Trump calling out Biden yesterday neglects to mention the biggest single strategic mistake in recent U.S. presidential history was when he pulled the U.S. out of the JCPOA. That one move is what put the U.S. in the situation in now finds itself in. How?
It made the rest of the world take notice of the duplicity of U.S. policy, trying to please too many with not enough. The world now clearly understands U.S. agreement is not worth the paper it’s written on.
Russia followed suit in December by submitting written demands to the U.S. and NATO to back off in Ukraine. But did they listen? Of course not. The U.S. and NATO don’t listen. In their own demented view of the world, the U.S. (and NATO) act. And when the U.S. and NATO acts the rest of the world is just supposed to sit there and take it. Not only did the U.S. and NATO not listen to Russia demands, but they also didn’t even bother to respond until a full two months later. And now I understand Blinking Blinken has not spoked to Lavrov since. Mr. Tony Blinking is a huge chickenshit. He is certainly no diplomat, and that is a fact. Totally intimidated by Lavrov. That’s the real reason why the U.S. can’t come up with a diplomatic solution to this crisis. Because if they go that route, they know they lose. So, the U.S. and NATO will try to drag things out as long as possible hoping some random Russian citizen will take care of things for them. What a complete joke of an Administration. I do know one thing though: Trump would not have let things get this far.

Posted by: thecelticwithinme | Mar 27 2022 13:59 utc | 3

Funny, the west (Japan) expressing confusion as to how they will effect the payment for gas in roubles. Yet they are so inventive when they wish to be.
They will be forced evade thier own sanctions.
Will need to use gold to buy roubles I imagine. Now that is nuclear option.

Posted by: jared | Mar 27 2022 14:10 utc | 5

Reposting this on today’s thread as I posted the original only this morning on yesterday’s thread:
Let’s not be too quick to believe in Indian-Chinese rapprochement as a consequence of the US sanctions against Russia and resulting de-dollarizarion.
The heart of the issue is China’s plan to construct a mega-dam on the Yarlung Zangbo River, which flows through Tibet and eventually becomes the Brahmaputra when it enters India.
Precise technical details are lacking, but regional media reports indicate it will likely dwarf the massive Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River and generate three times as much electricity for distribution in China while robbing India of water from Himalayan and Tibetan snowmelt.
China has already done this to SE Asia (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia) via dams on the upper Mekong.
The end of US hegemony will create a vacuum. As evidenced by Chinese actions toward their geographic neighbors, China seeks to fill that vacuum. There are currently many thousands of Han Chinese farmers in relatively undeveloped Siberia. China will continue to populate Siberia via guest visas until they create an incident that requires them to “defend” their citizens living there.
While Russia has answered the existential threat posed by US-led NATO expansion, they have “shaken hands with the devil” that may devour them over coming decades as China continues its insatiable demand for physical resources. In her attempt to be free of US dominance, Mother Russia has put herself back into vassalage to the Horde.

Posted by: Ciaran | Mar 27 2022 14:17 utc | 7

is still civil war in USA still possible
Posted by: svaya | Mar 27 2022 14:07 utc | 5

OT, but . . . IMHO it never was.

Posted by: malenkov | Mar 27 2022 14:26 utc | 9

Posted by: Ciaran | Mar 27 2022 14:17 utc | 8
Are you a troll or are you one of those white supremacist China Hater? Horde? You will next day white women raping Fu Manchus.
Back in 2014 western sanctions on Russia would have succeeded in killing off Russia absolutely except for China’s immediate offer to buy up huge amount of Russian oil and gas, with a % up front for the infrastructure building.
This is why US hates China so much.
Regarding the Mekong. You love your CIA misinformation.
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202103/1216933.shtml
https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1209941.shtml
Chinese experts find apparent errors in biased data on Chinese dams on Mekong River by US-funded project – Global Times https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202203/1253764.shtml

Posted by: Surferket | Mar 27 2022 14:28 utc | 11

@thecelticwithinme #4
Disagree completely.
Trump’s US had great relations with Saudi Arabia and the UAE because those countries didn’t like JCPOA for obvious reasons.
Nor is your attempt to link Russia’s security treaty proposals to Trump, and thence to the present “military police” operation the least bit convincing.
Among other things, you are ignoring the Obama era “cookie” Nuland’s actions in Ukraine, as well as the decades of US policy prior to that.

