In a moment of candor, Joe Biden has revealed why the U.S. needed the Russian invasion and why it needs it to continue, writes Joe Lauria.
President Biden departs Brussels en route to Poland early Friday morning. (White House)
By Joe Lauria
Special to Consortium News
The U.S. got its war in Ukraine. Without it, Washington could not attempt to destroy Russia’s economy, orchestrate worldwide condemnation and lead an insurgency to bleed Russia, all part of an attempt to bring down its government. Joe Biden has now left no doubt that it’s true.
The president of the United States has confirmed what Consortium News and others have been reporting since the beginnings of Russsiagate in 2016, that the ultimate U.S. aim is to overthrow the government of Vladimir Putin.
“For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” Biden said on Saturday at the Royal Castle in Warsaw. The White House and the State Dept. have been scrambling to explain away Biden’s remark.
But it is too late.
“The President’s point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region,” a White House official said. “He was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change.”
On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, “As you know, and as you have heard us say repeatedly, we do not have a strategy of regime change in Russia, or anywhere else, for that matter,” the last words inserted for comic relief.
Biden first gave the game away at his Feb. 24 White House press conference — the first day of the invasion. He was asked why he thought new sanctions would work when the earlier sanctions had not prevented Russia’s invasion. Biden said the sanctions were never designed to prevent Russia’s intervention but to punish it afterward.
Therefore the U.S. needed Russia to invade in order to punish it in the hope of undermining its economy and Putin’s rule.
“No one expected the sanctions to prevent anything from happening,” Biden said. “That has to sh- — this is going to take time. And we have to show resolve so he knows what’s coming and so the people of Russia know what he’s brought on them. That’s what this is all about.” It is all about the Russian people turning on Putin to overthrow him, which would explain Russia’s crackdown on anti-war protestors and the media.
It was no slip of the tongue. Biden repeated himself in Brussels on Thursday:
“Let’s get something straight … I did not say that in fact the sanctions would deter him. Sanctions never deter. You keep talking about that. Sanctions never deter. The maintenance of sanctions — the maintenance of sanctions, the increasing the pain … we will sustain what we’re doing not just next month, the following month, but for the remainder of this entire year. That’s what will stop him.”
It was the second time that Biden confirmed that the purpose of the draconian U.S. sanctions on Russia was never to prevent the invasion of Ukraine, which the U.S. desperately needed to activate its plans, but to punish Russia and get its people to rise up against Putin and ultimately restore a Yeltsin-like puppet to Moscow.
Without a cause those sanctions could never have been imposed. The cause was Russia’s invasion.
Regime Change in Moscow
Biden’s speech in Warsaw. (Office of the President/Wikimedia Commons)
Once hidden in studies such as this 2019 RAND study, the desire to overthrow the government in Moscow is now out in the open.
One of the earliest threats came from Carl Gersham, the long-time director of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). Gershman, wrote in 2013, before the Kiev coup: “Ukraine is the biggest prize.”
If it could be pulled away from Russia and into the West, he said, then “Putin may find himself on the losing end not just in the near abroad but within Russia itself.”
David Ignatius wrote in The Washington Post in 1999 that the NED could now practice regime change out in the open, rather than covertly as the C.I.A. had done.
The RAND Corporation on March 18 then published an article titled, “If Regime Change Should Come to Moscow,” the U.S. should be ready for it. Michael McFaul, the hawkish former U.S. ambassador to Russia, has been calling for regime change in Russia for some time. He tried to finesse Biden’s words by tweeting:
On Putin, Biden expressed what billions around the world and millions inside Russia also believe. He did not say that the US should remove him from power. There is a difference.
— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) March 27, 2022
On March 1, Boris Johnson’s spokesperson said the sanctions on Russia “we are introducing, that large parts of the world are introducing, are to bring down the Putin regime.” No. 10 tried to walk that back but two days earlier James Heappey, minister for the armed forces, wrote in The Daily Telegraph:
“His failure must be complete; Ukrainian sovereignty must be restored, and the Russian people empowered to see how little he cares for them. In showing them that, Putin’s days as President will surely be numbered and so too will those of the kleptocratic elite that surround him. He’ll lose power and he won’t get to choose his successor.”
Yearning for the Years of Yeltsin
After the fall of the Soviet Union and throughout the 1990s Wall Street and the U.S. government dominated Boris Yeltsin’s Russia, asset-stripping former state-owned industries to enrich themselves and a new class of oligarchs, while impoverishing the Russian people.
Putin came to power on New Year’s Eve 1999 and started restoring Russia’s sovereignty. His 2007 Munich Security Conference speech, in which he blasted Washington’s aggressive unilateralism, alarmed the U.S., which clearly now wants a Yeltsin-like figure to return.
The 2014 U.S.-backed coup in Kiev was a first step. Russiagate was another.
Back in 2017, Consortium News saw Russiagate as a prelude to regime change in Moscow. That year I wrote:
“The Russia-gate story fits neatly into a geopolitical strategy that long predates the 2016 election. Since Wall Street and the U.S. government lost the dominant position in Russia that existed under the pliable President Boris Yeltsin, the strategy has been to put pressure on getting rid of Putin to restore a U.S. friendly leader in Moscow. There is substance to Russia’s concerns about American designs for ‘regime change’ in the Kremlin.
Moscow sees an aggressive America expanding NATO and putting 30,000 NATO troops on its borders; trying to overthrow a secular ally in Syria with terrorists who threaten Russia itself; backing a coup in Ukraine as a possible prelude to moves against Russia; and using American NGOs to foment unrest inside Russia before they were forced to register as foreign agents.”
JUST NOW: ""I think Ukrainians were waiting for a long time for such a statement. I think this statement is absolutely correct."
–Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko on President Biden's controversial statement about Putin's removal.pic.twitter.com/6ucqdJS0oM
— John Berman (@JohnBerman) March 28, 2022
The Invasion Was Necessary
The United States could have easily prevented Russia’s military action. It could have stopped Russia’s intervention in Ukraine’s civil war from happening by doing four things: forcing implementation of the 8-year old Minsk peace accords, dissolving extreme right Ukrainian militias, ending talk of Ukraine joining NATO and engaging Russia in serious negotiations about a new security architecture in Europe.
But it didn’t.
The U.S. can still end this war through serious diplomacy with Russia. But it won’t. Blinken has refused to speak with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Instead, Biden announced on March 16 another $800 million in military aid for Ukraine on the same day it was revealed Russia and Ukraine have been working on a 15-point peace plan. It has never been clearer that the U.S. wanted this war and wants it to continue.
NATO troops and missiles in Eastern Europe were evidently so vital to U.S. plans that it would not discuss removing them to stop Russia’s troops from crossing into Ukraine. Russia had threatened a “technical/military” response if NATO and the U.S. did not take seriously Russia’s security interests, presented in December in the form of two treaty proposals.
The U.S. knew what would happen if it rejected those proposals calling for Ukraine not to join NATO, for missiles in Poland and Romania to be removed and NATO troops in Eastern Europe withdrawn. That’s why it started screaming about an invasion in December. The U.S. refused to move the missiles and provocatively sent even more NATO forces to Eastern Europe instead of withdrawing the ones already there.
Even the pro-Biden mainstream media knows the U.S. could have prevented this war. MSNBC ran an article on March 4, titled, “Russia’s Ukraine invasion may have been preventable: The U.S. refused to reconsider Ukraine’s NATO status as Putin threatened war. Experts say that was a huge mistake.” The article said:
“The abundance of evidence that NATO was a sustained source of anxiety for Moscow raises the question of whether the United States’ strategic posture was not just imprudent but negligent.”
Senator Joe Biden knew as far back as 1997 that NATO expansion, which he supported, could eventually lead to a hostile Russian reaction.
Biden in 1997 saying that the only thing that could provoke a "vigorous and hostile" Russian response would be if NATO expanded as far as the Baltic states pic.twitter.com/i0yfEgIGZA
— Alex Turrall (@ImReadinHere) March 7, 2022
The Excised Background to the Invasion
It is vital to recall the events of 2014 in Ukraine and what has followed until now as it is routinely whitewashed from Western media coverage. Without that context, it is impossible to understand what is happening in Ukraine.
Both Donetsk and Lugansk had voted for independence from Ukraine in 2014 after a U.S.-backed coup overthrew the democratically elected president Viktor Yanukovych. The new, U.S.-installed Ukrainian government then launched a war against the provinces to crush their resistance to the coup and their bid for independence, a war that is still going on eight years later at the cost of thousands of lives with U.S. support. It is this war that Russia has entered.
