The US did not provide Russia with any answer on Friday. By itself, this is not very surprising, the levels of infighting in the US ruling elites have made it impossible to agree on a reply on such short notice, especially during the various end of year celebrations in the West.
As for the Russians, they are fine with that, since their own deadline was mid-January. So as of right now, nothing significant has changed, what we observe is only a lot of statements by anybody and everybody, most of these statements make little or no sense and they typically all contradict each other. We should not get too caught up in the “he said this, she said that” thingie, as this is, quite literally, just hot air.
In terms of actions, again we see contradictory developments: some sources report that NATO is preparing for a major war while other report that the US Americans and UK personnel are preparing an emergency evacuation.
There appears to be a meeting between Putin and Biden in the making, according to same sources after the Orthodox Nativity, so sometime around or soon after January 8th. If so, I welcome that.
Also, Stoltenberg has said that there will be a meeting between NATO and Russia on the 12th. But then, Stoltenberg is a powerless clown whose verbal emissions mean nothing. He was the one who totally rejected any negotiations with Russia just a week ago, and now he is offering to negotiate…
I spent the last 3 days reading opinions on the Runet, listening to talk shows and watching various officials and personalities expressing their opinion and I want to share my conclusion with you: there is absolutely overwhelming evidence that the Russians are NOT bluffing, that they really mean every word they said. There is even a growing chorus of voices saying that it would be better for Russia if the West would simply reject all the Russian demands out of hand. Many clearly hope that the West will try that as this would completely untie Russia’s hands (or, if you prefer, her bear claws).
Most military officials seem to believe that a full-scale war against NATO will not happen, but that some kind of conflict with the Ukraine is now inevitable. I tend agree with them.
Many observers also seem to be really fed up. Fed up with the constant bloodletting in the LDNR, fed up with the constant presence of western military “advisors” in the Ukraine, fed up with the grandstanding and pompous declarations by EU/NATO officials whom the Russians don’t even take seriously. This entire topic has become a huge abscess in the mind of many Russians and an increasing number of them now want this abscess to be cut open, disinfected and healed. “More of the same” is just not something anybody is willing to accept.
But while I am sure that the Russians are not bluffing, I am not so sure at all whether decision-makers in the West realize that. Judging by the nonsense spewed by western officials and the AngloZionist media, I would say that no, they mostly don’t (there are a few notable exceptions like this one).
So I would say that there are definitely clouds on the horizon.
But the fact that the US and Russia seem to be preparing for some kind of summit is definitely a good sign as it shows that there is still a chance for the two sides to make some kind of deal avoiding the worst (if the US Americans only wanted to meet to issue more threats or to dismiss the Russian demands, neither side would bother with organizing a meeting).
The biggest risk now is that the US Americans will try to talk their way out and just let the clock run down without ever giving a clear answer to the Russians. Deputy Foreign Minister Riabkov said this about that “we don’t need negotiations, we need security guarantees, and very soon”. The Russians won’t take unilateral action unless and until they become convinced that the West is not willing to restrain itself and offer any legally binding and verifiable security guarantees. The other side of this coin is that should the West not be willing to restrain itself and refuse to offer any legally binding a verifiable security guarantees, then the Russians will be free take unilateral action. In other words, the Russians are saying this: look, we will get what we want, one way or another, whether we do that by means of a bilateral/multilateral negotiation or unilaterally now depends on you. For us, either way is fine, and we will achieve our objective in any scenario. The key message here is this: there is nothing you, the collective West or the USA, can do to prevent that outcome.
I conclude that the Russian ultimatum was really the very last effort by Russia to settle the problem diplomatically. If this effort fails, then the West better prepare itself for a lot of unilateral Russian actions.
As they say in Russia “those who will not listen to Lavrov will have to deal with Shoigu“. Even Lavrov himself seems to agree.
We will soon find out I suppose.
I invite you all to share your views in the open thread below.
Andrei
PS: in the meantime, the LDNR authorities have identified the chemical substances US PMCs have brought to the cities of Mariupol, Krasnyi Liman and Avdeevka: botulinum toxin and dibenzoxazepine. These chemical weapons were brought over from the USA by USAF contracted aircraft and are now deployed by 120 US mercenaries.
