Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV

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Re: Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV

Post by blindpig » Tue Jan 31, 2023 11:28 am

The role of Victoria Nuland
POSTED BY @NSANZO ⋅ 01/31/2023

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Since the outbreak of the Maidan, which had an important international role, Victoria Nuland has been one of the recurring figures in Ukraine's recent history and on its way to becoming a satellite country of the West and more recently of NATO. Known for walking around the Maidan protests handing out cookies to protesters, something that would have been considered outside interference if carried out by a country opposed to the United States, Nuland was directly involved in negotiations with the opposition and in the formation of what a new government would be. That new government was born from the Maidan and from the breach of the power-sharing and electoral advancement agreement reached with President Yanukovych, which the protégés of the United States and the European Union never intended to comply with.

Nuland became famous in those days with the publication of a telephone conversation with the then US ambassador to Ukraine, Jeffrey Pyatt, possibly intercepted by the Russian secret services. From that leak, Victoria Nuland's “ fuck the EU ” was widely highlighted , an evident sign that in post-Maidan Ukraine the European Union would be the secondary partner of the United States, which would always rule the roost. However, the part in which Nuland perfectly described to Pyatt what the government that came out of that revolution after the overthrow of Yanukovych should be like was less highlighted. Yats _He is the man”, stated Nuland at the time, presenting Arseni Yatseniuk, a US protégé, from Yulia Timoschenko's party, as the person who should lead the Government. Yats , with political experience and favor with the Obama administration, was to "talk to Klitsch and Tyahnibok three times a week." Klitsch , the current mayor of Kiev Vitaly Klitschko, was Germany's protégé, the candidate of the European Union, who was not only not appointed prime minister, but was not even included in the government.

As Nuland pointed out, Arseniy Yatseniuk was the man of the moment and he would be the one to tell the press just one day after the announcement of the anti-terrorist operation , that Ukraine was already at war. It was April 2014 and Ukraine had decided to impose a military solution to a problem that, despite the appearance of Strelkov's armed group in Slavyansk the day before, was still political. The population of Donbass and part of its elites rejected the Maidan change of government and the political, economic and social changes that it implied. Faced with a western Ukraine that looked to the European Union as its path to the future, Donbass turned towards Russia, the main market for its industry, an economic sector of little interest to the European Union or the United States.

The anti-terrorist operationIt was always a war between the Ukrainian troops against the local militias that, with the help of Russian volunteers, managed to maintain a part of the territory that had risen up against the government of the man Victoria Nuland, who instead of inclusive dialogue offered Donbass talks in which only pro-Maidan groups and individuals participated and appointed a second-rate oligarch with little ties to the region, Sergey Taruta, as governor of the region. Russian aid managed to stop the Ukrainian advance in Ilovaisk, an important communication node against which Ukraine is firing its HIMARS these days. That military defeat in 2014, as would happen months later in Debaltsevo, forced Ukraine to sign the Minsk agreements, which both Ukraine and its partners now deny. Nevertheless,

As the latest statements by Boris Johnson have made clear, who defined the Minsk and Normandy talks as useless and practically described them as a negotiation simulation, this process was solely an initiative of the countries of the European Union, mainly Germany, especially interested in maintaining economic relations with Russia and preventing the war from spreading. The fact that Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to Washington before the start of the Russian intervention made no mention of the Minsk agreements, the only existing document to resolve the internal Ukrainian conflict, without which it is impossible to imagine the war as it is as it is currently waged, reflects that for the United States, as for the United Kingdom, the peace talks were simply not a relevant factor. Still, for seven years, in which failure to comply with the Minsk terms justified maintaining and increasing sanctions against Russia and making relations between Berlin and Moscow difficult, even Washington pressed for kyiv to keep up appearances. According to what the media published at the time, in July 2015,Victoria Nuland personally intervened to force the President of Ukraine , Petro Poroshenko, to include in the constitutional reform a version of the special status that Minsk envisioned for Donbass. Although without the intention that this status would ever come into force. Nuland's objective was the same as that of Kurt Volker years later: to present a document that, even if it did not comply with the letter or the spirit of what was agreed in Minsk, Ukraine could use as an argument to claim that it had already complied with its obligations.

The special status for Donbass was also one of the main topics in the meetings held by Victoria Nuland in October 2021., when they were already beginning to talk about the real possibility of an invasion of Ukraine. The apparent harmony of Dmitry Kozak and Victoria Nuland regarding the importance of the Minsk agreements and the guarantee of special status for Donbass did not hide the fact that it was just another simulation of negotiations. In a context of contrary interpretation of the terms of the agreements, especially the special status for Donbass, Russia's willingness to demand compliance with the letter of the agreements and Ukraine's categorical refusal to do so made the Minsk process unfeasible, something of which all parties, including the United States, were aware. Nuland's carefree smile in Moscow after that meeting did not presage an agreement but rather a continuation of a situation that had lasted since 2015:

Although that stance was evident throughout the seven years in Minsk, statements like those by Hollande, Johnson and to a lesser extent Merkel can only increase mistrust. The widespread discourse that it was Russia that breached the terms of the Minsk agreements does not make reality disappear: Ukraine never had the intention of complying with agreements that it was forced to sign at two moments of military weakness in which it risked losing even more territory. Her partners were always aware of this, hence the demands to keep up appearances.

Therefore, the Russian indifference to Victoria Nuland's latest proposal, made at a hearing in the US Senate last week, cannot be surprising. The Undersecretary of State affirmed that the United States is willing to relax part of the sanctions against Russia in the event that real peace talks take place. Apart from the lack of credibility offered by the offer of one of the allies that protected Ukraine during its breach of the Minsk agreements, the proposal seems to be in line with the "peace plan" of Volodymyr Zelensky, which demands the surrender Russia and the withdrawal from all territories under Russian control as a prerequisite for negotiation. Taking into account the unconditional support of the United States for Ukraine, Nuland's “offer” is just one of the many surrender proposals that have been put to Moscow over the years. During the Minsk stage, the Russian capitulation resulted in the acceptance of the Ukrainian interpretation of the agreements, in practice the surrender of Donbass, as a way to resume normal relations and lift sanctions. Now, Crimea is also added to the demand for surrender in Donbass, but, as then, it is done in exchange for vague promises of the future with little credibility taking into account the precedents.

The US position in this war has been made clear: in addition to unconditional support for Ukraine, it has used circumstance to cut Russia out of the European Union's energy market, thus preventing a viable economic relationship between Berlin and Moscow and also undermining the competitiveness of German industry, Washington's only relevant competition on the continent. Hence, the most credible words in Nuland's statements before the Senate were precisely those referring to the Nord Stream explosions. Without blushing, the Undersecretary of State stated that "we are very pleased to know that the Nord Stream-2 has become a pile of scrap at the bottom of the sea."

https://slavyangrad.es/2023/01/31/el-pa ... more-26531

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Will the NATOizaton of the Ukrainian Army Give the West a Victory?
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JANUARY 30, 2023
Salman Rafi Sheikh

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While Ukraine is not a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), the way the West has supplied weapons to the Ukrainian army to fight the Russian forces has increasingly NATOized Ukraine’s forces. As I mentioned previously, Russia is fighting a conflict not with Ukraine but with NATO. This is evident not just in terms of the fact that the whole Western alliance against Russia happens to be part of NATO but also in terms of the very weapons that the Ukrainian forces are using. Importantly enough, this NATOization is not something that started to happen after Russia began its military operation in Ukraine in February 2022. As NATO itself mentions on its website, the alliance has been supporting Ukraine since the 2014 Crimea events. The support includes, NATO says, “equipment and financial support” as well as “training for tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops.” It also mentions that the alliance has enhanced its support ever since February 2022.

The claim tells many things, but the most important one is that the ongoing conflict was neither inevitable nor unprovoked. What led to the present state of affairs was precisely this ongoing NATOization of Ukraine since 2014, a policy that actually laid the groundwork for Washington to push for Ukraine’s formal membership of NATO in 2021-22. The conflict would not have taken place if the West had eschewed arming Ukraine and using this territory to expand NATO. It is this Western strategy, rather than the so-called Russian “unprovoked aggression”, that made the present conflict inevitable.

The West, in keeping with its policy, is continuing its policy, which is evident from the recent decision of the UK government to provide Ukraine with its Challenger 2 Tanks. Ben Wallace, the UK’s Defence Secretary, called this supply “the most significant package of combat to date to accelerate Ukrainian success.”

While there are not enough tanks, the US has already announced to send Bradley infantry fighting vehicles to support tank warfare. A clear escalation is taking place, but the big question is: will it work to achieve the objective that the suppliers have in mind?

The US/NATO fought a twenty-year-long war in Afghanistan against a much weaker enemy, let alone a non-nuclear country, in Afghanistan. It withdrew after two decades without achieving its key objective i.e., dismantling global terrorism. Afghanistan today has many terror groups – al-Qaeda, the IS-K, the ETIM, and the TTP – operating from within its borders. Clearly, the presence of these groups reflects a US military defeat in terms of achieving its objectives even after spending billions of dollars.

The US has so far spent only a fraction of that money in Ukraine where NATO is fighting a country that has the largest nuclear stockpile in the world. Keeping this in mind, the strategy not only seems unrealistic, but unworkable as well. Short of providing Ukraine with actual nuclear weapons and creating a nuclear deterrence vis-à-vis Russia – which is not even conceivable – there is no way NATO can arm the Ukrainian army and help Ukraine in ways to actually defeat Russia.

On the contrary, hawks in the West – especially, in the US and UK – continue to see it within the realm of possibility to achieve their objectives, which now include creating a situation favouring a coup in Russia against President Putin.

This NATOization is unlikely to work, not only because not everything can possibly be supplied to Ukraine – that is, unless the West wants a total, nuclear war – but also because Ukraine itself is fast running out of its capacity to fight a total war, let alone the present conflict.

Let’s see what the actual ground situation is. In and around Bakhmut, the Ukrainian forces lost 70 per cent of their fighting capacity in just one week in the second week of January. Does it make sense to continue to supply weapons to an army that is unlikely to win?

Many countries in the West think that it does not make sense. In a meeting held on American Ramstein Air Base in German on January 20 involving leaders from 50 countries, including NATO allies, the participants failed to reach a consensus on providing German Leopard Tanks to Ukraine. Although Germany has now decided to supply these tanks to Ukraine, the very fact that it took them so much time – and it involved lots of political pressure from Washington – to make this decision shows that the Western alliance is actually far from united. There are serious concerns that Germany itself shares.

As German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said after the January 20 meeting, Germany is not alone raising concerns. He said that “there are many allies who say we share the view that I have put forward here.” Of course, the UK is not amongst them, as it has already decided to supply Challenger 2 tanks. But the fact that the UK took a decision independent of the rest of Europe means that Europe, thanks to Brexit, itself is divided between the EU and the UK.

The root cause of this disagreement is simple to understand. Many Europeans, excluding the UK, have realised that mainland Europe, or the EU, is a victim of the US-UK politics of NATO expansion and that the continent has become a proxy land for the US to fight the war of its own survival as the global hegemon, supported by its strongest allies in London.

For the US, Russia’s success in Ukraine would be the end of NATO and the end of Washington’s influence in Europe. Many Europeans already want a European security system independent of the US and NATO. Were this to happen, Europe can most certainly rewrite its ties with Russia in ways that avoid confrontation. But if this happens, the global strategic landscape will change in ways in which Washington will no longer be the only centre. Hence, the US-UK sponsored intensification of the war as the last-ditch effort to save the system they have been dominating for many decades.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2023/01/ ... a-victory/

A Panicked Empire Tries to Make Russia an ‘Offer it Can’t Refuse’
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JANUARY 30, 2023
Pepe Escobar

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Does US Secretary of State Antony Blinken think a Washington Post op-ed will move Russian Armed Forces Chief Valery Gerasimov to postpone his planned military offensive on Ukraine?

Realizing NATO’s war with Russia will likely end unfavorably, the US is test-driving an exit offer. But why should Moscow take indirect proposals seriously, especially on the eve of its new military advance and while it is in the winning seat?


Those behind the Throne are never more dangerous than when they have their backs against the wall.

Their power is slipping away, fast: Militarily, via NATO’s progressive humiliation in Ukraine; Financially, sooner rather than later, most of the Global South will want nothing to do with the currency of a bankrupt rogue giant; Politically, the global majority is taking decisive steps to stop obeying a rapacious, discredited, de facto minority.

So now those behind the Throne are plotting to at least try to stall the incoming disaster on the military front.

As confirmed by a high-level US establishment source, a new directive on NATO vs. Russia in Ukraine was relayed to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Blinken, in terms of actual power, is nothing but a messenger boy for the Straussian neocons and neoliberals who actually run US foreign policy.

The secretary of state was instructed to relay the new directive – a sort of message to the Kremlin – via mainstream print media, which was promptly published by the Washington Post.

In the elite US mainstream media division of labor, the New York Times is very close to the State Department. and the Washington Post to the CIA. In this case though the directive was too important, and needed to be relayed by the paper of record in the imperial capital. It was published as an Op-Ed (behind paywall).

The novelty here is that for the first time since the start of Russia’s February 2022 Special Military Operation (SMO) in Ukraine, the Americans are actually proposing a variation of the “offer you can’t refuse” classic, including some concessions which may satisfy Russia’s security imperatives.

Crucially, the US offer totally bypasses Kiev, once again certifying that this is a war against Russia conducted by Empire and its NATO minions – with the Ukrainians as mere expandable proxies.

‘Please don’t go on the offensive’

The Washington Post’s old school Moscow-based correspondent John Helmer has provided an important service, offering the full text of Blinken’s offer, of course extensively edited to include fantasist notions such as “US weapons help pulverize Putin’s invasion force” and a cringe-worthy explanation: “In other words, Russia should not be ready to rest, regroup and attack.”

The message from Washington may, at first glance, give the impression that the US would admit Russian control over Crimea, Donbass, Zaporozhye, and Kherson – “the land bridge that connects Crimea and Russia” – as a fait accompli.

Ukraine would have a demilitarized status, and the deployment of HIMARS missiles and Leopard and Abrams tanks would be confined to western Ukraine, kept as a “deterrent against further Russian attacks.”

What may have been offered, in quite hazy terms, is in fact a partition of Ukraine, demilitarized zone included, in exchange for the Russian General Staff cancelling its yet-unknown 2023 offensive, which may be as devastating as cutting off Kiev’s access to the Black Sea and/or cutting off the supply of NATO weapons across the Polish border.

The US offer defines itself as the path towards a “just and durable peace that upholds Ukraine’s territorial integrity.” Well, not really. It just won’t be a rump Ukraine, and Kiev might even retain those western lands that Poland is dying to gobble up.

The possibility of a direct Washington-Moscow deal on “an eventual postwar military balance” is also evoked, including no Ukraine membership of NATO. As for Ukraine itself, the Americans seem to believe it will be a “strong, non-corrupt economy with membership in the European Union.”

Whatever remains of value in Ukraine has already been swallowed not only by its monumentally corrupt oligarchy, but most of all, investors and speculators of the BlackRock variety. Assorted corporate vultures simply cannot afford to lose Ukraine’s grain export ports, as well as the trade deal terms agreed with the EU before the war. And they’re terrified that the Russian offensive may capture Odessa, the major seaport and transportation hub on the Black Sea – which would leave Ukraine landlocked.

There’s no evidence whatsoever that Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the entire Russian Security Council – including its Secretary Nikolai Patrushev and Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev – have reason to believe anything coming from the US establishment, especially via mere minions such as Blinken and the Washington Post. After all the stavka – a moniker for the high command of the Russian armed forces – regard the Americans as “non-agreement capable,” even when an offer is in writing.

This walks and talks like a desperate US gambit to stall and present some carrots to Moscow in the hope of delaying or even cancelling the planned offensive of the next few months.

Even old school, dissident Washington operatives – not beholden to the Straussian neocon galaxy – bet that the gambit will be a nothing burger: in classic “strategic ambiguity” mode, the Russians will continue on their stated drive of demilitarization, denazification and de-electrification, and will “stop” anytime and anywhere they see fit east of the Dnieper. Or beyond.

What the Deep State really wants

Washington’s ambitions in this essentially NATO vs. Russia war go well beyond Ukraine. And we’re not even talking about preventing a Russia-China-Germany Eurasian union or a peer competitor nightmare; let’s stick with prosaic issues on the Ukrainian battleground.

The key “recommendations” – military, economic, political, diplomatic – were detailed in an Atlantic Council strategy paper late last year.

And in another one, under “War scenario 1: The war continues in its current tempo,” we find the Straussian neocon policy fully spelled out.

It’s all here: from “marshaling support and military-assistance transfers to Kyiv sufficient to enable it to win” to “increase the lethality of military assistance transferred to include fighter aircraft that would enable Ukraine to control its airspace and attack Russian forces therein; and missile technology with range sufficient to reach into Russian territory.”

From training the Ukrainian military “to use Western weapons, electronic warfare, and offensive and defensive cyber capabilities, and to seamlessly integrate new recruits in the service” to buttressing “defenses on the front lines, near the Donbass region,” including “combat training focusing on irregular warfare.”

Added to “imposing secondary sanctions on all entities doing business with the Kremlin,” we reach of course the Mother of All Plunders: “Confiscate the $300 billion that the Russian state holds in overseas accounts in the United States and EU and use seized monies to fund reconstruction.”

The reorganization of the SMO, with Putin, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, and General Armageddon in their new, enhanced roles is derailing all these elaborate plans.

The Straussians are now in deep panic. Even Blinken’s number two, Russophobic warmonger Victoria “F**k the EU” Nuland, has admitted to the US Senate there will be no Abrams tanks on the battlefield before Spring (realistically, only in 2024). She also promised to “ease sanctions” if Moscow “returns to negotiations.” Those negotiations were scotched by the Americans themselves in Istanbul in the Spring of 2022.

Nuland also called the Russians to “withdraw their troops.” Well, that at least offers some comic relief compared with the panic oozing from Blinken’s “offer you can’t refuse.” Stay tuned for Russia’s non-response response.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2023/01/ ... nt-refuse/

At What Point Does NATO Stop Arming the Kiev Regime?
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JANUARY 30, 2023
Drago Bosnic

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Almost anyone with a basic capability to process information has noticed a pattern in the relationship between the political West and its favorite Neo-Nazi puppet regime – Kiev asks for something, the United States, European Union and NATO “categorically deny” they would ever deliver such weapons in order to “avoid antagonizing Russia” and then a few weeks later (at most) there’s a “sudden change of heart”.

This rather comical back and forth started even before Russia launched its counteroffensive, when NATO provided thousands of ATGMs (anti-tank guided missiles) and MANPADS (man-portable air defense systems) to Kiev. Since then, the scope of so-called “lethal aid” has expanded dramatically.

It would seem the same is true regarding the recently announced delivery of Western-made heavy tanks which were first denied and then approved just days later. Mere hours after the political West confirmed this, the Neo-Nazi junta once again started insisting on fighter jets. In a statement for Reuters, Yuriy Sak, currently serving as an adviser to Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov (now exposed for his involvement in a massive corruption scandal), said that the Kiev regime will keep pushing for the delivery of Western-made jets to replace its dwindling fleet of Soviet-era aircraft.

“The next big hurdle will now be the fighter jets,” Sak said, adding: “Every type of weapon we request, we needed yesterday. We will do everything possible to ensure Ukraine gets fourth-generation fighter jets as soon as possible.”

The “fourth-generation fighter jets” request also includes US-made F-16 fighters that have been at the top of the Neo-Nazi junta’s wish list at least since mid-March last year when Volodymyr Zelensky implored the US Congress to send jets to help “close the sky”. After the request proved to be quite unpopular with the American public, the Kiev regime frontman was instructed to “tone it down” as this boils down to enforcing a no-fly zone over Ukraine. This would essentially mean direct armed confrontation between NATO and Russia, further inevitably leading to a world-ending thermonuclear exchange.

And yet, the mainstream propaganda machine is once again preparing its audiences for the eventual delivery of advanced combat aircraft to the Kiev regime. For instance, The Hill admitted that “Western fighter jets and longer-range artillery units, which would allow Ukraine to strike Russian forces deeper in occupied territory, will likely be the next debate for NATO.” If the aforementioned pattern continues, this will be yet another step toward uncontrollable escalation and the proxy conflict turning into a fully-fledged war. The Neo-Nazi junta is perfectly aware that its so-called “begmanding” approach is working and continues insisting on heavier and more advanced weapons.

“They didn’t want to give us heavy artillery, then they did. They didn’t want to give us HIMARS systems, then they did. They didn’t want to give us tanks, now they’re giving us tanks,” Sak boasted, further stating: “If we get them, the advantages on the battlefield will be just immense. It’s not just F-16s: fourth generation aircraft, this is what we want… …Apart from nuclear weapons, there is nothing left that we will not get.”

Given the pattern of incessant escalation, Yuriy Sak’s concluding remarks are quite alarming and could indicate that the Kiev regime never gave up on its quest to acquire WMDs (weapons of mass destruction). Given the sheer magnitude of the Neo-Nazi junta’s clinical Russophobia, fanned up to a hatred of genocidal proportions at this point, any such statement will surely be taken very seriously in Moscow. Despite these psychotically disturbing comments, the political West continues to expand its support for such extremist puppet regimes. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby stated there are “constant discussions” with Kiev officials on what they need, adding that he “can’t blame the Ukrainians for wanting more and more systems”.

“It’s not the first time they’ve talked about fighter jets, but I don’t have any announcements to make on that front,” Kirby said.

Again, here we see the same back-and-forth pattern of the political West’s supposed “reluctance” with a “no” becoming “we’ll see” or “maybe” only to then be announced as “we have no choice due to Russia’s unprovoked aggression” at some point.

Unfortunately, debate on this disturbing issue is virtually completely absent from the public discourse. The blame for everything happening in Ukraine is simply cast on Moscow and any attempt to question this is immediately shut down. Even the question of whether Western-made tanks can actually help the Kiev regime forces might be “problematic” and the ones asking it run the risk of being labeled as supposedly “pro-Russian”. This nullifies even the slightest chance of a public debate on whether the political West should reassess its belligerence toward a nuclear-armed superpower, one which has shown remarkable restraint thus far. However, as Russian officials said so many times before, Moscow’s patience is not an endless resource.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2023/01/ ... ev-regime/

Russian Ministry of Defense: 20,000 Documents Expose US Biowarfare Program in Ukraine
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JANUARY 30, 2023

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Chief of Russian Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Force Igor Kirillov Russian Defence Ministry/TASS

Briefing on analysis of US military and biological activity documents by Chief of NBC Protection Troops Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov

January 30, 2023

The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation has repeatedly noted the signs of the implementation of ‘dual-purpose programmes’ by the USA and its allies outside their national territories, including within the operation of the biolaboratories funded by the Pentagon or its contractors.

The fact that the United States blocked the initiative to establish a monitoring mechanism of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) at the Ninth Review Conference once again confirms that Washington has something to hide, while the transparency of the biological research contradicts the interests of the USA.

We have previously informed about the works on enhancing the pathogenic characteristics of COVID-19 causative agent, carried out at Boston University with funds of the U.S. state budget, as well as the possible involvement of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in the emergence of the new coronavirus.

The key role in the implementation of the abovementioned projects belongs to EcoHealth Alliance intermediary organisation. The available documents of the U.S. Defence Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) confirm that since 2015,professionals of the abovementioned company have been studying the diversity in the population of bats, searching for new coronavirus strains, and mechanisms of its transmission from animals to humans. Over 2.5 thousandspecimen have been researched.

The project on zoonotic virus research in South-East Asia contain the following recommendations for the employees of EcoHealth Alliance: ‘… If any of the experiments proposed for Aim 1 result in a virus with a phenotype of enhanced pathogenicity and/or transmissibility, enhanced growth by more than 10 fold when compared to wild type strains …, the recipient must immediately stop the work and notify the NIAID Program Officer, Grants Management Specialist, and appropriate institutional biosafety committee …’

The high degree of readiness of the U.S. mRNA vaccine manufacturers for a pandemic of the new coronavirus infection raises questions. One gets the impression that pharmaceutical companies had produced the vaccine preparations in advance, being unable to rapidly introduce them into the market due to specific characteristics of the virus that embodied in low efficiency of vaccination and numerous side effects.

It is to be reminded that on 18 October 2019, two months before the first official reports about the emergence of the new coronavirus infection in China, the John Hopkins University, supported by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, conducted Event 201 exercise in New York.

This exercise simulated the epidemic of a previously unknown coronavirus that, according to the scenario, was transmitted from bats to humans via pigs, the intermediate host.

Outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic precisely according to this scenario raises questions about its premeditated nature, involvement of the USA in this incident, as well as real objectives of the U.S. biological programmes aimed at enhancing the characteristics of dangerous pathogens.

We have repeatedly noted that the United States conduct the studies that are most controversial in terms of the international law outside the national territory.

The examples are the experiments related to HIV infection that have been carried out by U.S. specialists in Ukraine since 2019. It should be emphasized that the target groups include not only ‘high-risk infection patients’ (convicted or drug addicts), but also representatives of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The premises of Pharmbiotest Medical Centre in Rubezhnoye were explored during the special military operation in the liberated territory of the Lugansk People’s Republic. It was a venue for clinical trials to test the medicinal products that caused serious side effects: they include medications for treating leukaemia, mental disorders, neurological diseases, epilepsy, and other dangerous illnesses.

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In early 2023, residents of Lisichansk found a large landfill of biomaterial residues that belong to Pharmbiotest. The clinical samples and patients’ clinical records with their personal data were buried instead of being cremated or eliminated in appropriate manner, prescribed by the rules. This means that the evidence were being eliminated in extreme hurry.

The Russian Defence Ministry has received data on numerous facts of Ukrainian military personnel takingpsychostimulants and narcotics (tramadol, methadone, amphetamines). The facts about smuggling morphine into war zones have been revealed. It is to be reminded that in accordance with Ukrainian laws, illegal circulation and transportation of the abovementioned products is to be punished by deprivation of liberty ranging from eight to 12 years.

Russia considers the actions committed by the officials who carried out the research on Ukrainian personnel, whose blood contained high concentrations of antibiotics, narcotics, antibodies to the causative agents of infectious diseases, require appropriate legal assessment.

During the special military operation, Russian personnel acquired over 20,000 documents, reference and analytical materials, as well as surveyed witnesses and participants of the U.S. biological programmes. The abovementioned materials confirm that the Pentagon aimed at creating elements of a biological weapon, and testing it on the population of Ukraine and other countries along the perimeter of the Russian borders.

The Russian Defence Ministry has already mentioned the names of the participants of the military and biological programmes, including those of the U.S. Democratic Party representatives, employees of the U.S. military department, and the Pentagon’s contracting organisations.

The DTRA reports have led us to the new information about key persons involved in the so-called Ukrainian projects who have been staying in the shadow until now.

Among of them are:

Karen Saylors, CEO at Labyrinth Global Health and ex-director of Metabiota’s programmes in Central Africa. Since 2016, Saylors has worked in Ukraine as leading advisor at the UP-10 project, dedicated to studying ways of spreading of African swine fever.

Colleen B. Jonsson, an employee of the University of Tennessee, Director of the Institute for the Study of Host-Pathogen Systems. She observed the UP-8 project, dedicated to studying the capabilities of the Crimean-Congo fever’s causative agent in Ukraine. Jonsson managed the selection of biological samples from Ukrainian personnel, provided the cooperation between the contract specifiers in the USA and the Center for Public Health of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.

Lewis Von Thaer, President and CEO of Battelle company, a major contractor of the Pentagon and U.S. Department of Energy. Since 2003, the company has been responsible for organising research projects in Ukraine related to zoonotic infections.

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Other persons involved in the Ukrainian projects are presented on the slide. The acquired materials will be submitted to the Investigative Committee for measures to bring those guilty to justice.

The active action of the Russian Defence Ministry has resulted in halting the military biological programmes in Ukraine. In this regard, the Pentagon is actively relocatingthe studies, that have not been completed within the Ukrainian projects, to Central Asia and Eastern Europecountries. At the same time, the cooperation with African and Asia-Pacific countries – Kenya, Singapore, and Thailand – is being actively enhanced.

Under the pressure from the international community, Washington changes its approaches to organising its military biological activity, transferring the functions of the customer to purely civilian departments: the Department of Health, Department of Energy, and the Agency for International Development. This will allow the U.S. authorities to avoid criticism at international venues, and deflect a blow from the Department of Defense and DTRA.

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Within curtailing the military biological activities in Ukraine, the United States actively use the material base of chemical and pharmacological enterprises of Poland and Baltic countries, where the equipment from the Ukrainian territory was sent to.

The funding, imposed by the collective West, makes the post-Soviet countries conceal the true nature of these works. The European Union is actively promoting the initiative to deploy a network of centres of ‘excellence’ in the field of nuclear, biological and chemical protection, thatprovides for placing EU-funded biolaboratories in the territories of the former Soviet Union. The prospective partners are highly recommended ‘… not to advertise this initiative due to its extreme sensitivity for the Russian Federation …’

At the same time, it is stressed that the Central Asian countries ‘… are already taking benefit from technical cooperation with the European Union …’

In 2022, the USA, Canada, and EU countries initiated programmes to employ and relocate the Ukrainian professionals, who had been involved in military biological works before, to Western countries. It is primarily due to the concerns that the Russian law enforcement can receive additional testimonies to the illegal activities carried out in violation of international obligations.

It is to be emphasised that the strategy of ‘military and biological expansion’ is not fundamentally new, and it was founded by the United States back in the period of the Korean conflict.

Since the 1950s, biological laboratories were established in Africa, Central and South America, as well as South-East Asia, with the priority role of the U.S. Navy. Their main objective was to sample causative agents of highly dangerous infections, and determine the level of morbidity among local population.

The areas, where these laboratories located, witnessed a deterioration in the epidemic situation regarding highly dangerous infections, as well as now. New diseases, uncharacteristic for these regions, emerged. One of the examples is the outbreak of Rift Valley Fever in 1977 in Cairo, where the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit Three was located.

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This disease had previously been recorded only south of the Sahara, but then it suddenly emerged in Egypt, simultaneously infecting 18,000 people. Further analysis of the samples taken from the population showed that the total number of infected people was around 2,000,000.

A whole array of proofs reveal the artificial nature of this outbreak and the involvement of the U.S. laboratory.

First, several months before the epidemic started, its staff had been vaccinated against Rift Valley Fever, although there had been no records of an outbreak of this infection in that region, whilst in the endemic regions of Africa, it proceeded as a light influenza-like illness that caused no human deaths.

Second, the causative agent suddenly acquired high pathogenicity for humans during the epidemic in Egypt. The disease caused haemorrhage, severe eye and nervous system lesion. The virus became highly pathogenic and almost could be compared with smallpox, Marburg and Lassa fevers in this regard. It is extremely difficult to define the sudden change in pathogenicity of the virus by its natural evolution.

The analysis of initial focus shape is of particular interest.The form of this epidemiological focus reminds an aerosol cloud trace that can emerge in case of intentional dispersion of a biomaterial or its accidental release into the environment.

Despite the available evidential base about the artificial nature of the outbreak, the U.S. leadership has done everything to conceal the involvement of the laboratory in this incident. Only in 2019, it was decided to relocate it to the U.S. Naval Air Station Sigonella, Italy, to continue the research on highly dangerous pathogens, including coronaviruses.

In conclusion, I would like to note that the disclosure of the content of the Pentagon’s military biological programmesin Ukraine by the Russian Federation has gained a wide public response. Mass demonstrations against the activities of the U.S.-funded laboratories were held in the countries of the former Soviet Union. Non-governmental organisations of the Eurasian Economic Union adopted a resolution against the Pentagon-funded biolaboratories.

Various investigations were initiated in the United States itself. The U.S. law enforcement has paid attention to the topics related to bribing employees of social networks and mass media while broadcasting the cause of the new coronavirus infection, as well as manipulating the public opinion about the U.S. vaccines against COVID-19 commissioned by biotechnological and pharmaceutical corporations.

It is to be reminded that lobbying the interests of large pharmaceutical companies by the U.S. government is a common practice. Back in 2010, the operation of a U.S. Navy Medical Biological Centre in Jakarta was ceased due to a ‘conflict of interests’ and various violations.

The Americans performed their works outside the agreed research programme, carried out unauthorised sampling, and refused to inform the Indonesian government on the purposes of their works and the results achieved. These biomaterials turned out to be used to the benefit of the Gilead company, affiliated with the Pentagon, that tested their preparations in Ukraine and Georgia (including, but not limited to).

The Indonesian example was followed by Malaysia: the government of that country decided to establish special control over the activities of the U.S.-funded biolaboratory.

Therefore, the concerns of the international community, related to the activities of the Pentagon-funded biolaboratories, is gradually increasing. The issues, raised by the Russian Federation at the international venues – the Nineth Review Conference of BTWC Member States, and the UN Security Council – have revealed the reluctance of the USA to conduct a substantive dialogue. Russiaconsiders it extremely important that the disclosure of the facts that reveal the illegal military and biological activities have caused various countries to consider possible consequences of their biosafety cooperation with the USA, and take a fresh look at the necessity and rationale of this kind of cooperation.

The Russian Defence Ministry will continue its work in this direction and report on it.

Documents

Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2023/01/ ... n-ukraine/

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From Cassad's Telegram account:

Colonelcassad
And hysterically, "Oh, horror, Soviet street names are being returned in Melitopol. This is a terrible conspiracy of the communists." I don’t know who these people are holding the audience for.

1. All names are rolled back synchronously in the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. This is not a local solution. This is a decision of the authorities of the regions and it concerns not only Melitopol. As you might guess, the regional authorities do not act independently and do not gather in secret meetings to make the same decisions separately from Moscow.

2. As you might guess, such political decisions are under the control of the supervising bodies in Moscow, including the Presidential Administration. So when you are told tales about the fact that the "communists in Melitopol" have loosened their belts, then this is broadcast either by people who do not know how the process of managing new territories is established, or by those who know, but for various reasons misleading the audience. Obviously, the synchronous decisions to roll back all names by 2014 have been approved by the political bloc in Moscow.

3. The cancellation of all renamings made since 2014 is not due to the fact that there are too many communists in the administration of new regions, and even more so in the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation (I wonder if there is at least 1 there?), But in order to eliminate any legally binding traces of the actions of the Maidan authorities on the territory new regions of Russia. This is a purely technological action that is being systematically implemented during 2022.

4. After the end of the war, the inhabitants of the regions will be able to democratically decide on controversial issues like Artemovsk / Bakhmut, which the authorities of the same DPR have already clearly explained against the backdrop of hysterics running on social networks. The easiest way, controversial issues are tied to the first elections after the end of the war as part of a single voting day (including to save money on individual local plebiscites), where it is the locals themselves who decide what they want to call their city and what the street will be called where they want to live. And certainly not screamers running around social networks shouting about Rosa Luxembourg. If people want to live on Rosa Luxemburg Street, they will live on Rosa Luxembourg Street. If they don't want to, they will live on the street, which will be called differently. But all these changes will already be within the framework of the Russian legal field, in no way connected with the Maidan and Ukraine.

***

Colonelcassad

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Donetsk direction
situation as of 20.00 January 30, 2023

🔻On the Toretsk sector , units of the 5th Assault Regiment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are equipping positions in the vicinity of the village of Druzhba , and minefields are being set up at the front lines.

🔻In the Avdeevsky sector , combined assault detachments of the RF Armed Forces are attacking from the side of Experienced and Vodyanoye in the direction of the village of Severnoye . The Armed Forces of Ukraine equipped a large fortified area on the outskirts of the settlement.

▪️In addition, the fighters of the RF Armed Forces advanced towards Nevelskoye , knocking out the formations of the 59th motorized infantry brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from strongholds on the outskirts of the village. Control over Vodyany and Nevelskoye will allow Pervomaiskoye to be covered from the south and north.

▪️Engineering units of the 110th Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine equipped additional fortifications in the Novokalinovo area , and several Leleka-100 UAVs were put into service with the 110th Ombre from Dnepropetrovsk .

🔻Fighting continues in Maryinka. The intensity of the assault decreased slightly as part of the regrouping. At the moment, Russian troops are trying to dislodge the combined forces of 79 odshbr and 35 obrmp of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The presence of supply lines allows Ukrainian formations to hold the city.

▪️In order to strengthen control over the main transport routes, reinforcements were deployed to the Ugledar-Novomikhaylovka section of the highway.

🔻In the Ugledar sector , heavy fighting continues in a dacha area southeast of Vugledar . The Armed Forces of Ukraine transferred reinforcements, practically knocking out the RF Armed Forces from the territory. However, with the support of artillery, the Marines of the 155th brigade of the Pacific Fleet repelled the attack and, with losses, drove the Armed Forces of Ukraine to the outskirts of houses.

▪️The assault groups of the 72nd brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine suffered heavy losses in manpower. During the fighting in the 72nd brigade, more than three dozen people and five armored vehicles, including tanks and armored vehicles, were killed.

▪️Part of the personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was withdrawn from Ugledar to the area of ​​the Yuzhno-Donbass mine , where a field medical center was equipped. The rest were withdrawn deep into the city, and the roads and approaches, including those on Shakhterskaya Street , were remotely mined.

***

Colonelcassad

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Starobelsk direction
situation as of 15.00 January 30, 2023

🔻In the Kupyansko-Svatovsky section, the Russian RDG conducted reconnaissance in force at the turn of Dvurechnoye - Gryanikovka . As a result of a successful throw to the position of the 32nd combined troop battalion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, one of the units fell into the operational encirclement.

▪️The command of 32 OSB requested support to lift the blockade. In the event of a breakthrough and crossing of the Oskol River , engineering units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine mined the bridges in Kolodeznoye and Monachinovka .

▪️From Kharkov , through Korobochkino , in the direction of the Kupyansk-Lozovaya line, another convoy passed in the amount of 40 units of various equipment and about 400 people .

🔻Mutual artillery shelling continues in the Limansky sector . Soldiers of the 144th Motor Rifle Division of the RF Armed Forces are conducting a positional attack on Ukrainian positions using armored vehicles.

▪️Members of Ukrainian formations spread information about huge losses among various formations, one of the companies has completely ceased to exist.

▪️There are at least four HIMARS MLRS crews operating along the front line from Podliman to Izyum . The supply of jet systems is carried out from the arsenal in Balakliya .

🔻At the moment, there are no significant changes in the situation. Russian units are gradually advancing in the Kupyansky and Limansky sectors , improving their tactical position.

Nevertheless, Ukrainian formations are transferring reserves to the Svatovsky sector , probably in preparation for a renewed offensive. The concentration of American MLRS in this area confirms the possibility of such actions.

***

Colonelcassad

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Soledar direction
situation as of 13.00 January 30, 2023

🔻In the Soledar sector, the assault detachments of the Wagner PMC are moving south from Blagodatny to Paraskovievka and Krasnaya Gora . During the fighting, control was established over two company strongholds of the 4th battalion of the 46th detachment and the 1st battalion of the 77th detachment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

▪️Violent clashes continue in the vicinity of Paraskovievka and Krasnaya Gora. At the moment, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are regrouping forces to hold settlements. On the northern outskirts of Bakhmut , formations of 4 detachment were transferred.

🔻In Bakhmut, the “Wagnerites” storm the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the National Guard of Ukraine (NGU) on the eastern outskirts in Zabakhmutovka and near the meat processing plant . During the fighting, the NGU detachments were driven out from three strongholds.

🔻Russian troops are gradually pushing through the defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the directions of Krasnoye and Stupochka , where they are holding the defense of units of 3 oshbr and 116 arr of TRO. As a result of an artillery strike on the deployment point of the 116th brigade, more than a dozen people were liquidated.

▪️Part of the personnel of 116 arr refused to perform combat missions. Detachments of Arabic-speaking mercenaries were deployed to Krasnoe to prepare the line of defense. The command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is trying to hide the participation of foreigners in the battles for Bakhmut.

▪️The Ukrainian command is waiting for the activation of units of the RF Armed Forces on Dyleevka . Reconnaissance groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with copters are reconnaissance of the areas of advancement of Russian troops along the line of contact.

https://t.me/s/boris_rozhin

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"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV

Post by blindpig » Tue Jan 31, 2023 11:51 pm

NATO Continues Its Disarmament

NATO is continuing its disarmament mission.

France to send an extra 12 powerful Caesar howitzers to Ukraine

French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu's announcement that France will send 12 additional Caesar howitzers to Kyiv is "clearly important for the Ukrainians, particularly the Caesar artillery system", said FRANCE 24 Chief Foreign Editor Robert Parsons.

...
"They've been very successful in Ukraine, so the Ukrainians will be delighted, I am sure, to get another 12. I think that brings that total to over 40 now, closing on 50 Caesars in Ukraine.
France has only 77 Caesar howitzer left. Others though are worse off.

Estonia Sending All Its 155-mm Howitzers to Ukraine

Estonia will donate all its 155-millimeter howitzers to Ukraine as part of its most extensive military assistance yet.
The package, previously reported to be worth 113 million euros ($122 million), is expected to boost Kyiv’s defense capabilities amid continuing Russian aggression.

Estonia currently operates 24 NATO standard FH-70 towed howitzers.

Apart from the howitzers, Tallinn will send thousands of 155-mm artillery shells and hundreds of Karl-Gustaf anti-tank grenade launchers.


We know how all that artillery will end.

Several weeks ago Russia launched a special counter-artillery campaign. There are dedicated counter artillery radars, electronic warfare and airborne surveillance systems and long range artillery batteries with precision ammunition engaged in this.

So today I did some staff work and summed up the claimed artillery destruction as listed in the daily 'clobber list' provided by the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Here are the results:

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In the last seven days Russia claimed to have destroyed a total of 40 truck pulled howitzers, 32 self propelled howitzers, 8 Multiple Rocked Launcher Systems (MRLS), 15 counter artillery radars and 23 local artillery ammunition depots.

On top of that it engaged Ukrainian artillery positions with normal counter fire on 651 occasions. This will have caused additional damage and losses.

Additionally 55 MLRS rockets and HARM anti-radar missiles were intercepted by Russian air defenses.

If you think that the field reports the ministry receives are exaggerating the numbers, which is likely, simply divide them by half.

In just one week it was still more than Estonia and France promise to deliver.

Yesterday I explained why a NATO or U.S. intervention with ground troops is unlikely. We can add the acute lack of NATO artillery and artillery ammunition to the reasons.

NATO has disarmed its ground forces and is no longer combat capable.

Posted by b on January 31, 2023 at 18:02 UTC | Permalink

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2023/01/n ... .html#more

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THE US AND NATO SUPPORT UKRAINE FOR ITS TITANIUM RESERVES
Jan 31, 2023 , 9:55 a.m.

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According to a Newsweek report , citing several sources, the support of the United States and its European partners in NATO is largely due to the large reserves of titanium, a fundamental mineral for the development of the military industry.

"Titanium is a light but strong metal that is widely used in advanced military applications, such as combat aircraft, helicopters, warships, tanks, long-range missiles and many others," says the American media.

And adds:

"If Ukraine wins, the United States and its allies will be in a prime position to cultivate a new titanium conduit. But if Russia manages to seize the country's deposits and plants, Moscow will increase its global influence over an increasingly strategic resource."

The United States considers titanium one of 35 mineral products vital to its economic and national security. But it still imports more than 90% of its iron ore, and not all from partner countries.

"The United States no longer has sponge titanium in its National Defense Stockpile, and the last domestic producer of sponge titanium went out of business in 2020," confirms Newsweek .

Ukraine, along with China and Russia, is one of the seven countries that produce titanium sponge, the basis of titanium metal.
"China produced more than 231,000 tons of sponge titanium last year, according to the US Geological Survey, representing 57% of world production. Japan followed with 17% and Russia with 13%. Kazakhstan produced almost 18,000 tons and Ukraine more than 4,000 tons," the article reports.

https://misionverdad.com/eeuu-y-la-otan ... de-titanio

Google Translator

It ain't never that simple but it is not to be ignored either.

*************

Russia Warns New US AMB Against Confrontational US Policy

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Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov (L) shakes hands with U.S. Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy in Moscow on Jan. 30, 2023. | Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry photo

Published 30 January 2023 (14 hours 45 minutes ago)

Sworn in on Jan. 9, Tracy is the first woman to occupy the post of U.S. Ambassador to Russia.


Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov on Monday met with new U.S. Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy, who presented copies of her credentials.