Neo-Nazi groups, such as Right Sector and the Azov Battalion, who revere the World War II Ukrainian fascist leader Stepan Bandera, took part in the coup as well as in the ongoing violence against Lugansk and Donetsk.
Despite reporting in the BBC, the NYT, the Daily Telegraph and CNN on the neo-Nazis at the time, their role in the story is now excised by Western media, reducing Putin to a madman hellbent on conquest without reason. As though he woke up one morning and looked at a map to decide what country he would invade next.
The public has been induced to embrace the Western narrative, while being kept in the dark about Washington’s ulterior motives.
#Russia co-existed with #Ukraine until the 2014 US-backed coup and Kiev's war against ethnic Russians who resisted it. Everything goes back to 2014–a now 8-year civil war. Airbrushing that out of the story, as Western media does, amounts to deliberate deception.
— Joe Lauria (@unjoe) March 1, 2022
The Traps Set for Russia
Six weeks ago, on Feb. 4, I wrote an article, “What a US Trap for Russia in Ukraine Might Look Like,” in which I laid out a scenario in which Ukraine would begin an offensive against ethnic Russian civilians in Donbass, forcing Russia to decide whether to abandon them or to intervene to save them.
If Russia intervened with regular army units, I argued, this would be the “Invasion!” the U.S. needed to attack Russia’s economy, turn the world against Moscow and end Putin’s rule.
In the third week of February, Ukrainian government shelling of Donbass dramatically increased, according to the OSCE, with what appeared to be the new offensive. Russia was forced to make its decision.
It first recognized the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, a move it put off for eight years. And then on Feb. 24 President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation in Ukraine to “demilitarize” and “denazify” the country.
Russia stepped into a trap, which grows more perilous by the day as Russia’s military intervention continues with a second trap in sight. From Moscow’s perspective, the stakes were too high not to intervene. And if it can induce Kiev to accept a settlement, it might escape the clutches of the United States.
A Planned Insurgency
Biden and Brzezinski (Collage Cathy Vogan/Photos SEIU Walk a Day in My Shoes 2008/Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain/Picryl)
The examples of previous U.S. traps that I gave in the Feb. 4 piece were the U.S. telling Saddam Hussein in 1990 that it would not interfere in its dispute with Kuwait, opening the trap to Iraq’s invasion, allowing the U.S. to destroy Baghdad’s military. The second example is most relevant.
In a 1998 interview with Le Nouvel Observateur, Jimmy Carter’s former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski admitted that the C.I.A. set a trap four decades ago for Moscow by arming mujahiddin to fight the Soviet-backed government in Afghanistan and bring down the Soviet government, much as the U.S. wants today to bring down Putin. He said:
“According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the mujahideen began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan on December 24, 1979. But the reality, closely guarded until now, is completely otherwise: Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention.
He then explained that the reason for the trap was to bring down the Soviet Union. Brzezinski said:
“That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter, essentially: ‘We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war.’ Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war that was unsustainable for the regime, a conflict that bought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire.”
Brzezinski said he had no regrets that financing the mujahideen spawned terrorist groups like al-Qaeda. “What is more important in world history? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some agitated Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war?,” he asked. The U.S. today is likewise gambling with the world economy and further instability in Europe with its tolerance of neo-Nazism in Ukraine.
In his 1997 book, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives, Brzezinski wrote:
“Ukraine, a new and important space on the Eurasian chessboard, is a geopolitical pivot because its very existence as an independent country helps to transform Russia. Without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be a Eurasian empire. Russia without Ukraine can still strive for imperial status, but it would then become a predominantly Asian imperial state.”
Thus U.S. “primacy,” or world dominance, which still drives Washington, is not possible without control of Eurasia, as Brzezinski argued, and that’s not possible without control of Ukraine by pushing Russia out (U.S. takeover of Ukraine in the 2014 coup) and controlling the governments in Moscow and Beijing. What Brzezinski and U.S. leaders still view as Russia’s “imperial ambitions” are in Moscow seen as imperative defensive measures against an aggressive West.
Without the Russian invasion the second trap the U.S. is planning would not be possible: an insurgency meant to bog Russia down and give it its “Vietnam.” Europe and the U.S. are flooding more arms into Ukraine, and Kiev has called for volunteer fighters. The way jihadists flocked to Afghanistan, white supremacists from around Europe are traveling to Ukraine to become insurgents.
Just as the Afghanistan insurgency helped bring down the Soviet Union, the insurgency is meant to topple Putin’s Russia.
An article in Foreign Affairs entitled “The Coming Ukrainian Insurgency” was published Feb. 25, just one day after Russia’s intervention, indicating advanced planning that was dependent on an invasion. The article had to be written and edited before Russia crossed into Ukraine and was published as soon as it did. It said:
“If Russia limits its offensive to the east and south of Ukraine, a sovereign Ukrainian government will not stop fighting. It will enjoy reliable military and economic support from abroad and the backing of a united population. But if Russia pushes on to occupy much of the country and install a Kremlin-appointed puppet regime in Kyiv, a more protracted and thorny conflagration will begin. Putin will face a long, bloody insurgency that could spread across multiple borders, perhaps even reaching into Belarus to challenge Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Putin’s stalwart ally. Widening unrest could destabilize other countries in Russia’s orbit, such as Kazakhstan, and even spill into Russia itself. When conflicts begin, unpredictable and unimaginable outcomes can become all too real. Putin may not be prepared for the insurgency—or insurgencies—to come.
WINNER’S REMORSE
Many a great power has waged war against a weaker one, only to get bogged down as a result of its failure to have a well-considered end game. This lack of foresight has been especially palpable in troubled occupations. It was one thing for the United States to invade Vietnam in 1965, Afghanistan in 2001, and Iraq in 2003; likewise for the Soviet Union to enter Afghanistan in 1979. It was an altogether more difficult task to persevere in those countries in the face of stubborn insurgencies. … As the United States learned in Vietnam and Afghanistan, an insurgency that has reliable supply lines, ample reserves of fighters, and sanctuary over the border can sustain itself indefinitely, sap an occupying army’s will to fight, and exhaust political support for the occupation at home.'”
As far back as Jan. 14, Yahoo! News reported:
“The CIA is overseeing a secret intensive training program in the U.S. for elite Ukrainian special operations forces and other intelligence personnel, according to five former intelligence and national security officials familiar with the initiative. The program, which started in 2015, is based at an undisclosed facility in the Southern U.S., according to some of those officials.
The CIA-trained forces could soon play a critical role on Ukraine’s eastern border, where Russian troops have massed in what many fear is preparation for an invasion. …
The program has involved ‘very specific training on skills that would enhance’ the Ukrainians’ ‘ability to push back against the Russians,’ said the former senior intelligence official.
The training, which has included ‘tactical stuff,’ is “going to start looking pretty offensive if Russians invade Ukraine,’ said the former official.
One person familiar with the program put it more bluntly. ‘The United States is training an insurgency,’ said a former CIA official, adding that the program has taught the Ukrainians how ‘to kill Russians.’”
In his Warsaw speech, Biden tipped his hand about an insurgency to come. He said nothing about peace talks. Instead he said: “In this battle, we need to be clear-eyed. This battle will not be won in days or months either. We need to steel ourselves of a long fight ahead.”
Hillary Clinton laid it all out on Feb. 28, just four days into Russia’s operation. She brought up the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in 1980, saying “it didn’t end well for Russia” and that in Ukraine “this is the model that people are looking at … that can stymie Russia.”
"Remember, the Russians invaded Afghanistan back in 1980," Hillary Clinton says. "It didn't end well for the Russians…but the fact is, that a very motivated, and then funded, and armed insurgency basically drove the Russians out of Afghanistan." pic.twitter.com/iirtXI4vz4
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) March 1, 2022
What neither Maddow nor Clinton mentioned when discussing volunteers going to fight for Ukraine is what The New York Times reported on Feb. 25, a day after the invasion, and before their interview: “Far-right militias in Europe plan to confront Russian forces.”
The Economic War
Along with the quagmire, are the raft of profound economic sanctions on Russia designed to collapse its economy and drive Putin from power.
These are the harshest sanctions the U.S. and Europe have ever imposed on any nation. Sanctions against Russia’s Central Bank sanctions are the most serious, as they were intended to destroy the value of the ruble. One U.S. dollar was worth 85 rubles on Feb. 24, the day of the invasion and soared to 154 per dollar on March 7. However the Russian currency strengthened to 101 on Friday.
Putin and other Russian leaders were personally sanctioned, as were Russia’s largest banks. Most Russian transactions are no longer allowed to be settled through the SWIFT international payment system. The German-Russia Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline was closed down and become bankrupt.
