As expected

Ruble Payment Scheme Russia Uses With Gas Will Be Extended to New Groups of Goods in Future - Peskov
https://sputniknews.com/20220403/ruble-payment-scheme-russia-uses-with-gas-will-be-extended-to-new-groups-of-goods-in-future---1094440515.html
= = = = = = ==

All getting on board the Ruble train

Slovak Economy Minister says we will pay in Rubles for Russian gas

= = = = = = = =

Russian Ka-52 Helicopter Eliminates Concealed Positions of Ukrainian Army
https://sputniknews.com/20220403/watch-russian-ka-52-helicopter-eliminates-concealed-positions-of-ukrainian-army-1094439125.html

Posted by: Likklemore | Apr 3 2022 13:39 utc | 1

"They grabbed me, and I started firing my weapon as well. I don’t know what I was firing at.”

Sounds American as apple pie.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 3 2022 13:43 utc | 2

Fauci Flashback: ‘The Most POWERFUL Vaccine Is Getting Infected Yourself’

https://www.planet-today.com/2022/04/fauci-flashback-most-powerful-vaccine.html

Posted by: librul | Apr 3 2022 13:54 utc | 3

Interesting post by Gonzalo Lira re trade in US weapons by Ukrainian officers to arms dealers. Unconfirmed https://t.me/realCRP/4123

Posted by: JOHN SHREFFLER | Apr 3 2022 14:04 utc | 4

https://t.me/MattGaetzOfficial1/6

For those unaware of the implications of the laptop being presented to Congress a few days ago …
This now means the contents of that laptop are on *Congressional Record*. Legally. It isn’t conjecture. It isn’t rumor. It isn’t a “conspiracy theory”.
The laptop is a reality, and it is now on Congressional Record.

There’s no stopping this train now.

Slightly off-topic, but no laptop is full of Ukraine stuff!

Posted by: Greg Galloway | Apr 3 2022 14:05 utc | 5

Yo, Richard Steven Hack. I gotta chime in and say I appreciate your posts. Even if you cut back, please don’t be a stranger.

As for what’s going on, I do wonder whether Russia wants NATO to enter Ukraine. Why? Complete speculation, of course…

Maybe Russia wants to destroy every NATO unit as it enters.

Maybe to force them to continually “send good money after bad” — make NATO share the expense of this new Vietnam/Afghanistan they tried to create. NATO will inherit even more costs. While missile bases would appear on western Ukraine, they won’t appear in the east.

Maybe Russia wants to lengthen the war, so the west goes absolutely insane and paralyzed internally over what to do about the situation. The more Vindmans argue “nearly convincingly” with pragmatists, the more brainpower lost to their other deadly projects.

…

BTW, Ive seen it mentioned: “NATO = WEF’s army”. That seems about right.

Posted by: lurker in chief | Apr 3 2022 14:09 utc | 6

This story has a second part: the details of the pressure put on Zelensky to reject the peace plan. The logic of Biden's agreeing to guarantee would suggest that Biden was "on side" and that Z was under pressure from elsewhere. (caveat: I am assuming, naively, minimal honesty here.)
Was this elsewhere in the White House? Blinken or Sullivan? Or was it from his bodyguard- the harmless, patriotic SS Tribute Act surrounding him?
Or is the whole story (on RT) a fabrication?

"German chancellor Olaf Scholz had offered Volodymyr Zelensky a chance for peace just days before the launch of the Russian military offensive, but the Ukrainian president turned it down, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has reported.

"Scholz had made what the US outlet described as “one last push for a settlement between Moscow and Kiev” less than a week before the Russian forces were sent into Ukraine on February 24.

"The chancellor told Zelensky in Munich on February 19 “that Ukraine should renounce its NATO aspirations and declare neutrality as part of a wider European security deal between the West and Russia,” the paper writes. The daily also claims that “the pact would be signed by Mr. Putin and Mr. Biden, who would jointly guarantee Ukraine’s security.”

"However, Zelensky rejected the offer to make the concession and avoid confrontation, saying that “[Russia’s President Vladimir] Putin couldn’t be trusted to uphold such an agreement and that most Ukrainians wanted to join NATO,” the WSJ reports, without revealing its sources for the information..."

Posted by: bevin | Apr 3 2022 14:10 utc | 7

Yesterday evening a Ukrainian station showed a video of Ukrainian troops driving through Bucha, north of Kiev, with several 'dead' people lying in the street allegedly 'killed by Russians'.

I have started collecting material on the Bucha massacre hoax on my "Syria" site.

The first item to note is this video published on the YouTube channel of Ukrainaska Pravda on April 3, 2022.

Bucha - cleansing of the city from the occupiers by special forces of the National Police

On April 2, in the liberated city of Bucha, Kyiv Oblast, special units of the National Police of Ukraine began clearing the area of ​​saboteurs and accomplices of Russian troops. Specialists of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Service inspect the places of war crimes of the Russian Federation and seize explosive devices and ammunition that have not detonated. Law enforcement officers inspect every yard and shelter, communicate with people and provide assistance to local residents. Citizens who had to endure the horrors of the occupation are helping the police as much as possible. The police are doing everything possible to restore law and order in the liberated territories so that local residents can return to their hometown as soon as possible.

No bodies are seen on the 7 minute video.

Posted by: Petri Krohn | Apr 3 2022 14:14 utc | 8

Gonzalo Lira proves without doubt that four different Ukrainian propaganda clips with different actors were all filmed at the exact same location, a 'battlefield' with several long destroyed Ukrainian tanks --> Propaganda BTFO (video)

Here is a fifth video from the same scene:

Metropolitan direction Lukyanovka Kyiv region

War in Ukraine, through the eyes of eyewitnesses

These videos were posted on March 25, 2022. No doubt the same film crews have been busy working on the Bucha hoax massacre site.

Posted by: Petri Krohn | Apr 3 2022 14:23 utc | 9

Anyone who watched Oliver Stone’s “Ukraine on Fire’ – Recipe for a Revolution " will want to watch sequels found on Rumble and Youtube at 21st Centurywire – Scroll to Videos.

The US NATO footprint in Ukraine begins in 1991.
You’ll recognize the faces 1:48mins

The Everlasting Present - 2021 Ukraine 30 years of InDependence.

Production of Global Pictures, USA.

“The Everlasting Present – Ukraine 30 years of InDependence,” is a story about the young and troubled history of the former Soviet republic, Ukraine – a country that was unknown to most citizens of the United States, but it was always known to the political establishment of the USA. Since February 22, 2014, with the Maidan coup d’etat, Ukraine quickly became a focal point for Americans and Europeans.

This film explores the competing narratives about the country’s journey through the eyes of an American filmmaker as it is being told through the words of the men who governed the country. What else was going on behind the struggle for independence? What chain of events led to the current conflict we see today? This film answers many of these questions and more. Watch: 

https://21stcenturywire.com/2022/03/27/sunday-screening-the-everlasting-present-2021/
OR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=7&v=5hgeZilgRCU&feature=emb_logo

Film covers 1990 to Zelensky. English sub-titles.

September 1996: HR 120

House and Senate adopted Resolution 120 - declared Ukraine to be an important element in the national security of USA; it [Ukraine] had to oppose the emergence of any military or political organization or reintegration of the USSR and additionally to cooperate with NATO.
Ukraine President Kuchma agreed.

• The Oligarchs

• The Orange Revolution

• George W. Bush -

US confirmed readiness to support Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO Membership Action plan.

•The Ukrainian Nationalists comes out of the closet. Bandera declared hero of Ukraine.

•2010

•2012-2014

= = = = = =

And

The Donbass, 2016

The suffering of the ordinary people and the West remained silent, unseen.

French production with English sub-titles. [53 mins]
Directed and filmed by Anne-Laure Bonnel, France
 Production: Les Films de Sacha (2016)

Scroll to Video

https://21stcenturywire.com/2022/03/20/sunday-screening-donbass-2016/

Biden, Johnson, Scholz, Trudeau, all leaders and bankersters "standing for the Ukraine and UkroNazis" should be ordered to watch: Unspeakable.

Have facial tissue handy.

These crimes against humanity must be held accountable without any statutory time limitation.