My gut feeling tells me that the USA is trying to keep the herd in the barn. Knowing the west from history they will not retreat without trying to insure there is a built in mechanism for trouble and keep their foe busy the way did with India by creating Pakistan and Kashmir, and Israel in the Arab world. This is to use at a later day, they hope.
I am certain the Russians will not fall for this old game. If the west could not subdue the Afghans or the Iraqis, nor they prevented Iran from destroying their base in Iraq on Jan 6th. To think that they will attack Russia one has to be high on hashish.
I respect Andrei analyzing the situations. He understands the American and the Russian cultures and analyzing them objectively. Also, Martynov and Orlov assements of crisis way better than most western could do. The fear I have is they miscalculate and they reach the threshold, then nobody would be around to regret it. The west is still intoxicated with their arrogance.
Happy holidays
I wonder of these reported cases of botulism, reported in Ukraine 1 month ago,are connected to the confirmation of the botulinum toxin being identified by LDNR officials:
http://outbreaknewstoday.com/ukraine-two-botulism-cases-reported-in-zaporizhzhia-oblast-66723/?amp=1
Zaporizhzhia is on the Dnieper River and lies 140 miles north of Crimea and 124 miles to the west of Donbass.
Berdyansk is approximately 90 miles southeast of Donbass and is a coastal town on the Sea of Azov. Since it is also on the sea perhaps there could be a plan to do an attack on Crimea which is 124 miles to the west on the Sea of Azov.
This is all pure speculation of course. The article does mention that the victims contracted botulism from eating bad fish.
If this fish was from the Sea of Azov, I would not surprised as this body of water must be full of pollutants and chemicals near industrial cities like Mariupol. Catching and eating a fish near there could be hazardous to your health.
Botulism has always been associated with bad fish, (or badly preserved vegetables) so it is not impossible that it was caught that way. However I am always wary of co-incidences, so you may be right.
I have tried to think of why wouldn’t there be war I can’t see it. People talking about flying to space settling on Mars almost like there is impending doom for the world. On top of this, all these advancements with biotech and biconical limbs it’s perhaps preparation for the aftermath of a world war. Exploding labs, contagious areas no go areas. smart cities with swift quite moving electrical cars at stand by to verify and vax what little remains on Earth..It’s all there ready to accommodate after a world war. Zone A and Zone B will splurge out on surveillance and many forms of passports as a secret war between secret intelligence organisations to keep each other out of their countries as domestic war is a threat to the five eyes with the heart being zionism. The issue to much money is being spent and resources to ferment these Agenda for world dominance from the gender issues, feminism, and the racism none sense. And it’s working. They’ve got it to a tee where you can literally possess people with propaganda and make them do horrible godless crimes to another human. I truly believe it’s a war between and good and evil religion has touched down on this on their various stories and metaphors and unfortunately when we get war it is the exact point Good and Evil clash in the spiritual realm then do we see it in our realm in the form of explosions, sounds of bullets, war machines. Even the sheer sounds of these armoury is out of the world further indicating influence of the spiritual world if you will. What I do believe though some will survive. Some from Zone B and some from Zone A and then it will be our morales and our experience of the war do the two finally make peace and humanity lives happily ever after.
Re: “People talking about flying to space settling on Mars almost like there is impending doom for the world.”
This is an excellent point. I have noticed this theme in movies for decades, and it appeared in sci-fi novels many generations ago too.. are the shallow western elites being seduced and programmed into sparking Armageddon through these “escape vehicle fantasies?” That their privileged class will get to flee an “overpopulated, environmentally unlivable” planet for greener pastures (to be terraformed), and also to escape retribution for a sea of crimes? A get out of jail card. Weirder aspirations have gripped the fatuous. All layers of society are suggestible to brainwashing. Recall ongoing space race by Billionaires Bezos, Branson and Musk.. What is behind the frenzied race?
If true, and they imbibed this koolaid, it may help put in perspective their current recklessness in trying to start a general conflagration. They see little in cost to themselves, having “abandoned” Earth psychologically and they hope physically soon. Like an Imperial Brit poisoning the well on his way out, to spite the villagers who defeated him.
