It has begun. Small stuff, but quite worth mentioning.
- The Belarusian military has taken control of a Ukie reconnaissance drone and forced it to land. The Ukie ambassador was summoned. Details here.
- Russia has banned the German propaganda outlet Deutsche Welle. Here is a machine translation of the official announcement on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website:
On the content of response measures against the German media operating on the territory of the Russian Federation in connection with the ban on the broadcasting of the RT DE TV channel in Germany
MEDIA RELEASE As part of the response measures announced on February 2 in response to the unfriendly actions of the FRG to ban satellite and other broadcasting of the German-language television channel RT DE, the Russian side intends to implement the first stage of response measures: – closure of the correspondent office of the German television and radio company Deutsche Welle in the Russian Federation; – cancellation of accreditation of all employees of the Russian Bureau of Deutsche Welle; – termination of satellite and other broadcasting of the Deutsche Welle television and radio company on the territory of the Russian Federation; – initiation by the competent authorities of the Russian Federation of the procedure for considering the issue of recognizing Deutsche Welle as a foreign mass media outlet acting as a foreign agent; – launching the process of forming a list of representatives of state and public structures of Germany involved in restricting the broadcasting of RT DE and otherwise putting pressure on the Russian media operator, who will be banned from entering the territory of the Russian Federation. The list is not expected to be published. Information on the next steps in the response will be posted in due course.
Better late than never.
There is a lot more going on, I will be back with an analysis later.
Cheers
Andrei
“Von Bolschwing was deeply involved in intelligence work-and in the persecution of innocent people-for most of his adult life. He had joined the Nazi party at the age of twenty-three, in 1932, and had become an SD (party security service) informer almost immediately. In the years leading up to 1939, von Bolschwing became a leading Nazi intelligence agent in the Middle East, where he worked under cover as an importer in Jerusalem.
One of his first brushes with Nazi espionage work, according to captured SS records, was a role in creating a covert agreement between the Nazis and Fieval Polkes, a commander of the militant Zionist organization Haganah, whom von Bolschwing had met through business associates in the Mideast. Under the arrangement the Haganah was permitted to run recruiting and training camps for Jewish youth inside Germany.
These young people, as well as certain other Jews driven out of Germany by the Nazis, were encouraged to emigrate to Palestine. Polkes and the Haganah, in return, agreed to provide the SS with intelligence about British affairs in Palestine.
Captured German records claim that Polkes believed the increasingly brutal Nazi persecution of the Jews could be turned to Zionist advantage-at least temporarily-by compelling Jewish immigration to Palestine, and that the Haganah commander’s sole source of income, moreover, was secret funds from the SS.”
https://thirdworldtraveler.com/Fascism/Brunner_B_CS.html
Regarding Israeli/Zionist support for the Azov Battalion, the above information is quite instructive.
“Regarding Israeli/Zionist”
You may find exploring the activities of Mr. Gunter Quandt, his former wife who became Mrs. Magda Goebbels, her friends in the Arlosoroff family, and the facilitation of The Transfer Agreement of 7th August 1933 which aided in various ways the sustainability of the Nazi state, and the post war reparations agreement between the Federal Republic of Germany and the State of Israel, illuminating.
If still “in publication” although that was never a constant, a useful public entry portal might be Mr. Edwin Black’s
“The Transfer Agreement” of 1984 new updated edition 1999 ISBN 1-57129-077-X.
1999 edition being published by Brookline Books, PO Box 1047, Cambridge, Mass 02238.
If you adopt a lateral approach instead of a linear one, and make investigation with trajectories in the period from 1940 until the present including:
the agreement of “conditional surrender” on or about 4th May 1945 between the SD represented by Mr. Karl Wolff, and Mr. Allan Dulles wishing to appear to not be representing anybody in particular,
the facilitation/financing of the “Wirtschaftwunder 1952-67” in cooperation with various banks including but not limited to Swiss banks,
this may illuminate not only why the Quandt family – previous owners of Varta and present owners of Audi – were recently designated as the richest family in Germany, but illuminate some of the present “disposition of forces”, to use an old Soviet designation, in Germany and elsewhere.
Kick out the British Bullshit Corporation too. DW is just a small puppy in comparison.
The British Bullshitter Corp. Five centuries ago, the BBC World Service was once a universally admired and dependable source of news. It was just the news; no bs opinions. In terms of content and the shifted focus from News to Bullshittery, the BBC of today bears no relation to it’s illustrious forbear of a long past generation.
Being five century’s old the BBC has always been the voice of the ruling classes, being born to it it just takes a couple of centuries to figure it out. Something to do with blue and red pills I understand.
BBC was started in 1522?
If I told you once, I told you a million times: DO NOT EXAGGERATE!
Radio was not even invented yet.
Don’t forget CNN and NBC.
I don’t think it’s in either Russia’s or China’s interest to form some kind of military alliance.
Such a thing would be looked upon as some kind of axis of evil super empire that must be contained.
Would be great propaganda for the west and an excuse to sanction China.
Many surrounding countries like SE Asia would be alarmed also and would look to US for help.
Out would go the Silk Road, Eurasia union and any East West trade link.
In would be the need to contain the evil empire that the world is now scared of
Best for them to keep things as they are plausible deniability Russia trading with China and its friends China trading with west.
Why would such an alliance be considered evil?
Don’t be absurd, the benefits are much greater than the punny cost the West could inflict.
Because it scares off the surrounding middle country’s they need on board for the belt and road initiative
Places like Vietnam, Kazakhstan, India and even in the near future Europe.