Posted by: Likklemore | Apr 3 2022 14:24 utc | 10

Zelensky wanted NATO to protect the endless money laundering, human trafficking, bioweapons labs, fraud and criminality that the Ukraine is. Zelensky knew that Russia and Putin would reach the point where they were going to take out those bioweapons labs.

Those bioweapons labs were set up by Senators Nunn and Lugar post USSR then Senator Obama. How many years does it take to destroy Soviet era bioweapons? 30 years? This is all BS. They could design moderate to nasty viruses and pathogens. Release them on Africa and other places then provide a vaccine. Funny that Fauci and Peter Dazak are always involved. AIDs, eBola, swine flu, H1N1, Covid. There was one when Obama was president that killed a lot of people. Was that H1N1?

Just another billion dollar money scam. Get American, European, Canadian and other taxpayers to pay for these scams.

Posted by: F Jerry | Apr 3 2022 14:25 utc | 11

The latest news from the sinking ship -
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10681189/At-six-dead-barrage-bullets-fired-car-bars-let-Sacramento.html

Posted by: thecelticwithinme | Apr 3 2022 14:30 utc | 12

Thanks for the update b, look forward to reading through the collected links.

About that incident in Bucha: the website for Canada’s Global News leads right now with a photo of a lone person standing in a burnt-out neighbourhood street, tank included.

Headline: “Ukraine decries alleged atrocities by Russian troops in Bucha: ‘Horror movie’

Then below that, what follows is a much smaller photo (regular size for the non-lead story) of a gloved hand in a lab

Headline: “Sperm in a lab? Canadian scientists successfully 3D print make reproductive cells”

And I forgot that Ukraine even existed.

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Apr 3 2022 14:33 utc | 13

Even though I haven’t commented much (I have neither the military nor area expertise) I have been following the war in Ukraine and what’s become apparent to me is the sheer hopelessness of the Ukrainian position. Command and control centres, Air Force, logistic centres, air defense, have all been either annihilated or degraded to the point where they have become irrelevant to affect the course of the war.

The Navy defected as a whole from what I can see. Watching the videos on IntelSlava it occurred to me that for the Russians it’s become like shooting fish in a barrel (from the air). The US, Uk and NATO have made it clear that other than sending obsolete weapons they have no intention whatsoever of coming to Ukraine’s aid.

Watching the tactics of the Nazis in Mariupol reminds me of the same tactics of Isis/Al-Qaeda in Syria, same brutality, same wanton destruction, same slaughter of civilians).

Now any competent leader who actually cared about his people would recognise the sheer hopelessness of the situation and sue for peace to prevent any needless loss of life and destruction. The Russian demands aren’t unreasonable, Zelensky could have even remained President. Instead it seems that the decision has been made that if Ukraine can’t have it they will destroy it so that when Russia takes control (as they will) it will be a wasteland eg Mariupol.

The outcome of the Russian operation is not in doubt. The only question is how many people have to die needlessly now due to the obstinacy of the Ukrainian leadership ( yes I know they’re not in control) but as President Zelensky has the authority to put an end to the slaughter that will be unleashed in Phase 2 of the Russian operation. Heck, even the Ukie military command can put an end to the slaughter had they wanted to. But it seems the Neo-Cons are going to the fight the Russians to the last Ukrainian.

Posted by: Down South | Apr 3 2022 14:34 utc | 14

The power of language is magical to behold. Through the mere pronouncement of words, people can be persuaded to do what they would never have thought to do, left to their own devices.

This power can not be denied and the wordsmiths know it. The following two articles ,read in that order, nicely convey this effect.

https://tinyurl.com/mr37jxhc
https://tinyurl.com/4bajztnu

Some relaxing weekend reading material can be found here,
https://tinyurl.com/2p9cavzn

Posted by: Tom_12 | Apr 3 2022 14:36 utc | 15

If you are Russian and in Ukraine we are going to steal all your assets.

"Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) voted on Friday to expand a law which allowed Russian government property to be nationalized by the Ukrainian state. The rule now extends to Russian citizens in Ukraine, those with a “close relation” to Russia, and Ukrainians who publicly support or ignore Moscow’s ongoing military operation."

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Apr 3 2022 14:46 utc | 16

Another problem with the Bucha video is if you watch it in slomo you can see one of the "dead bodies" sitting up right after the vehicle being filmed from passes. Look in their right door mirror. Detailed today on MoD Russia Telegram page.

Posted by: Marinacat | Apr 3 2022 14:46 utc | 17

Ceasefire in Yemen - excellent article on Stolzuntermenschen:

Yemen Ceasefire Announced

Posted by: BM | Apr 3 2022 14:50 utc | 18

The Slovakian authorities realise the importance of Russian gas to them.

"Slovakia will pay for Russian natural gas in rubles if that’s what it takes to keep the commodity flowing, Slovak Economy Minister Richard Sulik has said on national television.

“If there is a condition to pay in rubles, then we will pay in rubles,” Sulik said. He stressed that Russian imports account for roughly 85% of all Slovakian gas supplies, so the country’s authorities will remain pragmatic on the issue.

“We cannot be cut off from gas,” Sulik emphasized, urging the rest of Europe to jointly seek a solution."

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Apr 3 2022 14:51 utc | 19

My apologies for excess and, if this gets through, my thanks for reinstatement.

There was a serious problem and it had to get solved. I used the only tools I had.

Posted by: Arganthonios | Apr 3 2022 14:52 utc | 20

Its been interesting to read on the Saker, that Chanel are supposedly making customers sign a waver that the perfume they buy in the West won't be sent to/taken to Russia, even moreso as the founder of Chanel Coco Chanel was a Nazi agent during WWII.

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Apr 3 2022 15:02 utc | 21

Posted by: Petri Krohn | Apr 3 2022 14:14 utc | 8

There is also a video of the Bucha spyop where the "corpses" move their legs..nothing surprises me anymore ..the pathethic western hollywood narrative has really no limits..the mockingbirded audience will have another orgasm..

Posted by: LuBa | Apr 3 2022 15:03 utc | 22

"Google paid a billion rubles in damages to the Tsargrad TV channel due to the blocking of its content on YouTube. This is reported by the channel itself. The money on the accounts of the corporation was arrested by bailiffs, and then seized in favor of the TV channel.

Tsargrad plans to send the proceeds to the Russian military participating in the hostilities in Ukraine. According to the founder of the channel, Konstantin Malofeev, he will continue to go to court if Google continues to ignore Tsargrad’s claims:

The Tsargrad YouTube channel was blocked in 2020. Google referred to the fact that Malofeev is under US sanctions. Then the channel filed a lawsuit, and the Moscow Arbitration Court ruled in its favor."

https://hindustannewshub.com/russia-ukraine-news/tsargrad-received-a-billion-rubles-penalty-from-google-money-to-be-sent-to-russian-military-in-ukraine-the-moscow-times/

Posted by: Tom_12 | Apr 3 2022 15:16 utc | 23

The first sentence of the description of the video linked by Petri Krohn @9 gives a good idea of what has occurred at Bucha.
"On April 2, in the liberated city of Bucha, Kyiv Oblast, special units of the National Police of Ukraine began clearing the area of ​​saboteurs and accomplices of Russian troops."

Looks like they have found and killed 300 or so locals that were Russia friendly.
A recent thought is that the first part or phase of the operation alongside tying down Ukraine forces was probing to see where populations were majority Russia friendly.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1V8NzjQkzMOhpuLhkktbiKgodOQ27X6IV&ll=49.622330555297054%2C31.211840403718927&z=6

That map constantly updated gives I think a fairly accurate picture of the front lines.
Severodonetsk and the high density urban centers in that area will take some time. The Chechen forces are the groupig specializing in urban fighting. If the early figures are accurate, 5000 Chechen's went to Mariupol and 5000 were in the Kiev area.
Pulling out of the Kiev area frees up that Chechen group for the Donbass front and clearing Mariupol will free up the full Chechen forces.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 3 2022 15:17 utc | 24

Re: Bucha

Same s#it different day

Sloppy video aside, there will be no shortage of corpses, considering (1) the UA strategy of taking cover in urban areas with population still there, and (2) brutality of the UA fascists (ie most enthusiastic forces, both army and internal), toward suspected "collaboraors" - which is anyone they think is Russian and/or fails the loyalty test of the moment.

