The Buildup To War In Ukraine - Monday, February 21, 2022
Around noon of Monday, February 21 2022, the Donetsk News Agency reported of unprecedented artillery attacks on the Donbas republics:
The tensions along the line of contact in Donbass heightened over the last 24 hours, both DPR and LPR Missions to the JCCC report.In the DPR, 730 explosions of Ukrainian projectiles were recorded, the enemy is using large caliber mortars and artillery cannons. A similar situation is obsereved in the LPR, where 674 explosions of Ukrainian shells were reported over 24 hours.
The Republics have suffered military and civilian casualties.
Key infrastructure objects have sustained damage. More than 1,000 customers are without power, a major ventilator was off in the Skochinskogo coal mine, prompting staff evacuation.
At around 18:50 local time the DNA reported that the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic had asked the president of Russia Vladimir Putin to recognize the republics as independent states:
"On behalf of our people we ask you to recognize the DPR as an independent, democratic, social state under the rule of law," the DPR Head Denis Pushilin said."I ask you to recognise the sovereignty and independence of the Lugansk People's Republic", the LPR Head Leonid Pasechnik said.
They both asked to consider the possibility of signing an agreement of friendship and cooperation between Russia and the LPR, including the cooperation in the sphere of defence.
Putin has a degree in law and is generally unwilling to bend or break it. The request by the Donbas republics are part of a process that will make a Russian intervention on their side legally consistent with the Charter of the United Nations and international law.
The Russian president held a Security Council meeting. It opened with his summary of previous events that had led to the situation:
A peace plan was drafted during the negotiating process called the Minsk Package of Measures because, as you recall, we met in the city of Minsk. But subsequent developments show that the Kiev authorities are not planning to implement it, and they have publicly said so many times at the top state level and at the level of Foreign Minister and Security Council Secretary. Overall, everyone understands that they are not planning to do anything with regard to this Minsk Package of Measures.Nevertheless, Russia has exerted efforts and still continues to make efforts to resolve all the complicated aspects and tragic developments by peaceful means, but we have what we have.
Our goal, the goal of today’s meeting is to listen to our colleagues and to outline future steps in this direction, considering the appeals by the leaders of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic on recognising their sovereignty, as well as a resolution by the State Duma of the Russian Federation on the same subject. The latter document urges the President to recognise the independence and sovereignty of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic.
After the Security Council meeting Putin had a phone call with the German chancellor Scholz and the French president Macron to inform them of the results:
Vladimir Putin informed the leaders of the outcomes of the expanded meeting of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, which reviewed the current situation around Donbass in the context of the State Duma’s resolution on recognising the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. Today the leaders of the DPR and the LPR also requested the recognition of their sovereignty in connection with the military aggression of the Ukrainian authorities and massive shelling of the territory of Donbass, and the resulting civilian suffering.In view of this, the President of Russia said he intended to sign a corresponding executive order soon.
The President of France and the Federal Chancellor of Germany expressed disappointment over the developments, while also indicating readiness to continue contacts.
At around 22:30 local time Putin held an address to the nation which was televised on public TV. It notices that large parts of today's east and south Ukraine as well as Crimea were previously parts of Russia that had been attached to Ukraine by Lenin (1922) and Khrushchev (1954). Additionally Stalin had attached Polish areas that to Ukraine after the Second World War.
He then review the plundering of Ukraine's richness after its independence, the rise of its 'nationalists' and the terror campaign they unleashed after the U.S. financed Maidan coup.
He noticed the build up of the Ukraine army, trained and armed by a continuous stream of NATO forces. Meanwhile NATO created new infrastructure that threatened Russia while the U.S. withdrew from several Arms Control treaties:
Today, one glance at the map is enough to see to what extent Western countries have kept their promise to refrain from NATO’s eastward expansion. They just cheated. We have seen five waves of NATO expansion, one after another – Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary were admitted in 1999; Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia in 2004; Albania and Croatia in 2009; Montenegro in 2017; and North Macedonia in 2020.As a result, the Alliance, its military infrastructure has reached Russia’s borders. This is one of the key causes of the European security crisis; it has had the most negative impact on the entire system of international relations and led to the loss of mutual trust.
He describes the situation in Donbas under steady shelling and concludes:
Russia has done everything to preserve Ukraine’s territorial integrity. All these years, it has persistently and patiently pushed for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2202 of February 17, 2015, which consolidated the Minsk Package of Measures of February 12, 2015, to settle the situation in Donbass.Everything was in vain. Presidents and Rada deputies come and go, but deep down the aggressive and nationalistic regime that seized power in Kiev remains unchanged. It is entirely a product of the 2014 coup, and those who then embarked on the path of violence, bloodshed and lawlessness did not recognise then and do not recognise now any solution to the Donbass issue other than a military one.
In this regard, I consider it necessary to take a long overdue decision and to immediately recognise the independence and sovereignty of the Donetsk People's Republic and the Lugansk People's Republic.
I would like to ask the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation to support this decision and then ratify the Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Assistance with both republics. These two documents will be prepared and signed shortly.
After the speech Putin signed documents recognizing the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk republics:
The President of Russia signed the Executive Order On the Recognition of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Executive Order On the Recognition of the Lugansk People’s Republic.Vladimir Putin and Head of the DPR Denis Pushilin signed a Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance between the Russian Federation and the Donetsk People’s Republic.
The President of Russia and Head of the LPR Leonid Pasechnik signed a Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance between the Russian Federation and the Lugansk People’s Republic.
The treaties of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance included mutual defense agreements.
While the 'West' calls Russia's action in Ukraine 'unprovoked' the long list of NATO actions that Putin included in his speech prove that Russia's action was certainly provoked.
The 'West' also likes to call the Russian intervention in Ukraine 'illegal'. However, Russia recognized the two republics just like the 'West' recognized Bosnia and a part of sovereign Serbia as an independent Kosovo. Unlike in the Donbas republics there had never been a referendum in Kosovo that supported such a step. But the 'West' had even found an international court that (barely) legalized the Kosovo case. There can thus be no argument that the steps Russia took in recognizing the republics were in any way illegal.
The common self-defense treaties Russia and the republics signed are not fully consistent with Article 51 of the UN Charter as those republics were not (yet) UN members. But they closely followed that articles spirit:
Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security.
The case of Russian support for the Donbas republics was thereby made as legal as they possibly could be made.
The OSCE Special Observer Mission at the ceasefire line in southeast-Ukraine reported of Monday, February 21 2022.
It was the worst day ever.
In Donetsk region, the SMM recorded 703 ceasefire violations, including 332 explosions. In the previous 24 hours, it recorded 579 ceasefire violations in the region.In Luhansk region, the Mission recorded 1,224 ceasefire violations, including 1,149 explosions. In the previous 24 hours, it recorded 333 ceasefire violations in the region.
After a high number of ceasefire violations and explosions on Saturday, February 19 2022, the following Sunday had seen a reduction of incidents. Monday however proved that this was not a trend. While the numbers of ceasefire violations were 10% less than on the previous Saturday the number of observed explosion increased by 20% over Saturday.
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The map shows ceasefire violations in yellow, orange to red colors. By far the most now appear on the side of the Donbas republics. The source of most of the ceasefire violations, like noise of shooting or explosions recorded by cameras, drones or heard by the observers, is listed as 'undetermined'.
The map shows explosions, as small black dots, on both sides of the ceasefire line. While only a part of the hundreds of explosions were located and marked on the map a count of the black dots shows that a great majority of those happened on the side of the Donbas republics. I count 92 impacts marked on the Donbas side and only 16 on the government controlled side of the ceasefire line.
This was no longer an artillery duel or exchange of harassment. From a military standpoint this now clearly looked like artillery preparations for an attack along roads that could then be used as future lines of attack for a mechanized force.
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Posted by b on February 21, 2023 at 15:55 UTC | Permalink
next page »Feb. 21st is a Tuesday Bertolt!
Posted by: Dave Pollard | Feb 21 2023 16:13 utc | 1
Seriously???
Have another look at the year b is writing about...
(and I only came to see if @Tom UK was bothering to read any of b’s retrospective pieces...)
