The Buildup To War In Ukraine - Friday, February 18, 2022
On February 18 2022, a Friday, Russia voiced alarm over the sharp increase in shelling in Donbas:
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov voiced alarm on Friday over a sharp increase in shelling in eastern Ukraine and accused the OSCE special monitoring mission of glossing over what he said were Ukrainian violations of the peace process.Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists have been fighting in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine since 2014 in a conflict that Kyiv says has claimed some 15,000 lives.
Washington and its allies have raised fears that the upsurge in violence in the Donbass could form part of a Russian pretext to invade Ukraine. Tensions are already high over a Russian military buildup to the north, east and south of Ukraine.
Moscow denies planning an invasion.
"We are very concerned by the reports of recent days - yesterday and the day before there was a sharp increase in shelling using weapons that are prohibited under the Minsk agreements," Lavrov said, referring to peace accords aimed at ending the conflict.
Militia of the Donbas republics started to evacuate civilians:
Russian-backed separatists packed civilians onto buses out of breakaway regions in east Ukraine on Friday, a shock turn in a conflict the West believes Moscow plans to use as justification for all-out invasion of its neighbour.Warning sirens blared in Donetsk after it and the other self-proclaimed "People's Republic" of Luhansk announced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people to Russia, with women, children and the elderly going first.
Hours later, a jeep exploded outside the rebel government building in the city of Donetsk, capital of the region of the same name. Reuters journalists saw the vehicle surrounded by shrapnel, a wheel tossed away by the blast. Russian media said it belonged to a militia leader.
The Ukrainian government said it was not planning any offensive or targeting civilians in any way.
There were lots of meetings and calls among 'western' leaders and Lavrov and Blinken agreed to meet:
Antony Blinken is to meet the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, next week, as the US secretary of state warned the crisis in Ukraine was a “moment of peril for the lives and safety of millions of people”.The US state department said on Thursday night that Blinken had accepted an invitation to meet Lavrov provided there was no invasion of Ukraine. The move provides hope that diplomatic channels remained open even as US warnings of an imminent invasion grow louder.
“If they do invade in the coming days, it will make clear they were never serious about diplomacy,” said state department spokesperson Ned Price. Blinken said earlier on Thursday he had sent a letter to Lavrov proposing a meeting in Europe.
A fresh flurry of meetings between western leaders begins on Friday, with the US president, Joe Biden, hosting a call with the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, Britain, the European Union and Nato.
The US vice-president, Kamala Harris, is also due to arrive in Munich for several days of talks with global leaders including the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, the UK foreign secretary, Liz Truss, and Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
The Russian president Vladimir Putin held a meeting with Russia's Security Council
The discussion focused on the situation around Ukraine and on growing tensions that are being provoked by external forces. The President briefed the meeting participants, in great detail, about his international contacts this week, including face-to-face meetings and telephone conversations. They also exchanged opinions on security guarantees for Russia.
Putin also had a meeting with the president of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko. In a following news conference both bemoaned the seemingly unreasonable behavior of their international counterparts.
Putin:Responding to a request from President Lukashenko, I talked about my recent meetings with foreign leaders on the provision by the US and NATO of long-term and legally binding security guarantees for Russia. We believe it is both logical and understandable that this issue also concerns our Belarussian allies.
We discussed the situation with Russia’s requests for the West, the most important of which concern NATO’s non-expansion, the non-deployment of strike weapons systems in close proximity to the Russian border, and the return of the bloc’s military potential and infrastructure in Europe to the state of 1997 when the Russia-NATO Founding Act was signed.
As I said earlier, unfortunately, the United States and other members of the alliance do not appear ready to sincerely consider these three pivotal elements of our initiative. At the same time, they have advanced a number of ideas of their own concerning European security, specifically, intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles, and military transparency, which Russia is open to discussing. We are ready to continue the negotiation track provided that all items are considered in their entirety, in conjunction with Russia’s main proposals, which are an unconditional priority for us.
President Lukashenko and I touched on the intra-Ukrainian conflict as well. The settlement process remains stalled; despite all our efforts, neither the contacts at the level of advisers to the leaders of the Normandy Format countries nor the consultations with our partners are helping.
Kiev is not complying with the Minsk Agreements and, in particular, is strongly opposed to a direct dialogue with Donetsk and Lugansk. Kiev is essentially sabotaging the agreements on amending the Constitution, on the special status of Donbass, on local elections and on amnesty – on all the key items in the Minsk Agreements. Besides, basically, human rights are massively and systematically violated in Ukraine, and discrimination against the Russian-speaking population is being fixed at the legislative level.
The President of Belarus and I agreed that the Minsk Agreements are the key to restoring civil peace in Ukraine and relieving tension around that country. All Kiev needs to do is sit down at the negotiating table with representatives of Donbass and agree on political, military, economic and humanitarian measures to end the conflict. The sooner this happens, the better. Unfortunately, right now, we are witnessing the opposite – the situation in Donbass is worsening.
Lukashenko:
Considering the urgency of the situation, the President and I have devoted much attention today to this issue and discussed potential joint actions as a response to the aggressive behaviour of our Western partners. I would like to emphasise once again: nobody wants a war, or even an aggravation of the situation or any conflict. We, Russians and Belarusians, do not need this.
As people well versed in this issue, you probably understand that this no longer depends even on our neighbours, including Ukraine. You also see clearly who the escalation of tensions near our borders depends on. For the first time in decades, we have found ourselves on the threshold of a conflict that could, unfortunately, pull much of the entire continent into a maelstrom.
We are seeing the irresponsibility and, excuse me for being blunt, stupidity of some Western politicians at its best. There is no logic or reasonable explanation for the conduct of the leaders of neighbouring countries, their truly morbid desire to walk the edge.
The President of Russia has very mildly described the aggravation of the situation in Donbass. Unfortunately, it is true. People there are ready to flee the area and are probably already fleeing, as we know. This is not normal. I have the impression that some politicians who hold high and responsible positions in the so-called free world are simply pathologically dangerous to both their associates and, most importantly, to their own people.
History was about to repeat itself.
Via @PaulEckstein - Notice the laughing Turk China sitting it out.
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The OSCE Special Observer Mission at the ceasefire line in southeast-Ukraine reported of February 18 2022 that the number of ceasefire violations had again increased significantly. Artillery exchanges took place along many parts of the front.
In Donetsk region, the SMM recorded 591 ceasefire violations, including 553 explosions. In the previous reporting period, it recorded 222 ceasefire violations in the region.In Luhansk region, the Mission recorded 975 ceasefire violations, including 860 explosions. In the previous reporting period, it recorded 648 ceasefire violations in the region.
Since Wednesday, February 16 2022, the number of ceasefire violations and explosions has increased every day.
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The map shows explosions, the small black dots, on both sides of the ceasefire line. While only few of the hundreds of explosions were located and marked on the map a count of the black dots shows 56 impacts on the Donbas side and 22 on the government controlled side of the ceasefire line. The artillery exchanges seem to have become more uneven than before.
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Posted by b on February 18, 2023 at 17:24 UTC | Permalink
next page »There is a major moral aspect to this conflict. The issue is pretty much black and white. When a regime terrorizes and murders thousands of their own citizens, each and every person with high ethical and moral standards should simply be outraged.
When third parties start to involve themselves even beyond their previous amoral actions; then it becomes the duty of conscientious individuals to openly oppose their own governments who aid and abet in these inhumane policies.
Today, right across this ruptured republic, tens of thousands of righteously concerned citizens are rallying against this totally unethical and massively immoral war, begun by servants of the financial elite, headquartered in City of London and on Wall $treet...the ultimate shotcallers of highest finance capital.
Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 18 2023 17:45 utc | 2
thank you b!