Posted by: c1ue | Mar 27 2022 14:30 utc | 13

Precise technical details are lacking, but regional media reports indicate it will likely dwarf the massive Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River and generate three times as much electricity for distribution in China while robbing India of water from Himalayan and Tibetan snowmelt.
Posted by: Ciaran | Mar 27 2022 14:17 utc | 8
Which regional media? You claim that details are scarce but you’re already jumping to conclusions.

Posted by: bonks | Mar 27 2022 14:33 utc | 15

TD bank is waiving fees for money transfers to Ukraine.
Big Canadian and US bank Toronto Dominion wants to “help”.

Posted by: Chaka Khagan | Mar 27 2022 14:43 utc | 17

Posted by: bonks | Mar 27 2022 14:39 utc | 17
Gonzalo Lira’s on Telegram and he has videos of the Nazis shooting captured Russian soldiers.
https://t.me/realCRP

Posted by: Surferket | Mar 27 2022 14:48 utc | 19

The currently circulating POW torture video may be an effort by Ukraine to make their own troops afraid of surrendering for fear of Russian reprisals. Not that Ukrainian soldiers are incapable of this anyway (the Southfront article linked by Bonks at [17] has examples of other crimes) but several high level officers, including a colonel, are said to be in the new video. There have been widespread allegations of Ukrainian soldiers firing on their own surrendering comrades and given the tightening noose in the Donbass and apparent refusal of requests to allow a withdrawal, the cornered commanders may become increasingly desperate to maintain control. Many hours after the video went viral the Western media still has not touched the story. Strange how something so shocking, dramatic, and blatantly illegal is not considered newsworthy to a media normally falling over itself for anything that matches even one of those criteria.

Posted by: Brannagyn | Mar 27 2022 14:55 utc | 21

To clarify, I should have said Trump’s ego would not have let things get this far. I you recall, in December Pres. Putin made two if not three separate speeches in reference to Russian written security demands with nary a word in response from the Biden Administration. And things stayed that way until February when the U.S. finally did reply in writing. Of course, by that time Russia pretty much could see the writing on the wall. And yet still Lavrov held out for diplomacy. Trump being the narcissist that he is, would have seen opportunity in Russia’s security demands. Instead, we got silence. The Blinking one is in way over his head.

Posted by: thecelticwithinme | Mar 27 2022 15:22 utc | 23

@ Eighthman 113
O sputniknews is still up, ever since the ban on Russian media in the EU ,I was using a VPN server in Switzerland and I could access RT, but I never got to access sputniknews, I assumed it was under DDOS attack, but I just switched to a VPN server in Brazil and now sputnik is up for me.
Looks like for some strange reason access to sputnik is blocked in Switzerland while Access to RT is not blocked.

Posted by: jimmy | Mar 27 2022 15:36 utc | 25

Now with Sean Penn threatening to “publicly smelt” his personal cache of golden Oscars if the Clown Prince of Armageddon doesn’t get to to appear tonight on the Oscars, I have to say I’m looking forward to either alternative. I’d love to see this public smelting — it could be absolutely classic hyperirony, but Zelensky in his t-shirt could really help to conclusively drive home the point: The Academy of Motion Pictures is an abject slave of Empire. It should be perfectly clear by now.

The alliance between the military and Hollywood is the main reason that we have lots of big blockbuster movies on certain topics and few if any on others. Studios have written scripts and hired top actors for movies on things like Iran-Contra that have never seen the light of day because of a Pentagon rejection.

The Pentagon and CIA Have Shaped Thousands of Hollywood Movies Into Super Effective Propaganda
In my own humble opinion, Swanson’s piece just barely skims the surface of motion picture culpability in western cultural rot. This dark energy goes all the way back to DW Griffiths’s Birth of a Nation (also the birth of the “industry”).

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Mar 27 2022 15:53 utc | 27

This tell me that the Ukrainian forces are close to spent, and that the UK at least realises the consequences of that. Or the UK might be trying to stall for time for whatever reason, one could be for the Nazi’s to regroup and be replenished with supplies and weapons.
“The UK could lift its “crippling” sanctions should Russia withdraw from Ukraine and commit to abstaining from “further aggression,” Britain’s foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has revealed.
In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, Truss said they “should only come off with a full ceasefire and withdrawal, but also commitments that there will be no further aggression.” She described the sanctions as the “hard lever” that should be used when dealing with Russia – which she claimed had not complied with the “multiple agreements” it had signed up to.”

