Tlaxcala asked three authors-
Dmitry Orlov, The Saker and Pepe Escobar– who have been accurately following the situation in and around Ukraine, 5 questions. Here are their answers. Tlaxcala doesn’t share all their views but find them interesting enough to be shared.
1) Do you believe US (Obama) is using Ukraine to take revenge for Syria and make the EU “unfit for fight”? What would their strategic goals be?
Dmitry Orlov: Obama’s goal was to stage a coup d’état to replace the Ukrainian government with a puppet regime. In this he has succeeded. But I doubt that his strategies go beyond that.
The Saker: The current crisis has been entirely the creation of the USA and, to a lesser degree, of the EU. The USA is locked in a Cold-War type mentality illustrated by the following two quotes. One by Hillary Clinton “There is a move to re-Sovietise the region,” (…) “It’s not going to be called that. It’s going to be called a customs union, it will be called Eurasian Union and all of that,” (…) “But let’s make no mistake about it. We know what the goal is and we are trying to figure out effective ways to slow down or prevent it” (source) and one by Zbigniew Brzezinski: “Without Ukraine Russia ceases to be empire, while with Ukraine – bought off first and subdued afterwards, it automatically turns into empire…According to him, the new world order under the hegemony of the United States is created against Russia and on the fragments of Russia. Ukraine is the Western outpost to prevent the recreation of the Soviet Union” (source). Thus the USA are not trying to “get” the Ukraine for NATO or for any other purpose, what they want is to deny the Ukraine to Russia in a hope of preventing the latter from becoming a new Soviet Empire. This is thus a pure zero-sum game – any Russian loss is, by definition, a success for the USA. The fact that Russia is already a superpower capable of stopping the USA (as shown in the Syrian crisis) or the fact that Russia has no desire to become another Soviet Union or even any other kind of empire (empires are costly and the Russians have no desire to become another USSR) makes no difference: the US plutocracy believes this and acts on this belief. Furthermore, the US elites have been humiliated in the Syrian crisis and they now want to show Russia and the rest of the world “who is boss”. Finally, add to this the influence of some very powerful ethnic lobbies who all share a common hatred for Russia (Jewish, Ukrainian, Polish) and you will get a policy whose sole aim is to make things as bad for Russia as possible. This is nothing new. During the war in Afghanistan the USA was willing to fully back the worst types of Wahabi terrorists only to hurt the USSR. Now the USA is giving its support to violent neo-Fascist nationalists. The sole condition for any terrorist group, no matter how evil and crazy, to get money from the CIA and is affiliates is to hate Russia. The wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo had no other purpose than “stick it to the Russians”. And if we look closer at the core of this maniacal hatred of the US elites for Russia we find that very little has changed in the West since the Middle-Ages: the western elites have always hated Russia for being Orthodox and for refusing to be conquered.
Pepe Escobar: Ukraine is definitely the Obama administration’s warped revenge playbook for not being allowed to bomb Syria (it was in fact saved from it, plus the horrible consequences, by Moscow). The only things that matter for Washington in Ukraine, in that order, are: 1) NATO bases. 2) Pipelineistan; US Big Oil controlling still unexplored oil and gas wealth. 3) US agro-business taking over fertile Ukrainian lands. The EU does not need and want Ukraine, because it would need to save it from bankruptcy with funds it does not have (moreover, the operation would further enrage millions of already destitute Europeans.)
2) What do you believe is Russia’s (Putin’s) strategic goal and the tactic ways to reach it?
DO: Prevent further EU/NATO encroachment; guarantee the rights of Russian-speakers in what has for centuries been Russian territory; uphold international rule of law. Possibly avenge NATO actions against Serbia in Kosovo.
