The Buildup To War In Ukraine - Wednesday, February 23, 2022
February 23 2022 was a holiday in Russia, the Defender of the Fatherland Day. It is a annual memorial day for all the people who, over the centuries, have fought for Russia in its wars.
As usual Russia's president Vladimir Putin addressed veterans, Armed Forces personnel and the people of Russia:
President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Comrade officers, veterans,Please accept my warmest greetings on this holiday, Defender of the Fatherland Day, which is celebrated all over the country not only by tradition but also by right.
It embodies the feelings of respect our citizens feel for their noble defenders, our pride in all those who served and serve in the Army and the Navy, recognition of their heroic merits to the Fatherland to assert our national interests, sovereignty and independence.
Patriotism and the unity of our nation, the exploits of its devoted sons and daughters have always been the foundation of the martial history of our thousand-year-old country, its glory and victories. We are proud of the many generations of its defenders: the guards of Alexander Nevsky and Dmitry Donskoy, the warriors of Minin and Pozharsky and the heroes of Poltava and Borodino, Stalingrad and the unstoppable assault on Berlin, all those who brought glory to our Fatherland according to the great traditions of our ancestors.
...
We can see the difficult international situation and the threats posed by current challenges, such as the erosion of the arms control system and NATO’s military activities. And yet, Russia’s appeals to build a system of equal and indivisible security that would reliably defend all countries, remain unanswered.Our country is always open to a direct and honest dialogue and ready to search for diplomatic solutions to the most complicated issues. But I want to repeat that Russia’s interests and the security of our people are an indisputable priority. ...
Putin also laid a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier.
The only diplomacy involving Moscow that happened during the day was a call with the president of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan:
The leaders exchanged views on the situation with Russia’s recognition of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics. Vladimir Putin stressed the objective necessity to take that decision based on the Ukrainian authorities’ aggression in Donbass and their categorical refusal to implement the Minsk Agreements. Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave his well-known views on the matter.The issues of working out long-term legally binding security guarantees for the Russian Federation were also discussed. In this context, Vladimir Putin expressed his disappointment with the US and NATO response which came down to an attempt to ignore Russia’s legitimate concerns and demands.
The presidents agreed to continue Russian-Turkish contacts in various formats.
CNN's coverage on February 23 2022 was mostly related to new sanctions imposed on Russia as well as about various political voices warning of the imminent war.
Ukraine introduced a state of emergency.
In the evening some Ukrainian government web sites went down after a number of run-of-the-mill cyberattacks.
CNN also reported that the separatist regions in Donbas had asked the Kremlin for help repelling Ukraine forces:
The heads of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), two separatist regions in Ukraine, recently recognized by Russia as independent, have formally asked Russian President Vladimir Putin for help repelling the aggression of Ukrainian Armed Forces, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russian state news agency RIA-Novosti on Wednesday."The president of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin received letters of appeal from the head of the Luhansk People's Republic Leonid Pasechnik and the head of the Donetsk People's Republic Denis Pushilin,” Peskov said, according to RIA.
According to Peskov, the appeal said: “Kyiv continues to build up its military presence on the line of contact, while receiving comprehensive support, including military support, from the United States and other Western states. The Kyiv regime is focused on resolving the conflict by force.”
“Given the foregoing, the heads of the two republics, in connection with the current situation, as well as in order to prevent civilian casualties and a humanitarian catastrophe, on the basis of Articles 3 and 4 of the treaties on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance between the Russian Federation and the republics, ask the president of Russia to assist in repelling aggression of the armed forces and formations of Ukraine," Peskov added, according to RIA.
This was the last formal step for Russia to enter the war in Ukraine.
Soon Russia troops moved into the separate Donbas region:
Russian troops have moved into the eastern region of Ukraine that Russia has now recognized as “independent,” according the prime minister of NATO member Latvia and sources familiar with US intelligence.“According to the information at my disposal, Putin is moving additional forces and tanks into the occupied Donbas territories,” Latvian Prime Minister Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš told CNN’s Jim Sciutto on Wednesday. “By any definition that’s a crossing of a sovereign territory into a neighboring country.”
Pressed specifically on whether he was referring to the entry of additional Russian troops since Moscow recognized the two separatist regions earlier this week, Kariņš replied: “Yes, according to the information at my disposal, this is exactly what we’re seeing.”
At midnight Moscow time Russian troops moved towards Ukraine from several directions. On February 24, at 6:00 am Moscow time, Putin addressed Russia. The Russian airforce started operating in Ukraine, Russian troops moved in. The war was on.
Curiously the OSCE Special Observer Mission at the ceasefire line in southeast-Ukraine issued no report that covers whatever happened on the ground on Wednesday, February 23 2022.
Its Daily Report 42/2022 issued on 23 February 2022 covers what happened on Tuesday, February 22 2022. Its Daily Report 43/2022 issued on Tuesday, February 24 2022 covers only things that happened all over Ukraine on Thursday, February 24 2022.
The later report seems confused:
Based on information from the Monitoring Teams as of 19:30 23 February 2022. All times are in Eastern European Time.
- Since the early hours of 24 February, at various locations across Ukraine, the SMM observed a severely deteriorated security situation.
- The Mission heard multiple explosions, including multiple launch rocket system fire.
- The SMM saw military aircraft overflying Kherson and Kyiv cities.
- The Mission recorded a spike in shelling in government-controlled areas of Luhansk region.
- In various locations across Ukraine, the SMM saw fewer people in the streets and long queues at shops, pharmacies, ATMs and petrol stations.
Donwload the full report
While the first line states that the observations for the report ended "as of 19:30 23 February 2022" all reporting in the intro as well as in the full report seems to be of observations and incidents that happened on February 24. There is no count of ceasefire violations and no map of incidents and impacts for the 23rd.
We thus do not have any record from the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission on ceasefire violations, explosions and military movements along the ceasefire line in Donbas for Wednesday, February 23 2022.
I have found no explanation for this.
Posted by b on February 23, 2023 at 16:56 UTC | Permalink
next page »I remember during the 1st week of the war there was this one event where people thought a night time bombing raid was happening to Kiev, and antiaircraft weapons were firing etc, but by morning there was only one jet lying in the streets. Was that an actual night raid or did air defenses just panic?
Posted by: Domerts | Feb 23 2023 17:20 utc | 2
I am endlessly amused by those who act as if Russia's moving into the territories of the Donbas people's republics was unprovoked and undesired. The Ukraine had 8 years to implement the Minsk accords which we now know neither the Ukraine nor it's masters in the EU had any intention of doing. You break your word and you never know what's gonna happen.
Posted by: Jeff Harrison | Feb 23 2023 17:32 utc | 3
Posted by: Domerts | Feb 23 2023 17:20 utc | 2
"A Ukrainian fighter jet was shot down over Kyiv early Friday [25th Feb 2022] morning..." thehill.com "
"25 Feb 2022 — Flaming wreckage is seen falling from the skies over Kyiv, as Ukraine claimed to have shot down a Russian fighter jet." daily mail.co.uk.
A confusing night was has by all, although some may have been more confused than others in Ukraine. Unfortunately the confusion was extremely infectious and spread to the whole of the M$M, European and North American governments...
Posted by: Lantern Dude | Feb 23 2023 17:36 utc | 4
A year later sees another Defender of the Fatherland ceremony where Putin talked with veterans and pledged further support and recognition to those who fought from 2014 onward to defend their lands which are again Russian.
The Outlaw US Empire's imposition of further illegal sanctions and theft of Russian assets finally made the conflict formally global whereas it had yet to reach that level of escalation. That in the opinion of some was a colossal mistake as now RoW would need to choose which side it supported choices that are now easy to see--the Outlaw US Empire and is vassals are clearly in the minority of just 1/8th of humanity which can be further subdivided into those who actually support the Empire's hegemony to be roughly .0001% of humanity: 800,000. The wealth those few have is mostly the debt of the many along with some tangible assets. Take the debt away and they lose their leverage and can be overwhelmed.
Re Buildup To War In Ukraine –
Wednesday, February 23, 2022
five Russian banks had had their assets frozen
Biden – ‘I met with Chancellor Scholz earlier this month, Germany has been a leader in that effort, and we have closely coordinated our efforts to stop the Nord Stream 2 pipeline if Russia invaded Ukraine’.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss UK 'the country is ready to help Ukraine “weather the storm of Russian aggression” with loan guarantees of up to $500 million projects to support reforms, including tackling corruption.'
