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August 21, 2022
Ukraine Open Thread 2022-137
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UK Sunday afternoon – is ‘Saker’ under attack again?
Posted by: Geraint ap Iorwerth | Aug 21 2022 14:01 utc | 1
Alexander Mercouris gave us the hint.
Helen Thompson in the Financial Times / 19.08.2022.
My summary in german, original here:
https://www.ft.com/content/25451156-434a-4c36-96ef-774d99c89688
Sehr wichtiger Artikel der britischen Ökonomin Helen Thompson in der Financial Times. Eine trockene und relativ knappe Analyse der wirtschaftlichen Abhängigkeiten und unvermeidbaren Notwendigkeiten: Der Westen muss auf Russland zugehen.
Danke an Alexander Mercouris für diesen Hinweis.
Die Thesen von Helen Thompson nach vier Punkten zusammengefasst:
1. Der Grund der steigenden Energiepreise liegt nicht am Krieg in der Ukraine. Er liegt in einer nach wie vor ungebremst wachsenden Nachfrage nach fossilen Energieträgern, vor allem in China und Indien. Der Entwicklung der Renewables zum Trotz bleiben Erdgas und Öl die Hauptpfeiler allen wirtschaftlichen Wachstum. Es gibt hier keine Alternative, kurzfristig sowieso nicht, aber auch mittelfristig kaum. Frühestens ab 2030 kann damit gerechnet werden, dass alternative Energiequellen nennenswert Öl und Gas ersetzen werden.
2. Dem steigenden Bedarf im Ölsektor sind seit 2010 die USA durch die Entwicklung ihrer Schieferöl-Vorkommen gerecht geworden. Die USA sind heute der weltgrößte Produzent von Erdöl, noch vor Saudi-Arabien und Russland. Die Förderung dieser Vorkommen ist jedoch nicht weiter wirtschaftlich ausbaubar, die Peak ist bereits überschritten. Die einzigen weltweiten Reserven, die in der Lage sind, den Hunger der Welt nach Öl zu befrieden, liegen in Russland. Diese Quellen müssen entwickelt werden, wenn die Weltwirtschaft nicht in harte Kämpfe um das Öl einsteigen und das Öl dauerhaft verteuern will.
3. Wie mächtig die USA auch noch sein mögen, sie haben nicht die Macht, Indien und China vorzuschreiben, wieviel Öl sie bei wem einkaufen werden. Beide Länder werden die Ressourcen Russlands nutzen und zu relativ günstigen Preisen erhalten. Das bedeutet: Im Falle fortgesetzter Sanktionen gegen Russland werden die Ökonomien des Westen doppelt getroffen sein: Nicht nur überschreitet die Nachfrage dauerhaft das weltweite Angebot (da Russland, auch mit Chinas Hilfe, unter westlichem Boykott die Erschließung neuer Ölfelder vermutlich nicht in der nötigen Geschwindigkeit schaffen wird), es wird auch ein Zweiteilung des Weltmarktes geben, in Russland freundlich gesonnene – und feindliche Länder.
4. Der Westen hat keine Alternative, er muss auf Russland zugehen – von Helen Thompson hier formuliert als Aufrechterhaltung der Fähigkeit, die Ukraine zu unterstützen:
“This coming winter will bring a reckoning. Western governments must either invite economic misery on a scale that would test the fabric of democratic politics in any country, or face the fact that energy supply constrains the means by which Ukraine can be defended.”
Dieses “either – or” ist zwar eher ein “und”, aber wir verstehen, was die Autorin uns sagen will. Den Hinweis auf den drohenden Verlust der Fähigkeit des Westens, die Ukraine zu unterstützen, ist die Autorin der Leserschaft der neoliberalen und russophoben FT offenbar schuldig.
Posted by: njet | Aug 21 2022 14:18 utc | 2
(…) is ‘Saker’ under attack again?
It’s been down for me since yesterday (~16 hours), so it seems that’s the case.
Trying to access it now shows me the Cloudflare site and the following explanation:
The web server is not returning a connection. As a result, the web page is not displaying.
Posted by: Arctaroll | Aug 21 2022 14:18 utc | 3
I am getting the same result as Arctaroll at #3 when I try to get out to the Saker.
Antoinetta III
Posted by: Antoinetta III | Aug 21 2022 14:36 utc | 4
Seems like Ukraine planning something big coming days, bombing the Kerch crimean bridge is my bet.
From August 22 to 26, all employees of the Government Quarter of Kiev were recommended to work from home – media
https://telegram.me/intelslava/35815
This time Russia should respond in kind in Kiev.
Posted by: Zanon | Aug 21 2022 14:44 utc | 5
I watched Alexander Mercouris’ broadcast yesterday evening. He has been absolutely consistent in his statements that the collective West must find some diplomatic dialogue with Russia to find a resolution to all of this. He and Alex Christoforou are also consistently clear that the collective West is run nby a bunch of children who are driven by malice, hatred, vitriol and irrational anger so Mercouris does note that this dialogue is highly unlikely to ever take place. As they say in the USA, if your head is in the sand your arse is in the air making it a very sweet spot for reality to bite hard. That’s about the case for the total and utter idiots we call the Leaders of the collective West. It is unbelievable that they are willing to destroy their own countries and the lives of their citizens for the most corrupt country in the world, Ukraine, with probably the most corrupt President in the the World. Ze is clearly showing advanced signs of paranoid and delusion thoughts and also, advanced characteristics of a Narcissistic Personality Disorder which combined makes him very dangerous. The collective West can not control lhim. They have fawned at his feet, deified him, turned a blind eye to serious War Crimes by the Azov Battalions and the Ukranian Army, pumped money and weapons to him. They worship him and all this has made him think he is invincible and his behaviour now is dangerous, very dangerous. However, the collective West have created a monster they now cannot control so they have to continue deifying and worshipping him so that their ponzi scheme of lies and their idiotic narrative don’t come crashing down around them. Ze has no idea about politics, diplomacy or protecting his citizens. What we have here is a World Class Statesmen (the most outstanding of this century) in President Putin who understands the diplomatic protocol, who has tried in vain to offer solutions to this problem and who has been and continues to be demonised by the collective West. He is aided by Sergei Lavrov arguably the most outstanding foreign Secretary in the world and also of this Century. The collective West has no off ramp. They have spoken the language of hate, pure hate and vitriol against Russia, Putin and Russian citizens. I doubt very much that Russia is interested in any further dialogue or diplomacy with the collective West; they have nothing but hatred in their hearts.
However, once the SMO is finished I can see Russia and China imposing serious sanctions on the collective West which will finish their economies off for good. Slowly, slowly, catch the monkey. Putin is a patient person, very patient. He is also a brilliant strategist with a strong and very able team around him. Hello the new Fair World Order and the Pan Eurasian collusus Pompeo referred to and farewell to the collective West who will be the new 2nd and 3rd World populace whilst the 85% rest of the world grows economically and develops underpinned by a fair distribution of wealth.
Posted by: Jo Dominich | Aug 21 2022 14:44 utc | 6
I can’t access the Saker either, same experience as described above.
So I checked his back-up site: http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.com/
No new posts… but a couple interesting old ones about the Nemtsov murder
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Aug 21 2022 14:52 utc | 7
@ 6 Jo
You’re spot on.
The facts are that Euro Parliaments support each other against the interests of their citizens and all are answerable to the US Government.
The disunited Sheeples have been usurped by a cabal of international grifters/financiers who determine policies and wars.
