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Western Media Spread Fake Report About Use of N. Korean Missile in Kharkov

Sputnik – 30.04.2024

Western media outlets are disseminating a fake report claiming that Russia used a North Korean -made missile to strike a target in Kharkov, a source at the United Nations told Sputnik on Monday.

Earlier in the day, Reuters reported that some three experts allegedly provided a report to the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee with a conclusion that the debris from a missile found at the site of a January 2 strike in the Ukrainian city of Kharkov belongs to a North Korea Hwasong-11 series ballistic missile.

“The report is fake. It’s non-existent. The group of experts did not submit any report to the UN Security Council,” the source said.

The fake document described by Reuters was written by a group of specialists who went to Ukraine on the invitation of the government and wrote what the Ukrainian puppet authorities told them, the source said.

“It has no value,” the source said, adding that there were no missile or conventional weapons specialists in the group.

The Ukrainian mission to the United Nations organized the trip for the specialists, who made their conclusion based on the alleged similarity of the missile remains they saw in Kharkov with those that can be seen at military parades in North Korea.

“The group of experts did not present any report. There is a procedure for a report approval and submission to the UN Security Council and it means that this report contains their personal views. Simply speaking, they wrote a report on a business trip that was offered to them [by Ukraine],” the source said.

Russia has repeatedly dismissed media reports and US claims that Moscow is using North Korean missiles to attack targets in Ukraine. The United States has not provided to date any evidence supporting its claims.

April 30, 2024 Posted by | Fake News, Mainstream Media, Warmongering | , , | Leave a comment

The Interlocking of Strategic Paradigms

By Alastair Crooke | Strategic Culture Foundation | April 29, 2024

Theodore Postol, Professor of Science, Technology and National Security Policy at MIT, has provided a forensic analysis of the videos and evidence emerging from Iran’s 13th April swarm drone and missile ‘demonstation’ attack into Israel: A ‘message’, rather than an ‘assault’.

The leading Israeli daily, Yediot Ahoronot, has estimated the cost of attempting to down this Iranian flotilla at between $2-3 billion dollars. The implications of this single number are substantial.

Professor Postol writes:

“This indicates that the cost of defending against waves of attacks of this type is very likely to be unsustainable against an adequately armed and determined adversary”.
“The videos show an extremely important fact: All of the targets, whether drones or not, are shot down by air-to-air missiles”, [fired from mostly U.S. aircraft. Some 154 aircraft reportedly were aloft at the time] likely firing AIM-9x Sidewinder air to air missiles. The cost of a single Sidewinder air-to-air missile is about $500,000”.

Furthermore:

“The fact that a very large number of unengaged ballistic missiles could be seen glowing as they reenter the atmosphere to lower altitudes [an indication of hyper-speed], indicates that whatever the effects of [Israel’s] David’s Sling and the Arrow missile defenses, they were not especially effective. Thus, the evidence at this point shows that essentially all or most of the arriving long-range ballistic missiles were not intercepted by any of the Israeli air and missile-defense systems”.

Postel adds, “I have analyzed the situation, and have concluded that commercially available optical and computational technology is more than capable of being adapted to a cruise missile guidance system to give it very high precision homing capability … it is my conclusion that the Iranians have already developed precision guided cruise missiles and drones”.

“The implications of this are clear. The cost of shooting down cruise missiles and drones will be very high and might well be unsustainable unless extremely inexpensive and effective anti-air systems can be implemented. At this time, no one has demonstrated a cost-effective defense system that can intercept ballistic missiles with any reliability”.

Just to be clear, Postol is saying that neither the U.S. nor Israel has more than a partial defence to a potential attack of this nature – especially as Iran has dispersed and buried its ballistic missile silos across the entire terrain of Iran under the control of autonomous units which are capable of continuing a war, even were central command and communications to be completely lost.

This amounts to paradigm change – clearly for Israel, for one. The huge physical expenditure on air defence ordinance – 2-3 billion dollars worth – will not be repeated willy-nilly by the U.S. Netanyahu will not easily persuade the U.S. to engage with Israel in any joint venture against Iran, given these unsustainable air-defence costs.

But also, as a second important implication, these Air Defence assets are not just expensive in dollar terms, they simply are not there: i.e. the store cupboard is near empty! And the U.S. lacks the manufacturing capacity to replace these not particularly effective, high cost platforms speedily.

‘Yes, Ukraine’ … the Middle East paradigm interlinks directly with the Ukraine paradigm where Russia has succeeded in destroying so much of the western supplied, air-defence capabilities in Ukraine, giving Russia near complete air dominance over the skies.

Positioning scarce air defence ‘to save Israel’ therefore, exposes Ukraine (and slows the U.S. pivot to China, too). And given the recent passage of the funding Bill for Ukraine in Congress, clearly air defence assets are a priority for sending to Kiev – where the West looks increasingly trapped and rummaging for a way out that does not lead to humiliation.

But before leaving the Middle East paradigm shift, the implications for Netanyahu are already evident: He must therefore focus back to the ‘near enemy’ – the Palestinian sphere or to Lebanon – to provide Israel with the ‘Great Victory’ that his government craves.

In short, the ‘cost’ for Biden of saving Israel from the Iranian flotilla which had been pre-announced by Iran to be demonstrative and not destructive nor lethal is that the White House must put-up with the corollary – an attack on Rafah. But this implies a different form of cost – an electoral erosion through exacerbating domestic tensions arising from the on-going blatant slaughter of Palestinians.

