‘Russian Troop Build-Up’ – Eight Years Of Crying Wolf

Thanks for the Michael Hudson piece at the Saker link JB
The quote below warms my heart….grin
”
Similar to the Russian pursuit of oil, arms and agricultural trade independent of U.S. control, China’s offense is keeping the profits of its industrialization at home, retaining state ownership of significant corporations and, most of all, keeping money creation and the Bank of China as a public utility to fund its own capital formation instead of letting U.S. banks and brokerage houses provide its financing and siphon off its surplus in the form of interest, dividends and management fees.
”
Go Michael!

Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 8 2022 3:03 utc | 102

daffyDuct | Feb 8 2022 1:16 utc | 95

Biden: “If Russia invades, that means tanks and troops crossing the border of Ukraine again, then there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2,”

“again”?
When was the first time?
Is Biden having a senior moment?

Posted by: Kukulcan | Feb 8 2022 3:18 utc | 103

@ JB 85
re: Hudson: What worries American diplomats is that Germany, other NATO nations and countries along the Belt and Road route understand the gains that can be made by opening up peaceful trade and investment.
Mr Hudson should catch up on the news.
Jan 5, 2022
HINA Railway (CR) says 13,187 trains and 1.322 million TEU [20 foot containers] traveled between China and Europe between January and November 2021, a 23% and 30% respective year-on-year increase. More than 15,000 trains and 1.46 million TEU were expected to make the journey by the end of 2022. China-Europe Express trains now operate from 89 Chinese cities, serving 175 cities in 23 European countries. . .here
The US has already put a knife in Europe’s trade with other countries, including Iran and Russia. Sanctions are a two-way street, buyer and seller. But China has outsmarted the US. . .Screw the pols, the corporations we complain about have done the WalMart thing and gone with China for trade. Its a done deal. So who cares what “worries US diplomats?” They’re out of the loop. One and a half million containers, China to Europe last year.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Feb 8 2022 3:24 utc | 104

@ Kukulcan 103
Is Biden having a senior moment?
No, he’s having a Biden moment, thoughtless. He’s referring here to the US propaganda about Russia being a repeat aggressor.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Feb 8 2022 3:27 utc | 105

The empire is crumbling.
…from CNBC
Biden says Nord Stream 2 won’t go forward if Russia invades Ukraine, but German Chancellor demurs . .here

Posted by: Don Bacon | Feb 8 2022 3:37 utc | 106

@Kukulcan | Feb 8 2022 3:18 utc | 103
“again?”
and
@Don Bacon | Feb 8 2022 3:27 utc | 105
“a Biden moment”
Au contraire! His memory is razor sharp—he’s referring to 1943-44. Western capitalism has never forgiven the USSR for defeating the Nazis the first time so they’re back at it again.

Posted by: Vintage Red | Feb 8 2022 5:13 utc | 107

Game On: How it’s being reported today Oz-style Down Under.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/do-you-want-france-to-go-to-war-putin-teases-after-macron-meeting-20220208-p59uro.html
A western-media spin, but nonetheless, the sentiment is there.
As noted a few weeks back, Russia means business with regards to NATO (& mainly the USA behind it) threats to security.
Zippo to do with Ukraine per se (which Russia does not want except neutral — but will protect Russian speaking peoples in the southeast regions). This ultimatum he/they sent out previously is far larger and at the higher level. Get the popcorn ready for some fireworks.
If it goes off (whatever the spark – WW1 style) Russia & China will win the long game. If it really goes off big time then WW3 will be over in about 3-nuclear days. This is not about olde WW2 and big armies, … it is about hyperspeed precision missile targeting on key NATO & USA military infrastructure involved in attacking Russia — with China now protecting their back (and eyes on reclaiming Taiwan etc). Who blinks first?
Key takes:
1.

Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin says he is prepared to keep negotiating over his security demands in Eastern Europe but has offered a stark warning over the possibility of a full-scale war between Russia and the West — using a five-hour meeting with his French counterpart to keep the world guessing about his intentions.
Putin said that proposals made by French President Emmanuel Macron in their one-on-one meeting at the Kremlin on Tuesday AEDT were “too early to speak about” but could create “a foundation for our further steps”. Macron, in a joint news conference with Putin after their hastily scheduled meeting, described the coming days as potentially decisive in heading off what the West fears could be a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“We are in a situation of extreme tension, a degree of incandescence that Europe has rarely known in the past decades,” Macron said.”

2. Fact Check: Only partially correct.

The Russian leader is an avid geopolitical tactician, and the concurrent talks in Moscow and in Washington showcased his ability to force the West to pay attention to the Kremlin’s long-standing grievances over NATO’s expansion to Russia’s borders.

Putin (& his team) are master strategists first — the tactical is a pissy little western MSM put-down attempt. Lol.
3. Pretty clear, imo.

“Do you want France to go to war with Russia?” Putin said in answering a French reporter’s question and claiming that a NATO-allied Ukraine would seek to retake Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014. “That’s what will happen!”

4. Why the need for the “crude” ..? Same old childish memes. This mental asylum is about to get a very rude dose of REALITY if they don’t wake up soon.

You may like it, you may not like it — deal with it, my gorgeous,” Putin said of Zelensky, repeating a crude Russian rhyme.

Posted by: imo | Feb 8 2022 5:28 utc | 108

@Vintage Red | Feb 8 2022 5:13 utc | 107

Au contraire! His memory is razor sharp—he’s referring to 1943-44. Western capitalism has never forgiven the USSR for defeating the Nazis the first time so they’re back at it again.

Unfortunately, that pretty much sums it up.

Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 8 2022 6:47 utc | 109

The transcript to date of the Putin Macron meeting. I take it this is just their opening speeches before the meeting. http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67734
This sentence by Macron I guess sets were France is at.
“Despite the crisis, I had a chance to exchange views with President Zelensky about Ukraine, as well as to coordinate views with many Europeans and Allies, including the British, Americans and Canadians.
I take it he has coordinated his view to that OF US/UK. Clarifies France’s position.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 8 2022 7:24 utc | 110

@karlof1 | Feb 7 2022 22:01 utc | 77
“Putin again emphasizes the root cause of the current Ukraine crisis was the 2014 Coup, which was a NATO/Outlaw US Empire operation.”
This may be true a hundred times, but whining like this will get you nowhere with the West. Their unstated reply is “Yes we acted, while Russia sat out the Maidan. Barring some bits and pieces, Ukraine is ours now; we won.” Besides, Russia couldn’t pay for Ukraine while the West can (barely).
Similarly, “de-escalation” gets Russia nothing now. It Moscow wants its security demands to be heard, nevermind respected, then it should keep up the pressure relentlessly. It doesn’t look good so far.
Telling how Biden talks about NS2 as a unilateral US decision, and Mr. Scholz next to him can’t even bring himself to say “Ukie sovereignty? Can we maybe talk about German sovereignty.” Pathetic.

