by Pepe Escobar, posted with the Author’s permission and widely cross-posted
The fatal mistake committed by Brussels in 2014 was to force Kiev to make an impossible choice between Europe and Russia.
A specter haunts the collective West: total zombification, courtesy of an across-the-board 24/7 psy ops imprinting the inevitability of “Russian aggression”.
Let’s pierce the fog of hysteria by asking Ukrainian Defense Minister Reznikov what’s going on:
“I can absolutely say that to date, the Russian armed forces have not created a strike group that could make a forceful invasion of Ukraine.”
Well, Reznikov is obviously not aware that the White House, with access to arguably privileged intel, is convinced that Russia will invade “any-minute-now”.
The Pentagon doubles down: “It’s very clear the Russians have no intention right now of deescalating”. Thus the necessity, expressed by spokesman John Kirby, of readying a multinational NATO response force (NRF) of 40,000 troops: “If it is activated…to defeat aggression, if necessary”.
So “aggression” is a given. The White House is “refining” military plans – 18 at the last count – for all manners of “aggression”. As for responding – in writing – to the Russian proposals on security guarantees, well, that’s far too complex.
There is no “exact date” when it will be sent to Moscow. And the proverbial “officials” have begged their Russian counterparts not to make it public. After all, a letter is not sexy. Yet “aggression” sells. Especially when it may happen “any-minute-now.”
“Analyst” hacks are yelling that Putin “is now almost certain” to deliver a “limited strike” in “the next ten days”, complete with an attack on Kiev: that configures the scenario of an “almost inevitable war”.
Vladimir Dzhabarov, First Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Council Committee on International Affairs, prefers to get closer to reality: the U.S. is preparing a provocation to push Kiev to “reckless actions” against Russia in the Donbass. That ties in with foot soldiers of the Luhansk People’s Republic reporting that “subversive groups prepared by British instructors” arrived in the area of Lisichansk.
Luminaries such as the European Commission’s Ursula von der Leyen, NATO’s Jens Stoltenberg and “leaders” from the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Poland announced, after a video call, that “an unprecedented package of sanctions” is nearly ready if Russia “invades”.
They billed it as “international unity in the face of growing Russia hostility”. Translation: NATOstan begging Russia to please invade a.s.a.p.
Of the EU 27, 21 are NATO members. The U.S. rules over the whole lot. So when the EU announces that “any further military aggression against Ukraine would have very serious consequences for Russia”, that’s the U.S. telling NATO to tell the EU “what we say, goes”. And under this strategy of tension environment, “what we say” means applying raw, imperial Divide and Rule to keep Europe totally subjugated.
The West’s fatal mistakes
One should never forget that Maidan 2014 was an operation supervised by Obama/Biden. Yet there’s still plenty of unfinished business – when it comes to bogging down Russia. So the viscerally Russophobic War Party in D.C. now has to pull all stops ordering NATOstan to cheerlead Kiev to start a hot war – and thus trap Russia. Zelensky The Comedian even went on the record wanting to “go on the offensive”.
So time to release the false flags.
The indispensable Alastair Crooke has outlined how “‘encirclement’ and ‘containment’ effectively have become Biden’s default foreign policy.” Not “Biden”, actually – but the amorphous combo behind the earpiece/teleprompter-controlled puppet I have been designating for over a year as Crash Test Dummy.
Crooke adds, “the attempt to cement-in this meta-doctrine currently is being enacted out via Russia (as the initial step). The essential buy-in by Europe is the ‘party-piece’ to Russia’s physical containment and encirclement.”
“Encirclement” and “containment” have been exceptionalist staples, under various guises, for decades. The notion entertained by the War Party that it’s possible to carry both across a three-way-front – against Russia, China and Iran – is so infantile to render any analysis idle. It does call for a drink and a good laugh.
As for extra sanctions for the imaginary “Russian aggression”, a few benevolent souls had to remind Little Tony Blinken and other “Biden” combo participants that Europeans would be much more lethally affected than Russians; not to mention these sanctions would turbo-charge the collective West’s economic crisis.
A short recap is essential to frame how we ended up mired in the current hysteria swamp.
The collective West blew the chance it had to build a constructive partnership with Russia similar to what it did with Germany after 1945.
The collective West also blew it when reducing Russia to the role of a minor, docile entity, imposing that there’s only one sphere of influence on the planet: NATOstan, of course.
