According to the Saker, the Red Cross is in the process of evacuating the civilians within the Azovstal Complex, but not the Nazi’s, however the Nazi’s want their 600+ wounded evacuated as well the UN is involved as well.
“Head of the DPR Denis Pushilin believes it will all end very soon. He has stated: ‘“Very soon, I really count on it, the situation with Azovstal in Mariupol will be completed, and we will see a large number of mercenaries there,”– he said on the air of Channel One.’”

Posted by: Republicofscotland | May 1 2022 13:11 utc | 3

English newspaper the Telegraph reports that a “British soldier” not a mercenary has been captured in Ukraine by the RF Andrew Hill is from Plymouth.

Posted by: Republicofscotland | May 1 2022 13:21 utc | 5

Here’s the latest Commentary on the War by Jacques Baud.
https://www.thepostil.com/our-interview-with-jacques-baud/

Posted by: Kim | May 1 2022 13:40 utc | 7

Here’s the latest Commentary on the War by Jacques Baud.
https://www.thepostil.com/our-interview-with-jacques-baud/
Posted by: Kim | May 1 2022 13:40 utc | 7

A good piece. I totally agree with this paragraph:

JB: Volodymyr Zelensky was elected on the promise he would make peace with Russia, which I think is a noble objective. The problem is that no Western country, nor the European Union managed to help him realize this objective. After the Maidan revolution, the emerging force in the political landscape was the far-right movement. I do not like to call it “neo-Nazi” because “Nazism” was a clearly defined political doctrine, while in Ukraine, we are talking about a variety of movements that combine all the features of Nazism (such as antisemitism, extreme nationalism, violence, etc.), without being unified into a single doctrine. They are more like a gathering of fanatics.

That reinforces my post from yesterday that we should call them “Pinazis” (Poor imitation Nazis) and the adherents “Pinheads”.

Posted by: Opport Knocks | May 1 2022 14:02 utc | 9

European Taxpayers will have to pay for all that junk which is send to Ukraine after the conflict is over.
Lers hope they know that.

Posted by: Andrew B. | May 1 2022 14:13 utc | 11

njet | May 1 2022 13:53 utc | 8
Thanks! I am a German as well but I do not write about my political attitude in the Internet. You description of the present mood in German is correct. At this moment only the AfD and single persons in independent social media dare to express such views.
It is like in a very thorough dictatorshiop that does not need SA on the streets and prisons. The setup started with The Big Corona Cheat. Out of a sudden you are simple alienated. And to be fair: the AfD was the first party to be duped by the panic cheat.
Now we are at the moment where everybody who rejects suicide is drawn as an antidemocratic terrorist sympathisant. Bizarre cannot carry it.

Posted by: Hausmeister | May 1 2022 14:30 utc | 13

@ njet | May 1 2022 13:53 utc | 8
Link erased by Facebook, find in Nachdenkenseite

“We would have liked to have heard this speech from the Federal Chancellor – but it came from Alexander Gaul and”

April 29, 2022 at 1:20 p.m
An article by: Jens Berger
Machine translated from
https://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=83396
In yesterday’s voteon the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine, there was once again an overwhelming majority from the SPD, Greens, FDP and CDU/CSU – only one CDU MP voted against, three MPs abstained. “Die Linke” voted unanimously against and the AfD also voted by a large majority against the delivery of heavy weapons. A highlight of the debate was the speech by a politician whose positive mention on the NachDenkSeiten is certainly unusual – Alexander Gauland. But why should we withhold this speech from you? On the contrary. The fact that the AfD politician Gauland, of all people, gave a speech that one should have expected from the ranks of the SPD, and ideally even from the Federal Chancellor, shows how much the discourse has shifted and what a miserable condition the SPD is in. which has apparently now completely caved in to the opinion-making in the media.
Do yourself the favor of listening to this speech with an open mind and forgetting for a moment that it was delivered by a politician who certainly hasn’t otherwise been conspicuous for making statements that can be endorsed. You will surely find that Gauland has landed on the spot here. In a better world, these statements would have been applauded from the ranks of the SPD and possibly even from parts of the CDU and the FDP. Apparently, political discipline today prohibits slapping an AfD politician. You could overlook that. More problematic, however, is that it is even likely that most members of the governing parties and the CDU do not even share the content of Gauland’s speech. This is a dilemma.
ps: I am well aware that the positive linking of a Gauland speech is perceived by many left-wing observers as breaking a taboo and I run the risk that NachDenkseiten or myself will be dubbed “right-wing open” or worse in future “analyses”. will. But guess what? They should. Anyone who cannot differentiate on the basis of content-related statements and does not understand that there is a huge difference between agreeing on the content of this extremely important topic and being ideologically close to the AfD can think and write whatever they want. To be against an escalation of the war in Ukraine is correct even if the AfD sees it the same way. As a result, the other positions of the AfD that are to be sharply criticizednot an iota better.

