why Russia chose to emulate the Nazi Third Reich by assaulting a peaceful neighbouring state and throwing the region into conflict.
"What are the reasons for that and what is the plan? And yesterday we received the answer: the murder of Ukrainian children. Today there are 108 innocent souls," Kyslytsia
He emphasised that children are a deliberate target, in light of yesterday's shelling of the Mariupol Drama Theater, which was a safe haven for hundreds of locals, mostly women and children. "After all, the theatre was bombed despite children being clearly marked on the ground on both sides of the building. The shelter, however, survived and did not turn into another mass grave, according to Putin's pre-agreed plans," Kyslytsia added.
Putin's ambitions, he claimed, include murdering not only children but citizens in general. On Wednesday alone, 53 civilians were killed in Chernihiv by Russian bombs and shells. On the same day, a Russian military shelling in Merefa, Kharkiv Oblast, killed 21 people, destroying a local school and apartment structures.
From the "Ghost of Kiev" to claims that Russia is intending to stage a false nuclear attack, the extreme propaganda spread since the invasion of Ukraine has made any claim worth taking with a gain of salt. Given that, Russia's claims that the United States had been operating biolabs in Ukraine were met with skepticism as well. However, shortly after these concerns were raised US Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland confirmed the existence of as many as 26 of these types of labs. Now, investigations by the Daily Mail and New York Post have gone even further by substantiating the Russian Federations subsequent claims that Hunter Biden played a key role in securing funding for those biolabs in Ukraine.
An examination of emails found on the laptop of Hunter Biden's that mainstream media sources obfuscated the existence of confirms that the president's son's secured funding for government contractors conducting research at Ukrainian biolabs. Those emails describe how Hunter Biden used his standing as a board member at Burisma to introduce a San Fransisco based pathogen research company named Metabiota to his connections at the Ukrainian gas company. A memo written by Metabiota Vice President Mary Guttieri in 2014 highlighted its assertions that the biologics company could be a vital research to "assert Ukraine's Cultural and economic independence from Russia."
Shortly following the memo, Burisma executive Vadym Pozharskyi contacted Hunter Biden regarding his association with the company to explore its potential operations in Ukraine. Metabiota secured $500,000 from Rosemont Seneca Technology Partners, an investment company Russian officials claim has $2.4 billion in capital that was founded by Hunter Biden in 2009.
The very last words of Biden's platitude-laden speech in Warsaw minutes ago, were these: For God's sake, this man can not remain in power.
Posted by: Circe | Mar 26 2022 18:16 utc | 22
This reminds me of the old "Assad must go" curse.
It is also naive to think that the entire Russian government is not behind this operation. The key difference between the USA and Russia is that, in Russia, the elected government and Deep State are one and the same.
DJ, bidens call for regime change in Russia is damaging the US.....
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. ~Albert Einstein
Why has the Biden administration created an artificial 'crisis' about a Russian invasion of Ukraine when such an invasion is neither planned nor likely to happen? Why is it claiming that a Russian invasion of the Ukraine is 'imminent' when Russia as well as the Ukraine deny that any will be coming.
ksc, MoA, Alexander Mercouris...lots of others did not see Russia moving in into Ukraine...You are correct there...However it does not make them "garbage".....
As Antiwar.com recently reported, instead of supporting negotiations between Ukraine and Russia that could lead to a ceasefire and an end to the bloodshed, the US government is actually escalating the situation which can only increase the bloodshed.
The constant flow of US and allied weapons into Ukraine and talk of supporting an extended insurgency does not seem designed to give Ukraine a victory on the battlefield but rather to hand Russia what Secretary of State Blinken called ‘a strategic defeat.’
It sounds an awful lot like the Biden Administration intends to fight Russia down to the last Ukrainian. The only solution for the US is to get out. Let the Russians and Ukrainians reach an agreement. That means no NATO for Ukraine and no US missiles on Russia’s borders? So what! End the war then end NATO.”
ANKARA, March 27. /TASS/. Turkey and other states should maintain a dialogue with Russia in the interests of resolving the situation in Ukraine, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Sunday.
"If everybody burns bridges with Russia then who is going to talk to them at the end of the day? Ukrainians need to be supported by every means possible so they can defend themselves… but the Russian case must be heard, one way or the other," Reuters cited him as saying.
Ankara repeatedly stated that Turkey does not intend to join the sanctions against Russia, so as not to damage its own economy and leave an open channel of dialogue with the Russian Federation.
DJ Turkey, Israel position themselves in a negotiating position...
Saudi Arabia and Qatar expressed regret on Saturday at a lack of attention to Middle East conflicts, as the West pushes them to show more solidarity with Ukraine.
“The humanitarian suffering that we have seen in Ukraine, and everyone is talking about it right now… has been the suffering of a lot of countries in this region for years and nothing happened,” Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani told a roundtable at the annual Doha Forum.
“We have never seen a global response to address those sufferings,” he added, evoking “the brutality against the Syrian people, or against the Palestinians or against the Libyans or against the Iraqis, or against the Afghans.”
DJ, Maybe western "media, politics" did forget there are lots of other wars going on...often-again-with US as agressor...
Neo-Nazis seek to blow up dam northwest of Odessa - Russian Defense Ministry According to chief of Russia’s National Defense Management Center Mikhail Mizintsev, an attempt of an official of Ukraine’s State Emergency Service to avert that insane decision was suppressed rudely and brutally, including up to threats of execution by firing squad https://tass.com/defense/1427881
MOSCOW, March 26. /TASS/. Mines have been planted around the Khadjibey dam located in the northwest of the Ukrainian city of Odessa, and neo-Nazis are planning to blow it up, Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev, chief of Russia’s National Defense Management Center, said on Saturday.
"By order of the Odessa governor, mines have been installed into the Khadjibey dam, which the neo-Nazis plan to blow up. Once their criminal actions are put into practice, densely populated areas, along with local inhabitants, will be exposed to flooding," Mizintsev said.
