How The U.S. (And UK) Sabotaged Peace In Ukraine

February 22, 2023

The Washington Post provides another of those lame flattering portraits of the Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelinski:

A year in the trenches has hardened Ukraine’s president
Volodymyr Zelensky came into office thinking peace with Putin was possible. He now believes victory is the only answer.

The piece is contradicting itself in certain manners but it also provides new evidence that the U.S. had set out to sabotage the Minsk agreement.

The headline is of course wrong. Zelenski has not been in the trenches but continued his pampered life near a bunker in Kiev. It is not Zelenski's 'hardening' that prevents peace negotiations with Russia but the blockage of any negotiation attempts by the U.S. government.

But first a look at the contradiction:

Not long after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, a year ago this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky found himself in a safe room beneath Kyiv’s government complex with the voice of the Belarusian president booming over the phone.

Alexander Lukashenko, one of the Kremlin’s key allies, was inviting a delegation of officials to Minsk to negotiate an end to the war that Russia had launched just three days earlier, according to Andriy Sybiha, the deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office, who was in the room for the call.

Zelensky was incensed at the invitation to another negotiation — recalling talks over the conflict in Ukraine’s east, known as “Minsk 1” and “Minsk 2,” that took place in the Belarusian capital in 2014 and 2015 — in which Kyiv was forced to make concessions to the Kremlin under the threat of battlefield losses.

“There will be no Minsk,” Zelensky said, according to Sybiha. “There will be no Minsk 3.”

The claim is that Zelenski was rejecting negotiations. But that claim is false and contradicted by the following events. Many paragraphs later we learn:

Zelensky remained adamant that Ukraine would not enter another Minsk-type negotiation with Russia, but emissaries from the Ukrainian government still held talks with the Russians in Belarus and Turkey throughout March, until the discovery of Russian atrocities in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha. When Zelensky visited Bucha on April 4, he looked visibly stricken, telling reporters it was “very difficult to talk when you see what they have done here.” Arakhamia said he called the leader of the Russian negotiating team and explained that Ukraine could no longer participate in any negotiations. “How can I fly in and sit down at a table and speak to them?” Arakhamia said. “I simply don’t understand.”

That is fake history. Whatever happened in Bucha did not stop Zelenski from negotiating with Russia. As the BBC reported on April 4 2022:

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has said peace talks will continue with Russia despite accusing Moscow of war crimes and genocide.

Mr Zelensky was speaking in Bucha, near the capital Kyiv, where bodies of civilians were found strewn on the streets after Russian troops withdrew.
…
Responding to a question from the BBC on whether it was still possible to talk peace with Russia, Mr Zelensky said: "Yes, because Ukraine must have peace. We are in Europe in the 21st Century. We will continue efforts diplomatically and militarily."

It was only days later, after a phone call and then a visit by the British prime minister Boris Johnson, that the Ukraine ended the negotiations with Russia. The Ukrainian Pravda reported in May 2022:

According Ukrainska Pravda sources close to Zelenskyy, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson, who appeared in the capital almost without warning, brought two simple messages.

The first is that Putin is a war criminal, he should be pressured, not negotiated with.

And the second is that even if Ukraine is ready to sign some agreements on guarantees with Putin, they are not.

Johnson’s position was that the collective West, which back in February had suggested Zelenskyy should surrender and flee, now felt that Putin was not really as powerful as they had previously imagined, and that here was a chance to "press him."

Three days after Johnson left for Britain, Putin went public and said talks with Ukraine "had turned into a dead end".

Boris Johnson made his unannounced visit to Kiev on April 9 2022.

The Ukrainian Pravda account has been confirmed by Fiona Hill, Russia specialist in the National Security Council under the Trump administration. In a piece for Foreign Affairs Fiona Hill and Angela Stent wrote in August 2022:

According to multiple former senior U.S. officials we spoke with, in April 2022, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators appeared to have tentatively agreed on the outlines of a negotiated interim settlement: Russia would withdraw to its position on February 23, when it controlled part of the Donbas region and all of Crimea, and in exchange, Ukraine would promise not to seek NATO membership and instead receive security guarantees from a number of countries.

In an interview with an Israeli outlet (vid), former prime minister of Israel Naftali Bennett, who was personally deeply involved in the negotiation process, also alleged that the 'West' blocked them:

Reports at the time reflect Bennet’s comments and said Russia and Ukraine were softening their positions. Citing Israeli officials, Axios reported on March 8 that Putin’s “proposal is difficult for Zelensky to accept but not as extreme as they anticipated. They said the proposal doesn’t include regime change in Kyiv and allows Ukraine to keep its sovereignty.”

Discussing how Western leaders felt about his mediation efforts, Bennett said then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson took an “aggressive line” while French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz were more “pragmatic.” Bennett said President Biden adopted “both” positions.

But ultimately, the Western leaders opposed Bennet’s efforts. “I’ll say this in the broad sense. I think there was a legitimate decision by the West to keep striking Putin and not [negotiate],” Bennett said.

When asked if the Western powers “blocked” the mediation efforts, Bennet said,

"Basically, yes. They blocked it, and I thought they were wrong."

Again, the end of the negotiations between Russian and Ukraine in early April 2022 had nothing to with Bucha, but was caused by 'Western', the U.S. and UK's, unwillingness to support a peace agreement.

Washington's resistance against any Ukrainian agreement with Russia can also be seen in an anecdote the Washington Post piece provides from Zelenski's first year as president:

William B. Taylor Jr., the top official at the U.S. Embassy at the time, recalled finding Zelensky in his office in the summer of 2019 expressing curiosity about the “Steinmeier Formula,” an interpretation of the Minsk accords named after Germany’s former foreign minister that the Ukrainian president hoped might lead to a deal with the Kremlin.

“No one knows what it is,” Taylor recalled replying. “Steinmeier doesn’t know what it is.”

Zelensky, according to Taylor, grabbed his phone and pointed to a document explaining the formulation, thinking that somewhere in the details of the legalese a workable compromise with Moscow might be found.

“It’s a terrible idea,” Taylor replied, though Zelensky went on to endorse it in the coming months, trying to land a face-to-face with Putin.

The Steinmeier formula determined the sequencing of the steps the Ukrainian government and the Donbas authorities had to take under the Minsk agreements:

Specifically, Steinmeier's formula calls for elections to be held in the separatist-held territories under Ukrainian legislation and the supervision of the OSCE. If the OSCE judges the balloting to be free and fair, then a special self-governing status for the territories will be initiated and Ukraine will be returned control of its easternmost border.

The formula was vocalized and had not been put to paper until it was signed on October 1 by representatives of Ukraine, Russia, the separatist territories of Luhansk and Donetsk, and the OSCE in Minsk.

It was a simple and clear agreement. But the top U.S. envoy in Ukraine tried to prevent Zelenski from implementing it.

Multiple times along the line of events the Ukraine had tried to come to peace with Russia. Each time we know of the 'West', i.e. the U.S. and UK, successfully sabotaged the peace efforts.

Posted by b on February 22, 2023 at 11:04 UTC | Permalink

Comments

Great reporting b.

Posted by: Merkin Scot | Feb 22 2023 11:23 utc | 1

Posted by: War Observer | Feb 22 2023 11:27 utc | 2
To use that saying from last year.
Nato are looking for that off ramp they were encouraging the Russians to use.
Hope it’s found soon.

Posted by: jpc | Feb 22 2023 11:31 utc | 2

I recall reading on this blog, that the Russians claimed to have intercepted orders to the Front, to invade the Donbas with their prepared invasion forces, and that the Russian “beat them to the punch” a mere day before the UAF fist was to strike. I’ve heard nothing of this since. Is the proof being saved for tribunals when this is all over?

Posted by: SET | Feb 22 2023 12:02 utc | 3

@War Observer | Feb 22 2023 11:50 utc | 4
There are TWO SIDES within the ranks of empire, one which knows the US may face destruction and one side which plays the role of being hawkish to corral the vassals. A scenario probably expected from game theory.

Posted by: petergrfstrm | Feb 22 2023 12:07 utc | 4

I think Russia has prepared well for the situation there in. I can’t say the same for the West.
They have over estimated their power; sanctions didn’t work, ammunition/supplies/tanks/running out, and now they must either send troops or prepare for nuclear future.