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Mar 27 2022 16:01 utc | 29

La mossa di Putin nel far pagare il gas in rubli ha spiazzato non pochi attori politici occidentali,
Comunque, da ignorante, rimango perplesso sul fatto che la Russia continui a rifornire, a pieno ritmo, nonostante tutto il veleno riversato contro i russi, il gas agli europei.

Posted by: Alessandro Cagliostr | Mar 27 2022 16:08 utc | 31

The head of the Peoples Republic of Lugansk, wants to hold a plebiscite on joining Russia, no word on Dontesk following a similar route, I suppose after eight years of the Nazi’s shelling civilians, he feels it would be a safer bet to join Russia, and who could blame him for thinking that.
“The Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), one of the two breakaway Donbass territories recognized by Moscow as independent states in late February, is planning to hold a plebiscite on joining Russia “in the near future,” its leader has revealed.
There has been no indication that the Kremlin would accept such a demand. Last month, President Valdimir Putin recognised the independence of the LPR, but almost all of the word considers it to still be part of Ukraine.
Speaking to journalists on Sunday, Leonid Pasechnik said that he thought “in the near future a referendum will be held in the republic, where people will exercise their absolutely constitutional right, and give their opinion with respect to joining Russia.” The official added that he was “somehow sure that’s precisely the way it will be.””

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Mar 27 2022 16:11 utc | 33

New video of Patrick Lancaster interviewing evacuees from Mariupol.

Posted by: farm ecologist | Mar 27 2022 16:13 utc | 35

Where is Yulia Tymoshenko ?
@Posted by: Brother Ma | Mar 27 2022 14:28 utc | 11
She fled with her robbed billions from the Ukraine people to ubnknown destination, like every Ukrainian oligarch.
Curiously, Biden has nothing to say about them, not an insult or a bad word…In fact, what he tried to do in the Ukraine was clearly, bhy the data avaialble, become one of them…

Posted by: Givi | Mar 27 2022 16:23 utc | 37

Guess what, yesterday the dutch prime minister said that that Russian sanctions have little impact on the dutch economy and that everything is fine and we could even boycott the import of Russian oil and it would have little effect on the Dutch economy.
Guess what happened today, the Dutch CPB which is an economic government advisory agency, warned that the disruption of supply chains world wide as a result of anti russian sanctions will have a large negative impact on the dutch economy in the next year or two, because the largest part of the dutch economy is trade and this sector will slowly grind to a halt as a result of these supply chain interruptions and the dutch economy will be hit hardest of all the economies in the EU as a result of anti Russian sanctions.
Guess they all missed the fact that in the last 30 years or so under WTO rules the production of almost all end products has been diversified to many factories all over the world that produce parts ,that all depend on each other and on just in time delivery in order to produce about any end product.
Who would have thought that sanctioning the largest country in the world that produces the largest amounts of raw materials would disrupt this international manufacturing, trade and transport system ? lol

Posted by: Jimmy | Mar 27 2022 16:26 utc | 39

Aleph_Null | Mar 27 2022 15:53 utc | 28
Clown Prince of Armageddon…………………. great title for zelensky……. that is all he is good for as hollywood hack for eroding empire..

Posted by: james | Mar 27 2022 16:31 utc | 41

New interview of Scott Ritter on Grayzone.
https://youtu.be/OSkpIq3T-Zc
I thought his performance was pretty poor –
He seemed to deflect most of thier questions with unrelated stories of his personal adventures. Maybe he just has no further incite to offer. He strikes me as typical gov operative – self agrandizing and pathologically dishonest.
Much prefer Mercouris reports as reasonably objective – leaning Russian.

Posted by: jared | Mar 27 2022 16:34 utc | 43

The video of Ukrainian soldiers torturing and shooting Russian prisoners of war is sickening and chilling. It shows the moral bankruptcy of the Ukrainian regime, a country reduced by the influence of ultra-nationalist haters to the worst of the worst. How can anyone question the importance of de-Nazifying the country? That it was attempted by invasion is not as much an indictment of Russia for doing so but an indictment of the US-led West which encouraged and supported the Nazi takeover because a) the US cares about no one but its own leaders and b) the US is always happy to encourage chaos and misery if they believe the effects will spill over to its “enemies”.

