Alarmed at the anti-Russian hysteria sweeping Official Washington and the specter of a new Cold War U.S. intelligence veterans took the unusual step of sending this Aug. 30 memo to German Chancellor Merkel challenging the reliability of Ukrainian and U.S. media claims about a Russian “invasion.”
MEMORANDUM FOR: Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany
FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS)
SUBJECT: Ukraine and NATO
We the undersigned are long-time veterans of U.S. intelligence. We take the unusual step of writing this open letter to you to ensure that you have an opportunity to be briefed on our views prior to the NATO summit on Sept. 4-5.
You need to know, for example, that accusations of a major Russian “invasion” of Ukraine appear not to be supported by reliable intelligence. Rather, the “intelligence” seems to be of the same dubious, politically “fixed” kind used 12 years ago to “justify” the U.S.-led attack on Iraq.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel with her hands in the characteristic Merkel-Raute position. (Photo from Wikipedia)
We saw no credible evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq then; we see no credible evidence of a Russian invasion now. Twelve years ago, former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, mindful of the flimsiness of the evidence on Iraqi WMD, refused to join in the attack on Iraq. In our view, you should be appropriately suspicious of charges made by the U.S. State Department and NATO officials alleging a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
President Barack Obama tried on Aug. 29 to cool the rhetoric of his own senior diplomats and the corporate media, when he publicly described recent activity in the Ukraine, as “a continuation of what’s been taking place for months now … it’s not really a shift.”
Obama, however, has only tenuous control over the policymakers in his administration who, sadly, lack much sense of history, know little of war, and substitute anti-Russian invective for a policy. One year ago, hawkish State Department officials and their friends in the media very nearly got Mr. Obama to launch a major attack on Syria based, once again, on “intelligence” that was dubious, at best.
Largely because of the growing prominence of, and apparent reliance on, intelligence we believe to be spurious, we think the possibility of hostilities escalating beyond the borders of Ukraine has increased significantly over the past several days. More important, we believe that this likelihood can be avoided, depending on the degree of judicious skepticism you and other European leaders bring to the NATO summit next week.
Experience With Untruth
Hopefully, your advisers have reminded you of NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s checkered record for credibility. It appears to us that Rasmussen’s speeches continue to be drafted by Washington. This was abundantly clear on the day before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq when, as Danish Prime Minister, he told his Parliament: “Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. This is not something we just believe. We know.”
Photos can be worth a thousand words; they can also deceive. We have considerable experience collecting, analyzing, and reporting on all kinds of satellite and other imagery, as well as other kinds of intelligence. Suffice it to say that the images released by NATO on Aug. 28 provide a very flimsy basis on which to charge Russia with invading Ukraine. Sadly, they bear a strong resemblance to the images shown by Colin Powell at the UN on Feb. 5, 2003, that, likewise, proved nothing.
That same day, we warned President Bush that our former colleague analysts were “increasingly distressed at the politicization of intelligence” and told him flatly, “Powell’s presentation does not come close” to justifying war. We urged Mr. Bush to “widen the discussion … beyond the circle of those advisers clearly bent on a war for which we see no compelling reason and from which we believe the unintended consequences are likely to be catastrophic.”
Consider Iraq today. Worse than catastrophic.
Although President Vladimir Putin has until now showed considerable reserve on the conflict in the Ukraine, it behooves us to remember that Russia, too, can “shock and awe.” In our view, if there is the slightest chance of that kind of thing eventually happening to Europe because of Ukraine, sober-minded leaders need to think this through very carefully.
If the photos that NATO and the U.S. have released represent the best available “proof” of an invasion from Russia, our suspicions increase that a major effort is under way to fortify arguments for the NATO summit to approve actions that Russia is sure to regard as provocative. Caveat emptor is an expression with which you are no doubt familiar. Suffice it to add that one should be very cautious regarding what Mr. Rasmussen, or even Secretary of State John Kerry, are peddling.
We trust that your advisers have kept you informed regarding the crisis in Ukraine from the beginning of 2014, and how the possibility that Ukraine would become a member of NATO is anathema to the Kremlin. According to a Feb. 1, 2008 cable (published by WikiLeaks) from the U.S. embassy in Moscow to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, U.S. Ambassador William Burns was called in by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who explained Russia’s strong opposition to NATO membership for Ukraine.
Lavrov warned pointedly of “fears that the issue could potentially split the country in two, leading to violence or even, some claim, civil war, which would force Russia to decide whether to intervene.” Burns gave his cable the unusual title, “NYET MEANS NYET: RUSSIA’S NATO ENLARGEMENT REDLINES,” and sent it off to Washington with IMMEDIATE precedence. Two months later, at their summit in Bucharest NATO leaders issued a formal declaration that “Georgia and Ukraine will be in NATO.”
On Aug. 29, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk used his Facebook page to claim that, with the approval of Parliament that he has requested, the path to NATO membership is open. Yatsenyuk, of course, was Washington’s favorite pick to become prime minister after the Feb. 22 coup d’etat in Kiev.
“Yats is the guy,” said Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland a few weeks before the coup, in an intercepted telephone conversation with U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt. You may recall that this is the same conversation in which Nuland said, “Fuck the EU.”
Timing of the Russian “Invasion”
The conventional wisdom promoted by Kiev just a few weeks ago was that Ukrainian forces had the upper hand in fighting the anti-coup federalists in southeastern Ukraine, in what was largely portrayed as a mop-up operation. But that picture of the offensive originated almost solely from official government sources in Kiev. There were very few reports coming from the ground in southeastern Ukraine. There was one, however, quoting Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, that raised doubt about the reliability of the government’s portrayal.
According to the “press service of the President of Ukraine” on Aug. 18, Poroshenko called for a “regrouping of Ukrainian military units involved in the operation of power in the East of the country. … Today we need to do the rearrangement of forces that will defend our territory and continued army offensives,” said Poroshenko, adding, “we need to consider a new military operation in the new circumstances.”