"The Ukrainian government said it was not planning any offensive or targeting civilians in any way."
this is contradicted by the osce findings leading up to feb 24th... it doesn't square...
the ''agreed to meet'' link from the guardian rag is more of the same tough talking bullshit we are still getting from the west... it summarizes the dishonesty of the west in spades...
@ aristodemos | Feb 18 2023 17:45 utc | 2
i agree with much of what you say.. thanks.. until scholz or macron or one of these euro leaders wakes up and speaks out against it all, it will continue on and get worse..
Posted by: james | Feb 18 2023 18:01 utc | 3
B. Is creating a masterpiece, thank you
Comment :
It’s important to keep in the foreground, that very few ‘Russian’ military participated in the fighting for the first 6 months or so. The vast majority of fighting was undertaken by the ‘Ukrainian’ militias of the Lugansk and Donetsk Republics.
Posted by: Exile | Feb 18 2023 18:04 utc | 4
Just nitpicking, but I think, on the picture, is a laughing Chinese sitting it out. There seems to be an ottoman soldier along the other great (and not so great) powers (the one before last at the right of the line)
Posted by: Vissarionovich | Feb 18 2023 18:11 utc | 5
Consortium News interviews Sy Hersh 23 hrs ago
“Don’t count on the Pentagon to save us from the war.”
(h/t RT)
Betting on Ukraine victory was ‘suicidal’ – Seymour Hersh
The West didn’t even want Kiev in NATO because of corruption concerns, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist says
RT Transcript in partThe US and its allies should have attempted to reach an agreement with Moscow as their belief that Ukraine can win a conflict against Russia is “suicidal,” iconic American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has argued.
Speaking in a YouTube interview with the Consortium News outlet on Friday, Hersh accused the Biden administration of making “so many bad mistakes,” adding that “it’s impossible to believe just how dumb this leadership was.”
“It was suicidal to think you can win that war, that Ukraine can win the war [against Russia]. There’s just too much corruption. That was a very, very bad decision. We should have been pushing for peace, we should have made an agreement,” the former Pulitzer Prize winner insisted.
US President Joe Biden basically “blew off NATO in Europe” by telling allies that he is backing Ukraine with its “totally corrupt government,” Hersh added. The journalist also pointed out how Kiev glorifies Stepan Bandera, “the great pro-Nazi who killed Jews like crazy during World War II.”
It’s just silly not to right away assure the Russian government that we weren’t interested in making Ukraine a member of NATO,” Hersh stated, referring to long-standing concerns in Moscow. “NATO didn’t want Ukraine anyway because of the corruption.” [.]
Interview Link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wI38E9bJzk&t=1698sThe Ukraine meat starts at 36 mins.
You just read one of Sy Hersh’s angst…an elder of the chosen tribes remembering 1930s Germany; the US support of the neo-NAZI and glorification of Stepan Bandera.
Posted by: Likklemore | Feb 18 2023 18:13 utc | 6
Notice the laughing Turk sitting it out.
He has "China" written on him.... :-)
Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 18 2023 18:18 utc | 7
Melnyk ‘Bandera was a Freedom
fighter’
German TV interview
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HOcW7uLJVZU
Posted by: Exile | Feb 18 2023 18:22 utc | 8
I’d like to second Exile @4, b is creating a masterpiece. One thing that stands out for me in his reports is the value of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission reports. I seem to recall at the time, there was controversy about bias and selective reporting, even whether that mission had any real value at all. And yet, what was reported is enough to give a historical record on how it all got started.
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Feb 18 2023 18:33 utc | 9
@ Vissarionovich | Feb 18 2023 18:11 utc | 5 // Norwegian | Feb 18 2023 18:18 utc | 7
i think both of you are corret...
Posted by: james | Feb 18 2023 18:45 utc | 10
although i don't seem to know how to spell correct, lol..
Posted by: james | Feb 18 2023 18:45 utc | 11
Whether or not Hersh's sources might have "massaged" Polish, UK, etc. involvement away, it is a very cohesive piece from a perfectionist on getting the gist straight, ruthless fact checking, ... My hearing of a possible $100 billion windfall to Norge on gas exports to Germany and the expansion of Norsk exploration northwards is quite interesting. My probable most influential thought on the whole matter was that the decision was made in Washington prior to Dec 2021.
From a somewhat rambling first interview on WarGonzo ( I believe) his comments on DemocracyNow and ConsortiumNews are similar and not as polished as some other journalists. But he is a print journalist, he does these jaunts out of his comfort zone because mere words do not seem to be enough these days.
Underlying these audio and video posts is one salient thought, get out and do your own research - and oh by the way, maybe check up in the oil and gas industries diving circles and oil and gas drilling and pipe laying industries. I don't quote but , "I always start at the bottom" and his examples of finding who to talk to to get to the next in line person to fill in holes should be quite educational to fledgling journalists (and the not so fledgling). Here is to Asian, European and African journalists making the next steps in filling in the pieces.
Posted by: paxmark1 | Feb 18 2023 18:53 utc | 12
> Via @PaulEckstein - Notice the laughing Turk sitting it out.
It says 'China' on top of the hat of that 'Turk'. And its not a Turk. Its Chinese. Get your eyes looked.
Posted by: Dodrey Dougherton | Feb 18 2023 18:59 utc | 13
The buzzy ChatGPT and censorship.
https://vadim-proskurin.livejournal.com/1438579.html?view=8135027&act=cAdd#t8135027
Either explicitly instilled censorship or just yet another GIGO case
Posted by: Arioch | Feb 18 2023 19:02 utc | 14
When gaze at ourselves in a mirror, to check our presence to the outside world. Simultaneously our eyes catch our eyes for reassurance. The ambiguity between what is seen and no seen
Posted by: Dingo | Feb 18 2023 19:11 utc | 15
The idea that the war is managed by intelligent beings in the west, has been disproven
"It's hilarious that Europe is run by such ignorant people," Medvedev commented on the German foreign minister, who had earlier said that the world would be happy with Moscow's "360-degree turn.""There is no doubt, connoisseur of geometry, that it will be so." "We are holding our ground," Medvedev said.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad/34053
Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 18 2023 19:20 utc | 16
The countries from left to right seems to be Japan, England, US, Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Turkey, Greece. While China is sitting out.
Posted by: blueswede | Feb 18 2023 19:24 utc | 17
This is indeed a masterpiece in progress. Bravo, b! It's factual, rational, appropriately analytical, and downright magnificent. In fact, it's starting to remind me very much of Barbara Tuchman's "The Guns of August".
While reading yours, I feel as if I'm re-living the events of a year ago. And it's actually painful, considering how all this madness could have been avoided had my decadent [US] government shown a modicum of respect for Russia's security requirements and an ounce of compassion for the beleaguered people of the Donbas.
But no, this belligerent "administration" simply thumbed its nose at the rest of the world, as usual, and set us on the path to World War III. For that, there can be no forgiveness.
Posted by: JMF | Feb 18 2023 19:26 utc | 18
The German Ministry of Defense warns Ukrainian trainees to display Nazi insignia. On second thought, tree years in a German prison may just mean... survival.
Posted by: OttoE | Feb 18 2023 19:37 utc | 19
So grateful to the conversation that gets to be had here (minus the gay bashing and misogynistic comments that pepper posts).
I am always hearing things I had never thought of and adding these perspectives to my understanding.
In this video, Germany's AcTVism Munich presents a compilation of excerpts from recent interviews on Ukraine with voices that don't get airplay in MSM: Jeffrey D. Sachs, Seymour Hersh, Vijay Prashad, Richard D. Wolff, Chris Hedges, Noam Chomky, Yanis Varoufakis, Jill Stein, and Dimitri Lascaris.
https://www.actvism.org/en/latest/seymour-hersh-chomsky-ukraine-medi/?fbclid=IwAR3gjep-HY6-27duNnLObAffyNpb20cVY6wU06RHaV5Kgr8rfrmZbDchHBI
Posted by: Irish | Feb 18 2023 19:37 utc | 20
Allegedly, chemical weapon used again by Ukraine
Assad must go.
