Disagreement between the U.S. and Ukrainian presidents and cautiousness by Germany and France, seems to indicate only the U.S. and U.K. are keen for war with Russia, reports Joe Lauria.
Zelensky at his 2019 inauguration. (Mykhaylo Markiv /Presidential Administration of Ukraine)
By Joe Lauria
Special to Consortium News
The telephone call between U.S. President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday was said to have not “gone well,” according to a senior Ukrainian official.
The official said Zelensky urged Biden to “calm down the messaging” on the situation in Ukraine and that Ukrainian intelligence did not see a Russian threat the same way the U.S. did, according to a report on CNN. It is “dangerous but ambiguous,” the official quoted Zelensky as telling Biden, and that “it is not certain that an attack will take place.”
At a news conference on Friday, Zelensky said: “They keep supporting this theme, this topic.And they make it as acute and burning as possible. In my opinion, this is a mistake.” He added: “If you look only at the satellites you will see the increase in troops and you can’t assess whether this is just a threat of attack or just a simple rotation.”
Zelensky also spoke about the resumption of diplomatic talks in Paris in the Normandy Format with Germany and France in which the Minsk Accords are to be implemented. The 2015 accords would end the war between Kiev and two breakaway eastern provinces that opposed the 2014 U.S. backed coup that overthrew a democratically elected president that leaned towards Moscow. The provinces would be given autonomy from Kiev. Zelensky said he hoped that the ceasefire in the east would hold.
This is almost the exact opposite of what the U.S. and its loyal media are blaring everyday. In the call, Biden raised the temperature, decisively saying that a Russian invasion of Ukraine was coming. “Biden warned his Ukrainian counterpart that a Russian attack may be imminent, saying that an invasion was now virtually certain, once the ground had frozen later in February, according to the official,” the CNN report said.
War fever has clearly gripped Washington. Emily Horne, a U.S. National Security Council spokeswoman, “disputed the senior Ukrainian official’s description of the call” according to the network. “Anonymous sources are ‘leaking’ falsehoods,” she was quoted as saying. “President Biden said that there is a distinct possibility that the Russians could invade Ukraine in February. He has said this publicly and we have been warning about this for months. Reports of anything more or different than that are completely false.” This was before Zelensky repeated the same sentiments on Friday.
But Zelensky is not the first Ukrainian leader to deny that there is a serious threat from Moscow. The New York Times reported on Tuesday:
“Ukraine’s defense minister has asserted that there had been no change in the Russian forces compared with a buildup in the spring; the head of the national security council accused some Western countries and news media outlets of overstating the danger for geopolitical purposes; and a Foreign Ministry spokesman took a swipe at the United States and Britain for pulling the families of diplomats from their embassies in Kyiv, saying they had acted prematurely.”
The line from Washington, funneled through the U.S. corporate media, is that America understands Ukraine better than Ukrainian officials do. The reason Ukrainians are pushing back against the U.S. hysteria, “analysts” are “guessing,” is to “keep the Ukrainian markets stable, prevent panic and avoid provoking Moscow, while others attribute it to the country’s uneasy acceptance that conflict with Russia is part of Ukraine’s daily existence,” as the Times reported.
It couldn’t possibly be because there’s not the threat the Americans say there is.
The war fever is clouding the minds of the U.S. national security state and its loyal media. And, as always, arms manufacturers like Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics stand to benefit.
The angry response from the NSC spokeswoman reveals how official Washington is reacting to doubts about the war hysteria, even if it comes from the president of the supposedly targeted country.
European Doubts Too
Ukraine is not the only country that is not as gung-ho for war as America. Germany has refused to ship its weapons to Ukraine. “Weapons deliveries would not be helpful at the moment – that is the consensus within the government,” German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said last week.
Last Saturday, Vice-Admiral Kay-Achim Schönbach, the head of the German navy, resigned after saying talk of a Russian invasion of Ukraine was “nonsense” and that Russia was merely seeking “respect” for its security concerns in Europe. German business with extensive commercial ties to Russia, has long bridled under pressure from Washington to put German sanctions on their trading partner.
Germany’s stance has freaked out strident Atlanticists, such as the think tank Carnegie Europe, which yesterday said, “If Berlin does not adopt a bolder, unambiguous stance toward Russia, it will undermine the West’s deterrence efforts.”
The U.S. State Department took the extraordinarily bold step on Thursday of dictating to Germany that the U.S. would shut down the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany — a commercial project that has nothing to do with the U.S. — if Russia invades.