During the conversation with Tracy on the sharply worsened Russia-U.S. relations, Ryabkov pointed out the counterproductiveness of Washington's confrontational policy, which is "fraught with serious negative consequences," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The Russian side hopes that the U.S. envoy will strictly abide by Russian laws, observe norms and customs, adhere to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of the host country.

Sworn in on Jan. 9, Tracy is the first woman to occupy the post of U.S. Ambassador to Russia.

"Ambassador Tracy begins her tenure in Moscow focused on maintaining dialogue between our capitals at a time of unprecedented tension," the U.S. embassy said in a press release on Monday.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Rus ... -0024.html

Russia Liberates Town Near Bakhmut in Donetsk

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Soldiers in a Russian tank, 2023. | Photo: Twitter/ @ErbolDigital

Published 31 January 2023 (4 hours 23 minutes ago)

The control of Blahodatne improves Russian troop positions and cuts off one of the main supply routes for Ukrainian forces.


On Tuesday, Defense Ministry Spokesperson Igor Konashenkov announced the liberation of the village of Blahodatne, in the Donetsk People's Republic.

"Blahodatne was liberated thanks to the successful offensive actions of volunteer assault detachments, which were supported by tactical aviation, rocket artillery, and the South military group," he said.

Blahodate lies 10 kilometers north of Bakhmut, a city around which fierce fighting has been raging for months.

Denis Pushilin, the acting head of the Donetsk People's Republic, explained that control of Blahodatne will greatly improve Russian troop positions and cut off one of the main supply routes for Ukrainian forces.

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On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken sent him "a message" requesting that Moscow end its military operation in Ukraine. This message reached Russia via Egypt's Foreign Affairs Minister Sameh Shukri, who met with with Blinken in Cairo yesterday.

"I conveyed to Lavrov the views I heard from American colleagues," Shukri said, adding that Egypt advocates finding a negotiated political solution to the Ukrainian conflict.

For his part, Lavrov noted that "Russia is ready to listen to any serious proposal aimed at solving the current situation in its broadest context."

"While the West discusses how to continue sending more powerful weapons to Ukraine... Russia is taking all measures to prevent attempts to make Ukraine a greater threat to our security," he added.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Rus ... -0003.html

Biden Says “No” To Sending Fighter Jets to Ukraine

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U.S. President Joe Biden walks on the South Lawn to board Marine One at the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States, on Oct. 27, 2022. | Photo: Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua

Published 30 January 2023 (14 hours 52 minutes ago)

President Joe Biden's remarks came as debate picked up steam over whether to arm Ukraine, which has been in conflict with Russia for nearly a year, with Western-made fighter jets.


U.S. President Joe Biden said on Monday that he won't approve sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.

"No," Biden said in response to a question about the possibility of such a decision.

As he spoke, Biden arrived back at the White House from a trip to Baltimore, Maryland. Biden also said he was planning to visit Poland but didn't yet know when.

The president's remarks came as debate picked up steam over whether to arm Ukraine, which has been in conflict with Russia for nearly a year, with Western-made fighter jets.

Asked about the administration's decision on potential delivery of F-16s to Ukraine, U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor Jonathan Finer said during an appearance on MSNBC last Thursday that "we have not ruled in or out any specific systems."

"We have tried to tailor our assistance to the phase of the fight that the Ukrainians are in. I don't have an announcement to make one way or the other," he added.

Albeit a constant request from the authorities in Kiev, fighter jets have long been regarded by the West as a taboo in terms of military assistance for Ukraine, for fear that such deliveries would lead to an uncontrollable escalation of the conflict.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter last Wednesday that securing the provision of Western-type fighter jets are among the "new tasks ahead" for Ukraine. On the same day, the United States and Germany announced their respective decisions to send combat tanks to Ukraine.

Ukraine's plea for fighter jets met with refusal from Germany, whose chancellor, Olaf Scholz, recently said combat aircraft is not an item on Berlin's list of weapons for Ukraine.

"The question of combat aircraft does not arise at all," Scholz said in an interview with Tagesspiegel published on Sunday. "I can only advise against entering into a constant competition to outbid each other when it comes to weapons systems."

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Bid ... -0021.html

***************

Trials and Tribulations of the Collective West
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JANUARY 31, 2023
Pepe Escobar

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Members & supporters of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) burn the US flag during an anti-imperialist demonstration outside the US embassy in #Athens, 24/1/2019.

One may be excused to imagine all sorts of amusement games unrolling at the HQ of the Russian General Staff as The Empire and NATO go literally bonkers. What crazy stunt will they come up with next – short of WWIII?

Here is a delightful put down of NATO’s dementia praecox. Everything so far has failed, from “crippling sanctions” to all sorts of wunderwaffen, while the whole Global South marvels at the exploits of Wagner PMC – now configured as the planet’s top urban fighting machine.

CIA mouthpiece Washington Post duly released how Washington, once again, had the Liver Sausage Chancellor Scholz for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The idea was floated by Secretary of State Tony Blinken: let’s announce we will deliver M1 Abrams to Ukraine in a hazy, unspecified future, thus providing cover for Scholz to release the Leopards now.

Don’t you just love German sovereignty in action?

Every military analyst with an IQ over room temperature knows all those Leopards will be duly incinerated – or better yet, captured, and dissected by Russian military specialists.

So what happens next is yet another vector of the – very successful so far – U.S.-unleashed German de-industrualization racket: the Americans will invade the German industrial military complex with their “much improved” Abrams – which may perhaps arrive in 2024, when only a rump Ukraine may still exist, or never arrive at all. So no need for the Abrams to prove themselves in actual combat – as in being captured and/or incinerated.

Rumors in Washington advance that the U.S. “strategy” in Ukraine – extensively detailed by endless think tank reports – had to be adapted. It’s not about “defeating Russia” anymore, but providing Kiev with the means to “scare” Russia. The Russian General Staff must be trembling in their boots.

Meanwhile, in real life, nearly every possible scenario gamed in Washington and Brussels finishes with NATO like a giant, armoured version of Wile E. Coyote plunging to the depths of the Grand Canyon. And that happens even if the much ballyhooded “Big Arrow” Russian offensive starts in a few days or weeks, or never starts at all.

Arguably the Russian General Staff has concluded a long time ago there’s no point in reducing Ukraine to rubble in a matter of hours – something they could easily accomplish. Thus the fabled mincing machine approach – offering no excuses for NATO to “escalate” (which they continue to do anyway, as Jens “War is Peace” Stoltenberg is so fond of parroting).

The trick is that NATO’s escalation overdrive, as it happens, is somewhat controlled by the Russian General Staff, which is always calculating which optimal maneuvers will consume NATO’s military hardware faster. Call it a Russian version of the popular axiom “frog in a boiling pot doesn’t realize it’s being cooked until it croaks.”

Attacking Russia-China-Iran

Absolute desperation is now graphically extrapolating into attacks on Iran. Both Russia and China have Iran as their key ally in West Asia for the whole, complex process of Eurasia integration; strategic partnerships interlink the trio.

So attacking the Ministry of Defense in Isfahan with drones – total fail – and bombing an IRGC convoy of humanitarian aid crossing from Iraq to Syria is a serious U.S.-Israel-coordinated provocation.

Essentially these are also attacks against Russia and China. Israel cannot lift its hand or foot without U.S. permission. Iranian intel may be able to establish how the Straussian neo-con and neoliberal-con cabal in charge of U.S. foreign policy authorized if not ordered these attacks, which of course are directly connected to NATO’s desperation in Ukraine.

When in doubt, just come back to Zbig “Grand Chessboard” Brzezinski: “Potentially, the most dangerous scenario would be a grand coalition of China, Russia and perhaps, Iran, an ‘anti-hegemonic’ coalition united not by ideology but by contemporary grievances. It would be reminiscent in scale and scope of the challenge once posed by the Sino-Soviet bloc.”

And mirroring Ukraine/Russia there’s of course Taiwan/China.

As Credit Suisse strategist Zoltan Pozsar has extensively explained, if Taiwan manufactures chips for U.S. missiles Washington then sends to Taiwan for its “self-defense”, but Taiwan needs to wait because the missiles are needed in Ukraine instead, or chips can’t be shipped to the U.S. owing to a possible sea and air blockade imposed by China, the Americans will be operationally ill-equipped to support their two-front war against peer competitors Russia and China.

Bye bye Pax Americana. It’s the fear, actually paranoia, of a destroyed Taiwan – and the destruction in every scenario would be provoked by the Americans themselves – that has led the Straussian neo-con and neoliberal-con cabal to demand their chips be Made in USA.

On the energy front, since U.S. energy costs are low, Washington gambled that much of the deindustrialization of Germany would revert to American benefit. Yet since Iranian, Russian and Venezuelan oil prices are lower than the U.S., not much production may be shifting to the Hegemon: it will go to China.

To the bottom of the Grand Canyon!

The January 10 joint declaration between EU-NATO graphically shows how the EU is no more than the P.R. arm of NATO.

This NATO-EU joint mission consists in using all economic, political and military means to make sure the “jungle” always behaves according to the “rules-based international order” and accepts to be plundered ad infinitum by the “blooming garden”.

So in the end what’s left of “Europe”, when it’s NATO – actually Washington – that really rules?

“Europe”, according to relentless propaganda, means defending “our values” – as in peace, democracy and prosperity. The trick is that unelected elites forced the implicit identification of this imagined, practically sacred “Europe” with the European Union. And that’s how the EU has acquired a mythical identity.

Of course, in real life the EU – as in the real, politically organized “Europe” – has performed as a toxic instrument of division among European peoples.

Instead of peace, it has invested in all-out rabid war against Russia. The EU is arguably the most democratically irresponsible institution on the planet: spend a day in Brussels and you understand everything. And instead of prosperity, the EU has institutionalized austerity.

So sit back, relax and enjoy a race to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. The only question is who will get there first: the EU, NATO, or both.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2023/01/ ... tive-west/

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War economy: Tanks, jets, missiles to Ukraine
January 31, 2023 Gary Wilson

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‘Today I am announcing that the United States will be sending 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine,’ Joe Biden, Jan. 25, 2023.

Immediately after the United States and Germany announced that they were sending Abrams and Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine, Politico reported that the Pentagon is preparing to send F-16 fighter jets. “The campaign inside the Defense Department for fighter jets is gaining momentum,” the report says.

“Ukraine has identified a list of up to 50 pilots who are ready now to start training on the F-16,” says a Pentagon official. “Many of them have already trained with the U.S. military in major exercises before the invasion,” starting in 2014, Politico reports.

‘That’s called World War III’

Almost a year ago, in March 2022, President Joe Biden said, “The idea that we’re going to send in offensive equipment and have planes and tanks and trains going in with American pilots and American crews – just understand, don’t kid yourself, no matter what y’all say, that’s called World War III.”

Since that statement, the U.S. and NATO have steadily expanded operations in Ukraine, from anti-tank Javelins and portable air-defense systems such as Stingers, to HIMARS rocket launchers and, more recently, surface-to-air Patriot missiles, tanks, and armored vehicles.

On Jan. 24, the New York Times headlined the super-expansion of artillery production. “The Pentagon is racing to boost its production of artillery shells by 500% within two years, pushing conventional ammunition production to levels not seen since the Korean War … The effort, which will involve expanding factories and bringing in new producers, is part of ‘the most aggressive modernization effort in nearly 40 years’ for the U.S. defense industrial base, according to an Army report.”

The Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles the Pentagon is sending can be equipped with depleted uranium ammunition. Depleted uranium is a byproduct of manufacturing nuclear weapons. The shells can punch through the thick armor of a tank and ignite everyone inside.

When asked if the Bradleys the U.S. is sending to Ukraine will be equipped with depleted uranium, a senior Biden administration official was slippery: “I’m not going to get into the technical specifics.” The official also declined to answer if the Abrams tanks will be equipped with a depleted uranium cage.

The long-term consequences for the people in Ukraine and Donbass are dire. Depleted uranium ammunition is radioactive, extremely toxic, and linked with a variety of birth defects, cancers, and other illnesses. In Iraq, doctors reported a spike in birth defects and cancers since the Gulf War, when the U.S. fired nearly a million depleted uranium rounds in the invasion of that country.

In 2022, Congress approved more than $113 billion in U.S. “aid” to Ukraine. However, not one cent of that will feed, clothe or house anyone in Ukraine, though there is a great need for that. Every cent of that money goes to the Pentagon and its contractors and suppliers. Whatever gets to Ukraine is through the Pentagon.

Pentagon spending fuels inflation

The increased military spending is a source of inflation, pushing up prices across the economy.

Marx called military spending fictitious capital. It’s money put into circulation without any value (commodities that people need) being produced.

Arms manufacturers do not produce constant capital — that is, factories, machines, electronics, or any infrastructure for productive use. Nor do they produce consumer goods that meet human needs.

Armaments are the means of destruction, produced to destroy. Military spending does not go to expanding commodity production. Military spending actually contracts the capitalist market. Factories that normally produce commodities for profit are instead producing the means of destruction — no use values — so there’s no profit, no surplus value in Marxist terms.

This is a source of inflation in the economy.

When the government buys bombs, tanks, jets, missiles, and destroyers and purchases the labor power of soldiers, it does not produce surplus value. It lines the pocketbooks of the military-industrial complex. The use value of the military-industrial complex’s commodities is not that it increases wealth for society but instead that it destroys wealth as well as human lives.

‘A war against Russia’

Since the beginning of the U.S.-NATO proxy war in Ukraine in 2014, the White House has maintained that it’s not a war on Russia. But those are not the words they use in their private conversations, especially inside NATO.

On Jan. 25, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock bluntly said what they’ve been saying privately – that NATO is fighting a war against Russia.

Baerbock said: “Yes, we have to do more also on tanks. But the most important and the crucial part is that we do it together and that we do not do the blame game in Europe, because we are fighting a war against Russia and not against each other.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova responded that this is more proof that NATO was planning a war on Russia all along.

“If we add this to Merkel’s revelations that they were strengthening Ukraine and did not count on the Minsk agreements, then we are talking about a war against Russia that was planned in advance. Don’t say later that we didn’t warn you,” Zakharova said.

Russia is not an imperialist power

Russia is not an imperialist power, economically or politically. Russia is mainly an exporter of raw materials — crude oil, natural gas, and grains.

In 2022, U.S. military spending was $828 billion. Add to that NATO’s $324 billion. Compare that to Russia’s military spending of $65.9 billion, according to the Costs of War project at Brown University.

Russia’s total defense expenditure is only about half of what Congress authorized for the U.S. war effort in Ukraine.

Russia is not one of the historic imperialist powers — the U.S., Britain, Germany, France, and Japan. Originally called the Group of Five, now, with the addition of Canada and Italy, they call themselves the G7. Nevertheless, they are still the imperialist dominators.

https://www.struggle-la-lucha.org/2023/ ... o-ukraine/

Well, Russia is certainly capitalists but for Russia to be a 'real' imperialist it must engage in substantial export of capital and competition with other 'players'.

U.S. tanks in Ukraine: What will be the next step?
January 31, 2023 Borotba

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Statement from Borotba (Struggle), a revolutionary Marxist organization banned by the government of Ukraine.

Jan. 29 — The situation is escalating. The U.S. decision to supply Ukraine with Abrams tanks is very dangerous. It threatens a world war because the design of the Abrams engines requires constant maintenance. There are no specialists for this in Ukraine. Therefore, civilian specialists from the United States will be involved for repair and maintenance, who will work at Ukrainian enterprises that are targets for the Russian army.

Everyone understands that as a result of the fighting, there is a very serious risk that these specialists will be killed. However, the death of a U.S. citizen will allow Biden to demand the introduction of a no-fly zone over Ukraine and may become a reason to declare war.

Thus, Biden intends to use ordinary workers as victims to unleash a war with Russia.

We understand that such a decision by the U.S. authorities carries a huge danger for all humanity. We need all our comrades, all European citizens, and the entire international community to realize that they don’t want to be drawn into someone else’s conflict.

Neither Russia, nor the anti-fascists of Donbass and Ukraine, have contradictions with common people who live in Europe and the U.S. However, due to such aggressive actions of the American leadership, the world may be on the verge of disaster. Biden doesn’t have much time left to live, but we and our children have.

It is very important that everyone who is against such a decision will not be silent. Everyone has to express their position openly on social networks, in progressive media and friendly Telegram channels, at rallies and demonstrations, with the help of leaflets and graffiti.

If we all say NO to the actions of the United States, it will be difficult for our common enemies to take this step.

Comrades! Your solidarity is more important today than ever!

https://www.struggle-la-lucha.org/2023/ ... next-step/

*****

From Cassad's Telegram account:

Colonelcassad
🔹Chronicle of the special military operation
for January 31, 2023

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🔻Border territories of the Russian Federation:

▪️In the Bryansk region , Ukrainian formations fired mortars at the village of Lomakovka: residential buildings, a store building and power lines were damaged. Civilians were not hurt.

At night, the Armed Forces of Ukraine attacked the territory of the Novozybkovsky urban district. Power supply was interrupted in two settlements.

▪️In the Belgorod region , Russian air defense systems intercepted several enemy shells over the Shebekinsky district and the Belgorod region. According to preliminary data, there were no casualties or damage.

🔻Starobelsk direction:

▪️In the Kupyansko-Svatovsky sector, the situation has not changed significantly: artillery duels and positional battles continue along the line of contact.

▪️In the Limansky section, Ukrainian DRGs operate in the Dibrova area , trying to gain a foothold in the gray zone. Russian UAV crews use drones to reveal the location of the APU soldiers and target artillery.

🔻Lugansk People's Republic:

▪️Ukrainian formations fired rockets from the HIMARS MLRS at the city of Stakhanov in the morning . Residential buildings, civil infrastructure, power lines and a gas pipeline were damaged.

▪️In the afternoon, the enemy launched a missile attack on civilian targets in Kremennaya . At least three people were killed and several more were injured.

🔻Soledar direction:

▪️In the Soledar sector, units of the Wagner PMC are storming enemy strongholds in the direction of Paraskovievka and Krasnaya Gora .

▪️Clashes continue in Bakhmut : the "Wagnerites" are trying to push through the defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the area of ​​​​the local meat processing plant and Zabakhmutovka .

▪️Southwest of Bakhmut , Russian troops are storming the positions of Ukrainian formations in the direction of Krasnoye and Stupochka .

🔻Donetsk direction:

▪️In the Avdiivka section, servicemen of the RF Armed Forces continue their offensive towards the village of Severnoye .
➖At the same time, Russian troops are fighting the enemy in the Nevelskoye area .

▪️Fighting continues in Maryinka . Artillery provides fire support to Russian units, striking the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the western outskirts of the city.

▪️In the Ugledar sector, the parties are fighting in the southeast of Ugledar . The Ukrainian command is transferring additional forces to the city.

▪️Ukrainian formations indiscriminately shelled residential buildings and civilian infrastructure in Donetsk , Gorlovka , Makeevka , Yasinovataya and other settlements of the agglomeration.

🔻Southern front. Kherson direction:

▪️The enemy made an attempt to land troops in the area of ​​Lake Kruglik on the left bank of the Dnieper. Russian servicemen timely discovered the Ukrainian landing and destroyed it with accurate artillery fire.

▪️Artillery duels continue along the entire line of contact: units of the Russian Armed Forces hit the places of concentration of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the vicinity of Kherson , Berislav , Zolotaya Balka and Antonovka .

In turn, the enemy again fired at the settlements on the left bank of the Kherson region: residential buildings in Geroisk , Hola Pristan and Aleshki were also under attack .

***

forwarded from
⚔WELDERS
As we expected , the leadership of Ukraine decided to reduce the degree of tension in relations with Hungary, after information leaked to the media about the forced mobilization of ethnic Hungarians of Transcarpathia into the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

According to our data, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine has been instructed to reduce the mobilization load on the territorial recruitment centers (military registration and enlistment offices) of the Transcarpathian region, by increasing the supply of mobilized from other regions.

The implementation of such a decision is connected with the fact that in recent days more and more videos from Odessa have appeared on the network, where the military is detaining citizens by force right on the streets.

As we know, in addition to the Odessa region, the redistribution of the mobilization load from Transcarpathia will also affect the intensification of mobilization among residents of Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Dnepropetrovsk and Kharkov regions

***

forwarded from
Unofficial Bezsonov "Z"
The question from Ukrainian soldiers, especially those who have recently been mobilized, is becoming more and more popular: “How to avoid participation in hostilities and survive if you are already on the front lines?”

Most often it depends on the situation and the environment in which the soldier is located. It is best to declare your Unwillingness to fight in advance, without waiting for a personal critical situation during the clash. Until this situation, you can simply not survive. Many Ukrainian soldiers think that as soon as the battle begins, and if my life hangs in the balance, then I will immediately refuse to fight and raise my hands. Like in the movies. In reality, everything is different. You can simply not survive another artillery or air strike. Therefore, it is better in advance.

If it is not possible to contact our fighters so that they suggest which sector is better to go to them and where they can cover the transition, you should do the following:

1) Find out the direction and distance to the advanced positions of the RF Armed Forces;
2) Make sure you can get out in their direction without your co-workers noticing;
3) When you leave your positions, unfasten the magazine of the machine, and raise the machine above your head, holding it with both hands with the handle up. Ideally hang a white cloth on it. In this position, without sudden movements, approach the positions of the RF Armed Forces;
4) When you see one of our servicemen, loudly declare your unwillingness to fight and die;
5) No one will torment anyone, this has already been proven, but you can get a fist in the ear, because in the war everyone is in a bad mood. Therefore, when ours approach, declare that you are not going to fight and die for the interests of the jester / drug addict Zelensky, etc., in order to cheer up our fighters and everything will be fine.

https://t.me/s/boris_rozhin

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"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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blindpig
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Re: Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV

Post by blindpig » Wed Feb 01, 2023 1:14 pm

seven years of manipulation
POSTED BY @NSANZO ⋅ 02/01/2023

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A dead end virtually since their signing, the Minsk agreements were a recurring topic on the political agenda of Russia-Ukraine relations from 2015 to 2022, when Russia's recognition of the People's Republics formally closed a door that, in practice It was never open. However, the unspectacularity of the slow and repetitive process, with periodic meetings in which the parties only agreed on the date of the next meeting, and the lack of interest shown by the international press in the conflict in Donbass, forgotten since the end of the great battles in February 2015, has made it possible for its development to be manipulated to justify the party that openly sabotaged the process.

In the last few hours, the words of Petro Poroshenko, a politician whose career was put into question after his mismanagement and the disastrous results in the re-election attempt that made it impossible to recover his lost political profile, have achieved some visibility. Although it is not the first time that the former Ukrainian president has referred to his agreements and objectives in recent weeks, his words have achieved greater relevance. Poroshenko, who negotiated with Vladimir Putin with the mediation of Angela Merkel and the presence of François Hollande the agreements signed in February 2015, had already tried to join the discourse that the agreements were nothing more than a tactic so that Ukraine could buy time. to defend against a Russian attack that he took for granted. The manipulation of reality can hardly hide the fact that the former president is trying to claim part of a military success that he hopes will not be awarded solely to Zelensky. After all, the legislative elections are months away and European Solidarity, the former Poroshenko Bloc, is one of the few parties that the current authorities have not banned. With nothing more to use as a letter of introduction to the electorate, Poroshenko tries to claim for himself the start of the reconstruction of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in order to affirm that, without his management, the Ukrainian resistance would not have been possible. the former Poroshenko Bloc is one of the few parties that the current authorities have not banned. With nothing more to use as a letter of introduction to the electorate, Poroshenko tries to claim for himself the start of the reconstruction of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in order to affirm that, without his management, the Ukrainian resistance would not have been possible. the former Poroshenko Bloc is one of the few parties that the current authorities have not banned. With nothing more to use as a letter of introduction to the electorate, Poroshenko tries to claim for himself the start of the reconstruction of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in order to affirm that, without his management, the Ukrainian resistance would not have been possible.

In recent weeks, both Merkel and Hollande have referred to the negotiations and the prospects and objectives of the Minsk agreements and the Normandy format. Both participated in the long night of negotiations in the Belarusian capital, which resulted, early in the morning of February 12, 2015, in a document that was delivered to the OSCE and signed by the then leaders of the DPR and the RPL as well as former Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk. In the case of Alexander Zakharchenko and Igor Plotnitsky, they did so in their personal capacity and without having been able to participate in the drafting of the terms of the agreement. Without any intention of giving the DPR and RPL the slightest credit, Ukraine negotiated an agreement with Russia that, once finalized, was handed over to Plotnitsky and Zakharchenko with no choice but to agree to sign it. As had happened in September 2014, it was not Ukraine that enjoyed the initiative at the front, but after weeks of battle, the DPR and LPR, with Russian assistance, were advancing on Ukrainian territory with Poroshenko's army in withdrawal. Any peace or ceasefire agreement implies concessions and, in this case, for the People's Republics it implied the refusal to advance on Mariupol in 2014 and on Artyomovsk in 2015. Russia negotiated a ceasefire agreement for the People's Republics in two Moments of progress, not setbacks.

And throughout the seven long years of the Minsk and Normandy processes, in which Ukraine explicitly refused to negotiate politically with Donetsk and Lugansk, it imposed an economic blockade instead of resuming economic relations and, instead of offering amnesty , he looked for the way in which he would punish the collaborationists in the future, Russia always maintained the position of presenting proposals in search of compromise. Moscow remained firm in its refusal to modify certain terms of the agreements: the Ukrainian demand for the handover of border control as a prerequisite for future partial compliance with some of the points, not even all of them, was, for example, a clear Red line. However, Moscow forced Donetsk and Lugansk, more demanding in their demands, since they were the parties directly affected by the state of war, to renounce the idea of ​​"all for all" prisoner exchanges and even the negotiation of the special status if it minimally complied with the letter of Minsk.

During all this time, each of the parties directly or indirectly involved affirmed, without ceasing, that there was no alternative to the Minsk agreements. In 2015, François Hollande stated, for example, that Minsk was "one of the last chances". On February 6, barely a week before the signing of the agreements, the then French president stated that "if we are not able to find, not just a compromise, but a lasting peace agreement, well, we know the scenario perfectly well: it has a name , is called war”, a position very different from the one he currently maintains. Intentionally manipulating the statements of Angela Merkel, who did not affirm, as has been repeated, that the Minsk agreements were a strategy to buy time, but that, despite their failure, they at least gave Ukraine that seven-year period to strengthen itself,

Perhaps without really understanding the words of Merkel, who regrets not having been able to promote, together with Emmanuel Macron, a new dialogue format in his last months in office, Hollande gave a very different version from the one given by the German chancellor. . In December 2022, in an interview given to the Kyiv Post,the former French president alleged that France and Germany “led” Russia to accept the Normandy format and later to go to Minsk. However, throughout 2014, long before the Donbass rebellion took up arms, the Russian position was already one of dialogue in search of compromise. The same happened in May of that same year, when Vladimir Putin officially asked the Ukrainian regions to cancel the May 11 referendum, which Russia did not recognize, or in September, when he halted the Donbass offensive with the Ukrainian army in chaotic retreat or in February 2015, already with the experience of the months after the signing of Minsk, in which Ukraine showed no interest in complying with the agreement. In 2015, with the war focused on the northern front with the advance of the DPR and RPL towards Debaltsevo,

Time seems to have erased the facts and the ignorance of the development of the Minsk process makes it possible for the falsehoods of François Hollande to have gone unnoticed, who, to justify the blockade of the Minsk process in 2017 and 2018, stated that everything was due to the fact that "for On the one hand, the Ukrainian side saw that the Russian threats were becoming clearer (and that Moscow did not want peace); on the other, Vladimir Putin began to get tired of this arrangement because it prevented him from advancing in his desire for the total conquest of Donbass”.

In 2017, partly due to nationalist pressure, Petro Poroshenko decreed the economic blockade of Donbass, which reacted by nationalizing Ukrainian industrial properties that did not agree to stop contributing to the Ukrainian treasury to contribute to that of the People's Republics. That moment was the turning point of a process of economic separation of Donbass and Ukraine that also had political consequences. With the economic relationship with Ukraine broken, Donbass began an economic integration with Russia that would have been impossible if kyiv had maintained, for example, pension payments and trade between the two sides of the front, thereby perpetuating, for example, the presence of the grivna

And in those years, in the face of the People's Republics -or Russia, as Ukraine always preferred to affirm-, which did not take any step forward on Ukrainian territory, kyiv captured, step by step, all that neutral zone that was to act as a buffer zone. and separation between the parties in conflict. All this added to the explicit rejection of all political negotiations. However, the development of events and the interest in presenting, even then, Russia as an aggressor now makes it possible to manipulate the facts to make them fit into the current scheme of an “unprovoked war”.

In his remarks, in addition to taking part of the credit for the strength of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Petro Poroshenko claims something even more important: the seven years of the Minsk process have meant a time to create an “anti-Putin coalition”. That is where the former Ukrainian president is completely right. The Minsk process is the perfect example of the construction of an interested discourse based on the manipulation of reality whose objective is none other than to seek maximum antagonism with the party that is considered an enemy. During seven years of using the bombing as a political tool, blaming Russia for the Ukrainian bombing, economic blockade to force the population to surrender, Through constant manipulation of the lists of prisoners of war and open refusal to comply with the most important points of the signed agreements, Ukraine managed to impose its discourse of victim while acting as an aggressor. The disinterest of the press in reflecting the flagrant breach of the peace agreement and of its European partners for pressing for compromise now allows Ukraine to present itself as a victim, not only of an unprovoked war despite the fact that it began eight years earlier, but as an innocent party against an aggressor who during all that time acted in bad faith. Although reality contradicts it.

https://slavyangrad.es/2023/02/01/26537/#more-26537

Google Translator

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Searches in Kolomoisky's house
February 1, 13:16

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Kolomoisky's house is being searched in connection with financial fraud.

Investments in Zelensky led to slightly different results than Kolomoisky expected, due to the fact that the asset was intercepted by other players and used against Kolomoisky himself, who invested a lot of money in Zelensky's promotion.

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But now there is someone else's hand in Zelensky's ass, although a few years ago Kolomoisky probably believed that using Zelensky, he would be able to engage in the traditional squeezing of the assets of the state and other oligarchs in his favor. And now you have to dodge in order to avoid the final robbery (part of the assets have already been squeezed out) and landing (in the USA, the case has not yet been closed on him).

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/8141630.html

Nevzorov received 8 years in prison in absentia
February 1, 12:53

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Foreign agent Nevzorov received 8 years in prison in absentia for spreading fake news about the Russian army. The prosecution asked for 9.
We are unlikely to see him in Russia now. Will die in exile.

Nevzorov, by the way, made good money in Russia. Prigozhin has already proposed to confiscate Nevzorov's business in St. Petersburg, which brought him 700 million rubles a year (!)

“As far as I understand, when the special operation began, Alexander Glebovich, as a person who is absolutely unprincipled and loves only money, dumped him from Russia for a good financial offer and began to water everything around with necrophilic opuses. In his style, the way he likes it. And indeed, many necrophiles, zoophiles and other fans of the “fila” like it. I think we should make him a business proposal. It may sound like this:
“Dear Alexander Glebovich, they gave you 8 years, but this is painless for you, because you are not in Russia. It hurts to lose business.
And I will insist before Alexander Dmitrievich Beglov that this business be taken away from you, namely the Metronom advertising company (advertising in the subway), which has always brought you good income. About 700 million per year. It is clear that you have already regretted that you coveted money from abroad, because the loss of Russian business is more painful. It would be better if they sat, were silent and, as before, criticized secondary figures.
It seems to me that if in the near future Beglov does not cut off your business, which in 10 years has brought about 7 billion rubles, then it is better to return to Russia and get these 8 years. Go to a strict regime colony for first-timers, sit quietly under St. Petersburg, because one of his best friends is in the leadership of St. Petersburg (I won’t say who, I promised not to touch him), until I pick you up. And after that, signing up as a volunteer for the NWO, with weapons in hand, go to Bakhmut.
There are no cons. Of course, there is a chance to die, but in this situation, you will be next to the skulls and other attributes that you like to talk about, forever. And show your necrophilic talents to the fullest. Therefore, this is also a plus.
What are the benefits. You will see the situation from the inside with your own eyes, you will be in an atmosphere of death, after that you can start writing memoirs, there will be something. I would even invest in your show. Imagine, you die at the front, and the show “The dead Nevzorov speaks to you. He always knew what he was talking about” begins.
Alexander Glebovich, we are waiting for you! (c) Prigogine


https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/8141324.html

Google Translator

******************

US Threatens Missiles, Jets, and Now Crimea, Sees (Seeks) War with China by 2025
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JANUARY 31, 2023



Update on Russian military operations in Ukraine for February 1, 2023 + US and its potential war with China by 2025.

– Western media begins preparing public for the fall of Bakhmut;

– Recent Ukrainian losses is being used to call for more weapon shipments to Ukraine including calls for missiles and jets;

–Arms shipments are being accompanied by calls for arming Ukraine for taking Crimea;

– A 2013 US government-funded poll found that most people in Crimea identify as Russian or Crimean (not Ukrainian) and a majority leaned in favor of associating with Russia, not the EU;

– Announced arms shipments and threats toward Crimea represents the West’s attempt to find leverage over Russia as Ukraine suffers growing setbacks on the battlefield;

– At the same time, the US appears to be preparing for war with China over Taiwan;

– The US is out of time in terms of encircling and containing both Russia and China, forcing it to commit to increasingly reckless policies to achieve its objectives;

References:

Newsweek – Zelensky Tells U.S. to ‘Speed Up’ as Russia Makes Gains in Bakhmut: https://www.newsweek.com/volodymyr-ze

Reuters – Biden says no F-16s for Ukraine as Russia claims gains: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/

CNN – Ukraine is relying on Soviet-era tanks to hold the line until Western reinforcements arrive: https://edition.cnn.com/2023/01/30/eu

George Galloway (YouTube) – Interview with Mike Jones: https://youtu.be/M1wOPKhpydY

Mike Jones on iEarlGrey (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/@iEarlGreyTV/

US Department of Defense – Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh Holds a Press Briefing Jan. 26, 2023: https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcri

Foreign Affairs – How to Get a Breakthrough in Ukraine: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ukrain

Foreign Policy – Why Crimea Is Not a Bridge Too Far: https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/01/30/

USAID and International Republican Institute – Public Opinion Survey Residents of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea May 16 – 30, 2013: https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/pnaec7

TIME Magazine – The Next Debate Over Arming Ukraine Is Here—and It’s About Fighter Jets: https://time.com/6251180/ukraine-figh

CSIS – Russian Air and Missile Defense: https://missilethreat.csis.org/system

NYT – Opinion Time is not on Ukraine’s side: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinio

Washington Post – Why is a U.S. general predicting war with China by 2025?: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/

US Department of State – U.S. Relations With Taiwan: https://www.state.gov/u-s-relations-w

Alexander Mercouris – WSJ Admits Bakhmut Almost Cut Off, Russia Pushes Forward Vuhledar; US Military Wants End Ukraine War: https://youtu.be/psLmxw45cus

Where to Find My Work:

Website: https://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/

Telegram: https://t.me/brianlovethailand

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrianJBerletic

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2023/01/ ... a-by-2025/

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LATIN AMERICA SHOULD NOT GET INVOLVED IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE CONFLICT
Jan 31, 2023 , 4:59 p.m.

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A Russian-made MI-17 helicopter, in service with the Peruvian Air Force. It is part of Russia's military supplies in several countries in the region (Photo: Peruvian Air Force)

The United States has embarked on a large-scale strategy in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries, urging them to get rid of weapons they acquired in the Soviet era or in the era of the Russian Federation, to send them to benefit of Ukraine.

This operation takes place within the framework of NATO's proxy war against the Federation, and has involved arms shipments to Eastern Europe without comparison since World War II.

Since the start of the Russian Special Military Operation (SMO), Ukraine has mainly used weapons handed over to it from the Soviet era and Federation times (until 2014, when the Maidan coup took place). They have also defended themselves with arsenal produced by their military industry.

They have also used supplies delivered by NATO countries of Russian manufacture once the OME began in 2022, this due to its compatibility with Ukrainian weapons and consistent with the expertise of Ukrainian troops.

Recently, the United States, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Poland have crossed the so-called "psychological barrier" , which involves sending tanks of various types to fight against Russia, evoking elements of the second great war.

However, the delivery of mechanized infantry teams to Ukraine is a sure sign that Europe no longer has large numbers of Russian fighting vehicles. They have already been handed over to Ukraine and crushed by Russia . It should be added that Ukraine had more than 2,000 active tanks at the start of OME.

This major arms movement to Ukraine would have rid Europe of old and new Russian weapons systems, creating a favorable condition for Western manufacturers, especially the United States. Washington has promised to replace Russian-sourced weapons delivered to kyiv, and to provide each country with similar US-made equipment.

WASHINGTON KNOCKS ON THE DOOR TO LATIN AMERICA
The head of the US Southern Command, Laura Richardson, asked Latin American countries to cede their Russian military equipment to Ukraine. The general announced that they offer to replace the weapons with American equipment.

In these statements, and not incidentally, the military high command lashed out at the growing "influence" of Russia and China in the region, sending a shot for elevation to the countries of the region and urging them to take sides.

Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Cuba, Mexico and Venezuela are countries that possess Russian weapons. Venezuela has the most in the region, with equipment of various ranges in the fields of artillery, infantry, mechanized infantry, air defense (at all levels), communications equipment, geographic positioning systems, and military aviation.

With its request, Washington plans to lobby in its "space of influence" and deploy in the region the scheme that has been applied in Europe. They intend to empty it of Russian weapons, isolating Russia from the Latin American arms market and guaranteeing the advantage of the Americans as the main arms supplier.

Additionally, they promote a fissure in the relations of the Latin American countries with Russia.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had a recent visit to Argentina, where the issue was discussed. In a joint press conference, Argentine President Alberto Fernández indicated that "Argentina and Latin America are not thinking of sending weapons to Ukraine or any other place in conflict."

But Berlin's efforts as an intermediary for Washington's request also had a stopping point in Brasilia. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva rejected the German government's request to send tank ammunition to Ukraine.

https://misionverdad.com/globalistan/am ... ia-ucrania

Google Translator

***********

THE VLADIMIR KUTS LONG-DISTANCE EFFECT — SANCTIONS AND GEOGRAPHY ARE REPLACING THE RUSSIAN OLIGARCHY WITH STATE PLANNING, PRODUCING A BETTER GROWTH RATE THAN THE US, GERMANY

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By John Helmer, Moscow @bears_with

There is nothing like facing the gun muzzles of the Germans, British and Americans to teach Russians what to do to correct their past mistakes. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) would be the last US bank in the world to admit as much.

Nor would the IMF concede that everything it bribed the Kremlin to accept, when Boris Yeltsin was president and Anatoly Chubais and Alexei Kudrin were his economic ministers, is now being reversed – at a speed unmatched since Joseph Stalin directed the relocation of heavy industry out of reach of German guns between August and December of 1941.

This time round, the IMF is reporting that after Russia recorded a 2.2% drop in real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) measurement in 2022 – 35% less than the IMF had been forecasting – by 2024, the second and third years of the war, the Russian growth rate will be more than double the US, British and Japanese rates; 33% better than Germany’s; 24% better than France; 29% better than Canada.

This is the first official acknowledgement by the US and international banks that the long war against Russia is being lost.

They follow the evidence of last week and this in the stock markets of Frankfurt and New York that institutional investors are cutting the share prices and market capitalizations of the major German and American weapons companies. This reflects the market expectation these arms makers will be defeated in the short war to follow the deployment on the Ukrainian battlefield of the Abrams and Leopard tanks, together with more HIMARS and M777 artillery weapons.

Long distance is the race the Soviets dominated when Vladimir Kuts (lead image) was world champion over 5,000 and 10,000 metres. Watching him run in the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, despite the anti-Soviet, pro-Hungarian, pro-British demonstrations in the stadium, was a lesson in marshalling strength, conserving it over time, and exhausting the adversary. This lesson is now being taught in war.

The IMF report also confirms that the economic sanctions war pursued by the US and the European Union (EU) and their global allies is not only failing at the macro-economic level. The sanctions are also causing the reorientation of Russian trade flows eastward towards China and southward towards India. These flows, as revealed in a new report published in Vzglyad in Moscow this week, are forcing the replacement of more than twenty-five years of oligarch-dominated Kremlin economic decision-making by state planning.

This quiet revolution is also Stalin-sized. It would have been impossible without the US and NATO adoption of war for the destruction of Russia.

The IMF report was authored by Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas. Born in Montpellier, France, he has been trained and employed in US universities until he became the IMF’s chief economist.

This is the IMF’s tabulation of economic results and projections.

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Source: https://www.imf.org/en/-- page 6. The reported numbers represent real GDP calculated on the base of “world GDP measured at purchasing-power-parity weights” and according to the IMF they “account for approximately 90 percent (80 percent) of annual world (emerging market and developing economies') output at purchasing-power-parity weights.”

Russia is mentioned in passing a dozen times, with this one conclusion about the tabulated growth results and projections. “This reflects a smaller economic contraction in Russia in 2022 (estimated at –2.2 percent compared with a predicted –3.4 percent) followed by modestly positive growth in 2023. At the current oil price cap level of the Group of Seven, Russian crude oil export volumes are not expected to be significantly affected, with Russian trade continuing to be redirected from sanctioning to non-sanctioning countries.”

The IMF failed to report the significantly higher growth rate it is projecting for Russia by 2024, nor explain what the IMF and its economic staff believe to be the reason for Russia’s superiority compared to the US and the NATO alliance states. All the IMF has to say in the new report about the military and economic war is that it is one of the causes of economic contraction in the NATO states, and as the war continues it threatens worse for the latter—not for Russia, nor China, nor India.

“The rise in central bank rates to fight inflation and Russia’s war in Ukraine continue to weigh on economic activity. The rapid spread of COVID-19 in China dampened growth in 2022, but the recent reopening has paved the way for a faster-than-expected recovery…The balance of risks remains tilted to the downside, but adverse risks have moderated since the October 2022.

On the upside, a stronger boost from pent-up demand in numerous economies or a faster fall in inflation are plausible. On the downside, severe health outcomes in China could hold back the recovery, Russia’s war in Ukraine could escalate, and tighter global financing conditions could worsen debt distress. Financial markets could also suddenly reprice in response to adverse inflation news, while further geopolitical fragmentation could hamper economic progress.”

In the IMF report “geopolitical fragmentation” is a euphemism for what US and EU sanctions against Russia have caused already. It is the opposite of “multilateral cooperation” – another IMF euphemism for the global dominance of US-dollar denominated trade and investment, and the confiscation of Russian Central Bank reserves. “The war in Ukraine and the related international sanctions aimed at pressuring Russia to end hostilities are splitting the world economy into blocs and reinforcing earlier geopolitical tensions, such as those associated with the US-China trade dispute. Fragmentation could intensify—with more restrictions on cross-border movements of capital, workers, and international payments—and could hamper multilateral cooperation on providing global public goods. The costs of such fragmentation are especially high in the short term, as replacing disrupted cross-border flows takes time.”

In the following translation, Olga Samofalova, the energy reporter for Vzglyad, the leading national security publication in Moscow, reports a case study of how Russia’s coal and oil producers – two of the most oligarch-dominated sectors in the export economy – are having to subordinate themselves to central state planning in order to reach their new markets.

Read the original here.

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January 31, 2023
How will the battle of coal miners and oilmen for BAM and Transsib end
By Olga Samofalova

A serious struggle has unfolded for the opportunity to send cargo by rail to the East. Last year, Russian coal miners received the priority right to transport. However, now oil companies want to replace them because they are faced with the problem of transporting their petroleum products against the background of the embargo. Who will win the fight for the railway?

The problems of rail transportation of petroleum products in the eastern direction have existed for three to four months, as TASS reported in quoting the head of the Russian Fuel Union, Yevgeny Arkusha. ‘There is a problem, and for a long time,’ Arkusha said. According to him, the decision on the rail transportation priority for different export goods has now reached the senior government level.

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Source: https://www.mapsofworld.com/

Until now, the Kommersant newspaper, citing its sources in the oil industry, has reported that the oil companies have been facing refusals of transportation in the eastern direction by Russian Railways. The oil companies fear that these difficulties with export may affect their production program.

