Gregory Krasovsky's commentary on Russia, Ukraine, the United States of America, including politics, economics, culture, religion and human rights.
Tuesday, July 4, 2023
Could Ukraine conduct a false flag radiation leak operation at the Zaporozhye NPP on or shortly after July 5, 2023?
Monday, June 20, 2022
Three interesting and thought-provoking articles on the current military conflict in Ukraine.
Greg Krasovsky
June 20, 2022
Three interesting and thought-provoking articles on the current military conflict in Ukraine:
1. "What the Fall of Empires Tells Us About the Ukraine War -
Russia’s war can only be understood as a bloody post-imperial conflict."
Anatol Lieven, Foreign Policy, June 20, 2022
https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/06/20/russia-ukraine-war-putin-empire-imperialism-colonialism-conquest-collapse/
2. "Trump Said We Should "Get Along with Russia". He's Right"
Mike Whitney, The Unz Review, June 4, 2022
https://www.unz.com/mwhitney/trump-said-we-should-get-along-with-russia-hes-right/
3. The War in Ukraine Marks the End of the American Century
Mike Whitney, The Unz Review, June 7, 2022
https://www.unz.com/mwhitney/the-war-in-ukraine-marks-the-end-of-the-american-century/
Selected excerpts below.
What do you think?
***
Три интересные и наводящие на размышления статьи о текущем военном конфликте на Украине:
1. Что Падение Империй говорит нам о войне на Украине -
Войну России можно понимать только как кровавый постимперский конфликт.
Анатолий Ливен, Внешняя политика, 20 июня 2022 г.
Гугл перевод: http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&sl=auto&tl=ru&u=https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/06/20/russia-ukraine-war-putin-empire-imperialism-colonialism-conquest-collapse/
2. «Трамп сказал, что мы должны «ладить с Россией». Он прав»
Майк Уитни, The Unz Review, 4 июня 2022 г.
[Гугл перевод]
http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&sl=auto&tl=ru&u=https://www.unz.com/mwhitney/trump-said-we-should-get-along-with-russia-hes-right/
3. Война на Украине знаменует собой конец американского века
Майк Уитни, The Unz Review, 7 июня 2022 г.
[Гугл перевод]
http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&sl=auto&tl=ru&u=https://www.unz.com/mwhitney/the-war-in-ukraine-marks-the-end-of-the-american-century/
Избранные выдержки ниже.
Что вы думаете?
***
What the Fall of Empires Tells Us About the Ukraine War - Russia’s war can only be understood as a bloody post-imperial conflict.
By Anatol Lieven, a senior fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.
Foreign Policy
June 20, 2022, 6:16 AM
Excerpts:
The Soviet Union is commonly described in the West as the “Soviet empire”—or even “Russian empire”—and in key respects this was indeed the case. During the Cold War, Moscow occupied and controlled a collection of states along its periphery, and the historical record of Russia’s expansion through conquest and colonization is abundantly clear. But in neither journalism nor academia has this led to what should have been a logical conclusion when it comes to understanding conflicts in the former Soviet space: Namely, to place these conflicts into the wider context of what happens when empires fall.
This lack of interest seems odd, given the Western liberal intelligentsia’s deep concern with imperialism and its critiques. When I covered the collapse of the Soviet Union and its aftermath as a journalist for the Times of London, my prism was shaped by years spent working in South Asia—first as a student of imperial history and then as a journalist. It was therefore natural for me to see the disintegration of the Soviet space as a post-imperial process. This was perhaps the greatest difference between my perspective and that of most of my Western colleagues.
...
Yet empires notoriously also freeze, generate, and incubate conflicts. Sometimes this is because imperial rule suspends previous conflicts, as between Hindus and Muslims in British India or Armenians and Azeris under the tsars and Soviets. Sometimes the source of conflict is the empire’s creation of completely new states or states with new borders—such as Iraq in the Middle East—that lump together different ethnicities that had never previously lived in the same polity, divide a people among neighboring states, or force ancient enemies under one roof, as in the former Yugoslavia and many African nations. This leads not only to civil conflicts but sometimes to wars between successor states—as in Kashmir, the former Yugoslavia, and Ukraine—as successor states fight to redraw borders in accordance with their version of ethnic or ethno-religious legitimacy.
Sometimes bitter resentment is the result of mass migration set off by imperial economic development or targeted colonization: English and Scots to Ireland, Chinese to the East Indies, Indians to Fiji and the West Indies, Tamils to what is now Sri Lanka, Georgians to Abkhazia, Russians to the Baltic republics and parts of Ukraine. Nowhere have the results been free of serious tension.
Perhaps the best that can be hoped for is formal or informal arrangements such as those in Malaysia and the Baltic states, whereby the indigenous populations monopolize control over government and the security forces, while the descendants of Chinese and Russian immigrants, respectively, dominate much or part of the economy. The worst outcomes are dreadful massacres such as the killings of Chinese that accompanied the Indonesian coup of 1965 or violent spasms such as the Georgian-Abkhaz War of 1992-93 that began with Georgian armed pogroms against Abkhaz and ended with the ethnic cleansing of most of the Georgian population by the Abkhaz victors.