Posted by: Arioch | Feb 18 2023 19:39 utc | 21
I am highly surprised that the Russians have not pushed back the Ukrainians far enough to ensure the safety of Donetsk city residents.Afterall it is a full year out from the beginning of the conflict.
Posted by: Lou Cypher | Feb 18 2023 19:42 utc | 22
# 16. The conceit “ of the world would be happy, etc, etc. Is a psychological manifestation of unfounded self worth and ignorance. This is obvious.
Posted by: Dingo | Feb 18 2023 19:46 utc | 23
Moscow's 360-degree turn.
Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 18 2023 19:20 utc | 16
Such level of intelligence is a prerequisite for holding a senior government position in the collective west these days.
Posted by: Vikichka | Feb 18 2023 20:14 utc | 24
Posted by: OttoE | Feb 18 2023 19:37 utc | 19
It is a fake. The text is grammatically wrong ("einer hohen Geldstrafe"), and no German official would write "... kann eine Strafe ... erhalten werden...".
Posted by: Cherrycoke | Feb 18 2023 20:16 utc | 25
Jacob Dreizin, whose predictions are pretty good, thinks Putin's 21 February speech will announce the merger of Russia and Belarus.
https://thedreizinreport.com/2023/02/16/dreizin-omics/
I’ve never – until very recently- believed in this “Union state” between Russia and Belarus. For one thing, Lukashenko isn’t going to be eager to subordinate himself under another government. Secondly, what is this Union state? Complete merger? A confederation? Just an economic and political, as well as military, alliance? I never found the parameters spelt out. Then, also, what happens to Belarus’ economy? Does it remain 80% state owned or is it oligarchised like Russia’s? If there is a joint government or if Russia absorbs Belarus, is Lukashenko eligible to run for president? What happens if he wins?
These are questions I never found an answer for, and this is why I consistently dismissed this Union state as a fantasy for public consumption. However, I believe now it will become something real, at least on the confederation level, and in self defence against NATO. Lukashenko already tried to cosy up to NATO some years ago and was rewarded by a colour revolution attempt. He probably realises now that the only safety is with Russia, and not as a separate country either (like the LDNR were until 22 February 2022).
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Feb 18 2023 20:33 utc | 26
I am reminded of John Wayne claiming that the genocide of Native Americans was justified because they were "selfishly trying to keep the land for themselves." At some point all the "democracy" talk will be dropped in favour of the bald statement that NATO has to fight Russia and China because they're "selfishly keeping all their resources for themselves."
I am unconvinced by the idea that NATO and its slaves will be deterred by the knowledge that they will likely lose any war they launch against Russia and China. Imperial Japan knew the probability that with its resource problems and its limitations in military technology it would in the long term lose if it entered WWII. But it did so anyway because the alternative was to abandon its colonial empire.
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Feb 18 2023 20:35 utc | 27
# 26 I read and listen to all points of view. Any outside information is weighed by the individual psychological milieu. All information is a distorted biased by a point of view. What’s the point of “news” and “information “ to brainwash the individual, to convince that this is such and such or that happed or this is occurring now. What you truly know is registered thru your senses thats a truth We are not on the front line to experience this conflict . But your post is appreciated.
Posted by: Dingo | Feb 18 2023 20:55 utc | 28
Love the cartoon
China is sitting out - on his hat.
Then Turkey, looking wily,aggressive UK (is that Boris?), US looking slow, stiff Germany,France looking superior, then italy. I cannot read the last three, but who is the pink bunny on the end.
Posted by: watcher | Feb 18 2023 21:00 utc | 29
A most valuable summary of events leading up to the SMO. I'm hoping it'll continue past February 24th. The first period of the SMO has never been satisfactorily detailed.
But continued or not, the summary gives chapter and verse for the reasons for this war. As the SMO moves on to its final stages we need that reminder. "b", thank you!
Posted by: English Outsider | Feb 18 2023 21:05 utc | 30
Assad must go.
Posted by: Arioch | Feb 18 2023 19:39 utc | 21
Indeed. Only with Assad gone, and Crimea at least demilitarized, can we hope for sustainable peace..
Or, we could just replace Vicky, the cookie monster.
Posted by: Bemildred | Feb 18 2023 21:11 utc | 31
@Cherrycoke | Feb 18 2023 20:16 utc | 25
I see your point, but I'm not convinced. There are zillions of "Beamtendeutsch" stylistic howlers in circulation. Including lawyers, teachers, politicians,... Why exactly should I expect the military to shine in mastering our complex language without grammatical mistakes? The fact that makes me think that you might be right is the absence of orthographic errors. THIS is IMHO untypical for these people.
Posted by: OttoE | Feb 18 2023 21:21 utc | 32
I am unconvinced by the idea that NATO and its slaves will be deterred by the knowledge that they will likely lose any war they launch against Russia and China. Imperial Japan knew the probability that with its resource problems and its limitations in military technology it would in the long term lose if it entered WWII. But it did so anyway because the alternative was to abandon its colonial empire.
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Feb 18 2023 20:35 utc | 28
It is a good question you ask, but I think the fact we had nukes and were itching to use them changed the thinking somewhat after the war.
The crazy guy strategy (Mel Gibson in "Braveheart": "I mean to pick a fight!") has always been popular in Anglo culture.
The current situation is the first time I have thought our "crazy routine" might have lost its effect. The Russians are ready to proceed however we like.
So I don't know, at bottom I think they are cowards, but who can say?
Posted by: Bemildred | Feb 18 2023 21:21 utc | 33
With luck, more than a few barflies noted this excerpt chosen and emphasized by b:
"We are ready to continue the negotiation track provided that all items are considered in their entirety, in conjunction with Russia’s main proposals, which are an unconditional priority for us." [Additional emphasis mine]
And connected it with this from further above:
"We discussed the situation with Russia’s requests for the West, the most important of which concern NATO’s non-expansion, the non-deployment of strike weapons systems in close proximity to the Russian border, and the return of the bloc’s military potential and infrastructure in Europe to the state of 1997 when the Russia-NATO Founding Act was signed."
So, those "requests" and the SMO goals must be combined together. Doing that will allow barflies to understand the direction Russia's military technical operation is going and what remains to be done. IMO, what that entails ought to be rather clear by now given what we've observed since 2021's New Years Eve. IMO, the Outlaw US Empire must be forced to return the status of NATO to 1997, which makes it likely the war will go beyond Ukraine's borders. When that point arrives, it's highly possible most of NATO will have disarmed itself. What then ensues is unknown except for one factor: Russia won't resort to NATO's immorality.
Remarkably blunt words by China's permanent UN representative at the UN Security Council Briefing on Ukraine today:
From China Daily, my emphasis
The Ukraine crisis is, in essence, the culmination of security conflicts in Europe
closely related to NATO's constant eastern expansion since the Cold War[Zhang Yun] urged NATO to abandon the Cold War mentality and stop "being a troublemaker".
"NATO, on the one hand, claims to remain a regional defensive alliance, while on the other hand, constantly seeks to breach its geographic confines and expand its agenda, stoke division and tensions, create fears and confrontations, and keep strengthening military and security ties with Asia-Pacific countries... this is obviously self-contradictory... We note with concern that the NATO Secretary General recently made many irresponsible and unfounded remarks on the situation of Asia-Pacific..."
Posted by: OttoE | Feb 18 2023 21:30 utc | 35
Bemildred @34--
Outlaw US Empire pukes like Pompeo, Sullivan, Blinken, Obama, Biden, et al, are all very brave when someone else's life's on the line, not theirs. Nuclear War puts their lives on the line, particularly in the current circumstances where the Outlaw US Empire has no defenses against incoming missiles while Russia does. Do note that no one within BidenCo is publicly demanding the MIC expand its industrial production so the massive order backlog can be produced in a timeframe capable of making a difference. The BidenCo pukes think it doesn't matter how many of their little green plastic soldiers get ground up by the lawn mower as they can always get more at the store, but reality is exactly the opposite and soon the lawn mower will be coming for them.