It is not just Israel that bears the weight of the Iranian paradigm shift. Consider the Sunni Arab States that have been working in various forms of collaboration (normalisation) with Israel.

In the event of wider conflict embracing Iran, clearly Israel cannot protect them – as Professor Postol so clearly shows. And can they count on the U.S.? The U.S. faces competing demands for its scarce Air Defences and (for now) Ukraine, and the pivot to China, are higher on the White House priority ladder.

In September 2019, the Saudi Abqaiq oil facility was hit by cruise missiles, which Postol notes, “had an effective accuracy of perhaps a few feet, much more precise than could be achieved with GPS guidance (suggesting an optical and computational guidance system, giving a very precise homing capability)”.

So, after the Iranian active deterrence paradigm shift, and the subsequent Air Defence depletion paradigm shock, the putative coming western paradigm shift (the Third Paradigm) is similarly interlinked with Ukraine.

For the western proxy war with Russia centred on Ukraine has made one thing abundantly clear: this is that the West’s off-shoring of its manufacturing base has left it uncompetitive, both in simple trade terms, and secondly, in limiting western defence manufacturing capacity. It finds (post-13 April) that it does not have the Air Defence assets to go round: ‘saving Israel’; ‘saving Ukraine’ and preparing for war with China.

The western maximalisation of shareholder returns model has not adapted readily to the logistical needs of the present ‘limited’ Ukraine/Russia war, let alone provided positioning for future wars – with Iran and China.

Put plainly, this ‘late stage’ global imperialism has been living a ‘false dawn’: With the economy shifting from manufacturing ‘things’, to the more lucrative sphere of imagining new financial products (such as derivatives) that make a lot of money quickly, but which destabilise society (through increasing disparities of wealth); and which ultimately, de-stabilise the global system itself (as the World Majority states recoil from the loss of sovereignty and autonomy that financialism entails).

More broadly, the global system is close to massive structural change. As the Financial Times warns,

“the U.S. and EU cannot embrace national-security “infant industry” arguments, seize key value chains to narrow inequality, and break the fiscal and monetary ‘rules’, while also using the IMF and World Bank – and the economics profession– to preach free-market best practice to EM ex-China. And China can’t expect others not to copy what it does”. As the FT concludes, “the shift to a new economic paradigm has begun. Where it will end is very much up for grabs.”

‘Up for grabs’: Well, for the FT the answer may be opaque, but for the Global Majority is plain enough – “We’re going back to basics”: A simpler, largely national economy, protected from foreign competition by customs barriers. Call it ‘old- fashioned’ (the concepts have been written about for the last 200 years); yet it is nothing extreme. The notions simply reflect the flip side of the coin to Adam Smith’s doctrines, and that which Friedrich List advanced in his critique of the laissez-faire individualist approach of the Anglo-Americans.

‘European leaders’, however, see the economic paradigm solution differently:

“The ECB’s Panetta gave a speech echoing Mario Draghi’s call for “radical change”: He stated for the EU to thrive it needs a de facto national-security focused POLITICAL economy centered around: reducing dependence on foreign demand; enhancing energy security (green protectionism); advancing production of technology (industrial policy); rethinking participation in global value chains (tariffs/subsidies); governing migration flows (so higher labour costs); enhancing external security (huge funds for defence); and joint investments in European public goods (via Eurobonds … to be bought by ECB QE)”.

The ‘false dawn’ boom in U.S. financial services began as its industrial base was rotting away, and as new wars began to be promoted.

It is easy to see that the U.S. economy now needs structural change. Its real economy has become globally uncompetitive – hence Yellen’s call on China to curb its over-capacity which is hurting western economies.

But is it realistic to think that Europe can manage a relaunch as a ‘defence and national security-led political economy’, as Draghi and Panetta advocate as a continuation of war with Russia? Launched from near ground zero?

Is it realistic to think that the American Security State will allow Europe to do this, having deliberately reduced Europe to economic vassalage through causing it to abandon its prior business model based on cheap energy and selling high-end engineering products to China?

This Draghi-ECB plan represents a huge structural change; one that would take a decade or two to implement and would cost trillions. It would occur too, at a time of inevitable European fiscal austerity. Is there evidence that ordinary Europeans support such radical structural change?

Why then is Europe pursuing a path that embraces huge risks – one that potentially could drag Europe into a whirlpool of tensions ending in war with Russia?

For one main reason: The EU leadership held hubristic ambitions to turn the EU into a ‘geo-political’ empire – a global actor with the heft to join the U.S. at Top Table. To this end, the EU unreservedly offered itself as the auxiliary of the White House Team for their Ukraine project, and acquiesced to the entry price of emptying their armouries and sanctioning the cheap energy on which the economy depended.

It was this decision that has been de-industrialising Europe; that has made what remains of a real economy uncompetitive and triggered the inflation that is undermining living standards. Falling into line with Washington’s failing Ukraine project has released a cascade of disastrous decisions by the EU.

Were this policy line to change, Europe could revert to what it was: a trading association formed of diverse sovereign states. Many Europeans would settle for that: Placing the focus on making Europe competitive again; making Europe a diplomatic actor, rather than as a military actor.

Do Europeans even want to be at the American ‘top table’?

April 29, 2024 Posted by | Economics, Militarism, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Ukraine Continues Assault on Human Rights as Western Sponsors Turn a Blind Eye

By Ilya Tsukanov – Sputnik – 29.04.2024

President Joe Biden has touted the NATO-Russia proxy war in Ukraine as a “battle between democracy and autocracy,” overlooking Kiev’s backsliding on elections (which have been canceled), and political, speech, and religious rights and freedoms (which have been curtailed). Now, observers fear that an even more severe clampdown may be on the horizon.