Standard wartime playbook since the modern era unfortunately.

Hopefully most outside the US bubble can see the pattern of gaslighting of the western war propaganda.

Posted by: ptb | Apr 3 2022 15:28 utc | 25

Actually i try to stay away to discuss this topic till it is finished, but follow almost all the bar talk over here. Just today i hade an experience i want to share with you. I live in berlin. Suddenly i meet this convoy in the streets. It taking place in east of german capital, at Marzahn. This is the biggest russian-german community in the world. Its 100 thousands of people. The developed over the past 30 years an own culture, belonging to the merging russosphere all over the world. The reason why they can be so brave about expressing their opinions, have to do with an inner weakness of Germany which is nether mentioned nowhere. Half of german soldiers in the Bundeswehr have russian-german origin. Now look again on this video. They will not fight a NATO war against Russia.

Posted by: rico rose | Apr 3 2022 15:32 utc | 26

@24 Peter AU1
my thoughts exactly

Posted by: ptb | Apr 3 2022 15:32 utc | 27

[email protected] like a Chanel Boycott is the order of the day then.....as they out themselves, the best weapon is to take them out by personally sanctioning them. Sanction shit can flow both ways, and for all those people siding with Truth and Justice, power can be taken back through safe passive action. That's a call to arms btw.

Cheers M

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Apr 3 2022 15:33 utc | 28

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 3 2022 15:17 utc | 24

I wouldn't put it past the Ukis to go looking for pro-Russian people and eliminate them.

In the video the blond women with husband is saying something about some group of people who lived across the street as well as in another location. What is unclear to me is if they are referring to Russian soldiers or what they would consider collaborators.

Something else that is interesting is that the video does not have the complete comment of the locals. It has been edited. This could be because something they say may not fit the desired narrative.

Posted by: Tom_12 | Apr 3 2022 15:37 utc | 29

With regard to the incident at the Kabul airport I remember Scott Ritter commenting on it when he was on a Consortium News live chat together with Pepe Escobar: "Marines don't panic!"

LMAO

Posted by: v | Apr 3 2022 15:38 utc | 30

https://www.spglobal.com/commodity-insights/en/market-insights/latest-news/natural-gas/040122-gazprom-says-has-terminated-participation-in-german-subsidiary-gazprom-germania

Russia's state-controlled Gazprom said April 1 it had "terminated" its participation in its Germany-based subsidiary Gazprom Germania and all of its assets.

In a statement, Gazprom said a notice of its termination -- which it implemented on March 31 -- had been published April 1.
"The Gazprom Group has terminated its participation in the German company Gazprom Germania GmbH and all of its assets, including Gazprom Marketing & Trading," it said.

"The corresponding notice of a material fact was published today," it said.

Gazprom Germania is a 100% owned subsidiary of Gazprom Export, itself a wholly owned unit of Gazprom.

Does anyone have insight into how this was done in technical legal terms? Voluntarily renouncing assets (as discussed in a previous thread, most likely to invalidate the contracts with European gas importers, entered into through this German subsidiary) like this is of course highly unusual, and I'm not sure how one would even go about it.

Posted by: Unnamed | Apr 3 2022 15:39 utc | 31

translated summary of interview with former French intel head Juillet, worth checking out. (not representative of modern french state, but at least there is no question of naive ignorance)

https://nitter.net/RnaudBertrand/status/1510495717520928772/

Posted by: ptb | Apr 3 2022 15:44 utc | 32

@ rico rose | Apr 3 2022 15:32 utc | 26 with the link showing Berlin support of Russia today

Thanks for that!!!

I wish my fellow Americans were not so brainwashed...sigh Perhaps what we are seeing happen will wake them in a couple of months.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 3 2022 15:46 utc | 33

Thank you, b, for the important news item from the Cradle about Pakistan's attempted coup:

...If the foreign meddling case is a priori to the no-confidence motion, then it is possible that Khan will have legal relief and those accused of collaborating, aiding and assisting an external regime-change conspiracy will be indicted. This would include opposition political party members and Pakistani media personalities who have purportedly been traipsing to and from the US embassy in the days, weeks and months preceding the motion – now set for a seat-gripping vote on Sunday. If this can be proven in a court of law, many opposition leaders may end up behind bars.

According to Pakistan’s highest national security office and judging from the IHC notice, it appears clear that the letter was legitimate and the US is guilty of meddling in Pakistan’s internal affairs. But this is not 2001 when former Pakistani president, General Pervez Musharraf, capitulated to the Americans upon receiving a single phone call. Today’s Pakistan has a stronger self-identity after two decades of grueling and unrecognized sacrifices for Washington’s unsuccessful war on terror. Equally, they now also understand that the US is a declining power.

The article at The Cradle is well worth reading in its entirety.

Posted by: juliania | Apr 3 2022 15:47 utc | 34

@ Unnamed | Apr 3 2022 15:39 utc | 31 asking about the Gazprom subsidiary closing in Germany

Case law is a bit thin in the area of one side freezing all the financial assets of the other side at this scale.

This case will be adjudicated in the civilization war that we are in, IMO.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 3 2022 15:51 utc | 35

Also... busy day ...
Possible color revolution attempt in Sri Lanka.
I'm totally uninformed about politics there, if someone can shed light would be nice.

Posted by: ptb | Apr 3 2022 15:56 utc | 36

Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 3 2022 15:51 utc | 35

Yeah, I'm not questioning that there's ample justification for Russia to walk away from its interests in Germany/Europe. But the Russian line is to "do everything by the book", i.e. not break any existing contracts, including not by declaring force majeure.

My question is how do you do this "by the book"? Liquidating the company for example is not possible without the cooperation of German authorities. It's a legal process that has to go through a German court. It would also not by itself free the mother company from the subsidiary's legal obligations (gas delivery). So what does Gazprom mean when they say they have "terminated their participation" in its subsidiary? Selling the assets would be one way to get rid of them, but that requires a buyer, and can again be blocked by German authorities.

Posted by: Unnamed | Apr 3 2022 15:59 utc | 37

the Bucha video a distraction from the US funded bio-weapons labs.
that went viral throughout the planet

https://sputniknews.com/20220403/russian-defence-ministry-rejects-accusations-russian-troops-have-killed-civilians-in-kievs-region-1094445298.html

Russia's Defence Ministry has rejected allegations promulgated by Kiev, claiming that Russian troops had killed civilians in the Ukrainian city of Bucha. The ministry stated that the images and videos claiming to depict dead civilians on the streets of Bucha were staged photos and videos created specifically to distribute via the western media."

[These images are] yet another provocation. During the time this settlement was under the control of the Russian armed forces, not a single local resident was hurt […][This is] yet another example of providing staged material from the Kiev regime for the consumption of western media, as it was the case with the Mariupol maternity hospital, not to mention other cities", the ministry said.

The defence ministry stressed that Russian troops abandoned the city on 30 March and reminded the audience that the city's mayor, Anatoly Fedoruk, confirmed this fact the next day. Furthermore, the mayor never mentioned in his 31 March that any civilians had been shot in the street with their hands tied, as claimed by Kiev.[.]

+ + + +

Tripping over tongue. Setting up false a flag.

So, in attempting to down play Nuland's confirmation to Congress we have tripping over tongue. It's Russia disinformation. Setting up false flag - these bio-weapons labs might contain left-overs from Soviet Union. Except, OPCW confirmed, certified Russia had destroyed its chemical weapon stockpile.

‘No offensive biologic weapons’ in Ukrainian biolabs US assisted, Pentagon says

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/no-offensive-biologic-weapons-in-ukrainian-biolabs-us-assisted-pentagon-says/ar-AAVLpzy?ocid=EMMX&cvid=462ebe0819664ca2968e21ff42e060ef

There are no “offensive biologic weapons” in any of the dozens of biological labs in Ukraine that the United States has partnered with on safety precautions.

“The department remains very concerned about the ability to get accurate and transparent information out to the U.S. public, as well as certainly our allies and the rest of the world,” she said. “So one of the things that the department has been doing — and this is particularly related to the public health laboratories in Ukraine that is being tragically used by the Russians as a potential for a false flag operation — from the White House on down to the Defense Department, as well as Department of State, as well as all of the vehicles that we have to be able to communicate accurate information out about this and the work that has been underway.”