Posted by: Ma Laoshi | Feb 8 2022 7:36 utc | 111

The most misleading aspect of America’s Ukraine campaign is that it never talks about the possibility that it will be Ukraine that attacks.
So when Ukraine attacks and Russia comes to the aid of the DPR/LPR the US will remember the European countries of their promise of sanctions. But they never even thought about the possibility that a Russian invasion might come after Ukrainian aggression.
But for the US such a situation is win-win. If Russia invades they have their sanctions. If it doesn’t they have humiliated Russia.

Posted by: Wim | Feb 8 2022 7:59 utc | 112

@karlof1, 88. I can almost hear the Chinese government laughing out loud on hearing such silly and impertinent threat coming from the USA. It’s almost sad to observe how the “outlaw empire” is in denial of its own decay and gradual irrelevance.

Posted by: Steve | Feb 8 2022 9:03 utc | 113

@kukulkan #8:
The Donbass Russians (along with all the rest of Novorossiya — basically the Black Sea coast and the southern part of the country) were added to Ukraine by Lenin in 1922. Up until then, the territory was part of the Russian Empire. So if Lenin had just left it alone, we wouldn’t have this problem.
Galicia (basically the western-most part of modern Ukraine) was added to Ukraine by Stalin in 1945. Given that’s where most of the Nazis seem to be based, I think he should have let the Poles have it.
And, of course, Crimea was added to the Ukraine by Krushchev in 1954.
It’s interesting how the Ukrainians reject all things Soviet, but have no problem with all the territory added to the Ukraine by successive Soviet leaders and that legacy is what they want to preserve.
These are issues that should have been addressed before dissolving the USSR. But it fell into chaos and we are still dealing with the consequences three decades later.
Until 1991, one’s nationality was merely an administrative matter. And I agree that Russia has some legitimate historical claim to those parts of Ukraine, I just disagree with the approach of using military measures to reclaim those regions.
Also remember that the dissolution of the USSR left Ukraine with the world’s fifth-largest nuclear arsenal, which they disarmed in exchange from guarantees from the West to help them defend their “territorial integrity”.
Sooooooooooooooo…since the West has already reneged on that aspect regarding the Crimea, I think it fair that they should give Ukraine back its nukes and let it defend itself like a real Nuclear Power would, namely with threats of Mass Destruction.
I am being facetious here, I am just trying to highlight the absurdity of the situation, one that cannot be reduced to a simple good-guy/bad-guy proposition.

Posted by: Malchik Ralf | Feb 8 2022 9:32 utc | 114

Ma Laoshi 111 ” but whining like this will get you nowhere with the West.”
Have you ever been around, or known closely, gently spoken people who you learn to take very seriously. Statesmen and diplomats should have the ability to discern between loud mouths and those to be taken seriously. The US no longer produces statesmen or diplomats. Many countries that are not the US west still do.
To be blustering loudmouths like current US and UK – I tend to think current Russian leadership thinks that is a good image to portray to the world. Anglo dominance of the world is coming to an end. Russia is looking to the future. The Russian security proposal to the US was an ultimatum. The future will be here very soon. The Russia China joint statement spells out what that future will be.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 8 2022 9:52 utc | 115

Re 115 that should have been “I tend to think current Russian leadership thinks that is not a good image to portray to the world.”
My typos and stuff.. ill health has given me time to research. A lot of fatigue due to ill health a lot plus booze that numbs the physical discomfort doesn’t do wonders for my writing.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 8 2022 10:00 utc | 116

” They’re out of the loop. One and a half million containers, China to Europe last year.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Feb 8 2022 3:24 utc | 104″
This is a drop in the ocean of global trade: it means just 100 15.000 TEU container ships. And 15.000 TEU ships are not the largest around.
For the time being who controls the oceans controls the global trade.

Posted by: Mauro Rossini | Feb 8 2022 10:14 utc | 117

@Peter AU1 | Feb 8 2022 9:52 utc | 115
“Have you ever been around, or known closely, gently spoken people who you learn to take very seriously.”
You are most right, that’s how it works among civilized people. But this is a jungle, and only power gets respected.
“To be blustering loudmouths …”
That’s not what I meant of course. Donald Trump was a blustering loudmouth, and when his domestic opponents crossed him he’d … wait for it … diss and insult them; after all, that’s how it works at a boxing weigh-in. Soon everybody learned he wasn’t all that, most of all his own appointees. So he was laughed at behind his back, and run out of town after four years.
I mean: only say those things, in any manner that suits your character, which you’re prepared to back up with actions. Putin pretends we all know what “military-technical” means, but for now it’s just what “grave consequences” was in Syria–a load of hot air. Forget the media image–time and again, we see that in Western corridors of power, Putin is seen as a blusterer.
The draft treaties were a sort of non-ultimatum ultimatum to the West, “Get your soldiers and weapons off our doorstep, or else”. The West has responded by putting a ton of new weapons on Russia’s doorstep; now the ball is back in Moscow’s court to show whether the “or else” part had any substance to it. We may or may not see once the Olympics are over.

Posted by: Ma Laoshi | Feb 8 2022 11:00 utc | 118

In response to Malchik Ralf@114,
The transitional government in Kiev tried reclaiming the Donbas using the military while the conflict was still at the stage of civil disobedience. Would you agree with the approach of using military measures in defense of civilians? If not, then why not?
As for the Soviet nuclear arsenal, the Ukrainian SSR was not the owner of the strategic weapons stationed on its territory. Had it been, there would still be the question of formal recognition of Ukraine as a successor state to the Ukrainian SSR, whereas the current official narrative in Kiev is that it was some sort of illegitimate occupation. I would not be surprised if the Ukrainian SSR has outstanding debts and other obligations which could be reactivated in the case that the political elites in the country have a sudden change of heart on that matter.
Nevertheless, newly independent Ukraine did not have a claim to the strategic weapons, was in breach of the non-proliferation agreement, had no way of utilizing the weapons and did not want to pay for their upkeep — and it was still a delicate matter to have the weapons transferred without any fuss, since Ukraine could theoretically have dragged out the process long enough to “lose” the weapons, presumably to the highest bidder. Imagine Turkey, which I assume still hosts American nuclear weapons, reforms into some other political entity and leaves NATO. What claim would it have to American nuclear weapons?