Just creating a vast military block will give the US massive propaganda value to sell to these people including putting bases to “protect” them
The objective must be to convey peace wealth and stability through trade and cooperation v the US , chaos empire and war
Ummm, did you not see what happened with Khazakstan recently? They’re quite firmly in the alliance with China and Russia now that the coup plotters have been captured and eliminated. India? Did you miss Putin’s recent visit with Modi?
World events have already unfolded differently than you’re claiming they would.
What happened in Khazakstan was that the attempt at color revolution was foiled by rapid and measured intervention on the part of the CSTO – no formal alliance between Russia and China required.
And it’s not about what the West thinks. It’s about what all the non-Western countries think that Russia and China need to woe to be able to stand up against the West. China and Russia can’t go about it all alone. Take India. China has an ongoing border conflict with India while Russia has good relations with India, selling them some of them some of the most advanced weapons systems that Russia has to offer. Is China unhappy about it? Surely yes on some level but the Chinese are not stupid either.Think about it: Russia and China forming an official alliance would open up an easy vector where the West could goad India on one side and China and Russia on the other side into a war against each other. Catastrophic. Hence it is better, even from a rational Chinese perspective, not to ally itself with Russia and to let Russia sell arms to India to keep India from falling into the Western orbit, even if these arms might be used to a certain extent against China. It’s ok since the Himalaya sees to it that India does not pose any existential threat to China, and vice versa, even with Russian arms.
The list of such countries goes on and on with different specific circumstances in each case. The current situation of being allied in practice though not officially is precisely what gives Russia and China the flexibility they need.
Who the hell cares what the Americans think? they don’t need an excuse for their rabid propaganda bullshit,the gloves have to come off with these people.
Who indeed? Still, your communal garden American, Brit, Israeli, Saudi and (choose any nationality ) are for the most part inconsequential. Wouldn’t it be lovely if all of the above, in unison, gave their governments and Elite 72 hours to leave their respective countries? ( not before confiscating their domestic & foreign bank a/c, holdings )
A a strictly defensive treaty is always something positive
If China gets attacked Russia must help in case of need and vice versa
What should be considered bad here for anybody else than Nato and usa?
Just imagine that’s written on paper black on white
That would make a decision to attack one of the 2 just very painful and could prevent ww3
That’s a taken decision, no matter what ones thinks
The whole of the Global South is watching carefully. Most of the people and politicians in most of these countries will enjoy watching the US get smacked in the face hard.
With all due respect, who cares what the West and its citizens think. The West has been actively trying to contain Russia since…well, forever even though Russia is not looking for expansion. Russians have enough potential and problems within their borders for the next 500 years. But the West, NATO really, just doesn’t let go.
“What we’ve got here is failure to communicate
Some men, you just can’t reach
So, you get what we had here, last week
Which is the way he wants it
Well, he gets it
And I don’t like it any more than you men”
^^ R’n’R – Civil Wars
Just an fyi, most American citizens don’t have the same attitude towards the world as the idiots in DC do.
So do us all a favor, don’t lump us all in together, thanks…
Then start acting! It’s not good enough to just watch DC from the sidelines. It’s also about your lifes.
They already have an alliance, they’re already doing drills together and everyone has already been signing on for BRI projects. And this alliance is exactly the reason the empire is freaking out and precisely why there are cracks in their alliance of vassal states.
Carlos, what world is now scared…..the Hollywood script is not working. The emperor has no clothes and at this rate, the Emperor and his Court will be Silk Road Kill. If war were an option sanctions wouldn’t exist, by the way, the sanctions on both Russia and China (orange man bad) are still not working. Empires have come and gone, The Silk Road still flows.
Cheers, M
It is much too late to avoid a bipolar world, although the Davos crowd has tried their best.
It will come down to Mackinder vs. Mahan, in the context of modern technology on land, undersea, and in space.
The West will suffer greatly in the beginning but may put up a better fight than the East believes.
Time is the issue. Productive capacity in the West is significantly diminished as a % of world capacity and there has not been financial incentive to increase that %.
Taiwan’s chip manufacturing capacity will be the first casualty if it all goes hot quickly. The West will not allow that to continue to exist without some control over its output, although there is very little current Western chip production capacity.
I don’t blame you or your delusions of western grandeur Ciaran, but you must quit reading marvel comics and watching Superhero movies, otherwise you’ll saunter through life in an imbecilic manner.
It would be considered evil by a fraction of the minority population that are the western countries.
How about a simple Mutual Defense Agreement, as long as approved by the Duma and the CPC, just valid for 25 years? That would be triggered only under specified conditions?
That s what Paul Craig Roberts a few months ago has hinted. PCR knows one thing or two about the USofA.
“Such a thing would be looked upon as some kind of axis of evil super empire that must be contained.
Would be great propaganda for the west and an excuse to sanction China.”
So foxing what? Who is this entity that is doing the “looking upon” that needs to be mollycoddled?
Here’s an interesting catch, from the recent meeting between Orban and Putin:
http://www.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/6769014
Putin:
“Послушайте, что я скажу, внимательно. Ведь в доктринальных документах самой Украины написано, что они собираются вернуть Крым, в том числе военным путём – не то, что они говорят на публику, а в документах написано.”
” Listen to what I have to say, carefully. After all, the doctrinal documents of Ukraine itself say that they are going to return Crimea, including by military means – not what they say in public, but what is written in the documents.”
(automatic translation)
Can someone please locate these documents? I remember Zelenskyi had said something similar in April 2021, and that it was official policy. It would be very helpful if these were made public.
Sorry for the error, here’s the right link:
http://www.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67690
Bring the Iron Curtain back in order to insulate the normal people from the suicidal tendencies of the West.
