Re: Footnotes from the Ukrainian "Crisis"; New High-Points in Cynicism Part IV
Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2023 12:52 pm
plans
POSTED BY @NSANZO ⋅ 02/28/2023
As the situation becomes more complicated for the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Artyomovsk area, where the advance of Russian troops southwest of the city has begun to seriously threaten the main Ukrainian supply route, they begin to appear with more and more forces the announcements of the future offensive. Over the past 12 months, Ukraine has always tried to wait for good news before admitting defeat. This was the case recently with the loss of Soledar, a city that lacked strategic importance, but to which the speeches of President Zelensky had given an epic resonance. Twelve days after Russian control became apparent,
Original Article: Antifashist
The deputy head of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Vadim Skibitsky has specified the timing and objective of the Ukrainian counteroffensive. He will start in the spring and will seek to cut the land corridor to the Crimea. He referred to it in an interview with DW . “I think we will be ready for the counteroffensive in the spring,” Skibitsky said, adding that the specific timing depends on a number of factors, including Western weapons supplies. In his words, one of the strategic objectives will be the attempt to "open a gap on the Russian front in the south, between Crimea and Russia."
The GUR representative also did not rule out the possibility that Ukraine could attack weapons depots on the territory of the Russian Federation, specifically in the Belgorod region. “The attacks against Ukraine start there. It poses a threat, for example, to Kharkov, ”he stated. The objective of the announced counteroffensive is to “liberate all the territories of Ukraine, including Crimea. We will only stop when we restore the country according to the 1991 borders,” Skibitsky summarized.
According to the Ukrainian Telegram channel Rezident , the Pentagon, in collaboration with the General Staff, continues to prepare the counteroffensive towards Crimea, which would consist of two stages and six directions. According to the ideas of the Americans, the main blow at the beginning of the campaign should consist of two operations:
“For closing Tokmak-Vasilevka to take the main support cities before the attack on Melitopol.
Landings at Golaya Pristan, Alyoshka, Novaya Kakhovka, Staraya Kakhovka, Kamenka, Energodar in order to spread out the Russian troops and thus be able to accumulate a grouping for a blow towards Armyansk-Genichesk [already towards the isthmus leading to Crimea].
The plan foresees 7-14 days for both operations in this first phase for which, according to the General Staff, the best date option is April, when the fields dry and spring blooms.
The second phase would start ten days after the capture of the main points on the left bank of the Dnieper and the creation of a bridgehead to attack Melitopol,” the source writes.
The Idi i Smotri channel , for its part, stated that Ukraine is currently concentrating forces in the Svatovo, Ugledar and Zaporozhie directions. "In addition to attack plans against Melitopol and Svatovo, there is also talk of another series of basic and diversionary operations," added the channel, which specifically referred to an attack in the Ugledar area.
Columns with equipment and personnel and fuel trucks circulating daily on the kyiv-Kharkov highway have been seen. Every night, trains with equipment run through Lubotin to Kharkov.
As the Russian ambassadors to China and the United Kingdom stated in interviews with local media, Russia will be forced to respond if the United States and NATO countries supply Ukraine with weapons to attack territories inside the country. On February 21, during his speech to the Federal Assembly, Russian President Vladimir Putin assured that the armed forces will move threats away from the borders of the Russian Federation as more long-range weapons arrive in Kiev.
https://slavyangrad.es/2023/02/28/planes-2/#more-26730
Google Translator
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The Stage is Set for Hybrid World War III
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on FEBRUARY 27, 2023
Pepe Escobar
A powerful feeling rhythms your skin and drums up your soul as you’re immersed in a long walk under persistent snow flurries, pinpointed by selected stops and enlightening conversations, crystallizing disparate vectors one year after the start of the accelerated phase of the proxy war between US/NATO and Russia.
That’s how Moscow welcomes you: the undisputed capital of the 21st century multipolar world.
A long, walking meditation impregnates on us how President Putin’s address – rather, a civilizational speech – last week was a game-changer when it comes to the demarcation of the civilizational red lines we are all now facing. It acted like a powerful drill perforating the less than short, actually zero term memory of the Collective West. No wonder it exercised a somewhat sobering effect contrasting the non-stop Russophobia binge of the NATOstan space.
Alexey Dobrinin, Director of the Foreign Policy Planning Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Russia, has correctly described Putin’s address as “a methodological basis for understanding, describing and constructing multipolarity.”
For years some of us have been showing how the emerging multipolar world is defined – but goes way beyond – high speed interconnectivity, physical and geoeconomic. Now, as we reach the next stage, it’s as if Putin and Xi Jinping, each in their own way, are conceptualizing the two key civilizational vectors of multipolarity. That’s the deeper meaning of the Russia-China comprehensive strategic partnership, invisible to the naked eye.
Metaphorically, it also speaks volumes that Russia’s pivot to the East, towards the rising sun, now irreversible, was the only logical path to follow as, to quote Dylan, darkness dawns at the break of noon across the West.
As it stands, with the wobblin’, ragin’ Hegemon lost in its own pre-fabricated daze, the real runners of the show feeding burning flesh to irredeemably mediocre political “elites”, China may have a little more latitude than Russia, as the Middle Kingdom is not – yet – under the same existential pressure Russia has been put under.
Whatever happens next geopolitically, Russia is at heart a – giant – obstacle on the warmongering path of the Hegemon: the ultimate target is top “threat” China.
Putin’s ability to size up our extremely delicate geopolitical moment – via a dose of highly concentrated, undiluted realism – is something to behold. And then Foreign Minister Lavrov provided the sweet cherry on top, calling the hapless US ambassador for a hardcore dress down: oh yeah, this is war, hybrid and otherwise, and your NATO mercenaries as well as your junk hardware are legitimate targets.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Security Council, now more than ever relishing his “unplugged” status, made it all very clear: “Russia risks being torn apart if it stops a special military operation (SMO) before victory is achieved.”
And the message is even more acute because it represents the – public – cue to the Chinese leadership at the Zhongnahhai to understand: whatever happens next, this is the Kremlin’s unmovable official position.
The Chinese restore the Mandate of Heaven
All these vectors are evolving as ramifications of the bombing of the Nord Streams, the only military attack – cum industrial terrorism – ever perpetrated against the EU, leave the Collective West paralyzed, dazed and confused.
Perfectly in tandem with Putin’s address, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs chose the geopolitical/existential moment to finally take the gloves off, with a flourish: enter the
US Hegemony and its Perils essay cum report, which became an instant massive hit across Chinese media, examined with relish all across East Asia.
This blistering enumeration of all the Hegemon’s lethal follies, for decades, constitutes a point of no return for trademark Chinese diplomacy, so far characterized by passivity, ambivalence, actual restraint and extreme politeness. So such turnaround is yet another proud “achievement” of the outright Sinophobia and mendacious hostility exhibited by American neocons and neoliberal-cons.
Scholar Quan Le notes that this document may be regarded as the traditional form – but now filled with contemporary wording – the Chinese Sovereigns used in their millenary past before going to war.