And the Empire blew it when it targeted Russia even after it had allegedly “won” against the USSR.
During the 1990s and the 2000s, instead of being invited to participate in the construction of the “common European home” – with all its glaring faults – post-Soviet Russia was forced to be outside looking in on how this “home” was upgraded and decorated.
Contrary to all the promises made to Gorbachev by assorted Western leaders, the traditional Russian sphere of influence – and even former USSR territory – became objects of dispute in the looting of the “Soviet heritage”: merely a space to be colonized by NATO’s military structures.
Contrary to Gorbachev’s hope – who was naively convinced that the West would share with him the benefits of “the dividends of peace” – a hardcore Anglo-American neoliberal model was imposed over the Russian economy. Added to the disastrous consequences of this transition was the sentiment of national frustration by a society that was humiliated and treated like a vanquished nation in the Cold War, or WWIII.
That was Exceptionalistan’s fatal mistake: to believe that with the USSR vanishing, Russia as a historic, economic and strategic reality would also disappear from international relations.
The new pact of steel
And that’s why War Inc., the War Party, the Deep State, however you wanna call them, are freaking out now – big time.
They dismissed Putin when he formulated a new paradigm in Munich in 2007 – or when he returned to the Kremlin in 2012.
Putin made it very clear that Russia’s legitimate strategic interests would have to be respected again. And that Russia was about to recover its de facto “veto rights” in managing world affairs. Well, the Putin doctrine was already being implemented since the Georgian affair in 2008.
Ukraine is a patchwork of morsels that belonged until recently to different empires – Austro-Hungarian and Russian – as well as several nations, such as Russia, Poland and Romania. It regroups Catholicism and Orthodoxy, and has millions of ethnic Russians and Russian speakers with deep historical, cultural and economic links with Russia.
So Ukraine was a de facto new Yugoslavia.
The fatal mistake committed by Brussels in 2014 was to force Kiev as well as the Ukrainian population as a whole to make an impossible choice between Europe and Russia.
The inevitable result would have to be Maidan, completely manipulated by American intel, even as Russians clearly saw how the EU switched from the position of honest broker to the lowly role of American chihuahuas.
Russophobic U.S. hawks will never renounce the spectacle of their historical adversary bogged down in a slow-burning fratricidal war in the post-Soviet space. As much as they will never renounce Divide and Rule imposed over a discombobulated Europe. And as much as they will never concede “spheres of influence” to any geopolitical player.
Without their toxic imprint, 2014 could have played in quite a different manner.
To dissuade Putin to restore Crimea to its rightful place – Russia – it would have taken two things: for Ukraine to be decently managed after 1992, and not to force it to choose the Western camp, but to make it a bridge, Finland or Austria-style.
After Maidan, the Minsk agreements were as close as possible to a viable solution: let’s end the conflict in Donbass; let’s disarm the protagonists; and let’s re-establish control of the borders of Ukraine while providing real autonomy to Eastern Ukraine.
For all that to happen, Ukraine would have needed a neutral status, and a double security guarantee, by Russia and NATO. And to render the association agreement between Ukraine and the EU compatible with the close links between Eastern Ukraine and the Russian economy.
All that would have perhaps configured a European vision of decent future relations with Russia.
Yet the Russophobic Deep State would never allow it. And the same applied to the White House. Barack Obama, that cynical opportunist, was too engulfed by the dodgy Polish context in Chicago and not free from the exceptionalist obsession with deep antagonism to be able to build a constructive relationship with Russia.
Then there’s the clincher, revealed by a high-level U.S. intel source.
In 2013, the late Zbigniew “Grand Chessboard” Brzezinski was presented with a classified report on Russian advanced missiles. He freaked out. And responded by conceptualizing Maidan 2014 – to draw Russia into a guerrilla war then as he had done with Afghanistan in the 1980s.
And here we are now: it’s all a matter of unfinished business.
A final word on the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. In the 13th century, the Mongol Empire established its suzerainty over Kievan Rus – that is, over the Christian orthodox principalities that correspond today to northern Ukraine, Belarus and part of contemporary Russia.
The Tartar yoke over Russia – from 1240 to 1552, when Ivan The Terrible conquered Kazan – is deeply imprinted in Russian historical consciousness and in the debate about national identity.