After February 5, when the embargo on Russian oil and the price ceiling come into force in the EU, the problem may worsen even more. Coal miners have already faced a similar problem in 2022. As a result, the situation may lead to internal competition between Russian coal and Russian petroleum products for the transportation of goods by rail to the East.

OLIGARCHS CONTROLLING THE LEADING COAL AND OIL EXPORTERS

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Left to right: coal -- Andrei Melnichenko (SUEK), Iskander Makhmudov, Andrei Bokarev (KRU); oil – Igor Sechin (Rosneft), Vladimir Bogdanov (Surgutneftegas). For more on each of the oligarchs and their companies, open the website search box for each name. According to the Office for Foreign Assets Control in Washington, Melnichenko, Sechin and Bogdanov are sanctioned; Makhmudov and Bokarev are not.

‘Right now there is a competition of everyone against everyone, because the capacity of the railways in Siberia and the Far East is limited by the capabilities of the BAM [Baikal-Amur Mainline] and the Transsib [Trans-Siberian Railway] In 2022, the coal miners complained that the capacity was low. Everyone else complained that the coal miners had clogged all the railways with their coal and nothing else could be transported,’ says Igor Yushkov, an expert at the Financial University of the Government of the Russian Federation and the National Energy Security Fund.

The closure of the European market has led to the reorientation of Russian exports, primarily hydrocarbons to the East. The trade turnover with China in 2022 increased by a third and almost reached $200 billion – a target which at best had been expected in 2024. Finally, sanctions restrictions have played a role, complicating the transportation of our hydrocarbons by sea. All this has put the railway route in great demand from all sides.

‘The BAM and Transsib have transported 158 million tonnes of cargo this year, while according to the [state] plan, a capacity of at least 200 million tonnes per year is required. But this level, provided that the rail tracks are modernized in a timely manner, can only be reached in a few years’ time. The BAM and Transsib are complex transport systems, with bridges, tunnels, sometimes no electricity, so it’s impossible for electric locomotives to make the crossing. There are not enough railway interchanges and rollingstock for the cargoes,’ says Artem Deev, head of the analytical department of AMarkets.

‘For decades, Russia has been building infrastructure for the priority supply of resources to Europe, and not to Asia. Also, such volumes of coal that we used to supply to Europe were not previously transported through BAM and Transsib. Therefore, coal miners have had problems in the summer – their cargoes were also delayed, then they became a priority and they were moved into the first place,” Deev points out. ‘In August, as you know, the European embargo on the purchase of Russian coal came into force, and the Kuzbass [coal-mining region] urgently redirected its volumes to China.’

Now the problem with oil products, which will be banned in the EU from February 5, has been added to all of this. Yushkov explains that from a commercial point of view, it is also more profitable for our oil companies to deliver oil products by rail to the Far East, and then by sea to the sales markets which are nearby. The rail right-of-way is small, and tankers can quickly carry oil products back and forth. And most of the way is a safe route by land, taking into account the new sanctions against transportation by sea.’

RUSSIA’S FAREASTERN PORTS

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Source: https://www.fesco.ru/

‘It is much more expensive to carry fuel to the western ports of the Leningrad region or Novorossiysk than to send oil products to the East. Plus, in the western ports, you need to find tankers, sort out insurance, and there will be the issue of meeting the price ceiling. I think it will be more difficult to find dedicated tankers for petroleum products than tankers for oil. And in general, the world tanker fleet that transports petroleum products is smaller than the fleet that transports oil,’ Yushkov says.

In his opinion, companies are not telling the truth when they say that they need to transport petroleum products by rail exclusively for the domestic needs of the Far Eastern regions. They just want to get their cargo priority in transportation. They need this route to export the overwhelming volume of petroleum products.

Unfortunately, the capacity is not enough to transport increased volumes of coal, petroleum products, and everything else. Therefore, the authorities will have to choose. Who will win in this battle between oil products and coal?

The experts believe that coal will have to adjust, since Russia earns more on oil products than on coal.

‘Oil products are more expensive, the taxes from their sales go to the budget in large volumes, but at the same time the state should not lose export volumes of coal supplies either. Priority should be given to petroleum products, but it is necessary to strike a balance so that the largest coal companies do not go bankrupt,’ says Vladimir Chernov, an analyst at Freedom Finance Global.


“The authorities will try to find this balance and indeed they can adjust coal a little. But it is necessary to reduce its volumes carefully so as not to jeopardize the work of the coal mines and processors. This is because we have mostly coal-fired single-industry towns, where the whole city works at the mine. And if the question arises that some mine will have to be closed and people will be left without work, then economic considerations will fade into the background. Social stability will be more important, even
though the economic feasibility is on the side of petroleum products,’ says Yushkov (right).

This problem cannot be solved quickly. Therefore, in his opinion, it is most likely that the oil industry will be required to take a step back and reduce oil refining in favour of the growth of crude oil exports. This will keep production at a decent level. ‘This is a temporary and forced measure that will allow Russia to form a dedicated fleet for the transportation of petroleum products by sea. This will take about six months,’ Yushkov believes.

Russia processes 250-270 million tonnes of oil per year, and consumes only 90-100 million tonnes of petroleum products inside the country: 30 million tonnes of diesel, 30 million tonnes of gasoline, and about the same amount of everything else. And Russia exports much more, mainly fuel oil, diesel, gas oil, naphtha and a little gasoline and kerosene.

In addition, Yushkov highlights the problem with fuel oil, which is produced during oil refining, but which, practically speaking, is not consumed in the domestic Russian market, but is exported for the most part. ‘If there is nowhere to place fuel oil, then oil refining for the domestic market may be reduced. As a result, there may be a shortage in the domestic market for diesel and gasoline. I doubt that this will be allowed, but such possibilities must be taken into account,’
– says Yushkov. Either new markets for fuel oil will be found, or the authorities will allow cancellation of fines for burning fuel oil at power plants. This means that we will start heating with fuel oil instead of gas and coal. Lukoil made such an offer in the spring of 2022.

It will not be possible to make a quick fix for the under-developed oil and gas and transport infrastructure in the Asian direction. The problem can be solved within a few years, but this will require very substantial state investments, measured in trillions of rubles, says Deev.

In fact, they have been talking about the need to build a second BAM and Transsib for a long time, and there are plans to expand the narrow track system. ‘The government has already formulated a package of actions to expand the capacity of the Eastern Polygon [Eastern Section of the Transsib], so now this process simply needs to be accelerated. Among other options is an increase in the volume of cargo transportation through the Northern Sea Route, which is also being accelerated at the current time,’ says Chernov.

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Source: https://splash247.com/

‘I think that the problem will be solved in this way: they will recruit a sufficient number of tankers that will transport petroleum products. And the volume of transit through BAM and Transsib will return to its usual norm. Because it will be possible to export petroleum products by sea. But this will take about six months,’ says Yushkov.

Big-volume deliveries of petroleum products from the Leningrad Region via the Northern Sea Route, according to him, remain for development in the future, because, for the time being, it is easier and more commercially profitable to export through the Suez Canal to Asia. ‘I doubt that some exotic route like the Northern Sea Route will save the current situation. Other routes by land, for example, in the south [Caspian Sea], are also long–term projects which require a lot of money and time. It is easier to build new BAM and Transsib lines. This is a more universal and a shorter way,’ Yushkov concludes.

http://johnhelmer.net/the-vladimir-kuts ... more-70597

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From Cassad's Telegram account:

Colonelcassad

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Vugledarsky section
situation as of 14.00 February 1, 2023

🔻There were no significant changes in the Ugledar region over the past day. Due to bad weather conditions, the active offensive was suspended, positional battles are underway. Ukrainian formations carry out remote mining of the outskirts and approaches to the city.

▪️At the same time, units of the 72nd Ombr of the Armed Forces of Ukraine suffered huge losses. Partially, the personnel was withdrawn to the Elizavetovka area . On the night of January 31 to February 1, towed guns were withdrawn from the vicinity of Ugledar to new firing positions.

The commander of one of the battalions of the 72nd mechanized brigade was missing. According to the interception of negotiations between members of the Ukrainian formations, 200 bodies of those killed during the fighting in the Donetsk direction were delivered to Gaisin in the Vinnitsa region.

▪️To reinforce the grouping, the forces of the 35th detachment of the Ukrainian Navy were deployed to Vuhledar, which took up all-round defense. In addition, one of the units of the 80th Airborne Assault Brigade of the Airborne Forces of Ukraine arrived from the Limansky sector .

▪️In the near future, the transfer of the battalion-tactical group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from Bogatyr to the site is expected, part of which is planned to be used to defend transport hubs.

▪️In the vicinity of Trudovoye, a position area for a battery of 155-mm self-propelled guns CAESAR has been equipped for firing at Russian military personnel.

***

Colonelcassad
On the situation in the Krasnoliman direction.

In general, the last 7 days for the 144th Motor Rifle Division became very difficult. Every day, a crest, attacking the attack (every day, for 5 days, with forces up to a battalion) hoped to break the Bryansk and Smolensk infantry, knock it out of the oporniks and enter Kremennaya from the west.

All enemy attacks were stopped and yesterday's civilians did it, that is, ordinary mobilized ones. Khokhol tried to repeat the tactics that he carried out at the time near Balakleya. A powerful attack by mobile units in pickup trucks and Humvees, supported by tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. This tactic can achieve serious results only in one case, if the enemy is afraid and runs.
If, like warriors, he stands still and fights, then it will bring you nothing but losses.

It was this situation that occurred in the defense zone of the Guards 144th Motor Rifle Division. Khokhol in some cases approached the distance of a pistol shot, which is very rare for modern warfare. The Smolyans and Bryantsy withstood all the blows, in turn destroying the routes for the supply of ammunition and the rotation of the Ukrainian with artillery.

Today, just like yesterday, our guards are moving forward, unwinding the crested guards, killing his infantry, destroying supply routes. It is clear that now all eyes are riveted on Bakhmut, where the Orchestra fighters are on the offensive, trying to encircle Bakhmut, but it is worth remembering that at the same time in the forests, fields and forest belts to the west of Kremennaya, yesterday's mobilized are fighting fiercely with the enemy and lead successfully.

https://t.me/s/boris_rozhin

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"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV

Post by blindpig » Thu Feb 02, 2023 1:07 pm

Before the storm
POSTED BY @NSANZO ⋅ 02/02/2023
Original Article: DonRF

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About a hundred tanks, long-range missiles with a range of 150 kilometers, aircraft, full mobilization expansion in the Armed Forces of Ukraine… these are the recent news. They are preparing. They are preparing for spring, in my opinion, for April or May, maybe the beginning of June. To try to break through the defenses in a narrow territory, they will use everything at their disposal and put a NATO tank brigade at the service of that breakthrough. How else can it be called? With NATO tanks. They will have NATO instructors. The same happens in the rear.

It will be the Ukrainians who try to break through the defenses. The bodies will be those of newly captured recruits. Twenty battalions (one per region) are being formed. They promise that the volunteers will serve at checkpoints in the cities they come from. This is what was promised to the territorial battalions last February [they were sacrificed in the southern area in the face of the Russian advance while professional and well-prepared units defended Kiev and other priority areas- Ed ]. Those battalions have already been exhausted, new meat is needed.

We are also preparing. The battles in Artyomovsk have reached a certain limit. The city is held by a couple of corps (six brigades) of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and is being stormed by a combined grouping of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and members of the Wagner private military company. As part of those Armed Forces of the Russian Federation there are units from the people's militias of the DPR and the LPR. There will be no actions in other directions while this operation has not been concluded.

There is something that is clear. If two corps of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation fall in Artyomovsk, the situation will be the same. If they resist, it will be different. Bakhmut (Artyomovsk when we release him) is currently determining the nature of the campaign. It is a hard battle capable, like those of the world wars, of deciding who will have the initiative in the following six months. And it will also determine how Moscow will go from being on the defensive to going on the attack.

So, while the fighting is going on there, other areas of the front are calm. Relatively calm. Artillery duels along the border have increased markedly, from Bryansk to Belgorod. Around Donetsk, our offensive has stalled, failing to capture either Marinka or Avdeevka. Some of the toughest battles are taking place in Ugledar, also stalled, but with more positive prospects. In the south, combat reconnaissance seems to have improved positions in the direction of Zaporozhye, but has not been followed up. Is soon. It's still too early. Games in which sabotage and reconnaissance groups are sent to the opposite bank of the Dnieper are gaining traction in Kherson. From both sides. Its only purpose is to annoy the enemy.

We are prepared? are they? Time will tell. And the battles. Meanwhile, everything continues the same, as just before a big storm: there is electricity in the air, it is black on the horizon, but it seems that the sun is shining. Soon it will be replaced by a terrible storm, but for now…For now there is nothing. Each person understands what is happening and what is going to happen and they cannot do anything to avoid it. In this context, whoever has been better prepared and has more means will command. We will see it soon.

https://slavyangrad.es/2023/02/02/antes ... more-26545

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***************

1993: The Barry R. Posen Plan for War on Russia via Zombie State Ukraine
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on FEBRUARY 1, 2023
Mendelssohn Moses

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“We are fighting a war against Russia and not against each other,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Strasbourg, January 24, 2023.

(For an unauthorised biography of Baerbock, see here).
https://www.rainerrupp.de/1382-2/

On July 27, 1993, the US Department of Defense (DoD) and the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense (MoD) signed a Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation on Defense and Military Relations, establishing a programme of defence cooperation at the Department-Ministry-level, with “substantive activities” between those offices being launched in July 1994 (Cf. Lt. Col. Frank Morgese, US-Ukraine Security Cooperation 1993-2001: A Case History). Since that date, the Ukraine has teemed with US military advisors of every stripe.

The Morgese case study is a blow-by-blow review of the US military activity in the Ukraine between 1993 and 2001, designed to set up the Ukraine for her destruction. So detailed a review, that it would swamp the layman. Accordingly, we propose another document dating from 1994, readable by the laymen amongst us, and which spells out thirty years in advance, the full-blown War Plan for a zombie Ukraine.

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Its author, Barry R. Posen (Rand, CFR, MIT, Woodrow Wilson Foundation), belongs to the leather-armchair school of strategy the US so excels in: arranging for others to die for the US living standard.

For obvious reasons, only Posen’s assessment of Russian military strength is dated. The remainder of his study predicts with such ghastly exactitude both events in the Ukraine over the last 20 years and the expected, indeed hoped for, Russian response, that one readily perceives that this is no prediction, but rather a fully-formed proposal for War—complete with Posen’s dismay, very faintly-veiled, at Operation Barbarossa’s failure, and his pleasure at the “high cost” Barbarossa exacted on Russia.

To give our readers the flavour of Posen’s text, we have selected a few, notable paragraphs from this Must-Read, one which Russia surely cannot have missed. All quotations are so marked and in italics.

Manoeuvring the Ukraine into Demanding the US Armed Forces Intervene

The problem here is that if Russia were to attack Ukraine, or threaten it conventionally, the US is not obliged to do anything. Ukrainian diplomats could, however, try to argue that any act of war or threat of war by a nuclear superpower involves an implicit nuclear threat sufficient to warrant US action. Even if this argument were accepted, however, Security Council action would be thwarted by the Russian veto. Nevertheless, it should be part of Ukraine’s diplomatic strategy in the event of trouble.

Partnership for Peace Designed to “impose considerable costs on Russia”

Even if Partnership for Peace (PFP) does not come through for Ukraine, it still holds the potential to impose considerable costs on Russia, which adds to Ukraine’s overall deterrent power. Paragraph 8 of NATO’s ‘Framework’ document for PFP states “NATO will consult with any active participant in the Partnership if that partner perceives a direct threat to its territorial integrity, political independence, or security. The precise action that would follow such consultation is unspecified. Nevertheless, NATO would look pretty sorry if it either failed to consult, or failed to take any action after consultation. Some politicians and pundits will trumpet the credibility costs of a failure to act. NATO might, of course, compensate for a failure to act on Ukraine’s behalf by stronger measures elsewhere, though this would be cold comfort to Ukraine. Fear of these stronger measures elsewhere are, however, another element of Ukraine’s dissuasive power.

If the Russian Government Reject further Western “Reforms,” NATO Must Act

The Partnership for Peace can be viewed as ‘NATO’s Waiting Room.’ The tacit bargain with Russia is that many central European states remain in that waiting room so long as Russia remains a good neighbor. If-and-as Russia begins to try to expand its power, the din in the waiting room will become disturbingly loud. The elements are in place for the rapid extension of NATO to Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, even if a threatened Ukraine is tossed to the wolves. Russia can, by its own acts, bring NATO to its doorstep. Stephen Oxman, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs virtually stated this rationale.

…should reform experience a reversal of fortune in Russia, we can re-evaluate NATO’s needs and those of the Central and Eastern Europeans. At the same time, active participation in the Partnership will go a long way toward enhancing their military preparedness and allow partners to consult with NATO in the event of a threat.

Confrontation with Russia “Probable” and She can be Provoked into the Ukraine

Moreover, as noted above, complete inaction would damage NATO’s credibility for a probable future confrontation with Russia. If, as some now argue, NATO expands eastward more-or-less as a matter of course, this useful sanction will have been lost. Nevertheless, it seems that any near term NATO expansion will be accompanied by only limited military redeployments, so long as Russia-US relations remain moderately amicable. Russian policy makers might still calculate that aggression against Ukraine can leave them worse off because of the countervailing actions it would precipitate.

Moreover, near term candidates for NATO membership are only a subset of the PFP participants. Again, Russian action can precipitate more energetic alliance expansion. A word of caution is in order, here, however. If near term NATO expansion is accompanied by energetic military preparations that Russian policy makers view as unprovoked, they may be stimulated to try to reabsorb Ukraine out of their own defensive impulses.

The Ukraine Must be Shifted towards “Ethnic Nationalism”

…Ukraine has one other diplomatic asset. Thus far, the “state ideology” is organized largely around the idea of “civic” rather than “ethnic” nationalism. Anybody can be a citizen of Ukraine, and a good “Ukrainian.” Russians are not a persecuted minority. There are small ethnically Ukrainian elements who might wish to change this orientation. But “civic nationalism” is congenial to the West. Insofar as any future struggle can be portrayed as the “ethnic” Russians against the “civic” Ukrainians, the path of western intervention is eased. Moreover, it is not inconceivable that other states will draw a tragic lesson from an unopposed Russian “liberation” of its brethren in Ukraine. One is better off expelling such potential irredenta.

“Diplomacy Profits from Ghastly Television Footage”—Bucha, Anyone?

Ukraine must organize its military power to ensure the greatest probability of outside intervention. Russian fear of outside intervention could add greatly to Ukraine’s dissuasive power. Diplomacy needs time to work; it also profits from ghastly television footage. This means Ukraine must, as a matter of priority, organize its military forces to avoid the kind of catastrophic defensive collapse often associated with armored warfare.

The West could assist Ukraine in many important ways short of direct military intervention. But all assistance will have to move through Poland, Slovakia, or Hungary. It is improbable that these countries will be willing to cooperate without full fledged membership in NATO, so membership would have to be extended during the crisis. Ukraine will require outside sources of oil and gas if it is to hold out very long. Replacements for weapons lost in the initial battles would be very helpful. Given that many eastern European countries will, for the foreseeable future, have similar equipment to the Ukrainians, they are a ready source of easily usable replacements and munitions.

Give the Ukraine “Many More Opportunities to Inflict Disproportionate Casualties on the Russians”

One of the most useful forms of assistance that could be provided to Ukraine is intelligence. If Ukraine regularly knows where large Russian ground formations are, its forces will be much less vulnerable to catastrophe, and have many more opportunities to inflict disproportionate casualties on the Russians. (Similar assistance may be possible against enemy air forces.). Direct military intervention from the West will be very problematical. One suspects that some secret planning has been done for this contingency, but the task must seem daunting. NATO ground and air forces would have to cross vast distances to reach even central Ukraine.

The distance from the old inter-German border to Kiev is roughly 1500 km. NATO’s relatively few divisions would be swallowed up in the vast spaces of the East, even if they could get there. The optimum direct military assistance would probably be in the form of air strikes. Effective, sustained, tactical air strikes cannot efficiently be flown from existing NATO air bases in western Europe; 2000 km range sorties could just reach central Ukraine, but would be hard on pilots and would require high levels of aerial tanker support.12 (These sorties would also require Polish permission.) Another option would be to fly from bases in Turkey, a NATO ally. Sorties could be flown directly across the Black Sea to Ukraine. Ranges would vary depending on bases and targets, but it is unlikely that any sortie would need to go further than 1500 km. The problem here, of course, would be whether Turkey believed its vital interests were engaged, since the NATO treaty does not oblige them to come to the assistance of a non-NATO country, even if other NATO countries wish it.

Move NATO Ground and Air Forces into Poland

NATO ground and air forces might move into Poland and NATO aircraft could fly from Polish bases. (This would have to be negotiated, of course, and the cost would certainly be immediate full membership in NATO for Poland.) Unfortunately, most Polish bases were built to be close to the old “inner-German” border, the expected zone of east-west conflict. There are only about a half-dozen military airfields in the southeastern quadrant of the country that would meaningfully reduce sortie ranges, and thus the need for tankers. Even these would require sorties of over 1000 km, which is still demanding.for sustained tactical air attacks.

…It seems unlikely that NATO commanders would want to put their very valuable aircraft and support equipment onto Ukrainian bases, without the benefit of a large scale NATO ground force shield.A more arcane, but nevertheless extremely important problem would be the coordination of NATO fighters with Ukraine’s own air defenses to ensure that Ukrainians do not shoot at NATO aircraft. This should prove very difficult to improvise.

The West will Need to Repudiate its High Minded Principles Publicly in a Series of Venues, All Ostensibly Designed for the very Purpose of Protecting these Principles

Because NATO countries lived for nearly a half century with Soviet control over Ukraine, Ukrainians ought not to have confidence that NATO will come to its aid out of narrow strategic interest. Nevertheless, this assistance becomes more plausible, the longer Ukraine can resist, and the longer Ukrainian diplomacy can work. Ukraine should thus try, through its military strategy, to maximize Russian fear of this outcome. Ukraine has available to it a series of for a where it can present its case. Thus, the West will need to repudiate its high minded principles publicly in a series of venues, all ostensibly designed for the very purpose of protecting these principles. Since Munich already happened, this policy has a name and a historical meaning that will provide some additional leverage for Ukrainian diplomats.

The Ukrainian Defence will be a “Catastrophic Failure” and the Army, Destroyed

Even if the Russians start out with a limited aims strategy–with the intent of conquering Crimea, and the three or four easternmost oblasts of dense Russian settlement, the likely catastrophic failure of these forward defense or mobile defense strategies would incur the destruction of most if not all of the Ukrainian army.

A Divided Ukraine Would then Assume the Role in a New Cold War that Divided Germany Assumed in the Last One

Western Ukraine, though weak industrially, is agriculturally rich and ought to be able to feed itself. It does have considerable light industry which could be turned to military uses. Most importantly, it borders Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary, all potential sources of supply if NATO admits these countries, applies diplomatic pressure, and provides resources. These are big “ifs,” but for the diplomatic reasons outlined above, there are reasons for hope. If Ukraine makes its western reaches strong enough to resist for a lengthy period, at least several months, and employs its mobile forces effectively to generate serious combat from the outset of the war, Ukrainian diplomacy will have a chance. If the Ukrainian bastion can garner enough western European logistical assistance to survive, Russia will face the prospect of having to employ large active forces to contain it. It will go even worse for them if western Ukraine can get into NATO. A divided Ukraine would then assume the role in a new Cold War that divided Germany assumed in the last one. But the “inner-Ukrainian border” would be much closer to the centers of Russian power than was the “inner-German” border.

Encourage the Ukrainians to Blow Up their Own Cities and Infrastructure

Extensive demolitions would supplement more conventional military operations to slow the attackers’ progress, and complicate their subsequent logistics. Much of this could be organized well in advance; critical facilities can be “pre-chambered” to speed the placement of explosives. Necessary explosives can be cached close to the designated targets, under the control of local police forces or reserve military formations, as is done in Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, and even Germany. As the Ukrainians retreat into geographical areas where Ukrainians constitute a greater ethnic majority, it may prove possible to organize “stay-behind” forces to collect intelligence on the Russians and engage in partisan warfare. This too should be planned in advance.

The Ukraine Must “Convince its Neighbours that It has a Million Men Willing to Die”

A word of candor is in order on the nature of the combat that would be necessary to make this military concept work. The essence of the combat power of the organization I propose is the willingness of the Ukrainian soldier to fight and die for his or her country, in a war that may seem a hopeless cause. This is not a US or even an Israeli military system that strives to beat its adversary mainly through technological superiority, highly trained people, enormously competent leadership, and brilliant tactics. As noted elsewhere, the Ukrainian Army has no chance of achieving this. and they will be substantially outweighed in major items of combat equipment. Historically, the kind of fighting proposed here has taken a terrific toll in casualties–thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, would die. This organization can only inflict casualties on a mechanized adversary if it is willing to accept casualties itself. The mind of the individual Ukrainian soldier is the key. What is the commitment to an independent Ukraine? How untense is Ukrainian patriotism, or nationalism? The answers to these questions are already in doubt in many parts of Ukraine. If Ukraine cannot devise a host of ways to convince its neighbors that it can find a million soldiers willing to die on any day for the sovereignty of the country, then the deterrent power of this military system will be weak.

The Ukraine Must Learn to Love Poland, and Become A Dumping-Ground for Old Weapons

To increase the Russian perception that Ukraine might actually get western assistance to execute this strategy, there are a range of requests the Ukrainians might make of NATO in the context of the Partnership for Peace. Ukraine should seek joint air defense exercises that would familiarize western and Ukrainian air force officers and air defense officers with the coordination problems they would face in a real war. Ukraine should suggest that the Polish air bases closest to it are seen as assets, not threats, and should encourage the Polish air force and NATO to practice forward movement of NATO aircraft into these bases, again in the guise of joint “peacekeeping” exercises. They should also note their interest that these bases remain in good shape. Ukrainian Army personnel should seek joint training opportunities with NATO that would familiarize them with NATO anti-armor weapons. And Ukraine should suggest that anti-armor weapons that NATO armies might intend to retire could still find a useful life in Ukraine.

Alternatively, they could simply ask that such weapons be stockpiled, rather than sold or destroyed. The railroad gauge change yards that transshipped cargo from Russian to European trains should be well maintained so that supplies could be moved East expeditiously. Some might object that these kinds of exercises go beyond what is implied in the Partnership for Peace. But it does not seem beyond the creative powers of diplomats to rationalize them. Ukrainian diplomats are in a position to argue quite strenuously for these measures.

“Inherent Irrationality” of a “Violent Struggle of the Magnitude Envisioned Here” No Obstacle!

The third argument is implicit in the peculiar character of post-Cold War discourse on international politics. Violent struggles of the magnitude envisioned here among great and middle sized advanced industrial powers have come to be viewed as “inconceivable.” There is a widespread inclination to view them as beyond the organizational, economic, social, and political capabilities of these countries. The inherent irrationality of such struggles against the backdrop of modern societies that prize rationality has come to be viewed as a barrier to such conflicts. Many believe that the spread of democracy also makes such wars unlikely among democracies, since “median voters” will demand alternative solutions from their leaders on both sides. In short, while limited uses of military force remain possible, deliberate large-scale aggression of the type discussed here is simply not something Russia could or would do.

And if all else Fail, Nuke ’em

A useful next analytic step would be a systematic consideration of the strengths and weaknesses of this conventional strategy vs a nuclear one.… The strategy I have developed gives the Ukrainians almost no ability to stop a determined Russian attempt to conquer territories populated by ethnic Russians. It is moderately good at raising the costs of an attempt to conquer the entire country, but without outside assistance, it will ultimately fail. Presuming that Ukraine could generate a small, secure second strike capability against Russia, what problems might nuclear deterrence solve?

Ukraine would think of itself as trying to deter attacks on its territory. Russia might think of itself as trying to protect its countrymen–accidentally marooned on territory that has historically been Russian, but which is now incidentally Ukrainian.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2023/02/ ... e-ukraine/

Operation Z: The Hidden Truth about the War in Ukraine
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on FEBRUARY 1, 2023
Jacques Baud

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We are so very pleased to bring our a readers a sample from Jacques Baud’s book on the conflict in the Ukraine, which has just been translated into English. It is called Operation Z (which is the code-name of the Special Military Operation launched by Russia on February 24, 2022). We have been waiting eagerly for this translation to come out, so we can get the truth about this conflict.

Please support Jacques Baud’s great work and purchase a copy of his book, and also please spread the word about this translation.

Without further ado, here is an excerpt from Operation Z.

– Editor, Postil Magazine


The Ukrainian Question

EU defenders claim that Russian foreign policy is guided by the fact that “Putin hates the European Union” and “supranational constructs,” and that he aims to “humiliate the European Union,” as it is his “public enemy number one.”

This myth stems from a simplification of the sequence of events that led to the Maidan crisis in 2013-2014. Vladimir Putin was accused of refusing to allow Ukraine to sign an agreement with the European Union.

However, Russia and its leaders have always been aware of their economic weaknesses. As a result, they have never tried to compete with Europe or the United States. Since the Tsarist era, Russia has never managed to develop an industrial base equivalent to that of Europe or Asia; and it knows it. In the post-Cold War era, Russia has seen itself as complementary to Europe, not its equal.

This is why the barrage of sanctions it has suffered since February 2022 only partially affects it—Europe is dependent on Russia for its raw materials, while Asia supplies Europe its consumer products.

Secondly, it is important to remember that the Ukrainian population was not unanimously in favor of an agreement with the European Union. In November 2013, a poll conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) showed that it was then split 50/50 between an agreement with the European Union and a customs union with Russia.

Like President Yanukovych, many believe that the Ukrainian economy is structurally adapted to the Russian market. With an industrial base that complements that of the former USSR countries, it is not ready to face the very competitive European market. A too rapid rupture of commercial links with Russia would weaken its own economy. This would be confirmed by what happened next.

For its part, Russia was not opposed to an agreement between Ukraine and the European Union, but sought to maintain its economic relations with its main historical partner. This is why it proposed a tripartite working group, the aim of which was to reconcile Ukraine’s desire to join the European Union while preserving its ties with Russia. According to Mykola Azarov, the Ukrainian Prime Minister, studies showed that this proposal did not conflict with the European proposal and that it was therefore possible to have a solution that satisfied Ukrainian interests.

However, José Manuel Barroso, then President of the European Commission, refused and asked Ukraine to choose. The Ukrainian government therefore asked the European Union to delay the signing of the agreement in order to better study the implications of the agreement with the European Union on its relations with Russia and to better prepare its economy for this situation. It stated:

There is no alternative to reforms in Ukraine and no alternative to European integration…. We are going down this road and not changing direction.

The then Ukrainian Prime Minister confirmed this:

I can say with full knowledge that the process of negotiating the Association Agreement is continuing and that the work of bringing our country closer to European standards is not stopping for a single day.

This suspension was clearly only temporary, but it was presented by the Western press and the Ukrainian opposition as a refusal to move closer to Europe under Russian pressure. Ukrainian public opinion, which had been promised visas or salary increases, was quickly polarized and its discontent instrumentalized—this was the beginning of the Maidan events.

It was therefore the European Union which created the tensions between Ukraine and Russia, as Arnaud Dubien notes in Le Monde:

Ukraine is a very fragmented country with multiple identities and cannot make a clear-cut choice, either in favor of the West or Russia. One of Brussels’ mistakes was to ask it to do so and to turn its back on Russia, a suicidal option for the country.

The Europeans deliberately pushed Ukraine towards suicide. In the Washington Post, Henry Kissinger, National Security Advisor under Ronald Reagan, noted that the European Union “helped turn a negotiation into a crisis.” Ironically, the new government that emerged from Euromaidan was forced to take the same time for reflection that Yanukovych had hoped for, and was only able to sign the agreement with the European Union in 2017.

As researcher Frederico Santopinto of the Group for Research and Information on Peace and Security (GRIP) in Brussels put it, Russia was not opposed to an agreement with the EU, but not at the expense of its relationship with Ukraine. It was the EU that refused the coexistence of two agreements: European diplomacy saw Ukraine as a border between East and West, while Russia saw it as a bridge. As in 2022, European diplomacy has failed to take into account three factors that are of key concern to Ukraine:

Eastern European countries have—whether they like it or not—cultural, economic and historical links with Russia. This is particularly true of the former USSR republics (such as the Baltic States, Belarus and Ukraine), which have large Russian-speaking minorities and whose industries were largely complementary to Russia’s.

The EU has not succeeded in integrating the Eastern countries into a common European spirit. These countries have been brutally plunged into a European culture of tolerance and cooperation, slowly forged since the Second World War. However, not only do these countries of the “new Europe” not have a democratic tradition, but they do not have the same values as the western part of the EU. In the Baltic States and Ukraine, hatred of the Soviets has turned into hatred of the Russians, which is conveniently exploited by the US. Unlike the rest of Europe, they still see the Third Reich as a liberator. The use of torture, social issues (abortion, LGBT, etc.), their unconditional alignment with American foreign policy, do not show a deep attachment to European values.
The EU struggles to bring together the individual interests of its members into a coherent approach and a genuine common foreign policy. As a result, Germany, France and sometimes Italy often have to represent Europe’s voice informally. The Ukrainian crisis and the economic crisis resulting from its decisions show that Europe comes together more around a common hatred than around common interests.
Euromaidan and the Militarization the Conflict

The Maidan revolution was a series of sequences, with different actors. Today, those who are driven by hatred of Russia are trying to merge these different sequences into a single “democratic momentum”—a way to validate the crimes committed by Ukraine and its neo-Nazis.

At first, the population of Kiev, disappointed by the government’s decision to postpone the signing of the treaty, gathered in the streets. There was no mention of revolution or change of power, but a simple expression of discontent. Contrary to what the West claims, Ukraine was deeply divided on the question of rapprochement with Europe. A poll conducted in November 2013 by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) showed that it was split exactly 50/50 between an agreement with the European Union and a customs union with Russia. In the south and east of the country, industry is strongly linked to Russia. People feared that an agreement that excluded Russia would kill their jobs. This is what did happen.

At this stage, it did not appear that Ukrainians were generally hostile to Russia. But the situation was quickly co-opted by the US, which was working behind the scenes to exploit the popular momentum and instrumentalize it to tighten the noose on Russia.

In 2014, I was at NATO and I observed the Ukrainian crisis from the inside, so to speak. From the outset, it was clear that the situation was being fueled by the West. Videos show that the coup plotters were supported by armed men speaking English with an American accent. The German magazine Der Spiegel mentioned the presence of mercenaries from the firm Academi (formerly Blackwater, of sinister memory in Iraq and Afghanistan). The German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) apparently informed the German government. I informed my diplomatic contacts at the OSCE—but this was soon forgotten.

A telephone conversation between Victoria Nuland, then Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia, and Geoffrey Pyatt, the US ambassador to Kiev, revealed by the BBC, shows that the Americans themselves selected the members of the future Ukrainian government, in defiance of the Ukrainians and Europeans. This conversation, which became famous thanks to Nuland’s famous “F*** the EU!” testifies to the fact that the European Union was only a doormat in this affair.

In order to present this revolution as democratic, the real “hand of the West” was cleverly concealed by the imaginary hand of Russia. By claiming that the rebellions in Donbass and Crimea were the result of Russian intervention, it was hidden that a large part of the population did not approve of the overthrow of the government, which was both illegal and illegitimate. For the same reason, the ultra-nationalism of the coup plotters was systematically downplayed, as was the legitimacy of the claims of the Russian speakers who were accused of being agents of Moscow.

The beginning of the Euromaidan events was popular and good-natured. But just after an agreement was reached with the demonstrators to hold elections at the end of 2014 and have a democratic transition, the players changed. Ultra-nationalists and other neo-Nazis supported by the West took over. The signed agreement was not respected and violence broke out. Far from being the expression of a democratic revolution, it was the work of radical groups from the west of Ukraine (Galicia), who were not representative of all Ukrainians. They were the ones who overthrew President Yanukovych.

So Euromaidan was popular but not democratic. In May 2022, during a conference in Switzerland, a far-right journalist called out to me: “What is popular is democratic!” In fact, he was stating the principle of populism which is at the origin of the fascism that inspired the Ukrainian neo-Nazis, as we will see later. Indeed, a former participant in the Maidan events warned that “this revolution reflects the rise of fascism.”

As L’Obs reminds us, the 2014 Maidan revolution was nothing more than a coup d’état, led by the United States with the support of the European Union. In December 2014, George Friedman, president of the US geopolitical intelligence platform STRATFOR, said in an interview with the Russian magazine Kommersant:

Russia defines the event that took place at the beginning of this year [in February 2014] as a coup organized by the US. And in truth, it was the most blatant [coup] in history.

Unlike European observers, the Atlantic Council, which is very supportive of NATO, was quick to note that the Maidan revolution was hijacked by certain oligarchs and ultra-nationalists. It notes that the reforms promised by Ukraine were not been carried out and that the Western media adhered solely to a “black-and-white” narrative, without any critical insight.

Thus, what Raphaël Glucksmann called a “democratic revolution” was nothing more than a coup de force, carried out without any legal basis, against a government whose election had been qualified by the OSCE as “transparent and honest” and one which “offered an impressive demonstration of democracy.” Subsequently, the democratically elected President Yanukovych was convicted of “high treason” for having defended the constitutional order.

Far from being democratic, the coup d’état that concluded the events of Maidan was not unanimous among the Ukrainian people, either in its content or in its form. The nationalists were taking over the regional governments in the north of the country, while in the south the loyalists sought to maintain constitutional order.

The Rise of Right-Wing Extremism in Ukraine

Since 2014, in order to legitimize their support for the new regime in Kiev and the fight against Russia, the West has been at pains to minimize the importance of the far right in Ukraine. They cover up the crimes committed since 2014 against the population of Donbass in order to challenge Vladimir Putin’s objective of “denazification.”

The mention of “neo-Nazis” in the Ukrainian regime is systematically dismissed as Russian propaganda by media, journalists and politicians who promote neo-Nazi and Russophobic ideas. As the American media outlet The Hill notes, this is not simply Russian propaganda.

It is important to understand the terms used. Indeed, the term “ultra-nationalist,” often used to describe Ukrainian extremists, is only partially relevant. It refers to Ukrainians in the west of the country who seek to create a “pure” Ukraine, i.e., free of all non-Ukrainian minorities.

The foreign volunteers were probably not “nationalists” or “ultra-nationalists.” Their motives were obviously very diverse, but there was the constant of a fight for a white Europe. The Europe envisaged here has nothing to do with the EU, which most Ukrainian paramilitaries reject. It is a “racially pure” Europe, united by a natiocratic ideal.

The term “Nazi” refers to National Socialism (Nazism), a doctrine that takes us back to the 1930s in Germany. Without going into detail, it combines nationalism and socialism into a “compact” ideology, postulating that the main obstacle to the application of both is the presence of Jews in German society. It is a coherent doctrinal system.

What is described as ‘neo-Nazism’ is not a compact, constructed doctrine. It is more of a social phenomenon than a political doctrine. It is a heterogeneous collection of ideologies that combine hatred of everything and everyone in a kind of theatrical representation of violence, associating Nazi symbolism. There are individuals who see in the hatred of the other a glorification of their conception of the nation.

It is paradoxical that essentially nationalist movements have such international collaboration. The answer lies in the approach itself. The foreign fighters who engage with the Ukrainian far-right movements are not fighting for Ukraine but for the “Idea of Nation.” In other words, they are fighting for the principle of power given to the nation. This is why, alongside Nazi symbols, one finds white supremacist symbols, such as the Celtic cross.

The term “neo-Nazi” is therefore somewhat misleading. Despite appearances, “neo-Nazis” are not the descendants of “Nazis.” Rather, they are the second cousins of consanguineous marriages, who share the same brutality. The link of kinship appears clearly through the “Idea of Nation,” described in four principles by Andriy Biletsky, founder of the AZOV movement:

The nation has an ethnic basis, defined by blood.
The interest of the nation is superior to that of the individual.
Society is structured around an ethnic hierarchy and power is held by members of the ethnic elite.
The members of this nation constitute an elite group of full citizens, while the others are “second class citizens.”
In fact, the Idea of Nation is a common theme in many extreme right-wing movements. It is symbolized by an ‘N’ crossed by a capital “I,” which is nothing but the inverted representation of the Wolfsangel rune found in Nazi symbolism.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2023/02/ ... n-ukraine/

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Sacco village and Vanzetti liberated
February 1, 22:29

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Today, the village of Sacco and Vanzetti (named after the Italians https://t.me/boris_rozhin/76970 who fought for the rights of workers in the United States and were killed on false charges by the American system of "justice") was liberated northwest of Soledar. Our troops continue to advance on Razdolovka, Nikolaevka and Vasyukov.

To the south-west of Soledar, the fighting goes beyond Krasnaya Gora and Paraskovievka. There is no operational encirclement of the city yet (at least one road to the city is not yet under fire control - on the situation with the roads to Artemovsk, I wrote here https://t.me/boris_rozhin/76916 ). To the west of Artemovsk, the enemy is preparing https://t.me/boris_rozhin/76974 new positions that he is going to take after the retreat from the city.

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Confirming photo from Sacco and Vanzetti.

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/8142985.html

Google Translator

*************

From Cassad's Telegram Account:

Colonelcassad
In Artemovsk in the morning.
There is no operational environment for the Artyomovskaya group yet.
It is possible either in the case of the capture of Krasnoe, or in the case of mopping up Krasnaya Gora and Paraskovievka with an advance to the north of the city. Either one or the other option will lead to the establishment of fire control over the second road from Chasy Yar to Artemovsk. So far, under the fire of our artillery and MLRS there is a road passing near Krasnoy, and movement along it is already associated with a significant risk. The second road can still be used to supply the Artemovsk group.

In the city itself, our assault groups are advancing in the city in the south, southeast and northeast. For the time being, the enemy is relying on a gradual withdrawal in the city in order to delay his surrender as much as possible. But in the event of cutting the main road to Artemovsk, the processes of withdrawal of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from Artemovsk will obviously accelerate, as happened in Soledar, after the attack aircraft of the PMC "Wagner" broke through to the main supply road of the Soledar grouping, which caused an imminent collapse of the enemy's defense.
t.me/boris_rozhin
/76916

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Colonelcassad
0:07
In Poland, they are trying to recruit crews for “ Ukrainian ” Leopard tanks from local residents

“Protect native Polish lands.
Become a tanker. Protect Poland in Ukraine,” reads the call on posters hung in the Polish subway.

I don't even know what's better than that. The fact of the recruitment of regular Polish volunteers , so as not to bother with the preparation of Ukrainian crews, or the political context of the posters, which fully demonstrates the imperial ambitions of Warsaw.

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Soledar direction
situation as of 17.00 February 1, 2023

🔻In the Soledar sector, the assault detachments of the Wagner PMC are cleaning up the villages of Sakko and Vanzetti and the surrounding area, and also came close to Nikolaevka , on the outskirts of which fighting is taking place.

▪️At the same time, the assault on the fortified area of ​​the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Paraskovievka and Krasnaya Gora continues , where, with the support of artillery, Russian troops are pushing through the defenses. As a result of a massive strike on strongholds on the hills west of Blagodatny , more than a dozen members of Ukrainian formations were hit.

▪️One of the units of the 93rd mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, operating in the north of Bakhmut , was withdrawn to the Chernihiv region to restore combat capability. Of the 200 people, only 40 survived .

🔻In Bakhmut , the "Wagnerites" advanced at the meat-packing plant to Pervaya Alabastrovaya Street , consolidated control in the area of ​​the champagne factory, and also established control over two positions in Zabakhmutovka .

🔻In the southwest of Bakhmut, Russian units drove formations of the 3rd oshbr of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from a forest area northwest of Kleshcheevka . Promotion is also marked in the direction of Red .

Despite significant success, at the moment, statements about the operational encirclement of Bakhmut are premature: the Armed Forces of Ukraine hold positions in this area and there is still no control over the route from Chasy Yar to Bakhmut.

https://t.me/s/boris_rozhin

Google Translator

*******

40 years old Arsen Pavlov
February 2, 11:44

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Today Arsen Pavlov is 40 years old. Remember.

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https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/8143584.html

Google Translator

Peace to ashes.

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GERMAN INDUSTRY WILL PAY 40% MORE FOR ENERGY THAN BEFORE THE CRISIS
Feb 1, 2023 , 3:53 p.m.