Neither botulinum toxin nor dibenzoxazepine are chemical weapons in the sense that they have any military application. Botulinum toxin itself is used routinely (known as botox) in medicine. It is only fatal when ingested in high concentrations. Spreading Clostridium botulinum spores about is only dangerous to humans if these spores infect improperly cooked or stored human food and then ingested (infants less than one year old can die of exposure to the spores, however). Dibenzoxazepine is a particular strong “tear gas” (known as CR) that can cause death in high doses so is no longer used in crowd control. The Brits used it in Northern Ireland during the “troubles” but seems to not be used anymore.
In any case, if the Ukie nazis are playing around with this stuff now there is really no reason to be alarmed.
No no no Toivos. Botulinum toxin is very poisonous at very low dosages and is in fact one of the most poisonous substances on earth. Lethality is1.3–2.1 ng/kg. Its very recent use in medicine is in microdosages and if you grasp how botox works it is by causing paralysis .
When i was at university I recall my microbiology lecturer saying “the first sign of poisoning with botulinum poisoning is death”. The reality is that a litre of pure botulinum toxin would poison a water supply for years and cause many deaths.
Israhell destroys the entire port of Latakia without any reaction from Moscow..
Who will really take Russia seriously after this fiasco from the Zio? Where is the ‘victory’ in Syria? Like in Donbass?7 years of bombing Donbass people(14k deaths, billions in infra destruction) without any reaction. A nazi Junta in Kiev, no reaction.Sanctions? Very small retaliations..etc
Israel apparently risks its most advanced warplanes & best trained pilots in one of the strongest SAM envelopes in the region (both Syrian BUK, Pantsir & S-200 & Russian Buk, Pantsir, S-300 & S-400) in order to strike some rice right next to Russia’s Mediterranean naval base.
Latakia port is burning following the Israeli cruise missiles strikes, likely on Iranian/Hezbollah-linked PGM project equipment.
https://twitter.com/ELINTNews/status/1475643447226814468
It must be a big LOL at nato headquarters in Brussels
And Russia really wants to ‘negociate’ with the West? They only respect force not weakness.
Your post is either hysterics or straight bullshit.
Factually, you have nothing correct.
the authoritative voice of Russian military speaks about the IDF airstrike, Rear Adm. Oleg Zhuravlev, deputy head of the Russian Center for the Reconciliation of Warring Parties in Syria
Typically, the IDF fired just as a Russian military plane was on landing approach at the Hmeimim AF Base.
“From 04:21 to 04:26, two F-16 tactical fighters of the Israeli Air Force from the Mediterranean Sea, without crossing the border, struck with four guided missiles at facilities in the port of Latakia. As a result of the Israeli strike, minor material damage to the port infrastructure was inflicted,” Zhuravlev said at a briefing.
“The Syrian air defense forces did not engage in combat with Israeli F-16 fighters, which attacked the port, as at that time a Russian Aerospace Forces plane was landing at the Hmeimim airfield in the vicinity of this city,” he added.
Minor damage from 4 missiles.
https://sputniknews.com/202…
Normally, Saker or a Mod would set you straight.
Here’s why you are full of crap.
From Sputniknews report of the Latakia port IDF strike: “Reports from the area noted that air defense forces were used to repel an air attack by the Syrian Armed Forces, and not surface-to-air missile systems.”
https://sputniknews.com/202…
The standard here at the Vineyard is honest opinion and real facts you link to sources that are reliable.
Here is the correct link: https://sputniknews.com/20211228/latakia-port-in-syria-reportedly-targeted-by-israeli-airstrikes-1091849853.html
In matters of security, there are no halfway measures.
True.
Same way a woman cannot be half-pregnant, a society cannot rely on half-promises or half-commitments to guarantee its security. Only Russia can guarantee Russia’s security. Full stop.
Lone Wolf
More and more threats of sanctions to Rusia are coming from the west. From kicking Rusia out of the Swift system, to completely isolating the country from the rest of the Internet, and stopping other countries exchanges in rubles.
A Russian response could be kinetic strikes on the western infrastructure in international waters and in space.
Cutting the fiber cables in the Atlantic, and taking down communication satellites, from Russian perspective could seem as a very good answer to this kind of crippling sanctions.
No lives would be lost, no attack on sovereign countries, and the effects would be as crippling to the west as the sanctions to Russia.
I actually predict this as a possible alternative to full war with Nato.