It is in fact an axio-epistemo-political proclamation justifying a serious war, which in the Chinese universe means a war ordained by a Higher Power capable of restoring Justice & Harmony in a troubled Universe.
After the proclamation the warriors are equipped to strike mercilessly at the entity judged to be troubling the Harmony of the Universe: in our case, the psycho Straussian neo-cons and neoliberal-cons commanded as rabid dogs by the real American elites.
Of course in the Chinese universe there’s no place for “God” – much less a Christian version; “God” for the Chinese means the Beauty-Goodness-Truth trinity, Timeless Heavenly Universal Principles. The closest concept for a non-Chinese to understand is Dao: the Way. So the Way to the Beauty-Goodness-Truth trinity represents symbolically Beauty-Goodness-Truth.
So what Beijing did – and the Collective West is completely clueless about it – was to issue an axio-epistemo-political proclamation explaining the legitimacy of their quest to restore Timeless Heavenly Universal Principles. They will be fulfilling the Mandate of Heaven – nothing less. The West won’t know what it hit them until it’s too late.
It was predictable that sooner or later the heirs of Chinese civilization would have had enough – and formally identify, mirroring Putin’s analysis, the upstart Hegemon as the premier source of chaos, inequality and war across the planet. Empire of Chaos, Lies and Plunder, in a nutshell.
To put it bluntly, in streetwise language, the hell with this Americana crap of hegemony being justified by “manifest destiny”.
So here we are. You want Hybrid War? We will return the favor.
Back to the Wolfowitz Doctrine
A former CIA advisor has issued a quite sobering report on a pebble along the rocky way: a possible endgame in Ukraine, now that even some elite-run parrots are contemplating a “way out” with minimal loss of face.
It’s never idle to remember that way back in 2000, the year Vladimir Putin was first elected as President, in the pre-9/11 world, rabid neocon Paul Wolfowitz was side by side with Zbig “Grand Chessboard” Brzezinski in a huge Ukraine-US symposium in Washington, where he unabashedly raved about provoking Russia to go to war with Ukraine, and committed to finance the destruction of Russia.
Everyone remembers the Wolfowitz doctrine – which was essentially a tawdry, pedestrian rehash of Brzezinski: to keep permanent US hegemony it was primordial to pre-empt the emergence of any potential competitor.
Now we have two nuclear-powered, tech savvy peer competitors united by a comprehensive strategic partnership.
As I finished my long walk paying due respect by the Kremlin to the heroes of 1941-1945, the feeling was inescapable that as much as Russia is a master of riddles and China is a master of paradox, their strategists are now working full time on how to return all strands of Hybrid War against the Hegemon. One thing is certain: unlike boastful Americans, they won’t outline any breakthroughs until they are already in effect.
https://libya360.wordpress.com/2023/02/ ... d-war-iii/
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Massive rally in Berlin demands peace in Ukraine
On the one year anniversary of the state of the war, Berliners took to the streets to demand deescalation and peace
February 27, 2023 by Peoples Dispatch
Anti-war rally in Berlin. Photo: JungeWelt
On Saturday February 25, tens of thousands of people rallied at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin demanding that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz take an active role in encouraging negotiations to end the ongoing war in Ukraine. The mobilization with the slogan ‘Uprising for Peace’ was called for by Left party MP Sahra Wagenknecht, journalist Alice Schwarzer, retired Brigadier General Erich Vad, economist Jeffrey Sachs and others. It called for negotiations, diplomacy and peace, instead of the ongoing escalation of the war by delivering sophisticated arms and ammunition to Ukraine.
Sahra Wagenknecht MP and Alice Schwarzer also initiated a petition titled ‘Manifesto For Peace’ demanding the German Chancellor to “make a strong alliance for a ceasefire and peace negotiations at both the German and European levels.”
The anti-fascist groups who attended the rally in Berlin also protested the presence of far-right groups like the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the rally.
A day prior, on February 24, anti-war groups including the Berlin Peace Coordination (FRIKO), German Communist Party (DKP), and others also rallied in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin calling for peace.
The eight year long Russia-Ukraine conflict escalated to a full-fledged war on February 24, 2022, when Russian armed forces crossed into Ukraine. According to the Manifesto for Peace, as of now over 200,000 soldiers and more than 50,000 civilians have been killed in the war. As all attempts at peace talks have been sabotaged, the death toll is likely to increase. Currently, there are millions of Ukrainians living as refugees in countries across Europe.
The heavy sanctions imposed by the European Union and the United States against Russia and Russian energy companies have triggered a steep increase in energy prices across Europe, which was dependent on cheap Russian gas for years. This has sparked a broader cost of living crisis across the region. While under the instigation of US and NATO, the political leadership in EU countries continue war mongering, the crisis-hit working class sections across Europe have now strengthened their mobilizations demanding peace.
In their ‘Manifesto for Peace’, Sahra Wagenknecht MP and Alice Schwarzer have stated that “negotiating does not mean capitulating. Negotiating means making compromises, on both sides. With the aim of preventing hundreds of thousands more deaths and worse.”
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/02/27/ ... n-ukraine/
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Prolonged crisis only benefits Washington
By Wang Zhen | China Daily | Updated: 2023-02-25 09:34
Local residents walk an empty street in the frontline city of Bakhmut, Ukraine on Feb 21, 2023. [Photo/Agencies]
It comes as no surprise at all that on the first anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine military conflict, some Western media outlets and politicians are blaming China for failing to persuade Russia to end the conflict. On Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated his contention that Beijing was toying with the idea of providing military support to Russia, which is nothing but a malicious lie.
Instead, in a 12-point paper released on Friday, China has made clear it is promoting political settlement of the crisis. It calls for respecting the sovereignty of all countries, resuming peace talks, resolving the humanitarian crisis, protecting civilians and prisoners of war, and keeping nuclear power plants safe.
As China's newly published Global Security Initiative Concept Paper says,"War and sanctions are no fundamental solution to disputes; only dialogue and consultation are effective in resolving differences." So the highest priority of Russia and Ukraine should be to look for a "political settlement" of the conflict through "dialogue and consultation".
However, it's the United States that benefits from the continuing Russia-Ukraine military conflict and wants to prolong the crisis.
According to US media reports, in less than a year, US military and financial aid to Ukraine has exceeded $100 billion, with more on the way. What's more, the US will provide Ukraine an additional $2 billion in security assistance, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Thursday.
Why is the US sparing no effort in its support of Ukraine against Russia?
First, the Russia-Ukraine conflict is helping the US consolidate its transatlantic partnership with the European Union, although EU countries such as Germany and France opposed former US president George W. Bush's plan to invade Iraq in 2003, and in recent years, European countries have distanced themselves from the US to devise their own trade policy, continue EU-Russia cooperation and take an independent stance on many issues.
