Pepe Escobar

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Ron Unz
THE UNZ REVIEW

Should Vladimir Putin Call His Shot on a NATO Brushback Pitch? • 24m 

Whether or not it actually happened, the story of Babe Ruth’s famous “called shot” in Game 3 of the 1932 World Series has become one of the great legends of baseball’s Golden Age.

The Chicago Cubs fans in Wrigley Field had been relentlessly hectoring the renowned Yankee slugger and the cat-calls and insults intensified as he came to bat in the fifth inning with the score tied 4-4, especially after he took a first strike. At that point, the Bambino raised his hand, pointed to the bleachers, then hit the next pitch as a towering home run to deep center field, the same spot he had just indicated. Or at least so goes the legend. Details aside, that homer helped the Yankees win the game, eventually leading to their 4-0 sweep of the entire series, and Ruth later included the tale as a centerpiece of his 1948 autobiography.

Calling your shot before you take it seems a very effective means of intimidating your opponents by demonstrating your effortless superiority. So perhaps Russian President Vladimir Putin should consider doing something similar in his current confrontation with NATO over the Ukraine war.

As everyone knows, the Western mainstream media has spent more than two years demonizing Russia and its president following the February 2022 outbreak of the Ukraine war, with Putin having become the most reviled world leader since Adolf Hitler more than three generations ago. And although Russia’s military attack only came after many years of the most extreme military and political provocations by America and its NATO allies, our astonishingly dishonest media outlets have uniformly plastered the word “unprovoked” on all their accounts of the conflict.

Prof. John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago ranks as one of our most distinguished political scientists and his 2016 lecture on those Western provocations and the major risks of a future war has now been viewed some 29 million times on YouTube, quite possibly more than any other academic lecture in the history of the Internet.

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University spent decades as an important economic advisor to Russia, Ukraine, and other countries in the region, making him a direct eyewitness to many of the important developments responsible for the conflict. He recently provided his first-hand account in a two-and-a-half hour interview with Tucker Carlson. The Tweet containing that interview has already been viewed more than 6 million times and I would highly recommend watching the entire segment, either on that platform or on YouTube:

Despite their enormous scholarly credentials and their deep knowledge of the issues, both these leading academics have been almost completely banned from our rabidly anti-Russian mainstream media outlets. In past generations they would have quickly disappeared from the public discussion, preventing any concerned citizens here or elsewhere from getting both sides of the story. But fortunately, the growth of the Internet and its video platforms have now begun to partially level the skewed playing field, reducing the power of the media gatekeepers to prevent the dissemination of important information.

As an example, over the last year or two both these individuals have become regular weekly interview guests on the popular podcast channel of Judge Andrew Napolitano, reaching an audience easily comparable to that of various cable news shows on network television. They have been joined by numerous other experts and analysts, equally blacklisted by mainstream outlets. These latter individuals include Ray McGovern, who spent 27 years as a leading CIA analyst, rising to become head of the Soviet policy group and serving as the morning intelligence briefer for a half-dozen American presidents.  Col. Douglas Macgregor has been an influential military analyst and an advisor to our Secretary of Defense, while Col. Larry Wilkinson was the long-time chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell.  Dr. Philip Giraldi, Larry Johnson, and Scott Ritter are experienced former CIA officers and military experts, Alastair Crooke is a former British diplomat and senior MI6 officer, while Max Blumenthal and Aaron Maté are young Jewish progressives who have published award-winning journalism on the Middle East conflict. Despite having such a wide variety of different backgrounds and ideological orientations, all these individuals generally find themselves in strong agreement on the extremely dangerous nature of the current NATO confrontation with Russia over Ukraine.

During the last week or two, their concerns reached new heights as Ukrainian drones attacked and damaged several of Russia’s early warning radar installations intended to detect incoming nuclear missiles. These attacks may have seriously degraded Moscow’s ability to spot an American first-strike, possibly lowering that country’s own threshold for triggering a nuclear response, an exceptionally dangerous and destabilizing situation. A recent Mike Whitney column discussed these important developments:

• Washington Attacks Key Element of Russia’s Nuclear Umbrella Threatening Entire Global Nuclear Security Architecture
  
  Mike Whitney • The Unz Review • May 26, 2024 • 1,100 Words

Prof. Sachs is an extremely level-headed academic, who has spent his long career working closely with top political figures in America and across the rest of the world. But in his Thursday interview, he sounded the alarm, declaring the unprecedented danger from this attempt to blind Russia to a potential nuclear first strike. He felt these were acts of madness by Western governments that had raised the threat of nuclear war to the highest level since the end of World War II, but our ignorant and oblivious leaders seemed entirely unaware of the perilous nature of this situation.