Posted by: WTFUD | Aug 21 2022 14:54 utc | 8
Posted by: Jo Dominich | Aug 21 2022 14:44 utc | 6
Mercouris’s / The Duran statements can be summed up like this: Either the west find the courage to admit defeat and to find a peace deal with Russia on mutually agreed terms, or Russia will eventually simply win, thus will be in a position to dictate terms.
I think this is a rather correct way to see the current situation and its possible outcome.
Posted by: w | Aug 21 2022 15:03 utc | 9
re: Vineyard
Saker has asserted on more than one occasion that he would pull the plug on the blog if the United States and the Russian Federation find themselves in a State of War (which now undoubtedly exists, “proxy” notwithstanding).
Posted by: quasi_verbatim | Aug 21 2022 15:07 utc | 10
I certainly don’t expect amerika to allow any diplomatic settlement until it is reckoned that most humans ‘in the west’ believe Russia has been thoroughly punished.
The beat up of the small acts of sabotage Ukie forces have carried out in Ukraine lately was just the entree. If the attempt on Alexander Dugin’s life a few hours ago had been successful and not just killed his young daughter corporate media crowing would have reverberated round the ‘net. At the moment they are doing a “what us, we wouldn’t do such a thing” while skating past the fact that Mr Dugan was meant to be in the exploding motor vehicle.
My guess is that they have a number of other close to home outrages planned altho killing the young woman could set them back for a minute.
Posted by: Debsisdead | Aug 21 2022 15:08 utc | 11
njet | Aug 21 2022 14:18 utc | 2
A winter energy reckoning looms for the west
First, unpalatable as this reality is for climate and ecological reasons, world economic growth still requires fossil fuel production. Without more investment and exploration, there is unlikely to be sufficient supply in the medium term to meet likely demand. The present gas crisis has its origins in the Chinese-driven surge in gas consumption during 2021. Demand grew so rapidly that it was only available for European and Asian purchase at very high prices. Meanwhile, respite from rising oil prices this year has only materialised when the economic data from China is unpropitious. In the International Energy Agency’s judgment, it is quite possible that global oil production will be inadequate to meet demand as soon as next year.
. . .
This coming winter will bring a reckoning. Western governments must either invite economic misery on a scale that would test the fabric of democratic politics in any country, or face the fact that energy supply constrains the means by which Ukraine can be defended.
[emphasis added]
Posted by: pogohere | Aug 21 2022 15:10 utc | 12
Posting this in the wrong thread, maybe, but it’s already under discussion here. So…. …, not to stir up reckless speculation but the coverage of the death of Darya Dugina in Montreal’s Ls Presse led me to wonder if Mr. Dugin has/had any French connections.
First, the coverage –
https://www.lapresse.ca/international/europe/2022-08-21/russie/la-fille-d-un-proche-de-poutine-tuee-dans-l-explosion-de-sa-voiture.php
Turns out Dugin did wander into France at one point (maybe this is common knowledge but it’s news to me):
“In 1989, taking advantage of increased opportunities to visit the West, Dugin spent most of the year traveling to Western European countries. While there, he strengthened ties with leading figures of the European New Right, such as Frenchman Alain de Benoist and Belgian Jean-Francois Thiriart. These contacts led to Dugin’s “belated reconciliation” with the USSR, just as that state was approaching its final demise. It appears that, largely as a result of these contacts with the European Nouvelle Droite, Dugin became a fascist theorist.”
https://tec.fsi.stanford.edu/docs/aleksandr-dugins-foundations-geopolitics
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Aug 21 2022 15:24 utc | 13
However, the collective West have created a monster they now cannot control so they have to continue deifying and worshipping him so that their ponzi scheme of lies and their idiotic narrative don’t come crashing down around them.
Posted by: Jo Dominich | Aug 21 2022 14:44 utc | 6
Why do you say that the West can’t control him? The West has been financially supporting Ze’s government, pouring in military hardware, running the Ukraine side of the conflict, spewing propaganda in his favor, etc. It seems to me that if Ze did something of which his handlers disapproved, he would be swiftly deposed if not killed.
Posted by: David Levin | Aug 21 2022 15:32 utc | 14
The US Government and Spook Agencies are the largest terrorist organisation, controlling 90% of terrorism through proxy militias. Watch out in Syria where America will be driven from shortly. Lowlifes sink to all manner of terrorist activities regardless of the fallout, which usually means waves of mass migration, displacement and refugee camps.
Only when Americans start dying in numbers do they cease their illegal interventions.
How their embassy/command centre in Lviv is still operational despite their war crimes and civilian genocide is remarkable.
Posted by: WTFUD | Aug 21 2022 15:32 utc | 15
Nato and Ukronazis ve fully changed to terrorism.
Russia must pay attention infernally otherwise natonazi terrorist attacks might give the impression to other anti russian terrorist groups inside and outside Russia that Russian authorities are incompetent to deal with terrorist attacks.
Actually now its Time to respond to Ukrainian terror with Russian terror.
Take out all ukro key figuers and their families. That would be a powerful message to all terrorists.
Russia should end their policies of appeasement.
Appeasement only whets the appetite, the insatiable appetite of ukro terrorists.
This policy of appeasement is lethal, not only for the interests of the donbass people, but also for everyone who lives in russia mainland
Posted by: Chessmaster | Aug 21 2022 15:44 utc | 16
I for one , am getting really pissed that my money is being sent to Ukraine , only to comeback and line red china joe’s pockets ,along with the other communists in congress. I’ve heard that over half the weapons are being sold to who knows. The nazis in Ukraine are probably going to bomb that nuclear power plant, and blame Putin. All this started with obozo and his masters.
Posted by: W Wilson | Aug 21 2022 15:49 utc | 17
Posted by: Arctaroll | Aug 21 2022 14:18 utc | 3
Yes, site is down, though link works apparently, according to Cloudflare
Posted by: Barofsky | Aug 21 2022 15:51 utc | 18
To #14
Because that monster is not Zelenskiy. The monster are the ultra nationalist groups and West cultivated, trained and armed. The possible expectation was keep them as the security force in Ukraine. Not that Ukraine did not meet any of their goals and expectations, it is essentially a big construction site the West will milk for whatever is left of its previous value.
The problem is, Azov and whatever is left of the ultra-nationalists are no longer needed. Nor would they stay in the country they vastly overestimated their own abilities to protect. It’s a shameful feeling. Plus, when dust settles and truth starts coming out, they would start getting hold accountable for the atrocities they committed. So, they will run from Ukraine and find “friends” to join elsewhere. However, they now have NATO weapons to bring with them. Lots and lots of NATO weapons. I can tell you with certainty that a bunch of them were stashed for further shenanigans. This is the real monster the west failed to consider, because they thought it would be a cake and Russia will be on its knees in days. They miscalculated.
Posted by: The Nigerian Prince | Aug 21 2022 15:53 utc | 19
Posted by: Chessmaster | Aug 21 2022 15:44 utc | 16
(…)
Actually now its Time to respond to Ukrainian terror with Russian terror.
Take out all ukro key figuers and their families. That would be a powerful message to all terrorists.
(…)
It’s not in Russia’s style to target random political figures and especially their families, whose actual opinions are either known or hidden for reasons more than obvious.
Though I am not against ‘cleansing’ figures which are devoted to sending people straight into the meat grinder.
Point is – if we’re already committing violence, make it count and do not waste man/firepower on unrelated figures.
Same goes to all those with a “peaceful protest” in mind, really; while it does not have to end in death, the permanent detainment of psychopaths brainwashing the nation would be more than welcome.
Posted by: Arctaroll | Aug 21 2022 16:26 utc | 20
Mercouris’s / The Duran statements can be summed up like this: Either the west find the courage to admit defeat and to find a peace deal with Russia on mutually agreed terms, or Russia will eventually simply win, thus will be in a position to dictate terms.