Neither international law nor democracy provides clear-cut answers to any of these disputes. It was the theory of ethnic self-determination in the name of democracy, as adopted by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson at the conclusion of World War I, that provided an ostensibly liberal rationale for violent separation and cleansing across the vast ethnic tapestry of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. As in Kosovo, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Crimea, the principles of international law and democracy often work against each other, with the result that states pick and choose between them depending on their own advantage. Majoritarian democracy is a notoriously dangerous principle in ethnically divided societies with different national allegiances, as the history of Northern Ireland from the 1920s to the 1990s so vividly demonstrates.
Finally, it is hardly reasonable to expect local people and their leaders to be automatically obedient to international laws they never made or agreed to. When the British, Ottoman, Habsburg, and Soviet empires collapsed and Yugoslavia disintegrated, it was very natural for Northern Irish Catholics, Kurds, Sudeten Germans, Kosovar Albanians, Kashmiri Muslims, Bangladeshis, Biafrans, Serbs, Croats, Pashtuns, Chechens, South Ossetians, Karabakh Armenians, and Crimean Russians to seek or support independence and/or union with co-ethnics in a neighboring state. Sometimes, as in Ireland, South Asia, and Sudan, the result (after much violence) has been internationally accepted partition. In a majority of cases, things have been decided by some combination of pragmatism and superior force.
...
None of this is to excuse the Russian invasion of Ukraine, any more than it excuses the frequently horrendous behavior of other imperial and post-imperial states. What it does suggest is two things: First, that Russian wars in Ukraine and the Caucasus are not part of some wider plan for aggression against the West. The Russian war in Ukraine is about Ukraine. We can therefore seek a pragmatic solution to the war without fearing that this will embolden Russia to threaten NATO and the European Union, with the possible exception of the Baltic states—and then only if the Balts were to take some recklessly aggressive action against Russia (for example, by cutting communications to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad).
Contrary to much Western reporting, there has been little evidence of any concrete Russian intentions to invade the Baltic states, let alone Finland or Poland. As a Russian official once told me, “We ruled Poland for almost 200 years, and all it brought us was endless trouble. Why on earth would we want to swallow that hedgehog again?” From the point of view of vital Western interests, it is therefore unnecessary to seek permanently to disable Russia.
Secondly, we should approach the search for a settlement in Ukraine in a spirit of ethical realism, aimed at a lasting peace that will secure Ukraine’s independence and potential path toward joining the EU, rather than in a mood of hyper-legalism and hyper-moralism that is all too likely to make peace impossible and which our own history does not justify. In the other post-imperial cases I have mentioned, only very rarely has absolute victory for one side or the other been possible—and then only at the cost of prolonged war and huge suffering. In the majority of cases where some sort of peace, however flawed, has been achieved, it has been through some form of pragmatic compromise. That is the best we can and should work for in the case of Russia and Ukraine.
One funny aspect of contemporary Western liberals is that even as they have publicly beaten their own breasts with contrition and shame for the past sins of Western colonialism, they go on to claim moral superiority over other countries that have inherited some of the same problems and committed some of the same sins. This sort of behavior has a prominent place in the history of religion but is neither moral nor practically helpful.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/06/20/russia-ukraine-war-putin-empire-imperialism-colonialism-conquest-collapse/
***
Trump Said We Should "Get Along with Russia". He's Right
Mike Whitney
The Unz Review
June 4, 2022
Excerpt:
Look at this map of Ukraine.
Can you see what’s going on? The Russians are creating a buffer zone along their western perimeter.
Why are they doing that? What benefit do they derive from a buffer zone?
Well, a buffer zone creates a distance between Russia and Ukraine which Putin thinks is necessary since Ukraine is threatening to join NATO. So, he’s creating his own DMZ on his western flank.
But what does that prove?
It proves that we’ve been lied to from the very beginning. Putin was not planning to reconstruct the Soviet Empire like the media told us. He did not want to seize the Capitol, Kiev, and he did not want to conquer the entire Ukrainian landmass. That was all baloney.
What he wanted to do, is what he has done.
Don’t take my word for it, look at the map. You don’t need CNN or Rachel Maddow to tell you what you can see with your own two eyes. This is the reality ‘on the ground’.
This is a buffer zone. It creates a distance between Russia and Ukraine, it protects the ethnic Russians in the Donbass region, and it establishes a landbridge to Crimea where Russia’s vital deep-water port of Sevastopol is located. In other words, it achieves what Putin wanted to achieve from the very beginning, that is, enhanced security along his western border.
What we are seeing is the basic parameters of Russia’s “Special Military Operation”. Yes, many people will prefer to call it a “war”, but the term is not nearly as precise as “Special Military Operation”.
Why?