Every German or person with their passport that sets foot onto Belarusian, Russian, Serbian or Greek land should sign a history lesson listing atrocities (genocides really) their previous generations or their local proxies perpetuated so they refrain from lecturing the hosts in democracy and human rights.
Germans seem to have forgotten their place.
The recent “German” decision to ban German-language RT is puzzling, given Germany’s reluctance to back Ukraine vs. Russia. The problem lies with the fact that the Anglo-Saxons have extensive financial holdings and assets in Germany, backed by secret projects. Whenever nationalist elements attempt to mend ties with Russia, the Anglo-Saxons’ “German” clients, or compradors, immediately stage a provocation.
After all, Deutsche Welle, despite being “publicly” funded, largely broadcasts stories that favour private Anglo-Saxon interests vs., say, Russia, China, and Iran. DW is basically an extension of the CIA and MI6 + Mossad. Russia’s decision to bar DW therefore does not harm German national interests, but instead impacts the Anglo-Saxons’ vis-à-vis the latter’s loss of PR. DW should have been terminated years ago.
On another note, in regard to natural gas, Russia is dangerously reliant on exports to Europe vs. China. If Russia were truly prepared for a conflict with the West, she would have solidified her NG lifelines to China by now. The lack of a true Russian–Chinese integration leaves Russia vulnerable to Western pressure, given Russia’s loss of influence over the CIS and in the former Soviet sphere of influence.
German, French, and Italian interests have repeatedly and consistently voiced concern about the Anglo-Saxons’ policies vs. Russia vis-à-vis Ukraine. However, German, French, and Italian interests have been unable to effectively neutralise and/or dislodge Anglo-Saxon economic and political influence. The recent case of RT Deutsche and DW fully illustrates the conundrum at hand.
Even if NATO is schizophrenic, its dissident members still lack sufficient willpower to break their chains.
I like the idea of shared risk, or security. You could eventually discuss disarmament. Wouldn’t that be nice. No one threatens anyone.
Indeed they have gone all Goebbels mode,looks like some Germans just can’t shake off that Nazi mentality,i hope Berlin doesn’t have to look like it did in May 1945 before they do.
What does the average German (~80 mln) have to do with this? Did they make these decisions?
The average German has nothing to do with it,i am talking about the U.S. Puppets in Government who don’t seem to have learnt a damn thing since the War,i am not interested in what some anti Russian German has to say about Russia with their history.
It was in response to what Original Marko said.
As you hwve said: “Better late than never.”
Russia should have done this long time ago. Do the same with every other openly hostile media house.
I’m waiting for those “military-technical” answers. Preferably more military than technical. They are long overdue.
US has “removed ISIS leader from the battlefield”, who conveniently blew himself in his house. Also, since US specs killed his entire family, including 8 children and 4 women, there are no witnesses to this false-flag slaughter. Long live democracy and the rule of law, lol.
US is swiftly eliminating potential trouble makers, should they fall into the russian hands.
The military answer is not overdue at all. The tension is dividing NATO, suppressing Ukrainian adventurism (so far), and driving the US foreign and ‘intelligence’ services nuts. Looks good to me. And the technical answers are in the above developments, plus actions such as capturing the Ukie drone in Belarus. I’m enjoying watching their deployments.
By now, we know Putin.
Putin is the martial arts master.
Which means patience.
Which means waiting and carefully watching ones opponent.
Not because one is timid or afraid, but because the master is waiting for the moment when they see the opponent has gotten off balance, or been slightly careless, or made a small mistake …. that is what they are waiting for, and then they move, quickly and with confidence.
Seems like every time Putin has done something, it is preceded by the chorus of voices which ask why doesn’t he move.
Why the west’s geniuses would think that they could bluff Putin into making a rash mistake is about as in-comprehensible as their Domino Theory. But that bit of nonsense killed 50,000 Americans and millions more Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians.
“Also, since US specs killed his entire family,”
This is serious retaliation. And, more important, an message to other ISIS commanders not to do whatever this guy did.
Flirting with Russians?
@Blackring
“Flirting with Russians?”
I doubt that. More likely, elimination of an used asset that could spill the beans if captured by the wrong party.
Russian or Syrian, take your pick.
Extermination of whole family is way over the top for retiring used asset. Something’s fishy there.
Probably they used laser guided bomb and ground team just “painted” house. Similar to Kabul bombing when they also killed many unlucky children. And came up with stupud cover story about secondary explosion.
Cowards had no balls to raid house of experienced fighter, and called air support.
Rather than cowardice, I would say it’s a smart thing to do. If they indeed killed him, he was a terrorist and an unpredictable fanatic to boot.
I don’t want to defend their ways because they made ISIS after all, but returning body bags is never a good thing for any military.
It is cowardice.
Here is Roger Waters’ superb depiction thereof:
https://youtu.be/JamLmpVOgE0
What you just wrote is wrong on so many levels.
If your military experience is only CoD, I can understand. You will too after you talk with enough REAL ex-warriors. Killing children is not something you want to do to YOURSELF.
After all, why sending bunch of snowflakes to kill one men while he sleeps? Just nuke whole village from orbit. Much safer.
Equitable response
“…termination of satellite and other broadcasting of the Deutsche Welle television and radio company on the territory of the Russian Federation; ”
I misread “…termination of satellite …… OVER the territory of the Russian Federation; ”
Well, maybe, at one of next notches on dial.
Amazing – look forward very much to the analysis – also with thanks in advance.