The US-EU relationship can be described as lacking in momentum, with the cracks in their ties becoming apparent. By hyping up the "Russian threat", the US has been projecting itself as a "security umbrella" for European countries while trying to resurrect the transatlantic partnership damaged by previous US president Donald Trump's capricious EU policy, in a bid to prevent some EU states from adopting independent foreign policies.
Second, the Russia-Ukraine conflict has helped the US to strengthen its military hegemony, which is essential for it to maintain its global hegemony and military alliance with NATO.
After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, international observers expected NATO, the antithesis of the Warsaw Pact, to be disbanded. But that didn't happen. In recent years, however, NATO has been wracked by controversies and criticism, with some EU countries questioning the functions and the future of the transatlantic military alliance. In fact, Trump's allegation that EU countries contribute too little to NATO upset the latter so much that French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview that NATO was "brain dead".
Yet the US has once again succeeded in coercing EU countries to jump onto its war bandwagon and used the West's hatred and fear of Russia, triggered by the conflict, as an excuse for NATO's expansion.
Third, the Ukraine crisis has helped the US to stamp its authority on the global energy sector. The shale revolution has transformed the US from a major oil importer to a major oil exporter. But the fall in global oil prices has hit US shale gas production hard, because it is relatively more expensive to extract.
Washington has been using sanctions against Moscow to cut off Russian oil and gas supply to EU countries, so as to end their dependence on Russia for energy. This will have a dual effect. On the one hand it will weaken Russia's economy, as energy export is a big revenue-earner for Moscow. On the other hand, it will allow US energy companies to reap handsome profits by exporting more oil and gas to Europe, possibly at higher prices. As a matter of fact, crude oil shipped from the US to Europe in 2022 was 70 percent higher than the previous year, according to oilprice.com.
Finally, hyping up Russia's so-called aggressive role in the conflict and supporting Ukraine both militarily and strategically will earn the Joe Biden administration a lot of political advantage, notwithstanding the fact that the conflict has proved lucrative for a host of US energy companies and the military-industrial complex, which are the very entities the US politicians are trying to please.
By supporting Ukraine, US politicians can not only say they are "politically correct", but also claim the moral high ground in the name of protecting "freedom", and gain more votes in elections. It is for this reason that the US has been supporting Ukraine — President Biden even visited Kyiv a few days ago — while playing down more important events like the giant chemical fire and "toxic mushroom cloud" in East Palestine, Ohio, following a railway derailment, which has left residents worried about the long-term health problems they might face.
Whether the US admits it or not, it has benefited enormously from the Russia-Ukraine conflict. This shows the Biden administration's support for Ukraine has nothing to do with defending "freedom" and "democracy", but rather with promoting the US' own interests. However, military assistance will not restore peace in Eurasia, nor will it help safeguard EU countries' security.
http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20230 ... b0d64.html
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Zelensky fires Ukraine's commander of joint forces
From Kostan Nechyporenko in Kyiv
Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a news conference in Kyiv on February 24. (James McGill/SOPA Images/SIPA/AP)
Ukraine’s commander of joint forces operation has been dismissed from his post, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced in a decree Sunday.
Major Gen. Eduard Mykhailovich Moskalov had been appointed to the position last March when Lt. Gen. Oleksandr Pavliuk was appointed head of the Kyiv regional military administration.
Zelensky did not provide an explanation for Moskalov's dismissal, but it's the latest in a long line of recent leadership changes made by his administration.
Ukrainian authorities have conducted a series of anti-corruption searches and crackdowns across the country, and a variety of high-profile dismissals have followed.
It is not yet clear if Moskalov's firing was connected to the recent corruption purge.
https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/ru ... f27711588f
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The Empire Gives People The Illusion Of Fighting The Power Without Ever Endangering Real Power
The one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has seen countless emotional news segments and heartstring-plucking articles, wall-to-wall social media posts, and public demonstrations decrying the evils of Vladimir Putin throughout the western world.
For what’s probably the first “anti-war” protest of most of their lives, American liberals gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC over the weekend to bravely condemn the leader of a foreign government thousands of miles away. There they were joined by empire managers like the virulent warmonger Samantha Power, who spoke at the rally opposing Russian warmongering at the capital of the most warlike nation on the planet.
For the last year, mainstream westerners have been using this war to act out their fantasies of being courageous up-punching anti-imperialists, fighting powerful bloodthirsty tyrants in defense of the needful, all while living directly under the thumb of the most tyrannical regime in the world. They mindlessly regurgitate the propaganda of the most powerful empire that has ever existed, parrot the same lines that are already being said all day long by all the most powerful institutions in the western world, all in service of the hegemonic agendas of the largest and most murderous power structure on earth, while pretending to be standing in opposition to the powerful.
The way the war in Ukraine allows mainstream liberals to play-act as rebellious anti-imperialists is a good illustration of how the empire gives people the illusion of fighting the power without their ever opposing the empire.
We saw this same trend take place in the US throughout the Trump administration, where mainstream liberals branded themselves “The Resistance” like they were socialist revolutionaries or insurgents opposing Hitler in Nazi-occupied France. In reality Trump’s presidency had little actual impact on the comforts of their lives, because beneath all the narratives Trump was a fairly normal US president whose most heinous crimes were all of the customary variety we see in all US presidents — including his predecessor and his successor. Democrats just spent four years LARPing as brave revolutionaries, and then he left office and the game ended.
In exactly the same way, Trump’s presidency allowed right wingers to pretend they were part of a movement against the establishment, despite Trump never actually challenging the establishment in any meaningful way. They believed he was fighting the Deep State even after he imprisoned Assange. They believed he was “ending the wars” even as he ramped up aggressions against Russia which helped bring us to where we are today, killed tens of thousands of Venezuelans with starvation sanctions, vetoed attempts to save Yemen from U.S.-backed genocide, worked to foment civil war in Iran using starvation sanctions and CIA ops with the stated goal of effecting regime change, occupied Syrian oil fields with the goal of preventing Syria’s reconstruction, greatly increased the number of troops in the Middle East and elsewhere, greatly increased the number of bombs dropped per day from the previous administration killing record numbers of civilians, and reduced military accountability for those airstrikes. They believed he was draining the swamp after packing his cabinet with establishment swamp monsters.
Trump supporters are just George W Bush supporters LARPing as Ron Paul supporters. They role-play a fight against the empire that is never actually happening anywhere except in their imaginations.
For four years this went on, with Democrats acting like they were fighting the power because Trump was the power and Republicans acting like they were fighting the power because Trump’s enemies were the power. And the entire time real power went completely unchallenged, because the empire always marches forward regardless of the imperial puppet who’s sitting in the White House.
And as the war drums with China heat up we’re seeing Trump supporters turn into the mirror image of the mindless Ukraine flag-waving liberals we’re seeing today, swallowing every narrative their media feeds them right down their throats without the slightest twinge of critical thinking gag reflex. Now we’re seeing the same people who used to spew vitriol about Muslims in the Middle East suddenly metamorphose into heroic human rights champions for Muslims in Xinjiang, and the same people who’ve been shining the bright light of truth on propaganda about Russia suddenly switch it off because they believe Biden is a Xi Jinping puppet.