The Saker: For Russia the goal is simple: survival as a nation, country and civilization. In this sense, this is not a “Putin policy” but a “Russian policy”: except for the few tiny CIA funded parties which represent no more that 1-2 percent of the Russian population, there is a consensus amongst all the major Russian political movements in support of the current Russian stance in this crisis which Russians view as an existential threat. When NATO bombed the Serbs in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo Russia was ruled by a drunken western-puppet, Eltsin, and a clique of mostly Jewish oligarchs called the “semibankirshchina” (the seven bankers): Russia then was very much like the Ukraine today. But even then, most Russian people fully understood that the US rampage in the Balkans was a message to them: “watch what we can do to your allies – you are next”. This feeling was very much reinforced by the US covert war against Syria when most Russians understood that Assad was killing the exact same type of vicious Wahabi thugs in Syria which Putin had to crush in Chechnia. Many Russians at the time said “we ought to thank Assad for killing them there, so we do not have to do this here” and “if we let Assad be overthrown, we will be next”. What you hear nowadays in Russia is “it’s not about the Serbs or the Syrians anymore, this time this is about us”. So for the vast majority of Russians – including Putin – the main strategic goal is simple: not let Russia become the next Bosnia, Kosovo or Syria. In other words: survival. The second strategic goal of Russia is to prevent all of the Ukraine from becoming a “Banderastan” and to protect the Russian-speaking population from being enslaved by an openly neo-Fascist and racist regime. The third strategic goal of Russia is to achieve the first two goals, if possible, without triggering a war with US/NATO. Notice that I have listed these goals in order of priority and that if a full-scale war is threatened by the US/NATO the Kremlin will not back down from its first two strategic objectives. Make no mistakes, Russia is willing to go to war over these, Putin is not bluffing.
As for the tactic chosen by Russia, it is a sophisticated one. As the expression goes “when Russia is threatened, she does not get angry, she concentrates”. This is what happening today. The essence of the Russian tactic is the following one: first, militarily protect the Crimea to allow it to break-off from the current Banderastan and thereby set a precedent and an example: While in half of regions currently controlled by the neo-Fascists the pensions are not paid at all, and while the revolutionary regime in Kiev has already indicated that it plans to slash all pensions by 50%, in Crimea all salaries and social services will be paid in full to everybody, even those who resigned rather than recognize the Crimean authorities. The folks in Banderastan are about to find out that there is more to running a country than beating unarmed cops and singing the national anthem. Then, Russia has threatened to use military force should the Banderist forces try to subdue the south (Odessa, Nikolaev, Kherson) and the east (Donetsk, Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk, Lugansk) by violence. This threat both deters the Banderists from going overboard with violence while giving the Russian-speakers somewhat of a “safety net” for their protest and civil disobedience actions. Third, the Kremlin knows that the newly created Banderastan is broke and that the US and EU will never come up with anywhere near the kind of money needed to bail it out. Not only has Russia stopped sending money to the Ukraine, but Gazprom has declared the previous agreement reached with Yanukovich has been violated by the new regime, thus the price of gas for the Ukraine will now sharply rise. Finally, the richest parts of the Ukraine are, precisely, the east and the south of the country which are now attempting not to pay taxes to the illegal regime in Kiev. And if the Banderites succeed in taking over the east, then its entire industry will instantly collapse (it fully depends on Russia). Thus time is on Russia’s side and the new Banderastan is simply not viable. With no money, no energy and without the possibility to rule by terror (at least in the south and east), the new regime will inevitably collapse. Russia will only re-engage the rump-Ukraine once the neo-Fascists are gone and a civilized regime comes back to power in Kiev.
PE: Number one strategic goal is to prevent NATO bases in Ukraine. Russian intel foiled a coup in Crimea that would replicate the coup in Kiev. That would lead – in the long run – to the regime changers in Kiev tearing up the Russia-Ukraine treaty in Sevastopol, thus opening the way to NATO. That’s what precipitated sending the Spetsnaz to Crimea. Putin weighed the pros and cons. This is a chess move. He might lose in the West, but he wins internally (more popular than ever), he keeps Sevastopol, and if Crimea rejoins Russia, Gazprom exploits immense oil and gas deposits in the peninsula, and not US Big Oil.
G8, G7, Go away!, by Harm , Germany
3) Do you believe usual “puppets” (Germany-Saudi Arabia) of the US are trying to become independent of their masters? And has Merkel a real own politics toward Ukraine and Russia? And has Saudi Arabia a real one toward Syria, Egypt and Iraq?
DO: Not sure how much of a puppet Germany is going to be. It is already much closer to Russia than anyone imagines and is quite unhappy with the US. Saudi Arabia wanted to use US forces as mercenaries in Syria; when they didn’t work they became very unhappy with the US as well.