The Ukrainian government has updated its European colleagues on the terms of its partial suspension of Ukraine’s adherence to the European Convention on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

In a “Notification of Partial Withdrawal of Derogation” notice dated April 4, 2024 and published on the Council of Europe’s website, Ukraine’s permanent representation to the Council of Europe informed its colleagues about “the derogation measures” (i.e. exemptions) from its international commitments on human, civil, political, religious, and labor rights in connection with the martial law measures enforced across the country.

The notice reviewed Ukrainian authorities’ February 2022 decision to partially or fully suspend a number of rights under the country’s constitution, including:

  • guarantees on the inviolability of the home, the rights to privacy in communications, non-interference in personal and family life, freedom of movement, freedom of choice of place of residence;
  • the right to freely leave and enter Ukraine, freedom of thought and speech, the right to free expression, the right to collect, store, use, and disseminate information, the right to participate in the management of public affairs and referendums, to freely elect and be elected to state and local bodies, to receive equal access to public services;
  • the right to hold meetings, rallies, marches, and demonstrations, the right to strike, the right to own, use, and dispose of property, the right to entrepreneurship and work, and the right to education.

In connection with the introduction of martial law, the state granted itself the right:

  • “to compulsorily alienate privately or communally owned property for the needs of the state”;
  • “to introduce curfew (a ban on staying on the streets and in other public places during certain periods of time without specially issued passes and certificates)”;
  • “to establish a special regime of entry and exit in accordance with a certain procedure, to restrict the freedom of movement of citizens, foreigners and stateless persons, as well as the movement of vehicles”;
  • “to inspect the belongings, vehicles, baggage and cargo, office premises and homes of citizens”;
  • “to prohibit peaceful assemblies, rallies, marches, demonstrations and other mass events”;
  • “to establish in accordance with a certain procedure, a ban or restriction on the choice of place of stay or place of residence in the territory where martial law is in force”;
  • “to prohibit citizens registered with the military or special registry to change their place of residence (place of stay) without proper permission”;
  • and other measures.

The notification to the Council of Europe was accompanied by an extract from “On the Legal Regime of Martial Law” legislation of May 12, 2015 (one year into the conflict in Donbass), which established the “temporary restrictions on constitutional rights and freedoms of a person and a citizen” outlined above, as well as additional measures, including:

  • forcible “labor duty for able-bodied persons not involved in defense and critical infrastructure protection and not reserved for enterprises, institutions and organizations for the period of martial law in order to perform defense-related work and to eliminate the consequences of emergencies that occurred during the period of martial law”;
  • the right of the state “to use the capacities and labor resources of enterprises, institutions and organizations of all forms of ownership for defense purposes, change their working hours, and make other changes to production activities and working conditions in accordance with labor legislation”;
  • the power “to compulsorily alienate privately or municipally owned property, seize property of state-owned enterprises and state economic associations for the needs of the state under martial law”;
  • the authority “to raise the issue of banning the activities of political parties and public associations in accordance with the procedure established by the Constitution and laws of Ukraine, if they are aimed at eliminating the independence of Ukraine”;
  • the right of authorities “to set restrictions on electronic communications, print media, publishing houses, broadcasters, and other cultural and media institutions, and enable their use “for military needs and for conducting explanatory work among the military and the population”;
  • the power “to establish a special regime in the field of the production and sale of medicinal products containing narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and precursors, other potent substances, the list of which is determined by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine”;
  • the right of the state to “intern (forcibly settle) citizens of a foreign state that threaten to attack or carries out aggression against Ukraine”;
  • and other measures.

In practice, the extensive suspension of civil, political, religious, property, and other rights means that the Ukrainian government has granted itself virtually unlimited authority to seize property, listen in on private conversations with loved ones, restrict freedom of movement (particularly for males aged 18-60), detain people indefinitely without charge, and interfere with people’s rights to freedom of speech, assembly, and even worship.

Kiev submitted its initial derogation to European and international human, civil, and political rights conventions in March of 2022 – about a month after the escalation of the crisis in Donbass into a full-fledged NATO-Russia proxy war across the whole of Ukraine.

The update submitted in April formally repeals the derogation on articles related to forced labor, arbitrary detention, freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, and the freedom of peaceful assembly, but the others remain in place.

Russian and international observers, human rights organizations, and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights have pointed to an alarming uptick in human, civil, and political rights violations in Ukraine over the past two years – from the banning of political parties deemed disloyal to the Zelensky regime, to the cancellation of elections, the persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, arbitrary detentions, forced disappearances, torture, and other abuses.

In March, a US State Department report outlined “significant human rights issues involving Ukrainian government officials,” ranging from “enforced disappearance, torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, harsh and life-threatening prison conditions, arbitrary arrest or detention,” and more.

The report highlighted “serious problems with the independence of [Ukraine’s] judiciary, restrictions on freedom of expression, including for members of the media, including violence or threats of violence against journalists, unjustified arrests or prosecutions of journalists, and censorship, serious restrictions on internet freedom, substantial interference with the freedoms of peaceful assembly and associated, restrictions on freedom of movement, serious government corruption, extensive gender-based violence, systematic restrictions on workers’ freedom of associated, and the existence of the worst forms of child labor.”