The U.S. blocked imports of Russian oil, which was about 5 percent of U.S. supply. BP and Shell pulled out of Russian partnerships. European and U.S. airspace for Russian commercial liners was closed. Europe, which depends on Russia gas, is still importing it, and is so far rebuffing U.S. pressure to stop buying Russian oil.
A raft of voluntary sanctions followed: PayPal, Facebook, Twitter, Netflix and McDonalds have been shut down in Russia. Coca-cola will stop sales to the country. U.S. news organizations have left, Russian artists in the West have been fired and even Russian cats are banned.
It also gave an opportunity for U.S. cable providers to get RT America shut down. Other Russia media has been de-platformed and Russian government websites hacked. A Yale University professor has drawn up a list to shame U.S. companies that are still operating in Russia.
Russian exports of wheat and fertilizer have been banned, driving up the price of food in the West. Biden admitted as much on Thursday:
“With regard to food shortage … it’s going to be real. The price of these sanctions is not just imposed upon Russia, it’s imposed upon an awful lot of countries as well, including European countries and our country as well. And — because both Russia and Ukraine have been the breadbasket of Europe in terms of wheat, for example — just to give you one example.”
The aim is clear: “asphyxiating Russia’s economy”, as French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian put it, even if it damages the West.
"We are going to wage a total economic and financial war on Russia" declared Bruno Le Maire, French Minister of the Economy and Finance today.
"We will therefore cause the collapse of the Russian economy" until "Putin returns to better intentions in Ukraine" https://t.co/IWuGeZRSWX
— Aki Heikkinen (@akihheikkinen) March 1, 2022
The question is whether Russia can extricate itself from the U.S. strategy of insurgency and economic war.
To be continued: How Russia Can Escape the US Traps.
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, including The Montreal Gazette and The Star of Johannesburg. He was an investigative reporter for the Sunday Times of London, a financial reporter for Bloomberg News 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
Note that when Biden told the 82nd they would soon see inside Ukraine, he also mentioned some had already been there.
As for Hillary, Chechnya offers a counter example. No one hated the Russians more than the Chechen separatists, and yet today Ramzan Kadyrov is like a figure out of Game of Thrones, Lord of Chechnya who has sworn fealty to the Tszar, an oath he takes with deadly seriousness. He refers to Putin as the Supreme Commander whose orders will be carried out. Chechens are doing the heavy lifting in the house-to-house fighting in Mariupol. Kadyrov, the republics leader, is actually at the front commanding his troops, probably the deadliest light infantry in the World. He offered Putin 100,000 men (out of a population in Chechnya of 1.4 million). If Russia could do that in Chechnya, they might do it in Ukraine … it is much larger of course, but half the country speaks Russian as a first language (including Zelensky as a matter of fact).
Ruble back to 83 to the dollar. Putin approval by Levada (no fan) at 83%. Russia about to respond to the economic war, by requiring ruble payment for gas. Russia could bring Europe to its knees and provoke ‘regime change’ across the continent, by simply shutting off the methane pumping stations. How the Europeans seem to have missed this, is beyond comprehension. If Russia shut down energy exports to Europe, it would be like saying, ‘come and take it, … if you can’. Frankly after 30 years of this garbage, I’m surprised Russia doesn’t do just that.
Believe it or not I can walk and chew gum at the same time.
Non of this has made much sense. This “Russia Gate Thing”, until enough time has passed so as to see both where we have been, where we are and where we are headed. Even with members of VIP’s setting things straight things only seemed to be made more insane. However I think I can see the light!
Where was the beginning? A major technological break through, late 1970s, early 1980’s.
Was this because of Hillary and her and her husbands cloudy past. I’m thinking that might be a large part of it.
Opportunity knocked
In making an effort to understand something that makes almost no sense originally it takes lots of effort and is not without risks. In this case the truth could potentially come with a death warrant. These people are a very frightening bunch.
After reading up on one of the countries worst kept secrets the INSLAW Affair things are starting to make more sense.
Seems to me the Deep State is a collection of oligarchs world wide. A group that has mastered controlling the world economy by any means they see fit and they seem to be out to prove it. One and all likely strong believers in the unitary executive theory. Which would follow as most of these individuals are executives and or lawyers.
FYI unitary definition: forming a single or uniform entity – relating to a system of government or organization of which the powers of the separate constituent parts are vested in a central body.
Let us talk about the unitary executive theory , as embraced by one William Pelham Barr and his peers and cohorts. The jest of the theory is the nearly unfettered presidential authority over the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government. His efforts seem to fall solidly on the side of the “Royal Presidency” concept just as long as the president plays ball with them, the Deep State. If he doesn’t then things revert to the SCOTUS. Currently that court is activist and biased in it’s findings, no matter how hard they currently or in the near future try to distance themselves from the reality that DOJ really calls all the shots for the Executive Branch, at least all the calls the Deep State wants to influence. The AJ and the SCOTUS ensure it.
I don’t intend to head off into the weeds with this but adequate explanation is required if I’m to make my point here. SEE: Bill Barr’s wiki and his various professional actions throughout his illustrious career. This is a man of actions driven apparently his personal beliefs. See for yourself there in wikidom! Hit the link at his wiki, them three blue words,” unitary executive theory.” Unified Executive Theory wiki , First paragraph, especially the last line. But I digress.
At this particular point in time it is my firm belief that the Deep State in conjunction with numerous individuals far too many to list and categorize here , both in the US Government and others around the world have succeeded in wresting essentially all significant powers of the Department of Justice away from the office of the U.S. President. Who for all practical intents and purposed has become a figure head of authority much like British Royalty. Ironic as it may be.
The obvious problem for me is that I am witness to what I feel is the corruption of the Department of Justice. I’d like to note that the archaic definition of corruption is decay – putrefaction which in this case sums up my feelings about the relationship between justice, criminal and all other forms , and this theory.
Get the file I listed on the INSLAW Affair and read it. When you are done explain to me how any of the events there are justified as being in the interest of National Security. The actions of many of the individual “bad guys” involved here has been what has bankrupted our country while making a small group of individuals fantastically wealthy.
That happens when a small group of “Officials”, executives and lawyers, by way of of “legally” hiding behind the lame assed claim that “this all” is “In the Interest of National Security”, for the last 45 years no less!
Joe Lauria this is a great piece of work by you and I had to use the opportunity to get this in.
I’m all eyes and ears if anybody has a better take on this.
Thanks CN
Linkage? The file has the Kavanaugh in the url. Yep, same guy who is on the SCOTUS now. He drafted the report for Ken Starr.
This is exactly what I’m talking about when I claim justice was neither served in the INSLAW Affair or will be served by the current staff of the SCOTUS. I firmly believe the fix is in.
IMO it is the US which has stepped into a trap: a long term Sino-Russian one.
1. Russia is not bogged down in Ukraine. It doesn’t plan on staying once it has smashed the military and either installed a compliant governemtn (IMO unlikely) or balkanised the country (much more likely) to create a DMZ region. It will take the bits it wants, and the EU can have the nazis
2. The west thinks that Putin and the Russia people are divisible. This is a strategic error in thinking. They are, in fact, the same. Getting rid of Putin is not possible, and even if it were, a new Putin would immediately step up
3. A third error is that the west believed it could kill the Russian economy. Why this is the case, I do not know. The scenario only works if one thinks within the ‘box’ of the western financial system. However, if one thinks outside of the box there are a plethora of options for the most resource-rich nation in the world when it is allied with, and shares a border with, the world’s greatest economy. A new financial order is springing into being – and this time the US cannot strangle it with its military. Russia, after all, has over 6,000 thermonuclear warheads
All in all, the poison cup appears to have been switched: and the US has drunk mortally from it. I’d be surprised if the US even exists in its current form in 2030. A Brexit style de-federation is conceivable. As is the possibility that it might be a sea of fused radioactive slag).
Like I said
Thank you for talking sense! I know Michael Hudson thinks the economic repercussions were planned, but I agree more closely with Pepe Escobar that the U.S. is so hubris-ridden that it cannot think even a day into the future. No wonder Blinken won’t talk to Lavrov, Lavrov makes Blinken appear the tiny man and even tinier intellect he is.
I live in the U.S. and our government is completely unmoored from reality. This is what happens in a country when it spends its enormous wealth on militarism to enrich the already stinking rich, and refuses to maintain even basic necessities for its populace.