Posted by: w | Aug 21 2022 15:03 utc | 9
What would those mutually agreed terms be? US taking their nukes out of EU countries? Nato closing the missile base in Romania? EU to lift sanctions or give back the stolen money? Russia selling gas to EU at the old price of 200eur after they participated in the killing a few thousand Russian soldiers and many thousands of civilians since 2014, after sending banned weapons, shelling an npp and placing a huge amount of weapons on the black market for future terrorism against Russia? The answer to everything is never ever.
Posted by: rk | Aug 21 2022 17:15 utc | 22
Ze has no idea about politics, diplomacy or protecting his citizens.
Posted by: Jo Dominich | Aug 21 2022 14:44 utc | 6
His citizens are in Israel. Ukrainians mean nothing to him.
Posted by: Mike | Aug 21 2022 17:15 utc | 23
I am in no doubt at all that the assassination of Dugin’s daughter (God rest her soul) aimed of course at him, reeks of CIA and MOSSAD involvement at the behest of the Ukranian Govt. There is no other explanation. I know that Putin and Russia will consider the circumstances very very seriously and will not act until the full investigation has been completed. TASS reported yesterday I think, that Russia believes the USA (and that of course, will include the UK) is now on the brink of full participation in this SMO (War). That is diplomacy speaking. They know the USA and UK is knee deep in this war but, Putin and his team being brilliant strategists, are savvy enough not to take precipitate action, they wait, watch, see and act when the time is right for them. I also believe that, at some point in the not too distant future, China will provide military support to Russia and together, they will challenge the collective West and successfully too. I have posted this comment before but “Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the judgement that something else is more important”. Putin is protecting the security of his Country and its citizens as is China. It is the right judgement. Putin does not lack courage rather, he genuinely believes that the security of Russia and its peoples is paramount and also, that the citizens of the Donbass need to be protected from the Fascists and their attempts to commit genocide in the two republics and Crimea.
In the meantime, the collective West Leaders are selling their citizens (who are not millionaires and Billionaires) into poverty, famine, cold and social breakdown just for the sake of Klaus Swaub’s distorted ideology. They are sacrificing their countries for Greed, Total and absolute power and riches, fame and glory. They deserve none of these things and, they won’t get them either. I see a citizen revolution in the West is brewing. There will come a point where the people will not care if they live or die for their freedom, they will fight in any case and that’s their strength. Whereas all the WEF alumni in Europe will try to suppress this to maintain and promote their power, their greed and their narcisstic ideology. They will not win.
Here in the UK I have had some very interesting discussion with a range of people. The common theme, despite considerable political differences, is that ‘something needs to happen in this country to end all of this corruption’. The UK citizens are the most brainwashed, lazy, ignorant people in the world I believe at this point in time. They soak up the trashy MSM, broadcast news and scandals. However, the tide is slowly beginning to change. I have discussed locally that I might well set up a new Political Party and this is met with considerable approval. The most radical thinkers are the taxi drivers. They have a really good handle on what’s going on not just about Covid but this SMO also.
If Liz Truss becomes Prime Minister then the UK is F.U.C.K.E.D utterly and irrevocably. She hasn’t got a worthwhile thought in her head. She has no idea about politics or diplomacy (which at one time in the UK’s history it was renowned for). She will declare War on Russia because she is ignorant, arrogant and immoral. I’m a lifelong Labour voter, a big Corbyn fan. I will not, under any circumstances, vote for a Labour Govt under Stalin Starmer. In the local elections I voted for the Communist Party candidate. If we are to be stuck with a Tory Govt for ever and a day thanks to the propaganda pumped out by the MSM, then I hope Sunak becomes the next Prime Minister. He was one of the key players behind ending the lockdowns and Covid fiasco and in ousting BoJo. At least he has some dignity and courage on display. Also, I greatly admired the Tory Backbenchers who fought the Covid restrictions tooth and nail and brought about BoJo’s resignation. It shows that at least the Tory Backbenchers have some backbone and resolve. Labour backbenchers? Garbage.
I hope to be one of the protagonists in the UK revolution of the people; live or die. I know I don’t want the kind of life being proposed by the Globalists and the WEF alumni. So, I’ll get out there, agitate, fight and probably meet death. It’s worth the fight. What’s missing though is the young people in the UK are so brainwashed, all their personality has been eradicated that they are not connected to the world around them. They are more interest in their weight, peer pressure, narcisstic naval gazing and other things. They are so disconnected with the world around them they haven’t got a political thought in their head and they can’t see what the very bleak future holds for them.
God Bless Mother Russia. As Castro said in 1997 “The next international War will be Russia against Fascism but this time Fascism will be called Democracy”. What a visionary
Posted by: Jo Dominich | Aug 21 2022 17:15 utc | 24
I have it from a trusted, unnamed source in the Russian government that Alexander Dugin actually set up his daughter’s death. That’s why he swapped cars with her just before leaving, he knew, of course. You can tell that by looking at his body language while viewing the scene, experts reveal. The reason is because the once patriotic Darya Dugina had fallen in love with a Ukrainian poet. This was more than her staunchly pro-Russian Empire father could stand. Ah love, sweet, but tragic.
red china joe’s
Posted by: W Wilson | Aug 21 2022 15:49 utc | 17
What are you hallucinating? Americans just can’t live without having an enemy that they can dehumanise? What if you do wipe out China, is it going to be some tribe in the Amazon that will be the next big enemy that makes all your evil doings right?
Posted by: Mike | Aug 21 2022 17:27 utc | 26
@Jo-6
You have appeared to have omitted the major consideration that both sides ‘must not lose the war’ — on one hand, the loss for Biden would be more catastrophic than Afghanistan for Biden’s re-election hopes and those of the Dem Party in the Nov. elections ….. on the other hand, the loss for Putin, or more accurately for Russia, would be existential — a permanent US-dominated Ukraine, Sevastopol a NATO naval base, any relationship with Europe permanently destroyed and on and on.
Posted by: chet380 | Aug 21 2022 17:30 utc | 27
The reason is because the once patriotic Darya Dugina had fallen in love with a Ukrainian poet. This was more than her staunchly pro-Russian Empire father could stand. Ah love, sweet, but tragic.
Posted by: cobo | Aug 21 2022 17:24 utc | 26
Quick, sell this scoop to the National Enquirer before someone else does.
Posted by: Opport Knocks | Aug 21 2022 17:31 utc | 28
Yes, site is down, though link works apparently, according to Cloudflare
Posted by: Barofsky | Aug 21 2022 15:51 utc | 18
I just managed to get on somehow.
Posted by: Michigan Dude | Aug 21 2022 17:34 utc | 29
What are you hallucinating? Americans just can’t live without having an enemy that they can dehumanise? What if you do wipe out China, is it going to be some tribe in the Amazon that will be the next big enemy that makes all your evil doings right?
Posted by: Mike | Aug 21 2022 17:27 utc | 27
Some tribe in the Amazon will probably be next because the US has shown the world it is now incapable and ineffective against a peer.
So they’ll go after some patsy just to feel better about themselves.
Posted by: Michigan Dude | Aug 21 2022 17:39 utc | 30
Jo no. 25
Well said. Wonder if you’ve seen this interview from declassified uk:
“Jeremy Corbyn on the establishment campaign to stop him becoming Prime Minister”
Posted by: ThusspakeZarathustra | Aug 21 2022 17:42 utc | 31
@Posted by: Jo Dominich | Aug 21 2022 14:44 utc | 6
There is no such thing as the “collective West”, rather the very small capitalist uber elite together with their friends and servants in the State Department, MIC and corporate media whose only aim is the protection of their current wealth, the gathering of more of it and keeping down of the masses. They feel no pain from the sanctions, but they will feel great pain if the Rest in other countries, and their own, wake up to the fact that this elite is an unnecessary overhead. Therefore, alternatives cannot be allowed to flourish and any uppity nations put in their place.