“Some of these human rights issues stemmed from martial law,” the State Department report indicated, adding that “the government often did not take adequate steps to identify and punish officials who may have committed abuses.”

Threat to Itself and Neighbors

“Gross violation of human rights” are being committed at the hands of Ukraine’s authorities and its military affecting not only the country itself, but its neighbors as well, says Vladimir Yevseyev, a Russian military analyst from the Moscow-based Institute of Commonwealth of Independent States.

“The latest vivid example of this is the murder of civilians in Avdeyevka. During demining operations, the bodies of civilians were found with their hands tied behind their backs with tape. They were all killed. This example shows the true state of the observance of human rights in Ukraine, their military’s crimes. Therefore, there isn’t even anything to discuss here,” Yevseyev told Sputnik.

More interesting than the violations themselves is the reaction of Kiev’s Western curators, the observer argues.

Pointing to the State Department report on “significant human rights issues involving Ukrainian government officials,” Yevseyev suggested that it may indicate “some kind of internal political struggle” within the Washington establishment “against the backdrop of the election campaign,” and perhaps part of a general “internal political interdepartmental struggle” as the extent of Kiev’s violations becomes increasingly difficult to conceal.

Accordingly, Yevseyev doesn’t rule out that Kiev may have decided to update its exemptions from European and international human, civil, and political rights conventions to counter this criticism, citing the excuse of the ongoing war effort.

In any case, the observer has no doubt that the Ukrainian state and military will continue to do what they have been doing, and that Kiev’s sponsors “will continue to turn a blind eye to all the violations that took place, at least before the presidential election” in the US, which will play the decisive role.

The decision to update the list of derogation measures is also likely connected to the extensive factual basis presented to international organizations on the violations taking place in Ukraine.

“Everyone knows,” for example, “how many people are in prison on politically motivated charges,” Yevseyev noted, saying this is “getting harder and hider to hide.” Accordingly, the partial derogation allows Ukraine to avoid legal reproach.

As for the implications of Kiev’s moves, and whether they will lead to a further deterioration of human, civil and political rights in Kiev, Yevseyev believes it will make little difference so long as Ukraine’s European and American sponsors continue to cover for them, and continue to prop up the Zelensky regime.

“The situation can be radically changed only through a change of regime. [The Zelensky] regime is totalitarian. Violations of human rights are the norm of behavior, rather than something provocative. The West, naturally, cannot admit that the regime is totalitarian. Therefore, they are forced to turn a blind eye to the massive violations of human rights that are taking place,” Yevseyev said.

The observer expects the situation to continue to deteriorate along with the deterioration of the socio-economic situation in Ukraine, and doesn’t rule out growing violence as ordinary Ukrainians fight back against the state – for example by killing officials from recruitment offices after the expansion of forcible mobilization measures.

April 29, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance, Progressive Hypocrite | , | Leave a comment

DC Think Tank: Ukraine Aid Package Opens Door to the Nation’s Destruction

By Ekaterina Blinova – Sputnik – 28.04.2024

The new Ukraine package is a recipe for disaster which amounts to both a waste of money and, even more disturbingly, a waste of Ukrainian lives, according to Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft contributor, former CIA analyst George Beebe.

The $61 billion aid package could sustain Kiev’s hopes for a few more months but it cannot help Ukraine evade defeat, argued George Beebe, a former head of Russia analysis at the CIA, in his latest op-ed.

The analyst pointed out that of the roughly $61 billion only $14 billion will be spent on procuring weapons for Ukraine, $8 billion in financial support will be used keep the Ukrainian government afloat.

But the majority of the package will go for replenishing the US depleted military stockpiles, “which will take years to accomplish,” and for funding the US broader operations in the region.

“The package will not bridge the enormous gap between Russia’s artillery, bomb, and missile production and that of Ukraine and its Western supporters, because the West simply lacks the manufacturing capacity to meet Ukraine’s massive needs, and this will be the case for many years to come,” wrote Beebe, adding that the US has a lack of machinists and other skilled employees for new factories.

The new package also cannot compensate for the huge manpower disparity between Ukraine and Russia, the former CIA analyst continued. He drew attention to the fact that Ukraine’s birth rate has slid to one the lowest in the world, while Russia, which has almost five times the population of Ukraine, currently boasts one of the highest birth rates in Europe.

The prospects of passing another hefty package for the Kiev regime remain bleak, given the opposition to further funding Ukraine among Republican congressmen and the US public, Beebe noted.

The former CIA analyst suggested that additional aid to Ukraine would be justified only if it were linked to some viable negotiation strategy aimed at ensuring that Ukraine would be reconstructed and Russia’s security concerns met. However, Biden does not have any strategy at all.

“The fact that the new aid package includes language requiring the Biden administration to articulate a strategy within 45 days after enactment is a testimony to its absence,” Beebe noted.

It is unclear whether Washington policymakers have an intention to pursue a peaceful settlement of the conflict after the November elections or whether they want to fight indefinitely in the hope that “Russia will break before the much smaller and much poorer Ukraine collapses,” the analyst continued.

Without a clear strategy behind it the aid package will only amplify Ukraine’s sufferings and lead to further destruction and more deaths during the conflict the Kiev regime cannot win. “It will amount to both a waste of money and, even more disturbingly, a waste of Ukrainian lives,” Beebe concluded.