If the “new circumstances” meant successful advances by Ukrainian government forces, why would it be necessary to “regroup,” to “rearrange” the forces? At about this time, sources on the ground began to report a string of successful attacks by the anti-coup federalists against government forces. According to these sources, it was the government army that was starting to take heavy casualties and lose ground, largely because of ineptitude and poor leadership.
Ten days later, as they became encircled and/or retreated, a ready-made excuse for this was to be found in the “Russian invasion.” That is precisely when the fuzzy photos were released by NATO and reporters like the New York Times’ Michael Gordon were set loose to spread the word that “the Russians are coming.” (Michael Gordon was one of the most egregious propagandists promoting the war on Iraq.)
No Invasion But Plenty Other Russian Support
The anti-coup federalists in southeastern Ukraine enjoy considerable local support, partly as a result of government artillery strikes on major population centers. And we believe that Russian support probably has been pouring across the border and includes, significantly, excellent battlefield intelligence. But it is far from clear that this support includes tanks and artillery at this point mostly because the federalists have been better led and surprisingly successful in pinning down government forces.
At the same time, we have little doubt that, if and when the federalists need them, the Russian tanks will come.
This is precisely why the situation demands a concerted effort for a ceasefire, which you know Kiev has so far been delaying. What is to be done at this point? In our view, Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk need to be told flat-out that membership in NATO is not in the cards and that NATO has no intention of waging a proxy war with Russia and especially not in support of the rag-tag army of Ukraine. Other members of NATO need to be told the same thing.
For the Steering Group, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity
William Binney, former Technical Director, World Geopolitical & Military Analysis, NSA; co-founder, SIGINT Automation Research Center (ret.)
Larry Johnson, CIA & State Department (ret.)
David MacMichael, National Intelligence Council (ret.)
Ray McGovern, former US Army infantry/intelligence officer & CIA analyst (ret.)
Elizabeth Murray, Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Middle East (ret.)
Todd E. Pierce, MAJ, US Army Judge Advocate (Ret.)
Coleen Rowley, Division Counsel & Special Agent, FBI (ret.)
Ann Wright, Col., US Army (ret.); Foreign Service Officer (resigned)
Let’s skip the news, boy
I’ll make some tea.
The Arabs and the Jews, boy
Too much for me.
They get me confused, boy
Puts me off to sleep.
And the thing I hate, Oh Lord!
Is staying up late
To watch some debate
On some nation’s fate.
Genesis, “Blood on the Rooftops” from Wind & Wuthering (1976)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeZRdd_1b4g
Hi there,
I am from Germany and according to my experiences I made (with the politics in my country) I’m afraid to say that Angela Merkel probably won’t listen to that letter. It’s even more likely she knows all that stuff without reading the letter. Once some intelligent people told me the leadership in Europe is more or less just a puppet of the american government and their agenda. When I see how much our chancellor Merkel is doing for our country I can tell you she is one of these puppets, because she really doesn’t give a sh*t about Germany, the people in Europe or the people around the world. She’s constantly lying, helping the EU machinery to take the sovereignty of the german people step by step. Also she is constantly loosing popularity, but our german media are the reason why she’s still able to keep her office, because the majority of the Germans is not willing to make some own researches so they can see the chancellors true face.
It’s so sick and disappointing. At least there are some people trying to open the eyes of others. We have some new magazines (e.g. Compact Magazin) trying to inform people in a professional and official way, we have folks posting articles like this one on facebook and there are a lot of blogs and youtube channels trying to let the people see the true war mongers! Unfortunately most people still doesn’t understand that if the WW3 breaks out we and our children, friends, familiy members and our loved ones will sit in the front row and we are not rich enough to save our sorry asses out of this, especially not if the war goes nuclear.
WOW. Conspiracy theories. Can you also assure me that war in Georgia never happened? That Russia didn’t throw bombs all across my country? YOU enjoying your comfortable little pathetic lives being afraid that this comfortable life can be taken away from you, deciding about what’s wrong and what’s right… I really wish Russian bombs into your houses. I wholeheartedly wish them to you!!!!
Not to make light of the tragic losses on all sides of the Georgia-Russia conflict, it appears that “NATO Partnership for Peace” means attack Russia at your earliest opportunity. Saakashvili can school Poroshenko about what great partners NATO and the EU are.
How about a grand bargain?
Nato dissolves in return for Crimea, Eastern Ukraine, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Transniester returning to those countries with automony guarantees?
Russian imperialism is not a long term problem as the Russian Caucuses and non-Russian populations will continue to eat at this sick ideology from within. Abolishing Nato will provide Europe with a blank slate to build an inclusive security structure or structures.
Read both- the article and the comments. All of them made an excellent contribution to the collection of the reasons of why I love MOST Americans and Europeans. As a military professional I bow to the professionalism and the courage of those who wrote the article: they made an excellent analysis, demonstrated incredible knowledge of the subject– i.e. Russia and highest level of patriotism by taking time to put all the thoughts together and waving it as a sign of alarm.
As a human being I applaud those who made comments.They particularly struck me with the normal thinking which lacks so much at the other sites where visitors just yell ” Russians eat people!” to justify believing everything they are fed.
Russia-with or without Putin- doesn’t want war. At the same time with or without Putin Russia won’t tolerate to be talked to rather than talked with.
We know how to be friends, but we also know how to be enemies. We lived for over 70 years opposing practically all “civilized” world and will easily survive slipping into that state again.
Though we don’t want it unless we are forced to.
My biggest disappointment is that both US and EU are trying to downplay the danger of the resurrection of the nazism in Ukraine. Just like Al-Kaida that was nursed originally as the anty-Russian force, Ukrainian nazis can and will bite the hand that fed them- the American and European hand.
Again-my most cordial greetings from Moscow to all sane people from the US and Europe who expressed sane thoughts in and about the article. Come to Moscow-we’ll be glad to brag with our hospitality!