The Saker: The EU is in a deep systemic crisis from which it has no possibility to recover without some dramatic changes which the EU bureaucracy categorically refuses to even contemplate. For the EU, the Ukraine was an opportunity to acquire a market for its goods and services and a chance to try to appear relevant in international affairs. Frankly, the EU needs the Ukraine to boost its much damaged image and ego, thus the vapid promises and the constant stream of EU politicians to the Maidan. And if that means supporting overt neo-Fascists and racists – so be it! The problem for the EU is that it does not have the means of its policies. Sure, Klichko is seen by some as a German puppet, but neither he, not Tiagnibok or even Yatsenuik or Timoshenko really matter. The folks that matter today in the Ukraine are the members of Dmitri Iarosh’s Right Sector – the hardcore crazies, the west-Ukrainian version of the Taliban. Only they matter because they currently hold a monopoly on violence. True, Timoshenko has the support for the oligarchs and they have a lot of money, but in the short term, at least, a shotgun has more power than a suitcase with dollars. Unlike the “official opposition leaders”, the real thugs of the Maidan are fully paid for and run by the USA, hence Ms Nuland’s crude but accurate assessment of the EU’s role in the current crisis. Of course, some EU politicians are getting nervous, after all, having a large Banderastan in the middle of Europe is a very dangerous thing, but no European politician will ever overtly challenge the USA over its policies. In the EU, the US “is boss”, and the EU politicians all know it. The fact is that there is no “EU policy”. The EU is the USA’s bitch, and it will do whatever Uncle Sam tells it to do. Of course, EU politicians can make speeches, have something vaguely reminiscent of a personal opinion, but when push comes to shove, they are all irrelevant, and they know it.
PE: Puppets are starting to think for themselves – but that need qualification. Germany and Russia – in terms of energy and investment – already have a strategic partnership; ask any relevant German captain of industry. Berlin IS fed up with Washington; one of the meanings of Vic “F**k” the EU” outburst is that the US wanted regime change now, with their own puppet (“Yats”) in place – even if helped by neo-nazis (Svoboda, Right Sector) instead of maybe later, with the inexperienced German puppet (Klitschko) in place.
The House of Saud’s ONLY policy is their own survival – especially now, when the succession of Abdullah is still open. That, compounded with paranoia, and irrational Wahhabi hatred of Shi’ites, informs their “strategy”. They bought the Sisi junta in Egypt, a small price to pay to get rid of the Muslim Brotherhood. They would love some sort of emirate in Syria – and their plans have been frustrated even with Bandar Bush deploying heavy artillery (no wonder he was replaced). And in Iraq they want regime change as well, because they see Maliki as an Iranian puppet. House of Saud is THE number one source of trouble all across the Middle East.
DO: Ukraine has no choice in the matter, and whether it will join Russia is up to Crimean people and up to Russian legislators. Putin’s view is likely to revolve around what will most help his popularity with the Russians, and I would guess that absorbing Crimea will help it the most.
The Saker: Westdal’s analysis is fundamentally flawed because it overlooks two basic facts: first, Russia is not a dictatorship and the Crimea is sacred Russian land for which a huge number of Russians died over hundreds of years. If Putin decided to hand over the Crimea to the Banderites he would face a very ugly situation at home with an outraged public opinion. Westdal second mistake is that he believes that Russia needs a “hook” to somehow control the Ukraine. There is no “Ukraine” any more, this experiment is over, all we have now is a Banderastan in central and western Ukraine, a region that will be fought over in one manner or another in the east and south, and a Crimea which is gone forever. As for the current neo-Fascist regime in Kiev – it is not viable anyway, and Russia has plenty of other “hooks” to negotiate with any future rump-Ukraine which will succeed the current Banderastan. Bottom line: if the Crimeans want to join Russia Putin has no option but to agree to this.
PE: Essentially that’s correct; Crimea is much more useful (and cheaper) to Putin inside Ukraine – with a huge degree of autonomy – than re-attached to the Russian Federation. It remains to be seen how the result of the referendum can be used/steered by the Kremlin to get “concessions” from Kiev, assuming Kiev and Moscow start talking (they will have to). What matters most to Russia is the sanctity of Sevastopol and the certainty there will be no NATO bases. I doubt Kiev can assure them in both cases.