Posted by: fandango | Feb 22 2023 12:10 utc | 5

The big problem is the entire notion that Putin and his team would have agreed to control over Donbass in exchange for a worthless Ukraine/NATO promise that Ukraine would not enter NATO.
Ukraine never needed to enter NATO, particularly. They had been trained and equipped for eight years by NATO without being in NATO. So what would have been the point of a worthless agreement that Ukraine wouldn’t enter NATO? Are we to assume that Putin and his team were that dumb?
It’s totally ridiculous that Russia would have ended the war on such an agreement. It would have left Russia precisely where it was before the war started, with essentially zero implementation of Minsk, plus the Ukraine regime would remain a puppet of the US and NATO, Ukraine would continue to receive western military aid, pursuant to a plan to eventually attack eastern Ukraine and Russia, the biowarfare labs in Ukraine would continue, and most importantly, absolutely nothing would have been achieved with regard to the Russian treaty proposals of December, 2021.
People continue to believe that the Russian negotiators had a clue what they were doing. I remember the negotiation period and how the Russian negotiator was so low on the Russian government totem pole that everyone assumed Russia was just going through the motions; “The Forms Must Be Obeyed”, as Martyanov puts it, quoting the Dune novel. The lead negotiator for Russia was considered to be an incompetent and everyone assumed that whatever “deal” was tentatively signed would be rejected by Putin, and certainly by the Duma. And of course, no one believed the Ukrainians were serious about anything.
But now all that is forgotten and it is assumed that it was solely because Boris Johnson told Zelensky not to negotiate that the negotiations failed, and worse, that they ever had a chance in the first place.
I will reiterate that the primary purpose of the Russian invasion of Ukraine was not to secure Donbass, and not to get a worthless promise from Ukraine and NATO that Ukraine wouldn’t formally be part of NATO. Nor was it primarily to “de-militarize and de-Nazify Ukraine.” Those latter two goals were merely preconditions for achieving the real goal of the SMO: the overthrow of the Ukraine regime, the absorption of Ukraine under control of the Russian Federation by whatever “legal” or “illegal” means, to be followed by the establishment of a Russian Military District in western Ukraine, as well as in Belarus, to counter the Aegis Ashore installations NATO has in Poland and Romania.
This is the only way Russian security interests as outlined in the December treaty proposals can be at least partially achieved. Everything else is just irrelevant. The only “negotiations” the Russians were ever interested in was Ukraine’s unconditional surrender, followed by the dismantling of the Ukrainian regime, and the implementation of the Russian program.
Period. End of story.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Feb 22 2023 12:21 utc | 6

I had thought as far back as 2019-20 that the election of a Democrat like Biden would mean war in Crimea. I didn’t think the Russians were plucky enough to initiate a massive invasion like this. The strategy as I saw it would be for the British and US to exploit the legal loopholes surrounding Crimea to place their own troops in Umraine as guests of Kiev in order to start a war in Crimea. The strategic point has always been securing a warm weather port on the one side and depriving it on the other. It’s since turned into a complete realignment of Russia to China and severing of economic cooperation between Germany and Russia.

Posted by: Wokechoke | Feb 22 2023 12:22 utc | 7

Ukraine and Comedian started the war by bombing and firing at its own citizens in the Donbas. Lets not forget they had started the war with them years ago including banning their native Russian language.
Now the Comedian is reaping what he sowed. “I want F16s and Leopard 2s”
“No comedian. You will get WW2 Leopard 1s and toy airplanes” LoL

Posted by: Comandante | Feb 22 2023 12:28 utc | 8

Boris Johnson saved Russia from Minsk III.
Might be the best thing Boris has ever done!
Saving Russia from signing another worthless document with their “Western partners” – what a godsend!

Posted by: Julian | Feb 22 2023 12:39 utc | 9

The end will not be pretty for Ukraine and the uSS [along with NATO] knows it.

Posted by: AI | Feb 22 2023 12:58 utc | 10

Wokechoke [6]
I didn’t think the Russians were plucky enough to initiate a massive invasion like this.
Your ignorance of Russian history and the nature of its military doctrine is remarkably naive.
Your use of words like “plucky enough” is disparaging and remarkably trite. The world’s No1 nuclear-armed power is willing to destroy the United States and the West to prevent another 1941 experience………
“As a citizen of Russia and the head of the Russian state,” the president said, “I want to ask myself the question: ‘Why do we need such a world if Russia is not in it?’”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Bxik6kLEbM
If Putin stated this in 2018 WHY oh WHY do you not think he meant it ????????

Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Feb 22 2023 12:58 utc | 11

So the shit or get off the pot moment is fast approaching.
Biden has made his inane little democracy/as long as it takes soundbites.
Transdinistra is being eyed up for an event.
US/NATO have talked themselves into a corner.
At some point soon in time the talking stops.
What next.

Posted by: jpc | Feb 22 2023 13:05 utc | 12

Here is a classic version of the statement about “military-technical measures” from Sergey Lavrov, on January 14, 2022, as reported by Tass:
https://tass.com/defense/1388331

Top diplomat explains how Russia sees its military-technical response to security threats
“Military-technical measures imply the deployment of military hardware,” Sergey Lavrov said
MOSCOW, January 14. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has explained what Russia means by saying that it may take military-technical measures in case of a real security threat.
“Military-technical measures imply the deployment of military hardware, it is obvious. And when we make decisions about these or those steps, we always know what we mean and what we are getting prepared for,” he told a news conference on the results of the Russian foreign ministry’s activities in 2021 on Friday.
The minister recalled that drills have recently been conducted in Russia’s western regions. “Now, a snap check has kicked off at our country’s eastern borders. These are our domestic affairs, our decisions. And, naturally, when hardware and manpower are pulled to our borders, and, notably, these are not the forces of those countries where it is taking place, but the Americans are deploying tens of thousands of their troops and the Britons are deploying hundreds, thousands of items of military hardware, we want to know what these vehicles are going to do in the Baltic countries, in Poland, in other countries, which can resolve problems on Russia’s territory by means of certain types of weapons,” Lavrov stressed.
The Russian top diplomat warned against trying to find “any hidden meaning” in this respect. “We have always been only responding to threats to Russia’s security,” he added.
Russian-US and Russian-NATO talks on security guarantees were held earlier this week. On Monday, Geneva hosted Russian-US consultations on these matters. On Thursday, a Russia-NATO Council meeting was held in Brussels, and a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council was held in Vienna on Thursday.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said earlier that Russia has “a set of military-technical measures” that would be used in case of a real threat to the country’s security.

And here is the Grushko reference, from January 17, 2022, also reported by Tass:
https://tass.com/politics/1389307

NATO knows which measures Russia can take if its initiatives are turned down — diplomat
On December 17, the Russian foreign ministry released two Russian draft agreements on security guarantees for the United States and NATO
MOSCOW, January 17. /TASS/. NATO knows perfectly well which military-technical measures Russia may take if it turns down Russia’s security guarantees initiatives, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said in an interview with the Kommersant daily that came out on Monday.
“We are threatening no one. We are warning. Our position is absolutely clear and predictable. We have worded it quite clearly and now are waiting for a similarly honest response,” he said. “NATO knows perfectly well what kind of military-technical measures may follow from Russia. We make no secret of our possibilities and are acting very transparently.”
According to the senior diplomat, concrete measures will depend on the military potentials that could be used against Russia’s interests. Moscow, in his words, will make a decision on continuing dialogue on its security guarantees with NATO and the United States after it receives “written answers to its written proposals.” “We will make up our mind then,” he added.
On December 17, the Russian foreign ministry released two Russian draft agreements on security guarantees for the United States and NATO. One of the things Russia insists on is a guarantee from NATO that it will not expand any further eastwards and that Ukraine will not be admitted to the alliance. Apart from that, Russia insists on a ban on the deployment of serious offensive weapons, including nuclear arms.
The Russian-US consultations on security guarantees were held in Geneva on Monday. On January 12, a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council was held in Brussels and the OSCE Permanent Council gathered for a meeting in Vienna on the following day.

And from December 22, 2021, we hear from Peskov:
Russia expects US to shape clear proposals on security guarantees, says Kremlin
https://tass.com/world/1379189

Reporters also asked to specify what Russian President Vladimir Putin meant when he spoke about Russia’s readiness to take adequate military-technical measures, if Western countries continued to pursue a clearly aggressive policy.
“This is a whole set of measures to ensure the security of the Russian Federation and mutually deterring parity,” Peskov explained, but declined to elaborate.

And Putin himself in the Moscow Times, December 21, 2021:
Putin Warns of ‘Military-Technical’ Response to Western ‘Aggression’
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/12/21/putin-warns-of-military-technical-response-to-western-aggression-a75891

“If our Western colleagues continue the obviously aggressive stance, we will take appropriate retaliatory military-technical measures and react harshly to unfriendly steps,” Putin said at a Defense Ministry board meeting, according to the state-run TASS news agency.
He did not specify which “military-technical” measures would be taken.
The Russian president stressed that Moscow “doesn’t want armed conflicts or bloodshed” and that it “has every right” to take what he views as steps that ensure the country’s security and sovereignty.