Before Putin sent his tanks across the border into Ukraine, he invoked United Nations Article 51 which provides a legal justification for military intervention. Responsibility To Protect (R2P)
Posted by: olaf22 | Feb 23 2023 18:39 utc | 6
Just watched a Fox News promotion about U.S. Military prowess in an interview of James Carafano of the Heritage Foundation. Jimmy, without irony nor wit, claims that the U.S. is winning the Ukraine war, by attriting Russia's military.
Amazing, how a country that barely escaped Afghanistan, after breaking all its promises, can bark the word attrition, after abandoning enough weapons to equip an army.
Now that they have successfully cemented Russia and
China into an unbeatable common adversary, is it possible for the U.S. DC morons to shoot off any more of their own appendages?
The mighty U.S. steel industry is long gone, the U.S. government, directly, indirectly and through their corrupt politicians have sold every secret the U.S. has ever had, to China. Putin, now apparent, was wasting his time and Russia's integrity, by trying to trust the European Colonies, or the MotherShip-the U.S., into an effort to negotiate common ground for Peace in Europe.
The entire U.S. Media have now become Baghdad Bobs, the U.S. and European Internet is controlled such that Goebbels would be green with envy. Most U.S. students can't count past 10 without taking their shoes and socks off.
Yet citizens of Russia, Europe, and America only want Peace on Earth.
Posted by: kupkee | Feb 23 2023 19:30 utc | 7
Putin, the vigorous Russian leader with a Ph.D. in Economics and fluent in several languages, spoke before over 80,000 in a packed stadium, with tens of thousands or more waiting outside. Joe Biden, a demented and very corrupt politician who plagiarized his way though college, spoke before a small staged audience in Poland before traveling briefly inside Ukraine--after having received permission from Putin to travel there. That says it all.
Posted by: FHTEX | Feb 23 2023 19:45 utc | 8
Posted by: FHTEX | Feb 23 2023 19:45 utc | 8Putin, the vigorous Russian leader with a Ph.D. in Economics and fluent in several languages, spoke before over 80,000 in a packed stadium, with tens of thousands or more waiting outside. Joe Biden, a demented and very corrupt politician who plagiarized his way though college, spoke before a small staged audience in Poland before traveling briefly inside Ukraine--after having received permission from Putin to travel there. That says it all.
The MSM claims that the stadium was filed with government workers and students who were given the time off to attend the event and that it was the only reason they were there. They showed pictures of young adults looking very cold and bored. And the media made a point of noting that. Of course, those pictures could have been from the poor saps in Ohio waiting for the EPA, no way to know for sure when or where the pics were taken.
Like a lot of claims about Trump, it has a ring of truth to it (i.e. something that sounds like it could be true) so the reader will probably believe there is at least some merit to the claim. FWIW, I did.
Posted by: Trimalchio | Feb 23 2023 20:07 utc | 9
Posted by: FHTEX | Feb 23 2023 19:45 utc | 8
oh yeah i had forgotten about Biden's plagiarism problem. thanks for the reminder.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Feb 23 2023 20:07 utc | 10
A year ago; it never crossed my mind that the War Party would Self-destructively steal assets of individual Russian citizens held in European and U.S. financial institutions. Because, doing so would destroy all faith in the creditworthiness of the US dollar.
87% of the world is slowly and quietly bailing out on US investments and banks. This type of exodus moves glacially but it is happening.
My estimate is we will see the first real effects of De-dollarization around 2025. The full catastrophic effects should be felt around 2029.
Ask yourself:
Half of the Federal Budget is financed by selling debt. What happens when no foreigners wants to buy Federal Debt ? What interest rate will the Feds then need to pay to entice buyers of its debt ?
That’s when this war ends
Posted by: Exile | Feb 23 2023 20:12 utc | 11
Only one plan
There was only one plan: a lightning strike on 24 February 2022 to behead the Ukrainian government, mop up a demoralised armed forces, followed by FSB killing squads setting about the business of executions and ethnic cleansing.
That plan failed. There was no plan B. In the 12 months since the invasion, Russia has engaged in a series of ad hoc retreats, a mobilisation to consolidate and beef up its forces, and a revolving door in the high-level command.
So what went wrong? In the immediate instance, Putin failed to prepare his armed forces for war. He failed to do so because he knew he could only get away with a sneak attack in the middle of the night.
But the rot goes much deeper. Putin’s armed forces are badly led and poorly trained. Equipment failures, low morale and endemic corruption has sapped the Russians’ fighting power.
This will not change soon. You cannot effectively reform an armed forces while fighting a war. And effective reform takes years, not weeks or months.
What Russia does have is lots of bodies. These bodies have been thrown into the cauldron time and again. And this will continue because Russia has few other realistic options.
Posted by: Mr B | Feb 23 2023 20:16 utc | 12
Posted by: Mr B | Feb 23 2023 20:16 utc | 12
Keep taking the Kool aid.
Posted by: PalmaSailor | Feb 23 2023 20:23 utc | 13
to 6
even more money for anticorruption...EU IMF been handing over many hundreds millions at least over recent years for this...obviously all failed and no one seems to learn their lesson how it is pointless.....how strange that only now USA is attempting to send some to audit find out how their money and what they send is being accounted for....fat chance...just like all the missing billions for Pentagon....
Posted by: Jo | Feb 23 2023 20:30 utc | 14
Everything that is written and recorded has meaning, especially if the author has a certain reach through public. So thank you, b, for the work you put into your review that must not be forgotten.
---------------
"I am endlessly amused by those who act as if Russia's moving into the territories of the Donbas people's republics was unprovoked and undesired. The Ukraine had 8 years to implement the Minsk accords which we now know neither the Ukraine nor it's masters in the EU had any intention of doing. You break your word and you never know what's gonna happen."
Posted by: Jeff Harrison | Feb 23 2023 17:32 utc | 3
It is strange, right? Yesterday, the political weekly magazine "derspiegel" presented a fact check on Putin's speech. It said, among other things:
"After the Russian invasion of Donbass in eastern Ukraine in 2014, Ukraine spent years in unsuccessful negotiations with Russia on the implementation of the Minsk ceasefire agreement."
Well, it's kinda cynical and at the same time easy to see through. An "unprovoked attack", an "imperialist attack", a "brutal attack" on Ukraine. The aggression must come from Russia. Nothing else matters. Some don't like it when you reproduce those Western narratives. I get it. I can't get enough of it, it's so damn important to show these people, who control the discourse in our countries, the mirror of their insignificance at some point, if they should come down from their ivory tower ever again. Who knows.
Posted by: Konrad | Feb 23 2023 20:30 utc | 15
Gosh, “lightning”, it’s been 11 minutes since you last copy-and-pasted your worthless brainless crap here, what have you been up to?
Posted by: Dalit | Feb 23 2023 20:36 utc | 16
Posted by: Mr B | Feb 23 2023 20:16 utc | 12
Plan?
Seems your dreaming can go trough as a plan
but well, russians have no plans as there it's ad hoc as you say
lets see how crazy the crazies can get (at some point it IS funny to watch :) )
Posted by: Macpott | Feb 23 2023 20:38 utc | 17
If Putin would have had a wreath placed on the graves of the 100 million plus his Bolshevik brethren slaughtered and acknowledged it actually happened, I might agree that he's the savior of the world the commenters on here make him out to be on a daily basis. As long as he continues to praise the so-called Fatherland and act like his country wasn't responsible for the most heinous crimes of the 20th century, while proclaiming falsely it was the German menace who was at fault, he cannot be taken seriously as anything more than a charismatic puppet dancing to the tune of the same masters who control Zelensky, Biden, and the rest of the world's leader figureheads.
Posted by: coolhand850 | Feb 23 2023 20:43 utc | 18
Ask yourself:
Half of the Federal Budget is financed by selling debt. What happens when no foreigners wants to buy Federal Debt ?
That’s when this war ends
Posted by: Exile | Feb 23 2023 20:12 utc | 11
I have some news for you since you asked; What interest rate will the Feds then need to pay to entice buyers of its debt ?
