The Buildup To War In Ukraine - Monday, February 14, 2022
February 14 2022 was a relative quiet day. The U.S. knew that the Ukraine would soon launch a large attack on the renegade Dontezk and Luhansk republics. To protect the Russian people living there the Russian Federation would have to invade Ukraine. The White Hose continued to warn of a upcoming 'Russian invasion' that the upcoming Ukrainian actions would provoke.
The Washington Post reported on a war planing group in the White House. The preparations had been going on for quite a while:
As fears grow of potential Russian aggression against Ukraine, a “Tiger Team” led by the White House is quietly gaming out how the United States would respond to a range of jarring scenarios, from a limited show of force to a full-scale, mass-casualty invasion.
...
The Tiger Team was officially born in November, when national security adviser Jake Sullivan asked Alex Bick, the NSC director for strategic planning, to lead a planning effort across multiple agencies. Bick has brought in the Departments of Defense, State, Energy, Treasury and Homeland Security, along with the U.S. Agency for International Development to look at a possible humanitarian crisis.The intelligence community is also involved, gaming out various courses of action the Russians might pursue and the risks and advantages of each, officials said.
...
This planning has been underway even as other agencies push ahead with their own preparations. The Treasury Department has crafted potential sanctions packages and the Pentagon has planned for additional troop deployments at the same time the White House was finalizing its playbook.Among the Tiger Team’s top concerns is a Russian effort to promote the false narrative that it is Ukraine, aided by the West, that is preparing to launch an offensive in eastern Ukraine, and that Russia is the victim.
We will see over the next days who really launched the attack.
The Kremlin was still not convinced that a war would come:
In a meeting in the Kremlin, the foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told Putin he believed there was still room for dialogue on Russian requests for a new security deal with the west, which have been made as Russia amassed 140,000 troops around Ukraine’s borders in recent weeks.
“It seems to me that our possibilities are far from being exhausted. They certainly should not continue indefinitely. But at this stage I would suggest that they continue and be intensified,” Lavrov told Putin.
At the same time, a senior Russian diplomat told the Guardian that Russia would be within its rights to “counterattack” against Ukraine if it felt Kyiv was threatening the population of eastern Ukraine.
...
“We warn against endless conversations on issues that need to be resolved today. Still, as the foreign minister, I should say that there is always a chance,” said Lavrov.“We will not invade Ukraine unless we are provoked to do that,” said Vladimir Chizhov, Russia’s ambassador to the EU, in an interview in Brussels.
“If the Ukrainians launch an attack against Russia, you shouldn’t be surprised if we counterattack. Or, if they start blatantly killing Russian citizens anywhere – Donbas or wherever,” he said.
There was diplomacy going on with a phone call between president Joe Biden and the British premier Boris Johnson. The German chancellor Olaf Scholz was in Kiev to try to stop the upcoming war. It was way too late.
The OSCE Special Observer Mission at the ceasefire line in east-Ukraine reported of February 14 that the front was again unusually quit:
In Donetsk region, the Mission recorded 17 ceasefire violations, including one explosion. In the previous 24 hours, it recorded 157 ceasefire violations in the region.In Luhansk region, the SMM recorded 157 ceasefire violations, including 40 explosions. 80 of the ceasefire violations were assessed as a live-fire exercise outside the security zone. In the previous 24 hours, it recorded 80 ceasefire violations in the region.
There was a notable observation of a Ukrainian tank concentration:
In violation of withdrawal lines, the Mission observed 22 tanks in a government-controlled area and one mortar in a non-government-controlled area of Luhansk region.
That was an unusually large number of Ukrainian T-72s near Pidlisne, 70km north-west of Luhansk.
The observed numbers of ceasefire violations and explosion were less than the average of the last 7 and 30 day periods as well as less than the daily average in all of 2021. The concentration of explosions south of Sadovyi (non-government-controlled, 57km south-west of Luhansk) was assessed to be from a live exercise. It is marked by the orange point on the Luhansk Donetsk boarder line.
bigger
Posted by b on February 14, 2023 at 15:07 UTC | Permalink
next page »I agree wholeheartedly with Exile. This is excellent and important real time history writing.
Posted by: Lex | Feb 14 2023 15:17 utc | 2
A friend of mine asked ChatGPT to "write a poem about a future Eurasian empire." The result is quite impressive. Should one count it as a prophecy?
A future empire, vast and grand,
Stretching from East to West,
A land of cultures, diverse and grand,
Eurasia, the world's best.
From Moscow's spires to Beijing's walls,
A land of power and might,
A union of nations, standing tall,
A beacon of progress, shining bright.
The Silk Road, once again aflare,
Trade and commerce thrive,
A new age of prosperity, where
All nations, together, strive.
A melting pot of races and tongues,
A tapestry of history,
A bright future, where all belongs,
Eurasia's destiny.
With strength and unity, we'll pave the way,
For a new world to unfold,
A Eurasian Empire, here to stay,
A story yet to be told.
Posted by: Bahtman | Feb 14 2023 15:19 utc | 3
Excellent work. How’d you get so good at analysing media?
Posted by: JacqtheTankie | Feb 14 2023 15:22 utc | 4
They actually called it a "Tiger Team"? Jeebus.
Ms Nuland, on the few occasions when I have observed her in action, does not look too bright. Is that just me?
Posted by: Bemildred | Feb 14 2023 15:27 utc | 6
I'd just like to add.
Don't forget the massive build up of troops, mercenary,s and other unknown spooks in the steel work complex donestzk.
That is evidence of premeditateted crimes.
Posted by: Mark2 | Feb 14 2023 15:32 utc | 8
Posted by: Bemildred | Feb 14 2023 15:27 utc | 6
"Tiger Team" is a common term in the US military for small groups of personnel assigned to a specific problem or issue. It was used when I was active duty and I have been retired for 20 years. There is no other meaning inferred in its use.
To see the State Department use it indicates State considered the problem a military one instead of a diplomatic one. Which is telling in itself.
Posted by: Longhorn | Feb 14 2023 15:36 utc | 9
It is so refreshing to read the truth leading up to this United States of America planned war.
Soon conscription will appear in the so-called democratic western states where freedom is something that is in name only. The all volunteer military of these countries cannot recruit the numbers just to keep their current levels. Thus the enslavement of their male population into service. There will be no freedom of choice. You will go or go to jail a gulag if you wish.
The question of time is all that awaits us before the United States of America will destroy the world with their delusional believe in a limited nuclear war. There will be no limited exchange. Once one goes everything will fly. The way the demented President and the actual people in control behind are totally evil.
In fact all it will take is the use of so-called depleted uranium weaponry. Depleted uranium is a deadly chemical poison and it is still radio active. The Russian have stated it's use would be considered to be a dirty bomb that is a nuclear weapon!
Be sure to tell your loved ones that you love them.
May God have mercy on every victim's souls.