And on February 17, just seven days before the start of the SMO, Russia reiterated the same phrase, clearly referring to the upcoming invasion:
Official Russian response to the American written response to Russian claims on security guarantees in Europe
https://thesaker.is/official-russian-response-to-the-american-written-response-to-russian-claims-on-security-guarantees-in-europe/

The growing military activity of the United States and NATO directly at the Russian borders is alarming, while our “red lines” and fundamental security interests, as well as Russia’s sovereign right to protect them, continue to be ignored. Ultimatum demands to withdraw troops from certain areas on Russian territory, accompanied by threats of tougher sanctions, are unacceptable and undermine the prospects of reaching real agreements.
In the absence of the readiness of the American side to agree on firm, legally binding guarantees of ensuring our security by the United States and its allies, Russia will be forced to respond, including through the implementation of military-technical measures….
To de-escalate the situation around Ukraine, it is fundamentally important to take the following steps. This is forcing Kiev to implement a set of measures, stopping the supply of weapons to Ukraine, withdrawing all Western advisers and instructors from there, the refusal of NATO countries from any joint exercises with the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the withdrawal of all foreign weapons previously supplied to Kiev outside Ukrainian territory….
It was fixed that the United States takes the Russian approach as a basis, which provides for the mutual settlement of counter-concerns in the context of the previously existing INF Treaty. The variant proposed by the American side of the development of our idea of mutual verification measures in relation to the Aegis Ashore complexes in Romania and Poland, as well as some facilities in the European part of Russia, can be further taken into consideration….

Clearly Russia’s concerns involved those Aegis Ashore installations – this has been known for a long time. Russia expected those same Aegis Ashore installations to be installed in Ukraine eventually. Also note that the list of requirements specific to Ukraine amount to basically “de-militarizing” Ukraine as well as preventing Ukraine from having anything to do with Western military assistance.
All this was refused, so Russia again reiterated its intention to use “military-technical measures” just a week before the war started.
Clearly, then, the SMO is at least part of those “military-technical measures.”
It remains to extrapolate how the further development of those measures will be implemented in Ukraine. The only way I can see which insures that Ukraine remains a “buffer” between Russia and NATO which provides a real military deterrent to NATO encroachment is to install a Military District in Ukraine with strategic weapons to counter those Aegis Ashore installations.
It’s that simple.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Feb 22 2023 13:09 utc | 13

Posted by: rk | Feb 22 2023 7:23 utc | 381

@ ghiwen | Feb 22 2023 7:12 utc | 375
There was no mistake. Oil and gas can’t be replaced. Is English so hard for you?

What has this to do with language?
it has to do with correctness ( against fake news )
vragtes wrote :

– The Outlaw Empire wants to weaken Germany by depriving it of Russian oil. So it blows up Nord Stream 2 pipelines
– The latter (Norway) stands to benefit hugely as it has significant oil assets and a pipeline to Poland
– So why can’t Germany just get Norwegian oil via Poland?

you even answer vragtes question about the oilpipeline between norway and poland

That is a tiny pipe.

Posted by: ghiwen | Feb 22 2023 13:15 utc | 14

According to our data, the military commissariats of Odessa, Poltava, Kirovograd, Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkov, Cherkassy regions are almost overfulfilling the mobilization plan. Strongly grab everyone.
For example, Western Ukraine disrupts all mobilization processes, not even fulfilling the plan by 50% (only certain regions and cities of Western Ukraine go back to normal with the plan, since there is a clear distribution order from Kiev for these areas).

https://t.me/legitimniy/14835

Our source reports that if the Russians do not start their offensive within 60 days, then the Armed Forces of Ukraine will have to go on the offensive themselves in order to demonstrate positive dynamics to the Western partners at the front. Confirm the formula that the West is not investing money in the Ze-strategy for nothing.

https://t.me/legitimniy/14834

Posted by: Down South | Feb 22 2023 13:26 utc | 15

⚡️ The Russian Defense Ministry commented on the exalted statements that appeared on certain information resources about allegedly blocking the supply of ammunition to volunteers of assault detachments performing combat missions to liberate the city of Artemovsk of the Donetsk People’s Republic.
◽️ The command of the joint group of troops (forces) within the framework of a special military operation pays special, constant and priority attention to providing volunteers and military personnel of assault units with everything necessary.
◽️ Only in the last two days, the total advance, to the prepared defensive positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, assault units in the area of the city of Artyomovsk amounted to more than two and a half kilometers. Successful combat operations would not have been possible without full fire support for the offensive by artillery, armored vehicles and other fire weapons of the Yug group. Despite the difficult weather conditions in the area of the city of Artyomovsk, over the past few days, 18 sorties of assault aircraft were carried out to support the offensive of the assault detachments. Therefore, all statements allegedly made on behalf of the assault units about the lack of ammunition are absolutely untrue.
◽️ So, only for the period of two days from February 18 to February 20, 2023, the volunteers of the assault squads received:
1660 rockets for multiple rocket launchers; 10171 ammunition for large-caliber cannon artillery and mortars; 980 tank ammo.
◽️ All applications for the supply of ammunition for assault units are completed as soon as possible. So it was and so it will be.
◽️ In the next few days, all requests for ammunition submitted for February will be fully provided for assault units. On February 25, deliveries of ammunition of the entire range will begin in accordance with the submitted application for March. In total, over the past year, the needs of assault detachments for ammunition were met by 140 percent of the applications received. This is our priority.
◽️ Once again, we want to emphasize that the volunteers, like the military personnel of the assault units of the group, courageously and selflessly carry out the most difficult combat missions to liberate Donbass from militants of the Kyiv regime. Attempts to split the close mechanism of interaction and support between the divisions of the Russian group are counterproductive and play only to the benefit of the enemy.

https://t.me/sitreports/4867

Posted by: Down South | Feb 22 2023 13:31 utc | 16

◾History repeats itself. Biden said today: “I’m talking to you Russians. NATO and the West are not your enemy”.
Only that it’s something we have heard before but from German lines:
People of Moscow!
Germany did not want war.
The German army is not an enemy of the people. It fights only against communist anarchy and against criminals sitting in the Kremlin.
Your Jewish-Communist rulers have caused a war. They also forced the red pilots to bombard the defenseless capitals of Finland and Romania: Helsingfors and Bukaresht.
Hitler ordered his armed forces to give an immediate response to the daring raids of the Red bombers.
You now have to suffer because of the criminal policy of Stalin and his henchmen.
Rise up against the swindlers, they have oppressed you for 24 years. Drive them!
IF YOU LIQUIDATE THEM THEN GERMAN PILOT FLIGHTS WILL NOT REPEAT!
◾Did you see any similarities with the discourse of the West today and Nazi Germany?

https://t.me/sitreports/4871

Posted by: Down South | Feb 22 2023 13:33 utc | 17

🇷🇺🪖Commander of the “Vostok” battalion revealed the background of the conflict with ammunition for PMCs and the problem of ammunition norms during the offensive
A. Khodakovsky: “The problem is not that the PMCs stopped receiving ammunition, but that they began to receive them like everyone else. Frankly, we envied the Wagners in a good way when they had their own front-line aviation, a daily allowance of two Iskanders and one Caliber, when they signed applications for two and a half thousand ATGMs for training (!) practice, when prisoners were dragged to them from all over the country… They were envious, but they understood that not everyone is given such a supply – and he will give a result like them. The result is not only composed of quantity…
Now the supply guys have become like everyone else, and the most depressing thing is not that they were specifically lowered to general norms, but that these norms do not allow them to give the desired result.
At Ugledar before the offensive, the army reduced daily consumption to a minimum in order to accumulate a reserve at least for the first day of the offensive. This was obviously not enough to suppress the enemy’s resistance, and the consequences were not long in coming.”

https://t.me/azmilitary11/38642

Posted by: Down South | Feb 22 2023 13:42 utc | 18

Thank you b, for another informative piece. At the time I only had a hazy awareness about Naftali Bennett’s attempts to broker an agreement, so particular thanks for the background links on that info.
I’m not sure what to make of this piece from Sputnik:

Ukraine Conflict Will Have to End With Diplomacy, Negotiations – State Dept.
he conflict in Ukraine will have to end with diplomacy and negotiations and President Volodymyr Zelensky knows it too, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in an interview.
“We know, just like President Zelensky knows, that this war will have to end with diplomacy, it will have to end with negotiations, and right now we are focused on strengthening our Ukrainian partners, so that when […] that negotiating table emerges, our Ukrainian partners have as strong a hand as possible,” Price said on Tuesday.

From their rolling update thread here: https://sputniknews.com/20230220/live-updates-nato-has-sent-almost-10000-missiles-and-440-tanks-to-ukraine-since-2021-moscow-says-1107603884.html
Presumably Price will have had clearance from higher up in the US State Dept. for this?