Because “Special Military Operation” indicates that the main objective is to save the lives of the ethnic Russians who had been under constant bombardment for the last 8 years and, also, to create a security zone that prevents a hostile NATO army and its missile system from being deployed to Russia’s border. These are the goals of the “Special Military Operation”; to “demiliterize” and “denazify” the area under Russia’s control. Get it?
Will the “Special Military Operation” go beyond the Donbass to Kiev and cities in the west?
Probably, not. Going beyond the Donbass would likely involve a complete mobilization of men and resources which has not yet taken place in Russia. By not mobilizing, Putin is signaling to the west that he will limit his operation to the area on the map. (With some slight expansion) Putin is indicating that his main concern is security, and since his concerns were casually brushed aside by Biden and Zelensky, he took matters into his own hands. In other words, he imposed his own settlement.
Okay, but if these are the parameters of the Special Military Operation, then what are the chances of a wider war?
That depends on Biden. If Washington continues on the path of escalation –by sending weapons systems that can strike targets in Russia– then Putin will respond. We should know that by now. Putin is not going to back down no matter what. If Washington wants to up-the-ante, then they should prepare for an equal response. That’s the way it’s going to work. For now, the “Special Military Operation” is just a “Special Military Operation”. But when it becomes a war, then all bets are off. Then we will see a full mobilisation, a complete rupture in US-Russo relations, and a halt to all hydrocarbon flows from east to west.
Do you think Europe and the United States are prepared for that? Do you think the EU can replace the 25% of the oil and 40% of all the natural gas it presently imports from Russia? Do you have a wind-powered car that will get you to work on time or a factory that will run on solar power? Do you have a plan for heating your house with hydrogen or perhaps a battery from an old Prius?
No, you don’t, and neither does Europe. Europe runs on fossil fuels. America runs on fossil fuels And the more fossil fuel that is consumed, the more the economy grows. The less fossil fuel is consumed, the more the economy shrinks. Are you prepared for life in a shrinking economy with high unemployment, skyrocketing inflation, unending recession, and deepening social malaise brought on by your government’s misguided desire to “stick it to Putin”?
That’s a bad choice, isn’t it? Especially when a face-saving deal can be made at anytime. In fact, Biden could stop the fighting tomorrow if he extended the hand of friendship to Putin and declared that, yes, Ukraine will accept neutrality til the end of time and NATO expansion will stop ASAP.
That’s all it would take. Just extend the olive branch and Putin will ‘call off the dogs’. Guaranteed.
https://www.unz.com/mwhitney/trump-said-we-should-get-along-with-russia-hes-right/
***
The War in Ukraine Marks the End of the American Century
Mike Whitney
The Unz Review
June 7, 2022
Excerpts:
“The ferocity of the confrontation in Ukraine shows that we’re talking about much more than the fate of the regime in Kiev. The architecture of the entire world order is at stake.” Sergei Naryshkin, Director of Foreign Intelligence
Here’s your ‘reserve currency’ thought for the day: Every US dollar is a check written on an account that is overdrawn by 30 trillion dollars.
It’s true. The “full faith and credit” of the US Treasury is largely a myth held together by an institutional framework that rests on a foundation of pure sand. In fact, the USD is not worth the paper it is printed on; it is an IOU flailing in an ocean of red ink. The only thing keeping the USD from vanishing into the ether, is the trust of credulous people who continue to accept it as legal tender.
But why do people remain confident in the dollar when its flaws are known to all? After all, America’s $30 trillion National Debt is hardly a secret, nor is the additional $9 trillion that’s piled up on the Fed’s balance sheet. That is a stealth debt of which the American people are completely unaware, but they are responsible for all the same.
In order to answer that question, we need to look at how the system actually works and how the dollar is propped up by the numerous institutions that were created following WW2. These institutions provide an environment for conducting history’s longest and most flagrant swindle, the exchange of high-ticket manufactured goods, raw materials and hard-labor for slips of green paper with dead presidents on them. One can only marvel at the genius of the elites who concocted this scam and then imposed it wholesale on the masses without a peep of protest. Of course, the system is accompanied by various enforcement mechanisms that swiftly remove anyone who tries to either break free from the dollar or, God help us, create an alternate system altogether. (Saddam Hussein and Muammar Qaddafi come to mind.) But the fact is– aside from the institutional framework and the ruthless extermination of dollar opponents– there’s no reason why humanity should remain yoked to a currency that is buried beneath a mountain of debt and whose real value is virtually unknowable.
It wasn’t always like this. There was a time when the dollar was the strongest currency in the world and deserved its spot at the top of the heap.
...
The real reason the dollar has remained the world’s premier currency is because of the cartelization of Central Banking. The Western Central Banks are a de facto monopoly run by a small cabal of inter-breeding bottom-feeders who coordinate and collude on monetary policy in order to preserve their maniacal death-grip on the financial markets and the global economy. It’s a Monetary Mafia and– as George Carlin famously said: “You and I are not in it. You and I are not in the big club.” Bottom line: It is the relentless manipulation of interest rates, forward guidance and Quantitative Easing (QE) that has kept the dollar in its lofty but undeserved spot.