It’s time to break some Taboos

Posted by: La Bastille | May 1 2022 14:48 utc | 15

@Hausmeister @13
I also have German citizenship but had the great luck of growing up outside of Germany so I didn’t undergo the brainwashing that so many Germans have. I don’t believe the Germans need to continue paying a price for WW2. In other words, I am not a self-hating German.

Posted by: Manage without me | May 1 2022 14:52 utc | 17

Please allow me to add to my post #8:
If we follow all our military, economic and geopolitical analysts, Russia has a triple “escalation dominance”:
Economic warfare.
Conventional warfare.
Nuklear warfare.
Economic warfare is the first option of escalation.
At least the one I prefer. Don’t like wars.
But there is another difference between these options:
Turning off the gas is a weapon that becomes more effective the later you use it.
Because every day Germany gets more aware of what it means to be without gas: loosing a generation’s economic development, loosing the economic dominance, getting disconnected from a world of business we considered our heritage. Every day it becomes clearer that we will not blackmail Putin, but he is in the forehand. Everyday the pain we personally experience will increase.
Everyday the narrative is getting more fragile.
If Germany doesn’t stop escalating against Russia as a brainless pawn on the US chessboard, I expect this to be the first answer.

Posted by: njet | May 1 2022 14:56 utc | 19

@ Hausmeister
“Wir können bei der nächsten Katastrophe nicht sagen: Das wussten wir nicht”
From the beginning is AfD alone on the bright side of this story.
Alice Weidel at Bundestag 2022.02.22
https://youtu.be/h2rCtOhCR94
Transcript at Bundestag site
Machine translated

Russia’s war of aggression against a neighboring country is a reminder in the harsh world of “Realpolitik”. The Ukrainian people are paying the price for the violation of the rights of the Russian people, the illusion of their own leadership and the false promises of the West.
It was a disastrous mistake to drag Ukraine into a hopeless confrontation and a dangerous test of strength by promising it to become a member of NATO and the EU.
[…]
Attitude and fine words are no substitute for “Realpolitik”.
Even after this war, we will always live with Russia on one continent.

The challenge of building a European security architecture that goes beyond the East-West standoff has not disappeared, but it has become more difficult. Germany can and must play an important role as an honest broker. The condition is that we draw the necessary conclusions and restore lost trust, sovereignty and freedom of action, and that we do not allow ourselves to be drawn into a war without thinking

Ps: in France too, only “nationalists” or “souverainistes” share this sane mind.
Ps: on Covid too, AfD is (unfortunately?) to listen. Not so duped, not so long…

Posted by: La Bastille | May 1 2022 15:11 utc | 21

Vragtes|14:05 utc|10
I want you to know that at least I stand behind your every word one hundred percent. I see it exactly like this. That is the best comment I have ever read on MoA.
The only thing I additionaly would mention – we can no longer afford the usual way out of capitalist cycles that have come to an end, not only because of today’s over-weapons, but also because of the climate heating that threatens humanity.