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German industry depends on Russian energy and Chinese demand (Photo: Detlef W. Schmalow / BASF SE)

German industry will pay around 40% more for energy in 2023 than in 2021, before the energy crisis caused by unilateral sanctions by the United States and the European Union against the Russian Federation, an energy giant, says a study by the insurer credit union Allianz Trade , citing contract expirations and lagged effects of wholesale prices.

"The big shock of energy prices is yet to come for European companies," Allianz Trade said.

In 2022, the rise in corporate utility bills was contained, as long transfer times from wholesale markets and government interventions mitigated the immediate impact of rising prices as Russia reduced fuel exports to Europe.

The price increases will hit corporate profits across Europe by 1-1.5% and lead to lower investment, which in the case of Germany would amount to 25 billion euros ($27 billion), he estimated. Allianz Trade.

Fears that the crisis could lead to deindustrialization and a loss of competitiveness vis-à-vis the United States were overstated, because labor costs and exchange rates have a bigger impact on manufacturing than energy prices, according to the study.

However, the alarms are not so false. Many economic analysts in Europe, including those at the Financial Times , have estimated that, due to German industry's reliance on Russian energy and Chinese demand, the risks of deindustrialization are imminent and would lead to a collapse in German manufacturing.

From Eurasia, and even in this forum , it has been argued that the economic, financial and commercial blockade of the United States against Russia has to do, in part, with a scheduled demolition of the German industry, the largest in Europe, in order to strengthen the bonds of dependency on goods and services in favor of the US corporate orbit, in a context of financial crisis, recession and high inflation in the Atlantic axis.

https://misionverdad.com/la-industria-a ... -la-crisis

Google Translator

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U.S. Arms Exports up 49% in Fiscal 2022 due to Military Support for Kyiv
FEBRUARY 1, 2023

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A U.S. Air Force staff sergeant checks pallets of 155 mm shells ultimately bound for Ukraine, at Dover Air Force Base, U.S., April 29, 2022. Photo: AFP.

U.S. foreign arms sales grew significantly in the fiscal year 2022, according to data released by the Department of State, which attributed the increase mainly to U.S. military support for Ukraine during the latter’s conflict with Russia.

The total value of State Department-authorized government-to-government foreign military sales was $51.9 billion in fiscal 2022, the 12-month period ending September 30, 2022, up 49.1 percent from the previous fiscal year’s $34.8 billion, the data showed.

The so-called direct commercial sales, or sales of weapons and military equipment to foreign governments by U.S. defense contractors, also ticked up in fiscal 2022, increasing 48.6 percent to $153.7 billion, compared to $103.4 billion in fiscal 2021.

At the end of fiscal 2022, 14,445 entities were registered with the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls to conduct defense trade activities, which is a slight increase from fiscal 2021, the department said in a press release dated Wednesday.

The State Department attributed the spike to continuous U.S. provision of military assistance to Ukraine amid the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia, while claiming that “arms transfers and defense trade are important tools of U.S. foreign policy.”

According to the Defense Department’s latest update released Wednesday, the United States has more than $27.1 billion in security assistance for Ukraine since the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out on February 24, 2022.

The 2022 arms sales numbers are potential deals the State Department has notified Congress of, not the final sales, meaning some of the transactions may be refused by Congress, thus forcing the administration to engage in further negotiations.

As far as the destinations of those sales are concerned, they cover U.S. allies and partners in Europe, as demands for U.S. weapons soared especially in NATO countries, and in the Asia Pacific and the Middle East regions.

https://orinocotribune.com/u-s-arms-exp ... -for-kyiv/

Making the world a better place.....will those of us which survive the downfall of the hegemony which we tolerated ever live down the shame?
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV

Post by blindpig » Thu Feb 02, 2023 11:49 pm

20% of Ukraine in exchange for peace
February 2, 22:54

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Report: US president offered Putin 20 percent of Ukraine in exchange for peace in January

According to NZZ, CIA chief William Burns reportedly presented the peace plan to Kyiv and Moscow in mid-January. But both sides refused. It was only after the plan's failure that Biden reportedly decided to deploy the Abrams tank

. In mid-January, CIA chief William Burns reportedly presented a plan to end the war in Ukraine to both Kiev and Moscow at the behest of the American president. But both sides reportedly rejected the plan. According to the Novaya Zurich Gazeta, citing high-ranking German foreign policy figures from the government and opposition, the following proposal was put forward:

“The offer to Kyiv sounded like this: peace in exchange for land, the offer to Moscow: land in exchange for peace. It is reported that the "land" was about 20 percent of the territory of Ukraine. This is approximately the size of the Donbass. Both sides, two politicians say, would refuse. Ukrainians because they don't want their national territory to be divided, Russians because they expect to win the war in the long run anyway."

It is reported that the head of the CIA, William Burns, got acquainted with the peace plan in Kyiv and Moscow.
NZZ further reports that, according to German foreign policy departments, Biden wanted to avoid a protracted war in Ukraine. According to him, he was ready to give part of the country. If this image is correct, Biden will not be alone in his position in Washington, writes NZZ. A new study by renowned American think tank Rand Corporation (Preventing a Long War) concludes that “preventing a long war is a higher priority for the United States” than giving Ukraine “control of its entire territory.”

It was only after Burns failed with the proposed plan that the American president reportedly made the decision to supply the Abrams tanks. Both politicians tell NZZ that there are two camps in Washington over the war in Ukraine. “On one side,” two German deputies say, “are security adviser Jake Sullivan and CIA chief Burns. They wanted to end the war quickly so they could focus on China. On the other hand were Foreign Secretary Anthony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. They did not want to allow Russia to destroy the rules-based peace order and advocated massive military support for Ukraine.

The Berlin newspaper tried to confirm this information. "There's a lot to be said for" Biden taking the initiative, explains one opposition defense politician. According to him, if the NZZ report is correct, this is further evidence that the German chancellor does not have a strategy in helping Ukraine. After all, according to NZZ, Scholz would have been taken by surprise by the decision to supply tanks, and then reacted by announcing the supply of German Leopards.

According to the politician, it is becoming increasingly clear that the United States is preparing for a long war of attrition. In his opinion, Germany would suffer more and more from such a war - economically and financially, but also militarily. After all, sometimes the reserves of the Bundeswehr are already largely depleted. The government coalition also said that "a lot could be true in the report."

Foreign policy spokesman for the CDU/CSU faction, Jürgen Hardt, states: “Reports of the status of the decision on battle tanks fit into a picture that shows the German chancellor as single-minded...” Putin will not enter into serious negotiations until the continuation of hostilities would mean for him the risk of military defeat. “That point has not yet been reached,” said Hardt. According to him, it is fundamentally important that no agreements be reached over Ukraine's head. "The US had it, if the CIA Director's mediation efforts reports are correct, but obviously didn't suggest it."

Left-wing foreign policy spokesman Sevim Dagdelen calls it a "sign of hope" if there are people in US government circles who want an immediate end to this war. “Unfortunately, this does not apply to German foreign policy,” Dagdelen said.

https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/politik ... rieden-an- li.313482

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/8144959.html

Google Translator

Not good enough but I guess it's a start. Kharkov, Odessa, and what's in between, Novarossia is what I'm talking about. Justice, and that'll teach 'em.

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U.S. Imperialism Can Only be Defeated Through the Sacrifices War Entails
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on FEBRUARY 1, 2023
Rainer Shea

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Above: The Prizrak Brigade, the Donbass volunteer fighting group

When the DPRK diplomat Kim Yo-jong recently stated that “We will always stand in the same trench with the service personnel and people of Russia who have turned out in the struggle to defend the dignity and honor of the state,” she was speaking on behalf of a certain strain of thought within the global communist movement. A strain whose views on war are informed by the investigation of a simple question: “does this military action help or harm imperialism?”

A non-committal anti-imperialism on the left

The answer this strain has found to this question in regards to Ukraine is that Russia’s intervention represents a historically revolutionary development, due to its weakening fascism and imperialism. Which is also articulated by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation: “Russia is not going to occupy Ukraine. The purpose of the operation is the liberation of Ukraine from the Nazis and its neutrality (refusal to join NATO). The tactics of the Russian troops is, while attacking military facilities, to minimize the casualties among civilian population and Ukrainian military, to avoid destruction of civilian infrastructure. They are brotherly people. We will continue to live together. However, the Bandera Nazis use the most disgusting tactics of the German fascists, using civilians and their houses as human shields. They install artillery and tanks in residential areas, forbid citizens to leave war zones, turning hundreds of thousands of people into hostages.”

In contrast to the elements within the communist and broader left movements that are opposed to Russia’s action, the element that parties like the CPRF and the ruling Workers Party of Korea represent is the one which has the correct type of anti-imperialist analysis. It has the right analysis because it has the right priorities. It isn’t concerned with alienating too many liberals by taking a principled anti-imperialist stance. It isn’t concerned with what the imperialists will do in response to the actions of freedom fighters. It’s concerned with which route is optimal for accelerating the transition towards multipolarity, and therefore towards bringing revolution in the imperial center. With such a revolution, this multipolar order can then be replaced by an order where the U.S. empire has gone away entirely.

As the U.S. empire has provoked Russia into taking action, and the geopolitical conflict has intensified, a boundary of demarcation has appeared between these committed anti-imperialists, and the side that talks about U.S. imperialism’s role behind the conflict while at the same time condemning Russia. This side’s arguments, and the self-defeating impact that they have due to their contradictory nature, are represented by this part from one analysis by the leftist source Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting: “It is impossible to know for sure whether the Biden administration shared this sense that there would be an upside to a Russian invasion, but the incentives are clear, and much of what these op-eds predicted is coming to pass. None of this is to say that Putin’s invasion is justified—FAIR resolutely condemns the invasion as illegal and ruinous—but calling it ‘unprovoked’ distracts attention from the US’s own contribution to this disastrous outcome.”

When you’ve seen the content that this statement comes after, it’s apparent how odd FAIR’s conclusion comes across. FAIR covers how the U.S. empire has endangered Russia’s security, aided Nazi terror in Ukraine, and carried out a coup designed to create the optimal environment for this terror. Then it says Russia isn’t justified for working to take away the tools of the coup regime to exact violence. There’s something fundamentally missing from this analysis. Something that the CPRF/WPK analysis doesn’t miss.

What the principled anti-imperialist perspective takes into account is two realities which are crucial for understanding the Ukraine conflict: that military action was the only realistic way to rescue the Donbass people from genocide by fascist Kiev; and that the U.S. empire has declined to the point where an action like Operation Z will end up harming imperialism more than helping it. Recognizing these things enables one to see the other piece of context which justifies Z: that Z was undertaken not with the profit interests of the Russian bourgeoisie as its foremost motivator, but primarily to fulfill the Russian people’s mandate for an effort by the government to defeat fascism.

There having been an imminent ethnic cleansing threat towards the Donbass is the easiest thing for these soft anti-imperialist types to grasp, as they themselves frequently discuss how the U.S. has nurtured Nazism within Ukraine. Yet when they talk about Ukraine’s fascist movement, there’s a crucial barrier that they don’t cross: calling Ukraine a Nazi state. The statements this leads to can be fascinating in their absurdity. In a commentary on Ukraine’s Nazi presence, the social democrat magazine Jacobin has to discuss the question of the Ukrainian state’s character in specifically worded terms to justify still condemning Russia:

A Western public uninformed about the dangers of the far right is watching its governments, with no debate, send an avalanche of weaponry into the country, where it will fall (and some has already fallen) into the hands of extremists — the same extremists who have serially attacked vulnerable groups, want to institute a dictatorship, have repeatedly threatened and carried out violence against the government, and have already helped overthrow one president. With Zelensky now envisioning a postwar Ukrainian society with more armed people in the streets, and members of the military and National Guard — both institutions where extremists have made a home — patrolling everyday locations, this risk is all the bigger.

What’s subtly strange about these kinds of statements is that even when they recognize that fascist terror in Ukraine is widespread, and that the government is directly assisting in this terror, they act as if this government is nevertheless worth defending. They may reply by saying they agree Ukraine’s present leadership should be replaced with something better. But that’s not happening any time soon given how Zelensky has banned all opposition parties, and it didn’t happen prior to when Russia took action a year ago. The inescapable reality is that Russia is fighting to demilitarize and territorially deprive a state which isn’t merely complicit in aiding Nazism, but directly informed by National Socialist ideology. The Jewish Holocaust survivor descendant Zelensky is only a figurehead. Ukraine’s real rulers are the heads of a national security state, one that was established after Washington’s 2014 coup. It’s in effect a junta, one that’s capable of assassinating any president who doesn’t advance its project.

This project is to forcibly remove the Donbass Russian speakers, mass deporting them to Russia so that those arbitrarily considered to be the true Ukrainians can acquire the leftover land. It’s a modern version of Hitler’s Lebensraum, the goal of erasing the Russian population in order to let the “superior” nation reach its developmental potential. That’s the logic Ukraine’s rulers are operating off of. Their being driven by it is why the Donbass people chose to create separatist republics, and ultimately vote to join Russia. It’s why Kiev responded to the formation of these republics by shelling the Donbass for eight years, despite it being constitutional within Ukraine for a given segment of the country to break away. And it’s why Kiev actively began to invade these republics one year ago, which would have brought extermination to the communities it was advancing towards if not for Russia’s saving them at the last moment.

A class analysis of Ukraine’s conditions is essential for understanding why the state has a fascist character. Because it’s not just that the U.S. empire has sought to cultivate a Nazi presence in Ukraine in the last decade, it’s that Ukraine’s post-Soviet oligarchs have long had a material interest in making an alliance with fascists. Fascism is the violent reinforcement effort of finance capital, and in Ukraine’s situation of increasingly severe class contradictions, it makes sense for its capitalists to nurture Nazism. The imperialists have taken advantage of this preexisting incentive for Ukraine’s bourgeoisie to advance fascism, providing aid to the Nazi militias and to the country’s fascist propaganda campaigns.

Upon seeing this context, it feels incomprehensible how anyone who’s aware of Ukraine’s Nazi problem could discuss these events in terms that frame Russia as anything other than in the right. The humanitarian need of the situation superseded all else, someone needed to combat Kiev and do so promptly. Ukraine is not only a corrupt state, but a Nazi state, a state that would absolutely be subjecting the Donbass people to crimes against humanity if Russia hadn’t defended them. The war crimes the Ukrainians have committed whenever they’ve captured a territory in the conflict has further proven how dangerous Kiev is. Yet even when one ignores this aspect of the situation’s history, and focuses entirely on the question of whether Z has overall helped or harmed imperialism, it’s also apparent that Z has had a more positive impact than negative.

The benefits that NATO has gained from Russia’s action, where the previous divisions within the organization have been momentarily put aside and where the organization has fully expanded to the Nordic states, have not translated to greater geopolitical control by NATO outside the imperial sphere. So is the case for the fortification of anti-Russian sentiment across this sphere, and the furthering of austerity policies during the sanctions blowback, and the censorship against dissent the war has brought, and the war profiteering by our ruling class. All of these positive developments for the U.S. empire have occurred in the context of a shrinkage of U.S. hegemony that wouldn’t have been so severe if not for Russia’s decision.

There’s strong evidence that the empire wanted Russia to intervene. What the empire didn’t anticipate is that when all the costs and benefits of this escalation got counted against each other, the costs to the empire would be far greater. That it would prompt the peripheral and semi-peripheral countries to side against Washington by refusing to participate in the sanctions or send military aid, and that this would leave the imperialist countries with severe social crises after failing to destabilize Eurasia.

The FAIR/Jacobin camp views the war’s benefits to the empire as surpassing the costs, because just as they misunderstand Russia’s foremost goal within the conflict, they also misunderstand the empire’s goal. They believe Washington provoked Russia merely to make war profits and to demonize Russia. But these were the secondary objectives. The primary one was to weaken Russia enough that it could be destabilized, leaving China vulnerable to Washington’s attempts at saving neo-colonialism from the Belt and Road Initiative. Because this objective has not and will never be met, due to the sanctions not having been as effective as the imperialists anticipated, Washington’s geopolitical gamble has failed. Its decision to provoke Russia has brought more problems to imperialism than benefits.

Z continues to bring global workers revolution closer

This wouldn’t have happened thirty or forty years ago, prior to when Washington started off its process of rapid imperial decline by invading Afghanistan and Iraq. When the USSR intervened in Afghanistan, the outcome was that U.S. hegemony became ultimately strengthened, because the empire was still strong enough and the USSR lacked the Chinese support or internal stability that modern Russia has. Now that Washington’s ability to sway the international community has been diminished, and now that a Russian-Chinese friendship has emerged, the Ukraine proxy war will not produce a victory for the empire like the Afghanistan proxy war did. This time, the U.S. will be the one that gets worn down by the fighting, and the one that experiences an exacerbation of its contradictions severe enough to make it implode.

How could this be when modern Russia is a capitalist state, whereas the USSR was a socialist state and could therefore better absorb the economic damage from sanctions? Because whereas the Soviet state was in a process of decline for its socialist project when it entered into the Afghanistan conflict, today’s Russia is in the process of having its class conflict rise again. With the war accelerating this transition towards a new revolutionary scenario for the country.

When the Russian ruling class decided to give into the pressures from the country’s dominant communist presence and wider population, and wage a war against Ukrainian fascism, it was because this war had become only momentarily in their best interests. In the short term, Russia’s bourgeoisie can profit from the conflict, and maintain their power by keeping Russia free from client state status. In the long term, this conflict instead benefits Russia’s proletariat, because it advances their interests in the class war. This is both because the conflict has intensified class contradictions, and because the conflict appeared in the first place due to how much influence the communists have proven themselves now able to exert over the government. When a bourgeois president has to follow the foreign policy advice of the communists, a switch has come in the power dynamic. Marxists are no longer functioning under pressure from the bourgeois state, instead it’s the other way around.

The fact that over two-thirds of Russians both view Stalin as having been a good leader, and support Z, illustrates the proletarian character of the social base that’s made Z possible. The vast majority of Russians back an anti-fascist war for the same reason they would no doubt back a Marxist-Leninist revolution if given the opportunity: because the Russian people overall have a revolutionary, anti-imperialist attitude. Even after the relative improvements Putin has brought to their living standards, they’re dissatisfied with their bourgeois government’s policies, and that’s extended to their unhappiness with Putin’s having delayed action in Ukraine for eight years.

Putin’s initial purpose was to act as a continuation of Yeltsin, keeping Russia a U.S. client state. He’s tried to continue with this mission whenever this has made pragmatic sense in his bourgeois opportunistic view of statecraft. Washington, engaged for the last two decades in a wildly destructive War of Terror which blatantly disrespects international law, has made it impossible for Putin to keep treating Washington as a friend while still being reasonable. If Russia were an imperialist country, like the European powers that have stayed loyal to Washington, his calculus would likely be different. But because Russia is a semi-peripheral country that’s trying to recover from the catastrophic shock policies the empire imposed on it in the 90s, it’s made the most sense for him to break from the empire. Now that he’s fully alienated Washington by intervening in Ukraine, Russia is dependent on maintaining its friendships with China and India, and has a clear interest in not betraying these powers.

This transition of post-Soviet Russia towards being an anti-imperialist world actor has been incremental, because the individual in charge of it would keep Russia a client state if the circumstances still allowed him to. He initially wanted Russia to join NATO, and after the Ukraine coup, he refrained from working to demilitarize Kiev for almost a decade until the pressure became too much. The consequence is that the anti-imperialist movement has been frustrated, not by how Russia took action (that’s overall advanced multipolarity) but by how Russia took action far later than it should have. As the commentator Paul Craig Roberts concluded late last year:

Putin’s caution delayed Russia’s rescue of Donbass for eight years, during which Washington created and equipped an Ukrainian army that turned what would have been an easy rescue in 2014 like Crimea into the current war approaching a year in duration. Putin’s caution in waging the war has given Washington and the Western media plenty of time to create and control the narrative, which is unfavorable to Putin, and to widen the war with US and NATO direct participation, now admitted by Foreign Minister Lavrov. The war has widened into direct attacks on Russia herself. These attacks on Russia might bring the pro-Western Russian liberals into alignment with Putin, but the ability of a corrupt third world US puppet state to attack Russia is anathema to Russian patriots. The Russians who will do the fighting see in the ability of Ukraine to attack Mother Russia the failure of the Putin government. As for China and India, the two countries with the largest populations, they have witnessed Washington’s indiscriminate use of force without domestic or international consequence to Washington. They don’t want to ally with a week-kneed Russia.

As conflicts tend to do, the events of the last twelve months have strengthened all the sides in today’s major power struggles, empowering both the imperialists and the anti-imperialists according to their respective strengths. The same applies to the sides within Russia’s internal class war. The nature of today’s international landscape, where U.S. imperial decline was already accelerating prior to the operation’s start, has made it so the anti-imperialists had enough comparative advantages to ultimately emerge stronger. But the bourgeois nature of Russia’s government has delayed the full victory of the anti-imperialists, holding back the country’s commitment to fighting the empire and its Banderite proxies. Worst case scenario, this will also endanger Russia’s relationship with China and India, forcing Russia to either revert to its client state status or have a revolution. The Russian people will never allow for the former to happen, so the latter is increasingly likely.

Should Putin fail too severely, the Russian patriots—whose vanguard primarily lies in the communists rather than the recently sidelined fascists—will react by campaigning for their anti-imperialist mandate even more assertively. They’ll no longer merely try to pressure Putin, they and their allied Soviet sympathizers in Russia’s military could escalate towards a coup attempt against him. From this war could come a restoration of socialism both in Russia, and in Belarus, where the communist movement has even more influence and which is aiding Russia’s war effort. What could follow is a partial Soviet restoration.

The last year has shown that in this stage of imperialism’s decline, communists have many more chances for revolutionary wars to bring them overall benefits than used to be the case. Monopoly capital has weakened, opening up new possibilities for revolutionary struggle. This is the great hope for the proletariat as it fights against capital in Russia, France, Peru, the USA, and today’s other focal points within the global class struggle.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2023/02/ ... r-entails/

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Top U.S. Official hails Nord Stream 2 blast
Originally published: Defend Democracy Press on January 27, 2023 by RT (more by Defend Democracy Press) | (Posted Feb 02, 2023)

U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland has expressed joy over the destruction of Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. She also argued that, even if the U.S. had sanctioned the infrastructure weeks before the Ukraine conflict broke out, this would not have prevented hostilities.

During a Senate hearing on Thursday, Nuland was asked by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) whether his legislation aimed at sanctioning the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which was voted down in January 2022, could have stopped the conflict before it began.

“Like you, I am, and I think the administration is, very gratified to know that Nord Stream 2 is now, as you like to say, a hunk of metal at the bottom of the sea,” Nuland said. She noted that she had been involved in negotiations with Russia prior to the conflict in a bid to “prevent this war.”

The Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines were heavily damaged by underwater explosions in September, in what were widely thought to be sabotage attacks. Moscow has consistently denied involvement and denounced the incident as a “terrorist attack.”

Nuland insisted that Russian President Vladimir Putin was “bound and determined to go into Ukraine” and that cutting Nord Stream 2 off in January would not have been “decisive” for him.

Nord Stream 2 was to be a route for the delivery of natural gas from Russia directly to Germany. Berlin suspended certification of the pipeline following Moscow’s recognition of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics in February. With the conflict raging in Ukraine in March, Nuland claimed that the project is currently “dead” and is unlikely to be revived.

Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev also claimed that Moscow had obtained “certain materials, which point to a Western trace in organizing and executing” the blasts.

While nobody has claimed responsibility for the Nord Stream explosions, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken described the incident as a “tremendous opportunity,” which would enable EU countries to become less dependent on Russian energy.

Moscow officials have repeatedly said the US was the primary beneficiary of the blasts, with Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov arguing last month that, by weaning itself of Russian energy, the EU would conveniently become “addicted” to American energy instead.

https://mronline.org/2023/02/02/top-u-s ... m-2-blast/

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Lula Won't Send Arms to Ukraine: "Brazil Is a Country of Peace"

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The President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (R), meets with the Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz (L), today, at the Planalto Palace, in Brasilia (Brazil) | Photo: EFE/ André Borges

Published 30 January 2023

Argentina and Colombia are other countries in the region that have also refused to provide arms to Ukraine.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Monday after meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that the South American country will not send ammunition that could be used in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Lula da Silva said through his official Twitter account, "Brazil has no interest in ceding ammunition to be used in the war between Ukraine and Russia. Brazil is a country of peace. At this moment, we have to find those who want peace, a word that until now has been used very little."

At a joint press conference following the meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, the President affirmed that Brazil is willing to contribute, together with countries such as China, India and Indonesia, to create a "club of countries that want to build peace on the planet."

Lula da Silva recognized China's role in the current conflict. "Our friends, the Chinese play a very important role," said the Workers' Party (PT) leader, adding that he wants to "discuss peace between Russia and Ukraine with President Xi Jinping," during his visit to him in March.


The Tweet reads, "Brazil has no interest in passing on ammunition to be used in the war between Ukraine and Russia. Brazil is a country of peace. At this moment, we need to find those who want peace, a word that until now has been used very little."
On the issue of reaching a Russia-Ukraine consensus, Lula da Silva said it is necessary "to constitute a group with sufficient strength to be respected at a negotiating table and sit down with both (Ukrainian President Vladimir / Russian President Vladimir Putin)."

The Brazilian President referred to the role of the United Nations (UN) in the face of the conflict. Lula said the UN "no longer represents the geopolitical reality," and added: "We want the UN Security Council to be strong, more representative and able to speak another language that the world needs."

While calling Russia's special military operation in Ukraine a "mistake," the Brazilian President said that Ukraine's possible entry into the European Union and NATO were possible reasons.


The Presidents of Argentina and Colombia, Alberto Fernandez and Gustavo, Petro respectively, have also refused to send armaments to Ukraine, claiming that they are on the side of peace.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Lul ... -0027.html

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Danish lecturer got sacked after not conforming on the war in Ukraine
By Anders Sørensen (Posted Feb 01, 2023)

The board at the People’s University of Copenhagen, Denmark, has canceled planned courses and fired the lecturer, after he publicly differed with required opinion on the war in Ukraine. The People’s University of Copenhagen, Denmark, is an educational institution founded in 1898 to ensure wider public access to science and research results, and therefore has no entry requirements and no examinations.

M.A. in History and History of Ideas Jens Jørgen Nielsen has been teaching courses there on Russia and Ukraine since 2014. In 2023, he was supposed to teach two courses on the two countries, but November 24, 2022, was Nielsen’s last day at work.

On November 8, he received a letter from the board of the People’s University, stating in the first paragraph that they had decided to cancel the two planned courses, and that the board had decided to “discontinue cooperation” with Nielsen.

The letter stated that Nielsen has a “highly unbalanced view of the conflict in Ukraine and its background.” In addition, the board pointed out that several unnamed colleagues did not want to teach at the People’s University as long as Nielsen was employed.

The only concrete criticism presented is plucked quotes from Nielsen’s book Ukraine i spændingsfeltet. Not one person from the board had ever attended a lecture by Nielsen.

Nielsen himself is puzzled by the board’s decision, telling the Danish media outlet Arbejderen that he was very conscious of distinguishing between expressing his own opinions in public and how he approached teaching, where he presents facts and different points of view. He added that the board could have invited him for an interview and asked for his views, but instead he has neither met nor spoken to the current board.

The avalanche against the Ukraine/Russia lecturer began in earnest after he appeared in an interview with a Russian state television program in September about the sabotage of the Nordstream 1 and 2 gas pipelines. “I was asked who could be behind this—and I said I thought the arrow pointed to the United States—because a few months earlier President Joseph Biden had directly stated that he would put an end to Nordstream 2 if Russia invaded Ukraine,” Nielsen says.

After the interview, four of Nielsen’s colleagues went to the board and gave them an ultimatum: “They let the board know that they wouldn’t be teaching if I was teaching too. Their only justification was that I had taken part in the interview on Russian TV about Nordstream 2, which had just been blown up. There was no criticism of my teaching.”

And indeed, there is little dissatisfaction to be found among participants in Nielsen’s courses. Arbejderen was able to get a hold of student evaluations of Nielsen’s latest course “Putin Seen from the Inside,” held last spring. In all cases, the students answered that they were “very satisfied” with the teacher’s professional level.

Eleven out of twelve students answered that they could “definitely” imagine enrolling in another course at the People’s University. One responded “possibly.”

Since his dismissal, Nielsen has received many expressions of sympathy—including from people who do not agree with him politically—but who support his right to hold his own views and to express them publicly.

“Unfortunately, the war in Ukraine has moved the fenceposts in terms of which discussions we can have. The corridors of opinion have narrowed. The slightest criticism of the Ukrainian government and of the West’s actions in relation to Russia is enough to be accused of spreading Russian disinformation or of acting in Putin’s interests. But the criticism I have of Western policy has nothing to do with doing Putin’s bidding,” remarks Nielsen.

He sees his dismissal as coming at a time when knowledge about Russia is generally lacking—and where the information about Russia that does emerge is one-sidedly anti-Russian.

“It’s scary. For the task of science is precisely to challenge the established ideas and the existing order. If we are to develop policy and be able to make the right decisions, we need to know what is going on. Otherwise, we’ll be making crazy decisions,” Nielsen warns.

The sacking of Nielsen comes after he and three other Danish researchers and commentators were branded “pro-Russian” in August by Ukraine’s Centre for Countering Disinformation—a part of the country’s National Security Council.

Arbejderen has confronted the chairman of the board at People’s University, Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen, with Nielsen’s criticism. The chairman does not wish to be interviewed by Arbejderen, but has instead sent an e-mail in which he writes:

“JJN is of course entitled to have his own personal views on what is going on in Ukraine, but for the People’s University it is a problem if e.g. historical facts are denied, as happens in the book Ukraine i spændingsfeltet, where JJN calls it ‘a defensive step’ on Putin’s part to accept Crimea as part of Russia and writes that it is not true when the West and the Ukrainian government talk about Russia’s annexation of Crimea: ‘There are no reports that the Russian military attacked Crimea or any of the peninsula’s institutions. The initiative for the independence of Crimea came from the Crimean parliament.’”

He goes on:

“It is NOT the task of the board to monitor the work of our teachers, we must be content with assessing evaluations, listening to professionals, possibly reading various books and weighing various considerations against each other. Among the most important is that we should at all times be able to attract the best possible teachers for our students and ensure that the reputation of the People’s University is top notch. It is against this background that we are putting a new team in place to teach about Russia.”

It is clear that Nielsen’s participation in the democratic debate on the situation in Ukraine, and in the case of the sabotage of the Nordstream pipelines, has cost him his teaching position at the People’s University. But Nielsen has no regrets: “It is important to me that, in addition to my teaching, I have the right to have an opinion that I can express in public,” he declares.

https://mronline.org/2023/02/01/danish- ... n-ukraine/

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WP of Korea, Press Statement by Director General of Department of U.S. Affairs of DPRK Foreign Ministry
1/31/23 2:44 PM

Press Statement by Director General of Department of U.S. Affairs of DPRK Foreign Ministry


Pyongyang, January 29 (KCNA) -- Kwon Jong Gun, director general of the Department of U.S. Affairs of the Foreign Ministry of the DPRK issued the following press statement on Sunday:

As regards the press statement of Kim Yo Jong, vice-department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea which denounced the U.S. decision on supplying MBTs to Ukraine, a spokesperson for the National Security Council of the White House on Jan. 27 said that the U.S. would continue to provide Ukraine with that it needs to defend itself from Russia's "brutal war of choice" against Ukraine.

It is an absurd and sheer sophism as it is an extension of the illogical, deformed and gangster-like way of thinking of the U.S., which frequently introduces nuclear strike means into the Korean peninsula under the pretext of providing "extended deterrence" against "provocation" of someone.

Had the U.S. not infringed upon the just security interests of Russia and accelerated the eastward advance of NATO step by step, the present situation of Ukraine would not have been created.

The U.S. is working hard to supply such offensive weapons as MBTs to Ukraine at any cost in disregard of the just concern and criticism of the international community. This is an unethical crime aimed at keeping the international situation unstable.

The U.S. again talked about the groundless rumor of "arms dealing between the DPRK and Russia", in a foolish attempt to justify its offer of weapons to Ukraine.

It is an illegal act to call into question the legitimate right to national defence of a sovereign state. Moreover, trying to tarnish the image of the DPRK by fabricating a non-existent thing is a grave provocation that can never be allowed and that can not but trigger its reaction.

We clearly warn the U.S. once again on this occasion.

The U.S. should be mindful that it will face a really undesirable result if it persists in spreading the self-made rumor against the DPRK. -0-

http://solidnet.org/article/WP-of-Korea ... -Ministry/

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Artemovsk. 02.02.2023
February 2, 17:14

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In Artemivsk at the middle of the day 02.02.2023

1. There is no operational encirclement of the city yet. At least one road is available for use in the interests of supplying the Artyomovskaya grouping of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Its interception should not be expected before the capture of Paraskovievka and Krasnaya Gora.

2. The main advances in the city today are in the southeastern and northeastern regions of the city.

3. The opponent is holding the red for now. There is no full-fledged assault on the village yet. The enemy is hastily fortifying positions southeast and south of Yar's Clock.

4. There are no signs of the beginning of a systematic withdrawal of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the city. So far, the enemy is trying to hold on to positions in the city for as long as possible, as long as the possibility of supply remains. In this regard, the battles at Krasnaya Gora and Paraskovievka are of decisive importance in accelerating events in Artemovsk.

https://t.me/boris_rozhin/77041- zinc

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/8144204.html

Google Translator

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From Cassad's Telegram account:

forwarded from
Special for RT
War correspondent Semyon Pegov, author of @wargonzo Telegram channel years old. Over the past year of work on the front line with the Donbass units, I have repeatedly become a witness, and sometimes openly furious initiator of conversations in the spirit of “What a pity that we don’t have the Motor with us now! Oh, the Motor missed this! The motor would not be ashamed! I wonder what Motor would say to that .

The fact that to this day, 6.5 years after his dastardly murder, a huge number of ordinary fighters and civilians who were lucky to be friends with him or at least have a short conversation, one way or another correlate their actions and the unfolding historical events precisely with the personality Motorola says a lot. He really became the hero that our modern mythology so desperately needed, his life path personified in some way the universal folklore formula - 30 years of “lying on the stove”, and then, as if, waking up and showing himself to the world as an invincible hero, selflessly fighting for justice. in its most sincere and popular understanding.

So Arsen lived an inconspicuous life until 2014, as if he was preparing himself for a truly important matter, but when the moment of awakening came, such a colossal amount of energy escaped from this little man that all his subordinates are still rushing along the line of battle. collisions as stung. I don’t need to explain to anyone the features of the front-line activities of the legendary Sparta battalion? The unit is absolutely without exception charged with a reckless Motorola spirit, and even those who did not have time to catch Arsen Pavlov as a commander correspond to his special, purely "Spartan" style and attitude to the war.

And this "motority", which in one way or another seethes in each of us - his friends and comrades-in-arms - does not go away over the years, but, on the contrary, seems to begin to manifest itself in an even more concentrated form.. In many ways, also because Motor really was not just a person, not just some prominent figure in society or a good military specialist. The motor is a phenomenon. In a way, he is a rock star. Everyone wanted to laugh in the face of death like him, to be afraid of nothing like him, to fight like him, to live like him. To say today that it is not enough is to say nothing.

You are forever in our hearts, brother, and we will also drink champagne from your throat on your birthday somewhere in the Metelitsa area on Semyonovka and erect a monument in Russian Slavyansk!

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Colonelcassad
Soledarskoye direction
situation as of 12.00 February 2, 2023

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🔻In the Soledar sector, the assault detachments of the Wagner PMC, after the liberation of the villages of Sacco and Vanzetti, stepped up their pressure on nearby Nikolaevka . Fighting also goes north of two villages.

▪️In the area of ​​Krasnaya Gora and Paraskoviyivka , despite the transfer of reinforcements, the Armed Forces of Ukraine were unable to hold back the offensive. Ukrainian formations suffer losses. The forces of the 5th border detachment , which arrived from the Chernihiv region, were withdrawn from Krasnaya Gora : more than 70% of the number of 5 pogos were killed .

🔻In Bakhmut , the "Wagnerites" expanded the zone of control near the Siniat plant, began fighting in residential areas near high-rise buildings on Vatutina and Nekrasov streets , and also advanced along Dobrolyubov street .

▪️The Ukrainian command is transferring reinforcements to reinforce the Bakhmut garrison. At night, the arrival of the forces of the 30th mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was noted to replace the battalion from Poltava , which was practically destroyed in the battles for Bakhmut.

🔻Southwest of Bakhmut, Russian troops are located less than two kilometers from the Chasov Yar-Bakhmut highway . Assault squads advanced in the forest.

▪️A partial withdrawal of units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine began from Krasnoe . At the same time, to contain the pace of the offensive, the 214th separate battalion "Opfor" of the ground forces of Ukraine was transferred to Stupochki and Chasov Yar . In addition, forces are expected to arrive at the site from Zolochev in the Kharkiv region.

🔻Members of the Ukrainian formations spread information that the Armed Forces of Ukraine do not have time to prepare the main line of defense of Slavyansk-Kramatorsk-Konstantinovka-Toretsk due to the pace of the offensive. Over the past day, control has been lost over three company and seven platoon strongholds, as well as over 14 firing positions.

▪️In Chasov Yar, a new tactical group "Karpaty" was formed , whose task is to defend the city. Despite this, the threat of Bakhmut's operational environment is growing, which is also mentioned by members of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in radio communications.

***

Colonelcassad

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Starobelsk direction
situation as of 10.00 February 2, 2023

🔻In the Kupyansky sector , the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine brought the personnel of the 106th battalion of the 109th battalion and the 40th combined troop battalion at the turn of Gryanikovka - Petropavlovka - Sinkovka to the highest degree of combat readiness due to the increased frequency of attacks by Russian troops.

▪️A sabotage group was sent to the Kislovka region to monitor the activities of Russian troops at the turn.

🔻In the Limansky sector , servicemen of the 3rd Motor Rifle Division of the RF Armed Forces, with the support of artillery, are attacking the positions of the 66th mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the area of ​​Balka Zhuravka . Fierce battles are going on at the heights.

▪️Almost at the same time, the fighters of the 144th division swooped through the defensive lines of the 19th combined troop battalion and established control over three firing positions. At one of the sectors of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, they practically reached Yampolovka .

▪️In addition, the assault groups of the RF Armed Forces began advancing to the positions of the territorial defense southwest of Dibrova in the area of ​​Serebryansky forestry . TRO formations retreated to reserve lines for regrouping.

▪️At the turn of Terny - Yampolovka, the forward strongholds were reinforced by the 13th battalion of the 95th airborne brigade with a tank platoon, and Ukrainian UAVs are actively operating in the area of ​​advance of the RF Armed Forces. The command of the 66th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is planning a counteroffensive in the direction of Ploshchanka - Krasnopopovka .

https://t.me/s/boris_rozhin

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Re: Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV

Post by blindpig » Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:01 pm

Offensives, weapons and sanctions
POSTED BY @NSANZO ⋅ 02/03/2023

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Just a few weeks from the anniversary of the start of the Russian military intervention, the information cycle has accelerated in Ukraine in anticipation of a new active phase of the war, relatively suspended in a large part of the front due to unfavorable conditions that make it difficult for the heavy vehicles needed for advances beyond local offensives like those that have continued on the Donetsk front. The nervousness of the end of winter, the political escalation caused by the significant increase in Western military assistance to Ukraine and the fear of the Russian response to this commitment to a tougher war are currently causing all kinds of news and contradictory discourse that, above all, he seeks more support and more funding for kyiv and more sanctions against Moscow.

Throughout yesterday, a delegation from the European Union led by Ursula von der Leyen visited kyiv to discuss Ukraine's progress in the reforms necessary for its future accession. Despite Ukrainian demands, echoed this week in Prime Minister Shmigal's statement that the country hopes to be admitted to membership in the next two years, yesterday's visit was made clear that the road will be "a marathon, not a a sprint”. Despite the fact that Ukraine has officially obtained the status of a candidate country without meeting the conditions for it, kyiv's attempt to obtain preferential treatment and immediate access has not, for the moment, been reciprocated. This has also been leaked to the press and coinciding with this recent visit several articles have been published that point to the slowness with which the process will take place. kyiv obtained that candidate country status at a time when it needed a political victory that was as symbolic as yesterday's visit.

In the distribution of tasks related to the common war against Russia, the role of the European Union is, in addition to political support, to finance the maintenance of the State. Under these conditions, Ukraine's demands for privileged access to the EU are unrealistic and are just kyiv's strategy to pressure its partners to achieve its goals. Apart from Hungary's reluctance, based more on the current antagonism between Brussels and Bucharest than on real contradictions about the role of the Union in the war, Ukraine managed to guarantee itself the 18,000 million euros it required from the EU to try, at least , maintain the payment of pensions and salaries,

Aware that the role of the European Union is political and economic, Volodymyr Zelensky knew yesterday that his demands on the large and important delegation that had arrived in kyiv should be along those lines. The Ukrainian president demanded new and tougher sanctions against Moscow from his partners and for this he did not hesitate to use the argument that Russia has quickly adapted to the existing sanctions. It is no secret that kyiv seeks, as former US ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul argued in a recent article, that part of the assets seized from Russia as a State or from persons of Russian nationality be delivered to Ukraine. In this impetus to further escalate sanctions that far exceed what was expected a year ago, the discourse is still contradictory. While it is alleged that, despite the IMF forecasts,

Despite not receiving from his European partners a promise to join the Union or a roadmap with an estimated date of accession, Volodymyr Zelensky did manage yesterday to announce a new package of sanctions, the tenth in the last year, which will coincide with the anniversary of the Russian invasion. kyiv and Brussels want to commemorate the moment of the ultimate failure of diplomacy with a new act of economic warfare that will further alienate the Russian public, but will hardly achieve its goals. And it is that the nine previous packages have shown the weight of the European Union in the world political economy and have revealed the limits of the power of Brussels, which, like the United States, has not achieved the global adhesion that it expected from its sanctions proposals.

During this year, and despite the difficulties that the loss of direct access to Western goods and services entails for the country, especially in the technological and industrial sectors, there has been neither a pronounced drop in the ruble nor a catastrophic recession as promised. It is possible that the loss of the European Union market, until now the most privileged, will take its toll on Russia in the future, but the high prices of raw materials have allowed Moscow to maintain, or even increase, its income in such important sectors such as energy based on redirecting its products towards Asia, with an important role for India, which acts as an intermediary towards Western countries.

The announcement of a new package of sanctions from the European Union coincides with the expected confirmation of more military assistance from the United States, an additional 2.2 billion dollars for the Armed Forces of Ukraine in which kyiv hopes to include long-range missiles. As was the case in the weeks prior to the confirmation of the shipment of Western tanks, the Ukrainian authorities have acted taking for granted those imminent promises of the long-awaited missiles, which kyiv alleges that it will not use against Russian territory. The possible announcement of the shipment of missiles that can obviously attack Crimea, the objective for which Ukraine claims these missiles, It coincides with several Western media publications that openly doubt kyiv's ability to militarily retake the peninsula in the medium term, as the Ukrainian authorities repeatedly state. As published yesterday Politician , a medium close to the Democratic party and with good sources in the Biden administration, members of the Pentagon warned of the uncertain mission of recovering the peninsula in the short term. Along the same lines is the recent analysis by the RAND Corporation, another institution strongly linked to the US military complex, which warned of the risks posed by a long war, which in part would be the result of Ukraine's attempt to recover lost territories such as Donbass and Crimea. .

Despite the fact that more and more establishment voices that cast doubt on the inevitable Ukrainian victory in the announced spring offensive, kyiv continues with its routine of demanding more weapons and presenting a list of specific equipment. As in the case of sanctions, Ukraine does not hesitate to use not only contradictory but untenable arguments. As was the case with other dates, such as May 9 of last year, important members of the Ukrainian political apparatus allege that Russia seeks to commemorate the anniversary of its entry into the war with a major offensive. This was announced by the Chairman of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov. “I think the plan of Putin and his people, people like Valery Gerasimov [chief of the General Staff of the Russian Federation], his new commander-in-chief of the Russian forces, is to cordon off Ukraine. And he's preparing for it,

Yesterday, The New York Times, each day closer to the official kyiv line, published an article pointing in that direction. This week, the media had already presented the battle of Artyomovsk as Russia's attempt to capture the city based on a constant shipment of soldiers, without taking into account the massive number of casualties, exactly the version given by the Ukrainian government, which He has been acting for weeks in the same way that he criticizes. Now, citing his only sources, "Ukrainian officials", he alleges that for weeks Ukraine has been "preparing for a new Russian offensive that could rival the one that opened the war", in reference to the strong advance in the south and, above all, everything, the approach to kyiv. The outlet adds that "now, they warn that the campaign is underway, with the Kremlin seeking to redefine the battlefront and gain momentum."