Hmmm... the notoriously bad Russian office of citizenship and living permits would, allegedly, be givven a heavy rehashing. It took them long...
https://vz.ru/news/2023/2/16/1199594.html
Posted by: Arioch | Feb 18 2023 21:37 utc | 37
From Federalist, I think it is the publication of Federalist Society, a rather serious Republican organization (IMO, a mafia dominating Republican judicial nominations):
With a faltering economy, a wide open southern border, imminent national security threats from the Chinese government, and radical leftists trying to co-opt unsuspecting kids into their social movements, the United States under the “leadership” of President Joe Biden is in a tailspin. So naturally, out-of-touch swamp creatures such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell felt it was appropriate to remind us plebs about what’s really important: Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Feb 18 2023 21:46 utc | 38
Posted by: Light Sleeper | Feb 18 2023 20:27 utc | 26
Ok, if you want to have an honest discussion.
The RAND report gets the basis premisse wrong and everything else is wrong as a consequence. They state that Russia is weakened. This is what is wrong. Any other country in the world, West or otherwise, would have been on its knees after a few months of the “sanctions from hell”. Russia is not only not weakened by 12 months of them but is able to withstand these sanctions while fighting a NATO guided and heavily supported opponent. Not very successfully, I will give them that, but on the winning side longterm.
Secondly, geopolitically all those countries they mention and that may turn out stronger have own interests that may indeed diverge with Russia’s but they have one thing in common: the disdain their citizens feel towards the West and its racist ways.
Posted by: alek_a | Feb 18 2023 21:48 utc | 39
The BidenCo pukes think it doesn't matter how many of their little green plastic soldiers get ground up by the lawn mower as they can always get more at the store, but reality is exactly the opposite and soon the lawn mower will be coming for them.
Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 18 2023 21:35 utc | 37
Thank you for your comment, and your many informative posts.
I think they are in reactive mode, all the time, as happens when you are focussed entirely on appearances. And "We make our own reality" does indicate a focus on appearances.
So all tactics, no planning.
It is hard to look at the present situation without trepidation, but on the other hand it is a good deal better than I expected, in that our "enemies" don't seem to be nuts.
Posted by: Bemildred | Feb 18 2023 21:49 utc | 40
Thanks for another drum beat in calling out truth to power about Ukraine b
I have a problem with the cartoon and all these barflys commenting that China is sitting this conflict out.
In case all are not paying attention, empire is trying to pivot to China with its aggression over Taiwan.
Humanity is in a civilization war with the global private finance empire cult on one side and the public finance China/Russia axis on the other.
China is linked to Russia at the hip is something I wrote here years ago and keep repeating because it is true. I think the cartoonist has an agenda different from portraying current reality.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 18 2023 21:50 utc | 41
Interesting and strange times.
As the RF allied forces destroy the remaining fewer bottom-of-the-barrel dregs of Country 404 lightly armed militia. Will Diktator "z", despatch his "ACE-IN-THE-HOLE" last card left? Send his last batch of suicide unarmed female militia to the eastern front?
Murdoch Propaganda media is currently promoting an upcoming "USSA Stop funding the bums in Country 404" rally in the DC swamp heartland.
Murdoch himself has long been guilty of writing media poopaganda since the 1960s. Who benefits?
In other news, a prez hopeful candidate faces off yet another brutal round of 99.98% losses in the USSA court system.
This opens the question. With the end of cleaning out the trash SMO in Country 404, is now in sight.
Will the dying evil USSA empire light up the landscape at midnite with a sneak space-based attack of weapons of WMDs? Before super Tuesday in November 2024.
Posted by: Bad Deal Motors On | Feb 18 2023 21:54 utc | 42
# 36 nato expansion east is the problem Treaty’s were broken,agreement were forgotten. A strategy of force majeure was adopted. Let’s see if ultimately it was the correct move.
Posted by: Dingo | Feb 18 2023 21:58 utc | 43
@Biswapriya Purkayast | Feb 18 2023 20:33 utc | 27 merger Russia + Belarus
Palming my forehead. Should have thought of that. Absolutely plausible. I contemplated declaration of war by RF after one full year of SMO (legal grounds, to involve more / other forces?), in spite of being convinced that RF is not especially fond of such symbolism.
In case that Belarus merges with RF, the immediate question is "westward expansion" of nuclear forces. Spices up the negotiations which sooner or later must follow...
Posted by: OttoE | Feb 18 2023 22:16 utc | 44
light sleeper. I get a 404 message from the Rand blog. But really- the Rand Corporation which exists to promote US hegemony and its writers who are employed to create apologia for imperialism?
You talk of the advantages of hearing both sides but do you imagine that Rand could ever have concluded, what is really no longer debatable and is certain to be the verdict of future generations which is to say that, as Merkel, Hollande and Poroshenko have all confessed publicly, the aim of the US installed coup regime in Kiev was to over run the Donbas and use violence to force the submission of its population to the diktats of the emigre fascist crowd in Kiev?
I don't. Rand employees are like lawyers handed briefs and paid to argue for them.
Those posting here are quite different, from all sorts of backgrounds and political traditions they have reached the conclusion that, what are for the most part, their own governments are enrolled in a war which began more than a century ago, to break up the Russian sphere of influence, enslave its inhabitants and steal its resources.
Their aim is to reverse the anti-colonialism current and re-establish imperial rule. To do this they have to begin with the most powerful escapees from the system, the heirs to the Soviet Union including the Peoples Republic of China. Once this is done the rest of the old empires, from the East Indies to the sub-continent itself, from Persia to the Mahgreb, and the errant peoples of America rising up from genocide, epidemics and slavery to the African heartlands are due for the same treatment.
This is a struggle not between blocs and different ideas but between the principles of life and death-la lutte finale. Nobody can be neutral.
Posted by: bevin | Feb 18 2023 22:30 utc | 45
OttoE @50--
Essentially, the Union State is the merger of Russia with Belarus, but it's not what many think of when they hear/read that term. There's lots of documentation about what the Union State entails, but it doesn't oblige Belarus to join Russia in war just because Russia's engaged in one. And it's already been agreed that Belarus will host Russian nuclear forces.
Bemildred @42--
Those outside the Outlaw US Empire bloc have a plan and are advancing it apace. Clearly it's difficult to take you eye and attention away from the SMO, but as I continue to reiterate, it's just one aspect of the Big Picture to which more color's been added over the last few days with Iran's President Raisi's visit to China and Xi's address to the 36th African Union Summit. What I'm calling the Eurasian Core is close to being completed, which will then allow for increasing focus on Africa. Psychohistorian is quite correct to say China isn't sitting out and is instead a very major player actively boosting the viability of the emerging Multipolar World while Russia confronts the Outlaw hegemon. What's happening is a synergy that will soon be too hard for the Empire to overcome.
Belarus joining Russia would solve the issue of who is to succeed Lukashenko and nullify any remaining power the west has to interfere in Belorussian politics. Would also make moot any issues regarding a separate state joining the SMO if Russia were to wish to move forces across the border from Belorussian territory. Would be a bit of a bombshell. Not sure Belarus is ready for such a change. We will see.
It has occurred to me that one of the primary reasons Russia did not move to incorporate DPR/LPR in 2014 nor provide more overt support was the idea that federalizing Ukraine, as envisioned by Minsk, would effectively prevent Ukraine from joining NATO as the pro-Russian regions would have the power to veto such a move. Russia really didn't want or need to incorporate Ukrainian territory (other than Crimea in order to get rid of the problematic lease arrangement, a territory who's population was overwhelmingly in favor of joining Russia anyway). Having a Ukrainian state work effectively to solve it's political problems and remain friendly or neutral was preferable to breaking it up along political lines and making Russia responsible for the divisions in the society - and likely having the western remainder incorporated into NATO. Now all these issues will have to be confronted and settled one way or another.