Foreign buyers have taken note the dollar's death certificate was signed by KSA on January 18, 2023.
Moreover,
It matters not the rate of interest – 1,500% per month or whatever. After the theft of Iran’s money, Venezuela's gold and Russia’s $350 billion reserves; it is the safety and return of the principal amount to the lender that is paramount.
The Collective west, led by the U.S., are proven thieves. The U.S. a certified terrorist. Think NordStream. Trust does not exist.
Posted by: Likklemore | Feb 23 2023 20:50 utc | 19
re: Exile | Feb 23 2023 20:12 utc | 11
you wrote:
"What happens when no foreigners wants to buy Federal Debt ? What interest rate will the Feds then need to pay to entice buyers of its debt ?"
Very few foreigners are buying U.S. Treasuries, so the Fed buys them using digital dollars created out of thin air. Who the hell wants long-term debt from a nation that is clearly bankrupt, led by insane, ignorant ideologues who believe their own magical thinking about everything?
The question really is, what happens when the nations that manufacture all the goods the US requires tell the US "no thanks, we don't accept dollars anymore"? And by the way, we just nationalized all your off-shored factories, thanks for that.
Posted by: Perimetr | Feb 23 2023 20:52 utc | 20
B.,
Congratulations, your little news site must be gaining influence, since the War Party is spending resources filling it with trolls.
Well Done
respect
Posted by: Exile | Feb 23 2023 20:53 utc | 21
Posted by: lightning | Feb 23 2023 20:23 utc | 14
Not this carp again, you (posting as “the first”) got kicked out of the Open Ukraine thread earlier.
Posted by: W | Feb 23 2023 21:01 utc | 22
Exile | Feb 23 2023 20:12 utc | 11
What happens when no foreigners wants to buy Federal Debt ?
As Posted by: Perimetr | Feb 23 2023 20:52 utc | 21 the Federal Reserve will create the currency necessary to buy the US govt debt.
What the heck happens when the central bank balance sheet exceeds the productive capacity of the national economy? I don’t think anyone can truly answer that, the nearest example in human history might be the Reichmark and the Weimar Republic, but that is not a happy outcome.
Posted by: West of England Andy | Feb 23 2023 21:12 utc | 23
@Posted by: coolhand850 | Feb 23 2023 20:43 utc | 19
Utter delusional, bigoted crap.
@Posted by: Exile | Feb 23 2023 20:12 utc | 11
Half of the Federal Budget is financed by selling debt. What happens when no foreigners wants to buy Federal Debt ? What interest rate will the Feds then need to pay to entice buyers of its debt ? That’s when this war ends
The US have the Federal Reserve and their European and Japanese lackeys to buy their debt. Yes, the US dollar will eventually fall but it will be a long drawn out process during which the US will bankrupt the treasuries of their "allies", while destroying their population with inflation. The Ukrainian war will be over well before then. The West against the Rest war will continue for many decades, if we survive that long.
But the West did do Putin a favour, by showing the Russian oligarchs that they need him more than he needs them.
And I guess I corked up the TypePad formatting @ post #23; not for the first time and probably not the last :(
Posted by: West of England Andy | Feb 23 2023 21:17 utc | 25
Posted by: lightning | Feb 23 2023 20:23 utc | 14
Mr B quit sockpupprting please, have some respect.
Posted by: drsmith | Feb 23 2023 21:24 utc | 26
RE:West of England Andy | Feb 23 2023 21:12 utc | 24
you ask:
"What the heck happens when the central bank balance sheet exceeds the productive capacity of the national economy?"
Here's Washington's answer: World War 3
Posted by: Perimetr | Feb 23 2023 21:25 utc | 27
b: Thanks once again for this remarkable series.
One thing I noticed, though: OSCE seems to have subsequently revised their report of February 24, 2022. The current version (from your link) shows:
1 Based on information from the Monitoring Teams as of 17:00, 24 February 2022. All times are in Eastern European Time.
(That's been so at least since Feb 17, 2023, when I downloaded my own file copy. However, I don't doubt that the original was confused, as you point out.)
Posted by: JMF | Feb 23 2023 21:25 utc | 28
Mr B @ 12 and Lightning @ 14 seem to be commenting with the one brain: a characteristic of trolls working in teams.
Posted by: Jen | Feb 23 2023 21:39 utc | 29
Posted by: Perimetr | Feb 23 2023 21:25 utc | 28
Agreed, though I’d prefer not to be a casualty of the most destructive debt default since humans first learnt to count.
Posted by: West of England Andy | Feb 23 2023 21:52 utc | 30
P.S. Re mine [#29] above, I see now that it's ONLY the PDF version that's been corrected. The OSCE web page still displays the original date error:
Based on information from the Monitoring Teams as of 19:30 23 February 2022. All times are in Eastern European Time.
Posted by: JMF | Feb 23 2023 21:54 utc | 31
The traitors are making their work so obvious that one or two them may get shot.
Posted by: lightning | Feb 23 2023 20:23 utc | 14
-------------------------------
I don't know if you are posting the same bullshit over and over again. I never got past the first paragraph, but it all looks familiar. Is there something else you like to say "lighting," cause I have had a belly full of your worthless essay you call "General Surovikin; A traitor, or totally incompetent," which I am sure I have seen at least three times.
Maybe you were dropped on your head as a baby? Or perhaps you were kicked by a mule. Doesn't matter as long as you are kicked off of MoA.
Posted by: Ed | Feb 23 2023 22:01 utc | 32
Huge. A related development; Biden being told to pull up stakes...get out of Syria before there's a direct "accident" with Russia.
Time for US Pull-Out: GOP Congressman Warns About Risk of Kinetic Conflict With Russia in Syria
GOP Representative Matt Gaetz has introduced a resolution seeking to direct President Joe Biden to remove all US troops from Syria. The House must vote on Gaetz's proposal within 18 days of its introduction due to the bill's war powers status."[T]he purpose of my legislation is to force members of Congress to vote on record regarding whether they think we ought to continue Obama's war in Syria. President Obama kicked off our involvement (…) and now we still find ourselves in the middle of a Syrian civil war with Russia and Turkey and Iran, all present in a very confined neighborhood," Congressman Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., told the US press earlier this week.[.]
Speaking to the US press, Gaetz shared his concerns with regard to the US president's ability to handle Syrian matters. The congressman quoted Biden's August 2021 interview in which the president claimed that the US "[doesn't] have military in Syria to make sure that we’re going to be protected."
However, according to the American media at the time of Biden's comment, there were at least 900 troops in Syria who were helping their SDF proxies on the ground.Gaetz has also drawn attention to reports alleging that Russian and US personnel get into very close proximity with one another. "[T]he risk of an accident or miscalculation or just misuse of authority could lead to direct kinetic conflict between the United States and Russia in Syria," the lawmaker insisted.
In addition, Congress has never authorized the use of military force in Syria, the congressman argued. "America First means actually putting the people of our country first — not the interests of the military industrial complex," he said.
[.]Gaetz's resolution has been filed under the War Powers Act of 1973, which was designed to limit the president's authority to wage war and reasserted Congress' authority over foreign wars. Notably, at the time of the 1973 bill's introduction, then President Richard Nixon tried to veto it. However, Congress overrode his veto, and the resolution became law following the US pullout from Vietnam in early 1973.
Source:
Sputniknews
https://sputniknews.com/20230223/time-for-us-pull-out-gop-congressman-warns-about-risk-of-kinetic-conflict-with-russia-in-syria-1107747550.html
Posted by: Likklemore | Feb 23 2023 22:09 utc | 33
kupkee @7--
Thanks for that tidbit. Annually, the Heritage Foundation assesses the state of the US Military and the last several years has seen it in the D+ to C- range of ability, facts its spokesman ignores. For those of us who've read those assessments year after year, his duplicity is very pronounced and shows that despite its revelations the Foundation feels it must help hide the great deficits of the US Military. One of the biggest factors is that of doctrine, to which I pointed barflies at this essay for help in understanding. Russia's doctrine informs the government and its MIC what sort of MIC to develop, what it must produce, and in what quantities. As the essay notes, Russia produces massive amounts of ammo for its logistics train for engagement in Total War, which isn't what NATO or the Outlaw US Empire does. And there's more to it than just ammo as you'll discover.