While at first look this UN vote may look bad for Russia, when you look closer it is not. The 17 no votes,show countries committed as allies of Russia. And those voting against Russia are NATO states and a few stooges that depend on them. They have now outed themselves as enemies of Russia,and will need to be dealt with down the line. The single largest group of countries voted to abstain or didn’t vote at all. Showing they were too afraid of the US to vote no,but not afraid enough to vote yes.While I’d like to see more no votes,this vote shows the US can’t just order the majority of countries to obey them anymore:
https://colonelcassad-livejournal-com.translate.goog/6386563.html?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-CA
Interesting story,in one of the heartlands of pro-Bandera neo-nazis in Ukraine. The Ukrainians fine one of their main sports teams of the region for giving player interviews in Russian.It seems many of the players can’t speak “Ukrainian” well,but can speak Russian just fine.
As I’ve long known,this whole mess is a “Rus” civil war.When thinking about this start thinking of the middle ages and the statelets fighting for or against joining together and its easier to understand Ukraine,Belarus,and Russia.Outside Western countries are trying to interfere for their own evil interests.But the internal struggle between them ,without the outside players,is purely a civil war:
https://www.rt.com/sport/544613-ukraine-football-veres-fined-russian/
“Most military officials seem to believe that a full-scale war against NATO will not happen, but that some kind of conflict with the Ukraine is now inevitable.”
Yup.
“(if the US Americans only wanted to meet to issue more threats or to dismiss the Russian demands, neither side would bother with organizing a meeting).”
Yeah, they would if they thought they could either 1) distract Russia from what is happening on the ground, and/or 2) claim they tried to “prevent a Russian invasion which happened anyway (when Ukraine attacks Donbass and Russia responds.)”
And as Lavrov says in the interview, the US is known for stringing out “negotiations” while in reality doing the exact opposite of what they say. So I’d say these “talks” are meaningless until they produce *results.*
What I expect to happen is the talks start, Donbass is attacked, Russia responds, the talks disappear, and we’re back to Cold War 2.0.
In August 1941, the United States government embargoed oil and gasoline exports to Japan.
Over 80% of Japan’s supply shipped in from the United States.
Officials knew well that Japan might take a desperate armed lunge in response.
These men believed war was all but assured. But it was critical that Japan deliver the initial blow… to incense the American public.
United States War Secretary Henry Stimson, reflecting on the wrecks of Pearl Harbor:
“My first feeling was of relief… that a crisis had come in a way which would unite all our people.
Russia beware.
Keep dreaming. When the Zircons start roaring, you’re gonna wake up with your cowboy hat on fire.
E-8C Joint STARS over Ukraine: Kiev could attack first.
This is the first time that an E-8C Joint STARS has flown over Ukraine.
The E-8 C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System is a Boeing 707-300 totally modified and refitted to carry an integrated battlefield management system on the ground, a control and command post, electronic intelligence collection, surveillance and reconnaissance. Its basic mission is to support offensive operations on the ground and the acquisition of enemy targets in order to delay, hamper, disorganize and destroy enemy military units.
The 7.3-meter radar hidden under a predominantly 8-meter radome under the aircraft’s forward fuselage and the sub-system computers collect and display detailed information on ground forces and the theater of operations. This information is relayed in near real time to joint US Army and Marine land stations as well as to other command, control and intelligence nodes.
The presence of this aircraft (two E-8Cs are operational over Ukraine at the end of December 2021) could mean that Kiev could be brought in by Washington to attack first and then benefit from massive US military support to eliminate them. Russian forces and more precisely the armored units amassed near the border.
This scenario is encouraged by a significant number of US military analysts who believe that it is time to act decisively against Russia since a technical revolution has just given a comparative advantage to the blue forces. An advantage which was used yesterday by Israel to neutralize for a short time the Russian defense bubble centered around the Hmeimim military air base near Latakia.
This was sufficient time for Israeli missiles previously highly vulnerable to AA defense systems to fall for the second time in their entirety on part of the port of Latakia, causing serious damage to a container area.
There remains the Russian reaction to this T-type development. Russian diplomacy is running at full speed to gain time and allow research and development teams to catch up with the opposing advantage, especially since Moscow knows full well that Washington is not really interested in a new security or strategic arrangement and that it pursues a single objective aimed ultimately at the destruction of Russia.
https://strategika51.org/2021/12/28/un-e-8c-joint-stars-au-dessus-de-lukraine-kiev-pourrait-attaquer-le-premier/
Just the opposite seems to be occurring financially with the basil III deadline.
