On December 30, Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with President of the United States of America Joseph Biden.
The conversation focused on the implementation of the agreement to launch negotiations on providing Russia with legally binding security guarantees, reached during the December 7 videoconference to launch negotiations on providing Russia with legally binding security guarantees. Vladimir Putin detailed the fundamental approaches underlying the Russian drafts of the Treaty between the Russian Federation and the United States of America and the Agreement between the Russian Federation and the member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. He stressed that the negotiations needed to produce solid legally binding guarantees ruling out NATO’s eastward expansion and the deployment of weapons that threaten Russia in the immediate vicinity of its borders. Vladimir Putin further emphasised that the security of any nation cannot be ensured unless the principle of indivisible security is strictly observed.
Both leaders expressed willingness to engage in a serious and substantive dialogue on these issues. It was confirmed that the negotiations would take place first in Geneva on January 9–10 and then as part of the Russia-NATO Council in Brussels on January 12. Negotiations are also to be held at the OSCE on January 13. The presidents agreed to personally supervise these negotiating tracks, especially bilateral, with a focus on reaching results quickly.
In this context, Joseph Biden emphasised that Russia and the US shared a special responsibility for ensuring stability in Europe and the whole world and that Washington had no intention of deploying offensive strike weapons in Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin gave an exhaustive response to the mention once again by Joseph Biden of the possibility of imposing “large-scale” sanctions in the event of an escalation of the situation around Ukraine. He suggested that this would be a grave error, de facto fraught with the danger of a complete breakdown in Russia-US relations.
The presidents exchanged New Year greetings and best wishes.
Overall, the conversation took place in a frank and business-like atmosphere and it was certainly of benefit to both parties. The leaders agreed to continue regular contacts at the highest level.
—o0o—
In contrast, Psaki’s Statement following the call:
Statement by Press Secretary Jen Psaki on President Biden’s Phone Call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia
President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke today with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. President Biden urged Russia to de-escalate tensions with Ukraine. He made clear that the United States and its allies and partners will respond decisively if Russia further invades Ukraine. President Biden also expressed support for diplomacy, starting early next year with the bilateral Strategic Stability Dialogue, at NATO through the NATO-Russia Council, and at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. President Biden reiterated that substantive progress in these dialogues can occur only in an environment of de-escalation rather than escalation.
—o0o—
No more war drums! That’s reassuring. If there will be a deal it will be negotiated between Russia and USA only. The EU is being shown its place and will be informed and instructed by the USA. Talks with NATO in Brussels and the OSCE will be just talks.
What’s reassuring? There is no consensus between US and Russia even regarding a brief 50 min phone call…
why not being a bit optimistic? I for my person DO NOT wish for war just to see Russia being victorious.
With current events and numerous recent provocations by rotten empire, there is absolutely no reason for any optimism. We are entering scary 2022, and things will get worse, no doubt.
I wish everyone good luck in New Year.
Thomas, that has nothing to do with optimistic, we call it realistic, no consensus, nothing is different than before the phonecall. We have to wait and see.
Well, pervy Joe can’t transmit an STD with a phone call, or amoebic dysentery with his soggy Depends.
Ain’t that the truth? The US bagel press says Biden handed Vlad his ass on a platter but in MSM comments, no one even believes it anymore.
Sure
Germany is occupied country just like eastern Syria.
And France is African colonized, US tamed and pacified country.
Completely wrong. Germany is occupied in the same way Hawaii is occupied and nothing like Syria
Just in case you didn’t noticed, the entire West is seriously being colonized.
Check Canada where I live, the US as well being invaded through its southern borders, UK has an Asian population from India and Pakistan plus a zillion of Muslims, Germany is colonized by Turkey and many others.
We’re pretty much a bunch of goner.
The subsequent meetings invoked can be used to give instructions to implement what the US has decided. But they can also serve to rot the process.
The lack of unity in a collapsing irrational structure does not leave much hope. Mr. Lavrov will be able to rest and Mr. Shoigu will take charge of process.
It is preferable to abstain from optimism if it does not meet the required expectations of the right agendas. Remember, don’t take your eyes off the money.
Bravo Saker, you are on the crest of the wave on this utmost important developments.
What was interesting is that a press briefing was given at the same time that this call took place. So, the US press got its marching orders. Same old, same old – but it seems there is some seriousness or at least a recognition that this is not Russian Fun any longer. Can this be trusted? All the Tabaquis are expected to howl in concert (which is of course a pre-cursor to attempt to slow down talks) and despite the setting of the scene by Mr. Putin and I guess Biden+++, I believe not one word from Psaki’s mouth. In this press briefing, not even the ‘Senior Administration Official’ was named.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/12/30/background-press-call-on-president-bidens-call-with-president-putin-of-the-russian-federation/
Yes “interesting” that they didn’t even wait for the end of call to brief the press.
I always thought it was the mainstream media spinning disinformation, but this is now coming directly from WH press officials.
Maybe Putin was trying to “test the water” with this call, prior to the summit. Things should be clearer for him now.
sim,pensei a mesma coisa,todos os medidores de ¨temperatura e pressão¨ estão ligados no máximo durante esses contatos repetitivos ,porém,com pequeno delta variável ,na direção que Putin empurra
Goverment officials have been lying in the US since at least 1776.
@Serbian girl, CIA, MI6, and Mossad for that matter, spin all the mainstream major news, has been that way since print went mainstream ….print/media owners only exist at the whim of the government/crown……what is reported via the mainstream is a view point the reader/watcher/listener is expected to adopt….nothing to do with ‘real, in the moment’ news.
Mr Putin and Russia are on the record, an NFT of information so to speak.
Cheers and Happy New Year…… M
I don’t know, reading everyone’s opinion shows to me that SehSha will try to get everyone but Burundi involved in an attempt to put off the inevitable, IOW VVP’s ‘or else’. None of them seem to have a clue as to how serious VVP is on this entire subject and he stated more than once that he will negotiate with SehSha and no one else on the ultimatum, he won’t rummage around through the entire nato lineup over the next six months. In my opinion it’s do or die time very soon. While I haven’t a clue as to the consist of the ‘or else’ I must admit a bit of curiosity as to what exactly it is.
And, ‘in the news’ locally so it ain’t no secret. A new Desantnik battalion has been formed during the very recent maneuvers in central Krimea. This unit is based in Krimea, exactly where it was not said.
Auslander
@ Ausländer: If this was true that the USA have no interest of their own to avoid a military confrontation with Russia (and China?) they would have brushed off the Russian ultimatum just as the EU tried to do it.
In this Geo-political chess game, my impression is that the objective of this Russian gambit is to freeze the board in place for a few months.
Why?
Because the ‘Globalist’ leaders of the West are about to be check-mated, and want to overthrow the chessboard by instigating a war between the U.S. and Russia/China. However they have only a few months to do this, as they will lose what control that they have of the U.S. in November.
If there is no major war, by the end of 2022 the entire Globalist project will be nothing but ashes, and the world can get on with restructuring itself into a Multi-polar World Order led by Russia and China.
The elections are approaching both in US and Russia, it would be a stretch of imagination to think that an election in US will change their policies towards any country. Right now the situation is such that Biden can garner few points by show of force and Putin will end up looking a bit weak, so sorry cannot agree with your some what optimistic analysis. Forget US, Turkey is feeling comfortable lecturing Russia, now tell me the upside?
Can a grown up trust The West?
NO!Nope!Not at all!The West is many times proofed that cant be thrusted!This time will be no different as many times in the past!
This is only a matter of power because real power will always be respected. The USA does not honor agreements with countries of which they believe they can be easily defeated. Exception is Iran, there the Israel lobby is too strong. And things don’t go well for the USA with Iran.
The same old duality keeps going on:
what is stated by Putin and the Kremlin conflicts with what is stated to the western press by the WH press secretary Jen Psaki.
We will see the same duality when the negotiations are rolled out at the NATO and OSCE meeting.
What Putin and Biden have agreed upon in closed conversations will be denied by NATO and the OSCE, and interpretation of the agreement will go on forever.
Only solution:
Russia has state its Red lines.
Withdraw from the negotiations.
Russia must attack with weapons any violations of its red lines.
Talk is futile. Time for action.
> Talk is futile. Time for action.
Fortunately the decision-makers on the Russian side are cooler on the trigger than most armchair generals.
In 6 months I will rewrite you Response, and then let’s see if the “Armchair General” or the cooler heads have read the duplicity from the west correct.