Posted by: Skiffer | Feb 8 2022 11:06 utc | 119

Ma Laoshi 118
Due to propaganda That is how Putin is seen in the US west. Does that carry any weight in today’s world? Take a look at populations – China, India, the middle east, central Asia, the Asia pacific, Africa. Just China’s population swamps the US Anglo west and Europe. Who gives a fuck about anglo blustering? Should Russia copy it to gain the respect of the much larger world?
Bluster doesn’t mean shit. Military and economic power do have meaning. Russia/China are the future. Power is shifting from West to East. That is unchangeable.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 8 2022 11:40 utc | 120

Mr. Crooke has a new article up:
Turmoil Will Continue Until a Modified Global Order Emerges
It is unlikely that Moscow ever entertained any grand illusions about their ‘non-ultimatum’ ultimatum. The documents were never intended ‘to lure’ the West into ad aeternam negotiations. The point is that Moscow had already decided to break in a fundamental way with the West. What is afoot is today is the manifestation of that earlier decision.
The crux of Russia’s complaints about its eroding security have little to do with Ukraine per se but are rooted in the Washington hawks’ obsession with Russia, and their desire to cut Putin (and Russia) down to size – an aim which has been the hallmark of U.S. policy since the Yeltsin years. The Victoria Nuland clique could never accept Russia rising to become a significant power in Europe – possibly eclipsing the U.S.’ control over Europe.
If they were not intended as a basis for negotiations, what then were Russia’s treaty drafts about? It seems that they were about Russia and China coming down off the fence. This is much more important than many appreciate. It marks the beginning of a period of rising tensions (and maybe clashes), until a modified Global Order emerges.
So to sum up, all this waste and fraud and war for the last 30 years was about these nitwits and their obsessions.

Posted by: Bemildred | Feb 8 2022 11:57 utc | 121

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 8 2022 12:41 utc | 122

Bemildred 121 “So to sum up, all this waste and fraud and war for the last 30 years was about these nitwits and their obsessions.”
Yep. Now the yanks are in a place that if they go forward, it will be suicide, if they go back their economic ponzi scheme or economic bubble will burst. They will go forward.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 8 2022 12:41 utc | 122
Yep, one trick ponies. I cannot say I am happy, but I have been waiting for a long time now. And yeah, you put that well. They have worked themselves, and all of us too, into a double bind.
I see tungsten put that up on the other thread. Good. Still reading …

Posted by: Bemildred | Feb 8 2022 12:53 utc | 123

it’s not just the last 30 years, i mean the US and other western powers backed the opposition and had troops in Russia in 1920 or so. maybe it goes back to the reaction to Paris commune, and people like Jay Gould with his attitude of hiring half the working class to kill the other half. After the Russian revolution, it was inevitable that the oligarch run US would target Russia.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Feb 8 2022 13:14 utc | 124

@114
“Until 1991, one’s nationality was merely an administrative matter. And I agree that Russia has some legitimate historical claim to those parts of Ukraine, I just disagree with the approach of using military measures to reclaim those regions.”
i just disagree with the approach of believing the US propaganda about Russia using military measures to “reclaim those areas”. didnt happen. also the guarantees about Ukraine security were tied in with the US guarantees that NATO would not expand east. and we all know they’ve been expanding ever since.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Feb 8 2022 13:19 utc | 125

Bemildred @ 121
Yes, nitwits. Look at le petit Justin. Pretty much defines absence of wit. Here we have President PoopyPants who was a well known nitwit before the dementia set in. Locally it is Lori Lightfoot. About 1.45 meters tall with eyes on the side of her head . Throws temper tantrums continuously. Perfect example of fetal alcohol syndrome. Cannot retain staffers more than a few months. Said to be a corporate lawyer of distinction but none in that world know her. No one knows who anointed her.
Who else? Bojo The Clown? Scummo? Hatchet faced Jacinda who giggles and chortles through discussions of suicide? Maybe Tony The Science Fauci?
The nitwits are not in charge. No one knows who is. Doubtful the hidden powers amount to much if these are their prize servants.

Posted by: oldhippie | Feb 8 2022 13:33 utc | 126

114 “Until 1991, one’s nationality was merely an administrative matter. And I agree that Russia has some legitimate historical claim to those parts of Ukraine, I just disagree with the approach of using military measures to reclaim those regions.”
It is best to understand a nations history, to understand where it is at now, its current leaders. For us in the west, it is difficult to see through the illusions a lifetime of propaganda has programmed into us. Current Russia has no illusions nor urge to try and claim the geographical shithole that is now called Ukraine rather than the ukraine. Due to the uncontrolled collapse of the soviet union, there are however ethnic Russian living within that geograghical shithole. There is also the problem of the yanks placing missiles within that shithole. It is still very much the borderlands.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 8 2022 13:44 utc | 127

@Peter AU1 | Feb 8 2022 11:40 utc | 120
We don’t quite agree, which is fine. Or rather, for the second time it seems I didn’t manage to get my point across–which may be my own fault of course. Following this stuff for years, again and again I’ve seen the Kremlin and sympathetic media recite “Time is on Russia’s side”. Now Moscow has woken up and realized that NATO has metastasized all over what’s-left-of-Ukraine, formal membership or not. Why would the Dark Throne give up that entrenched position of power–just because Russia asks so?
I don’t necessarily agree with Bhadrakumar’s title “Why Russia will intervene in Ukraine”, but his is the best commentary I’ve seen on the point that at least, Russia now realizes that it’s made a grave mistake. But it was still a mistake.
Yes I see the same historical currents as you. Nobody stays on top forever. The people now in Washington are no credible heirs to the empire builders of old. Rather, the motto seems to be “cash in for as long as we still can”. Most of all they fear their loss of narrative control; “Rome after the invention of the printing press” is the metaphor I’ve seen for it.

Posted by: Ma Laoshi | Feb 8 2022 13:45 utc | 128

So to sum up, all this waste and fraud and war for the last 30 years was about these nitwits and their obsessions.
Posted by: Bemildred | Feb 8 2022 11:57 utc | 121
—
When is the last time the USA had a favorable balance of trade?