Posted by: worldblee | Mar 27 2022 16:43 utc | 45

This Peter Pry is definitely delusional,”free societies” my ass.

Posted by: Lolgege | Mar 27 2022 16:44 utc | 47

Looking at 2nd order effects, the “unfriendly” list includes South Korea and Taiwan and Singapore but not Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand. That is going to be throwing a bit of a monkey wrench into attempts to diversify supply chains, or at least provide a lucrative opportunity for transshipping from HK and other places.
I have not heard this mentioned elsewhere, but it also includes Ukraine, so anything that goes into the pipe at the Russian border is going to have to be paid for in RUB.

Posted by: Billb | Mar 27 2022 16:57 utc | 49

Sanctions fallout.
Washington Is Delirious With War Fever – For No Reason of Homeland Security
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2022/03/david-stockman/washington-is-delirious-with-war-fever-for-no-reason-of-homeland-security/
By David Stockman
Former Congressman David A. Stockman was Reagan’s OMB director, 
His latest books are “The Great Deformation: The Corruption of Capitalism in America.” He was an original partner in the Blackstone Group,
[.]

Washington’s Massive Miscalculation:
I am shocked at the miscalculation in thinking economic sanctions on Russia would bring them to their knees. The opposite is true. Russia is self-sufficient and is not dependent on imports. Its exports are critical to the economic well-being of the West. If they withhold wheat, potash, gas, oil, palladium, finished nickel and other key minerals from the West, the European and US economies will be savaged. And this attempt to coerce Russia with sanctions has now made it very likely that the US dollar’s role as the international reserve currency will show up in the dustbin of history.

= = = = =
Palladium. Finished nickel, Titanium, among the long list of critical exports for the West.
Suggestion: buy an extra car and tractor battery. We may have to park the vehicles.
Nickel Short Squeeze. Market broken. March 8, 2022,
Nickel hit $100,000 and the LME cancelled ALL 5,000 trades
Nickel short seller could take $8 billion hit after price soars past $100,000 /tonne.
[.]”The 145-year-old exchange responded by halting trade, and in a later update announced the cancellation of all trades and deferring delivery of all physically settled contracts. The contract was suspended at $80,000 per tonne.”[.]
https://www.mining.com/lme-cancels-nickel-trading-after-price-soars-past-100000-a-tonne/
and
Banks to Keep Talking on Nickel Trading Losses, Tsingshan Says
https://www.wsj.com/articles/nickel-price-surge-puts-chinese-manufacturers-in-a-bind-11647261436
(Paywall)

Posted by: Likklemore | Mar 27 2022 17:11 utc | 51

@ Posted by: Jimmy | Mar 27 2022 16:50 utc | 50
I suspect you dont know Scott, nor whether he has an agenda.
Remember, you are watching a person on youtube just like me.
Regarding the predictions, that raises a point –
Rationally and based on Putins past of great restraint, one would predict that he would not attack. But the US kept ramping the b/s til he had no alternative – that was the part that was hard to predict or even accept, seemed irrational for those who believe in diplomacy.
As I recall, B had predicted that he would attack I think he put it at late Jan or early February. Thenlater he predicted with usual confidence that he would not attack and that the idea was absurd. Did I dream that? I am a little curious why he made that change, though it worked out as beneficial.
Scott has an advantage, he truly understands how depraved and incompitent (not sure which to place first) is the triad of state/intel/military.
My other disappointment with that interview with two of best actual reports “in the room” – they are overlooking the aspect that beyond looking other way, it is becoming increasingly evident that the west has facist problem of its own (Greenwald gets it).

Posted by: jared | Mar 27 2022 17:22 utc | 53

MH-17: allegedly in the day of tragedy a secret visit of USA hi-rank brass was held to the nearbyr airfield.
Part 1: https://ukr-leaks.org/en/Replica/replica-usa-dnepropetrovsk-boing
PArt 2: https://telegra.ph/CHTO-DELALI-AMERIKANCY-V-DEN-SBITIYA-BOINGA-V-DNEPROPETROVSKE-TAJNYJ-VIZIT-VYSOKOPOSTAVLENNYH-OFICEROV-03-26
—-
Ukrainian bio-laps, Newcastle disease, project P-444
https://t.me/ukr_leaks/2117
https://t.me/ukr_leaks/2112
—-
A Britton, who survived in Mariupol:
video:
https://t.me/readovkanews/29284
https://vk.com/readovkanews?z=video-163061027_456261284%2Fpl_-163061027_-2
some text about him: https://rdvk.net/92011