The time for the resumption of large-scale hostilities is drawing near and the announced Ukrainian offensive in the direction of Melitopol and Crimea forces Russia to counter these threats and try to preempt Ukrainian movements by improving its positions and threatening Ukrainian supply routes and strong positions. With Wagner heavy on the Artyomovsk front and soldiers drawn from the DPR at Ugledar, it is clear that the now enlarged Russian military grouping is reserving its best units for future development. The speech featured by The New York TimesIt is consistent with the Ukrainian line, but it clashes with reality. Despite the probing attacks in Zaporozhye, the trench fighting in Ugledar and the slow and methodical advance on Artyomovsk, the only direction in which Russia is looking for any real advance is precisely the one mentioned by Danilov, Lugansk, with attempts to approach Krasny Liman. , mainly to ease the pressure on Svatovo and Kremennaya. Although a future Russian offensive cannot be ruled out, for the moment, the Ukrainian warnings are only part of a discourse that seeks to obtain more weapons from its partners, an objective that does not require consistency and that can easily be maintained by announcing certain victories while it is warned of the danger of being defeated in an enemy offensive.

https://slavyangrad.es/2023/02/03/ofens ... more-26550

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US expected to announce $2.2 billion Ukraine aid package that includes longer-range missiles
By Oren Liebermann and Kevin Liptak, CNN
Published 4:32 PM EST, Thu February 2, 2023

The US is expected to announce a new Ukraine security package worth approximately $2.2 billion that includes longer-range missiles for the first time, according to multiple US officials.

The package, which is expected to be announced in the coming days, will include a commitment to provide Ukraine with the Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb- a guided missile with a range of 90 miles, two officials said.

Though the missiles will effectively double the range of Ukrainian weaponry, the package won’t include the long sought-after ATACMS missile with a range in excess of 200 miles. The US has constantly rebuffed Ukraine’s requests for that system over concerns they may be used to hit targets deep inside Russia.

This is the first security package since the US committed to providing Ukraine with advanced M-1 Abrams tanks in January, a decision made in concert with European countries providing German-made Leopard 2 tanks.

The package, which could be announced as early as Friday, will be split between $500 million in weapons and equipment pulled directly from US inventories and approximately $1.7 billion in supplies to be purchased from military contractors, known as the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI).

On Tuesday, White House spokesperson Olivia Dalton said there would be another announcement of security assistance to Ukraine “soon” without providing further details.

Details of the package were first reported by Reuters.

The Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb, which is fired from a HIMARS rocket launcher, has an effective range of some 90 miles, according to Saab, the company that developed the weapon in conjunction with Boeing. That’s more than twice the range of the GMLRS munitions that Ukraine currently launches from the HIMARS rocket launchers. The long-range missile then unfolds small wings and uses a rocket engine to fly towards its target.

But the new weapon will not arrive in Ukraine immediately, since it will not come directly out of US inventories. Instead, the US will contract with the weapons manufacturers to provide the long-range missile to Ukraine, a process which could take weeks or months.

The package also includes ammunition for artillery and HIMARS, as well as support systems and equipment for the Patriot missile system, one official said. Ukrainian forces have not completed training on the Patriot system at Ft. Sill, but the US is making sure the logistics and maintenance are in place well before the first Patriot battery is operational in Ukraine, the official said.

Within the last month, the US has announced three of the largest aid packages to Ukraine in a sign of ongoing support as the war nears its one-year mark.

https://us.cnn.com/2023/02/02/politics/ ... index.html

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The US Continues Escalating in Ukraine

Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist 01 Feb 2023

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Victoria Nuland testifying at Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing January 26, 2023 (Image: C-Span)

The U.S. got more than it bargained for after instigating the Ukrainian conflict. The Biden foreign policy team grows more desperate and their plans become more dangerous as they reckon with the unintended consequences of their actions.

“Senator Cruz, like you I am and I think the administration is very gratified to know that Nord Stream 2 is now as you like to say, a hunk of metal at the bottom of the sea.” Victoria Nuland

Victoria Nuland is Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. The mouthful of a title doesn’t begin to describe what she actually does on behalf of the U.S. Perhaps Under Secretary for Destabilizing the World would be more accurate. Nuland is one of those persons who is always in the revolving door of foreign policy, destined to return when an election puts her clique back in office. She may be best known for passing out cookies to the mobs in Kiev’s Maidan Square when they overthrew the elected Ukrainian president in 2014. It was clear that the Obama administration had a hand in the coup, but Nuland disabused anyone of doubt when she gabbed on an unsecured phone and discussed who the next president of Ukraine ought to be. In declaring Ukraine’s new reality as a de facto U.S. colony she famously or rather infamously said, “Fu*k the EU!”

Of course she is back with the Biden administration and is the leader of the proxy war against Russia that is taking place in Ukraine. Her most recent infamous remark about the Nord Stream 2 pipeline which would have carried natural gas to Germany, should be seen as an admission of guilt. The September 26, 2022 explosion remains mysterious but only because US vassals like Sweden have not made their investigation findings public. Nuland also said of Nord Stream in January 2022, “We will work with Germany to ensure it does not move forward." The U.S. is the prime suspect yet again.

Nuland’s bravado is yet another sign of the mess that the Biden administration made for itself in instigating the conflict with Russia. Nothing has gone according to its plans. Biden said that sanctions would, “Turn the ruble to rubble.” Russia has survived relatively unscathed and the only people suffering from U.S. interference are the EU nations who are supposed to be allies but who are in fact underlings who will never step out of line, even in favor of their own interests.

After nearly a year of conflict, European nations have literally given their all militarily, with very little left in the way of materiel to provide to Ukraine. They have given up cheap Russian natural gas and now purchase US liquified natural gas, which costs more and creates more environmental damage. Now even the Rand Corporation, which is funded by the military industrial complex and fossil fuel companies, and pushed for war with Russia in 2019 , is waving red flags about the overreach. In an article entitled Avoiding a Long War , Rand concludes, “In short, the consequences of a long war - ranging from persistent elevated escalation risks to economic damage - far outweigh the possible benefits.” Rand is no peacemaker, believing that challenging China should be the focus and not the Ukraine stalemate. Warnings from a friendly party show that the best laid plans for hegemonic regime change have gone wrong once again.

The U.S. has pumped more than $113 billion into Ukraine, that is to say into the hands of the defense contractors who run Washington. Russian forces continue to advance, and the Ukrainian people who everyone claims to want to help are suffering, as middle aged men are dragooned from their homes , trained for a few weeks, and then sent to the front lines where they face death from well armed Russian forces.

Now tanks are on everyone’s lips, from Leopards in Germany to Abrams in the U.S. Tanks require manpower, highly trained manpower who need months to learn how to use this complicated equipment. Ukraine has neither enough men nor time necessary to make tanks useful to them in battle. Of course, Russia also has tanks and soldiers who already know how to use them. The latest alleged game changer won’t amount to much in the way of assistance for the beatified Ukrainians.

Victoria Nuland and her boss Antony Blinken and his boss Joe Biden are caught in a bind of their own making. They really believed they could wreck Russia’s economy, or get Vladimir Putin out of office, or break that country up into smaller parts ripe for the picking. But fantasy foreign policy is just that. The only thing that makes sense is to talk to the target nation directly. Yet if the past is any indication of future behavior they will probably do something reckless instead.

The Nord Stream explosion points to the danger that the U.S. poses to the whole world. The sabotage was an act of desperation as they sought to make sure that their lap dogs didn’t get any big ideas about acting independently, and so they escalated. In the process they create more dangers to Europe and to the whole world as they amateurishly play a game of chicken with another nuclear power.

Ukraine is losing, dependent upon an unending supply of money from Washington, and suffering after many casualties. President Zelensky will do what Washington tells him and the Biden administration is the wildcard. If they would blow up Nord Stream they would do something else equally foolish and they have plenty of company.

Having had Ukraine blow up in their faces they have turned their attention to China. An Air Force general wrote a memo predicting war by 2025, and exhorted his subordinates to “fire a clip into a 7-meter target with the full understanding that unrepentant lethality matters most. Aim for the head.” Members of congress are still provoking China with visits to Taiwan. The goal is the same as the failed policy in Ukraine. Provoke some sort of incident and then sanction China, or come up with a rationale to sanction China without an incident. The Biden administration turns the old saying on its head. “If at first you don’t succeed, fail, fail again.”

Of course the people lose. They have lost $113 billion while their needs go unmet. But a state that is devoted to creating a proxy war with a nuclear power has no interest in helping its people anyway. Humanity is a hindrance to their grand schemes. They see the welfare state as something to be subverted.

The NATO Secretary General said without any irony, “Weapons are in fact the way to peace.” Of course, only peace is the way to peace. Wars can end with negotiation, but peace is antithetical to their grand plans. Ukraine is not working out the way they hoped. But any change in course is not on their agenda.

They see forever wars as success, or baiting Russia and China as success, regardless of the outcome of their actions. They don’t see the world the way sane people do. They have made the Ukraine conflict an existential crisis, and then decide they have no choice but to engage in dangerous actions. The world is a zero-sum game to them. If Russia and China are independent actors, they believe they lose. The idea of peaceful coexistence is anathema to Nuland, Biden, and Blinken. Blown up pipelines are seen as proof of victory to people who thought they could make dangerous and irrational obsessions come true.

https://www.blackagendareport.com/us-co ... ng-ukraine

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About Motorola
February 3, 11:03

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About Motorola

Speaking of Motorola, many describe him as a character from the past, as one of the potential associates of Yermak or even Stenka Razin. But in our time, you can even dig into the depths of pop culture, it will not hurt him. So I think Motor is a character in the Terminator franchise where, like resistance soldier Kyle Reese, he was sent back in time to save us negligent kids.

Indeed, after a while, while all of Russia does not know what to do and whose example to follow, this guy knew everything in advance. And not only how to successfully fight killer cyborgs.

Just a few examples.

1. On the national question, he turned out to be smarter than many right-wing ideologists. There were guys from the Caucasus in his entourage and even in his personal guard, while he himself called himself a Russian nationalist and even recorded video messages in which he stated: "Anyone who considers himself a Russian nationalist should fight on the side of the Donbass." Oh, how furious then all those who shout “Glory to Russia!” the loudest! They could not accept him as their own, not only because of not quite Slavic affiliation. At that time, their heroes were someone like Prosvirnin, because they were just as evil, bilious and absolutely not ready for big deeds ahead of their time. Now a lot has changed - everyone is in the same boat, but a bearded nationalist from Komi became a harbinger.

2. Arsen did not care about the language issue, he did not see anything wrong with listening to Okean Elzy and balaking on the move. A Russian person will not waste time fighting with linguistics, he would rather enrich himself with it. Will deprive the enemy of his main ideological advantage. Unlike fans of monarchism, Apachev's work would have gone very well for him. Both Plive Kacha and Oni Gone.

3. Remember how in the first Brother Danila Bogrov was expelled from the filming of the video? So Arsen foresaw that the people who ridiculed him and were not happy, all this media Moscow party, would themselves come into his world as a film crew. Everyone was discussing Potupchik's posts about Arsen, but I think she herself had no idea that a man from the future kills not only metal creatures, but also postmodernism inside socialites. It was she who last year, we must pay tribute, personally had to explain to his fighters why many of her entourage were so funny and ironic after his death.

4. He knew how to love and be kind, despite the dashing nature of his nature. To finish off the wounded of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, to wake up their fighters from an underbarrel grenade launcher, to test with the help of Stechkin on a humanitarian worker the bulletproof vest he brought - everything is really his doing. People with a position "between the fuckers", like the same Tolya Shariy, then felt superior to these heroes of yours and promoted these shots in every possible way. The author of this text, for example, saw Motor in situations with subordinates and tougher, but also watched how he wanted to adopt a 14-year-old guy who was taken to the war by his own grandfather. After the death of the last loved one, the boy was in severe stress and Arsen saw no other way out but to invite him to become part of the family.

5. This, probably, is that the military with big stars never perceived him, yesterday's sergeant, as an equal. It was believed that with the rank of lieutenant colonel he was simply lucky. And he, unlike the same Givi, did not argue and did not get mad, he knew that soon everyone would be "lucky" in this way, and everyone would demonstrate by his own example what he was worthy of.

The list of such examples is not complete and every year, I think, it will only be supplemented. The motor knew a lot about our future with you, but was silent, because he understood that no one would believe him, but now we know everything.
Arsen, thank you for being among us and giving us a chance to avoid the general apocalypse.

https://t.me/elpicahielo/3759 - zinc

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/8145783.html

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Russian Large-Scale Combat Actions in Ukraine Expected in February
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on FEBRUARY 2, 2023
Lucas Leiroz

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A new wave of activity is expected for the Russian special military operation during February. The recent changes in the command of the operation appear to have been carefully planned in order to elevate the combat to a new level and several of Moscow’s strategic objectives may soon be achieved, radically changing the course of the conflict.

According to information provided by Russian military, a major offensive is being prepared for the period between February and early March. The informants say that the objectives will be:

1. Reaching the borders of the regions recently reintegrated into the Russian Federation, pacifying the new oblasts;

2. Capturing Nikolaev, Odessa, as well as the entire Black Sea coast, reaching Transnistria;

3. Seizing Kiev, forcing a political capitulation of the neo-Nazi regime until early March.

The territory of Belarus will become the main springboard for the upcoming strike. Mobilized Russian servicemen are being trained in training camps in Belarus, where heavy military equipment and combat aircraft are concentrated. A large bombardment force is in readiness for action. Also, Russian forces in Belarus have been collecting strategic information on the location of Ukrainian units, mainly about Kiev’s air defense, gathering intelligence data that will be used to plan the attacks.

In parallel to Belarus, Zaporozhye and Lugansk are also key zones for the Russian strategy. It is expected that massive attacks will come from these regions during the offensive, destroying enemy units in a short period of time which will allow a rapid Russian advance on the battlefield, reaching the zones listed in the above-mentioned objectives.

Sources also report that for the offensive to be successful Russian forces will focus on blocking all enemy’s supply lines. The main route of arrival of supplies to Ukraine is the border with Poland, where there is the transit of NATO’s ammunition and military equipment.

In fact, the battlefield conditions seem favorable for these objectives to be achieved. The Ukrainian forces are currently exhausted and weak. On the other hand, the mobilized Russian soldiers are fully prepared to engage in high-intensity combats. In addition, Russian artillery positions in Belarus and in the liberated territories have a privileged location, which significantly increases the chances of victory in the coming offensive.

Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, was promoted to the position of Commander of the Joint Forces of the Russian Federation in the Special Military Operation Zone. Gerasimov’s arrival to power seems to have been a move towards the final stage of the special military operation.

His predecessor, General Surovikin played an important role while in command. A veteran of Chechnya and Syria and having extensive experience in counterterrorism, Surovikin was appointed to the post at a time when Ukrainian terrorist actions were on the rise. He fulfilled the goal of neutralizing the enemy’s offensive potential with his strong actions on the Ukrainian critical infrastructure, at the same time that he saved thousands of Russian lives with his policy of avoiding trench warfare and prioritizing long-distance bombing. Now, however, the special military operation needs a new direction.

And this was the main reason for the appointment of Valery Gerasimov. As Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, he is undoubtedly the most prestigious Russian officer and therefore the right man to lead the operation’s most decisive moves. The objective now is no longer to break the enemy’s offensive potential, but to force Kiev’s neo-Nazi regime into capitulation through a huge offensive.

After so many Russian attempts to negotiate a peaceful resolution, with the Ukrainian government ignoring them and insisting on an irresponsible military campaign, now there seems to be no other possible end to the conflict than a Russia’s offensive strong enough to liberate the entire Ukrainian coastline and capture Kiev.

Dunno about Kiev, perhaps just to keep the Poles out...But Karkov is a Russian city.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2023/02/ ... -february/

Suspicions of State Security Set-Up in Germany’s Far-Right ‘Coup’
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on FEBRUARY 2, 2023
Kit Klarenberg

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A massive police raid foiled extremist plans to topple Germany’s government. But the timing of the plot and its absurdity raised questions about a state security role in instigating it – something seen many times in Germany’s past.

On the morning of December 7th, 2022, Germany’s security services conducted the largest police raid in their history, as 3,000 officers stormed 130 properties spanning almost the entire country, as well as Austria and Italy.

When the police sweep was over, 25 individuals had been arrested for plotting to overthrow the German government. They stood accused of plotting to storm parliament, arrest lawmakers, and declare the restoration of the country’s monarchy by force, led by aristocrat Heinrich XIII Reuss.

However, a closer examination of the police action and its timing raises serious questions about the legitimacy of the alleged coup, and whether the German security state played a role in instigating it. If so, it would fit within the historical pattern of the government’s infiltration of extremist movements since the post-war period. In 2003, a German court was forced to abandon a case against a notorious neo-Nazi group when it determined the organization was at least partially, if not wholly, controlled by state assets.

The suspects accused of plotting to overthrow Germany’s government are part of a movement known as Reichsbürger, or Citizens of the Reich. This group is said to reject the legitimacy of the Federal Republic of Germany, and contends the country is not in fact a sovereign state, but a corporation created by the US and Britain after World War II.

#German police raid ‘far-right terror group led by #PrinceHeinrich XIII’ that planned to attack parliament and overthrow the government in deadly coup’https://t.co/jON2u0FjXb

The 4th Reich, be scared, be very scared! pic.twitter.com/sNuDrwwdkN

— D.N.S. (@DubaiNameShame) December 8, 2022


That’s just one striking aspect of an event so shot through with farcical elements and headline clickbait, it appears to have been custom-made to generate media frenzy. A celebrity gourmet chef recruited to “take over the canteens of the new German Reich” is among those arrested, as is a former MP of the right-wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). So is a Russian citizen, the girlfriend of Reuss, who reportedly contacted Moscow’s embassy in Germany to discuss a new post-coup world order.

Authorities had clearly set out to court intense news interest, inviting packs of journalists to document the raids in real-time, therefore ensuring outlets across the world were almost instantly plastered with photos of the plotters being escorted away handcuffed. In all, 125 officers were deployed for each suspect taken in for questioning – an obviously extraordinary, excessive ratio.

Given the speed with which major German news outlets such as Der Spiegel published detailed, lengthy reports on the raids, some have even suggested certain articles were prepared in advance of the police swoop, and that journalists and editors had been awaiting the day for some time. Eerily, in a since-deleted tweet on December 6th, ARD journalist Georg Heil fortuitously predicted, “I suspect there will be a lot of ‘exclusive’ news tomorrow.”

Numerous government officials have aggressively pushed the line that the plotters “are not harmless, crazy people,” and the media has treated the putsch with utmost seriousness. However, the German state broadcaster Deutsche Welle has conceded that Reichsbürger did not even have a remotely realistic prospect of overthrowing the government. More generally, DW acknowledged, a coup d’etat could “hardly succeed in Germany,” as “the state order and the constitution are too solid.”

Though only a handful of weapons were seized in the police raids, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has declared Germany’s already strict gun laws will be tightened even further in response to the supposedly thwarted insurrection. It is almost certain Berlin’s security and intelligence services will be granted enhanced capabilities to surveil and harass citizens and suppress unrest too, given they are highly opportunistic in criminalizing dissent at politically expedient junctures.

In April 2021, as the German government prepared to impose harsher pandemic restrictions in the face of staunch opposition from the public, and a plurality of political parties across the political spectrum, Berlin’s domestic security service, known as the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, or BfV, established a new, dedicated monitoring category for lockdown opponents.

The agency argued that opposition to lockdown orders represented a subversive threat to the state, but that it did not fall under pre-existing categories of concern such as the far-right, far-left, or Islamic terrorism.

The move effectively outlawed all anti-lockdown agitation in Germany, while classifying anyone arrested for such activity – of which there had at that point been thousands, despite Germany’s Constitutional Court ruling a year earlier that Covid-19 restrictions did not extend to demonstrations – would be guilty of extremist endeavors.

It also guaranteed expanded powers and bureaucratic resources guaranteed to the BfV, which put them on display this December when it took down the Reichsbürger’s supposed insurrection plot.

Germany’s government infiltrates the far-right

The German media’s preponderant focus on the Reichsbürger plotters’ purported “far-right” nature is striking, as the BfV calculates that of the estimated 21,000 adherents in Germany, of whom only around five percent are “right-wing extremists.”

These figures might seem unusually specific, but the BfV is well-placed to know them with a high degree of certainty. Indeed, the agency’s surveillance and infiltration of Germany’s far-right is so extensive, the movement has been at least partially run and even funded by the state.

This disturbing reality was laid bare in January 2001, when all branches of the German government requested that Berlin’s Federal Constitutional Court investigate the ultranationalist National Democratic Party (NPD) and determine whether it was unconstitutional. Their intent was to ban the party outright.

The resultant probe collapsed in 2003 after the Constitutional Court determined many NPD members and grandees – including at least 30 of its most prominent figures – were undercover agents or informants of the BfV. Moreover, much of the government’s case against the party was based on statements made and works published by individuals on the agency’s payroll. An antisemitic NPD pamphlet that featured prominently in evidence provided to the Court was, for example, authored by an undercover operative.

As a result, the Court ruled that it was impossible to ascertain which statements, publications and actions attributed to the party had been influenced by the BfV. Investigators speculated the NPD’s activities may have been deliberately and actively directed by the agency in support of the party’s proscription.

This explanation is highly implausible given the fact that renewed calls for the NPD’s ban in 2011 were dismissed by the BfV on the grounds that doing so would necessitate deactivating its 130-strong network of informants in the party – half of them neo-Nazis – who provided invaluable intelligence on a number of secretive right-wing movements.

It is similarly implausible then that, as the established narrative of the “coup” asserts, the plotters only came to the BfV’s attention for the first time in April this year, following the arrest of four members of United Patriots, a Reichsbürger sub-group. They were allegedly conspiring to destroy power stations to cause a nationwide blackout, and kidnap health minister Karl Lauterbach.

Reichsbürger had been on the BfV’s radar for years. In March 2020, after a shooting in Hanau that left nine migrants dead, Germany’s central government proscribed the group, and several of its members were arrested.

The extremist outfit featured prominently in the BfV’s 2021 annual report, as did the Covid-19-skeptical Querdenken movement, to which the plotters were also linked. The latter was specifically cited by the BfV in its official justification for creating a new monitoring category for lockdown opponents.

As such, the “coup” conspirators were irrefutably connected to an array of groups officially confirmed to be under intensive surveillance by the BfV. These outfits would have thus been heavily penetrated by agents and informants reporting on their members’ every move. In the case of the AfD party, its designation as a suspected extremist group means the private communications of anyone connected to it are rigorously recorded and stored.

The aristocratic Reichsbürger leader Reuss and his confederates supposedly became subjects of interest to the BfV after the arrests of its United Patriot subgroup members. “Very early on,” according to agency president Thomas Haldenwang, the BfV “had a very clear overview of their plans.”

Authorities had closely monitored their communications and contacts from that point on, gathering intelligence on the wider network in which they operated and built cases against them. If they truly posed a serious, immediate threat to Germany’s constitutional order, or their plans to do so were well-developed and nearing fruition, action surely could have been taken much earlier.

Haldenwang claims the BfV watched in real-time as the plot “became more and more concrete and weapons were procured.” The question of whether BfV provocateurs encouraged and/or assisted any of the conspirators in advancing their insurrectionist fantasies over this period remains an open and obvious one.

After all, the eight months in which the plot developed provided ample time to insert agents into a group, or recruit them.

After frenzied media buzz, “coup” disappears from headlines

One of the most remarkable aspects of the “coup” is how quickly it vanished from headlines after the initial series of raids. After a surge of minute-by-minute reporting, an event of purportedly seismic, historic significance – declared by Bloomberg columnist Andreas Kluth to represent Berlin averting the establishment of a “Fourth Reich” – has ceased to be of any interest at all to mainstream journalists, including those within Germany itself.

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After such a terrifying event, in which Germany was supposedly saved from the second coming of Hitler, it seemed reasonable to expect more lurid details about the conspirators’ grand design. At the very least, some of the promised arrests of other members of the extremist cell should have materialized by now.

But save for a series of closed-door Bundestag sessions on December 12th, during which it was claimed the plotters had dreamed of creating 280 paramilitary units tasked with “arresting and executing” people after the government’s overthrow, authorities have remained markedly tightlipped since December 7th. As is their nature, established news outlets have followed the state’s lead, letting the “coup” drop from its radar almost entirely.

The media’s sudden disinterest in the Reichsbürger plot recalls another supposed far-right coup conspiracy in Germany. In April 2017, the country was deluged with reports of a 28-year-old Bundeswehr soldier known as “Franco A” who had been arrested for planning to carry out violent attacks on German politicians, activists and journalists.

Portrayed as a leading member of far-right terror group Nordkreuz, Franco A supposedly registered as a Syrian refugee with German authorities in December 2015. His purported intent was to deliberately leave his fingerprints at the scenes of serious crimes in the hope they would be blamed on his Syrian persona, and thereby trigger nationwide violent backlash against immigrants across the nation.

Authorities later declared that investigations into Franco A revealed he was but one component of a much wider plot among Germany’s elite Special Forces Command (Kommando Spezialkräfte – KSK) to achieve “Day X”, whereupon they would abduct and execute a variety of German politicians.

The case prompted international outcry, as well widespread public debate about the degree to which the Bundeswehr had been infected with dangerous, revolutionary far-right sentiment. However, the official inquiry ultimately amounted to nothing.

In November 2017, six months after his arrest, Franco A was released from custody, as Berlin’s Federal Court ruled, “the results so far of the investigation do not substantiate the strong suspicion that a serious act threatening the state was in preparation.”

A police raid three months earlier on KSK headquarters similarly failed to unearth any indication of subversive intentions or activities among its operatives. Concluding that absence of evidence was not evidence of absence, police speculated the Command had been tipped off in advance, and promptly charged a soldier known as Peter W, whom they accused of secretly leading far-right group Hannibal, with helping the suspects cover their tracks.

Peter W was duly acquitted in March 2019, and apparently continues to serve in the German armed forces to this day. He successfully argued in court that Social Democratic Party supporters within Germany’s Ministry of Justice grossly exaggerated and distorted his case in order to embarrass the ruling CDU-led government for reasons of electoral expediency.

Meanwhile, Nordkreuz’s putative leader and founder, a veteran police sniper and shooting instructor known as “Marko G,” was given a suspended sentence of 21 months in December that year. Despite guns and ammunition being found at his home, the arsenal was ruled to be largely legal, and several “unconstitutional” comments he made in a private group chat neither implied he intended to overthrow the government, nor carry out terrorist attacks.

Franco A was eventually sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison for possession of illegal weapons and fraud in July 2022. No concrete evidence of a concerted effort, let alone desire, to overthrow the German government on his part has ever materialized. In the meantime, the KSK was reorganized and partially disbanded due to the purported level of far-right extremism within its ranks, although no further arrests were made.

‘Strategy of tension’ returns to Europe?

The specter of a secret fascist nexus hellbent on seizing power in Berlin through incendiary violence is one German authorities, politicians, and journalists have long-been eager to conjure. While there can be little doubt that modern Germany is home to an inordinate number of neo-Nazis and fascists, at least some of whom are violent and dangerous, they stand little to no chance of threatening the country’s constitutional order.

It is also true that these extremist forces are well-represented in the military and security services. In November 2018, BfV chief Hans Georg Maasen was fired for disseminating racist conspiracy theories. At the time, it was speculated his political views may have led the agency to turn a blind eye to the activities of the country’s far-right during his six-year tenure.

Maasen’s predecessor Heinz Fromm also departed in disgrace, after it was revealed that the BfV shredded files related to the National Socialist Underground (NSU), a Neo-Nazi terrorist group which carried out murders, bank robberies, and bombings across Germany with impunity for a decade.

Questions abound to this day over whether the NSU was actively protected from investigation and capture by the BfV state security services. It also remains unclear why one of the agency’s staff, referred to by fellow spooks as “Little Adolf” for his far-right views, was present at the scene of one of the group’s killings. What has been confirmed is that the NSU were in direct, regular contact with many BfV informants, and indirectly received agency funds through the German state security organization.

This was hardly the first-time that right-wing terrorists have managed to get away with literal murder in Europe. Throughout the Cold War, British and American spies in conjunction with NATO managed a network of secret fascist armies who committed countless violent, criminal acts as part of a “strategy of tension,” designed to discredit the left, and justify ever-greater security measures. In Italy, this connivance was known as Operation Gladio.

Many terrorist attacks carried out during this period either remain officially unsolved, or the likely perpetrators have never been brought to justice. Gladio operative Vincenzo Vinciguerra, jailed for life for a car bombing that killed three police officers and injured two, in later years explained why, and laid bare the “strategy of tension” in stark detail:

“You were supposed to attack civilians, women, children, innocent people from outside the political arena. The reason was simple, force the public to turn to the state and ask for greater security…People would willingly trade their freedom for the security of being able to walk the streets, go on trains or enter a bank. This was the political logic behind the bombings. They remain unpunished because the state cannot condemn itself.”

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The aftermath of the deadly December 1969 Piazza Fontana bombing in Milan. Blamed on an anarchist, the bombing was carried out by right-wing state intelligence assets as part of the “strategy of tension.”

Vinciguerra’s words resonate strongly against the backdrop of the recent Reichsbürger “coup,” as the supposed plot could not have come at a more opportune time for the German government. Throughout 2022, officials in Berlin openly angsted about the prospect of mass upheaval due to spiraling living and energy costs. Though scarcely reported in mainstream media, large-scale protests have grown in size and frequency. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has dubbed the situation “a powder keg for society.”

It is not unlikely that the country will fall into a deep, grinding recession in the near future; some analysts have predicted its eventual deindustrialization. Public approval of Scholz’s administration is already flagging significantly. Conversely, AfD – which opposes arming Ukraine and sanctioning Russia – has reached near-record levels in the polls, and is on course to come first in several state elections in 2024.

With Western governments no longer able to exploit the Covid-19 pandemic to crush dissent, rally citizens behind unpopular administrations, and expand systems of surveillance and social control, intelligence services throughout Europe and North America are again ramping up fears of terrorism to terrify their populations into submission – this time in the form of domestic, far-right elements.

If German spies had wished to concoct a false flag terror plot that achieved maximum visual and political impact, and without any risk to national security, the “coup” they so heroically busted on December 7th could not have been better conceived.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2023/02/ ... ight-coup/

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A PANICKED EMPIRE TRIES TO MAKE RUSSIA "AN OFFER IT CAN'T REFUSE"
Pepe Escobar

2 Feb 2023 , 12:38 pm .

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Does US Secretary of State Antony Blinken think a Washington Post op-ed will cause Russian Armed Forces Chief Valery Gerasimov to postpone his planned military offensive against Ukraine? (Photo: The Cradle)

Those behind the Throne are never more dangerous than when their backs are against the wall.

Their power is slipping away, fast: militarily, through the progressive humiliation of NATO in the Ukraine; Financially, sooner rather than later, most of the Global South will want nothing to do with the currency of a bankrupt fraud giant; politically, the global majority is taking decisive steps to stop obeying a rapacious and discredited de facto minority.

So now those behind the Throne are scheming to at least try to stop the coming disaster on the military front.

As confirmed by a high-level source in the US establishment, a new directive on NATO against Russia in Ukraine has been released to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. This one, in terms of de facto power, is nothing more than a gofer for the Straussian neoconservatives and neoliberals who actually run US foreign policy.

The Secretary of State was instructed to broadcast the new directive - a kind of message to the Kremlin - through the mainstream print media, which was immediately published by the Washington Post .

In the division of labor of the dominant US media elite, the New York Times is very close to the State Department, and the Washington Post to the CIA. However, in this case the directive was very important and needed to be transmitted in the reference newspaper in the imperial capital. It was published as an opinion piece (for a fee).

What's new here is that for the first time since the start of Russia's February 2022 Special Military Operation (OME) in Ukraine, the Americans are actually proposing a variation on the classic "can't refuse offer," including some concessions. that could satisfy Russia's security imperatives.

Most importantly, the US offer sidesteps kyiv, confirming once again that this is a war against Russia led by the Empire and its NATO cronies, with the Ukrainians merely expendable proxies.

"PLEASE DON'T GO ON THE OFFENSIVE"

John Helmer, the Moscow-based old-school correspondent for the Washington Post , has provided an important service, offering the full text of Blinken's offer , of course heavily edited to include such fanciful notions as "American weapons help pulverize the invading force of Putin" and an embarrassing explanation: "In other words, Russia should not be ready to stop, regroup and attack."

At first glance, Washington's message might give the impression that the United States might accept Russian control over Crimea, Donbass, Zaporozhye and Kherson - "the earthly bridge connecting Crimea with Russia" - as a fait accompli.

Ukraine would have demilitarized status, with the deployment of HIMARS missiles and Leopard and Abrams tanks confined to western Ukraine, retained as "deterrents against further Russian attacks."

What could have been offered, in somewhat vague terms, is in fact the partition of Ukraine, including a demilitarized zone, in exchange for the Russian General Staff canceling its as-yet-unknown 2023 offensive, which would be so devastating it would cut off access to kyiv to the Black Sea and/or skew NATO arms supplies along the Polish border.


The US offer defines itself as a path towards a "just and lasting peace that upholds the territorial integrity of Ukraine." Well not really. It just won't be a finished Ukraine and kyiv could include retaining those western lands Poland is dying to gobble up.

The possibility of a direct agreement between Washington and Moscow on "an eventual post-war military balance" is also evoked, including Ukraine's non-membership of NATO. As for Ukraine itself, the Americans seem to believe that it will be a "strong and non-corrupt economy with the membership of the European Union."

Whatever remains of value in Ukraine has already been swallowed up not only by its monumentally corrupt oligarchy, but above all by BlackRock-type investors and speculators. A combination of corporate vultures simply cannot afford to lose Ukraine's grain export ports, as well as the terms of the pre-war trade deal with the EU. And they are terrified that the Russian offensive could capture Odessa, the largest seaport and transportation hub on the Black Sea, leaving Ukraine landlocked.

There is absolutely no evidence that President Vladimir Putin and the entire Russian Security Council - including its secretary Nikolai Patrushev and deputy director Dmitri Medveded - have reason to believe anything coming from the US establishment, especially through its henchmen. like Blinken and the Washington Post . After all, the stavka - alias of the high command of the Russian armed forces - regards the Americans as "unable to reach agreements", even when an offer is put in writing.

This is desperate gambit verbiage by the United States to procrastinate and offer some carrots to Moscow in the hope of delaying, and even canceling, the next few months' planned offensive.

Even old-school maverick agents in Washington - not committed to the Straussian neocon galaxy - are betting that the gambit suffers from high expectations that cannot be met: in classic "strategic ambiguity" mode, the Russians will continue in their declared demilitarization, denazification and de-electrification campaign, and will "stop" whenever and wherever they see fit east of the Dnieper. Or beyond.

WHAT THE DEEP STATE REALLY WANTS

Washington's ambitions in this fundamentally NATO-Russia war go well beyond Ukraine. And we're not talking about preventing a Russia-China-Germany Eurasian union or a nightmarish competition of equals; let's stay with prosaic matters on the Ukrainian battlefield.

The elementary "recommendations" - military, economic, political, diplomatic - were detailed in an Atlantic Council strategy paper late last year.

And in another , entitled "War Scenario 1: the war continues in its current time", we find that the Straussian neoconservative politics explained it in great detail.

It's all here: from "directing support and transferring military assistance to kyiv enough for it to win" to "increasing the lethality of transferred military assistance to include jet fighters that could allow Ukraine to control its airspace and attack Russian forces." in it; and missile technology with sufficient range to reach Russian territory".

From training the Ukrainian military to "use Western weapons, electronic warfare and cyber-offensive and cyber-defensive capabilities, and continually integrating new recruits into the service" to bolstering "front-line defenses near the Donbass region," including "combat training focused on irregular warfare".

Coupled with "imposing secondary sanctions on all entities that do business with the Kremlin," of course we come to the Mother of All Looting: "Confiscating the $300 billion that the Russian state holds in off-country accounts in the United States." States and the European Union and use the confiscated money to finance the reconstruction [of Ukraine]."

The OME reorganization, with Putin, Chief of Staff Valeri Gerasimov and General Armageddon in their new and prominent roles, is ruining all these elaborate plans.

The Straussians are now in intense panic. Even Blinken's number two, the Russophobic warmonger Victoria "Fuck the EU" Nuland, has admitted to the US Senate that there will be no Abrams tanks on the battlefield before spring (realistically, only in 2024). ). She also promised to "ease sanctions" if Moscow "returns to negotiations." These were mutilated by the same Americans in Istanbul in the spring of 2022.

Nuland also appealed to the Russians to "withdraw their troops." Well, that at least offers some kind of comic relief compared to Blinken's "offer you can't refuse" oozing panic. Stay tuned for Russia's non-response.

https://misionverdad.com/traducciones/u ... e-rechazar

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Re: Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV

Post by blindpig » Sat Feb 04, 2023 12:23 pm

The question of water
POSTED BY @NSANZO ⋅ 02/04/2023

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Since last spring, when the almost daily and indiscriminate shelling of Donetsk also began, the issue of lack of running water has been the main problem in the main and most populous city of Donbass. As a consequence of the war and the Ukrainian control of the north of the region, solving the serious problem of the water supply was one of the reasons why at the beginning of the summer the Russian troops tried, without success, to advance on that area of ​​the front. During this time, other water sources have been dosed to guarantee a minimum supply of a good that is essential for human life. The use of wells or trucks carrying water was already one of the images of the summer of 2014, mainly in Lugansk or in rural areas of Donbass, but the high population of Donetsk aggravates the situation. In summer, in addition to these precarious solutions previously limited to poorer areas, people could even be seen removing water from the Kalmius River, a sign of a serious worsening of the situation of the civilian population in a city that, despite being barely a few kilometers from the front, had recovered civilian life since 2015.

Without the possibility of repairing the damage caused by the cut off of water supplies from the north of the region under Ukrainian control, the Russian authorities have been forced to resort to more expensive and more complicated temporary solutions. The situation in and around Donetsk, an area with a population of over a million people, has turned out to be unsustainable. The population currently has a water supply for three hours, every three days, schedules that cannot always be met. A few weeks ago, Komsomolskaya Pravda correspondent Dmitry Steshin stated that previous moves for the construction of a new alternative water supply pipeline to supply the city. The works continue. This was reflected this week by Komsomolskaya Pravda:

Specialists of the Military Construction Complex of the Ministry of Defense of Russia have completed the construction of another water pipeline that will supply drinking water to the population of the Donetsk People's Republic. “A new hydraulic engineering structure has connected the wells in the town of Kipuchaya Krinitsa in the DPR and the Yuzhny water intake in the city of Donetsk. During test work, military specialists have filled tanks and filtered and disinfected communications. In the next few days, drinking water will begin to flow to the population of Donetsk in quantities of 7,000 cubic meters a day," the military department said.

The construction of the water pipeline began in October 2022. In this time, a 36-kilometre pipeline has been laid and pumping stations and transformers have been built. The route goes through complicated sections with enormous amounts of communications that he has had to avoid. Currently, the construction of wells in the Kipuchaya Krinitsa area continues. After the commissioning of this pipeline, military builders will begin construction of a new pipeline from the Shevchenkovtsy water intake in the Dokuchaevsk district of Donetsk.

This year, military construction specialists have begun the construction of a larger pipeline in Donbass, which will run through the Rostov region and the Donetsk People's Republic to the Seversky Donets canal. The capacity of the pipeline will be up to 300,000 cubic meters of water per day.

Earlier, Timur Ivanov, Deputy Defense Minister of the Russian Federation, had flown over the pipeline with a task force. After the flight, the officials insisted that it would be the eighth pipeline built by the forces of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation to supply water to the population of the liberated territories.


A few months ago, the option of a pipeline supplying water to the Donetsk area from the Rostov region was considered excessive both because of its magnitude and because of its costs and difficulty. In a state of war and in danger even in the rear, the construction of large works is a greater challenge. The search for temporary solutions to an existential problem for the civilian population, which simply cannot live without water, is confirmation of the seriousness of the situation and the difficulty of finding a definitive solution. And the decision to go ahead with the construction of a much more important, expensive and difficult project to definitively solve the problem regardless of the development of the war not only shows the importance of Donetsk, but also the uncertainty of the advance on the territories north of Donetsk now under Ukrainian control and in which the recovery of supplies should be easier. In any case, as the figures used by the Russian authorities show, the current solutions will not be more than temporary remedies pending a definitive solution whose deadlines are not even known yet.

https://slavyangrad.es/2023/02/04/la-cu ... more-26557

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Ukraine: The War That Went Wrong
FEBRUARY 2, 2023

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Cartoon propaganda of a skeleton selling missiles and a clearance sign saying “Everything must go!”. Photo: Mr. Fish.

By Chris Hedges – Jan 30, 2023

Empires in terminal decline leap from one military fiasco to the next. The war in Ukraine, another bungled attempt to reassert U.S. global hegemony, fits this pattern. The danger is that the more dire things look, the more the U.S. will escalate the conflict, potentially provoking open confrontation with Russia. If Russia carries out retaliatory attacks on supply and training bases in neighboring NATO countries, or uses tactical nuclear weapons, NATO will almost certainly respond by attacking Russian forces. We will have ignited World War III, which could result in a nuclear holocaust.

U.S. military support for Ukraine began with the basics — ammunition and assault weapons. The Biden administration, however, soon crossed several self-imposed red lines to provide a tidal wave of lethal war machinery: Stinger anti-aircraft systems; Javelin anti-armor systems; M777 towed Howitzers; 122mm GRAD rockets; M142 multiple rocket launchers, or HIMARS; Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles; Patriot air defense batteries; National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS); M113 Armored Personnel Carriers; and now 31 M1 Abrams, as part of a new $400 million package. These tanks will be supplemented by 14 German Leopard 2A6 tanks, 14 British Challenger 2 tanks, as well as tanks from other NATO members, including Poland. Next on the list are armor-piercing depleted uranium (DU) ammunition and F-15 and F-16 fighter jets.

Since Russia invaded on February 24, 2022, Congress has approved more than $113 billion in aid to Ukraine and allied nations supporting the war in Ukraine. Three-fifths of this aid, $67 billion, has been allocated for military expenditures. There are 28 countries transferring weapons to Ukraine. All of them, with the exception of Australia, Canada and the U.S., are in Europe.

The rapid upgrade of sophisticated military hardware and aid provided to Ukraine is not a good sign for the NATO alliance. It takes many months, if not years, of training to operate and coordinate these weapons systems. Tank battles — I was in the last major tank battle outside Kuwait City during the first Gulf war as a reporter — are highly choreographed and complex operations. Armor must work in close concert with air power, warships, infantry and artillery batteries. It will be many, many months, if not years, before Ukrainian forces receive adequate training to operate this equipment and coordinate the diverse components of a modern battlefield. Indeed, the U.S. never succeeded in training the Iraqi and Afghan armies in combined arms maneuver warfare, despite two decades of occupation.

I was with Marine Corps units in February 1991 that pushed Iraqi forces out of the Saudi Arabian town of Khafji. Supplied with superior military equipment, the Saudi soldiers that held Khafji offered ineffectual resistance. As we entered the city, we saw Saudi troops in commandeered fire trucks, hightailing it south to escape the fighting. All the fancy military hardware, which the Saudis had purchased from the U.S., proved worthless because they did not know how to use it.

NATO military commanders understand that the infusion of these weapons systems into the war will not alter what is, at best, a stalemate, defined largely by artillery duels over hundreds of miles of front lines. The purchase of these weapons systems — one M1 Abrams tank costs $10 million when training and sustainment are included — increases the profits of the arms manufacturers. The use of these weapons in Ukraine allows them to be tested in battlefield conditions, making the war a laboratory for weapons manufacturers such as Lockheed Martin. All this is useful to NATO and to the arms industry. But it is not very useful to Ukraine.