The US has been striving for regime change in Russia since the US invasion of 1919. For the next three-quarters of a century the US government’s constant attempts at internal sabotage and even nuclear bullying failed to destroy the soviet system, which went on to emerge as the second strongest nation on earth. Even with its contradictions, the USSR stood firm against US meddling in the developing world time and time again. When the empire finally disbanded it was from forces at work within, not because of external military threats or international boycotts. And it happened, ironically, just at the same time that our ruling elite under Reagan was busy turning our nation into a hollow mockery of itself. Sadly, the byzantine communist bureaucracy had become as greedy and morally corrupt as its capitalist rivals. The national minorities within the Soviet state had endured; and the member states of the Warsaw Pact rebelled against Moscow for nationalist reasons of their own.
The bottom line today is that Russia has massive natural resources: abundant gas, oil, gold, platinum, palladium, and timber. As the planet warms Russia’s vast, cold territories may well become humanity’s new breadbasket. It has a population of only 143 million and a military that operates on a tenth of the Pentagon’s budget to guard all that wealth. It is a plum that the parasites of Wall Street, struggling on life support from the Fed, badly want to pick.
In a 2013 speech, Chinese Premier Xi Jinping identified a significant reason why the USSR dissolved: “Why did the Soviet Union disintegrate? Why did the Soviet Communist Party fall from power? An important reason was that the struggle in the field of ideology was extremely intense, completely negating the history of the Soviet Union… creating historical nihilism and confused thinking. In the end, the Soviet Communist Party, a great party, was scattered, the Soviet Union, a great socialist country, disintegrated. This is a cautionary tale!”
Since about 90% of Russians and Chinese are pro-socialist, the US will never be happy with what the majority a actually wants.
Mission accomplished:
(1) Cornered Russia, hobbled its nascent economy, blocked NordStream 2, impounded hundreds of mega-million dollar yachts, …
(2) At home engendered fear of nuclear war to ensure ever increasing budget for the military-industrial complex at the expense of the taxpayer
(3) Provided openly-welcomed millions of white-skinned (as opposed to mostly uneducated black/brown and often Muslim) refuge-immigrants to protect social security for the aging Europeans.
…
Yup, yup, yup, on #3.
That is the outcome of the end game. I thought I was the only one thinking about it.
It would be nice to have a western leader so wily and challenging to the Russians that they would want to overthrow him. But alas, representative democracy rarely produces strong leadership these days. Biden, Johnson, Macron, Sholtz and Trudeau aren’t exactly a dream team.
Almost from the start in early 2017, when Democrats claimed “Russian interference” in an effort to overturn the election, the US goal was to invade and conquer Russia. The Democrat animosity goes as far back as the Clintons. With the fall of the Soviet Union, the US was sure they had Russia in their pocket, and approached it as just another dependent third world country. Russia, a potential US puppet state. Then Putin was elected, and said, “No.” The US does not tolerate being told, “No.”
On respinning this as “Putin’s war:” Biden came into office zealous for war – maybe even a replay of the Glory Days of WWll! He moved tens of thousands of US/NATO troops into Eastern Europe (and now along a segment of Russia’s border), in violation of the 1990 NATO agreement — provoking war. Many of those troops were stationed along Ukraine’s western border — trampling over Ukraine to invade Russia. We have been talking about this obvious US provocation of war for months. Now, US media exclude this part of the story to say that Russia mindlessly invaded Ukraine.
“Biden Confirms Why the US Needed This War”
Well done, you should always prepare, especially in a culture where others are always to blame.
If others try to hold you back because they are frightened or not, resort to if only these others had let me, I would have done it (Bullying manual 101.1 Chapter 1 Hold my jacket).
If others join you in the children’s crusade, resort to we fought well, but the others let us down – in these matters they turned out to be children (Bullying manual collective edition 101.2)
Wherever there’s a buck to be made, eh? Sickening.
“Biden Confirms Why the US Needed This War”
Like Mr. Brzezinsky in Afghanistan, couldn’t resist assigning sole agency since attribution is encouraged from birth via who-is-a-clever-boyness.
The European Union is refusing to pay for gas in Roubles. Russia is threatening to cut off the gas supply after 31 March 2022 if the EU fails to agree. Interesting times. Who will blink first?
It is an oddly ironic circle to me that the collective West (I want to say WEF, but I’m still just an uneducated savage and shouldn’t presume) persists in behaving precisely as the lazy parody of Communism it so fervently purports to hate. Big empty-head leader makes all the frightened little leaders more frightened of him than of the enemy, losing all hope of on-the-ground credibility, troop morale and sustained popular support.
We might consider simply removing feeble senility from the list of contributing factors to economic meltdown and increasingly possible world war, but that road is fraught with far less able immediate replacements. The comedy is inescapable. And more irony: In this instance of legitimately protecting itself, Russia has the moral and social high ground. And China, Iran, Pakistan, Syria, etc., etc.
Sure would be good if voting meant anything in the West, huh? Maybe one day, in the far future, after we’ve run out of working weapons bought with old fools’ gold.
If regime change toward a more globo-homo compliant government in Russia is now the goal of the US, then our leaders are headed for failure. Putin has clearly detected and countered this plot by forcing “liberal” media out of business in Russia, along with Soros-style NGOs which fund dissidents in Russia. He is already two moves ahead of the neocons on the chess board. The reality is that Russia is being rapidly transformed into an authoritarian fascist regime with Putin as its Great Leader, hand-in-hand with the Russian Orthodox Church and other conservative/nationalist institutions. This will make Russia extremely dangerous to the West and the USA in the years ahead. Meanwhile the US is becoming more fascist also. A stealth coup is still underway and the leftist crazies are in charge of the world’s Superpower. A world war is underway, and unless it is stopped, it will go nuclear.
The History the CIA-run Media Leave Out
So Children, Dummies and Suckers (who’ve
Never heard of False Flags) will think Putin’s
TOTALLY TO BLAME.
By I. Fillitin
2014 Ukrainians democratically elect pro-Russian President
Viktor Yanukovych
Obama, so-called ‘democrat’,
Tells CIA, ‘To hell with that.
I’ll overthrow the sonofabitch,
A buddy of Vladimir-jock-itch.
I’ll send that Dopey Joe Biden – he’ll know
How to stage a coup, make himself big dough.
And that Nooland, she can’t love herself
Enough – she’s getting above herself,
Telling the fucking Ukrainians who
Will be their PM. What’s it to do
With her? She’s just a junior State
Official with a powerful mate.
2014-15 and onward
The Nazis Nooland put in power
Slaughter Russian-speakers every hour.
France and Germany are told to stop
The massacres like a NATO cop
But they don’t, and 14,000 die,
Which makes Scholz burst out laughing, not cry.
Now Vladimir Putin, who for years
Has bashed US’s and NATO’s ears
With reminders George Bush promised no
Former Soviet satellite would go
To NATO – but NATO/US has been
Gobbling them up: there’s now 14
Right on Russia’s doorstep, fully armed.
It’s like Mexico and Canada,
Nicaragua and Panama,
Costa Rica, Guatemala,
Even Cuba, Venezuela
Are stocked with Russian nukes and troops
And Russians put US through the hoops
And show it nothing but contempt
And ignore every US attempt
To guarantee its security.
Well, that is how the Russians feel.
And Putin laid it out for real:
I won’ t have the Nazis in Ukraine
Killing Russian-speakers again.
NATO won’ t stop them, therefore I
Will and I won’t let Russia, die
In a sneak attack by a NATO force.
We’ve been attacked before, of course.
By Germany, Britain, France, but we
Have not attacked them in history.
US, UK, give up your arrogance,
Your stupid and dangerous intransigence,
Give Russia what it reasonably needs,
Or you are sowing the deadly seeds
Of World War Three, which will wipe out
New York and London – as well as me.
Americans – Biden’s leading you
Into a nuclear war.
Biden cannot remain in power
And that is for damn sure.
“The Traps Set for Russia”
A trap is only a trap if you don’t know it’s a trap. I don’t subscribe to the idea that Putin is a strategic genius; however, I think he and the Russian leadership have enough experience to know what they are doing. They are not befuddled by ideology like Western leaders, who have to pretend to defend human rights and democracy if they don’t want their house of cards to collapse.
When Russia intervened in Syria in 2015, Western analysts predicted that Russia was wading into another Afghanistan or it’s version of the Vietnam war. None of that has proven true. With a relatively small military mission, Russia was able to help the government recapture most of the country from Western-backed jihadists, with the notable exception of Idlib, where Nato member Turkey has parked its jihadist proxies. The Russians could undoubtedly destroy the jihadists in Idlib too, if Putin were to sacrifice Russia’s relationship with Turkey, which would be silly to do. The result is that Putin quenched the civil war started by the US/UK in Syria and as a result gained influence throughout the ME, notably in Israel, KSA and UAE, which pays well in the current crisis.