So they are happy to have the general population suffer for their benefit, while skimming profits off the related expenditures. After all, that is what war is all about – the little people die or get injured not the important people. The last time important people put themselves at risk in the West was WW2. They got truly arrogant and lazy after the unipolar moment and are now reaping the dividends of that laziness and arrogance in the China-Russia-Iran challenge. They are still arrogant and lazy and therefore continue to miscalculate their strength (too high) and their opponents strength (too low). They have no morals, as has been shown year after year, and will therefore do absolutely horrendous stuff to keep their wealth and power. So we should never be surprised by the depths of depravity that they will stoop to.
They have miscalculated big time wth Ukraine and are now thrashing around trying to make this horrible situation “go away”, but in the end will be begrudgingly forced to back down. A few servants will be shot for public propaganda purposes, but they will remain, seething at those that forced them to back down. They will never give up until completely defeated, in the US they spent forty years getting ready for the trashing of the New Deal compromise.
Helen Thompson must be a contortionist to claim that the European Energy crisis is not caused by US imposed sanctions on Russia. If the problem of high orices is the result of shortages in Asia, then financial experts could easily have predicted the problem and advised the US it was an inauspicious moment to attack Russia.
More likely, the Democrats felt under electoral pressure to cash in on 20 years of military investment in Ukraine, and privatise Ukraine. Short-term gain forca small elite of former Ukranians , causing permanent pain to the rest of the West.
Gambling is both addictive and anti-social to your own family. They made much too much money privatising Eastern Europe selling Chinese goods at vast profits to reflect on the consequences of their reckless gambling.
Nobody is exempt from kowtowing to the insanity of the financial elites who happen also to be able to buy political.power.
Posted by: Giyane | Aug 21 2022 17:57 utc | 33
Looks like there might be a game change for ukraine/nato.
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2022/08/21/fly-like-an-eagle-darya-dugina/
Posted by: jo6pac | Aug 21 2022 17:58 utc | 34
“For all of the above reasons, I urge professor Mearsheimer and his followers to pay closer attention to what the Russians are saying and less attention to the hot air coming out of Washington.” –Gilbert Doctorow
https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2022/08/20/john-mearsheimers-latest-article-on-ukraine-in-foreign-affairs-a-critique/
Posted by: David Hart | Aug 21 2022 18:14 utc | 35
The Saker is back here in Wales. ARDDERCHOG YN WIR.
Posted by: Geraint ap Iorwerth | Aug 21 2022 18:16 utc | 36
“Therefore there are certain realities you should be aware of if an actor or preacher turned politician tries to convince you of something 1) They likely have been selected by backers who need a professional liar to enact unpopular policies 2) They are very experienced or even trained at an acting school to get people to believe they are sincere.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine is a unique case in the history of actors turned politician because his rich backer went to the unique length of creating a TV show specifically for him to play an ordinary honest person overcoming corruption to become president.” From Servant of Madness
Posted by: Kali El | Aug 21 2022 18:29 utc | 37
@ Posted by: Norwegian | Aug 21 2022 18:00 utc | 37
I agree. This is exactly what meth looks like in writing. I have seen it many times before and the story is always the same.
Meth.
Posted by: Nigerian Prince | Aug 21 2022 18:30 utc | 38
@Dina | Aug 21 2022 18:41 utc | 44
So what are you suggesting?
Posted by: K-Dog | Aug 21 2022 18:51 utc | 39
Posted by: Dina | Aug 21 2022 18:41 utc | 44
So to you, normal Saker web-site maintenance was an evidence that the car bomb last night around Moscow was not “was not sanctioned by the usual (Western) suspects but from either a more unexpected – or more likely, obscure – source.”????
You surely are extrapolating a lot.
Posted by: Kitaysupporter | Aug 21 2022 18:52 utc | 40
in re: dictators and deciders
tabloid USAToday came out the gate today describing Dugin as “Putin’s brain.” Which may be received as relief by a portion of the public deeply invested in the notion that PUTIN is omniscent and all powerful, like Joseph Biden, the decent guy, and Lord Cheeto, traitor to twitter’s “democratic processes”. Or the many 2nds-in-command of ISIS/ISIL/Daesh/al-Quaeda-in-the-*.
Posted by: sln2002 | Aug 21 2022 18:52 utc | 41
cobo26… yeah yeah yeah . totally unbelievable and sickening post
Posted by: Jo | Aug 21 2022 18:58 utc | 42
@Kitaysupporter | Aug 21 2022 18:52 utc | 46
If you follow Saker regularly like I do that indeed is the pattern when the site goes down. But i don’t understand what she’s saying about unexpected or obscure sources.
Posted by: Cluckingob | Aug 21 2022 19:06 utc | 43
Was on the phone with a distant relative of mine – German, 59, career civil servant, social-democrat. married, no kids:
He told me he and his spouse have turned off the hot water boiler in their home since early June. They’ve been taking cold showers for 3 months……TO STICK IT TO PUTIN.
Yes really. It’s likely maybe 5%, maybe 10% of the German population is this naive.
Posted by: Exile | Aug 21 2022 19:10 utc | 44
@Dina | Aug 21 2022 18:41 utc | 44
Andrei posted a note on his site that said they had an internal problem, not a DOS attack.
Posted by: Grumba | Aug 21 2022 19:13 utc | 45
Posted by: Cluckingob | Aug 21 2022 19:06 utc | 49
I do follow and support Saker.
Any response should be after the official investigation, which historically has been swift and factual. I have found that Russian official information is more believable than the west PR optics.
This “Posted by: Dina | Aug 21 2022 18:41 utc | 44” was really jumping the gun and obviously white-washing something.
Posted by: KitaySupporter | Aug 21 2022 19:17 utc | 46
Western media pumping the propaganda the Dugan is Putin’s brain ect. Everything that is occurring now is setting the scene for a major false flag in Ukraine probably nuclear. Possibly its just provocations to try and make Russia change its strategy in some sort of knee jerk reaction but major false flag seems very likely.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Aug 21 2022 19:19 utc | 47
@Exile | Aug 21 2022 19:10 utc | 51
He told me he and his spouse have turned off the hot water boiler in their home since early June.
Call him back and say you have thought about it and support what he is doing and that you will call him in December to confirm he has not changed his mind.
Posted by: Norwegian | Aug 21 2022 19:20 utc | 48
@KitaySupporter | Aug 21 2022 19:17 utc | 53
Yes. Clearly “Dina” is an illuminati that, rather than seeking to influence policy making centers, comes to this website to spread disinformation. And now she is on to you, KitaySupporter….
Posted by: Nefrititi | Aug 21 2022 19:24 utc | 49
Via Pepe’s Telegram: https://t.me/rocknrollgeopolitics/4400
KADYROV; “The Western world still cannot understand 1 thing. Today’s Russia is not a Gorbachev union of republics, and it is not Yeltsin’s territory built on a coup, deficit & default.
This is another strong & powerful Russia, and you, Western politicians, need to reconsider not the strategy of the collapse of the Russian Federation, but the attitude towards cooperation with a country that has turned from plundered and humiliated by the West over the past 20 years into a state with a powerful political structure, reorganized tailored to strategic goals, hardened and unbending.