But all that is about to change due entirely to Biden’s reckless foreign policy which is forcing critical players in the global economy to create their own rival system. This is a real tragedy for the West that has enjoyed a century of nonstop wealth extraction from the developing world. Now– due to the economic sanctions on Russia– an entirely new order is emerging in which the dollar will be substituted for national currencies (processed through an independent financial settlement system) in bilateral trade deals until– later this year– Russia launches an exchange-traded commodities-backed currency that will be used by trading partners in Asia and Africa. Washington’s theft of Russia’s foreign reserves in April turbo-charged the current process which was further accelerated by banning of Russia from foreign markets. In short, US economic sanctions and boycotts have expanded the non-dollar zone by many orders of magnitude and forced the creation of a new monetary order.
How dumb is that? For decades the US has been running a scam in which it exchanges its fishwrap currency for things of genuine value. (oil, manufactured goods and labor) But now the Biden troupe has scrapped that system altogether and divided the world into warring camps.
But, why?
To punish Russia, is that it?
Yes, that’s it.
But, if that’s the case, then shouldn’t we try to figure out whether the sanctions actually work or not before we recklessly change the system?
Too late for that. The war on Russia has begun and the early results are already pouring in
...
Does anyone in Washington think about these things or are they all so drunk on their own press clippings they’ve completely lost touch with reality?
Here’s more from an article at RT:
“Even as the collective West continues to insist – against all observable reality – that the conflict in Ukraine is going well for Kiev, major media outlets are becoming increasingly uneasy with the situation on the economic front. More and more observers are admitting that the embargoes imposed by the US and its allies aren’t crushing the Russian economy, as originally intended, but rather their own.…
“Russia is winning the economic war,” the Guardian’s economics editor Larry Elliott declared on Thursday. “It is now three months since the west launched its economic war against Russia, and it is not going according to plan. On the contrary, things are going very badly indeed,” he wrote…
In a May 30 essay, Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins also said that the embargo had failed…
As Jenkins points out, the sanctions have actually raised the price of Russian exports such as oil and grain – thus enriching, rather than impoverishing, Moscow while leaving Europeans short of gas and Africans running out of food.” (“As sanctions fail to work and Russia’s advance continues, Western media changes its tune on Ukraine”, RT)
Did you catch that part about “Russia winning the economic war”? What do you think that means in practical terms?
Does it mean that Washington’s failed attempt to maintain its global hegemony by “weakening” Russia is actually putting enormous strains on the Transatlantic Alliance and NATO that will trigger a re-calibration of relations leading to a defiant rejection of the “rules-based system.”
Is that what it means? Is Europe going to split with Washington and leave America to sink beneath its $30 trillion ocean of red ink?
Yes, that’s exactly what it means.
Uncle Sam’s 30 Year Bender
Proponents of Washington’s proxy-war have no idea of the magnitude of their mistake or how much damage they are inflicting on their own country. The Ukraine debacle is the culmination of 30 years of bloody interventions that have brought us to a tipping point where the nation’s fortunes are about to take a dramatic turn-for-the-worse. As the dollar-zone shrinks, standards of living will plunge, unemployment will soar, and the economy will go into a downward-death spiral.
Washington has greatly underestimated its vulnerability to catastrophic geopolitical blowback that is about to bring the New American Century to a swift and excruciating end.
A wise leader would do everything in his power to pull us back from the brink.
https://www.unz.com/mwhitney/the-war-in-ukraine-marks-the-end-of-the-american-century/
***
Tuesday, February 15, 2022
Russia's invasion of Ukraine - unidentified sources 'confirm' its expected start with air strikes at 3:00 AM on Wednesday, February 16, 2002...
February 16, 2022
06:30 Kyiv time
So who's stayed up until this morning (Kyiv or Moscow time) to keep Ukraine safe from Russian invasion -- as predicted by unidentified but supposedly "credible" sources cited in the British Sun and Mirror newspapers?
When I read this stuff, I don't know whether to laugh or cry! Honestly!
But it makes me sad for Ukraine and my fellow Ukrainians!
So let me express some personal thoughts during this restless night brought on by a massive state and private media pre-war campaign.
In 2014 during the Euromaidan protests, many Ukrainians wanted a new, democratic, independent, corruption-free Ukraine where Ukrainians of all language, ethnicity and faith could live and prosper in peace, harmony, and mutual respect!
That's what I have always wanted for my Ukraine, too!
So, what did Ukrainians get from 2014 to 2022?
Pretty much the same old country, but with
- less democracy for the opposition, same control of politicians and political parties by local oligarchs and/or foreign powers (e.g. U.S.)
- independent of Russia, but completely under U.S. control will all ensuing consequences as an expendable pawn in the geopolitical battle between the U.S., Russia, and China.