Nobody knows what the Russian plans for Ukraine are. They deliberately keep the West guessing. But I’m sure that the Russian leadership has carefully considered all the factors explained so well in this article. Putin has shown again and again that he can bring a military campaign to a successful conclusion.
If Putin can achieve his objectives in Ukraine, he’ll be strengthened both at home and abroad, and Uncle Sam will have fallen into his own trap by plunging the world into a sanctions-induced crisis with starvation and uprisings in a number of countries.
Excellent article and analysis. I have only one major quibble. Much as the State Media claims the war started in 2014 when Putin seized Crimea, you claim the crisis started in 2014 with the Maidan Coup.
The US has ruled Ukraine as a puppet state at least since the Orange Revolution in 2004/05, when the CIA installed Yushchenko as a Puppet President after they lied and declared the Elections fraudulent with no evidence (corruption is a way of life in Ukraine, and election fraud by both sides are a given.) Yushchenko was married to a US State Department official, who all Ukrainians “knew” was a CIA agent. Yushchenko was a central banker (his EU loans with usurious interest rates went poof!), who glorified NAZIism and attacked Russian language and culture in Ukraine. The US controlled the less ethnic Russian Ukrainian West of Ukraine from Galicia to Kiev. Yuschenko had become a pariah by the time he ran for a second term; he received only 5% of votes in their first round and Yanukovych (who also won before the re-vote in the Orange Revolution) became President in 2010, in a UN monitored “free and fair” election. Although he had American handlers– the Podesta Group, Greg Craig, and of course Manafort and Gates pushing him to the West– Yanukovych played Russia against the EU, and ultimately went with the better deal from Russia. VP Biden, who bragged about controlling Ukraine to the CFR, wasn’t about to let Yanukovych lose the “improvements” puppet Yushchenko brought about, and greenlighted the 2014 Maidan Coup.
Friends have asked why did the Ukrainians want war? They don’t. Remember US puppet Yuschenko received only 5% when he ran for a second term, and a more vicious and dangerous puppet Poroshenko received only ~25% of votes when he lost to the “Peace with Russia” candidate, Zelensky, with almost 75%. Of course, Zelensky became Biden Puppet Zelensky immediately, and could not honor any campaign promises to avoid War.
Remember also that Afghanistan was a Westernized, secular nation where women dressed like Europeans and had a Soviet-like life-style in 1978 before the US turned them into the 1700s-like fundamentalist Wahhabist state they are today. Ukraine will see similar fruits from its proxy war with Russia.
Yes, the CIA are setting up future insurgents in Ukraine. But they did that, too, in Syria, with their Timber Sycamore program, and the Russians rolled that right up. Why would the CIA be more successful in Ukraine?
There is no context to this article. There was no BRICS, SCO etc during the time of the USSR. Context is different. Anyway Russia is imposing peace in Eastern Ukraine. The majority in those areas are happy to see the back of the Nazi scum that terrorised them, including using them as shields. The sanctions are becoming a joke, because if Europe does break them, it will freeze. Either it buys rubles to pay for gas, or no gas. And we know Russians mean what they say. The trap they set for Russia, will be a nightmare for the collective west. The demise of the dollar is now guaranteed.
Biden’s choice of words:…”this man cannot remain in power” carries a clear implication that he *must* be removed from power. All those who now say that Biden did not really mean that are simply blowing smoke.
As to the matter of Russia being sucked into the quagmire of a Western supported insurrection, it is inconceivable to me that Putin and his advisors did not consider this possibility in their decision-making process. And having considered it, I fully expect that they have a plan for dealing with it. My long observation of Vladimir Putin is that he is a meticulous, careful and cautious planner.
That is called vocal incontinence.
I typed out a long, rambling, impassioned rant about Biden in Warsaw on Saturday. What would be the point in posting it?
Just want to say that I have never been so ashamed and appalled as I was watching that spectacle. The rest of the world must now choose to stand up to the US bully and put a stop to its endless war mongering. For the human experiment, time is running short. Humanity needs regime change in the US. That can only mean the collapse of the US military and economy because the entire political class is really just one Uni-party – the MICIMATT, and the real power is wielded by consolidated wealth, and facilitated by corruption.
“…never been so ashamed…”?
I understand and agree with the sentiment. I would say further that I have never been so ashamed of official US policy since Bolivia, Venezuela, Colombia, Honduras, Cuba, Syria, Libya, Iraq, Iran, Panama, etc, etc,…the US itself, every day.
The US is the Nazis now. The US is the Evil Empire. The US and those allied and complicit in all this are the Axis of Evil. All of those statements from US officials about freedom and democracy, about “our” interests, all the accusations the US makes about whichever national leader has become US’s latest enemy (who is worse than Hitler), all of those are more true about the US.
What freedom and democracy is the US promoting? The freedom and democracy that the US bandies about in rhetorical high ideals is not actually available in the US. All these wars are in the pursuit of capitalism. We need all that petroleum and plastic this bad.
Hear! Hear!
The problem is that pretty much the whole of Europe has proxy American (globalist) governments installed. In Bulgaria, for example, the media coverage is 100% pro-Western with pathological Russophobia. People who read and follow the news actively want war with Russia – the media says “we should send all our anti-aircraft machinery to the Ukraine” and the people ecstatically shout “YES!”
All at the backdrop of the last 30 years of US-backed Bulgarian governments de-industrialising the whole country, currently being at the worst demographic collapse in the world (or 2nd worse, I don’t recall the exact data).
The silver lining is that the rest of the world (excluding the golden billion) – mainly China, Eurasia, Africa, Brazil – can indeed stand up to the US, which I’m hoping for.
Joe and Consortium News continue to do outstanding analysis of the war in Ukraine. I will donate again today in appreciation of this rare voice of reason.
Without Prejudice, Great report. I agree that resident Joseph Biden and cohorts of Washington, DC are in fact operating an unlawful Russian Regime change scheme on Russia by and through what I call the United States of Ukraine with the long term employment of U.S. Nazi’s in Ukraine and others employed by the U.S. and Ukraine to operate the insurgency in the United States of Ukraine against ethnic Russians. The corporate scheme of Official Washington, DC is an engineered trap in fact, a war that resident Joseph Biden, it’s handlers, and cohorts of Washington, D.C., have been drawing up and dreaming about executing for years against Russia. Beginning with the unlawful 2014 Ukraine Regime change executed in 2014 by resident B. Obama and cohorts of Washington, D.C. If you look at the short history of Washington, D.C., and it’s surrogates of Washington, D.C., their corporate U.S. politicians require and support war at all times, their corporate war schemes enriches and fills the pockets of corporate politicians with Federal Reserve Notes and other bribes of value. Russia is the new boogeyman, next up China will be the boogeyman for Regime Change. The corporately defined U.S. has a business model of war at all times, domestic war, foreign war makes no difference to their corporately defined U.S. politicians. According to Washington, D.C. politicians, only the imperial U.S. empire can invade sovereign nations, under the guise of bringing the invaded nation some “bankrupt U.S. democracy” Washington DC style which is done by shitting all over the invaded sovereign nation by one of their celebrity generals and thinking that they have accomplished some great military victory. If you look at the results of the sovereign nations invaded by corporate U.S. politicians, the results are self evident, wrecked sovereign nations, murder, war crimes, reduction of life, reduction of health and reduction of wealth all brought to you by their U.S. corporate politicians. I, myself do not consent to regime change of sovereign nations as the authority for regime change does not exist, regime change schemes are an offensive act not authorized by law. Besides the above obvious facts, all a sane competent man or sane competent woman has to do is look at the results of corporate U.S. regime change around the world.
Of course, this was always about regime change, but not just for Russia, but for China as well. The ultimate goal of this sweeping grand plan is to install a puppet government in Moscow, build NATO bases on the Russian/China border, thereby surrounding China, and start calling for regime change there as well. This is the American plan for world conquest and the right to remain living in a unipolar world. As a result, China has no choice but to support Russia if it wishes not to be recolonized.
No sane country would even dare try such an audacious plan against two nuclear superpowers. Failure means complete annihilation.
The chance of success, is what, maybe one percent? The U.S. position is not to negotiate, only dictate terms of surrender. More blunders will result in escalation that will eventually spin out of control. Doomsday is baked into this cake.
More interestingly, India, Brazil etc. are in the same situation as China. The rule based world order is to keep outsiders of a narrow elite on short leash and make sure that the Western elite gets its cut in spite of declining share of global production of goods. The suppliers and markets must be limited according to the latest updates of the “rules”. The alternative has to be ruin, like in Venezuela and Syria.