The other problem with advanced weapons systems such as the M1 Abrams, which have 1,500-horsepower turbine engines that run on jet fuel, is that they are temperamental and require highly skilled and near constant maintenance. They are not forgiving to those operating them who make mistakes; indeed, mistakes can be lethal. The most optimistic scenario for deploying M1-Abrams tanks in Ukraine is six to eight months, more likely longer. If Russia launches a major offensive in the spring, as expected, the M1 Abrams will not be part of the Ukrainian arsenal. Even when they do arrive, they will not significantly alter the balance of power, especially if the Russians are able to turn the tanks, manned by inexperienced crews, into charred hulks.

So why all this infusion of high-tech weaponry? We can sum it up in one word: panic.

Having declared a de facto war on Russia and openly calling for the removal of Vladimir Putin, the neoconservative pimps of war watch with dread as Ukraine is being pummeled by a relentless Russian war of attrition. Ukraine has suffered nearly 18,000 civilian casualties (6,919 killed and 11,075 injured). It has also seen around 8 percent of its total housing destroyed or damaged and 50 percent of its energy infrastructure directly impacted with frequent power cuts. Ukraine requires at least $3 billion a month in outside support to keep its economy afloat, the International Monetary Fund’s managing director recently said. Nearly 14 million Ukrainians have been displaced — 8 million in Europe and 6 million internally — and up to 18 million people, or 40 percent of Ukraine’s population, will soon require humanitarian assistance. Ukraine’s economy contracted by 35 percent in 2022, and 60 percent of Ukrainians are now poised to live on less than $5.5 a day, according to World Bank estimates. Nine million Ukrainians are without electricity and water in sub-zero temperatures, the Ukrainian president says. According to estimates from the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, 100,000 Ukrainian and 100,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in the war as of last November.

“My feeling is we are at a crucial moment in the conflict when the momentum could shift in favor of Russia if we don’t act decisively and quickly,” former U.S. Senator Rob Portman was quoted as saying at the World Economic Forum in a post by The Atlantic Council. “A surge is needed.”

Turning logic on its head, the shills for war argue that “the greatest nuclear threat we face is a Russian victory.” The cavalier attitude to a potential nuclear confrontation with Russia by the cheerleaders for the war in Ukraine is very, very frightening, especially given the fiascos they oversaw for twenty years in the Middle East.

The near hysterical calls to support Ukraine as a bulwark of liberty and democracy by the mandarins in Washington are a response to the palpable rot and decline of the U.S. empire. America’s global authority has been decimated by well-publicized war crimes, torture, economic decline, social disintegration — including the assault on the capital on January 6, the botched response to the pandemic, declining life expectancies and the plague of mass shootings — and a series of military debacles from Vietnam to Afghanistan. The coups, political assassinations, election fraud, black propaganda, blackmail, kidnapping, brutal counter-insurgency campaigns, U.S. sanctioned massacres, torture in global black sites, proxy wars and military interventions carried out by the United States around the globe since the end of World War II have never resulted in the establishment of a democratic government. Instead, these interventions have led to over 20 million killed and spawned a global revulsion for U.S. imperialism.

In desperation, the empire pumps ever greater sums into its war machine. The most recent $1.7 trillion spending bill included $847 billion for the military; the total is boosted to $858 billion when factoring in accounts that don’t fall under the Armed Services committees’ jurisdiction, such as the Department of Energy, which oversees nuclear weapons maintenance and the infrastructure that develops them. In 2021, when the U.S. had a military budget of $801 billion, it constituted nearly 40 percent of all global military expenditures, more than the next nine countries, including Russia and China, spent on their militaries combined.

As Edward Gibbon observed about the Roman Empire’s own fatal lust for endless war: “[T]he decline of Rome was the natural and inevitable effect of immoderate greatness. Prosperity ripened the principle of decay; the cause of the destruction multiplied with the extent of conquest; and, as soon as time or accident had removed the artificial supports, the stupendous fabric yielded to the pressure of its own weight. The story of the ruin is simple and obvious; and instead of inquiring why the Roman Empire was destroyed, we should rather be surprised that it had subsisted for so long.”

A state of permanent war creates complex bureaucracies, sustained by compliant politicians, journalists, scientists, technocrats and academics, who obsequiously serve the war machine. This militarism needs mortal enemies — the latest are Russia and China — even when those demonized have no intention or capability, as was the case with Iraq, of harming the U.S. We are hostage to these incestuous institutional structures.

Earlier this month, the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, for example, appointed eight commissioners to review Biden’s National Defense Strategy (NDS) to “examine the assumptions, objectives, defense investments, force posture and structure, operational concepts, and military risks of the NDS.” The commission, as Eli Clifton writes at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, is “largely comprised of individuals with financial ties to the weapons industry and U.S. government contractors, raising questions about whether the commission will take a critical eye to contractors who receive $400 billion of the $858 billion FY2023 defense budget.” The chair of the commission, Clifton notes, is former Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), who “sits on the board of Iridium Communications, a satellite communications firm that was awarded a seven-year $738.5 million contract with the Department of Defense in 2019.”

Reports about Russian interference in the elections and Russia bots manipulating public opinion — which Matt Taibbi’s recent reporting on the “Twitter Files” exposes as an elaborate piece of black propaganda — was uncritically amplified by the press. It seduced Democrats and their liberal supporters into seeing Russia as a mortal enemy. The near universal support for a prolonged war with Ukraine would not be possible without this con.

America’s two ruling parties depend on campaign funds from the war industry and are pressured by weapons manufacturers in their state or districts, who employ constituents, to pass gargantuan military budgets. Politicians are acutely aware that to challenge the permanent war economy is to be attacked as unpatriotic and is usually an act of political suicide.

“The soul that is enslaved to war cries out for deliverance,” writes Simone Weil in her essay “The Iliad or the Poem of Force”, “but deliverance itself appears to it an extreme and tragic aspect, the aspect of destruction.”

Historians refer to the quixotic attempt by empires in decline to regain a lost hegemony through military adventurism as “micro-militarism.” During the Peloponnesian War (431–404 B.C.) the Athenians invaded Sicily, losing 200 ships and thousands of soldiers. The defeat ignited a series of successful revolts throughout the Athenian empire. The Roman Empire, which at its height lasted for two centuries, became captive to its one military man army that, similar to the U.S. war industry, was a state within a state. Rome’s once mighty legions in the late stage of empire suffered defeat after defeat while extracting ever more resources from a crumbling and impoverished state. In the end, the elite Praetorian Guard auctioned off the emperorship to the highest bidder. The British Empire, already decimated by the suicidal military folly of World War I, breathed its last gasp in 1956 when it attacked Egypt in a dispute over the nationalization of the Suez Canal. Britain withdrew in humiliation and became an appendage of the United States. A decade-long war in Afghanistan sealed the fate of a decrepit Soviet Union.

“While rising empires are often judicious, even rational in their application of armed force for conquest and control of overseas dominions, fading empires are inclined to ill-considered displays of power, dreaming of bold military masterstrokes that would somehow recoup lost prestige and power,” historian Alfred W. McCoy writes in his book, “In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of US Global Power.” “Often irrational even from an imperial point of view, these micro-military operations can yield hemorrhaging expenditures or humiliating defeats that only accelerate the process already under way.”

The plan to reshape Europe and the global balance of power by degrading Russia is turning out to resemble the failed plan to reshape the Middle East. It is fueling a global food crisis and devastating Europe with near double-digit inflation. It is exposing the impotency, once again, of the United States, and the bankruptcy of its ruling oligarchs. As a counterweight to the United States, nations such as China, Russia, India, Brazil and Iran are severing themselves from the tyranny of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency, a move that will trigger economic and social catastrophe in the United States. Washington is giving Ukraine ever more sophisticated weapons systems and billions upon billions in aid in a futile bid to save Ukraine but, more importantly, to save itself.

https://orinocotribune.com/ukraine-the- ... ent-wrong/

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Finland, Sweden Committed To Joining NATO Together, Says PM

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Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin speaks at a press conference in Stockholm, Sweden, on Feb. 2, 2023. | Photo: Ninni Andersson/Government Offices of Sweden

Published 2 February 2023 (12 hours 12 minutes ago)

"Last spring, we started our common path to join NATO. This journey must be made hand in hand and in common accord, just like we started it," Marin said in a joint press conference with Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.


Finland remains determined to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) together with Sweden, visiting Prime Minister Sanna Marin said when she met her Swedish counterpart here on Thursday.

They also discussed Sweden's current Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) and the security situation.

"Last spring, we started our common path to join NATO. This journey must be made hand in hand and in common accord, just like we started it," Marin said in a joint press conference with Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.

Marin's remark came three days after Türkiye's foreign minister said that his country could evaluate Finland's NATO bid separately from Sweden's to distinguish "between a problematic country and a less problematic one."

The issue became no less topical after Finnish newspaper Ilta-Sanomat reported on the result of a poll showing that the majority of Finns were ready to join NATO without Sweden, Swedish Television (SVT) reported on Thursday.

Asked by a reporter about the result of the poll, Marin reiterated that Finland intends to join NATO together with Sweden.

"I think it is very important that we today send a very clear message: Finland and Sweden applied together, and it is in everybody's interest that we join NATO together," Marin said.

At a press conference in Ankara on Monday, Jan. 30, Türkiye's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that although the two Nordic countries had requested to join NATO together, Finland had taken some steps, while there were "provocations" in Sweden.

Among other things, Türkiye has objected to a demonstration in Stockholm, where a copy of the Quran was burnt outside the Turkish Embassy.

Türkiye has also postponed a trilateral meeting with Sweden and Finland on their NATO bids.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Fin ... -0020.html

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Facing Epidemic of Homelessness, US Citizens Ask Why Billions Are Being Sent to Ukraine
FEBRUARY 2, 2023

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Journalist Jose Vega calling out 13th district Congressperson Adriano Espaillat. File photo.

US citizens interrupt the speech of congressmen to reject the enormous financial aid from Washington to Kiev, while Americans starve.

This past Monday, Congresspersons Adriano Espaillat, Charles Ellis Schumer, and Kirsten Gillibrand participated in a Columbia University Forum to offer an annual report on the state of the district when the were interrupted by advocates for the New York community. Demonstrators spoke up to condemn Washington’s seemingly limitless support for Ukraine while the NY community, and citizens across the US, suffer from rising poverty, homelessness, and drug overdoses.

“A hundred million dollars for Ukraine, correct? A lot of money for Ukraine, but what happened to Harlem?” asked journalist José Vega, blaming Congressman Schumer for “the death of many people due to open air drug trafficking.” He continued: “you are responsible for the death of thousands of people here in Harlem. There is a housing crisis, a homeless crisis and they have not done anything.”


The journalist charged the US administration for bringing the United States “to the brink of World War III with Russia” and worsening the crisis in Ukraine.

Another protester lamented that the US instead of opting for dialogue and diplomatic as a means to reduce tension with Russia is only adding gasoline to the fire to the conflict in Ukraine.

“Mr. Congressman, when are you going to tell the people in your district that Germany has just declared war, along with NATO, on Russia? When are you going to seek diplomacy with Russia?” he asked, qualifying that seeking “peace with Russia” would be in the best interest of the American nation.

A third citizen unhappy with Washington’s policies demanded explanations for the large amounts of money going to Ukraine in comparison to the budget allocated locally.

“I’m sick of all my tax money being sent to Ukraine,” he charged, “They give $40 billion to Ukraine, but they only give $20 billion to New Yorkers? ”

Since the start of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2021, the US has allocated billions of dollars for weapons and financial assistance to Kiev.

For their part, the Kremlin asserts that Western countries are putting their own security at risk by adding fuel to the fire of the conflict.

https://orinocotribune.com/facing-epide ... o-ukraine/

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There’s a sense that another turning point is approaching in Russia’s war in Ukraine
Analysis by Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 8:01 AM EST, Fri February 3, 2023

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A General Dynamics F-16C Fighting Falcon fighter jet at Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas, Nevada on February 16, 2022.
Larry MacDougal/MCDOL/AP
CNN

Russia’s mass mobilization, looming offensive and missile-borne terror against civilians is triggering fresh calls for even greater Western lethal aid to Ukraine, days after leaders signed off on their latest package that included the first tanks.

A building public debate over whether to send F-16 fighter jets is resurfacing a dilemma underlying the entire NATO response: Is the aim of the United States and its allies simply to allow Ukraine to ensure its survival or is it to help it expel Russia from all its territory and to ensure the defeat of Russian President Vladimir Putin?

The likely escalation in the war, close to its first anniversary, comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warns that Moscow is mustering its forces for a “revenge” attack against the free world. The sense that another turning point is approaching was, meanwhile, underscored Thursday by CIA Director William Burns. “The key is going to be on the battlefield in the next six months, it seems to us,” Burns said at Georgetown University. This involves “puncturing Putin’s hubris, making clear that he’s not only not going to be able to advance further in Ukraine, but as every month goes by, he runs a greater and greater risk of losing the territory he’s illegally seized so far,” the CIA chief said.

Washington is hearing Ukraine’s calls for even more multi-billion dollar assistance. It is about to announce a new $2.2 billion haul that includes longer-range missiles for the first time, according to multiple US officials. CNN’s Kevin Liptak and Oren Liebermann reported that the Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb – a guided missile with a range of 90 miles – will be included in the package. It could take weeks or months for the weapon to arrive, however, since the US will contract with American arms manufacturers to provide it.

Still, the latest US offering solidifies one of the most important and ironic consequences of the war. One of Putin’s perceived invasion goals was to forever sever the hopes of Ukraine, which was once part of the Soviet Union, of joining NATO. It may not be a member of the alliance, but Ukraine is now waging a stronger-than-expected response against Moscow using some of the West’s most advanced military kit.

Ukraine wants more

(more....)

https://us.cnn.com/2023/02/03/politics/ ... index.html

As previous analysis has it, the sense of growing desperation is palpable.

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NATO’s top military official says it’s time to shift to a ‘war economy’
February 3, 2023 Gary Wilson

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The cost-of-living crisis has sparked a working-class upsurge. On Jan. 31, around half a million workers joined a mass strike in Britain.

The chairman of NATO’s Military Committee, Admiral Rob Bauer, called for members of the U.S.-led military alliance to shift to a “war economy” in order to “increase the production in the defense industry.”

Left unsaid is that a “war economy” means austerity. A “war economy” is the NATO countries’ answer to the cost-of-living crisis sweeping Europe.

“We have to increase defense industry production and there are already more and more talks on the subject at the national level. This could mean prioritizing certain raw materials, certain production capacities needed for the defense industry rather than the civilian one. Those priorities should be discussed about, partially, a war economy in peacetime,” Bauer said in an interview with Portuguese television RTP broadcast on Jan. 28.

To carry out a war on Russia, Bauer continued, “we need to increase the production in the defense industry,” citing the wartime measures taken by the United States during World War II.

Bauer added: “In the first four years in the United States in the Second World War, in the Ford factories, there was no civilian cars made, but only military production. … And that is, in a way, talking about a wartime economy,”

The war buildup was also reflected in the Czech Republic, where retired NATO General Petr Pavel has taken over as president. The BBC calls Pavel “a firm advocate of Czech membership of NATO and the EU.”

Bauer’s “war economy” tirade came just two days after U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland testified at a Jan. 26 Senate hearing. Nuland positively celebrated the destruction of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipelines due to a sabotage attack on Sept. 26 last year.

Replying to a question from Republican Senator Ted Cruz, Nuland said: “Senator Cruz, like you, I am, and I think the administration is, very gratified to know that Nord Stream 2 is now, as you like to say, a hunk of metal at the bottom of the sea.”

Many believe that the U.S. was behind the destruction of the pipelines. For example, a top U.N. adviser, Jeffrey Sachs, the director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, said of the attacks: “The main fact is that the European economy is getting hammered by this, by the sudden cut-off of energy. And now, to make it definitive – the destruction of the Nord Stream pipeline, which I would bet was a U.S. action, perhaps U.S. and Poland. …

“I know this runs counter to our narrative — you aren’t allowed to say these things in the West, but the fact of the matter is all over the world, when I talk to people, they think the U.S. did it. “

NATO: an imperialist alliance

When Lenin wrote his pamphlet “Imperialism: the Highest Stage of Capitalism” in 1916, the world had a handful of imperialist countries — the United States, Britain, France, Germany, and Japan. Britain was the leading imperialist power then, the empire on which the sun never set.

Since 1945, world capitalism has been politically and militarily dominated by the U.S. empire. Now they say the sun never sets on the U.S. empire. In addition to the United States, there are the imperialist satellite countries — Britain, Germany, France, Japan. As in Lenin’s time, these satellite imperialist countries extract super-profits from the oppressed countries.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the original basis for the NATO alliance no longer exists. The European satellite imperialists don’t need NATO. But the U.S. needs NATO. U.S. finance capital needs NATO in order to assert its interests on the European continent.

“The war in Ukraine is a lucrative cash cow for the U.S. ‘merchants of death,’” writes Professor Joseph Siracusa.

“European officials are accusing the U.S. of making war profits from the conflict, especially in the energy and defense sectors,” Siracusa continues. “All the while, they say, Europe is suffering.”

Politico reports: “Top European officials are furious with Joe Biden’s administration and now accuse the Americans of making a fortune from the war, while EU countries suffer.

“‘The fact is, if you look at it soberly, the country that is most profiting from this war is the U.S. because they are selling more [natural] gas and at higher prices, and because they are selling more weapons,’ one senior official told Politico.”

The U.S.-NATO proxy war on Russia, Politico adds, “is tipping European economies into recession, with inflation rocketing and a devastating squeeze on energy supplies threatening blackouts and rationing this winter.”

The cost-of-living crisis, as it is known across Europe, the austerity and cutbacks, have sparked a working-class upsurge. In France on Jan. 19 and Jan. 31, some 2 million workers participated in nationwide demonstrations and strikes.

In Britain, there’s been the greatest drop in living standards on record. The Financial Times reports, “Last year the lowest-earning bracket of British households had a standard of living that was 20% weaker than their counterparts in Slovenia.”

On Jan. 31, the biggest day of industrial action in over a decade, around half a million workers joined a mass strike. Thousands of schools were closed — about 85% of schools in England and Wales were said to be affected — and most trains in England were not running. The Daily Mail described “Walkout Wednesday” as a general strike in all but name.

Workers in Britain have been staging mass strikes since last summer — and since then, the scale of the strikes has only escalated.

https://www.struggle-la-lucha.org/2023/ ... r-economy/

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Ukraine SitRep: U.S.-Russia Talks, Bakhmut Retreat, Laughable Casualty Numbers

The Swiss paper Neue Zürcher Zeitung published a piece today (in German) which claimed that CIA boss William Burns had offered 20% of Ukraine to Russia in exchange for peace in Ukraine.

As Newsweek summarizes:

NZZ reported on Thursday, citing high-ranking German foreign politicians, that in mid-January, Burns presented Kyiv and Moscow with a peace plan that would put an end to the war, which began when Putin invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

According to the newspaper, the proposal offered "around 20 percent of Ukraine's territory"—about the size of Ukraine's eastern Donbas region.


The Kremlin spokesman Dimitry Peskov, the White House and the CIA rejected the claim:

A CIA official told Newsweek that claims in the NZZ report that Burns took a secret trip to Moscow in January and that there was a peace proposal put forward by the director on behalf of the White House were "completely false."
Last month, Burns traveled in secret to meet and brief Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, the Washington Post reported.


The Neue Züricher says that Kiev as well as Moscow had rejected the U.S. plan.

That everyone is denying that this happened means that the Züricher claims are likely true.

We know that talks between Washington and Kiev are ongoing.

On January 30 Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was in Egypt and met with its Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry. A day later Shourky flew to Russia and met its Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Egyptian media reported that Shoukry carried a letter from Blinken:

The Egyptian state-owned news outlet Al-Ahram reported that Shoukry delivered a message to Lavrov from Blinken. The message appears to be in reference urging a halt to Russia's offensive in Ukraine.
"Russia should stop these actions in order for negotiations to succeed,” was the message, according to Al-Ahram.
...
A State Department spokesperson told Al-Monitor that Blinken has had a consistent message that Russia should stop the war in Ukraine and remove its forces from the country for the sake of peace. The message he gave to Shoukry did not differ from this, according to the spokesperson.
Lavrov described the proposal as "incomplete." Lavrov also praised Egypt’s “balanced” approach to the war in Ukraine. Lavrov further said Russia would continue to engage with Egypt on the Ukraine issue, Al-Ahram reported, citing the press conference.

"We will stay in touch. And I trust that this will be in the interest of the friendship between the two countries," said Lavrov.


In sum: Russia has accepted Shourkry's role as a middleman in the negotiations but wants a better offer from Washington.

We will see what will comes from this.

The U.S. knows that Ukraine's army is not able to hold the current defense line in its east. The fear is that it will run away when the line is breached.

Ukraine has already pulled several brigades from the Bakhmut/Artyomovsk line to plug holes in other defense lines (Ugledar, Kremmina). On January 17, using the deployment map by Military Land, I counted 27 Ukrainian brigade equivalents in that area. The map now shows only 18 Ukrainian brigade equivalents on the Soledar-Bakhmut line.

January 17 - 27 Ukrainian Brigade equivalents
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Source: Military Land Deployment Map
-
February 3 - 18 Ukrainian Brigade equivalents
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Source: Military Land Deployment Map
Ukraine will soon give up on the city.

The Ukrainian death toll in the city must be extremely high:

[Mykola] Bielieskov, [a research fellow at Ukraine’s National Institute for Strategic Studies,] Bielieskov said that Ukraine compensates for its lack of heavy equipment with people who are ready to stand to the last.
“Lightly armed, without sufficient artillery support, which they cannot always be provided, they stand and hold off attacks as long as possible,” he said.

The result is that the battle is believed to have produced horrific troop losses for both Ukraine and Russia. Quite how deadly isn’t known: Neither side is saying.
...
Along the front line on the Ukrainian side, emergency medical units provide urgent care to battlefield casualties. From 50 to 170 wounded Ukrainian soldiers pass daily through just one of the several stabilization points along the Donetsk front line, according to Tetiana Ivanchenko, who has volunteered in eastern Ukraine since a Russia-backed separatist conflict started there in 2014.


Russia has increased the intensity of the fight:

Russian artillery barrages had risen from an average of about 60 per day four weeks ago to more than 90 per day last week. On one day alone, 111 Ukrainian locations were targeted.
...
On Tuesday, Russian forces hit Ukrainian positions in Bakhmut with short-range artillery 197 times, and the two sides clashed some 42 times, Ukraine’s military said, significantly more than a month ago. Ukrainian forces beat back Russian soldiers, assaulting their lines time and again, the military said.


The above confirms the artillery engagement numbers given in the daily reports of the Russia Defense Ministry. It also confirms that Russia has no lack of artillery ammunition.

But despite that the New York Times is again stenographing implausible claims of high Russian casualties:

The number of Russian troops killed and wounded in Ukraine is approaching 200,000, a stark symbol of just how badly President Vladimir V. Putin’s invasion has gone, according to American and other Western officials.
While the officials caution that casualties are notoriously difficult to estimate, particularly because Moscow is believed to routinely undercount its war dead and injured, they say the slaughter from fighting in and around the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut and the town of Soledar has ballooned what was already a heavy toll.

With Moscow desperate for a major battlefield victory and viewing Bakhmut as the key to seizing the entire eastern Donbas area, the Russian military has sent poorly trained recruits and former convicts to the front lines, straight into the path of Ukrainian shelling and machine guns. The result, American officials say, has been hundreds of troops killed or injured a day.
...
Ukraine’s casualty figures are also difficult to ascertain, given Kyiv’s reluctance to disclose its own wartime losses. But in Bakhmut, hundreds of Ukrainian troops have been wounded and killed daily at times as well, officials said. Better trained infantry formations are kept in reserve to safeguard them, while lesser prepared troops, such as those in the territorial defense units, are kept on the front line and bear the brunt of shelling.
...
On Norwegian TV on Jan. 22, Gen. Eirik Kristoffersen, Norway’s defense chief, said estimates were that Russia had suffered 180,000 dead and wounded, while Ukraine had 100,000 killed or wounded in action along with 30,000 civilian deaths.


I find these claims of high Russian casualties laughable because we know that the Russian artillery is firing several times more shells per day than Ukraine's army can provide. Artillery is the big killer in this war.

There are often claims from amateur 'experts' that the defender has the advantage in urban warfare and less casualties than an attacker. Both claims are simply wrong:

The idea that urban terrain favours the defender, a common claim by today’s urban exceptionalists, is incorrect. In the 1980s the UK’s Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) showed that urban terrain was not a defender’s paradise. The opposite was true. The attackers almost always won, and in almost all cases for which detailed data were available, the defenders suffered high casualties.

Notably, the deciding factor in urban operations was good training and supporting fires from armoured vehicles. Based on comparing historical analysis with trials using the Berlin Brigade, further research confirmed that urban operations usually, but not always, ended badly for the defender for very easily understood reasons. Skilled urban defences were rare and required pre-planned counterattacks best supported by armour. Yet more evidence was apparent from work done by Christopher Lawrence, who confirmed the DERA findings.
...
Even a cursory analysis of commonly available data tends to support the above. For example, the Battle of Marawi saw 150 days of fighting where the defenders lost catastrophically, suffering a KIA loss rate of 6.52 per day compared to the attacker’s 1.12 KIA per day. Fallujah 2004 was fought over 50 days and saw the US attacker suffer 112 KIA at a rate of 2.24 per day while the defender suffered an estimated loss rate of 40 KIA per day. Operation Protective Edge in 2014 saw 49 days of fighting, with the IDF losing 67 KIA, so a casualty rate higher than Marawi at 1.3 KIA per day, but only very marginally.


The fight for Bakhmut is way more intense than the above mentioned battles.

The Russian forces are attacking urban conglomerations while having absolute artillery superiority and lots of ammunition and armor. The Ukrainian army is defending the cities mostly with little trained territorial brigades on foot while keeping its better trained and equipped regular units as backup. There is also an acute lack of armored support.

But we know from military history and science that the defender will usually have have multiple times more casualties than the attacker. We also know that good training and armored support is key for the defending side. The Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut have neither.

Despite that we are to believe that Russia is losing many more men men than the Ukraine? No one should be that stupid.

Posted by b on February 3, 2023 at 17:09 UTC | Permalink

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2023/02/u ... .html#more

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List of regular arms deliveries from the US to Ukraine
February 3, 22:48

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List of regular arms deliveries from the US to Ukraine:

- Additional ammunition for HIMARS (including GLSDB);
- Additional 155-mm artillery shells;
- Additional 120-mm mortar mines;
- 190 heavy machine guns with thermal imaging sights and ammunition;
- 181 armored vehicles of the MRAP class;
- 250 ATGM FGM-148 Javelin;
- 2,000 anti-tank missiles;
— anti-personnel mines M18 Claymore;
— engineering ammunition;
— equipment for cold weather, helmets and more;
- 2 air defense systems MIM-23 Hawk;
- anti-aircraft guns and ammunition for them;
- equipment for the integration of Western launchers, missiles and air defense radars with Ukrainian air defense systems;
- equipment to maintain the existing air defense capabilities of Ukraine;
— generators for air defense;
- systems for countering UAVs;
- 4 surveillance radars;
- 20 counter-battery radars;
- Spare parts for counter-battery radar;
- UAV RQ-20 "Puma";
- 155-mm high-precision shells M982 Excalibur;
— Equipment for secure communication;
— Medical supplies;
— Training funding, maintenance and support.

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/8147095.html

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Re: Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV

Post by blindpig » Sat Feb 04, 2023 11:01 pm

Evaluation of the SVO from a Marxist position
February 4, 18:25

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On the assessments of the Special Military Operation from Marxist positions.

Evaluation of the SVO from a Marxist position

The first important nuance in assessing the situation is that the basis of imperialism corresponds to the superstructure of imperialism, the ideology of which is fascism.

The total strength of imperialism of one or another group of oligarchs and the states controlled by it is proportional to the degree of its reactionaryness. Unlike the era of the First World War, the contradictions of modern imperialism are not a struggle between two blocs of equal potential. The world market is already under the control of US imperialism, and the oligarchies of other nations are trying to free themselves from the dictates of Washington. That is, we already live in the world of victorious American fascism, even if its terminological flair revolves around the doctrines of neoliberalism and globalization. The situation with political regimes in Ukraine, the Baltics, Poland, Taiwan, Japan, Kosovo and the like shows how easily American democracy on the ground turns into nationalism and support for openly fascist gangs when it is beneficial to Washington patrons.

Further, American imperialism (USA, England, Canada, Australia, Israel, Japan, Poland, the Baltic States and other openly pro-American regimes) is not equal to EU imperialism (France, Germany), Turkish imperialism, Indian or Russian imperialism. They treat each other as strong to weak, block, compete, enter into open confrontation at the regional level.

Consequently, fascism as the ideology and practice of the striving of the financial capital of one nation for world domination is inherent in all bourgeois countries, but to varying degrees, depending on the strength and correlation of the potentials of the bourgeois classes ruling in them. Countries in which national capital, due to their size and total subordination to the world market, is not able to reach the level of financial monopolization, become the arena of the struggle of foreign financial capital and fall into political dependence.

Thus, Ukrainian fascism - Banderaism - with all its gangs, nationalism, terror, is an element of the superstructure not of Ukrainian capitalism, but of American imperialism. Ukrainian oligarchs are not capable of claiming world domination, but are a mere rump of American corporations, typical compradores, who are allowed to exist and enrich themselves for the time being.

The second important nuance in assessing the situation is the understanding of the objective nature of the inter-imperialist class struggle that follows from what has been said above. The fact that American imperialism = fascism does not imply unconditional approval of the fight against it, because it is also carried out by an imperialist force, albeit a weaker and less reactionary one in this connection.

Communists treat the war in Ukraine as an objective reality of capitalism. As already mentioned, capitalism is generally a war of all against all, and concrete military operations are only an undisguised, frank form of this war. That is, under capitalism, war is something like a natural disaster, it is inevitable, because such is the very basis of capitalism, which permanently gives rise to military conflicts here and there.

Fascism in the United States and the West as a whole is a superstructure that serves the imperialist basis. The struggle of the bourgeois Russian Federation for spheres of influence with the West is a squabble between two imperialists, which, strictly speaking, does not bother the proletariat, since the weakening of one leads to the strengthening of the other with all the ensuing consequences in the superstructure.

The bulk of people with a petty-bourgeois consciousness are fixated on Putin, on his personal role in the war, or, at best, on the fact that it is not Ukraine that is at war with the Russian Federation, but NATO countries. Entrepreneurs of the Russian Federation are mastering the Crimea perfectly and will not “choke” on the territories of the LDNR and Ukraine if the war ends in their victory. And the Polish capitalists will gladly bring their troops into Galicia in order to enthusiastically develop the Lviv region.

The current war in Ukraine was initiated by the presidents, but first of all by the American ones, as in Vietnam, in Yugoslavia, Sudan, Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria…, at the behest of the most aggressive detachment of the business class. Until 2014, there was not a single sign, not a single thesis was voiced that Putin personally, or even more so the Russian Federation, have territorial claims against Georgia, Kazakhstan, the Baltic states or Ukraine. On the contrary, appeals were systematically sounded: guys, let's live together in the CIS and the CSTO. But the territorial claims to the market RF on the part of the listed states for the sake of obtaining loans from the USA and the EU have not stopped since 1991, although the Russian Federation bought equipment, for example, in Ukraine, paid for the transit of oil and gas, for renting the Sevastopol Bay at world prices, and Poroshenko's factory worked quietly in Lipetsk. The population of Ukraine had no objective reasons for inflating nationalism and fascist hysteria. This means that it was inflated in the interests of the United States for the billions of dollars that they invested in the politics of Ukrainian presidents and the insanity of the masses over several years.

Although now, in comparison with Ukraine and the West, the regime of the Russian Federation is softer and more loyal, but nevertheless, the imperialist basis guarantees that as the power of the Russian oligarchy grows, the mug of the same fascism will more and more clearly manifest itself. The Russian and Ukrainian proletarians, having fought and drunk the cup of military suffering, must understand that capital is the force that drove them into the trenches. Groups of financial capital playing "table monopoly" with the lives of ordinary proletarians of different nations.

However, in the struggle of any forces against the dominant American imperialism (even in the weather vane of the oligarchy of France, Germany, Turkey, India, the opposition of the Ayatollah regime of Iran and the armed struggle of the Taliban, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis) there is a progressive moment. The weakening of US and NATO hegemony plays into the hands of the socialist states, countries of socialist orientation and all anti-imperialist forces in different regions. The loss of hegemony by the US oligarchs creates a more favorable configuration in the world. In this connection, and only in this connection, one can speak of a sympathetic attitude towards "anti-Americanism", as well as towards those internal political processes in Western countries that undermine the potential of American and, in some cases, European imperialism.

The third important nuance in assessing the situation is the practical implementation of the thesis of Marxism about supporting any just struggle of the people, because the struggling people learn more willingly and better in the course of such a struggle, including communism. The struggle of the people of Donbass to be independent or even part of the bourgeois Russian Federation, and not Bandera Ukraine, is just and liberating. It demands our unconditional sympathy.

As for the position of the Khersonians or the Cossacks, it is difficult to say something definite at the moment, therefore, the inclusion of Zaporozhye and Kherson in the Russian Federation should be treated simply as a political fact. In any case, firstly, there are no signs that the population of Ukraine perceives the war as domestic, and secondly, they are somewhat loyal to both the pro-American regime in Kyiv and the Russian bourgeois authorities. Marxism teaches that all countries on a market basis and with a market ideology tend to collapse and redistribute borders.

The fourth important nuance in assessing the situation is the unconditionally positive attitude of the communists to the physical extermination of ordinary fascists by the armies of the Russian Federation and the LDNR. These are incorrigible subjects who will be the first to rise in armed struggle against communism and the first to unleash terror against the working class. The righteous anger of the people regarding the crimes of fascist gangs in Ukraine is worthy of all support.

At the same time, when Russian nationalists and chauvinists die in the ranks of the "allies", who took up arms to build the "Russian world", it is also difficult to perceive it as something other than the cleansing of our people from rot.

The fifth important nuance in assessing the situation is the presence of nostalgic-emotional references by Russian and Ldnr fighters to the USSR and a request for social justice as a motive for conducting hostilities. This creates favorable conditions for the propaganda of communism and the introduction of Marxist consciousness into the masses both at the front and in the rear. The tactical task of our propaganda is to transfer attention from the external form, from the emotional attitude to the essence of political processes.

Summing up, the following should be noted.

Firstly, the reasons for the emergence of this particular war, which rather resembles a kind of national liberation movement from the pro-fascist and pro-American regime, must be attributed to the entire hundred years of the immediate history of the class struggle after the end of the civil war in Soviet Russia.

Secondly, the answer to the question whether the current war is purely imperialist must be sought not through historical analogies, but diamatically.

Communists in their work for scientific and theoretical authority among the proletarians of mental and physical labor must be able to demonstrate a diamatic approach to the study of events and, from the standpoint of essence, “dissect” them in all “colors and colors”, shades and halftones, and not demonstrate a schematic rr-revolutionary, as many leftist Kisa Vorobyaninovs do today. We fully approve only the struggle of the people of Donbass against American fascism and local Bandera and are not going to in any way interfere with the leadership of the Russian Federation to provide them with comprehensive assistance.

Classical imperialist wars, as they were recorded by the classics, had practically no subtexts - the imperialists openly fought for the redistribution of colonial possessions: the US war with Spain, World War I, World War II until 1941. But even the Second World War cannot be called unambiguously imperialist, if we keep in mind its transformation in 1941. In those wars before 1941, dumb Western cannon fodder did what the oligarchs told them to do.

If we talk about the fact that in fact two market systems of the same type entered into an armed conflict in Ukraine, in which the main role is played by national big capital, the oligarchs, then yes, this war has a lot of imperialist features. From the point of view of official statements, the leadership of the Russian Federation tried to implement the Minsk agreements, according to which Ukraine retained the sovereignty and territory of the LDNR (that is, it lost only Crimea). But this was not part of the US plans. On the part of US billionaires and democrats, this war is indeed unequivocally imperialistic, and if during it the Ukrainian and the entire European economy collapses as a result of sanctions or the explosion of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, then this will be an acceptable outcome for the US oligarchs.

What policy the current leadership of the Russian Federation is pursuing in relation to, for example, South Ossetia, Abkhazia or Syria, proves that so far the Putin government does not intend to pursue a policy that is anything like the bloody predatory tyranny of England, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium in its colonies or US policy towards North Korea, Vietnam, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria.

And if we proceed from the fact of the abundance of cases of demonstrations of red banners by the warring contingent of the LDNR, the mindset of the masses, then it is clear that people perceive hostilities somewhat differently than they did at the beginning of the 20th century. Although in the First World War the Russian soldier seemed to go to war with the Germans with understanding in order to protect the brothers of the Serbs, nevertheless, until 1917, there was no talk in the trenches about any red banner or about turning the imperialist war into a civil war. And in our case, for eight years, the people of Donbass waged a struggle of a predominantly national liberation nature with minimal material and moral support from the bourgeois Russian Federation, however, with mysterious losses among the leaders of the LDNR of the left and leftist persuasion - which also fully fits into the laws of the class struggle.

So:

1) war is a product of capitalism, it is the natural and organic policy of the entrepreneurial class—the objective reality of capitalism and the counter-revolutionary destruction of the USSR;

2) the Ukrainian conflict on the part of the West is purely imperialistic in nature;

3) the imperialism of the Russian Federation is also present, but so far limited by the specifics of the Bonapartist regime;

4) the struggle of the people of Donbass is just, and the collapse of the Kyiv regime and the weakening of US imperialism in the region are progressive.

https://teletype.in/@prorivists/RSz4JZxXk9W - zinc

It is worth noting that the article does not disclose the position of the leftists, who supported the Nazi regime in Kyiv and actually play on the side of American imperialism, which is striving to defeat the Russian Federation and destroy the republics of Donbass. Such a position existed in 2014 in the form of "leftists for the Euromaidan", and it exists now. However, most of the left rather agrees with the theses about the need to support the Donbass and the fight against Bandera, rather than with calls to achieve the victory of Bandera and the United States.

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/8148615.html

Google Translator

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How a Network of Nazi Propagandists Helped Lay the Groundwork for the War in Ukraine
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on FEBRUARY 3, 2023
Evan Reif

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Azov fightersAzov fighters of Ukraine. (via Twitter)

“History isn’t what happened, but the stories of what happened and the lessons these stories include. The very selection of which histories to teach in a society shapes our view of how what is came to be and, in turn, what we understand as possible. This choice of which history to teach can never be ‘neutral’ or ‘objective.’ Those who choose, either following a set agenda or guided by hidden prejudices, serve their interests. Their interests could be to continue this world as it now stands or to make a new world.”

– Howard Zinn


In the aftermath of the Second World War, many of the architects of the worst atrocities in history were rescued and protected by American intelligence. The overt role of Nazi scientists such as Wernher von Braun (who personally oversaw the torture and murder of slave laborers) in the United States space program and West German industry has been common knowledge for decades.

In recent years the end of the Cold War has brought revelations about the CIA’s “gladiators” such as Yaroslav Stetsko and Licio Gelli influencing the world’s political development by any means necessary. From Germany and Italy to Japan and South Korea, there is now a vast collection of evidence proving the existence of large, well-funded networks of fascist terrorists who did not hesitate to use violence to ensure compliance from the “free” people of the world.

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OPERATION PAPERCLIP: Kurt H. Debus, a former V-2 rocket scientist who became a NASA director, sitting between U.S. President John F. Kennedy and U.S. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1962 at a briefing at Blockhouse 34, Cape Canaveral Missile Test Annex.

However, what is less well known is that thousands of fascist-leaning and anti-communist academics were also rescued and nurtured by the U.S. to wage an ideological war against Communism. These revisionist historians spent decades laboring in the shadows of the academic press until the fall of the Soviet Union allowed them to return home and finally rewrite history to their liking. After decades of effort, we can now see the results of their work, the seeds planted 70 years ago are finally bearing their poisoned fruit.

Sowing the Seeds

“This struggle requires ruthless and energetic action against Bolshevik agitators, guerrillas, saboteurs, and Jews, and the total elimination of all active or passive resistance” – Franz Halder, Guidelines for the Conduct of the Troops in Russia

One of the first and most important of these historians was not a historian at all.
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Franz Halder (right) at a planning meeting with Adolf Hitler, Alfred Jodl and Ion Antonescu, 1942. [Source: universoconcentracionario.wordpress.com]

Franz Halder was a career staff officer, starting with the Reichswehr in World War I. He joined the Nazi Party in 1933 and his close personal friendship with Hitler helped him climb the ranks very quickly. By 1938, he was named Chief of General Staff of the Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH), which made Halder the head of planning for the entire German army and second in command only to the Führer himself. No order could leave OKH headquarters without the approval and signature of Franz Halder. This means that Halder was not only intimately aware of the regime’s crimes, but he planned most of them.

Starting with the invasion of Poland in 1939, Halder personally authorized the liquidation of “undesirables” such as Jews, Poles and Communists. His office was responsible for the infamous Commissar Order and Barbarossa Decree, which allowed Nazi soldiers to execute civilians at will and without repercussions. These orders led to the eventual death of millions in the Soviet Union, both through deportation to camps and through brutal reprisal campaigns in occupied territories.

“Collective drastic action will be taken immediately against communities from which treacherous or insidious attacks against the Wehrmacht are launched, on the orders of an officer with at least the rank of battalion commander upwards, if the circumstances do not permit a speedy apprehension of individual culprits.”- Decree on the jurisdiction of martial law and on special measures of the troops (aka the Barbarossa Decree), May 13, 1941.

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Franz Halder as a prosecution witness at the Nuremburg Trials. [Source: roberthjackson.org]

Under the euphemism of “security warfare,” the Nazis annihilated entire villages and towns in occupied territory. Depending on the time and place, this was done through methods ranging from gunfire and torches to torture, rape, and pillaging. The result was always the same. Any settlement which may have held alleged partisans was completely depopulated of every man, woman and child.

All in all, a minimum of 20 million Soviet civilians were killed by the Nazis, but some Russian scholars estimate that the true number is at least double that.

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A boy forced to pose with the corpses of his family before his execution by the Wehrmacht, Zborov, Ukraine, 1941. [Source: bund.bindesarchive.de]

Halder was a consummate professional; he poured over documents for weeks, writing and re-writing them to ensure the language was as precise and unambiguous as possible. He was successful, as his orders were heavily used as evidence against the Nazi regime in the Nuremberg trials and even today are specifically cited as the sort of criminal orders that soldiers must refuse.

The Allies considered Halder’s orders so reprehensible that Nazis such as Hermann Hoth and Wilhelm von Leeb were convicted of crimes against humanity simply for transmitting them to their subordinates. Many lower-ranking Nazis were hanged for following Halder’s orders in the Soviet Union. Despite this, Halder suffered no consequences whatsoever for issuing them.

After Halder surrendered to the U.S. Army, the United States refused to try him at Nuremberg. Instead, he faced only a minor trial for “aiding the Nazi regime” in a German court. He denied any knowledge of the crimes that bore his literal signature and was found not guilty. After the war, he lived a comfortable life as an author, commentator and “historical consultant” for the U.S. Army Center of Military History (CMH).

The old fascist was rescued from the gallows to serve as the chief planner for another war. Halder no longer planned vast battles and the extermination of races, but he remained at the forefront of the war against what Halder called “Judeo-Bolshevism,” a term he learned from his beloved Führer.

Halder’s job was to rehabilitate Nazism for the benefit of his new American patrons. If the Nazis could be ideologically separated from the German people and the German Army, America could use the most useful of Hitler’s soldiers in their war against the Soviet Union without raising suspicion. Halder oversaw a team of 700 former Wehrmacht officers and intentionally set about rewriting history to present the image of a clean Wehrmacht and a German people ignorant of Nazi brutality. His deputy was CIA agent Adolf Heusinger, a Nazi war criminal who was largely responsible for planning the endless massacres of “security warfare,” and was later a commander of both the German Army and NATO.

Through manipulation, fabrication and widespread censorship, Halder and Heusinger created a complete narrative of themselves and the Wehrmacht as brilliant, noble, and honorable victims of the madman Hitler rather than the monsters who butchered a continent.