Russia knows how to make friends, and this is the best friend among all countries of the world. Reliable, honest. But, as our President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin rightly noted, if someone wants to take a bite out of the country, they will be left without teeth, and until the end of their lives they will eat chewed food served from a spoon by their neighbor in bed.
Learn to be friends with Russia – your own teeth will be healthier”
Posted by: njet | Aug 21 2022 14:18 utc | 2
1. Der Grund der steigenden Energiepreise liegt nicht am Krieg in der Ukraine. Er liegt in einer nach wie vor ungebremst wachsenden Nachfrage nach fossilen Energieträgern, vor allem in China und Indien.
Phew! Glad it has absolutely nothing to do with the liberalization of the markets concerned.
Posted by: Nobody | Aug 21 2022 19:31 utc | 51
K@34 and ThusprakeZarathurstra @32. Thanks for those great comments. ThusSprake. I haven’t read that article but, I am going to seek it out and read it tonight. Thanks for posting it. It sounds interesting.
Posted by: Jo Dominich | Aug 21 2022 19:31 utc | 52
Sorry, meant to say Roger and no. 34. Great post.
Posted by: Jo Dominich | Aug 21 2022 19:32 utc | 53
njet@2, pogohere@12
The same old bullcrap from FT: instead of admitting the self-inflicted historical mistake caused by its brain-dead politicians in UK & EU who blindly and willingly follow their overlord US, it blames the “big bad guy” in vogue China!
We have seen this kind of “blaming-others-not-me” tactics and mentality from Western elites time after time:
– In 2008, Merkel: Indians eating twice a day and Chinese drinking milk cause high food prices while German companies burn grain to produce biofuel.
– In 2010, Obama: Chinese citizens can not have high living standard as Australians and Americans while, with ca 5% world population, US consumes about 25% of world’s resources.
The Western needs to stay on top of the food chain aka “rule(power)-based international order” by dominiating the world and crashing any other countries that aspire to improve their stand.
Posted by: lulu | Aug 21 2022 19:35 utc | 54
Mayhem and murder hallmarks of M16 and CIA. Unable to effect Regime change in the Russian populace (as in Cuba, Venezuela and Iran) the dirty war strategists revert to assassination in this case of soft targets i.e. public figures and their families. The motive is to internalise fear of randomised mayhem in sectors of Russian society to undermine social cohesion by the serial killing of prominent individuals. The Ukranian SBU assisted by UK/CIA operatives are currently conducting a similar terror campaign in the liberated oblasts of Eastern Ukraine. This is a territorial escalation of the undeclared dirty war by the West against Russia.
Posted by: rick | Aug 21 2022 19:44 utc | 55
Posted by: Nefrititi | Aug 21 2022 19:24 utc | 56
Trolling or gang bullying won’t work anymore. But trolls or gang bullies may still want to try it, because it pays financially.
Bring it on, see what they got.
Posted by: KitaySupporter | Aug 21 2022 19:45 utc | 56
Jo no. 59
You can find the video on youtube and/or consortium news.
Posted by: ThusspakeZarathustra | Aug 21 2022 19:50 utc | 57
Alexander Dugin is a philosopher, and philosophers change their ideas too often, so cannot be allowed in places where real concrete decisions are taken. So he has no connection with Kremlin.
Posted by: rp | Aug 21 2022 19:53 utc | 58
Timing coincidence?
LONDON, August 21. /TASS/. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, US President Joe Biden, French leader Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have confirmed their continued support for Ukraine.
Posted by: rk | Aug 21 2022 19:57 utc | 60
@KitaySupporter | Aug 21 2022 19:45 utc | 63
Its a conspiracy. The Kremlin has a unit specifically devoted to your posts. That’s how important you are.
Posted by: Nefrititi | Aug 21 2022 20:05 utc | 61
There are no small benefits, but war can make them even bigger.
*
Ukrainian grain shipments, are they already OGM? (or GM for the europeans). As it was Monsanto and the other doubtful agricultural producers who leased or bought the most land. Most of the shipments have already been sent to the EU etc.
The EU is also said to be in the process of introducing “new” laws to aid the introduction of OGM’s.
***
Next up, “gun permits” for those who bought US-Ukrainian arms on eBay?
Posted by: Stonebird | Aug 21 2022 20:06 utc | 62
Current British propaganda
Nuclear energy expert and former employee at the State Nuclear Regulatory Authority of Ukraine Olga Kosharna told Express.co.uk that Putin may be trying leverage the tense situation at Zapporzhzhia nuclear power plant to force Ukraine’s surrender or to turn NATO away from the conflict.
The comments come as unconfirmed videos appeared to show Russian military vehicles inside Zapporzhzhia. Reports claimed that the vehicles were filled with explosives, Express.co.uk was not able to verify these reports.
Moscow likely feels the pressure even more now that Ukraine is striking inside of the annexed Crimean peninsula, however Putin thinks that his regime would not survive if he loses the war in Ukraine, according to Ms Kosharna.
Ms Kosharna said: “Basically, what is happening is an attempt to force Ukraine into negotiations or surrender, because they’re clearly losing the war.
………….
Volodymyr Zelensky has advised Ukrainians to be aware of potential “nasty” and “cruel” attacks by Russia’s forces, in the run-up to Ukraine’s independence day next week.
The Ukrainian president urged citizens to be vigilant ahead of the celebrations on Wednesday 24 August which will mark 31 years of independence from Soviet rule.
Mr Zelensky said Ukrainians must not allow Moscow to “spread despondency and fear” ahead of the national holiday that is to take place exactly six months after Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine.
But, he warned on Saturday in his nightly address to Ukrainians: “We should be aware that this week Russia may try to do something particularly nasty, something particularly cruel. Such is our enemy.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Aug 21 2022 20:36 utc | 63
Ridiculously high prices for oil and natural gas: how often do the pundits mention that two countries with nearly/largest reserves—Venezuela and Iran—are not allowed to sell on the open market because they are, according to the USA, are very, very bad people and deserve to be sanctioned….until they do as we say? You can of course add Russia into the mix. In the meantime the large oil companies are racing in the profits hand over fist.
Posted by: Quentin | Aug 21 2022 20:40 utc | 64
“are they already OGM? (or GM for the europeans). As it was Monsanto and ——“.: Stonebird | Aug 21 2022 20:06 utc | 69. Lookey here >>>> https://journal-neo.org/2022/08/18/whose-grain-is-being-shipped-from-ukraine/
Posted by: Red | Aug 21 2022 20:41 utc | 65
jo6pac @36
Thanks for the link!
Can not imagine how much pain the father Dugin feels right now……
Peter AU1 @54, rick@62
It does look like M16 and CIA is trying to goad Russia to react violently so as to escalate and perpetuate the war on large scale. Same as what US is doing in Taiwan to trap China to enter a war.
Posted by: lulu | Aug 21 2022 20:47 utc | 66
A question to those here able to follow Weibo and other Chinese social media: How is the murder of Darya Aleksandrovna Dugina covered/discussed there?
Posted by: Unnamed | Aug 21 2022 20:53 utc | 67
4 B52s arrived at Fairford on the 18th, which is possibly standard activity for whatever it is they do.
This is in the west of England, a long way from Ukraine. However, Fairford was where the B522s were stationed for Afghanistan and Iraq.
The NATO need air superiority to use the B52, however, for those of us that can remember the sight of those things going out of sleepy Gloucestershire to bring death and destruction to the world, well, this is not a pretty sight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhqML4Gj0nE
Posted by: P J | Aug 21 2022 20:54 utc | 68
Just like her brilliant and noble father, Darya was a courageous and devout Russian patriot. Her death is as a martyr for her country and for the unfolding Eurasian future. The cancerous Western Europe must forever be kept out of the now forming SCO/BRICS Eurasian co-prosperity sphere and now instead utterly destroyed. May her soul find vengeance and eternal rest.