May the ones who designed this be destroyed forever.
My country is no longer a free country but we are not allowed to state the truth.
Posted by: JSM | Feb 14 2023 15:39 utc | 10
I can only add my praise. It looks as if b has tired of waiting for an honest history of the immediate origins of the war and decided to write one himself. It will be read far beyond the walls of this Brechtian tavern.
Posted by: bevin | Feb 14 2023 15:41 utc | 11
To see the State Department use it indicates State considered the problem a military one instead of a diplomatic one. Which is telling in itself.Posted by: Longhorn | Feb 14 2023 15:36 utc | 9
There are no longer diplomats in the State Department. Just issuers of diktats and ultimatums. Burns and Milly have more negotiating skill than Nuland and Blinken. This will not be resolved until those 2 are sidelined.
Posted by: Opport Knocks | Feb 14 2023 15:51 utc | 12
The question of time is all that awaits us before the United States of America will destroy the world with their delusional believe in a limited nuclear war
JSM 10
If yourself and the rest of the doomers salivating wildly at the idea of a nuclear war because your mating strategy will finally pay off and you believe you'll get the pick of the nubile women in exchange for a pack of fish antibiotics and some tinned tomatoes could stop, that would be great, thanks.
It's not going to happen mmkay.
Brechtian tavern
bevin 11
It's not the first time I've chortled aloud at some of the comments made around here and I'm fairly sure it won't be the last.
No.
Posted by: Due West | Feb 14 2023 15:54 utc | 13
Let's not try to soften the blow. There was no "diplomacy" going on. The West doesn't remember how. It issues demands and threats and sanctions. And Scholz wasn't in Kiev to talk peace. Neither Germany nor anybody else are capable of making agreements on any subject. See Minsk II, which Scholz must have been perfectly aware was simply a cover story.
Posted by: pasha | Feb 14 2023 15:54 utc | 14
[email protected] I fully concur with you in relation to b’s essay. I just hope that you’re right about it being read far beyond this tavern. People I know and love are still getting and believing the narrative pumped relentlessly at them, often totally without any critical consideration.
Posted by: Vragtes | Feb 14 2023 15:56 utc | 15
Bahtman | Feb 14 2023 15:19 utc | 3
God forbid we should have any more empires. The world has had quite enough of them.
That's not what Russia and China are attempting to build; quite the opposite.
Posted by: pasha | Feb 14 2023 15:57 utc | 16
Worth noting was/is the cultural and social infiltration of Western Ukraine post 2014. There was even concern in the western MSM at the time re: indoctrination of children, funding of the Right Sektor and the like. Consider that a 10 year old at the time (2014) was "influenced" to hate all things Russian and was ready to go at the outset of the recent escalation.
Posted by: Chevrus | Feb 14 2023 15:58 utc | 17
[email protected] Nuland and others can be as thick as pigshit as we say in the UK as she’s surrounded by neocons and psychopaths who are bright. Dubbya was honest to admit he was a dullard but knew enough to have clever people to do his thinking. In fact, it helps if the front person is a thicko. Just like all the newsreader “journalists” who’ve mostly never had an original thought in their professional lives.
Posted by: Vragtes | Feb 14 2023 16:02 utc | 18
Good Report.
My guess is that the winter olympics were a factor why the shellings by the UAF were below a certain level, so it was easier for the MSM to ignore them. The conflict heated up after the final ceremony. Did valentines day play a role for the controllers, too, with the level being below the preceding days on the 14th?
It will be interesting to see the locations of rf forces, just to see whether Ukraine had the threat of an invasion on its radar.
Posted by: MM | Feb 14 2023 16:05 utc | 19
Sometimes being right doesn't help anything. Only the war matters now.
Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | Feb 14 2023 16:05 utc | 20
Posted by: Longhorn | Feb 14 2023 15:36 utc | 9
Thank you for your comment. I am quite familiar with the term from the 1990s. It was then and now management jargon.
Posted by: Bemildred | Feb 14 2023 16:10 utc | 21
[email protected] Nuland and others can be as thick as pigshit as we say in the UK as she’s surrounded by neocons and psychopaths who are bright. Dubbya was honest to admit he was a dullard but knew enough to have clever people to do his thinking. In fact, it helps if the front person is a thicko. Just like all the newsreader “journalists” who’ve mostly never had an original thought in their professional lives.
Posted by: Vragtes | Feb 14 2023 16:02 utc | 18
Thank you for your comment. The people behind her don't look bright either, they've been getting their clocks cleaned in fair and open competition for decades now. That's why they cheat and lie. We didn't used to have to force people to buy our stuff. Now it's the main business plan.
Your point about the deliberate use of dumb front persons is well taken and has been more and more noticeable since the 80s.
Posted by: Bemildred | Feb 14 2023 16:20 utc | 22
I am impressed b by your writing about the drum beats of this situation last year and thank you for it.
This is a knife in the fetid almost corpse of MSM propaganda like the Russian SMO is a knife in the heart of NATO
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 14 2023 16:21 utc | 23
b, deep appreciation.
Respectfully, you have me worried we may lose you. Your columns are being relinked, referenced, cited and read in the highest circles.
Give us your pledge that you will refuse any and all calls from those who shall not be named and or any packages of cookies likely made with cricket flour and 'other' spices.
[cricket flour is no typo. It's available.]
/ / / / / /
Specific to the post.
Russia is done holding diplomatic overtures.
Stab me once. Minsk
Stab me twice. March Istanbul peace talks sabotage.
Stab me thrice. NordStream destruction.
Enough, it's an illusion, I am not Jesus and you have crushed my patience.
SMO has morphed; marching on. Ukraine in our control. BlackRock, Cargill assets wherever found will be applied on the ledger of our stollen Foreign reserves.
I sense something is quietly happening between these 4: India, Iran, Russia and China.
And just as with the shock announcement by the KSA Finance Minister "we are open to accepting other then USD for payment" there will come a shock from these 4 - a military alliance is fixed, not just a nod and handshake. Wait for it, Defense/Intelligence meetings underway. Won't be long. See article from Bloomberg. They are setting the table.
Ignore any words coming from this guy, Stollenberg: "NATO is not at War with Russia." Other side of mouth - "NATO will organize war materiel support for Ukraine."
The following lays the ground for the official confirmation NATO is in Ukraine.
RT/Bloomberg
NATO eyes fighting two wars – Bloomberg
The US-led bloc is reportedly drawing up contingencies for a defensive “Article 5 conflict” and an "out-of-area" battle
NATO is set to adopt a guidance that lays out plans for a scenario in which member states find themselves fighting on the home front and beyond the borders of the alliance at the same time, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. This comes as the US increasingly shifts its priorities to confronting China.The classified document is to be discussed and signed off on by NATO defense ministers during a two-day summit in Brussels that starts on Tuesday, the news outlet reported. Members will be asked to prepare national plans for future military engagements.