Then late last week, Politico reported that President Joseph Biden had secretly agreed to allow the missiles we were providing Ukraine to be used in deep strikes against Russian territory, multiplying these dangers. It also appears likely that any actual Ukrainian involvement in use of these advanced missile systems is relatively minimal, with their control and targeting remaining in the hands of American or other NATO personnel. Another Mike Whitney column a couple of days ago usefully summarized these crucial facts:

1. The long-range precision weapons (missiles) are provided by NATO countries

2. The long-range precision weapons are manned by experts or contractors from the country of origin

3. The long-range precision weapons must be linked to space reconnaissance data provide by the US or NATO

4. The targets in Russia are also provided by space reconnaissance data provide by the US or NATO

The point that Putin is trying to make is that the long-range missiles are made by NATO, furnished by NATO, operated and launched by NATO contractors, whose targets are selected by NATO experts using space reconnaissance data provided by NATO. In every respect, the prospective firing of long-range precision weapons at targets in Russia, is a NATO-US operation. Thus, there should be no confusion about who is responsible. NATO is responsible which means that NATO is effectively declaring war on Russia. Putin’s lengthy comments merely underscore this critical point.

Thus, NATO is on the verge of firing a barrage of advanced missiles deep into Russian territory, an obvious act of war against a country possessing an arsenal of some six thousand strategic nuclear warheads, a decision of extraordinary recklessness. The leaders of some NATO members have even explicitly declared that they believe that Russia must be destroyed, exceptionally provocative public statements.

Unlike his Western counterparts, President Putin certainly recognizes the extreme gravity of this situation and Whitney quoted the threatening remarks he made at a press conference in Tashkent:

So, these officials from NATO countries, especially the ones based in Europe, particularly in small European countries, should be fully aware of what is at stake. They should keep in mind that theirs are small and densely populated countries, which is a factor to reckon with before they start talking about striking deep into the Russian territory. It is a serious matter and, without a doubt, we are watching this very carefully.

The Russians have also expressed considerable alarm that Ukrainian forces may soon be bolstered by the addition of Western F-16s. Those aircraft are nuclear-weapons capable, and the Russians have indicated that they may be forced to assume that they are so armed.

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Thus, both America and its NATO vassals seem to be sleepwalking into a potential Third World War fought with strategic nuclear weapons. This recalls the extreme hubris of their European political predecessors more than a century ago who led their continent into the First World War.

The main focus of Whitney’s most recent column was to argue that President Putin needed to take some sufficiently strong public steps to awaken the Western leaders from their slumber and force them to recognize the terrible dangers that they and the rest of the world faced, perhaps causing them to abandon their extremely dangerous and reckless behavior. Put in baseball terms, he believed that Russia needed to throw t he sort of “brushback pitch” intended to intimidate a batter.

•  (see below) To Avoid Nuclear War, Putin Needs to be a Little Crazier
  
  Mike Whitney • The Unz Review • May 31, 2024 • 1,900 Words

This suggestion seems a very reasonable one. So the issue now becomes what sort of Russian action would be most advisable.

NATO troops may soon be firing NATO missiles guided by NATO reconnaissance data against military targets deep within Russia so there remains only the thinnest of Ukrainian fig-leafs to camouflage what is actually taking place. Hence the Russians should take forceful steps to convince NATO that such actions are totally unacceptable and must be stopped. However, any such Russian military response should be carefully calibrated to thread the needle, neither being so mild that it fails to bring American and NATO leaders to their senses nor so severe that it risks triggering a direct, full-scale war with NATO, with such a war probably being the intended goal of those provocations.

If such deep strikes into Russia take place, the Russians could target the firing locations in Ukraine with retaliatory missile attacks, perhaps killing some of the NATO servicemen responsible, professionals who had been “sheep dipped” and deployed there under the guise of being independent contractors or trainers. However, Russia has already done this in the past, and there are credible claims that substantial numbers of such NATO personnel have already died in Ukraine with no evidence that such losses had deterred escalating NATO provocations. The same problem applies if Russia merely intensified its bombardment of Ukrainian command and control facilities or critical infrastructure. Both America and NATO political leaders seem to have ignored such Russian responses in the past and would probably continue to do so.