The Outlaw US Empire can provoke small fires in multiple places within a short timespan but is incapable of prolonging any of them and has mostly already shot its wad in that regard. Meanwhile, more of RoW sides with China and Russia as the Empire begins to feel the initial affects of containment.
Jacques Baud gave a good history of the conflict yesterday on Omerta, the new yt channel of a former great french reporter, Régis Le Sommier, who cautiously continues to do his job as a journalist.
https://youtu.be/TjbTTJwZ9N4
Only with automatic translation for now.
Interesting detail, if you search for "Jacques Baud" and sort the results by date, it does not appear, a pledge of quality ?
Posted by: Marjorie | Feb 23 2023 22:18 utc | 35
Posted by: coolhand850 | Feb 23 2023 20:43 utc | 19
Nazi apologists of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your hammer and sickle!
Posted by: Rjb1.5 | Feb 23 2023 22:21 utc | 36
From Kyev Independent:
EU leaders: 'We will not rest until Ukraine prevails.'
The European Council members published a joint statement in support of Ukraine on the eve of the first anniversary of Russia's all-out war. "We will make sure that Ukraine prevails, that international law is respected, that peace and Ukraine's territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders are restored, that Ukraine is rebuilt, and that justice is done," reads the statement. "Until that day, we will not rest."
V Nulend has reportedly said that talks are possible on the basis of Zelensky's 10-point peace plan, which he introduced in November 2022.
https://tass.com/world/1580977
The EU backs his plan.
The plan("peace formula") can be read here: https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/ukrayina-zavzhdi-bula-liderom-mirotvorchih-zusil-yaksho-rosi-79141
Posted by: JB | Feb 23 2023 22:27 utc | 37
Likklemore @34--
Thanks for that! And so the plot thickens. Gaetz is from Florida and seems to be using Trump rhetoric. Who will throw the next tomato?
@JB | Feb 23 2023 22:27 utc | 38
V Nulend has reportedly said that talks are possible on the basis of Zelensky's 10-point peace plan, which he introduced in November 2022.
https://tass.com/world/1580977
Let's talk about this in November, 2023, 2024 then again in 2025
Posted by: Poison Frogs | Feb 23 2023 22:55 utc | 39
Rjb1.5 | Feb 23 2023 22:21 utc | 37
>Nazi apologists
>Hammer and sickle
Errr. Care to explain/ elaborate?
Posted by: Melaleuca | Feb 23 2023 23:04 utc | 40
@ Karlof1 Post 39
You are very welcome.
Biden received 2 Demarche within one week. He will be under pressure as Election season opens, out of the gate early.
Also piling on, Florida DeSantis ripping Biden's...." blank check policy for Ukraine without an objective" what about East Palestine, Ohio?
btw, DeSantis has put down BlackRock's ESG.
Posted by: Likklemore | Feb 23 2023 23:13 utc | 41
@12 Mr B
Only one plan
There was only one plan: a lightning strike on 24 February 2022 to behead the Ukrainian government, mop up a demoralised armed forces, followed by FSB killing squads setting about the business of executions and ethnic cleansing.
That plan failed. There was no plan B. In the 12 months since the invasion, Russia has engaged in a series of ad hoc retreats, a mobilisation to consolidate and beef up its forces, and a revolving door in the high-level command.
So what went wrong? In the immediate instance, Putin failed to prepare his armed forces for war. He failed to do so because he knew he could only get away with a sneak attack in the middle of the night.
But the rot goes much deeper. Putin’s armed forces are badly led and poorly trained. Equipment failures, low morale and endemic corruption has sapped the Russians’ fighting power.
This will not change soon. You cannot effectively reform an armed forces while fighting a war. And effective reform takes years, not weeks or months.
What Russia does have is lots of bodies. These bodies have been thrown into the cauldron time and again. And this will continue because Russia has few other realistic options.
Agreed. Russia’s only real plan is to jam up Ukraine with dead Russians. Tragic.
Posted by: Tom UK | Feb 23 2023 23:44 utc | 42
Likklemore @42--
Thanks for your reply. DeSantis is similar to Trump in that he's no solution but can help articulate the problems so they get aired by media. What's needed are some Hamiltonians and Jeffersonians saying Americans must learn to be happy within their own "National Empire" by disengaging from trying to rule the world and focusing on rebuilding the home economy. The problem with the Rs is they have their own neocon faction as we saw with Trump, and they're also too tied to Neoliberalism to properly rebuild anything. But this isn't the thread to discuss POTUS electoral politics.
Posted by: Melaleuca | Feb 23 2023 23:04 utc | 41
what didn't you understand? Nazis simply imagining crimes or projecting themselves onto "bolsheviks" is standard operating procedure. nobody gets it worse than Mao, though. we all know about the "crimes" of Mao, don't we? the Japanese, not so much. Canada only wiped out, what, 180,000,000 natives over 300 years? but let's all argue who was worse: hitler w/his very real holocaust and 30 million soviets dead, or stalin and his not real "holodomor" and very real show trials.
let's talk about the gulag, not Corrections Corporation of Amerikkka.
an argument the greatest murderers in history, by no small margin, are happy for us all to have. It's Churchillian wisdom that asks, who was worse, hitler or castro, i mean hugo chavez i mean sodom who sane? who was a bigger nightmare for the world: Gandhi or Pol Pot? Bin Salman is a necessary evil, as is raping to death Qaddafi.
vote Bernie 2024! lesser evil is lesser evil.
Posted by: rjb1.5 | Feb 23 2023 23:45 utc | 44
a step ever so close.
The UN Votes
The US division known as the UN voted 141 for; 32 abstentions and 7 opposed on the Resolution demanding Russia withdraw from Ukraine immediately and unconditionally.
Sure. right away.
+ + + + + + +
27 mins ago at this hour:-
More worrisome another front about to open.
Russian Defense Ministry: Ukraine Has Intensified Preparations for Invasion of Transnistria
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Ukraine has intensified preparations for the invasion of Transnistria, which poses a threat to Russian peacekeepers, the Russian military will respond to this in an adequate manner, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday."The Kiev regime has intensified preparations for the invasion of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR). As previously reported, this provocation of the Ukrainian armed forces will be carried out in response to the alleged offensive of Russian troops from the territory of Transnistria," the statement said.
[.]
"Russia currently sees a significant accumulation of personnel and military equipment of Ukrainian units near the Ukrainian-Pridnestrovian border, the deployment of artillery in firing positions, as well as an unprecedented increase in flights of unmanned aircraft of the Ukraine's armed forces of Ukraine over the territory of Transnistria," the ministry said.Ukraine's actions pose a direct threat to Russia's peacekeeping contingent in the republic, so the Russian military will provide an adequate reaction to this provocation.
"The implementation of the planned provocation by the Ukrainian authorities poses a direct threat to the Russian peacekeeping contingent legally deployed in Transnistria. The Russian armed forces will adequately respond to the upcoming provocation by the Ukrainian side," the ministry stressed.[.]
Failing in the east, let's try northwest.
Posted by: Likklemore | Feb 23 2023 23:47 utc | 45
Posted by: rjb1.5 | February 23, 2023 at 23:45
better the nazi system you do know than the commie system you have no fucking clue about! right, Amerikkka???
Posted by: rjb1.5 | Feb 23 2023 23:47 utc | 46
Re 12
There are no lightning ‘sneak attacks in the middle of the night’ any more. There are drones and satellites; Planet and Maxar, and SkyWatch.
It was a show of strength against Ukraine army, whilst negotiations were ongoing.
On 25th Kherson was in Russian control, fairly peacefully.
Kiev on the other hand was in chaos; every idiot and released criminal had been given a gun and was using it indiscriminately. Looting was rife and there was no civil law. at least 100 dead.
Civilians were blocked from leaving Mariupol, some were shot, including women and children.
Putin ordered a halt for talks, but Ukraine refused to talk so Russian forces resumed their advance in the afternoon on February 26. It then became a war against NATO.
Posted by: olaf22 | Feb 23 2023 23:48 utc | 47
Blinken was interviewed today by Atlantic Magazine. He made it clear that the US was expecting Russia's "re-aggression" (2014 was the first to the US warmongers) at least six months prior to February 24. It was no surprise because they had no intention of responding to Russia's need for more national security, and they seemed to be welcoming Russia's response to the warmongers' disdain for Russia's national security requirements. . . .excerpt. . .
