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Some Of The Weapons Delivered To Ukraine Will Be Used Against Us
The U.S. and its proxies in Europe are moving an enormous amount of weapons into Ukraine. But no one has an idea where those weapons will end up. It is likely that many of those will proliferate outside of the Ukraine and some of those weapons will inevitably hit those who now deliver them.
In a review of the U.S. war on Syria Aaron Maté details how the Obama/Biden team empowered terrorist networks in Syria:
Based on declassified documents, news reports, and scattered admissions of U.S. officials, this overlooked history of how the Obama-Biden team's effort to oust the Assad regime – in concert with allies including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey – details the series of discrete decisions that ultimately led the U.S. to empower terror networks bent on its destruction.
The U.S. pushed an enormous amount of weapons into Syria. Those weapons did not end up with the 'moderate rebels' the U.S. propaganda had elevated but in the hands the most ideological committed and most brutal actors on the ground:
Although the Obama administration claimed that the weapons funneled to Syria were intended for "moderate rebels," they ultimately ended up in the hands of a jihadi-dominated insurgency. Just one month after the Benghazi attack, the New York Times reported that "hard-line Islamic jihadists," including groups "with ties or affiliations with Al Qaeda," have received "the lion’s share of the arms shipped to the Syrian opposition.
In a repeat of that 'strategy' the U.S. is currently pushing an enormous amount of weapons as well as mercenaries into Ukraine. The bigger stuff it delivers is not of much concern. But the huge amount of small arms and small ammunition, the anti-tank weapons and the handheld anti-air systems are of serious, long term danger. These fit into a car trunk and can easily be smuggled across boarders.
As I explained previously the rightwing ideology that is nurtured in Ukraine will become a danger primarily to European countries but also beyond:
Whitney Webb writes that the CIA is creating a new al-Qaeda. This time as a white supremacist rightwing militia. A part of these are mercenaries currently getting recruited by western 'security' companies. These militia will use all the 'small' weapons NATO countries are now delivering to the Ukraine to attack Russian troops and their supporters.
This will have serious backlashes in Poland and Romania from where these troops get deployed. In the longer run it will lead to rightwing terror coming back to those countries who are now supporting these forces. It will also help the longterm trend of rightwing parties increasing their share of votes.
Together with the economic devastation that U.S. and European sanctions on Russia are causing in their own economies this will end in regime-changes in several European countries. The U.S. is of course again protecting itself from as much as it can at the cost of others.
If there is a lesson to learn from Syria it is that the most ideological committed and most brutal people on the ground will not only proliferate their ideology into other countries. They are also the groups which inevitably end up holding the most dangerous weapons. They will give some to those groups in other countries which have the same ideology.
The fascist groups in Ukraine are not a Russian propaganda invention or just 'nationalist'. Back in 2018 even the NATO lobbyists at the Atlantic Council called them a dangerous threat:
Last week Hromadske Radio revealed that Ukraine’s Ministry of Youth and Sports is funding the neo-Nazi group C14 to promote “national patriotic education projects” in the country. On June 8, the Ministry announced that it will award C14 a little less than $17,000 for a children’s camp. It also awarded funds to Holosiyiv Hideout and Educational Assembly, both of which have links to the far-right. The revelation represents a dangerous example of law enforcement tacitly accepting or even encouraging the increasing lawlessness of far-right groups willing to use violence against those they don’t like.
Since the beginning of 2018, C14 and other far-right groups such as the Azov-affiliated National Militia, Right Sector, Karpatska Sich, and others have attacked Roma groups several times, as well as anti-fascist demonstrations, city council meetings, an event hosted by Amnesty International, art exhibitions, LGBT events, and environmental activists. On March 8, violent groups launched attacks against International Women’s Day marchers in cities across Ukraine. In only a few of these cases did police do anything to prevent the attacks, and in some they even arrested peaceful demonstrators rather than the actual perpetrators.
International human rights groups have sounded the alarm. After the March 8 attacks, Amnesty International warned that “Ukraine is sinking into a chaos of uncontrolled violence posed by radical groups and their total impunity. Practically no one in the country can feel safe under these conditions.” Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Freedom House, and Front Line Defenders warned in a letter that radical groups acting under “a veneer of patriotism” and “traditional values” were allowed to operate under an “atmosphere of near total impunity that cannot but embolden these groups to commit more attacks.”
Over the last eight years those groups in Ukraine have had lots of contacts with similar groups in other countries. They have invited foreigners to fight with them on the frontline with the Donbas republics. These are potential buyers for the weapons that are now being delivered to the Ukraine.
The U.S. has no idea who ends up with the ten thousands of weapons it is now providing:
The US has few ways to track the substantial supply of anti-tank, anti-aircraft and other weaponry it has sent across the border into Ukraine, sources tell CNN, a blind spot that's due in large part to the lack of US boots on the ground in the country — and the easy portability of many of the smaller systems now pouring across the border. It's a conscious risk the Biden administration is willing to take.