April 28, 2024 Posted by | Militarism | , | Leave a comment

Ukraine Fails to Use US Top Notch GLSDB Munitions Due to Russian Electronic Warfare Systems – Report

Sputnik – 28.04.2024

The GLSDB, or Guided Long-Range Surface-to-Surface Delivery Ballistic Bombs, is a joint development of Boeing and Saab, which added a rocket engine to the air bomb and adapted it for launch using multiple rocket launchers.

The Ukrainian Army is unable to effectively use GLSDB precision-guided bombs, which the US transferred to Kiev at the beginning of the year, due to Russian electronic warfare equipment, according to the Polish portal Interia, citing a statement by Under Secretary of Defense of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment William LaPlante.

According to the report, GLSDB bombs can only rely on inertial navigation to calculate the location of the target when the GPS signal is suppressed by electronic warfare. As a result, they miss the target. The reason for the high efficiency of Russian electronic warfare suppressing the GPS signal against GLSDB is the relatively low flight speed of these projectiles when gliding in the air, according to the article.

GLSDBs are special long-range projectiles for US-designed launchers. Developed by the US company Boeing and Sweden’s Saab, it is a high-precision bomb with a rocket motor attached that is fired from ground-based launchers, including the M270 MLRS and HIMARS.

The rocket engine lifts the bomb to a significant altitude and then uses GPS and inertial navigation to guide it to its target. This gives the GLSDB a range of up to 150 kilometers. The fact that these missiles rely on GPS navigation is their vulnerability, as the Russian Armed Forces effectively use electronic warfare to suppress GPS signals.

April 28, 2024 Posted by | Militarism | , , | Leave a comment

French Government Agents Likely Killed in Russia’s January Strike on Kharkov – Ex-Intel Officer

Sputnik – 27.04.2024

PARIS – French government agents were likely killed during the Russian armed forces’ strike on a temporary deployment point of foreign mercenaries in the Ukrainian-controlled city of Kharkov on January 16, former French counter-terrorism intelligence officer Nicolas Cinquini told Sputnik.

On January 16, the Russian armed forces destroyed a temporary deployment point of foreign mercenaries in Kharkov, with about 60 foreign soldiers killed in the strike, Russian defense officials said. Following the developments, the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the French ambassador to Moscow, saying that “several dozen French” had been among the mercenaries killed in the strike. Paris, for its part, rejected the information as “manipulation.”

“On January 16, 2024, Russia struck an abandoned maternity hospital in Kharkov that had been transformed into a base for foreign military personnel. The press release stated that their [military personnel’s] ‘core’ had been French and that a total of about 60 people had been killed. I have concluded that these personnel were classified as agents of the French government,” Cinquini said.

He explained his belief by the fact that no reports were published after the strike about the deceased French who had gone to the front privately, although such news is usually posted on social media.

“The first reason is that no casualties have been observed among the individual volunteers I know. Moreover, they are not accustomed to gathering in masses, but rather occupy private premises in small groups,” the former intelligence officer explained.

The second reason Cinquini believes the killed French had been government agents is that the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the French ambassador to Moscow following the strike, which he said suggests the presence of more serious personnel at the site, such as operators appointed by the French government, probably former legionnaires of Ukrainian origin.

Following a Paris-hosted conference on Ukraine held on February 26, French President Emmanuel Macron said Western leaders had discussed the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine and, although no consensus had been reached in this regard, nothing could be ruled out. Some EU countries hastened to dismiss such plans.

April 27, 2024 Posted by | Deception, Militarism | , , | Leave a comment

UK blocked Ukraine peace deal – Moscow

RT | April 27, 2024

Ukraine abandoned a draft peace treaty with Russia in 2022 under British pressure, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

The deal, which could have ended the Ukraine conflict weeks after it started, was approved by negotiators in Istanbul, but Kiev later pulled out of the talks.

The German newspaper Welt reported on Friday that Moscow had issued additional demands after a deal had already been outlined, such as making Russian the second official language in Ukraine, implying that this had ended any hopes of an agreement.

Peskov denied those claims on Saturday, citing remarks made by Ukrainian MP David Arakhamia, who led Kiev’s delegation at the talks.

In an interview to domestic media last November, Arakhamia said then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had intervened in the peace process and had urged the Ukrainians to “just fight” Russia.

Kiev effectively discarded the deal under “direct pressure by London,” Peskov stressed. “The rest is speculation. I suggest we learn from the source.”

Asked whether the draft treaty could serve as a basis for further peace talks, Peskov said Kiev’s public position was to reject talks with Russia. The idea of reviving the failed agreement was floated by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko when he met Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin earlier this month.

Johnson has denied derailing the peace talks, but has also bragged on multiple occasions about his policy of nudging Kiev into continuing hostilities with Russia, which the British politician claims to be a fight for global democracy.

“There could be no more effective way of investing in Western security than investing in Ukraine, because those guys without a single pair of American boots on the ground are fighting for the West,” Johnson told students at Georgetown University during a visit to the US this month. The Ukrainians “are effectively fighting our own fight, fighting for our own interests,” he added.

Russian officials have described the Ukraine conflict as a Western proxy war against Moscow, which the US and its allies allegedly intend to wage “to the last Ukrainian.” Their goal, according to Moscow, is to contain Russia and stall its development, rather than protect the interests of the Ukrainian people.