According to the colonel general, an attempt of an official of Ukraine’s State Emergency Service to avert that insane decision was suppressed rudely and brutally, including up to threats of execution by firing squad.
"Thus, the Kiev authorities widely demonstrate their complete indifference to their own people and the readiness to sacrifice innocent people in order to implement the geopolitical goals of their Western handlers," Mizintsev stressed.
Can it all get worse ? Yes it can !
Does biden think of sending in US airborne, UK, Polish forces for "peace keeping" into Ukraine...very likely...
We live in interesting times...
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. ~Albert Einstein
Blowing up that dam will hinder invading forces from advancing, I read about that a week ago. If I was going to blow it up I'd wait until the invading forces were in the area that will be affected. No different than blowing up a bridge or train tracks....
Here we go again… another regime change war. The target? Nuclear-armed Russia. Biden: “For God's sake, this man [Putin] cannot remain in power.” Regime change is the true intent of Biden Admin’s policies, which will have catastrophic consequences for Americans and world.
DJ I expect possible dramatic changes in this "East West crisis" the coming 24 hrs.
There is a real chance of "western intervention", "boots on the ground" with a need for air-superiority for NATO. Russia/Belarus will make very clear they will not accept such intervention.
Poland/Belarus border, Belarus/Baltic-NATO-states most likely will become a "new frontline"....
Both China and Iran may show "more activity"....
Outlook is bad.
Stay safe, ksc thank you for disagreeing with me...a forum where everone agrees with eachother is boring....
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. ~Albert Einstein
DJ, bidens call for regime change in Russia is damaging the US.....
Bidum is a doddering old senile fool who said something that he was thinking but wasn't on the teleprompter. Calling for a regime change of a nuclear power no less. The the White House ten minutes later says that's not what he said, well that's what he said not what he meant. All the idiot POOTUS did is ratchet up and escalate the situation.
"Facts don't care about your feelings" I'M A UNVAXXED DEVIL so kiss my rebel ass.
The question remains, was this a mere "gaffe"? Anti-war journalist Michael Tracey and others say no: "Biden’s call for regime change in Russia wasn’t some off-the-cuff “gaffe.” It was declared as the climax of a carefully choreographed, “legacy-defining” speech, in a deliberately chosen venue (Poland) where the call would be well-received."
Any doubt has been removed: the Biden Admin's goal is not to mitigate conflict in Ukraine, but further inflame it. Rejecting ceasefire negotiations, dumping vast amounts weapons, engineering more NATO expansion, threatening to send troops, and now even threatening to depose Putin
There was no ambiguity in what Biden said: he didn't even stutter for a change. The regime change demand came in a formal, prepared speech. It's consistent with all observable US policy. But don't believe your ears, because we know Biden to be a Very Serious Foreign Policy Person
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The excuse being given for Biden's regime change outburst is that it doesn't reflect "official US policy." But there's no such thing; that's a self-justifying conceit of NatSec bureaucrats. The president is (theoretically) elected to craft and articulate policy. Which Biden did
DJ, So Yes-the only thing to make of it biden calling for regimechange in Russia; I do not know how NOT to see this as a de facto US declaration of war by the US-against Russia...
2014 – Metabiota shows interest in Ukraine and invites Hunter Biden to “assert Ukraine’s cultural & economic independence from Russia”. 2014 – Metabiota and Burisma Holdings begin cooperation on an unnamed “science project in Ukraine”. 2014 – Metabiota, Global Viral and Black & Veatch Special Projects begin full-fledged cooperation within the US DoD programmes. 2014-2016 – Implementation of Metabiota and US DoD contracts, including a $300,000 project in Ukraine. 2016 – US citizen Ulana Nadia Suprun, a descendant of Ukrainian Nazis, is appointed Acting Health Minister of Ukraine. The US DoD and Ukraine’s Health Ministry cooperation programme is greatly expanded. 2016 – an outbreak of swine flu among Ukrainian Defence Ministry personnel guarding a biolab in Kharkov, Ukraine; 20 dead. The incident is hushed up. 2016 – former US Assistant Secretary for Defence Andrew Weber is appointed head of Metabiota’s global partnerships department. 2016 – EcoHealth Alliance, a Global Viral founder Nathan Wolfe’s structure, is engaged in the study of bat-transmitted coronaviruses at the research centre in a Wuhan laboratory, China. 2016 – the DTRA and Ukraine’s Health Ministry extend the contract after getting approval from the Ukrainian Defence Ministry. 2019 – the COVID-19 mutated bat coronavirus pandemic begins with an outbreak in Wuhan. February 24, 2022 – launch of the Russian Army’s special operation in Ukraine. February 24-25, 2022 – rapid elimination of strains in biolabs in Ukraine. March 8, 2022 – US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland openly acknowledges the existence of cooperation between the US and Ukraine in pathogens.
DJ, with-again-Hunter Biden involved in crimes in Ukraine-so the US president is covering up some crimes of his son by starting World War 3.....
The Roman Empire history was the basis for lots of movies...crazy stories...History repeats itself...
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. ~Albert Einstein
Here we go again… another regime change war. The target? Nuclear-armed Russia. Biden: “For God's sake, this man [Putin] cannot remain in power.” Regime change is the true intent of Biden Admin’s policies, which will have catastrophic consequences for Americans and world.
DJ, I was expecting to see more reactions on bidens call for regime change in Russia....most likely "main stream" does not know how to fit it in with their propaganda....
To say our world is failing is a profound understatement. Celente proclaims, “World War III has begun... I was born one year after the end of WWII, and crazy people will take you to war in the blink of an eye... The war criminals are leading us into another war.”
Celente says the reason for war usually surrounds a failing economy. This time is no different. Celente explains, “I have been saying that when all else fails, they take you to war..."
If Rubles are bound to Gold at 5000 Rubles per gram, and there are 28 grams per ounce, meaning one ounce of gold would cost 140,000 Rubles, then converting that to US Dollars means Gold is $1400 per ounce when using Rubles, instead of $1,928 per ounce using Dollars.
Russia just wiped out about thirty percent (30%) of the value of the US Dollar, worldwide, when it comes to Gold Bullion.