The west needs time to catch up, (to make some fake collateral perhaps), and will not abide by the year end deadline to end etf metal transactions and bolster their physical reserves as required by the accord. Possibly in 2023 they say.
Obviously if you can’t (or refuse to), do something, one must pull the end around and delay until ones better option is made available. But it’s almost as if they feel no one is watching and the issue will be swept under the rug, guess what, it wont.
Well, well, well.
Recently, there was a very revealing vote in the United Nations concerning a resolution against the glorification of Nazism.
You would think it would be a no-brainer for any country to vote for a UN resolution against Nazism.
But interestingly enough, there were actually 2 nations in the entire world that voted *against* this anti-Nazi resolution.
Any guesses as to who these 2 Nazi-supporting nations are?
America and Ukraine.
Nazi is as Nazi does.
UN Resolution Against Glorification of Nazism
https://libya360.wordpress.com/2021/12/01/un-resolution-against-glorification-of-nazism-us-and-ukraine-vote-no/
I have seen many threats to disconnect Russia from SWIFT as has been done to Iran.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_for_Worldwide_Interbank_Financial_Telecommunication
What if Russia would disconnect the “West” from both SWIFT and the Financial Information eXchange (FIX) first?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_Information_eXchange
Might this cause one of the greatest banking crises in human history? I see many vulnerability with the system from simply cutting the under the ocean cables to things that Fancy and Cozy Bear can take care of. Also with the coming of a digital currency perhaps a new system will become neccessary in any case. China has made huge advancements in super computing as of late. Perhaps China is developing a better banking communication system as well.
This article on the US afraid of Russia and Germany becoming friends could have been written today,but it’s 6 years old:
https://anonhq.com/stratfor-advisor-us-state-department-german-russia-alliance-threat-america-must-prevented-cost/
This is playing while the MH17 trial in the Netherlands is coming to its end. My Dutch newspaper http://www.nrc.nl published just before Xmas an item from the prosecution. The Russian accused had according to an intercepted telephone message demanded a Buk launcher ‘the next day’ otherwise there would be a disaster. As the Buk missiles were irrelevant for the defense of the rebels … The prosecution has apparently not recognized that this proves the accused are innocent of shooting down MH17.
Saker
Essa informação de armas químicas nas mãos de mercenários ianques na ucrânia merece de sua parte uma análise específica. O que os patéticos ianques pretendem com isso? Uma operação de falsa bandeira que já está desmascara antes mesmo de acontecer? Que futuro pode-se esperar de negociações com os eua mesmo com garantias por escrito quando as coisas estão nesse nível???????
Google translation,MOD:
saker
This information on chemical weapons in the hands of Yankee mercenaries in Ukraine deserves a specific analysis on your part. What are the pathetic Yankees up to with this? A false flag operation that is already unmasking before it even happens? What future can you expect from negotiations with the US even with written guarantees when things are at this level???????
Some quotes from a forbidden source, note toxin said to be in 40mm containers, eg projectile form. Combined with CS these two materials might be imagined by some to enhance negotiation leverage, they would certainly be deadly..
The details of the products potentially contained in these tanks were provided by the spokesman of the DPR People’s Militia, Eduard Basurin.
“Everyone knows that the United States of America has sent various types of weapons to Ukraine. In October, an antidote was delivered with one of the shipments… There is a type of chemical weapon – botulinum toxin, it causes botulism, but more simply paralysis. In November, the chemical itself was delivered in 40mm metal containers, usable for example in grenade launchers. Or from drones, the weight is light enough to be dropped from drones. The chemical weapons were supplied by the US,” Basurin told TV channel Rossia 1.
He added that, according to his information, another container was delivered to Mariupol at the same time.
“The weight of the container was 300 kg, it contained a chemical warfare agent – benzoxazepine, which is used in the form of an aerosol,” Basurin said.”
End of quotes
I is evident that many minor groups, factions, cowboys, have options of making unacceptable actions and harms.