April 27, 2024 Posted by | Fake News, Mainstream Media, Warmongering | , , | Leave a comment

The Anglo-American War on Russia – Part XV (Russia Defeats NATO)

Tales of the American Empire | April 25, 2024

Russia has won the war in Ukraine, but is in no hurry to end it as much of its army remains in reserve. It enjoys the friction in NATO whose members suffer from the resulting high energy costs and mass Ukrainian immigration. Russia prefers to slowly destroy Ukraine’s army in the open farmland of the Donbas rather than chase it into major cities where fighting would prove horrible. At some point, Ukraine’s army will collapse and the Russians will roll forth and take all of Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed four peace agreements to end this conflict. Each time Ukraine never complied after pressure from NATO leaders to fight on. Russia will not agree to yet another ceasefire so NATO can rebuild Ukraine’s army and restart the war.

Europeans know the United States caused the conflict in Ukraine, profits from banning Russian oil and gas, and remain uneasy about the mysterious destruction of the Nordstream pipelines. The Americans promoted a mindless NATO expansion strategy that caused a disastrous war in Ukraine and weakened NATO nations, who were pressured to donate billions of dollars and much of their military equipment to Ukraine, even though it isn’t a member of this “defensive” alliance. An American refusal to make peace after Russia conquers Ukraine to reestablish trade will further agitate some NATO members, who may leave the EU and possibly NATO to join the winning side for a huge discount in Russian energy imports.

For anyone surprised that Russia may take all of Ukraine, note this April 12, 2024 news item: Russia Expects ‘Unconditional Capitulation’ Of Kiev Regime

During yesterday’s UN Security Council meeting Vasily Nebenzya, the Permanent Representative of Russia to the United Nations, said:

“This is how it will go down in history – as an inhuman and hateful regime of terrorists and Nazis who betrayed the interest of their people and sacrificed it for Western money and for Zelensky and his closest circle. In these conditions, attempts by the head of the Kiev regime to promote his formula and convene summits in support of the Kiev regime cause only confusion. Very soon the only topic for any international meetings on Ukraine will be the unconditional capitulation of the Kiev regime. I advise you all to prepare for this in advance.”

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“UKRAINE WILL WIN” | No Amount of Propaganda Can Hide the Fact that Ukraine is Winning this War”; Matt Orfalea; February 22, 2024; a series of short clips of pundits, experts, and political leaders saying Ukraine will win;    • “UKRAINE WILL WIN” | No Amount of Pro…  

“Orwellian Morning Joe ‘Redefines Success’ in Ukraine—Erasing Their Warmongering”; System Update; Glenn Greenwald; November 22, 2023;    • Orwellian Morning Joe “Redefines Succ…  

“The Duran and Brian Berletic: Russia is DESTROYING NATO as Putin Rejects Europe for Global South”; Danny Haiphong; November 28, 2023;    • The Duran and Brian Berletic: Russia …  

“Neocons Still Can’t Believe Russia Defeated Them”; Nicolai Petro; Neutrality Studies; November 27, 2023;    • Neocons Still Can’t Believe Russia De…  

Related Tales: “The Anglo-American War on Russia”;    • The Anglo-American War on Russia   

April 27, 2024 Posted by | Video | , , , , | Leave a comment

French Servicemen Promised Big Money for Fighting in Ukraine – Ex-Intel Officer

Sputnik – 26.04.2024

PARIS – French servicemen are being promised a golden parachute for participating in fictitious “resignations” to fight in Ukraine said Nicolas Cinquini, a veteran of France’s counter-terrorism intelligence service, to Sputnik.

Cinquini is currently searching for information about French nationals who fight in the conflict on the side of Kiev. According to his findings, French state agents may have been in Ukraine since the start of the special military operation in February 2022 along with ordinary French civilians who went to fight for the Kiev regime on their own.

“These are agents who remain very secretive and are difficult to identify,” the former intelligence officer noted.

“Sources told us that in the ranks of the French army, specialists were given attractive offers: a false resignation, a guarantee of reinstatement upon completion, and an income significantly higher than their usual earnings,” he said.

In February, French President Emmanuel Macron said Paris would do everything to prevent Russia “from winning this war.” At a conference on assistance to Ukraine, he raised the issue of transferring troops to the combat zone, but neither European leaders nor the opposition in his own country supported him. At the beginning of March, Macron also emphasized that France “has no limits or red lines” in matters of supporting Ukraine.

Later, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Director Sergei Naryshkin, said France had already begun training a contingent to be sent to the conflict zone; at the first stage it would amount to about 2,000 military personnel. Later, the SVR, citing Naryshkin, said a French military unit, should it be in Ukraine, would become a priority legitimate target for the Russian military. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told his French counterpart Sebastien Lecornu by phone that sending French troops to Ukraine would create problems for France itself.

Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier said in an interview with Dmitry Kiselev, the Director General of Rossiya Segodnya, Sputnik’s parent media company, that the deployment of European troops to Ukraine will not change the situation on the battlefield but will lead to dire consequences for Kiev. In response to Macron’s words about the absence of red lines, the Russian leader said Moscow will not have restrictions in relation to states with such an approach either.

April 26, 2024 Posted by | Militarism | , , | Leave a comment

US created Ukraine conflict – Shoigu

RT | April 26, 2024

The Ukraine conflict is Washington’s doing and the US is deliberately trying to prolong the fighting, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Friday during a meeting with his counterparts from Asian nations.

Shoigu is taking part in a gathering of military chiefs from members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a nine-strong mutual defense organization. The Russian minister used the forum hosted by Kazakhstan to reiterate Moscow’s position on the origins of its conflict with Ukraine.

He identified Washington as a major source of global instability, citing its record of military interventions abroad, including in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria. The US also uses less direct financial and diplomatic tools to damage its opponents, including by fueling chaos in different parts of the world, Shoigu alleged.