Recognizing this problem, the Russians have begun raising the temperature. A couple of weeks ago, Russia publicized an important training drill for their potential use of tactical nuclear weapons and this produced a great deal of coverage in the global media. But it seemed to have had little impact upon Western leaders, who are probably very skeptical that the Russians would actually break the seven-decade-long nuclear taboo by resorting to first use of such destructive weapons. So any Russian use seems unlikely and if it did occur, there might be a serious risk of nuclear escalation. Therefore, I think that any Russian threats or actual use of battlefield nuclear weapons would be very ill-advised.

But I think that an even stronger reason for the Russians to avoid focusing on their nuclear arsenal is that their superiority is actually considerably greater on the conventional level. Over the last few years, the Russians have deployed a full suite of powerful hypersonic missiles, an important weapons system that the Americans have so far been unable to match. From everything I’ve read, these hypersonic delivery systems are almost unstoppable by any existing American or NATO defenses, which currently gives the Russians escalation-dominance on the conventional level. So the question is how the Russians can best exploit this existing advantage and force NATO to back down without risking a wider war.

During the last two years, anti-shipping missiles fired from Ukraine but presumably supplied and guided by NATO forces have inflicted very serious losses upon Russia’s Black Sea fleet, sinking or severely damaging a number of its major vessels. But turnabout is fair play and America’s geopolitical and military power is far more heavily dependent upon its own naval forces. Most analysts believe that our carrier fleet would be sitting ducks for Russian missiles, especially hypersonic ones. The loss of one or more of our carriers would have devastating impact upon American military credibility, and if taken seriously, Russian threats along such lines might force American leaders to change their Ukraine policy. But the arrogant Americans may stubbornly believe that their anti-missile defenses are capable of handling such a threat, while any successful attack against an American carrier battle-group might easily kill many thousands of Americans, leading to all-out war. So this should remain a last option.

The Russians have given strong hints that if their own bases deep inside Russia are attacked by NATO missiles, they might very well retaliate against NATO military installations in countries such as Poland. But any such attacks, especially if they involved heavy casualties, might once again trigger a full-scale NATO war with Russia under Article Five of the NATO Charter. Indeed, this is probably the exact goal of many Ukrainian and NATO leaders who have realized that the current war is lost but believe they can still achieve success by broadening it into a much wider conflict. So by taking such action, Russia might be falling into a NATO trap.

Since most of these other options seem so unsatisfactory, I think the best solution to this dilemma is for the Russians to take a page from the playbook of their Iranian allies.

A few weeks ago, the Israelis violated international law by launching an unprecedented bombing attack against an Iranian embassy building in Damascus, killing several top Iranian generals. This was merely the latest in a long series of such Israeli assassinations obviously intended to provoke the sort of heavy Iranian military response that could be used to draw in America, leading to a wider regional war and perhaps resulting in Iran’s destruction.

However, the Iranians shrewdly refused to take the bait and instead retaliated by bombarding very heavily-defended Israeli military bases with a huge salvo of some 300 drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles, but first providing several days of advance warning. Although the resulting full mobilization of American, British, and Israeli air defenses destroyed the overwhelming majority of the attacking units, quite a number still got through and inflicted serious damage on the installations, but without killing a single Israeli serviceman.

This Iranian attack had been skewed towards their older systems and only represented one or two percent of the country’s enormous arsenal. Therefore, it proved that even under the best of circumstances, Israel was entirely vulnerable to Iranian military retaliation. This demonstrated that Iran had achieved conventional escalation-dominance and military superiority over Israel, so the latter responded with only the most feeble and face-saving pinprick retaliation. Alastair Crooke described the enormous impact these developments had upon the Middle East strategic landscape:

Now suppose that NATO missiles based in Ukraine struck deep within Russia against important military targets, perhaps inflicting considerable casualties or loss of important equipment. The Russian government could publicly declare that since those missiles had been supplied, aimed, and controlled by NATO personnel, NATO had obviously become a co-belligerent and they would directly retaliate against that organization.