Posted by: Arioch | Mar 27 2022 17:25 utc | 55

Brutal murders of Russian POWs
Posted by: bonks | Mar 27 2022 14:39 utc | 17
Two videos: https://t.me/denazi_UA/4463
The second one is the same, but the first one is different.
One more copy of the same video: https://vk.com/wall-163061027_1964766

Posted by: Arioch | Mar 27 2022 17:53 utc | 57

Brutal murders of Russian POWs
Posted by: bonks | Mar 27 2022 14:39 utc | 17
Two videos: t .me/denazi_UA/4463
The second one is the same, but the first one is different.
One more copy of the same video: https://vk.com/wall-163061027_1964766

Posted by: Arioch | Mar 27 2022 17:53 utc | 59

sorry, B and barflies, that is just weird. therewas not a dsingle comment published, then few minutes later there suddenly were them all….

Posted by: Arioch | Mar 27 2022 17:54 utc | 61

As the world argues back and forth, the $ rolls in for the usual suspects.
Humanity has descended yet again to the basic battle; the haves vs. the have nots…

Posted by: vetinLA | Mar 27 2022 18:02 utc | 63

@ 4 said; “Russia followed suit in December by submitting written demands to the U.S. and NATO to back off in Ukraine. But did they listen? Of course not.”
The $ people, who decide everything in our world today, wanted this war to happen..

Posted by: vetinLA | Mar 27 2022 18:09 utc | 65

@Clueless Honky, #3:

Part of the horrible tragedy that we unleashed on Iraq stemmed from the lie that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. While another part of that horrible tragedy stemmed from the fact that when our leaders began the conflict, they had no realistic exit strategy.

Agreed! But to me the biggest tragedy of the Iraq War was that, in the aftermath and revelation of facts, the West as a whole still voted in the same sons of bitches into their offices, as they are still doing now. Even after seeing the carnages at Mosul, Fallujah, Tripoli, Kabul, Aleppo, et al. The tragedy is the death of morality and decency in the whole western political domain.

Posted by: Oriental Voice | Mar 27 2022 18:10 utc | 67

“A US President who, during an atrocious war, does not mean what he says on matters of War&Peace, and must be corrected by his hyperventilating staff, is a clear and present danger to all.”
— Yanis Varoufakis

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Mar 27 2022 18:18 utc | 69

Posted by: Oriental Voice | Mar 27 2022 18:10 utc | 68
TV is God.
Unless TV God announces that something is bad, there is no way that the mindless viewer will come to that conclusion.

Posted by: Tom_12 | Mar 27 2022 18:32 utc | 71

Why so slow (Vzglyad, Irina Alksnis, March 24, 2022 — in Russian, footnotes mine)