Posted by: West of England Andy | Feb 22 2023 13:42 utc | 19

– The Outlaw Empire wants to weaken Germany by depriving it of Russian oil. So it blows up Nord Stream 2 pipelines
Nordstream carries/carried NATURAL GAS not OIL

Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Feb 22 2023 13:54 utc | 20

Feb 22 2023 12:21 utc | 5
the bandera ukraine is an obama molded tar baby, biden and the blob got russia to grab and get stuck on the tar baby. russia got the blob to throw it, stuck to the tar baby, into the briar patch of long war. the blob was dumb enough to jump into the briar patch with russia in its own back yard on russia’s terms!
russia could have achieved regime change in kiev if the ‘massive’ south bound thrust had been properly armed…. and blood thirsty as the us shock and awe doctrine
it was a forlorn hope that kiev was not a full vassal of the neolib/neocon blob.
that hope failed. the alternative is to drag on, deplete the nato/us’ military stocks and show the west’s profitable military industry complex to be a sham.
f-16’s to kiev! poland has played with f-16 since 2008 and could not tell anyone how they are doing……..
but someday when the f-35 is ‘upgraded to block 40’, has a new engine with more power and less infrared signature and a brain that actually controls all the whiz-bang f-16 will fade.
it will replace f-16 that was good over baghdad in 1991
russia has no reason to move faster nor talk with the untrustworthy.

Posted by: paddy | Feb 22 2023 14:12 utc | 21

I have always believed that, since the ‘Maidan’ coup in 1013, Russia has been the one ‘buying time’ so as to establish military control over the whole of the Ukraine, and thus gain a degree of protection from U.S. missile encroachment. I even wonder Russia actually CREATED the ‘Maidan’ coup in 1013 in order to subsequently gain that protection. What do people think would happen if Russia were to place missiles — including OSTENSIBLY ‘defensive interceptors’ — on the Mexican border? Would the U.S. just merely stand by and wait to see what might happen? I don’t think so.

Posted by: blues | Feb 22 2023 14:16 utc | 22

Why oh why do citizens in NATO countries kneel before their criminally stupid leaders? How can the French live with sending tanks to Ukraine that will receive Wehrmacht or SS insignia? Jean Moulin is forgotten so completely?

Posted by: Anthony | Feb 22 2023 14:19 utc | 23

“The US is attempting to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia in the conflict in Ukraine, meaning Moscow has the right to defend itself by any means necessary, including nuclear weapons, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has stated.”
Not exactly a cocktail party ice-breaker.

Posted by: Elmagnostic | Feb 22 2023 14:24 utc | 24

I cannot see anything good about the future. The US needs a bloody nose before it will even think about stopping.

Posted by: Kaiama | Feb 22 2023 14:27 utc | 25

Posted by: Kaiama | Feb 22 2023 14:27 utc | 24
All the stated goals and all the military capacity of the West are in conflict with a for profit war machine. There’s no money in winning, which is why Afganistan et al were not failures at all.

Posted by: Rjb1.5 | Feb 22 2023 14:35 utc | 26

The truth from the playground–
“Everyone hates bully but scared to punch. But once bully is punched, everyone starts attacking bully. Same thing happened here. US has been behaving like a Bully since WW2. Every country, including China, was scared of US. Bear punched US and the result is in front of you.” -an anonymous nom de guerre poster.

Posted by: Elmagnostic | Feb 22 2023 14:36 utc | 27

re: Ukraine Conflict Will Have to End With Diplomacy, Negotiations – State Dept.
As others have noted, US diplomacy consists of sanctions, and negotiations are orders. This is all backed up by the ~~defense~~war department financed with hundreds of billions of dollars facilitated by outright lying subterfuges by government officials.
The US is totally dedicated to American exceptionalism by force, fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them here. Foreign human lives simply don’t matter when it comes to enforcing the “rules-based international order.” And there’s so much money in it. Currently the orders for the crappy expensive F-35 mistake-jet are going through the roof, for just one example.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Feb 22 2023 14:56 utc | 28

Nordstream carries/carried NATURAL GAS not OIL
Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Feb 22 2023 13:54 utc | 19
It actually carries nothing now that the Terrorists blew it up.

Posted by: Comandante | Feb 22 2023 14:57 utc | 29

Possibly irrelevant questions but…
Is the Outlaw US Empire the only country which keeps part of its Nuclear ‘self defense’ Arsenal in countries remote from its borders?
And why the heck does it need 800(?) military bases worldwide?

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Feb 22 2023 14:57 utc | 30

And why the heck does it need 800(?) military bases worldwide?
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Feb 22 2023 14:57 utc | 29
To maintain that Pentagon budget, those kush overseas all travel expense paid jobs, massive retirement benefits etc etc etc.

Posted by: SwissArmyMan | Feb 22 2023 15:03 utc | 31

Israel Ready to Join anti-Russia Coalition
Netanyahu could visit Kyiv in near future | Hayom, PM Netanyahu’s mouthpiece |

A senior lawmaker from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party called for the country to stop “fence-sitting” on Ukraine and provide it with military defences against Russia, which he accused of “terrorism”.

The dominoes may fall against Putin … Israel is a long time military ally of Georgia and Azerbaijan … the latter country’s airports are needed to launch a bombing raid on Iran. Türkiye too is a crucial ally of Azerbaijan … in recent visit, Antony could have made an offer Erdogan couldn’t refuse … territory in Northern Syria or a closed-eye agreement to bomb the Kurds… stop blockage of Sweden as new member of NATO … there is still the conflict with Greece … many hurdles.
Ukraine’s president invites Netanyahu to visit Kyiv | MEMO – 3 hrs ago |
Another risk … Bibi appointed all “yes” men this time around … not Obama in the White House as was the case in 2012, timely leak.
Netanyahu said to huddle repeatedly with military brass over possible attack on Iran | TOI |
With a broader alliance, stakes will be higher, devastation that much greater … calculus is left to AI
Link:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-huddles-with-military-top-brass-as-israel-looks-to-rattle-some-sabers/

Posted by: Oui | Feb 22 2023 15:08 utc | 32

One wonders why Johnson was the one who “laid down the law”. As the titular head of the mostly toothless and certainly mangy old lion, it seems improbable that Johnson actually possessed any level of actual agency. So it becomes logical to presume that he was AN agent for a “higher power”.
Many poorly informed or “careful” analysts would immediately point to the U$$A and presume that the Outlaw Regime in the Di$trict of Corruption was lurking behind the scene and calling the shots. But would Johnson actually have received his orders from the financier barons closer to home, MUCH closer to home. City of London is the world center of high finance, insurance, media, metals, shipping and much, much more. Within that private enclave, not susceptible to the laws of Great Britain, hovers a private bank under the name and ownership of a secretive Crime Clan which has been semi-covertly running affairs for the Five Eyes and much of the world for over a hundred years.
“Polite” individuals do not even want to hear or read these words. Why? Are they afraid of an entity so powerful that the rise and fall of nations themselves are within the greedy grasp of those ultimate stringpullers? But the times they are a changin, according to the contemporary Jewish prophet Robert Zimmerman. There’s a little dog tugging away at a certain curtain, while a little boy utters “but he has no clothes”!
The Hellenic Greek word “Apocalypse” does not equate with the term from the Old Testicles, “Armageddon”, the time of the ultimate battle…rather it simply signifies revelation, a revealing of monumental change.

Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 22 2023 15:08 utc | 33

The problem with the “leaders” of NATO and the West is that they believe their own BS. Their economies are strong and growing, their peoples’ health is improving, their wealth is increasing, etc. Of course, those truths only hold for the leaders and their puppetmasters, and not for the other 99% of the populace. They also have superior weaponry, albeit it costs 7 to 10 times what Russia and China are spending for their pretty good weaponry, and cannot produce it at one quarter the rate of what China and Russia can crank out.
The T-34 was a relatively simple but rugged tank, outclassed by German Tigers, but the Soviets had twenty times the units and fuel to keep them running. This is pretty much the same balance seen today between Russia and NATO, and China makes it even more lopsided. That is simple reality, something not appreciated in the bubble chambers of the West.

Posted by: Cato the Uncensored | Feb 22 2023 15:09 utc | 34

Re: Narrative
It’s vital that we do not parrot the War Party’s narrative in any way.
1) The Ukrainian Civil War.
2) The Donbass Republics counterattacked
3) A tiny Russian Peacekeepering Force was formally invited by the Donbass Republics
That’s the true narrative

Posted by: Exile | Feb 22 2023 15:13 utc | 35

I cannot see anything good about the future. The US needs a bloody nose before it will even think about stopping.
Posted by: Kaiama | Feb 22 2023 14:27 utc | 24
###############
Where there is life, there is hope.
Many political situations cannot be reformed.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 22 2023 15:15 utc | 36

It actually carries nothing now that the Terrorists blew it up.
Posted by: Comandante | Feb 22 2023 14:57 utc | 28
—
It is a strange kind of terrorism where the actors seek to remain anonymous.