MR GOLDBERG: Right. How surprised were you that Ukraine was able to withstand, and then even go on the offensive in certain cases, against the invasion of a seemingly overpowering force?
SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, I think we’ve had a couple of signs of this in the lead-up. First of all, if you go back before the reinvasion, the re-aggression, for many months we had been working quietly to make sure that Ukrainians had in their hands what they would need to repel the initial assault, which we did see coming right at Kyiv. And if you go back to Labor Day before the aggression, we did an initial – President Biden did an initial drawdown of military support for Ukraine, things like Stingers and Javelins. And second, an even bigger one in December, again, before the March invasion, so that in that sense they were prepared.
Second, we had been working very closely with them to, again, help them see what was coming and encourage them to make the necessary preparations, beyond having some of this weaponry at hand – just getting organized. And they did that, and they did that a little bit quietly, because one of the concerns that President Zelenskyy had was the more that we talked up the possibility of aggression before the aggression, the more we all risked talking down his economy and foreign investment. People might be scared off. So he was trying to walk a careful line between being prepared and not raising too many concerns, publicly at least. So it may be that in part because of that, people were a little surprised at how well the Ukrainians did initially.
Having said all that, I’ve got to say we have been in awe of their courage, their resilience, their strength, and their effectiveness. I think it has, in some ways, gone beyond what we might have anticipated. . . .here
We must always keep in mind that Blinken is a consummate liar, and that often he makes up things as he goes along. But let's take him at his word regarding the US happy preparations for yet another war.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Feb 24 2023 0:15 utc | 48
stylistically quite interesting speech from Russia's UN representive Nebenzya 2023.02.23. Unfortunately only its headlines were echoed in the West media:
https://russiaun.ru/ru/news/230223_n
Posted by: asehi | Feb 24 2023 0:19 utc | 49
> OSCE Special Monitoring Mission
For what I remember, week before the war all the western employees went home for rest and vacation, all at once.
Russian workers remained but they always were second rank and had no access to communication. They could gather data with pen and paper but could not enter it into European DB upload it to ineternet reports.
Posted by: Arioch | Feb 24 2023 0:28 utc | 50
Likklemore - 46
That would be quite foolish imho. Sure, Transnistria isn't Russia proper, not Russian territory, but still. This would be a direct ground attack on Russian troops outside 1991-2013 Ukrainian borders, something they've been careful to avoid until now (of course, the odd drone, missile or other bombing or sabotage has happened quite regularly, but there's a qualitative difference). Sure, they might argue that they're just responding to Moldova's call for help, but they aren't allies and it'd be a bit rich to justify attacking outside your own territory against troops that won't ever move against you, when you're facing potential offensives on several points of the frontline.
Whatever, if they're actually foolish to do it, I expect Russia's attacks inside Ukraine to be way more heavy-handed.
Posted by: Clueless Joe | Feb 24 2023 0:28 utc | 51
I expect Russia's attacks inside Ukraine to be way more heavy-handed.
its not clear why Russia is not getting the job done.
its been a year and they still haven't been able to stop the shelling at Donetsk.
They should be using precision GPS or laser guided aerial bombs (if they managed to make them) launched from a safe distance / altitude to take out the entrenched positions and the bridges on the Dnieper.
It seems Putin just does not want to annoy the west. He seems to want their love.
He can't seem to understand they want him hanging by the lamp post and steal everything Russia has via Israeli oligarchs. It has always been that way.
Posted by: cafe con leche | Feb 24 2023 0:44 utc | 52
#43
You could of posted your 1 sentence though.
It’s evident that your intellectual speed is
One thought at a time
So as not to trip over your thoughts
Posted by: Dingo | Feb 24 2023 0:46 utc | 53
Re: reforming militaries during a war,
That’s the only time militaries get reformed. Between 1941 and 1943 the red army went from a string of tragic defeats to whipping what’s often considered the best army in history. And whipping it badly. Not with overwhelming manpower superiority but with better tactics, strategy and more effective weapons.
Posted by: Lex | Feb 24 2023 0:49 utc | 54
We must always keep in mind that Blinken is a consummate liar, and that often he makes up things as he goes along. But let's take him at his word regarding the US happy preparations for yet another war.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Feb 24 2023 0:15 utc | 49
In this case Blinken is not only telling the truth, but understanding it.
NATO has spent 8 years preparing. Acquiring weapons and ammo, training, upgrading old Soviet equipment and aiding in the building of fortifications. Not to mention nonstop quality Intel.
NATO wanted Russia to invade..
Russia accepted the gambit.
The plan was for Russia to fully commit its military in a blitz to take Kiev. The Russian forces would then be flanked from two sides while being pinned to Kiev. Long supply lines would be harassed, Russian logistics decimated, and the Russian Army defeated fairly quickly.
That was the plan, anyways. Russia had a different plan and only fielded towards Kiev and a couple other major cities, all the while creating a land bridge to Crimea and giving some breathing space for the Donbas Republics...with little resistance.
Gambit accepted, but not with the intent on holding material, but gaining position, tempo and space. Well played methinks.
Posted by: Haassaan | Feb 24 2023 0:55 utc | 55
It has always been that way.
Posted by: cafe con leche | Feb 24 2023 0:44 utc | 53
...says the eternal cafe con leche.
Posted by: Activist Potato | Feb 24 2023 0:58 utc | 56
Rjb1.5 | Feb 23 2023 22:21 utc | 37
>Nazi apologists
>Hammer and sickle
Errr. Care to explain/ elaborate?
Posted by: Melaleuca | Feb 23 2023 23:04 utc | 41
-------------------------------
Yea, Rjb1.5, what the fuck is that all about?
Posted by: Ed | Feb 24 2023 0:59 utc | 57
@ CJ 52
Foolish, certainly. But we have the deciders Biden, Blinken, Nuland and her hubby who are unacquainted with "consequences of action." The "whatever it takes to defeat Russia' mindset.
Filled with arrogance and desperate they will use the UN Resolution demanding Russia immediately and unconditionally withdraw from Ukraine. They are yet to be told, "you can't go to a gunfight with a gun without bullets. Things are getting real.
A smidgen of reality has struck Stollenberg but only for a nano-second.
Ukraine now a ‘battle of logistics’ – NATO chief
Russia is currently winning the race for ammunition, Jens Stoltenberg has said
RT
With the conflict in Ukraine becoming a “war of attrition,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg cautioned that the West should “not underestimate” Russia’s firepower advantage. Stoltenberg claimed that the Western bloc is stepping up ammo production, but was unable to define its end goal in Ukraine.Speaking to CNN’s Christine Amanpour at the Munich Security Conference last weekend, Stoltenberg said that Russia has thus far been able to bring more ammunition and manpower to the frontline than Ukraine.
Ukraine’s ammo consumption is “higher than [NATO’s] total production,” he continued, adding that this situation “cannot continue.”
“So far we have depleted our stocks, but at some stage we need to get more ammunition produced,” he told Amanpour.
Despite Ukraine receiving tens of millions of dollars worth of Western weapons – including nearly 1.5 million artillery shells from the US alone, Russia has held a firepower advantage since the start of its military operation last February. The Ukrainian side is currently firing between 5,000 and 6,000 artillery rounds per day, according to most Western assessments, while estimates of Russian fire have varied hugely from anywhere between 5,000 and 60,000 shells per day.
The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said on Sunday that Ukraine’s backers need to resolve the ammunition shortage within “a matter of weeks” if Kiev is to have any chance of success on the battlefield.
Since last fall, the conflict in Ukraine has “moved into a war of attrition,” Stoltenberg said, adding that a “war of attrition is a battle of logistics; as in how do you get enough stuff – materiel, spare parts, ammunition, fuel – to the front lines.”
While Stoltenberg was clear about the need for NATO to step up arms production, he was vague about how the US-led alliance wants the conflict to end. He told Amanpour that “nobody knows how and when this war will end,” and that it will “maybe” be resolved at the negotiating table.[.] [emphasis added]
Dream on.
Months ago, it was "Russia must be defeated on the battlefield." Now they dream the war will end at the negotiating table.
Expectations were a US style shock and awe bombing campaign but were caught off-guard; Russia deployed a war of attrition.