5) What advice, basing on your experience, could you give to people fighting despotic regimes to avoid to fall in the trap of a color revolution?
DO: Don’t accept help from the US or the EU. Do your best to discredit the work of Western NGOs and run them out of the country as soon as possible.
The Saker: Never take any empire’s money or support. Never accept in your ranks anybody who is willing to get any empire’s money or support. And always remember that a bad state and a bad regime are always preferable to no state and no regime. The latter means do not use violence to overthrow a regime you hate, even if it oppresses you. First, violence always generates fear and more violence. But even more importantly, violence often leads to the collapse not only of the hated regime, but also of the state itself. And when anarchy breaks loose, the most violent and ruthless gangs always come to power. When you fight against a hated oppressive regime – fight against its ideology, against its authority, show it no respect, openly make fun of it, but do not use violence and never fight against your own compatriots. Fight against ideas, not people. You can win a national liberation war against a foreign occupier, but you cannot win a civil war. Seek reconciliation, never revenge, show compassion to the “other one” and never ever ignore the voice of your own conscience. Always discriminate between right and wrong, but never between “our people” and “their people” as all humans are equally precious in the eyes of God. Give your allegiance only to God and “Trust not in princes, nor in the children of men, in whom there is no safety. “ (Psalm 145). If you keep your heart and conscience pure, then no empire will make you its puppet.
PE: Keep a very informed close eye on NGOs of the NED and Freedom House kind, and how they instrumentalize any dissent to their own regime change purposes. Same for State Department maneuvers, including dodgy US ambassadors of the agitator kind. Follow the money, follow the propaganda, follow who’s behind your “support”.
Released by Tlaxcala under a Copyleft licence.
I’m using a small screen resolution and the right side of this post is cut off for me (previous posts on this blog look fine). Can you please make it so that the text wraps around normally, rather than being at a fixed width?
@E:Can you please make it so that the text wraps around normally, rather than being at a fixed width?
@EVERYBODY
Sorry about that – there is a lot for formatting in the original text so I decided not to mess with it (too busy this morning). If you have problems reading the post, can I ask you to please read it on the original page:
http://tlaxcala-int.org/article.asp?reference=11748
Hopefully that will work better. If not, let me know and I might try to reformat it.
Sorry about that and many thanks,
The Saker
Hi Saker. Brilliant analyses as usual. Moving on: here’s a German item that seems to show Rada members, including Yatsenyuk, casting multiple votes, in one case with a large set of ID cards. (I don’t have German, but maybe some reader does.): http://hinter-der-fichte.blogspot.fr/2014/03/ukraine-die-kernluge-von-der-legitimen.html . Raises the question if the missing members are still among the living.
Saker, Thank you for your reasoned and knowledgeable answers, and God bless you for your response to Question 5. The first four were food for the mind, but your last words nourish the heart and soul.
Thanks, the article in the original link displays fine. (it wasn’t included in your post when I first saw it)
Thanks for sharing very informative.
Online survey of German public opinion about Russia’s “incursion” into Ukraine, that was quickly “disappeared” :-)
http://www.theoccidentalobserver.net/2014/03/the-germans-refuse-to-play-ball/
Hey Saker,
Been reading your stuff for couple weeks now. Good work. Keep it up.
As a resident of Kiev, are just like to give a couple of my perspectives. They might mean something; or they might mean nothing at all. Who can tell?
The day after the ban on Russian TV was announced, my wife called up our cable provider and said “if there are no Russian channels, I don’t need your cable service anymore.” Our cable company then proceeded to upgrade us to their premium package for free for the next six months. Plus, we still have each and every one of the Russian channels. Her aunt reports that two blocks away, her Russian channels are gone. The only difference being, we called and complained; her aunt had not. We never expected to continue to have the Russian channels.