Imperial narrative managers actively foster these delusions of revolution and up-punching among the mainstream herd because it’s a great way to kill the possibility of any real revolutionary zeitgeist. If you can give people the illusion that they are fighting the power without their ever actually fighting the power, then you can always remain in power.
It doesn’t take much. Just a few trusted voices in their ideological echo chamber posing as passionate opponents of tyranny and abuse, and people’s natural desire to oppose those things does the rest. It naturally feels right to oppose the depravity of the powerful on behalf of the weak and defenseless; all they have to do is divert that healthy human impulse into something illusory.
Here’s hoping enough of us learn to see through the illusion one day.
https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2023/02/26 ... eal-power/
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HOW MUCH WILL ANTI-RUSSIAN "SANCTIONS" COST GERMANY?
Feb 27, 2023 , 2:18 p.m.
Aerial image of the Isar 2 nuclear power plant, in Essenbach, Germany (Photo: AP Photo)
According to Bloomberg projections , by 2030 the German government will have to allocate more than 1 trillion dollars to face the risks and challenges that have arisen due to the energy crisis, product of the "sanctioning" schemes of the United States and the European Union (EU) against Russia.
The huge cost would include investments in modernizing the country's power grids and a planned phase-out of its coal and nuclear plants. Because?
Berlin will face a growing demand for electric vehicles and heating systems. To this we must add that the German authorities are obliged to comply with climate commitments.
According to data provided by the country's network regulator and think tank , Agora Energiewende, increasing power demand by 30% of the country's current consumption will bring the new capacity projected to be installed by 2030 to about 250 gigawatts. that the transition will require the installation of solar panels, as well as onshore and four offshore wind farms built per week.
Earlier this month, the Brussels-based think tank Bruegel reported that EU nations had spent almost 800 billion euros on support measures in the face of rising energy costs. According to the record, Germany topped Bruegel's spending chart, having set aside almost 270 billion euros, while the next highest three – the UK, Italy and France – each spent around 150 billion euros.
The current energy crisis and the transition to "green" processes will have a high cost for the German government in the years to come. However, this does not guarantee that they can overcome the situation, nor that they achieve a change in the more efficient and less polluting use of energy.
https://misionverdad.com/cuanto-le-cost ... antirrusas
Google Translator
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Russia welcomes China's peace proposal
By REN QI in Moscow | China Daily Global | Updated: 2023-02-28 09:09
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. [Photo/Agencies]
A position paper that China has issued setting out a possible path to peace in Ukraine needs to be analyzed in detail, the Russian government said on Monday.
Analysis of the paper, which urges both sides in the conflict to agree to a gradual de-escalation and warns against the use of nuclear weapons, should take into account the interest of all sides, the Kremlin said.
"We paid a lot of attention to our Chinese friends' plan," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding that: "Of course, the details need to be painstakingly analyzed taking into account the interests of all the different sides. This is a very long and intense process."
He said Russia was continuing to carry out what it calls its special military operation in Ukraine, and for now didn't see any signs suggesting a peaceful resolution could be achieved.
China called for peace talks as it issued a 12-point position paper on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis, which included the respect of all countries' sovereignty.
After meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday, Saudi Arabia pledged humanitarian assistance to Ukraine worth $410 million, Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, the country's foreign minister, told a news conference in Kyiv.
It is the first time since the two countries established diplomatic relations 30 years ago that a Saudi foreign minister has visited Ukraine.
According to the El Sharq television channel, Riyadh and Kyiv signed a memorandum of mutual understanding on the supply of oil products to Ukraine.
It comes as fighting continues in the city of Bakhmut and the casualties are high.
Eduard Moskalov, Ukraine's commander of joint forces operation, has been dismissed from his post, Zelensky announced Sunday. He did not provide an explanation for the dismissal, but it's the latest in a long line of recent leadership changes made by his administration.
Also on Sunday, Chairperson of the United States House Foreign Affairs Committee Michael McCaul said the US could send more advanced weapon systems for Ukraine, including longer-range missile systems or fighter jets.
However, US President Joe Biden on Friday ruled out providing the F-16 fighter jets Ukraine has requested, at least for the time being, telling ABC News in an interview that Zelensky "doesn't need F-16s now".
Peskov said that Moscow considers supplies of Western weapons to Ukraine as the West's growing involvement in the conflict.
http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20230 ... b12fd.html
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From Cassad's Telegram account:
Colonelcassad
2:59
The American mercenary went over to the side of Russia after a year of service in the "Foreign Legion" of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the national battalion "Carpathian Sich".
John McIntyre, who provided the Russian military with papers, files, intelligence and maps that he collected in Ukraine.
It turned out that the man had originally planned this operation: “I am a communist, an anti-fascist. I decided to collect as much useful information as possible and run across the front line. When I was in Kharkiv, I wanted to swim across, but I discovered that they [AFU] have snipers ... not for protection, but to shoot defectors.”
According to him, in the ranks of the nationalists, everyone uses fascist greetings, including mercenaries from Croatia or the Czech Republic:
“Everyone has tattoos, Nazi symbols ... At some point, they pestered me with questions about my communist views. I said that I was an anti-fascist, I came to fight the Russian imperialists and the Nazis. And they say: "No, the Russians are not Nazis - we are Nazis . "
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forwarded from
Voenkor Kitten Z
Military expert Boris Rozhin on the situation in the Artemovsky direction on February 27, 2023, specially for the Voenkor Kotenok channel Z @voenkorKotenok :
Our troops continue to bring the situation of the operational encirclement of the APU grouping in the city closer. At the moment, the main roads are under incomplete fire control. This applies incl. and the route through Khromovo, which is already covered by artillery. The enemy claims that at night it is passable enough. This suggests that there is no complete operational environment for Bakhmut yet, but everything is moving towards this.
The abandonment of Yagodnoye and Berkhovka has already led to the fact that the enemy began to retreat from the Stupka region and a number of the northern regions of Artemovsk.
To the south of the city, our troops continue fighting in the Krasnoye area, trying to reach the Chasov Yar - Krasnoye - Artemovsk highway. Assault units make their way from the side of the Mariupol cemetery in the direction of the stele with the aircraft in the southern part of Artemovsk. There are premature reports that even broke through, but they are not true. The goal is clear - to go to this road and cut it, eliminating any possibility of use by the enemy.
Taking into account the cutting of the Artemovsk-Slavyansk and Artemovsk-Konstantinovka highways and the upcoming cutting of the road through Khromovo, it will be possible to say that the situation with the city's encirclement is close to a denouement.
The enemy has not yet withdrawn his main forces from Artemovsk and is preparing to defend himself, as expected, in the western part of the city, gradually retreating. His task is to exchange people for time. That is, he is trying to win the maximum time before the loss of Artemovsk.