-- this includes a massive infusion of billions of euros/dollars in military aid (training & weaponry), which any reasonable neighboring country could consider a threat, especially if it, like Russia, is in confrontation with Ukraine's primary foreign sponsors (U.S. and its NATO allies).
- same amounts of corruption on most levels of government,
- draconian undemocratic laws against the Russian language, which was the dominant language of Ukraine until 2014 (in its post 1922 and 1939 borders)
- draconian undemocratic laws and treatment of ethnic Russians (who now aren't even considered a native ethnicity of modern Soviet-created Ukraine)
- draconian undemocratic laws and state treatment against the Ukrainian Eastern Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (traditional mother-church in Ukraine until 2014)
- revival & glorification of WWII Ukrainian Nazi collaborators & war criminals who butchered thousands of Ukrainian Jews, Poles and Gypsies along with their Nazi masters,
- an 8-year-old long civil war because the post-Yanukovich Ukrainian governments (Poroshenko and Zelensky administrations) refused to even negotiate directly and reach a political settlement (e.g. with the framework of the Minsk agreements) with the Eastern Ukrainian (Donbass coal mining region) Pro-Russian separatists/insurgents who refused to recognize the unconstitutional overthrow (primarily with American assistance) of President Yanukovich in February of 2014,
-- FYI, after President Poroshenko was elected on May 24, 2014, local Donbass politicians and businessmen wrote to President Poroshenko and begged him to negotiate a political settlement with the local Pro-Russian insurgents (who did not want to live in a Ukraine ruled by Western Ukrainian nationalists supported by America and its allies).
Instead of negotiations, President Poroshenko ramped up the brutal military campaign that killed thousands of innocent civilians and eventually led to Russian military support of local insurgents from the end of August 2014 after Donetsk and Luhansk were about to be recaptured by the Ukrainian army and volunteer battalions composed of Ukrainian nationalists and even some open Neo-Nazis)
- Instead of pursuing a political solution (through negotiations) with the break-away pro-Russian Donbass People's republics (Donetsk & Luhansk, AKA DNR & LNR) and even Russia over Crimea (A Crimea that, to be honest and historically accurate, was transferred "administratively" from Russia to Ukraine in 1954 by the Soviet Union's communist party without any say from its residents) where, the majority of citizens voted to join Russia in a referendum in the spring of 2014) , the Ukrainian government has
-- allowed the perpetration of war crimes & crimes against humanity, including by periodic shelling of civilian areas and infrastructure (schools, hospitals, electrical & water facilities, residential buildings)
-- cut off the water supplies to Crimea
-- refuses to pay pensions to senior citizens in Crimea, DNR and LNR
-- refuses to allow Ukrainians to travel to those areas without special permits
-- has enacted an economic blockade against these areas (leading to under-the table corruption-full trade of key products, including coal from DNR/LNR by pretending that its coal from other countries, even as far as South Africa).
- Instead of inter-faith, inter-ethnic and political tolerance of and mutual respect, we now have a Ukraine where
(a) any public expression of faith, language and political orientation (e.g. pro-Russian, anti-NATO and/or anti-US/EU political, economic and military control that resembles colonialism) that goes against the current government's policies,
is met with
-- brutal repression, including violence & death at the hands of nationalist street thugs and
-- anti-democratic measures against freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, including selective prosecution and arrest of opposition political leaders, closure of opposition newspapers, TV stations and political parties.
and
(b) any public calls for negotiations with the Donetsk, Luhansk insurgents and their "People's Republics" are labeled as providing material support for terrorists and can lead to arrest, incarceration, beatings & torture, and lengthy prison terms in Ukraine's miserable prisons.
So what's the solution?
My opinion is that Ukraine can only thrive and develop if it
1. Reaches a political solution with the DNR/LNR and brings them back into Ukraine under reasonable terms (amnesty, decentralization, permitted local use of the Russian language as an official second state language) through the Minsk Protocol and former German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier's formula (road map),
See Minsk Protocol at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minsk_Protocol and
What is the Steinmeier Formula? at https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/en/aussenpolitik/steinmeier-formula/2254244
2. Becomes independent of U.S. political, economic and military control;
3. Retains political, economic, and military independence from Russia;
4. Pledges a neutral non-aligned political & military status (like Sweden or Switzerland), abandons any aspirations to join NATO or permit the presence of foreign military bases and forces on its soil;
5. Abandons all anti-Russian (linguistic, ethnic, and religious) laws and government policies, prohibits all such discrimination & persecution
- adopts Russian as a second official state language equal to Ukrainian
- recognizes ethnic Russians as a native ethnicity of Ukraine
- stops illegal seizures of Russian-Orthodox churches in Ukraine and persecution of their priests and parishioners;
6. Abandons all glorification of WWII Nazi collaborators and war criminals and adopts anti-Nazi laws similar to those in Germany and Russia;
7. Reaches a political settlement with Russian over Crimea by recognizing the Crimean people's inalienable, democratic and basic human right to self-determination (to be an independent country or to be a part of Russia like before 1954) through a democratic referendum.