People around the world will be literally THROWING their money at the Ruble and DUMPING Dollars and EUROS to do it.
What Russia just did is the financial equivalent of detonating a nuclear bomb.
FWIW, the last guy on this planet who tried to back a currency with Gold, was Muammar Quadaffi of Libya.
NATO went into Libya, bombed the shit out of it, until the people of Libya grabbed Quadaffi on the street, beat him bloody, and put a bullet in his head.
but the main player in the economic war will be China...not Russia...
-[url]https://tass.com/world/1428019[/url] or https://tass.com/world/1428019 ; Russian and Turkish Presidents, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have agreed to organize the next round of talks between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul, the Turkish presidential office said on Sunday after their telephone conversation.
Main problem so far is Ukraine agrees with some steps forward then (by US order) pulling back...The US-biden-wants escalation....is not interested in ending the Ukraine war but disrupting EU ties with Russia, China (or indirect links via Iran...).
[url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom%E2%80%93United_States_relations#War_of_1812[/url] or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom%E2%80%93United_States_relations#War_of_1812 ; The US strategy called for a war against British shipping and especially cutting off food shipments to the British sugar plantations in the West Indies. Conquest of the northern colonies that later became Canada was a tactic designed to give the US a strong bargaining position.[40] The main British goal was to defeat France, so until that happened in 1814 the war was primarily defensive. To enlist allies among Native Americans, led by Tecumseh, the British promised an independent Native American state would be created in territory claimed by the United States. British and Canadian forces repeatedly repulsed invasions by US forces, which were inadequately prepared, poorly led, and undermined by the unavailability of militia units, whose commanders refused to place them temporarily under federal control. Nevertheless, US forces took control of Lake Erie in 1813, and destroyed the offensive abilities of Native American forces, allied to the British, in the Northwest and South. The British invasion of the Chesapeake Bay in 1814 culminated in the "Burning of Washington", but the subsequent British attack on Baltimore was repelled. A British incursion into New York during 1814 was defeated at the Battle of Plattsburgh, and the invasion of Louisiana that launched before word of a ceasefire had reached General Andrew Jackson was decisively defeated at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. Negotiations began in 1814 and produced the Treaty of Ghent, which restored the status quo ante bellum: there were no territorial gains by either side, and the British strategy of creating an independent Native American state was abandoned after strong American pressure. The United Kingdom retained the theoretical right of impressment, but stopped impressing any sailors, while the United States dropped the issue for good.[41] The US celebrated the outcome as a victorious "second war of independence". The British, having finally defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo, celebrated that triumph and largely forgot their second war with the US. Tensions between the US and Canada were resolved through diplomacy. The War of 1812 marked the end of a long period of conflict (1775–1815) and ushered in a new era of peace between the two nations.
The Mexican–American War,[a] also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the Intervención estadounidense en México (U.S. intervention in Mexico),[b] was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1845 U.S. annexation of Texas, which Mexico considered Mexican territory since the Mexican government did not recognize the Velasco treaty signed by Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna when he was a prisoner of the Texian Army during the 1836 Texas Revolution.
DJ, the point I want to make is that the US did not see major conflict in its borders for over 120 years...Europe now again in another war...Did the US outsource wars ? A sort of "realism" that if there have to be wars, then not on US soil ?
Two attempts to introduce a democratic social order in Russia have already failed. The first Russian democracy, of 1917, lasted only a few months. The second, in the 1990s, lasted a few years with great difficulty. Every time my country tries to build a democratic society by establishing elections, a parliament and a republic, it finds itself in a totalitarian empire.
Do a dictatorship and a dictator give birth to a slave population or does a slave population give birth to a dictatorship and a dictator? The chicken and the egg. How can this vicious circle be broken? How can a new Russia begin?
There was no de-Stalinisation in Russia and there were no Nuremberg trials for the Communist party. Now Russia’s fate depends on de-Putinisation. Just as the “ignorant” German population was shown concentration camps in 1945, so “ignorant” Russians must be shown destroyed Ukrainian cities and the corpses of children. We Russians must openly and courageously acknowledge our guilt and ask for forgiveness.
Re-Visiting Russiagate In Light Of The Ukraine War Russiagate was never about removing Trump, it was about making sure Trump played along with US regime change plans for Moscow and manufacturing mainstream consent for the escalations we're seeing today.
DJ, the biden-Warsaw speech did wake up the world.....
Fucking ridiculous that it's 2022 and it's still a shocking and controversial position to say your government and media are lying to you about a fucking war.
Update(1700ET): Recall that Biden in Brussels just days ago hailing a NATO that's "more united than ever"... as France24 and others reported: "Russian President Vladimir Putin had banked on NATO being split when he launched an invasion of Ukraine last month, but Putin actually sparked the exact opposite, with the alliance now being more united than ever, US President Joe Biden said at a NATO-G7 summit in Brussels on Thursday."
And now on Monday, NATO allies are said to be split on whether they should talk to Putin, which also comes after weeks of France's Emmanuel Macron coming under intense pressure for being among the only Western leaders willing to hold frequent phone calls directly with Putin seeking de-escalation. Macron, it should be remembered, was the first to criticize Biden over the US president's remarks suggesting US policy is now regime change in Russia. "We shouldn’t escalate, with words or actions," Macron said.
"As NATO allies discuss the terms of any potential peace deal to be struck between Russia and Ukraine, signs of strategic splits are emerging from within their ranks," writes Bloomberg. "With the war now in its second month, a series of dilemmas are coming into sharp focus over which conditions could be deemed acceptable by Ukraine for any accord, especially as regards the security guarantees alliance members might be able to offer Kyiv."
The agreement failed to stop fighting,[4] and was thus followed with a revised and updated agreement, Minsk II, which was signed on 12 February 2015.[5] This agreement consisted of a package of measures, including a ceasefire, withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line, release of prisoners of war, constitutional reform in Ukraine granting self-government to certain areas of Donbas and restoring control of the state border to the Ukrainian government. While fighting subsided following the agreement's signing, it never ended completely, and the agreement's provisions were never fully implemented.[6] The Normandy Format parties agreed that the Minsk II remains the basis for any future resolution to the conflict.
have no US (major) participation) ...