The Pentagon funds labs in Ukraine through its Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). According to a Pentagon fact sheet released last month, since 2005, the US has "invested" $200 million in "supporting 46 Ukrainian laboratories, health facilities, and diagnostic sites."[.]

ZH picks up more,
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/pentagon-says-pathogens-us-linked-ukraine-labs-not-offensive-bioweapons/

[.]For their part, the US maintains that the program in Ukraine and other former Soviet states is meant to reduce the threat of biological weapons left over from the Soviet Union. While downplaying the threat of the labs, Pentagon officials have also warned that they could still contain Soviet-era bioweapons.

Robert Pope, the director of the DTRA’s Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, told the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in February that the labs might contain Soviet bioweapons and warned that the fighting in Ukraine could lead to the release of a dangerous pathogen.[.]

The Biden administration has tried to portray any concerns about the labs as "Russian propaganda." When the issue gained more media attention, Biden officials started accusing Moscow of plotting to use chemical or biological weapons, but the US hasn’t presented any evidence to back up its claims.[.]

Posted by: Likklemore | Apr 3 2022 16:05 utc | 38

juliania | Apr 3 2022 15:47 utc | 34

From what I read in the media today, US have been stymied for the moment. A court ruled in favor of Khan after seeing the letter so no vote on the no confidence motion. Khan asks the president to. disband or whatever the term is the current parliament and call new elections. That is occurring and the president has appointed Khan as the care taker PM until the new elections - in three months time. Three months should give plenty of time to take down all those working in the interests of foreign powers.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 3 2022 16:10 utc | 39

TASS has the following interesting extra piece of information: https://tass.com/economy/1431061

MOSCOW, April 1. /TASS/. Gazprom Group terminated participation in Germany-based Gazprom Germania GmbH and all its assets, including Gazprom Marketing & Trading Ltd, the company said.

The holding since March 31 ceased to be the owner of St. Petersburg-based Gazprom Export Business Services subsidiary, which in its turn was the sole founder of Gazprom Germania GmbH, Gazprom added.

Gazprom Germania is the operator of several large gas storages in Germany.

Handelsblatt newspaper reported yesterday, citing sources in the German government, that the Economy Ministry of Germany is considering nationalization of German subsidiaries of Gazprom and Rosneft.

It appears that Gazprom Germania was in turn wholly owned by a Russian-domiciled holding company, Gazprom Export Business Services, which Gazprom no longer has any ownership stake in. I am not a lawyer, but I would love to hear speculation from someone who is as to the consequences of this (and what the intentions behind the move are).

What might perhaps happen next (and it would be hilarious) is that Germany nationalizes Gazprom Germania and then sues Gazprom on their behalf for continued gas deliveries. Presumably Russia is looking for a way to cut off gas deliveries while Germany (as it should) gets the blame, and this is somehow one step toward that.

Posted by: Unnamed | Apr 3 2022 16:11 utc | 40

Aus government media piece on Khan.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-03/no-confidence-vote-pakistan-imran-khan-politics-opposition/100961872

Has all the US/anglo 'talking points' but also useful information.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 3 2022 16:13 utc | 41

If bar flies think I’m too much of a man not to be gloating about the fact that we are now three weeks running and still no false flag to be seen I’d be flattered and you’d be wrong.

Posted by: Jörgen Hassler | Apr 3 2022 16:16 utc | 42

Posted by: Jörgen Hassler | Apr 3 2022 16:16 utc | 41
Bucha

Posted by: pretzelattack | Apr 3 2022 16:20 utc | 43

Posted by: Jörgen Hassler | Apr 3 2022 16:16 utc | 41 Bucha

Posted by: pretzelattack | Apr 3 2022 16:20 utc | 42

The "attack on the maternity hospital" in Mariupol, or for that matter the bombing of the city's theater.

For starters.

Just because it didn't involve an ABC weapon doesn't mean it wasn't a false flag. It's just that 404 and the West have grown quite incompetent in the art of pulling off false flags.

Posted by: malenkov | Apr 3 2022 16:26 utc | 44

Certainly not a lawyer and only guessing but maybe they sold the Russian company to a non-German company. Germany and German law should not apply in any way to such a sale (no jurisdiction at all) and as far as the German company is concerned Germany can only sue the new owners of the previously Russian company or appropriate the assets in Germany and it makes no difference at all to the previous Russian owners of the Russian company.

I don't see how delivery contracts has anything to do with it but if it does then it's between the German government and the new owners and not at all the previous Russians owners who are entirely out of the picture.

The previous Russian owners simply divested themselves from Germany and walked away, probably with quite a lot of money too. A sensible move when under threat from any government.

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Apr 3 2022 16:30 utc | 45

Here is some footage which substantiates the claim that the scenes of dead civilians on Bucha are staged. Supposedly dead people are moving in the videos:

https://t.me/intelslava/24269

Posted by: ChasingGlowies | Apr 3 2022 16:33 utc | 46

I wonder if France and Germany (and other EU members) are treading lightly due to this?

https://thesaker.is/natos-internal-gold-war/

If EU members side with Russia the UK might confiscate their portion of gold?

Wars tend to trigger book burning, bank books...

I don't see how NATO is going to stay intact.

Posted by: Seer | Apr 3 2022 16:46 utc | 47

Russian MoD’s official Telegram channel on the Bucha massacre false flag (in Russian):

The Russian Ministry of Defense refutes the accusations of the Kiev regime in the alleged murder of civilians in the village of Bucha, Kiev oblast

All photos and videos published by the Kiev regime, allegedly testifying to some kind of “crimes” by Russian military personnel in the city of Bucha, Kiev oblast, are another provocation.

During the time this settlement was under the control of the Russian armed forces, not a single local resident suffered from any violent actions. Russian servicemen delivered and issued 452 tonnes of humanitarian aid to the settlements of the Kiev oblast.

All the time while the city was under the control of the Russian armed forces, and even more so after, until today, in Bucha, local residents freely moved around the city and used cellular communications.

Departure from the city of Bucha was not blocked. All local residents had the opportunity to freely leave the settlement in a northern direction, including to the Republic of Belarus. At the same time, the southern outskirts of the city, including residential areas, were fired on around the clock by Ukrainian troops from large-caliber artillery, tanks and multiple launch rocket systems.

We want to especially note that all Russian units completely left Bucha on March 30, the day after the in-person round of talks between Russia and the Ukraine in Turkey.

Moreover, on March 31, the mayor of Bucha, Anatoliy Fedoruk, confirmed in his video message that there were no Russian soldiers in the city, but did not even mention any local residents shot on the streets with their hands tied.

Therefore, it is not surprising that all the so-called “evidence of crimes” in Bucha appeared only on the fourth day, when SBU officers and representatives of Ukrainian television arrived in the city.

Of particular concern is the fact that all the bodies of people whose images were published by the Kiev regime, after at least four days, have not stiffened [due to rigor mortis — S], do not have characteristic livor mortis patches, and have uncoagulated blood in the wounds.

All this irrefutably confirms that the photos and video footage from Bucha are another production of the Kiev regime for the Western media, as was the case in Mariupol with the maternity hospital, as well as in other cities.

Posted by: S | Apr 3 2022 17:05 utc | 48

These articles about gold and who holds what, and where, suggest that maybe, just maybe, things may not be as they are reported. Maybe Russia has much more gold than reported. Maybe the gold held in foreign banks for other nations has been pledged or moved to oligarchs. Do we know, absent any verifiable audits? It has been 51 years since the U.S dropped the gold standard and I would think the data and record keeping in the years since has degraded. So, we see reports that the US holds over 8,000 tons of gold, and Russia has 2200 tons of gold, but do we know, really? Who does know?

Why would this matter? If there is an effort underway to move away from the petrodollar to a ruble or yuan or other currency, along with commodity prices, the need for some kind of gold backstop might be essential, and, if so, then it surely pays to really know what the volumes are.

Going to be interesting....