Posted by: too scents | Feb 8 2022 13:48 utc | 129

Recommended reading on the competing interests at play in this multi-layered drama:
https://www.strategicmacro.com/2022/02/are-warnings-about-imminent-russian.html
It gets the context and timeline right. It concludes by saying that US hysteria about an impending “invasion” may backfire by drawing Europe (France, Germany and Italy) into security discussions with Russia instead of consolidating them in NATO. The only question I have about the article pertains to NS2. It seems like the US now wants to kill it and is using the invasion-hype to that end — in fact, threatening to literally destroy it on its own, as Biden suggested yesterday in his remarks with Scholtz. Last summer, Biden seemed to relent on NS2. This needs clarification.

Posted by: Prof | Feb 8 2022 13:48 utc | 130

@ Don Bacon 106
Absolutely! I read it the same way.
The 1st sign of NATO’s fracture over Ukraine was given by NATO’s alliance members refusal to send troops to Ukraine proper to fight Russia. The 2nd sign was France & Germany’s refusal to grant overflight permission to weapons cargo flights ex-UK to Ukraine. The 3rd sign was Germany’s Navy chief’s resignation. This was followed by NATO’s: Croatia, Bulgaria and Hungary’s refusal to go along with the warmonger’s script. The 4th sign was Zelensky failure to jail Poroshenko, who was accused of treason for signing the Minsk agreements. The 5th sign was given by the new non consequential Intermarun (Baltics-Black Sea) Defence pact between UK-Poland-Ukraine. This is an attempt to create a poor man’s mini NATO in lieu of NATO’s united front. The 6th sign was Victoria “Maidan” Nuland’s pathetic appeal to China to deter Russian non-invasion invasion of Ukraine. China backs Russia and viceversa. The 7th sign is Zelensky asking Biden and media to dial down their Russian invasion hysteria. Zelensky says that it is hurting business and “the spice must flow.”

Posted by: Sun Tzu | Feb 8 2022 13:54 utc | 131

Ma Laoshi 128
I have read your comments for some time so disagreeing on this issue does not cause me to lose any respect for you. It is though, something we will have to disagree on. Trying to analyse the past to see where the future is headed is difficult.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 8 2022 13:59 utc | 132

Sun Tzu “the spice must flow.”
I had to laugh at that one. The points you make are good. France not allowing overflights of weapons to Ukraine – Do you have references, links, for that. I read Macrons speech prior to his confab with Putin and it came across like he was tied into the US/UK attempt to take down Russia.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 8 2022 14:15 utc | 133

it is difficult to see what mistake precisely is referred to in the sentente “Russia realizes its mistake”. it has been opposing NATO expansion for decades. was that a mistake? was it a mistake not to invade Ukraine when the coup in 2014 overthrew the legitimate government? surely tht would simply have played into NATO’s hands.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Feb 8 2022 14:33 utc | 134

Peter AU1 @133
Saw some of that as my mother-in-law would not stop jabbering in my other ear. Looked like Macron was trying to stradle both sides of a barbed-wire topped fence, have his cake and eat it too, whatever apt metaphor works here. I was not encouraged that de-escalation would be in the works. Was also wondering what Putin was thinking, as in – “this word salad seems absolutely undigestible.”

Posted by: vinnieoh | Feb 8 2022 14:51 utc | 135

@ Peter AU1 133
There are no public official refusals per se that I know about. Yet, since UK didn’t ask for permission to transport ammunition over the air space of either France or Germany, their air space was purposely avoided.
I am not sure about your take on France because Macron stated a while ago that NATO is brain dead.
Here is the flight radar UK-Ukraine route.
https://mobile.twitter.com/geoallison/status/1483150153255198720/photo/1

Posted by: Sun Tzu | Feb 8 2022 14:53 utc | 136

@Prof | Feb 8 2022 13:48 utc | 130
“Last summer, Biden seemed to relent on NS2. This needs clarification.”
I have no more than informed guesses, but here goes. Last summer, Angela Merkel was still there. Not everything I think of her is fit to be written down here, but I’d never deny that she had experience, and that she left Germany in good economic shape (although, due to the way the Euro works as a de facto competitive devaluation for Grossdeutschland, this is more “prosperity at the expense of Europe” than “prosperity as the engine of Europe”). She always rejected this nonsense of “Putin’s pipeline”, holding the line of NS2 as a multilateral economic project.
Biden c.s. can’t believe their luck that they got the outright Anglo agent Baerbock at the heart of German decision making. So they quickly cashed in on this before the new German govt even found its bearings. A NS2 which is just gathering dust (gathering rust, rather) at the bottom of the sea is the new normal; woe to whomever tries to change that, “Putin’s puppet” is the least that’ll come their way.
I may be a naysayer/devil’s advocate on these threads, but so far I don’t see a “debacle” for Washington because of its antics. Though Alistair Crooke’s point, if I understand it, is that all these “wins” are short-term, with blithe disregard for long-term stability (which Washington no longer pursues even at home). We will see.

Posted by: Ma Laoshi | Feb 8 2022 14:58 utc | 137

The nitwits are not in charge. No one knows who is. Doubtful the hidden powers amount to much if these are their prize servants.
Posted by: oldhippie | Feb 8 2022 13:33 utc | 126
Indeed.
@Mao Laoshi: I too do not agree that Putin’s gambit in Ukraine was a mistake, but I don’t think it is silly to think otherwise and I was impressed with Bhadrakumar’s argument too (and I still do not agree, but only time will tell.) Time and chance happen to us all.
When the entire thrust of US policy is to drag Russia into Ukraine, and divide Europe from Russia for a generation or so (“Fuck the EU”.), it makes good sense to drag them in instead, and he did a great job of hanging that albatross around our neck, still is.
Very consistent with his approach in the Caucasus, Syria, etc. too. What he did in Georgia was the first time I really took notice, it was so un-american an approach to war.
And please keep talking.

