The mainstream media is, without exception, repeating the unevidenced claim from the Biden administration that Russia is about to invade Ukraine. They do this with no proper journalistic questioning or scepticism. They do this despite the fact that, in the last month, not only have we had repeated cries that invasion is “imminent”, we have had specific secret intelligence sourced claims from the Americans, that a Russian staged false flag attack was about to happen, and from the British, that there was about to be a coup in Kiev led by very minor figures. Both claims turned out to be nonsense.
Perhaps more pertinently, the media do this as though the invasion of Iraq had never happened and they had never before been misled by US and UK governments, citing intelligence sources.
Last night I watched the Press Review of today’s papers on both Sky and BBC News. They showed all of today’s front pages, all of which repeated, without qualification, the warning that Russia will invade in the next few days. The discussion, like the news output all day, took the accuracy of this as certain.
Wars are of course good for the media; wars bring news viewers and sell newspapers. They are also very good for the arms industry. Pity the poor arms manufacturers and arms dealers, who haven’t had a really full-throated NATO military action since Libya. Massacring women and children in Yemen and through drone strikes throughout Middle East and Asia is a nice little business, but nothing like as profitable as proper all out war.
It’s An Ill Wind – BAE Share Price
A BBC reporter on Radio 4 this morning stated that the USA was sending troops to the Baltic States and elsewhere in Eastern Europe “to deter Russian aggression”. What a stupid thing to say. The “aggressive” Russian forces are inside Russia. The American troops are 5,000 miles from home.
One swallow doth not a summer make; I was hopeful that this reporter’s following example might lead others to engage their brains, but that was fanciful:
It is interesting that a number of people lost their jobs for not supporting the Iraq War, both in the media and civil service. Greg Dyke lost the leadership of the BBC, because the BBC had questioned the non-existence of the Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction. David Kelly was murdered for giving them information.
But not one single person suffered any career detriment at all for supporting the Iraq War and for spreading the lying narrative of the Iraqi WMD. In the UK, Blair, Campbell and Straw are treated as gurus by the media. The journalists who now shill for war with Russia are precisely the same journalists who shilled for war with Iraq. Why would they not push fake intelligence now, when pushing fake intelligence then boosted their careers, as they enabled so many of the powerful to get richer still from war?
The UK’s “Dirty dossier” on Iraqi WMD consisted more or less entirely, where it used intelligence sources, of declassified human intelligence rather than signals intelligence. “Human intelligence” simply means something an informant told us, usually for large sums of cash. The “intelligence” on Iraqi WMD did exist – there was no shortage at all of Iraqi colonels willing to make up stories about WMD in return for briefcases full of dollars or krugerrands. What Blair and Straw did, with the practical help of fellow war criminals like Sir Richard Dearlove and Sir John Scarlett, was to ignore the filters that assess such “intelligence” for credibility, in favour of presenting the picture the government wished to show to the world to justify war.
Signals intelligence, by contrast, is communications intercept, and is generally more accurate (though of course there can be planted misleading communications). I can tell you that the NSA have shared with GCHQ no communications intelligence that indicates an imminent Russian attack. As those two deeply integrated agencies share everything, this “imminent attack” knowledge is therefore human intelligence, like the Iraq dossier. Alternatively it issimply a surmise from satellite and other monitoring of the movement of Russian assets.
Biden and Johnson both have an interest in stoking the fires of conflict to try to improve (well deserved) terrible poll ratings at home. NATO has an interest in promoting Cold War, its traditional raison d’etre. The disastrous results of NATO’s attempts to expand its role in Afghanistan and Libya have led to the organisation needing an apparent success.
For all these western political interests, they see a win-win over Ukraine, because when Putin does not invade, they can claim it is a victory and that they forced Putin to back down.
There is a real problem here. By taunting Putin with the position that Johnson and Biden will claim Putin lost if he does not invade, they are effectively daring him to invade.
This is terrible diplomacy, unless the USA and UK actually want a war – and that takes us back again to the interests of the military and security services and the arms industry.