“I want to be very clear: if Russia invades Ukraine one way or another, Nord Stream 2 will not move forward,” U.S. state department spokesman Ned Price told NPR. But even the BBC had to say: “Questions remain over whether the US would have the power to cancel the project.” By no coincidence, the U.S. this week said it was organizing much more expensive liquified natural gas shipments, from the U.S. and other parts of the world, if a war caused Russia to turn off its gas pipelines to Europe.
For its efforts to undermine Russia and even for naked commercial interests, the U.S. seems to be willing, even begging, Russia to invade.
France Too
Macron leaving European Parliament after address last week. (European Parliament)
In an address to the European Parliament last week, French President Emmanuel Macron appeared to show Russia the kind of respect Schönbach was talking about. He said:
“Europe needs to build a collective security order on our continent. Our continent’s security requires a strategic reinforcement of our Europe as a power of peace, a balancing power, particularly in its dialogue with Russia. I have been advocating this dialogue for several years. It is not optional, for our history and our geography are stubborn, both for ourselves and for Russia. For security in our continent, which is indivisible. We need this dialogue…. What we need to build is a European order founded on principles and rules to which we have committed, and which we established not against or without Russia, but with Russia.”
Despite Macron’s words, France has agreed to send a contingent of its NATO soldiers to Eastern Europe, along with Denmark, Spain, and the Netherlands.
As is often the case, Europe is torn between its own interests and those being dictated by Washington, resulting in an ambiguous policy. There are few examples of Europe risking America’s ire, even for its own benefit.
Refusing to cooperate with the U.S. on Ukraine would signal a European defiance of the United States such as Charles de Gaulle pulling France out of NATO in 1966 to preserve French independence.
The last time European governments broke with Washington on a major issue was the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Then France and Germany joined Russia on the U.N. Security Council in blocking the war’s authorization (although Britain supported it). But France and Germany then voted for a resolution several months later that essentially condoned the invasion.
Only London
Boris Johnson (Flickr)
The dissension by the German admiral and the French president to the U.S. position exposes the war propaganda being stirred up daily over Ukraine as a mostly Anglo-Saxon affair.
Britain has begun playing an increasing role with the United States in preparing its populations for war, reminiscent of the lead-up to the 2003 U.S-U.K. invasion of Iraq.
Last Saturday, the British Foreign Office, without providing any evidence at all, said Russia is planning to “install a pro-Russian leader in Kyiv as it considers whether to invade and occupy Ukraine.” This week Prime Minister Boris Johnson said an invasion would become “a painful, violent and bloody business” for Russia.
The Ukrainian people already installed a pro-Russian leader through the ballot box, Viktor Yanukovych. He was overthrown in an actual U.S.-backed coup in Ukraine in 2014, leading to the continuing crisis.
Evidence for the Kiev coup came in the form of a leaked telephone call between then U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland and the then U.S. ambassador to Ukraine in which they discussed who the new Ukrainian leader would be, weeks before the coup happened.
Britain is going further, spreading alarm that the Ukraine standoff can lead to a world war. Liz Truss, the British foreign secretary, traveled as far as Australia to raise fears that China might join the war by attacking Taiwan if Russia “invaded” Ukraine.
An interview she gave to The Sydney Morning Herald, under the headline: “Aggressors working together: UK’s Truss warns China could follow Russia into war,” began:
“China could use a Russian invasion of Ukraine as an opportunity to launch aggression of its own in the Indo-Pacific, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has warned. ‘I don’t think we can rule that out,” Ms Truss said. … “Russia is working more closely with China than it ever has. Aggressors are working in concert and I think it’s incumbent on countries like ours to work together.’”
The United States and Britain are trying to save a nation that says it does not need saving at the moment. And it is only Washington and London that have fully spun this story of war and are ready to bully anyone of consequence who challenges it.
Joe Lauria is editor-in-chief of Consortium News and a former U.N. correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and numerous other newspapers. He was an investigative reporter for the Sunday Times of London and began his professional work as a 19-year old stringer for The New York Times. He can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @unjoe
A well written article , totally refreshing to read an opposing point of view instead of the usual one sided view from are main stream press , and new media . Keep up the good work .
Russia will EMP US.
This is serious WARNING.
We want stable and predictable relationship with Russia. Well…Putin has been there for 20 something years (Merkel less, but still a long time) and, by now, everyone knows how he operates. He’s been very balanced and patient with the US and EU. Imagine, he is gone. Short of an American “Yatz and f .. EU” type of leader, who is to guarantee that there won’t be someone more assertive and firm in dealing with this BS? Finally. Our “democratic” process in electing presidents time and time again has shown that every next one coming in office reneging or flatly cancelling treaties and agreement of the previous one and then throw in the Congress partisanship and you get yourself an extremely “predictable” outcome of our policies and actions, be it in international or domestic.
War fever is NOT “clouding the minds” of the U.S. national security state and its loyal media.