Posted by: Pnyx | May 1 2022 15:15 utc | 23

@Posted by: SailorsWife | May 1 2022 14:54 utc | 18
Yes, the performer in The Elysee can not stop telephoning Putin, after an election won with less than a 30% of Frrench elctorate voting and with the full connivance of the whole allowed media in the EU plus all the heads of state interfering in French internal politics calling for the vote for Macron ( something never until now seen in the EU and which makes pale any alleged Russian interference in US elections…) since, for what the alternative media points out, he has around 50 high military rank “advisors” in the Azovstal sttelworks´ basements which he can not allow being caught and sent for trial in Moscow because they could end spilling the beans which wilñl translate into the falling of his regime of terror and ending of French welfare state in France on behalf of the Rothschilds, Davos, Bilderberg and MacKenzie….

Posted by: Ghost of Mozgovoy | May 1 2022 15:18 utc | 25

Posted by: Vragtes | May 1 2022 14:05 utc | 10
Thanks for your post.
I agree the Blinken’s, Van der leyens,Johnson’s and Truss’s of this World should be marched to a front line trench to experience a Tos-1a
delivery.
but Of course this will never happen,they instead direct as many people & equipment between them and the threat to they power and fortune’s gathered over many generations.
Unfortunately Putin may have to fend them off with the creation of 2 new lakes one encompassing Poland,the other one strategically placed in Brussels.If by any chance demand still exists,he could oblige in London,Virginia and Washington also.

Posted by: Kim | May 1 2022 15:20 utc | 27

jo6pac @ 1
To add to that madness it appears all who voted against lend lease were the Tea Party Freedom Caucus. It is starting to feel like a staged play between powers with Ukraine as the stage. Directly after Covid. All so sad and strange

Posted by: circumspect | May 1 2022 15:27 utc | 29

Wife didn’t understand this Ukraine thing outside of MSM narrative until we watched “Come and See”
Now she’s like…. kill these goddam traitorous dogs
Posted by: Crazy88s | May 1 2022 13:21 utc | 4
——————————————-
Link please!

Posted by: Qtto | May 1 2022 15:32 utc | 31

Vragtes @10: “I am saddened by their references to dead Ukrainian soldiers as “pigs”.”
What is sad is that they are pigs, not that people refer to them as such.
Sure, some Ukrainian troops only march forward to their death because they have Nazi scum from the Azov Battalion holding a gun to their backs, but that doesn’t change the fact that they are dying as pigs in a slaughterhouse. You can feel sorry for the pigs but they are still just pigs. A real man would refuse to enter the slaughterhouse, even though that meant getting killed by the Nazis. Dying while facing down a Nazi is the death of a true human, while dying doing what a Nazi tells you to do is the death of a pig.
The issue in the Ukraine is worse, though. No small number of those dying like pigs to Russian artillery are there because they wanted to kill “Moskals”. It was all fun and games for these Ukrainian pigs so long as those “Moskals” were unarmed, were kids, or were old grannies. Turning these Ukrainian scum pigs into fertilizer isn’t tragic at all. On the contrary, the world becomes a better place each time one of those fascist scum gets splattered.

Posted by: William Gruff | May 1 2022 15:39 utc | 33

A good bit of video Kompromat featuring Hunter, The big guy, Trump, and/or other – friends and upper level government associates of Epstein and Maxwell’s would be more upsetting to the “powers that be” than any bmob. A great reset, if you will.

Posted by: Chaka Khagan | May 1 2022 15:48 utc | 35

All of northern Virginia would essentially be annihilated. There would hardly be any human life remaining in Loudoun County, Prince William County, Fairfax County, Arlington, Alexandria. The Pentagon lies in Arlington County. The Pentagon would simply be a glowing mass of molten sand. There would be no human life there and there would be no human life for many miles around it. Just across the Potomac, the nation’s capital, there would be no life remaining in the nation’s capital. The Capitol Building would disappear forever. All of the monuments, all of these glorious things, nothing would remain. If you go to the coast of Virginia you have the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, you have the port of Norfolk. You have the greatest accumulation of naval power on the face of the earth. This is where we park all of our aircraft carriers, you know, all of our nuclear submarines, all of those things. There would be nothing remaining, there would be nothing remaining of any of those shipping industries there (Col. Richard Black)
Aside from dreams I’ve had of the National Mall reduced to stone crumbs submerged in a sea of kudzu, I’ve thought for many years that the fight would have to come to North American shores before the spell would be broken, and that then, only then, perhaps, the inhabitants inside the Cheyenne Mountain Complex would be more amenable to the notion of some sort of revamped Westphalian sovereignty.