In the short term, the US sees the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of equipment to be vital to the Ukrainians' ability to hold off Moscow's invasion. A senior defense official said Tuesday that it is "certainly the largest recent supply to a partner country in a conflict." But the risk, both current US officials and defense analysts say, is that in the long term, some of those weapons may wind up in the hands of other militaries and militias that the US did not intend to arm.
Transparency International ranks Ukraine as number 122 out of 180 countries. The lower the rank on that list the worse the corruption. Whoever officially gets handed the weapons in Ukraine will likely put a part of the stash aside to later sell it to whomever may be interested in them. That will be easy to do:
"I couldn't tell you where they are in Ukraine and whether the Ukrainians are using them at this point," a senior defense official told reporters last week. "They're not telling us every round of ammunition they're firing and who and at when. We may never know exactly to what degree they've using the Switchblades."
The Defense Department doesn't earmark the weapons it sends for particular units, according to Pentagon press secretary John Kirby.
Trucks loaded with pallets of arms provided by the Defense Department are picked up by Ukrainian armed forces — primarily in Poland — and then driven into Ukraine, Kirby said, "then it's up to the Ukrainians to determine where they go and how they're allocated inside their country."
One can not trust Ukrainian officials who claim that these weapons will only be used for good purposes:
Privately, officials recognize that Ukraine has an incentive to give only information that will bolster their case for more aid, more arms and more diplomatic assistance.
"It's a war — everything they do and say publicly is designed to help them win the war. Every public statement is an information operation, every interview, every Zelensky appearance broadcast is an information operation," said another source familiar with western intelligence.
Zelensky constantly demands more weapons and no one has an idea where they end up. How many will he himself set aside to later sell and who will buy those?
The experience from the war on Syria tells us that the weapons that 'fell off a truck' in Ukraine will eventually end up with the most ideological committed and most brutal people. In the Ukraine those are the fascists. Some international criminals gangs who want to eliminate rivals might also be interested.
How long will it take until a Switchblade suicide drone will drop on a police car in Poland? How long until an anti-tank weapon will be used in a gang fight in Paris? How long until a Stinger anti-air missile will down civil airplane in Rome?
One, three or five years?
It is a danger we will now all be living with.
Posted by: Paco | Apr 21 2022 8:47 utc | 321
Thank you! Here is the Google translation of the entire conversation as reported at that link http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/68254
Sergei Shoigu: Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich!
Mariupol was liberated by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and the people’s militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic. The remnants of the formation of nationalists took refuge in the industrial zone of the Azovstal plant.
Mariupol is a major industrial and main transport hub on the Sea of Azov. In 2014, the Kyiv regime declared the city the de facto temporary capital of the Donetsk region, turning it into a powerful fortified area and a haven for radical Ukrainian nationalists in eight years. This is actually the capital of “Azov”, the “Azov” battalion.
A large number of heavy weapons, military equipment, including tanks, MLRS “Smerch”, “Hurricane”, artillery systems of high power, missile systems “Tochka-U” were pulled into the city. Tochka-U has a range of 120 kilometers, and our Taganrog is 94 kilometers from Mariupol, the capital of the Southern Federal District, Rostov, is approximately at this distance.
Reserves of missiles, ammunition, fuels and lubricants, food for long-term combat operations have been created. The main objects of urban infrastructure, including the seaport and fairway, were mined and not only mined, but also blocked by floating cranes. The ships that were there were mostly foreign ships.
In total, if we talk about armored vehicles – tanks, armored combat vehicles, there were 179 of them, 170 different guns and mortars, including multiple rocket launchers, I already spoke about them, “Tornados” and “Hurricanes”. At the time of the encirclement on March 11, the total number of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and nationalist formations, as well as foreign mercenaries, who were also enough, was more than 8100 people. During the liberation of the city, more than four thousand were destroyed, 1478 surrendered, the remaining group – more than two thousand – was blocked in the industrial zone of the Azovstal plant.
Offering resistance, the nationalists turned almost all residential buildings into long-term firing points. Armored vehicles and artillery were installed on the ground floors, and snipers were installed on the upper floors. Separate detachments – with ATGMs. On the middle floors and in the basements, they gathered all the inhabitants, turning them into a human shield. They were kept both on the middle floors and in the basements. It was in fact in every home.
Retreating, the Ukrainian army, the nationalist battalions in Mariupol, as well as in other Ukrainian cities, were covered by the civilian population. Here we have many cases when, retreating to cover their retreat, in any case, we recorded four such cases, covering their retreat, they drove people out of the basements. By the way, it was literally four days ago, when the port area was liberated, and they drove almost everyone from high-rise buildings to the streets in order to hide themselves, leaving behind continuous destruction, including socially significant, cultural objects.