Halder and Heusinger published reams of fantastical lies with the CMH, saying that the Wehrmacht committed no crimes on the Eastern Front. According to Halder and Heusinger, the Nazis set up markets and cultural centers to buy food from local farmers and hold dances and social events for grateful people. Halder and Heusinger only briefly mention problems in the East, saying they were carried out by “Judeo-Bolshevik” NKVD infiltrators instead of the noble Wehrmacht.

None of this could have been farther from the truth. Under unambiguous orders from the OKH, the Wehrmacht was directly responsible for the subjugation and extermination of an entire continent as part of Generalplan Ost. Every bit of Eastern Europe was to be picked clean both by and for the benefit of the Wehrmacht, and the soldiers did their duty.

The primary weapon was starvation. The Wehrmacht sustained itself from the conquered lands, drawing on both resources and labor in massive quantities. Brutal requisition programs for grain and meat killed millions while the rest toiled to feed their Nazi overlords on a daily ration of 420 calories. In the planning phase for Operation Barbarossa, the Nazis concluded that the war was only winnable if the entire Wehrmacht was fed from Soviet land by the third year. By 1944 the Nazis requisitioned more than 5 million tons of grain and 10.6 million tons of other foodstuffs from occupied territory, 80% of which was consumed by the Wehrmacht.

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IG Farben (now called BASF) factory at Auschwitz sub camp Monowitz. [Source: upload.wikimedia.org]
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Concentration camp prisoners during the construction of the Ternberg power station, 1944 (photo credits: Fonds de l'Amicale de Mauthausen)Slaves building a power plant for Steyr-Daimler-Puch at Mauthausen. [Source: Mauthausen-memorial.org]
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Slaves at a BMW factory in Dachau. [Source: bmwgroup.com]
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Slaves at a Continental rubber factory. [Source: timesofisrael.com]

The Nazis needed more than just food to conquer the world. They also needed weapons and equipment. For this, Germany mustered its world-famous industrial might. The infamous concentration camps contained massive factory and labor complexes where millions of slaves were worked to death, building the weapons and equipment the Wehrmacht used to subjugate them. Given the magnitude of the contracts, very few German corporations kept their hands clean, and even the dirtiest kept all their blood money after the war.

The two elements had an almost perfect symbiotic relationship. German capital served the interests of the Army, and the Army served the interests of capital. As the Nazis conquered, they took slaves to build more weapons, which would then be used to conquer and take more slaves. The two-headed monster exploited conquered land with such savage efficiency that Nazi generals and economic planners feared running out of slaves.

“When we shoot the Jews to death, allow the POWs to die, expose considerable portions of the urban population to starvation, and in the upcoming year also lose a part of the rural population to hunger, the question remains to be answered: Who is actually supposed to produce economic value?” – Maj. Gen. Hans Leykauf

Despite the sheer enormity of his crimes, Halder’s laundry was wildly successful; it was not until after the fall of the USSR that any Western historian questioned his lies.

Even well-meaning researchers were ensnared by Halder’s trap. Halder enjoyed special status, releasing information to only the most privileged journalists and historians. With the legitimacy granted by his title, access to information, and U.S. government backing, Halder’s CMH was considered a gold standard source for academic historians and their information was highly coveted. Halder used this to carefully vet to whom he released information, ensuring he got the maximum impact.

From 1955 to 1991 his works were cited at least 700 times in academic publications, especially by professors and researchers in Western military academies. Since Western historians were forced to drink from Halder’s well, they passed down the poison to their students, and from there the lies worked their way into the public consciousness. Eventually, Nazi propaganda was laundered into “truth” through simple repetition and careful control of sources.

Although access to Soviet records has led to increasing resistance to this propaganda, some historians, such as Timothy Snyder of Yale University, still lean heavily on, or recycle Halder’s ideas to support what is known as the “double genocide” theory. Created by Baltic neo-Nazis to hide their involvement in the Holocaust and widespread collaboration with the Nazi regime, this theory languished in the darkness until Snyder brought it into the mainstream with “Bloodlands.” Even 70 years after its publication, Halder’s poison remains a key element in attempts to portray the Red Army as nothing more than savages, and thereby make the Nazis seem tame.

The Army knew that Halder published nothing but apologia, but that was the point. Halder remained with the Army for decades and was frequently rewarded for a job well done. He was even given a medal for Meritorious Civilian Service in 1961, in honor of his tireless service in the cause of genocide denial.

“It is necessary to eliminate the red subhumans, along with their Kremlin dictators. The German people will have to complete the greatest task in their history, and the world will hear that this task will be completed to the end.” – Wehrmacht Messages for the troops, № 112, June 1941

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A mass grave of Red Army soldiers, executed on orders from Franz Halder, at Stalag 307 near Dęblin, Poland. [Source: upload.wikimedia.org]

The Fertile Soil

“In the East, I intend to loot and pillage effectively. All that may be suitable for the Germans in the East, should be extracted and brought to Germany immediately.” – Hermann Goering

After decades of struggling in the dark, the fall of the Soviet Union created a golden opportunity for fascist academics. As ex-Soviet professors left, retired, or were fired in the tumultuous 1990s, an entire generation of fascist academics nurtured in the West was standing by to replace them.

Lavishly funded private schools popped up all over the former Warsaw Pact, staffed with fascist professors from Canada, Australia and the U.S. who had spent decades rehabilitating their Nazi collaborationist predecessors.

With almost limitless financial backing from NATO and a dizzying array of affiliated NGOs, the fascists could now rewrite history to their liking and train an entire generation of new soldiers in their ideological war.

As an example of this, we can focus on the life and times of Kyiv independent war correspondent Illia Ponomarenko. Through him, we can see some of the gears in the machine.

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[Source: twitter.com]

Illia was born in the town of Volnovakha, Donetsk Oblast, Russia. Then a part of Ukraine, this town of around 20,000 people sits about 40 miles north of Mariupol and the Sea of Azov.

Founded in 1881 as a station for what was known as “Catherine’s railway,” a major rail project posthumously named after the long-reigning Empress, had been mostly unremarkable since. Illia eventually moved south to attend college in Mariupol, the industrial port city which formed the backbone of the region’s economy.

Mariupol and the surrounding area have often been swept up in the tumultuous history of Ukraine. The region was a major flashpoint in the Russian Civil War and changed hands many times in the fighting between the Red Army, Tsarist forces, Makhno’s bandits, and the Central Powers before it was recaptured by Soviet forces in 1920.

In the following decades, the region saw an explosion in economic development due to its strategic position on the Sea of Azov only a short ferry trip from the USSR’s richest iron mines. Most notable was the now-famous Azovstal steel plant, a crown jewel of Stalin’s first five-year plan. The foundations were laid for the plant in 1930 and, by 1933 Azovstal produced its first ingot of cast iron. Production increased rapidly, and in 1939 the plant set a world record by producing 1,614 tons of pig iron in a single day.

When the Nazis came to enslave Ukraine, Mariupol and Azovstal stood resolute. The plant produced armor for T-34 tanks until the bitter end with the last workers being evacuated the same day the Nazis captured the city. As they left, the workers destroyed the blast furnaces and power plants to deny them to the enemy. Azovstal fell under the control of Krupp, but repeated sabotage from Soviet partisans kept the factory out of service until 1945.

More than 6,000 Azovstal workers fought against the Nazis as partisans or Red Army soldiers. Several hundred were decorated for valor, with eight of those being awarded Hero of the Soviet Union, the highest possible award for a Red Army soldier. Sadly, hundreds paid the ultimate price in the war against fascism. A monument was erected in their honor outside the plant which has been allowed to crumble by the Maidan regime, no doubt ashamed of what it represents.

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Source: wikipedia.org]

Even this great and costly victory only brought a reprieve for Mariupol. The people of Mariupol lived for decades in peace and prosperity, blissfully unaware of what was coming next. In 1991, less than 50 years after the victory of 1945, the monsters returned to once again ravage Ukraine and its people.In 1990, after a decade of economic sabotage and on the verge of collapse, the Human Development Index of the USSR was the 25th highest in the world, at .920. After the collapse one year later, it would never again be so high.

In 2019, the last year data was published before the war, Russia ranked 52nd. Far from the prosperity promised to them by the West, four years of Maidan rule made the situation even worse in Ukraine, which fell from 83rd in 2014 to 88th, below Sri Lanka, Mexico and Albania. Iran and Cuba, crushed under the siege warfare America euphemistically calls sanctions, still provide a better standard of living for their people.None of the former Soviet republics has recovered to their 1990 level as of 2022.

Even when the USSR was months from dissolution, Soviet citizens enjoyed more prosperity than they have since their “liberation.” Their wealth and security did not vanish into the ether; rather, they were stolen by the very same Western capitalists who looted the country once before.It is easy to view these numbers as simple abstractions, measures of a vast and almost incomprehensible economic machine but, just as it was in the 1940s, this campaign of systematic pillaging was lethal. Peer-reviewed studies have found a minimum of five million excess deaths from starvation, lack of medical care, drug addiction, and deprivation in Russia alone from 1991 to 2001. When the rest of the former Soviet republics are added, the butcher’s bill easily exceeds that of the Holocaust.

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An underage Kyiv prostitute named Natasha rests after being beaten by her pimp, 2017. [Source: thesun.ie

Had this happened anywhere else, or been perpetrated by anyone else, it would have been called what it was: genocide. Growing up amidst the devastation wrought by the unrestrained brutality of the “rules-based international order” only makes Ponomarenko’s future collaboration even more shocking. Ponomarenko moved to Mariupol to attend college at Mariupol State University in 2010.

Despite the innocuous name, this college was founded in 1991 with grants from USAID and George Soros and still today receives considerable funding from the U.S. and EU. The line of the college is unabashedly pro-NATO, its professors tour NATO headquarters, and the university proudly advertises its links to D.C.-based Atlanticist think tanks.MSU is not unique. Universities like it emerged all over the Eastern Bloc, flush with cash from both Western governments and their proxy think tanks.

The Soros-backed Open Society Foundation was a particularly important conduit for this. Not only did Soros create scores of new universities throughout the Eastern Bloc, but even went so far as to produce new textbooks for primary and secondary schools in the region. His schools count presidents, members of parliament and countless lesser bureaucrats among their alumni.All of this is in the service of his war against Communism, which he has been waging since at least the 1970s with both official and unofficial government support. The irony of the ferocious anti-Communist George Soros being called a Communist by the right is particularly sharp, especially as Soros has personally benefitted enormously from looting the former Soviet Union.

Ponomarenko graduated in 2014, just in time to be swept up by the next storm to hit Ukraine.

The Bloody Harvest

“Apparently some quirk in human nature allows even the most unspeakable acts of evil to become banal within minutes, provided only that they occur far enough away to pose no personal threat.” – Iris Chang

The narrative we are selling regarding the 2014 Maidan coup is simple. We are told that protesters rose with nearly universal support to free themselves of the yoke of the illegitimate, reviled Viktor Yanukovych’s Party of Regions, and thereby Russian control. After this, they say, the transition was clean and orderly, the problems in the east emerged only because of Russian infiltration and all true Ukrainians stood behind the new regime. To this day, the Maidan regime vehemently maintains that the conflict in Ukraine is not a civil war, but rather a foreign invasion that has been going on for eight years.

If you listen hard enough, you can almost hear the echoes of Franz Halder and Adolf Heusinger in the approved Maidan narrative, and I do not believe this is accidental. Just as it was then, the fantasy created by NATO propaganda could not be any farther from the truth. The Maidan never had universal support, and the process of bringing the country to heel was a long, bloody affair.

Despite the Ukrainian government’s insistence to the contrary, the conflict is a civil war by any reasonable definition, the separatists were Ukrainian citizens almost without exception and they started fighting to defend a legitimately elected Ukrainian government. Most foreign backing was firmly behind the Maidan, not Yanukovych and the separatists. From the very beginning of the Maidan, groups like Mamuka Mamulashvili’s U.S.-backed Georgian Legion had mercenaries on the ground to escalate a peaceful protest into a bloody coup.

Many of the militiamen were members of the Ukrainian Army, who defected when ordered to shoot their family, friends and fellow Ukrainians in Donbas. NATO analysts estimate that 70% of the Ukrainian Army deserted or defected rather than killing for the Maidan regime and they took their weapons with them, a fact which puts yet another nail in the coffin of the Maidan narrative of foreign infiltrators.

The narrative of a foreign invasion, rather than civil war, is particularly important for the Maidan regime. If we accept that this is a civil war, then we must ask why this so-called “nationalist” government is killing so many Ukrainians in Donbas with its daily shelling of residential areas, schools, hospitals and other civilian targets. It would be impossible to justify calling them nationalists, let alone liberators, with the blood of so many Ukrainians on their hands.

[/i]The solution to this contradiction is simple. If you strip the people of Donbas of their identity and history as Ukrainians, it becomes much easier to reconcile their annihilation.

In the ideology of “heroes of Ukraine” Yaroslav Stetsko and Stepan Bandera, foundational to the Ukrainian far-right, only a Galician is a true Ukrainian. The bulk of the nation’s people are so-called “Moskals” and “Asiatics” unworthy of living in the Galician Reich.

The fact that Galicia had been a part of Poland or Austria, not Ukraine, for more than a millennium is simply ignored in favor of their addled fantasy about how they, and they alone, are true Ukrainians by virtue of some ancient Viking blood.

Then as now, the ideology makes it easy for Galician fascists to justify killing Ukrainians by the thousands.[/i]

When the Maidan protests began in 2014, counter-protests emerged all around the country, with thousands of Ukrainians taking to the streets in support of the democratically elected government of Viktor Yanukovych and the Party of Regions. As the Maidan grew increasingly violent under the influence of the far right, the anti-Maidan protesters refused to be intimidated and fought back. Eventually, they coalesced into militias drawn from the wide variety of anti-Maidan activists and resistance became much more organized.

Fearing a counter-revolution, the unelected government of America’s hand-picked Arseniy Yatsenyuk created the Special Tasks Patrol (STP) police which was drawn almost entirely from the neo-Nazis infesting Ukraine and given wide-ranging powers to detain and kill Ukrainians.

The most famous of them was the Azov Battalion. Long before their cynical rebranding in the wake of the 2022 Russian invasion, the Azov Battalion of 2014 was an openly neo-Nazi militia. The soldiers Illia Ponomarenko counts as comrades in arms marched under the same flag their ancestors did in the 1940s.

The echoes of history are easy to hear from Azov. Originally called “Patriot of Ukraine,” the organization was founded in 2005 by Andrei Belitsky as a coalition of several Kharkiv neo-Nazi groups, such as Tryzub (the armed wing of CIA agent and Nazi collaborator Slava Stetsko’s Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists), and the UNA-UNSO (led by the son of CIA commando and Holocaust perpetrator Roman Shukhevych) and filled with soldiers from Ukraine’s large far-right soccer hooligan gangs.

In their formative years, Patriot of Ukraine worked as enforcers for Mafia kingpin Arsen Avakov, who was elevated to Minister of Internal Affairs after the Maidan. Avakov pulled strings to get lieutenant Belitsky out of prison for beating a rival gangster to death and the talented young Nazi was deputized to bring the separatists to heel.

In Mariupol, the saga finally came full circle and the world got to see first-hand what Halder and Heusinger spent so long planning.

After months of protests, fighting in Mariupol started in May 2014. According to the Ukrainian version of events, on May 3rd Russian infiltrators approached a checkpoint in the city with food for the guards laced with sleeping pills, then took the soldiers and their weapons after they were incapacitated. This fantasy is likely covering up the truth: The soldiers simply surrendered. Separatists set up barricades in the city center and began to occupy city administration buildings. The situation was rapidly spiraling out of the Maidan regime’s control.

Azov was one of the first units sent by the regime to retake Mariupol. Inserted into the city on the 7th of May, Azov started killing almost immediately. Azov dismantled the barricades by force, firing on the crowd of unarmed protesters who opposed them. Azov finished its work by the night of May 8th, and on Victory Day, May 9th, they started the next phase of their mission. While most of Ukraine was commemorating the sacrifice of eight million Ukrainians in the struggle against Azov’s forefathers, the heirs of Stetsko and Bandera marked the occasion in their traditional way, by killing Ukrainians. When the local police defected upon receiving an order to open fire on the crowds, Azov did not hesitate. Victory Day turned into a bloodbath as Azov terrorists opened fire on the crowds.

Local protesters and police defectors occupied the regional police HQ and took the chief of police prisoner in the process. Azov militants attempted to break the siege but, when faced with armed resistance, the “cyborgs” were soundly defeated. They retreated after suffering casualties and were forced to negotiate for the release of the prisoners. Just like before, the bravado and prowess of the fascist thugs evaporated as soon as their victims fought back.

Azov was defeated that day, but they were not destroyed. With backing from the Ukrainian state and the gangsters who were increasingly taking power, Azov returned in June, their forces bolstered by foreign mercenaries and a column of armored vehicles. After they came under drone attack, the separatists were forced to withdraw and DPR forces were driven out of Mariupol, suffering 5 dead and 30 captured. None of them returned alive.


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1st Aviation Brigade

Among the attackers that day were men wearing the insignia of the U.S. Army 1st Aviation Brigade, a unit responsible for training Army soldiers in combined arms operations. Considering their participation, the source of Azov’s sudden proficiency with UAVs becomes very clear.

Azov did not rest on their laurels. Along with the rest of the STP units, Azov quickly got back to their roots as what the people of the region once knew as “punishers,” enforcing order by any means necessary. It is unclear just how many people suffered in the dungeons staffed by STPs and SBU (Ukrainian intelligence), but the campaign was so widespread that even the Maidan regime found dozens of them guilty for crimes such as gang rape (including at least one instance where 8-10 Azov members raped a mentally disabled man until he nearly died), looting, torture, murder, smuggling and extortion. They may have worn the insignia of a military unit, but Azov had changed little from their days as Mafia killers.

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Azov with NATO advisors, 2017. Source: web.archive.org]

Even as men marching under a swastika once again cut a swathe through his home, Illia Ponomarenko was one of their most steadfast supporters from the very beginning. After COVID forced him to cancel a planned internship in the U.S, Illia went to work for NATO-funded papers such as the Kyiv Post, and later the Kyiv Independent.

His education at the NATO-funded schools served him well, and he has done an exemplary job at continuing the work started by Franz Halder and Adolf Heusinger so many years ago by once again rehabilitating the fascist killers butchering Ukrainians. He now has millions of followers on Twitter, and routinely makes appearances on mainstream Western news, such as the BBC, CNN and Fox News. His years of carrying water for his Nazi friends have finally paid off, Illia went from simply being in the right place at the right time to an integral part in the machine.

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[Source: Screenshot courtesy of Evan Reif]

What we are seeing today in Ukraine is no accident: It is a plan seven decades in the making. From the very beginning, the United States and NATO have been working to rehabilitate the legacy of fascism so it can be used as a weapon. These networks are not just in Ukraine; they have branches all around the world. Azov militants were even spotted at protests in Hong Kong, the latest front in America’s covert war. Fortunately, Chinese authorities prevented the city from suffering the same fate as Mariupol.

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Azov members in Hong Kong. [Source: scmp.com]

The seeds of this conflict were not planted in 2014, nor in 1991. Rather, they were sewn on June 22, 1941, when Nazi troops first streamed across the border as part of Franz Halder’s Operation Barbarossa. After four long years and tens of millions dead, the United States absorbed the “best and brightest” of the Third Reich and, for 70 years, they carefully tended Halder and Heusinger’s saplings, waiting for the chance to take root.

In 2014, we finally saw the noxious weeds of fascism return to the land they blighted so long ago, watered once more in rivers of Ukrainian blood.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2023/02/ ... n-ukraine/

Continuing Diplomacy by Other Means
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on FEBRUARY 3, 2023
Timofei Bordachev

A year ago, a series of negotiations between Russia and the West on the international order in Europe, based on Moscow’s December 2021 proposals for mutual security guarantees, ended without any results. Despite the fact that these proposals formally dealt only with the military and political sphere, their hypothetical consequence could be the creation of a new international order. However, the Russian proposals did not prompt any readiness for serious discussion on the part of the United States and its allies, and a month later, the solution of the most important issues moved, according to the definition of one high-ranking Russian diplomat, to the military-technical sphere.

By early 2023, the parties were already able to do enough to ensure that their conflict acquired a large-scale character and, thus, consolidated a new split in Europe, the boundaries of which are still indefinite. At the same time, the United States quite consistently reproduces the logic and mechanisms of confrontation characteristic of the late stage of the Cold War of 1949-1990, when virtually any form or scale of confrontation at the local level was accompanied by measures to prevent escalation directly between the great powers themselves. However, we still have to find out to what extent Russia is ready to act in accordance with this logic, taking into account the fact that a local theatre is located in close proximity to its national territory.

In other words, the failure of negotiations over a hypothetical new European order led the parties to move in the direction of its organisation, following the most historically accepted mode of interaction between powers whose interests are in conflict. This development came as an unpleasant surprise to those intellectuals, including this author, who thought that a combination of recent factors makes more likely what Edward Carr called “political change” in the international order. In his fundamental work, The Twenty Years’ Crisis: 1919–1939, he wrote that “political change” in the international order is possible when its main institutions are joined by powers whose power capabilities are large enough to pose a danger in the event of their revolutionary behaviour.

Such a solution seemed, according to the classic, a relatively reliable way to prevent the new international order, which was supposed to emerge after the destruction of the Versailles-Washington system, from leading to new world wars. At the same time, as the cause of the conflict, Carr singles out not so much internal factors, as a result of which the state pursues a revolutionary foreign policy, but systemic ones, i.e. due to the specific features of the distribution of forces and power at a particular historical stage. Ultimately, his basic idea is that states must show enough maturity and moderation to abandon a completely selfish view of the world. At the same time, Carr argued that international governance would in any case remain in the hands of a limited group of powers. However, he saw the maximum consideration of the real balance of power in the formation of this group as the main guarantee of the likely preservation of peace for a longer period.

The recognition that a stable international order should at least formally reflect the existing distribution of power was the result of a rather serious and dramatic experience gained during the crisis of a system built on the dominance of Western European countries in global politics and economics. For Carr, the causes of the crisis are obvious and simple enough: exclusion of a group of four major powers — Germany, Italy, Japan and Soviet Russia — from what we would now call “global governance”. The monopolisation by the three victorious powers (Britain, the USA and France) that arose after the First World War of all possibilities for influencing the status quo made the emerging world order immanently unjust, and ruled out the possibility of changing it peacefully. The result was the World War II, and now the state of affairs is different in content, but extremely close to that of the first half of the last century in nature.

We have no reason to doubt that even now, the author of the concept of “political change” would not question the main cause of the European crisis — the selfish behaviour of the Western countries, which forced Russia to switch to a revolutionary method of solving the problem of its security in the western direction. However, this does not change the situation much — the development of events we observe shows that one cannot count on wisdom in matters of international politics. Moreover, we now see how conflicting the behaviour of the United States and allies is becoming in relation to the growing ambitions of China. Diplomatic pressure on Beijing and the creation of military infrastructure in Asia look like military preparations much more than the creation of more privileged positions for a later “political” resolution of accumulated fundamental contradictions.

However, as far as relations between Russia and the West are concerned, the shift of the discussion to the military-technical sphere is still very limited in scope and does not fully correspond to the tragedy that is characteristic of public perception or media statements. Of course, we cannot say with certainty that a sudden and dramatic escalation between Russia and the United States is impossible. Moreover, there are a number of factors that could contribute to it — this is, first of all, the uncertain position of certain formal US allies: Poland and the Baltic States. It cannot be ruled out that the more active involvement of these states in the conflict with Russia may lead to threats to their territory, about which the US will have to make a very serious choice.

Now all parties to the conflict have demonstrated the ability to keep it within a fairly limited framework, but history shows examples when the factor of chance leads to very dramatic consequences. Also, we do not know exactly what the US will do if Russia considers it necessary at some stage to increase military pressure on the Kiev authorities in order to hasten the end of the hot form of conflict. So far, there are no signs that such an option is being considered, but here again we are dealing with a high degree of uncertainty. As a matter of fact, this interesting stage of international politics, which is now being experienced by all participants, does indeed contain a colossal element of uncertainty, and this is not surprising — neither Russia nor the West has gone through anything like this before. No attempt by the United States to reproduce to the maximum extent the experience of the past Cold War can serve here as a sufficiently reliable guarantee that the result will not turn out to be completely different.

However, if a general catastrophe can be avoided, the military phase of interaction between Russia and the West over the European international order can be seen as a continuation of diplomacy by other means. How long it will continue depends on the ability of the parties to be convincing in demonstrating their military capabilities, as well as resilient amid the inevitable economic challenges associated with the conflict. So far, Russia, like the West, has demonstrated a high degree of internal stability and the ability to continue the struggle. This makes it difficult to predict when the parties will feel the need to return to the negotiating table. However, one should not succumb to emotions and exclude the possibility that the Russian proposals of a year ago may still become a subject of discussion. This is quite likely after the conditions are created, which, in fact, is the task of the military-technical phase of relations.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2023/02/ ... her-means/

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From Cassad's Telegram account:

Colonelcassad
Odessans massively report about kidnappings right on the streets. The story of how Zelensky’s Nazis forcibly loaded a man onto a bus and took him to the military enlistment office was described by a local volunteer, a certain Yana Titarenko.

Three "Aryans" in military uniform, without presenting any documents, introduced themselves as employees of the TCC and pushed a man into the minibus like a sack of potatoes, who at 8:30 in the morning was just standing at the bus stop.

The man was taken to the picking center on Zinkovetskaya, he called the police. But it is unlikely that the police in this third Reich will help him. Is that thrown to the front.

***

Colonelcassad

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Seversko-Kremennoy section
situation as of 10.00 February 4, 2023

🔻Russian troops launched an offensive at the Krasnopopovka-Kremennaya line a few days ago . The defensive lines of the 66th brigade, 25th brigade and 19th combined troop battalion were broken through in a swoop. The losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in killed and wounded exceed hundreds of people.

▪️As a result of the attack on a wide front, the fighters of the RF Armed Forces advanced almost to Yampolovka , and in the Dibrov area they knocked out the territorial defense forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to the south and south-west of the settlement, expanding the control zone in Serebryansky forestry .

❗️Judging by the negotiations between the members of the 25th brigade, the offensive of the Russian Army was unexpected for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Retreating from the front lines, Ukrainian formations threw weapons and ammunition.

▪️Now the units of the 144th Motor Rifle Division of the RF Armed Forces are fixed on the occupied lines. There are active artillery duels. Formations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are regrouping at the turn of Yampolovka - Terny .

▪️Several units of tanks from the 3rd battalion of the 17th detachment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as reinforcements from the 25th airborne brigade of the Airborne Forces of Ukraine, arrived in the Terna area, occupying positions near Zhuravka Balka and in Yampolovka.

🔻In the Lisichansky sector , Russian assault troops launched an offensive against Belogorovka , as a result of which the village came under the control of the RF Armed Forces. There is a cleanup going on at the moment.

During the fighting, a company of 81 oambr in the amount of 160 people was completely destroyed , one of the units was surrounded. The survivors fled their positions.

🔻Simultaneous advancement of Wagner PMC assault detachments from Soledar , the 144th motorized rifle division of the RF Armed Forces in the Liman sector and the liberation of Belogorovka creates the prerequisites for access to Seversk and its operational encirclement from the south, north and east.

A further offensive by the RF Armed Forces in this direction will call into question the ability of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to hold it. The settlement is located in a lowland and it is virtually impossible to defend it.

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"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV

Post by blindpig » Sun Feb 05, 2023 1:40 pm

Bakhmut-Artyomovsk
POSTED BY @NSANZO ⋅ 02/05/2023

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Inhospitable and sparsely populated territory, with a society made up of Ukrainian peasants and people and groups of all kinds of ethnic and cultural origins, many of whom had come to the area fleeing different types of repression or had been forced to settle there by the prohibition of settlement in other regions of the Russian Empire, as is the case of the Jewish population, the fate of Donbass changed at the end of the 19th century. An agricultural region and so sparsely populated that even the comparatively high wages in industry did not stimulate the sparse local population to become urban proletariats, the introduction of industry as a state-driven project ushered in Donbass as it was. as it has been known until now, with mines and metallurgy as its main assets. However, the discovery of natural resources such as coal and the first attempts to develop certain specific industries had already occurred decades ago. While the city of Donetsk had a population of 164 in 1870, places like Lugansk, today poorer and less developed than the capital of Donbass, had previously tried and failed to consolidate some industrial development. One of those places where there was already some mining activity long before the Welshman John Hughes laid the foundations of his mines and his factory Novorossiya , the origin of Yuzovka, today Donetsk, was Bakhmut, where work in the salt mines had already begun in the 18th century.

A few weeks ago, the Russian press highlighted the role of the military man Semyon Chirkov and the nobleman Nikita Vepreisky as pioneers in a proto-industrial development. The work of mining extraction implied the need for fuel and given the difficulty of obtaining wood, which had to be transported from far distances, the army captain and the nobleman took advantage of the decree of Peter the Great that allowed the search for minerals to start the process of detecting the element that would mark the future of the region: coal, whose existence would motivate the rapid industrialization and urbanization of Donbass from 1860. However, and despite the attempt by the Russian press to highlight a historical link to this city that is fought to the death for today, it was not until more than a century later that, After the defeat in the Crimean War, the Russian Empire confirmed the inevitability of industrial development with which to compensate for the delay with respect to the European powers. The lack of modern railway infrastructure made the Russian Empire a backward power that had to industrialize, even if it was at the risk that the creation of industrial zones and, with them, an urban proletariat posed to the State. It was the beginning of a change that was a turning point for all of Donbass, an area chosen to boost mining and industrial production that managed to recover from the delay in communications.

In this context, Bakhmut was losing weight as other cities, mainly Donetsk, grew and built an industry that quickly made Donbass a region of extreme importance for the Russian Empire first and for the Soviet Union later. Before becoming Arytomovsk, the importance of Bakhmut already lay in the railway infrastructure. As part of the Ekaterinin line, which linked Donbass with Ekaterinoslav, later Dnipropetrovsk, and now Dnipro, Bakhmut played an important role in the 1905 revolution before it was defeated. And although the extraction of salt that began its pre-industrial development has continued until today -the salt mines of neighboring Soledar have been one of the points in which there has been a fight in recent weeks-, the importance of the city has been ,

Throughout these years of war, Artyomovsk has gained prominence at various times. In 2014, the population acted in a similar way to other cities in the area and self-defense groups were formed. In those first weeks, the city's weapons arsenal, captured by Strelkov's group, was one of the sources of weapons for the militias in the first moments of what would become the war. Artyomovsk participated in the referendum on May 11 of that year, although it returned to Ukrainian control soon after. The fall of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk in July of that year had a domino effect that left a whole series of cities in the hands of the Ukraine, which, like Artyomovsk, could no longer be defended. Like places like Popasnaya, The fact of being a few kilometers from the front and having communication infrastructures made Artyomovsk an important fortress for kyiv, especially after the defeat at Debaltsevo. It was in Artyomovsk that Poroshenko announced that the flight, in many cases on foot and through the fields, from Debaltsevo to Aryomovsk, had in fact been "an orderly and planned withdrawal." Since then, already as a front city, Ukraine turned Arytomovsk into Bakhmut, and Bakhmut into a military fortress.

Although the battle began last July with an unsuccessful assault after a Russian advance after the fall of Popasnaya, it is in recent weeks that the city has gained notoriety and has begun to be used as an argument for political and military discourse. . Ukraine, which took twelve days to admit the loss of Soledar, smaller and less important, has reaffirmed these days that "no one is going to hand over Bakhmut, we will fight with everything we have." This eagerness to fight contrasts both with the discourse that maintains that the city lacks strategic and even tactical importance and with the criticism of the Russian side for its obstinacy with its capture. For months Zelensky has called the Russian strategy in Artyomovsk crazy. Both the Ukrainian government and its sympathetic press have described the Russian action as the constant sending of ill-equipped and prepared personnel as mere cannon fodder in a battle in which they could not prevail and from which, even if they did, they would not obtain any substantial profit. "Russia does not count the dead," Zelensky recently stated in relation to the battle for the city, without any member of the press asking about the seriousness of the Ukrainian casualties. In an interview with a Western media, asked about the casualties that the battle for Bakhmut is causing, the adviser to the Office of the President Mikhailo Podoliak stated that “I cannot answer for the dead. We will be able to determine that figure when the war is over.”

Despite the lack of tactical or strategic importance and the fact that much of the population has left the city, Ukraine has continued to send reserves to a fight that, by its images, has been compared to the battles of the First World War. Without being criticized for it, the Ukrainian president has acted and continues to act exactly as he claims Russia is doing, fighting regardless of casualties or destruction. For Ukraine, Bakhmut has long ceased to be the battle for a city. The resistance there has a double objective: to justify the demand for more weapons from its partners and to keep the front static to prevent more Russian troops from being released to act in other areas of the front.

Zelensky yesterday called for long-range missiles "to liberate Bakhmut." This argument lacks any logic: the fighting on the Donetsk front is hand-to-hand and the distances between the parties are short. Long-range missiles in that area would not bring any advantage on the Donbass urban front, but they would in the open countryside of Zaporozhye, where Ukraine wants such missiles. However, this offensive that kyiv has already announced and with which it hopes to endanger the Crimea and thus force Russia to negotiate according to the dictates of Ukraine, needs time. The German Defense Minister has already announced that the training of Ukrainian soldiers in the use and handling of the precious Leopard tanks will deal only with its basic aspects. At the risk of sending unprepared soldiers to the front, the West, like Ukraine, seeks to shorten times to limit Russia's ability to prepare for attack. But in this interval, kyiv must prevent any Russian advance.

The value of Arytomovsk as an industrial hub or as a springboard for the advance towards Slavyansk was limited by the loss of Izium, but the demolition of Ukraine's first line of defense would be a decisive advance in the goal of recapturing the entire Donetsk region. That is the importance of Artyomvosk for Russia. For Ukraine, Bakhmut is nothing more than the place where it hopes to keep Russia occupied while waiting for more tanks, aircraft and missiles with which to try to advance on its priority front, the south. As Russia presses on the ground and seeks to regain historical ties to the area, kyiv seeks to turn the Soviet-built city, a symbol of everything post-Maidan Ukraine has shown to hate, into an idea: “Bajmut is not just a place, it is our home”, sentenced Podoliak. Bakhmut is, like war,

https://slavyangrad.es/2023/02/05/bajmu ... more-26564

Google Translator

(Edited, really scrambled today.)

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Mariupol. February 2023
February 4, 20:18

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Mariupol. February 2023

Now Mariupol appears much less often in the news stories of the central channels. There may be a misleading impression that since the city is almost never shown on television, the restoration and construction work in it has stopped.

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This is wrong. Work continues in full, without breaks and days off. And this is no joke - construction sites work around the clock. New houses are being built by both visitors and local specialists.

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Many houses are demolished in the center of the city, it was in the center and the area of ​​the Azovstal plant that the most fierce battles unfolded. "Business cards" of Mariupol - drama theater, "houses with spiers" are being restored. The turn will also reach the old water tower - it did not suffer much.

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Humanitarian aid continues to be distributed - it is received by pensioners and parents of small children. Stores are slowly reopening, as are post offices. The problem with banks (there are two banks in Mariupol - DPR and Russian) remains - for the whole city there are about half a dozen ATMs, which become empty very quickly. Yes, money is also given out at the box office, but there are just huge queues.

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Russian doctors have been working in Mariupol since the end of last spring. They treat for free. Contacted personally. Last summer, a retired neighbor was operated on for free, they also gave out the necessary medicines and did not take any money.

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For utilities in the city are not yet paid, as well as for travel in public transport. Local buses are also free.

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Food prices (relative to average city salaries) are a bit high. They promise to adjust them in supermarkets. Let's see. Now, for certain items of food products (for example, sweets, sausages, tea, coffee), prices in supermarkets are at least ten percent higher than in the market.

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The queues for obtaining Russian passports are long, they take from the very early morning. And there would be even more, it’s just that for many residents (like me, for example), some of the documents burned down, and it could take a couple of months to restore. As soon as I have time, I will tell you what I had to face when restoring documents - this needs to be told separately ...

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Sports events began to take place. There was even a chess tournament recently. A girl from our editorial team took one of the prizes.
Works to restore the supply of electricity, water, gas and heating are ongoing. There are a lot of applications for connecting the Internet - there are not enough installation teams.

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In general, the city is being restored. I will return to this topic in a couple of months.

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(c) Bogdan Borman

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/8148828.html

Zelensky will not be killed
February 5, 15:17

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Zelensky will not be killed

Former Israeli Prime Minister Bennett, after officially leaving politics, gave an interview where he revealed some details of Israel's role as a mediator in the war in Ukraine. According to Bennett:

1. Putin personally promised Bennett not to kill Zelensky, after which he got out of the bunker in which he was sitting, because he thought that he would be killed. After that, Zelensky, having received guarantees that Putin would not kill him, began to declare that he was "not afraid of Putin."

2. Negotiations to end the war were stopped at the request of Western countries led by the United States. There were at least 17 draft versions of the peace agreement. So to say, another confirmation of the obvious.

3. Israel and the Russian Federation take into account the interests of each other and have found reasonable compromises, taking into account their interests. Actually, these compromises in fact limit the supply of weapons from Israel to Ukraine.

PS. Of course, all this does not mean that Zelensky will not be killed. The same Americans as part of tailings, for example.

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/8150483.html

Google Translator

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Why Does Ukraine Keep Attacking Civilian Areas in Donetsk?
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on FEBRUARY 4, 2023
Vladislav Ugolny

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Rockets have hit peaceful neighborhoods once again. Why does Kiev continue its policy, if not purely out of hate?

The logic behind the terror

At least ten rockets hit central areas of Donetsk on Saturday morning, damaging three residential buildings, a local Russian official has reported in his Telegram channel.

One of the projectiles fired by Ukrainian forces hit an apartment building in the Kievsky district. While rescuers continue to search for survivors under the rubble, preliminary information suggests that there were three people in one of the apartments.

There was no information on casualties at the time of writing, but the absence of victims would be unusual; indeed, Ukrainian shelling of the capital of the Donetsk People’s Republic intensified weeks before the Russian attack in February 2022, and has taken a heavy toll ever since.

The suffering of Donbass residents

According to the human rights commissioner of the DPR, Daria Morozova, at least 1,091 civilians were killed and another 3,533 were recorded as injured last year as a result of combat operations. The figures do not include places such as Mariupol, where the full scale of the tragedy has yet to be assessed.

The 4,624 people mentioned above were victims of regular artillery strikes on urban areas of Donetsk and Gorlovka.

When Donetsk residents are asked why the Ukrainian Armed Forces continue to attack civilians, people usually have no explanation other than the desire of the Ukrainian government and military to destroy Donbass and its people. This is supported by a massive campaign to dehumanize local residents and a number of hateful statements by Ukrainian politicians. “We will kill them with nuclear weapons,” warned former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko, while ex-president Pyotr Poroshenko has vowed: “Our children will go to school, while their children will go sit in basements. That’s how we will win this war.”

Ukrainian forces continue to bomb Donbass despite the shortage of shells experienced by both sides of the conflict. However, while Russia can solve this issue by activating its military-industrial complex, Ukraine is entirely dependent on foreign supplies.

It should make a lot more sense for Ukraine to use scarce ammunition on military targets rather than on peaceful residential areas. Even if a lot of the time, Kiev’s forces misfire. A typical example is a Ukrainian shell landing in the frozen Kalmius River that divides Donetsk.

How Ukraine explains the attacks

Whenever Ukrainian artillery hits a civilian object – for example, a flower market – or kills civilians, officials in Kiev deny it. Unofficial voices resort to false claims that no such thing ever happened. Over the past eight years, the latter have come up with several memes allegedly proving that the Ukrainian Army wasn’t involved – with explanations such as “the air conditioner exploded.” Even if Ukrainian forces manage to hit a military facility, such as a warehouse, they usually deny involvement, claiming that “someone smoked in the wrong place” and that the explosion wasn’t related to the conflict. Thus, an information environment is created that denies the fact that Kiev attacks cities.

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People inspect the damages at the central market after a recent shelling in the course of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, in Horlivka, Donetsk People’s Republic, Russia. © Sputnik / Taisija Voroncova

The Ukrainian side claims the attacks on civilians are “self-inflicted” – implying that the Russian Army attacks cities under its control, supposedly to blame Ukrainian forces and demonize them in the eyes of the population, as well as for propaganda purposes. This kind of post-truth has given rise to a whole area of fact-checking, where journalists collaborate with open-source intelligence to calculate the trajectory of the strikes.

For Donbass residents, all this is extremely painful. Discussions of terrorist attacks on civilian infrastructure often end in profanities. According to Donbass locals, Ukrainians keep on attacking Donetsk simply because they can. Meanwhile, people are just trying to survive and are waiting for the front to move away from the area. Other details don’t concern them.

However, this is a distorted view of the situation; there is every reason to believe that the regular shelling of cities in Donbass is part of Ukrainian strategy and follows military logic. Perhaps Kiev’s “hybrid war” era military doctrine has adopted terrorist methods. So, how do these attacks on the civilian population help Ukraine?

Psychological pressure

Let’s take a clear example. In June 2022, the units of the first corps of the People’s Militia of the DPR were dislodged from their permanent locations because of the battle for Lisichansk – they had to storm a huge section of the front from Popasnaya to Verkhnekamenka, moving from south to north. The Russian Armed Forces then lacked personnel and had to use troops from Donetsk. Ukraine intensified strikes on the city to force the leadership to return the units back to their locations.

A similar thing is happening now. Some areas are under pressure – in particular, the fighters of the Wagner Group are pressing in Soledar and Artyomovsk (known in Ukraine as Bakhmut). They are advancing backed by the artillery of the Russian Armed Forces. Ukrainians use civilian strikes to provoke politicians, hoping that they will influence the military and interfere with the army’s plans. In June, this plan failed and the Ukrainians, taking advantage of the lack of counter-battery fire in the Donetsk region, committed a number of atrocities.

Commenting on the situation in a private conversation, one fighter explained why the army didn’t take the bait: “Normally, no military man – from simple soldier to general – suffers if the enemy attacks the city. This sounds harsh, but it’s better for the enemy to attack the city than the army’s manpower. This would be the usual military logic, but there is one key detail: 95% of our corps are made up of local residents who are worried about their cities. So, after completing the mission in Lisichansk, our soldiers were very angry when they got back to Donetsk.”

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Residents are seen outside a residential building damaged as a result of shelling by Ukrainian troops in the course of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, in Donetsk, Donetsk People’s Republic, Russia. © Sputnik / Sergey Baturin

This is all very close to home for fighters from Donbass. In the case of a fast-paced conflict without a stable front line, such attacks would have motivated the soldiers, by enraging them. Perhaps this explains the near-complete silence of the Ukrainian artillery in the first month of the Russian military campaign. In those days, when the front line was mobile, it was better not to further motivate the enemy.

However, in positional warfare, fighters are conscious of a permanent threat to their relatives and other civilians in their hometowns. Motivated warriors who identify themselves as “defenders” feel as if they don’t have enough strength to break through. This acts to discourage. Concern for those who are not on the front line returns the soldier to his other life, behind the front lines, and distracts him from battle. By itself, this does not break morale, but soldiers are also affected by constant adrenaline swings, a risk of death or injury to themselves or their brothers in arms, the cold and damp conditions, the monotony of their work (for example, a good soldier digs more often than shoots), and numerous other factors.

Russia doesn’t have a strong memory of World War I – it has been replaced by that of World War II. However, the current fighting resembles the trench warfare of the early 20th century. With the possibility to adjust and fine-tune firing using Chinese drones and the chance to search the internet for how to repair military equipment. The rest of it – mud, trenches, the frozen front line – is like World War I, including politicians demanding a large-scale and ambitious offensive.

Why can’t the strikes be stopped?

At the end of July 2022, such an event began in the Donetsk region. Its main goal was to free the city from artillery strikes. The Donetsk corps were successful for several days, but then became stuck in positional battles. By the end of January, six months into the operation, the army had barely advanced 10km (6 miles).

The fighters were unable to break through the pre-established line of defense, and the forces only managed to wedge and slowly push through the three lines of fortifications near the villages of Vodianoye and Opitnoe, north of Donetsk airport. However, the fighters cannot give up on storming these fortifications – the strikes on Donetsk and Makeyevka must end for good.