It is obvious that they most likely have already written off the city, but they expect to win some more time before going over to the defensive on the line Rai Aleksandrovka - Chasov Yar - Konstantinovka.
https://t.me/s/boris_rozhin
Google Translator
POSTED BY @NSANZO ⋅ 02/28/2023
As the situation becomes more complicated for the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Artyomovsk area, where the advance of Russian troops southwest of the city has begun to seriously threaten the main Ukrainian supply route, they begin to appear with more and more forces the announcements of the future offensive. Over the past 12 months, Ukraine has always tried to wait for good news before admitting defeat. This was the case recently with the loss of Soledar, a city that lacked strategic importance, but to which the speeches of President Zelensky had given an epic resonance. Twelve days after Russian control became apparent,
Original Article: Antifashist
The deputy head of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Vadim Skibitsky has specified the timing and objective of the Ukrainian counteroffensive. He will start in the spring and will seek to cut the land corridor to the Crimea. He referred to it in an interview with DW . “I think we will be ready for the counteroffensive in the spring,” Skibitsky said, adding that the specific timing depends on a number of factors, including Western weapons supplies. In his words, one of the strategic objectives will be the attempt to "open a gap on the Russian front in the south, between Crimea and Russia."
The GUR representative also did not rule out the possibility that Ukraine could attack weapons depots on the territory of the Russian Federation, specifically in the Belgorod region. “The attacks against Ukraine start there. It poses a threat, for example, to Kharkov, ”he stated. The objective of the announced counteroffensive is to “liberate all the territories of Ukraine, including Crimea. We will only stop when we restore the country according to the 1991 borders,” Skibitsky summarized.
According to the Ukrainian Telegram channel Rezident , the Pentagon, in collaboration with the General Staff, continues to prepare the counteroffensive towards Crimea, which would consist of two stages and six directions. According to the ideas of the Americans, the main blow at the beginning of the campaign should consist of two operations:
“For closing Tokmak-Vasilevka to take the main support cities before the attack on Melitopol.
Landings at Golaya Pristan, Alyoshka, Novaya Kakhovka, Staraya Kakhovka, Kamenka, Energodar in order to spread out the Russian troops and thus be able to accumulate a grouping for a blow towards Armyansk-Genichesk [already towards the isthmus leading to Crimea].
The plan foresees 7-14 days for both operations in this first phase for which, according to the General Staff, the best date option is April, when the fields dry and spring blooms.
The second phase would start ten days after the capture of the main points on the left bank of the Dnieper and the creation of a bridgehead to attack Melitopol,” the source writes.
The Idi i Smotri channel , for its part, stated that Ukraine is currently concentrating forces in the Svatovo, Ugledar and Zaporozhie directions. "In addition to attack plans against Melitopol and Svatovo, there is also talk of another series of basic and diversionary operations," added the channel, which specifically referred to an attack in the Ugledar area.
Columns with equipment and personnel and fuel trucks circulating daily on the kyiv-Kharkov highway have been seen. Every night, trains with equipment run through Lubotin to Kharkov.
As the Russian ambassadors to China and the United Kingdom stated in interviews with local media, Russia will be forced to respond if the United States and NATO countries supply Ukraine with weapons to attack territories inside the country. On February 21, during his speech to the Federal Assembly, Russian President Vladimir Putin assured that the armed forces will move threats away from the borders of the Russian Federation as more long-range weapons arrive in Kiev.
https://slavyangrad.es/2023/02/28/planes-2/#more-26730
Google Translator
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The Stage is Set for Hybrid World War III
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on FEBRUARY 27, 2023
Pepe Escobar
A powerful feeling rhythms your skin and drums up your soul as you’re immersed in a long walk under persistent snow flurries, pinpointed by selected stops and enlightening conversations, crystallizing disparate vectors one year after the start of the accelerated phase of the proxy war between US/NATO and Russia.
That’s how Moscow welcomes you: the undisputed capital of the 21st century multipolar world.
A long, walking meditation impregnates on us how President Putin’s address – rather, a civilizational speech – last week was a game-changer when it comes to the demarcation of the civilizational red lines we are all now facing. It acted like a powerful drill perforating the less than short, actually zero term memory of the Collective West. No wonder it exercised a somewhat sobering effect contrasting the non-stop Russophobia binge of the NATOstan space.
Alexey Dobrinin, Director of the Foreign Policy Planning Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Russia, has correctly described Putin’s address as “a methodological basis for understanding, describing and constructing multipolarity.”
For years some of us have been showing how the emerging multipolar world is defined – but goes way beyond – high speed interconnectivity, physical and geoeconomic. Now, as we reach the next stage, it’s as if Putin and Xi Jinping, each in their own way, are conceptualizing the two key civilizational vectors of multipolarity. That’s the deeper meaning of the Russia-China comprehensive strategic partnership, invisible to the naked eye.
Metaphorically, it also speaks volumes that Russia’s pivot to the East, towards the rising sun, now irreversible, was the only logical path to follow as, to quote Dylan, darkness dawns at the break of noon across the West.
As it stands, with the wobblin’, ragin’ Hegemon lost in its own pre-fabricated daze, the real runners of the show feeding burning flesh to irredeemably mediocre political “elites”, China may have a little more latitude than Russia, as the Middle Kingdom is not – yet – under the same existential pressure Russia has been put under.
Whatever happens next geopolitically, Russia is at heart a – giant – obstacle on the warmongering path of the Hegemon: the ultimate target is top “threat” China.
Putin’s ability to size up our extremely delicate geopolitical moment – via a dose of highly concentrated, undiluted realism – is something to behold. And then Foreign Minister Lavrov provided the sweet cherry on top, calling the hapless US ambassador for a hardcore dress down: oh yeah, this is war, hybrid and otherwise, and your NATO mercenaries as well as your junk hardware are legitimate targets.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Security Council, now more than ever relishing his “unplugged” status, made it all very clear: “Russia risks being torn apart if it stops a special military operation (SMO) before victory is achieved.”
And the message is even more acute because it represents the – public – cue to the Chinese leadership at the Zhongnahhai to understand: whatever happens next, this is the Kremlin’s unmovable official position.
The Chinese restore the Mandate of Heaven
All these vectors are evolving as ramifications of the bombing of the Nord Streams, the only military attack – cum industrial terrorism – ever perpetrated against the EU, leave the Collective West paralyzed, dazed and confused.
Perfectly in tandem with Putin’s address, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs chose the geopolitical/existential moment to finally take the gloves off, with a flourish: enter the
US Hegemony and its Perils essay cum report, which became an instant massive hit across Chinese media, examined with relish all across East Asia.
This blistering enumeration of all the Hegemon’s lethal follies, for decades, constitutes a point of no return for trademark Chinese diplomacy, so far characterized by passivity, ambivalence, actual restraint and extreme politeness. So such turnaround is yet another proud “achievement” of the outright Sinophobia and mendacious hostility exhibited by American neocons and neoliberal-cons.
Scholar Quan Le notes that this document may be regarded as the traditional form – but now filled with contemporary wording – the Chinese Sovereigns used in their millenary past before going to war.