The West doesn’t like to lose the pole position but Russia and China will take it soon. The West is a bad loser and it is too addicted to his status of global power player. So what may happen? There will be war and it will be an ugly one like every war. Let’s hope that the military establishments around the world keep their minds on line to avoid a mass suicide. We always collect the harvest that has been seeded. Sorry if I’m not very optimistic.
The Ukronazis will never accept any autonomy for the donbassers, neither the Minsk thing…unless they re forced to that by Washington masters and warmongers.
Who btw will lose support and markets from it.
Even if forced that way, I feel those gansters will keep on with attacks or kinda takfirism to turn the clock back again.
Adding that to the current Russian -for sure fed up- people s will to settle things once and for all is where we’re stuck that some regional war is inevitable.
Now just for the sake of reasoning – what if within that broad picture Shoigu takes not just Donbass but Kherson and Zaporizhia as well?
What , aside from weep and gnashing of teeth would follow? Sure still attacks on the border, enforced additional weapons for defense, and many many Ukros fleeing to the new “Russian” region. Then Kremlin’s recognition of the new country.
It would take bit longer than Kossovo for world recognition but that s a petty exchange price for it.
“The Ukronazis will never accept any autonomy for the donbassers, neither the Minsk thing…unless they re forced to that by Washington masters and warmongers…”
Maybe, with a little help from the Russian “partners”…
This is clear so far: if Banderastan attacks LDNR, Russia will defend Donbass. What that defense implies, only the Russians know. If the Western “partners” see the Russians are not bluffing (as Saker said above, they still believe that), they might advice Kiev to cover their retreat with “the Minsk thing.”
“Now just for the sake of reasoning – what if within that broad picture Shoigu takes not just Donbass but Kherson and Zaporizhia as well?…”
Why not? That should have been done when Russia took Crimea, to bar the Ukronazis a launchpad to attack south and east. Taking Kherson and Zaporizhia will imply an offensive of modest proportions (for the Russians), given their basic military strategy denies the enemy space to regroup, Kharkiv, Sumy, and Chernihiv to the north will be fair game, threatening the head of the neo-Nazi snake, forcing any retreat to go west. Those two armies can converge in the center of 404, an event that might put Ukraine back on the map again…eventually…
But we are dreaming, as any armchair “general” does…
“It would take bit longer than Kossovo for world recognition but that s a petty exchange price for it.”
Who cares about world recognition? Abkhazia and Ossetia are doing just fine without world recognition. All you need to survive is security and a functional government that cares about its people. Kosovo is a mafia den, a corrupt backwater statelet, not an example to be followed.
Come January 10, we’ll see what the Three Wise Men brought to us, if peace, or war. Knowing the latter, I pray for the former.
Lone Wolf
Predictably, the US government is responding by showing that nobody can tell them what not to do. They are walking right into the trap that has been set for them, by diverting the Harry Truman carrier group toward the Ukrainian Theater.
https://www.rt.com/russia/544664-us-warship-mediterranean-ukraine/
Russia is making a massive mistake by negotiating with people who are not agreement capable and who are committed to Russia’s destruction. Russia must lock-in it’s safety with the pre-emptive destruction of every weapon inside whatever Russia considers it’s Safety Zone.
Then lower the curtain and say goodbye to the west. No trade with the west. The west has lost. Don’t let them drag you down, Russia. There is little / no benefit talking to the west. Thrive with Asia.
No need for kinetic contacts. Europe has had how many years of negative interest rates? Deutsche Bank is on life support and it is going badly with 18’000 employees bid farewell. Societé Générale is not much better. Their derivative portfolio was in bad shape not so long ago. I have not heard of any miracles there recently.
Insurance companies and more importantly, pension funds are on the ropes, forced to buy government bonds. If interest rates were to go up any amount shock waves will be felt far and wide. Russia and China can arrange that and the Russian Central Bank has gotten rid of most of its USD holdings already.
Russia can start using other currencies than the US Dollar or Euro – their own for starts and the Yuan maybe even gold. This would force the US to throw the first punch. Europe cannot pay for Russian gas without SWIFT or some form of barter. The LNG from the US is going to be very expensive. It will doom EU industry and bankrupt what is left in a relatively short time span. The Swiss surely are not going to hand over their service industries to them.
We are approaching the Year End. Dividends and Interest must be paid. The accounts must be published. Wait for all the bonuses to be spent. The economic cards are being redistributed.