Posted by: Boomheist | Apr 3 2022 17:07 utc | 49

Briefing by Igor Konashenkov, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, as of 7 p.m. on April 3, 2022

▪️ Units of the troops of the Donetsk People's Republic, continuing their offensive, are fighting in the area of NOVOBAKHMUTOVKA and TROITSKY.

In the area of NOVOSELOVKA, retreating units of the Ukrainian 25th Airborne Brigade suffered heavy losses as a result of an artillery strike. More than 40 personnel and 7 armored vehicles were destroyed.

▪️ The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continued strikes against Ukrainian military infrastructure.

High-precision airborne missiles destroyed large fuel storage facilities in KONSTANTINOVKA, Mykolaiv region, SLAVUTA, Rivne region, and Ternopil. These facilities were used to supply fuel for groups of Ukrainian troops in the Mykolaiv and Donetsk directions.

The strike on the BALOVNOYE airfield on the outskirts of NIKOLAEVA destroyed an aircraft parking lot and a fuel storage facility.

A strike on the VASILKOV military airfield in the Kyiv region knocked out the Airborne Warning and Control Center and the Air Defense Center of the Air Force of Ukraine.

▪️ During the day, the Russian Air Force's tactical and army aviation hit 42 Ukrainian military facilities.

Among them: three surface-to-air missile launchers, including one Buk-M1 and two Osa-AKM, one artillery battery, two multiple rocket launchers, two field depots of rocket and artillery weapons and ammunition, and eight strongholds and areas where AFU military equipment is concentrated.

▪️ Russian air defence assets shot down three unmanned aerial vehicles in the areas of Krasnogorka and Grabovske settlements.

A total of 386 unmanned aerial vehicles, 224 anti-aircraft missile systems, 1,918 tanks and other armoured combat vehicles, 209 multiple rocket launchers, 814 field artillery guns and mortars, and 1,789 special military vehicles have been destroyed since the start of the special military operation.

Posted by: sitrep | Apr 3 2022 17:09 utc | 50

Posted by: malenkov | Apr 3 2022 16:26 utc | 43

yeah that's what I meant. it's just like Douma, they keep using the same scripts (and apparently the same location in this case).

Posted by: pretzelattack | Apr 3 2022 17:09 utc | 51

Rico rose @ 26

Here is an interesting backgrounder on the RussianGerman community in Germany. Six millions.

https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-russian-community-faces-harassment-and-hostility/a-61055867

That is just the result from the simplest google search. Old German migration to Russia from late 18th century, early 19th century returning to home country post WWII and again in 1990s.

My understanding has been that these returnees are legally very welcome, considered as German citizens who had merely been living abroad. And very sure I do not know all the legal niceties, just what I have been casually told by persons in approximately that situation.

Commentary from b or other Germans very welcome. Looks like one more reason a complete East/West divorce will be very complex.

Posted by: oldhippie | Apr 3 2022 17:10 utc | 52

"Some of the prisoners have white bands on their arms, and one of them has a red band, both of which are worn by Russian and pro-Russian forces in the Ukraine war"
https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/03/31/ukraine-apparent-pow-abuse-would-be-war-crime

"An open Ukrainian passport was lying next to one of the victims, whose arms were tied with white fabric. According to one Bucha resident who spoke to Reuters, Russian soldiers ordered residents to wear white bands on their sleeves."
https://meduza.io/en/feature/2022/04/03/dozens-of-dead-civilians-found-in-kyiv-suburb

Ukrainian cleansing operation of "white bands"?

Posted by: P | Apr 3 2022 17:15 utc | 53

I just thought it was "interesting" that the day after Lira posts a video showing it was a false flag this guy shows up gloating about there having been no false flags.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Apr 3 2022 17:18 utc | 54

Rico rose #26

russian Germans? Descendants of Russians who moved to Germany After the break up of the Soviet Union?
Why are they all so eager to go into the German army? All anticommunist russians? Why in the army at all and nor get educated as Germany allows?

Posted by: Brother Ma | Apr 3 2022 17:20 utc | 55

lurker in chief | Apr 3 2022 14:09 utc | 6

-Maybe Russia wants to destroy every NATO unit as it enters.

-------------------

Me think so too. If all of Europe send their weapons to the Ukraine, they get another fish in the catch.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/23/military-supplies-depleted-on-both-sides-but-russia-retains-advantage

Posted by: Anne B | Apr 3 2022 17:22 utc | 56

@ Unnamed | Apr 3 2022 16:11 utc | 39 who keeps pushing the Lavrov view of Gazprom moves instead of the Shoigu view

Russia is responding to actions of war, not diplomacy. Maybe you should start thinking about what is happening in those terms and relieve your mind of the delusion that Germany is somehow going to sue Russia to start providing gas.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 3 2022 17:22 utc | 57

malenkov@43
There is a sense in which the entire war is a false flag operation: an American war being represented as Russian aggression.
The 'invasion' being, without question, a response to escalating attacks from a growing number of Ukrainian/US units. And a last minute, movement to close down biological warfare sites preparing to launch attacks in an easterly direction, using bird migration routes and Turkish supplied drones. And then there was Zelensky's repudiation of Ukraine's nuclear disarmament pledges.

No government in Russia's position could have taken the grave responsibility of leaving the population undefended in the face of such provocations.

Posted by: bevin | Apr 3 2022 17:23 utc | 58

Posted by: bevin | Apr 3 2022 17:23 utc | 57

it looks to me like a replay of the Cuban Missile Crisis, with the US once again being the main culprit. It tries to invade Cuba, it puts missiles in Turkey, the Russians respond and the US takes the world to the brink of nuclear war.

here, it topples the Ukraine government, puts biolabs in Ukraine, installs a government with ties to Nazis, which kills Russians, Russia responds and here we are again.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Apr 3 2022 17:32 utc | 59

Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 3 2022 17:22 utc | 56

"@ Unnamed | Apr 3 2022 16:11 utc | 39 who keeps pushing the Lavrov view of Gazprom moves instead of the Shoigu view"

What the hell does that even mean? And what does the rest of your post have to do with mine? Are you off some kind of needed medication?

Posted by: Unnamed | Apr 3 2022 17:35 utc | 60

it's also interesting that Biden is apparently not benefiting from the wartime popularity boost that US Presidents normally get.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Apr 3 2022 17:37 utc | 61

it's also interesting that Biden is apparently not benefiting from the wartime popularity boost that US Presidents normally get.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Apr 3 2022 17:37 utc | 60

I think that's because "we" -- the USA -- aren't "involved enough." If the USA were "kicking ass," Biden would be riding a tidal wave of popularity. Senile fool that he is, however, even he won't risk kicking Russian ass, at least not directly enough to get a rise out of Joe Sixpack.

Posted by: malenkov | Apr 3 2022 17:40 utc | 62

conflicting news from Pakistan.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1683230/president-alvi-dissolves-national-assembly-on-pm-imrans-advice

https://www.dawn.com/news/1683235/all-orders-and-actions-initiated-by-pm-president-subject-to-court-order-sc

PM dissolves parliament, calls for new elections (ie to reinforce his position, accuse some members of opposition who changed sides, of foreign influence)

Cabinet issues claim that the PM is no longer the PM (?)

Top court claims right to review situation

Army claims staying out of politics (but probably isn't)

Posted by: ptb | Apr 3 2022 17:44 utc | 63

Posted by: malenkov | Apr 3 2022 17:40 utc | 61

I think that's right, plus Biden isn't as effective at marketing a war. I'd lay it down to senility, but he has never had any charisma.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Apr 3 2022 17:44 utc | 64

Here is that great leader Olaf Scholz meeting his adoring public. Yesterday I think.

https://twitter.com/Farnakyboy/status/1510339776049782787

Posted by: Lapin | Apr 3 2022 17:47 utc | 65

What Russians discuss between themselves, https://t.me/readovkaru/164:

The before the storm or "Kursk Arc 2.0"

In recent days, against the backdrop of ambiguous statements by Russian negotiators in Istanbul and the withdrawal of troops from Kiev, Russian society has had acute questions about the terms of a potential peace agreement. It has already received the unofficial and evil name "Khasavyurt 2.0", referring to the difficult peace agreement with Chechen separatists in 1996 for Russia — which actually recognized Moscow's political defeat in the First Chechen War.