While liberating Mariupol, the Russian army and units of the people’s militia of the DPR took all measures to save the lives of civilians. Here, on your instruction, Vladimir Vladimirovich, humanitarian corridors have been opened daily since March 21 for the evacuation of civilians and foreign citizens.
Servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and militants of nationalist battalions were asked to lay down their arms. They were guaranteed, of course, life, safety and medical care.
As for the planned humanitarian actions – I call them “actions”, they combined both corridors and the supply of transport, these were both ambulances and buses, we had days when there were up to a hundred such buses, and 25 30 ambulances – we notified and were in contact with the Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of Ukraine [Irina] Vereshchuk daily.
Diplomatic missions of foreign states that appealed in one way or another, since [their] citizens were there – by the way, many were released and taken out of Mariupol during these humanitarian actions – the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, specialized structures of the OSCE, the International Committee of the Red Cross and other international organizations, they were officially notified of the time and place. And, of course, at some point we even demanded their presence, in order, of course, to comply with all humanitarian rules in this regard, as far as it was possible with the constant, uninterrupted conduct and non-cessation of fire from Mariupol by the National Battalions and the armed forces of Ukraine.
Despite their opposition – both militants and everyone else – we managed to evacuate 142,711 civilians from Mariupol following your instructions. All the hostages who were in the commercial seaport were released, including the crews of the sea vessels, whose communications systems were destroyed by those who captured them so that they could not contact anyone. The port is mined. The sea area is closed. I hope that now they will have the opportunity to leave this port.
Today, the entire Mariupol is under the control of the Russian army, the people’s militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic, and the territory The oria of the Azovstal plant with the remnants of nationalists and foreign mercenaries located is securely blocked.
Over the past two days, again on your instructions, we have declared a silence regime from 14:00 to 16:00, all hostilities have completely ceased, and humanitarian corridors have been opened for the exit of civilians who may be on the territory of the Azovstal plant.
We have prepared about 90 buses and 25 ambulances for them. Naturally, bearing in mind that all this is constantly distorted, we installed videoconferencing cameras, and there was almost a live broadcast here, in our control center. No one left Azovstal. But other civilians, more than 100 people, were able to leave. During these days, this is, perhaps, a lot of work that we have been doing with all international organizations.
At present, the situation in the city is calm, allowing us to start restoring order, returning the population and establishing a peaceful life. As for those who fled at the Azovstal plant and were thoroughly blocked there and around the entire perimeter, it takes us about three or four days to complete this work at Azovstal.
The report is finished.
Vladimir Putin: I consider the proposed storming of the industrial zone inappropriate.
I order you to cancel.
Sergei Shoigu: Yes.
Vladimir Putin: This is the case when we must think – that is, we must always think, but in this case even more so – about preserving the life and health of our soldiers and officers. There is no need to climb into these catacombs and crawl underground through these industrial facilities.
Block off this industrial area so that the fly does not fly through.
Sergei Shoigu: Yes.
Vladimir Putin: Once again invite everyone who has not yet laid down their arms to do so. The Russian side guarantees their lives and decent treatment in accordance with the relevant international legal acts. All those who are injured will receive qualified medical assistance.
The completion of combat work to liberate Mariupol is a success. Congratulations. Send your thanks to the troops. Please submit proposals for awarding our distinguished soldiers for state awards. It is clear that in such cases it cannot be otherwise, these are different awards, but I want them all to know: in our understanding, they are all heroes, in the understanding of all of Russia. They are all heroes.
In this regard, in addition to fulfilling all social obligations to our military personnel, especially to those who were injured, to the families of our dead comrades, it is necessary to ensure the unconditional fulfillment of all social guarantees.
But it seems to me that this is not enough. We need to think about additional support measures, and in some cases think about perpetuating the memory of those of our comrades who really showed heroism and sacrificed their lives for the peaceful life of our people in the Donbass and to ensure the peaceful life and existence of Russia itself, the peaceful existence of our country. These people deserve it with their actions and their attitude to the oath.
On the line of the Ministry of Defense, please work it out. I will give the relevant instructions to the Presidential Administration, I will talk with colleagues in the regions, and they will carry out the corresponding work in the municipalities of Russia.
Of course, putting such an important center in the south as Mariupol under control is a success. Congratulations.
Sergei Shoigu: Thank you, Vladimir Vladimirovich.
Geography
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Apr 21 2022 9:01 utc | 322
Posted by: Scrutiny | Apr 21 2022 8:11 utc | 308
Your suggestion that the US-directed war on Syria disabled that nation and cost the US little. But did it? Cost nothing, I mean?