It is the very reason for their existence.
Anybody seen those WMDs? They must be around here somewhere.
You clearly know about clouds, Mr. Cloud.
“A beautiful thing is a joy forever !” Joe that line about American politicians knowing the Ukraine better than the Ukrainians do is very rich indeed!
I have been following this Ukraine Biden thing it appears that the President has a situation on his hands. It is clear to me that if the Republicans win the Congress this year Biden will get impeached. Anyone really believe given the chance that Mitch would pass it up?
There is no stomach for war in Europe. Biden needs to cut his loses and throw his hand in. Him and his merry band of losers have blown this one already. Get our money, whats left, back home and start building bridges etc.
The Russians are winning the hearts and minds of Irish fisherman, the Chinese are very likely fishing for “Blue Thunder” or what ever the code word is for the EXTREMELY expensive F-35 that fell of the USS VINSON and the democrats are still fishing for answers.
So what? Never underestimating the power of large groups of stupid people. I figure Biden, no matter what, might decide to go all in and claim ownership of his office as advised by the Patriot Act. Him and his family have some explaining to do. No more “do overs’ or “forget it the country can’t take the stress”, bull shit!
I mean seriously I read about the gyrations of NATO since 89-90. GHW Bush, Reagan his shadow CIA – per Bush 41. I should have figured as much. I new too little of this history thank you.
What in the name of Dog is this man and his ‘intelligence community’ ! High theater is one thing, it’s another to let the Bear make a laughing stock of the Democratic “ASS”!
I need a drink! Thanks CN!
USA and UK have terrorised, raped and pillaged for centuries
Excellent article! Thank you from war-mongering Australia. The following website is not mine, I am just a member of the organisation, but it will give you an idea of how we are struggling for peace in Australia with the reality that we are the US’ deputy sheriff and have been to every invasion of sovereign countries and war with them. ipan.org.au
We even helped them topple democratically elected Allende and install Pinochet in Chile in the 70s.
It’s like de ja vu here in the UK with an incessant & relentless barrage of warmongering on all news channels apart from RT. Indeed, even the supposedly neutral Private Eye talks about Russia & Putin in Corporate MSM overtones.
Thank goodness for Consortium News
While the Great Reset Architects are thoroughly committed to closed operating systems which demand computer models be imposed onto the world guiding a zero-growth policy towards total equilibrium and “entropy”, the multipolar alliance led by Xi and Putin are committed to “open system” thinking. […] Where the closed system/unipolar model demands the submission of governments to a totalitarian system of controls of “experts” who are “uniquely qualified” to control the diminishing rates of return of fixed resources, the open system/multipolar model demands a respect for sovereign nations and a focus upon the creation of new resources via scientific and technological progress. Where one is premised on a zero-sum game of win-lose behavior (aka: the survival of the fittest), the other is premised upon a non-zero-sum game of win-win cooperation. When confronted with ‘resource scarcity’ and ‘population growth’, closed system thinkers adopt a Malthusian view that population growth must be culled to adhere to mathematical models of “carrying capacity” in some imagined stated of “natural equilibrium” which said models demand must exist.
“I want to be very clear: if Russia invades Ukraine one way or another, Nord Stream 2 will not move forward.” — Ned Price
Maybe he wants to be very clear, but he is not; the comma is crucial.
“…if Russia invades Ukraine one way or another, Nord Stream 2 will not move forward” — this implies that the definition of “invade” is somewhat negotiable, perhaps extending to “uses standoff weapons fired from within its own borders” or even “materially assists the Donbass rebels”
versus
“…if Russia invades Ukraine, one way or another Nord Stream 2 will not move forward” — in this case, there are various options for attempting to prevent the completion of NS2.
The question is, was this accidental or tactical ambiguity?
It appears to be a reference to the confusion (from US gov. point of view) that Biden created when he said the US wouldn’t respond so strongly if Russia only made an “incursion” into Ukraine. The US has been playing damage control on that Biden statement, and Price’s statement appears to be part of that.