It is in fact an axio-epistemo-political proclamation justifying a serious war, which in the Chinese universe means a war ordained by a Higher Power capable of restoring Justice & Harmony in a troubled Universe.
After the proclamation the warriors are equipped to strike mercilessly at the entity judged to be troubling the Harmony of the Universe: in our case, the psycho Straussian neo-cons and neoliberal-cons commanded as rabid dogs by the real American elites.
Of course in the Chinese universe there’s no place for “God” – much less a Christian version; “God” for the Chinese means the Beauty-Goodness-Truth trinity, Timeless Heavenly Universal Principles. The closest concept for a non-Chinese to understand is Dao: the Way. So the Way to the Beauty-Goodness-Truth trinity represents symbolically Beauty-Goodness-Truth.
So what Beijing did – and the Collective West is completely clueless about it – was to issue an axio-epistemo-political proclamation explaining the legitimacy of their quest to restore Timeless Heavenly Universal Principles. They will be fulfilling the Mandate of Heaven – nothing less. The West won’t know what it hit them until it’s too late.
It was predictable that sooner or later the heirs of Chinese civilization would have had enough – and formally identify, mirroring Putin’s analysis, the upstart Hegemon as the premier source of chaos, inequality and war across the planet. Empire of Chaos, Lies and Plunder, in a nutshell.
To put it bluntly, in streetwise language, the hell with this Americana crap of hegemony being justified by “manifest destiny”.
So here we are. You want Hybrid War? We will return the favor.
Back to the Wolfowitz Doctrine
A former CIA advisor has issued a quite sobering report on a pebble along the rocky way: a possible endgame in Ukraine, now that even some elite-run parrots are contemplating a “way out” with minimal loss of face.
It’s never idle to remember that way back in 2000, the year Vladimir Putin was first elected as President, in the pre-9/11 world, rabid neocon Paul Wolfowitz was side by side with Zbig “Grand Chessboard” Brzezinski in a huge Ukraine-US symposium in Washington, where he unabashedly raved about provoking Russia to go to war with Ukraine, and committed to finance the destruction of Russia.
Everyone remembers the Wolfowitz doctrine – which was essentially a tawdry, pedestrian rehash of Brzezinski: to keep permanent US hegemony it was primordial to pre-empt the emergence of any potential competitor.
Now we have two nuclear-powered, tech savvy peer competitors united by a comprehensive strategic partnership.
As I finished my long walk paying due respect by the Kremlin to the heroes of 1941-1945, the feeling was inescapable that as much as Russia is a master of riddles and China is a master of paradox, their strategists are now working full time on how to return all strands of Hybrid War against the Hegemon. One thing is certain: unlike boastful Americans, they won’t outline any breakthroughs until they are already in effect.
https://libya360.wordpress.com/2023/02/ ... d-war-iii/
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Massive rally in Berlin demands peace in Ukraine
On the one year anniversary of the state of the war, Berliners took to the streets to demand deescalation and peace
February 27, 2023 by Peoples Dispatch
Anti-war rally in Berlin. Photo: JungeWelt
On Saturday February 25, tens of thousands of people rallied at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin demanding that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz take an active role in encouraging negotiations to end the ongoing war in Ukraine. The mobilization with the slogan ‘Uprising for Peace’ was called for by Left party MP Sahra Wagenknecht, journalist Alice Schwarzer, retired Brigadier General Erich Vad, economist Jeffrey Sachs and others. It called for negotiations, diplomacy and peace, instead of the ongoing escalation of the war by delivering sophisticated arms and ammunition to Ukraine.
Sahra Wagenknecht MP and Alice Schwarzer also initiated a petition titled ‘Manifesto For Peace’ demanding the German Chancellor to “make a strong alliance for a ceasefire and peace negotiations at both the German and European levels.”
The anti-fascist groups who attended the rally in Berlin also protested the presence of far-right groups like the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the rally.
A day prior, on February 24, anti-war groups including the Berlin Peace Coordination (FRIKO), German Communist Party (DKP), and others also rallied in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin calling for peace.
The eight year long Russia-Ukraine conflict escalated to a full-fledged war on February 24, 2022, when Russian armed forces crossed into Ukraine. According to the Manifesto for Peace, as of now over 200,000 soldiers and more than 50,000 civilians have been killed in the war. As all attempts at peace talks have been sabotaged, the death toll is likely to increase. Currently, there are millions of Ukrainians living as refugees in countries across Europe.
The heavy sanctions imposed by the European Union and the United States against Russia and Russian energy companies have triggered a steep increase in energy prices across Europe, which was dependent on cheap Russian gas for years. This has sparked a broader cost of living crisis across the region. While under the instigation of US and NATO, the political leadership in EU countries continue war mongering, the crisis-hit working class sections across Europe have now strengthened their mobilizations demanding peace.
In their ‘Manifesto for Peace’, Sahra Wagenknecht MP and Alice Schwarzer have stated that “negotiating does not mean capitulating. Negotiating means making compromises, on both sides. With the aim of preventing hundreds of thousands more deaths and worse.”
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/02/27/ ... n-ukraine/
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Prolonged crisis only benefits Washington
By Wang Zhen | China Daily | Updated: 2023-02-25 09:34
Local residents walk an empty street in the frontline city of Bakhmut, Ukraine on Feb 21, 2023. [Photo/Agencies]
It comes as no surprise at all that on the first anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine military conflict, some Western media outlets and politicians are blaming China for failing to persuade Russia to end the conflict. On Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated his contention that Beijing was toying with the idea of providing military support to Russia, which is nothing but a malicious lie.
Instead, in a 12-point paper released on Friday, China has made clear it is promoting political settlement of the crisis. It calls for respecting the sovereignty of all countries, resuming peace talks, resolving the humanitarian crisis, protecting civilians and prisoners of war, and keeping nuclear power plants safe.
As China's newly published Global Security Initiative Concept Paper says,"War and sanctions are no fundamental solution to disputes; only dialogue and consultation are effective in resolving differences." So the highest priority of Russia and Ukraine should be to look for a "political settlement" of the conflict through "dialogue and consultation".
However, it's the United States that benefits from the continuing Russia-Ukraine military conflict and wants to prolong the crisis.
According to US media reports, in less than a year, US military and financial aid to Ukraine has exceeded $100 billion, with more on the way. What's more, the US will provide Ukraine an additional $2 billion in security assistance, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Thursday.
Why is the US sparing no effort in its support of Ukraine against Russia?
First, the Russia-Ukraine conflict is helping the US consolidate its transatlantic partnership with the European Union, although EU countries such as Germany and France opposed former US president George W. Bush's plan to invade Iraq in 2003, and in recent years, European countries have distanced themselves from the US to devise their own trade policy, continue EU-Russia cooperation and take an independent stance on many issues.
The US-EU relationship can be described as lacking in momentum, with the cracks in their ties becoming apparent. By hyping up the "Russian threat", the US has been projecting itself as a "security umbrella" for European countries while trying to resurrect the transatlantic partnership damaged by previous US president Donald Trump's capricious EU policy, in a bid to prevent some EU states from adopting independent foreign policies.