Posted by: too scents | Feb 22 2023 15:16 utc | 37

Re: Nukes in foreign countries
Ask a German how many nukes are located in Germany – you’ll get a blank stare.
Answer – about 300 nuclear bombs are located inside Germany plus various other ‘tactical’ nukes

Posted by: Exile | Feb 22 2023 15:16 utc | 38

Slavyangrad thinks the big arrow offensive has begun.

Posted by: oldhippie | Feb 22 2023 15:24 utc | 39

Guys! (I know there are both sexes here it is a general label so don’t cry please)
We all know that this ‘war’ is just another iteration of the centuries long , multi generational, attempt at colonialism of EurAsia of which Russia and its massive resources is a large part.
Honestly if anyone hasn’t already understood what Mackinders World Island was about, why it was formulated and taught in the old universities and which supply the apparatchiks of the Anglo Saxon/ European imperial courts for half a millennium- just go and study it for a few days and modern analysis of it – from ‘outside’ sources , not just the echo chamber internal voices that also came out of these same redbricky places as servants of the modern Media Imperial Arm.
So this Ukrainian internal strife and hate by the west of the eastern regions, the despicable racism , cancellation of language, culture and memory was a successful attempt to push – PROVOKE – Russia into action ; this particular method is different to the previous attempts which led the mercenary proxy forces invading Russia and take Moscow and beyond ! Always ending in defeat and retreat all the way back to the exact city dumb enough to front such an attempt.
It Russia wanted to ‘take Europe’ it would have stayed every time it fought back the invaders. Napoleon finally understood how much of a patsy he was as did many Nazis including Hess.
If I, as a amateur self learning historian of such matters can see that, aided by such a marvel, the shining lights in the Internet age, as bloggers and commentators as here at MoA and the amazing teachings of b – I think anyone, with a open mind should find the same dots in history and see if they can see the same picture themselves.
On the point of Bennet running around like a blue arsed fly last year – I did think it a bit strange that he arrived after secret labs had been captured with Israeli ‘workers’ and Azovstal was in desperate trouble with the ever more frantic attempts to ‘evacuate’ some peoples from there in the disastrous attempts by helicopter and boat and road! I dunno about the Israeli motivations of Bennet and certainly never believe any intentions of Nutty Bastard. My pet theory is that the Khazer Nazis have always felt that their Silk Road robbing hood was their ‘home’ and they have been trying for a long time to own it all.
In fact since before Napoleon, then the Brits, Bolsheviks, Hitlers German Nazis and now (z)’ells Banderists Nazis to do the same.
Now they are at the end of that yellow brick road where their wizardry is revealed as sham. They are not so quietly going into panic about their grand Mackinder plan Fail.
China and Russia have been pushed together against all their calculations!
The global south is throwing off its chains. The American Century is over , the EurAsian is here and the African centuries are coming.
The NS2 idiocy will finally lead to the moment of truth for the Germanic peoples. Their and rest of us ordinary Europeans long planned and demanded disengagement from Russian resources, which according to the Old Slave Owners, should only belong to them was being said out loud decade ago-by another House Slave of USA , Missy Cuntee Lies.
The Germans should see that for a century and a half they have been fooled, robbed and murdered instead of achieving a grand humanity enhancing world – that Mackinder and its proponents have endeavoured to possess and keep the planets resources and its peoples as their Slave.
I understand much more in the last few years than I did in my entire life of lies – most still are lost in that fog of ‘education’, media, culture, entertainment and self delusion of being ‘Free’ and ‘Woke’ that most still think this is about a SINGLE man!
I am increasing my one voice counter arguement daily and some are beginning to listen especially when I bemoan that the insecurities of nuclear holocaust that we all acted upon in the eighties are now back ! These treaty’s have been reneged or unrenwed and delivery systems are a lot more dangerous.
The next argument I will introduce is that as the Ukrainians are being pressganged daily, as their girls and boys go to the front as the Hitler youth type banderists they have been raised as – it’s not really their fault – that our now teenaged , 20-30 year old sons and grandsons will be sent to some meat grinder a thousand miles away in the name of our own parental idiocy and blind belief of the West being the Best. Where as it is just a Collective Waste, and our self delusional smugness is just a result of our daily diet – the worship of Hollywood, TV , Print and Social Media.
A daily slap is needed to rouse oneself out of the noxious siren dream.

Posted by: DunGroanin | Feb 22 2023 15:25 utc | 40

Politics is about power. Theoretically power is about military preparedness, but the 8 years of US military reinforcement of Ukraine have not prepared the country for war.
There are good reasons for that. Firstly any resource will attract a counter-resource . Power can be self-defeating.
Secondly, it is a great mistake on the US part to try to.motivate people through HATE. Islam says Anger eats intelligence.
Thirdly, the presence of the Nuclear umbrella of the superpowers creates an illusion of power the second that military planners start thinking they are weapons that can be used.
Lastly, arrogance, the fear of losing face or admitting mistakes. Slowly, day by day, Biden and Johnson are diminished in the public imagination by their arrogance.
What is so difficult about saying ‘ wo wo wo, this is getting out of hand, let’s compromise. Let’s talk.
A leader on captagon is like an AI robot which has no intelligence of the heart to tell it enough is enough. Whatever you’re doing, stop.

Posted by: Giyane | Feb 22 2023 15:26 utc | 41

It’s vital that we do not parrot the War Party’s narrative in any way.
1) The Ukrainian Civil War.
2) The Donbass Republics counterattacked
3) A tiny Russian Peacekeepering Force was formally invited by the Donbass Republics
That’s the true narrative

Posted by: Exile | Feb 22 2023 15:13 utc | 34
4) The population of Crimea exercised its UN-protected Right of Self-Determination

Posted by: West of England Andy | Feb 22 2023 15:27 utc | 42

“Everyone hates bully but scared to punch. But once bully is punched, everyone starts attacking bully.
To be accurate, the bear punched the bully’s playground butt-buddy, you know, the one who teases the other kids and hides behind the bully’s reputation.

Posted by: Chris | Feb 22 2023 15:34 utc | 43

Posted by: Kaiama | Feb 22 2023 14:27 utc | 24
Problem is, US never seems to learn from their bloody noses, do they? First there was Korea and Vietnam, where they lost big wars to other peer powers (Soviet Union in Korea, China in Vietnam)
Then the switched tactics and decided they would only muscle third world countries that did not have direct support from a peer (Libya, Syria, Iraq, Afganastain, et al) and they got beat up badly there, too.
Russia could nuke entirety of US tomorrow and there would still be some neoconservative someplace laughing in a bunker someplace about how they won. No, they never ever learn no matter what..

Posted by: drsmith | Feb 22 2023 15:37 utc | 44

Biden in Warsaw, Poland:
I look forward to the discussion and the next steps we can take together and — to keep our alliance strong and to further deter aggression. Because what literally is at stake is not just Ukraine, it’s freedom. The idea that over 100,000 forces would invade another country — after War — since World War Two, nothing like that has happened. Things have changed radically. And we have to — we have to make sure we change them back. . .here
That’s if we don’t count Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan. . .where “freedom” meant failed attempts at US military control.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Feb 22 2023 15:38 utc | 45

‘Old Testicles’?

Posted by: Frank | Feb 22 2023 15:44 utc | 46

Posted by: DunGroanin | Feb 22 2023 15:25 utc | 39
That is a hell of a good post – cheers for you!
BK

Posted by: Buffalo_Ken | Feb 22 2023 15:54 utc | 47

@ aristodemos | Feb 22 2023 15:08 utc | 32 with the words about who sent Boris with the message to keep fighting…thanks
I agree that Boris is just a message boy and with the source of his strings being the City of London Corp.
I hope to live to see the curtain drop entirely.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 22 2023 15:57 utc | 48

I disagree with “all wars end diplomatically” that’s thrown around these days by western voices.
1. Historically, even really bad wars (Korea, Iran-Iraq, 1618-1648) have indeed been ended at the table. But the European part of WW2 has not: ok, Keitel signed the capitulation document but basically that battle went to the end.
2. When a war ends diplomatically, it is because both sides know what they get. For example, in the much smaller NATO-Serbia war (that so few Germans seem to remember these days…), the Serbs signed what was basically a capitulation. They got the end of the bomb raids, and they lost Kosovo
3. In the current NATO-Russia war, it is *not* clear what the West could give. Ignoring Zelensky’s “no negotations with Putin” because it doesn’t matter: we had Minsk 2 and the Russians keep saying for a while now that “the West is not agreement-capable” (I agree).
For these reasons, I don’t see what a diplomatic solution could look like. That Western politicians speak of it only tells me they want to lower public expectations — moving off “Ukraine is winning”.
By the way, the Afghanistan debacle was ended by flight, not diplomacy. And the vassals weren’t even informed.