One of the favorite topics for discussion of the Russian special operation in the Ukraine today is: why is it so slow?! There have been lots of debates on this issue and, no doubt, there will be more in the future.
Some say that Russia “got bogged down” and arranged for itself a “second Afghanistan”. Others say that, given the size of the Ukraine, the training of the Ukrainian army and its training in recent years by NATO forces, the careful attitude of the Russian command towards the lives of our troops, and a bunch of other factors, events are developing at a completely normal pace.
However, both domestic military experts and foreign experts admit that Russia is using very limited resources in the Ukraine, as if it is deliberately acting not even at half, but at a quarter of its possible strength—and this, of course, affects the speed of the advance of troops and the timing of achieving the goals set for the operation. Why this is the case is a separate topic for discussion and causes considerable and increasingly obvious bewilderment among foreign military pros. In Russia, too, various versions are put forward about this.
It is unlikely that there is a single reason for the chosen strategy. Surely it is based on a whole conglomeration of motives and considerations, a significant—if not the biggest—part of which is political, not military in nature. Moreover, the strategy of a military campaign is always directly related to and determined by its goals. For Russia, there are two main goals in the special operation—demilitarization and de-Nazification.
The Russian army is actively engaged in the demilitarization of Ukraine right now, but with de-Nazification everything is much more complicated, since this is more a political than a military task. And if so, then it is worth considering in more detail why the Russian leadership chose the “slow” pace of ongoing hostilities to achieve this goal.
So, the population of the Ukraine, according to official data, as of January 1, 2022, exceeds 40 million people. The statistics, of course, in this case are lying a lot, but in any case we are talking about tens of millions of people. Huge number.
And the unconditionally dominant majority of these people have been under the influence of anti-Russian, Russophobic and openly Nazi propaganda for many years. This process began long before 2014, but in the last eight years it has assumed simply phantasmagoric forms and an outrageous level of aggressiveness. Which had a corresponding effect on the mindset and beliefs of the people.
Thus, it is necessary to subject 20–25 (if not 30) millions of inhabitants of the Ukraine to de-Nazification. Moreover, a significant part of people over the years have actively expressed their beliefs in one way or another: some participated in war crimes and crimes against humanity, others wrote posts on social media falling under the “extremist” articles of the Criminal Code, others ate “fried Colorados” in restaurants,¹ yet others vomited misanthropy on their Russian relatives over the phone.
At the same time, let me remind you that there is no death penalty in Russia or the Ukraine, and the penitentiary systems of both countries are simply physically incapable of handling the load, if every single person is punished. And besides, a considerable part of Ukrainians really fell victim to propaganda that is so inhuman to the psyche in terms of the methods of brainwashing that they should be treated rather than punished—if they did not stain themselves with blood. The ongoing operation at least partially solves the problem. Many fanatical Nazis are now being ground up in Mariupol, the Donetsk cauldron and in other areas of hostilities.
In addition, a very important role in the de-Nazification of the Ukraine is played by the exodus of millions of refugees from the country—among them, a huge part are couch Nazis, who, in terms of the degree of harmfulness to the mentality of Ukrainian society, are no less dangerous than those who hold weapons in their hands. If they stayed in the Ukraine, Russia would have to deal with them one way or another, and now they are a headache for Europe. And by the way, it is the “unhurried” course of the special operation here that rather works into the hands of Moscow—the more couch Nazis they manage to dump, the fewer problems will have to be solved.
But all the same, tens of millions of people remain in the Ukraine who are brainwashed to the limit, with animalistic hatred for Russia—and they will have to be worked with. And this is where an interesting phenomenon arises, since the current development of events plays in favor of Russia, as it contributes to the gradual sobering of the Ukrainian population. Here, as an example, it is worth citing the events in Crimea in 2014.
The Crimean operation, which our country is deservedly proud of for its stunning beauty, efficiency and bloodlessness, is perceived in the Ukraine in a completely different way. Over the course of eight years, they formed an idea of ​​three main reasons for the loss of the peninsula: 1) Russia’s treacherous stab in the back at a time of virtual anarchy in Kiev; 2) betrayal of officials who were supposed to order the Ukrainian Army to resist the aggressor; 3) the real unpreparedness (both moral and combat) of the Ukrainian military at that moment to shoot Russian colleagues. All this is polished with a deeply Nazi notion that the Russians’ desire to avoid unnecessary blood and destruction is a manifestation of their weakness and unwillingness to fight for real.
And here we arrive at a paradox: if for some reason Russia had a blitzkrieg during the ongoing special operation in the Ukraine (for example, as a result of a military coup in Kiev), this would only strengthen Ukrainian Nazism. Instead, what is happening is exactly what the Ukrainians have been preparing for over the past eight years. The society is consolidated, unanimously believes in the victory of the Ukraine and is preparing for street battles as part of defense. The army demonstrates good combat training, high morale and is ready to stand to the end. The state leadership and the generals intend to fight to the last Ukrainian. And the enemy, it seems, is bogged down in heavy battles.
Yet the results are still not encouraging. Over the years, two scenarios of war with Russia and moral readiness for them have developed in the Ukrainian society: the first scenario is the military triumph of the Ukraine with a recapture² of Kuban and payment of reparations by Moscow, the second scenario is Russia’s success in a Crimean-style blitzkrieg due to betrayal within the leadership of the Ukraine (followed by a massive Western-backed guerrilla war and ultimately, again, a Ukrainian victory).
The most likely option—a full-fledged war with heavy fighting, many casualties, storming of cities, destruction of infrastructure, deprivation of the civilian population and the victory of Russia—was simply absent in the minds of Ukrainians. Yet that is precisely what is being implemented now. Despite fierce resistance in many places, the Russian army is moving forward, which means that it leaves the most combat-ready and motivated units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed in its wake. The horror of Mariupol clearly shows what a nightmare the storming of the city turns into for its residents—and, willy-nilly, one has to figure out what it would be like to experience it first hand in Kiev, Dnepropetrovsk or Odessa. And the Russian “Kalibrs” and “Kinzhals”, which also fly to Western Ukraine, transparently hint that Lvov should not relax either. Super-patriotic authorities in many cases demonstrate total lack of professionalism and inability to organize life in emergency circumstances in the territories for which they are responsible—as a result, an increasing number of settlements is threatened with a humanitarian catastrophe.
And all this happens very slowly, day after day, yet inexorably—so that reality begins to break through into the brains of the Ukrainian society, tightly washed by Nazi propaganda. You see, at such a pace, when our military enters Kiev, Dnepropetrovsk and Odessa, there will be a sufficient number of people sobered up from propaganda with whom it will be possible to talk about the future of their country.
¹ The Ribbon of St. George, which is used to commemorate the Soviet victory in the Great Patriotic War, is composed of black and orange stripes. The Colorado potato beetle has the same color scheme. Ukrainian Nationalists and other Russophobes use “Colorados” as a pejorative for those who remember Soviet sacrifices and victory in the Great Patriotic War and who oppose Ukrainian Nationalists’ rewriting of history and lies about the Red Army. They use “fried Colorados” as a mocking reference to 42 people who were burned alive by Ukrainian Nationalists on May 2, 2014 at the Trade Unions House building in Odessa. Some Ukrainian restaurants started offering dishes called “fried Colorados” to mock those victims.
² Of course, Kuban was never Ukrainian to be “recaptured”, but that is how Ukrainian Nationalists often describe their plans of annexing Kuban to the Ukraine.