Posted by: West of England Andy | Feb 21 2023 16:19 utc | 3
Dave pollard no. 1
Not in 2022 it wasn't. It was Monday.
Posted by: ThusspakeZarathustra | Feb 21 2023 16:21 utc | 4
Lavrov called Biden's visit to Kiev and a new package of military assistance to Ukraine a performance, noted that attempts to save the Nazi regime are futile...
and
Serious changes will take place on the Ukrainian front within three days - President of Serbia
Posted by: three days | Feb 21 2023 16:38 utc | 7
thanks so much b... excellent! anyone with a shred of interest in this war, will delight in reading your overview for the integrity and honesty laid out here.... and of course it runs 180% opposite the official narrative given out by the wire services in the western media.... not a peep of truth will be shown in the wests mainstream media... keep up the great work...
Posted by: james | Feb 21 2023 16:46 utc | 8
Looks like Biden's shindig in Warsaw was about a) having a spectacular for US domestic audience. b) bolstering Polish regime
Suggests fear in DC that it is all falling apart especially after Nordstream became public........
Hard to see how performing for TV and political co-conspirators does anything to hold public anger at bay..........these are dead regimes across Europe and clearly the ballot box will not be the instrument of change - more likely general strikes and civil disobedience.
UK is already facing major strikes with now doctors joining nurses - and food shortages apparently...........Germany had strikes never reported - Public Sector, Airports, Post, - everywhere there is popular anger with the regimes........
No doubt East Palestine will be inviting Victoria Nuland to visit........or perhaps the Istraeli Ambassador ? Biden does not seem too bothered.......
Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Feb 21 2023 17:07 utc | 9
Hard to see how performing for TV and political co-conspirators does anything to hold public anger at bay...
Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Feb 21 2023 17:07 utc | 9
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Biden needs to lean harder into the zombie cadaver character, and milk the lovable ghoul angle.
Frankly I'm disappointed in his scriptwriters.
Posted by: too scents | Feb 21 2023 17:16 utc | 10
Statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry in connection with the suspension by the Russian Federation of the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (START)
In the statement of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the situation around the START, published on February 8, 2023, as well as in the relevant comments of the leadership of the Ministry, a detailed assessment was given of the unfavorable state of affairs with the implementation of the Treaty, which has developed as a result of the destructive actions of the United States in the context of this agreement, as well as in general for the line they are pursuing towards a comprehensive weakening of the security of the Russian Federation and the political and economic "suffocation" of our country.
In the development of the previously outlined approaches, we note the following negative factors that undercut the full functioning of the New START through the fault of the United States.
Washington's extreme hostility, the confrontation it escalates, and its overt course of malicious escalation of the conflict in and around Ukraine have created a fundamentally different security environment for us.
At the same time, we remind you again that the START preamble, which is its integral part, postulates the commitment of the parties to the principle of indivisible security and building relations based on mutual trust and cooperation. Today, however, the United States is openly seeking to inflict a “strategic defeat” on Russia, and the tensions fueled by Washington go far beyond the Ukrainian crisis – the United States and the West they lead are trying to harm our country at any level, in any area and in any region of the world.
There is every reason to state that US policy is aimed at undermining Russia's national security, which directly contradicts the fundamental principles and understandings enshrined in the START preamble, on which the Treaty is based and without which it would not have been concluded. In fact, we are talking about a radical change in circumstances compared to those that existed at the time the START was signed.
In such an environment, it is no longer possible to conduct business with the United States and the West in general as usual, both in principle and in relation to the field of arms control, which is inseparable from geopolitical and military-strategic realities.
Moreover, serious changes in the security landscape are also related to the fact that the consolidation of Western countries on anti-Russian soil is increasingly affecting aspects of their nuclear policy. In particular, NATO members, who have been practicing so-called “joint nuclear missions” for decades and have for some time now openly declared the North Atlantic bloc a “nuclear alliance”, are increasing the emphasis on nuclear weapons in NATO-wide conceptual guidelines, declaring their focus on further strengthening and increasing the combat readiness of “assigned » to NATO potentials in this area. There are calls for expanding the bloc's nuclear infrastructure and moving it east. The direction of these efforts against our country is not hidden.
In this context, the factor of the combined nuclear arsenal of the three NATO nuclear powers, namely the United States, Great Britain and France, which can be turned against Russia, is of particular importance in the current conditions. In this sense, it is very symbolic that all the countries of the North Atlantic bloc, including Great Britain and France, have clearly demonstrated their involvement in the START issue by issuing a joint statement in which they completely block the US approaches. This political act confirms the validity of the Russian position on the need to take the nuclear potentials of the three Western nuclear states together and take this factor into account in the process of limiting and reducing nuclear weapons, as well as when considering the future fate of START.
For many years, Washington has ignored the relationship between strategic offensive and strategic defensive weapons, which is also fixed in the New START. The statement on missile defense made by Russia in the context of signing and ratifying the Treaty clearly refers to the fundamental importance of this relationship. Our document clearly emphasizes that START can operate and be viable only in the absence of a qualitative and quantitative build-up of US missile defense systems. Nevertheless, Washington defiantly continues to take actions that go in the diametrically opposite direction. Against the backdrop of a general aggravation of the military-strategic situation, this factor is becoming increasingly important.
The most important thing for assessing the situation with the implementation of START is the fact that Washington has long and in a significant way violated the central provisions of the START on quantitative restrictions on the corresponding weapons of the parties. This is due to the illegitimate unilateral exclusion from the count under the Treaty of more than 100 US START units, which were renamed in Washington so that they ceased to fall under treaty definitions, or declared converted, without giving the Russian side the opportunity to reliably verify that the results of such conversion comply with the START requirements, i.e. .e. follow the procedure expressly stipulated by the Agreement. This clear and direct violation has been repeatedly pointed out.
In addition, the well-known US attempts to “probe” the security of a number of Russian START facilities declared under the Treaty have become blatantly provocative and extremely risky. Armed attacks on them, undertaken by the puppet regime in Kyiv, were carried out with the clear military-technical and information-intelligence assistance of Washington.
Against this background, we consider it the height of cynicism to demand that the United States immediately provide them with access to these and other strategic facilities of Russia, under the guise of the provisions of the START on inspection activities. This causes particular bewilderment in conditions when the anti-Russian restrictions imposed by Washington previously violated the efficiency of the procedures provided for by the Treaty related to verification activities. As a result, the ability of the Russian side to freely and on a completely equal basis to carry out control measures on US soil was undermined, which created obvious unilateral advantages for the American side.
These assessments were repeatedly brought to the attention of the American side and were invariably accompanied by a call for Washington to take measures to rectify the situation, taking into account the concerns expressed by Russia. Instead, however, Washington continued to purposefully pursue malicious moves to undermine Russia's security. The Americans are raising the stakes in the all-out hybrid war unleashed against our country.
Based on the totality of the circumstances outlined, the Russian side was forced to conclude that the United States committed a material violation of the New START Treaty, that is, a violation that is of fundamental importance for the implementation of the object and goals of the Treaty.
In this regard, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin announced on February 21 this year. in the Address to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on the suspension by our country of the START.
At the same time, in order to maintain a sufficient degree of predictability and stability in the nuclear missile sphere, Russia intends to adhere to a responsible approach and will continue to strictly comply with the quantitative restrictions on strategic offensive arms stipulated by it within the life cycle of the Treaty. In addition, the Russian side will continue to participate in the exchange of notifications with the American side on launches of ICBMs and SLBMs on the basis of the relevant agreement between the USSR and the USA in 1988.
The decision to suspend the START may be reversible. To do this, Washington must show political will, make conscientious efforts for a general de-escalation and create conditions for the resumption of the full functioning of the Treaty and, accordingly, comprehensively ensuring its viability. We urge the American side to do just that. Until then, any of our steps towards Washington in the context of START are absolutely out of the question.
We also call on the United States to refrain from steps that could prevent the resumption of the New START in the event that the necessary conditions for this mature. We are convinced that the potential of the Treaty in terms of its contribution to strengthening international security and strategic stability is far from exhausted. Nevertheless, it will be able to open up in full only if the possibilities for symmetrical, equal and thorough implementation of the START Treaty by both parties are restored.