The Mongols separately conquered vast swathes of China, Russia and Iran. Centuries after Pax Mongolica, what an irony that the new pact of steel between these top three Eurasian actors is now an insurmountable geopolitical obstacle, smashing all elaborate plans by a bunch of trans-Atlantic historic upstarts.
This is child’s play. Let the West/NATO scramble around in Ukraine and other now trivial countries, spending wealth they do not have. Meanwhile, build your own wealth and self-reliance. I like this strategy.
Crash test dummy is excellent, but I think senile aquarium fish is more accurate.
Thanks for the excellent analysis, Mr. Escobar. I like “Crash Test Dummy.” How about “Crash Test Kidsniffer?”
From the article:
“Then there’s the clincher, revealed by a high-level U.S. intel source.
In 2013, the late Zbigniew “Grand Chessboard” Brzezinski was presented with a classified report on Russian advanced missiles. He freaked out. And responded by conceptualizing Maidan 2014 – to draw Russia into a guerrilla war then as he had done with Afghanistan in the 1980s.
And here we are now: it’s all a matter of unfinished business.”
That was always the plan and still is.
I have heard on blogs that the British MI6 even a team of Ukrainian “White Helmets” ready to go inside Ukraine right now, and had prepared several “chemical attacks by Russian backed Terrorists against civillians in Ukraine”.
I have also heard on blogs that Turkey has already flown to Ukraine several hundred “Moderate Terrorists” and the strongly anti-Russian so called “White Muslims” previously active in northern Syria and Libya and that they are receiving advanced training in NATO kit from both US and UK spec ops (use of Javlin missile systems against helicoptors, light shipping and moving vehicles apparently).
Boris Johnson is so eager to get Russia bogged down in a guerrilla war like 80’s Afghnistan he let the cat out of the proverbial bag by threatening to turn Ukraine (and western Russia) into “a new Chechnya”:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-60110028
Russia have received America’s reply and as expected it fell, by all accounts, way short of even their slim expectations.
This gives Russia the Green Light to implement the necessary measures to safeguard their own security.
I hope, no pray, that these measures match the gravity of the situation and shake those fake warmongers to the core.
The cowards are certain to run.
When the scum in the US draft their sanctions, withdrawing access to SWIFT, then you do not accept anything other than Payment in GOLD for any future gas supplies to NATO countries, even Italy & Holland
Remember, the US’s own purchases of Russian Energy rose 120% over the first 10 months of 2021, accounting for 12% of US imports. Their price at the pump has doubled. Yes you’ll hurt but in 3-6 months everything you’ve sacrificed will return, you’ll be stronger. Now watch the BUTTHURT as the EU/US CRASH.
NO PRISONERS, HARDBALL
The deeper story is that World War 2 cured the Depression. Consider that the Federal debt really started growing with the New Deal and this accelerated with the war. Not only did they put unemployed labor back to work, but unemployed capital, as well. Ever hear of War Bonds? The reality is that Wall Street cannot function without government debt to soak up surplus investment money. The secret sauce of capitalism is public debt backing private wealth. Basically the wars are just a way to make it go away. The vaunted military industrial complex is more like the trophy wife of the banks. What they spend the loot on, to make themselves seem important.
In case anyone hasn’t noticed, the party is about to come to an end. They have painted themselves in a corner, with all the easy credit. We will shortly find that they will tolerate $10 bread, before they can wean the economy off cheap credit. The whole Ukraine situation is like the husband coming home and hitting the wife and the wife taking it out on the kids. The stupider it looks, the deeper you have to dig, to find the real reasons.
@ Pepe
“…The Mongols separately conquered vast swathes of China, Russia and Iran. Centuries after Pax Mongolica, what an irony that the new pact of steel between these top three Eurasian actors is now an insurmountable geopolitical obstacle, smashing all elaborate plans by a bunch of trans-Atlantic historic upstarts.”
A fitting end for yet another masterpiece. Thanks for sharing your insights.
Thousands of years of accumulated history between those three, make it even more ridiculous to have this, by comparison, teen-ager bully, pushing his way around, pretending to know how to rule the world. The Putin Doctrine is hellbent on finishing all the unfinished business, starting with 404. That is a cancer that needs to be extirpated, otherwise Russia will always be in danger of a metastasis in her surroundings.
No new paradigm can be created without the destruction of 404.