Posted by: john | May 1 2022 15:50 utc | 37

SitRep on Ukraine state of affairs…gentilece of Arestovich, advisor to Elensky´s chief of staff…
Then, tell me, if these people, average Ukrainians, did not deserve someone liberating them fron this war on them extending for 8 years in a round….
https://t.me/inessas100/1375

Posted by: Ghost of Mozgovoy | May 1 2022 16:07 utc | 39

Posted by: Vragtes | May 1 2022 14:05 utc | 10
‘Putin is not ideologically all that different to the neocons and neoliberals that profess to hate him.’
If you are unable to distinguish his ideology from that which “fights to destroy” his country among many others that they have already sought to destroy, perhaps that speaks more to your lack of perceptiveness that to any aspect of President Putin’s character.
Posted by: Arvy | May 1 2022 14:26 utc | 12
___________________________________________
HERE! HEAR! Arvy nailed it!

Posted by: Qtto | May 1 2022 16:13 utc | 41

from Unz, food for thought. . .
The Ukraine Debacle
The Great Russian Restoration
“. . .Russia needs a new strategy and new people handling her interests in Ukraine and the near abroad. No more lazy half-measures, but smart, comprehensive propaganda and political efforts. Funding and support and protection for actual, genuine pro-Russians — it’s not hard to figure out. Most importantly, there needs to be a consistent and simple message presented to the Ukrainians. Putin himself said it well on several occasions: “we are brotherly peoples with a shared past and future.” I would add, “We will not abandon you,” for good measure. Why Putin’s own government struggles to follow his lead is, frankly, infuriating to say the least.” . .here
Russia needs a new strategy . . . and a new foreign minister to implement it.

Posted by: Don Bacon | May 1 2022 16:28 utc | 43

from Unz (link not accepted)
The Ukraine Debacle
The Great Russian Restoration
“. . .Russia needs a new strategy and new people handling her interests in Ukraine and the near abroad. No more lazy half-measures, but smart, comprehensive propaganda and political efforts. Funding and support and protection for actual, genuine pro-Russians — it’s not hard to figure out. Most importantly, there needs to be a consistent and simple message presented to the Ukrainians. Putin himself said it well on several occasions: “we are brotherly peoples with a shared past and future.” I would add, “We will not abandon you,” for good measure. Why Putin’s own government struggles to follow his lead is, frankly, infuriating to say the least.”
Russia needs a new strategy . . .and a new foreign minister to implement it.

Posted by: Don Bacon | May 1 2022 16:32 utc | 45

“The faster the West accepts the new geopolitical situation, the better it will be for the West itself and for the entire international community.”
FM Lavrov
http://thesaker.is/foreign-minister-sergey-lavrovs-interview-with-the-xinhua-news-agency-china-april-30-2022/

Posted by: Undercutter | May 1 2022 16:37 utc | 47

@Hausmeister
we disagree then. There are very long periods of time when the Germans lost their minds, along with the rest of the world. Just recently, yes, because of covid. And the period from the 1930’s to 1945 isn’t much different from the period between 1914-18. Millions of lives thrown away for no reason except the requirements of people in authority.
It is obvious that our governments do not care about our health or our lives. It’s no wonder that they throw away the lives of people in Russia and Ukraine for their purposes, since they don’t have any qualms about the lives of their own citizens.

Posted by: Manage without me | May 1 2022 16:46 utc | 49

According to the “New York Times,” Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, met with Zelensky in Kiev today and “pledged broad economic, military and humanitarian support for Ukraine’s government, saying the United States would stand with its ally until Russia was defeated.” Does Pelosi even understand what it would take to defeat Russia? Of course not. She drinks the Kool-Aid and then serves it to others. As MoA readers know well, the Times is little more than a propaganda sheet, much like other Western stalwarts of “serious” news, including the BBC and “The Guardian.” Ever since 9/11, all these news organizations have been undeserving of any attention beyond pleasant diversions such as crossword puzzles, recipes etc.