Consider how much the Saudis, Qataris and Turks enjoyed spending all of that money and political capital for, to them, a dead loss. Actually, worse than that, as Syria is still standing, and are now as hard as nails having survived intact what the US et al inflicted on them. This deliberate effort to absolutely obliterate all the former allies or friendlies of the USSR before a ‘risen’ Russia – Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, etc. and now Ukraine – while certainly hyper-destructive have unfortunately created several hundred million permanent enemies of the US and Europe, not Russia, or China. I fear this could prove more costly than we presently may think.
Survived intact? This is in equally poor taste as refusing to acknowledge the severity of a battered wife’s treatment because she still has remaining teeth. I suspect that your focus on medal count is behind this casual dismissal of the blatant abuse of Syria.
Obviously, I don’t know the actual cost of the Syrian operation. I’m simply looking at the end result and comparing that to more traditional invasions and assume the cost to be considerably less. To be fair, one has to look at the entire spectrum of operations and consider the narrative management budget, which is certainly substantial, and pretty much everything hidden from public scrutiny. Militant recruiting, training and arming…
In any case, I’m still arguing that the operation was relatively low cost, particularly when you consider the extent of the devastation, the economic, societal and political damage to Syria. Objectively, more than half of the country is under foreign occupation, ie, its human and natural resources as well as its strategic worth, has been purely confiscated from the Syrian nation.
For starters, the initial invasion was outsourced to islamist millitants. They ploughed through the entire country and, by their ostensible nastiness, fully legitimised Western “liberation”. And today, the bulk of the occupation is basically unchallenged, meaning that enforcing troops are largely out of the country, in Iraq and elsewhere in the Persian Gulf.
As for the northern green areas, their occupation has been completely outsourced to a fellow NATO partner. In other words, same results but effectively zero costs. An undoubtedly clever strategy.
In addition, one should consider the much wider implication of having this vast reserve of irregular, expeditionary troops, that Imperial planners can mobilize at very little cost. I picture a recruitment process similar to the roundup of field workers before a day of picking strawberries. When the cold reality of exploitative capitalism meets the cynicism of geopolitical intrigue and warfare. “So today we need 100 fighters. Specialists, 23mm gunners, mortar operators, raise your hand. Good, leave your phone and ID with the recruiting officer and board the bus. Sorry, no questions, in Gaziantep you’ll be briefed on the mission. As for the rest of you, well, too bad. Please step away from the doors. Next week we’ll be in al Bab, if you wanna try your luck there.”
Posted by: robin | Apr 21 2022 12:55 utc | 373
@Arganthonios # 344
How to sound like a Nazi 101
Holocaust denialism, check.
You don’t have to be a Nazi to deny the Holohoax, you just have to NOT be a sheep of the Empire with no ability to spot that obvious lie. There were no gas chambers. The concentration camps were work camps – that’s why the sign above Auschwitz read “Work Makes Free” – it wasn’t “Zyklon B Makes Free”. Zyklon B was a delousing agent used to prevent typhus and save lives.
Holocaust justification, check.
Sure, because recognizing that Nazis expelled Jews for a reason – just like Russia attacked Ukraine for a reason – means you “justify” it, yes? So if you don’t lie about why something happened, then you support it? I suppose that is the logic of the sheep who have been brainwashed and lost all sense of reason.
It’s not even an argument, it’s basically just smearing. But then of course that is all those with no argument have.
Judeo-Bolshevik conspiracy, check.
Again, using your Empire “propaganda for morons”, which you proudly exclaim like the NPC you are. All governments are conspiracies, esp. revolutionary ones, and the fact is Bolsheviks were > 80% Jews while Jews were < 1% of Russians. Moreover, the Bolshevik Revolution was financed by Western Jews via part-Jewish Lenin and Jewish Trotsky using the ideology of Jews Marx and Engels.
If you don't see this as a "Jewish conspiracy" it is only because you deny obvious reality based on you Pavlovian conditioning. But even dogs are smarter.
@Arganthonios # 352
decrying both the empire and the only thing that kept it somewhat in check for some 40 years – the USSR
It wouldn’t have been the USSR but for the Bolshevik conspiracy, but the Russian Empire, which would also have acted as a check on the Empire. Nazis would not have come to power but for the USSR and its massive evil, combined with the fact that the Jews of Germany were working nonstop to bring that same evil to the rest of Europe, which did not want it.
with the same main domestic scapegoat
The ones who are actually guilty of something aren’t “scapegoats”. You push the lie of Jewish innocence both in Germany and in USSR. Pavlov would be amazed.
It boils down to nazi-fascist talking points, used both by nazis and by other historical strains of fascism.
Let me count the logical fallacies in that claim. There are too many, and you obviously lack the capacity to understand logic or facts or nuance. A true brainwashed sheep of the Empire of Lies.
Posted by: CalDre | Apr 21 2022 17:02 utc | 400
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