However, there is reason to believe that the entire negotiation process of recent weeks is just external information noise, hiding much more serious processes. In fact, there is currently an acute military phase of confrontation between Russia and the collective West, into which both sides, due to a number of objective and subjective circumstances, have been falling since the mid-2000s. In 2022, Ukraine became the field of their open clash, to which the parties went much more than the notorious eight years, and which they could not or did not want to avoid.

The process launched on the night of February 23-24, 2022 is an existential war of Russia, Ukraine is only a battlefield, which under other circumstances (the fall of the Lukashenka regime in 2020) could become Belarus. The events taking place were inescapable and inevitable.

Therefore, the final agreements on the results of this conflict will be concluded not only and not so much with Kiev — playing an active, but still a supporting role — as between the main players of the "world chessboard", on which Ukraine and its leadership perform the function of one of the figures. And these agreements will be concluded, first of all, based on the results of how the fighting, which is still far from over, will end.

An informational and operational pause in the conflict is a harbinger of something global that is likely to happen in the near future. There is an opinion that the Kursk-Belgorod-Kharkiv direction, like 79 years ago, will become a field of a grand battle, the outcome of which will determine both the fate of Russia and the future of the whole world for the next decades.

Posted by: Boo | Apr 3 2022 17:49 utc | 66

@ Lapin | Apr 3 2022 17:47 utc | 64 with the link to Scholz love in Germany

Thanks for that and living in brainwashed America I am so jealous.

=================

Hello crone and good to read old MoA folk again. Sorry about your family loss.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 3 2022 17:53 utc | 67

@oldhippie

Right, the foreign germans was one of the legs of german culture in past centuries. This tradition of germans as settlers abroad was cut more or less completely after 45. It still counts as one of the worst refuge story in the history, when 10 million germans got pushed out of their home back to Germany. This toke place in front of the background, that Poland changed from the ethnical most divers country in Europe to the most homogenous now. Before it was the most normal thing to meet somebody completely german without beeing grown up on german soil. This was not only taking place in Russia or Poland, also at balkan, southern africa or brasilia. There is still the biggest community of around a million people, still practicing german culture. You just have to understand people like Goebbels did grow up in rumania, but in german culture and languange.
All of this is done more or less completely, wich did leave a black gap in german conscience. Actually nobody remember this and feels this emptiness. There is a german politician who founded her carrier on this, Erika Steinbach, who used to be a grande dame of CDU, but just recently changed to AFD. In the end, if you promote this issue in public you immediatly get canceled as extreme right winger now. But it became at least possible for people with this ancestry to become german citizen without any hustle , more or less simular to alia in Israel. In the 90ies there was a lot of jokes about that, about finding a german grandmother, so that as a russian you can move easy to germany. Even without any german languange. This group nethertheless integrated without any friction in german society. Very silently this people concentrated in certain parts of towns, especially in the east, creating a new german subculture. The form the back of german army out of ecomomic reason. For them is the easiest way to rise up in Germany since the biogermans deny any militaristic side in their behave.
I know a lot of them. I just appreciate there way of living in germany, combining booth cultures in one. It is just another crack in the wall of western propaganda about the evil putler and how isolated he is.

Posted by: rico rose | Apr 3 2022 17:56 utc | 68

This week in Russia, a tornado hit:

@ b. March 28. “ Ukraine - Smoke And Mirrors Around Poisonous Peace Talks”

“Roman Abramovich [The] Chelsea FC owner was reportedly poisoned just weeks ago after a meeting in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv whilst he acted as a 'peacemaker' in the Russian war in Ukraine, reports the Wall Street Journal.” [.]

Turns out Abramovich was not the poisoned one (March 29, he was caught on media video, very handsome and cheery with his wife in Istanbul). The saga is turned on its head.

Abramovich poisoned the Peace negotiations, created a hostile reaction in Moscow.

John Helmer has the inside details on the storm in Moscow – the sense being that Putin capitulated in the peace negotiations.

Try as one might. You can’t make this up.

Roman Abramovich Is The Joker In The Pack – But What Is the End Game?
http://johnhelmer.org/roman-abramovich-is-the-joker-in-the-pack-but-what-is-the-end-game/

Roman Abramovich (lead image left) is the most indiscreet back-channel, flaunting go-between in the history of secret diplomacy. The Russian oligarch, now a citizen of Israel and Portugal, could not have made himself more visible this week at the Istanbul round of negotiations between Russia and the Ukraine than if he had danced for the cameras in a jester’s costume with ninny stick and bells. 

According to the Turkish protocol in the conference room on March 29, the businessman whom a decade ago Boris Berezovsky accused of cheating him out of a fortune, and then out of the judgement of the High Court in London,* was seated as President Vladimir Putin’s personal advisor next to Ibrahim Kalin, President Tayyip Recep Erdogan’s advisor. 

That was the Turkish signal that Abramovich outranked the official Russian delegation which included a Kremlin staff assistant, a deputy foreign minister, a deputy defence minister, an ambassador, and a member of the State Duma. Erdogan (lead image, 2nd from left) sent a second signal of Arbamovich’s seniority when he and his foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, posed talking with him ahead of the other Russian negotiators.

[.]Reflecting the hostile reaction in Moscow, Obukhov asked if “the Foreign Minister of Russia is planning to involve in participation [in the negotiations with the Ukraine] other Russian-speaking oligarchs, for example MB Khodorkovsky, MM Fridman, PO Aven, and others like Abramovich, who have their own interest in relation to the special military operation for demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine. And does MiD [Foreign Ministry] of Russia have the plan or the intention of involving for participation in the negotiations people who represent patriotic parties and social organisations who introduce the interest of the state-supporting Russian people who are recognised for their firm stance in the protection of the national state interests of historical Russia.”
[.]

Ukrainian officials have also attacked Abramovich’s involvement in the negotiations, suggesting he had bribed his way into the talks to save himself from US sanctions.  “I don’t know if he’s buying his way out somehow or if he’s really useful, that’s very difficult to tell,” the BBC reported the Ukrainian ambassador to London as saying. The Murdoch press in New York have claimed Abramovich had persuaded Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelensky to lobby in Washington for sanctions relief on his behalf. 
[.]

The domestic criticism of Abramovich’s performance in Istanbul has also extended to the press statement given by Medinsky (lead image, 3rd from left), head of the Russian delegation, at the conclusion of the talks, as well as to a statement by Deputy Defence Minister Fomin (lead image, extreme right). “Medinsky did more damage in three minutes than all the Ukrainian propaganda in a month,” Obukhov said in a televised interview.  [.]

“An extremely significant role, as can be seen from the TV footage and media publications,”  Obukhov retorted, “was played by the oligarch R[oman] Abramovich in the ‘negotiations’. As a result, experts have even started talking about the ‘Medinsky-Abramovich conspiracy’, and the negotiations themselves have been called the ‘operation to save Abramovich’.

More

Posted by: Likklemore | Apr 3 2022 18:08 utc | 69

Posted by: Boomheist | Apr 3 2022 17:07 utc | 48

". . .we see reports that the US holds over 8,000 tons of gold, and Russia has 2200 tons of gold, but do we know, really? Who does know?"

For now at least, all gold supposedly held by US and UK depositories for other countries are Schrodinger's gold.

Posted by: AntiSpin | Apr 3 2022 18:12 utc | 70

thanks b!

thanks many of the other fine contributors here as well..

Posted by: james | Apr 3 2022 18:13 utc | 71

Posted by: oldhippie | Apr 3 2022 17:10 utc | 51

Interesting article but MSM is what it is, in a very refined manner who gets the blame? well Putin of course, the adavantages of personalization, when the matter being discussed is bigoty against Germans of Russian origin, who's to blame? Why asking, Putin, who else. And that is the sacred cow DW.

Posted by: Paco | Apr 3 2022 18:14 utc | 72

@oldhippie

whilst ricos rose in 67 (Apr 3 2022 17:56 utc) has answered a part of the situation, I would like to add ...

German settlers in Russia where invited by Katharine II. in the 18th century (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volga_Germans). Under Stalin they where deported eastwards, mostly towards Kazakhstan. Similar, as Japanese where handled in the USA.
Another part of Germans in Russian service (often scientists and military) came from German nobility in todays Estland and Latvia, but they fled most often after the communist revolution.