8. Refuses to participate in America's geopolitical battles against Russia and China, including by refusing to participate in any economic and political sanctions not explicitly approved by the United Nations, including its Security Council.
But here's the million-dollar question - in today's political climate, could Ukraine ever adopt the above measures and still have a chance at EU membership?
Regardless, if Ukraine, instead of adopting the above recommendations, continues on its present course by
(a) Remaining under U.S. control and exploitation in US attempts to control Russia,
(b) Seeking NATO membership, dislocation of US/NATO troops, bases and weapons (especially dual purpose "anti-missile systems"),
(c) Maintaining a permanent civil war in Eastern Ukraine or attempt at a military victory with subsequent Russian military intervention,
(d) Keeping and/or expanding anti-Russian policies that violate human rights and U.S. & EU legal standards and norms,
(e) Reserving the right to take Crimea back by force or with the assistance of US/EU sanctions against Russia
then I am afraid that Ukraine will remain under a clear & present danger / threat of Russian military intervention.
Why?
Because Russia will reserve and may exercise its right to interfere militarily in Ukraine based on
- Russia's need for local military security against the perceived threat of NATO encroachment and future placement in Ukraine of weapons systems (missiles, aircraft capable of carrying nuclear payloads, etc.) that could neutralize Russia's nuclear weapons potential and permit (even if just in theory) a nuclear first strike against Russia without the fear of Russia's response and mutually assured destruction
and
- its perceived right to have the equivalent of America's Monroe Doctrine for military, political and economic reasons, especially if American foreign policy (political, economic, and military) refuses to allow Russia to
(a) remain an independent global power which could increase its influence in West Europe (thanks in part to natural gas deliveries through Nord Stream I and II) and
(b) remain China’s junior partner/ally (without any significant US/NATO control or leverage, e.g. through Ukraine), a status which could help make China unbeatable (with Russia as its junior ally), if not victorious, in its contest with the United States for our world's leading economic, military and political superpower.
So what do you think?
Last, please don't forget to share this article for review and civilized discussion!
***
[Google Translation]
Peskov advised Ukrainians to set an alarm clock so as not to oversleep the "invasion" -
Peskov advised Ukrainians to set alarms due to reports of "invasion" of Ukraine!
00:08 02/16/2022 (updated: 01:01 02/16/2022)
MOSCOW, February 16 - RIA Novosti. The Kremlin ironically commented on the reports of a number of Western media about the Russian "invasion" of Ukraine in the morning, the press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov suggested that the Ukrainians set an alarm clock for this.
The British tabloids on the eve appointed the time of the "invasion of Ukraine" - supposedly this will happen at three o'clock Wednesday night local time.
In particular, the Mirror wrote about this with reference to sources in the American intelligence services, who allegedly reported this to the publication's employees in Kiev.
[ See https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/ukraine-russia-war-invasion-live-26225775 ]
The Sun also listed 3:00 am as "the most likely time," citing US intelligence.
[ See https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/17655287/russia-set-invade-ukraine-tomorrow/ ]
“It’s better for them to set alarms for this time and see for themselves,” Peskov told RIA Novosti, answering the question of whether Ukrainians should worry or they can sleep peacefully today.
Earlier, the Politico newspaper, citing informed sources, reported that US President Joe Biden, at a video conference with leaders of Western countries, the European Union and NATO, called the date of Russia's "invasion" of Ukraine on February 16.
Peskov, commenting on these claims, said that it is difficult to take such publications seriously, and Russian President Vladimir Putin sometimes jokingly asks to know if the exact time of the start of the war is published anywhere.
https://ria.ru/20220216/budilnik-1773020626.html
***
DAWN RAID - Russia set to invade Ukraine at 1AM tomorrow with massive missile blitz and 200,000 troops, US intelligence claims
Nick Parker Jerome Starkey
In Kyiv, Ukraine
10:12, 15 Feb 2022 Updated: 13:45, 15 Feb 2022
RUSSIA is set to invade Ukraine at 1am tomorrow with a massive missile blitz and 200,000 troops, according to US intelligence.
Highly placed sources said preparations to defend the besieged nation would continue - despite reports Putin was withdrawing some troops from the border.
Sources said Russia is set to invade Ukraine tomorrow!
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/17655287/russia-set-invade-ukraine-tomorrow/
***
Ukraine-Russia war fears LIVE: Invasion time 'confirmed' with air strikes expected
Fears of war continue to spiral with the presence of an estimated 130,000 Russian troops on the border of Ukraine, prompting warnings from the UK and Nato allies to citizens to flee the country
Johnson and Biden: 'Crucial window' for diplomacy with Russia
By Matthew Dresch News Reporter, Ryan Merrifield Reporter
Updated 22:54, 15 Feb 2022
US intelligence agencies believe the Kremlin will order the invasion of Ukraine at 3am local time.