We now wait for Russia’s response to the written response, which is not, as War, Inc. said, a response, but “a set of ideas” with “positive points” for a continuation of the dialogue. if Russia so desires. In other words, FY, take it or leave it. Sure. Lavrov already told them this is not a restaurant where they can pick from a menu, and that “…Moscow will not let the West downplay this initiative and brush it under the carpet during endless discussions.”
Lone Wolf
PS: On another note, Putin’s “United Russia” officers are seriously calling for Russia to match all the weaponry that has been donated to 404, with a rearmament of LDNR with state of the art Russian weapons.
https://www.kp.ru/daily/27356/4537313/
The State Dept. and NATO have called Russia’s cards.
The move, all along, was really Russia’s. The move would be in the geopolitical space, not on land, not in Ukraine.
What is going on with the Russian military (now adding all the Russian fleets in seas and oceans around the globe, some solo, some with China, some with Iran and China) is separate from the ultimatum-geopolitical move.
Shoigu is pressuring NATO. It is working handsomely. Bulgaria joined Croatia, Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Germany all of whom send their best regards but have opted to stay home and leave Ukraine to the US and whatever is left of NATO.
We tend to think that the Hegemon is sitting atop a mountain and Russia and China are trying various ways to pull down the King of the Mountain. (That was a game we boys played to test ourselves against one another wherever a short steep hill existed in the neighborhood.) The geopolitical hilltop, mountaintop, is not a solid mound of earth. It is more like a pile of loose coal with no safe footing, a perch that could crumble and throw the mighty to the ground.
Putin has tasked himself to see to it that if the Hegemon doesn’t tumble and slide to the ground on his own, the mound of coal collapses or gets set on fire.
We await what Shoigu and Putin do next. The West chose its adversary. Russia is well up for the task.
@Larchmonter445
Yes, the West wants to see what “…or else” means. What is Russia going to do now that it got “a no” on every one of its proposal? Will president Putin’s trip to China for the Olympic games bring to the West a “revelation” of new weapons that NATO and US do not have, or the announcement that a Chinese-Russian Swift is ready to be used? This “crisis” is far superior in gravity to the Cuban crisis, and the Western elites today are “more desperate and impoverished” than the ones of that time.
Here is an example of “—- or else”
https://youtu.be/zUPML8kg_d0
Excellent link — I’m hopeful that Russia does build a Navel base in Cuba to service its Submarines so they constantly cruise around the USA & pop up every now & then to scare the bejesus out of the Yanks. Sightings of Russian Subs constanly in USA territory could change minds !
“Bulgaria joined Croatia, Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Germany all of whom send their best regards but have opted to stay home and leave Ukraine to the US and whatever is left of NATO.”
Well, the notorious Article 5 states “such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force”. The important words here are “action as it deems necessary”. Most people tend to forget that the set of necessary actions also include “stay at home and leave warmongers to hit their heads against the wall on their own” ;-)
I don’t know about the other countries in the list, but, frankly, despite the rethorics of the Quislings currently occuping the government in Bulgaria, I hardly can imagine a bulgarian soldier to volunteer to fight in 404 for the riches of the NATO masters (in fact many BG officers and noncoms resigned their commission after our country was sold out to NATO in 2004 precisely to avoid serving NATO).
Currently, few of the countries involved in the ‘Ukraine crisis’ has any real strategic interests at stake in Ukraine. What it’s all about is the giant European energy market and who controls it. The Biden Administration has been remarkably successful in manipulating world media to believe that Russia is an aggressive state with the goal of reviving the fallen Soviet Empire, a major threat to Europe’s security, a particularly cunning piece of tradecraft.
Succeeding US governments have proclaimed repeatedly that its goal is to replace Russia as Europe’s main energy supplier. That’s not all that different from the Cheney Doctrine, that proposed that the US take control over all Mid-Eastern oil, asking his collegues‘‘who would screw with us then?’
History shows clearly that the US government is more than willing to invade oil rich countries to buttress its energy interests, with Iraq, Iran, Libya, and Russia as prime examples. It is also the basis of the US forever wars, that has never been officially rejected by our government and remains a major US policy.
Secretary Blinken has been at pains to assure that the US won’t force our European allies to choose between the US on one side and the Russians and Chinese on the other. Trouble is, it’s hard to find a policy expert anywhere who believes him.