Posted by: Bemildred | Feb 8 2022 15:02 utc | 138

@pretzelattack | Feb 8 2022 14:33 utc | 134
“it is difficult to see what mistake precisely is referred to”
Best is for sure to read Bhadrakumar’s article (if I’d had an edit button, I’d have removed the spurious “Why” from the title; at least in that title, he was categorical “Russia will intervene”). But let me paraphrase.
Moscow calculated that any regime in Kiev needs an accommodation with them, lest Ukraine sink to African levels. Now that analysis was on the money economically, but it turns out the hardship of ordinary Ukies can be easily ignored as long as Westernized media and heavily armed Nazi militias work in tandem. Meanwhile, a small elite lives well indeed from what they skim off Western military aid (this is deliberately being allowed). Eight years in, the transformation of Ukraine into Banderistan seems irreversible.
What could’ve been done differently: as you suggest, had Yanukovich called for Russian help, then a bunch of paratroopers would’ve sorted things out real quick. Yes the BBC would’ve said mean things about it–so what?! Invited by the elected president, their legitimacy would’ve been greater than that of the bused-in thugs that seized the day. If Russia conditions its actions on Western approval, then it acquiesces to NATO encirclement–can’t have it both ways. Then again, had the Yanukovich clan been something other than useless thieves, Ukraine’s own security services could’ve handled the Maidan, and with less bloodshed than we saw in the road taken. So it’s difficult.
Uncle Sam has experience running his European colonies. He knows that the worse off they get the more dependent they are, so the closer they cling to papa. Ukies are merely the most colorful example. Something religious in it all, like Philippinos dragging their Mary statues back and forth after yet another typhoon instead of, you know, building better dams and houses.

Posted by: Ma Laoshi | Feb 8 2022 15:32 utc | 139

in Ukraine, Putin is playing chess, and the empire is playing a losing game of monopoly, having mortgaged much of its property, being low on cash, and investing heavily in hotels on Boardwalk and Park Place.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Feb 8 2022 15:35 utc | 140

@ ma Laoshi–i dont think Russia is acqiescing, i just think it is playing a long game, something the profit driven US cannot and will not do. which is why it persists in desperately trying to maintain it’s empire even as it falls apart, using strategies that have failed time and time again. The Taliban were also patient, as were the Vietnamese; it took a long time to root out the over colonialism in Africa and Asia.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Feb 8 2022 15:42 utc | 141

Posted by: Ma Laoshi | Feb 8 2022 13:45 utc | 128
“Now Moscow has woken up and realized that NATO has metastasized all over what’s-left-of-Ukraine, formal membership or not. Why would the Dark Throne give up that entrenched position of power–just because Russia asks so?”
“Metastasized” and “entrenched power” sounds so ominous. But what does this “power” mean in military terms? It is for show, nothing else. That is the only thing the “west” can manage any more, show and narrative. Like, Germany sends a Hundred Rifles and Denmark an Aeroplane to Estonia, or whatever.
They can have these people and machines around because they are not a military threat. If anything, they are an attempt to place hostages, but even if Russia invaded the Baltics and Poland and killed a thousand German soldiers, we would not even get a formal declaration of war from Nato.
Missile installations will be a threat, and a casus belli if placed in the Ukraine, as in the Baltics. The Polish and Romanian installations will be countered by hypersonic missiles targeted on London and Washington, or at least that is how I understand the hints of military-technical measures coming from Moscow.
NS2 is of course a nuisance and an economic loss for Russia also, but the longer it is delayed, the clearer to everyone who is the German sovereign.

Posted by: veto | Feb 8 2022 15:46 utc | 142

@137
For Washington, Russia is firstly a convenient boogeyman to scare the Europeans and keep them from wandering off making global deals without supervision. Described very clearly by the recent Michael Hudson article. So in that department, it’s all a win for the State Dept, the more trouble in EU, whether political or economic, the more leverage washington has.
Secondly, Russia has become security guarantor in central asia and getting into the near east too (relations with turkey, iran, syria). Central asia was an area US hoped to get into around the turn of the century, to use against China, and at this point we can say that group of moves failed overall. The near east was an area the US considered its own to dominate.
Third and most important, the US-China competition is now up and running, and China has the US beat in industry and tech already (in hi-tech, they’re competing with their own cousins in Taiwan, plus Japan, Germany, Korea…). By the end of the decade, with wind/solar set to become the main electric generation source, China becomes an energy superpower (plus they also lead construction of every other category too, just to be safe. oh and nuclear fusion too.). A space launch a week, build basically the equivalent of an entire US worth of real estate every 10 years, build half a US navy every 10 years (and that’s just the warm-up, for naval construction)… There simply won’e be much of a contest to look forward, to unless US can round up a majority of the natural resource countries. That means energy and raw-materials industry in Russia, Central Asia, Iran, Iraq, etc all have to go, as far as they’re concerned … but they’re out of soft-power ways to accomplish that, and Russia is set to provide hard-power security for not just itself but a big bloc of natural resource exporters. Best they can do now in DC is scare the Germans and Koreans etc, delay things for a few years by refusing some big industrial tech infrastructure that Chinese companies haven’t duplicated yet. When it becomes apparent that this is over, they’ll circle the wagons and consolidate on Europe and perhaps South America … but the latter have quite a bit of independent spirit, and Chile and Argentina are already figuring it out. So we’ll see.

Posted by: ptb | Feb 8 2022 15:47 utc | 143

@pretzelattack | Feb 8 2022 14:33 utc | 134
“it is difficult to see what mistake precisely is referred to”
–and before that, a gruesome intelligence failure apparently. Russia must have known about the Yalta Club meetings (they were pretty public for chrissakes), where the shekels were being passed around furiously to cultivate figures like Yats-is-the-guy. But they seem to have entirely missed Praviy Sektor hoodlums being trained in Polish police academies under the cover of “student exchange” (I’m only 90% sure of this) so that there also was a “hard power” Plan B.
Just as with “Time is on Russia’s side”, it’s an article of faith in many circles that Russian intel knows what’s what. I just don’t see it: after all of these, Soros c.s. still managed the regime change that installed Pashinyan in Armenia. MI6 agent Pevchikh managed to just waltz into Omsk to pick up their asset Navalniy, for obviously nefarious purposes. And so on it goes. It all only makes sense to me if Russian elites are too divided to keep their own house in order. If the Bear is sobering up, then that is a very recent thing; perhaps overt Chinese backing is stiffening some spines in Moscow but god I hope they listen to Chinese advice as well.
The Hong Kong authorities had the same deer-in-the-headlights posture as the blackshirt militia rampaged through their city, until the grown-ups stepped in. So at least it’s not an exclusively Slavic dysfunction. The Venezuelan authorities time and again let Guaido free to wreck his mischief yet another day, lest the NYT consider them illiberal; the Chinese authorities put their Hong Kong Guaidos in prison where they belong. I know which one I think works better.