Biden will phone Putin today. This means the US is in a hurry. Why?
Buy your popcorn now.
Get the facts correct: Russia added the Crimea, and everything else north and east, to the Russian Empire in 1784. Before that, Kiev is the founding source of Russian Orthodox Christianity, and a seminal root of Russian identity. The Crimean peninsula is a critical, strategic military asset of the Russian nation. As we are going back to 1784, let’s see America give everything west of the Appalachians back to the First Nations, and pay reparations for slavery.
After the Warsaw Pact collapse, Russia and NATO negotiated the Budapest Memorandum to remove nuclear weapons within the newly independent Ukraine. The later Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation, and Partnership, Partition Treaty on the Status and Conditions of the Black Sea Fleet, and Kharkiv Pact, secured uninterrupted Russian access and control of Sevastopol, and the ancient Russian language and cultural rights of the large Russian majority in the eastern provinces. I shouldn’t need to point out that Stalingrad, now Volgograd, lives on the far eastern border. All of this information is available on Wikipedia, but that would require superficially honest research. All of these treaties were violated by the Bandera Nazis, with US and NATO encouragement.
All of these eminently sensible treaties was swept aside so Clinton could look tough for her TV election campaign. Many people were stupid enough to cheer when this happened as if directly threatening Russian interests would have no consequences.
The Maidan foreign policy adventure was profoundly stupid and deliberately provoked war. The very first acts of the Banderists were to deny Russian language and cultural rights, attack Russians returning from Kiev, form Nazi militias, and join NATO and the EU. The notion that Russia would abandon its Russian citizens, allow NATO to threaten Russia from forward bases on Ukrainian soil, and surrender Sevastopol to NATO, could have resulted in the first large war between nuclear armed NATO and RUSSIA. We can all thank Putin and Russia for the measured and restrained response that kept the war limited to its present small size. That Putin has now massed troops on the border should be taken as his increasing lack of patience with a Ukraine unwilling to honour treaties or negotiate peaceful partition.
H. L. Mencken (1880 – 1956): ‘Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.’
Voltaire: “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”
Napoleon Bonaparte: “In politics stupidity is not a handicap.”
Thomas Paine: ”To argue with a person who has renounced reason is like administering medicine to the dead.”
Re Not Euclid.
Not “our” but “your” bc MaliSlavko, to whom I replied, apparently lives in the CNN/ Hollywood / MSM alternate reality and maybe you do too. “Our” world is going to be just fine as it transitions convincingly into a multipolar world. I am somewhat optimistic that it will not get to your fatalistic scenario of “half lives or no lives” bc I don’t expect that hyper neocons like Bolton would like to be on the receiving end of Poseidon nuclear torpedoes.
You then write: “It is not wise to rely on assumption, extrapolation or interpretation in making the way.”
But I find your remark to me out of place and I find also that it would have been perfectly fit to address the previous statement by MaliSlavko falsely claiming that: “with most of the world aligned with US and the West (as regularly seen in the UN).” This wishful dream I debunked with a reference to the most recent U.N. vote against the glorification of Nazism.
Good luck in the New Year
What they will have to do when they meet on January 12th is to clarify some issues. For example, what does Biden mean when he says “if Russia attacks Ukraine”? Supposing Russia sends some troops to Donbass to help protect against shelling and snipers from the Kiev forces, is that an attack on Ukraine in the view of the other side? Since the Americans will presumably try to pussyfoot around the issue, the Russians will have to press the issue. “We understand your position to be such and such. Yes or no?”
“What they will have to do when they meet on January 12th is to clarify some issues.”
Tactics are interactive sub-sets of strategies even when interlocuters do not act, and strategies are functions of facility and purpose.
Hence your statement quoted above is predicated on one interpretation of the potential purposes of the Russian Federation’s strategies and a tactical sub-set of these strategies, in having a meeting which some hold to be in relation to documents which they believe to be “ultimata”, including you by framing in imperatives such as “will have to do – and – will have to press the issue”, which the originators hold to not be ultimata but notices of intent.
Decisions are made by decision makers, not by technical experts in strategy and tactics. Decision makers decide about war and peace, about escalation and de-escalation (or ought to). Ordinary citizens all over the world are interested in what the the decision-makers are intending to do.