Bravo! I concur with saker that the guys continuously demanding Russian kinetic action are either simple minded or belonging to the opposite side.
The US and NATO has since 9/11 been terrorizing smaller Nations around the Globe, while sending their own Nations into deep debt, and their own populations into economic recession, and during the last 2 years into COVID Lock Down to avoid riots.
When the first round is fired between Russia and the west, the western financial system will collapse.
Then the US and NATO will not only face Russia and its SCO allies, but also the Nations they have terrorizing through the war on Terror, and by economic sanctions.
Western Nations will also face riots and civil war from its own populations, fighting to bring down the Deep State from within.
And the US and NATO knows it.
A week ago, retired US Generals warned of possible civil war in America.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/us-politics/article-us-retired-generals-warn-of-divided-military-and-possible-civil-war-in/
The yellow wests in France are preparing for the spring in Paris. This uprising will spread to all of Europe. The population in all NATO nations is feed up by COVID lock downs and are ready to striker and riot.
Even Turkey may be ready to abandon NATO, as it has been under repeated financial attack since Erdogan was attempted dethroned by the US in collusion with NATO.
Russia has been building up its military defenses since the start of the War on Terror.
That may be the reason why we first see the red line from Putin now. Today Russia is ready for war.
What many fail to realize is that Europe once again, will bear the brunt of a East West military conflict, and that the Nordic population already have reservations against the warmongering stance toward Russia.
A confrontation between Russia and US-NATO may well result in the fracture of NATO into 3 old Alliances:
The 2nd British Empire alliance
The 4th Central European Alliance
The 2nd Nordic Alliance.
The Nordic population has a more friendly view toward Russia. The current nuclear weapons free zone of the Nordic Nations is bound in the Nordic sentiment of not being afraid of the Russians, and the acknowledgment of the pure destruction of a nuclear war will ultimately entail us all.
A Nordic Alliance will reduce the combined forces of NATO, especially now that the British Imperial alliance is clearly dropping France and Germany as partners.
A Nordic Alliance will assure a more constructive dialog between East and Western Europe.
Time has come to end of the One World Order.
Dane , a good Op-ed based on known opinions. Please consider, a war between two powers can easily expand and escalate to a fiery end in a week. What ever you say is regurgitating talking points of alternate media, but they are not written in stone and as said earlier, once the conflict becomes HOT then no one knows for sure how and how fast it may reach a tragic end. I concur with bolangi that people in charge may not be so idealistic ( end the one world order) or so gung-ho as you sound. Turkey has been chirping recently, I don’t know if you had a chance to read it.
@Mita wrote:
Regurgitating = bring swallowed food up again to the mouth.
Or repeat (information) without analyzing or comprehending it.
First I have not seen anybody ells write about the existing Nordic Military corporation, and former alliance.
I have not seen anybody ells state why Nordic Nations has no Nuclear weapons in time of peace.
I have not seen anybody ells write why Sweden and Finland has kept them selves out of NATO.
I have also not seen anybody ells state the fact that Turkey are under economic attack from the Empire.
So accusing me of repeating Talking points is way off the mark.
@Mita wrote:
Op-ed = The opinion of an author not affiliated with the publication’s editorial board
Yes: I’m not affiliated with the Editorial board of the Saker, however Im military trained and know the consequences of a war with Russia, just as most of the writers in the Saker community are fully aware of.
When I write, I’m trying to inform the western population, not the Russian people.
The Russians already know the consequences because they have lived under a threat of devastating war since the Global war on terror began, whereas the western population has been sleep-walked into an open confrontation with Russia by globalist Agents in western governments.
Yes: Any kind of skirmish will promptly activate alliances, both NATO and the SCO Alliances, and things will escalate quickly, as we will see dormant flash-points around the globe erupt:
North Korea vs South Korea – Iran+Yemen+Lebanon+Gaza vs Israel – Syria+ Iraq vs US Forces – China vs Taiwan – India vs Pakistan – Former French colonies vs France and on and on.
What you call Talking points are blunt facts, you may not like my bluntness, but if war erupts we will all come face to face with reality.
As you write, nothing is set in stone anymore, all former international orders has been challenged during the war on terror, and a war between Russia and US+NATO, will be the ultimate test of the NATO alliance.
I believe that NATO will fracture by that test.
The only thing (besides a major war) to change the world order, is if people in the EU acknowledges reality, and starts voicing their opposition against the warmongers provocations.
If the European and the Nordic population don’t want another devastating war on their territory, they have better end NATO in its current configuration, because if war erupts with Russia all NATO nations will be targets by Russian counter Attacks.
I’m not advocating for War. I’m advocating for peace.
So wake the F+++ Up to what our Globalist politicians and NATO are dragging us into. Say NO to the provocations against Russia, and demand the end to the institution who has become the greatest aggressor and threat to Peace worldwide since 9/11.
Dear Mita if you are afraid of reality, then raise your voice against those who drags you into war.
Mr Lavrov held a press conference with Sputnik.
This statement:
It is rather blunt. Russia will eliminate unacceptable threats to her security.
https://sputniknews.com/20211231/lavrov-to-sputnik-russia-suggests-creating-legalising-new-system-of-security-agreements-1091936821.html
(Did anyone notice that in the simultaneous US press briefing the words “Security Guarantees” were not uttered even once).
Lavrov also mentioned that they will not allow the US and NATO to delay the process with “endless discussions”.
I am still puzzled at Russia’s approach, they are demanding “security guarantees”, from a party they know is “not agreement capable”. The JCPOA showed that any agreement can be ripped up on a whim by a subsequent administration.
What form will the guarantees take, a few hundred billion in US treasuries? That could be printed over the weekend.
Ukraine negotiated Minsk 1 -2 and were clearly told by the US, not the EU, not to comply.
As I have said before, the US has nothing to lose from the status quo. The ethnic cleansing of Donbass continues for another 10 years, multinationals buy the mines and farmland for cheap and consolidate. The remaining locals will be happy to work for them.
OK, this is my understanding.
It is not Russia’s real problem that they are dealing with the ultimate unreliable actor here. It is the problem of the US. They have to bring something, and Russia has nicely drafted *what* they should bring, and *how*.
So, knowing that there is a mountain of nuance everywhere in the Russian statements, the simple understanding is “You are shitting all over. Stop your shit, or we make you stop via military-technical means”.
So that is the real issue here. We can speculate what that military-technical actually means, but we don’t know. Lavrov says that Russia will “eliminate unacceptable threats to our security” and these were the words by most of the Russian leaders over the past weeks.
So, Russia is walking around the agreement-capable issue, and they will judge on real action. The guarantee part that they are looking for, is stuff that is visible, in other words, a change in the actions of NATO and the US.
NATO must move back so it can be seen and not just pretend to otherwise Russia will make them move back.
Alternatively, create an equal threat to US/NATO.
Either way, Russia ensures the ‘guarantee’ part. (The rest is up to the military analysts to let us know what the possibilities are and that is what keeps everyone awake at night.)
The issue is a bit bigger than just Russia, US/NATO, and the Ukraine. The Ukraine is only the pawn in the game. The very same process is being run by the usual suspects around China. So, the balance of powers is out of balance and this is what Russia wants to fix, and China has their back.
Thank you for your posts Amarynth.
Very reasonable assumptions.
I was unaware of the press briefing being timed to coincide with the telephone call. Despicable, stupid, but unsurprising.
I do hope Russia is proactive and not reactive when it comes to getting out in front of the SWIFT issue, and perhaps in demanding gas / oil payments from EU UK USA JPN et al in rubles or yuan. I think these moves would also be reasonable.
As to ‘military tech.’ I have no idea, but trust that those making those decisions know exactly what they are doing. I have a feeling many ‘leaders’ will be quietly applauding if not overtly supporting.
Diplomatic cover, for after the USA steps over the line contractually agreed to. VVP is well known to support international law, by signing and breaking a treaty with Russia the USA is clearly the aggressor. This provides Russia the legal cover to strike the USA directly.
No sense biting the body of the python, take the head.
That’s my take too, Jack.
If the West says yes to the agreement & breaks it: military escalation will follow. If they say no: military escalation will follow.
Either way, whether they sign or not, Putin has clarity moving forward.
It seems the West understands this and is now studiously avoiding a clear cut answer and proposing endless discussions (with each and every Western poodle, as if they ever had any say in anything).