Oleg
Read both- the article and the comments. All of them made an excellent contribution to the collection of the reasons of why I love MOST Americans and Europeans. As a military professional I bow to the professionalism and the courage of those who wrote the article: they made an excellent analysis, demonstrated incredible knowledge of the subject– i.e. Russia and highest level of patriotism by taking time to put all the thoughts together and waving it as a sign of alarm.
As a human being I applaud those who made comments.They particularly struck me with the normal thinking which lacks so much at the other sites where visitors just yell ” Russians eat people!” to justify believing everything they are fed.
Russia-with or without Putin- doesn’t want war. At the same time with or without Putin Russia won’t tolerate to be talked to rather than talked with.
We know how to be friends, but we also know how to be enemies. We lived for over 70 years opposing practically all “civilized” world and will easily survive slipping into that state again.
Though we don’t want it unless we are forced to.
My biggest disappointment is that both US and EU are trying to downplay the danger of the resurrection of the nazism in Ukraine. Just like Al-Kaida that was nursed originally as the anty-Russian force, Ukrainian nazis can and will bite the hand that fed them- the American and European hand.
Again-my most cordial greetings from Moscow to all sane people from the US and Europe who expressed sane thoughts in and about the article. Come to Moscow-we’ll be glad to brag with our hospitality!
Oleg
If Merkel is stupid enough to allow NATO to incorporate Ukraine, and the German people are stupid enough to allow her to do this, then Germany has learnt nothing, and deserves the damage that a widespread war will create on her soil.
On another note, I wonder what financial incentives some of these NATO leaders get, that they are so keen to lie their way into war??
On yet another note, giving NATO membership to the immature far-right-wing, bankrupt Kiev govt is like giving Austria a blank cheque in 1914, which she duly used to drag Germany into WW1, with less than optimal results.
I very much hope that Mrs Merkel will hear you. Many residents of Ukraine, the entire Crimea, Russia hopes for it. It’s not fair to provoke Russia. Insidious plans of Washington and NATO are a threat to all mankind. Do not fall for the United States, NATO and Kiev, PLEASE! And most importantly, I live in Simferopol (Republic of Crimea). I, my family, my friends, my colleagues voted for entry to Russia themselves !!! Nobody threatened us! We had a feast! We are all very, very happy! Russia saved Crimea from blood, from the war! Russia has not invaded the Crimea! It’s us, Crimeans did everything together such a choice. With pleasure! In Crimea there was NO annexation !!!!!!!!! We all want peace and prosperity of Ukraine! We cry when they die, our friends and relatives on this stupid war! Today – you have to stop the war in Ukraine! Residents of Lugansk and Donetsk have to decide what kind of future they choose: they want to be with Ukraine or Novorussia! People’s lives are more important than land, money, power! Russia does not attack !!! Russia defends himself and all of us from possible troubles! Sincerely, Olga. Simferopol
Remember, you are talk to a deaf ear.
Hope never dies!
Liebe stirbt nie.
People die. With love and hope. Alas…
“ the hysteria by giving so much coverage to unproven allegationsâ€
Seems to be the way of the MSM in the UK , Canada and Australia etc.just like Rupert Murdoch led the rush to his Iraq “War†but that is what certain folks would refer to as “old hatâ€.
NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen as NATO secretary-general shamefully supported the Iraq war so lets hope his successor the Ex Norwegian prime minister will have the fortitude to remain independent from the warmongering of the PNAC crowd.
Merkel’s recent parroting of Washington’s lies about “Russian” aggression after the CIA listens to all her phone calls must come from the German guilt heritage.
Cease Fire announced:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/04/world/europe/ukraine-russia.html?emc=edit_na_20140903&nlid=64824678
And what is Obama’s answer to all the attempts to achieve the peaceful solution? Right – more sanctions for Russia.
“Russian president Vladimir V. Putin discussed the steps necessary for a ceasefire agreement between HIS (HIS!!!!) country and Ukraine on Wednesday”
It is big lie about the autors talks. Putin couldnt say something like this. Russia doesnt take part in the war in Ukraine, but such sites like nytimes makes people think its true! Just few words…
EDOM- Get Used To It. The hope of the veterans is that Merkel’s bullshit meter will not fail her when she faces the Oracle tomorrow just as her predecessor’s did not fail him when he faced the Gun Slinger a decade ago. Thing is, wishful thinking aside, the Democrat and Republican are two sides of the same coin, just as Merkel and her predecessor are. On the other hand, at what juncture would you tire of debating the merits and demerits of a sitting White House maidservant and expose the real Elvis; perhaps by unpacking the Zionists sponsored Bolsheviks that scuttled the Constantinople promise to the Czar a century ago or the chess moves of Khrushchev’s in gifting Crimea to Ukraine 50 years later; the gift the maidservant is instructed to use to check-mate the Czar once again, 100 years later.
Correction, like giving Austria a blank cheque in 1914.
What no one seems to realise is that letting the unstable, ultra-right-wing bankrupt Kiev govt join NATO is exactly the same as giving Serbia a blank cheque in 1914: Kiev then has the power via the NATO “an injury to one is an injury to all” credo to drag NATO and Russia into a war NATO memebers cannot avoid. Maybe this is America’s endgame?? And good for the revenue of the American military companies, which after all is one of the main aims of the US going to war.
Brigadier general Erich Vad, Merkel’s security policy adviser from 2007 to 2013, was an admirer of German political theorist Carl Schmitt.
Vad’s published writings (in German) include Carl von Clausewitz: His Importance Today (1986), Strategy and Security Policy: Perspectives in the Work of Carl Schmitt (1996), and “Asymmetric War as an Instrument of Policy” in War Handbook (2011).