Posted by: Rob | May 1 2022 17:11 utc | 51

@ Vragtes | May 1 2022 14:05 utc | 10
i agree with much of what you say.. there is some arsenic in their too that i note some posters are challenging too.. thanks for the comment.. i agree.. we need to find a way out of this hatred towards others, no matter what… instead we have a so called world leader – usa – doing the exact opposite – they are inciting hatred and backing a neo nazi type group that wish to erase russia and all things russian off the map… in this regard i relate to what @ William Gruff | May 1 2022 15:39 utc | 33 says… try to help me square all that.. thanks…

Posted by: james | May 1 2022 17:18 utc | 53

Since the Trucker Convoy got pushed back by the Nazis in Ottawa, perhaps Putin would be open to a GoFundMe for a Kinzhal to be sent to Parliament to deal with the fascist infestation there. I’ve got some chickens & a few goats to put towards the cause…
IMHO Nazism is a greater, current global threat than any flu or virus. Failing that, perhaps I could 3D print one. Surely there’s a YouTube video with the details on how to do it…

Posted by: ianMoone | May 1 2022 17:22 utc | 55

Hi Vragtes (10),
Thank you for your post! Sane, balanced, human, speaking from experience and from the heart. Thank you.
Michael

Posted by: Michael | May 1 2022 17:32 utc | 57

@Vragtes 10
Excellent post, probably the best comment on this blog. Too many commentators here see this war like a sporting match and are cheering for their favourite team. The idea that war is an abomination and that nothing good ever comes of it, particularly for non-combatants and rank and file soldiers, seems to have been lost. This bloodlust from the sidelines is disturbing.
Wanting an immediate end to this war and a negotiated settlement is the only sane position. War fever is a kind of seductive madness and should be resisted by all people.
Watch Patrick Lancaster’s latest video where he interviews the woman hiding with her family in the basement as their village is being shelled. She doesn’t give a crap about Putin or Zelensky, she just wants the war to end so they can live in peace.
Vragtes is right…most people posting here have no clue what the actual experience of war is like. It’s easy to talk tough from the sidelines, safe in your home far away from the frontline. Just pray that the war you are cheering for never reaches you and affects you personally.

Posted by: Antiwar Dinosaur | May 1 2022 17:40 utc | 59

Does anyone have any thoughts concerning Pelosi’s alleged visit to Kiev to meet w/ Zelensky?
How did she get in and out safely? What was so important that it required such a huge risk for such an old frail woman? Discuss what? The skim from the $33 Billion? For sure, but what else?
Is Zelensky even really Kiev? Alternatively, the Russians don’t have control of the skies and have not destroyed railroads in most of the country (it is said Pelosi got there by flying into Poland and taking a train to Kiev).
There is something incredible about this story, to my mind at least and it’s bothering me much more than the typical MSM nonsense usually does. Well-reasoned ideas appreciated.

Posted by: Eric Newhill | May 1 2022 17:43 utc | 61

Antiwar Dinosaur | May 1 2022 17:40 utc | 57
Perhaps you came in late to the discussion…This “outbreak of hostilies” was the plan of the United States since the late 1940’s. The current government of Russia has been trying to negotiate with the US/NATO to no avail since 2007 when Putin spoke at the Munich Security Conference. They don’t want to negotiate, all they accept is capitulation.
As the Russians/Chinese point out, only indivisible security is security. The ruling class in the U.S. do not see it that way. They will have to learn the hard way apparently.

Posted by: donten | May 1 2022 17:49 utc | 63

Vragtes | May 1 2022 17:42 utc | 58
see my post at 61

Posted by: donten | May 1 2022 17:52 utc | 65

I made clear that I supported Russia’s SMO and that it was forced on him by Nato and the collective west. Russia is facing an existentialist threat by the USA, UK, the EU, NATO and others. And in confronting this threat, he has my full support. But you question my perception of Putin’s ideology.
Well, before I fall at his feet and deify him, I’d welcome his and your refutation and/or explanation of some or all of the following:
Posted by: Vragtes | May 1 2022 17:42 utc | 58
I won’t respond to your points, I expect they are true, Putin doesn’t really seem that ideological.
But the question that always arises in my mind when I read someone arguing that Putin is really a Capitalist/Globalist/WEF supporter is then why did “the West” get so annoyed with him? Clearly he is being un-cooperative about something.
—
I favor the idea that there are two sides to any question, you don’t have to agree with them, but it is a good idea to understand them, so I’m not in favor of shutting anybody up, as some other posters have said too.