I doubt that the Russians seriously expect the Americans to agree, or to implement any of their proposals. This looks like an exercise in justification, a case for war. Russia is building a case, for prospective domestic support, and retrospective international and historical justification. “See how hard we tried to reason with the Americans . They refused peace and continued to threaten us. We had to annihilate them. So sad. Now the rest of the world had better listen when we talk.”
It’s not about Ukraine or the pinprick threats from Eastern Europe, it’s about displacing and replacing the Hegemon of the World.
@cynic
You have a correct macro view of what is transpiring.
The Hegemon is built on NATO and the keystone of NATO against Russia is Ukraine.
Russia will eliminate the keystone and the wall of NATO will fall, crippling the Hegemon’s grip on half the globe.
cynic, agree with your perspective. Similarly, the Financial Empire is pretending that it wants to negotiate with Russia. However, Putin seems to know better and maybe is revealing Russia’s path through the firing of tsirkon missiles?
The Empire has consistently dismissed Russia’s broad frame of security guarantees, public diplomacy, and no regime change in its neighborhood. The Empire is trying to give some crumbs to Russia by narrowing the negotiation frame to the Ukraine subject and that too with no time limits. The U$A might just announce its support for the Minsk agreement (which it has already done at the UN) and ask Ukraine to work on it. If Russia falls for these crumbs then it will be a big looser and lose its reputation. Putin’s credibility, reputation and legacy are on the line.
The Empire shows no intention of understanding Russia’s security needs and continues engagement to see how it can quash them and keep negotiations private. Will Putin & Russia repeat their past mistakes without security guarantees?
Russia will need to make a strong stand to ensure its security and sovereignty. It is unfortunate that the Russian media isn’t pushing the security frame. The Empire’s media isn’t talking about Russia’s security needs and just limiting all their coverage to the Ukraine issue. Why so much passivity from the Russian media?
https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/russia-test-fires-new-hypersonic-tsirkon-missiles-frigate-submarine-2021-12-31/
if you look at what is happening in ””certain markets”’ (historically known for accurately seeing around corners of time) it appears the timeline for a quantum change in the geopolitical power balance occurs anywhere from 3rd week of january into first week of february.
no idea what the specifics will be only that something is coming very soon.
Monsieur,
Can you tell us, what are these “markets” please.
I do not think this is a complex situation.
NATO is the Eastern arm of the US Empire which covets Russia’s resources.
The Empire seeks to use Ukraine as a bridgehead to balkanise Russia with its well-known assortment of destabilising tactics. And install missiles to intimidate Russia when it cracks down on the manufactured subversive elements (which demand self-determination).
This process would not end until Russia is subjugated. The Kremlin knows all about this cunning plan, of course.
Therefore, war is inevitable. How far it will escalate is the question.
Thank you. What I find impressive and rather scary is the cold, clever, patient long term planning of the Russians. Putin and his men kept Russia together, improved economic and social conditions, gained prestige at home and abroad, whilst rebuilding their military and developing advanced weapons with brains rather than money. There will be more to this long term plan than spanking or slaughtering a few American/Israeli stooges in Ukraine.
Their diplomacy has worked in tandem with discreet and limited demonstrations of military power. It has been very mild in response to American provocations, and clearly aims to replace the USA as the ‘indispensable’ power in the world, by trying to encourage negotiation between opponents and gaining influence as ‘nice guys’ who ‘walk softly whilst carrying a big stick’. They now have more influence in the Middle East, slowly waltzing their American ‘partners’ backwards out of it. They have gained access to the previously American dominated arms markets of Arabia and now India. Politicians there obviously feel the geopolitical wind changing and welcome opportunities to be bribed by new weapons salesmen. American power and prestige is ebbing and the Russians clearly intend to replace them.
I suspect that the Russians have suddenly made a big fuss about Ukraine and Eastern Europe at this time because they – along with the rest of the world – have seen American weakness demonstrated in Afghanistan, and in the political weakness and unpopularity of the illegitimate ‘Biden’ regime at home. Defensive preparations and the production of super-missiles are probably considered sufficiently advanced to risk giving the Americans a sharp nudge here and there, to keep them off balance and stumbling backwards. Noticeably the Russians have not tied themselves to specific threats from which it would be embarrassing to retreat if the American response is stronger than expected. Then they could simply add a new grudge to their collection.
General Miley told the Chinese he would not obey if Trump ordered him to attack them. I doubt that he would obey orders from ‘Biden’ to launch missiles at Russia, or indeed escalate beyond the petty annoyance level in Eastern Europe. (Has he already told the Russians this?) It would be far simpler and more patriotic for the ‘woke’ American military to replace the mysterious puppeteers who operate ‘Biden’s’ vocal cords and have him avoid war. Political weakness could have that effect. Who would know or care? (Apart probably from Russia’s spies and diplomats.)
It is interesting that Putin’s emotional tone has changed from stoicism to open anger and resentment and revelation of a deep sense of grievance. It looks as if Russians are strongly motivated by this feeling that they have been cheated and threatened and must act strongly to defend themselves – despite simultaneously boasting of having the best military in the world armed with the most superior weapons. This gives the impression that the Russian government has got a lot of popular acceptance of the risk of war with the USA.
Some further demonstration of American weakness and folly will probably be required to get the EU to start to slowly distance themselves. A cold winter without Russian gas, and without American replacement of it, might help. Then they will not complain if Russia persuades the Jewish crooks who run Ukraine to influence the Jewish crooks who run ‘Biden’ and the USA to agree to some form of words which will give the Russian government the chance to claim success in Eastern Europe without occupying it. If the dire predictions made about the imminent future of the USA are even partially correct, the Americans may soon lose both the intent and the capacity to interfere in the vicinity of Russia. The whole NATO fig leaf is likely to shrivel and blow away, without the Russians needing to do much about it.
As America declines Russia can slowly take it’s place as Primus Inter Pares. How long before the smile of the Bear turns into an open display of teeth?
Cynic, “it’s about displacing and replacing the Hegemon of the World”.
Who would be foolish enough to copy Americas mistake? In 30 years it took them from sole superpower to a hollowed out shell.
As one of the interviewers said the bond between China and Russia is as yet untested.
Which one would lead? China obviously, would Russia be happy to see China replace America as hegemon?
Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely, Even mighty Russia or China.
The UN and a laws based order are better than any Hegemon.
For everyone.
I agree.
If you take Russian diplomacy at its word, then there will be no replacement hegemon. China has no history of global conquest beyond the undoubted success of it’s diaspora in intellectual and business pursuits. The “need” for a singular global hegemon is a tragic hangover from the British and then Anglozionist imperial projects.
How we get there is the issue, and no empire relinquishes power voluntarily. I think “A Dane”‘s take on what follows is rather compelling. The sense I get from what I am seeing is that the Covid project has gone into panicked over-reach and is generating a rapidly rising tide of pushback from the mainstream. That mainstream already have serious problems with the globalisation agenda and the damage it is doing to their opportunities for economic and social advancement at a local level. They neither trust or have much respect for their politicians, particularly those from the major parties. Those parties are increasingly being recognised for the hollow fronts that they truly are.
My more spiritually inclined friends see a change in consciousness among humanity rising. It may well be the case, and if it takes the Russians putting a rocket or two up the Anglozionist fundament to complete the birthing process the outcome might well be worth the pain humanity has to bear in that process. The Anglozionist empire will only be stopped by those same forces it uses to continue its global pillage. It would be preferrable if this were not the case, but it is difficult to see how allowing the pillage to continue is going to cost less than bringing it to a shuddering halt immediately, if one has the means to do so. That, right there, is the calculation Putin and Xi might well be focussing on. Time, as always, will give us the answer.
Happy New Year, to all
eagle eye. Thank you. There will always be a dominant power. The Russians have just being smiling and talking nicely while they built their ‘big stick’. When the Americans are reduced in power and influence Russia will be the dominant power. Maybe they will stop smiling and start snarling then.
By the way, China has usually been far more ‘exceptionalist’ than America. Historically they have seen themselves as the ‘Middle Kingdom’, the centre of civilization and the world order of the cosmos to whom the surrounding barbarians must bow and offer tribute. That arrogance got them into trouble in the 19th c. when they lacked the power to defeat the ‘barbarians’. Currently they are also in smiling mode abroad as they make deals to put themselves in the position of dominating the world economically and protect their imports from American blockade. That too may pass.
It’s not so much a matter of choice, but a matter of inevitability. Great Powers will always be rivals. What’s better for everyone is irrelevant. Didn’t some old Greek say that what is best for man is not attainable, for it is never to have been born?