In “Friend or Foe: On the Relevance of Carl Schmitt” (2003), an essay published in the the right-wing magazine Sezession, Vad wrote:
“Schmitt developed in the 20th century political ideas that arose under exceptional circumstances, from a state of exception and the constant threat of domestic and international anarchy and violence. Such an approach stands in contrast to the idealistic utopia of a worldwide unfolding of human rights, of a peaceful reconciliation of cultures and civilisations, as well as more liberal, more open and more multicultural societies. Despite what many hope, it is precisely these conceptions of society that are the potential sources of conflict. They constitute a danger that cannot be combated with moral appeals, but only with the ability to recognise the real dangers, with political and military realism and with rational answers to the objective challenges of the situation.â€
In “German chancellor’s military adviser a sympathiser of Nazi jurist” http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2010/04/evad-a16.html , an article about Vad’s Schmittean view of security policy, the author observed: “Identifying the enemy, the use of violence as a preventative measure (even with weapons of mass destruction), spheres of influence and expansionist projects instead of human rights and peaceful settlement—these are the ideological nostrums of Merkel’s top military adviser.”
Germany’s posture toward the “exceptional circumstances” in Ukraine reflects these nostrums. The latest developments of NATO’s Generalpan Ost will no doubt be revealed at this week’s Wales Summit.
Abe is more knowledgable than I am on this topic, but I would point out for the benefit of readers here that Carl Schmitt was known affectionately as “Hitler’s lawyer” and “The Crown Jewel of Nazi Jurisprudence”. His concept of the “State of Exception”, by which the sovereign is he who makes the “friend/enemy distinction without contradiction” empowers the sovereign to “make the state politically homogeneous” through imposition of “martial law”. In other words, it represents the subordination of judicial authority to political authority. This was the reasoning used in the drafting of NDAA and The Patriot Act. Unfortunately, it is widely speculated that NONE of our elected representatives actually read this legislation before approving it. Apparently, the words “Patriot” and “Defense” were good enough for them.
“Schmitt pursues the dual strategy of developing a conceptual counter-vocabulary to rewrite international history geopolitically as a series of ‘spatial revolutions’, inserting Hitler’s Großraumpolitik into a transhistoricized continuum of ‘land-appropriations’; and, inversely, mobilizing this reconstructed history to ascribe historical legitimacy and direction to Nazi-Germany’s wars of conquest. The conjunction of both strategic moves generates a perfect argumentative circularity. History is rewritten in the light of Schmitt’s (geo-)politics and Schmitt’s historical revisionism justifies German imperialism.”
– Benno Gerhard Teschke, “Fatal attraction: a critique of Carl Schmitt’s international political and legal theory,” International Theory (2011), 3:2, 179–227
Washington/EU foreign policy if full of Schmitt.
Misters! ! ! . If Ukraine, doesn’t stop Putin – you precisely should study Russian! ! !
Remember 1938 Czechoslovakia – all too worried for the pocket
What is the stupid statement? Punin needs no Europe, he needs save russin people from ukrnati that is all.
What would have happened if Russia had sanctioned and invaded Iraq with 100 000 troops (with total of 750 000 civilian deaths, re 500 000 of which Foreign Minister Lavrov would say on TV “necessary collateral damage” (Madeleine Albright)) on the pretext of a strike against terrorists endangering it and a fear of WMD, which would prove to be lies (no WMD, no connection to Al Qaeda), then invade Afghanistan in further strikes against it’s terrorist enemy, then bombed Libya in a thinly disguised effort to control the oil, or even just to support the rebels, then pushed for bombing of Syria, then spent USD 5 billion (or rather the rouble equivalent) in Mexico “extending democracy” (with Foreign Minister Lavrov dishing out vodka and borscht to the rebels in Mexico City main square) while in fact clearly creating a violent putsch of the existing govt in order to further it’s strategic military, energy and economic (read corporate, eg shale gas and the Russian equivalent of Monsanto) aims??? And what if all these attacks were driven by the Russian military-industrial complex which had clearly captured the Duma, where the main reason for the attacks was to transfer trillions of roubles from the Russian taxpayers to the military companies and where war was mainly an issue of rouble revenue/turnover over and above all the previously listed reasons or rather pretexts?? All with zero repercussions from the rest of the world. And when the US sent in a couple of 1000 troops under cover to support english speakers who were in the majority in North Mexico near the border, Russia and it’s allies in Western Europe (having already boxed America in by getting neighbouring countries to join RATO (Russian Atlantic Treaty Organisation) by breaking previous treaties not to do so) immediately applied sanctions and military threats?? America’s Nazi attitude (they have already achieved 8 of the 10 necessary steps to fascism) beggars belief.
The media is running around saying “He said there’s an invasion going on. She said there isn’t. Merkel says whatever the hell is going on she better stop it.
The Kiev forces were caught out by their overly aggressive tactics – penetrating too deeply into hostile territory and then getting their supplies lines cut by rebel fighters. Also, the Kiev forces’ T-64 tanks have fared very badly in clashes with rebel fighters. The T-64 is clearly not in the same league as current battle tanks like the British Challenger tank. Many T-64s were hit and burnt out by rebel fighters in desperate clashes.
I don’t believe that Russia has sent or will send troops into East Ukraine to support the separatists. It is possible, however, that Russia will invade preemptively if NATO announces that Ukraine is definitely going to become a member. In that scenario it won’t invade East Ukraine, it will just march through East Ukraine and invade Kiev.
NATO’s mutual defense agreement of Article Five might sound reasonable but it is dangerous in the hands of an extremist government like the current regime in Kiev. It would mean that Russia could not intervene in Ukraine, no matter what hostile actions the Ukrainian government carries out, because that would start a war with all of NATO. Russia might find it hard to avoid being provoked by such a possibility.
Has everyone forgotten Crimea already? Putin’s blitzkrieg is not going to be stopped by European fear or greed, or US dysfunctional democracy. Go elsewhere to find a Hitler to oppose him.
It is simply taken for granted in the media that there is conclusive proof of the recent “Russian invasion” of Eastern Ukraine, but the evidence so far is non-existent.