For the RBWO to win, the world would have to go through a global recession. Populations have to be convinced that their decline in the level of living serves a good cause. Judging from the number of readers of Consortium News, it is feasible. But when prices grow, mortgages skyrocket and earnings fall behind, people’s trust in the “only possible policy” can drop…
I ….. with much sadness have to agree fully with your post . Unless there are some changes in our rigged Govt. there will be nuclear devastation.
What makes no sense to me is how is any of this anti-Russia strategy of any benefit to American citizens. Is the motivation simply the petty impulse of a bully?
American foreign policy is in service to the Mil-Ind complex plus the mining (oil) corps … chaos is very good for the people who really matter.
The motivation is the same as it always has been. American imperialism follows the dictates of Mackinder and his theory of the World Island. Like the mad scientist in a horror film who seeks world power through his death ray, the imperialists believe that their destiny is to rule the entire globe, and if they fail to destroy it all in a modern-day Götterdämmerung. It is no different than the insane beliefs of Hitler and his Nazis in blood and death to rule just Europe. Hitler was a piker compared to the madmen of United States imperialism.
Article in 2016 – American woes, worthless dollars forces USA to Engage Russia – hxxps://tacticalinvestor.com/american-woes-worthless-dollars-forces-usa-to-engage-russia/ – Interesting take on US wars. Also look up petrodollar.
” . . . and the Russian people empowered to see how little he cares for them.”
If this is the standard for the overthrow of a government, then I suspect there are a lot of people in Washington DC that should fear for their position. But it does explain why the elected and appointed in DC feel it necessary to surround the Capital Building with fencing and employ the continuous spying on its citizens. “We have met the Enemy and He is Us.”
If it ever came to a vote, I would most certainly vote not to just overthrow Biden’s government – no – overthrow the entire nation that has meant nothing but grief and misery all over our planet. And yet so many folks never tire of crawling up the Yanx’ s behind.
Dean Obeidallah:
“No one who engages in an unprovoked attack on another nation and then in war crimes should remain in power.”
From an opinion piece on CNN today titled “Biden’s declaration that Putin ‘cannot remain in power’ was not a gaffe”
I see nonsense like this daily… Thank you for bringing nuance and depth to the discussion. It is very sad that the citizens of the USA are supposed to all fall in line with the simplistic, infantile “Ukraine good Russia bad” and leave it at that. Then what? I guess they want us to go back to watching tiktok videos while the “smart” people take care of things
I’ve said before, Russia can survive without the EU’s euros a whole lot longer than the EU’s businesses can without Russian gas. This is all so stupid. Who died and made the US/EU god?
Millions died.
In my opinion the ploy has backfired. The Russian government knew the whole game all the time, so it’s not a question of entering the trap unaware but rendering the trap obsolete. Very soon it would be obvious to all that the collective West that has been caught in its own trap. Unfortunately it is the brain-washed ordinary citizens that would pay much of the price. But the empire of lies has effecctively commited a suicide.
Too bad Biden and friends are not striving to make ordinary Americans prosperous again, not ending homelessness, not countering global warming.
But they have never given a damn about ordinary Americans, except at election time or to conscript bodies to fight in wars that benefit only the power mad and the wealthy. The mask is off. The true face of imperialist evil is there for all to see, but many are afraid to look.
The US policy of unbridled sanctions, military provocation and outright violence is diabolical !!! How did we lose any semblance of a moral compass,where has common decency gone? Starving people to death as accepted foreign policy voted on by our ever so wise elected officials is beyond disgusting,constantly using the threat of violence and other means of intimidation to exert our so called values on others. I am ashamed of my country’s vile behavior, it must stop. Regime change begins at home before it’s too late for all of us.
Starving people to death includes American people.
Excellent analysis and a typical ploy by the empire of chaos. As Biden openly confirms the pain the average American will suffer in support of the fabricated image of a scrappy upstart Ukraine, let’s hope people see through the BS quickly.
The gall of these people.
Thanks Joe!
Good article, but misses a few points:
– “U.S.-backed coup overthrew the democratically elected president Viktor Yanukovych” – how can you say democratically? It was russian puppet. Everybody knows that. This author doesn’t have a clue how elections work there.
– Ukraine doesn’t want to be russian territory, which either they fight or be integrated into russia. It’s not that the U.S. told Ukrainians to fight. I think the only point here is U.S. found perfect timing when to support Ukraine. Ukrainians want to be more European rather than russian, because living in russian authoritarian kleptocracy is fewer advantages than what we have in the west. So this is preference of their choice. I respect them.
Nobody knows that because it is not true. “It” was elected with the certification of the OSCE.
hxxps://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/feb/08/viktor-yanukovych-ukraine-president-election
Some Ukrainians want to align with the West, but clearly not all.
I eagerly await the continuation of this article covering how Russia may escape the US traps.
An economic war by means of sanctions (in the current situation, extreme sanctions) is hardly different from a military war. Both are intended to bring down or thoroughly weaken an enemy. But can this outcome be reasonably expected to work if the targeted enemy is the second largest military power in the world – notably the second largest nuclear armed power in the world?
I believe the western powers are underestimating the consequences of their actions against an enemy that may not not accept an eventual defeat when the ultimate resources are available at its disposal. What happened to the UN charter which was designed to resolve all differences between countries through negotiations?
Do you really think that the Russian Government is waiting for Joe’s advice on how to deal with the “trap” ?
Biden first gave the game away at his Feb. 24 White House press conference — the first day of the invasion. He was asked why he thought new sanctions would work when the earlier sanctions had not prevented Russia’s invasion. Biden said the sanctions were never designed to prevent Russia’s intervention but to punish it afterward. Therefore the U.S. needed Russia to invade.
Brilliant article that helps one see through the hall of mirrors in which we find ourselves – the best analysis these days is from Joe Lauria, followed by Glenn Greenwald.
Today’s situation with Russia and Ukraine seems very similar to the beginnings of World War I, where Germany was the aggressor in the sense that it “pulled the trigger” on this bloody war, implementing the Schlieffen Plan attacking France through Belgium. But this was done after some mighty serious provocations, beginning with an outrageous terrorist attack (the assassination in Sarajevo of the successor to the Austro-Hungarian throne) by assassins likely connected to the Serbian state, followed by an ultimatum and planned occupation of Serbia by Austria-Hungary, followed by full military mobilization by Serbia’s ally Russia (this being generally only done in wartime), followed by declaration of war by the Central Powers against Russia and its ally France. In the background, the British somehow exercising influence and pulling the strings – and certainly looking forward to the opportunity of giving Germany a bloody nose. And the propagandists having a field day. At least history seems to be rhyming here.
These sanctions are backfiring upon this country causing inflation and now food shortages. Just how long will the American consumer tolerate this and what can be done? The mid-terms elections this year likely will lead to a rejection of the Democrat Party and the Republicans will at least control the House but whether they will address this in a substantive manner is highly questionable and eventually the fact remains that this is intolerable so there will be some kind of reaction. The huge question is whether MSM lies and propaganda can continue to shape opinion and the narrative to the point it has managed in the past which, of course, is the reason for all this censorship and banning of independent new outlets of all kinds. Let’s hope Consortium News can continue to offer a alternative.
Coming soon to a town near you – Food Shortages! Thanks Biden, just what we all wanted.
Bravo, Joe! You are truly a beacon of truth in a sea of misinformation.
Considering all the historical revisionism our mainstream media has been propagating, I have to wonder when some unabashed entrepreneur will start satirically mass-producing yellow-and-blue “ribbons” sporting the caption, “Support our Neo-Nazis!”
Amazon is selling t-shirts and other kitch with Azov Battalion insignia. You can’t make this stuff up.
I am not sure announcing your game plan before the big match or indeed, big heavy weight title bout is the smartest thing to do. There are too many moving parts to this “World Domination’” malarky fantasy.
Turn the gas off, LPG tanker goes boom, Lithium costs more than a Sh*t coin: China says Game On and the American people say Game Over.
The recent rockets into Saudi Arabia is a warning about oil deals with China. This may collectively encourage the worlds 90% to say to each other ….“remember the bombs, remember the bombs …..and America $ ….no more.”
Regardless of the temporary cost.
By the way, China’s obsession for tracking her people is not about 1984 but 2022 ie, spot the traitors who are working for and being paid by the , “I can never tell the truth,” crowd from the valley of death.
Let the people of this world live in freedom and build their own style of castles, in a society of their choosing.
Thank you for a great job of coherently connecting the dots.