Posted by: Likklemore | Feb 24 2023 1:23 utc | 58
Brilliant series b, it’s like watching World at War series on tv in the U.K. last century.
Was actually good.
The truth is out here. It is snowballing.
Great Twitter thread on ‘Tory Nuudleman’
https://twitter.com/lopatonok/status/1628556604324069376?s=20
My magic number watching knowing that numerology and Kabbala and Masonic orders work like that last year was that it was planned for the palendromic 22022022.
But best laid plans …
They work with dumb magik mythologising. Hence natzo making a tweet such as this fantasy / sci-fi/ pseudo religious fairytales that idiot Collective Waste that we have been turned into.
https://twitter.com/NATO/status/1628687961477750790?s=20
These and more from the springboard of truth that is geroman, if readers don’t know him, I recommend a daily dose or ten!
- GEROMAN -- time will tell - 👀 -- @GeromanAT
——————
Btw. The flying blue troll army are swarming here tonight , like moths to a flame! 😂
Posted by: DunGroanin | Feb 24 2023 1:27 utc | 59
Feb 23 2023 22:16 utc | 35
i think heritage's position on the us military is: 'if the usa don't spend 7% of gnp on the pentagon the reds will win'.
heritage is right for the wrong reason! they should demand usa build 1000 transport ships and buy billions in spares for old aircraft that cannot be retired because f-35 is not up to the missions. and millions of 155 mm shells.
the recent hesitation about sending western tanks, designed in the 1960's, is understandable! the old equipment requires a lot of spare parts, fuel and technicians with the tools and scarce, unique equipment, and not back in poland!!
same for old f-16, and old nato fighters. more fuel, more logistics, more special munitions, and aerial refueling!!
where elenski gets the idea he (usa money and stuff) can do a vietnam style us air war i do not know. the drag on usa/nato spare parts alone would crush their logistics capability and f-35 is not up to the risks. failed f-35 is why aged f-16 has not been retired.
losing a hundred f-16s and tornadoes makes no sense bc f-35 is less than ready to do any mission.
Posted by: paddy | Feb 24 2023 1:40 utc | 60
Only the most heavily brainwashed and propagandized can believe that a country, which has an occupying force within its internationally recognized borders, is the aggressor.
A truly amazing psyop. I tip my hat.
Posted by: Longhorn | Feb 24 2023 2:09 utc | 61
#63
In your case
The brain is a terrible thing to taste
(Ministry)
Posted by: Dingo | Feb 24 2023 2:20 utc | 62
"his [Putin] country was responsible for the most heinous crimes of the 20th century."
Posted by: coolhand850 | Feb 23 2023 20:43 utc | 19
Are you related to Joseph Goebbels or Jacob Schiff, or both?
“You must understand, the leading Bolsheviks who took over Russia were not Russians. They hated Russians. They hated Christians. Driven by ethnic hatred, they tortured and slaughtered millions of Russians without a shred of human remorse. It cannot be overstated. Bolshevism committed the greatest human slaughter of all time. The fact that most of the world is ignorant and uncaring about this enormous crime is proof that the global media is in the hands of the perpetrators.” Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
Guess why Solzhenitsyn's documentary “Two Hundred Years Together,” about Jews in Russia, was sequestered by all publishing houses in the UK and the US.
Instead of zio-shilling against Russia, why don’t you ponder on the obvious? – “The Collective west, led by the U.S., are proven thieves. The U.S. a certified terrorist. Think NordStream. Trust does not exist.” Posted by: Likklemore | Feb 23 2023 20:50 utc | 20
Look who decides the US policies at the US State Department. How do you like the following words uttered by a (Jewish) Sec of State Albright, "the death of 500.000 Iraqi children was worth it?"
Posted by: Cerena | Feb 24 2023 2:22 utc | 63
"Only the most heavily brainwashed and propagandized can believe that a country, which has an occupying force within its internationally recognized borders, is the aggressor.
A truly amazing psyop. I tip my hat.
Posted by: Longhorn | Feb 24 2023 2:09 utc | 63"
Probably the same Psy Op that says a country who bombs their ally's most important Energy Infrastructure is doing it for their own good and shoyld be thanked. LoL
Posted by: Comamdante | Feb 24 2023 2:32 utc | 64
While we are on the subject of great PsyOps
The official NATO Twitter account just tweeted this gem:
"Ukraine is hosting one of the great epics of this century"
❝We are Harry Potter and William Wallace, the Na’vi and Han Solo. We’re escaping from Shawshank and blowing up the Death Star. We are fighting with the Harkonnens and challenging Thanos.❞
This Psyop doesnt seem to be doing very well as its being called the Cringiest tweet ever and being ridiculed by most respondents.
LoL
Posted by: Comandante | Feb 24 2023 2:38 utc | 65
#65
Truth doesn’t need to be dressed up in Sunday church attire
To make it look presentable
Posted by: Dingo | Feb 24 2023 2:39 utc | 66
#67
What demographic is targeted with that blurb?
It doesn’t matter, as long as their professionalism is not undermined
Posted by: Dingo | Feb 24 2023 2:50 utc | 67
# 63
Elbridge Colby, principle author of the 2018 US National Defense Strategy, wrote in his 2021 book The Strategy of Denial:
“Few human moral intuitions are more deeply rooted than that the one who started it is the aggressor and accordingly the one who presumptively owns a greater share of moral responsibility.”and
“ Perhaps the clearest and sometimes the most important way of making sure China is seen this way [as the aggressor] is simply by ensuring that it is the one to strike first.”
Understanding that this type of policy thinking was applied to the USG-NATO proxy war in Ukraine against RF takes no imagination.
Posted by: suzan | Feb 24 2023 4:07 utc | 68
Posted by: Mr B | Feb 23 2023 20:16 utc | 12
But the rot goes much deeper. Putin’s armed forces are badly led and poorly trained. Equipment failures, low morale and endemic corruption has sapped the Russians’ fighting power.
This is the same tripe I remember being fed during the last Chechen War and the Georgian war.
It is a template the Western media pulls out mechanically for every conflict Russia fights.
Poor Training. Bad Leadership. Equipment Failures. Poor 'Morale'. "No microchips". None of this changes the fact that Ukraine and perhaps even NATO won't exist by the time this is over.
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Feb 24 2023 4:12 utc | 69
Stollenberg's " we don't know how this war is going to end " makes him sound like a weather balloon. He can raise and lower its altitude , but no propulsion or steering capability. Which means he is not in charge, he's just an Aryan stooge for the US ZioNazi Neocons. I have always thought that this war in Ukraine is just a distraction from the ZioNazis main ambition which is to create a Greater Israel.
If so, the outcome of the war could be a trade off between Russia and Nato which legitimises Zionist illegal expansion into the already trashed Syria and Jordan up to Kurdistan, in exchange for full control for Russia of the continental rail route from China to Europe through the now trashed Ukraine.
The Neocon ZioNazis are batshit crazy but have been like that for 2 millennia, ever since they lost their toys to Ancient Rome.
Thecsplution to their problem is to accept their prophet 'Eesa pbuh Jesus and accept the Last prophet Muhammad SAW they are also expecting from their scriptures and who they have so far rejected as well.
But of course they would rather trash countries and people to achieve their Godforsaken ambitions than do the easy thing, which is to do their own religion.
You can take a dog to water but you can't make people as stubbornly criminal as the ZioNazi Neocons drink it.
Stollenberg has no agency over his clients' souls that would enable their crazy ambitions to be achieved. Those who choose evil cannot be the Chosen, my logic says.
Posted by: Giyane | Feb 24 2023 4:49 utc | 70
Defender of the Fatherland Day is more than that, it is Men's Day, coming just before March Eighth, International Women's Day. My daughters and granddaughters always congratulate me, even though I served in the Navy of a different country. For them, it is important that I volunteered and served my country, and that I would defend my family.
Posted by: Peter Williams | Feb 24 2023 4:51 utc | 71
Arch Bungle: ‘None of this changes the fact that Ukraine and perhaps even NATO won't exist by the time this is over.’
Sorry mate. A ‘fact’ is something that is known to be true now, not something that you really want to be true in the future. Nobody knows how this war will end.
Here’s a fact: the Ukrainians have held off the Russians for 12 months.