We mean to closely monitor the further actions of the United States and its allies, both in the field of strategic offensive arms and in general on the track of international security and strategic stability, and also analyze them for damage to Russian interests and the need for us to take additional countermeasures
Posted by: START | Feb 21 2023 17:19 utc | 11
Dave pollard. Stop being a nonce. Feb 21st 2022 was a monday.
Posted by: HERMIUS | Feb 21 2023 17:33 utc | 12
START @11--
The decision to suspend START was a no-brainer. As Putin stated, the Outlaw US Empire's behavior made the choice for Russia.
Again, massive kudos to b for his continuing retrospective.
Pathetuc cowardly speech of president putin is what is expected of mr.waffle. Long winding speech which nobody reads or hears.
Putin's treachery even in late October 2022!
2 days before Russians finally had the guts to say who sabotaged the NR pipes in Baltic sea-who else but satanic plotter English race from pirate island.
Still putin gives to BP billions when same England has stolen 300 billion dollars of Russia!!
Quote - - -
O England pirate island and there will be no more plotting for wars by English pirates. But Russia does opposite! It let English mercenaries escape safely from donesk (Debeltsov enckave) in Feb 2015!
Posted by: Sam | Feb 21 2023 17:57 utc | 14
Lavrov and russian foreign ministry are masters in art of waffling and talking big with no substance.
Idea is to kill opponent with boredom.
Posted by: Sam | Feb 21 2023 18:02 utc | 16
Biden's speech symbolizes that the war will continue. The stakes are ready to be raised. A bad sign for the people of Ukraine.It is symbolic that the President of Moldova Maia Sandu is present at his speech. As a signal that the Moldovan case is being prepared to be included in the game.
He appealed to the Russians that the West does not seek to destroy Russia. (Well, as if they promised not to expand NATO either).
There are a lot of words that have survived and are strong now. Here it is worth recalling the words from the book "The Art of War": If you are strong, appear weak, and if you are weak, appear strong.
Otherwise, there are a lot of slogans without specifics. Here Biden is disingenuous about the energy independence of the EU, because he put partners on his LNG, which is more expensive than Russian gas.
We are waiting for news, what kind of military aid package they are ready to give and what will be included in it - this is much more important.
https://t.me/legitimniy/14831
Posted by: Down South | Feb 21 2023 18:03 utc | 17
👴🇺🇸🇵🇱Biden was being managed at the red carped in Poland
https://twitter.com/AZgeopolitics/status/1628071828664070155
Posted by: Down South | Feb 21 2023 18:10 utc | 18
@ Down South | Feb 21 2023 18:10 utc | 18
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Captagon is a performance enhancing drug.
Posted by: too scents | Feb 21 2023 18:21 utc | 19
Posted by: Down South | Feb 21 2023 18:10 utc | 18
LOL... At this point I doubt he could pass "a walk and chew gum at the same time" test.
Posted by: Opport Knocks | Feb 21 2023 18:26 utc | 20
No the last paragraph got it wrong the intensification was not about launching an attack it was more venting of rage at Russian recognition of dpr and lpr and maybe efforts of Ukrainian far right to ignite a total war, a whole of nation effort they thought they will win.
For me atleast at 24th February Ukrainian state itself had no intention of waging war again dpr and lpr
Posted by: A.z | Feb 21 2023 18:30 utc | 21
Posted by: Sam | Feb 21 2023 18:02 utc | 16
Lavrov and russian foreign ministry are masters in art of waffling and talking big with no substance.
Idea is to kill opponent with boredom.
Perhaps Sam will die of boredom, one can only hope....
Posted by: ctiger | Feb 21 2023 18:37 utc | 22
A.z
They had been doing so since 2014. The question was not whether they were going to engage in hostilities but how fat they intended to intensify them.
Posted by: bevin | Feb 21 2023 18:37 utc | 23
For me atleast at 24th February Ukrainian state itself had no intention of waging war again dpr and lpr
Posted by: A.z | Feb 21 2023 18:30 utc | 21
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What makes you believe that the Ukrainian state had any agency? Could it have survived without Western support?
Posted by: too scents | Feb 21 2023 18:38 utc | 24
Thankful to B for putting together these daily recaps of the days leading to the "SMO". It was a truly historic day when Russia recognized Donetsk and Luhansk as independent republics. The west didn't see that coming any more than they foresaw Crimea joining the Russian Federation. That event marked the beginning of the end for the unipolar world, a process that still continues. The Rubicon has been crossed.
Posted by: ctiger | Feb 21 2023 18:53 utc | 25
Biden addressing the Russian people, don't choke on your coffee.
https://t.me/denatofication/5103
Posted by: unimperator | Feb 21 2023 18:57 utc | 27
Off topic - short term interest rates are exploding on government bonds here in the US. Dow down 630 pts. One of these days the US credit card is going to be declined. This is Russia's ultimate ace.
Posted by: Chris | Feb 21 2023 19:01 utc | 28
@ A.z 21
The Ukranian State had already been waging war on dpr and lpr for 8 years.
Posted by: Giyane | Feb 21 2023 19:06 utc | 29
@ Chris | Feb 21 2023 19:01 utc | 28
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Without an extension on their (debt ceiling) loan Treasury will not be able to pay Social Security benefits this Summer.
Extending the loan will depend upon raising interest rates.
Whoops. That makes commercial debt unpayable.
Posted by: too scents | Feb 21 2023 19:14 utc | 31
I think that what we are seeing in slow motion is the dissolution of the entire structure of International Government centred around the UN. The system never worked-that was evidenced clearly in Korea- but it has taken a long time for the peripheral powers, such as Russia and China, to give up all hope that it could be reformed and adapted to fulfil its charter. A hope that flared up again after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Which was really the beginning of the collapse of the US empire which lost its raison d'etre overnight. Had the, US dominated, UN and the various trade and finance organisations really been what they advertised themselves as being they would have been adapted to deal with real issues. But the UN etc had never been anything but an imperialist front, which, like the various courts and tribunals, never deviates from the requirement of the Empire.
Why is the truth of Hammarskold's death still obscured? Why is the IAEA ambiguous about its reporting from Iran? Why does the OPCW still hide the truth about Dhouma? These and a million questions like them are very simply explained: the imperialists control all of these organisations.
What's next? I would not be surprised if Russia did not put the case of Ukraine before an internationally convened tribunal of independent judges drawn from the "Third World". The Nordstream matter is another candidate for a thorough airing before world opinion.
Then there is the question of the Security Council. Is the UK really the successor state to the Empire which was one of the founders of the UN? Could not a case be made in favour of India or South Africa, or even Canada? For it was these states and other parts of the empire which furnished the manpower, the resources and the wealth needed to sustain "Britain" during the War. Would the UN ever have come into existence without India's weight? Would even the channel have protected the UK if Canada had not thrown its vast resources behind it in 1940? As to France its place on the Security Council is nothing more than atavistic racism- its biggest contribution to the Victory in Europe the beaches of Normandy. Both France and the UK have places at the UNSC, among the US delegation's advisors and bearers.
The Western narrative has become fictional. Ludicrously so. To portray Ukraine as an outpost of democracy, liberal social values and individual liberty is a bad joke. And one that discredits the comedians behind it. Revealing the truth about Ukraine, its government and the emigre Gladio regimes throughout eastern europe, is not hard. And it is time that the swastika tattoos on their foreheads became the subject of discussion in polite international company.
The United States does not engage in diplomacy. It hasn't done so since about 1988 when the neo-cons were on the rise and Perle, Feith etc produced "A Clean Break" which, in effect marked the end of any Zionist attempts to make peace in Palestine. And that meant that the US had given up on diplomacy. The timing was fortuitous because with the breaking of the USSR it became possible, in Washington, to conclude that diplomacy was obsolete- the US dominated the world, its imposition of global rule was just a matter of time.