They could then announce that such retaliation would take the form of a hypersonic missile strike destroying the NATO headquarters building in Brussels, Belgium, with the attack scheduled for 12 Noon in two days’ time. That sort of advance warning would attract enormous international media coverage while allowing NATO plenty of time to fully evacuate that building and those nearby and also deploy a large number of its best anti-missile systems to defend the facility. Therefore, assuming that the multi-missile strike still succeeded in totally leveling the NATO HQ, the result would be few if any human casualties and a simultaneous demonstration that Russian hypersonics were unstoppable by any NATO defenses.

NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium

The Russians could then announce that their next retaliatory strikes would sink several of our aircraft carriers, a warning that American military leaders would now be forced to take very seriously.

Under such circumstances, both the political leaders and electorates of the West might draw some important conclusions from that very high-profile military demonstration. If despite such considerable advance warning, NATO still proved completely unable to defend its own headquarters from total destruction in a Russian attack, the perceived value of that military alliance would crumble, perhaps causing it to dissolve, as should have happened after the end of the Cold War more than thirty years ago.

It would also be difficult for Western media outlets to continue demonizing a Russian government that had gone to such great lengths to minimize any human casualties, while the extreme effectiveness of Russian hypersonics would have been proven by the wreckage and craters suddenly appearing in the heart of Brussels. Taken together, this would constitute a velvet glove on an iron fist.

Many Americans might ask themselves why they were annually spending a trillion dollars on their military if our defense contractors were unable to produce hypersonic weapons or to successfully defend against those produced by the Russians.

And American political and military leaders would probably recognize that if despite such advance warning they were unable to defend their own NATO headquarters from destruction, our aircraft carriers would have little hope of surviving a Russian attack. Our country’s global power-projection relies very heavily upon these carriers, whose military credibility supports our inflated US dollar. If several of those carriers were easily sunk, that credibility would be lost, probably causing a collapse in the dollar. Our ruling political regime might collapse along with it, much like the Japanese victory in 1905 had triggered a revolution in Czarist Russia.

More than three decades ago, the mighty Soviet Union crumbled and dissolved with almost no bloodshed. Under the right circumstances, I think that the Russian destruction of the NATO headquarters building might lead to an equally bloodless and long overdue dissolution of that military alliance.

Finally, on a somewhat different matter, tomorrow marks the 35th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, in which hundreds or even thousands of peaceful pro-democracy student protests were supposedly slaughtered by Chinese troops, a watershed event in China’s relations with the West. Last month I published an article pointing that the alleged massacre had almost certainly never happened and was merely a hoax long maintained by the Western media:

• American Pravda: Gaza Protests and the Legend of the Tiananmen Square Massacre
  
  Ron Unz •  The Unz Review • May 13, 2024 • 8,700 Words

Given our sharp current conflict with China, it will be interesting to see how the media covers that story. Several days ago, the Wall Street Journal already began running articles in commemoration, with their content and tone indicated by this lead sentence in one of them:

On its 35th anniversary, the 1989 massacre of unarmed protestors in Tiananmen Square remains such a source of embarrassment to the Chinese government that public acknowledgement of the event still faces automatic censorship.

I wonder how long our media will continue to maintain this historical fraud.

Related Reading:

• Washington Attacks Key Element of Russia’s Nuclear Umbrella Threatening Entire Global Nuclear Security Architecture by Mike Whitney
• To Avoid Nuclear War, Putin Needs to be a Little Crazier by Mike Whitney
• Presidents Who Gamble with Nuclear Armageddon by Jeffrey Sachs
• American Pravda: Putin as Hitler?
• NATO’s Losing Proxy War in Ukraine
• American Pravda: Gaza Protests and the Legend of the Tiananmen Square Massacre

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To Avoid Nuclear War, Putin Needs to be a Little Crazier

MIKE WHITNEY • MAY 31, 2024 /  THE UNZ REVIEW

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Lili News 029

• In cynicism and power, the US propaganda machine easily surpasses Orwells Ministry of Truth.
• Now the fight against anti-semitism is being weaponised as a new sanctimonious McCarthyism.
• Unless opposed, neither justice nor our Constitutional right to Free Speech will survive this assault.

Things to keep in mind...