Of course, the US is putting massive pressure on Europe to make the choice, and currently demonizing Nato ally, Germany, for refusing to join the American anti-Russian campaign. For Germany, it’s almost certain that it sees the Ukrainian crisis as a totally fabricated piece of US strategy.
Recall that during the younger Bush Administration, the US government backed the failed attempt of Exxon and Chevron for a hostile take-over of Russia’s largest publicly held oil company.
Or that after the invasion of Iraq, US oil companies became the largest oil producers in the Iraq and Kurdistan, only to be forced to leave because of mounting violence.
To keep the peace, Europe will likely bend to the US will for a bigger slice of the European energy market, to be followed by the quick EU certification of the Nordstream 2 pipeline.
Russia will also likely accede to keep the peace. As the major energy supplier to Europe, producing around 25% of Europe’s oil and 40% of its natural gas. it was never expected that Russia could hold so overwhelming stake in Europe’s energy, especially with competitors like Saudi Arabia, Israel, Greece, Egypt, US, all knocking at Europe’s energy door. Making it less painful for Russia is its growing stake in Asian energy markets, rising almost to the level of its European holdings
With that, the world is likely to lose interest in the Ukraine crisis, with the results that the country will have to wait a long time, if ever, for consideration as a member of the European Union.
A good summary of the situation, Bob. Thank you for your words. Behind every war there is always a fundamental reason: money.
I agree with your statement except for the point that Russia will bend over to the US. What makes you think so? For Russia to stand ground is a matter of its dignity as well as national security. The energy market factor is true but here it’s closely tied with the military aspect.
Russia will lose a share of its market but they won’t allow Ukraine to slip into the NATO/EU.
Don’t listen to the hot, overblown saber rattling. That’s par for the course in these situations (even worse in the MidEast, where everything is the “mother of all battles.”) The last thing Russia wants is a new war, cold or otherwise. As far as its national security, the west will agree that it will be a long time before Ukraine is considered for EU membership, and that will serve to pacify Russians, for a while, with Ukraine becoming another frozen conflict. As for national dignity, I would bet that the west will provide a face saving response to Russia that will allows them to exit from the crisis with respect.
I would agree with the gist of your comment, but there are some parts there I would like to offer alternating outcomes:
– I don’t think Russia is going to be too aggressive in Ukraine, but motivation would be different: either Russia is going to respond with limited power to force implementation of Minsk 2 but not before Olympic Games are finished or if Ukraine attack Donbas with full force then it will be complete destruction of the Ukraine as we know it. In either case, “the west” is going to do jack shit militarily. So there will be peace.
– Russia is going to push USA in the different parts of the world nevertheless, except for absolutely unlikely western written legally binding security guarantees according to the Russian demands about Nato.
Though there will be “cold” peace with rapid demise of the western hegemony with internal turmoils in EU/USA/”west”.
I’ve lived through a couple of wars, harsh sanctions, starting from zero and now living in the west as top 10% class. A few days ago there was a power outrage for 4 hours in the area where I live and even with my experience I started to feel uncomfortable (temperature in the refrigerator rose pretty quickly after a few openings, I have a small gas cooker though gas would not last for more than a week, the supermarket where I usually shop was out of power too, most of the fresh food would have to be thrown away in 2-3 days if not consumed and there would be huge shortage everywhere …). We in the west are mostly living from today to tomorrow, completely dependent on technology: electricity, heating, refrigerators, freezers, Internet, almost no cash etc.
After one week of no electricity in the middle of the winter, and society would collapse, and we would be on the brink of famine. I’m sure both Russians and western governments are aware of this. So no, there will be no larger war anytime soon.
Though “sanction from the hell” are going to be applied on Russia, NS2 probably scraped but the price for fuel and everything else will go through the roof. Guess who is going to benefit most of that? Some huge country in the east with the largest deposits of almost everything which is necessary for the industry in the west. Yes it will hurt for 2-3 years, but then Power of Siberia 2 will be finished and then there will be game over.
In parallel there will be Lula in Brazil, some more Burkina Faso-type coups, main supplier of nuclear fuel for France would cut all ties with it, strange permanent satellite GPS malfunctioning, broken undersea communications, permission for overflight would be delayed … indefinitely etc.
And we are going to be buying more things from China produced with the same fuel and from the same aluminum or other metals which were used to power German factories or used to be part of cars, boats, machines produced there.