Posted by: Bemildred | May 1 2022 18:04 utc | 67

So the Chinese have received a wake up call- they watched as the US/UK walked away with Afghani bank assets, with Venezuelan Gold (Guido seems happy), with Libyan, and Serbian Gold, with Iranian Assets, and of late with Russian bank assets to the tune of $300 Billion.
So what can be a rational game plan for the Chinese who have ? $1.5 Trillion in Assets/T bills tied up in the US. How does one back out of this predicament, and reclaim their value, before the US preys on them???

Posted by: AParadiseLost | May 1 2022 18:13 utc | 69

Posted by: Qtto | May 1 2022 15:32 utc | 31
Thanks for posting that. I didn’t understand either
Come and see with English subtitles.
Posted by: Klimov’s Ghost | May 1 2022 15:49 utc | 36
I am English, live in England. Don’t watch TV, and only rarely go to the cinema any more. My wife is still a bit of a film buff. I doubt this would now get a showing in a cinema in the UK
I am about 22 minutes into it, and need a fag break – smoke a cigarette.
I know this film is going to make me cry.
However, I have never been put off by films made in a different language to English with subtitles. I read the subtitles without realising it, and I turn up the sound.
Check out The 9th Company (Russian: 9 рота, romanized: 9 rota) is a 2005 Russian war film directed by Fedor Bondarchuk and set during the Soviet–Afghan War. The film is loosely based on a real-life battle that took place at Elevation 3234 in early 1988, during the last large-scale Soviet military operation (Magistral) in Afghanistan.
I reckon its better than Apocalypse Now. The Russian kids (actors), are just the same as us English working class kids, I grew up with.
The photography and the emotion is better too.
Hollywood long ago disappeared up its own areshole, and just keeps redoing the same shite, which is far worse than their originals.

Posted by: Tony_0pmoc | May 1 2022 18:27 utc | 71

spudski@66
There was a story to this effect in the Ottawa Citizen a few days ago. Although it did not, so far as I know, mention Mariupol.
The General in question was about to take up his post as Head of the Army when a complaint- of the Me Too nature- was preferred and it has been suggested that he fled the country to take refuge in Ukraine, where he would not have to face the complainant.
It tells us a lot about our society that the knock against the General is not that he is directing a military operation aimed at ethnic cleansing the Donbas but that he did something- probably in the thigh squeezing or perhaps even in the hair caressing line- to a secretary in Canada.
Thierry Meyssan has an article today which reminds us of where the General’s friends began. :
“The government of the Russian Federation proceeded to declassify a series of documents on the trials carried out at the end of the Second World War to judge the crimes that the banditry perpetrated in Ukraine as collaborators with the Nazi occupation. ‎
“The declassified documents contain evidence of the numerous crimes that the banderistas – who today present themselves as Ukrainian “nationalists” – perpetrated against the Ukrainian population between 1944 and 1945, when the Nazi troops retreated before the advance of the Red Army. ‎
“Among the declassified papers is a document from the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories – headed by Alfred Rosemberg, one of Hitler’s main collaborators – describing a plan for the total liquidation of the Donbass population. The execution of that plan by the Hitlerite troops included the participation of the Banderistas, in their capacity as collaborators with the Nazi occupation… ”
https://www.voltairenet.org/article216715.html

Posted by: bevin | May 1 2022 18:29 utc | 73

Thank you, bevin@71, 18:29 utc

Posted by: spudski | May 1 2022 18:33 utc | 75

Antiwar Dinosaur | May 1 2022 18:24 utc | 68
I rather think it is the US that has got itself into a trap of its own making. Rather than submitting, the Russians are calling the US’s bluff. It’s all on the US, ready or not.