There is nothing in those satellite photos taken over Ukraine to indicate anything Russian. They only have the resolution to show a row of vehicles and what appears to be a few artillery units. We’re just expected to assume that they are Russian.
I haven’t seen any convincing argument either that the video of the alleged Russian tank
was definitely taken in Ukraine or that the tank and its plating could not be Ukrainian.
It is true that the capture of ten Russian paratroopers inside Ukraine can be seen as evidence of some involvement by the Russian army but they were not part of an all-out invasion force. They surrendered without offering any resistance and there appears to be no evidence that they had been involved in fighting or that they were in possession of tanks or armoured vehicles or heavy weaponry.
It’s amazing that there is no picture from either a smartphone, a drone or a satellite that shows a tank or armoured vehicle crossing the border if they’ve really been flooding across so often and in huge numbers.
Damn right. The war in Ukraine has better coverage than the Vietnam war used to have, thanks to the advent of smartphones. Everything has been captures, artillery and grad attacks on civilians, movements of heavy weaponry, everything. And now exactly the “Russian invasion” should not have been televized aka “smartphonized”? This is truly ridiculous to even imagine that they think this were convincing at all.
Those artillery photos were absurd computer game BS.Identical in every angle and position,how low will our propagandists go.
As a veteran of two wars and the cold war, in intelligence, and with the World Bank in Russia in the 1990s, assisting with the transition from Communism, I appreciate the Consortium articles presenting a much more objective, and I feel accurate, view of the Ukraine situation. Our mainstream press does not give us the whole, or a balanced, story. Obama is listening to the wrong people, and has the wrong people in key positions. As a result, he is creating problems for the world, interfering again where we have no business doing so, reigniting the Cold War, and risking WWIII. Obama touts negotiation to solve the problem, but doesn’t seem to understand that you cannot negotiate responsibly while making threats, issuing demands, and imposing sanctions, and while siding with the coup government. Putin appears to be much more responsible here in proposing negotiations between the Kiev government and the Russian speaking people of East Ukraine. Instead of threatening increased sanctions, we should cooperate with Putin. How would it be possible to get this message through to Obama, tell him to muzzle Kerry, Nuland, and Samantha Power, and ignore McCain and the other neocons?
Why has Kiev so far been delaying a ceasefire?
Has the dog slipped off his leash?
No. The dog heeds His Master’s Voice.
Excellent article. I believe we are in the hands of dangerous warmongers and propagandists. I also believe NATO is the military arm of The New World Order (NWO). See Links below:
http://graysinfo.blogspot.ca/2014/08/no-austerity-for-nato-and-its-political.html
http://graysinfo.blogspot.ca/2014/08/the-war-makers-to-meet-in-wales.html
http://graysinfo.blogspot.ca/2014/04/what-country-will-be-next-for-warmongers.html
Sadly german media is in full scale escalation mode, like US media before iraq war. There is NO grey anymore, only black and white. Everyone who is a little bit critical with their narrative is called putin-troll or fifth column. Besides this, there is a massive pr-campaign from kiev-supporters (mostly from “EuromaidanPR”) with the same methods. i don´t know how this will end, but i know now how pacifist people must have felt before ww1…
As a Swiss Citizen, I want to thank VIPS for this outstanding letter to Mrs. Merkel and CONSORTIUMNEWS for their excellent researches. It is my first and last official comment in public about politics (for the NSA records), especially regarding Ukraine, coming to the same conclusion as VIPS. How in heaven, can someone with a minimum of common sense believe that Russia would ever accept NATO in Ukraine or Ukraine associating with EU? The US/EU/NATO should finally understand, or learn it the hard way, that a border exists in their Eastern enlargement plans – and that’s Ukraine, in my opinion the very Western border. Ukraine has by far not one parameter which would pass an EU association, so why start with such negotiations if not something else is on the agenda? I’m shocked, how US/NATO is able to span the EU for their plans. Mrs. Merkel, probably the best politician we have in the EU, is losing profile in a way I never expected.
As Spiegel.de wrote today, the NATO confirms Kiev lost the war already. What next? The only sensible solution is likely to dismiss the East Ukraine to independence, associated to Russia. I’m convinced; Mr. Putin would pay the reconstruction against a commitment of no NATO placement in Western Ukraine. Ukraine itself shall seek the bilateral way with East and West to overcome their various political and financial problems. That could be a win –win situation and may be one day, Russia will accept their EU association.
And the EU? In my opinion, this “construct†has reached the zenith and will shrink again in the long run. If the financial support of the EU omits to the weak states, they will search for independence (btw. good luck for Scotland). In case Russia succeeds in its BRIC and Yuan plans, where will ex-Soviet republics go? Putin doesn’t need to send tanks.
And the US? What if BRIC joins Iran? I hope for the American that this “Hawk†era ends and will be replaced with intelligence. We do not expect to have the Americans solving all the conflicts. Obama is a good guy and knows that so far – but he’s not the men in power.
NATO’s Options in Ukraine
http://journal-neo.org/2014/09/01/nato-s-options-in-ukraine/
After provoking what is increasingly a devastating and expanding conflict in Ukraine, NATO appears to be out of options as its proxy regime loses its grip on both its military campaign against its own population in eastern Ukraine, as well as political control in the capital of Kiev itself. However, despite the turn of events, with NATO apparently rudderless, those seeking to undo and reserve the damage the West has created in Eastern Europe must not become complacent.
NATO still possesses several options with which it can respond to its deteriorating proxy regime and the eroding of its interests both in the region, and around the world.
Propaganda Retrenchment Before Aggressive Military Aid
As the West has done in Syria, it now seeks to do in Ukraine – a complete retrenchment of the official narrative regarding the nature of the ongoing conflict.
Bravo to the veterans who formulated this much needed essay!!