From this we can conclude that most Ukrainians prefer self-rule to the rule of Russian overlords whose idea of ‘civilisation’ is indiscriminate bombing and destruction, and the theft of other people’s lands.
Posted by: Mr B | Feb 24 2023 4:59 utc | 72
@ Mr B | Feb 24 2023 4:59 utc | 74
at present zelensky prefers to be ruled by the financial elites in the west - usa/uk and friends.. begging for money off the gov'ts of the west, so that it can get funneled into the elite coffers is working fine... if at some point the ordinary person in ukraine was to tire of this, they would have to get rid of zelensky.. until such time - the people of ukraine are held hostage to zelensky, as much as he is held hostage by these financial elites.. that is a fact, and although you can't take it to the bank - they can and do! you are out of your league here as i see it..
Posted by: james | Feb 24 2023 5:35 utc | 73
# 74
Prefer self rule
That conclusion is dubious
Half the population has left
People taken against their will to fight
Closing of borders to prevent people from leaving
It’s not a functioning country
Freedom &self-rule you reached that analysis on your own?
Posted by: Dingo | Feb 24 2023 5:48 utc | 74
"From this we can conclude that most Ukrainians prefer self-rule to the rule of Russian overlords whose idea of ‘civilisation’ is indiscriminate bombing and destruction, and the theft of other people’s lands."
Tell that to the Syrians who have endured much worse than Ukranians for longer. All at the hands of US led West and their hordes of jihadis.
A third of thwir country is srill occupied by these American invaders who also steal their resources.
Go preach abojt the Syrians to Westerners and come back with their response. LoL
Posted by: Comandante | Feb 24 2023 5:58 utc | 75
Pekings 12 point Peaceproposal from MFA website
https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/zxxx_662805/202302/t20230224_11030713.html
Absolutely ties into the MFAs white paper from 5 days ago on US hegemony.
Heads will explode in Washington when they read this
Posted by: Exile | Feb 24 2023 6:18 utc | 76
Ask yourself:
Half of the Federal Budget is financed by selling debt. What happens when no foreigners wants to buy Federal Debt ? What interest rate will the Feds then need to pay to entice buyers of its debt ?
Posted by: Exile | Feb 23 2023 20:12 utc | 11
Except that is an illusion. The federal budget isn't financed by selling debt. Debt purchases are financed by the federal budget.
The federal government spends, people then get money from that spending, which they save rather than spend. That would leave them with a low income USD deposit in a bank somewhere. The federal government then offers a higher rate savings bond in exchange for that deposit.
They don't have to do that. They could just leave the individual with the bank deposit instead. The choice would then be to continue saving in US dollars, or buy something priced in US dollars. And so on down the spending chain. That monetary movement eventually passed federal taxation points, which is how the federal government gets their money back bit by bit.
USD savings are a store of taxation that precisely matched the USD debt.
All very simple once you accept there isn't a fixed amount of money in the world, and that it is created and destroyed as required to support the underlying physical transactions.
De-dollarisation will simply reduce the US national debt and increase the Chinese one. That's how the accounting works.
Posted by: The Accountant | Feb 24 2023 6:30 utc | 78
Arioch | Feb 24 2023 0:28 utc | 51
Re OSCE
I believe they were ordered out because it was too dangerous, war was imminent and the west did not want the data of Ukrainian missile attacks made public.
It was not just the shelling, there were terrorist sabotage groups targetting DPR and LPR leaders and civilian transport hubs, electric stations, gas pipes, chemical works. These terrorist sabotage groups have been trained by USA/UK since at least 2015, in a plan B scenario-guerrilla warfare if Russia ‘invasion’ was successful. This will be ongoing eg Kersh bridge, continual shelling and strikes across border into Russia, but as Russia has retaliated with massive airstrikes Ukraine seems to have learnt a lesson.
Posted by: olaf22 | Feb 24 2023 6:51 utc | 79
Re Buildup To War In Ukraine - Wednesday, February 23, 2022
Zelensky was more concerned with the economy going down the pan and losing western investors than ‘his people’, who he refused to evacuate. They had to make their own way, if able, in chaos, leaving the elderly, the disabled, all the people that Ukraine treats like shit all the time anyway. And the EU wants this tinpot ‘nation’?
People in UK who voted to leave EU are still labelled racists, ‘oh they don’t want immigrants’. It’s lies. Many people voted to leave EU because they don’t want to be part of a far right USA controlled regime. ‘hey buy our bombs or we’ll bomb you. Oh, oops i’ve bombed you, have a nice day’.
Posted by: olaf22 | Feb 24 2023 6:55 utc | 80
susan @70
Thanks for the info on Colby. I'll be getting a copy.
Posted by: Steve from Oz | Feb 24 2023 6:55 utc | 81
Link to original text of UN GA Resolution (letter?) adopted yesterday :
https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/LTD/N23/048/58/PDF/N2304858.pdf?OpenElement
Stark contrast with Peking‘s Peace Proposal also from yesterday.
Posted by: Exile | Feb 24 2023 7:04 utc | 82
Posted by: The Accountant | Feb 24 2023 6:30 utc | 80
Debits and Credits don‘t measure purchasing power.
BWAHHH !!!!!!
Posted by: Exile | Feb 24 2023 7:06 utc | 83
The Accountant | Feb 24 2023 6:30 utc | 80
I don’t understand any of that and probably never will- (I am a biochemist/geneticist). All I know is that i never buy anything from USA as going by the few times I have remissed, it is shoddy, very poor quality, soul-less and vastly overpriced, and the postage is even costlier. In contrast I can get really cool stuff from India and China by free post.
Posted by: olaf22 | Feb 24 2023 7:12 utc | 84
Posted by: olaf22 | Feb 24 2023 7:12 utc | 86
Don’t fret about accountants post - it’s sophomoric foolishness. Similar to Derek Henry’s posts - full of big words but as they say in Texas ; All-Hat-No-Cattle
Posted by: Exile | Feb 24 2023 7:35 utc | 85
I am reading and appreciating your daily reporting on the events leading up to the SMO but not commenting as much because of the general noise level in the bar these days. Glad to see the gain in supposed readership based on number of comments but the quality of discourse in the comment section has gone down, IMO.
A newbie coming into the MoA bar today will get a significantly different experience than before the start of the SMO. The noise level and volume of comments have forced me to only read comments from known barflys and a few drivebys that catch my eye.
Thanks again for your efforts b
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 24 2023 7:41 utc | 86
Ask yourself:
Half of the Federal Budget is financed by selling debt. What happens when no foreigners wants to buy Federal Debt ? What interest rate will the Feds then need to pay to entice buyers of its debt ?
That’s when this war ends
Posted by: Exile | Feb 23 2023 20:12 utc | 11
Ask yourself: if the US government prints the dollars, why does it have to borrow them. Where are the dollars borrowed coming from?
Well, it’s a traditional way of balancing the money supply. The FED prints the money lends it cheap to the banks, then the treasury borrows the money from the market. The US government will never run out money as Greenspan said in a Congressional testimony. The issue is if there is enough economy to support it. The result will be inflation, but the US will not go bankrupt.
Posted by: RB | Feb 24 2023 7:52 utc | 87
As least part of the discrepancy in the OSCE MM reporting is because a lot of the people on the ground at that time were American (US citizens), and they bugged the hell out of there early. I remember seeing footage of this because they were shitting their pants that someone would shell their convoy.
Secondly, the monitoring mission also was in a rush to destroy documents and other incriminating evidence that they had violated their mandate (at the order of USA) by doing crap like sending coordinates of LNR/DNR artillery to Ukraine.
Third, Americans never pay their bills. I imagine the poor sucker who was tasked with writing up those last reports stopped getting a paycheck.
Posted by: Sam (in Tiraspol) | Feb 24 2023 8:00 utc | 88
Posted by: Giyane | Feb 24 2023 4:49 utc | 72
Stoltenberg is very excited as he sees himself in the position of Hitler, whose army also had to encounter logistical difficulties. He sees Russia as a large land to be subjugated, and an exciting war adventure, where trains move ammunition to railheads and trucks drive them to the front. Stoltenberg dreams about controlling a million man army and controlling detailed aspects of armament production back home. Stoltenberg can say that instead of F-35 fighter, we need a version of F-35 bomber (refer to Me-242 bomber instead of fighter by Hitler).