Neo-Nazi ideology has become one of the main protagonists of political and social life in Ukraine since the 2014 coup d'état. Meanwhile, fascist ideology and blatant lies also permeate the consciousness of most people in the West. Those in the comfortable top 10%, the "PMCs" (Professional Managerial Class), are especially vulnerable. They support and disseminate such ideas. They are the executors of the actual ruling class' orders, those in the 0.001%, who remain largely invisible. The PMCs are the political class, the media whores, the top military brass, some people in academia, and the "national security/foreign policy" industry honchos. Push back against these unethical, contaminated people with the truth while you can.

AND...where the US Government is at: LYING 24/7

window.addEventListener("sfsi_functions_loaded", function() { if (typeof sfsi_widget_set == "function") { sfsi_widget_set(); } });

by Larry Johnson
SONAR21

Salome Zourabichvili with Pelosi. The proud desdendant of an old Georgian gusano family, she might soon conveniently become a US citizen, too.

Yes, I will post Ray Charles, but I am not thinking about Ray’s Georgia. Nope. I am thinking about the frantic Western effort to launch a color revolution in Georgia, because that country’s legislature has the audacity to believe that domestic political groups should report if they are receiving at least 20% of their funding from foreigners. This is just one more example of the stinking hypocrisy I described in my previous article.

The spectacle unfolding in Tbilisi is reminiscent of a Monty Python skit, only this one includes real violence and bloodshed. We have seen the Foreign Ministers of Lithuania, Estonia and Iceland show up in Tbilisi and join the protests, by giving speeches to seething crowds, denouncing the actions of the Georgian legislature. Can you imagine the freakout in Washington if Russia’s Lavrov, China’s Wang Yi, and Hungary’s Szijjártó showed up at a Trump rally to denounce Biden’s policy in Ukraine? Exactly. The United States would not tolerate that shit for one minute. Talk about double standards.

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Salome with the EU's Charles Michel.  EU meddlers are welcome.

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Then you have the Georgian President, who was born in France and is a French citizen. Salome Zourabichvili, if she had the same pedigree (i.e., born in France but granted U.S. citizenship) in the United States, she would be banned by the Constitution from serving as President. Yet, here she is, [ethnically Georgian 100%] shamelessly promoting foreign interests over those of the people she was elected to serve. And the majority of the European governments, as well as the Biden Administration, are vowing to impose sanctions if the legislature dares to override Zourabichvili’s veto.

It may be that the West, stupidly in my view, sees this as a baited trap to lure Russia to intervene if the color revolution picks up steam. I believe that Russia, in light of its failure to respond to the Maidan revolution in 2014, is not going to sit passively and see how things work out. At a minimum, Russia’s intelligence service is probably passing information to its intelligence counterparts in Tbilisi about the identities of foreign operators working to manufacture chaos and the source of the funds pouring into Georgia.

The obsession* of the West to meddle in other governments and foment regime change must end. I think Russia and China, as a result of their latest summit, are committed to achieving that goal. The weaker nations of the world, especially in the Global South, are awakened to this threat. That’s one of the reasons that the nations in the African Sahel have given the French and the United States the boot. I personally hope that marks the beginning of a welcome turn in world affairs.

* It's actually not an obsession, Larry. It's worse than that. It's merely the ineluctable course followed by all imperialist nations, and the US is the Summum malum of all imperialisms.