Although some Russian forces were seen withdrawing from the border earlier today tensions remain high.
Russia said the withdrawal followed drills in the area and war in Europe could be imminent.
Last ditch diplomatic efforts continue in a desperate effort to avoid armed conflict.
Senior sources said a Moscow attack would be “almost certainly from multiple points” over Ukraine’s southern, eastern and northern flanks.
The Mirror’s senior American source warned our team in Kyiv with a simple one line message saying: “3am Wednesday.”
Russia has more than 126,000 troops massed near the eastern border of Ukraine.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/ukraine-russia-war-invasion-live-26225775
***
Russian invasion of Ukraine set for '3am today' with missiles and tank attack
Intelligence sources state Russia's invasion of Ukraine will begin on Wednesday afternoon with Europe on the brink of war despite Vladimir Putin pulling back some of his country's forces.
By Chris Hughes in Ukraine
09:55, 15 Feb 2022
Update d00:01, 16 Feb 2022
Kremlin chiefs will order an attack on Ukraine at 3am local time today, American intelligence agencies believe.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/breaking-russian-invasion-ukraine-set-26232612
***
[Google Translation]
Military expert named two dates after which it will be possible to evaluate Russia's plans in Ukraine
Dmitry Elovsky, Polina Milushkova
February 14, 2022, 11:30
Over the weekend, February 13 and 14, there were many alarming reports from the line of contact with Ukraine, as well as from the sea, where a record grouping of Russian navy ships is concentrated. What development of events can be expected in the near future and how the escalation is treated in Ukraine was discussed with military observer Oleksandr Golts.
The military observer believes that from all the conflicting information “two intelligible dates can be distinguished - February 20, that is, the date of the end of the joint Russian-Belarusian exercises, and the completion of naval maneuvers in the Black Sea, this is February 19.”
Goltz recalls that at a meeting in Moscow, "Putin promised Macron to withdraw troops from Belarus after the completion of the exercises."
The expert says that only after February 20, one can “with varying degrees of probability assume further developments: either the forces of the fleet and troops will be slowly withdrawn, or they will remain, since it is impossible to keep them in suspense indefinitely.”
Goltz draws attention to the fact that at the moment there are not only talks about the likely beginning of the hot phase of the confrontation between Russia and Ukraine, but also preparatory actions are taking place in this direction.
“Thousands of military personnel, dozens of ships are moving in the Mediterranean Sea, 3 missile cruisers appeared at once in the Mediterranean Sea, which, if the operation starts, should impede the operation of three NATO aircraft carrier groups,” Goltz explains.
He added that "Russia, denying the intention to attack through Belarus, is actively demonstrating its readiness to surround this country with military forces."
The evacuation from Ukraine of citizens of European countries, primarily employees of diplomatic missions, Golts connects with the fact that representatives of the West "consider the threat quite real."
He believes that this seems like a last resort, since "over the past 30 years in Europe, embassies nowhere, no one has ever evacuated."
The military observer thinks that by doing so, “the West wants to emphasize that the situation is absolutely unprecedented, and Russia is helping to create this feeling by concentrating troops on the borders of Ukraine.”
Goltz notes that it is difficult to say how seriously ordinary Ukrainians take the threat of a possible Russian attack. However, it is worth remembering that "Ukraine deployed in parallel the exercises of its armed forces, which is natural in a situation of confrontation between the two forces."
The expert explains that "exercises are an ideal way to mobilize troops for subsequent military operations." Given Russia's marked superiority over Ukraine in terms of aviation and air defense systems, Golts says, with the likely start of large-scale actions, Russia could begin to implement the Syrian scenario.
And this means, according to Goltz, "massive air attacks with the aim of demoralizing the enemy and destroying the main types of weapons."
The only way out that Ukraine can take in such a situation, according to a military observer, is to prepare for resistance, "for guerrilla warfare, which Ukraine is now demonstrating."
[ *This message (material) was created and (or) distributed by a foreign media outlet acting as a foreign agent and (or) a Russian legal entity acting as a foreign agent. ]
https://tvrain.ru/teleshow/utro_na_dozhde/voennyj_ekspert_nazval_dve_daty-547774/
***
Sunday, December 18, 2016
The World Press Freedom Index 2016.
But hey, at least everyone is ahead of China, right???
***
The World Press Freedom Index.
WHAT IS IT?
Published by Reporters Without Borders annually since 2002, the World Press Freedom Index measures the level of freedom available to journalists in 180 countries using the following criteria – pluralism, media independence, media environment and self-censorship, legislative environment, transparency, infrastructure, and abuses.
The WPFI is an important advocacy tool based on the principle of emulation between states.
Because it is well known, its influence over governments is growing.
Many heads of state and government fear its annual publication.
The Index is a point of reference that is quoted by media throughout the world and is used by diplomats and international entities such as the United Nations and the World Bank.
WHAT DOES IT MEASURE?