The guidance will map out ways for NATO to engage in a “high-intensity so-called Article 5 conflict” – defending a NATO nation attacked by a foreign party under the treaty’s mutual defense provision – and “an out-of-area, non-Article 5 event.” The contents of the guideline were revealed to Bloomberg by “people familiar with the matter.”
While NATO bills itself as a defensive alliance, it has an extensive record of engaging in hostilities on foreign soil, including in Yugoslavia in the 1990s and against Libya in 2011. Critics regard the bloc as a tool of US foreign policy that is aligned with Washington’s goals and in rivalry with China and Russia.[.]
NATO eyes fighting two wars !!!???
btw, If what is now being circulated is confirmed, the US F22 required two attempts to take down the birthday balloon or was it a flea.
Posted by: Likklemore | Feb 14 2023 16:22 utc | 24
People in authority who question the Ukraine narrative might be the unheralded saviors of civilization. Without them, the matter is left to a mob in the international media who are led by Neo Cons.
At some point, they face abject defeat in the proxy war - as they run out of tanks and ammo and eventually planes. At that point, nuclear war may be demanded because the frenzy can go nowhere else. It is strange indeed that we must use reason to analyse a matter that isn't reasonable at all.
Posted by: Eighthman | Feb 14 2023 16:30 utc | 25
Bemildred @ 6
Nuland is plain stupid. Recently she appears to be drugged as well. The point man for the whole operation is Sullivan, who has his position via being yes man to Hillary.
Posted by: oldhippie | Feb 14 2023 16:31 utc | 26
@24 don't forget it's also being fed into AI which the elites will lazily rely on for answers.
We are all children of war. War is the only answer to gridlocked conflict.
It's a good thing. We've been led down a path of peace through slavery and monotheism. Our potential as humans is limited by this paradigm.
Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | Feb 14 2023 16:31 utc | 27
February 19, 2023 Rally.
Rage against war...
How We Can Stop the Coming War With Russia
former Congressman Dr. Ron Paul
Twenty years ago this spring the US government was finally successful in lying us into war with Iraq. Administration after administration had sanctioned and bombed and even invaded the country, but finally 20 years ago next month the Bush Administration unleashed “shock and awe” to flatten a country that did not and could not threaten the United States.[.]Suddenly, as we face the once-unimaginable prospect of a direct military conflict with nuclear-armed Russia over Ukraine, a beyond Left-Right coalition is emerging from its long slumber.
This Sunday, February 19th, a broad and very diverse group will assemble in Washington, DC at the Lincoln Memorial to denounce Washington’s sleepwalking into World War III.The “Rage Against The War Machine” rally promises to be the first large-scale rally against Washington’s aggressive war lobby in many years. I am looking forward to sharing the stage with my good friends and former House colleagues Dennis Kucinich and Tulsi Gabbard, as well as my good friend and fellow libertarian Judge Andrew Napolitano, and so many more speakers from a broad political spectrum.
Many of us have watched with alarm as the Biden Administration – with the enthusiastic backing of many Congressional Republicans – has continuously escalated involvement in the Russia/Ukraine conflict and now sits dangerously close to a direct, hot war with the largest nuclear superpower on earth.[.]
How did we get here? Where are the sane voices and cooler heads? Just when it seemed they were nowhere to be found, here we are! I hope as many people as possible will join us and continue to come together for this important cause. We must join together while we still can. No war with Russia! [emphasis added]
http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2023/february/13/how-we-can-stop-the-coming-war-with-russia/
The RonPaul Institute for Peace and Prosperity
Posted by: Likklemore | Feb 14 2023 16:35 utc | 28
I think it must have now dawned on the NATO provocateur that Russia was many steps ahead of them. Russia was open to a peaceful resolution but smart enough not to let down its guard down. The West got the war it wished for but miscalculated how it would be fought. I think that was what President Putin meant when he said that the West was successful in its tactic but failed miserably in the strategy.
Posted by: Steve | Feb 14 2023 16:36 utc | 29
Very good to have a series of retrospectives on the immediate build-up to the SMO, so much has happened since then that some of the details could otherwise be lost to the memory-hole.
There does appear to be a typo in the 4th sentence of the 1st paragraph though. If it is indeed the the “White Hose”, could somebody please turn it off at the tap...
Posted by: West of England Andy | Feb 14 2023 16:47 utc | 30
Bemildred @ 6
Nuland is plain stupid. Recently she appears to be drugged as well. The point man for the whole operation is Sullivan, who has his position via being yes man to Hillary.
Posted by: oldhippie | Feb 14 2023 16:31 utc | 26
Thank you, that sounds more like what I saw. Shifty-eyed, and looking for clues to how she was doing. Drugs would explain, but not obvious. Not well spoken. I think Vragtes is right she is a front person, must be a comedown for her. Jake does seem to be the "genius" behind it. He is like a young Joe Biden. The morals of a mink in heat.
Posted by: Bemildred | Feb 14 2023 16:49 utc | 31
@Steve #29
NATO thought that Russia would do what the US does, and bomb the country into submission and then occupy it with troops, so that Ukraine could fight an insurgency war like Afghanistan, but Putin didn't take the bait, he went into Donbass, and established a line of conflict, and settled in for a long war of attrition, which he knew NATO, Ukraine, and the US were not prepared to fight.
Russia used a classic tactic, they made the west think it was doing one thing, waited for the US to commit to a strategy to counter what they thought Russia would do, and then did something completely different, while taking into account what the west was doing to counter what they thought Russia was doing.
it's a brilliant strategy, that almost always works in all aspects of life and war.
Posted by: Oldcutlas | Feb 14 2023 17:04 utc | 32
The problem is that with public government and private banking, the banks rule, as they control the finances of anyone daring to run for office. Given the only thing the banks really need is all that debt and military spending is how much of it is burned off, the consequence is a system with enormous brute power, but no real authority or moral responsibility, so the effect is like giving deliquent children matches and gasoline to play with. Basically Frankenstein's Monster.
Posted by: John Merryman | Feb 14 2023 17:05 utc | 33
Let me join the choir of praise for this effort. Everything that can help stop the madness must be done, and this shines light on the truth. May it continue.
Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 14 2023 17:06 utc | 34
John Merryman | 33
"public government" is just a mirage. So is democracy.
Posted by: Sektion2B | Feb 14 2023 17:08 utc | 35
[email protected] for commenting on my comment. Your phrase, of Biden “The morals of a mink in heat” had me spurting my coffee out my nose. Thanks! (With apologies to all mink).
Posted by: Vragres | Feb 14 2023 17:09 utc | 36
Yesterday's delicious poetic metaphor that Ukraine was continuing to fight WW2 " without changing the sheets " has stuck in my mind. Many countries have changed since WW2. France still regards its former empire as uncivilised Muslims, Turkey may still be dreaming about rejuvenating its Caliphate, Britain will never change , but Germany and Russia, are completely different to their former selves.