DJ And the US is the problem....
So to get WORKING agreements that can not be sabotaged by the US the EU, France and Germany, may have to include "other partners" in a try to restart talks...
The world is watching...seeing how "the West" still calls itself "the World"...."living with climate collapse, living with a pandemic, living with endless, pointless wars making some people very rich...
Most of the world will "have had it" living with "the West" NOT solving any crisis, simply kicking lots of cans down the road...
So the outcome of the US-since the end of the cold war/USSR starting endless wars, the EU failing to stop that will be most of "the world" hoping they may be able to make better deals with "Asia"....
"The West" ignored China, India becoming major players on a global scale...South Korea, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan as major factors....
South Korea did see US sanctions (trade related ?), Turkey was not welcome in the EU-because of its Islam-religion...Pakistan did do a lot of dirty work for the US only to get insults and drone attacks...Iran-well we all know US regime change since 1979-o.a. via the Iran-Iraq war (with Saddam Hussein doing the dirty work for the west-getting Saudi money for WMD to be used against Iran...Those WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) became an excuse for a US/NATO invasion in 2003...)...
India has had good relations with Russia/USSR since 1947....
Asia has 4 billion population-out of 7,9 billion...most of future economic growth will be in Asia...
To wit, the economic might of NATO is 29X that of Russia and its combined defense budgets are 18X greater, which tells you all you need to know about the “Russian threat”:
NATO: $42.78 trillion of GDP; 945 million population; $45,130 per capita income; $1,200 billion defense budget;
RUSSIA: $1.46 trillion of GDP; 144 million population; $10,300 per capita income; $67 billion defense budget.
DJ [url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_economy#Twenty_largest_economies_in_the_world_by_GDP_(PPP)[/url] or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_economy#Twenty_largest_economies_in_the_world_by_GDP_(PPP)
Some very good Russian weapons cost 5-10% of the same kind of US quality...So-yes-Russia may have 18x smaller defense budget then (all of) NATO...If it can do 20x better by having money spent more wise...And in case of a conflict with NATO (after NApoleon, NAzi's do we never learn ???) moving "east" Russia will be defending itself-very short supply lines...
DJ-Only a total fool would even consider starting a war with Russia...and being a total fool would expect China, Iran, North Korea (etc) to sit and watch, wait for their turn....
One major problem...the ruling elite in the US may be fools...the EU political elite not much better-failed to stop the Ukraine war when they should have done it...By making clear Ukraine was not ready for NATO, EU or nuclear weapons....DJ-For that matter EU and Russian safety concerns were/are not that different...
So two options;
-War (US)
-Talks (EU)
DJ-Macron-France-needs reelection, the major alternatives are far right wing and (potential) pro-Putin...So even the US may have to rethink "f.ck the EU"-part 2.....
Since most of the world wants to see an end to this (insane) Ukraine war AND !!!! the economic disruptions/sanctions destroying global trade one major question is who will be able to "close the gap"...Israel, Turkey, for the EU India, China are all acceptable...
DJ-And let me be honest...IF the US again blocks these kinds of talks it is time for the EU to say "F.ck the US" !!!!
To have global trade we need global security...International agreements-if taken serious-can be a good basis for that...When a US "political elite of neo-cons, exceptionalists etc" wants to "rule the world" the EU should NOT be a partner in that !
IF that US elite does not change its views over time-we may have a problem then...(not now)...
That elite was the outcome of an inbalance after the end of the USSR in 1991...but also of a EU simply not doing its balancing...taking its own responsibilities...
So I am optimistic that we still may find some diplomatic way out...to avoid nuclear-global-war...
WE created RIC (Russia-Iran-China) becoming a block...by our agression, US bases encircling them...sanctions...regime change...
I do believe respect-accepting lots of differences of view-can make a difference...
A comment; French General: Let's invade the Saarland!*invades with little to no resistance*French Soldiers: Now what?French General: I don't know, I never thought we'd make it this far
DJ, What I miss is a plan, a strategy, thinking....Also then "words were empty"....
The West could-and should-give Ukraine, Georgia some form of security-via talks with Russia, Turkey....most likely resulting in Ukraine, Georgia staying out of NATO...but also staying out of war....
Starting in mid-March 1939, the Soviet Union, Britain and France traded a flurry of suggestions and counterplans regarding a potential political and military agreement.[31] The Soviet Union feared Western powers and the possibility of a "capitalist encirclements", had little faith either that war could be avoided or in the Polish army, and wanted guaranteed support for a two-pronged attack on Germany.[54][55] Britain and France believed that war could still be avoided and that the Soviet Union, weakened by purges,[56] could not serve as a main military participant.[54] France, as a continental power, was more anxious for an agreement with the USSR than Britain, which was more willing to make concessions and more aware of the dangers of an agreement between the USSR and Germany.[57] On April 17, Soviet foreign minister Maxim Litvinov outlined a French–British–Soviet mutual assistance pact between the three powers for five to 10 years, including military support, if any of the powers were the subject of aggression.[31]
DJ, Could a UK, France, USSR pact have prevented World War Two ???? If it was a very clear pact-UK-France-Russia giving Poland security-warning Germany it may have at least slowed down nazi agression...
So stopping a war via a pact would still leave room for "alternatives"....Poland had a right wing government [url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Poland_(1918%E2%80%931939)#From_democracy_to_authoritarian_government[/url] or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Poland_(1918%E2%80%931939)#From_democracy_to_authoritarian_government less willing to make deals with Russia then as well...
So if Germany did not invade Poland september 1939...they may have offered Poland protection against Russia by "stationing" German military on the Russian Polish border....
The whole world must see this footage so they realize that this is not a war between Russia and Ukraine, which is supported by the NATO countries, but the war between good and evil. In this video, Ukrainian soldiers shoot Russian prisoners of war in their legs and afterwards give them a severe beating.