Posted by: donten | May 1 2022 18:43 utc | 77

Wow. I’m prepared to rank Pepe Escobar as the best English-language writer I can find, until someone points me to anyone better. He keeps rising in my estimation, with each successive burst of clarity, and deep chiaroscuro from historical illumination. His latest delves into Moscow as the “Third Rome” (Byzantium/Constantinople as the “Second Rome”), concluding with this prognosis for Odessa:

Operation Z will inevitably encompass Odessa, founded in 1794 by Catherine the Great.
The Russians at the time had just expelled the Ottomans from the northwest of the Black Sea, which had been successively run by Goths, Bulgars, Hungarians and then Turkish peoples – all the way to the Tatars. Odessa at the start was peopled, believe it or not, by Romanians who were encouraged to settle there after the 16th century by the Ottoman sultans.
Catherine chose a Greek name for the city – which at the start was not Slav at all. And very much like St. Petersburg, founded a century earlier by Peter the Great, Odessa never stopped flirting with the west.
Tsar Alexander I, in the early 19th century, decides to turn Odessa into a great trading port – developed by a Frenchman, the Duke of Richelieu. It was from the port of Odessa that Ukrainian wheat started to reach Europe. By the turn of the 20th century, Odessa is truly multinational – after having attracted, among others, the genius of Pushkin.
Odessa is not Ukrainian: it’s an intrinsic part of the Russian soul. And soon the trials and tribulations of history will make it so again: as an independent republic; as part of a Novorossiya confederation; or attached to the Russian Federation. The people of Odessa will decide.

https://thesaker.is/clash-of-christianities-why-europe-cannot-understand-russia/

Posted by: Aleph_Null | May 1 2022 18:50 utc | 79

donten @74–
What’s emerged over the past several days is the Outlaw US Empire’s decision to fight Russia first to the Last Ukrainian and now to the Last European. The aim is to wear Russia down via attrition then counterattack with 100% Anglo forces–US, UK, Canadian, and Aussie. Look for the UK to assume the role of Airstrip 1 as men and material are built up akin to that prior to D-Day.
As for the commentator who claims Putin is a Globalist, it clearly has no clue as to what Putin’s about. No Globalist supports the wellbeing of people–NONE. Putin, Xi and their allies are all about supporting people and the wellbeing of humanity as a whole. What I read were the words of yet another concern troll.

Posted by: karlof1 | May 1 2022 18:55 utc | 81

karlof1 | May 1 2022 18:55 utc | 77
No doubt that is the Anglo plan, I agree. Why would the Russians/Chinese allow that to unfold? My sense is that the Russians will do their usual: give them the ability to reconsider their designs, and then seriously disturb their ability to execute their designs if they don’t.

Posted by: donten | May 1 2022 19:07 utc | 83

@donten 74
Yes the US and its lackeys have also trapped themselves but in a different way. If they think the world is going back to being dominated by Greater Europe they have another thing coming. But the US empire isn’t going to collapse overnight and for the time being it still commands a lot of power and influence.
In this war Russia is the weaker party and will have a difficult time staying on top of all the NATO arms that are flooding into the Ukraine. There is also intelligence support and training of Ukrainian troops. Had NATO stayed out of it the story would be different but it didn’t and things are the way they are. Of course I don’t know exactly how things will develop but I am sure that nothing good will come of it, especially for people who just want to live in peace. Best case scenario is a short war and a buffer zone between Russia and the west. But NATO wants a long war and is making peace negotiations and a face saving Russian exit impossible at this time.

Posted by: Antiwar Dinosaur | May 1 2022 19:11 utc | 85

Posted by: Antiwar Dinosaur | May 1 2022 17:40 utc | 57
I think you describe a small minority here. Most of us never wanted this war to begin with, but have had to watch from the sidelines since 2014 when it really started. Of course we also wanted a peaceful resolution and I’d argue that 99% of us supported the Minsk I and II accords and Putin tried numerous times to get the “West” to come to the table and actually abide by them.
Once the technical military operation/invasion began we wanted to see a quick settlement from Ukraine which was what Russia wanted as well pertaining to the Donbas region and no NATO membership or further encroachment.
It is only the brainwashed masses and their NATO/US/UK puppet masters with their state-sponsored media and social media and weapons manufacturers who want this war to drag on and potentially erupt into global conflict with nuclear weapons.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 1 2022 19:22 utc | 87