Zelensky would do well to send out peace feelers to Putin. Push aside the American phony concern for Ukraine and that is hungering for a confrontation with Russia in order to isolate it and eventually rob it of it’s resources. Some of America’s allies are also contributing to this potential war fearing reprisals if seen as slackers but there are also glimmers of hope in Germany, Canada and other countries where some politicians ( including Zelensky)and military leaders have spoken out against America’s propaganda machine. Kudos to them for having the courage to swim against the mainstream politically correct , virtue signalling American orchestrated mob that continues to demonize Russia since the end of WW2. I would like to believe that Zelensky is starting to believe that the US is not Ukraine’s friend but a cancer that is becoming ever more malignant and if not stopped will eventually destroy his country, the world and even the US itself . The only way to stop it is through peacefull efforts on the part of the countries that see through the American nightmare of world domination
The US wishes to use Ukraine as a sacrificial lamb in the former’s great power struggle with Russia. In the event of a hot war, the Ukrainian military is likely to be demolished—as in annihilated—in short order by Russia’s advanced stand-off weapons. Ukrainian leaders are aware of how they are being manipulated into this dire situation by the US and are finally expressing their unhappiness publicly. The solution for Ukraine is to implement the Minsk Accords, which it officially accepted and signed in 2015. Once that is done, the civil war in the country will end, and the risk of Ukraine becoming a killing field will diminish greatly.
VILE ROTTEN CORRUPT TORY WAR MONGERS A HOPE TRUSS JONSTON & Co ARE TAKING UP ARMS NO A BET THEY FILTHY CRETINS WILL SITTING BACK DRINKING WINE IN THE BACK GARDEN AT No 10 WHILE YOUR SON & DAUGHTER DIE ON THE BATTLE FIELD TO MAKE THESE OBNOXIOUS SCUM RICH
The 2014 USA coup in Ukraine against a gov that was pro Russia, begs the question, ‘What Would the US Do If Russia Interfered in Mexico, Canada or Cuba elections?’
Crimea has the only warm water port for Russia while the US has three coasts which have warm water ports. Is this the reason Biden is strident and warmongering? Biden was involved in diplomatic blackmail by demanding that an investigator be fired or USA loan money would be withdrawn. This, in addition to Biden’s son being given a questionable lucrative board chair on the Barissma Gas Board. Abd how about the China illegal fiasco?Biden’s illegal and unethical actions are rarely discussed. This brain damaged leader is a disgrace.
US/UK = the asses of evil.
Once more, referring to The Truman Doctrine of 1947, Biden and his administration
NEED this cfdated crisis.
(Is a coincidence that both the US and the UK are experiencing disfavor which fits
the purpose of this current creation of crisis. See Joyce and Gabriel Kolko, “The Limits of
Power”, Ch. 12.?)
CORRECTION : “created crisis”—Peter
A very good article by Joe Lauria.
The resumption of Paris talks to implement the Minsk Accords is the path to peace: the US/UK posturing is foolish.
The NSC must be abolished: it is a 2400-strong MIC warmongering agency that surrounds the US presidency.
The “naked commercial interests” for which the U.S. “begging, Russia to invade” are bribes from the MIC.
Had those interests any concern with peace and security, they would be overjoyed at Nord Stream II and any other East-West economic ties to stabilize relations. They are truly traitors seeking to profit by warmongering. Such economic dependencies of US political parties are the curse destroying US democracy, and must be abolished.
This is an “emperor wears no clothes moment.” This is not the GOP, nor the Democrats. They are both criminal organizations. This is the real America, real beyond Trump and on full display without the veneer, what America has being growing into over the decades driven by the madness and delusion induced by unrestrained greed and hatred. Time to learn, it will do this to anyone anywhere. If the rest of the world, and in particular Europe, does not provide an intervention, America will destroy everything including itself.
Can we even begin to comprehend America’s complete disregard and irresponsibility for the entire world, not least its own people? War, for whatever reason, or the current no reason (how truly appropriate), will accelerate climate change into a world-destroying juggernaut that blasts right through our most dire predictions. Oh great, America is back. I shuddered then when I first heard that. And now all that bullshit toasting is turning to ashes in our mouths. America is the one indispensable nation for ending life on this planet and Biden is ending the “American experiment” in utter madness. As the saying goes, be careful or you just might end up where you are headed. Well, we have arrived. All Biden needs now is a fiddle to play while the world burns. “America the great” is the worst failure in history. It should be shunned without respite.
I agree with most of what you said. The more I study american history, and the longer I live, I have to include myself in that “blame america first” crowd.
For what it’s worth, agree.
Patricia Tursi & blue collar: Thank you both. I wish it were not so and I continue to hope for a change. However, I am also convinced that America’s destructive tendencies have reached the point of late stage addiction. It’s no longer a matter of logic or reasoning, of asking politely or hoping for a spontaneous self-awakening. It is the same difficulty as is involved with breaking a deeply entrenched habit, or addiction. Late stage addiction almost always requires an intervention to save the addict from him or herself. Or, like the case of an abusive spouse, trying to cover up the abuse or making excuses only causes more damage to everyone involved. And as we can see, America’s addiction to the ludicrous idea of being the only pole of a uni-polar world is a danger to the entire eight billion people who share this planet. After all, America has been the only pole of uni-polar world for decades now. What did it do with it with that enviable position? It has brought human civilization to the edge of a climate abyss. This is where unbridled capitalism (neo-liberalism) inevitably ends up. The outcome is built into the economic model, and now, finally, here we are. And the response of late? “Quick, before its too late, burn more oil, drop more bombs (or start a new Cold War) and concentrate wealth even further.” Time, I think, for the American people (if they can), and the rest of the world to “just say no…”. Better for the world and better for America too. And certainly, sooner is better than later. If not, well, there’s no escaping from this planet and there is precious little time to make a difference.