Posted by: S | Mar 27 2022 19:22 utc | 73

The fake Mariupol theatre attack by Russia and the Snake Island event also fake reported by BBC Ukrainian.
https://consortiumnews.com/2022/03/26/the-bbcs-ukrainian-war-messager/

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Mar 27 2022 19:35 utc | 75

@jared #45:

New interview of Scott Ritter on Grayzone.
https://youtu.be/OSkpIq3T-Zc
I thought his performance was pretty poor –

Really? Did we watch the same interview? I think it was the best interview The Grayzone has ever done, period. A must-watch, jam-packed with useful information.

He seemed to deflect most of thier questions with unrelated stories of his personal adventures.

That’s absolutely not true. He did veer off into Iraq stories, but he answered all questions asked by Blumenthal and Maté in great detail.
Not sure why are you mischaracterizing this interview.

Posted by: S | Mar 27 2022 19:48 utc | 77

* you are

Posted by: S | Mar 27 2022 19:49 utc | 79

Posted by: S | Mar 27 2022 19:48 utc | 78
I strongly agree, it was full of information, and the personal anecdotes reinforced the information. We are replaying the Iraq War, such stories are highly relevant.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Mar 27 2022 20:02 utc | 81

A good site for updates
https://www.veteranstoday.com/

Posted by: jo6pac | Mar 27 2022 20:16 utc | 83

@ Arioch | Mar 27 2022 17:54 utc | 62
i hit the reload button, as often times the post i make won’t show initially… try hitting reload or refresh… it works for me.. cheers…

Posted by: james | Mar 27 2022 20:20 utc | 85

Apparently Donald Trump is very upset because Zelensky is upstaging his role as the West’s leading reality TV personality. Stealing his thunder so to speak.
‘Sources say’…:) Trump raged on and on asking who does this wanker think he is? How am I supposed to fleece the dimwits while the Dems are bribing the MSM to focus on him and not me? He’s not American, he has no right to fleece ma people!!!
Given the mood at the moment, and impending doom, I thought you might appreciate a bit of dark humour.
Moving on, the West’s largest Hedge Fund CEO, Blackrock guy Fink says Globalism is dead.
I think the EU bluffed, or maybe better said thought it a good idea to play Russian Roulette with a Russian..Didn’t Hitler try something like that?
I read a lot, don’t write much now but will just say I don’t see a lot of sunshine on the horizon. For those in the West who bought into the new phony economic ponzi scheme, I see nothing but a world of hurt. Much less so, of course, than the innocents in Ukraine for whom I do truly weep. But my old head tells me many common people, in many places, are not only going be hurt, some many lives will be destroyed, and they will be angry, and looking for people to blame.
Don’t bring a checker board to chess match is one way of putting it I suppose.
Different from the usual posts, I would like to mention the Aid Agencies who try to help the victims of the queer people who dominate geopolitics. UNHCR, Red Cross, Red Crescent, World Vision, Oxfam..whichever agencies you see worthy. Without them many more innocents suffer and many will perish.
Imagine if you can, that it was your Son or Daughter caught in the horror.
I read a number of the comments here, skim others but I don’t see a lot from people who identify as Vietnam Veterans. A few, but not many. I think it would helpful to hear from more of them and they should identify themselves, and speak of their experiences, if they can.
I know this isn’t a Legion, but I think many here, at the Bar, could benefit from hearing from you. IMHO. I can only speak through the Looking Glass, as to not stir the demons who come in the night, it has taken so long to quiet.
One Nazi and 10 other people sat at a table having a discussion.
The result was 11 nazi’s having a discussion
Not an exact quote, I read it somewhere on twitter interweeb.
Told you I read a lot.
And Jesus wept.