“The US had first created, and now is deliberately prolonging the Ukraine conflict,” the minister stated. “As it signals purported intention to de-escalate, the West keeps pumping Kiev with weapons.”

Ukraine cannot properly control the donations, meaning there is the risk that they could end up with terrorist groups, Shoigu warned.

“They provide real-time intelligence, train Ukrainian troops, deploy Western military specialists and mercenaries on the battlefield,” he added, describing the involvement by various NATO members.

The US and its allies claim that Russia launched an “unprovoked” attack on Ukraine in February 2022, and they have since sent tens of billions of dollars’ worth of weapons to Kiev.

Shoigu accused the US of double standards regarding a nation’s right to self-defense. He cited Washington’s blocking of a UN Security Council resolution which would have condemned Israel for attacking an Iranian consulate in Damascus in early April. Tehran’s eventual retaliatory attack was the result of this obstruction, the Russian minister said.

Iran joined the SCO last year and was also taking part in the meeting in Kazakhstan.

April 26, 2024 Posted by | Militarism, Progressive Hypocrite | , , , , | Leave a comment

Poland ready to help Ukraine hunt down military-aged men

RT | April 25, 2024

Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz has said that Warsaw would be willing to “help” Kiev repatriate men of fighting age, an unspecified portion of some 950,000 Ukrainians granted temporary sanctuary in Poland.

Earlier this week, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry banned all men between the age of 18 and 60 from getting or renewing their documents, including passports, at consular offices outside of the country. The Polish defense chief told the Polsat broadcaster on Wednesday that he was “not surprised” and supports Kiev’s move.

“The Ukrainian authorities are doing everything to provide new soldiers to the front, because the needs are huge,” Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said.

The Polish official said that Warsaw had previously offered to help Kiev track down those who dodge their “civic duty,” but noted that “the form of assistance depends on the Ukrainian side.”

“I think that many of our compatriots were and are outraged when they see young Ukrainian men in cafes and hear about how much effort it takes us to help Ukraine,” he added. Kosiniak-Kamysz also echoed Kiev’s official narrative that Ukrainians who could not avoid the draft have “justified grievances against their peers who have scattered around the world.”

Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba claimed on Tuesday that the decision to strip Ukrainian men of their rights was “fair” and in line with the controversial military mobilization reforms, which President Vladimir Zelensky signed into law this month.

Zelensky’s reforms, set to come into force next month, will lower the draft age from 27 to 25, tighten exemptions and oblige all men, regardless of eligibility, to report to a conscription office to “update” their personal data.

According to EU officials, an estimated 650,000 Ukrainian men of fighting age are living in the bloc. Kiev has identified that pool as a significant untapped source of manpower for the armed forces. However, asked in early April how many troops Kiev intended to mobilize, Zelensky dodged the question.

April 25, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Militarism | , , , | Leave a comment

As Ukraine’s Defeat Looms, Imaginary War Unravels

By Kit Klarenberg | Al Mayadeen | April 24, 2024

On April 11th, US General Christopher Gerard Cavoli, chief of Washington’s European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe, addressed US lawmakers on Ukraine’s dire battlefield situation, warning Kiev “could lose” without further Wunderwaffe. Along the way, he made a number of startling disclosures about the size of Russia’s military, and losses, which detonated numerous narratives universally and unquestioningly perpetuated by the mainstream media from the very start of the proxy war to this day.

“We do not see significant losses in the air domain, especially their (Russian) long-range and strategic aviation fleets…Russia’s strategic forces, long-range aviation, cyber capabilities, space capabilities, and capabilities in the electromagnetic spectrum have lost no capacity at all,” Cavoli said. In all, while the Russian air force had lost “some aircraft”, this represented “only about 10% of their fleet”:

“The overall message I would give you is [Russia’s military has] grown back to what they were before… their overall capacity is very significant still, and they intend to make it go higher… Russia is reconstituting [its forces] far faster than our initial estimates suggested. The army is actually now larger — by 15% — than it was when it invaded Ukraine… Russia launches very large-scale attacks every few days keeping with their production rate… They produce, they save up, they launch a big attack.”

Such is the pace at which events move these days, many may have forgotten that in December 2023 a US intelligence report, conveniently declassified right when Volodymyr Zelensky was touring Washington desperately attempting to drum up support for yet more “aid”, suggested Russia had lost 90% of its prewar army, with combat deaths in excess of 300,000. The report claimed Moscow’s personnel and vehicle losses were so severe, it would take 18 years to replenish what was hemorrhaged over the invasion to date.

Independent analyst Will Schryver has coined the term “Imaginary War” in respect of the proxy conflict. It is a battle primarily concerned with convincing Western citizens that free, democratic Kiev is making a heroic stand against Russian barbarism, which it can and will win. Ukraine, with NATO’s backing, was until recently excelling in this effort. Every step of the way though, they’ve been losing the real war – and badly.

‘Intelligence Updates’

Social media is a core component of the Imaginary War. Academic research shows Twitter is home to a massive pro-Ukraine bot army, endlessly pumping out pro-Kiev, anti-Russian messaging. The same is no doubt true of every social media platform. This helps create the illusion of nigh-universal support for Ukraine globally, when outside the West, populations and governments are either neutral, or outright supportive of Russia, perceiving the conflict to be a strike against NATO, and Western imperialism.