Just a small aside: I note that an abandoned rocket belonging to SpaceX, Elon Musk’s space tourism enterprise, is due to crash on the moon. So, now the moon is being used as an unregulated trash heap for elite space adventures? Is this not the very poster-child image of all that is wrong with the American economic model..? A replay of exactly what we have been doing to the earth since the beginning of the industrial revolution if not before. And again, here we are as a result of exactly this kind of thinking. Wealth, it should be obvious, does not in any way imply wisdom. After all, if the “smart ideas” from our wealthy elite lead to our own extinction as a species on this planet, they are in fact not very smart at all. I think the best technical term for that would be “duh.”
Brought to you by the same war mongers ABC CBS CNN NPR . New York Times to mention a few who supported the Iraq war ,when they get it totally wrong there is no demolition ,firing or apologies , it on too another war . Now the Ukraine president is telling the USA to cool things down , he is being attacked .
Whether or not current POTUS Biden grazed the Mad cow disease pasture or is possessed by Fourth Reich reach to reduce Russia of a financially colonized state subjected like South of Rio Grande to being the under, with countries’ elites partners in the looting of their own country for foreigners that President Putin arrested in his own country is not known but POTUS Biden’s leadership of the number one war mongering country on Earth will tell the tale.
People forget that we made a deal with Russia not to bring NATO up against their borders in exchange for lowering the Berlin Wall. 26 million Russians lost their lives to Hitler. Therefore, when the US overthrew the democratically elected government of Yanukovich and installed several neo-Nazi parties into power (2014) it struck fear into their hearts. They have a collective PTSD, needless to say. I wasn’t at all shocked that Putin took back Crimea, while the warmongers in Kiev shelled the eastern Donbas region daily. I read that about 100,000 refugees have fled to Russia from the Donbas, and I suspect that is not easy to assimilate.
Thank you.
I’m disappointed that Macron says one thing and does another. They don’t have a MIC like we do, but don’t want to challenge the U.S. I believe that Germany, so far, is holding out, and won’t let the US fly over their airspace. Too bad the mainstream media never reported on the US-backed fascist coup in February 2014, though many of us in the peace movement were screaming about it, and took a large number of people into our Congressman’s office to protest. Rep. Rick Larsen, like Biden, is funded by the MIC, so of course he blew us off like some kind of dandruff. Time for a new party, like the Greens or Socialists.
Like death and taxes, one of the few certainties in life is that glib politicians who promote war will never actually fight in it – only seek to benefit from it.
The big question is what are the western actors got to win. They are betting big on the house and expect a big return, leaving them little room to back off. From the coup, we know that people from the Republican and Democrat parties were involved (being as dangerous), showing at the minimum that their goals coincide. After Trump inconvenient interlude, the Ukraine chapter is resuming. Unlike the Cold War, when the reasons were ideological, economical and strategic, today’s reasons seem mostly economical and mostly in the interests of a very small group of people (by American, I do not mean the population, but a small group of people that hope to gain out of the general misery). The major problem is that we are looking at a potential global disaster and the post-Reagan era put the USA in a situation where they cannot adapt quickly to manufacturing needs of modern warfare. Russia and China developped for decade special weapons to fight the main thrust of US forces (missiles anti-satellites, missiles anti-aircraft carriers, cavitation torpedoes to hunt submarines and disturb naval groups). Moreover, China is well aware of the reality on the ground and who is the aggressor. They know that they are on the list of these people (staying polite) and maybe willing to go long with Russia to put these petulant people in their place. Whatever happens, it will not end well for the USA. In case of war, it may turn out to be a long fruitless conflict for humanity (maybe this is Biden’s solution to climate change!). If the situation is controlled, Russia, China, Iran and the rest of the non-western world will understand that the transition to an economy that excludes these loonies is not a necessity but vital. Ukraine may have been a step too far.
Christopher Hird: “How about this for a story? Just under a year ago, the Americans discovered a Soviet freighter carrying MiG fighter planes, which they said were on their way to Nicaragua. […] According to President Reagan, this showed that Nicaragua was a threat to the United States.”