Exactly: The Russians have tried to reason the US, NAT0 and the EU for decades, even in the 90th to the mid 2000 where the relations where friendly, the west would shit on Russia`s security concerns.
When Putin says Russia has nowhere left to which to retreat, he is telling the idiot West that Russia has reached the extent of its ability to avoid war. “We simply have no room to retreat” means Russia has done all she can do to avoid war and now the Americans must get off Russia’s doorstep.
Having spent the last (Fill In The No. of Years) doing the very opposite, that is, undermining Russian Security, is it feasible/realistic to believe that these filthy genocidal warmongering bar-stewards can go cold turkey and quit?
The US have thousands of, let’s call them, drone operators, whose sole purpose is to thwart Russia at every turn, including additional armies of disinformation merchants broadcasting HATE.
Leopard , , , spots , , , would you trust a paedophile to look after your children?
Quit dreaming folks, anything less than levelling the Ukrainian parliament building should one shot be fired into the Donbass is . . . . . Hubris.
Hey Andrei: None of my previous comments were posted. I felt that I should begin by noting that. For the intelligent mind, it is unbelievable that commentators on both the US side and the Russia side keep on and on about some war that is supposed to start. This is similar to the patriotic buildups we saw in national populaces previous to fighting glorious “winning” wars (WWI, WWII, etc.) which will teach the other side a lesson, all while waving flags in a patriotic manner. Bottom line: I trust Putin to make the correct decisions, some of which he has already made, including wanting no part in reacquiring the Ukraine – a lost nation by any accurate definition. The US speaks hard for the neocons who run our globalist empire here in the “West”, so that they can hope for some kind of decisive outcome against the perpetual enemy, Russia, of the West going all the way back to the Great Schism (Catholism vs. Orthodoxy), continuing through Napoleon and Hitlerian grand schemes to “civilize” the world. Were there ever two greater narcissists than those two? Yes, maybe Roosevelt and Churchill, who led Germany into a trap in WWII (Pearl Harbor and Axis alliance fomented by the oil embargo on the ambitious Empire of Japan). Continuing on, I majored in Russian History as a youth, all because my Dad (a Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate – similar to Harvard back when it actually had smart students) always yelling about the Russians. Who betrayed our Russian allies after the defeat of Hitler with their mad imperial dreams of world conquest continuing up to Globalization and now the Great Reset? This is an historical continuum. Putin has it right to not get all macho with our pipsqueak and lunatic narcissists, who somehow became Pentagon generals and senile Presidents and Secretaries of State and Defense (actually Offense!). So: as I stated in previous discarded emails to you, Russia needs only to not invade. Period. And what will come after will be peace. Yes, it will be messy. There will have to be nuclear weapons deployed to cast this as a stalemate (the big guy in Belarus is widely considered a pissed off at the West lunatic – with nukes harbored in Belarus the “west” will back down, if not putting that in the Kalingrad enclave. The NS2 pipe will, in all likelihood, become a museum-piece. Let the US rape the brain-dead EU on gas price, which has always been the aim there. Screw them. China will pick up the slack and replace that demand, along with India and other semi-vassals of unaligned nations. Research the present Gazprom deal with Ukraine expiring at the end of 2022 (this year coming up in a few days). Putin wisely said that he would continue gas transit. But in what volume? At what price? The previous contract called for 60% of the level transiting Ukraine after the previous deal expired, with the level at present being 40% – so that is why the Russians can say that all gas contracted is going through. But Merkel – that hag – is gone. Sure Putin is an honorable man and transit could continue – but on Russian terms. The transit fees will be less, and collapse of the criminal Kiev regime will be hastened. Remember the old phrase – the wheel of history moves slow. Let the “West” have Ukraine, they miscalculated and now must pay! Hilarious! But, target everything that moves in the Ukraine and be prepared to destroy any Western military assets instantly (and I am sure that this is known). The West already know for sure that an offensive in the Donbass will be dealt with advanced Russian weaponry shot from Russian territory. Lots of dead Ukies and further infrastructure destruction in that territory – that will not help Zelensky and his criminal regime. Another phrase: “you broke it, now you own it” – the neocons acquired a desperate Ukraine by stealth – now they can pay for the upkeep of their “wards”.
So, forget the hysteria. Funny that you ended you last article with Christian religious hope. Recall that when the children said they saw Our Lady of Lourdes that it was stated that Russia would save the world. That time is now.
Raimund
when i was much younger in the early fifties a film sponsored by the catholic church was based upon the
faith/belief based apparitions of our Our Lady of Fatima (not Lourdes), In return for the prayers of the
Catholic faithful for the conversion of Russia to Catholicism from communism ( and i guess by-passing Eastern
Orthodoxy as well : an effective two for ) the promise was made that intercession would be made to avoid an
additional world war ( # two ). Well apparently people did not pray enough. And it was not Russia that would
save the world but Marian intervention.
President Putin has several times stated there will be a “technical and military response” to further provocations.
You do not need “technical” to destroy The Ukraine, old fashioned military will do just fine.
Disabling satellites and blinding the AGEIS missile defense system and destroying an Aircraft Carrier Group would require the “technical” half of the response to provocation.
If you can not protect your most powerful, advanced and iconic weapons system, then you can protect nothing.
US navy, army and homeland would be shown to be defenseless, including White House, Pentagon and cities.
The Russian S-400 and S-500 protect Russia from American and NATO missiles, conventional and nuclear.
If America or NATO tried that they would invite catastrophic reprisals, against which they have no defense.
What do you do when it finally sinks in that you are defenseless against a far more powerful force?
Looks like the US is undecided on how to approach the Russian proposals.
We need a Saker analysis on the US options, how it is likely to respond, which factions are supporting which policies etc.
If the US is saying that it has no intention of putting offensive weapons in Ukraine and is also unwilling to defend Ukraine militarily, what is the point of sticking with Ukraine?
The Russians want NATO to go back to its pre 1997 status. Why would the US just give up its investments in these countries just because the Russians want it? If this is what Russia wants I don’t see any alternative for Russia except to physically remove the offensive weapons from the post 1997 NATO members. But then this has its own risks. The Saker mentioned turning up the pain level but I don’t see how it would achieve much. Even placing nuclear weapons in Belarus won’t be that painful since the US knows that Russia will not go for a first strike. The Russians could attack and destroy the Ukraine military but then this is what the US wants and Russia would be walking into the US trap.
The US can sit tight as long as it stays just below the war threshold and does not initiate a war. The Russians can fret and fume but short of war they achieve nothing and with war they are likely to lose more than they gain.
i, for one, am gratified saker doesn’t waste his gifts trying to game the american response. putin is a man full of surprises, as saker knows well…ie. syria, crimea. america is trust fund adolescent repeating the same old same old. we all know america is incapable of fulfilling an agreement, that is not going to change. america as a fighting force, research mclelland. dither dither, false flag, bomb, nuke if they can, kill civilians, starve the population, cutpurse, grab the resources run & hide & call it victory. this is not going to change. america’s epiphany will only happen when it is broke, raped & no longer of any consequence.
Negotiation will get Russia nowhere. These warmongers only understand the language of action. Resolute action and nothing else.
Russia should not forget history. This is not the first time you find yourself in this matrix! Remember, Mr. Napoleon? Remember, Mr. Hitler? They were not acting alone.
To these warmongers Russia looks like ripe low-hanging fruit. Be careful.
Sadly I have to agree with you. I get the impression that the Russians are being played like a fiddle and these talks will not lead to any “legally binding security guarantees”.
Ali, for the first time in the recorded history of War, Russians will not have to march anywhere, nor will they need to hold high ground……they control the highest of ground hypersoniclly from space. MAD was a stalemate, Russia’s recent demonstration of Satellite removal has flipped the board.
Cheers M
Good luck in dealing with a country whose own Government conspired with The Dancing Mossad fellas to murder over 3000 of their own citizens as a ruse to invade Iraq and implement the War On Terror.
The kitchen sink, including David Copperfieldesque holograms of buildings collapsing and hundreds of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ billions in bad debts miraculously disappearing overnight along with the Pentagon auditors, was thrown at this Deep State false flag.
Anyone see the interview with Colonel Ralph Peters last night on CNN…?
I see a fundamental logical contradiction in Russia’s position. President Putin himself said the US dismisses international law when it’s observance becomes inconvenient for them so why is Russia expecting “legally binding security guarantees” from a party (the US) that serially violates agreements and treaties?The ABM treaty, the INF treaty and the JCPOA with Iran come to mind.