Posted by: the pessimist | Feb 18 2023 22:54 utc | 48
Posted by: Lou Cypher | Feb 18 2023 19:42 utc | 22
I am highly surprised that the Russians have not pushed back the Ukrainians far enough to ensure the safety of Donetsk city residents. ..
That's still one of the always posted 'remarks' here - and you may listen to the always given many answers hereto.
So I repeat for you, especially:
The 8-year long building of UAF defense lines like trenches, bunkers, mine-caves, etc. since 2015 cannot 'be taken' within one year - even not with bunker-bombs like US did in Afghan mountains). So pls. refer to all previous MoA answers to that issue. Thanks.
Posted by: spare_truth | Feb 18 2023 23:01 utc | 49
@ Be Realistic 2 | Feb 18 2023 18:33 utc | 27
Are you with Team Jorge?
= = = = = = = =
@ Posted by: safe | Feb 18 2023 21:33 utc | 62
No. Only a MENSA member could complete in 5 weeks what requires months of training.
= = = = = = = =
Dr. Jeffrey Sachs schools the Unherd Interviewer’s magical thinking – on destruction of NordStream pipeline:
”There’s No Question Who Blew it Up. Ask the Swedish government why are they silent.Did they clean up the crime scene.. What kind of society do we have now”?
https://21stcenturywire.com/2023/02/17/jeffrey-sachs-the-u-s-blew-up-the-nord-stream-2-pipeline/“This was not an easy operation to carry out. It’s the kind of operation that the CIA and other covert parts of the US government do carry out rather routinely, by the way[…] the United States was basically the only country with the motive, the means"– Jeffrey Sachs.
a 180 degree turn,,,this is the guy who, in 1990s, assisted the oligarchs purchasing RF assets for a dime. Now he is very worried there is no diplomacy with the infighting in D.C.
Posted by: Likklemore | Feb 18 2023 23:06 utc | 50
What's happening is a synergy that will soon be too hard for the Empire to overcome.
Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 18 2023 22:47 utc | 54
Thank you for your comment.
"We become what we hate. We create the enemies who will destroy us."
Perhaps we will see the rise of other old civilizations now, in the new world and the old. I will be sorry to miss it.
Mustn't get too greedy, I suppose.
Posted by: Bemildred | Feb 18 2023 23:13 utc | 51
karlof1 | Feb 18 2023 22:30 utc | 52
...agreed that Belarus will host Russian nuclear forces...
I know their parliament decided this in feb. last year, and that since then, aviation forces were prepared and Iskander launchers moved in for training / purchasing option. But the warheads?
I wondered about future security negotiations with US / NATO. After all, it means an expansion beyond 1991 limits, doesn't it?
Posted by: OttoE | Feb 18 2023 23:30 utc | 52
This should be in the Not UKR thread. However this is beyond the pale.
Despicable.
Just in:-
In the midst of ongoing recovery/rescue operations from the devastating earthquake in Syria. Israhell strikes, Again!!!!!.
Syria claims ‘Israeli strike’ on central Damascus
Multiple casualties reported in a “residential neighborhood” of the Syrian capital
The previously oppressed are now the oppressors.
Posted by: Likklemore | Feb 18 2023 23:38 utc | 53
To those saying China is sitting in that chair in the cartoon we have the latest posting title from Reuters
In meeting, Blinken warns China's Wang Yi against aiding Russia with Ukraine invasion
Given what we have come to understand from claptrap from the West, Blinken is saying exactly what China is doing.....empire projection at its finest.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 18 2023 23:47 utc | 54
Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 18 2023 22:47 utc | 54
.. What's happening is a synergy that will soon be too hard for the Empire to overcome.
So I also hope that there will be some practical 'effective synergy' between China and Russia, whatever that means en-detail within the next months of RF offensive planning, rather than the 'Sitting Chinese' is watching still today in the background.
May support RF with AD equipment beside the scenes ..? Hopefully!
Posted by: spare_truth | Feb 19 2023 0:12 utc | 55
OttoE @59--
Here's the meat, "Deployment of Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus possible, Lukashenko says":
The Belarusian head of state was asked about a recent statement by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg regarding the possible deployment of nuclear weapons in Eastern Europe.Aleksandr Lukashenko responded by saying: “Yes. Then I will suggest that Putin should return nuclear weapons to Belarus.”
“What nuclear weapons?” Dmitry Kiselyov asked Aleksandr Lukashenko to clarify.
The head of state said: “We will agree on what kind. The nuclear weapons that will be most effective in such an engagement. I said for a reason that we in Belarus' territory are ready for it. As a thoughtful landlord I haven't destroyed anything [of the USSR infrastructure for nuclear weapons], all the depots remain in place.”
Given the context, there doesn't appear to be any sort of restrictions.
psychohistorian @61--
The economic synergy being developed by China and others helps Russia greatly in numerous ways that indirectly contribute to Russia's military effort. Hell, Blinken should be aware that his own government is aiding Russia. I'll bet he doesn't even understand that blowing up NS1&2 also helped Russia in the Big Picture by further destroying the Outlaw US Empire's image and its narrative. IMO, what's underway is a modern version of the Illiad--Paris could have saved Troy by returning Helen but his arrogance (pleonexia) prevented him and his household couldn't convince him to do the right thing, while today we have super arrogance by the Deep State actors bringing on a similar tale of woe and destruction of an imperial edifice with no one being able of changing their destructive course.
@ karlof1 | Feb 19 2023 0:18 utc | 63 who wrote
"....what's underway is a modern version of the Illiad--Paris could have saved Troy by returning Helen but his arrogance (pleonexia) prevented him and his household couldn't convince him to do the right thing, while today we have super arrogance by the Deep State actors bringing on a similar tale of woe and destruction of an imperial edifice with no one being able of changing their destructive course.
"
Thanks for continuing to bring this perspective to the bar....we are watching a fascinating slow motion train wreck that is providing a wake up education for the zombies. As long as nukes don't fly that bodes well for moving forward w/o lots of left over patriarchal bully mentality types clogging the progress
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 19 2023 0:27 utc | 57
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Feb 18 2023 20:33 utc | 27
Might explain Poland’s military expansion, as they now realise that with Ukraine’s failure to deliver, Capo Biden will make them next in line.
Posted by: Milites | Feb 19 2023 0:42 utc | 58
J.f-g.C!!!
https://t.me/zaes_energoatom/1455
Russia found two Ukrainian spies in Zap. nuclear power plant.
Putin personally skinned them and ribbed them with salt.
Ahem. Sorry, wrong window.
Well, Russian occupants soanked them and through out. And that is when the story starts: Ukraine DID NOT allowed their busted spies in!
Those two found some other losers (totally seven devoted Ukrainians) and they somehow survive there between frontlines in some abandoned village, having only snow to eat, drunk and wash with. Day after day they go to Ukrainian check point only to turned back, because they did not proper international travel papers or something like that.
Delicious, just a delicious story!
Posted by: Arioch | Feb 19 2023 0:49 utc | 59
UK decided to supply Ukraing with modern jet fighters*
*) after the war is over
i love British humour
Posted by: Arioch | Feb 19 2023 1:17 utc | 60
@ Light sleeper 26
Since there is a concerted effort at MoA
What is concerted here is to assess NATO in the light of its 50 years of deception and mitary aggression rather than by its own lies.
The list of deception and aggression culminated in Libya where the richest country in Africa was robbed, its leader buggered and its fate handed to islam-mutant militants with a long record of working as proxies for the US.
It took a long time before the fog of deception cleared in Syria, but it is clear now that it was an outside invasion not a civil war . Nobody can take the USUKIS posturing seriously when it lies openly about the basics if every conflict.