David MacMichael, former CIA analyst: “As it turned out, the evidence for this was based on satellite photography which showed crates in an Eastern European port facility, which were determined to be – in the science of ‘crateology’ – crates of the sort in which MiG aircraft frequently were shipped. And subsequent photographs a day or two later showed that these crates were no longer on the dock. In an amazing leap of logic, it was advanced that, necessarily, they must have been delivered to Nicaragua, or were on their way to be delivered to Nicaragua. […] Eight or ten days later, it is revealed that MiGs were not on the way, but that is no longer the headline, so the impression one is left with is the overall impression from the screaming headlines of a week earlier that Nicaragua continues to represent this enormous danger to the security of the United States.”
Source:
“Standard Techniques,” Channel 4 documentary, 1985
—
“As Scott Peterson reported for The Christian Science Monitor in 2002, a key part of the first Bush administration’s case ‘was that an Iraqi juggernaut was also threatening to roll into Saudi Arabia. Citing top-secret satellite images, Pentagon officials estimated in mid-September [of 1990] that up to 250,000 Iraqi troops and 1,500 tanks stood on the border, threatening the key US oil supplier.’
[…]
But one reporter — Jean Heller of the St. Petersburg Times — wasn’t satisfied taking the administration’s claims at face value. She obtained two commercial satellite images of the area taken at the exact same time that American intelligence supposedly had found Saddam’s huge and menacing army and found nothing there but empty desert.
She contacted the office of then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney ‘for evidence refuting the Times photos or analysis offering to hold the story if proven wrong.’ But ‘the official response’ was: ‘Trust us.’
Heller later told the Monitor’s Scott Peterson that the Iraqi buildup on the border between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia ‘was the whole justification for Bush sending troops in there, and it just didn’t exist.'”
Source:
Joshua Holland, “The First Iraq War Was Also Sold to the Public Based on a Pack of Lies,” BillMoyers.com, June 27, 2014
—
“You need to know […] 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. We saw no credible evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq then; we see no credible evidence of a Russian invasion now.
[…]
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 August 28 [in 2014] 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 February 5, 2003 that, likewise, proved nothing.”
Source:
Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), “The State Department Says Russia Is Invading Ukraine—Should We Believe It?,” The Nation, September 2, 2014
but the British and the US will be fighting their war with other countries troops, largely because they are cowards who know they will suffer, massively, if they engage directly with Russia.
Whatever happens in Ukraine I am sure Russia has plans to make both countries suffer, the US and UK simply live in another century and fight like they do. Russia will be fighting a 21st Century war and it will take place in both the UK and the US on multiple fronts.
Why is Zelensky now suddenly pro-Minsk 2 accords, after years Ukrainian non-compliance?
Probably for the same reason that a few voices from the wilderness in Europe are finally offering objections to Washington’s solution for maintaining its absolute hegemony over what it views as its holdings in the Western part of its world empire. As Washington practically begs and pleads for war with Russia, basically to prevent the commercial unification of the entire Eurasian land mass under the impetus and anticipated leadership of China, a few European leaders not hypnotized or entirely terrified by the maniacs we Americans call our leaders have realised they’d rather not see their entire infrastructure and production capacity which they’ve created and built up over the decades, if not centuries, reduced to rubble in a sure-to-escalate world war with Russia for as meaningless a fake “principle” as the Anschluss of Ukraine into NATO, which is basically nothing more than America’s foreign legion in Europe.
Even Ukraine itself, in spite of its deep and demented fear and loathing of Russia dating back a thousand years to the first emergence of Kiev and Moskva as rivals to rule all the Russia’s. Even these two implacably jealous siblings can see the flaw in a strategy that is sure to leave a great many of their subjects and holdings dead and destroyed. Apparently, even Zelensky has come to recognise Washington’s con which would have Russians fight Ukrainians to the last man whilst American capitalists would waltz in and pick up the pieces, for that is what “Biden” and his neocon henchmen want in the last analysis: A defeated and fragmented Christian Eastern European power with all the resources of vast Siberia that cannot stand against a repeat of the cannibalization by Western capital after the first collapse of Russia within the extinct Soviet state.
Putin knows well this entire gambit built around Ukraine is not to protect anyone’s freedom, democracy or even the right to choose one’s friends and allies, it is focused like a laser on forcible regime change in Russia, followed by collapse and dissection of the entire country and redistribution of its bounty to foreign interlopers. If Ukraine ever thought it was going to be rewarded with a piece of that action they were even dumber than they looked. Sheesh, I hope enough of them finally come around to their senses before the whole place is turned into a killing field to accommodate American illusions of power and grandeur. I would also hope that Washington comes to its senses too, because it will not fare much better than Russia or Europe should they start a shooting war which will inevitably escalate. As a race we are on the cusp of colonising other planets, do we want to be set back a century or even permanently in these exciting asperations? Because that is what we would be giving up to placate that lot of maniacal warmongers presently ruling in Washington.