When somebody is so stuck in their mindset as the Ukranian Vikings, and so resilient to change then the hard way becomes inevitable. The Zionists and Vikings make good bedfellows. Why bother to change the sheets ? They live in some psychotic bubble of filth, while the rest of the world evolves.
The social Work team have failed Ukraine and Israel, pumping them both full of money and arms. Now, the social work team must be sacked. The incorrigible Brits, French and Americans have failed in their duty to.police the underworld, and may have in fact deliberately enabled it.
I came to Islam looking for answers to these problems , but found the Muslims were exact replicas of Viking pillage mentality, the Genghis Khan terror road, and the Zionist mentality of cultural fossilisation.
If salt loses its flavour, with what will you salt it again? One things for certain, you cannot change a rotten institution from the inside. You will just become the same.
Which means civilisational war is inevitable, and the sooner we accept it, the sooner the corrupt social workers at the permanent members ' United Nations can be changed.
Posted by: Giyane | Feb 14 2023 17:11 utc | 37
Bemildred @ 31
karlof posted a link to a Sullivan backgrounder here within the past couple days. You'll have to look for it. I've read similar a couple times. Sullivan has no background at all. He is very young. Appears to be connected, I just don't know how. Main job was with the Hillary campaigns in 2008 and 2016. When other staff were thinking she was drunk and hoping she'd forget by morning or objecting that a suggestion was flat illegal Sullivan jumped and said yes ma'am. Nothing but ambition. Appears as more clever than Blinken and certainly more alert than Nuland. In anything but this rigged and stupid game he would be a zero. Most of the barflies here could do the job better. To include the trolls.
Nuland is on bad psych meds. The weight gain is not just that she is a slob.
Posted by: oldhippie | Feb 14 2023 17:12 utc | 38
Ukraine could fight an insurgency war
Posted by: Oldcutlas | Feb 14 2023 17:04 utc | 32
---
The ISW maps claiming areas of partisan activity are something to behold.
Posted by: too scents | Feb 14 2023 17:12 utc | 39
Nuland is on bad psych meds.
Posted by: oldhippie | Feb 14 2023 17:12 utc | 38
---
I rather think that her condition is organic.
Posted by: too scents | Feb 14 2023 17:17 utc | 40
Posted by: oldhippie | Feb 14 2023 17:12 utc | 38
That all works for me too, thanks. I did read through that article some, but my mind veers off after a while. I knew lot of guys like him in High School.
So enough of Nuland.
Posted by: Bemildred | Feb 14 2023 17:19 utc | 41
re Nuland - it is funny that with her the 'elephant in the room' is a double entendre.
Posted by: gottlieb | Feb 14 2023 17:19 utc | 42
Opport Knocks @12
The higher infrastructure of the Department of $tate is entirely Tribal and is all on message. Blinken and Nudelman are taking their orders from a higher source than the Pretzeldunce in the Di$trict of Corruption.
Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 14 2023 17:38 utc | 43
vratges @15
Just yesterday while grocery shopping, I met a young man of 19 or so whose grocery cart was loaded with bottled water and various staples. I noted that to him and a full conversation ensued. HE GETS IT. Totally given up on Main$cream Noose programming and is perhaps leading edge amongst the younger generation in this mostly rural area in which I reside. His overall level awareness, though, is almost totally absent in most over-miseducated suburbanites, of one to two generations his elders.
There is no common sense to be found amongst the daily rat-racers.
Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 14 2023 17:46 utc | 44
b, this epic chronicle is amazing! thank you for compiling it.
I am curious if you are finding any whitewashed re-writes of original published stories/headlines that manipulated the narrative between then (screenshots on the day) and now (revisited by historians and researchers)?
Like the Feb 7 and Feb 8 2023 NYT headlines describing the border crossing between Turkey and Syria closed due to sanction (and thus hampering earthquake aid) and then the next day being re-writing to say that the Syrian govt was hampering the flow of earthquake aid by ordering the border closed. (this is the tweet of the two headlines that are making the rounds: https://twitter.com/grosmorne29/status/1623332033002090497)
it would be equally interesting to track and document any re-writing of lead up narrative to the SMO/war, in parallel to your chronicalling.
Posted by: Irish | Feb 14 2023 17:52 utc | 45
[email protected] for commenting on my comment. Your phrase, of Biden “The morals of a mink in heat” had me spurting my coffee out my nose. Thanks! (With apologies to all mink).
Posted by: Vragres | Feb 14 2023 17:09 utc | 36
My pleasure. Hope nothing was soiled by the coffee.
Posted by: Bemildred | Feb 14 2023 17:53 utc | 46
thanks b.. it is awesome you are doing this... at some point it will be more mainstream.. just not now...
Posted by: james | Feb 14 2023 17:54 utc | 47
Likklemore @24
While NATOstani chew and stew in Brussels, the ground from underneath them is rapidly eroding. A couple of days back, a new peace movement in Germany was initiated by Fr. Wagenknecht and a colleague by means of a petition. Within 48 HOURS that peace petition had been signed by scores of thousands of Germans. Their further plan is to hold a huge peace rally in Berlin.
Upshot of these developments is that the puppet regime in Berlin is on the ropes. To save his own skin, Scholtz may be looking to drop Fr. Baerbock as Foreign Minister. The current coalition, some feel, is about to shatter and to be replaced by an new entry into the kettle in the form of a rapprochement with the CDU...simply yet another war-party.
Meanwhile, Germany's industrialists are looking at failures and bankruptcies as that nice cheap Russian gas supply has been demolished by the U$$A strike on Nordstrom.
Pretty soon and a significant minority of Germans will begin looking for scapegoats...and they may be many and all-in on being toadies for the U$$A and Perfidious Albion.
Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 14 2023 18:01 utc | 48
old hippie @26
Surprises me that an astute poster such as yourself would consider that Hillary actually has actual agency...the exception being within the current Mal-administration and within the Democrat war-party and their RINO henchmen such as the egregious Senator Lindsay Graham...a totally blackmailed puppet for the genuine shotcallers.
Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 14 2023 18:05 utc | 49
Sektion2b,
Government, as executive and regulatory function, is the nervous system, while money and banking are blood and the circulation system. One concentrates, while the other distributes.
Michael Hudson wrote a book some years ago, called, Forgive Them Their Debts, The Fall of Antiquity, about how the competition between the centripetal political elements tended to be broken down by the mercantile and oligarch class, by the feedback loop of compound interest and general wealth leveraging more wealth. So now we are stuck in a similar rut.
Notice Russia and China have gone back to private government, with Putin and Xi, as respective CEO's, to control the oligarchs.
Posted by: John Merryman | Feb 14 2023 18:11 utc | 50
Ms Nuland, on the few occasions when I have observed her in action, does not look too bright. Is that just me?
Posted by: Bemildred | Feb 14 2023 15:27 utc | 6
####################
Emotional dysfunction with enough energy behind it can masquerade as higher intelligence. "High functioning".