Posted by: Unnamed | Aug 21 2022 21:00 utc | 69
The EU is doing whats “best” for it’s population. If Russia is able to convince the big players to deal outside of western control the EU has almost no resources it’s money value will be destroyed.
This isn’t a small war anyone will just walk away from, it is worth all the marbles.
Posted by: OhhCanada | Aug 21 2022 21:00 utc | 70
There has been a risk of false flag on Finland that could totally provoke people against Russia. Now that there’s a prime minister Sanna Marin alledgedly beeing framed and exposed while partying with her friends, it has divided people to be passionately for and against her actions. Altough she is a WEF global young leader, she’s not safe from their agenda if worst for her suits for their agenda. She had not suitable protection in many cases when she has been partying with her celeb friends. Just saying there is a risk of false flag against her and it would be disastrous for the finnish opinion on Russia. Cui bono?
Posted by: finno | Aug 21 2022 21:06 utc | 71
I mentioned here before about Russia’s suspicion of a covert nuclear weapons program in Ukraine – assisted by the usual suspects in the west (US/UK, maybe France). There’s never going to be any proof unless Russia reports that it 1) found nuclear materials at Zaporizhzhia that shouldn’t be there like enriched uranium or plutonium, or 2) determine that nuclear materials that *should* be there are missing. So far they’ve said nothing but occasionally hint at their suspicions. Until then: nothing proven – conspiracy theory.
I would assume this was Russia’s intent at Chernobyl, and abandon it after finding nothing. The thwarted attempt to reach Ukraine’s second largest nuclear plan, South Ukraine (Pivdennoukrainsk) NPP – three VVER 1000 units) was unsuccessful, but calls attention to itself for being so far inside Ukraine. I’ll humbly suggest that Russia was more interested in what they might find (or find missing) at SUNPP. It would have been a most difficult to hold, had no supply lines and has little strategic value. Russia, unlike Ukraine, has shown no inclination to cut off utilities to punish civilians. Just speculation of course – Russia may have had completely different reasons for making a run for SUNPP.
Now, being from the U.S., I have to assume my government would have been neck-deep in any years-long effort to put usurped Ukraine in a position to build or obtain nuclear weapons. The president(s) would have known about this. So I offer the following article only as speculation about speculation. Did Trump have some kind of documentation about that program at his Mar-a-Largo lair? Well, consider the ire Trump had (and still has) for the Biden machine… That, and initial reports about the documents being classified material about ‘nuclear secrets’. I can’t imagine Trump had any interest in U.S. nuclear weapons development, but may have had a special interest in programs hatched or funded within the Obama/Biden administration. Our ‘Russiagate’ may have been preemptive posturing by the Democrats to discredit any potential revelations by Trump.
In any case, the following article is from a site that I don’t think b cares to have posted here, so you can’t click on it. You can find the post with the link on my Twitter account via my signature.
Theory: Biden’s Secret in the Storages of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant
NEW – August 20, 2022
“…Economist Mikhail Khazin suggested that there is a connection between the shelling of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant and the searches of former US President Donald Trump. In his opinion, the American leader Joe Biden can be keeping a dangerous secret at the facility…”
And in the vacuum of confirmation bias that my brain is swimming in, I’ll toss in the bonus ‘evidence’: there were reports of precision-guided munitions being used against Zaporizhzhia NPP. Some circuit boards and miscellaneous bits were initially identified as a UK Brimstone missile. A little Google sleuthing proved instead that they were components of a US AGM-114F Hellfire manufactured around 1990. The wreckage was claimed to be from ZNPP, but who knows.
Ignoring for a minute the expired junk we’re sending Ukraine, the Hellfire is a laser-guided air-to-ground missile usually fired from a helicopter or (big) drone. It’s rare, but possible, to ground-launch it at a laser-designated target. Range is a few thousand meters, so it couldn’t have been launched across the Kharkov Reservoir at the plant. But you do need a laser designator and the missile is fairly precise. So who was a few km from a nuclear plant with a Hellfire and laser designator and what were they firing at? The missile landed near the plant but didn’t strike anything that I know of, just started some grass fires. I’ll assume the missile either didn’t work right or lost the laser and self-destructed.
The NPP target of most interest hasn’t been the reactors. Ukraine seems more interested in hitting the high voltage power lines and the old, cooled spent fuel yard – specifically the monitoring building, not the concrete casks of spent fuel. My best guess is that they want to destroy records of inventory in case they were diverting any, or perhaps there is ‘bonus’ enriched uranium stored in/around the monitoring building. Could be that they are storing enriched uranium or plutonium in one of the concrete dry casks and need to take out the radiation monitors that could distinguish between radioactivity by a hit on containers of normal spent fuel rods, or containers of enriched material.
The somewhat random shelling *around* the plant by non-precision weapons may just be a red herring or just extra noise to mask what seem to be attempts at precision weapons strikes. That’s what I would do if I were trying to sanitize the weapons development crime scene. And it would explain the seeming indifference to US/NATO approving relatively small harassments strikes at/around the nuclear plant to mask a few carefully-planned precision strikes.
In any case, the US/NATO seem especially interested in removing the snoopy Russians from the plant before they find anything and putting in ‘neutral’ UN troops to guard their secrets. US/NATO also seem intent on keeping the IAEA from showing up having either the UN or Ukraine object to visits for all kinds of stupid reasons: security, appearances, etc. That must mean the US hasn’t sufficiently bribed the IAEA inspectors to overlook inventory discrepancies in nuclear materials. Recall that Russia insisted the IAEA come down in June to verify the inventory of nuclear material. Who knows – everything about this stinks of a cover-up.
The only thing Zaporizhzhia seems to be missing is a Bellingcat investigation. I’m sure that is already scheduled for after the US blows up the evidence and contaminates everything. Higgins will cough up the usual clown car of ‘evidence’ proving the Russians bombed themselves at the plant.
@finno | Aug 21 2022 21:06 utc | 80
Cui indignus. Who outside of Finland cares about a politican cheating on her husband? She is merely another of the drug addicts referred to by Putin at the start of the SMO and as he has said, the West will have new elites before this is finished.
Posted by: Borgus | Aug 21 2022 21:16 utc | 73
Posted by: finno | Aug 21 2022 21:06 utc | 80
MI6/CIA is probably working over time to create an incident. They could blow up something important and say it was a Russian Zircon missile, or they could melt down a reactor and say it was a Russian hacker. Then use their WEF asset to declare war or something. Boom, good luck.
Ignorant people get what they deserve. You let those cockroaches in, you will eventually pay the price for it.
Posted by: unimperator | Aug 21 2022 21:18 utc | 74
@OhhCanada | Aug 21 2022 21:00 utc | 79
‘Tis but a sideshow for the US. For the Russia it is for all the marbles. For the EU it is the end of their perceived relevance on the world stage, which they knew from the beginning, hence the uncontrollable spasm of hatred at tbe beginning and the disappearance of the EU “president”. Remember when Erdagon failed to put out a chair for her at a diplomatic meeting a few years ago? Remember Brexit? Those two things should tell you everything you need to know about the so-called “EU.”
Posted by: Borgus | Aug 21 2022 21:23 utc | 75
Paveway
It’s just a fight over a nuclear power plant and the value of it’s energy. The more Russia takes it becomes harder for all the money lenders to have assets to repo. Ukraine also has/had a deal to sell the EU electricity at 1/3 the price. That energy is badly needed in the west and Ukraine needs the cash.