And no, Germany won’t stand up to the USA when forced to choose between the USA and Russia (remember the warning to Australia: if you are not with us, you are against us).
I hope you as an American realise quite how much you are truly hated by quite how many people these days. Your days as the ‘saviour’ disappeared 30 plus years ago. All you are now is a bankrupt would-be-hegemon who can only keep the Ponzi scheme going through stealing resources from resource-rich nations.
As a UK citizen, I don’t consider the US as my major ally, I consider you as our worst embarrassing relative. Every value I hold is urinated on by US Deep States. This doesn’t mean I like my own Deep State any more – they after all taught the US how to behave the way it is now behaving.
I don’t feel the slightest represented by my Government in international affairs, as no-one since Harold Wilson has told a US President to take a hike, when every single one of them should have.
We don’t look up to your President, we don’t look up to your Congressfolk nor to your Senators. Any bunch of idiots who think that you need to spend $700bn a year on weapons shouldn’t be anywhere near power.
We don’t want you interfering in Europe and we wish you would simply learn to respect the lives of the least affluent 100 million in your own country. There is SO much you need to learn in that sphere from so many different countries around the world…..
It’s very hard to maintain friendly relations even with ordinary American citizens unless you refuse to vote for either Biden/his successor or whosoever the puppet will be for the Republicans. Until you are prepared to break the system and throw the oligarchs out who control both your big parties, you are just a war machine controlling 350 million serfs. And you get to choose every four years whether you want your dominatrix to f**k you wearing red or blue….
NATO is starting to break up as we speak and lots and lots of us will cheer from the rafters when it does.
We don’t need NATO any longer, what we need are common security arrangements between European states, which includes Russia and Ukraine. We are the people who actually live here. You are the ones who foment coups and wars through never ending funding of insurgencies. We wish you would just stop doing it once and for all….
You might like to ask Canadians what they think of you. Then ask the Mexicans. Then ask the Japanese.
You might be shocked by the frankness of what they have to say…..
The world doesn’t hate Americans, it hate the American war making government, just as much as it hates its partner, the UK war making government.
A false flag event in the Donbass won’t be enough to lure Russia into the conflict, however a US invasion of Kiev might.
Dmitry Kozak, Kremlin’s man in charge of Donbass negotiations in the Normandy Format worked for 8.5 hours with German, French and Ukie counterparts.
Nothing, zero, none, nada progress. They can’t even get the ceasefire in place. Ukies allowed for 8 years to kill people in Donbass.
They are discussing the meaning of the words in the Minsk Agreement and the sequence that the Agreement insists on for the Ukies to obey.
As if the Agreement was a draft to discuss.
Kozak is a guy always looking for a compromise.
And he can’t get one on any issue. Next round, to Berlin for another round of wasting time.
Enforce the ceasefire with pinpoint Kalibr missiles. Obliterate a Ukie brigade HQ and the guns will go silent. Wipeout two HQs and the Ukies will retreat from the contact zone.
Then have another Normandy Format meeting and see what the discussions are about.
The Ukies crossed the red line of war crimes in March 2014. It’s time they pay for their mass murders.
404 delenda est!
Lone Wolf
Well said, Lone Wolf.
But,
Sesha Delenda Est! is the real deal.
Larchmonter, I really like your idea of Russia enforcing the ceasefire with pinpoint Kalibr missiles prior to the next Normandy meeting in Berlin. An alternative would for Russia to fire the Kalibr missiles DURING the meeting. Any discussion of what the Minsk agreement really means would then come to an abrupt halt.
Germany is under huge pressures to fall into alignment with the NATO war machine, over Ukraine, creating certain death for the German economy.
In Fantasyland, Germany rebels, orders all US forces from Germany, and resigns from NATO.
Germany then aligns with Russia and China, and the natural land mass of Euro-Asia.
NATO collapses in disarray and a new European peace pact arises which includes Russia.
The US-Anglo alliance is left to pound sand, in obscurity.
Germany, it is your move on the chessboard!
Don’t wake me up!
You are not dreaming. This is very real possibility. In fact, present state in Germany is political drugs induced nightmare. To snap off it, drug supply must be cut, and dealers exterminated.
I am sure Germans do not want to be in this state and should be helped to break out.
Remarkable as always:
the long-term historical, geopolitical perspective,
the exquisite sense of humour.