Don’t forget the enlightened self interest that is behind Europe’s surprisingly sane objections to being dragged into a war.
Decades of defense budget cuts have left Europe largely toothless. It took them months to scrape up a few thousand soldiers which were promptly put in (battalion sized) combat groups.
The US military has likewise been demoralized.
This is what makes a possible war so dangerous. If it breaks out, the only thing that would prevent Russian divisions from cutting into the EUs heartland, would be the threat of nuclear war.
Russia took notes from the American blitzkrieg against Iraq, and have tactical, practical combat experience from Syria. Their army and Airforce have likewise been modernized. This ain’t the joke of an army from the mid 90ies which warmongers seem to forget or ignore.
I’m with you up until the business of colonizing planets. That’s a different form of insanity when this world is so much better than anything the telescope can tell us, and can be improved by re-purposing the vast sums spent on “planet colonization.”
It was the most dramatic example of the many advances that humankind is poised to make that I could think of to quickly close out the essay. Maybe it’s not the most important or realistic, though a lot of money and ingenuity have been invested in it by people, like Musk, who view it as an insurance policy for our species. Affordability and avoiding casualties I think will weigh heavily on its future.
I have thought much the way you have except I think that the Ukrainian fear and loathing of Russia is a modern phenomenon. The Cossacks (who are Ukrainian) were known as the Tsar’s shock troops and that doesn’t really happen with someone you fear and loathe.
There is a real risk that Eastern Europe could be converted into a glass parking lot. That said, I think that Mr. Putin is a remarkable statesman who, having lost family members in the infamous siege of Leningrad, is not likely to want to see that contest happen in his back yard. I think that at this juncture, he’s more likely to try to get the US’s attention elsewhere in the world, arming Venezuela, Nicaragua come to mind but he is very inventive and it will be interesting to see what he comes up with. I suspect that whatever it is it will include actually putting the US at real risk. We are where we are only because, unlike most of the rest of the world, we were not destroyed by WWII.
All that said, I strongly suspect that Marshall Auerback’s assertion over on The Scrum that Ukraine will become NATO’s Waterloo is an accurate assessment. We really don’t want this charade ended by Russia which would involve kicking the US in the teeth and we all know the US won’t end it. So the only choice left is for the Europeans to take charge of their destiny and shut the US down which they have several ways of doing.
I think that Putin is painfully aware of the need to avoid casualties, especially among civilians. A blood fest, such as the US usually carries out in its wars, would be a PR disaster for Russia. It’s simply a case of the double standards that the world applies to Moscow (the heavy) and Washington (the hero) because of the incessant American propaganda. Putin is well aware of it. He’s nothing if not a realist. He always remains flexible and goes the extra mile to find agreement with his American “partners.” If historians are honest, they will record him as the premier diplomat of our era.
I’m almost getting the impression that Biden is being led down a dark and dangerous path by the like of Nuland,
Blinken and Nod. they’re probably thinking that if they solve aproblem theycreated-hooray-theyu’re heroes!! Its really too bad
that Stephen Cohen is no with us. Not only uncommonly smart and knowledgeable on Russian subjects like this but, in my
opinion, very commonsensible. I’d like to hear his views on this current fiasco even though I’m pretty sure about what they would be.
We here at CN have been thinking the same thing about Steve, and our founder Bob. Their voices are especially missed at a time like this.
Say what you want about Trump, but at least he wasn’t a warmonger, and didn’t have any interest in serving the uniparty’s corporate masters.
Biden otoh is well past his prime, and is obviously more of a stand in president, while the real policies are decided elsewhere.
There is a high ranking Canadian cabinet minister that also wants this war. Long active (since the 1990s), as a political agitator in Ukraine and Russia, this minister has roots that date back to the era of the Bandera nazis. A family that loves Canada but is consumed by all things Ukrainian. Christya Freeland’s loyalties seem torn between her country of birth (Canada) and the country that burns with a passion beneathe her breast, fueled by a family heritage deeply devoted to a hatred of Russia and a independent Ukraine…. at any price.
wasn’t her father a serving nazi, or is it her grandfather?
anyway, its obviously in her blood, she sounds as rabid as the insane neocon rabble running the whitehouse, all we’re missing is draft dodger Bolton and “we cheat we kill we steal” Pompeo.
“France has agreed to send a contingent of its NATO soldiers to Eastern Europe, along with Denmark, Spain, and the Netherlands.”
A leading founder of NATO and dutiful sidekick to Uncle Sam throughout the cold war,
Canada has had troops in Ukraine (and Latvia) for years and is selling and giving arms
to the nazi-infiltrated Ukrainian army, while promonting war fever at home.