Here in Kiev, most of the people we know are pro-Russian. Yeah, I know, that’s not supposed to be that way. So says the official propagandists. The pro-Maidan propaganda here has been strong though. My wife today just returned from the local clinic. She reports that the Doctor, the nurse, and the receptionist of all pro-Russian. No there is no doubt a strong pro-Ukrainian thing going on here too; first because of Ukrainianzation policies since independence, and second, there’s a whole lot more opportunity in Kiev than in the west of Ukraine, so there’s a good number of Banderas here.
The main English language newspaper in Kiev, the Kyiv Post, is disgustingly pro-Maidan and pro-coup. Now, the Kyiv Post has not had the best of reputations among a good portion of the ex-pat community. In my eyes, the events of the last three months have hurt its reputation greatly. Not only has its coverage been very one-sided, they’ve gone beyond that and were basically the whole trumpet section for the protests. But in the end, I think the Kyiv Post will do well. I think early on they realized if they chose the correct side, the newspaper would survive. If they chose incorrectly, their financial problems would catch up to them quite quickly. But more than that, I highly suspect the US Embassy played a role in helping them to choose the “correct” side.
Facebook, well, it is Facebook, it’s just not a place where you even want to hint at an alternative opinion. It took me a while to figure out exactly why it was just so lopsided. People with last names like Mann, Parke, O’Ehley, McAlister, and Wheat. Not the usual surnames from this part of the world. The most likely explanation is a State Department recruited numerous Ukrainian-American organizations whose job it is to go out to Facebook and post the official State Department story. Though there might be more to it than that.
To be continued…
Part 2.
Now, about the propaganda. There are two totally different yet parallel worlds trying to occupy the same space. Now, the propaganda is basically used to reinforce everybody’s particular point of view. I don’t believe that it is leading anybody to switch from one side to the other. But to listen to the stories that come out from the opposite side can certainly be an amusing distraction. Recently I heard recently is Mr. Putin and Mr. Yanukovitch have summer cottages on the same street in Russia, likely paid for by Mr. Yanukovitch. And then there’s the one where Putin talks about Sharia law. Funny, I though only US politicians did that.
These event will definitely split families and end friendships. One of my wife’s few pro-Maidan acquaintances felt compelled this last weekend to send her an email telling her to “wake up” to which was attached to a very romanticized view of Stephan Bandera. My wife’s father had never shown any strong Ukrainian feelings in the past, but since his girlfriend is pro-Maidan, so is he, obnoxiously so at times.
This recent situation in Crimea, I believe, is a godsend. First, it has permitted the situation here in Kiev to assume a certain level of normalcy. And I’ve been thinking recently that how much better the 20th century would have been if, within the first couple of months of Hitler’s rule in Germany, someone had decided it was time to put an end to his nonsense and went ahead and invaded Germany. Maybe people in the states don’t learn from history, but it certainly looks like Mr. Putin has.
A couple stories about Right Sector but I want to pass on. It may be possible that it’s propaganda, though I suspect that if these stories are not correct, that it’s more related to the children’s game of telephone. You know the one with the first child whispers something to the second child was whispers it to the third child and by the time it gets down to the 10th child it’s a totally different story. So here goes:
This a building just down the street from us that has just been broken into for the second time in two weeks. This latest incident was apparently performed by Right Sector, who were attempting to free a bank of some of its assets. Most banks here apparently don’t keep a lot of assets on-site, but this one did, so they attempted to break in and security on-site barricaded themselves into a safe room and call the police. In normal times, Berkut would respond to these types of calls. But there is no Berkut anymore. So they had to figure out whose responsibility it was. But that’s not the end of it. Police eventually showed up and arrested the perpetrators, and shortly thereafter release them to the protest camp at Maidan.
The second story is that Right Sector is running an extortion scam. They go off to business owners and for one-time payment of $10,000, they are promised that they will be able to run their business in peace. Or at least until the next time Right Sector decides they need more money. And with breakaway sentiment growing in various parts of the country, it’s likely the scam will continue. This in the end will only force the economic situation in Ukraine to go downhill far quicker than it would normally have gone. These extortion course will be passed on to buyers, at the same time that austerity sets it. An ugly situation will just continue to get uglier.
It is difficult to determine truth from rumor around here these days, but I’ll pass along something if it seems relevant.
@Saker:
very well written responses! Thank you!
One question – what does the comic with the astronauts reference?
Best regards,
a 2-time donor!