Posted by: Ma Laoshi | Feb 8 2022 16:01 utc | 144

Commented @pretzelattack | Feb 8 2022 15:42 utc | 141
“The Taliban were also patient…”
Ten or so years ago I remember reading of an exchange between a Taliban prisoner and his US interrogators. When asked why he thought they could prevail over the US, the Taliban pointed to the CIA man’s wrist and replied, “You have all the watches, but we have all the time.”

Posted by: Vintage Red | Feb 8 2022 16:40 utc | 145

@pretzelattack and @veto
All good points; perhaps another side of the same coin. But if RF/CN are already winning the long game, if NATOstan/Banderistan is just a toothless Potemkin thing, then why this begging for security guarantees which Russia won’t get? Main results so far are accelerated militarization of Nulandistan, and NS2 getting kiboshed–probably permanently. Good job! (This is another tentative answer to @Prof #130, what changed re: NS2 since last summer? Well in the eyes of the Biden crew, Vlad got uppity with his “ultimatum” and needs to be slapped down hard.)
I already see the “alternative” media are starting to cope with this, like some Valdai guy on RT writing “The West’s intentions have now been laid bare, which is a win in itself”. But the West has always boasted about its intentions: as Maidan Square was still smoldering, Carl Gershman wrote a gloating op-ed in the WaPo I think “Today Kiev, tomorrow Moscow”.
One notes in passing that Syria’s encirclement (yes Iraq is still a US protectorate too) enabled the place to be devastated just fine, though many will point out “apples <> oranges” when comparing their situation to Russia’s.

Posted by: Ma Laoshi | Feb 8 2022 16:40 utc | 146

@Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 7 2022 16:56 utc | 39

@librul | Feb 7 2022 14:52 utc | 29
2/20/2022 is the date of the Olympic Closing Ceremony.
It is also a palindrome.
Could the warmongers in the US surprise us and cancel their false flag?
The “palindrome” is only valid in the US, so it would be a message of whodunnit..

Good point. The palindrome would be a piece of evidence against the US which uses the M/D/Y format. The glove fits.
Also, the rhetoric in the Western press says that Putin has agreed not to mess up Xi’s Olympic party,
that Putin is holding off until *after* (or *immediately* after) the Olympics to initiate his war.
Doing it on 2/20/2022 (m/d/y :US time format) fits the Western rhetoric. The glove fits.
Beijing is UTC +8; Donbas is UTC +3; Kiev is UTC +2; Washington DC is UTC -5
When the Closing Ceremony is over it is still 2/20/2022 in Donbas, Kiev and Washington DC
—
As has been pointed out outside the US the DD/MM/YYYY date format is more common.
The palindrome would be February 22, two days after the Olympics.
22/02/2022

Posted by: librul | Feb 8 2022 17:14 utc | 147

Posted by: Ma Laoshi | Feb 8 2022 16:40 utc
But why the troop movements and the departure of the entire fleet? Bluff?

Posted by: schkid | Feb 8 2022 17:15 utc | 148

@Posted by: schkid | Feb 8 2022 17:15 utc | 148
The US is signaling that it, the US, is up to something.

Posted by: librul | Feb 8 2022 17:20 utc | 149

@Vintage Red | Feb 8 2022 16:40 utc | 145

the Taliban pointed to the CIA man’s wrist and replied, “You have all the watches, but we have all the time.”

I remember that one as well! It is a wonderful statement.

Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 8 2022 17:30 utc | 150

@Vintage Red | Feb 8 2022 16:40 utc | 145

the Taliban pointed to the CIA man’s wrist and replied, “You have all the watches, but we have all the time.”

I remember that one as well! It is a wonderful statement.

Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 8 2022 17:30 utc | 151

o/t: US LNG to the rescue … but mostly outside the EU
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FLC-9xwXsAIMHQn?format=jpg&name=small

Posted by: ptb | Feb 8 2022 17:31 utc | 152

@pretzelattack | Feb 8 2022 15:42 utc | 141
“The Taliban were also patient…”
I like to point in that direction whenever Russia shows off its wonder weapons (more to prospective customers than to their enemies presumably). The Taliban stared down their foes without SU-57 and without S-400. They were patient, yes, but they also busted some skulls in the mean time. Not even that many (at least counting Western skulls), but if Uncle Sam wanted to stem the bleeding, he’d better negotiate with the Talibs or at least pay them off. In either variation, they get taken seriously.
I don’t think having 5000 nukes is such a big Russian advantage. I think their disadvantage is having mansions in London, so that the other side knows that at the hour of truth, the Russki’s won’t dare.

Posted by: Ma Laoshi | Feb 8 2022 17:35 utc | 153

For the time being who controls the oceans controls the global trade.
Posted by: Mauro Rossini | Feb 8 2022 10:14 utc | 117
One can add payment systems to the “global control”. The question about the control of either is the degree of piracy USA and most favored allies can get away with, be it sizing cargoes or bank accounts etc. When the victim is Venezuela, quite a bit, Iran is a bit more problematic: it can size cargoes and damage ships too! And with Russia + China combo, the balance of costs of losses in piracy is an open problem.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Feb 8 2022 17:45 utc | 154

@schkid | Feb 8 2022 17:15 utc | 148
“But why the troop movements and the departure of the entire fleet?”
Mostly, you and me are asking the same question in different ways–what is Moscow trying to achieve with its theatrics this winter (assuming you meant Russian troops & fleet). Part of it is probably to make a point that they can: they have the logistics worked out, and trust China enough to vacate almost their whole Eastern Military District.
But given the timeline, isn’t there also a simpler practical reason–reacting to the Anglo rhetoric? Going by the hysterics in Washington, we’re in Downing Street Memo territory now, with the Dark Throne having decided that they need to see action in Donbass. If Russia can deter the Ukies from going through with this, or in the worst case crush it so overwhelmingly that the “real West” doesn’t get funny ideas about joining in the fun, then the Bear would be doing all of us a favor–including the Ukies themselves.
There, I said one postive thing about Putin today. 🙂

Posted by: Ma Laoshi | Feb 8 2022 17:54 utc | 155

Posted by: ptb | Feb 8 2022 15:47 utc | 143
You’re third paragraph is a fantastic summary of what is “really” going on.