The West and Ukraine are represented by their people all of whom hate war and who voted for peace, both in 2019 for Jeremy Corbyn whose mandate was cancelled by Algorithms and in Ukraine where Fuck the EU Nuland cancelled the promises to the electorate.
The West and Ukraine are not represented by Ukrainian neocons in Wadhington with their Yiddish stooge Zelensky compelling the country to voluntary liquidation. These are the interests of bankers, zionists and vested interests of the Mititary Industrial complex. The fact that you choose to ignore this, and insult Presidrnt Putin as an Imperialist and aggressive autocrat show us that your comment is commissioned by the actual aggressors , the Neo Nazi Neocons who want Ukraine for supplying food to a future Greater Israel.
Your concertedness is far more formidable than the rag bag of comment found here.
Your side consists of ALT Right thinktanks , Finance , Business, the MSM, the subjugated Politicians and the mugged electorates, the owned Western militaries and their Corrupt salesmen, the Cuckoo neocons that specialise in compromise and bribery to steer Western governments to their own , nefarious ends.
Please don't project your own concertedness onto the diversity found on MoA. Thanks.
Posted by: Giyane | Feb 19 2023 1:18 utc | 61
psychohistorian @64
" As long as nukes don't fly that bodes well for moving forward w/o lots of left over patriarchal bully mentality types clogging the progress"
Yes, agreed, but after reading accounts of the Tolstoy interview it would not surprise me to see the Western media calling for all-out war. Their constant denial of reality is potentially globe-threatening.
Posted by: Steve from Oz | Feb 19 2023 1:27 utc | 63
The deindustrialisation of Germany is succeeding (obvious to everyone here): Germany trade surplus shrinks to lowest level in 22 years.
Posted by: Irish | Feb 19 2023 1:33 utc | 64
You are saying that Jews were on both sides of WWII. Jews are on both side of this UKraine conflict also.
What does that mean? It means that religion/ethnicity was not the main issue in these conflicts. So stop talking about it then. You have done this twice!
Posted by: HelenB | Feb 19 2023 1:43 utc | 65
Closing for now with Maria Zakharova's reply about Hersh's report:
We have already commented on this. It's collusion. Today, examples of collusion by the US Administration, relevant authorities, special services and the media environment (both traditional media and digital platforms) were given. This is nothing new. The scale, indeed, is astounding. After all, we are talking about a terrorist act of a global scale.As we recall, terrorist acts have always evoked sympathy. People changed avatars, painted in a certain color the central room or building in certain countries. No one was injured in the nord stream explosion. But this is the destruction of civilian infrastructure. No one sees any reaction, except silence, confusion (I mean Northern Europe).
Journalists begin to dig into the truth, seeing the total silence of their authorities (as if nothing had happened). I think that's what prompted American journalists to try to understand what happened. When they published their assumptions, supported by data, facts, materials, it turned out even worse than it was. They began to be harassed or accused of being almost crazy, freaks, abnormal, ignored, ending all this with empty ridicule at briefings of the State Department and the White House. Even if they believe it doesn't require their attention. The question is: Where are the facts that the Administration itself could publish? If what the journalist S. Hersh cited seems unworthy, ridiculous, does not meet the high standards of democracy, then where are the worthy facts? Where is the data that the U.S. Administration could publish? She has nothing to say? It declares itself as the world's gendarme, the controller, involved in everything that happens in the world. They eavesdrop on their allies, conduct operations around the world, seize states.
What happened to Nord Streams? Do they have no information? They knew what happened in Britain with the supposedly "newcomer". After all, on the basis of this, they made a decision and told everyone that they had data. They knew what was happening in other parts of the world. This is a zone of NATO responsibility. As you remember, this happened on the territory controlled by the forces of NATO countries. Who "runs" the alliance? United States. This region is "stuffed" with reconnaissance equipment, machinery, military facilities. A direct question from the US Administration is what happened there? If the published investigation and data are of no value to the US authorities, then they are obliged to present their version. They're fully involved. For many years, we have been talking about the interest in not having this energy infrastructure project. And then that it should be destroyed. Now they are obliged to say what their version of what happened is. And it is not easy to voice the version, but to support it with facts, data. They have them. Again, the entire region is under the control of their surveillance tools.
Russia has requested a special meeting of the UN Security Council on February 22 in connection with the undermining of Nord Streams, which will demand that some form of investigation be found into what happened, despite the fact that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, through his official representative, has already said that "the UN has no mandate to carry out such investigations." It would be nice for everyone to decide who has what mandates and for what. Recently, as an international organization of the UN system, which has neither a mandate nor a prescribed statute for an investigation, it has been engaged in this investigation. This is not just a terrorist attack, but a terrorist attack against civilian infrastructure, which caused enormous damage to the environment and led to a tectonic movement of the world energy system. It led to the collapse of many corporations, firms, companies. I am not talking [just] about the costs incurred by hundreds of millions of citizens of the European continent. This terrorist act reverberated all over the world in the economic and environmental (so say environmentalists) sphere. We need to understand what's going on.
Guterres was clearly told to say the UN has no grounds to investigate, which is BS. IMO, it's pretty damn clear who done it and why, and every sleuth fictional or real would say the same.
@27 Biswapriya Purkayast
@karlof1
Russia + Belarus
so intriguing!!
Poland is gonna lose its shit.
it feels like the 1980s all over again.
Posted by: Irish | Feb 19 2023 1:48 utc | 67
Hoover Institute has an hour and a half interview with historian Stephen Kotkin. Although he speaks well and very knowledgeably on history he seems to believe that US is a beneficent Empire. Have others listened to this? Any thoughts? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ww4ofe0v70
Posted by: Citron | Feb 19 2023 1:58 utc | 68
How is it possible to comprehend the disparate views of this conflict coming from the collective west and Russia? The justifications, evidence, posturing of who holds the virtue, the moral authority, is perplexing. Who is holding meeting after meeting to convince only themselves of their solidarity and correct intent. Who is controlling and censoring information about this conflict. Who is pushing the leader to go on press junkets for the optics of righteousness?
Posted by: Dingo | Feb 19 2023 2:28 utc | 69
@ HelenB 72
Maybe your comment is directed at mine.
I see no connection between Judaisma and Zionism. Or Islam and political Islam. The messages of the prophets calling people to the worship of the Creator has no connection to the lying which is modern politics and high intensity massacre.
My distinction is not made , deliberately, by those who would like hijack the beautiful name and Holy Land of Judaism for an illegal land grab either for the Middle East or Ukraine.
I will repeat the message of Islam and Judaism so long as the criminals continue to conflate their warmongering imperialism with the worship of God.
That is not to say that fighting for a just cause is not allowed in the service of truth. But the flag of justice and freedom currently used by USUKIS for colonialism is about as thin as the decaying rags in St Paul's Cathedral. There is no right in the colonisation of water, or oil , or Lithium. Just hypocrisy and terror.
Posted by: Giyane | Feb 19 2023 2:45 utc | 70
Stationing nuclear weapons in Belarus would be stupid. Alexander Lukashenko isn't and never will be a trustworthy ally for Moscow.
Posted by: Kassis | Feb 19 2023 2:50 utc | 72
The Chinese MFAs statement at the Munich Security Confetence was surprisingly strong in supporting Moscow’s Dec 2021 Comprehensive Peace Proposal.
Thanks Karlof for posting the Chinese News Report.
Posted by: Exile | Feb 19 2023 2:57 utc | 73
# 72 having the right to vote of succession is a good thing. Agreed!
Posted by: Dingo | Feb 19 2023 2:58 utc | 74
Kassis @75--
The crux of the problem is making indivisible security work for all players as the OSCE treaties envisioned as well as the UN Chater. The solution's actually simple--there just can't be any hegemon as all nations must be treated the same no matter how big or small as the UN Charter orders and is reiterated by Lavrov and Putin continually.