DJ, Who is the butcher mr. biden ?
At the beginning of the video, it is possible to see Russian POWs lying on the ground with bullet wounds in their legs. Some of them have got their leg broken. Some may claim that Russian servicemembers were captured already wounded. However, this is untrue. In the end of the video, we can see Ukrainian soldiers shooting all the newly arrived prisoners through their legs. Many of them are dying from shock due to the pain right on camera.
All of this is being filmed by Ukrainian soldiers themselves. They have been treating the captured warriors of self-defense forces of the Donbass the same way throughout the previous eight years.
This is not a separate case of war crimes and terrorist actions of the Ukrainian regime.
This is the outcome of supporting neo-nazi's, facists...like the west supported "moderate butchers" IS/alquaida in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya or going back to the 80's "contra's" in Nicaragua killing small farmers with CIA provided knives...renamo-scum, unita in Mozambique, Angola...or even further back nazi's themselves, franco in Spain...without western support they never would have come to power...
Military dictators dropping trade union workers from (US) helicopters in the Atlantic....That is the "western secret war" going for oil, gas, agriculture, profit....
Under it is racism, exceptionalism, somehow "god is on our side" when we kill "sub-humans".....Western policy...(not only US, UK, France, NL have all had their colonial wars..Belgian Congo may be one of the horrors we hate to remember...)
When you do not face history you do not learn from it....
It is incorrect to claim "only the west" re-used nazi's...(with a German (former nazi) general in NATO command over NL forces in the 50's)...Some nazi's ended up-very anti-Israel-in the Arab world...Russia did 're-use"nazi's in its rocket programs...But NL nazi's after 1945 were (often) welcome to fight in Indonesia "police actions"/colonial war...then moving on to Korea 1950-53...
History shows there are allways jobs for "good killers".....
The head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, threatened total "guerrilla" warfare in Russian-occupied territory. He also warned Moscow was attempting to split his country into a divided state.
Budanov said that Ukraine was preparing a guerrilla war in any territory Russia continues to control. "The season of a total Ukrainian guerilla safari will soon begin," he said.
DJ, No doubt "NATO special forces/intel" all over Ukraine....
From the US point of view; If you do not stop the end of the "petro-$", the dollar-energy link" you do not stop the bankruptcy of the US....This is a power struggle between "east" and "west"...
The "loser" may not become "second best" but end up under control of the winner....
In other words; will D.C. run the world or Bejing.....
DJ-Most of the global population do NOT live in "east" or "west" but in the "south"....Could we end up with "New Delhi/India" dominating the world-because "east and west" destroyed eachother ?
The "Ukraine war' US goal was to stop EU trade with Russia, China...but now escalated to "who has the best chances" in Asia, Africa, Latin America....
Like the pandemic, this war is far from over....
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. ~Albert Einstein
DJ, What is the point for Russia to make any deals with "the west" if that "west" only breaks deals....Russia hoped the Minsk-agreements would somehow meani a thing...but France, Germany, Ukraine only signed them to break them....
NATO would not move east-using art 10-to break that agreement...So for Russia if the EU, NATO, US, does not take Russian (safety) concerns serious...maybe war is the only left option.
Now the "west" comes up with phantasies Russia is losing the Ukraine war...Russia is trying to see if they can reach any realistic results with Ukraine...DJ-the alternative for Russia is to take over Ukraine...(either via regime change or occupation...).
DJ-More wide, global, only the west itself thinks any agreements with them have any meaning...From the Iran-deal to stealing money from Venezuela, Afghanistan...the message by now is find an alternative...China, Russia working hard to find that alternative....
Since that west still believes Ukraine lies on "winning the war" lots of weapons beeing send in-as far as possible. DJ-More complicated is Ukraine/volunteer/other forces now training in NATO countries (most) in Poland...Getting those troops into Ukraine (or via Ukraine into Belarus, Russia-increase pain for Russia) will further escalate the war....
DJ-The EU has to rethink its positions...Does the EU want access to the Asia market, get energy, they have to "distance themselves" from the US (neo-cons etc.).
-An other point is "regime change" in Russia ...Allready the present Ukraine war is putting hard liners in Moscow with increasing influence....Putin may be one of the more moderate Russian leaders....
Russia has hope that the EU may become some sort of partner...France (april 10 election) may give some shift...Russia want to be partners with China, India, EU...
Both EU and Russia-and even Ukraine-do NOT want the "endless war-last Ukrainian" scenario....
DJ-Russia I think will not give up taking over control over the Ukraine Black Sea coast....the longer Ukraine takes to reach some agreement with Russia the more likely the price (for both Ukraine and EU) will go up....
"Petro-Ruble" starts tomorrow...the EU may be paying a very high price for (not working) sanctions...(fight in Ukraine not only till the last Ukrainian but also the last Euro...)...
Physical gas flows through the Yamal-Europe pipeline at Germany's Mallnow point fell to zero on Tuesday afternoon, data from operator Gascade showed, while Russian gas deliveries to Europe on the other two key pipeline routes were broadly steady. . . for now.
Eastbound flows into Poland from Germany along the Yamal-Europe pipeline at the Mallnow border point last stood at 1,451,155 kWh/h by 1300 local time (1100 GMT) but since then it has fallen to zero, data from operator Gascade showed.
The usually westbound pipeline reversed on March 15 as bookings to ship gas into Germany fell to zero, while Polish customers bought gas from Germany.
Gascade did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment.
Russia said it would work out practical arrangements by Thursday for foreign companies to pay for its gas in Rubles, raising the probability of supply disruptions as Western nations have so far rejected Moscow's demand for a currency switch.
Europe has flatly stated they will not pay in Rubles. Russia responded saying "We are not a charity, if you do not pay, then supplies will stop."
Russia wll use both the "energy-weapon" as the currency-weapon...
DJ-Since this is a global conflict global energy, currencies are used as weapons....(I do not know for how much Iran has control over the Yemen Houthis or Russia make plans with Iran...but "limiting energy supplies to the west" fits with plans/interests of "the east"....so indirect Saudi oil installations being destroyed should be seen as part of the global war...).