And that is the history of the 1990s, followed by the more comprehensive efforts of the Bush regime, which was designed to clean up the last nests of resistance- Seven Countries in Seven Years. Obama, who followed, produced an alternative which was indistinguishable from the model. And by 2016 there were no diplomats left- unless Gunboat Captains count. It was all stick and carrot stuff: 'Do as we want or we will cut you off from all international trade and finance. And here's a million Swiss francs and a bolt hole in Florida, just in case the natives get the pitchforks and Molotovs out.'
Look around-the Chinese and Russians are despatching diplomats everywhere, meeting with the leaders of other nations and explaining Russia or China's case to them. On the other hand the US has fired all its diplomats and replaced them with neo-con ideologues and liberal yes men. They go around the world threatening and bribing, and then, when they return home frustrated and empty handed, their work is handed over to the CIA or one of its fronts. Regimes that do not agree must be replaced.
The one thing that unites the governments and the peoples of the world is hatred of and contempt for the United States. It is rarely said aloud but it is, nevertheless, there. It is the central fact of international relations in 2023.
And, of course, the United States' allies feel exactly the same. France, Germany even the UK, when/if ever it wakes up, long to be free to unloose their diplomats and reach agreements with other states, trade agreements, cultural agreements, defence agreements..whatever. But they cannot, they no longer enjoy agency. They are no longer sovereign. That is what Minsk showed: Hollande and Merkel did not, as they now suggest, negotiate in order to buy time for Kiev. They genuinely believed that they had solved an irritating and dangerous problem, diplomatically. It was afterwards that they learned that they had been conned by the Americans into deceiving Russia and betraying the trust put in them.
It was a sordid business and a nasty awakening. But now the world knows that NATO members do not count. They are not allies but satraps, puppets. They don't matter. And what this means-and western europeans are gradually awakening to it- is that they are entirely disposable targets.
Ukraine is about, inter alia, medium and short range missile emplacement: if Kiev joins NATO there will be a ring of potentially nuclear armed missile launch sites surrounding western Russia, bringing Moscow within ten minutes of having to rely on its Air defences. It will begin in Norway and Finland and run south from the Baltic to the Black Sea and the Black Sea to the Caspian. Which means that the next war will take place in europe and that entire cities, entire countries will be wiped off the map. That is in Europe starting at John o' Groats and moving eastwards.
And there is nothing that NATO members can do about it because NATO is nothing more than a local branch of the Pentagon, their governments nothing more than fan clubs. It is only a matter of time before it becomes incumbent upon Europe's Ministers to learn the "moves" the gymnastics and dance steps of cheerleaders.
Posted by: bevin | Feb 21 2023 19:17 utc | 32
Posted by: too scents | Feb 21 2023 19:14 utc | 31
Don't think even our government is stupid enough to mess with social security benefits...
Posted by: ctiger | Feb 21 2023 19:21 utc | 33
Don't think even our government is stupid enough to mess with social security benefits...
Posted by: ctiger | Feb 21 2023 19:21 utc | 32
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How is the Treasury going to pay SS if they break the statutory debt limit?
They cannot. At that point they are in default.
Posted by: too scents | Feb 21 2023 19:24 utc | 34
Re: Social Security & de-dollarization
Social Security is easy to reduce benefits on. Feds Just let inflation eat away the value of your SS benefit. You might get $2,000/month but it won’t be worth much.
If the dollar loses reserve currency status, then the Feds will not be able to get any foreigners to buy their debt. No more trillion dollar deficits.
Posted by: Exile | Feb 21 2023 19:29 utc | 35
i think the angle on money is very important, but it is more of an moa open thread conversation... chris is right - it is ot..
Posted by: james | Feb 21 2023 19:33 utc | 36
I wish to again recommend the series of daily (weekdays) articles on the events of 2013/14 being published by Thomas Röper at anti-spiegel. It make a perfect companion to b's series on Feb 2022. As you read through you get a clear sense of how divided Ukraine was in 2014 and how divisive the coup and it's aftermath was. Anyone who has any illusions about the false narrative that Russia instigated or created the unrest that circulated in the west will see the lies that underpin it. Russia did not 'annex' Crimea. Crimea voted to secede from Ukraine and then asked Russia to allow it to join the RF.
The site is in German so you may have to use a translator.
Posted by: the pessimist | Feb 21 2023 19:33 utc | 37
De-dollarization:
My hunch is once the US goes full Japanification, and the entire treasury market has to be cornered by the Fed, the dollar will collapse and while the national debt will be serviced nominally in dollars, those dollars will be severely devalued particularly to foreigners trying to convert them to euros, yuan or yen.
The net effect for the US will be no more reserve currency and no more cheap imports.
Posted by: Chris | Feb 21 2023 19:35 utc | 38
Posted by: Exile | Feb 21 2023 19:29 utc | 34
off topic, but Social Security is indexed to inflation by law. that being said, if I were a foreign country holding tbills, I would be getting a little nervous.
Posted by: ctiger | Feb 21 2023 19:36 utc | 39
@Dave Pollard | Feb 21 2023 16:13 utc | 1
USERNAME@localhost:~> cal 2 2022
Februar 2022
Mo Di Mi Do Fr Sa So
1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28
Posted by: aquadraht | Feb 21 2023 19:39 utc | 40
START at 11: Is this a mistranslation?
"In this sense, it is very symbolic that all the countries of the North Atlantic bloc, including Great Britain and France, have clearly demonstrated their involvement in the START issue by issuing a joint statement in which they completely block the US approaches."
It would be hopeful indeed, if those countries blocked the US, but I'm betting that the "back" the US, instead.
Posted by: wagelaborer | Feb 21 2023 19:46 utc | 41
Indexed to inflation .And who calculates the inflation rate ? BWAH
De-dollarization is the only way this war ends. Period
Posted by: Exile | Feb 21 2023 19:51 utc | 42
"Putin has a degree in law and is generally unwilling to bend or break it. "
Biden also has a law degree but takes the opposite attitude. Especially in domestic policies, he and his merry henchmen and henchwomen make their own reality. And let's not get started on international law.
It's almost as if there were principles involved.
Posted by: jhill | Feb 21 2023 20:23 utc | 43
I'm still not convinced that this is not artillery dueling.
The OSCE daily report for Feb. 21 shows more detail (see the tables at the end):
https://www.osce.org/files/2022-02-22%20Daily%20Report_ENG.pdf?itok=63057
Posted by: Susan | Feb 21 2023 20:32 utc | 44
http://www.kremlin.ru/acts/bank/35269
http://kremlin.ru/acts/news/70571
Total reset of foreign politics....
--------------
Re: START suspension
https://t.me/MediaKiller2021/6704 –
allegedly something radioactive was delivered to Odessa county
to speculate, it might make sense for US hawks to go Hail Mary in Ukraine. It also might make sense for them to ball up and tremble.
Posted by: Arioch | Feb 21 2023 20:45 utc | 45
Posted by: ctiger | Feb 21 2023 20:48 utc | 46
Re Buildup To War In Ukraine - Monday, February 21, 2022
B’s posts are a valuable resource and record of events. I can only add a few details I logged on the day.
Log diary February 21, 2022
Russia issued a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) on Sunday which will close most of the airspace over the Sea of Azov starting at midnight between Sunday and Monday. A number of NOTAMs have also been issued partially closing the airspace over the Black Sea.
Russian President Putin signed a Decree instructing the Russian armed forces to provide peacekeeping functions in the DNR and LNR. units of the 8th Field Army of the Russian Armed Forces have begun to enter the territory of the LDNR. Russian armoured tanks painted with a letter ‘Z’ and huge convoys are moving towards the Ukraine border
Putin issued an ultimatum to the Kiev regime. The Zelensky government must immediately stop fighting in the region and obey the ceasefire.
Car bomb Luhansk, head of the representation, Mikhail Filiponenko. All LNR residents are in shelters. Ukrainian Armed Forces started intensive firing on residential buildings in the settlement of Horlivka.
UK government has said it will sanction Russia over President Vladimir Putin's decision to recognise two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine. 'breach of international law and attack on Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity".
Posted by: olaf22 | Feb 21 2023 21:28 utc | 47
The victors of war determine what happens afterward.