@ Kassis 75
The US is a not a trustworthy ally of anyone , so long as it us run by Zionist NeoNazi neocons. This is the problem in hand. Soviet-style corruption is a massive problem for President Putin. But one good thing that has come out of Ukraine is that it is crystal clear that the corruption in the West is massively worse than in the Russian Federation
Posted by: Giyane | Feb 19 2023 2:59 utc | 76
These online referenda are organized by Free Nations of Post-Russia Forum that has been promoting the balkanization of Russia for several months. None of this organization's founders live in Russia.
Posted by: Calich | Feb 19 2023 3:05 utc | 77
# 80 thanks that’s an important clarification. So basically it’s a fake, with no real consequences inside Russia itself.
Posted by: Dingo | Feb 19 2023 3:31 utc | 79
FYI regarding the main image. It is an illustration from Puck Magazine in 1901.
Posted by: Opport Knocks | Feb 19 2023 3:40 utc | 80
Citron:
The empire is as beneficent as the fox is to the chickens.
Posted by: morongobill | Feb 19 2023 3:43 utc | 81
Israel just bombed a residential neighbourhood in Damascus Syria today. 15 dead so far.
Is this an attempt to reignite a conflict and open up a second front?
Divide, distract, disrupt?
How might Russia view this? and respond?
Posted by: Irish | Feb 19 2023 3:58 utc | 82
Posted by: Opport Knocks | Feb 19 2023 3:40 utc | 83
I just love that cartoon.
I have figured out that the guy next to Italy is Austria (from the uniform, but i have no idea who the last two are. One is clearly from the far east somewhere (Mongolia, Korea????) and the other guy/gall with bunny ears has me beaten.
Posted by: watcher | Feb 19 2023 4:02 utc | 83
So I don't know, at bottom I think they are cowards, but who can say?
Bemildred | Feb 18 2023 21:21 utc | 34
Outlaw US Empire pukes like Pompeo, Sullivan, Blinken, Obama, Biden, et al, are all very brave when someone else's life's on the line, not theirs.
karlof1 | Feb 18 2023 21:35 utc | 37
The Neocon "pukes" you named, including Predator Drone Obama ("Im good at killing"), and so many others, including the Shrubs, Albright, Clinton ("we came, we saw he died --- heh-heh"), all are quintessential chickenhawks --- cowards by definition. From remote commanding heights they kill easily, pitilessly, with sadistic glee. They have never felt the destitution, terror, misery, pain, and bereavement they arrogantly inflict on millions of innocents. Their own precious skins are exceptional, indispensable. Yes these are the lowest form of cowards. Dante's Inferno is too good for them.
Posted by: Doug Hillman | Feb 19 2023 4:23 utc | 84
Exile [8]
You might be less surprised if you ran a search under “OUN + Melnyk”
You might then understand why this Melnyk laid flowers on Bandera grave in Munich
You might learn who Bandera had as Co-leader of OUN
Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Feb 19 2023 4:36 utc | 85
⚡️🇷🇺🇺🇦⚔️ War Map and the Situation on the Fronts in the Evening of 18 Feb2023; pub. 00:05⚡️💥 This morning began with retaliatory strikes. By 10am, air raid alarms were sounded across 404, followed by emergency shutdowns. Infrastructure damage was confirmed in #Khmelnitsky and #KrivoyRog, while major cities such as #Dnepropetrovsk, #Odessa, #Kiev, #Kharkov and Krivoy Rog faced emergency shutdowns.
⚔️ Situation on the Fronts for the past Day
🔹#Svatovo - #Kremennaya Direction:
➖ The Russian army completely liberated #Gryanikova, knocking out the remnants of the Territorial Defence forces. The AFU responded by attempting a counterattack, but to no avail.
➖ Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence said that it had inflicted fire damage on AFU units in the areas of #Novoselovskoye LPR, #Zapadnoye, #Masyutovka and #Krakhmalnoye in #Kharkov Region.
➖ The same happened to militants in the vicinity of #Stelmakhovka, #Chervonopopovka and Chervona Dibrova LPR.🔹#Artyomovsk (#Bakhmut) Direction:
➖ Immediately after the liberation of #Paraskoviyevka, the "bandits" proceeded to storm #Berkhovka, through which several roads important for supplying the AFU pass. Fierce fighting is taking place on the eastern outskirts of the village.
➖ Fighting is continuing in #Artyomovsk itself, with our forces advancing from several directions.
➖ Also, Wagner PMC fighters are crushing the enemy in the vicinity of #Krasnoye and #Stupochki.💡 Footage of the upgraded Tornado-G MLRS, equipped with an improved fire control system and a ballistic computer, has appeared online. Not only the complex itself, but also its corrected shells are distinguished by their novelty.
https://t.me/sitreports/4717
Posted by: Down South | Feb 19 2023 4:57 utc | 88
◾The Ukrainian Rada is studying to pass a law to create concentration camps for Ukrainian citizens accused of "collaborators"◾ Ukrainian Nazi Korchinsky spoke in Ukrainian national TV in favour of punishing all civilians who live in the areas under control of the Russian Army.
https://t.me/sitreports/4728
Posted by: Down South | Feb 19 2023 4:59 utc | 89
My father once told me that, “Americans play poker, we play Préférence.”He never did learn how to play Poker, yet was highly critical of it. I tried to teach him how to play it properly outside of the rules alone, but the very nature of the game was anathema to him. As he said, “the nature of Poker is to bluff”, and this was simply something he could not comprehend nor execute in a game. It was alien to him, perhaps even incomprehensible.
Of course, he taught me to play Chess and we played often, but he would never allow me to win. I defeated him perhaps three times at most from what must have been several hundreds of games. As a fan of board games and family events, I tried to introduce many popular games over the years.
He would reject games like “Betrayal at House on the Hill” outright, yet took to “Settler’s of Catan” immediately.The point of all this personal story-telling is that Russians, or perhaps more accurately Soviets, have an entirely different psychological profile than people in the West do. Western games, which children play, are rooted at core in the ability to deceive and charm. Eastern classics like Chess and Go are openly visible to both players and depend entirely on mental skill.
Perhaps “Connect Four” still remains popular as a children’s game in the US at best, when the young ones are not clutching to a Nintendo Gameboy or Switch.And so we now see the results of this in real-time. American politicians operate on the principle of the “bluff”. It is not that they lie, but that they may be lying or they not be. Imagine how frustrating this must be to a negotiator who does not know how to lie when engaged in diplomacy.
Putin, Xi, Modi, and others communicate with their Western counterparts directly and mathematically, assuming that their opposition will do likewise. Yet the West in turn negotiates by bluffing, and assuming that their counterparts comprehend bluffing and will respond in kind. Perhaps what all parties say is true, perhaps not. It is always ambiguous, formless, and without meaning. Powell can hold up a bottle of white substance at the UN and the US invades Iraq. It was a “bet”, and a “bluff”. He and the US administration were likely very surprised when Russia demanded to actually access that vial.As such, we are now caught in an exponential feedback loop in which neither party understand the other, and this very lack of understanding feeds the action/reaction chain. American statesman assume that Russian counterparts think the way they do, and vice versa Russian statesman assume that their American counterparts do the same.
Yet they are not only speaking different languages, but quite literally thinking in different psychological languages.When one party (Russia) makes it’s intentions clear, the opposition must ask the question of “is this a bluff or not”, instead of treating it seriously. And here we are now….
-----------P.S:
It is often said in some commentaries that, “Putin does not bluff”.