Posted by: Konami | Feb 22 2023 15:58 utc | 49

Konami@48
The Korean War has not ended yet. There is a longstanding Armistice-ceasefire agreement, but there has been no treaty. It is high time that there was. There would have been except that the US is opposed to re-unification, just as it was in Vietnam. And for the same reasons.

Posted by: bevin | Feb 22 2023 16:05 utc | 50

thanks b.. excellent analysis!
zelensky is a kept man… he is a puppet in the hands of the west.. he will be thrown away at some point.. that point is fast approaching.. the western leaders are living in a bubble and appear incapable of escaping from it.. boris was just the front person for city of london to keep the banks and military complex humming… nothing more… he has been thrown away..
the west under usa leadership has no plan.. it is just more of the same.. keep on ramping up in spite of the cost to ukraine, or the world… keep the oligarchs in the west happy.. that is the western politicians mandate and it won’t change.. reality is not going to enter the picture for the west.. they are living in a bubble of gigantic proportions with the mainstream corporate media serving as a wall of protection to keep them insulated.. b’s overview shows just how insulated they are.. truth and reality will not interfere..

Posted by: james | Feb 22 2023 16:06 utc | 51

Fine analysis

Posted by: A.z | Feb 22 2023 16:10 utc | 52

Oui@31
If Israel joins in the war against Russia it would be madness. The question then is when will it do so?

Posted by: bevin | Feb 22 2023 16:14 utc | 53

Boris Johnson made his unannounced visit to Kiev on April 9 2022.

History sometimes rhymes. Another unannounced visit to a capital that started a war by Nazis on April 9 was the German cruiser Blücher which came to Oslo on April 9, 1940, but ended up on the bottom of the Oslo fjord. Johnson was not sunk quite as fast, but hopefully he will not be refloated.

Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 22 2023 16:14 utc | 54

Posted by: james | Feb 22 2023 16:06 utc | 50
You can say there is no “plan”, but I suspect there is….the problem is, the plan is post-modernist in nature, and truly it is pointless.
And we all know, those of us living in the “real” world, the if you double-down one time too many eventually there will be a last time, and then that is that.
So, those who think they are “exceptional” would be advised not to fall into the trap of the gambler’s fallacy, and moreover, and most importantly, when there action affect many large-scale, well please, there are consequences beyond the fact that the gambler will be indebted forever more because of one time too many doubling-down with deception and trickery.
~
Now I have some peppa plants I need to attend to, but I want to put out a thanks here for the knowledge and wisdom shared.
BK

Posted by: Buffalo_Ken | Feb 22 2023 16:15 utc | 55

too scents @36: “It is a strange kind of terrorism where the actors seek to remain anonymous.”
Literally everyone knows who blew up the Nordstream pipelines. We’ve all known from the very moment it happened. That includes every single individual who claims they don’t know. That latter group are just cowardly lying scum pretending to ignorance.
“You can’t prove it!” they crow with a shit-eating grin.

Posted by: William Gruff | Feb 22 2023 16:16 utc | 56

Prigozhin today:
Apparently, Prigozhin also believes that the authorities have not coped with the task of strengthening the Russian army, otherwise the Wagner PMC would not have been needed at all. The head of the military company called the people “above” (the government) even “impudent:
“If the relevant people prepared the army and did everything they were obliged to do for the past 10 years or more, the Wagner PMC would not be needed at all. There would be no need for a private entity. To put it crudely, “private”. They do not belong to me. They belong to themselves and the Russians. But so far history has arranged it so that they go ahead and the rest of the masses, they just don’t understand who to obey. Because there are commanders on the ground, but sitting at the top, most likely to include the opinion factor, so that there is no hysteria about the urgent need for the Prosecutor General to respond, are just absolutely impudent citizens who think that the country was created for them to enjoy and be honoured”.
https://e-news.su/v-novorossii/452754-evgenij-prigozhin-podelilsja-fotografiej-desjatkov-ubityh-za-odni-sutki-bojcov-chvk-vagner-i-foto-zaprosa-po-boepripasam.html
Translated with http://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Posted by: Oberbayer | Feb 22 2023 16:17 utc | 57

@ Buffalo_Ken | Feb 22 2023 16:15 utc | 54
good analogy… one can only double down so many times…. what are peppa plants?? pepper plants? thanks for your posts..

Posted by: james | Feb 22 2023 16:19 utc | 58

In his speech yesterday, President Putin makes a lot of precise observations about the collective West which I also think explains the Western corporate media.
“𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙥𝙩𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙧, 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙩, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙮 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢.”
“𝙄𝙩 𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙙𝙖𝙞𝙣, 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙢𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧. 𝘼𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙡𝙡, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙘𝙮𝙣𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙩𝙤𝙤, 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨…” etc.

Posted by: Steve | Feb 22 2023 16:20 utc | 59

”.. conflict in Ukraine will have to end with diplomacy and negotiations and President Volodymyr Zelensky knows it too, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said.
Totally meaningless as this BS has been spouted for the past year …
See Zelensky and proposal for a “Peace Summit” as the 1-year anniversary is near.
Just look at the conditions to start talks (surely not negotiations) … Vladimir Putin will be removed from the Kremlin for a meeting with Zelensky and his military command of Azov … a train carriage is readied to sign the unconditional surrender. Putin and his generals will be escorted to a special tribunal in The Hague, Mark Rutte will provide a humane and fitting detention until judgement day.
Talks can only happen once the “sovereign” territory of Ukraine is freed from Russian forces, this includes Crimea. Zelensky, after talks with Poland and Lithuania, stipulated a new leaders should take over. Putin can no longer represent the Russian people.
Totally irrational and brainwashed in a few years of meeting Biden, Stoltenberg and the triad Michel-Borrell 🤣 -VDL. Not mentioning Johnson, Truss, Wallace and Scholz-Baerbock pair.

Posted by: Oui | Feb 22 2023 16:20 utc | 60

If Israel joins in the war against Russia it would be madness. The question then is when will it do so?
Posted by: bevin | Feb 22 2023 16:14 utc | 52
That would be a very considerable can of worms and would have massive implications in Syria not least – we know the zionist project is unhinged at the best of times, but surely this would be a bridge too far?

Posted by: irish al | Feb 22 2023 16:21 utc | 61

suspicion confirmed, Tass
Biden dared not visit Kiev without asking Russia for security guarantees first — diplomat
Maria Zakharova noted that “the US leader’s visit was staged with drama, but, in reality, resembled a failed stage of in a provincial theater”. . .US President Joe Biden dared to make a ‘brave’ visit to Kiev only after obtaining guarantees of security from Russia, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during a briefing Wednesday. “Biden did not dare to visit Kiev without warning Russia and without asking the Russian side to ensure his safety,” she noted.. . .here

Posted by: Don Bacon | Feb 22 2023 16:28 utc | 62

DunGroanin | Feb 22 2023 15:25 utc | 39 “…China and Russia have been pushed together…”
INDEED. Quote from “Demonizing of Sino-Russian ties futile” (China Daily, yesterday):

In 2022, China-Russia trade increased 29.3 percent to a record $190.27 billion. While China’s goods exports to Russia in 2022 reached $76.12 billion, up 12.8 percent year-on-year, Russian exports to China reached $114.15 billion, up 43.4 percent.

Suspicious that such growth might be above sustainabilty levels, I tried to find a hard number on said value. Instead, I found a quote from an Aesop fable with reference to growth: “Slow and steady wins the race”. So, the “pushed” element seems dominant here. Instead of Aesop, William Shakespeare’s words “Strong reasons make strong actions” seem a better description of the situation.
On a side note: RF is not unfamiliar with “slow and steady”. An article on Stalker Zone concludes that the essence of Putin’s speech yesterday is: “Calmly Burn Tanks.”

Posted by: OttoE | Feb 22 2023 16:50 utc | 63

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNNjLdy6FV0
Watch again Zelenski at Butcha. Pay attention to him at around 0:35. You can see him looking down hiding his face, but not to hide his grief, but because he had difficulties suppressing a smile about his own lies. Not even a good actor…

Posted by: Moses | Feb 22 2023 16:55 utc | 64

Posted by: bevin | Feb 22 2023 16:05 utc | 49
Yes, good point regarding Korea. But they did manage an armistice. I am not sure if Korea counts as pro or against “all wars end diplomatically” (formally wrong but they got a ceasefire after three years of war, without capitulation of either side). It’s pointless to speculate but I reckon that Ukraine would be lucky to get a similar result.