In my opinion, Washington is too accustomed to evaluating others by the shallow standards that it applies to itself to perceive anything clearly. Note that neocon plans, grand in theory are always stupid in reality. The only regime change that will come from this will be that of the Biden admin and the “DP.” I think the GOP will install itself and it will be a long time if ever before the “DP” raises its head again. America will have to deal with that reality.
I used to think that the “DP” was substantively different than the GOP when it came to war and peace. But it’s become clear that the difference is only a matter of style. Each party has its own designated villain. The GOP boogeyman of choice for sustaining the MIC was terrorists in the ME. For the “DP” it is Putin and Russia. In this sense, the “war party” is always in power. Both parties are now currently vying to adopt China as their own new “bad guy,” but I think the “DP” is on the way out, really out, and on the verge of becoming irrelevant. The American people after all love to be outraged but they hate above all to be inconvenienced. And “inconvenienced” is set to become the new byword for life in general and in particular in America.
Putin and Russia are smarter than their American counterparts because in America the bottom of the barrel has been steadily rising to the top for decades. A society that prizes such mediocrity is headed for ruin in any case, and further, the American economy and society is really just a house of cards that now works exclusively for the “<1%." It will not survive this encounter with reality. Regardless of Ukraine, the US will lose its pole position in the world while undermining its economy at home. That of course has been a long time coming. Ukraine will be the push.
And the ringer of course is that although Washington seems hell bent on ignoring it, climate change effects are now beginning to arrive. A relatively benign pandemic upended societies both at home and around the world primarily due to adherence to neoliberal values while Washington in particular led the way in doing the least it could. However, the covid pandemic was/is nothing compared to climate change effects and when the climate dominoes begin to really fall, they will fall seemingly all at once. The dystopian future that was always promised by the kind of irresponsible neoliberal capitalism promoted by the US is nearly upon us and a "Western Ukraine" and Putin regime change will not make a difference even in the very unlikely event that they do occur. The EU however will pay the price for its subservience to such banality. It's leaders were simply not up to the task. The grand dreams of little men and women and their enablers are the bane of humanity.
Lauria: “The United States could have easily prevented Russia’s military action.”
I’ve said it before but it bears repeating: Zelensky doesn’t understand that this is a proxy war being waged against Ukraine by an evilly duplicitous US.
It has Russians fighting Russians, the US selling energy to Europe at exorbitant prices that will damage their export industries while US arms manufacturers make a killing. The US doesn’t have anything against Ukraine, it’s simply expendable in the greater campaign against Russia.
As others have noted, the US will support Ukraine wholeheartedly, up to the last Ukrainian standing. The US and EU will happily provide arms and armaments; after all, that’s good for business. But the Ukrainian people are no more than sacrificial pawns in the game.
So, Washington can cut the crap about any of this being about “freedom and democracy” when it’s nothing but a pure power grab, as if Washington needs any more of the latter or will be respected and admired for its pure bloody hatchet job to achieve such. None of this is being done for the good of or in the name of the American people. If they all knew the details that the mainstream media hides at the behest of its government and corporate masters there’d be a revolution for sure. We continue to go without amenities standard in most democratic republics, like modern infrastructure, health care and quality education, simply to prop up our behemoth military which conquers and plunders other lands for the benefit of our small sinfully rich aristocracy.
Everybody in the world knows that’s what the American state stands for and is slavishly programmed to do to any nation that gets in its way or has something it wants, like all the Russian natural resources that it lusts after and will seek to steal (as it does to Syrian oil and did to Russian gold) quickly, before China can obtain the lion’s share through diplomacy and free trade.
The American state and its leaders are not the sort of people that normal non-psychotic folks would be attracted to as friends or associates. Even though they have constructed this elaborate facade to make our citizens think they have a fair and just democracy, it is only a ruse that feigns “diversity,” equality and fair play. In the end they always stick together for their benefit and to our detriment. Do NOT hope for and certainly never expect that one faction of oligarchs will stand up for your rights and well-being and buck the collective interests of their fellow parasites. There will be no revolution led by “good guy” progressives, liberals or social justice warriors. As Bushdaddy once said, “Not gonna happen.” If you want that, you’re gonna have to make it happen yourself. But take a caution and pay attention to the sentences they’ve been meeting out to the “Trump insurrectionists” who had not the slightest ability or intention to actually overthrow the government on 6 Jan 21.
Not only do they support outspoken Nazis (in Ukraine) who trace their lineage to Hitler’s party of the WWII era. They seem to have no clue as to what the consequences would be if Zelensky and the Banderites won this war…or they really don’t care. I would go so far as to call the Biden administration, in all its studied apathy on the subject, a Banderite movement. They have led a conspicuous movement to erode our constitutional rights to privacy, to freedom from search, seizure, and constant surveillance, and to a legal defense not stacked with plea bargain traps (see again 6 Jan 21, and revisit the Julian Assange, Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning sagas). I’m afraid that the “good guys” have vacated the American premises long ago, and that the ones left behind in high federal office (especially including that ranting lout Lord Biden) are up to no damned good for anyone but themselves and their secret patrons and string pullers. They are presently “coming for” people now, through social and economic “cancellation” if not yet with jail time. Better start thinking who you are prepared to defend publicly if not physically. Be prepared for the denigration and harassment, for these maniacs will make you pay a price for “defying” them. If nobody raises their voice against injustice, including the kind of shit that Joe Lauria describes in his recent articles at CN, all our rights will be hoovered up and sucked down the memory hole before you can even indignantly utter, “Hey, just what do you tyrants think you are doing?!” Of the six mega-telecommunications corporations only one, Fox News with Tucker Carlson, is even slightly on the side of our rights and inclined to gently poke at the Biden monolith. Like all former liberal Democrats I used to loathe Fox. Times change and realities do as well. Sadly, though, it seems more likely they will start conforming with the others rather than challenging them.
It’s called DEPOPULATING THE WORLD. Simple as that.
”Sanctions against Russia’s Central Bank sanctions are the most serious, as they were intended to destroy the value of the rubble.”
Just addressing the typo on a great article.
Thanks.
Tnx CN Joe… & Casey.
Would add: No Surprise US Sanctions other nations widely… when US Min Wage Stalled since the 80’s… in effect $anctioning our own!
Excellent article. Thank you
So much evil is incomprehensible. What a monster nation the USA has become.
It has been a monster nation since in inception. Slavery and genocide were part of its doctrines from the get-go.
Good for President Biden, I am glad he called for Regime Change in Russia. As an Iranian, I want the strongest backer of those Dirty Mullahs in Tehran gone. I want the Iranians protesting in the street don’t get killed by the Russian or Chechnian snipers. I also don’t want Putin to keep butchers such as Asad and MBS in power. I also don’t like witnessing rolls of dead Syrian children, killed by Putin’s WMD. So, please sit comfortably on your leather couches and advocate for your beloved Putin and ask the world to stay away from bugging him by asking him not to kill children. Thank you
Go Russia, Go clean out the Nazi’s and those who back them, those who use their citizens as shields because they are cowards and need someone to hide behind. From what I read, they are setting up a parallel finance system which will include the heavy weights plus the mid-east and far east and give countries a chance to get away from the dollar and all the misery that brings about.
Maybe you should complain to the US who let the Mullahs take power in 1979 and dropped the Shah like a hot potato. I’ve always been asking myself why the US stopped supporting the Shah regime. Was the Shah getting to stubborn? Didn’t he want to be a US puppet anymore? The entire world knew what Chomeiny’s plans were. He lived openly in Paris and gave many interviews.
Sad case of Putin Derangement Syndrome here, which will kill more victims than covid.
You need a reality check! You are living in a parallel universe.
Excellent wrap-up, Joe. Hope you will include the China factor in next installment.
First addressed it on March 19. More to come.
hxxps://consortiumnews.com/2022/03/19/us-recklessly-eyes-china-as-target-in-economic-war/
One missing fact of note: Zelenskyy was notified nato was off the table but told not to state it publicly.
On the primary subject of the United States attempting a “regime change” against Putin, the policymakers and pundits plotting this and expecting that, e.g., Alexei Navalny, will be a successful replacement towards which a majority of Russians will be long-run receptive and not written off as a US puppet intending to plunge Russia back into the disastrous Yeltsin era are about as deluded as those assuming that the Iranian populace would accept the MEK with open arms were the ayatollahs to be overthrown (not surprising, since some of the policymakers and pundits encouraging “regime change” in both contexts are likely one and the same). They would be in for a rude awakening when and if the political fortunes of, e.g., Gennady Zyuganov or Vladimir Zhirinovsky, were to be enhanced instead.