And yes, Chrsyta Freeland’s grandfather was the editor of a Nazi newspaper in Poland during the wear,
whom she has not publicly disavowed AFAIK. Because of her Russophobia,
as foreign minister she was, and still is, officially persona non grata in Moscow.
Scary that she’s at least the second-most powerful cabinet minister in Canada,
and is widely touted as Justin Trudeau’s successor.
Freeland is Deputy Prime Minister of Canada. Yes, she is a zealot when it comes to Ukraine. Her paternal grandfather worked for the Nazis, and his treachery – my word – towards his people (of Ukraine) is well-documented. It has been written about by at least one Russian author who, of course, received little mention in Canada.
One should never visit the sins of the father or grandfather on the child, and that is not what I do with Freeland when I note that she has lied about her family’s dedication to Ukrainian liberty and freedom. Freeland’s “sin” is not the shame of what her grandfather did but that she has applied some democracy-washing to it. As is often the case, the cover-up is the problem, not what is being covered up.
While no one can say with confidence what factors have moved the Canadian Government to be a (very small) part of the currentUS-inspired tension over Ukraine, by sending a few pea-shooters and extending a military training mission, one can be suspicious that personal emotions and delusions are playing a bigger role than advice from the formerly-respected diplomats.
From article: “This is almost the exact opposite of what the U.S. and its loyal media are blaring everyday. In the call, Biden raised the temperature, decisively saying that a Russian invasion of Ukraine was coming.”
May have stumbled onto a remedy for that particular type of abject confusion. If you substitute, in your mind, “faked Ukrainian invasion” every time a-Biden’ or one of his minionettes refer to a “Ukrainian invasion” then mutter, presto-chene-joe, that lands you right on the bubble for where the threat is really coming from.
And you know, when the official response is: anything that contradicts our scenario is false…
Right, that’s a pretty easy one.
It looks like Victoria Nuland is alive and well in the State Department.
She is. Watched her give testimony to a Senate committee 2 weeks ago.. Terrifying.
Liz Truss is as much a danger as Boris Johnson, whom she may even replace. The Russophobia in the UK is as strong as that in the USA “Democratic Party.” I remember a CN article several years ago telling us that of the last ten directors of the Intelligence Agencies in the UK, all but one considered that Russia was the major threat to UK security. The other one was dead.
So many lies have continued for these years, and now the “imminent” attack by the “massed Russian forces” in their barracks 150 miles from the border of country 404 has been put off (by Joe Biden) until after the Olympic Games!
“Aggression” is a word with many meanings.
If I were Zelensky, I would be telling Biden to muzzle his dogs and STFU. The last thing I would want is for the US and Russia to get into a pissing contest on my turf.
Easy to say, but hard to do when you l own the last guy who didn’t toe the line got a “color revolution” to take him out.
He has been pushing back though, which the mainstream media of course tries to ignore/hide.
America doesn’t want it. Only a few asshole neocons and the MIC want it. It’s time to shut those assholes up.
Unfortunately those aholes represent America in the world.
Indeed, the inmates truly are running the asylum. We are facing an existential threat in climate change that, possibly, and with a healthy dose of luck, can be overcome only if a total, cooperative international effort is made to meet the challenge, and it has to be done now, not in 2050. But instead, these lunatics in charge in Washington are fixated on resolving their own infantile psychosexual fantasies about power and domination, while humanity is on a collision course with extinction.
Plus they control the US House and Senate.
How about a little temper-cooling compromise – for example, a pledge not to invite Ukraine into Nato for 10 or 20 years? Nato really doesn’t want Ukraine anyway.
By the way, why has Kiev (Russian language name) now become “Kyiv” (Ukranian pronunciation) in “mainstream” media like the NY Times? To make the Russians squirm, or what?
The same reason that Kosovo became “Kosova” in many news reports. The US government picks sides, and then gives maximum support to that side. In many ethnic conflicts, the different sides have different place names in their own language.
Ukraine isn’t even eligible to become a NATO member, since it’s currently involved in a territorial dispute. (A surprisingly sane NATO rule!)
Ukraine isn’t even the real issue. Bringing Russia to heel is. If it wasn’t Ukraine, the warmongers in the uniparty would try the same with Georgia, Moldova or any other ex Soviet territory.
Like Kazakhstan or Belarus. The American spook agencies have too many operatives and too much money for any target to remain hidden long from their view. I should think that “international intrigue” (especially “Coups R Us” and chemical or radiological poisonings) is now a bigger industry than even manufacturing in the USA. It must certainly surpass health and education. You remember that “rules-based order” blah, blah, blah.