[url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_oil_crisis[/url ] or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_oil_crisis ; The 1973 oil crisis or first oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries led by Saudi Arabia proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo was targeted at nations that had supported Israel during the Yom Kippur War.[1] The initial nations targeted were Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States with the embargo also later extended to Portugal, Rhodesia and South Africa. By the end of the embargo in March 1974,[2] the price of oil had risen nearly 300%, from US$3 per barrel ($19/m3) to nearly $12 per barrel ($75/m3) globally; US prices were significantly higher. The embargo caused an oil crisis, or "shock", with many short- and long-term effects on global politics and the global economy.[3] It was later called the "first oil shock", followed by the 1979 oil crisis, termed the "second oil shock".
DJ, We may have to prepare for a 2022 energy crisis for those countries supporting western sanctions...Again-most of the world is NOT the west !!! The west has NO support from most major energy exporters...They also want the freedom to make energy deals in other currencies then the US$...NOT have to face sanctions because of where they buy what weapons, or with who they trade...
Sanctioning countries because they buy Russian, Chinese weapons, buy Iran oil, or sell know how on oil-infrastructure etc to countries the US does not like now showing its price....
Again...I think Russia, China know what they are doing...from buying gold-linking it with their currencies, to international trade...I do get the impression "the west" has no idea what they are doing...
From sanctions being overused, selfdestructing to supporting all kind of crazy groups (IS, neo-nazi's MEK, is some US/UK crazy dreaming of a return of a czar in Russia ? A sjah in Iran...? )...the "west" simply seems to have no strategy at all...
That "west" also is very divided in their interests...The US may need a petro-$, but the EU needs Russian energy, access to Asian markets...Turkey, Australia, South Korea, Japan also in another position...(Japan may not be happy with EU-China trade...).
-Nuclear war risks may increase because biden does not rule out first use...and since the west seems to have no clear goals other than "liberating oil and bring democracy to gas/energy" -acting as a bunch of global neo-colonial robbers that "west" may learn in a very hard way "they are not that popular" in the 2022 global economy...
Again-it is the west getting isolated ! Going for conflicts only makes that west weaker...not stronger !
Learning the hard way...can't fix stupid...
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. ~Albert Einstein
Ukraine promised neutrality when it got independent from the USSR in 1991. The "Orange-revolution" in 2004 did see Kiev 'changing views", resulting in 2008 Ukraine being promised it could join NATO...Russia allready back then made it very clear such a step would endanger Russian security interests...(Also bringing a short war with Georgia-another former Soviet state thinking of joining NATO).
In the present conflict -for some unclear-yet-reasons-Ukraine expected much more "western help" against Russia. It had seen major US/NATO involvement, training...(DJ-and most likely Ukraine had reasons to believe it could see itself already as an informal NATO member...We may learn later on what "the west"did promise...and what promisses the west-again-did break...)...
AM has a point that looking at how Russia handles its role in Syria may say a lot of what Russian strategy may be in Ukraine.
Russia has three clear goals;
-denazification
-demilitarization
-Ukraine not in NATO
DJ-With the last fighting in Mariupol against major neo-nazi forces (often in nazi uniforms, German helmets etc...Where did these come from...CIA ???) denazification has made a major step
Ukraine is running out of tanks, has hardly any planes left, its supplies are mostly destroyed by missiles...so demilitarization is becoming a fact as well.
Ukraine not joining NATO (Ukraine not in EU is a point Russia is much more neutral on) is now being discussed
The above may be described as phase 1, phase 2 is Eastern Ukraine...as long as there is no ceasefire Russia will keep shelling, isolating most of what is left of the Ukraine army in eastern Ukraine...
In talks (in Istanbul, Turkey) zelensky now accepting Ukraine will not join NATO...still seeking some security guarantees..
"Consessions" of Russia;
-Pull back of (some of its) forces around Kiev and a few other places
-Maybe-further in negotiations there could be a meeting between Ukraine and Russian foreign ministers
DJ; AM Russian forces will be renewed, fresh forces ready around Kursk-with more tanks then before the invasion...but a shift to Eastern Ukraine
-Talks with foreign ministers ONLY if there is some basic agreement
(DJ-AM already made the point Russia wants to try to make a deal with Ukraine...the Minsk Agreements did see Germany, France involved only -with Ukraine-breaking the agreements before the ink was dry...If the west only produces bla-bla...AM calling biden Warsaw speech "deranged"-Russia has no point in getting the west involved...).
So phase 2 will see fighting with the Russian goal-most likely-to take over the east of Ukraine...and further talks...
Phase 3 will be Russia taking over Odessa, reducing Ukraine to a small space in the NW of its present borders...If that taking over can be done without fighting-via talks-maybe Russia will be giving some consessions (lower energy costs).
The Russian goal in Ukraine is reducing any risk Ukraine may become in the future...Most of the east and south will become Russian....
Russia has NO reason to trust the Kiev junta...The west is not going to help Ukraine in a meaningfull way...so "facts on the ground" will tell the story...
-Sanctions war are already driving up inflation in Europe +10%...Russia will start taking sanctions...
-Payment for Russian oil/gas in ruble has been given some extra time...no doubt also as part of talks with the EU...
-Russian goal there may be breaking up US-EU very limited unity...
-Does Russia get damaged by western sanctions ? Very likely-but the sanctions were not unexpected...India, China increased imports from Russia...both countries have a population of 1,4 billion each...the EU 500 million...Asia is tha major market, not Europe...
-Again the "west" does not have a real strategy other then doing its own thing and ignoring what other countries want...
-DJ-In fact Putin may be seen in Russia-and most of the world-as the one "limiting world war three" by stopping NATO moving east in an early stage...
So-again-the picture I am getting is "we" did already lose this war...
Only the "west" went for sanctions; NATO, South Korea, Japan, Australia...