As a Swiss Citizen, I want to thank VIPS for this outstanding letter to Mrs. Merkel and CONSORTIUMNEWS for their excellent researches. It is my first and last official comment in public about politics (for the records of NSA ïŠ), especially regarding Ukraine, coming to the same conclusion as VIPS. How in heaven, can someone with a minimum of common sense believe that Russia would ever accept NATO in Ukraine or Ukraine associating with EU? The US/EU/NATO should finally understand, or learn it the hard way, that a border exists in their Eastern enlargement plans – and that’s Ukraine, in my opinion the very Western border. Ukraine has by far not one parameter which would pass an EU association, so why start with such negotiations if not something else is on the agenda? I’m shocked, how US/NATO is able to span the EU for their plans. Mrs. Merkel, probably the best politician we have in the EU, is losing profile in a way I never expected.
As Spiegel.de wrote today, the NATO confirms Kiev lost the war already. What next? The only sensible solution is likely to dismiss the East Ukraine to independence, associated to Russia. I’m convinced; Mr. Putin would pay the reconstruction against a commitment of no NATO placement in Western Ukraine. Ukraine itself shall seek the bilateral way with East and West to overcome their various political and financial problems. That could be a win –win situation and may be one day, Russia will accept their EU association.
And the EU? In my opinion, this “construct†has reached the zenith and will shrink again in the long run. If the financial support of the EU omits to the weak states, they will search for independence (btw. good luck for Scotland). In case Russia succeeds in its BRIC and Yuan plans, where will ex-Soviet republics go? Putin doesn’t need to send tanks.
And the US? What if BRIC joins Iran? I hope for the American that this “Hawk†era ends and will be replaced with intelligence. We do not expect to have the Americans solving all the conflicts. Obama is a good guy and knows that so far – but he’s not the men in power.
The majority of the European people see exactly what is going on, and agree with you and this article. Further, the majority of EU governments also agree, and have warned Washington repeatedly since last March/April. It is the (discreetly held) opinion of most Europeans, with or without power, that the US foreign policy today is run by malign and dangerous lunatics.
So what has gone wrong? Why is Europe forced – it seems – to play along, with no independent public voice? Obviously the overwhelming presence of NATO in Europe – a NATO which appears at this point more powerful than our governments. A Washington-run Trojan Horse equipped with drones, unlimited military hardware and a Washington policy that rejects international law and that has abrogated to itself the right to seize / assassinate any citizen of any country it deems a threat to its national security. Perhaps in this context NATO has more direct power over EU governments than appears on the surface? Especially with bases in practically every EU country.
As for Germany, it has percolated through the news recently that after re-unification, the former occupying powers did not return Germany’s sovereignty. Perhaps a German on this thread could confirm this (or deny), and expand on what this means. Further, Germany hosts the US military command HQ and largest base in Europe. These could all be factors. Along with the US doctrine of ‘regime change’?
Fact is ,the Federal Republic of Germany never was given a peace treaty by the allies,so we are basically still in a kind of cease-fire state.Furthermore, the FRG formally was an improvised country,never had a real constitution.We just have a provisional base-law (Grundgesetz),which says,when ever Germany would be reunited,the people of both former German Countries,will delete this base-law and give themselves in freedom and sovereignity a final constitution.This just never happend.Why?
It wasn’t allowed or wished by the western Allies.
It’s all about Germany. Germany wants a political solution. Fast. Germany wants Russian gas via Ukraine back. Fast. Germany does not want missile defense in Eastern Europe. Chocolateshenko’s latest “Invasion!” hysteria is pure desperation by a lowly vassal of the Empire of Chaos. And Fogh of War – who got the NATO job because he supported the rape of Iraq – will keep crying “Invasion!” himself.
– Pepe Escobar (via Facebook)
From Minsk to Wales, Germany is the key
http://rt.com/op-edge/183328-minsk-wales-germany-key/
Pepe Escobar is the roving correspondent for Asia Times/Hong Kong, an analyst for RT and TomDispatch, and a frequent contributor to websites and radio shows ranging from the US to East Asia.
Germany does NOT solely get Russia gas overland via Ukraine.
There’s another pipeline, I believe in the Baltic.
The Nord Stream offshore natural gas pipeline allows Siberian gas to flow directly to Germany. The longest sub-sea pipeline in the world, it has two parallel lines, each with capacity of 27.5 billion cubic metres (970 billion cubic feet) of natural gas per year. The Nord Stream AG operating consortium (primary shareholder Gazprom at 51%) is studying viability of building the third and fourth lines. But they ain’t gonna supply the whole of Europe.
“A quarter of the gas consumed in Europe comes from Russia. While Russian gas accounts for 38 percent of the total gas consumption in Germany, that figure in some southern and eastern European countries rises to as high as 100 percent.” http://www.dw.de/europes-approach-to-russias-gas-power/a-17887505
The Euro has been on German life support. Add an energy crisis induced by the conflict in Ukraine and “Fuck the EU!” assumes a literally chilling significance.
For the Germans, “the spice must flow.”
Abe nailed it.
Bravo!
But sane voices are unhearing in the Western world.
Alas.