Bemildred | May 1 2022 18:04 utc | 65
“But the question that always arises in my mind when I read someone arguing that Putin is really a Capitalist/Globalist/WEF supporter is then why did “the West” get so annoyed with him? Clearly he is being un-cooperative about something.”
Because a fiat-money system and a real values’ based money system cannot coexist in the same ecosystem? One has to disappear.
Posted by: Hausmeister | May 1 2022 18:51 utc | 76
I think that argument could work, old style capitalists would not think much of the current crop of financial pests in “the West”, but except for the Fordists we had here for a while none of them would have approved of the social development programs one sees in China or Russia, and I don’t see any that aren’t elitists at bottom. That is a big mistake. The future belongs to societies that take care of and develop the talents of all their members. Don’t want to get left behind. So I would agree with Karlof1 about that. I think that is the problem in the West. Old entrenched parasitic elites. Not something we invented, but there it is.

Posted by: Bemildred | May 1 2022 19:27 utc | 89

It’s no longer even clear what Russia’s goals in the Ukraine are.
Putin and the people around him badly miscalculated how things would play out and the western response to the war.
Posted by: Antiwar Dinosaur | May 1 2022 18:24 utc | 68
Again, beg to disagree. What Putin, the Duma and Russia(n oligarchs) want is for Ukraine to drop its NATO ambitions and tough talk and to recognize the autonomy of the Donbas breakaway republics in the same way that numerous other European autonomous regions are recognized by other countries.
I also see you’re getting into the MSM fueled mindset that you can see inside of Putin or his generals’ minds and have adopted the false or evidence free notion that they *badly* miscalculated. What else would the “Western” response have been? More than half of humanity including the Global South either refrained from condemning the invasion or voted against the condemnation at the UN. The only “Western” response that will be worth noting when the history books are written is the economic suicide act of the EU and/or the nuclear war that destroys all of humanity.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 1 2022 19:27 utc | 91

@ Antiwar Dinosaur | May 1 2022 17:40 utc | 57
ditto toms comment to you @ Tom_Q_Collins | May 1 2022 19:22 utc | 83
you are wrong to characterize moa and the posters as you did @ 57 (“most people posting here have no clue”) .. obviously you are new around here..

Posted by: james | May 1 2022 19:29 utc | 93

@67
In principle there are 2 options. (1) buy major assets in countries who wouldn’t expropriate them. (2) Sell the T-bills for dollars. Lend the dollars to countries with whom China trades, who also have significant dollar-denominated debt. Have those countries buy back the bonds they issued. Those countries then service their new debt in Yuan.

Posted by: ptb | May 1 2022 19:32 utc | 95

So far no evidence has been provided that NATO *heavy* weaponry has been delivered into the “right” hands and is in use on the battlefield. Drones and MANPADs are of course effective in their own way, but they aren’t “heavy” weapons. Russia has cut off most of the supply routes via land (Poland remains) and virtually all of them by sea. The talk about sending in heavy weapons is propaganda designed to butter the public up to support massive transfers of taxpayer ‘wealth’ to the weapons industry and MIC in general. It’s also designed to distract us from the Biden Crime Family’s deep ties to the Ukrainian oligarchy and the roots of this war. Elections are approaching.
I can’t see Ukraine’s army and Nazi elements within it having the will to fight a long protracted and ugly war unless NATO brazenly and officially enters the conflict with boots on the ground. That would be a disaster for everyone.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 1 2022 19:35 utc | 97

The “Powers That (should not) Be” have been greenscreening events for thirty years.
1. It is unsafe to travel to and have meetups in Kiev or anywhere else in a war zone.
2. The infrastructure no longer exists or it has become unreliable and dangerous.
3. Nancy Pelosi is not going to sit on a train for six hours. Even under the best conditions.
4. Certainly not going to risk her life. She loves money and ice cream too much.
5. Same goes for any other US politician or Blinken State Dept official.

Posted by: Chaka Khagan | May 1 2022 19:39 utc | 99