These occurrences are reminding me of Bismarck from the late 19th Century – eg:
“Do not expect that once taking advantage of Russia’s weakness, you will receive dividends forever. Russian has always come for their money. And when they come – do not rely on an agreement signed by you, you are supposed to justify. They are not worth the paper it is written. Therefore, with the Russian is to play fair, or do not play.”
“The secret of politics? Make a good treaty with Russia.”
That time has come – it would seem.
Its funny how the western world regards Bismarck as a master of geopolitics.
But, after he was gone, then Germany immediately stopped doing what Bismarck had done, and since then nobody ever really even tries to do what Bismarck did. They call him a master, then not only ignore him, but do the opposite.
It is pathetic how deep German politics fell from Bismarck’s level.
Good measure for difference between independence and slavery.
In the Grand Scheme of things, East Germans will want that Wall back up.
Regarding Japan & Germany. When the vermin cockroaches move in, they not only inter you, they indebt you to the degree that rising up off your knees is futile.
The Samurai will be looking at the bony suited diaper clad leadership today with disgust. The Germans aren’t so downtrodden but all you have to do is scream Holocaust and they scurry back to the factory to sharpen their precision instruments.
So the Deutsche Welle ban was a tit-fot-tat regarding the previous ban of RT in Germany?
yes
While we all wonder how things will end up,its best to remember what Putin said at the beginning in 2014:
“I would like to remind you that what was called Novorossiya [New Russia] back in the tsarist days – Kharkov, Lugansk, Donetsk, Kherson, Nikolayev and Odessa – were not part of Ukraine back then.”
“These territories were given to Ukraine in the 1920s by the Soviet government. Why? God knows… Russia lost these territories for various reasons, but the people remained”.
Even it seems an important Ukrainian ex-General and current MP in the Rada agrees with me and many others that a large number of “Ukrainians” would prefer Russia and would welcome liberation. It should be remembered that over 60% of Ukrainian forces stationed in Crimea in 2014 defected to Russian service when Crimea rejoined Russia. I believe that was a demonstration of how many Ukrainians believe:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mykhailo_Zabrodskyi
https://www.rt.com/russia/548108-ukrainian-regions-governed-moscow/
The problem is that these people who would prefer Russia and liberation – are “the silent majority”.
If they come out and say these things openly – they will get beaten up, even killed – by the crazies. They may lose their jobs, get arrested for being “unpatriotic” etc etc
I well remember in 2014 after the Maidan – many videos on Youtube showing old people Red army veterans with their medals getting the indelible green ink thrown over them by young violent thugs – it was pitiful to see.
Nothing like picking on the old & vulnerable …
In fact – Zelensky was voted in with a majority because he promised to bring peace. At least that is my understanding – somebody correct me if I’m wrong, or if the situation was more nuanced than that.
It was much the same with Poroshenko – he promised to go the East, meet all the leaders there and that he would resolve the situation “within two weeks”.
The silent majority show themselves via the ballot box (if the elections are fair).
But it doesn’t take many – to change the narrative & the perception.
We saw that in the Maidan – and also recently in Kazakhstan.
Even 50 or 100 thousand – is a tiny fraction compared to the population as a whole.
This is how colour revolutions, power & control – work.
“somebody correct me if I’m wrong, or if the situation was more nuanced than that.”
” Zelensky was voted in with a majority because he promised to bring peace. ”
Among the facilities of “statistics” are reliance on “sampled aggregates” – an oxymoron – thereby obfucating nuance and specifics, although those propagating big data panaceas, binary logic, and “representative democracy” seek to encourage others to believe that is not the case.
A further attempt at deepening obfuscation is by encouraging perception of time as moments within chosen frameworks/evaluation horizons, instead of lateral process in the hope of obfiscating that change is a constant whose variables include velocity, to facilitate “representative democracy” and “fixed terms”.
Consequently no one knows the specific motivations of all voters and all non-voters on a specific timeframe, and whether these were completely consistent with the specific motivations of each of the same individual voters and non-voters within a different time frame.
Some “Ukrainians” had experience of the “Soviet Union” as adults, and hence remember Gosplan and “they pretend to pay us, and we pretend to work” and when asked for their opinions during “scientific surveys” are not averse to “lying”, some particularly disgruntled choosing “the fuck you option”.
Some are aware of all of the lacunae above and do not engage in such practices, whilst some re-design their attempts at information seeking, validation and interpretations and have gone to such effort do not “publish” their interpretations into the public domain, except by implementation of strategies in cooperation with others based upon their interpretation of datastreams garnered through their information seeking activities, the outcomes of which others, including cooperators, interpret.
An illustration of this lateral process is your assumption
“The silent majority show themselves via the ballot box (if the elections are fair).”
since “elections” are designed to be “unfair” whist appearing to be fair facilitated by the widely practiced conflation of understand with belief as in:
“Zelensky was voted in with a majority because he promised to bring peace. At least that is my understanding..”
whilst some given the lacunae including those predicated on change being a constant, do not expend effort using “scientific surveys” on some things that have already passed, and/or things that they evaluate as being of little or of any significance.
Another pain dial: Israeli planes had a malfunctioning GPS, they asked Russia to stop interfering with the GPS signal.
Just visited djv.de, the site of the German Journalists Union (DJV). Hilarious, in one editorial comment they demand the annulment of the Russian measures against Deutsche Welle, while in another, they state that their own German Media Authority (ordering the closure of RT´s Berlin outfit) is “independent.”
By the way, the site has nothing on either Udo Ulfkotte or his book “Gekaufte Journalisten,” which only seems to prove the DJV and its almost 40,000 members are as corrupt as most other mainstream journalists in the Fourth Reich.
I can see DJV still being happy that Udo is gone
so early
But Gekaufte Journalisten will always be there as the other great books of him.