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SELECT COMMENTS

Michael56 3 days ago Angelo Giuliano put an interesting post on Twitter/X about her: “She started as French ambassador to Georgia. She became president of Georgia after getting Georgian passport… seriously. Meet Georgian president Salome Zourabichvili – Born French citizen, later she got her Georgian citizenship – She previously worked in NATO Brussels. – Worked at French Embassy in Washington – She is an ex-student of Zbigniew Brzezinski – She worked as Foreign minister for US/EU agent Mikheil Saakashvili. She is clearly a foreign agent acting now as Georgian president. Now you know why she wants to veto the “foreign agent bill” I don’t think foreign interference gets more blatant than that. Jay Reply to Michael56 3 days ago It shows that when you control the media and you can inject millions of USD into a relatively poor country it is easy to capture people who are struggling to survive. They see these phony groups and associations saying IF only you become EU or NATO you will become wealthy. Yes, it is a pipe dream but they fall for it every single time. The US has done this over and over, even though it is a bankrupt country and more of its own people live in poverty than in many of the countries who fall for the trap. Laurence Johnson Reply to Jay 3 days ago Generally true but with the present Georgian relationship with Russia Georgia’s economy is booming. This may be poorly understood by the protesters or perhaps buying rioters with Western dollars is just too tempting, but as in the past joining with the West was not a pleasant history as Russians were being shelled in the south.and Russia did react. It will be proactive again. LaidBackGuy Reply to Michael56 3 days ago “She is an ex-student of Zbigniew Brzezinski” They should hang her. In public. Then bury the body in an unmarked grave. Victor 3 days ago The fact that the USA, UK, Australia and others (the EU is currently considering such a law, along with its hypocritical total ban on Russian media in Europe) all have exactly the same laws in place requiring foreign agent registration just highlights the incredible hypocrisy at work here. Julianne 3 days ago The Georgian government backed by Russia will do what China did with HK unrest fomented by the West. Allow it to run to gain maximum information about the dissident forces and then crack down on it…. conclusively. If the West wants a tide of Georgian refugees it can give them passports and take them in…. Or send them where the West needs bodies- on the Russian front. They can fight and die gloriously for their ideals. There are not going to be any more pushover revolutions. Winchcombe 3 days ago Larry you are absolutely right to focus on Georgia. It is becoming clear to me that Ukraine is far from the only game in town for our globalist masters. They are determined to take down (or rather over) Russia and pinch its resources and don’t care who they sacrifice in the process. It’s easy to buy up/blackmail/intimidate most Western leaders. If all else fails they will try to kill them (Fico). Rent-a-mobs are also relatively easy to conjure up with the right resources. As for the presstitute media, they are the worst type of lying scum. When Ukraine has had enough, Georgia, Moldova, and Lithuania (think Kalingrad) are in the wings. Think of a top professional boxer up against inferior sparring partners. Throw enough of them at him, he’ll eventually be beaten. That’s their thinking, I imagine. They are not going to give up until and unless the mugs being thrown into the fight wake up. I hope and pray that the wretched Ukrainian population – at least those that remain – will soon realize they’ve been suckered by their western supposed allies. Ditto the populations of those countries who’ve been impoverished by their deeply corrupt ‘leaders’. The upcoming European elections are critical. I also think Trump’s choice of Vice President is equally important. I fear he’ll be talked into appointing another Establishment shill like Pence was. I fear the UK – my own country – is beyond redemption. (Incidentally, if someone can explain to me why our Indian Prime Minister with his Indian wife and her billionaire father-in-law, will decamp to the US, where he’s already a citizen, the moment he’s booted out of Downing Street), cares so strongly about Ukraine, I would be most grateful? It can’t be money, which easily explains Buffoon Boris) rc123 3 days ago “We have seen the Foreign Ministers of Lithuania, Estonia and Iceland show up in Tbilisi and join the protests, by giving speeches to seething crowds, denouncing the actions of the Georgian legislature.” I’d suggest the only “president” that needs to be called is sitting in Columbia University. S/he has a delinquent recidivist in the international “Home Science” department cooking up hate-cookies again. If V. Nuland is not behind this, I’ll eat my hat (figuratively speaking). Based on the other comments (herein) this Salome Zourabichvili seems like a slippery eel to deal with. She’s unlikely to call for help (from Russia). And the Russians have plenty on their plate to deal with at the moment. But hopefully they act swiftly — as they did in Kazakhstan (2022?) once help was requested. I think one seemingly eternal ongoing “cat playing with a soon to be dead mouse” game in the Ukraine is enough for the public bloodlust moment (neocons exempted). Winchcombe Reply to Wolf69 3 days ago I agree about not voting as some wag said “it only encourages them”. I haven’t voted in UK national elections for thirty years. Tweedle dum and Tweeedle Dee. Don’t give them legitimacy – not that they care, but true freedom is being able to think for oneself. I’d lay odds that Trump will surround himself with as many Neocons if he’s elected as he did last time, with son-in-law Jared still skulking in the background. Last edited 3 days ago by Winchcombe Jack McCord 3 days ago Sounds like it’s time for some counter-riots at the US Embassy. Not to mention arrest, expulsion and lifetime bans of all foreigners involved in the protests. The ‘president,’ herself an obvious foreign agent, should be deported back to France and have her Georgian passport revoked.