@Jay
“Legally binding security guarantees” are in fact documents that the West should sign and which Russia will certainly use to act legally (as it suits Russia) in case the West does not respect these guarantees. In other words, the West would actually sign a verdict for itself (?), giving Russia the legal(!) right to do what it has to do against west if the West violates the agreement. The West found itself in a dead end.
The entire legal history of Western civilization is built on the same “contradiction”.
The Magna Carta was forced by knife to the throat of the King. They could have killed him, but then there would be lawlessness, no authority.
You see the dilemma for Russia and China as they replace the unipolar system with a multipolar system, and to do it without a world war.
The US is basically not going to leave as Hegemon. They are daring Russia to remove them.
What Putin is constructing is the device(s) to lever (move, remove) the monster hegemon.
There are governments, industries, supply chains and most importantly, markets that China and Russia don’t want to destroy or damage. Instead, China and Russia work against the Hegemon and its constructs. NATO is the target.
The sphere of influence Russia demands can be a zone of peace or a zone of war.
NATO and the US will decide which.
Either way, Russia will get its zone. With war or without war.
The resulting question and choice is does NATO (not the US) want war.
If the US decides war is the option (forcing it onto NATO), then Russia will have to preempt the buildup it will take for such a war.
Meanwhile, this process now set in motion is very short-lived by design. It sets up nicely to allow for the Olympics to transpire.
During the next two months, thousands of North Wind volunteers can move into Donbass, bribes arranged to subvert the Ukie military, and PMCs hired to join the Donbass effort.
The US thinks Kiev will survive the war.
The Russian strategy, as I see it, requires the removal of the US from Kiev. A confederacy has to be put into place, allowing several regions to return to pre-Maidan pro-Russia status and normalizing the 2014 return to Russia of Crimea.
To hold off the West’s sanctions, war crimes trials have to be started. The linkage from the bloodletting in Ukraine and the Dem Party and US officials is plain and open. So, too, the link to Poland, Lithuania and other NATO operatives.
Russia has many cards to play, stones to move, pieces to use in the games ahead.
Demand:
1. removal of military installations in Poland and Rumania
2. removal of foreign forces in Ukraine
3. new free election
4. prosecution for war crimes committed by nazis
5. ban nazi terrorist formations
6. install UN observes during the transition period
7. send Victoria Nuland to the war crimes tribunal for starting a war. (same to Merkel and Macaron
8. Prosecute real culprits of downed Malaysian airliner
9. and many more …
….
I don’t know what Russia refers to by legally binding security guarantees, but I imagine it implies that the US Congress must pass a law that binds the US, since it is formally, according to the constitution, the Congress that makes and approves laws and international agreements. Many, if not most, treaties that the US has not complied with or terminated are ones that the Congress has not ratified, sometimes because of the conflict between the President and Congress over who also informally determines foreign policy. Thus, Russia will probably require not only that the president sign an agreement, but also that the Congress pass a law, not only ratify the agreement, binding both to respect the deal. Admittedly, this will not prevent a new president or Congress from trying to abrogate the agreements, but it will be more difficult and have major credibility consequences.
The West has been quite clear what their intentions are with regard to Russia and China, ‘CONTAINMENT’ which means physically surrounding them with bases etc, and stunting and otherwise restricting their economic growth with sanctions, for many perverse reasons including national security ones similar to those imposed on Huawei, with no evidence. The US reasoning for all this is US hegemony which if the Russian/Chinese allow to happen, will happen, make no mistake
“All in all, the conversation took place in an honest and businesslike atmosphere,” which is unbelievable and impossible when it comes to America, because it has never happened and will never happen again. I will never forget Churchill’s words to Stalin, in relation to Eastern Europe, Churchill tells Stalin to let the nations under the Iron Curtain and let them sing like free birds. Stalin replied: Let them sing to you, I will not. At the meeting in Yalta, Churchill and Roosevelt brought with them piles of papers and documents, and put them in front of them on the table, in conversation with Stalin. Who got up and took all the papers in front of Churchill and Roosevelt and threw them in the corner of the room, saying World War II was not won by papers, but by Russian blood. And it all ended the way Stalin wanted it to. And today, both the West and America are howling in the choir that Russia is the aggressor, something as false and huge as the Himelay. That was not possible with Stalin, not at all. Xi Jingping reluctantly supports the stronger position of Russia, Mao Zedong adopted in the first positions and the strength of the organization of the people from Stalin and everything was done to the end, hence Russia is powerful and since then China is powerful.
Neither China nor Russia is capable of producing the chips needed to conduct modern warfare. Those chips are produced in Taiwan and nowhere else. This is all about Taiwan. The only question is when will China seize Taiwan? I would say 2 to 4 weeks after Russia decapitates Ukraine and occupies Donbass. Poor NATO, so much to insist on and so impotent to do it.
China is already there. One more challenge she overcame quickly. Huawei is back in the cell business again and will present their own chips very soon.
Put another way, this is the final battle of WWII and Germany’s day in the sun has finally come to an end.
While the US plunges into despair, social and economic decay, collapsing infrastructure, environmental pollution, opioid/drug crisis, tent cities for surging homelessness and a myriad of other issues, you’d think that all of the above would be a priority for the lunatics you voted in; but hell no, 88-11 Senators seen fit to increase the Defence, err, WAR budget to $777.7 Billion as a priority. A $777.7 Billion War Chest earmarked for no good MIC FUCKERY.
Never underestimate the stupidity of a cradle to grave hapless brainwashed public.
The saker, let’s say, is a very knowledgeable and competent persone. I have Learned a lor from reading him, and i am waiting 4 his statement 2 know how things r going. I am ignorante that i am, i want 2 say one thing. U will not think that the yankee s do what Russia wants??
As far as I understand, Russia is currently doing quite a bit of political maneuvering to prepare itself for the inevitable political consequences of having to deal with the hotbed of instability on her doorstep that Ukraine currently is. The way I see it, this is a rather clever political maneuver the aim of which is to deny the West the benefit of calling Russia the aggressor, something that their propaganda has been doing for a while now.
We ought to notice that now we’re no longer talking about the alleged Russian invasion of Ukraine, but of Western guarantees to Russia. With just one move, Russia has finally seized the initiative and changed the narrative, now it’s the West that has to respond to Russian demands/proposals, or whatever we want to call them, and not the other way around.
The US elite “choked.” I am a highly experienced street fighter and I know when somebody “chokes,” and the US just choked.
The US has already changed the reason of imposing crippling sanction “if a Russian invasion”……to “in the event of an escalation of the situation around Ukraine”
Since it is the US and NAT0 who has fabricated the imminent Russian invasion hoax, the new red line gives the US and NAT0 an even wider and loser excuse to impose crippling sanction.
The most likely time for US action/aggression is also the least likely time for any Russian action/aggression, i.e., during the 2022 Winter Olympics, which are being held between Feb. 4th and the 20th. Also, I don’t expect Russia to make any moves before the 4th as the Chinese would not want anything to spoil the Olympics. So, Russia will not do anything before Feb. 20th while the US if it is going to make any moves will do so before the 20th.
Good point re the timeline.
The Maidan coup took place Feb 2014, while Russia was busy with the Olympics in Sochi, so Feb 2022 could set the scene for another provocation by the West, while everyone is distracted by the games in China.
… And they used the idiot Saakashvili’s to provoke Russia while Putin was at the Beijing Games.
Note also that the US wants its vassals to join in staying away from Beijing. So perhaps they’re planning something, thinking they’ll surprise Putin and Xi.
What´s going on at this moment? There is a growing impression that US strategists under cover wanted to install nuclear weapons in Ukraine or were in the process of doing so. This explains the Russian reaction at this point and the eager willingness of the Biden administration to talk. It also clarifies the reaction of the paralyzed EU, which does not know how to help itself better than to send forward the not to be pitied Mr. Borrell, who cautiously remarks that the EU wants to have a say in the Russia | USA dialogue. Well, those who have played this fucked-up game for years no longer have anything to say.
There is an audience for this drama between Putin and Biden, Russia and the US.
The NATO nations, enough of whom are very soft on NATO expansion and especially taking Ukraine into NATO.
Putin has their ear and their fears of war.
They don’t want to put their troops into a mixmaster that will utterly destroy them.
Key doubter is Italy.
And don’t forget that the citizenry of EU nations are very restless about energy, Covid, inflation and lack of real democracy.
Putin is playing on all those strings.
Russia is not seen as a disrupter or threat by hundreds of millions of EU citizens.