Stoltenberg couldn't be more excited about being in control managing the new barbarossa campaign from his wolf's lair in Brussels.
Posted by: unimperator | Feb 24 2023 8:11 utc | 89
Debits and Credits don‘t measure purchasing power.
BWAHHH !!!!!!
Posted by: Exile | Feb 24 2023 7:06 utc | 85
They do I'm afraid - because ultimately all you can do with US dollars is buy things from the USA or those areas that have foolishly pegged themselves to the US dollar.
And since to hold them you have already given up goods and service to the US currency area by definition, then if you don't get sufficient in return, the loss will be yours not the US currency area.
And as we have seen with Russia, if the US doesn't like you they will simple cancel your credits or confiscate them from you.
If you don't hold them, then the US 'deficit' will shrink, because that's how the mathematics of taxation works out. It's a simple geometric series that your average 15 year old can do.
Of course you can believe what you want, but you can't buck either the mathematics or the accounting.
The Sterling area similar shrunk to nothing, but the UK still runs a massive trade deficit. That's people holding Sterling denominated financial assets in reserve. It's been like that for a century at least since the First World War fatally wounded the Empire.
US dominance will fade, but nowhere near as fast as you'd like. Fundamentally there isn't an untapped source of demand in the world sufficient to allow net exporters to stop selling to the US without some sort of import impact on themselves.
Posted by: The Accountant | Feb 24 2023 8:35 utc | 90
Posted by: unimperator | Feb 24 2023 8:11 utc | 91
Stop the absurd analogy. Stoltenberg commands nothing whatsoever. He is a Front Man as are Europeans who occupy this PR position. The real decision-making lies in the US General in charge of NATO forces in Europe. Stoltenberg is nothing but a Press Spokesman.
He is frightened. Norway had a very good life post-1945 and it may be coming to an abrupt end. He is now frightened the playbook has not worked as described and Russia and China are now strategically pre-eminent. The only thing NATO can do - and does NOT want - is to widen the conflict across Europe - but the arsonists in Kiev and Nuland (Brown BA Russian Literature !!!!) - think that is the way forward.
NATO faces an existential threat and with it the implosion of Europe as a political construct. Metternich described Europe "als geographischer Begriff" even though the Congress of Vienna gave essentially 30 years relative peace in Europe until Protestant Prussia annexed the Catholic Duchies and cut Austria-Hungary out of "Germany"
Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Feb 24 2023 8:39 utc | 91
I believe in the Pareto Principle; Eighty percent of the problems are caused by twenty percent of the people. In fact, the ratio is even more asymmetric than what is generally known as above. Take out the key Neocon traitors -almost all dual citizens -and you will have reduced world strife by an enormous amount. I can give you a list of ten key people off the top of my head. Where are those steely -eyed, earnest American Patriots?
Posted by: Brother Ma | Feb 24 2023 8:52 utc | 92
Posted by: RB | Feb 24 2023 7:52 utc | 89
Not sure you have a clear understanding of Monetary Theory - then again not sure Greenspan does either. Debt-Monetization consists of Treasury issuing A-1 rated Bonds which form part of Bank Reserves as Tier-1 capital. With the Reserve Ratio expanded Banks can expand Lending but in most cases nowadays only to Preferred Clients ie Private Equity Funds, Hedge Funds, Construction - since Corporations are cash-rich and unless distressed do not borrow.
Preferred Borrowers ramp up asset prices on margin just as in 1920s Florida Land Speculation......BTW did you know 2% US GDP was invested in Weimar Germany ? which is why the Margin Calls leading to 1929 Collapse caused such a disaster in Germany when Capital was withdrawn ?
Anyway........this happy hyper inflating of Assets in USA is matched by a huge trade deficit and a persistent one. US spends without taxing. Entire Federal Income Tax goes to Pentagon.
Trade Deficit is how US keeps Dollars injected into global economy yet the more it does the more it devalues the currency. This is exactly why OPEC jacked up oil prices 1973 because of Dollar Devaluation.
T-Bills apparently carry 5% currently........quite a risk-premium
US Treasuries are risky.......Expropriation.......is now a Risk Factor. Eurodollar started in London 1950s when Moscow Narodny Bank was fearful of Us expropriation of Soviet Dollar Balances so it loaned them in London - Eurodollar. Now NO country can feels secure holding Dollar Assets and no individual.
So US is simply Monetizing Debt and will eventually find imports very very expensive - this is why it needed to lock Europe into Dollar-priced Fossil Fuels. The results are fascinating - Siemens will now focus less on China and more on USA whereas BASF will focus more on China and shed labour in Germany
US failure to Tax to Spend is now restructuring the European Economy and Society with energy intensive businesses leaving Europe and blowing up the Trade Deficits to record levels in place of Surpluses which propped up value of Euro.
So US Monetary Policy will lead to collapse of Euro and European living standards as part of US Global Impoverishment Program
Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Feb 24 2023 8:52 utc | 93
Posted by: Longhorn | Feb 24 2023 2:09 utc | 63
So I guess that the Allies that were occupying Nazi Germany -within its acknowledged borders - were the aggressors, hah? Nice try ,but some of us know better.
Posted by: Brother Ma | Feb 24 2023 9:01 utc | 94
Posted by: The Accountant | Feb 24 2023 8:35 utc | 92
I am a little confused . It is almost as you are saying that China is in a “worse position” than the UK because the UK buys more from China than vice versa. Did I understand you correctly?
Posted by: Brother Ma | Feb 24 2023 9:08 utc | 95
I am a little confused
Posted by: Brother Ma | Feb 24 2023 9:08 utc | 97
Don’t worry about it, @The Accountant’s posts are deliberately confusing to disguise the fact he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. @Paul Greenwood’s post #95 is much more informative.
Pekings 12 point Peaceproposal from MFA website
Posted by: Exile | Feb 24 2023 6:18 utc | 78
Thanks for the link to the full text. Point #2 of the Proposal stood out to me as being precisely what Russia has been seeking since Munich 2007, at least. About the only word missing from the Chinese paper is ‘indivisible’.
Posted by: West of England Andy | Feb 24 2023 9:56 utc | 96
1 year with the war and Russia have not accomplished anything, as I said Russia is one step behind and i do not mean just military but mentally.
Right now I read that Ukraine have been able to mass troops on Tranisteria LOL
So for 1 year Russia have not been able to destroy ukrainian army but the ukrainian army plan to open a second front LOL!
And again we see the russian incompetence of not being able to target these massing troops
Are Russia a ragtag army?
Kiev steps up preparations for Transnistria invasion — Russian defense ministry
The department recorded the accumulation of personnel and military equipment of Ukrainian units near the Ukrainian-Pridnestrovian border, as well as the deployment of artillery at firing positions
https://tass.com/world/1580985
Posted by: Z00a00n00o00n | Feb 24 2023 10:01 utc | 97
Posted by: Mr B | Feb 24 2023 4:59 utc | 74
Here’s a fact: the Ukrainians have held off the Russians for 12 months.
That's an example of a non-fact. I don't call 'holding off' losing territory incrementally, getting your energy grid wrecked and getting your army slaughtered at a ratio of 10;1 at least "holding off" anything.
Unless your definition of "holding off" also applies to someone staying alive while being ripped limb from limb ?
A fact is what is proven in the final analysis to accord with reality.
When this "analysis" is over, the fact remains that Russia has already won conflict. Certainly, neither NATO nor Ukraine has won anything here except the demise of their plan to destroy Russia.
There is no other possible outcome.
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Feb 24 2023 10:01 utc | 98
besides where are you Yes-men now? As I tried to tell you for months, targeting electricity sites that Russia have been doing past 6 months have not lead to anything. When will you wake up and admit russian and your own incompetence?
Posted by: Z0a0n0o0n | Feb 24 2023 10:03 utc | 99
Posted by: Mr B | Feb 24 2023 4:59 utc | 74
There was also one analysis that once finished, Nato by using Ukraine won't provide any threat to Russian security for the next 50 years. While a year or two may sound like long to someone, comparing to 50 years of security it's a good investment.
Posted by: unimperator | Feb 24 2023 10:04 utc | 100
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thanks b... that is odd there is no osce report for feb 23rd.. i too wonder why?
Posted by: james | Feb 23 2023 17:03 utc | 1