While there would certainly be no love lost on my part if Putin were to lose power and prestige with his countrymen (though the same goes for numerous other leaders, including many incumbents in the ostensible “free world”), I would much rather such a process occur organically than through any external machinations and manipulations by any foreign powers.
Navalny called on his supporters to vote for the communists in the last Duma elections. They scored over 20%. And it was precisely these communists who long ago accused Putin of being too soft on the West and should finally act on the Ukraine problem.
I was actually unaware of that, but thank you for bringing it up! Of course, that would also fit the pattern of the United States supporting figures and factions who turn out to be far less pliable than expected, and then having it blow up in their face (a probable eventuality were the MEK to actually beat the odds and gain power in Iran as well).
It was Navalny’s allies and it was a purely tactical decision to weaken Putin’s United Russia Party by supporting the second largest party, the Communists. It in no way indicates that Navalny is a communist, whose own party polls in the single digits.
Right. I also did not mean to imply that Navalny himself is a communist (based on the information that Theo introduced me to), but it does imply that he would have to build a coalition with them and/or other parties hostile to or skeptical of US/Western global hegemony in order to avoid being ousted were he to miraculously ascend to a leadership role (a highly unlikely prospect without being imposed by foreign actors, as I hope I made clear).
The Best laid plans of Mice & Men? America may think it has Russia’s demise all planned out & gamed but as Mike Tyson said, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth? Russia will not hesitate to use nuke’s & rain hypersonic nuclear weapons from the sky to destroy that entire nest of Vipers in Washington & level every US city & reduce it to ash if Russia feels it’s losing this Battle! Are American’s prepared for the consequences of what they disastrous & evil Biden Administration is planning for them? The one Country that needs to have its Leader removed & a Coup d’état happen is in the United States of America, Biden must be removed & his evil Administration regime changed!
We were easily overthrown in March 2020 by the US government when it announced replacement of normal government with government by decree, or “emergency government.” No end date was given. We’re now entering year #3 and the entire political class is thrilled about it. I believe every 90 days someone simply signs a document authorizing continued government by decree. “Both” political parties would be happy to continue being subservient to the US military dictatorship now running the US. The only hope for ending US dictatorship is for US to be broken up into at least 3 parts.
One personal anecdotal experience regarding the seeming inefficacy of sanctions for inducing internal regime change within societies even in the most superficially favorable circumstances:
When I was visiting South Africa as part of a diplomacy/international relations study-abroad program back in May-June 2015, I can still remember one of my main guides/hosts throughout the trip (a black anti-apartheid protestor back in the day) speaking with a measure of unexpected national pride when he told our group about how the Sasol energy firm had used Fischer-Tropsch synthesis as an innovative means to yield coal gasification and produce fuel supplies, thereby subverting international sanctions as part of the BDS campaign during the apartheid era.
I do not want to outright dismiss the probable prevalence, much less the existence, of South African anti-apartheid voices who were calling for boycotts, divestment, and sanctions of various kinds that would adversely impact and isolate their own economy in assorted ways, intending to facilitate internal change in their country. However, the fact that even a committed anti-apartheid activist would apparently “rally around the flag” (at least retrospectively) despite their own vehement opposition to the targeted government and its policies seems to stand testament to how counterproductive sanctions often are for the goal of inducing regime change (consistent with other examples, such as, e.g., Cuba).
Of course, this is before one even considers their generally devastating humanitarian impact even when employed in an ostensibly “targeted” form (for example, see the work of Mark Weisbrot, Alena Douhan, Emma Ashford, Alfred de Zayas, Yong Suk Lee, and even the likes of Jeffrey Sachs and Francisco R. Rodríguez, the former known for his early “shock therapy” approaches and the latter for proposing to yoke the Venezuelan economy to the US dollar, among other things).
Concerning the aforementioned adverse humanitarian impact of even allegedly “targeted,” “limited,” or “smart” sanctions regimes against despicable foreign antagonists:
“[T]here is little evidence that economic sanctions ever achieve their objectives. Even the best-designed sanctions can be self-defeating, strengthening the regimes they were designed to hurt and punishing the societies they were supposed to protect.
[…]
The [‘limited’ Caesar] sanctions target the construction, electricity, and oil sectors, which are essential to getting Syria back on its feet. Although the United States says it is ‘protecting’ Syria’s oil fields in the northeast, it has not given the Syrian government access to repair them, and U.S. sanctions prohibit any firm of any nationality from repairing them—unless the administration wishes to make an exception. Such an exception was recently made for a U.S. firm to manage the oil fields, but oil leaks continue to drain into the Khabour and Euphrates Rivers. U.S. sanctions not only punish people, who receive only an hour or two of electricity a day, but also poison their environment.
The sanctions even prevent non-U.S. aid organizations from delivering reconstruction assistance. Humanitarian exemptions are deliberately vague, as are the requirements that the Syrian government would have to meet in order to obtain sanctions relief. Such uncertainty is meant to deter aid suppliers and investors who might otherwise help Syria rebuild but who can’t be wholly confident that they are in the clear to do so. This chilling effect, known as overcompliance, is a rational response to the fear of inadvertent entanglement in complex legal issues that could destroy a nongovernmental organization or a firm.
Blocked from reconstructing their country and seeking external assistance, Syrians face ‘mass starvation or another mass exodus,’ according to the World Food Program. In 2011, abject poverty in Syria stood at less than one percent. By 2015, however, abject poverty had risen to 35 percent of the population. In late spring of 2020, Lebanon approached bankruptcy, and Syria’s economy, which has deep and long-standing ties to Lebanon’s economy, began to spin out of control. Food prices have shot up 209 percent in the last year, and medicine is expensive and scarce. The number of food insecure Syrians has climbed from 7.9 million to 9.3 million in just six months, according to the World Food Program.”
~
“The claim that targeted, ‘smart’ sanctions hurt only regime principals is demonstrably false. Data and anecdotal evidence to the contrary are abundant and publicly available. The devastating effects of sanctions on Iraq’s population in the 1990s has never been in dispute, and UN observers report that a similar humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding in Syria today. According to Idriss Jazairy, the UN rapporteur on sanctions, ‘unilateral sanctions applied to Syria have visited untold sufferings on ordinary people.’ Seeking to combat rights violations by imposing sanctions, he continued, is like trying ‘to extinguish a blaze with fire rather than water.’ [see Aron Lund, ‘Briefing: Just How ‘Smart’ are Sanctions on Syria?,’ The New Humanitarian, April 25, 2019]”
Sources:
Joshua Landis and Steven Simon, “The Pointless Cruelty of Trump’s New Syria Sanctions,” Foreign Affairs, August 17, 2020, and Adham Sahloul, et. al., “How U.S. Sanctions Can Crack the Syrian Regime,” Foreign Affairs, September 4, 2020
—
“Last winter, Patrick Cockburn called attention to one of the more disturbing effects of the sanctions against North Korea—their ‘ghost ships’ (in ‘It’s Time We Saw Economic Sanctions for What They Really Are—War Crimes’ [published on Counterpunch in January 2018]). Over the past several years, fishing vessels have been washing up on the western shores of Northeastern Japan in larger and larger numbers. Like a ghost ship from the film the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean,’ some have ‘skeletonized’ remains on board. On others, Japanese find survivors who are desperate for help. A gruesome case of heads found severed from their bodies was discovered the other day.
The problem seems to be getting worse.
[…]
[A] pattern can be detected, month after month, year after year, in which more North Korean nuclear and missile tests lead to more ‘tightening’ of international sanctions, which leads to more ‘pressure to boost agriculture and food supplies,’ which leads to more fishermen from North Korea venturing farther out in fragile boats.
None of the sanctions were supposed to increase the severity of food shortages in North Korea, but by now we have years of anecdotal evidence such as ‘Sanctions Are Hurting Aid Efforts and Ordinary People in North Korea’ [authored by Anna Fifield and published in The Washington Post in December 2017] and piles of U.N. and human rights organization-type reports, that demonstrate that some of the sanctions are doing just that. The governments of the United States and other rich and powerful countries are causing a humanitarian catastrophe in North Korea, just as they have done in Iraq. And we, the citizens of those countries, are paying them to do it.”
Source:
Joseph Essertier, “Cutting Off the Lifelines of North Koreans? That’s Called a Siege, Not ‘Sanctions’,” Counterpunch, January 9, 2020
I also recall a trip to SA in the late 1990s. Government officials and NASA staff proudly told of their collaboration on the US Moon Shots. SA provided Southern Hemisphere coverage for the missions.
Sanctions are overlooked when it suits.