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 14 2023 18:11 utc | 51
Neofeudal @27
"Slavery and monotheism". You came up with a zinger there. Ever since Constantine created the "Holy" Bible; the European peoples and their trans-continental descendants have been effectually deracinated. The JudieChristieMagickMindfuck was imposed upon them by imperial decree, complete with the loss of literacy and the subsequent devolution known as the Dark Ages.
Prior to that downfall, the Roman Catholic elites saw to it that with their possession of "The Book", combined with the imperial dictum; THEY would be the only people in the Western world who could actually READ. To ensure this development these aggrandizers made certain that the ancient wisdom schools and libraries would be totally destroyed.
Currently, control over the mass-media of misinformation and mindfuckery, along with the mis-educational system; the masses of what has been called "Christendom" has become Christiandumbed-down.
Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 14 2023 18:14 utc | 52
... such a wonderful opportunity.
Oil and Gas Industry earned US$4 Trillion last year over the average $1.5 trillion
Oslo Conference.
International Energy Agency (IEA) chief Fatih Birol said on Tuesday that the profits of the global oil and gas industry are expected to increase to US$4 trillion in 2022 from an average of $1.5 trillion in recent years.[.]
LINK
Posted by: Likklemore | Feb 14 2023 18:14 utc | 53
When the medium enabling markets is privately held, we are all tenant farmers to the banks.
Capitalism and free markets are not synonymous.
Posted by: John Merryman | Feb 14 2023 18:18 utc | 54
[.]While NATOstani chew and stew in Brussels, the ground from underneath them is rapidly eroding.[.]
Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 14 2023 18:01 utc | 48
Can’t happen soon enough.
Biden, Sullivan, Nuland and hubby, Blinken, Austin, Scholz, Stollenberg, Sunak, Johnson, Soros, Kissinger and Fink should all be put out to pasture in the Gobi desert.
Round them up.
Posted by: Likklemore | Feb 14 2023 18:23 utc | 55
"we are all tenant farmers..." @54
so true.
we all have a "boss."
I ask myself: what am I "not allowed" to say outloud, in public, and there i find the line that has been drawn by the person/entity that is "in charge" right now.
I am a food grower, and despite how much it may cost me to grow my food/raise my meat, i can only successfully sell that food at the price people decide it is worth. So I mostly grow for my family, and sell what i have to to stay afloat. I wish it could be that i sell because it feels good to support the community and grow local and resilient food systems.
One day...
"Another world is possible...on a quiet day, I can hear her coming." - Arundhati Roy
Posted by: Irish | Feb 14 2023 18:26 utc | 56
Arisdemos,
A good book on the foundations of Western civilization is Gilbert Murray's, The Five Stages of Greek Religion.
To the Ancients, monotheism equated with monoculture. One people, one rule, one god. Democracy and republicanism originated in pantheistic cultures. The family as godhead. As you point out, the Romans adopted a monotheistic sect as as state religion, as the Empire solidified out of the debris of the Republic. Basically validating The Big Guy Rules.
Posted by: John Merryman | Feb 14 2023 18:33 utc | 57
@ John Merryman
Western means Roman Thesiger Guy Rules.
He obviously doesn't. So until it time to choose a different God to the current most corrupt psychopath?
Posted by: Giyane | Feb 14 2023 18:45 utc | 58
Posted by: Giyane | Feb 14 2023 17:11 utc | 37
as the Ukranian Vikings
Arrête ! Qu'est ce que tu racontes là ? Les Vikings n'ont rien à foutre avec les galiciens etc ! Those were prussian and austrian !
Posted by: Sarlat La Canède | Feb 14 2023 18:51 utc | 59
Giyane,
Logically a spiritual absolute would be the essence of sentience, from which we rise, not an ideal of wisdom and judgement, from which we fell. The light shining through the film, than the narrative played out on it.
Ideals are not absolutes and the philosophers should have been all over that centuries ago. When you have a culture founded on the assumption they are, it is neurotically brittle, given all the competing ideals, from Wahabism to Wokism.
Posted by: John Merryman | Feb 14 2023 18:54 utc | 60
Giayane @37
Imperative that you do some more research on the time period of the Vikings. Beginning of the raids was their devastation of Charlegmagne's "Holy" Roman Empire's third largest city and the site of its silver minting operation. It was located at that time in the Rhine Delta and was also a very active entrepôt, through a wide trade area. Reason for the assault by the longships was that when the Emperor conquered the Old Saxon people; he gave the survivors a choice: Acknowledge me as Emperor and kiss the Bible to become Christians...Or fall to the sword.
Several thousand recalcitrants refused the "offer they could not refuse" and chose the sword.
Word of the imposed religion and loss of personal freedom event soon reached the Danish peoples. They quickly built a wall right across the Jutland peninsula, similar to Hadrian's earthworks delineating the boundary between the English and the Scots.
Large barracks holding 200 prime warriors each were erected behind the lines.
Now the hypothesis: The Scandinavian people, including Danes, Scanians, Goths and Norsemen, aware now that an evil empire and a false religion were an existential threat to their survival as free peoples with their own spiritual pathways, called a council of war, most probably in the vicinage of the city of Malmo, center of the Scanian tribal folk.
Thus the FIRST major riposte by the Nordic peoples was that attack on Dorestad, where the city was sacked, the mint was carried home along with captives and JudieChristie religious institutions were also demolished.
So the beginnings of the Viking incursions were the onset of a cultural and religious war against a powerful and diabolical empire, founded upon the falsity of one of the three Abrahamic desert religions.
Later on, the primary raison d' etre for the conflict tended to fade away over the generations and was replaced by firstly a plundering was, initially on religious institutions and later on a more organized, state-sponsored basis. Following that stage, over a 200 year set of cycles, were massive settlement patterns within the Danelaw in Britain and also in Scotland, Ireland and the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea. Most parts of the British Isles, with the exception of the Saxon Home Counties, included a significant proportion of Danish and Norse settlers, often marrying into the Celtic rootstock.
Thus, we must considered the 200+ year Viking era as multidimensional, rather than the simplistic approaches as the Norse folk being mere marauders and plunderers. In essence then, this war was one of free men versus the impositional culture of a religion-based imperial agenda.
Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 14 2023 18:54 utc | 61
Oops:
In the penultimate paragraph, second line "was" should be changed to "wars".
Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 14 2023 18:57 utc | 62
Old Hippie @38
One ought ever to bear in mind is that Nuland/Nudelman happens to be exceedingly well connected. She is married to the notorious Neocon leader Robert Kagan.
The very name Kagan indicates that he is of the royal bloodline of the Kagan rulers of ancient Khazaria...and that faction and their shotcallers in City of London...are among other agendas, dead set on the resurrection of the Khazarian empire of a thousand years ago.