Saker
Your answers were well thought out and you explained your POV well. Very informative. Nice job.
I agree that Israel-America’s primary goal in the Ukraine was denial of this region to Russia. That’s been the MO of their advance east since the beginning. First they work to destroy a country, then treat it as a colony as they suck the life from it. By slowly chipping away, they are trying to gobble up these regions surrounding Russia, and China, and reduce those 2 country’s influence and strength so they, too, can eventually be taken over by the Israeli-American poligarchy.
In addition to this “slash and burn” strategy the Israeli-Americans are using in Ukraine, I think part of their strategy was to also entice Russia into the Ukraine, the way they did in Afghanistan, and weaken Russia from within and isolate Russia from without. A replay of their anti-USSR strategy carried out in the 1980s.
To that effect, they will continue to use their bandera toys to try and provoke a Russian incursion into eastern Ukraine using terrorism and repression against Russian background Ukrainians, border “incidents”, false flags, the works.
The Russians are quite aware of this, and so far have managed to keep a few steps ahead of the Israeli-American strategists. Instead of the military response the ziofascists hoped for, the Russians are making very good use of intelligence gathering and soft people power, along with well planned and carried out special services type ops when needed, to thwart the Israeli-American strategy. If one looks at how things developed in Crimea, it is clear the Russians not only completely anticipated and defused the Israel-American ops there, they also well prepared the next steps so Crimea can become independent of the Ukraine with minimal disruption of society after.
I am continually amazed at how smoothly the Russians are operating in countering Israeli-American moves now. They make it look like a confrontation between Jackie Chan and “The Raging Bull”.
вот так
@E, @Saker
The original publisher made the same error against “professional looking WWW” rules – not using small paragraphs (like BBC for example) which are read much better.
So, another time you put your lengthy thoughts on “paper” use paragraphs as many as possible. :-)
BTW. I fully agree with your remark “There is no “Ukraine” any more, this experiment is over (…)”.
It was to be a member of Eurasian Union and coming out of the economic cesspool in which it is standing by itself, but the Fortune made the burden to be placed in Russian hands alas (most probably).
Thank you for publishing these most interesting insights by experts in the field of geopolitic journalism. I saw a link to it on a Dutch site, and was glad to see it posted there among the many uninformed opinions, or rather opinions formed by the mass media. “Putin is a thug”, “The elections were illegal in the Crimea, and must have been fraudulent, as they are in Russia”, “How would you vote with a gun of a Russian soldier in your neck?” and more of that CNN formed stupidity.
What a relief to see that at least some people are not brainwashed by the NWO propaganda!
Technically the coup was successful but politicay it’s a real failure, next month will probably be decisive.
whew
glad I wasn’t the only one thinking Ukraine was finished
Russia is telling it to prepare a new federal constitution- loose federation
Ukraine as it has been known if done
“careful what you wish for” keeps going through my head
Yats will be the bringer of destruction
It’s sort of fitting, really?
…Yes…some years ago my son had a very painful childhood lesson that echo’s your answer in #5…he “trusted” a friend with a secret which the friend promptly blurted out to everyone on the playground… he cried to me saying “but Mom, I TRUSTED him”… to which I replied “your job is to TRUST in God and to BE TRUSTWORTHY”…this is power where it belongs… maintaining individual integrity… which draws others with similar character toward you… thank you for this blog… sunlight (truth) is the best disinfectant…
@MS_in_Kiev, @saker
Thanks saker for the informative post.
And thanks to MS_in_Kiev for the very interesting reporting from the ground there. Do feel free to keep it up, it’s much appreciated!
http://rt.com/news/sanctions-russia-eu-us-338/
So, anyone seriously think allowing trade through Russian companies while barring 21 officials will be effective? I’m sure anyone with any clout in Russia has networks of offshore companies on nominee accounts, so, no.
But let’s face it we need a pointless gesture at this time to allow our politicians to save face.
Reminds me of Yes Minister. Something must be done, this is something let’s do it.
“Nora said…
Saker, Thank you for your reasoned and knowledgeable answers, and God bless you for your response to Question 5. The first four were food for the mind, but your last words nourish the heart and soul.”
That was exactly what I was thinking after reading this but didn’t know how to put it. Thanks!