It strikes me as rather odd, having grown up in a military family and having served myself, that so many Americans, especially those supposedly educated enough to know better, have such a poor understanding about what our current leadership has apparently embraced. A mere twenty years ago, America still remembered, or seemed to, what World War Two was all about. A mere twenty years ago, while stationed at MCRD Parris Island, I recall one of the new recruits receiving his first obligatory “haircut”. Not unlike the tonsure commensurate with entry into a ritual or monastic order, it represents the first ‘rite of passage’. But in his case, it revealed a tattoo on the top of his head. This resulted in much consternation and wringing of hands, and apparently percolated all the way to the top of the command structure. As I understood it, a General Officer was ultimately involved in the final decision. The kid was not allowed to serve. He was not allowed to serve because the tattoo happened to be a swastika. Fast-forward to Dina Newman’s BBC article of July 16, reporting on Andriy Biletsky, one of the ministers in the puppet government we installed in Ukraine. He represents the “Socialist Nationalist Assembly”, which boasts among the goals of its political platform, “To prepare Ukraine for the liberation of the entire White Race from the domination of the internationalist speculative capital”. To anyone who has ever read William Shirer, George Seldes, John Toland, Joachim Fest or Ian Kershaw, that should sound vaguely familiar. I also noted with some interest the recent Brookings Institute rag sheet commentary by Thomas Wright. It expressed, in addition to a fact-free delusional account of the Russian “invasion”, a litany of bogus reasons why Federica Mogherini was an imprudent candidate for EU Foreign Minister. It seems her wise observation that Russian interests merit consideration constituted a disqualifying factor. Then again, those press photos of her recent meeting with Putin seemed to indicate something magical in their eyes. Let’s face it – Mogherini is certainly easier to look at than “Lady” Ashton. To stir the soup even more briskly, we are advised that NATO intends to send 10,000 additional troops to that nest of Nazi sympathizers in the Balkans, ostensibly to “reassure” them. For those with no military background, let me reassure you they would need 500,000 to repel a conventional attack should Russia decide to conduct one. All of this is “stuff and nonsense”, and appears to deliberately intended to provoke hostilities. Fascism is what the Ukrainian oligarchs Yatsenyuk, Poroshenko, Kolomoisky and others represent. Without delving too deeply, Nazism can be succinctly described as fascism plus racism, which is exactly what we are seeing from the Kiev regime. Strangely, by incorporating Hunter Biden into his Burisma Holdings, Kolomoisky is doing little to disguise the fact that he represents a principle exponent of the “internationalist speculative capital” his Nazi colleagues claim to despise. The Biden family stands to become fabulously wealthy if this all works out as planned, but I don’t think they realize the ball is no longer in their court. The Federalists appear to be winning without Putin’s help. But if Putin were involved, Kiev would have fallen weeks ago, and there’s not a damn thing NATO could do about it…unless, of course, this goes nuclear. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that somebody in Washington still has some presence of mind. Three cheers for Mogherini!
20 years ago the US Marines were surprised to have a recruit who at a minimum had a pro Nazi tattoo?
Isn’t it true that a lot of the command structure of the Marines comes out of the US south?
Oliver North, USMC, and backer of all sorts of right wing thugs in central America, well guess what many of those south and central American reich-wing types are basically Nazi families, sometimes outright, sometimes just in policy overlap.
Does not surprise me one bit that there are Nazi sympathizers attracted to the Marines in particular.
Now of course, it’s that 20 years ago they were rejected, today they’d be kept around for whatever the new Iraq is.
In July, Mogherini visited Kiev and Moscow, and she invited Vladimir Putin to an economics summit in Milan in October. Her first nomination as EU foreign policy chief was blocked by Eastern European EU member states, and Lithuania’s President Dalia GrybauskaitÄ— publicly called her ‘pro-Kremlin’. This opposition was overcome because Merkel eventually decided to give her support.
F.G. Your words bring back memories of when I served. There has been it appears a awful lowering of the bar to quit a degree. There was a line. There seemed to be a criteria aimed at a basic principle. We truly wanted to be the good guys. Of course our history doesn’t show much in the way of good results, but there was some good theme to it all. I mean the nation as a whole wanted to believe we were a democracy. That we did things the fair way. After all we defeated the Nazis (Actually I think Russia did), but we did not like what appeared to represent evil.
Now, we back modern day Nazi’s in Ukraine. Israel acts like Nazi’s. Whatever IS is they seem worst than Nazi. So, what changed?
Joe, you hit the nail on the head – I always believed the key to leadership was that one word: “FAIR”. Take that out, and everything falls apart. I don’t know what happened, but none of this looks like the country I thought I was born in.
F.G. I think what happened took a long time. Since the Federal Reserve ‘they’ started chipping away. Then came the 60’s. That was when ‘they’ found how ‘they’ could get away with murder, and the American public just had to settle for that. One lie led to another lie. Values, we don’t need no stinking values. We are exceptional. Oh, we lost our free press, and that certainly didn’t help. Money took over, and now here we are. Let’s hope good wins over evil….where is Michael the Ark Angel when we need him? J.T.
Funny that the Ukrainian fingered the Ziomonsters with his international speculator comment,but is allying himself with those exact creeps.
Who is using who?
Cynicism.
Russians aren’t white?Jeez,they might be the whitest on the planet,as far as pigmentation.
Thanks for your comment, Gerd! I just wanted to reassure you that your English is very good. (You wouldn’t want to see my best attempt at German…) I too have wondered about Chancellor Merkel’s motives.
As a german citizen,I appreciate your letter very much,but I think it’s in a lost cause.All I can say about Chancellor Merkel is,that she is either blackmailed about her past in Eastern Germany,or she is downright stupid.As you know,she was willing to buy the lies about Iraqs weapons of mass destruction,and march along with your thenpresident Bush,when she was our oppositionleader.Now she and her cabinet is playing along with fascists.She is so resistent against reason,that she is willing to destroy german economy or risk a bigtime european war,which would ultimately end in WW 3.
Our leadership is totally crazy.It won’t listen to you, and I fear your letter will not make its way into public,as It should.Our media won’t allow it,but some people over here like me will try to link to it where ever we can.
Once again,thank you.
(I hope my English isn’t too bad)
As an American living out of country the only hope I have for our survival is with the common people of Europe. Our so called leadership in America is BAT SHIT CRAZY! And left to their own devices will take America straight to hell and Europe along with it. You folks in Europe have an advantage,you have seen the effects of war up close and personal. Unfortunately most Americans treat war like it’s a production on the back lot at Universal studious made for their entertainment. In America we haven’t seen the effects of war up close and personal since the war between the states and therefore have no idea of the true reality of it. I’m 62 years old and don’t recognize my country any more. The population for the very most part believes anything and every thing they are spoon fed through the Main sleaze media. I have zero confidence in the people of the United state to grow up and get real,REAL QUICK! So my hope is with you folks in Europe knowing the true nature and effects of modern warfare. You know as well as anyone when America starts this war it will be waged in Europe’s front yard and your children will see it. And I do believe at some point it will go nuclear and that will be a very bad day for all parties involved,ALL OF HUMANITY. Please get this letter out to all your countrymen and make it go viral across all of Europe. It’s time to stop the Madmen! By the way your English is perfect. Cheers and Peace!