The Index ranks 180 countries according to the level of freedom available to journalists.
It is a snapshot of the media freedom situation based on an evaluation of pluralism, independence of the media, quality of legislative framework and safety of journalists in each country.
It does not rank public policies even if governments obviously have a major impact on their country’s ranking.
Nor is it an indicator of the quality of journalism in each country.
The 2016 edition of the World Press Freedom Index, which Reporters Without Borders (RSF) published on 20 April, 2016, shows that there has been a deep and disturbing decline in respect for media freedom at both the global and regional levels.
The survival of independent news coverage is becoming increasingly precarious in both the state and privately-owned media because of the threat from ideologies, especially religious ideologies, that are hostile to media freedom, and from large-scale propaganda machines. Throughout the world, “oligarchs” are buying up media outlets and are exercising pressure that compounds the pressure already coming from governments.
All of the Index’s indicators show a decline from 2013 to 2016. This is especially the case for infrastructure. Some governments do not hesitate to suspend access to the Internet or even to destroy the premises, broadcast equipment or printing presses of media outlets they dislike. The infrastructure indicator fell 16% from 2013 to 2016.
https://rsf.org/en/deep-and-disturbing-decline-media-freedom
1 Finland
2 Netherlands
3 Norway
4 Denmark
5 New Zealand
6 Costa Rica
7 Switzerland
8 Sweden
9 Ireland
10 Jamaica
18 Canada
41 United States
149 Mexico
7 Poland
12 Slovakia
14 Estonia
24 Latvia
35 Lithuania
67 Hungary
49 Romania
60 Mongolia
76 Moldova
107 Ukraine
148 Russia
151 Turkey
157 Belarus
160 Kazakhstan
176 China
https://rsf.org/en/ranking_table
Another turn of the screw in the post-Soviet region.
The fact that Russia (148th, up 4) improved its ranking slightly should not raise hopes because its score fell as a result of the persecution of critics, which has reached levels not seen for three decades. And Russia’s behaviour has legitimized the growing repression throughout the region because Moscow acts as a regional “model”.
After plummeting in the 2015 Index because of the Maidan crackdown and the fighting in the east, Ukraine (107th) has jumped 22 places in the latest Index thanks to a significant decline in violence and to some long-awaited reforms. But major challenges remain, starting with the oligarchs’ grip on the media and the “information war” with Russia.
https://rsf.org/en/another-turn-screw-post-soviet-region
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Dethroning Ukraine’s Oligarchs: A How-To Guide...
Don't forget to check out URA Observer's Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/URA.Observer/
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
Russia Bans US GMO Imports
"Russia is making consequent its decision last fall to ban the commercial planting of Genetically Modified Organisms or GMO in its agriculture acreage. The latest decision, effective February 15, 2016 does not at all please Monsanto or the US Grain Cartel.
On February 15, a Russian national import ban on soybeans and corn imports from the United States took effect. The Russian food safety regulator Rosselkhoznadzor announced that the ban was because of GMO and of microbial contamination and the absence of effective US controls on soybean and corn exports to prevent export of quarantinable grains, also known as microbial contamination.
The Russian food safety regulator added that corn imported from the US is often infected with dry rot of maize. In addition, he said, corn can be used for GMO crops in Russia. The potential damage from import and spread of quarantinable objects on the territory of Russia is estimated at $126 -189 million annually.
Striking the heart of the GMO cartel
The Russian decision is a huge blow to USA agribusiness. For decades, the US grain cartel companies–ADM, Cargill, Bunge–have dominated the global trade in soybeans and corn, the most widely used animal feed for cattle, pigs, chickens because of its high protein content.
Today, the contamination of national agriculture and the food chain in different countries, even those banning planting of GMO crops, typically comes in through a back door, namely, the free import of GMO contaminated corn and soybeans.
I’ve been told by people in a position to know that EU agriculture policy is determined less by European farmer organizations, for example, than by the large US agribusiness lobby of Monsanto, DuPont, Syngenta, Cargill and friends.
Similarly, though until recently the Chinese government officially banned planting or licensing of GMO crops inside China’s commercial agriculture, GMO has inundated the country via a loophole that allows unrestricted import of GMO soybeans.
Today more than 60% of all soybeans consumed in China or used for animal feed is GMO. The Russian decision, to my knowledge is the first blow to be struck against the powerful GMO agribusiness cartel. Thank US sanctions in effect that the crisis created the opportunity."
Please read the rest at: http://journal-neo.org/2016/02/26/russia-bans-us-gmo-imports/
Also please read
Countercurrents.org
http://www.countercurrents.org/todhunter020316.htm“Many who defend the use of GMO crops and foods claim that there is no evidence that any GMO is harmful to health or the environment. But this is wrong. There is plenty of sound empirical evidence of such harm, presented by qualified scientists in peer-reviewed literature. This book is a succinct summary and documentation of that evidence.” – Richard Jennings, PhD, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, UK