I maintain the view that Putin is far too wily to be pushed into an invasion. If Putin really wished to escalate matters, he would be much more likely to cut gas supplies than to invade Ukraine. There are two points to make on this.
Firstly, Ukraine is said to be less dependent now on Russian gas because, rather than buy direct from Russia, it buys from third countries. But it is still Russian gas, which is being sold on by another state merely on paper. The multi-invoicing may provide some diplomatic cover and some protection against price sanction, but not against the tap being turned off.
Secondly, it is argued that if Russia cut gas to Ukraine, Ukraine could cut off transit supplies to much of the rest of Europe, reducing Russian income. But that would almost certainly happen more seriously if Putin did indeed invade Ukraine, which would almost certainly trigger Ukrainian destruction of transit infrastructure.
There remains much else Putin can do before invading. NATO’s ultra-aggressive attitude to Russia, insisting on encircling it with missile systems ever creeping closer, is unlikely to be changed in the short term. But Russia has already achieved the exodus of many NATO “trainers”, diplomats and nationals from Ukraine in the last few days.
While the West was looking the wrong way, Putin has also, with a tiny use of troops, greatly increased Russian influence in Kazakhstan, a massively resource rich country. That may well prove to be the most important diplomatic move of the year.
As for Ukraine itself, I annoyed some Putin fans when I posited that Russia’s annexation of Crimea was a pyrrhic victory for Putin. After 30 years of contention, it swung Kiev much more firmly into the Western diplomatic orbit and made the coup of 2014 irreversible, when it had been shaky.
The Minsk Agreements appear to be a very sensible way forward in Ukraine; in fact the principles embodied in the Minsk agreements appear to be essential to a settlement. They are really very simple, covering Ukraine gaining control of its borders, devolution and a high degree of autonomy for the Russian speaking areas in the East, disarmament and the withdrawal of all foreign forces and mercenaries from Ukraine, release of prisoners and an amnesty.
The western media ignores or dismisses the Minsk agreements. But these were negotiated by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, of which both the UK and the USA are members, together with Russia and Ukraine. They were lodged with the United Nations as a binding international agreement.
The First Minsk Agreement is very short:
Upon consideration and discussion of the proposals put forward by the
participants of the consultations in Minsk on 1 September 2014, the Trilateral
Contact Group, consisting of representatives of Ukraine, the Russian Federation and
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), reached an
understanding with respect to the need to implement the following steps:
1. Ensure the immediate bilateral cessation of the use of weapons.
2. Ensure monitoring and verification by OSCE of the regime of non-use of
weapons.
3. Implement decentralization of power, including by enacting the Law of
Ukraine on the interim status of local self-government in certain areas of the
Donetsk and Luhansk regions (Law on Special Status).
4. Ensure permanent monitoring on the Ukrainian-Russian State border and
verification by OSCE, along with the establishment of a security area in the border
regions of Ukraine and the Russian Federation.
5. Immediately release all hostages and unlawfully detained persons.
6. Enact a law prohibiting the prosecution and punishment of persons in
connection with the events that took place in certain areas of the Donetsk and
Luhansk regions of Ukraine.
7. Continue an inclusive national dialogue.
8. Adopt measures aimed at improving the humanitarian situation in
Donbass.
9. Ensure the holding of early local elections in accordance with the Law of
Ukraine on the interim status of local self-government in certain areas of the
Donetsk and Luhansk regions (Law on Special Status).
10. Remove unlawful military formations and military hardware, as well as
militants and mercenaries, from the territory of Ukraine.
11. Adopt a programme for the economic revival of Donbass and the
resumption of vital activity in the region.
12. Provide personal security guarantees for the participants of the
consultations.
The second Minsk Agreement fleshes this out a little
Package of measures for the Implementation of the Minsk agreements
1. Immediate and comprehensive ceasefire in certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions
of Ukraine and its strict implementation starting from 00.00 AM (Kiev time) on the 15th of
February, 2015.