Posted by: OohCanada | Aug 21 2022 21:25 utc | 76
@OohCanada | Aug 21 2022 21:25 utc | 86
Yawn….
4 Mar 2022
Posted by: Grenly | Aug 21 2022 21:39 utc | 77
Posted by: rp | Aug 21 2022 19:53 utc | 65
Be that as it may, Svengali is a permanent fixture in “western” popular imagination of Russian intellectual history and imperial intrigues. If the press corpse hadn’t cast Dugin in The Role, it would have selected some one else. Anyone but Medvedev, of course. And Navalny is between jobs, so, the perfect script might turn up eventually.
Posted by: sln2002 | Aug 21 2022 21:45 utc | 78
The thing with finnish prime minister Sanna Marin to the WEF and globalists is that she would not be for war with Russia, just sanctions to no limit. Finland is unlikely to join NATO, what she persues, but Finland has one of Europes strongest armies, 900 thousand trained reserve and an artillery. Turkey will block Finlands joining to NATO, no matter what, but NATO would benefit from war between Finland and Russia.. in a way NATO thought it would benefit with Ukraine.. A PR-war and to weaken Russia. Finland has signed a deal with NATO as beeing a host nation since 2014. From then on, there has been a clear NATO leading.
Posted by: finno | Aug 21 2022 21:46 utc | 79
900 thousand trained reserve and an artillery.
Posted by: finno | Aug 21 2022 21:46 utc | 91
Nearly a million man army in a population of 5 million people?
Is this even possible?
Posted by: K | Aug 21 2022 21:50 utc | 80
Posted by: finno | Aug 21 2022 21:46 utc | 91
You just seem to be making hyperbole out of nothing.
It’s very simple. If Nato uses Finland to launch some serious attack on Russia, Russia will simply nuke Finland. If Nato does not use Finland to launch an attack, Russia will not nuke Finland. Not many options here. Considering Finland will probably never belong in Nato it’s that much simpler, if it did, it would be irrelevant regardless.
Anyhow Ukraine is the main game, after that’s gone it’s over for EU economically and industrially, US will dump the whole sh#t show to fend off itself after it sucked out anything of economic or other value from Europe. And then go die on its own without any more willing victims to get blood sucked.
Posted by: unimperator | Aug 21 2022 21:57 utc | 82
@unimperator | Aug 21 2022 21:57 utc | 95
Boy, you nailed it.
Posted by: Buni | Aug 21 2022 22:03 utc | 83
@unimperator
Russia will not nuke Finland if it’s not part of NATO and an existential threath. Russia has other means, just like for Ukraine. But this would be PR win for west, if Finland (as a former nonaligned country) faces a false flag attack of some type. NATO would just provide media and weapon support, but Finland would do the war thing. Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin is just a puppet like Zelensky, but she may be anti-war against Russia, so there is media war to make a seat for more war-like prime minister, possibly. She has been the most media famed prime minister, possibly in the world, so there is a great value of what happens to her.. And my initial question goes ‘qui bono’.
Posted by: finno | Aug 21 2022 22:13 utc | 84
The cancerous Western Europe must forever be kept out of the now forming SCO/BRICS Eurasian co-prosperity sphere and now instead utterly destroyed.
Posted by: Unnamed | Aug 21 2022 21:00 utc | 78
Can you elaborate?
Last time I checked, those Western European nations have been occupied by the USA since 1945, and as such their present foreign policies are dictated by Washington. Or so I’m told.
Posted by: joey_n | Aug 21 2022 22:22 utc | 85
Posted by: Nefrititi | Aug 21 2022 20:05 utc | 68
The famous quote by Reagan is applicable her: Trust, but verify.
I like to trust you, but please provide evidence to verify your claim.
Posted by: KitaySupporter | Aug 21 2022 22:28 utc | 86
PavewayIV @81–
That there’s a cover up, yes agreed. The more digging that’s done the more that’s uncovered–a plethora of dirty deeds waiting to be done.
In the local elections I voted for the Communist Party candidate. If we are to be stuck with a Tory Govt for ever and a day thanks to the propaganda pumped out by the MSM, then I hope Sunak becomes the next Prime Minister. He was one of the key players behind ending the lockdowns and Covid fiasco and in ousting BoJo.
Posted by: Jo Dominich | Aug 21 2022 17:15 utc | 25
This is a remarkably contradictory statement.
The proper Communist position on COVID (and not just communist, but also the sole scientifically and morally justified one) is that we should have locked down hard for elimination of the virus Chinese style while paying everyone to stay home, for as long as needed (to be financed by higher taxes on the wealthy) and providing those 20% or so who did have to keep working to maintain life support systems with high-quality PPE for the duration of the crisis.
We didn’t do that, the lockdowns were done half-assed and only to prevent a total collapse of the hospital system until there was a vaccine, which could then be used as a justification to “reopen” and force the masses back to work without actually solving the problem.
Which indeed wasn’t solved and now the working class has been sentenced to endlessly getting reinfected with COVID, with zero workplace protections, while the vaccine no longer works and the healthcare system is collapsing and already the access to healthcare that people had in 2019 is not there (but this is all happening in slow motion so few realize what is going on).
The current policies of letting COVID run wild are thus a gigantic defeat for the common man and a major win for the kind of neoliberal ideology that has been dreaming for decades to take us back to the days when Engels was writing about social murder (when life expectancy in the industrial cities was in the low 30s).
The likes of Sunak and BoJo played an absolutely monstrous role in carrying this to completion and are thus responsible for the deaths of 200K people in the UK and millions around the world (because the rest of the world was forced to let the virus run free by the dictate of the neoliberal rule in the US and the UK).
How anyone can have any sympathies for “communism” and in the same time want endemic uncontrolled COVID is just unfathomable.
Posted by: Tbx | Aug 21 2022 22:42 utc | 88
Clearly, Putin’s Flag Day Speech wasn’t altered one iota by Dugina’s murder, although I suspect Russians will find it rather flat and uninspiring given events.
Paveway IV – 81
Ok, now it all begins to make some sense.
The launch of “SMO” looked a bit hasty to me, something done in a hurry, as if time was of the essence, and I’ve wondered what it was from the very first day.
I wondered if Putin wasn’t ill (not debilitated right now, but with way shortened lifespan) quite quickly, way before any MSM came with “He has cancer”, because that would be the most obvious reason (VVP might not fully trust his successors to do the job and do it right). Of course, that’s one of many possibilities and there’s been no serious leak, Putin doesn’t look like he’s going through chemo, doesn’t look specially worse than usual.
To be blunt, what I always had a hard time to buy was the “There were plenty of Ukraine troops near Donbas ready to attack”. Not that they didn’t have them, but that this was a threat that needed a pre-emptive strike always sounded dubious to me and not something Putin would prevent in a rush. Just like Ukrainian trenches, LDR trenches and fortifications are solid and can take a pounding, they won’t crack in a few days; Russia could’ve obliterated the bulk of attacking Ukrainian troops who wouldn’t have been able to go more than a few tens of meters against Donbas trenches before being stuck, and annihilated all positioned artillery. It’s better to preempt such an attack but imho Russia could well afford to let Ukraine strike first with ground troops (not just the artillery preparations).