The original article (which seems to have been a bit of a rush job) has been tidied up and is now to be seen at:
Ukraine, Russia and the World:
Five Questions to Three Authors
All:
Came across this yesterday as a good concise explanation of how the “West” has been able to finance mischeif for over a century, seemingly without immediate pain to the taxpayers:
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2014/03/16/a-call-to-arms/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-call-to-arms
“My personal opinion is that the global financial system needs to be totally destroyed and forgotten as a bad memory. We need to replace it with a completely new and unrelated system.”
If the west had to use actual gold to finance troubles it wouldn’t get very far. Not many people are willing to go to war for free.
T1
While there are legitimate fears of a “world government” and an international Court of Justice with unlimited powers, the new millennium must see the globalization of structures that can insure peace with justice under a “new world order.” Only the churches have the moral weight to shape those structures so that they serve the needs and interests of the many rather than of the few. ….. With today’s possibilities for instant and universal communication, a new and potentially powerful weapon has been added to the arsenal for peace. …. It is not especially difficult to bomb an anonymous population once they have been tagged the “enemy.” It is another matter to bring violent, destructive action against persons with whom we have shared our stories with a degree of trust and friendship. …. http://johnrbreck.com/theology-of-power-notes-on-scriptural-resources
Sometimes you can read or hear something that does not fit into common stupidity:
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/ukrainian_hangovers_20140317
Though earlier the same site paid no attention to the historical vote but rather to those who voted against, and painted the celebration as “alcohol induced”
There has never really been any doubt that the ruling elites of the USA, and its progenitor the UK, the other European colonialist forces that have butchered their way across the planet for 500 years, and the Judaic elites ensconced in the Zionazi redoubt in occupied Palestine (and who control the finance, politics and MSM of the West to an astounding degree) are the apotheosis of evil. In Australia, where my sorry bones reside, the MSM behaviour concerning Ukraine has been simply filthy, with a capital F. That is nothing new, the MSM here being entirely Rightwing and in love (or else!) with Mordor on the Potomac and ‘beautiful Israel’. However, it is easy to detect a new atmosphere, redolent of panic, in the truly hysterical denunciations of the evil Putin. The local MSM has even taken to publishing the drivelings of superannuated and plainly senile neo-liberal propagandists, with no history of interest in geopolitics, regurgitating the Saakashvilli line that Georgia in 2008 presaged Ukraine today. The contempt for people’s intelligence and memory of that Georgian aggression, now, with breathtakingly cynical hypocrisy, re-invented as Russian aggression, is truly sinister. Either the Western leaders and their propaganda stooges have far exceeded even Big Brother in their contempt for truth, or these reptilians have gone stark, raving mad, and nuclear war is not an impossibility. Perhaps they really believe in ‘The Rapture’ after all.
MS in Kiev:
Thanks for your information, including cautions as to its absolute veracity.
Saker:
Keep fighting the good fight. Like so many other people here, I thought your answer to number five was (forgive me) almost holy.
Pro-Russian oligarch arrested —first sign of US sanctions on Russia?
http://intelnews.org/2014/03/17/01-1438/
A well-connected Ukrainian oligarch, who is considered one of Russia’s most trusted energy sales intermediaries, has been arrested in Austria at the request of the United States. Some speculate that this may be a first direct sign of America’s response to Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine. In an article published last week, The Washington Post suggested that the arrest of Dmytro Firtash, a citizen of Ukraine, may be “the beginning of a US effort to inflict financial pain on Russia over its role in the Ukrainian crisis”.
Absolutely true (as e.g. mentioned by Escobar), the EU can’t help Ukraine. It has not even managed, let alone finished, bailing out tiny Greece, after all, a member state. Putin has been warning against too brash NATO eastward expansion and against that missile shield for years. Any state such as Russia has a stance similar to the US’ Monroe doctrine. They want no foreign powers in their “backyard”. The US intervening in Afghanistan is uncomfortably close anyhow. And the Crimea for many Russians living there and for Russians in Russia rather feels like part of “ancient Russia” anyhow. So this is less of an adventure than calculated risk. And the EU and US have upped the ante so much that now they have only outright war left to retaliate.