The EU officials, unelected, and NATO warmongers cheered and led by the US Russophobes who smell the burning torches and see the pitchforks are hoping a war will distract their own masses.
That war has to be bigger than Ukraine. And only the West can start it. Russia can take down Kiev without going big and wide.
Putin is fighting an Infowar and getting front page headlines and Breaking News space.
The European citizens know there is one rational leader in the global superpower space, Putin.
There is no cost to the people of the West to give Russia its sphere of influence. Only the Hegemon loses.
It is a security move to give Russia what it needs.
The other option brings the result that Russia will take what it needs. Anything in its way will fall and burn.
I think we are seeing a masterful play here.
The King of the US/NATO side of the board must be put down in a move of concession.
Else we move to the end game, and that will be a checkmate. “Mr. Zircon is on the line, Sir ”
Russia is moving The Ukraine as a causus belli from the board exchanging it for broader based security guarantees. The US/NATO is still barking up The Ukraine and IF Russia should move … They have nothing but an IF.
Larchmonter,
You are right that there are many citizens of the EU who distrust their government & Brussels bureaucracy.
(Roughly 1/3 of the EU refused the Covid vaccines that have been pushed very hard by both government & media).
The country I see as the weakest link in the anti-Russian NATO / EU front is Romania. I understand there are issues with Russia esp territorial with regards to Moldova. However, Romania has not gone along with several EU/ NATO initiatives from Kosovo/ Camp Bondsteel/ recognition, to adopting the Euro and now have refused to introduce a EU Covid police state.
On a personal note, I know many Romanians, smart and kind people, who are wary of Russia but who are also deeply respectful of our common religion. I could be wrong but, I just can’t see Romanians falling for a US- backed suicide mission.
@Serbian girl,
First, Happy, Healthy New Year. I sense Serbia and Russia are drawing closer.
As for your report, that’s good, too. I think the notion of war undermines all other feelings the general public has. You can eliminate the cultures of pure hate of Russia, like Poland and the Baltics, UK and a few others.
There is a realization that treasured values are protected only by Russia.
We pray it will all go without war. But the warmongers need war, so the odds for peace in this new year are low.
Thank you so much Larchmonter!
I also wish you also, a very happy New Year and look forward to reading you and discussing with you the unfolding events of 2022.
Regarding Serbia and the entire Balkan region, there has been a palpable power shift in favor of Russia and China. (Vaccine and medical diplomacy have helped!) Turkey and EU who together with the US influenced the region geo-politically have been largely absent…Turkey has been busy elsewhere ( Syria, Libya, Azerbaijan) and EU has been very ineffective due to their poor leadership.
The US is now sending a new ambassador to Serbia, an empire hardliner, who will no doubt attempt to “rein-in ” the wayward stooges… the gloves are off, the fifth column in Serbia is very strong. We must be very vigilant.
Take care Larchmonter!
@Serbian girl,
Here’s an article by a Frenchman about the EU, NATO and Russia that indicates what we both see and anticipate.
https://cont.ws/@potap1956/2171925
The key is NATO does not defend Europe. NATO enslaves Europe to US hegemony and wars.
Now, the ultimate war is set to be to destroy Russia. It is all but a kinetic war, fiercely an economic/sanctions war, an Infowar, a cyberwar, and a cultural war.
A huge swath of Europeans want no war with Russia. They consider Russia European. (I don’t, but many people do.)
I’m absolutely convinced we need a war with Russia. If a sufficient number of American and European politicians are killed, we just might get our freedoms back!
I’m fairly certain Putin will have been expertly advised on each nut & bolt within the chamber, including legalities, among the whole package of military, diplomatic, psychological, physiological , biological machinations of the Satanic States of America . Even if Congress, the bought & paid for Lackeys of MIC Corp, ratified stuff, it would still be a useless scrap of paper that one could put to use in the bathroom.
You mentioned Congress 6 times, giving them some important ‘air of authority’ as they tender bid to the Glitterati for their mid-term Campaign Funding. Those Cockroaches would fall in line with a Cheque guaranteeing them 4 more years. Even the clueless VP, Cameltoe, has a casting vote in the Senate. Do you think Lavrov could have a sit down with that calibre of Useless Eater, a steaming pile and all those Committee backroom hustlers like Marco (Sanction Cuba-Venezuela ) Rubio, the freak spawn of the late John McShit-stain. It was OK with Congress to applaud Bibi and John McCain standing atop Bunker Hill on the Turkish Border with Al Nusra Commanders.
Only the folks, well their Handlers who Orchestrated/Ratified 9/11 & Other major False Flags could draft into law (and pass to Biden/Congress for Signature ), moreover though , actually enforce the implementation of the necessary measures/orders externally guaranteeing Russia’s Security and wellbeing to the best of their abilities from their bloody hands. Putin will have a thick Dossier (unlike the Christopher Steele Vagina Monologues) in front of him with every plausible US response/explanation/rebuke A-Z and after digestion his considered response to Who, Why, Where, What , How & When?
An entity’s character, strength and sovereignty is defined by their stand against injustice and threats. Russia’s values and sovereignty are being tested!
Let’s review how the U$A has addressed threats to its security in the past:
– Cuba in 1960s. “John F. Kennedy decided to place a naval “quarantine,” or blockade, on Cuba to prevent further Soviet shipments of missiles.” Similarly, Russia has the right to put a blockade around all nations with Empire’s missiles in its neighborhood that threaten its security. How long will Russia be timid & negotiate? It has been six years since the Minsk agreement was signed and not even the first provision has been implemented. Putin has been complaining about missiles but hasn’t done much.
– Selling oil & gas in its opponent currency. The U$A sells and buys goods in the US$ only. During the Cold War Russia continued to see oil and gas to Europe in their currencies. How stupid was the Soviet Union? Was the Cold War a charade? It continues to repeat those mistakes. It sells oil and gas to nations that harass and threaten it with sanctions, regime changes, missiles, influence denial, … in their currencies. It invests the earned currencies in opponents. Why is Russia funding its foes? Russia will only be strong & smart when it sell its resources only in rubles and do currency swaps with partners.
– ME wars of 20xx. “In this war on terror, America has taken the fight to the enemy. ” If America can go on offensive then so can Russia. When the NATO attacked Afghanistan, Russia helped and provided it a path to do so. When Russia wants to take on Ukraine, the U$A and NATO will help Ukraine by providing information, sending 30 Javelin anti-tank guided missile systems,… The U$A did the same thing when the Soviet Union entered Afghanistan. How do you explain Russia’s conduct?
If Russia doesn’t get its security guarantees then it will have lost big time. It is time to see the spirituality and strength of the Russian soul!
On Dec. 18th. 2021 Alexander Mercours on a Web “Bit Chute – Russia Demands US Strategic Retreat, Demands US Agree Draft Treaties Ending/Reversing NATO Expansion, Revive INF, ABM Treaties, Respect UN, End US Exceptionalism, Regime Change Wars” who explained in point form what are Russia’s demands. These were two documents addressed to the US and the other to NATO, one spelling out conditions of a Treaty the other an Agreement.
In both cases he pointed out that Russia is looking to have a mutually and ‘equally’ balanced Treaty to the benefit of both parties in the case of the US and NATO as a separate body. Now, these documents seems to have establish ‘the agenda’ in point form for discussions. It is quite possible there may be reasons for clarifications of which Mr. Putin and President Biden may have discusses.
But, it (Biden-Putin telephone exchange) may also establish a time line on the discourse of each provision and as to whether an agreement can be met.
Let us make a big assumption that an agreement is formed, that’s all well an good. But, suppose there are no agreement on certain specific provisions. The question then is will there be a partial agreement. It seems not as the Preamble encompass all the various provisions.
It there is now agreement then there will be a situation where each party will have to deal with an increasing tension as they will be an increase turning up in the Pain Dial. And, that may lead to war.
That war may be again fought in Europe. Will Europe not want an agreement so as to avoid another war on its soil. It is this and other considerations that has to be addressed within a specific time line.
In all this scenario the US like the Russians want a beautiful European Cherry. That cherry is Germany. The Russians want it decolonized while the American want to reaming under its feet. Certain German Elite Class supports the Americans others support Freedom America’s Military occupation.
I am of the view that the US is not in a position to war with Russia, China and possible Iran at this time. India, remains an open question but it cannot stand up to China in a real war.
1Beak1, you have too many mistaken assumptions and the main lens is that of the 19th century, before the nuclear weapons and hard power.