It will be a pain in their corrupt asses for eternity
Udo must watch it with delight from above
If you really want to strike back at the hostile part of the German Govt, how about coaxing some of their population to immigrate to the Russian Federation.
I read a Neocon article gloating about Russia’s demographic decline in 2021. I followed their link hoping it was garbage but found it actually was from a Russian Federation agency https://eng.rosstat.gov.ru/
Putin is trying to make it easier for Russians to raise children but but having good quality immigration is also desirable, isn’t it?
Invite Germans into Russia
Russia DOES have a demographic problem.
But this also has its advantages. One of them is that immigration can be carefully tailored to Russia’s needs.
Millions of skilled Ukrainian have already immigrated to Russia.
Germans would be totally welcome, at least those who are not russophobic (which would not apply anyway).
Central Asia provides a mixed bag of immigrants, some good, some not so good.
But yes, Russia needs more people, especially skilled ones.
Interesting point…..Shows you what a retard Hitler was….American has a very large Germanic Ancestry population…..If Germany had just waited to be 1960s and had friendly relations with America….they could have been reunited with their cousins in America….And if they had good relations with Russia and Slavic People in general…You never know what could have been…
Babies being born born in my Irish Catholic Family have blond hair blue eyes Slavic German mix…..To the great horror of the Kamala Harris Administration…and to the great horror of future POTUS the Idi Amin look alike Stacy Abrams…
@War for Blair Mountain
“If Germany had just waited to be 1960s…”
…and that is exact reason why Perfidious Albion used every single trick of the trade to push Germany into two wars. Only, the second time it was close call to be dismembered by their own Frankenstein’s monster.
The sidewalks in Yaroslavl are in such a state a woman with her baby carriage is severely challenged, going over bumps, not always easy crossings, lots of puddles. Citizens need to buy lots of shoes in such an environment.
If Russia wants more women to have kids, make it easier to get out and about with a baby carriage!
Basic roadworks and sidewalks are always being delayed by major prestige projects. Maybe the Germans will come and improve the situation (Ordnung über alles :-) ).
Something else quite worth mentioning is this small facet into the inner workings of US military decline, which very much explains the rabid political class push for war, while prof. military top brass is trying to caution against it (why not pen a quick expose on the absolute state of the US military, Andrei?):
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/14648/this-video-about-the-navys-decaying-shipyards-makes-its-355-ships-goal-seem-laughable
About a third of maintenance missions won’t be performed on major US surface ships. Take a closer look into the GAO vid about the remaining 4 repair ports, it’s quite illuminating.
https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/rust-not-stealth-navy-f35c-decaying
To point to your recent comment about the failing “pos” F35.
I’m curious when the US empire will implode. Seems like it is ongoing. Our Euron-biorobot apparatchiks will be surprised that the pavement of euro airports are at least as firm as the Afghan ones. I guess the experience will be less emotionally painful with the “meta” vr googles on.
The two posted url lead to very interesting articles. Thank you kindly! They try to put a “positive spin”, but the substance describes failure of USN and its logistical/maintenance systems. Well worth reading both. An old boss of mine used to decry such situations as caused by “a phuckin’ terminal case of the phuckin’ dumbazz.”. Evidently the DoD/USN has become unable to train or teach the necessary skill, or find suitable sailors…or even properly drydock…I have pals who were/are very qualified in steam – and they quit over the crewing of ships with girls and, ah, “citizens of Sodom”. The US being a thalassocratic racket, the loss of the navy (a process that’s obvious) is indeed a terminal condition, or case of dumbazz. New carrier Ford is more or less unable to launch/receive F35, has many other problems too> https://www.stripes.com/branches/navy/2022-01-21/uss-gerald-r-ford-costly-flaw-4370331.html Failure may not matter, since surface ships are now BFTs, but it’s sad.
First reactions from ARD (Tagesschau), the prime broadcaster in Germany:
https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/russland-deutsche-welle-verbot-103.html
Broadcasting ban on Deutsche Welle
Sharp criticism of Russia’s “tit-for-tat” response
Status: 03.02.2022 18:39 Uhr
Following the shutdown of the TV channel RT in Germany, Russia has imposed a broadcasting ban on Deutsche Welle – and is now earning sharp criticism for it.
Minister of State for Culture Roth called the move “in no way acceptable.”
Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth has criticized the ban on the foreign broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) in Russia. “The ban on Deutsche Welle broadcasting in Russia and the closure of its office in Moscow are in no way acceptable,” she said. She added that the decision was apparently intended as a backlash against the broadcast ban on the Russian TV channel RT DE in Germany.
“However, the equation lacks any basis,” Roth stressed. RT DE is currently broadcasting without a license and has not applied for a license. This is “a completely different situation” than that of Deutsche Welle, he said. “DW is also organized remotely from the state,” the Minister of State for Culture and Media explained. “That means, unlike RT DE, the German state does not exert any influence on programming.”
She therefore urgently appealed to the Russian side “not to abuse the licensing problems of the RT channel for a political reaction.” What is needed are “clear steps of de-escalation,” Roth explained.
—
Prime Minister of NRW: “Russia’s action against Deutsche Welle is a massive and arbitrary attack on press freedom, which we strongly condemn.”
“a reaction by Moscow that is as transparent as it is wrong.”
Graf Lambsdorff, foreign politician from the liberal (sic!) party:
Deutsche Welle is “precisely not a state broadcaster” like RT DE, “but offers an independent program.” The decision shows once again that the Russian government is moving away from universal values such as democracy and freedom of expression and that the country is moving further into self-isolation, he said.