“Beatus on January 02, 2022 · at 10:43 am EST/EDT
“Decisions are made by decision makers, not by technical experts in strategy and tactics.”
That was the belief of Mr. G. W. Bush – he was wrong.
There is also the consideration, voiced here I think, that different factions are shaping US foreign policy. Biden’s people, Obama and Clinton leftovers as well as the so-called Neocons participate, causing confusion. Not knowing one’s own mind may be a lesser madness, but madness is nonetheless maddening. And we still live in the era of MAD (mutual assured destruction), a thought we tend to suppress because it is repugnant to the conscious mind. Perhaps an expert in personality disorder and depth psychology might be added to the Russian team when they meet the Americans.
“but madness is nonetheless maddening.”
Not to all.
To some the madness of others is a land of opportunity as a function of facility and purpose which often-times does not include a perceived “need to educate” opponents except as a courtesy, which often times opponents interpret as being a function of their importance in which the initiators do not concur.
” we still live in the era of MAD (mutual assured destruction), a thought we tend to suppress because it is repugnant to the conscious mind.”
Not all tend to suppress the concept and/or practice of Mutually Assured Destruction upon which the present nuclear doctrine of the Russian Federation is based – Mr. Putin’s observation of – who would like to live in a world without Russia ? refers to some audiences including some opponents, but not all -, whilst that is often self-obfuscated by “the democratic illusion” that we are all the same, often re-enforced by and facilitating, projection..
To some it is a land of opportunity as a function of facility and purpose, as many practitioners have realised since at least 1969.
“Perhaps an expert in personality disorder and depth psychology might be added to the Russian team when they meet the Americans.”
Some conflate emulation and requirement thereby limiting perception of the purposes of others, whilst some believe that their opponents are as stupid as they are.
Thank you for your illustration of some of the components in the petri-dish of the opponents’ culture – the “need to be heard” and notions of “expertise” based on precedent.
Perhaps you have now realised that when broadcasting through a portal the audience is not necessarily restricted to one, but if it is restricted to one or none, such is of little significance depending on purpose, the choice of portal, whether in Geneva or Moscow or in “virtual reality” also being a function of facility and purpose, which is often interpreted through projection as .Beatus on January 01, 2022 · at 8:34 am EST/EDT and Beatus on January 02, 2022 · at 8:56 am EST/EDT both illustrate.
As Mr. Plato’s interpretation of Mr. Socrates’ observations suggest and some subsequent scientists were/are informed by, the more you know, the more you realise some of the extent of what you don’t know, thereby catalysing your continued process of seeking to know and/or resorting to belief to bridge doubt as illustrated by Mr. Rumsfeld when confronted by “unknown unknowns”.
“A land of opportunity as a function of facility and purpose”. Exactly. We must consider purpose and instrument. However, we must not forget values. The term “value” is often conflated to its economic meaning, so the word “principle” is sometimes used by philosophers. Many people subscribe to the principle that honesty is the best policy, but some think it is okay to rob someone, if one gets away with it, or to lie brazenly. This is considered to be a characteristic of a psychopathic condition or tendency. Most people would subscribe to the principle that peace is to be preferred to war. But not all, since some people see profit in war, or gain in a colonial war. This is the “Gretchenfrage”, the question of concience which goes beyond instrumental thinking about power and money.
“However, we must not forget values.”
It appears that you continue to be immersed in projections of culturally specific modes of analyses of the opponents which you apply almost consistently throughout, and hence like the opponents illustrate instrumental thinking, sometimes designated as linear thinking, or in the register of some practitioners, you remain within the rubbing sticks school of thermo-dynamics.
This gives rise to paradox when assertion :
” Many people subscribe to the principle that honesty is the best policy”
interacts with the practice of many immersed in coercive social relations called “Capitalism”, including but not limited to, various forms of “robbing” which are emulations of the coercive social relations called “Capitalism” which you obfuscate by immersion within “juridical register”, “characteristics” and the practice of “subscribe” of the coercive social relations.
This is the source of some merriment for some – “The “criminals” are being punished for emulating the “judges”” – facilitated by we the people hold these truths to be self-evidentness positing that there is no need to investigate further.
Like many opponents but unlike Mr. Socrates, you do not give sufficient priority to the caution “Do you think your opponent/interlocutor is a stupid as you are ?”.