Russia will emerge victorious in this war.
Those who will be tried for war crimes will not be the leaders of Russia.
It will be Western leaders. They are already defeated and they know it. Just look upon their recent public pictures. After Russia takes out the USA and NATO, they will demand the perpetrators of attacks upon the Russian people to be brought to justice.
The remaining populations in the former NATO nations will be very happy to turn over their evil leaders to the Russians to make amends after the skys clear.
Posted by: young | Feb 21 2023 21:32 utc | 48
If anyone is interested the guardian have an open comment is free article on ukraine right now. The moderators are only just succeeding but a few more joining in will aid in making these fools hear what is actually happening.
Posted by: Debsisdead | Feb 21 2023 21:45 utc | 49
Clearly the Russian army is having a heck of a time pushing back the Ukronazis so as to prevent the bombardment of the Donbas. However here we are a year later and shelling is intensifying.
My solution is to bring in 100,000 NK special forces with the task to clear out the Ukies with taking prisoners at the bottom of the list.
Posted by: Lou Cypher | Feb 21 2023 21:47 utc | 50
Debsisdead@48
I've been pre-moderated since Bush's first term but I''' give it a try.
Talking of pre-moderating. Can anyone offer an explanation?
I have been trying to post a lengthy piece on this thread this afternoon. On each occasion it has appeared in preview with the "Your Comment has been posted. Post another .." message. But it has never appeared. There are no links in it.
The grammar is no worse than usual.
I don't appear to have been banned.
After three attempts I'm beginning to lose confidence that it is worth posting at all, and I'm not sure whether I will try again. But I do worry that this might be happening to others and be the reason why there are so few comments on this thread.
Posted by: bevin | Feb 21 2023 21:51 utc | 51
Roundtable with former CIA officer Larry Johnson, Prof. Dr. Michael Vlahos, hosted by Gonzalo Lira: Discussion on Ukraine and Putin's speech today.
Dr. Vlahos posted on MoA some months ago when b cited Vlahos' views on RUssia Ukraine in one of his post.
LINK 1hr.59mins
Posted by: Likklemore | Feb 21 2023 21:57 utc | 52
Debsisdead | Feb 21 2023 21:45
Aaarrgghhh the groaniad I can feel my brain cells dying quicker just thinking about it
i'll have a look but no big hopes
Posted by: olaf22 | Feb 21 2023 22:07 utc | 53
b: High praise again! I remember so vividly how my heart soared upon reading Putin's speech a year ago. I'd followed the preceding events, including the massive Donbas evacuations days before with a sense of impending dread. And then everything changed with that one key event.
I've always believed that Russia's actions were entirely justified under the UN Charter's Article 51, and argued the point at the time (at another site, where my disagreements were inexplicably deleted). As you say, if not entirely within the letter of the law, the mutual defense agreements were assuredly within its spirit and that of the controversial Right to Protect (R2P), which the US and NATO have thoroughly abused.
God bless Vladimir Putin for that bold, highly moral decision. And God bless you, b, for these continuing endeavors to present the unvarnished truth.
Posted by: JMF | Feb 21 2023 22:11 utc | 54
Non-leap years have 365 days. 365 = 364 + 1 = (7 x 52) + 1. So, from one non-leap year to another, the same date advances by one day of the week. So, given that Feb. 21, 2022 was a Tuesday, it follows that Feb 21, 2021 was a Monday.
Posted by: Lysias | Feb 21 2023 22:31 utc | 55
⚡️Odessa region!
Some kind of hipish is being prepared on the border with Transnistria. The Kirovograd highway (aka Poltavka) a few kilometers from the checkpoint "Platonovo" is completely cleared by the roadside. The military clean up. Apparently so that columns of equipment and troops could stand there. There are a lot of military Hummers and the military themselves at the checkpoints.
https://t.me/OpenUkraine/34968?single
Posted by: SCan | Feb 21 2023 22:38 utc | 56
Posted by: Sam | Feb 21 2023 17:57 utc | 14
----------------------
So, I can assume that you are no fan of President Putin. I am curious, who do you support in this struggle for a multipolar world?
Posted by: Ed | Feb 21 2023 22:39 utc | 57
‼️💥 Powerful explosions in the DPR: over Donetsk, Mariupol and Khartsyzsk
Rockets soared into the sky from Donetsk and Mariupol.
The mayor of Khartsyzsk said that the air defense forces are repelling the attack. Power went out in some areas of the city.
t.me/RVvoenkor
(Google trad Russ-English)
https://t.me/OpenUkraine/34974?single
Posted by: SCan | Feb 21 2023 22:40 utc | 58
Biden may have a degree in law, but that doesn't stop him from being a scofflaw.
Posted by: Lysias | Feb 21 2023 22:48 utc | 59
"After Russia takes out the USA and NATO, they will demand the perpetrators of attacks upon the Russian people to be brought to justice...The remaining populations in the former NATO nations will be very happy to turn over their evil leaders to the Russians to make amends after the skys clear."
Posted by: young | Feb 21 2023 21:32 utc | 47
--------------------------
Whooo their cowboy, first things first, and the first that Russia must do is resolve the Ukrainian issue, which may well end with some kind of settlement and partition of Ukraine. In which case there will be no taking "out the USA and NATO." I think you need to go back to quoting scriptures again and leave the war to others.
Posted by: Ed | Feb 21 2023 23:04 utc | 60
@ olaf22 | Feb 21 2023 21:28 utc | 46
thanks for the update!
@ debs... that paper and outlet is a real piece of crap... and i tried to post, but i am not being given the option, or to upvote, or anything... why waste your time on a site like that? i am curious.. cheers..
Posted by: james | Feb 21 2023 23:11 utc | 61
Posted by: bevin | Feb 21 2023 21:51 utc | 50
Interesting. What exactly was the gist of your pre-moderated posts?
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 21 2023 23:12 utc | 62
Yasha Levine takes the NYT to task for pushing (violent, virulent) nationalism abroad (Ukraine) whereas they'd never dare make the same prescription or cheerlead for any type of nationalism at home.
https://yasha.substack.com/p/the-new-york-times-simps-for-nationalism?
Excerpt:
Take the essay the paper just published by Oksana Zabuzhko, a Ukrainian novelist and poet, on a topic that’s increasingly bounced around here: the idea that the civilized world needs to break Russia into a million little pieces for lasting peace to prevail. There’s little that’s new in her argument and I’m not gonna critique other historical points of the essay — like why Bill Clinton backed Yeltsin’s war against Chechnya’s independence (hint it wasn’t because Bill was “overwhelmed” by all the different Soviet national republics clamoring for freedom and independence.) What caught my eye was Oksana’s reasoning for why Russia needs to be broken up.Here’s the relevant bit:
Yet Russia will not become a democracy until it falls apart. That’s because Russia is not really a nation-state but the same premodern multiethnic empire living on geographic expansion and resource looting as 300 years ago — and is thus doomed to reproduce, again and again, under whatever ideological cover, the same prison-ward-like political structure that alone keeps it together.
You don’t need to read too much between the lines to get her point. She thinks that Russia is illegitimate because it’s multi-ethnic, which to her synonymous with being “premodern” and retrograde. Meanwhile, to be a “nation-state” — a society that consists of a homogenous national/ethnic/cultural group, I guess more closely mirroring those of Europe — is to her progressive, and the only way that a democracy can flourish. Every (fictional) race with its own (real) place. A truly enlightened organizing principle for society!