The German Journalists’ Association (a complete corrupt heap) reacted immediately to the ban on Deutsche Welle. It called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to immediately reverse the decision. “There is no justification whatsoever for this drastic censorship measure,” said DJV national chairman Frank Überall. He said the move was a “cheap tit-for-tat” for the decision by the German media regulator.
(And for a good laugh):
Überall defended the German action, saying that unlike the “propaganda channel RT DE,” Deutsche Welle offers independent and critical journalism.”
Russia owes the West a helluva lot more pain than I ever see them dishing out. They are always far too kind to their American self-declared enemies. Perhaps they are taking the moral high ground, emulating Jesus as you would prefer, Saker. At times, you seem to think that it is good enough that Russia can continue to absorb Washington’s morally bankrupt mostly gratuitous sanctions.
That injustice does not sit well with me, though I am not a Russian citizen or even a Russian ethnic. My mother was a Methodist and my father a Catholic, I absorbed the values and morals both sides of my family and country espoused in the 40’s and 50’s. I hold my own to their own professed standards which has just not been happening at least since I came of age in the 60’s. My own country deserves to pay for all the pain (and especially all the death) it has imposed upon others which reaches far beyond just the Russians.
Actually, the Russians (and Chinese) may be in the unique position of being able to actually make the Banditos Yanquis pay for their many sins. My German forebears under the Nazis got what they deserved. I can only thank Russia for balancing those scales. Time for my people to assist the Russians in their totally justified cause against the American barbarians. Simple justice I believe motivates many others with my background who support your cause, Saker. I am most definitely NOT “woke,” as that rubbish is another injustice being foisted upon innocents by American politicians in it for themselves every inch of the way.
Since the Germans are loudly squealing because their media mouthpiece Deutche Welle is now banned by Russia, it is now an appropriate time to revisit the expose of the late Udo Ulfkotte in his book _Bought Journalists_ (English translation title: _Presstitutes: Embedded in the Pay of the CIA_).
In this expose, Ulfkotte revealed how American and German spy agencies infiltrated the German media in general, manipulated its news coverage, and in some cases, even wrote “news articles” that were planted and promoted as fair and balanced journalism.
No doubt, many blue-pilled “Normies” will dismiss Ulfkotte’s assertions as so-called conspiracy theories, but Ulfkoktte speaks from personal experience, as he admits that he personally worked as an American agent of influence while he was an editor for one of Germany’s leading newspapers _Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung_.
Ulfkotte’s expose is only the tip of the iceberg, however, as the supposed “Free Press” in general is one of the greatest deceptions ever invented.
In practice, this so-called Free Press is merely the propaganda mask of an American Media Matrix that is planetary in terms of penetration and ambitions.
Confession from the profession: ‘Presstitutes’ in the service of the CIA
https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/confession-from-the-profession-presstitutes-in-the-service-of-the-cia/
Udo Ulfkotte – Interview
https://hungarytoday.hu/udo-ulfkotte-interview-64707/
I guess Orlov was right about getting the popcorn and watching…
Team Putin is truly amazing how well they play. They waited until Russia was strong enough (and it is now increasing its advantage every month) and until all players on the chess board were in the right place. That time has now come. And Team Putin is always ahead of the wave and are ready for the next phase.
It is really, really funny that for every pushback and evil trick “Shirkhan and the tabaquis” make, they are just speeding up their downfall and making it worse. Examples: (1) the FU answer to Russia about the security guarantees will only make Russia use this to harass them; (2) London stealing gold from third world countries and criminal Russians will only make people NOT invest money there; (3) UKUS sending troops to the East at high cost and much trouble with other Nato members will be countered by Russia at lower cost and with more impact; (4) mess with Russia in Syria and suddenly the illegal americans will have some casualties…etc
Russia is simply vaccinated against any tricks and pushbacks and can play calmly with confidence, while the west is close to crumbling. Nato will not survive this is my guess…the Emperor has no clothes on…
That really is no pain at all.
One thing which seems massively significant, and which I haven’t seen mentioned anywhere here yet, is that apparently, according to Tass, Russia has banned the export of Ammonium Nitrate for 2 months (from yesterday). That’s fertiliser, and Russia apparently accounts for about 60% of global production.
Natural Gas is a key component of NH4NO3 production, so prices were already going nuts, especially in Europe. But I assume this will drive them up much further yet? Fertiliser is key to food production, so the inevitable consequences of high fertiliser prices and shortages of it are high food prices and shortages some 3-6 months later.
My own suspicion here is that the West’s achilles heel is inflation, potentially followed by civil unrest? If you want people to take to the streets then make the necessities of life expensive. The inflation toothpaste is already out of the tube, and not going back in. Energy is a core price component of most things, and energy prices globally are on the rise. They are especially going nuts across Europe because Russia isn’t filling the shortages og NG caused by the EUs own insane policies. The knock on effects of high energy costs are already being felt in commodity production (a highly energy intensive industry, especially smelting, which is used to purify common metals like Aluminium) and food will follow. Higher commodity prices and transport costs affect most of life’s necessities.
There may have been an Arab Spring, but if Russia really piles on the pressure on energy, feriliser, etc, then there could easily be a European Autumn (and potentially a US one too)?
@Mark H
“Russia has banned the export of Ammonium Nitrate”
You’re right, this is extremely important development. Price of fertiliser immediately raises food price, even already on shelves. ( due to inflationary expectations consumption skyrockets leading to empty shelves which have additional devastating psychological effect).
Add to the mix double or triple price of electricity, and fuel and you have perfect storm for regime change.
Being survivor of similar sanctions I can say only – what goes around, comes around.