Now, as Israel and US (Trump included) are fond of reminding us, when a country is developing a nuclear program, then time is of the essence; you might just have a couple of years to stop it before you’re stuck with a nuclear-backed neighbour. So it is quite possible that, once Zelensky was in place and had been coached (by US and/or by far-right local goons), US helped Ukraine to set up a smallish nuclear program – something not massive enough to be easily detected by others, a bit more stealthy probably, but that would produce nukes in a few years, say by the mid-2020s. Putin’s “proposals” to NATO in late 2021 might not just have been general “let’s demilitarize a strip of land between Russia and NATO”, but also strongly implied something way more specific, like “We know what you’re up to by helping Ukraine go nuclear, so stop it now”, which would also fit quite well with the added warning “This time we won’t wait a decade until you negotiate, you have a few months before we take action”.
The current war and wide scale of occasional bombing might be enough to disrupt Ukrainian program, and odds are that a few precise strikes (kinzal or others) might have targetted some key parts of the program.
Though, to be honest, I’d vastly prefer to be totally wrong about that one. We’ve got enough nuclear powers on our hands, no need to add more and bring us closer to global thermonuclear warfare.
Posted by: Clueless Joe | Aug 21 2022 22:54 utc | 91
My girlfriend and I were out driving and listening to music on the radio in Ontario, Canada. Out of nowhere the d.j. starts talking about some Ukrainian couple who had moved to Canada and now had a blog going through the differences they found between the two countries. Canada is a country of immigrants, with people from many different countries experiencing such cultural differences, but never have I heard a d.j. out of the blue enthusiastically extolling the virtues of visiting their social media accounts.
I would not put it past Government Affairs Canada (the foreign office) from setting up these social media accounts and contacting the media to get people to visit such accounts – normalizing the settlement of Banderaland Ukies in Canada to bolster the previous Ukie Nazis allowed in after WW2 (including thousands from the Ukie Waffen SS division). The depths of the propaganda in supposed “liberal democratic” Canada continue to surprise me to the downside.
When they started fighting terrorism, we said: terrorism is the counter-violence of the powerless.
Today, in Crimea, this statement takes on a completely different meaning
Posted by: njet | Aug 21 2022 23:06 utc | 93
Richard Steven Hack, haven’t seen him here in a long time. Anyone know here know why he quit coming to the bar?
Posted by: morongobill | Aug 21 2022 23:09 utc | 94
To be blunt, what I always had a hard time to buy was the “There were plenty of Ukraine troops near Donbas ready to attack”. Not that they didn’t have them, but that this was a threat that needed a pre-emptive strike always sounded dubious to me and not something Putin would prevent in a rush. Just like Ukrainian trenches, LDR trenches and fortifications are solid and can take a pounding, they won’t crack in a few days; Russia could’ve obliterated the bulk of attacking Ukrainian troops who wouldn’t have been able to go more than a few tens of meters against Donbas trenches before being stuck, and annihilated all positioned artillery. It’s better to preempt such an attack but imho Russia could well afford to let Ukraine strike first with ground troops (not just the artillery preparations).
Now, as Israel and US (Trump included) are fond of reminding us, when a country is developing a nuclear program, then time is of the essence; you might just have a couple of years to stop it before you’re stuck with a nuclear-backed neighbour. So it is quite possible that, once Zelensky was in place and had been coached (by US and/or by far-right local goons), US helped Ukraine to set up a smallish nuclear program – something not massive enough to be easily detected by others, a bit more stealthy probably, but that would produce nukes in a few years, say by the mid-2020s.
Posted by: Clueless Joe | Aug 21 2022 22:54 utc | 109
I too have been uneasy about the “We launched the SMO to prevent the Ukrainian attack on the LDNR” explanation, for the same reason.
But the whole thing was started way too hastily to fit the nuclear explanation either. Which is not to say that this wasn’t a motivation, the fact the they specifically went as fast as they could for the three out of five NPPs that we were within easy, and even not so easy reach speaks for itself. But if Ukraine was to get a nuke in the mid-2020s that does not necessitate a large-scale not properly prepared war being launched on a timescale of days. You have more time than that.
Posted by: Tbx | Aug 21 2022 23:10 utc | 95
Putin – “The national flag, as well as the unfading red Banner of Victory, serves to educate the younger generation in the values of patriotism, citizenship, and responsibility for the future of the Motherland.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_Banner_(Soviet_Union) “According to the Law of the Russian Federation, the Banner of Victory is to be stored forever in a place which provides its safety and public availability.”
I don’t know what flag Russia flew over Paris but I suspect this one will also fly over the white house.
“Bernard Montgomery quote: Rule 1, on page 1 of the book of war, is: Do not march on Moscow.”
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Aug 21 2022 23:11 utc | 96
Every second day, always with an new aspect. Bhadrakumar:
https://www.indianpunchline.com/us-taunts-russia-to-escalate-in-ukraine/
“Moscow’s preference is to avoid any escalation, since the special military operation is achieving results. Whereas, it is the US that is in some visible despair, and in immediate terms, Russia’s plans to hold referendums in Kherson and Zaporozhye in September must be stalled. Herein lies the danger.
The US’ current build-up over Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant points toward a hidden agenda to intervene in the war at some point directly. Kiev’s attempt to arrange a nuclear explosion in Zaporozhye can only be seen in this light. Moscow seems to anticipate such an eventuality.
Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu disclosed yesterday that Russia has begun mass production of Tsirkon hypersonic cruise missiles and is already deploying them. The US lacks the capability to counter Tsirkon, which is estimated to be 11 times faster than Tomahawk with far superior target-penetration characteristics. Shoigu may have given a stark warning that Russia will not be cowed down if there’s a NATO intervention in Ukraine.”
Posted by: njet | Aug 21 2022 23:36 utc | 97
Posted by: Clueless Joe | Aug 21 2022 22:54 utc | 109
Have wondered the same thing. From my vantage point, letting Ukraine attack DPR/LPR had strategic benefit.
I will venture a couple guesses….
Donetsk, a huge city, is only a few miles away from the frontline. Had Ukraine been able to push into it, the population would have been thoroughly terrorized. Russia would have been forced to fight a war right on top of the people they are trying to protect.
Had Ukraine/NATO left their trenches and attacked heavily fortified areas with urban combat, it would have been costly for them. It also would have devastated the people living there.
Posted by: Haassaan | Aug 21 2022 23:43 utc | 98
@grenly
Yawn indeed
How Ukraine Unplugged from Russia and Joined Europe’s Power Grid with Unprecedented Speed
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-ukraine-unplugged-from-russia-and-joined-europes-power-grid-with-unprecedented-speed/
https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Ukraine-offers-to-support-EU-as-continent-braces-f
In June, Halushchenko said that Ukraine’s potential to export electricity comes from the country’s nuclear power plants, which usually supply more than half the of Ukraine’s electricity but have been underutilised due to the impact the conflict has had on domestic electricity demand. At that time, he said that Ukraine was prepared to export 1.69 GWe, and with further technical improvements the volume could be as high as 5 GWe.
Ukraine’s energy ministry said: “Synchronisation of the Ukrainian energy system with ENTSO-E as well as the opening of exports from Ukraine to the EU is a significant and rather valuable decision.”
Posted by: OhCanada | Aug 21 2022 23:50 utc | 99
Posted by: Clueless Joe | Aug 21 2022 22:54 utc | 109
Guess number two…
NATO wanted Russia to attack and did everything in their power to goad Russia into it including having Zelenky make the nuclear weapons threat.
In chess terms one might call this a gambit or sacrifice. In an accepted gambit, material is offered (Ukraine) in return for position and/or tempo.
If the acceptor of the gambit can see their way to the end, they gain the Material while not losing much in the way of position or tempo. If they take the piece without a longterm plan, they can open themselves up to a world of hurt.
I usually decline gambit unless I can see how to play them out until the end.
Posted by: Haassaan | Aug 21 2022 23:54 utc | 100