Posted by: Wook | Feb 8 2022 17:59 utc | 156

@pretzelattack | Feb 8 2022 15:42 utc | 141
I meant to add the immortal words of the Urdnot Chief Scout in Mass Effect 2, on the topic of the clans encroaching on each other’s borders: “This is Tuchanka, human: our borders are determined by the range of our guns. If we didn’t shoot at them, they wouldn’t take us seriously.”
Sorry I’ll probably go sleep now.

Posted by: Ma Laoshi | Feb 8 2022 17:59 utc | 157

@Posted by: librul | Feb 8 2022 17:14 utc | 147
February 22nd is George Washington’s birthday.

Posted by: librul | Feb 8 2022 18:27 utc | 158

Afghanistan was invaded, the Taliban of course busted some skulls, if NATO invades Russia those 5000 nukes will be used to devastating effect. the whole “advantage” of having a sufficient deterrent is to avoid invasion and occupation. you seem to think those mansions are all owned by pro Putin oligarchs, and not Putin foes.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Feb 8 2022 18:32 utc | 159

Posted by: Ma Laoshi | Feb 8 2022 17:54 utc
This is the first time since the 70s that the Russian Navy is completely underway. You think because of country 404?
“what is Moscow trying to achieve with its theatrics this winter”
You really think it’s a bluff?

Posted by: schkid | Feb 8 2022 19:03 utc | 160

Ma Laoshi @ 144:
While it is true Maria Pevchikh managed to evade police questioning about her role in Navalny’s poisoning stunt, and is not likely to return to Russia soon, Navalny himself did return to Russia where he is currently in jail for breaking the terms of his home detention in relation to his Yves Rocher embezzlement trial of several years ago.
Also Pashinyan is the current head of the Eurasian security council organisation who authorised troops from Russia, Belarus and other member nations to assist Kazakhstan in resisting and arresting regime-change “protesters” recently.

Posted by: Jen | Feb 8 2022 19:07 utc | 161

@pretzelattack | Feb 8 2022 18:32 utc | 159
“Afghanistan was invaded, the Taliban of course busted some skulls”
A fair point. The Dark Throne may feel they have the Kremlin figured out due to the latter’s meh posture in Syria. But Russia’s real interests in Syria are not existential. A conflict on Russia’s borders, which could see Russians die in large numbers, and/or send millions of Donbass refugees into Russia proper, would lead to a completely different reaction in the Kremlin. All of which only shows the potential for miscalculations and funny business: the British SOF and their Blackwater pals apparently on the front line worry me more than the much larger conventional formations.
“you seem to think those mansions are all owned by pro Putin oligarchs, and not Putin foes”
No I think it’s a bit of both. I also think that those labels matter less in faraway London, a bit like R’s and D’s immediately teaming up in Washington lobbying shops once they’re done with electoral politics. I further think that Britain unavoidably imports their myriad feuds together with their money (the Litvinenko show probably played out in those circles). I think the Brits understand this, and accept this as the cost of their business; it’s not like Arab, African, etc sleazebags are any better. Please correct me if I’m wrong on any or all of these. Yeah, part of it is that “stealing from Russia” is no crime in London; of course the Brits corrupt themselves in that way, but that ship sailed long ago. For the other part, if Russia could figure out how to be more attractive to its own elites then it might improve its soft power with the rest of the world as well.
You’re right of course, Russia’s formidable deterrent is the main reason the country’s still standing. And I may have a point that Moscow’s “freedom of action” faces severe political, rather than military, limitations, even in its near-abroad–which always makes me sceptical when the wonder weapons are being discussed and shown off. So NATO can’t just barge into Moscow, but they’d really like to at least pretend, and threaten it. We still don’t know where exactly the limit lies, and probably won’t find out until somebody’s nose gets bloodied.

Posted by: Ma Laoshi | Feb 8 2022 19:46 utc | 162

@schkid | Feb 8 2022 19:03 utc | 160
“You really think it’s a bluff?”
Like I said, I don’t know; who cares what I think anyway. But going by their reaction (giving the finger to the draft treaties), so far Washington seems to think it is a bluff–or if it’s not, that it’ll be Eurotrash paying the price not them.
———————————–
@Jen | Feb 8 2022 19:07 utc | 161
“Navalny […] is currently in jail”
And bravo! Him returning to Moscow also put the lie to Navalny claiming his life was in danger there because bad Vlad was after him. I could well imagine a tacit understanding reached with his GER/UK handlers: “If you let the issue go away, then N gets to cool off in the clink for two years; everybody lives. Continue to make a fuss, and we’ll prosecute a formal treason case; your dirty laundry will be aired, and your guy gets put away for twenty or sing like a bird to avoid it.” What do you think Jen?
“Also Pashinyan is the current head of the Eurasian security council organisation who authorised troops”
I know this; even a post-Soros Armenia doesn’t want the Turks & friends just taking over the neighborhood. Must’ve been a bitter disappointment in some high places. 🙂 Yes the Russians can be indefatigable realpolitik’ers, trying to make bad guys do good things. More than anything else, that mission made me write about “the Bear sobering up”: quick, decisive action, without first asking the Amerikanskyie Partn’ory what they thought. In the process, almost certainly saving many more lives than it cost. Finally!

Posted by: Ma Laoshi | Feb 8 2022 20:35 utc | 163

ZOMG Russian troops are in Siberia already ZOMG!

Posted by: Feral Finster | Feb 8 2022 20:39 utc | 164

@ Ma Laoshi
<°)//////<

Posted by: schkid | Feb 8 2022 20:43 utc | 165

Still in a pop-culture state of mind. For years I’ve seen people argue “Russia will charm the West at the Sochi Games. OK, if not, then at the football World Cup at the latest. OK, didn’t happen, but they’ll calm down after the next US elections; OK, that didn’t happen, but they’ll come around after the next Russian elections. Time. is. on. Russia’s. side. after all.” True believers paired this other-cheek reflex to a uniquely Russian soul which the West just wouldn’t understand. Well if the other doesn’t understand your mode of communication, then you shouldn’t communicate in this way, duh.
Dissuading bullies by being extra nice to them was the advice given to poor British Pip in the South Park episode “Damien” by the grown-ups — who, as we all know, are f’ing retarded. A swift kick in the nuts will have a more salutary effect on the bully; plus you’ll feel better having delivered it.

Posted by: Ma Laoshi | Feb 8 2022 21:32 utc | 166

@ Ma Laoshi | Feb 8 2022 21:32 utc | 166 quote below –
“A swift kick in the nuts will have a more salutary effect on the bully; plus you’ll feel better having delivered it.”
as i see it, we are very close to this inflection point here… don’t be shocked when it happens..