Their current stronghold in the eastern Mediterranean is simply too vulnerable to last for many more decades in that particular neighborhood AND within that sandbox, there are no outsiders upon whom they can plunder and parasitize.
Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 14 2023 19:03 utc | 63
Forgive me Giyane for having a go at you, but for a long time Islam was an extraordinary civilising, knowledge expanding system for, what I can only refer to us "human good". Not just knowledge but culture !
For example, without the musical traditions of Cordoba; popular music as we know it would not have come to pass.The rescue of those musicians and singers from the Reconquista by the prince of Aquitaine gave rise to some of the most beautiful, uplifting, embracing cultural movements of humanity !
The unfortunate fact thaét the increase in power of a priesthood led to the ossification of many parts of Islam is unfortunate, to say the least.. But I like to think that there are signs that this is receding !
I shouldn't really blow up like this, mais, mais, desfois !
Posted by: Sarlat La Canède | Feb 14 2023 19:05 utc | 64
And "Vikings" is a misnomer, viking is an activity, like "hiking" ! They were primarily merchants, explorers and, yes, chancers ! And superb warriors ! And almost certainly fabulous judging by the combs, hair bleaching agents etc found in their gravegoods !
Slava Ancient Scandis !
Posted by: Sarlat La Canède | Feb 14 2023 19:10 utc | 65
John Merryman @54
Congrats. You nailed it. "Capitalism and free markets are not synonymous." Precisely. In fact they are totally polarized. THEY harp on and on about "free trade"...the meaning of which is free CORPORATE monopoly trade, totally backed and impulsed by highest finance capital, headquartered in City of London along with Wall $treet.
A secondary codicil to the free market entrepreneurs would be mutual cooperative and highly localized consortiums, along with public control over utilities, banking, health-care and similar expressions of Scandinavian concepts of mixed economies. (because of powerful vested interests, however, the Scandinavians also compromised and allowed for ongoing corporate power which currently has largely bulldozed over their previous "samfolden" and "samholden" populist empowerments.
Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 14 2023 19:13 utc | 67
Irish @56
Blessings be upon you and your efforts to grow healthful and sustaining food for your home and for your neighbors. May the powers of light shine upon you and be gracious unto you.
Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 14 2023 19:16 utc | 68
He obviously doesn't. So until it time to choose a different God to the current most corrupt psychopath?Posted by: Giyane | Feb 14 2023 18:45 utc | 58
Assuming monotheism is a thing, then choosing a different God is not an option. The only choice is to select an arbiter/interpreter of God's will/plan/intention/message, whatever.
Do we make that choice on historical record? Funny how most of my friends who wanted to "keep faith" have joined small local gospel congregations.
Posted by: Opport Knocks | Feb 14 2023 19:18 utc | 69
John Merryman @ 57
Thank you for your posting about Gilbert Murray's book. Right up my alley. Long have I come to understand that the solid basis of what might be called Western Civilization, is Hellenic in origin. They possessed a far higher culture than the one we endure at present and must serve as a template for a second renaissance for the people of Europe and their descendants abroad from that mother-culture.
The imposition of a desert god, of evil provenance upon the indigenous population of far Western Eurasia, "succeeded" in setting our peoples back for a solid thousand years of devolution.
Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 14 2023 19:23 utc | 70
In the end, it doesn't matter whose cause was morally right or justified. What matters now is power. It didn't matter if Ceasar's conquests were justified, he still conquered and enslaved large portions of Europe. The Russian military has had decades of serious corruption, a poor military system of conscripts, a poor system of logistics, and the inability to maintain the large Soviet era weaponry. This has led to Russia engaging in a conflict with insufficient forces, multiple retreats, abandoned armored tanks and APCs, the loss of their flag ship, the undefined timeline of their psuedo-carrier remaining in dry dock for repairs, and unnecessary soldier casualties due to poor planning, training, and combined arms usage. Even if Russia wins this war, it will be a bitter victory. Russia's power as the 2nd ranked military has been a fascade that has crumbled underneath reality that they are very vulnerable if not for their nuclear arsenal.
Posted by: Prometheus Defiant | Feb 14 2023 19:24 utc | 71
aristodemos @ 49
Sometimes a high level operative is little different than someone with real agency. I do think Obama and Hillary are both very active within the "Biden" admin. Who exactly those two work for is a mystery to me.
Posted by: oldhippie | Feb 14 2023 19:26 utc | 72
All very interesting guys but little to do with the topic in hand any chance of moving to the last open thread.
b put some effort into this timely subject, it's being diluted by yes you might have known ...Americans
Posted by: Marj2 | Feb 14 2023 19:27 utc | 73
Sarlat @64
Amongst those of Islam, I continue to see hope primarily amongst those of the Sufi persuasion. Sufism as a spiritual practice long predates Islamic doctrines...to which that practice has long given little more than superficial lip-service. Their point of view strikes me as being unitarian rather than exclusivist. Human brotherhood is within their ken... so far as my researches tend to indicate.
Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 14 2023 19:28 utc | 74
Let me join the choir of praise for this effort. Everything that can help stop the madness must be done, and this shines light on the truth. May it continue.
@ Norwegian | Feb 14 2023 17:06 utc | 34
@ aristodemos | Feb 14 2023 18:01 utc | 48
Will the gathering rallies be ignored?
Protests in France - revisit exiting NATO
RT
NATO flag defaced as ‘thousands’ rally in Paris
The organizers claim that some 10,000 people protested against sending weapons to Ukraine
A major rally against the membership of France in NATO and the supply of weapons to Ukraine took place in Paris on Sunday.
Florian Philippot, the head of the right-wing Les Patriotes party, which organized the march, claimed that it had gathered some 10,000 people and was the largest such protest to date. He said 25 smaller anti-NATO rallies were held elsewhere across France on the same day.
Videos from the French capital did capture a significant crowd of at least several thousand people, carrying French national flags and a large banner reading: “For peace.”
The crowd chanted slogans, including “No planes, no tanks, no missiles for Ukraine,” “Let’s get out of NATO,” “Macron, we don’t want your war,” and “No to World War III” among others.At some point during the event, Philippot got on stage and used scissors to cut the blue NATO flag in half to the cheers of the demonstrators. “NATO means war,” he proclaimed.[.]
Posted by: Likklemore | Feb 14 2023 19:33 utc | 75
Defiant one @71
It would appear that you have been a bit deleterious when it comes to broad scale research and analysis. After reading your screed, my suggestion would be to remain a lurker for a bunch of while, as there are quite a number of profound posters on this site...individuals who have more than simply done their homework, but who have evolved into first-rate analysts and speculators as to the reality of the conflict in Eastern Slavic Europe.
So unless you happen to be a paid troll or an intel agency disruptor, hang around for awhile, "listen" and learn and then graduate into the initial level as a heeded poster.
Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 14 2023 19:37 utc | 76
Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 14 2023 19:23 utc | 70
is Hellenic in origin. They possessed a far higher culture than the one we endure at presentYeah, baby, yeah ! Let's bring back slavery ! And proper blasphemy laws !
Go away, you tedious coprolite !
Posted by: Sarlat La Canède | Feb 14 2023 19:40 utc | 77
Old Hippie @72
"Those Two" do not have a fraction of the agency as is held by The Agency. One only needs to read Gary Webb's book (I recall the title being something like "Strange Alliance") on the Agency's role in bringing crack cocaine into the picture in our ruptured republic and come to understand how a cyst within that organization are able to tell both the Department of $tate and of the Department of "Justice" who's who and what's what.
Webb, BTW, "suicided" by two shots to his head. Apparently he had revealed three much about the nefarious affairs of THE mid-level shot-calling conglomeration,.
Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 14 2023 19:44 utc | 78
Likklemore @75
Another welcome Valentine. Yes, what you see going on in France is only the visible part of the iceberg. The ship of $tate Power is proceeding full speed ahead. Those "states" are ruled by the Imperium centered in City of London with its major branch-orfice on Wall $treet.
Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 14 2023 19:47 utc | 79
Sarlat en Canuckistan:
SO. Your true colors show. The post-Western world will not hinge strictly on the Hellenic experience. You denounce that highest level of Western civ. for its slavery. Please inform me as to which western culture at that time period did NOT embrace the concept of slavery. You are becoming picky-picky here...without discriminating broadly. Intellectually vacuous.
Here on Turtle Island, the bases for a renaissance paradigm will not be limited to the European experience alone. We must also consider Native American wisdom. Those people lived in a tribal environment which was both closely connected with the natural world, but also clear onto levels of Cosmic Consciousness.
BTW: What are you on? It seems neither to be green nor organic: "Blasphemy Laws"? Heavens forfend.
To quote Shakespeare: "There is more to heaven and earth than is dreamt of in your philosophy, Horatio."
Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 14 2023 19:58 utc | 80
oldhippie | Feb 14 2023 17:12 utc | 38
Nuland is on bad psych meds. The weight gain is not just that she is a slob.
>psych drugs
Could it be? Could the spawn of Satan actually have a conscience?
Buried deep, of course. But could she be vexxed by what she personally has wrought?
Deaths. Hundreds of thousands dead. And she personally responsible?
I find it imperative to believe in hell, or karma or some cosmic punishment for such creatures.
Posted by: Melaleuca | Feb 14 2023 20:06 utc | 81
" God forbid we should have any more empires. The world has had quite enough of them.
That's not what Russia and China are attempting to build; quite the opposite.
Posted by: pasha | Feb 14 2023 15:57 utc | 16 "
Then why is China building so many aircraft carriers ?
Posted by: Deplorable Commisar | Feb 14 2023 20:08 utc | 82
I began my ten articles related to February 2022's events that would lead to the SMO with the 10 Feb meeting between Lavrov and Truss. That was followed by my articles on the 15th, the first being the meeting between Putin and Lavrov on the 14th followed by the presser following Putin's meeting with Scholtz. On the 17th, I published the outcome of Russia's diplomatic efforts, "The Valentine's Day Draft Gets Published: Outlaw US Empire/NATO Accused of Multiple Treaty Violations." Here's my into:
"My Valentine's Day article closes with Putin and Lavrov preparing to discuss his draft ten-page response to what was submitted by the Outlaw US Empire and NATO. That draft was then polished and today published. It included a few additions I wanted to see, like overtly stating Treaties were violated. What follows is a parsing I did of RT's parsing of the document:"
IMO, knowing what was reported about the Putin/Lavrov conversation on the 14th is crucial; it's all here in English. IMO, this is the crucial passage, Lavrov"s speaking:
"... but above all, this approach is about the legal settlement of issues that generally threaten the Euro-Atlantic Region. I am referring to where we started with in our initiatives, when you repeatedly emphasised, including during your recent telephone conversations and news conferences – we need to ensure indivisible security, including with regard to NATO’s non-expansion, non-deployment of strike weapons and returning to its 1997 configuration." [My Emphasis]
Lavrov said "there is always a chance" in answer to Putin's question:
"Do you think we still have a chance of coming to terms with our partners on the key problems of our concern or is this simply an attempt to drag us into an endless negotiating process with no logical conclusion?"
The additional diplomatic meetings that are detailed then took place that suggested the true answer was there was no chance. A week later on the 21st, Putin delivered what would be the first in a series of historic speeches which I translated and fully published. But what also happened on the 21st was to me an unprecedented Televised meeting of Russia's Security Council.
I'll stop here since I don't want to tread too heavily on b's recap of last year's events. Russia's efforts to solve the situation diplomatically was never going to be allowed by the Outlaw US Empire in a continuation of a policy began by Obama, or we might even say GHW Bush, or perhaps we should go back to the very beginning and Woodrow Wilson--a product of the South whose aspirations for independence were dashed by Russia's intervention in British efforts to support the South.
Likklemore | Feb 14 2023 19:33 utc | 75
Just a tip from one with the most modest tech skills.
Everything after the ? In your twitter link is unnecessary.
Posted by: Melaleuca | Feb 14 2023 20:11 utc | 84
aristodemos @ 78
CIA is a club like other clubs. Agency itself is a tool. Members of the club wield power or not. The guy who scares me is the one who sits in his chair drinking his gin year after year but when he speaks after thirty years silence everyone jumps.
Main reason we know there is power at CIA is that we know so very little of its inner workings. Get back to me when you know who at CIA does what. Or who on the outside gives them orders.
Posted by: oldhippie | Feb 14 2023 20:16 utc | 85
Almost a year after russia invaded Ukraine, it still amazes me that many observers cannot get the facts of the war straight!!!
1) russia invaded Ukraine in 2014 - not 2022!!!
2) russia gaslighted the world with its conspiracy theories about “civil war in Ukraine”, about some “internal conflict”
3) russia has been killing hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians and leveling to the dust hundreds of Ukraine’s cities, town and villages
4) russia is a degenerate, barbaric, inhumane society with decayed culture and perverted communistic and socialistic values and ideals
5) f-ng mother russia gave us such “stellar leaders” as Lenin, Stalin, and now Putin; the country has been The Cancer of human existence
Stop writing all this bullshit, whitewashing russian inhumanity and barbarism!!!
Pray to God The Almighty that His mighty hand will rid the Earth of such garbage and human dung as putin, medvedev, lavrov, and every other moron who supports that band of mafiosos and promulgates any sentiment in their support!
Posted by: Alex Kopaigora | Feb 14 2023 20:18 utc | 86
@Sarlat La Canède | Feb 14 2023 19:10 utc | 65
And "Vikings" is a misnomer, viking is an activity, like "hiking" !Correct.
Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 14 2023 20:21 utc | 87
Some time ago, I watched a set of lectures on medical history given by Victoria Nuland's late father Sherwin, who was a professor at Yale Medical School. I was impressed by them.