As for the former group, I personally had the possibility to get aquainted with some in Taschkent, in 1990. Subsequentially I was invited to their village not far into Kazakhstan. The elder generation still spoke German in a very peculiar manner (the dialect spoken around Stuttgart "schwäbisch" in an antique way). The younger generation and the kids didn't at all. Just the younger generation was planning to go to Germany, so they started to learn German and clear the paperwork for resettlement. The old ones stayed there. Volodja, btw a former soviet army officer, went later with his family (his wife being Russian or Kazakh Russian) to West Germany. No contact since long, but they where doing well. A similar history will be found with many of those so called Volga Germans. No wonder they maintain good relations towards Russia and Kazakhstan.

Posted by: BG13 | Apr 3 2022 18:21 utc | 73

Unnamed @ 31
Does anyone have insight into how this was done in technical legal terms? Voluntarily renouncing assets (as discussed in a previous thread, most likely to invalidate the contracts with European gas importers, entered into through this German subsidiary) like this is of course highly unusual, and I'm not sure how one would even go about it.

It will take a cursory stab at this...from the article you posted...

European assets held under the umbrella of Gazprom Germania include trading and storage assets such as London-based Gazprom Marketing & Trading, Switzerland-based Gazprom Schweiz, and Germany-based traders WIEH and Wingas, and storage operator Astora.

These trading arms are toast as they are moving it to Russian banks so I do not think that is a minus. They own shares in some of these operations so they might have sold them away on the stock market or off the books to an actively managed fund of some type.

Apparently were managing the construction of natural gas storage facilities as well as managing some of the facilities themselves from what I am reading. Looking at the small numbers of employees of some of these companies it appears to me not a major loss.

I find it interesting that the article states they left their facilities empty of natural gas. Their offices were raided by the EU a few days prior. War by other means. A very interesting operation took place here. I may spend some more time on this and report back later.

Posted by: circumspect | Apr 3 2022 18:26 utc | 74

Posted by: Likklemore | Apr 3 2022 18:08 utc | 68

Holy $hit. What are we to think now ? I am getting completely confused. The troop movement was one thing but this "negotiator" being a Putin emissary I don't get at all.

Obviously he didn't go in there just because he wanted to. But reading the article I get very bad vibes. I had very bad vibes when the Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett PERSONALLY made the trip to talk to Putin. The vibe I got was that it seemed like a confidential message was being sent to Putin from some special people.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otm1xrxR9LM

Posted by: Tom_12 | Apr 3 2022 18:44 utc | 75

Massive support in Berlin where a 5 thousand car caravan took to the roads to show support for Russia.

Soviet and even former DDR flags were seen....

https://twitter.com/CanalDigitalN/status/1510617258657202176?cxt=HHwWgICy3ZSZ5fYpAAAA

Posted by: Givi | Apr 3 2022 18:48 utc | 76

Economist Michael Roberts' blog today is interesting.
https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2022/04/03/the-submerging-market-debt-crisis/

My reading of the situation is that the IMF, which has killed, by orders of magnitude, more people than the Pentagon, the CIA and their proxies in the last seventy five years, could be the next casualty as the war wakes up the Third World and reminds humanity that the Empire is crumbling.
It cannot have been lost on the likes of Ghana and Argentina that the USA and the EU have just put on a clinic in debt repudiation by telling Russia its reserves are cancelled.

Posted by: bevin | Apr 3 2022 18:51 utc | 77

@68 Likklemore

An explanation offered at the end of the piece is that Abramovich was there for his 'creativity',and to 'interface' with various parties, including Ukrainian oligarchs. Okay, got it. One imagines the latter would insist on something of value, in exchange for not obstructing a ceasefire. Most shameless of them, after funding the main agents of the ultra-hawkish politics that took over Ukraine, but so it goes.

Posted by: ptb | Apr 3 2022 18:54 utc | 78

Posted by: ptb | Apr 3 2022 18:54 utc | 77

I take him as being a visible reminder for all that he represent a special group. A group that has a need to have their own listening in on what is going on. He's just a different version of Khodorkovsky or Deripaska.

http://johnhelmer.net/lilliput-lawsuit-%E2%80%93-nathaniel-rothschild-puts-oleg-deripaska-on-trial-to-save-his-own-reputation/

Posted by: Tom_12 | Apr 3 2022 19:04 utc | 79

re: rico rose | Apr 3 2022 15:32 utc | 26

How many Germans born in 1946 had Soviet fathers?

Posted by: tucenz | Apr 3 2022 19:05 utc | 80

re: rico rose | Apr 3 2022 15:32 utc | 26

"How many Germans born in 1946 had Soviet fathers?"
Unknown. Will remain like this. Even more difficult to prove than what for those bio-labs were used in reality.

Posted by: Hausmeister | Apr 3 2022 19:17 utc | 81

@ bevin | Apr 3 2022 18:51 utc | 76 hinting at a global debt reset in the offing.

I agree. An economic war has begun in a way that has not been seen before and countries/nations are all paying attention.

Look at the blatant attempt for a coup of some sort in Pakistan right now. I see countries hunkering down, trying to stay invisible so they don't get trampled by the stomping elephants or otherwise doing what they have to do to maintain some sort of nationalism under the Western jackboot of private finance tools like the IMF.

I have been appreciating your contributions to the MoA bar as others have noted, thanks!

Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 3 2022 19:21 utc | 82

The message: "Collaborators will be shot!"

I have had a quick look at the Bucha massacre. This does not look like a hoax, people were really killed.

There is a simple and obvious explanation to the events. Ukrainians considered all civilians that had stayed behind to be collaborators. The first Ukrainians that entered the area searched every house for "​​saboteurs and accomplices of Russian troops." If they spoke Russian or did not immediately shout Slava Ukraini! in Ukrainian, they were shot on the spot. This would explain the somewhat even distribution of bodies on the road.

In some cases people were simply shot for being on the road. There are two cases of cyclist dying on bicycles. A fast moving Ukrainian patrol shot at incoming traffic. This would be similar to the Rozsypne Road of Death massacre in Donbass in 2014.

Russia claims they left Bucha on March 30th. Ukranians officially only entered on April 2nd. This would give the CIA death squads 72 hours or at least two whole days to operate.

The massacre is a serious step in the escalation towards World War 3. The Western public believes the Ukrainian narrative, that "Russians did it". The real audience of the massacre may however be Ukrainians. The message could not be clearer: "All collaborators will be shot!"

Posted by: Petri Krohn | Apr 3 2022 19:24 utc | 83

@ Petri Krohn | Apr 3 2022 19:24 utc | 82 with the Bucha info...thanks

Humanity is at war, we just aren't all dead yet and this war may not take us there but its too soon to tell.

We are at a brinksmanship point over Russian gas to the EU which is a quite logical response to the financial sanction by empire which have turned Ukraine into the spark staring a world war....another bankers war and this one is for all the chips, so to speak.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 3 2022 19:32 utc | 84

I am getting completely confused. The troop movement was one thing but this "negotiator" being a Putin emissary I don't get at all.

Obviously he didn't go in there just because he wanted to. But reading the article I get very bad vibes. I had very bad vibes when the Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett PERSONALLY made the trip to talk to Putin. The vibe I got was that it seemed like a confidential message was being sent to Putin from some special people.

Posted by: Tom_12 | Apr 3 2022 18:44 utc | 74

Oh F#CK should I dignify this?! Putin will never capitulate to Zionist threats or billionaire tycloowns who indulge in foie gras and oysters on the French Riviera!

Posted by: Circe | Apr 3 2022 19:33 utc | 85

Abramovich should be on a leash, but Putin is too polite for such discipline.

Posted by: Circe | Apr 3 2022 19:42 utc | 86

Welcome back, J Hassler @41, :-)

No holding back now. Give us your view (armchair?) on what that neutral Swedish military is up to these days (Greenland? Iceland? … Mexico??)

Here in Canada, scientists announced they’ve 3D printed male reproductive cells, demand for luxury bunkers has sky-rocketed, and a moratorium was put in effect for mackerel and herring fisheries on the East coast. There. Your turn.