There were different forms of "neutrality";
-Turkey, Israel selling weapons to Ukraine but not (real) sanctioning Russia, trying to play a role in the talks to get peace
-Arab/OPEC states...frustrated in part on why they have to deal with the Syria/Yemen wars...but also "on line" with Russia as a major energy exporter..So OPEC did not increase energy production...some countries willing to accept payment not in US$...
-India, China increasing trade with Russia, using their own currencies as payment...trying to "limit damage" in the Ukraine war...
Then "the west";
-US, UK may still push for all kinds of escalations...trying to limit Russia, China...but far away from the fighting, limiting refugees, not paying most of the costs
-EU now facing an energycrisis, food problems even...another refugee crisis (5 million Ukranians) leading to a very major economic crisis...
DJ-It may be difficult to measure who is hurt most by the present sanctions, Russia or the EU. But for the EU the economic pain already is very major. IF the US further wants to sanction China (India, South Africa) this has to be a breaking point for the EU...either the economy or politics will snap...
-In the EU Romania but most Poland is now seeing a major influx of Ukrainian refugees...They have a "love/hate" relation with Ukraine (during world war two Ukrainian "nationalists/nazi's" killed 100,000 Poles in the NW of Ukraine..in return Poles killed 20,000 Ukrainians..). NW of Ukraine once was Polish...
-In words the EU may still "support the strictest sanctions" while in deeds they have little room/alternatives for importing Russian energy...also have to keep Russia, Turkey as a link to China...Maybe even some "EU leaders" start realizing first of all the major economic destruction they created, second biden wants Putin out, third. Russia, China do not need the EU..it is in the EU interests to have good relations...
-So if the US (with or without UK) wants a "prolonged war" in Ukraine it may have no nearby countries willing to provide much room for that...The US can do a lot of its war in Syria, Iraq from bases in Iraq, Jordan...and some limited bases in the south and east of Syria...but both Syria and Iraq want the US to get out....
-Longer term perspective; the West/US did lose the Philipines, Pakistan as allies...Turkey doing its own thing (going for its own interests in the Ukraine war). The West lost the wars in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Libya...did make promisses, agreements it did not keep...Simply "freezing/stealing" bankaccounts of countries as sanction..Trying to tell others at what price and in wich currency they can sell their goods...Again...Most of the world has had more then enough of western neo-colonialism and want that west "to sing another song" but also to be limited in a military way...So it will no longer invade countries no longer using the US$ for energy trade (like Iraq, Libya...)...
DJ-The ugly reality may be "we blew it"....
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. ~Albert Einstein
Germany says Putin agreed to keep payments for gas in euros
Scholz is committed to a G7 agreement that energy supplies from Russia would be paid for only in euros or US dollars
Germany's government said on Wednesday it has received assurances from Russia that Europe would not have to pay for Russian gas supplies in rubles.
Olaf Scholz's office said Russian President Vladimir Putin told the German Chancellor that European companies could continue paying in euros or dollars.
In a phone call with Scholz, Putin said the money would be paid into Gazprom Bank and then transferred in rubles to Russia, a German statement said. The bank is not currently subject to sanctions.
"Scholz did not agree to this procedure in the conversation, but asked for written information to better understand the procedure," the statement added.
Demand for ruble payments rejected
Putin said last week that Moscow would only accept rubles as payment for gas deliveries to "unfriendly" countries, including European Union nations.
According to a Kremlin statement, Putin told Scholz that "the decision taken should not lead to worsening of contractual terms for European importer companies."
He also sought to justify Russia's demands for ruble payments, saying that "in violation of the norms of international law, the foreign exchange reserves of the Bank of Russia were frozen by the member states of the European Union."
U.S. official says export curbs on Russia hit car production and tank building
March 30 (Reuters) - Global restrictions on exports to Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine have shut down a car maker, halted work on tanks and cut a Russian computer maker's access to circuits used in communications equipment, a U.S. official said on Wednesday.
Reporting by Karen Freifeld; Editing by Chris Sanders and Sandra Maler
Dozens of Russian troops ‘fall ill with radiation poisoning’ at Chernobyl
Russian troops withdrawn from the Chernobyl nuclear power site are being rushed across the border to a special medical facility in Belarus with ‘acute radiation sickness’, it has been claimed.
However, an employee at the Ukrainian state agency overseeing the exclusion zone said ‘irradiated’ Russian soldiers were being whisked by the bus load to a clinic in Gomel for treatment.
Yaroslav Yemelianenko wrote on Facebook: ‘Another batch of Russian irradiated terrorists who seized the Chernobyl zone was brought to the Belarusian Radiation Medicine Center in Gomel today.
Vladimir Putin “massively misjudged” the invasion of Ukraine, according to a British spy chief who said that Russian soldiers were refusing to carry out orders, were sabotaging their own equipment and had mistakenly shot down their own aircraft. Jeremy Fleming, head of Britain’s signals intelligence agency GCHQ, said Putin had “overestimated the abilities of his military to secure a rapid victory” and that his advisers were “afraid to tell him the truth” about a campaign that was “beset by problems”. “We’re now seeing Putin trying to follow through on his plan. But it is failing. And his plan B has been more barbarity against civilians and cities,” Fleming said in a speech to the Australian National University. “We’ve seen Putin lie to his own people in an attempt to hide military incompetence.” The British intelligence chief said that Russian soldiers who were rejecting orders and damaging their own equipment were “short of weapons and morale”, adding: “It increasingly looks like Putin has massively misjudged the situation. “It’s clear he misjudged the resistance of the Ukrainian people. He underestimated the strength of the coalition his actions would galvanise. He underplayed the economic consequences of the sanctions regime.” US officials concurred that Putin aides were withholding information from the president. “We believe that Putin is being misinformed by his advisers about how badly the Russian military is performing and how the Russian economy is being crippled by sanctions,” a US official said.
As reported earlier, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has appeared in the Netherlands via video link and asked the Dutch parliament for weapons, reconstruction aid and to halt all business with Russia in response to the invasion of his country.