Lili News 029

• In cynicism and power, the US propaganda machine easily surpasses Orwells Ministry of Truth.
• Now the fight against anti-semitism is being weaponised as a new sanctimonious McCarthyism.
• Unless opposed, neither justice nor our Constitutional right to Free Speech will survive this assault.

Things to keep in mind...

Neo-Nazi ideology has become one of the main protagonists of political and social life in Ukraine since the 2014 coup d'état. Meanwhile, fascist ideology and blatant lies also permeate the consciousness of most people in the West. Those in the comfortable top 10%, the "PMCs" (Professional Managerial Class), are especially vulnerable. They support and disseminate such ideas. They are the executors of the actual ruling class' orders, those in the 0.001%, who remain largely invisible. The PMCs are the political class, the media whores, the top military brass, some people in academia, and the "national security/foreign policy" industry honchos. Push back against these unethical, contaminated people with the truth while you can.

AND...where the US Government is at: LYING 24/7

window.addEventListener("sfsi_functions_loaded", function() { if (typeof sfsi_widget_set == "function") { sfsi_widget_set(); } });

SPUTNIK DISPATCH

Russian Intelligence Services Kept Eye on West's Effort to Weaponize ISIS*

An ISIS fighter poses in front of an Islamic State flag (Wikimedia)

 

Over the past two years, Moscow has collected evidence of Western involvement in training and arming jihadi terrorists to weaponize them on the Ukrainian battlefield and Russia's rear.

The Crocus City Hall terror attack has raised questions about the West's repeated use of jihadist elements, starting from arming Mujahideen in Afghanistan during the Cold War era to most recent reports of Islamists fighting on the side of the Kiev regime.

Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) stated on February 13, 2023, that it obtained intelligence indicating that the US military was actively recruiting militants from jihadist groups affiliated with ISIS* and al-Qaeda* to carry out terrorist attacks in Russia and the CIS countries. According to the SVR, particular attention is paid to attracting people from the Russian North Caucasus and Central Asia to cooperate.

The Russian intelligence service revealed that in January 2023, 60 terrorists with experience of participating in hostilities in the Middle East were recruited by the West, adding that they were undergoing training at the American base in Al-Tanf, Syria, to conduct terrorist and subversive attacks.

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Russia

US Plans to Send Terrorists to Russia and CIS Countries to Target Officials, Intel Service Says

13 February 2023, 06:37 GMT

 

The SVR noted at the time that the militants would be dispatched in small groups to the territory of Russia and the CIS countries in cooperation with underground cells of international terrorist groups, including Hizb ut-Tahrir*, Jamaat Ansarullah* and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan*.

 

"We see the final loss of any moral principles in the US security forces," the SVR summarized in its official statement, lambasting Washington's obsession with inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia by any means possible. "Such actions put Washington on a par with the largest international terrorist groups."

 

Intel data confirming the plans described by the SVR started to emerge later in the year. Russian Security Service (FSB) Director Alexander Bortnikov stated at the October 2023 meeting of heads of Russian security agencies and special services that ISIS and other terrorist groups were fighting against Russia as part of the Ichkerian and Crimean Tatar mercenary units in Ukraine. ISIS is also part of sabotage and reconnaissance groups sent to Russian territory to carry out attacks and terrorist attacks, Bortnikov emphasized.

The FSB director pointed out that Western governments were "actively facilitating the movement of militants into the Ukrainian conflict zone." As of October 2023, the FSB had registered the participation of employees of 13 Western private military companies (PMCs) and members of nine foreign paramilitary proxy forces in the Ukraine conflict on the side of the Kiev regime.

Analysis

How US Facilitated Creation of Terror Groups Like ISIS

Yesterday

 

According to Bortnikov, the US and its NATO allies have turned Ukraine into nothing short of a terrorist hotbed.

The FSB chief likewise drew special attention to the US and British intelligence services' efforts to create a "belt of instability" in Afghanistan near the southern borders of the CIS, where al-Qaeda and the ISIS groups are becoming stronger. To that end, the Western intelligence services were recruiting militants from international terrorist organizations operating in Iraq, Syria, and a number of other Asian and African countries, and transferring them to northern Afghanistan.

 

"We note the increased role of al-Qaeda, which, in alliance with the IS branch Vilayat Khorasan (banned in the Russian Federation), takes an active part in the preparation, indoctrination and logistical support of controlled groups," Bortnikov stressed last October.