The Financial Empire wants to keep China and Russia down so that they are marginalized, don’t develop and then conduct the regime change or disintegration (it successfully accomplished this in the last Cold War). The Empire is doing everything to hurt the Chinese and Russian brand and destroy their reputation. It is using its soft power to build alliances against them and framing them as autocracies, arrogant, abusive,… How is Russia framing the U$A?
Russia’s strength is in hard power and it isn’t showing strength of its soft power. Please share articles or interviews from the Russian media that are enhancing Russia’s position and framing the Empire correctly. Vladimir Putin has done a good job of explaining Russia’s position. However, the Russian media isn’t promoting those viewpoints and strengthening the Russian position. Why?
Germany is giving Russia a hard time in the NS2 approval. Why isn’t Russia and its media raising the issue of sovereignty, bilateral relationship, and threatening to price its gas in rubles? In this digital age stupid fight wars. The real battlefield is the mind. Russia needs to out-innovate the Empire in the soft power arena. The Soviet Union wasn’t militarily defeated but brought down financially through oil price manipulation. The Empire is pursuing a similar strategy. Did Russia learn from its last tragedy?
It is really unfortunate that Germany isn’t showing leadership and wisdom, and comes across as a vassal of the Empire.
There is not much for rebuttal except to say your response is Non-Secquitur. The Saker was trying to figure out what did Putin and Biden speak about. About 6 Hrs ago Russia test for about 10 Zircon missiles. One may ask what is in the message if any.
The issue that remains is that the Russian Leadership under Putin sought it necessary to send two proposals to the American Gov’t. There is much that can be said as to why at this time. The Russian News media, Germany’s decision to follow the EU on the NS2 are all oblique matters. Yes, we agree the trajectory of the Empire of 1944 and its objectives to conqueror the USSR using Nazi Germany their creation. The plan was to having used the Nazi to crush the USSR they were to crush Germany after. But, things didn’t turn out that way.
But, returning back to the issue. We may never know what the BIden-Putin discussions were about and there will not be an agreement.
But, then what will be the impact of the Russian Proposals on International Relations. There are a number I can hazard a guess. They are as follows:
1. It will expose the fact that Russia has No Fear of the Hegemon what-so-ever.
2. If the hegemon does not respond tangibly it will look like the real ‘paper tiger’ and be embarrassed as it was by Iran when it fired on it in Iraq after the illegal execution of General Soliemani.
3. No tangible response will show allies to the hegemon that it cannot be depended upon for Protection and this will cause anxiety for many European American vassals.
4. Then, the Economy of the Hegemon is virtually Bankrupted with an explosive Inflation of the way that will further enhanced Covid-virus anxiety and instability.
5. The powerful Chinese economic leader Xi Jinping has signaled that China stands with Putin.
6. All the European economy are decreasing but some are well hinged on China as Germany, Hungry, Italy among others.
7. The Hegemon remains in the Iranian Cock fight and Iran will not back down. It will be strange to see Israel strike Iran as that will explode the Mideast where many American military are located.
8. Both America and Europe are held hostage by the Klaus Schwab Great Rest that is coupled with Climate Change and most of the Oil is controlled by Russia and its allies many of whom are not accepting the US Dollar.
9. Will the American Deep State Nuke Russia and if what will be the response and will the European agree as NATO occupied Europe is expected to coupled with the US to destroy Russia. I doubt that the Europeans are that foolish but then they can ‘Sleep Walk into a War as done before but this war will not be the same IF Nukes are employed.
I am sure there is more.
9. How long oil can be exchanged for the fiat US Dollar.
Image of Russian troops massing near the border
https://sharij.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/snimok.jpg?x47119
хуй = dickheads
In case of sanctions, Russia will break off relations with the United States – ie it will then be up to the US to restore diplomatic relations. If there is room for diplomatic communication, there will be military communication (not kinetic but equally effective).
Happy New Year, one and all
There already is a war going on in the eastern Ukraine.
One finds occasional articles on the subject, (e.g. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/31/i-hear-shelling-every-night-war-stalks-life-in-eastern-ukraine.) which seldom say exactly who is provoking the conflict. The instigators tend to be put in terms of “they” and “them” without saying who they and them are; as if to whitewash the subject. Southfront is reporting the situation on the ground by saying what is happening and who is doing it. Per Southfront, it seems like the U.S. backed Ukraine government is taking on a bit of an offensive toward the east. I’m not so sure the current negotiations between Russia and the U.S. is all about Russia’s borders, but more about people out to drop bombs on people. Anybody with a little empathy would be a bothered by this. I think Putin is mostly interested in putting a stop to this.
Does not “Biden” realise that the United States would be lauded by most of the world for making a compromise and accommodating Russia’s totally valid security needs, especially considering the well-documented histories of all the players in the region, numero uno, Ukraine having been a political appendage of Russia for nearly a thousand years and millions of Russians still live there? Clearly this is no more than a family squabble which should not serve as a pretext for WWIII or the further vivisection of Russia and its resources to benefit antagonistic outsiders. Washington (which itself is many thousands of miles away from any lines of contact and buffered by an enormous ocean) would only have to request reciprocal reduction of (imaginary) threats by Russia against the West (NATO countries), which it seems ready to accommodate. For pity’s sake, simply restoring most of the weaponry treaties established during several American presidencies during the twentieth century should reasonably suffice! For simply re-embracing reason and the peace that would accompany it, the US could rehabilitate its now nefarious reputation and Joe Biden (heretofore known for little more than scandals) could stand in the history books as an honored diplomat alongside Ronald Reagan who ended the first Cold War.
Honestly, Saker, if all the countries of the world could cast a secret ballot, how many would oppose such a solution? Which besides Ukraine and Israel? The vote on Nazism in the UN a few days ago leads me to believe that even Washington’s sock-puppet European vassals would surely give Russia its security in exchange for their own (not that theirs is actually threatened–which they full well know). The world’s attention could then turn to implementing China’s BRI including America as an integrated partner standing to gain and rehabilitate its own trade and manufacturing base. America might not be number one and absolute hegemon any longer but it would thrive, rank high among world leaders and not be hated universally. What is wrong with that? Maybe it would be a better fit for its changing demographic who will soon enough no longer be a majority of European ethnicities driven by an urge to achieve and dominate. Might as well relax a bit if it is our destiny to become just one more banana republic. The Chinese have Confucianism and social harmony as universal principles to guide them. Every day it seems we Yanks are closer to embracing the philosophy of mañana as our national life style. Time to chill with the Hitler routine.
I noticed that long ago. The State Dept is completely insubordinate to the elected part of our Government and has been for a long time. For example, When Trump first announced his iniative to normalize relations with Russia. The very next day the Hillbilly from Hell, AKA Nikki Halley held a sudden news conference where she contradicted him, word for woud. The USA would NEVER normalize relations with the Evil Empire, unquote. Pres Putin certainly knows this and will factor this into his negotiation. If we can call it that. This knowledge would give any chess player mentality a huge avantage. Its seeming more and more to me like when a bad looser gets CHECKMATEd.
Ralph
I think you have highlighted a very significant point, overlooked by many (including almost all the media).
Whatever your views on Trump, the fact is he was elected and the way in which the various state agencies ignored him made a mockery of supposed “democracy.” Mind you I do not think Trump was the first to be ignored, but they felt freer to be public about it.
The problem for Putin is, who the heck do they negotiate within the USA. Who actually runs the place. It is not the POTUS or his selected secretaries. I think Putin is very aware of this. (There was a comment here a day or so ago such that wits in the Kremlin suggested Putin include a psychiatrist in his negotiating team, to better understand the USA. The sad thing is that jokes aside they may be right).
Thanks W, Ill wager that all parties know exactly who theyre negotiating with even, though we do not. IMO thats because theyre more afraid of us than the Russians, LOL. Reg Trump as POTUS, all the RWingers were delighted with Nikkis performance. Which is still online. A rumor surfaced about her possible candicy for POTUS shortly afterward. It never ceases to amaze me how otherwise intelligent people fall for a personality or ideology and miss the main issue. That part of the most powerful government is in blatent and hostile non compliance with the elected branch. Hoping for a better 2022!
If this analysis is correct, and I think it is, then Putin has two options. Wait for the USA to self destruct in a civil war, or bring on a conflict that accelarates that outcome. It comes down to a claculation of the relative costs of those options. Costs, in terms of risk, lose of starategic advantage, human well being, political capital, credibility, and doubtless other aspects I have not recognised from my humble position at the other end of the world.
