|
The ‘Frozen Ground Theory’ And Other Ukraine War Nonsense
Since October 30 2021 first U.S. and then other 'western' media have been filled with predictions of a Russian war against the Ukraine.
Today David Ignatius, the CIA's spokesperson resident at the Washington Post, makes another dire claim:
The world will be watching in horror if Russia invades Ukraine this week — but just watching. Ukraine will fight alone, as Russian tanks roll across the flat, frozen terrain; precision bombs destroy key targets near Kyiv and other cities; and the country becomes a killing field unlike anything Europe has seen since 1945.
…
U.S. military officials say Putin has sent orders to his commanders to prepare for possible battle by the middle of this week, when the ground in central Ukraine will have frozen more than a foot deep, allowing rapid tank advance.
I found that 'frozen terrain' bullshit annoying enough to look up the weather forecast for Donetzk.
bigger
The day temperatures this week will be consistently above zero degree centigrade. Some mild night frost might freeze over the grass but little below that. It has been the same last week in Donetzk as well as in Kiev, Moscow and Minsk. There is certainly no frozen ground anywhere between those cities.
Alexander Marquardt, currently in the Ukraine on behalf of CNN, confirms that observation:
Cont. reading: The ‘Frozen Ground Theory’ And Other Ukraine War Nonsense
The MoA Week In Review – OT 2022-013
U.S. Sends Nuclear Submarine To Harass Russia Near Japan
Since October 30 2021 the U.S. is warning of a Russian military buildup and a potential invasion of the Ukraine.
Over the last days the screaming over Russian exercises on Russian grounds has again increased. The U.S. Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense have both called their Russian counterparts. President Biden will later today call President Putin.
But if the situation is really as dire as the U.S. claims why is it doing this (machine translation)?
An American submarine entered Russian territorial waters in the Kuriles region, and special means were used against it, the Ministry of Defense said.
"On February 12, 2022, at 10:40 Moscow time, a U.S. Navy submarine of the Virginia type was discovered in the area of the planned exercise of the Pacific Fleet forces in the territorial waters of the Russian Federation near Urup Island of the Kuril Ridge," the agency said.
The crew of the submarine was given a message in Russian and English via underwater communication: "You are in the territorial waters of Russia. Surface immediately!"
The foreign warship ignored the demand.
"In accordance with the guidelines for the protection of the state border of the Russian Federation in the underwater environment, the crew of the Pacific Fleet frigate Marshal Shaposhnikov used appropriate means," the message says.
The American submarine used a self-propelled simulator to double the target on radar and acoustic control means and left Russian territorial waters at maximum speed.
A detachment of ships of the Pacific Fleet continues exercises and controls the underwater environment to prevent violation of the state border.
In connection with the incident, the Defense Ministry called the military attache at the US Embassy in Moscow.
The Kuril islands are north east of Japan and part of Russia.
Cont. reading: U.S. Sends Nuclear Submarine To Harass Russia Near Japan
When Cruelty Is The Point – U.S. Decides To Kill More Afghan People
Last summer, after decades of killing Afghans in Afghanistan, the U.S. government decides to move its occupation forces out of that country.
The operation was badly prepared, (or intentionally sabotaged by the Pentagon), and ended in chaos. More than 120,000 Afghans, most of them higher educated ones, were also taken abroad. This alone was severely damaging to Afghanistan.
The U.S. also froze the $7+ billion reserve funds of the central bank of Afghanistan which have been held in New York. This is the Afghan peoples money. Part of the total funds are reserves that private Afghan banks had deposited with the central bank. It is money that ordinary Afghan people had deposited at those private banks.
Now the Biden administration, ignoring the various owners of those funds, has decided to steal all of them.
This is vengefulness at the most inhuman level:
President Biden will start to clear a legal path for certain relatives of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to pursue $3.5 billion from assets that Afghanistan’s central bank had deposited in New York before the Taliban takeover, according to officials familiar with internal deliberations.
At the same time, Mr. Biden will issue an executive order invoking emergency powers to consolidate and freeze all $7 billion of the total assets the Afghan central bank kept in New York and ask a judge for permission to move the other $3.5 billion to a trust fund to pay for immediate humanitarian relief efforts and other needs in Afghanistan, the officials said.
Afghanistan is in dire need of those reserve funds.
Cont. reading: When Cruelty Is The Point – U.S. Decides To Kill More Afghan People
The Mediocracy Of ‘Global Britain’
The knowledge and quality of 'western' leading officials is of serious concern. They are often politicians with no experience in the fields they are supposed to represent.
Liz Truss, currently the Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom, is a sad example.
It is said that the job of the foreign secretary has something to do with geography. To know where this or that country is and what its surroundings are is supposedly helpful when one wants wage war or peace with or against them.
Liz Truss had failed in this category when, a week ago, she said: "We are offering extra supplies and support into our Baltic allies across the Black Sea." The Black Sea is some 700 miles away from the Baltic states.