 

Islamic Terror Groups Flocking to Ukraine

From the very beginning of the Russian special operation in Ukraine, reports started to emerge in international media outlets and blogs, shedding light on jihadists of all stripes flocking to the combat zone in Ukraine.

 

In early March 2022, the BBC quoted Syria-based terrorist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham* (HTS) explicitly expressing solidarity with the Kiev regime. High-profile HTS member al-Shamali al-Hurr took to Telegram to cheer Ukrainian victories by sharing footage and graphic images of damaged Russian military hardware and dead soldiers.

In April 2022, reports emerged claiming that the White Helmets, a Western-backed so-called "humanitarian" Syrian group, had arrived in Ukraine. Prior to this, the group, officially known as the Syrian Civil Defense, pledged to provide "tutorials" to the Ukrainian forces. The group was accused by Syrians of being connected to al-Qaeda offshoots operating in the Middle Eastern country and staging chemical attacks.

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World

How White Helmet's Cashbox Mayday Profited Off Syrian Regime Change Op at Expense of EU Taxpayers

10 May 2021, 13:27 GMT

 

What's more, initial training and financial support to the White Helmets was provided by the Mayday Rescue Foundation, a non-governmental organization established by ex-British Army officer James Le Mesurier. Le Mesurier's group was instrumental in the West's long-standing effort to topple the government of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, according to Grayzone investigative journalists' account of events in 2016.

The SVR announced in May 2022, citing obtained evidence, that about 60 ISIS terrorists were released from prisons controlled by the US-backed Syrian Kurds a month earlier with the aim of dispatching them to Ukraine as sabotage units. The SVR highlighted that the US Al-Tanf base in Syria's Homs province was turned into a terrorist hub where militants were trained to be deployed to Ukraine.

 

"Priority is given to natives of the states of Transcaucasia and Central Asia. The training 'course' in Al-Tanf includes training in the use of available types of anti-tank missile systems, reconnaissance and strike drones MQ-1C, advanced communications and surveillance equipment," the SVR stated.

 

On October 22, 2022, Al-Monitor reported that it had learned that members of Ajnad al-Kavkaz, a Chechen-led Islamist group, left the Syrian province of Idlib and headed to Ukraine to fight against the Russian military.

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Analysis

In Bed With Jihadists and Neo-Nazis: Why Crocus City Hall Terror Attack Cast Slur Upon West

Yesterday

 

Who Masterminded the Crocus City Hall Attack?

The Crocus City Hall terror attack was carried out by the hands of radical Islamists, but it is necessary to find the masterminds and those who benefitted from the hideous crime, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated on Monday.

 

"The horrific crime committed on March 22 in the capital of Russia is an act of intimidation ... and the question immediately arises: who benefits?" Putin said. "This atrocity can only be an element in a whole series of attempts by those who have been fighting our country since 2014 with the hands of the neo-Nazi Kiev regime."

 

In the wake of the attack four alleged perpetrators – Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, Shamsidina Fariduni, Saidakrami Rachabalizoda and Muhammadsobir Fayzov – were caught in the Russian Bryansk region on the way to the Ukrainian border. According to the FSB, the jihadists had connections in Ukraine and sought to hide in the Eastern European country after committing the crime. The fifth suspect, Dilovar Islomov, was detained on March 25.

"We also need to answer the question of why the terrorists tried to leave for Ukraine after committing the crime and who was waiting for them there," Putin underlined during the conversation with Russian authorities on security measures taken after the terrorist attack.

The Russian president specifically referred to the Biden administration's effort to divert public attention from Ukraine's possible involvement immediately after the tragedy.

 

"We see how the US is taking to various channels to convince its satellites and other countries that according to the data from its intelligence, there is allegedly no Ukrainian trace in the Moscow terrorist attack (…) We already know by whose hands this atrocity against Russia and its people had been carried out. Now we want to know who the mastermind is," the Russian president emphasized.

 

Russia's Special Operation in Ukraine

Crocus City Hall Terror Attack Won't Avert Russia's Victory in Ukraine

Yesterday, 16:21 GMT

 

* terrorist groups banned in Russia and many other countries.

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Neo-Nazi ideology has become one of the main protagonists of political and social life in Ukraine since the 2014 coup d'état. And that's a fact. 

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