Second, the Russia-Ukraine conflict has helped the US to strengthen its military hegemony, which is essential for it to maintain its global hegemony and military alliance with NATO.
After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, international observers expected NATO, the antithesis of the Warsaw Pact, to be disbanded. But that didn't happen. In recent years, however, NATO has been wracked by controversies and criticism, with some EU countries questioning the functions and the future of the transatlantic military alliance. In fact, Trump's allegation that EU countries contribute too little to NATO upset the latter so much that French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview that NATO was "brain dead".
Yet the US has once again succeeded in coercing EU countries to jump onto its war bandwagon and used the West's hatred and fear of Russia, triggered by the conflict, as an excuse for NATO's expansion.
Third, the Ukraine crisis has helped the US to stamp its authority on the global energy sector. The shale revolution has transformed the US from a major oil importer to a major oil exporter. But the fall in global oil prices has hit US shale gas production hard, because it is relatively more expensive to extract.
Washington has been using sanctions against Moscow to cut off Russian oil and gas supply to EU countries, so as to end their dependence on Russia for energy. This will have a dual effect. On the one hand it will weaken Russia's economy, as energy export is a big revenue-earner for Moscow. On the other hand, it will allow US energy companies to reap handsome profits by exporting more oil and gas to Europe, possibly at higher prices. As a matter of fact, crude oil shipped from the US to Europe in 2022 was 70 percent higher than the previous year, according to oilprice.com.
Finally, hyping up Russia's so-called aggressive role in the conflict and supporting Ukraine both militarily and strategically will earn the Joe Biden administration a lot of political advantage, notwithstanding the fact that the conflict has proved lucrative for a host of US energy companies and the military-industrial complex, which are the very entities the US politicians are trying to please.
By supporting Ukraine, US politicians can not only say they are "politically correct", but also claim the moral high ground in the name of protecting "freedom", and gain more votes in elections. It is for this reason that the US has been supporting Ukraine — President Biden even visited Kyiv a few days ago — while playing down more important events like the giant chemical fire and "toxic mushroom cloud" in East Palestine, Ohio, following a railway derailment, which has left residents worried about the long-term health problems they might face.
Whether the US admits it or not, it has benefited enormously from the Russia-Ukraine conflict. This shows the Biden administration's support for Ukraine has nothing to do with defending "freedom" and "democracy", but rather with promoting the US' own interests. However, military assistance will not restore peace in Eurasia, nor will it help safeguard EU countries' security.
http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20230 ... b0d64.html
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Zelensky fires Ukraine's commander of joint forces
From Kostan Nechyporenko in Kyiv
Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a news conference in Kyiv on February 24. (James McGill/SOPA Images/SIPA/AP)
Ukraine’s commander of joint forces operation has been dismissed from his post, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced in a decree Sunday.
Major Gen. Eduard Mykhailovich Moskalov had been appointed to the position last March when Lt. Gen. Oleksandr Pavliuk was appointed head of the Kyiv regional military administration.
Zelensky did not provide an explanation for Moskalov's dismissal, but it's the latest in a long line of recent leadership changes made by his administration.
Ukrainian authorities have conducted a series of anti-corruption searches and crackdowns across the country, and a variety of high-profile dismissals have followed.
It is not yet clear if Moskalov's firing was connected to the recent corruption purge.
https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/ru ... f27711588f
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The Empire Gives People The Illusion Of Fighting The Power Without Ever Endangering Real Power
The one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has seen countless emotional news segments and heartstring-plucking articles, wall-to-wall social media posts, and public demonstrations decrying the evils of Vladimir Putin throughout the western world.
For what’s probably the first “anti-war” protest of most of their lives, American liberals gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC over the weekend to bravely condemn the leader of a foreign government thousands of miles away. There they were joined by empire managers like the virulent warmonger Samantha Power, who spoke at the rally opposing Russian warmongering at the capital of the most warlike nation on the planet.
For the last year, mainstream westerners have been using this war to act out their fantasies of being courageous up-punching anti-imperialists, fighting powerful bloodthirsty tyrants in defense of the needful, all while living directly under the thumb of the most tyrannical regime in the world. They mindlessly regurgitate the propaganda of the most powerful empire that has ever existed, parrot the same lines that are already being said all day long by all the most powerful institutions in the western world, all in service of the hegemonic agendas of the largest and most murderous power structure on earth, while pretending to be standing in opposition to the powerful.
The way the war in Ukraine allows mainstream liberals to play-act as rebellious anti-imperialists is a good illustration of how the empire gives people the illusion of fighting the power without their ever opposing the empire.
We saw this same trend take place in the US throughout the Trump administration, where mainstream liberals branded themselves “The Resistance” like they were socialist revolutionaries or insurgents opposing Hitler in Nazi-occupied France. In reality Trump’s presidency had little actual impact on the comforts of their lives, because beneath all the narratives Trump was a fairly normal US president whose most heinous crimes were all of the customary variety we see in all US presidents — including his predecessor and his successor. Democrats just spent four years LARPing as brave revolutionaries, and then he left office and the game ended.
In exactly the same way, Trump’s presidency allowed right wingers to pretend they were part of a movement against the establishment, despite Trump never actually challenging the establishment in any meaningful way. They believed he was fighting the Deep State even after he imprisoned Assange. They believed he was “ending the wars” even as he ramped up aggressions against Russia which helped bring us to where we are today, killed tens of thousands of Venezuelans with starvation sanctions, vetoed attempts to save Yemen from U.S.-backed genocide, worked to foment civil war in Iran using starvation sanctions and CIA ops with the stated goal of effecting regime change, occupied Syrian oil fields with the goal of preventing Syria’s reconstruction, greatly increased the number of troops in the Middle East and elsewhere, greatly increased the number of bombs dropped per day from the previous administration killing record numbers of civilians, and reduced military accountability for those airstrikes. They believed he was draining the swamp after packing his cabinet with establishment swamp monsters.
Trump supporters are just George W Bush supporters LARPing as Ron Paul supporters. They role-play a fight against the empire that is never actually happening anywhere except in their imaginations.
For four years this went on, with Democrats acting like they were fighting the power because Trump was the power and Republicans acting like they were fighting the power because Trump’s enemies were the power. And the entire time real power went completely unchallenged, because the empire always marches forward regardless of the imperial puppet who’s sitting in the White House.
And as the war drums with China heat up we’re seeing Trump supporters turn into the mirror image of the mindless Ukraine flag-waving liberals we’re seeing today, swallowing every narrative their media feeds them right down their throats without the slightest twinge of critical thinking gag reflex. Now we’re seeing the same people who used to spew vitriol about Muslims in the Middle East suddenly metamorphose into heroic human rights champions for Muslims in Xinjiang, and the same people who’ve been shining the bright light of truth on propaganda about Russia suddenly switch it off because they believe Biden is a Xi Jinping puppet.