Today Liz Truss endorsed another occasion to fail when she visited Russia to talk about the Russian non-attack on the Ukraine only to get mocked by its very experienced Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Truss came dressed with a fur hat and gloves to a Moscow that today was warmer than London.
At the meeting Truss seems to have done exactly what Lavrov had publicly warned her not to do before the meeting started:
Cont. reading: The Mediocracy Of ‘Global Britain’
Open Thread 2022-12
Europe Should Leave NATO Behind And Integrate With Russia
The ongoing scuffle over Russia's and China's efforts to rearrange the global order continues.
The recent Chinese Russian statement made it look as if Russia has completely turned its back to Europe and is now locked into an Eurasian destiny with China, Iran and the Central Asian states. That however does not seem to be Russia's understanding.
A man who has Putin's ear, Professor Sergey Karaganov who is the honorary chairman of Russia’s Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, has written an op-ed that points to an alternative.
The piece was requested by and supposed to be published in the Financial Times, which means that it is directed at the European leadership. But the FT has now rejected it for unstated reasons. It was then published in the Russia in Global Affairs journal and has now been re-published by RT.
Russia will not invade the Ukraine, Karaganov writes. The real issue at hand is the potential threat that NATO may become for Russia should it come nearer to Russia's border.
He then states:
Cont. reading: Europe Should Leave NATO Behind And Integrate With Russia
‘Russian Troop Build-Up’ – Eight Years Of Crying Wolf
Note: Map published first on May 2, 2014 by Washington Post
bigger
Jul 30, 2014:
Mar 19, 2015:
Sep 1, 2016:
Sep 13, 2017:
Dec 15, 2018:
Jun 12, 2019:
Jul 17, 2020:
Apr 2, 2021:
Jan 27, 2022:
The MoA Week In Review – OT 2022-011
> Considering these warnings, perpetual denials by Russia about any aggression and the latest statement by Russian President Putin that the US is drawing Russia into some kind of armed conflict, it appears that sanctions on Nord Stream 2 and Russian gas supply are not a consequence of the Ukraine crisis, but Ukraine crisis is planned to hit Russian gas and energy trade with Europe. The situation gives the US, which is currently the biggest gas producer in the world, a needed pretext to suspend Russian gas supplies to Europe. If it happens, it will be a win for the United States in its trade war with Russia and a move that will checkmate the Nord Stream 2 project. <
Ivan Katchanovski @I_Katchanovski – 18:46 UTC · Feb 5, 2022
Orwellian: Western #media reports simply omit that this march in #Kharkiv was organized by neo-Nazi party that was involved in Odessa massacre and numerous other cases of violence in #Ukraine and is civilian branch of Azov Regiment.
Euronews: Kharkiv residents march amid Russia tensions
—
Other issues:
Cont. reading: The MoA Week In Review – OT 2022-011
Canada Support Ukraine’s Self-determination And Independence … As Long As It Does As Canada Says
On January 28 I wrote in
Why Washington Will Soon Dump Ukraine's President Zelensky:
[T]he U.S. is still claiming that Russia intends to attack the Ukraine any moment now. But the Ukrainian President Vlodymyr Zelensky publicly disagrees with that false evaluation. He sees no war coming and wants to avoid one as much as possible. That might mean that he has to be removed before a war can be launched.
…
As Zelensky is not willing to do Washington's bidding he must be pushed out.
Zelensky is in a weak position. His poll numbers are way down. The U.S. has him by the balls over his offshore accounts and money laundering. His attempt to arrest former president of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, who recently returned to the Ukraine, was stopped by the U.S. embassy. That the U.S. wanted Poroshenko back in the Ukraine in the first place may point to a replacement strategy.
The claim that Zelensky 'was stopped by the U.S. embassy' from arresting Poroshenko was not supported by any of the links I had provided in the piece. I had simply concluded that myself from the previous developments of the events in Kiev.
The conclusion was wrong.
It wasn't the United States which prevented Zelensky from arresting Poroshenko.
It was Canada.
From today's Globe & Mail:
Cont. reading: Canada Support Ukraine’s Self-determination And Independence … As Long As It Does As Canada Says
The Great Russian Chinese Fireworks Of Beijing
While the fireworks of the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony light up the sky over Beijing another firework comes in the form of a
Joint Statement of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China on the International Relations Entering a New Era and the Global Sustainable Development
by President Vladimir Putin of Russia and the President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping.
It is a long political statement touching many issues and can be seen as a common program Russia and China want to pursue.
The joint statement's introduction is followed by four parts covering democratic principals, global development cooperation between Russia and China, concerns about global governance issues and a reaffirmation of support for multipolar organizations.
It is altogether a well aimed shot against the United States which makes multiple appearances in the text without being named. The quotes below focus on those parts.
The intro:
The Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China, hereinafter referred to as the sides, state as follows.