Russia will recuperate losses easily. By selling small percentage of forbidden products through intermediaries at astronomical prices.
Big fire at a fertilizer factory in North Carolina with 600 tons of ammonium nitrate. They evacuated “thousands” of folks in the area. A bit more price inflation in agricultural commodities coming up. They’ll probably blame Putin…
A false flag?
Insignificant.
“The world’s total ammonium nitrate production was estimated at 16.6 million tonnes in 2019.”
Finally the Pain Dail starts moving. It’s about time. German Mass media is for Propaganda only anyway, so nothing of value was lost.
The Russkies are not messing around this time. Apparently the folks in DC just don’t care. Well, the DC’ers started it, and they will have to shoulder the blame for what comes.
Smoothie’s vids are indicating just how fed up Russia is with all the baloney. I am re-assessing my understanding of how Ukrainians, in general, view their Russian ‘brothers and sisters’. I have always believed they are essentially one and the same, but that seems to not be true unfortunately. Ukrainians regard for Russia ranges from a relative minority who like Russia and identify as ethnic Russian, and then those who are apathetic towards Russia. There are a good number of the latter, and we n the case of re-integration would gladly take the financial support Russia would be obligated to provide yet not really be pro-Russia. Then there are the many who for no sensible reason dislike Russia, and some of those, intensely. I am finally grasping now (thanks to both Andrei’s) why Russia would have little to no interest in taking the Ukraine on as a full-time responsibility. It’s one thing to sacrifice for those that love you, and quite another to sacrifice for those that don’t give a darn, or worse, despise you. The real clincher is that Russia has to manage financial affairs responsibly as there are many Russians in Russia that depend on state support. Russia does not need the additional burden, and why should they take money and resources allocated to adequately support the Russian-homeland population and improve their quality of life?
Thinking on this, the whole pretext of ‘Russia is going to invade Ukraine’ completely falls apart.
Saker’s post from yesterday with link to YouTube vid (blocked by YT user but transcribed by a savvy Saker community member) is truly alarming. I think it’s not exaggerating to say that the situation is deadly serious.
The Russian Navy sets sail en masse from key harbours and piers, Frantic activities (by both sides) in the hot zones. Daily continual flights up and down key zones to assess troop and asset movements. The Russian military are positioning for a fast response against possible strikes on Russian lands, peoples, and key assets. Whereas the European patsies are getting prepared to repel an imminent non-existent invasion. The DC’ers are whispering in the ears of the Ukrainian and Europeans, trying to light the match to the fuse for the powder keg to blow.
Russia writes an agreement that is purportedly designed to be rejected, which would indicate the Russians are not in the least bit interested in further negotiations, at least for now?
Taken together, a sure sign that the Russians are resolved to military action, and who can blame them?
State controlled western media should have all been banned years ago.
>”State controlled western media should have all been banned years ago.”<
Guess I´m showing my age here, but I can still remember back when the information battles were largely fought via short-wave radio broadcasting. Some nights it was really tough to find ANY listenable signal at all amid the "jammer" transmissions. I don´t know if anybody besides a few die-hard old-time amateur vacuum tube aficionados still use this medium.
Nowadays, you can get RT, Deutche Welle, VOA, or whatever you fancy easily enough via the Internet … UNLESS, of course, you´re behind "The Great Firewall". Maybe it´s time to implement something like that in other places?
^^;;^^
Morcegão
I usually take a look at DW en Español. While normally the comments are quite stupid and mainly pro-west, I was really surprised how so many comments were in support of the russian decision at this very report. Very curious. I suppose many people are fed up with the anti-Russia stand of DW. A really good move, long due however.
From the beginning I have been thinking that the actual goal of Putin, Lavrov, Shoigu was to put a maximum pressure on the UE states
The goal was to partially put a wedge between these countries, specially Germany and France and the US.
It seems to me that it is beginning to work
The energy crisis in these countries is strong and structural. They have to do something about it.
My own prejudice view, sometimes, is that what Germany “decides” , decides …well, a lot. I watch Victor Grossman (Berlin Bulletin) and https://www.sahra-wagenknecht.de/. Europe without the occupation would be a whole nuther ball-game. In the end Europe is very important to Russia, even though at this time is seems otherwise.
Agree. It’s working. It is a natural and essential feature that as AngloSaxon Pirate rule weakens the Unification of Heartland abides.
So long as VVP and Xi make no serious error, is a cinch.
This is the big shoe waiting to drop.
French pretensions aside, where Germany goes, Europe will go..
But Germany is in a terrible stasis. It is mired in internal weakness, lack of majority and endless deliberations and maneuvering. How much is organic versus knock-on effects of terribly long occupation? They have been a perfect fiddle for Zionists to play, but there is a current massive struggle behind the scenes. Even the hapless Greens are being forced into some sanity – see changed tone/compromising recently during Moscow visit and back home.
Does the Germany psyche require a Bismark to hold fractiousness and external intrigue at bay? Europe is waiting for them, but they are running out of time (and oil/gas energy) fast.
I think the key goal is to eliminate the never-ending threats by NATO to Russia once and for all.
Using weapons without perfect timing is almost useless. Mr Putin certainly knows how, when and where to power. He is the master. The people of the west don’t know how lucky they are for having Putin as their enemy. I congratulate Russia and the world for having him at helm at this time.
Peace
And there goes the final bastion of western monopoly, The Information/Propaganda War has been conceded . . . . . . . . in broad daylight.
Patience is a virtue, god knows Russia’s showing how serious they are about avoiding war, but there a point where, once the cup’s full, there will be a time of reckoning and then it will be too late to try stopping the inevitable, the Russian bear will growl and growl louder… beware of the fury a bear can bare upon you !