While our host and others would prefer the kinetic option be avoided, in the end it is possible and indeed probable that the costs of avoiding it could be far higher than those than come with the brutal application of overwhelming force. As someone bullied as a child until I was physically able to lay the bully flat on his back after a summer of hard work carting in hay bales by the thousand, I can identify with those choices. There is a point where standing for something beats falling for anything. We are nearly there, in so many respects.
I also think that military force is the only language that will truly be listened to by the fools in Washington and NATO. I refer you to the recent article by Gilbert Doctorow, who has changed his thinking about what the Russian response will be to continued intransigence and belligerence by the US. Doctorow wrote (on Dec 31, 2021).
Doctorow referred to an article in the Financial Times (FT) that described Putin’s refusal “to rule out a military solution [in Ukraine] and has previously warned that he has ‘all kinds’ of options if his demands are not met.” Doctorow wrote:
‘What could those ‘all kinds of options be’? If the FT staff in Moscow had bothered to listen to the December 28 edition of the talk show ‘Evening with Vladimir Solovyov’ they would know what readers of my transcription of the show published earlier today now know: Russia is considering making surgical strikes against NATO military infrastructure that it deems threatening to its national security, and the targets are not necessarily in Ukraine. No invasion, no overthrow of the fascist-rabid nationalist influenced government in Kiev, just surgical strikes, such as Israel and Turkey and the United States itself have carried out in places like Syria and Iraq in the past few years with total impunity.
When I heard this voiced by Vladimir Solovyov, this was the first time such an ingenious solution came up. I had been looking elsewhere when trying to make sense of Putin’s talk of ‘military technical’ means to achieve its political objective of removing existential threats posed by NATO installations. I had assumed he meant stationing submarines and frigates armed with hypersonic missiles just off American shores or planting still more missiles in Kaliningrad and in Belarus to threaten European capitals. But how could the reality of Russian strategic superiority represented by these new weapon systems be driven home without an exercise similar to the US bombing of Hiroshima, which took place in the context of all-out war? If instead Russia uses its new precision strike weapons against, say, what is nominally an ABM base in Romania, but which the Russians consider to be in fact an offensive missile base directed at themselves, who will raise a finger? Is Romania better loved in the world, and even within the EU, than Syria or Iraq? Not really.’
Just my opinion – but the call means nothing.
Putin can make decisions.
Biden thinks he can make decisions that will of course be ignored.
Biden is surrounded by neocons and neolibs that will continue to do what they want no matter what Biden says and as they think what they want is in reach they will not submit to a brain addled president.
She’s a liar , liar ,nothing else then liar 🤥. That is the only way US is doing diplomacy-American way –
This “news”/propaganda reporting about this telephone conversation is a sham.
How does one know?
Who here honestly believes that the Vegetable-in-Chief, Joseph Biden, was even capable of mentally having a 50-minute plus long conversation on complex issues of military and geopolitical security with Vladimir Putin without becoming a babbling pool of nonsense like this below?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuIjn6EEIV8
Most likely, this conversation was between Putin and some of Biden’s National Security babysitters like Tony Blinken, Jake Sullivan, William Burns, and Victoria Nuland. Biden was sitting in the corner, rocking and jabbering to himself about his fights with the big bully Corn Pop in his youth.
Psaki’s statement is a most confrontational and beligerant disrespectful attempt at diplomacy I have ever heard. Russia is not and has not invaded Ukraine that I am aware.
The “environement of de-escalation” that is referred to does not exist on the part of Ukraine, US or NATO theirs is one of escalation. That is more than obviuos, it is blatant.
Frankly the statement is hollow and unworthy of print.
Deciphering the Biden-Putin Telephone Chat of Yesterday, 30 December 2021.
Information provided to the press by both American and Russian sides following the 50 minute telephone conversation between presidents Putin and Biden is very meager. That has not prevented major Western media like the New York Times and Financial Times from putting out this morning normal sized articles filled mostly with background information for those readers who have been asleep for the past few weeks. The few statements about the meeting from official sources on both sides have just been repeated at face value in their articles, without any attempt at interpretation.
In what follows, I will provide precisely that: a Kremlinologist’s deciphering of what we used to call ‘the wooden language’ of diplomacy and of officialdom.
Let us begin with the remark in the FT that “the telephone call between the leaders…was arranged at Moscow’s request.” They take it no further, but it certainly bears mention that until now all contacts –phone calls and in-person or virtual summits between the two leaders – have been called at the request of the American side, which was unnerved by the build-up of 100,000 or more Russian soldiers at the Ukrainian border and assumed that an invasion was being prepared. So, I ask why did Russia take the initiative this time? And why a conversation now, just days before the official delegations from both countries meet in Geneva. I will hazard guesses.
https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2021/12/31/deciphering-the-biden-putin-telephone-chat-of-yesterday-30-december-2021/
In 1931, Stalin said that the USSR had 10 years to duplicate the industrial development of Europe and the US, which took much longer.
On 1939, the USSR shocked the world by signing the Molotov Ribbentrop pact. Everyone knew that NAZI Germany intended to carve up the USSR and kill, enslave or kick out (‘ethnicly cleanse’ —BTW a truly Orwellian formulation) Slavs.
Treaty signed, huge buildup of Wehrmacht on USSR borders, and the Nazi did the equivalent of a first strike, while Stalin erroneously or not, overlooked the buildup as a provocation.
Now, US/NATO has been preparing Operation Barbarossa for 30 years. Surely policy makers know all this. Even if Russia gets its ‘legally binding guarantees’, as the ‘Nonagression Pact’ dictated, war is inevitable. It will still continue in subversion, demonization and economic form.
As the countries that lost the most people in war, Russia and China are trying to avoid, or delay war, however, both know that may not be possible.
It’s surprising that Russia sends oil to the US. For dollars. Shades of Molotov Ribbentrop?
All in a bid to keep the price down, then suddenly pull the rug and everyone wonders why and how the price went up.
How do you go from what actually was discussed between both leaders, and Psaki’s made up propaganda “Amerika strong” message. There is a complete disconnect between wanting to cooperate and hold negotiations, and Psaki’s “we threatened Russia again”.
The rhetoric is not based in reality…
There’s nothing questionable here. Everything was explained before.
Putin had spoken quite some time ago (in May).”Everyone wants to bite us somewhere or to bite off something from us. But they should know that we will knock their teeth out so that they cannot bite.” – West didn’t listen.
At OSCE Ministerial Council in Stockholm, visibly disillusioned Lavrov, in his “alarming” speech, presented demands that needed to be met in order to avoid a “confrontational scenario”. – They ghosted him.
Now, when it’s Shoigus turn, all those little creeps suddenly want. to talk.
Talk to the hand.
Probable chain of event will be instalation of nuclear capable missiles in Cuba, Nicaragua, Syria, even Iran. Followed with “legaly binding guarantees” that if/when any of those are attacked, retaliation strikes will destroy all NATO instalations and assets around Russia. Above too, to the Moon and back.
After that real talk can start. Or not.
readouts sound like information from two different telephone conversations.
Read the press releases from white house and kremlin one can see the gaps in the claims about what got agreed. The US is clearly indicating that there are no promises on NATO expansion and is beating drums about what it will do if Russia attacks Ukraine. It kind of leaves Russia in a hard spot as to what to do next – the ball is in its court. Was it a mistake (rare) for it to make demands ( law binding treaties) that it knew USSA will never accept? It seems to leave Russia in a tight space of losing face or….
2030 US and NATO coalition attacks Russia. Russia is stunned and for an explanation. Well, in 2021, we said we wouldn’t put Offensive weapons in Ukraine and we put it in writing for you, but we didn’t say that we wouldn’t use Ukraine as a staging ground to invade you. Smiles.
This is no way comforting. Nato breaks every agreement. The West can simply not be trusted.
> “Joseph Biden emphasised that Russia and the US shared a special responsibility for ensuring stability in Europe and the whole world”
The US instinct for Oppression and Authoritarianism is deeply ingrained. We should be working to a world where international dynamic stability emerges from nations adapting and evolving. (like an evolving natural dynamically stable ecosystem)
Biden’s US instinct is for a grim international prison system of death-like static “stability” where nations are locked in US Empire designed politically/economically/militarily/socially controlled cells – surveilled and order-maintained by US Empire approved Prison Guards. Under the All Seeing Eye of the Almighty USA.
Biden has deigned to offer Russia the role of Prison Guard. (Honorary, no doubt, until unruly China has been dealt with)