Maybe I’m being over sensitive to her nation-state usage, given how slippery the definition of this term can be, but I don’t think so.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 21 2023 23:17 utc | 63
Biden informs Zelensky that he's only there to meet the Ukrainian mail order bride he met online.
https://www.theonion.com/biden-informs-zelensky-he-only-there-to-see-ukrainian-w-1850140647
KYIV, UKRAINE—Arriving with a box of chocolates and a bouquet of flowers tucked under his arm, President Joe Biden informed Volodymr Zelensky on Tuesday that he was only in the region to visit a local woman he met online. “Sorry, pal, I can’t stick around—do you know where any internet cafes are? I don’t want to keep Nadiya waiting,” said Biden, who opened up the camera roll on his phone to show Zelensky a photo of the Ukrainian woman he had been chatting with over Facebook Messenger for the past seven months, stating that she was apparently 53 years old and loved the Minions franchise. “We talk practically every day. I send her a ‘good morning’ text when I wake up, and I send a ‘good night’ text before I go to bed. I think there might be a time zone difference, but still. She’s a classic beauty, isn’t she? I’m telling you, I feel a real connection with this woman. I hope she isn’t surprised to see me.” At press time, Biden told Zelensky he was going to need to take back some aid since Nadiya had asked him to send her $700.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 21 2023 23:21 utc | 64
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 21 2023 23:21 utc | 64
I'm sure he just wanted to sniff her up.
Posted by: Buffalo_Ken | Feb 21 2023 23:27 utc | 65
Lysias said on 21st Feb at 2231 GMT: Non-leap years have 365 days. 365 = 364 + 1 = (7 x 52) + 1. So, from one non-leap year to another, the same date advances by one day of the week. So, given that Feb. 21, 2022 was a Tuesday, it follows that Feb 21, 2021 was a Monday.
Or, as our Enid Blyton diaries, Beanos and Mother Gooses taught us when we were Little,
Thirty days hath September,
April, June and November.
All the rest have thirty-one,
Excepting February alone,
Which has but twenty-eight days clear
And twenty-nine in each leap year.
Posted by: petra | Feb 21 2023 23:36 utc | 66
A serious development today that should not be overlooked:
Russia delivers a demarche to the U.S.... came after Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered his annual address to the Federal Assembly.
Russia Makes Demarche to US Ambassador Over Washington's Growing Involvement in Ukraine Conflict
SputniknewsOn Tuesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the US ambassador to Moscow, Lynne M Tracy, because of Washington's growing involvement in the Ukraine crisis.
"The head of the American diplomatic mission, summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry, was presented with a demarche on 21 February in connection with the growing involvement of the United States in hostilities on the side of the Kiev regime", the document posted on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry says.
Moscow stressed that the US should withdraw American and NATO military from Ukraine.
Furthermore, the ministry said in a statement that the American side should not interfere in the investigation into the Nord Stream pipeline blast."Russia emphasized that the United States should confine itself to giving explanations about the explosions on the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines and not interfere with an impartial investigation to identify those responsible," the ministry said in a statement.[.] (emphasis added)
Ever so close to making US-Russia war official.
Posted by: Likklemore | Feb 21 2023 23:56 utc | 67
And Col. Douglas Macgregor sees Russia's demarche to the U.S. as grave.
US on Road to 'Destructive War With Russia', Warns Former Pentagon Official
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The Russian Foreign Ministry's diplomatic message to the US Ambassador in Moscow serves notice that unless the Biden administration changes course rapidly, it is leading the US into an unnecessary and destructive war with Russia, former senior Pentagon official and retired US Army Colonel Douglas Macgregor told Sputnik."Without a change in our approach we are on the road to an unnecessary and destructive war with Russia," Macgregor, who commanded US armored forces in the Battle of 73 Easting against the Iraqi military in the first Gulf War in 1991, said on Tuesday.[.]
US Ambassador to Moscow Lynne Tracy was told that the United States should withdraw all of its military and equipment from the territory of Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
Sputniknews
Posted by: Likklemore | Feb 22 2023 0:07 utc | 68
Does anyone know anything concerning Wagner not receiving ammunition?
I've seen 2 reports saying they are having issues being supplied.
Posted by: southfront fan | Feb 22 2023 0:19 utc | 69
I noticed that Biden was parading around an amusing racially diverse entourage in the Warsaw Ghetto. Eastern European nationalists like the Poles and Baltics will have to pay for American support to wage war on Russia with the importation of the sort of diversity that has made Philadephia Detroit and Malmo or Paris unlivable. Ukraine and the Ukies will be like the Ookies of Oakland in short order.
https://twitter.com/WarMonitors/status/1628081404398514203
Posted by: Wokechoke | Feb 22 2023 0:19 utc | 70
How is the Treasury going to pay SS if they break the statutory debt limit?
They cannot. At that point they are in default.
Posted by: too scents | Feb 21 2023 19:24 utc | 33
##################
Laws only have power if someone wants to enforce them.
It's all a delusion, and will go on as long as people remain delusional.
Never underestimate human stupidity.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 22 2023 0:31 utc | 71
Does anyone know anything concerning Wagner not receiving ammunition?
I've seen 2 reports saying they are having issues being supplied.
Posted by: southfront fan | Feb 22 2023 0:19 utc | 70
########################
Supposedly the Russian MoD isn't supplying Wagner and some volunteer units as they expect. The MoD came out with a statement trying to say this is divisive rhetoric, implying it may be enemy propaganda. Based Prighozin doubled down and said he would provide statements of receipts and expenditures to anyone willing to investigate the bureaucracy.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 22 2023 0:36 utc | 72
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 22 2023 0:36 utc | 73
The reality is any mercenary is expendable, and any mercenary worth their salt knows this and that is why mercenaries would be advised to stay out of media because once they do this, they make themselves more expendable.
~
Like a "write-off" on the accountants books - seriously, history backs me up on this. Mercenaries need to know their place and that is all this is - I suspect they will be willing to fight when push comes to shove, and I suspect this is just a little book-keeping exercise, but the mercenary does themselves no favors by making it public.
~
At the end of the day, it is known who has the troops ready to go and seriously, they have the will behind them, so what is the question being asked - oh, some mercenary wants to get more glory and get higher pay - well, eff that is what I would say. Mercenaries are expendable. Truly, in all history, that has been the case, and that is most likely the case now still.
Posted by: Buffalo_Ken | Feb 22 2023 0:48 utc | 73
james | Feb 21 2023 23:11 utc | 60
i do check the guardian, just to cross check what crap they are spewing, but i always leave with a nasty taste in my mouth as if i have been eating human shit.
Posted by: olaf22 | Feb 22 2023 1:03 utc | 74
Posted by: bevin | Feb 21 2023 21:51 utc | 50
Sometimes I forget that my VPN is engaged, and the same thing happens to me. I can't fault MOA for not allowing posts that are behind a Virtual Private Network, as they can be used by people who've been banned, or are trying to post under multiple user names.
If you aren't using a VPN, maybe you have enabled some advance blocking features by way of browser add-ons? I use the Firefox browser, and it, and other browsers, have add-ons with security features that can cause some websites to throw up their hands in defeat, as they're geared to need to engage with browsers in a certain way.
Try using another browser in a "vanilla" configuration, with no security add-ons enabled, and see if that fixes that. If that doesn't work ask yourself if your Firewall is configured in a way that makes it a factor, or if your router has. My router offers a VPN feature which I never use, I have a software based VPN, but maybe your router has it on?
Posted by: Babel-17 | Feb 22 2023 1:04 utc | 75
Putin's speech, much anticipated in the West, does carry a message.
Life goes on in Russia and there is no need to talk about the war in Ukraine. There will come a time and place to have that conversation. Putin does not have much use for Western ears, not the politicians, the EU, NATO nor MSM.
It is not clear what Blinken is up to other than to apply pressure on Israel to choose sides.
Posted by: Acco Hengst | Feb 22 2023 1:34 utc | 76
Oksana Zabushko thinks multiethnic states must be broken up. Does she realize that the US is multiethnic?
Posted by: Lysias | Feb 22 2023 1:36 utc | 77
Posted by: Light Sleeper | Feb 21 2023 23:50 utc | 67
"waggling its rotors
AI military drone
deletes lines of code"
A real-life, actual haiku!
Congrats!
Posted by: AntiSpin | Feb 22 2023 1:43 utc | 78
bevin, olaf22, james
I still glance at the graun a few mornings a week, not to read the news I have a quick glance at the news section to see what lies appear important to the blob, then check out sports & tv but I also take a gander at the opinion section to see if they are allowing comments on their highly tendentious propaganda. I have been moderated out ie not allowed to post anything unless it has been pre-censored a couple of times. Each time after that I have simply reregistered under a different email & nym. I got tired of that but several years ago they stopped doing it to change the system, so that if you have an acceptable login, they let you post, but as I have discovered today, if you post stuff that they don't like they freeze the number of 'likes' you can accumulate, then censor you out from the second post onwards.