This is indicative of the pathetic state of the ‘Empire’- see
https://www.rt.com/russia/548259-us-false-flag-ukraine/
I can’t see that documentary winning any Oscars. Chemical Ali has been brought out of retirement to find the WMD’s in Donbass, Guy Ritchie is directing, Clooney producing, and Biden has a walk-on cameo role as an imbecile looking to grope Angelina Jolie’s fake tits.
>>>”The Belarusian military has taken control of a Ukie reconnaissance drone and forced it to land. ”
Quite an enchanting opening line.
Europe relies heavily on Russian gas and Chinese trade, threatening to fragment the West. The crisis was engineered to try to unify the West against Russia by painting Russia as a predatory aggressor. The result has been: 1) With no actual evidence of aggression, the Europeans rebelled and nixed the decoupling response hoped for by the US. That is, they nixed cutting off NS2, nixed serious sanctions, and nixed the exclusion of Russia from SWIFT–the economic cost is too high. And, 2) Russia has wisely resisted any temptation to intervene militarily in Ukraine. Hopefully Russia continues to wisely stay cool. Of course it could win any military conflict in Europe. Everyone on both sides knows this. But actually doing so would scare the crap out of the Europeans and drive them into the arms of the Americans. Winning militarily would be losing strategically. Putin likely knows this. So don’t expect any serious military action from the Russians. Best to sit back and enjoy the unravelling as NATO fragments of its own volition.
“Winning militarily would be losing strategically.”
Strategies are functions of facility and purpose.
“Winning” creates “enemies” and future iterations of war and so is never deemed strategically wise by some, but is deemed to be a tactic requiring subsequent rectification to achieve purpose, and hence “winning” delays/potentially deflects the achievement of purpose.
Consequently the purpose of some is to transcend coercive social relations opponents through social relations based on cooperation, including the cooperation of opponents facilitated by their pursuit of “winning”.
I just read a fascinating article on how the Ukraine went from being a leading arms producer, including aircraft carriers to one basically totally dependent on others https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/ukraine-s-fall-from-grace-how-a-world-leading-military-industrial-power-devolved-into-a-dependant-on-western-aid
The ban on Deutsche Welle from broadcasting its one-sided reports on the Russian-speaking population is only a consequence of the quasi-bans on RT as the voice of Russia and its partners in the Russian-speaking world. What RT – DE has been accused of, especially the blocking of bank accounts in UK and Germany are intended to sabotage RT’s often inconvenient news without banning the station directly. France is even more advanced in sabotaging RT… These castrations of economic tools necessary to run effectively are not economically justifiable. But they provide a visible proof that the judiciary in the European countries is not really independent, but that judges are reprimanded when they do not deliver judgments that follow the political line. In the case of Germany, certain ” adaptations ” to this political guideline remind me of the ” Kieler Schule ” (Laboer Schule) whose jurisprudence by amendment quasi legitimised the deportation of disagreeable ” Volksschädlinge ” to the ” Ostmark” on the dark years of megalomanic Nazi rules. These are quite dark period of justice in Germany was persistently suppressed in the western post-war Germany. Why could all these criminals escape prosecution just be say “I only followed orders”?
Of course in general, banning any source of information is crossing a red line (for me personally, it is tantamount to expulsion from the paradise of freedom of expression). But then the ban of Deutsche Welle comes close to the control of foreign “NGOs” from 2010 on, when all these US sponsored NGOs complained that their work in Russia would be made impossible. I had researched the sponsors of some of these foreign NGOs in early 2011. I don’t need to explain the findings to anyone here. Only who believes that these commercial media here in Europe which are allegedly so concerned about democracy in Russia would have reported about the subversive machinations of NGOs is naiv. The used These NGO’s for statements to discredit Russias status as a sovereign Nation Most reporting came out with the same and long known result: Democracy’s bad, “Putin”, aka Russia, is evil, no discussion. Basta. Not about the positive economic networking and cooperation in the CIS, nothing about culture and when it comes to that, what would Europe be without Russia’s outstanding cultural contributions. It is a European nation through and through, but that is exactly what is being harshly suppressed for ideological reasons.
The DPA is much more problematic for the CIS states than the Deutsche Welle because it spreads nasty distortions about these states to an audience that I would almost call brainwashed. And because the DPA is owned by all the mainstream media in Germany, this press agency is anything but independent. Actually, it is not even the “Deutsche Welle”, which only chews the usual propaganda as it’s nanny ” Radio Free Europe ” since the 1950’s already did. I tried to explain to enough beer-drinking “dissidents” from the USSR at the “Chinese tower” in the “English Garden” of Munich that they were now just working for an enemy propaganda. Still, above all the German Press Agency, DPA, which is hammering the main part of it’s propaganda load on the listeners and readers in Germany. For this purpose a few stringers in 404 and Moscow are provided with the label ” Expert “. What people DPA employs in the CIS is worth to look at and then it quickly becomes clear that these “indigenous experts” have been corrupted with a few euros to forget their journalistic ethics, – if they are journos at all. Then there is also the “tranquilliser-radio”, Deutschland Radio, which lets a well known ultra-reactionary “eagle”-female hover over the political everyday’s life in the CIS. She pounces immediately and at any time eagerly on everything that can be exploited as a sensation or straight propaganda in the “Western” understanding. She had absorbed the experience of understanding of what is politically necessary as one of the press spokeswoman for the German government in Berlin. I would throw the DPA out just the same way because their goal is not journalistic “products” but pure propaganda. This the DPA had proven this completely indisputably to perfection during the Navalny Operetta.