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Apr 3 2022 19:46 utc | 87

The MSM's trusted sources all seem to follow the same 'ISW' analysis on Ukraine. The analysis is all grim for the Russians. The analysis says that Russia's priority was taking Kiev, everything else was in support of that priority. They can be beat is the analysis. The west just needs to stay the course and flood Ukraine with money and arms.

Example:

BBC - The BBC coverage is the go to for many, including other MSM.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60506682
The BBC credits ISW as its source for maps and analysis.

The ISW (Institute for the Study of War) provides trusted analysis of the war.
https://www.understandingwar.org/
ISW is owned by Kimberly Kagan.

Who is Kimberly Kagan?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimberly_Kagan
She is married to Frederick Kagan.

Who is Frederick Kagan?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Kagan
Frederick Kagan is the brother of Robert Kagan.

Who is Robert Kagan?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Kagan
By sheer coincidence, Robert Kagan is married to none other than Victoria Nuland.

Who is Victoria Nuland?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Nuland

Never heard of her?
https://www.salon.com/2021/01/19/who-is-victoria-nuland-a-really-bad-idea-as-a-key-player-in-bidens-foreign-policy-team/

Other examples of ISW as a source include:

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/27/europe/ukraine-russia-conflict-new-phase-intl-cmd/index.html

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/biden-s-pledge-help-ukraine-goes-beyond-what-he-s-n1292135
"According to a report by Washington think tank the Institute for the Study of War, two leaders of the Russian intelligence service were placed under house arrest Friday."

https://www.foxnews.com/world/shelter-bombed-in-ukraine-city-war-seen-entering-new-phase
..."Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said in a briefing"...

TL;DR: The MSM gets its war assessment from Victoria Nuland's sister in law. Some say she organized the 2014 coup in Ukraine.

Credit to UK Column News
https://rumble.com/vytkt4-uk-column-news-28th-march-2022.html Skip to 35:50

Posted by: Will | Apr 3 2022 19:49 utc | 88

@Petri Krohn at 8 and 82, @S at 47

Contrary to some timelines, whatever is going on here was in motion as of April 1. Here is a video purportedly of dead in Bucha posted on that date.

https://twitter.com/ViktoriiaUAH/status/1509985789404459011

Posted by: Emily Dickinson | Apr 3 2022 19:52 utc | 89

@ Posted by: Paco | Apr 3 2022 18:14 utc | 71

The Germanic Hanseatic League extended up through the now Baltic states Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia which became part of the Imperial Russian Empire, the noble and aristocracy absorbed as well. The fall of the Imperial Russian Empire caused many to flee westward but many remained. The dissolution of the Soviet Russian (Empire) also sent many fleeing westward as well. There are likely still quite a few that have remained in the Russian Republic (Empire). Russia is still 11 time zones end to end though the political structure has changed and diminished from the Imperial and Soviet forms it still makes home to multiple cultures, religions and tribes. Your Russian Germans are just one of many peoples and they all have had the liberty to go where they wanted, so nobody's fault may be the correct response. If there has to be fault, then suspect propaganda.

Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Apr 3 2022 20:10 utc | 90

@ tucenz, @ Hausmeister

And how many Germans born around 1946 are suspiciously — how shall I put this? — swarthy? I know at least two.

Posted by: malenkov | Apr 3 2022 20:11 utc | 91

MANY years ago I was stating that there would be NO "World Government." Am I now correct to say that we're safe from that beast? (somewhat rhetorical, but kind of wondering folks' take)

Posted by: Seer | Apr 3 2022 20:15 utc | 92

It is being reported by Russians With Attitude on Twitter that Russia has requested immediate UN Security Council meeting regarding Bucha. Can't confirm.

https://twitter.com/RWApodcast/status/1510694180720459781

Posted by: Emily Dickinson | Apr 3 2022 20:17 utc | 93

Yesterday, I ridiculed Poland's PM for his stupendous stupidity. Today, his underling outdid his superior by offering to house Outlaw US Empire nukes, "Poland is 'Open' to Hosting of US Nukes, Country's Deputy Prime Minister Says":

Poland's Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski has stated that Warsaw is ready to consider hosting American nuclear weapons if such an opportunity presents itself. The moment came in an interview with Germany's Welt am Sonntag.

"If the US asked us to deploy nuclear weapons in Poland, we would be open to this option. Such a step would boost deterrence against Moscow", Kaczynski said. [My Emphasis]

Clearly, the man is a bigger fool than his boss. One of the stated reasons for Russia's military operation was to ensure Ukraine didn't gain nukes. Does this idiot really think Poland having nukes would aid deterrence?!? The best thing Poland can do for its security is to abandon NATO, which Russia will force it to do if it doesn't.

Although the second phase of Russia's securing its security along the lines of its December proposals haven't been discussed very widely here excepting my noting such on several occasions, IMO in light of such idiocy, we ought to begin thinking about what comes after Ukraine, for Russia's goals were announced and deemed non-negotiable.

Meanwhile, Lithuania appears to be seeking a pat on the head for toeing the Empire's line on Taiwan, China, Russia, and now rubles for gas as it's declared it won't pay and will seek supplies elsewhere, which will surely make its economy diver deeper into the dumpster it already inhabits.

Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 3 2022 20:31 utc | 94

Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 3 2022 20:31 utc | 93
his underling
This alone proves you have no clue about Poland.

Posted by: pppp | Apr 3 2022 20:39 utc | 95

Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 3 2022 20:31 utc | 93

Not even that the existence of US nuclear weapons would raise Poland status as legitimate targets for Nuclear deterrence or retaliation and they're up against Vladimir Putin who stated "if the fight is inevitable, you should strike first". So far he never bluffing.

Do Poland have nuclear shelters? There seems tendency of Poland's to adopt and play roles far bigger themselves. This time it's against Russia. Same allies though.

Posted by: Lucci | Apr 3 2022 20:46 utc | 96

Rico rose, BG13, others,

Thank you for all that. I learned something today.

Here in Chicago the postwar flight was quite different. A very large part of who migrated from Eastern Europe were Nazis and collaborators fleeing the Red Army. Getting clarity was impeded because everyone lied about everything. Germans from Poland would always call themselves Poles. More sympathy that way. Germans from Lithuania might call themselves Lithuanian, Polish, Russian, really anything at all. And of course Americans believed anything. The most extreme case I knew was a gentleman who was part of operation Paperclip who styled himself as a Sudeten German baron and few knew otherwise before 1990. His daughter (who I dated in high school) went to Czech with hopes of reclaiming patrimony and discovered she was a Ukrainian Jew, the baronial manor hall had been given to her father by Himmler. Most of the OUN-UPA I knew at university looked completely Teutonic, out loud they were Slavs.

The story from here looks very tangled, nice to hear it is even slightly simple and understandable over there.

Posted by: oldhippie | Apr 3 2022 20:47 utc | 97

"...the man is a bigger fool than his boss.."
I suspect that Kaczynski is very close to being clinically insane. He suffers from the delusion that (then PM) Putin deliberately arranged for the downing of the 'plane carrying his brother and 96 other passengers to ceremonies related to the Katyn massacre.
The long campaign of lies about "Killer" Putin has claimed more victims than VVP, who would appear to have a deep aversion to violence, has even been charged with.

Posted by: bevin | Apr 3 2022 20:52 utc | 98

Posted by: Likklemore | Apr 3 2022 14:24 utc | 10

Thanks very much for those video links. Watched the first and found it fascinating. While I am familiar with the story and many of the players I felt that this presentation was excellent.

Will view the second when I have time.

Been listening to W&P audio book on and off for the past few months. What a tour of the human condition.

Posted by: the pessimist | Apr 3 2022 20:53 utc | 99

@ Emily Dickinson | Apr 3 2022 19:52 utc | 88 / 92

emily... one problem i have encountered with twitter is knowing the time of the event, verses the time given via twitter... so they sister posted the video in the usa on april 1st? and another problem i have with twitter is the amount of cia intel false accounts... but i appreciate you sharing the link and will have to wait and see how this provocation unfolds.. thanks.. .

Posted by: james | Apr 3 2022 20:58 utc | 100