Why bother? The censorship is algorithm driven and if you can work out how to couch your post in a way that doesn't cause issues then it goes through, isn't picked up until too late & accumulated too many views & likes for them just to rip it out.
I've had a few 'wins' like that over the years and I reckon that judging by the rapidity of gathering likes (until they freeze 'em), that at the very least it signals to others that they are not alone.
Of course I won't be able to use the nym I used today for anything contentious for a while, but that is OK, I have others 'cos once you get the hang of their system acquiring nyms is the easiest bit, the tough part comes from slipping past the algorithm - call it my morning mental exercise. That is the first Ukraine centred column that has allowed comments in a long time, as soon as it became obvious that too many of us were pushing back they closed it. So what - well the low number of comments (only 450) on an issue of such import tells us that the graun knows many, many people do not believe their tosh. The graun no longer posts a notice for every censorship - more like 1 in 100.
Readers notice too and the comments section ends up reading like the out takes from an MI6 propaganda operation, something that is also obvious to many readers.
No one has to do it but for me having a go at their nonsense makes more sense than hundreds of people posting preaches to the choir that is mostly only read by the choir.
Posted by: Debsisdead | Feb 22 2023 1:56 utc | 79
Tom_Q_Collins@ 61
Let's try it again...
I think that what we are seeing in slow motion is the dissolution of the entire structure of International Government centred around the UN. The system never worked-that was evidenced clearly in Korea- but it has taken a long time for the peripheral powers, such as Russia and China, to give up all hope that it could be reformed and adapted to fulfil its charter. A hope that flared up again after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Which was really the beginning of the collapse of the US empire which lost its raison d'etre overnight. Had the, US dominated, UN and the various trade and finance organisations really been what they advertised themselves as being they would have been adapted to deal with real issues. But the UN etc had never been anything but an imperialist front, which, like the various courts and tribunals, never deviates from the requirement of the Empire. ....
Posted by: bevin | Feb 22 2023 2:18 utc | 80
Here's some more...
The Western narrative has become fictional. Ludicrously so. To portray Ukraine as an outpost of democracy, liberal social values and individual liberty is a bad joke. And one that discredits the comedians behind it. Revealing the truth about Ukraine, its government and the emigre Gladio regimes throughout eastern europe, is not hard. And it is time that the swastika tattoos on their foreheads became the subject of discussion in polite international company.
The United States does not engage in diplomacy. It hasn't done so since about 1988 when the neo-cons were on the rise and Perle, Feith etc produced "A Clean Break" which, in effect marked the end of any Zionist attempts to make peace in Palestine. And that meant that the US had given up on diplomacy. The timing was fortuitous because with the breaking of the USSR it became possible, in Washington, to conclude that diplomacy was obsolete- the US dominated the world, its imposition of global rule was just a matter of time.
And that is the history of the 1990s, followed by the more comprehensive efforts of the Bush regime, which was designed to clean up the last nests of resistance- Seven Countries in Seven Years. Obama, who followed, produced an alternative which was indistinguishable from the model. And by 2016 there were no diplomats left- unless Gunboat Captains count. It was all stick and carrot stuff: 'Do as we want or we will cut you off from all international trade and finance. And here's a million Swiss francs and a bolt hole in Florida, just in case the natives get the pitchforks and Molotovs out.'
Look around-the Chinese and Russians are despatching diplomats everywhere, meeting with the leaders of other nations and explaining Russia or China's case to them. On the other hand the US has fired all its diplomats and replaced them with neo-con ideologues and liberal yes men. They go around the world threatening and bribing, and then, when they return home frustrated and empty handed, their work is handed over to the CIA or one of its fronts. Regimes that do not agree must be replaced.
The one thing that unites the governments and the peoples of the world is hatred of and contempt for the United States. It is rarely said aloud but it is, nevertheless, there. It is the central fact of international relations in 2023.
And, of course, the United States' allies feel exactly the same. France, Germany even the UK, when/if ever it wakes up, long to be free to unloose their diplomats and reach agreements with other states, trade agreements, cultural agreements, defence agreements..whatever. But they cannot, they no longer enjoy agency. They are no longer sovereign. That is what Minsk showed: Hollande and Merkel did not, as they now suggest, negotiate in order to buy time for Kiev. They genuinely believed that they had solved an irritating and dangerous problem, diplomatically. It was afterwards that they learned that they had been conned by the Americans into deceiving Russia and betraying the trust put in them.
It was a sordid business and a nasty awakening. But now the world knows that NATO members do not count. They are not allies but satraps, puppets. They don't matter. And what this means-and western europeans are gradually awakening to it- is that they are entirely disposable targets.
Posted by: bevin | Feb 22 2023 2:20 utc | 81
Tom_Q_Collins @ 64:
Of course Zelensky had been cautioned by the SBU not to admit to Biden that Nadiya was not a real woman but instead was a fiction created by the SBU themselves.
🤣🤣🤣
Posted by: Jen | Feb 22 2023 2:25 utc | 82
@ Light Sleeper | Feb 21 2023 23:13 utc | 62
welp.. that response put you on my permanent ignore list.. i will never read anything you post here again.. kudos, lol...
@ debs @ 80...
thanks... i think the guardian has become like an alternate version of twitter or fb... all of them censoring or keeping a lid on the number of likes or shares and etc. etc... i can't remember when the guardian got taken over by the intel agency, but it must be going back at least 10 years or so...
Posted by: james | Feb 22 2023 2:31 utc | 83
Ok well it's getting through now. Thanks for all the advice, much of which in my ignorance of IT is way above my head.
As is Debsisdead's advice on accessing Comment is Free-what is a nym?
As others have said The Guardian, which I used to read religiously from the late 1950s, has become literally sickening to look at. I can barely contain my vomit as I hit the Sports button and read the cycling or the cricket.
I hadn't thought about the algorithms but I guess they are the problem, In my mind it was a couple Keir Starmer lookalikes and someone from the Israeli Embassy doing the 'moderation.' That was bad enough. Algorithms must be a sort of AI in reverse.
Patrick Lawrence at Consortium News has some ideas on these subjects:
"... we are led to ask whether the promise of independent journalism can be extinguished by way of a totalized system of censorship. Do you think this phrase too strong? Marc Andreessen, the founder of Netscape, the web services company, and an influential figure in Silicon Valley, doesn’t. In the spring of 2022 Andreessen sent out this note via Twitter:
“I predict essentially identical censorship/deplatforming policies across all layers of the internet stack. Client-side & server-side ISPs, cloud platforms, CDNs, payment networks, client OSs, browsers, email clients. With only rare exceptions. The pressure is intense.”
I do not know how far we are from the world Andreesson warns us of. But is there an argument that we are headed in the direction he forecasts?..."
"...By the time digital media began to find their place in public discourse, the events of 2001 had forced the American imperium onto its back foot, and it has ever since assumed the hostile crouch of the wounded. As history teaches us, it is at this point that declining nations require the loyalty of all economic, political, industrial, and cultural institutions. Accordingly, the line between the national security state and corporate media has not been merely blurred in the post–2001 era: It is now more or less eliminated, as documents such as the Twitter Files make clear..."
Anyway thanks to everyone. I have a feeling that my problem was related to a messy computer in need of cleaning. I hope so anyway.
Posted by: bevin | Feb 22 2023 2:33 utc | 84
Debsisdead | Feb 22 2023 1:56 utc | 80
Quite agree it is more useful to hammer at the machine than kick at the jelly.
I wrote to the guardian editor a fair bit last year knowing full well it will not be published, but it will be read by the editing team, and so acts as a meme and gets in their heads. A few times a while later they have run an article on same topic, so this does work.
They didn’t ever want to talk about Ukraine using cluster munitions though. Neither did medialens, which was disappointing.