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A woman sits in a kiosk at the central market damaged as a result of shelling in the course of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, in Horlivka, Donetsk People’s Republic, Russia. © Sputnik / Taisija Voroncova

As a result, there have been signs of an emerging contradiction. On the one hand, military leaders who are interested in achieving military goals and saving manpower, and on the other, politicians who express the interests of the civilian population and want to put a swift end to the artillery terror. Politicians want the public to like them. They don’t want to deal with the consequences of hostilities, hoping for things to return to normal so they can receive funding to restore the affected regions. As a result, they view the situation quite differently from the military.

Through manipulation, propaganda and informational and psychological influence, Ukrainians have made cunning use of the differences between civilian and military interests. This comes down to a grotesque choice between “killing the army in Avdeevka” and “allowing the Ukrainian Armed Forces to wipe Donetsk off the face of the Earth.” If politicians push the army to force the assault, the latter will make more mistakes, which will reduce their power. This, in turn, favors Kiev.

Perhaps seeking rational reasons behind the artillery strikes in Donbass is pointless – maybe it’s just the manifestation of rage on behalf of Ukrainian nationalists. However, if we ask ourselves “who benefits from this,” there is a creeping suspicion that terrorizing the population with NATO ammunition is a strategy initiated by Ukraine’s top military leadership. Firstly, these attacks tie up the forces of the Russian Army and distract it from concentrating on other areas. Secondly, they negatively affect the combat spirit of the fighters from Donbass. And finally, they allow political factors to intervene in military strategy, dealing a serious blow to its quality.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2023/02/ ... n-donetsk/

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JOHN BOLTON CONFESSES ABOUT WEAKNESS AGAINST RUSSIA VIA PHONE JOKE
4 Feb 2023 , 11:28 am .

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Former Donald Trump administration national security adviser, Republican warmonger John Bolton (Photo: Anna Moneymaker / AFP)

The former national security adviser to former President Donald Trump, the Republican warmonger John Bolton, gave his opinion in a phone joke about the possibility of reaching armistice agreements with Russia in the framework of the Ukrainian conflict.

He said as long as the war in Ukraine can be won militarily, Russian President Vladimir Putin should not be allowed to achieve his goals through political means.

Bolton made the claim during a call - published Thursday, February 2 - with notorious Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus, who fooled the staunch Kremlin critic into thinking he was talking to former Ukrainian President Piotr Poroshenko.

"For me, the important thing is to continue to put pressure on the Russians militarily - I think it's a winnable war - and to stop the efforts of the French, the Germans or whoever to try to negotiate with the Russians," Bolton said.

He noted that French President Emmanuel Macron has spoken several times since the start of the conflict about the need to find an agreement that is "acceptable" to Russia, and that such statements allow Putin to suggest that "he can break Western resolve."

"I think he [Putin] really hopes to win politically what he cannot win militarily on the battlefield. That's where the real test is. And I think we are vulnerable," he warned.

He suggested that the help kyiv received from the United States and NATO in the run-up to the conflict was "acceptable, but not great."

"Politicians in the West are taking more credit for NATO unity, frankly, than we deserve (...) Many NATO partners have not fully participated in (...) our performance in applying sanctions [to Russia] has not been what it should be," he concluded.

Vovan and Lexus had already made this type of prank call to extract compromising statements from various figures in the Western political world, such as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Polish President Andrzej Duda, former US President George W. Bush, etc. Bolton is the latest of many public figures to have fallen victim to this comedian couple.

https://misionverdad.com/john-bolton-co ... telefonica

Google Translator

*************

From Cassad's Telegram account:

Colonelcassad

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Strike on the location of Ukrainian forces in the building of the Kharkiv National University of Municipal Economy

This morning, the RF Armed Forces launched several strikes on the objects of the Ukrainian army in Kharkov - one of the targets was the building of KhNUGK on Marshal Bazhanov Street . Judging by the photographs, several floors in the east wing of the building were destroyed as a result of the impact.

In the building of the university, with a high degree of probability, there was a deployment point for Ukrainian formations - enemy fighters often use educational institutions for their own needs throughout Ukraine. At the same time, according to some reports, foreign advisers

could be at the facility.or high-ranking Ukrainian officers. Even before the arrival of firefighters, employees of the SBU arrived at the building, taking the situation under control.

***

Colonelcassad

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Soledar direction
situation by the end of February 4, 2023

🔻In the Soledar sector, the assault detachments of the PMC "Wagner" attack the positions of the 10th Guards Airborne Brigade of Ukraine on the outskirts of Razdolovka , and also move westward from the village of Sakko and Vanzetti to Vasyukovka .

▪️Fighting continues in the vicinity of Krasnaya Gora and Paraskovievka . The enemy suffers significant losses: the Ukrainian command withdrew in the direction of Slavyansk separate units of the 46th oambr DShV and 147th about 116th troop from Krasnaya Gora .

▪️Ukrainian UAV crews track the areas of advance of the RF Armed Forces and provide target designation of cannon and rocket artillery in the vicinity of Blagodatnoe .

🔻In Bakhmut , the "Wagnerites" entered the Stupka area in the north of the city. Fierce battles are going on in urban areas. Statements about a breakthrough in the defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are not true - Ukrainian formations continue to resist.

At the same time, the partial withdrawal of units from the northern suburbs of Bakhmut and the departure of 63 mechanized brigades from the city yesterday indicate preparations for a possible surrender of the garrison. Now the Armed Forces of Ukraine are concentrating their efforts on holding the route to Chasy Yar in order to preserve the logistics hub.

▪️At the same time, intense fighting continues in the industrial zone on the eastern outskirts, as well as in residential areas in the southern part of the city, where assault detachments are attacking the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Pervyi Radyansky Street.

🔻Southwest of Bakhmut , Russian units are advancing in the direction of the section of the Chasov Yar - Bakhmut highway. The "Wagnerites" advanced towards Krasnoe - less than one and a half kilometers remained to the suburbs.

▪️The command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is transferring manpower and armored vehicles from Konstantinovka to the vicinity of Chasov Yar . At the same time, additional defensive lines are being prepared in Konstantinovka itself.

▪️Russian artillery is conducting a massive shelling of areas where enemy reinforcements are concentrated on the Konstantinovka - Chasov Yar - Bakhmut highway .

https://t.me/s/boris_rozhin

Google Translator
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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blindpig
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Re: Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV

Post by blindpig » Mon Feb 06, 2023 12:57 pm

return to routine
POSTED BY @NSANZO ⋅ 02/06/2023

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A few days ago, users of social networks residing in the city of Donetsk commented, surprised, on the virtual absence of shelling in the city throughout the week. Since the end of May, when the Ukrainian Armed Forces resumed and intensified indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas of the city, attacks had been almost daily. The general explanation for the brief calm in the city was the lack of ammunition. The intensity of the war implies the expense of immense amounts of material, for which there are not always spare parts. The agreement reached with France and Australia for the shipment of more 155-mm ammunition, widely used, for example, in Donetsk, seemed to confirm these suspicions of the population. Hours later, with the evidence perhaps that the supplies are on the way, Ukraine bombed Donetsk again. The attacks continue.

Original article: Dmitry Steshin / Komsomolskaya Pravda

“We haven't been bombed in a long time,” a compatriot told me last week while crossing himself. There have, of course, been shelling in the Petrovsky district, but there is always shelling there, it's almost part of the environment, everyday. So there is no way to escape from Donetsk. I myself live in a building with an impact. I console myself with the maxim that no two lightning strikes in the same place. On the other side of the wall are two blond boys of five and six years old, Artyom and Kolya. I helped them get the scooter out because it looked like it was their first outing in the last month. The young neighbors walk on the head all day. I take it stoically, with a smile: currently children cannot be allowed to walk down the street.

All portals are wide open. It is an order from the authorities, so that anyone passing by on the street can enter and take refuge between the walls of the buildings in case something happens. You never know, it is impossible to guess when there may be a bombing.

In the morning, I went out for drinking water. It is drinkable only because it says so on the label. Kind people pick it up somewhere, filter it, and give it a generous splash of chlorine as a disinfectant. They label it water and sell it in stores for 65-90 rubles. In the kettle, the water smells like it came from the cholera shed: it smells like bleach and something rotten, but we're used to it. We have stopped worrying.

I put the five-liter bottle on the floor and thought of something: "Donetsk has not been bombed for a long time." I didn't cross myself, my hands were full, and a second later a shell exploded. I thought it had been the jinx and I panicked: I took a bottle of water, the camera, the charger and the documentation. Everything else is in the car.

According to the first data, at least a dozen shells hit the Kievsky district, a residential neighborhood. No goal was expected to be achieved. They bomb from maximum distance and the “Grads” fell scattered in a radius of up to 500 meters.

A building at 136 Artyom Street took the brunt. To be clear: this street is the main diagonal of the city, an equivalent to Nevsky Prospect. There the Kievsky district begins and there is no place left to live. This time, the projectile landed on the roof, knocking down the two upper floors and the stairs. A sad man recorded the remains of his apartment with his phone. On the one hand, he has been lucky. For another, where is he going to live now?

Neighbors who gathered in front of the building added drama to this bombardment. The main thing is that a family remained under the rubble of the upper floor. People who, because of the endless shelling, had moved out of the Petrovsky district and rented this flat. How are coincidences explained? Just because of the density of artillery. Because there were impacts both on the neighboring roofs and on the tall buildings in the center located one kilometer away.

Shrapnel shattered the windows of a children's cafe: the little chairs remained as they were, on top of the tables. The cafe is closed. Who goes to cafeterias with kids these days? The city is empty.

The last place I found that had an impact was a gas station. Miraculously, they managed to put out the fire. An elderly explosives expert was inspecting the remains of the shell and noted that the material was possibly Polish-made. Although this should not be assumed as fact, the characteristics are similar to those of Soviet or Russian shells.

Less than an hour after the bombing, a truck stopped at the gas station. He began unloading plywood to cover the broken windows. Most of the gas station stalls have survived, so I wouldn't be surprised if he started work tomorrow.

Why have they again bombarded Donetsk without discrimination, targeting the squares? Policy. In November Ukraine realized that it no longer fires at “separatists” but at Russia. They like to know. We have to wait and endure. Yesterday, the mayor of Slavyansk appealed to the population to leave the city. If Russia captures Slavyansk, there will be water in Donetsk again and the shelling will stop. No choice.

https://slavyangrad.es/2023/02/06/26571/#more-26571

Google Translator

*******************

From MoA Comments:

I put this link into the Week in Review but will leave the translation here.

It is from an Iran friendly Alawite site in Turkey which often does serious investigative reporting. I think the numbers are reasonable and likely correct.

İddia: MOSSAD’a göre Ukrayna ve Rusya kayıpları (in Turkish)
Machine translation:

Claim: Ukrainian and Russian casualties according to MOSSAD
Allegedly, the field data of January 14, 2023, based on Israeli intelligence, is listed as follows:

RUSSIA:
Russian losses in the field with 418 thousand soldiers (plus 3,500,000 reservists) and the increasing number of Wagner mercenaries:
23 Planes
56 helicopter
200 (S)UAV
889 Tanks and armored vehicles
427 Howitzer (Artillery systems)
12 Air defense system
18,480 dead
44,500 Injured
323 Captive

UKRAINE:
The casualties of Ukraine, which was in the field with 734 thousand soldiers (plus 100 thousand reservists) and NATO officers, soldiers and mercenaries, are as follows:
302 Aircraft
212 Helicopter
2.750 (S)UAV
6,320 Tanks and armored vehicles
7.360 Howitzer (Artillery systems)
497 Air defense system
157,000 Dead
234,000 injured
17,230 Captive

234 Dead – NATO military trainers (US and UK)
2,458 Dead – NATO soldiers (Germany, Poland, Lithuania, ...)
5,360 Dead – Mercenaries

Posted by: b | Feb 5 2023 15:18 utc | 1

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2023/02/u ... l#comments

Most of these numbers are pretty believable except for those for tanks, afvs & art, those seem excessive for both sides; perhaps reduce by a third?

**************

EU, G7 impose price caps on Russian petroleum products
Xinhua | Updated: 2023-02-04 22:02


BRUSSELS - The European Union (EU), together with the Group of Seven (G7), adopted on Saturday further price caps for seaborne Russian petroleum products, according to a European Commission (EC) press release.

The price cap for "premium-to-crude" petroleum products, such as diesel, kerosene and gasoline, is set at $100 per barrel, while the cap for "discount-to-crude" petroleum products, such as fuel oil and naphtha, is set at $45 per barrel, the EC has said.

The price caps will be implemented from Sunday, the EC has said, adding that it includes "a 55-day wind-down period" for seaborne Russian petroleum products purchased above the price cap, provided it is loaded onto a vessel at the port of loading prior to Feb 5, 2023 and unloaded at the final port of destination prior to April 1, 2023.

Meanwhile, the EU's ban in June 2022 on import of Russian petroleum products will also take effect on Sunday.

In December 2022, the EU placed a price cap of $60 per barrel on Russian seaborne crude oil, which was joined by the G7.

In December, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree banning supplies of Russian oil and petroleum products if contracts directly or indirectly provide for a price cap, Sputnik reported.

http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20230 ... acf08.html

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Germany Declares No Russian Involvement in Nord Stream Attack

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The two lines of the parallel Nord Stream 1 pipeline has also been damaged. Feb, 04, 2023. | Photo: Twitter: @brunellaCapitan

Published 4 February 2023

Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service labeled the explosions as terrorist attacks and on September 30 unveiled the possession of evidence pointing to the involvement of certain Western countries.


German Attorney General Peter Frank stated that there is no evidence of alleged Russian involvement in the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipeline explosions, adding that Sweden and Denmark are also conducting their own investigations.

"At the moment there is no evidence, the investigation is still ongoing," Frank told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper when asked about speculation by some politicians about alleged Russian involvement in the attacks.

According to the prosecutor, water and soil samples as well as pipe debris were taken at the blast sites, which are located in the exclusive economic zones of Denmark and Sweden.


He assured that the scene was carefully documented and everything is now being evaluated from a forensic point of view.

"Sweden and Denmark are conducting their own investigations, but we are in contact," the attorney general added.

On September 26, Nord Stream 2 AG, operator of the Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline, reported a gas leak of unknown causes in one of the two pipelines of the infrastructure near the Danish island of Bornholm.

It later transpired that the two lines of the parallel Nord Stream 1 pipeline had also been damaged.

Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service labeled the explosions as terrorist attacks and on September 30 unveiled the possession of evidence pointing to the involvement of certain Western countries.

Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod announced that his country would not allow Russia to participate in the investigation.

On December 15, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Russia still does not know anything about the conclusions of the investigation into the Nord Stream attacks.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Ger ... -0002.html

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Rage Against the War Machine: An Answer to a Decade of Pro-NATO Lies about Ukraine
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on FEBRUARY 4, 2023
Rainer Shea

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Above: Washington’s 2014 Euromaidan coup in Ukraine

On February 19 in Washington DC, the multi-tendency organization Rage Against the War Machine will hold a demonstration. The organization’s demands, which obviously are going to apply beyond the next couple of weeks, consist (in my own words) of the following:

-The end to funding for Ukraine’s war effort, which Washington knew from the start was doomed to fail and truly acts to advance the genocidal goals of the coup regime in Kiev.

-The negotiation of peace, which Russia has offered plenty of times on the precondition that Washington cease enabling the ethnic cleansing goals of its puppet state.

-An end to the inflation that the war is causing, or more accurately that corporations are using the war as an excuse to carry out through price gouging.

-Disband NATO, which is nothing more than a modern facilitator of the wars the original colonial powers continue to wage.

-Have the USA adopt a no-use first policy on nuclear weapons, neutralizing the threat from the only country in this conflict that’s truly responsible for heightening the risk of nuclear war.

-Greatly reduce the Pentagon budget, which from a Marxist-Leninist perspective is a reformist goal but which is worth bringing up simply to expose America’s unparalleled military excesses.

-Abolish the CIA and the military-industrial complex, which would entail the end of the U.S. empire itself.

-Abolish war and imperialism, which is where Leninism’s analysis can be useful; our society can only stop being imperialist when we build socialism, and have our economy be built off the labor of its own workers rather than rely on neo-colonial extraction.

-Restore the civil liberties that have been taken away throughout the War on Terror. This can be used as a helpful factor in additional liberation efforts, like the prison abolition movement and the anti-police movement.

-Free Julian Assange, whose incarceration has represented another attack on freedom of expression by setting the precedent for prosecuting journalists who expose U.S. war crimes.


As I described, the promotion of these ten points has the potential to act as a catalyst for victories not just in the anti-imperialist movement, but in the anti-racist and anti-fascist movements. The class, environmental, and LGBT liberation movements will benefit as well, simply because the weakening of the war machine and the empire’s internal repressive state will weaken the mechanisms for carrying out structural violence. All of these causes represent the broader category of class struggle, as the victory of the class struggle is what will put the proletariat in power and enable us to dismantle capitalism’s unjust policies.

Even if the demands of RAWM aren’t met, the consciousness shift it will create is going to make the empire’s war machinations less practicable, rendering the imperial structure less able to economically sustain itself. The U.S. dollar, which has already only been able to avoid collapsing during the pandemic through unprecedented money printing, will unravel. And the pace of class struggle will accelerate as the American imperial state’s economic foundations give way. What follows will be the overthrow of the imperial state, automatically rendering all of the demands met.

That’s the calculus a communist should come to on the question of whether they ought to support Rage Against the War Machine. Increasingly, there’s a campaign by radical liberals to discredit RAWM by portraying its impacts as amounting to a different outcome than what’s actually the case. Their claim is that it’s helping reactionary politics because its speakers and financial contributors include right-wing libertarians, and others not part of the left. Yet when I hear this argument, I can’t help think of Lenin’s description of “left-wing” communists: communists who do things like refuse to work with reactionary trade unions out of a misplaced sense of principle, refusing to see that their working with these entities is not going to strengthen reactionary politics but rather strengthen revolutionary politics.

RAWM is an equivalent to the reactionary trade unions Lenin referred to because RAWM represents an opportunity to bring anti-imperialism to the people. To expand our repudiations of the Ukraine psyop beyond our own spaces, and create a genuine threat towards the empire’s narrative control. With how much potential it has to change the narrative, I start to see why these radlibs are trying so hard to stop its momentum, to discourage those on the left from supporting it. Because we all know these radlibs aren’t aren’t making these “critiques” from a place of concerned anti-imperialism. They couldn’t care less about anti-imperialism, or their hatred of RAWM wouldn’t overlap with their desire to defend the lies behind the Ukraine psyop.

Lenin’s working with those trade unions didn’t prevent the Bolshevik revolution and the formation of the Soviet Union. Our working with RAWM will not prevent victory for the workers of America. It isn’t the Libertarian Party, the reformist People’s Party, or the Maupinite Center for Political Innovation that will gain the people’s support during the coming months and years, even though these organizations are helping RAWM. These forces are all fundamentally limited in their potential, whether by having pro-bourgeois politics, by simply focusing on a narrow range of issues, or by being tied to the discredited sex pest Caleb Maupin. The political program that will gain the people’s support during a time of working class suffering, widely visible state violence, and climatic and health crises is the program that proves itself capable of addressing the people’s needs. Which these entities, along with the less credible RAWM participants like Jackson Hinkle, won’t do.

Is it good that an individualist social conservative political clown like Hinkle is involved in this? It’s not, but that’s not the point. It shows how much serious Marxists need to intensify our anti-imperialist practice. The fact that rightists are ahead of us on anti-imperialism is pathetic, and RAWM is an opportunity for us to prove ourselves capable of contributing to the anti-NATO movement. This is what the communist American Student Union is doing by aiding RAWM. Telling from the ASU’s program of explicitly working class politics, and from how the ASU is the socialist organization on RAWM’s sponsors list that hasn’t become politically radioactive like CPI, ASU is the entity on this list that will ultimately gain the most from RAWM’s impacts.

Unlike the CPI, ASU has credibility. And unlike the Libertarian, reformist, or single-issue entities on the sponsors list, its constitution includes revolutionary statements like “We reject and oppose tongue, pen, and action: fascism, capitalism, and imperialism.” These key factors of trustworthiness and proletarian class interests are what already make it the winner in the competition for relevance that all of these entities are engaged in outside their momentary coalition.

The Marxist-Leninist movement that ASU represents will be the one which prevails because it’s the movement that’s genuinely invested in the people’s interests. If the right opportunists think they can use RAWM to bring about an overall positive outcome for their cause, the joke is on them. They’re in the end helping the class struggle. RAWM is weakening the empire that keeps capital in power, and providing communists with an opportunity to show our commitment to anti-imperialist ideals while bringing millions more towards our ideas. Not because RAWM will in itself include Marxist polemics, but because it will bring attention to the anti-imperialist ideas that can make the people receptive to such polemics.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2023/02/ ... t-ukraine/

******

From Cassad's Telegram account:

Colonelcassad

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Starobelsk direction
situation as of 19.00 February 5, 2023

🔻In the Kupyansky sector , Russian servicemen are fixed on the previously occupied lines in Tavolzhanka and in the vicinity of Gryanikovka.

▪️Against the background of the offensive of the RF Armed Forces, the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine rotated the personnel of the 103rd and 109th separate brigades of the territorial defense in the area of ​​Sinkovka and Kupyansk-Uzlovy , reinforcing the group with fresh forces.

▪️The enemy is actively conducting reconnaissance activities, sending several DRGs in the vicinity of Raygorodok to search for Russian positions.

At the same time, Ukrainian fighters located in Berestovo are actively using quadrocopters operating in the area of ​​Kuzemovka and Vladimirovka for this purpose.

🔻In the Limansky sector , soldiers of the 144th motorized rifle division stormed the stronghold of the Ukrainian army in the Yampolovka area , eliminating several enemy fighters.

▪️Not far from Makiivka , Russian military personnel were able to take up positions at a tactically important height, knocking out the Armed Forces of Ukraine from a stronghold. Fighting in the area continues.

▪️Fierce battles continue in the heights near the Zhuravka gully : 66th brigade and 25th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are trying to counterattack on the positions of the 3rd motorized rifle division of the Russian army.

▪️Taking advantage of the operational pause, Ukrainian servicemen are trying to take out the damaged equipment of the 25th air brigade for repairs to the rear.

▪️Strengthening the defensive lines, the enemy command transferred several units of armored vehicles, removed from storage in warehouses near the Desna in the Chernihiv region, to the village of Redkodub.

***

Colonelcassad

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Vugledarsky section
situation as of 17.00 February 5, 2023

🔻In the area of ​​Ugledar , the situation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has seriously deteriorated. The activity of Russian artillery and regular raids by Russian assault groups led to huge losses in manpower.

▪️To stabilize the situation, the Armed Forces of Ukraine transferred part of the reserves previously intended to hold the Bakhmut garrison . About 100 people arrived from Bogatyr through Bogoyavlenka to Ugledar .

▪️Yesterday, personnel of the 21st battalion of the 56th motorized infantry brigade, equipped with UAVs with night vision devices , were also deployed to the combat area .

▪️Engineer units of the 72nd mechanized brigades in Ugledar carry out mining of residential areas and multi-storey buildings in case of a breakthrough of the defense.

▪️In addition, in the vicinity of Vuhledar, the indigenous people of the DPR are involved in the Ukrainian formations . To prevent flight from the battlefield, the nationalists of the 226th battalion "Kraken" were transferred to the second line as detachments.

https://t.me/s/boris_rozhin

Google Translator

******

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Animal crackers: Berlin Bulletin 207, February 5 2023
By Victor Grossman (Posted Feb 05, 2023)

“Hey”, squeaked one furry lemming to another (in lemming-lingo, of course). “I saw you trying to slip away from the crowd! Do you want to betray us good lemmings. Maybe you’re a fox-lover, even a wolf-lover. You’d better keep in line till we reach our proper goal.” As lemming-lovers sadly know, that goal could be over the cliff into the sea. And I don’t think lemmings can swim! Is such a cliff perhaps near the Black Sea? Or along the Dnieper? And are there any today who—like lemmings—keep in the crowd?

No, Germany’s foreign minister, Annelina Baerbock, is no lemming! She must see herself more like a leader of those African buffalos who join horns and hooves to repulse a predator’s attack. “We are not fighting against each other,” she told European deputies, and then declared openly what the media, less directly, has been plugging for years: “We are fighting a war against Russia!” But this all too truthful taboo-breaker had to be diluted; her deputy quickly corrected:

We support Ukraine, but under international law. Germany is not a party to the war.

No German foreign minister since 1945 has been so openly bellistic as this Green party leader. And she has been one of the loudest in pushing for tougher European Union sanctions:

We are hitting the Putin system where it needs to be hit, not just economically and financially but in its center of power—that will ruin Russia.

Four main trends in Germany affect policy towards Russia and the Ukraine. The Baerbock blusterers seem eager to oblige the Boeing-Northrup-Lockheed-Raytheon herd, aptly symbolized by the bronze Wall Street bull, seeking ever bigger fork loads of that $800-900 billion “Defense Authorization” hay, over ten times the size of Russia’s military budget. It’s not easy to grasp what is defensive about it; of over 200 conflicts since 1945, the great majority by far were led by the USA and all of them (except for Cuba) were far distant from U.S. shores. This bellicose German trend group is also chummy with the U.S. monopolies who have pressured Germany for years to stop buying Russian oil or gas instead of their own ocean-crossing fracking products. When years of pressure and even the Ukraine war failed to totally sever Russian imports, some skillful underwater experts mysteriously blasted the pipeline under the Baltic Sea. After weak attempts to blame Russia for destroying its own pipeline such clumsy stabbing around in this murky but not all too opaque sea-bottom whodunnit was abruptly abandoned; even President Biden, well in advance, had boasted of its elimination!

A second trend in Germany fully applauds all USA-NATO policies and actions to keep this war going until Russia is beaten but differs insofar as it opposes a role as subservient junior partner to Washington or Wall Street. It wants more German power to be felt, at least in Europe but hopefully further! The tone of its advocates (even, I sometimes feel, their steely eyes) bring back fearful old memories I still recall with a shudder. In those days it was not Leopards but Panther and Tiger tanks lumbering out to defeat the Russians, as in the 900-day siege of Leningrad, with an estimated million and a half deaths, mostly civilians, mostly from starvation and extreme cold—more deaths in one city than in the bombing of Dresden, Hamburg, Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. Somehow the tank-makers like to misuse the names of predators, also Puma, Gepard (Cheetah), Luchs (Lynx). The names of their predatory manufacturers remain the same; Krupp, Rheinmetall, Maffei-Kraus are now amassing not Reich-Marks but euros. Of course, motivations and strategies have changed greatly, yet for many advocates of this trend, I fear, basic expansive intentions may not be so totally different. These forces are strong in both “Christian parties,” now in opposition, but also in the Free Democratic Party, a member of the government coalition.

A third, more complicated trend is based in the Social Democratic Party (SPD) of Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Many of its leaders are just as bellicose as their coalition partners. Party Chairman Lars Klingbeil, after praising the Ukrainians’ great military successes, boasted that they were due in part to military equipment supplied by Europe, also Germany, which had “broken with its decades-long taboo against sending any weapons into conflict areas.” The aid would be continued, he stressed, while praising the Howitzer 2000, supplied by Germany, as “one of the most successful weapon systems thus far deployed in the Ukraine.“ It would also supply missile launchers and the Gepard anti-aircraft gun tank. “That must be continued. That will be continued,” Klingbeil pledged.

We will consistently continue to support the Ukraine.

But while including the accepted formula, ”Putin is a war criminal, he started a brutal war of aggression,” he also stated, ”A Third World War must be prevented.” These pacific words could be another repetition of the formula, “Ukraine can and must not be forced to give up any of its sovereign territory so the only possible conclusion of this war is the defeat of Russia, no matter how much of the Ukraine is destroyed and how many Ukrainians—and Russians—are killed or crippled. This position is full of contradictions, but basically ends up in accord with the mass media.

But while Klingbeil’s words clearly aimed at deflecting accusations that Germany has dragged its feet about sending Leopard tanks and giving Zelensky the bigger and faster weapons he wants, like jet planes or maybe submarines, they also reflect a certain division within the party. A few of its leaders (and many of its members) lack enthusiasm about more and more billions in the war budget and sending ever bigger, stronger weapons to Zelensky. Scholz, too, sometimes seemed to hear faintly the voices of those, much more numerous in former East German areas, who are unwilling to support a war which hits German working people hard and could explode in all Europe or the world.

This wobbly third position avoids analysis about any share of Washington and its NATO marionettes in responsibility for the war. It plays down or ignores any mention of the promise-breaking push of NATO (or its “east flank”) right up to Russian borders, rumbling its annihilation-weaponry to ever closer shooting distance from St. Petersburg and Moscow, tightening its noose around Russian trade routes in the Baltic and, with Georgia and Ukraine, in the Black Sea, while Kyiv, in battering all counterforces in the Donbas since 2014, was helping to create a trap for Russia. Its goal, sometimes expressed explicitly, was to repeat the pro-Western, pro-NATO, Washington-led putsch in Maidan Square in 2014—but the next time in Moscow‘s Red Square—and finally concluded in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Even raising such tough questions was labeled “old-left Russophile” nostalgia or “Putin-love”. But, happily or not, Scholz, with or without inner reservations about expanding the war, seems to have bowed to the giant pressure for uniformity.

The fourth trend in German thought or action regarding the Ukraine opposes weapons shipments and calls for every possible effort to achieve a cease fire and then, finally, some peace agreement. Not all the voices in this group come from the left. Retired General Harald Kujat, from 2000 to 2002 top man in the German armed forces, the Bundeswehr, and then chairman of the NATO Military Committee, offered some surprising conclusions in an interview for the little-known Swiss publication, Zeitgeschehen im Fokus (Jan. 18, 2023). Here are some of them:

The longer the war lasts, the more difficult it becomes to achieve a negotiated peace… That is why I found it so regrettable that negotiations in Istanbul in March were broken off despite great progress and a thoroughly positive outcome for Ukraine. In the Istanbul negotiations, Russia had apparently agreed to withdraw its forces to the level of February 23, i.e. before the attack on Ukraine began. Now the complete withdrawal is repeatedly demanded as a prerequisite for negotiations… Ukraine had pledged to renounce NATO membership and not allow the stationing of any foreign troops or military installations. In return it would receive security guarantees from any states of its choice. The future of the occupied territories was to be resolved diplomatically within 15 years, with the explicit renunciation of military force…

According to reliable information, then British Prime Minister Boris Johnson intervened in Kiev on April 9th and prevented a signing. His reasoning was that the West was not ready for an end to the war…

It is outrageous that the gullible citizen has no idea about what was being played here. The negotiations in Istanbul were well known publicly, also that an agreement was on the verge of signing; but from one day to the next not another word was heard about it…

Ukraine is fighting for its freedom, for its sovereignty and for the territorial integrity of the country. But the two main actors in this war are Russia and the U.S. Ukraine is also fighting for U.S. geopolitical interests, whose declared goal is to weaken Russia politically, economically and militarily to such an degree that they can then turn to their geopolitical rival, the only one capable of endangering their supremacy as a world power: China…

No, this war is not about our freedom. The core problems causing the war to begin and still to continue today, although it could have ended long ago, are quite different… Russia wants to prevent its geopolitical rival USA from gaining a strategic superiority that threatens Russia’s security. Be it through Ukraine’s membership in U.S.-led NATO, be it through the stationing of American troops, the relocation of military infrastructure or joint NATO maneuvers. The deployment of American systems of NATO’s ballistic missile defense system in Poland and Romania is also a thorn in Russia’s side, because Russia is convinced that the U.S. could also eliminate Russian intercontinental strategic systems from these launch facilities and thus endanger the nuclear strategic balance.

The longer the war lasts, the greater the risk of expansion or escalation… Both warring parties are currently in a stalemate again… So now would be the right time to resume the broken negotiations. But the arms shipments mean the opposite, namely that the war is senselessly prolonged, with even more deaths on both sides and the continuation of the destruction of the country. But also with the consequence that we are drawn even deeper into this war. Even the NATO Secretary General recently warned against an escalation of the fighting into a war between NATO and Russia. And according to the U.S. Joint Chief of Staff, General Mark Milley, Ukraine has achieved what it could achieve militarily. More is not possible. That is why diplomatic efforts should be made now to achieve a negotiated peace. I share this view…

What Mrs. Merkel said in an interview is clear. The Minsk II agreement was negotiated only to buy time for Ukraine. And Ukraine also used the time to rearm militarily… Russia understandably calls this fraud. And Merkel confirms that Russia was deliberately deceived. You can judge that any way you like, but it is a blatant breach of trust and a question of political predictability.

It cannot be disputed that the refusal of the Ukrainian government—aware of this intended deception—to implement the agreement, just a few days before the start of the war, was one of the triggers for the war.

It was… a breach of international law, that is clear. The damage is immense. You have to imagine the situation today. The people who wanted to wage war from the beginning and still want to do so have taken the view that you cannot negotiate with Putin. No matter what, he does not comply with agreements. But now it turns out that we are the ones who do not comply with international agreements…

As far as I know, the Russians are keeping to their treaties… I have had many negotiations with Russia… They are tough negotiating partners, but if you come to a common result, then that stands and applies.


Kujat’s views, despite his top-notch resumé, were either ignored by the mass media or buried with a few ambiguous words.

In Germany, as elsewhere, leftists have been divided, even split, about the Ukraine war, and this includes the LINKE party. Its ”reform” wing, with about a 60-40 majority at its June congress, joins the official main stream in angrily denouncing Putin, accusing Russia of imperialism and, if at all, only weakly criticizing USA, NATO or European Union policies leading up to the war. Some in the LINKE support weapons sales to Zelensky and use terms like “Putin-lovers” to condemn their opponents. Do they fit into the analogy comparing foreign minister Baerbock’s policy to defensive buffalos against a ravening lion? Or have they joined in a kind of the lemming crowd?

Others in the LINKE would prefer a picture of a large bear defending itself against a pack of attacking wolves—and hitting out hard against whichever wolf gets closest. Bears can also be very brutal, and many in this party wing avoid expressing any love for it. But they see it, all the same, as being on the defensive—even if it is the first to hit out and draw blood. Or are such analogies too flippant in the face of the terrible events now taking place.

At the moment the split in the LINKE seems briefly on hold; elections are due in Berlin next Sunday and I cannot imagine any genuine leftist who wants right-wing politicians to gain strength. In fact, even local “reformer” leaders who had grown less enthusiastic about the campaign to confiscate huge real estate ownings in Berlin, which won over a million-votes (56.4%) in a referendum in 2021, have now recovered their one-time militancy, making them the only member of the three-party city-state coalition to support this demand, while Greens and the Social Democratic mayor have discovered new tolerance for the big realtors.

Foreign policy questions are not so visible in a city election, but it seems as if the “reformer” Berlin LINKE leaders are refraining, at least until Sunday, from sharp words against the popular, always highly controversial Sahra Wagenknecht, who sticks by her slogans of “No weapons export” and “Home heating, bread, peace!” With the party now down to a measly 11% in the Berlin polls, a patched-up unity is viewed as a chance, with a militant, fighting posture, to save it from a Humpty-Dumpty fate after all! With a small hope for a good surprise on February 12th, many in the LINKE are holding their breath.

Truth to tell, following the news these days provides anything but pure pleasure. Recently, however, I was given a rare chance for a smile.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz, after bowing—or kneeling—to belligerent pressures and trying to rejuvenate fading laurels for himself and Germany, flew off on his first official trip to Latin America. After brief, uneventful courtesy visits to Chile and Argentina he landed in Brasilia, hoping to wean the Latin giant into the NATO and European cradle—and away from those Russian and Chinese rivals.

The closing press conference with Lula was full of smiles and back-slapping . At first! “We are all happy that Brazil is back on the world stage,” Scholz assured. But then, suddenly, he got the happiness kicked out from under him. No, Brazil would not send over to Ukraine the desired parts of the German-made Gepard air defense tanks and no ammo either, Lula said:

Brazil has no interest in handing over munitions that can be used in the war between Ukraine and Russia. We are a country committed to peace.

His next words asked almost heretical questions hitherto energetically smothered by western media:

“I think the reason for the war between Russia and Ukraine also needs to be clearer. Is it because of NATO? Is it because of territorial claims? Is it because of entry into Europe? The world has little information about that,” Lula added.

While he agreed with his German visitor that Russia committed “a classic mistake” by invading Ukraine’s territory, he criticized that neither side showed sufficient willingness to resolve the war via negotiation: “No one wants to back down a millimeter,” he said. That was definitely not what Scholz wanted to hear. And when, almost visibly nervous, he insisted that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was not just a European problem, but “a blatant violation of international law” and that it undermined “the basis for our cooperation in the world and also for peace.” Lula , always smiling, insisted : “Until now, I sincerely haven’t heard very much about how to reach peace in this war.”

Then came Lula’s surprising proposal: a peace-oriented club of nonaligned countries like China, Brazil, India and Indonesia, which had none of them been included in discussions on the war. Such a club would mean down-playing Germany and all its European allies or underlings—basically the opposite of what Scholz’s whole southern tour had aimed at. It was very hard to “keep smiling”!

It was hardly surprising that the press conference and the whole visit were given little more attention in most German media than, say, a minor earth tremor in Minas Gerais. Until now, the only positive echo I have heard was from the co-chair of the LINKE, Martin Schirdewan. But while calls for an end to the fighting and for non-European mediation from him, from Wagenknecht or even from a retired top general could be minimized or ignored, this may prove not so easy when the voice is that of the president of the world’s fifth largest nation. Will his position on peace—or his proposal—shape world events more than many desire?

Watching Scholz‘ brave attempts to “keep smiling” despite his obvious anger gave me an all too rare chance to smile while watching the news. I admit it, it was largely based on Schadenfreude—that unfriendly joy at someone else’s discomfort. But also—perhaps—because it offered a new little ray of hope? Of new directions—even for lemmings?

https://mronline.org/2023/02/05/animal- ... ry-5-2023/

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About losses
February 6, 10:58

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About losses

Yesterday there were 2 leaks regarding the losses of the APU.

1. In the US, retired Colonel McGregor reported that at a meeting between Zaluzhny and Millie, Zaluzhny told Millie that the irretrievable losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at the time of the meeting were 257,000 people (killed, missing, captured).

2. At the same time, in the Turkish press, with reference to Mossad sources, the layout of the losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the beginning of the NWO was published. According to the Turkish media, the losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are:

Irretrievable APU - 157,000
Irretrievable NATO - 8052
Wounded - 234,000
Prisoners - 17,230
Aviation - 302 aircraft and 212
UAV helicopters - 2750
air defense - 497 air defense systems and radars
Armored vehicles - 6320 tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers , MCI, etc.
Artillery - 7360 units of towed artillery, mortars, self-propelled guns, MLRS , OTRK ,

where data on the losses of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation were published https://t.me/boris_rozhin/77363 , an Israeli assessment of the losses of the RF Armed Forces during the NWO was given. Irretrievable losses - 18480 Wounded - 44500 Prisoners - 323 (apparently those who have not yet been changed were more) Aviation - 23 aircraft and 56 UAV helicopters - 200 (excluding quadrocopters, there is a huge number of lost quadrocopters on both sides) Armored vehicles - 889 tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers, MRAPs, etc. Artillery - 427 units of towed artillery, mortars, self-propelled guns, MLRS.
Air defense - 12 air defense systems and radars

Data for both sides are given as of January 14th.

Of course, it is difficult to confirm these estimates, so you can simply take note and compare with other estimates on the same topic. I believe we will hardly know the exact figures of losses before the end of the war.

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/8151804.html

Google Translator

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EU pledges to Ukraine, but no quick green light
By CHEN WEIHUA in Brussels | China Daily | Updated: 2023-02-06 07:58

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This handout picture taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential press-service on February 3, 2023, shows European Council President Charles Michel (L), Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (C), European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (R) walking during an EU-Ukraine summit in Kyiv. [Photo/Agencies]

The European Union has pledged more support for Ukraine but dismissed any fast-track membership into the bloc, and Russia blasted the meeting at which the matter was discussed as "hypocritical".

A joint statement after the EU-Ukraine summit in Kyiv on Friday praised Ukraine's commitment and progress toward joining the EU but said the bloc will decide on further steps once all conditions specified in the European Commission's opinion are fully met.

"There are no rigid timelines, but there are goals that you have to reach," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said of Ukraine's accession to the bloc.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said formal accession negotiations to join the EU should start soon.

"The goal is to start negotiations this year, and this is not just a purpose but a major overwhelming goal."

Kyiv said recently that it hoped to become a full EU member by 2026.The country was granted full-candidate status in the bloc in June.

"We encourage Ukraine to continue strengthening the rule of law, because it benefits every Ukrainian citizen," European Council President Charles Michel said on Friday.

The European Commission is set to report on Ukraine's fulfillment of the conditions in the coming spring.

The 27 EU member states are divided on the issue. While Poland and the Baltic states want to speed up the process, France's President Emmanuel Macron said in May that it could take several decades. Some other European leaders have also opposed any shortcut to EU membership.

Croatia was the last country to join the EU, in 2013, 10 years after it applied. Serbia and Montenegro, which are expected to be next in line to join, have also waited for more than 10 years.

At the summit on Friday, 15 European Commissioners met their Ukrainian counterparts as a show of solidarity.

The EU announced it would double the number of Ukrainian soldiers to be trained by the EU to 30,000 this year.

The EU has earmarked about 60 billion euros ($65 billion) in aid to Ukraine, including 12 billion euros in military support and 18 billion euros in loans with a 10-year grace period, to help run the country this year.

Von der Leyen pledged a 10th round of sanctions against Russia on the one-year anniversary of the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on Feb 24.

Further price caps

On Saturday the EU, the G7 and several other partners adopted further price caps for seaborne Russian petroleum products, such as diesel and fuel oil, in an effort to hit Russia's revenues. The measures came after a price cap for Russian crude oil in December and a day before the EU's full ban on importing seaborne Russian crude oil and petroleum products into the EU on Sunday.

Russia condemned the summit in Kyiv.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, called the EU's readiness to provide further support to Ukraine while calling for peace "equally hypocritical", saying all of the EU's military deliveries and financial support for Kyiv result in "an increase in the number of victims of the conflict, including those among the civilian population", the Anadolu Agency reported.

"It is in vain that the West is trying to do all this," the ministry quoted her as saying. "The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation will achieve all the goals and objectives of the special military operation."

He Zhigao, a researcher at the Institute of European Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, described the summit in Kyiv as more symbolism than substance.

While the summit demonstrates the EU's firm support for Ukraine, the bloc will not just turn on the green light when it comes to membership, He said.

"While the EU will continue to provide comfort and support to Ukraine regarding the accession, it will also have to avoid disappointing the Balkan states that are in the process of joining the EU in order not to endanger the whole European project."

In addition to Ukraine, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkiye have been granted candidate status.

http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20230 ... ad07f.html

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Ukrainian Defense Minister Alexey Reznikov to Be Replaced

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Ukrainian Defense Minister Alexey Reznikov. Feb. 4, 2023. | Photo: Twitter/@lopatonok

Published 5 February 2023

The reshuffle plans come in the midst of a corruption scandal around the Ministry of Defense.

David Arakhamia, head of the parliamentary faction of President Vladimir Zelensky's political party, said on Sunday that the current defense minister will be relieved of his duties and will be appointed Minister of Strategic Industries instead.

The head of Kiev's military intelligence, "Major General Kirill Budanov will be appointed defense minister," Arakhamia said, adding that "Alexey Reznikov will be transferred to the position of minister of strategic industries to strengthen military-industrial cooperation."

According to RBC-Ukraine news agency, the Parliament will vote at its next meeting on the departure of Reznikov, who will replace Pavlo Riabkin as Strategic Industries Minister.

The reshuffle plans come amid a corruption scandal around the Defense Ministry. In recent days, Deputy Defense Minister Vyacheslav Shapovalov and the deputy head of the Ministry's procurement department, Bogdan Khmelnitsky, have resigned.


The scandal is related to a Ukrainian media investigation published last month into the procurement of food for the military.

According to the investigation, food products destined for the army ended up costing several times more than average retail prices.

Commenting on the planned cabinet changes, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said, "We are preparing decisions and negotiations that will strengthen our soldiers, and give Ukraine more international support and weapons."

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Ukr ... -0018.html
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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