Posted by: james | Feb 9 2022 1:43 utc | 167

Lockheed Martin to UKraine

YOu furnish the war and I’ll furnish the missiles

https://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/01/27/is-lockheed-martin-dictating-politicos-war-propaganda-articles-in-secret-hell-no-theyre-doing-it-right-out-in-the-open/#comments
GUess who’r making a killing amidst all these manufactured conflicts and pandemic ?
Thats right…
The MIC/BIG PHARMA/WAR STREET !

Posted by: denk | Feb 9 2022 4:05 utc | 168

The US Biden Administration has effectively declared war on Western Europe, disguised as “sanctions on Russia”. Specifically they are attacking North Stream2 which is needed in Western Europe, and promises to sabotage it.
Putin sends warning to Biden and NATO. Biden promises false flag

Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 9 2022 15:50 utc | 169

Kamila Valieva, Russian figure skating prodigy and star athlete in Beijing, is being railroaded by malicious agents.

Posted by: Circe | Feb 9 2022 17:04 utc | 170

circe – good to see you.. are they biden agents, or trump agents? LOLOL

Posted by: james | Feb 9 2022 17:13 utc | 171

This time it’s different.
You fellas seem to forget that Putin previously already indicated his future actions at least three crucial times. Pay attention, connect the dots, and you’ll understand what’s happening.
So, his first indication was saying “If fight is inevitable, strike first”
His second marker was “World without Russia has no meaning to us”
His third was submitted as joint Russia-China-US-UK-France declaration that nuclear war will have no winners. The declaration was initiated by Moscow.
There you have it. All in the open.
If you weave it all together, you’ll see that Russia will strike Ukraine, unless the deal on latter’s NATO non-admission can be reached, and quickly.
Once the West imposes sanctions – any sanctions – Russia will sever all relations with the countries that sign up for it, and move troops to the border with Baltics. Simultaneously, it will exit all arms control treaties that remain, and threaten nuclear war if NATO gets in its way. Its purpose will be to take over all three statelets, and force them to exit NATO and sign treaties of eternal neutrality, before Russian troops withdraw.
Make no mistake, by simply credibly threatening all-out nuclear conflict Russia can destroy the US. All of America’s wealth is parked in its financial assets (stocks and bonds), and those prices will go into the biggest meltdown of all time. At the end of this fight, nothing will remain of the US financial system, and the America will become a very poor country even if no shot gets fired eventually.
By declaring that nuclear war will have no winners, Russians openly said that they won’t allow the West to win this struggle, whatever the cost.

Posted by: Venom | Feb 10 2022 5:08 utc | 172

Re: Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 7 2022 22:01 utc | 77

Putin again emphasizes the root cause of the current Ukraine crisis was the 2014 Coup, which was a NATO/Outlaw US Empire operation. As usual he’s putting the onus onto the West where it rightfully belongs.

Not quite right – as explained by Putin himself in an address a couple of years ago – and mentioned upthread as well – the “proximate” cause of the current crisis is the US/UK/Poland/Dutch/German/Israeli etc sponsored coup in 2013/14 – BUT, truly the root causes of the current crises are the decision by Khrushchev to ‘giftI’m Crimea to Ukraine in 1954 AND the decision (by whom exactly? – Lenin had suffered 2 strokes by 1922) to include Novorossiya / now Southern Ukraine into the nation of Ukraine in 1922. (Lenin might have suggested this years earlier but by 1922 when it actually happened he was bedridden and incapacitated – it wasn’t Lenin that carried this decision out – so who was it?!?!?
The actions of a century ask in 1922 are the BIGGEST cause of the current crisis relating especially to Donbass.

Posted by: Julian | Feb 11 2022 14:10 utc | 173

Re: Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 7 2022 22:01 utc | 77
Putin again emphasizes the root cause of the current Ukraine crisis was the 2014 Coup, which was a NATO/Outlaw US Empire operation. As usual he’s putting the onus onto the West where it rightfully belongs.
Not quite right – as explained by Putin himself in an address a couple of years ago – and mentioned upthread as well – the “proximate” cause of the current crisis is the US/ UK/ Poland/ Dutch/ German/ Israeli etc sponsored coup in 2013/14 – BUT, truly the root causes of the current crises are the decision by Khrushchev to ‘gift’ Crimea to Ukraine in 1954 AND the decision (by whom exactly? – Lenin had suffered 2 strokes by 1922) to include Novorossiya / now Southern Ukraine into the nation of Ukraine in 1922. (Lenin might have suggested this years earlier but by 1922 when it actually happened he was bedridden and incapacitated – it wasn’t Lenin that carried this decision out – so who was it?!?!?
The actions of a century ago in 1922 are the BIGGEST cause of the current crisis relating especially to Donbass.

Posted by: Julian | Feb 11 2022 14:13 utc | 174

Hello fellow barflies. Been a fan of the blog for a while now, but decided it’s high time to contribute a little something. It’s refreshing to be among like-minded people in this cacophony of omnipresent bunk.
One may wonder why this ubiquitous (obviously in the Western media) hysteria kicked in at this moment in time?
Alan Macleod wrote a good piece analysing the US mainstream media manufacturing consent for war. As you did above, he listed some examples of the previous media reports of a similar nature.
I followed up on this, and these are some of my other finds from April last year:
The Sun: “Ukraine faces ‘wipe out blitzkrieg’ as sabre-rattling Russian expert claims Putin mobilising HALF A MILLION troops”
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/14644955/ukraine-faces-blitzkrieg-expert-putin-mobilising-half-million-troops/
Reuters: “Russian military build-up near Ukraine numbers more than 100,000 troops, EU says”
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-military-build-up-near-ukraine-numbers-more-than-150000-troops-eus-2021-04-19/
Looking at the British media right now, one could come to a conclusion that all of this is an op just by checking who was given the assignment by the Guardian. You guessed it right, it’s the one and only Luke Harding, who, all of a sudden, has gotten extremely prolific over the last six weeks.
It does seem that, what John Helmer calls, the “Blin-Noodle Gang” (i.e., the State Department no. 1 and 3) is in full attack mode, and the Western media, once again, is going head over heels to brainwash us into hating Russia and these inhuman Ruskies even more.

Posted by: Joe Kay | Feb 14 2022 10:31 utc | 175

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