Imperial narrative managers actively foster these delusions of revolution and up-punching among the mainstream herd because it’s a great way to kill the possibility of any real revolutionary zeitgeist. If you can give people the illusion that they are fighting the power without their ever actually fighting the power, then you can always remain in power.
It doesn’t take much. Just a few trusted voices in their ideological echo chamber posing as passionate opponents of tyranny and abuse, and people’s natural desire to oppose those things does the rest. It naturally feels right to oppose the depravity of the powerful on behalf of the weak and defenseless; all they have to do is divert that healthy human impulse into something illusory.
Here’s hoping enough of us learn to see through the illusion one day.
https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2023/02/26 ... eal-power/
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HOW MUCH WILL ANTI-RUSSIAN "SANCTIONS" COST GERMANY?
Feb 27, 2023 , 2:18 p.m.
Aerial image of the Isar 2 nuclear power plant, in Essenbach, Germany (Photo: AP Photo)
According to Bloomberg projections , by 2030 the German government will have to allocate more than 1 trillion dollars to face the risks and challenges that have arisen due to the energy crisis, product of the "sanctioning" schemes of the United States and the European Union (EU) against Russia.
The huge cost would include investments in modernizing the country's power grids and a planned phase-out of its coal and nuclear plants. Because?
Berlin will face a growing demand for electric vehicles and heating systems. To this we must add that the German authorities are obliged to comply with climate commitments.
According to data provided by the country's network regulator and think tank , Agora Energiewende, increasing power demand by 30% of the country's current consumption will bring the new capacity projected to be installed by 2030 to about 250 gigawatts. that the transition will require the installation of solar panels, as well as onshore and four offshore wind farms built per week.
Earlier this month, the Brussels-based think tank Bruegel reported that EU nations had spent almost 800 billion euros on support measures in the face of rising energy costs. According to the record, Germany topped Bruegel's spending chart, having set aside almost 270 billion euros, while the next highest three – the UK, Italy and France – each spent around 150 billion euros.
The current energy crisis and the transition to "green" processes will have a high cost for the German government in the years to come. However, this does not guarantee that they can overcome the situation, nor that they achieve a change in the more efficient and less polluting use of energy.
https://misionverdad.com/cuanto-le-cost ... antirrusas
Google Translator
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Russia welcomes China's peace proposal
By REN QI in Moscow | China Daily Global | Updated: 2023-02-28 09:09
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. [Photo/Agencies]
A position paper that China has issued setting out a possible path to peace in Ukraine needs to be analyzed in detail, the Russian government said on Monday.
Analysis of the paper, which urges both sides in the conflict to agree to a gradual de-escalation and warns against the use of nuclear weapons, should take into account the interest of all sides, the Kremlin said.
"We paid a lot of attention to our Chinese friends' plan," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding that: "Of course, the details need to be painstakingly analyzed taking into account the interests of all the different sides. This is a very long and intense process."
He said Russia was continuing to carry out what it calls its special military operation in Ukraine, and for now didn't see any signs suggesting a peaceful resolution could be achieved.
China called for peace talks as it issued a 12-point position paper on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis, which included the respect of all countries' sovereignty.
After meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday, Saudi Arabia pledged humanitarian assistance to Ukraine worth $410 million, Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, the country's foreign minister, told a news conference in Kyiv.
It is the first time since the two countries established diplomatic relations 30 years ago that a Saudi foreign minister has visited Ukraine.
According to the El Sharq television channel, Riyadh and Kyiv signed a memorandum of mutual understanding on the supply of oil products to Ukraine.
It comes as fighting continues in the city of Bakhmut and the casualties are high.
Eduard Moskalov, Ukraine's commander of joint forces operation, has been dismissed from his post, Zelensky announced Sunday. He did not provide an explanation for the dismissal, but it's the latest in a long line of recent leadership changes made by his administration.
Also on Sunday, Chairperson of the United States House Foreign Affairs Committee Michael McCaul said the US could send more advanced weapon systems for Ukraine, including longer-range missile systems or fighter jets.
However, US President Joe Biden on Friday ruled out providing the F-16 fighter jets Ukraine has requested, at least for the time being, telling ABC News in an interview that Zelensky "doesn't need F-16s now".
Peskov said that Moscow considers supplies of Western weapons to Ukraine as the West's growing involvement in the conflict.
http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20230 ... b12fd.html
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From Cassad's Telegram account:
Colonelcassad
2:59
The American mercenary went over to the side of Russia after a year of service in the "Foreign Legion" of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the national battalion "Carpathian Sich".
John McIntyre, who provided the Russian military with papers, files, intelligence and maps that he collected in Ukraine.
It turned out that the man had originally planned this operation: “I am a communist, an anti-fascist. I decided to collect as much useful information as possible and run across the front line. When I was in Kharkiv, I wanted to swim across, but I discovered that they [AFU] have snipers ... not for protection, but to shoot defectors.”
According to him, in the ranks of the nationalists, everyone uses fascist greetings, including mercenaries from Croatia or the Czech Republic:
“Everyone has tattoos, Nazi symbols ... At some point, they pestered me with questions about my communist views. I said that I was an anti-fascist, I came to fight the Russian imperialists and the Nazis. And they say: "No, the Russians are not Nazis - we are Nazis . "
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forwarded from
Voenkor Kitten Z
Military expert Boris Rozhin on the situation in the Artemovsky direction on February 27, 2023, specially for the Voenkor Kotenok channel Z @voenkorKotenok :
Our troops continue to bring the situation of the operational encirclement of the APU grouping in the city closer. At the moment, the main roads are under incomplete fire control. This applies incl. and the route through Khromovo, which is already covered by artillery. The enemy claims that at night it is passable enough. This suggests that there is no complete operational environment for Bakhmut yet, but everything is moving towards this.
The abandonment of Yagodnoye and Berkhovka has already led to the fact that the enemy began to retreat from the Stupka region and a number of the northern regions of Artemovsk.
To the south of the city, our troops continue fighting in the Krasnoye area, trying to reach the Chasov Yar - Krasnoye - Artemovsk highway. Assault units make their way from the side of the Mariupol cemetery in the direction of the stele with the aircraft in the southern part of Artemovsk. There are premature reports that even broke through, but they are not true. The goal is clear - to go to this road and cut it, eliminating any possibility of use by the enemy.
Taking into account the cutting of the Artemovsk-Slavyansk and Artemovsk-Konstantinovka highways and the upcoming cutting of the road through Khromovo, it will be possible to say that the situation with the city's encirclement is close to a denouement.
The enemy has not yet withdrawn his main forces from Artemovsk and is preparing to defend himself, as expected, in the western part of the city, gradually retreating. His task is to exchange people for time. That is, he is trying to win the maximum time before the loss of Artemovsk.
It is obvious that they most likely have already written off the city, but they expect to win some more time before going over to the defensive on the line Rai Aleksandrovka - Chasov Yar - Konstantinovka.
https://t.me/s/boris_rozhin
Google Translator