Posted by: bubbles | Mar 27 2022 20:38 utc | 87

It seems to me that the suicidally-insane animus of our Western plutocracy against Russia and in particular Putin arises from the conquest of Russia being a necessary preliminary to the conquest of China, and that the plutocracy were actually feasting fat on Russia when someone they thought was their comprador as much as Yeltsin turned on them.
In short, the accelerated drive of NATO east and the 2014 coup have all been the acts of a predator cheated of its prey.
What are the best studies of what happened in Russia when Western plutocratic rapacity was unleashed there?
I am aware that the usual unemployment, dispossessions and so on skyrocketed.
Rapacity of course has no limits–see Lebanon and Sri Lanka for small examples, and this telling gem from America, where the populace continues to allow themselves and their children to be driven into the ground by the plutocracy:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/27/us/mobile-home-park-ownership-costs.html

Posted by: John Kennard | Mar 27 2022 20:55 utc | 89

Don’t bring a checker board to chess match
Posted by: bubbles | Mar 27 2022 20:38 utc | 88
Um, how does one tell the difference? Am I missing something here?

Posted by: farm ecologist | Mar 27 2022 20:57 utc | 91

krypton | Mar 27 2022 20:34 utc | 87
I dont know who was behind the Ghouta false flag but all the later ones were the Brits via their white helmets. the Brits have a big pretense in Ukraine and Whenever US gets side tracked by China or something else the brits pull them back to Ukraine and Russia. Zelensky constantly trying to pull the US and Europe into war with Russia.Who is writing his lines? The Brits or the CIA.
I think even if the US does not pull a false flag the Brits will. Even if its just to push the Europeans into severing all links with Russia – gas oil ect – it will have to be big.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 27 2022 21:08 utc | 93

#52
However, I would like to add that on the Russian side I (intel slav) I am seeing posts which are also humiliating of POWs.
I am on Intel Slava too. Which posts? Which videos? Links? I saw a prisoner who could speak with his wife. I saw a woman azov doctor who could see videos of the killings of civilians by her kind. Is it for you a kind of torture?
See my post #75: the video shows that the commander is beaten by civilians when the soldiers bring him away from the wrath.

Posted by: Olivier | Mar 27 2022 21:14 utc | 95

Focus on Ukraine, Russia not fooling those within Outlaw US Empire, as this article reveals:

The approval rating of US President Joe Biden has fallen to 40% as the midterm elections draw closer, the latest NBC News poll conducted between 18 and 22 March has shown. Some 71% of respondents indicated that they believe their country is “on the wrong track”.
Americans were specifically concerned by issues related to the economy, with 64% disapproving of Biden’s handling of it. 62% said that their income has shrunk amid the growing cost of living. A majority of respondents considered this to be the most important issue facing the US.
The poll also showed that Americans generally disapprove of the POTUS’ handling of foreign policy issues, with 51% believing that he has underperformed in this sphere. The respondents also negatively evaluated Biden’s policy on Ukraine, as only 28% assessed it positively.

IMO, it’s also likely that much of the Anti-Russian propaganda isn’t sticking either. If media was honest, Biden’s negatives would be much larger.

Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 27 2022 21:27 utc | 97

Cracks starting to appear?
“Ukraine ready to discuss adopting neutral status in Russia peace deal – Zelenskiy”
Reuters

Posted by: Awe | Mar 27 2022 21:30 utc | 99