The opposition Labour Party leader of the Netherlands, Lilianne Ploumen, called on the government of prime minister Mark Rutte to urgently implement EU sanctions and quickly target the assets because we can “no longer justify this to Ukraine”.
Some background:
Roughly 20% of Dutch natural gas comes from Russia, which has become an increasingly important trading partner for the Netherlands in recent years.
The Dutch, along with other EU countries including Germany, are looking for other energy sources, but quick alternatives are few and global supplies limited. Zelenskiy asked the Dutch to “adopt a city” in Ukraine to focus post-war reconstruction efforts.
The Netherlands has supplied Ukrainian forces with military equipment, including anti-tank rockets and Patriot air defence systems and is also supporting NATO’s increased presence along the military alliance’s eastern flank.
The Dutch have so far been unable to effectively freeze or seize tens of billions of euros (dollars) in Russian assets registered in the Netherlands, due to complex tax structures that make it difficult to identify ultimate owners of corporate holdings and property.
A letter to parliament from the Finance Ministry on March 22 said 392 million euros ($431.24 million) in Russian assets and transactions had been frozen under EU sanctions imposed since the invasion on Feb. 24.
Ukraine Update: Putin Tells Draghi Payments Can be Made in Euros
(Bloomberg) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin told Italy’s prime minister that European gas purchases can still be made in euros, reinforcing a message relayed by the German government and signaling a possible softening in the Kremlin’s demand for payment in rubles.
‘Hitler’ Putin commits ‘one of the worst crimes of the war’ by blowing up a Red Cross building in Mariupol
Vladimir Putin’s forces have committed “one of the worst crimes of the war” after “aircraft fired” on a Red Cross building in the besieged city of Mariupol.
Lyudmyla Denisova, Ukraine’s human rights commissioner, said Russian aircraft fired at the building marked clearly with a red cross on a white background.
She said until now, the only other forces who bombed buildings and vehicles marked with red crosses on white backgrounds “were the troops of Hitler’s Germany.”
She added, “Artillery fired on a building marked with a red cross on a white background, indicating the presence of wounded, civilian or humanitarian cargo.”
The conditions in the besieged city of Mariupol have been described as hellish and aid groups have continually asked for access to the city.
Russian troops have been forcibly deporting thousands of civilians from Mariupol and have been sending them to remote parts of Eastern Russia and many have been sent to “filtration camps.”
Denisova could not confirm whether casualties were hit or not but said the bombing amounts to a war crime, which is a “gross violation of the 1949 Geneva convention.”
Matilda Bogner, head of the United Nations Human Rights mission in Ukraine, gave a grim warning, “We think there could be thousands of deaths, civilian casualties, in Mariupol.”
The INSTC’s main players are Russia, Iran and India – which are now, post-NATO sanctions, in advanced interconnection mode, complete with devising mechanisms to bypass the US dollar in their trade. Azerbaijan is another important INSTC player, yet more volatile because it privileges Turkey’s connectivity designs in the Caucasus.
The INSTC network will also be progressively interconnecting with Pakistan – and that means the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a key BRI hub, which is slowly but surely expanding to Afghanistan. Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s impromptu visit to Kabul late last week was to advance the incorporation of Afghanistan to the New Silk Roads.
All that is happening as Moscow – extremely close to New Delhi – is simultaneously expanding trade relations with Islamabad. All three, crucially, are Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) members.
So the grand North-South design spells out fluent connectivity from the Russian mainland to the Caucasus (Azerbaijan), to West Asia (Iran) all the way to South Asia (India and Pakistan). None of these key players have demonized or sanctioned Russia despite ongoing US pressures to do so.
Strategically, that represents the Russian multipolar concept of Greater Eurasian Partnership in action in terms of trade and connectivity – in parallel and complimentary with BRI because India, eager to install a rupee-ruble mechanism to buy energy, in this case is an absolutely crucial Russia partner, matching China’s reported $400 billion strategic deal with Iran. In practice, the Greater Eurasia Partnership will facilitate smoother connectivity between Russia, Iran, Pakistan and India.
The NATO universe, meanwhile, is congenitally incapable of even recognizing the complexity of the alignment, not to mention analyze its implications. What we have is the interlocking of BRI, INTSC and the Greater Eurasia Partnership on the ground – all notions that are regarded as anathema in the Washington Beltway.
All that of course is being designed amidst a game-changing geoeconomic moment, as Russia, starting this Thursday, will only accept payment for its gas in rubles from “unfriendly” nations.
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Time to de-westernize
Yet only now the Global South, especially, will start to observe the full spectrum of the China-Russia play across the Eurasian sphere. Moscow and Beijing are deeply involved in a joint drive to de-westernize globalist governance, if not shatter it altogether.
Russia from now on will be even more meticulous in its institution-building, coalescing the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU), the SCO and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) – a Eurasian military alliance of select post-Soviet states – in a geopolitical context of irreversible institutional and normative divide between Russia and the West.
At the same time, the Greater Eurasia Partnership will be solidifying Russia as the ultimate Eurasian bridge, creating a common space across Eurasia which could even ignore vassalized Europe.
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The EU as occupied American territory is now descending, fast, from center of global power to the status of inconsequential peripheral player, a mere struggling market in the far periphery of China’s “community of shared destiny.”
I think we in the "west" may see an increase of social unrest/economic collapse, hyperinflation...Governments going for more repression, internet control...
1/2 CNN continues to amaze me with the misleading nature of the “news” they choose to broadcast. They claim Putin has signed an order for the emergency conscription of 134,000 troops to replace casualties from Russia’s “failed” military campaign in Ukraine.
2/2 The reality is that the Russian President is required by law to sign a decree at the end of March setting the draft goals for the annual conscription campaign that runs from April through July. The number being drafted—some 134,000–remains unchanged from prior years.
Warmongers have set us on a path of nuclear war with Russia. When the nukes fly, you’ll get the alert that people in Hawaii got 4 years ago: MISSILE INCOMING. SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. They told us we had 20 minutes to find shelter but didn’t provide any…
DJ, only hope no nuclear war will happen...
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. ~Albert Einstein
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