Maybe 15 years ago, I listened on CSPAN Radio a long interview of Victoria Inland by Brian Lamb. She didn't at all strike me as stupid.
Posted by: Lysias | Feb 14 2023 20:21 utc | 88
@ Melaleuca [tea tree, an essential and never without]
Many thanks your helpful guidance. I wasn't sure how to abreviate without truncating the full link.
Posted by: Likklemore | Feb 14 2023 20:22 utc | 89
Great work... thanks b
Take aways:
* Russians are the adults in the room looking for real diplomatic engagement. But it's not 1962 and there are no adults in the White Hose (sic, a lovely slip btw).
* There are, however, plenty of teenagers running things there, gaming and larping their way into the dustbin of history (like those FTX criminals).
* Exhibit A: they called their playgroup 'Tiger Team'. Face-Fucking-Palm.
* Exhibit B: Among the Tiger Team’s top concerns is a Russian effort to promote the false narrative that it is Ukraine, aided by the West, that is preparing to launch an offensive in eastern Ukraine, and that Russia is the victim.——'Tiger Team' is only interested in optics and blowing up constructive things other people have made. If the Turkish earthquake had originated in 'Tiger Team' I would not be surprised. They just like wrecking stuff.
We will never see it, but the fate of Mussolini would be appropriate for all these criminals. Do we have enough lamp-posts?
Posted by: Patroklos | Feb 14 2023 20:23 utc | 90
Then why is China building so many aircraft carriers ?
Posted by: Deplorable Commisar | Feb 14 2023 20:08 utc | 82
Hopefully to liberate all of the US and EU colonial holdings in the Global South. And seriously, China *MAY* end up with five carriers while the US already has eleven. China isn't trying to spread its system of government or economy by force the way that Roman or anglophone societies have.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 14 2023 20:25 utc | 91
aristodemos | Feb 14 2023 18:54 utc | 61
many thanks for trying educating Giyane on Norse/Dane medieval history. He/She has vomited this BS before and doesn’t seem to listen. The Norse were farmers, fishers, trappers-they just happened to have a trade network from Dublin to Baghdad and Samakand. In Baghdad they learnt the size of the earth from the geographers there.
They used the Roman road network and had some interesting battle strategies. They infuriated Aelfred by barging into cities, then refusing to come out to fight, preferring to have a massive supper. I see the Russians being quite similar actually. Fight if you have to, and with 100% commitment, but better to trade, not fight.
Posted by: olaf22 | Feb 14 2023 20:25 utc | 92
Posted by: Likklemore | Feb 14 2023 20:22 utc | 89
When you initially land on the Twitter link, just grab all the text in the URL starting with the ? and moving to the right and delete it. Then hit refresh. If the same tweet loads again, you're all good and can share the truncated (native/actual) link.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 14 2023 20:28 utc | 93
@Lysias | Feb 14 2023 20:21 utc | 88
I don't think Nuland is stupid, I think she is a psychopath. Such people (and I have some experience) can be so removed from ordinary behavior that interpreting them can be difficult for non-psychos.
It is a mistake to believe she is stupid.
Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 14 2023 20:29 utc | 94
It is a mistake to believe she is stupid.
Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 14 2023 20:29 utc | 94
---
LOL. Nuland's mind is broken.
Posted by: too scents | Feb 14 2023 20:31 utc | 95
Re: Due West | Feb 14 2023 15:54 utc | 13
You wrote
”If yourself and the rest of the doomers salivating wildly at the idea of a nuclear war because your mating strategy will finally pay off and you believe you'll get the pick of the nubile women in exchange for a pack of fish antibiotics and some tinned tomatoes could stop, that would be great“
JSM at 10 simply says the question is if the fools in Washington will start a nuclear war. That is a legitimate question to ask, and I see no “salivation” in that statement. You twist the meaning to make an absurd assertion.
What is your agenda here?
Posted by: Perimetr | Feb 14 2023 20:33 utc | 96
" Hopefully to liberate all of the US and EU colonial holdings in the Global South. And seriously, China *MAY* end up with five carriers while the US already has eleven. China isn't trying to spread its system of government or economy by force the way that Roman or anglophone societies have.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 14 2023 20:25 utc | 91 "
Hope and wishful conjecture are not an answer and neither is the number of US carriers. At this point in history, carriers are only useful against weak opponents with no navy or airforce to speak of. So who is China planning on bullying ?
Posted by: Deplorable Commisar | Feb 14 2023 20:37 utc | 97
" Stop writing all this bullshit, whitewashing russian inhumanity and barbarism!!!
Pray to God The Almighty that His mighty hand will rid the Earth of such garbage and human dung as putin, medvedev, lavrov, and every other moron who supports that band of mafiosos and promulgates any sentiment in their support!
Posted by: Alex Kopaigora | Feb 14 2023 20:18 utc | 86 "
I'm not a Putin fan boy, but this is just dumb.
Posted by: Deplorable Commisar | Feb 14 2023 20:39 utc | 98
The subject of this thread is Feb. 14, 2022. The very next day, Feb. 15, Zelensky delivered a speech at the Munich Security Conference in which he threatened that Ukraine would (re?)acquire nuclear weapons. Kamala Harris was at that conference. The two are reported to have met there. No doubt other US officials were there, perhaps including Nuland. I'm sure they vetted the text of Zelensky's speech. Perhaps they even wrote it.
The preceding weeks had seen a series of provocations of Russia. I believe the US wanted war. We now know from Hersh's piece that the US was planning to attack Nordstream months before Feb. 14, 2022. That attack is difficult to imagine if there were not already war. I suspect Zelensky's speech was the straw that broke the camel's back and made the Russian attack inevitable. The Russian attack came less than a week after Zelensky's speech, and two of the places that Russia immediately occupied were Chernobyl and Zaporozhe, both of which had nuclear materials that could have been used to make dirty bombs.
Posted by: Lysias | Feb 14 2023 20:44 utc | 99
So who is China planning on bullying ?
Posted by: Deplorable Commisar | Feb 14 2023 20:37 utc | 97
Nobody. They are planning on the eventual and inevitable need and ability to challenge forced US hegemony in the Global South and in particular the Pacific and South China Sea (mission pretty much accomplished there). If you're going to ask leading questions (it's almost as if you're an avid Foreign Policy reader) at least posit your opinion on who they will "bully" and why. What foreign policy aims do you think China plans to carry out with naval force?
They don't have a history as a nation of doing anything remotely resembling "bullying" any distance from their immediate borders and if you think that China plans to launch unprovoked military operations against nations like Libya, Syria, Iraq, etc., again, history is not on your side. But feel free to be scared of the evil China bogeyman, invented of whole cloth by western spinmeisters, if you want.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 14 2023 20:44 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
B. First rate series you are creating. respect
Posted by: Exile | Feb 14 2023 15:09 utc | 1