I have a fantasy too which has a statement from Putin or lavrov, or perhaps the leader of the Duma that says
“Now i personally would not be buying real estate within 5 km of any installation or site where there are US military assets or more than 10 US troops, if they are within a 1,000km radius of the Russian border. Now I do not know what the military steps of our esteemed general Shoigu may take, but if you were my friend or family I would sell up now.”
Then sit back and watch the panic – and see a sudden removal of US forces wherever there is in fact a real democracy- Germany first of course but a few other places – Bulgaria perhaps and even Poland.
1:So Ukraine was a de facto new Yugoslavia.
I would agree. Croats/uChor-vats come from the area of Galicia they called White Croatia, where they were mixed with Ruthenians.
2.The Horde: How the Mongols Changed the World
Favereau Marie
Through many references, the woman shows what Pax Mongolica really was. Russia is the successor to the Horde.
3.The longer the Russians wait, the worse they will harvest. The dream that America will change has been going on since the time of the proletarians who thought that both America and England would become proletarian countries. The story that a worker will not fight another worker with a rifle is just a dream of individuals. A serf, a worker or a citizen is one and the same if the elites who rule them are the same. As long as the dollar has no alternative, Anglo-Americans will do whatever they want. The “offer” Russians received from 13 tribe should be taken. And turned into advantage.They have a chance to bring Novorussia ,with referendum organised by a new government, back under their control and offer a democratic referendum also for secession of Galicia. Just the opposite of what the Nazis and their mentors did. Russia will get sanctions whatever it does, however they will recive also a big bravo in les than a year time. From all around world. They cannot expel it from the UNSC, cannot revoke the right of veto. If they make a parallel to SWIFT with China, it is time to remove the cancer and unite the Russian people.
The hysteria is especially bad in Canada. See, “The Russians are Coming!” for example.
https://yvesengler.com/2022/01/26/the-russians-are-coming-the-russians-are-coming-again/
Canadians have, in the past, been treated to self-congratulatory heroic underdog tales of “punching above their weight” in international affairs. Nowadays, it’s abundantly clear that the so-called peaceable kingdom is, alas, merely another yapping chihuahua of NATO.
“The collective West blew the chance it had to build a constructive partnership with Russia similar to what it did with Germany after 1945.”
I’m not so sure about the “constructive partnership” part. The quid pro quo for US participation in WW2 was that it was allowed to remain as an occupying force in the heart of Europe for eternity. Germany will find it as easy to get rid of the USA as Iraq will. Or Japan or South Korea. Or for Cuba to cancel the lease on Guantanamo. Onve you let these fokkers into your house…….lol.
Seems to me if ANYTHING goes down that these puppet politicians are pushing, they themselves should be made to participate, wherever they may be…
Russia is not going to attack Ukraine. Their insistence on getting a ‘written response’ is because they are still fuming over the U.S. reneging on the 1991 verbal agreement that allowed German reunification with no further eastward NATO expansion. Not only did we break the agreement but we then spent decades calling the existence of such an agreement ‘Russian disinformation’.
So this time around, Russia insists on having something written down.
“still fuming”
Representatives of the Russian Federation have many qualities but fuming/smoking is not one of them except for those who still smoke cigarettes when not on stage.
Some are so patient that others offered a drink in Chechnya are still waiting to collect.
Could it be that Ukraine is a feint? That the real game is playing out in Syria/Eastern Med?
Few seem to be listening. Russia issued a non-ultimatum ultimatum to the USA and to NATO. It did not issue an ultimatum to the Ukraine, other than its long-standing commitment to protect the Donbass from being over-run. Russia says that it has no intention of invading the Ukraine. H. E. President Putin is punctilious about international law. All that Russia needs to protect the Donbass is a couple of Tornado battalions based on its own territory. No invasion necessary. Where are the Russian land forces actually massing? Where are the Black Sea and Baltic Fleets operating? Where are the closest, established, NATO assets actually located? Look at the map in Andrei’s posting about the LDNR military capabilities. Remember 2008. Which nations have smelled the coffee, and withdrawn to the sidelines. Draw your own conclusions.
I think academi xe blackwater is gonna f&&& it up with the flag, be able to claim non-state actor and scamper with the PMC contract from Donbass. I hope wrong but nothing more than s&&& stirrers with plenty of history and deep state. It appears there aren’t many but that’s all it takes. Look to Almaty.