2. Withdrawal of heavy weapons by both sides on equal distances in order to create a security
zone at least 50 km wide from each other for the artillery systems with caliber greater than
100mm and more, a security zone of 70 km wide for MLRS and 140 km wide for MLRS
“Tornado-C”, “Uragan”, “Smerch” and Tactical missile systems “Tochka” (“Tochka U”):
– for the Ukrainian troops: from the de facto line of contact;
– for the armed formations from certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk oblast of Ukraine
from the line of contact according to the Minsk memorandum of September 19, 2014.
The withdrawal of the heavy weapons as specified above is to start on day 2 of the ceasefire at
the latest and to be completed within 14 days.
The process shall be facilitated by the OSCE and supported by the Trilateral Contact Group.
3. Ensure effective monitoring and verification of the ceasefire regime and the withdrawal of
heavy weapons by the OSCE from the day 1 of the withdrawal, using all technical equipment
necessary, including satellites, drones, radar equipment, etc.
4. Launch a dialogue, on day 1 of the withdrawal on modalities of local elections in accordance
with Ukrainian legislation and the Law of Ukraine “On interim local self-government order in
certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions” as well as on the future regime of these
areas based on this Law.
Adopt promptly, by no later than 30 days after the date of signing of the document a
resolution of the Parliament of Ukraine specifying the area enjoying the special regime, under
the Law of Ukraine On interim local self-government order in certain areas of the Donetsk and
Lugansk regions”, based on the line of the Minsk Memorandum of September 19, 2014.
5. Ensure pardon and amnesty by enacting the law prohibiting the prosecution and punishment
of persons in connection with the events that took place in certain areas of the Donetsk and
Lugansk regions of Ukraine.
6. Ensure release and exchange of all hostages and unlawfully detained persons, based on the
principle “all for all”. This process is to be finished on the day 5 after the withdrawal at the
latest.
7. Ensure safe access, delivery, storage, and distribution of humanitarian assistance to those in
need, on the basis of an international mechanism.
8. Definition of modalities of full resumption of socio-economic ties, including social transfers,
such as pension, payments and other payments (incomes and revenues, timely payments of all
utility bills, reinstating taxation within the legal framework of Ukraine).
To this end, Ukraine shall reinstate control of the segment of its banking system in the conflict
affected areas and possibly an international mechanism to facilitate such transfers shall be
established.
9. Reinstatement of full control of the state border by the government of Ukraine throughout the
conflict area, starting on day 1 after the local elections and ending after the comprehensive
political settlement (local elections in certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions on the
basis of the Law of Ukraine and constitutional reform) to be finalized by the end of 2015,
provided that paragraph 11 has been implemented in consultation with and upon agreement
by representatives of certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in the framework of
the Trilateral Contact Group.
10. Withdrawal of all foreign armed formations, military equipment, as well as mercenaries from
the territory of Ukraine under monitoring of the OSCE. Disarmament of all illegal groups.
11. Carrying out constitutional reform in Ukraine with a new Constitution entering into force by
the end of 2015, providing for decentralization as a key element (including a reference to the
specificities of certain areas in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, agreed with the
representatives of these areas), as well as adopting permanent legislation on the special status
of certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in line with measures as set out in the
footnote until the end of 2015
12. Based on the Law of Ukraine “On interim local self-government order in certain areas of the
Donetsk and Lugansk regions”, questions related to local elections will be discussed and
agreed upon with representatives of certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in the
framework of the Trilateral Contact Group. Elections will be held in accordance with relevant
OSCE standards and monitored by OSCE/ODIHR.
13. Intensify the work of the Trilateral Contact Group including through the establishment of
working groups on the implementation of relevant aspects of the Minsk agreements. They will
reflect the composition of the Trilateral Contact Group.