I feel the far more frightening and honest statement would be that, “Putin does not know what a bluff is, and the Americans do not know what a given word’s value is.”
https://t.me/Slavyangrad/34057
Posted by: Down South | Feb 19 2023 5:02 utc | 90
In Nikolaev, journalists published a photo of a board with employees of the 🇺🇦military registration and enlistment office who distributed the largest number of subpoenas. Apparently, this is done to kidnap or kill these AFU goons. The advertisement says, "Whoever wins in the end will be rewarded with a vacation in a cottage for the weekend," the source said.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad/34013
Posted by: Down South | Feb 19 2023 5:09 utc | 91
Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Feb 19 2023 4:36 utc | 88
I have asked everywhere without an answer for the whole year. Are you saying that this modern-day loudmouthed Melnik who has his cossetted son safely studying in Europe ,is a descendant or relation of Nazi Melnyk of WWII?
Can you please tell me where you learned this?
Posted by: Brother Ma | Feb 19 2023 5:34 utc | 92
Thanks @ Watcher. With that “Puck magazine” clue from you: search engine of choice:
“What are the countries in the Puck cartoon” yielded this:
The Latest Chinese Wall
“In this Puck cartoon from April 24, 1901, the Russian Imperial bear, with its desire for territorial expansion, stands against the rest of the foreign powers, trying to get its saber into a grinning China.
In the aftermath of the Boxer Rebellion, Russia wanted to seize Manchuria as part of the war reparations, expanding its holdings in the Pacific region of Siberia.
The other powers opposed Russia's plans, and seizure of territory was not included among the indemnities in the Boxer Protocol, which was agreed on September 7, 1900.
Nonetheless, on September 21, 1900, Russia seized Jilin in Shandong Province and large sections of Manchuria. Russia's move infuriated its erstwhile allies - particularly Japan, which had its own plans for Manchuria. (Incidentally, this foreign squabbling over Manchuria must have been painful for the ethnic Manchu Qing court, since that region was their ancestral homeland.) In large part because of this key region, the two former allies fought the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05.
To the great shock of everyone in Europe, Russia lost that war.
Racist imperialist thinkers in Europe were aghast that a non-European power had defeated one of the European empires.
Japan received Russian recognition of its occupation of Korea, and Russia withdrew all its troops from Manchuria.
Incidentally, the last figure in the background looks like Mickey Mouse, doesn't it? However, Walt Disney had not yet created his iconic character when this was drawn, so it must be a coincidence.
https://www.thoughtco.com/the-boxer-rebellion-in-editorial-cartoons-195619
And:
The latest Chinese wall
Subjects: Boxer Rebellion (China : 1899-1901); China; Uncle Sam (Symbolic character); John Bull (Symbolic character); International relations; Kings and rulers; BearsThe Russian bear, wearing a military uniform and with sword drawn, stands on one side of a ditch. Facing the bear on the other side of the ditch are various rulers, including "Japan," "Germany," "France," "Italy," and "Austria," as well as John Bull representing "England" and Uncle Sam, standing, holding rifles with fixed bayonets. Behind them sits a man labeled "China," laughing.
Comments and Context:
Western nations and Japan, in the last chapters of the Boxer Rebellion, had to deal with what was almost a rear-guard movement -- the forces of the Russian Czar were attempting to profit from the chaos and preoccupation in the Celestial City.
It was a foreshadowing of Russia (Soviet, not Imperial) declaring war on Japan, scant days before its surrender in World War II. J. S. Pughe's cartoon suggests that the Western and Japanese nations were beneficent, perhaps welcome, protectors of China, which was not the case, at least in the Chinese view.
Creation Date:
1901-04-24
Creator:
Pughe, J. S. (John S.), 1870-1909
So. After Austria is Manchuria? And the bunny ears is still not i
Posted by: Melaleuca | Feb 19 2023 5:44 utc | 93
# 93 humans are sly very sneaky. Lying &being sneaky are related, a sneaky person is more apt to lie and vice a versa . I often wonder why this type of thought exists in humans, what’s beneficial about it? Maybe to question reality, what is truth develop a stronger understanding of one’s own self. May be it could be a matter of personal taste. Maybe thru the centuries different “types” of humans evolved lying for some types was beneficial for other types no so much. Lying is plebeian, if you are straight with yourself it’s repulsive.
Posted by: Dingo | Feb 19 2023 5:46 utc | 94
A Disturbing Possibility in the East
Another cartoon published by Puck is prescient:
In the aftermath of the Boxer Rebellion, observers in Europe and the United States began to worry that they had pushed China too far.
In this Puck cartoon, a sword of Damocles named "Awakening of China" hangs over the heads of the eight foreign powers as they prepare to devour the fruits of their victory over the Boxers.
The fruit is labeled "Chinese Indemnities" - actually, 450,000,000 taels (540,000,000 troy ounces) of silver.
In fact, it would take China several decades to awaken.
The Boxer Rebellion and its aftermath helped bring down the Qing Dynasty in 1911, and the country descended into a civil war that would last until Mao Zedong's Communist forces prevailed in 1949.
During World War II, Japan occupied the coastal area of China, but could never conquer the interior.
If they had been prescient, most of the western nations seated around this table would have known that Japan, represented here by the Meiji Emperor, gave them more to fear than China.
https://www.thoughtco.com/the-boxer-rebellion-in-editorial-cartoons-195619
The 1911 cartoon was a century ahead.
It was 2011 when the U$ started its war “games” with its best lil Pacific Deputy Sheriff, gaming to “choke China” and its trade through the Malacca Straits.
It was about then Obama came to Darwin (cancelling visit to Parliament in Canberra because “too far” and he was “too busy”).
The Darwin visit saw the signing of an agreement for 200 U$ troops to be stationed in Australia.
It was instantly 2000, because the difference between 200 and 2000 is just a zero… we now have 2 bases in Western Australia, a presence in Darwin and the ubiquitous Pine Gap.
All to deal with the “rise of China”…..
Just hope Russia in Ukraine keeps them busy and depleted before they can start with China, using Australia as the designated“ lilypad”.
Posted by: Melaleuca | Feb 19 2023 6:10 utc | 95
@ Melaleuca | Feb 19 2023 6:10 utc | 96/98 with more cartoon background...thanks
If a cartoon were made today it would have some God of Mammon representation behind the curtain with leashes coming out to US and the rest of the obedient dogs on one side of the "line" (private/public finance) with the China/Russia axis and current followers trailing off on the other side.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 19 2023 6:23 utc | 96
Joint naval drills by Russia, China and South Africa underway in the Indian Ocean
https://tass.com/defense/1577747
oh what a tangled web we weave...
feels like the heady days of alliances before WW1
Posted by: Irish | Feb 19 2023 6:53 utc | 97
Medvedev looking like Tzar Nicholas 11 more everyday.
https://twitter.com/Trollstoy88/status/1627061501164158977
And sounding more like Maria
"It's hilarious that Europe is run by such ignorant people," Medvedev commented on the German FM, who earlier said the world would be happy with Moscow's "360-degree turn"
"There is no doubt, connoisseur of geometry, that it will be so.
We are holding our ground," Medvedev said.
Posted by: Melaleuca | Feb 19 2023 7:29 utc | 98
Light Sleeper | Feb 19 2023 7:20 utc | 101
Putin isn’t playing chess or poker.
He’s employing hud judo and martial arts thinking and training
“Let's Learn Judo with Vladimir Putin”
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1734102/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f62myM2iPjE
Once again the western media “interpret” Putin without the slightest understanding of his background and what he himself has divulged.
Posted by: Melaleuca | Feb 19 2023 7:37 utc | 99
#. 101. Since the invention of atomic bombs, what nation has actually used them in war? In game theory is that calling someone’s bluff or going all in?
Posted by: Dingo | Feb 19 2023 7:38 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
i am really looking forward to the days from 21st of February 22, the acceptance of Donbas republics as independent. Day later the declaring of the strongest sanctions in history from Europe and US including the cancellation of NSII. Only on the 24th the begin of military action by RF. Does that mean the West did start hostilities?
Posted by: rico rose | Feb 18 2023 17:45 utc | 1