I also live out of the US and generally agree with you. The NEW AMERICAN CENTURY gang seems to be in control.
On the other hand, Merkel by herself has absolutely no political vision or agenda. She is entirely guided by her advisers, certain pressure she gets from interest groups (such as industry or banks – and, of course, US-pressure) and public opinion. I’ve never seen her make one decision coming from her gut. It was all always in order to serve someone. She is the perfect opportunist (and thus a shitty leader).
Public opinion in Germany is largely against the war-mongering course of NATO, and surely against sanctions, as is pretty much all of German business (industry, Mittelstand). Those petty, gratuitous sanctions hurt us way more than they hurt Russia. They only serve the US-regime – and people in Germany know that very well.
So, my hope is that the inner pressure from Germany will eventually be stronger than the outer pressure coming from our Anglo-American occupants and those other paranoid NATO-members from the East. I am pretty sure though that even Merkel will veto Ukraine becoming a NATO member – if not, she must be impeached for utter incompetence.
Quote: if not, she must be impeached for utter incompetence.
And yes,she should right now.
Right now we’ve got a regime here like in old GDR,80% of our representing members of our “Bundestag” belong to the two goverment parties.The Opposition is to small,they can’t even demand a commission to look into all this.
Our secretary of state (Aussenminister) even cited a poll,which showed that 70% of our people are not in line with this politics against Russia..His reaction was,This wouldn’t be acceptable(the mindset of those 70%) and one should work against it.
So much for DEMOCRACY
You’re right. Merkel won’t listen to anyone who challenges the anti-Russian propaganda. She has a public image as a cautious leader and is not as hysterical as other politicians like Australia’s Tony Abbott but she clearly agrees with Washington’s policy on Ukraine. Her spokesman accused Russia of not showing any interest in the MH17 investigation
even though Russia provided far more information than Ukraine or the USA.
Even if she wanted to reverse the confrontational attitude towards Russia it’s too late now because the media, including the state broadcaster, has joined in the hysteria by giving so much coverage to unproven allegations.
Gerd, there’s nothing wrong with your English. It’s a lot better than my German even though I’ve lived in Germany for many years.
Adding as one more german reader I would like to assure anyone:
Merkel is not stupid at all. She does only no what is wise for her and what not.
Suppose she is indeed blackmailed by 5-eyes files and not further motivated in opposing any of the clandestine US-american-neocon-network-roadmaps.
Probably most german politicians who are supported publicly for important positions are this type of poodles now, since obviously ALL of the big german media are led by this type of as useful poodles now. Including even former leftist papers like TAZ. There is no newspaper or channel anymore left, that would report ongoings without hysterical propagandistic bias.
Many educated citizens here are still shocked by this fact currently, since this is a rather new situation we have yet not been used to.
So, Gerd is absolutely right: This letter didn’t make it’s way into our media. And it will not. And Merkel will never oppose even any marginal order from this pressure groups.
Sad but true: She will be no help at all. And there is no other potential for a german political power or media starting to throw sand into the running machine of escalation.
Probably at least I am apologizing for my pidgin german english with good reason.
;-)
Happy to see Germans aware of the perversion of reality by the Ziomonsters.Is your MSM also under their sway?
Your English is fine,better than my German.Unfortunately its a common phenomena,you speaking our language,while we don’t converse in yours so well,a guess a sign of our ignorance.
dahoit: Please save your racist comments and pet hatreds for a more neo-Nazi blog site.
Talk to us again when you know what racism is, criticism of zionism is NOT racism not is it antisemitic. Zionism is an idiology, not a race.
Former Israeli Minister Shulamit Aloni; “Anti-semitic”, “its a trick we always use it”
I have to say this is extremely distressing and perplexing to anyone who knows their recent history, as in Operation Barbarossa, or The Great Patriotic War as it is termed from the Russian side. How can anyone not be sympathetic to Russia once again being hemmed in and aggravated from the West, and no less than with a resurgent neo nazi movement in western Ukraine, as violent and racist as their historical predecessors?
Throughout all this I thought ‘surely Putin and Merkel have some sort of red phone contact going and that they understand each other clearly?’ She speaks fluent Russian, and he German, and both of them understand full-well that everything happening in eastern Europe since WWII falls under the shadow of that monumental conflict.
Above all else, that the threat of a war over borders and ethnicity is even countenanced is just unbelievable. But then Merkel’s recent parroting of Washington’s lies about “Russian aggression”, in the same manner as Washington’s stooges in Kiev… is nothing short of incredible. How is it she is not pilloried in the German press for playing an active and supportive part in this brinkmanship in the east?
Since the break up of the Soviet Union Washington has been pushing it’s own form of Drang nach Osten, using NATO to mask it’s intentions. “Untermenschen” are again being massacred by fascists–this madness must be stopped!
What “neo nazi” you are talking about? If you mean Russian RNE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_National_Unity and http://www.rusnation.org/) that has swastika in their logo and is a main promoter of conflict in Ukraine, then I am OK. Otherwise I would like to see any proof of those co-called “neo nazis” you are talking about.
Needless to say, ultra-right got less than 2% support (all together), unlike recently in Europe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLUxuq-E9yA
Can you believe what America has become?! The top policymakers a bunch of shameless liars!
When was it ever otherwise?
To every citizen from around the world cut and paste this and send it to your national leader’s and the opposition especially if you are in a NATO country. Remind them that history will not forgive them and that they are still on the hook for Libya as we have not forgotten.