Today, the world is going through momentous changes, and humanity is entering a new era of rapid development and profound transformation. It sees the development of such processes and phenomena as multipolarity, economic globalization, the advent of information society, cultural diversity, transformation of the global governance architecture and world order; there is increasing interrelation and interdependence between the States; a trend has emerged towards redistribution of power in the world; and the international community is showing a growing demand for the leadership aiming at peaceful and gradual development. At the same time, as the pandemic of the new coronavirus infection continues, the international and regional security situation is complicating and the number of global challenges and threats is growing from day to day. Some actors representing but the minority on the international scale continue to advocate unilateral approaches to addressing international issues and resort to force; they interfere in the internal affairs of other states, infringing their legitimate rights and interests, and incite contradictions, differences and confrontation, thus hampering the development and progress of mankind, against the opposition from the international community.
The sides call on all States to pursue well-being for all and, with these ends, to build dialogue and mutual trust, strengthen mutual understanding, champion such universal human values as peace, development, equality, justice, democracy and freedom, respect the rights of peoples to independently determine the development paths of their countries and the sovereignty and the security and development interests of States, to protect the United Nations-driven international architecture and the international law-based world order, seek genuine multipolarity with the United Nations and its Security Council playing a central and coordinating role, promote more democratic international relations, and ensure peace, stability and sustainable development across the world.
Part 1 declares that democracy is a universal human value but notes necessary differences in its implementation:
Cont. reading: The Great Russian Chinese Fireworks Of Beijing
Open Thread 2022-10
‘The Mission Was Successful.’
DoD Statement on Feb. 2, 2022 Counterterrorism Operation in Northwest Syria
The following statement is attributable to Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby:
“U.S. Special Operations forces under the control of U.S. Central Command conducted a counterterrorism mission this evening in northwest Syria. The mission was successful. There were no U.S. casualties. More information will be provided as it becomes available.”
Successful!
The years long arming and nurturing of radical Islamist by the CIA was 'successful'.
The creation of an al-Qaeda infested area in north-west Syria was 'successful'.
To arrange protection of that area from Syrian and Russian forces by NATO member Turkey was 'successful'.
Providing housing for the first ISIS leader in Barisha, 5 km form the Turkish border, was 'successful'.
Providing housing for the second ISIS leader in Atmeh, 2 km form the Turkish border, was 'successful'.
The two and a half hour long firefight during yesterday's raid in Atmeh was 'successful'.
The killing of six children, four women and at least three men during the raid was 'successful'.
The mechanical damage (friendly fire?) on one U.S. helicopter was 'successful'.
The complete destruction of said helicopter by bombing it was 'successful'.
The killing of one ISIS honcho Mohamad Saeed Abdul Rahman aka Abdalla Kardas aka Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Quraishi was 'successful'.
The ongoing creation of more ISIS honchos at the U.S. base at the al-Tanf border crossing between Syria and Iraq will be 'successful'.
So much success.
The leaders of Russia and China must shiver with fear when they recognized that their opponent is so very 'successful'.
How A Misguided Grand Strategy Led To This U.S. Defeat
In response to Russia's demand for security guarantees, especially to its request to remove foreign NATO forces from the territory of East European countries, the U.S. and Britain are moving more forces to the east:
President Joe Biden has formally approved additional US military deployments to Eastern Europe, the Pentagon announced Wednesday, with US troops deploying soon to Poland, Germany and Romania.
…
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said the deployments include roughly 2,000 troops from the United States to Poland and Germany in the coming days. In addition, approximately 1,000 troops currently based in Germany are being deployed to Romania.
…
Kirby said that the troops being deployed are separate and in addition to the 8,500 US troops that were placed on heightened alert last week that could be moved to Europe to support NATO's response force if it's activated.
The troops will operate on a bilateral basis with their host countries, since NATO has not yet activated a multinational response force.
This is a rather token amount of forces in the wrong places and with little combat value but it is serious in its symbolic character.
It was the U.S. that launched the 'Russia's imminent invasion of Ukraine' propaganda campaign. On October 30 2021 the Washington Post published the first stenographed piece on it:
Cont. reading: How A Misguided Grand Strategy Led To This U.S. Defeat
When We Are Done With Covid The Virus Will Not Be Done With Us
Some people, like New York Times columnist David Leonhardt, can not await the end of Covid.
Over the last year Leonhardt falsely predicted the end of the pandemic every few months. He then mumbled about pundit fallibility, including his own, only to again fall for it.
Pandemic in Retreat, Feb 11 2021
Covid on the Run, May 20 2021
The pandemic may now be in permanent retreat in the U.S.
Covid, in Retreat, Oct 4 2021
Pundit Accountability, Jan 10 2022
Writers and experts should be transparent about what they got wrong.
Omicron Is in Retreat, Jan 19 2022
The last headline line may by chance turn out to be correct as the next wave of Covid will likely come from a different SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern. There is no law or guarantee that it will be less severe or less immune evasive. In might in fact be the opposite on both counts.
It is not the only thing Leonhardt got wrong:
Cont. reading: When We Are Done With Covid The Virus Will Not Be Done With Us
|