Posted by: olaf22 | Feb 22 2023 2:36 utc | 85
re 82 There is one more bit:
Ukraine is about, inter alia, medium and short range missile emplacement: if Kiev joins NATO there will be a ring of potentially nuclear armed missile launch sites surrounding western Russia, bringing Moscow within ten minutes of having to rely on its Air defences. It will begin in Norway and Finland and run south from the Baltic to the Black Sea and the Black Sea to the Caspian. Which means that the next war will take place in europe and that entire cities, entire countries will be wiped off the map. That is in Europe starting at John o' Groats and moving eastwards.
And there is nothing that NATO members can do about it because NATO is nothing more than a local branch of the Pentagon, their governments nothing more than fan clubs. It is only a matter of time before it becomes incumbent upon Europe's Ministers to learn the "moves" the gymnastics and dance steps of cheerleaders.
I left out a bit about the obvious need to replace France and the UK on the Security Council. The obvious candidate being India, whose vast wealth and manpower resources actually kept the UK in the war after 1940. But maybe the Security Council doesn't need permanent members or Russia, China and the US would be enough.
Posted by: bevin | Feb 22 2023 2:42 utc | 86
Light Sleeper@84
If ever a railway passenger deserved to be derailed it has to be East Palestine Joe Biden.
Posted by: bevin | Feb 22 2023 2:47 utc | 87
Putin has waffled too much.
He should have gone for the kill while he could, partition the countGalicians , install Yanukovich (who was the actual President before being illegally removed).
Now even the UK, Poland and Latvia high school neocon committee headman is baying for Nuremberg trial against him, and they are openly talking western airplanes to Ukraine.
Posted by: cafe con leche | Feb 22 2023 3:00 utc | 88
@ bevin and other that keep pointing fingers at America instead of the international cult that own the clutch of Western governments in Europe as well as America.
Yes, the US is the face of empire and its military is the military of empire but its citizens are meatsacks just like in all other countries and not all of us agree with what the international cult has and is doing to society.
Just like when some troll comes in the MoA bar pointing its fingers in the zionist direction and folks jump all over them, I feel the same should occur with this America is the source of all evil blame.
AND
Further to the point is that it is our social organizational structure that allows private finance to exist in any way that is the problem and getting rid of any individual or group of individuals will not solve the structural social problem of private finance being inherently anti-humanistic.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 22 2023 3:51 utc | 89
@ psychohistorian | Feb 22 2023 3:51 utc | 91
it is true what you say about the citizens of the usa... all of us citizens, no matter what country - are being manipulated and worse, so i don't blame the citizens... at the same time usa is at the center of all this... it is private finance behind it all, but that is harder to pinpoint and address.. so, i don't blame citizens, even if they remain ignorant of what is going on here.. and most of them do remain ignorant..
Posted by: james | Feb 22 2023 4:21 utc | 90
Posted by: Buffalo_Ken | Feb 22 2023 0:48 utc | 74
###############
I don't think you fully appreciate the legendary status that Wagner has among the common people in Russia, in a few African countries and in Syria.
They aren't just mercenaries. They are like a real-life A-team to millions of people.
Should they be complaining? With all of the absolute awesome trolling that Prighozin does, complaining about ammo not being supplied (also not supplied to other volunteer battalions who are on the front line as well) is not that big of a deal.
The General Staff has their fans but they are still a bureaucracy like all bureaucracies in history. Impediments to actually getting things done.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 22 2023 4:22 utc | 91
Light Sleeper@92
It would be interesting to be given evidence that an ICBM was lost anywhere. Nor would it be cause for sniggering if it had happened.
Posted by: bevin | Feb 22 2023 4:35 utc | 92
Oh, please. B must cringe reading such brown-nosing drivel. Then again there seems to be a certain familiarity with the style of writing. Say it isn't b himself, who's keying these accolades. Please say 'tain't so.
Posted by: Light Sleeper | Feb 21 2023 23:13 utc | 62
Word to the (not so?) wise: Nobody likes a wannabe hall monitor. Besides, can you read? There is an explicit warning at the beginning of every comment thread here to make points and not to attack other posters. Your little schtick smacks of NAFO-BRO BS. Trying to gin up some disunity or lower the collective morale with completely unnecessary insults. As if "b" would care enough to write praise of his own work in his own comments section. LOL
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 22 2023 4:43 utc | 93
Russia loses an ICBM somewhere between Moldova, Romania, and Ukraine on the same day. (snicker)
Posted by: Light Sleeper | Feb 22 2023 3:58 utc | 92
In addition to your comment to james above, I have to pile on with his sentiment and say that if you don't produce evidence of this alleged incident involving the loss of an ICBM in February of 2023, I'll never read anything you write here again.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 22 2023 4:45 utc | 94
My guess about Biden's pantomime in Poland is that he wants to incite peaceful Germany into the Russiam meat-grinder at the behest of his Ukro-Zionist backers like Nuland.
Poland wants reparations for WW2 but the fake Jews want some fake revenge too.
If it was perfidious Albion that incited Germany to fight the Bear for Britain's benefit in WW2, you can be sure that it is perfidious Albion that wants to destroy its far superior rival Gernany using Russia now. As always, Britain playing off its rivals against eachother .
In life, there are always taboos. A taboo is a form.of deception, by which a malign operator convinces someone that power good or evil , is emanating from an inanimate object,in order to deflect their own malignity. Boris Johnson whipped up racisn against Europe in order to deflect protest against Tory refusal to share their prosperity with the workers. Nice work if you can get it, shoving the blame for your own crimes onto something or somebody else.
However hard you try, you can never get a reformed generation of Germans to take the blame for a generation that Britain misled into Nazism. I know this because the post Raj Muslims are obsessed with blaming the reformed British generation for the crimes of our colonial forefathers. Islam refuses anybody to take the blame for anybody else's crimes, but hey, it's worth a try!
Nazism is taboo in Germany, and nothing on earth will persuade the German people to fight with Russia on the orders of Anglosaxons. But hey! for zombie Biden, the Big guy in many a criminal scam, it's always worth a spin.
Posted by: Giyane | Feb 22 2023 4:55 utc | 95
I second Tom_Q_Collins point.
Cough up a source on that, light sleeper. Extraordinary claims require extraordinarily evidence.
Else you’re worse than a troll. A liar.
Posted by: Chris | Feb 22 2023 5:07 utc | 96
Hi b,
Thanks for all the recent posts. You're on fire these days. I wish I could say the same for the comments. About 10 of these are worth keeping. Delete the chaff (including this one).
Posted by: Patroklos | Feb 22 2023 5:10 utc | 97
psychohistorian @91--
Yes, the Financial Hydra's existed for years, thousands of them, but it appears to be a "Western" not 100% human trait as we've seen the disease travel from roughly India to the Western Hemisphere, but mostly from Anatolia to Iberia and the British Isles is where its mostly resided. The 4-5,000 -year Class War between Creditors and Debtors and the related concentration of inherited wealth and the system that class has constructed to perpetuate their control is what must be decried as Anti-Human. Unfortunately, it's via the Outlaw US Empire that class exerts its power through and thus angst is projected toward those of us living within it because we fail to alter its being. But we need to realize that's a collective failure, not an individual failure and thus shug off the angst. If possible, explaining to the one projecting its angst why they do so would be a good thing provided the person is openminded.
IMO, with all the focus on Ukraine, the dialog about the Big Picture is being buried as are the reasons for the conflict. The bright spot is the fact that the RoW is going in the right direction and will transcend and defuse the Creditor/Debtor Class War as it evolves.
Gov’t in Iran sanctions 30 Germans.
Washington is going to slowly discover sanctions can work in both directions.
Posted by: Exile | Feb 22 2023 6:28 utc | 99
Posted by: Exile | Feb 22 2023 6:28 utc | 102
Thing is Washington doesn't control shit. They're the tip of the spear fronting the global private capital/finance cartel. So if sanctions ever do get put in place and bite American citizens, D.C. won't give a fuck.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 22 2023 6:49 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
Feb. 21st is a Tuesday Bertolt!
Posted by: Dave Pollard | Feb 21 2023 16:13 utc | 1