Furthermore, over the first 18 months of the conflict, mainstream journalists, pundits, and politicians heavily depended on the unsubstantiated pronouncements of “Oryx”, an anonymous Twitter account analysing on-the-ground imagery, for loss figures on both sides. Its posts suggested from day one, destruction of Russian tanks, jets, armoured vehicles and more was many orders of magnitude higher than that suffered by Ukraine, indicative generally of the war being an unmitigated disaster for the invaders.

A representative March 17th 2022 Washington Post investigation boldly declared Russia had to date “lost thousands of soldiers and thousands of vehicles while failing to make significant progress,” based almost entirely on Oryx’s findings. Similarly, a BBC article the next month prominently touted figures produced by Oryx suggesting Ukraine had “destroyed, damaged or captured at least 82 Russian aircraft, including jets, helicopters and drones,” while only sacrificing 33 of its own.

A nameless Western intelligence official told the BBC Kiev desperately required “long and mid-range air defences”, in “large quantities.” UAF Captain Vasyl Kravchuk, reportedly possessed of a “surprisingly ready smile” when he spoke to Britain’s state broadcaster, signed off by stating, “past wars have shown, whoever dominates the air wins the war.” The underlying propaganda message, that Ukraine was so far comfortably prevailing in the skies, but needed Western help to keep it up – and therefore emerge victorious overall – couldn’t have been clearer.

Oryx’s findings were even routinely cited by Britain’s Ministry of Defence in daily Twitter “intelligence updates”, which were widely shared, and subsequently featured in and informed the content and headlines of many news reports. For example, in April 2023 an update asserted, “Russia has lost 10,000+ military vehicles since its illegal invasion of Ukraine began, according to tracker Oryx.” The post was viewed over one million times. Parliament’s 2023 Intelligence and Security Committee report boasted that “the impact” of these “unprecedented” updates was “substantial”.

The report went on to note how the Ministry of Defence intelligence estimates “informed decisions made by [government] ministers and Armed Forces chiefs” on London’s “posture towards Russia.” One can only hope Oryx’s output did not formally influence Britain’s proxy war strategy in Ukraine. Audits by eagle-eyed internet sleuths have demonstrated the account consistently perpetuated wildly inaccurate, inflated figures, by counting photos and footage of the same damaged vehicles shot from different angles as individual, separate Russian losses, while misrepresenting Ukraine’s destroyed Soviet-era vehicles as Russian.

Conspicuously, Oryx abruptly ceased its work when Ukraine’s much-vaunted, long-delayed “Spring” counteroffensive began in June 2023. A cynic might suggest, given Kiev was equipped with heavily hyped Western Wunderwaffe for the effort, whoever was running the operation – and/or the individuals and entities ultimately managing them – concluded the same dishonest tactics couldn’t work this time round. In October 2023, the account was deleted outright without warning or explanation, meaning its bogus archive can no longer be critically scrutinised at all.

‘Classic Hero’

Coincidentally, that same month, a number of anonymous, high profile “OSINT” accounts similarly focused on Ukraine likewise abruptly shuttered, or announced their intention to do so. This included Calibre Obscura. Beloved by NAFO, the account similarly emphasised Russian embarrassment and failure. A video Calibre Obscura published in September 2022 of a fleeing Russian tank crashing into a tree set to farcical music went viral, generated much mainstream coverage, and was presented by Zelensky at a press conference celebrating that month’s successful counteroffensive in Kharkiv.

With the Imaginary War nearing over, and the Zionist genocide in Gaza beginning, it was of course necessary to wind down “OSINT” operations entirely, or focus them elsewhere. The silence of Bellingcat, a British and US government-funded validator of NATO narratives, on Israel’s crimes, despite a wealth of photo and video footage attesting to the monstrousness, is palpable, and illuminating.

In December 2023, novelist Lionel Shriver authored a lament for The Spectator, on how she “got caught up” in the proxy conflict’s “story”, which “had a spectacular opening chapter, a classic hero… and as wicked a villain as Shakespeare could have contrived.” However, Kiev’s catastrophic counteroffensive – which saw over 100,000 Ukrainians die to recover 0.25% of lost territory – meant she was now “quietly losing interest in this conflict,” along with many others in Europe and the US:

“This is supposed to be a David and Goliath story. But David and Goliath is a crap story if the giant wins… Predictable, a bit disheartening and not really a story at all, just the way the world works. Besides, a Western audience wants to see the good guy win, both to mete out justice and to enjoy victory by proxy. Ukraine’s anguishing self-defence is not a novel. But it’s not satisfying our fictional appetites.”

Shriver concluded that it was “time to urge the Zelensky government to enter talks to bring this depressing war to its depressing conclusion,” as “dragging out an entrenched stalemate merely racks up a higher body count and destroys more Ukrainian homes and infrastructure to no purpose.” She added, “sitting back and giving Ukrainians just enough weaponry to keep fighting to the last man and woman, only for the country to finally end up where we always knew it would, is not just immoral. It’s murder.”

It is indeed immoral, and murder, to keep the unwinnable, real war Ukraine has been fighting since February 2022 grinding on, as anti-imperialist, anti-war activists and journalists have been intoning every step of the way. That confirming this self-evident fact came at the expense of so many lives, marking it as a criminal tragedy. Unhappily for Shriver and many others, with the total collapse of the frontline impending any day now, and Russia seeking Kiev’s “unconditional surrender”, the “story” may not end with Ukraine electively entering talks.

April 24, 2024 Posted by | Deception, Fake News, Mainstream Media, Warmongering | , | Leave a comment

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