Posted by: Konami | Feb 22 2023 16:59 utc | 65

Yet another great article by b providing the truth while showing the lies. Also RSH @12 must be commended for marshalling that material together.

Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 22 2023 17:00 utc | 66

the Serbs signed what was basically a capitulation. They got the end of the bomb raids, and they lost Kosovo
Nope – UNSC 1244 says Belgrade won and Washington capitulated.

Posted by: Exile | Feb 22 2023 17:01 utc | 67

Here is a link to my Quora post i made about a week ago, which, using NYT’s own investigation proves that Russians have nothing to do with the Bucha events.
Read the comment to this Quora article either here.
https://tinyurl.com/4mbrhx6z

Posted by: Underground SD | Feb 22 2023 17:01 utc | 68

Very interesting report from b
So just to throw another log on the fire…
What I would like to know is this…
How and when did a jumped up little nobody comedian end up with one billion personal wealth in his bank ?
And more to the point which country gave it to him.
Could it be that Bennet/Israel weren’t mediating between Ukraine US and Russia but we’re actually the ones calling the shots from the west side of the conflict ? Boris Johnson became prime minister solely thanks to Israel, ditto Biden.
ISRAEL started this conflict and wanted it to continue but by delegating Boris to throw a spanner in the works regarding a ceasefire.
Israil got ‘plausable deniabilty’
And invisible pulling the puppet strings on Johnson and biden.
Regarding this Ukrainian
Israel war against Russia.
Putin would have seen through it.

Posted by: Mark2 | Feb 22 2023 17:02 utc | 69

Yes, Zelensky, battlefield losses will ‘force’ one to make concessions. At one time it was understood that was the way things work. Now it’s all about who is the most butt hurt. Between Zelensky’s whining and the US’s scolding I wonder when the nuclear trigger will be pulled just to salve some Western leader’s bruised ego.

Posted by: Mike R | Feb 22 2023 17:12 utc | 70

Here we go again
President Joe Biden tripped and caught himself as he boarded Air Force One in Poland. The President is now on his way back to the White House.
https://twitter.com/EdwardLawrence/status/1628435408324374528

Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 22 2023 17:32 utc | 71

Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 22 2023 17:32 utc | 69
Those damn balloons – they are everywhere…and now, they are invisible as well.
Must be a balloon caused him to slip on his way up…..
wonder what happened to the fella fell down the stairs….but not too much.

Posted by: Buffalo_Ken | Feb 22 2023 17:44 utc | 72

Posted by: james | Feb 22 2023 16:19 utc | 57
Peppers. It is peppers legit.
I’m trying to be a peppa farmer in earnest – I can prove it, but why should I being the proof is already in the “pudding”!
Thanks,
BK

Posted by: Buffalo_Ken | Feb 22 2023 17:46 utc | 73

#39: “Now they are at the end of that yellow brick road where their wizardry is revealed as sham. They are not so quietly going into panic about their grand Mackinder plan Fail.”
yes, in reality we in the west are panicking. So much. “Oh no, do we have to give them our best guns?” Biden could walk into Kiev and not fear a thing. Sure seems like panic.

Posted by: Fnord73 | Feb 22 2023 17:47 utc | 74

As we all mull over b’s comments and try to get to the heart of the matter before us today my mind is wondering as I always seem come back to one glaring omission to these frank discussions. Aristodemos alluded to it upthread, the WHOLE sad affair, like many others before this one are the result of a very powerful banking cabal that NEEDS to take care of the bottom line at all times. The tragic body count realized over the many decades especially white European lives taken, is a close second and seen as a bonus for these insidious and evil “Central Planners” whose power and influence arguably need to be cut down a peg or two.

Posted by: safe | Feb 22 2023 17:48 utc | 75

Norwegian: watching Biden, I get flashbacks of Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenkov (the two general secretaries of the Soviet Communist Party before Gorbashev) — old, important guys from a very different reality. They seemed to have nothing to do with our world, being teenagers in East Berlin.
Looks to me as if everything is flipped and the US empire is in its Andropov-Chernenkov phase.
Et annet spørsmål til Norwegian, waynor, Anne B osv.: vi flyttet til Norge (nå terrorstaten Norge) og vi lurer på informasjonssider (mainstream eller ikke). Hva leser dere? Jeg fant ikke mye da jeg søkte (nettavisen osv. er dårlig, men NRK Nyheter og.)

Posted by: Konami | Feb 22 2023 17:50 utc | 76

@ Cato #33
Quantity, has a quality of it’s own.
An adult can easily beat up a 10 year old child, but sic 30 ten year olds on an adult, and the outcome changes.

Posted by: Oldcutlas | Feb 22 2023 17:52 utc | 77

The way the west “wins” in Ukraine is by thwarting Russia in achieving objectives and by making the operation very costly.
The way that Russia “wins” is by limiting objectives to what is necessary while adjusting it’s economy to new (newly revealed) reality.
Russia “wins” by not losing.

Posted by: jared | Feb 22 2023 17:53 utc | 78

again…the pecking order is US -> “UK” -> france/germany (depending on the mood of the US and belgium technocrats). the “UK” is a sad little middle man whose job is to basically save biden and blinken an 8 hour flight by relaying their whims. the fact that he’s long gone (despite predictions of his triumphant return) and the “UK” government is in a constant state of shit show speaks for itself. it’s as if the US switched from UPS to fedex.
as for “ukraine” itself, it’s never a good assumption that zelensky is running the show to begin with. i doubt he needed the US to kibosh supposed peace talks (again, what someone says =/= what they’ll do) when he had right sector/azov thugs reminding him how close the lamp posts were. we just had an illustrative example of this dynamic for 4+ years in the US before they got a senile and pliant puppet back “in charge”. many states have a deep state.
in any case the minsk “accords” were always bullshit and russia finally figured that out. they’ve had the upper hand since the beginning so any “peace talks” would of course be on their very firm terms. fool me twice…ya can’t get fooled again.

Posted by: the pair | Feb 22 2023 17:55 utc | 79

However, I think Russia loses to some degree if it fails to respond to proxy attack.
Ukraine is a side-show.

Posted by: jared | Feb 22 2023 17:57 utc | 80

Posted by: jared | Feb 22 2023 17:57 utc | 78
“winning by not losing” is tricky for some to wrap their minds around, but I think I basically agree….I mean if you don’t lose, you won’t be a loser, and if you ain’t a loser you must be a winner to an extent….question remains though if not being a loser is really all it takes to win in the long run.
you know?

Posted by: Buffalo_Ken | Feb 22 2023 18:06 utc | 81

@Konami | Feb 22 2023 17:50 utc | 74

Et annet spørsmål til Norwegian, waynor, Anne B osv.: vi flyttet til Norge (nå terrorstaten Norge) og vi lurer på informasjonssider (mainstream eller ikke). Hva leser dere? Jeg fant ikke mye da jeg søkte (nettavisen osv. er dårlig, men NRK Nyheter og.)

I stopped consuming Norwegian ‘mainstream’ news. I used to listen to NrK every day in the distant past, but I found that I became angry whenever they touched on something I know something about. It turned out to be every day. An endless stream of propaganda. So I switched it off permanently. There are alternative sites like https://steigan.no/ but I don’t visit it every day.

Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 22 2023 18:10 utc | 82

So with regards to Richard Steven Hack and Russian war aims, I tend to agree with his analysis to a point. And therefore why the West had reason to turn down the proposed deal.
If the West had assessed that the aim of the Russian attack was to “conquer” Ukraine on the cheap, then an intervention would make sense. This begs the question of why Putin/Russia decided to invade. If you have any memory it seems a respected and feared statesman woke up one morning as mad bad Vald and decided to inititate an unprovoked war. Nope.
Long term I suspect Russia would like regime change in Kiev, to be replaced by a pliant proxy. I doubt they really want Galicia but Odessa would be great.
The SMO was never really a serious invasion, more a show of force. This did bring Ukraine to within an inch of negotiating a back down. The SMO was never likely to succeed as an “invasion” if the UAF fought – and they fought pretty well and have continued to do so. It may however have been a stepping stone down this path and so might have itself crossed one of NATO’s ” (invisible) red lines” – but not sure I ever heard about this.
Maybe the best that the SMO might have achieved would be to buy time to negotiate a political settlement having shown that Russia could and would wield a big stick.
But a year later much has changed and I think Russian war aims have too. I don’t think they “started” this thinking through and pre-planning the implications – worst case sanctions, industrial mobilisation, third party politics etc etc. Including consulting with China and considering the trade impacts and USD$ implications. I think to their surprise Russia finds themselves in their worst case assumption scenario. Their geo-political rivals are in fact enemies and do really want to destroy Russia as a political entity.
The way I see it, the last 12 months have taught Russia that not only can they not trust the west, but they are in an existential fight for survival. What would you do?

Posted by: marcjf | Feb 22 2023 18:18 utc | 83

Safe no. 73
“Banking cabal” is right. I was shocked/amazed/incensed today to learn that a euro cheque from another european country deposited into my euro account cost €52. In 2020 the same transaction cost €13. When i questioned this, i was told “that’s just the way it is”. WTF?

Posted by: ThusspakeZarathustra | Feb 22 2023 18:29 utc | 84

@ Konami | Feb 22 2023 17:50 utc | 74
Velkommen til norge!
Prøve:
Klassekampen Norsk -A bit leftish. (Trial 1 kr. 1st month.)
News for my area (Tromsø/north):
Barents Observer English – Arctic news – mainstream
High North News English – rightish.
General
News in English English – mainstream

Posted by: waynorinorway | Feb 22 2023 18:35 utc | 85

I have had the full gamut of emotions this past year over the many reports from b and at other sites I’ve been perusing endlessly for any “uplifting” positive Russia news about the SMO. I need this as I’m very concerned and frustrated from all this horrid BS we are constantly seeing from the US/UK/Zio Empire of Chaos. I get repeated waves of negativity and depression when I hear about terrorist attacks on Russian power plants, airfields, troop concentrations and especially the Kerch Bridge bombing and the Nordstream 2 pipelines.
I do my circuit of all bookmarked “Pro-Russian” sites daily and take great delight in the good news of Russian strategic advances and productive artillery missions. I am also a little peeved to read that lately Progozhin is bad-mouthing MoD for lack of timely supplies of ammunition and equipment, this bums me out and want it so desperately to stop. At times I even feel apprehension in case these negative reports somehow turn the majority of the Russian people against following Putin and the leadership into this war with Ukraine and NATO. I truly want the good people of Russia and even China to stop these fuqueing world killers from continuing their hegemonic rule and “rules-based order” that makes me sick to my stomach every time I think about them! GO RUSSIA!!

Posted by: safe | Feb 22 2023 18:42 utc | 86

Why would president of Ukraine go to an ambassador that represents a foreign country to interpret and explain a peace agreement implementation? Does Ukraine not have experts and presidential advisors who can do that?

Posted by: AF82Matrix | Feb 22 2023 18:44 utc | 87

@82 ThusspakeZ
There has been a concerted policy to increase 3X most of the financial transaction fees for many western banking institutions these last 12 months including Canadian banks that have fee increases for 75% of all major types of transactions. This was instigated by governments as likely lobbied by these same entities.

Posted by: safe | Feb 22 2023 18:52 utc | 88

Norwegian, waynor: tusen takk!

Posted by: Konami | Feb 22 2023 19:00 utc | 89

“the last 12 months have taught Russia that not only can they not trust the west, but they are in an existential fight for survival”
Putin knew he couldn’t trust the US long before the war started. That was crystal clear from his speech of 21 February 2022.
As far as being an existential fight, this is what Putin said on 24 February 2022 just before launching his invasion:
“This means that the decisions that I made will be executed,… and reliably guarantee the security of our Motherland.”
That is a statement admitting an existential fight is about to begin.

Posted by: Johnny Dollar | Feb 22 2023 19:08 utc | 90

Frank @45
Frankly, my dear, “Old Testicles” is a precise description of the original Hebrew “Bible”. When the Abrahamic religions were developed, the ruling religious concept in the ancient Middle East and much of the planet centered on a Mother Goddess. As the late Dr. Leonard Shlain explains, it was the development of the originally Phoenician abstract commercial alphabet, easy for the interested layman to learn and employ, that allowed those totally patriarchal religions to come into dominance and to collapse the elder goddess religion.
Constant and consistent wars and bickering has resulted from massive adaptation of the newly developed literacy amongst the masses…it became THE WORD. A desert-based abstract religion axiomatically engenders tribalistic hatreds towards other outlooks and frequently in murder and sometimes genocide. That purely patriarchal formulation is succinctly and precisely described as the OLD TESTICLES.

Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 22 2023 19:10 utc | 91

Bevin @ 49
Just like the Korean War has never actually ended, as you point out, the case is entirely the same with WWII, where Germany is unquestionably an occupied country, nearly 78 years after 5-8-45, when the Berlin regime ceased to exist and Admiral Doenitz signed a surrender doctrine to the Allied powers on behalf of the German MILITARY–not the government. Thus, no peace treaty has ever been signed and there is only an American and British imposed PUPPET REGIME in Berlin. Same is true with Japan, so far as the occupation goes and to a lesser degree with the other Axis power, Italy.

Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 22 2023 19:15 utc | 92

Presumed “atrocities of Bucha” have assumed status of “fact” and inform allegations of “brutality” and “crimes against humanity” waged at RF armed forces and political leadership. It is not at all apparent that any sort of formal investigation has occurred to explain the lack of decomposition of bodies said to have been lying in the street for weeks, and the absence of observation by the town’s mayor in social media posts made after RF forces had retreated. I could be wrong, but it also appears the victims have not been publicly identified – and their IDs would probably assist an understanding of what happened (i.e. their personal sympathies in the conflict). That Ukraine has activated Nationalist death squads in areas of RF retreats is not deniable. Also, previously, Ukraine suspended investigation into Maidan snipers immediately after it was established they operated from the roof of the building occupied by Right Sector.
Also re: investigations – Sweden, Denmark and Germany jointly informed the UN Security Council yesterday that investigations into Nordstream bombing are “ongoing” and there is no timetable or possibility to say when they might be concluded.

Posted by: jayc | Feb 22 2023 19:24 utc | 93

Safe @ 84
Thanks for that personal view of this conflict.
Pretty much identical to my life and view here in UK.
And I bet alot of others here on this site.
I’d add …the isolation one feels being surrounded by dangerously misinformed family, freands, neabours ectra ectra.

Posted by: Mark2 | Feb 22 2023 19:24 utc | 94

Posted by: Cato the Uncensored | Feb 22 2023 15:09 utc | 33
«The problem with the “leaders” of NATO and the West is that they believe their own BS.»
The public faces don’t believe anything, they are just professional public relations people, they are trusties. The principals and their strategists don’t believe their own BS, they are very realistic, watch what they do, not what they say (which is very little).
«Their economies are strong and growing, their peoples’ health is improving, their wealth is increasing, etc. Of course, those truths only hold for the leaders and their puppetmasters, and not for the other 99% of the populace.»
That’s the usual ridiculous propaganda, actually 20-40% of the voters of USA, UK etc. have had booming incomes, wealth, living standards since Reagan and Thatcher. The rest don’t matter electorally, and in any case no major party is willing to represent “losers”.
«They also have superior weaponry, albeit it costs 7 to 10 times what Russia and China are spending for their pretty good weaponry, and cannot produce it at one quarter the rate of what China and Russia can crank out.»
Only because they have not switched to a war economy, and their peacetime economy and military-industrial complex is geared for the easy life of peace. Just before WW2 both the USA military (except for the Navy) and their military industries were tiny, but in a couple of years they produced enormous amounts of cheap (often mediocre) ships, aircraft, etc. and they buried the germans and the japanese under a flood of logistics.

Posted by: Blissex | Feb 22 2023 19:30 utc | 95

Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 22 2023 19:15 utc | 90
And to a lesser degree Spain, in order to save his only testicle left -popular rumor had it that our dictator was a monotesticled one- Franco gave away the country with bases inland and the very strategic one in Rota right on the entrance to the Gibraltar strait, they’re still there and expanding with the Aegis naval system. On top of it they armed to the teeth our most probable rival, Morocco, just in case someone has a bit of dignity and dares to reclaim sovereignty. What could be the end point of the Belt and Road with almost direct access to Africa is well kept by the pirates in Gibraltar and the gringos in Rota. So WWII may have started in Spain which is being compared to Ukraine, a civil war, let us hope the third one is not coming.

Posted by: Paco | Feb 22 2023 19:33 utc | 96

”You can’t prove it!” they crow with a shit-eating grin.
That was the cry of the Clintons when caught in some graft during Bubba’s terms. Six months later the proof would come out and they would say “That’s old news, we’ve moved on.” A pliant media helped.

Posted by: Fred777 | Feb 22 2023 19:56 utc | 97

Biden = Chernenkov
Indeed

Posted by: Exile | Feb 22 2023 20:01 utc | 98

Biden = Andropov
Maybe

Posted by: Exile | Feb 22 2023 20:02 utc | 99

Posted by: Exile | Feb 22 2023 20:02 utc | 97
More Cherneko than Andropov, this one had some brains in spite of his bad health, Chernenko was a zombie just like Brandon.

Posted by: Paco | Feb 22 2023 20:05 utc | 100

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