The Minsk Agreements were endorsed by the UN Security Council. The UK and USA are therefore obliged in law to support them. Yet they have abandoned them in favour of the highly intransigent position of the government of Ukraine in refusing to accept any devolution to administrations in Eastern Ukraine. Instead the Ukrainian government insists on on a highly centralised Ukrainian nationalist state.
I choked on my tea two days ago when a BBC correspondent reported that Ukraine could never implement the Minsk Agreements, because it could result in some pro-Putin MPs being elected to the Ukrainian parliament from the Eastern areas. Remember that when they tell you they are starting a war for democracy.
Western warmongering is always disgusting, but still the more so when it involves abandonment of an entirely sensible framework for peace which they themselves initiated. The press and politicians all want a war. We have been here before, and we know that neither the people nor the truth can stop them.
———————————————
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Well, well, President Biden has just shown how truly generous he is.
While the Bank of England kept and refuses to release Venezuela’s gold to the Venezuelan Government – this serves well to demonstrate Biden’s humanitarian love when it comes to the people of Afghanistan.
If we think of it – when an aggressor country loses a war then the other side might be asked to pay reparations. Germany lost the war in World War 11 – but America assisted with rebuilding the German post WW11 economy. In the case of Afghanistan – the US lost the war and then decides to pay herself ‘reparations’ from Afghanistan’s money. Incredible.
Biden’s action to date is reprehensible and shameful . Karzai’s response on the issue was a classic . He stated ” The people of Afghanistan share the pain of the American people , share the pain of the family and loved ones who died, who lost their loved ones in the tragedy of September 11.
We commiserate with them , but the Afghan people are as much victims as those families who lost their lives . Withholding money or seizing money from the people of Afghanistan is unjust and unfair and an ATROCITY against the Afghan people ”
https://www.voanews.com/a/biden-splitting-frozen-afghan-funds-for-9-11-victims-relief/6437092.html
And, let’s not forget the £400 Million that the UK has stolen from Iran, for Tanks that were never delivered in the 1970s (50 years ago). This debt is one of the primary reasons why Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been detained in Iran for the last six years.
Western democracy in action.
Article today in the Guardian….
Mauritius formally challenges Britain’s ownership of Chagos Islands – the British deported its entire human population in 1972.
A British solution for Ukraine?… Plenty of free space in Siberia for western Ukraine’s citizens?
Remembe the Girl Who went to War with Western Media over White Helmets.. Wee Eva –
Eva Bartlett talking about Syria at the UN (16 Dec 2016) – LocalRadioFrance (YouTube, 5m 15s)
[ Mod: The text below appears to be a lengthy excerpt from:
The Crisis in Ukraine Is Not About Ukraine. It’s About Germany (11 Feb 2022) – by MIKE WHITNEY (Unz Review, 1,700 words).
BrianFujisan, kindly provide a link to your online quotation sources. ]
“The Ukrainian crisis has nothing to do with Ukraine. It’s about Germany and, in particular, a pipeline that connects Germany to Russia called Nord Stream 2. Washington sees the pipeline as a threat to its primacy in Europe and has tried to sabotage the project at every turn. Even so, Nord Stream has pushed ahead and is now fully-operational and ready-to-go. Once German regulators provide the final certification, the gas deliveries will begin. German homeowners and businesses will have a reliable source of clean and inexpensive energy while Russia will see a significant boost to their gas revenues. It’s a win-win situation for both parties.
The US Foreign Policy establishment is not happy about these developments. They don’t want Germany to become more dependent on Russian gas because commerce builds trust and trust leads to the expansion of trade. As relations grow warmer, more trade barriers are lifted, regulations are eased, travel and tourism increase, and a new security architecture evolves. In a world where Germany and Russia are friends and trading partners, there is no need for US military bases, no need for expensive US-made weapons and missile systems, and no need for NATO. There’s also no need to transact energy deals in US Dollars or to stockpile US Treasuries to balance accounts. Transactions between business partners can be conducted in their own currencies which is bound to precipitate a sharp decline in the value of the dollar and a dramatic shift in economic power. This is why the Biden administration opposes Nord Stream. It’s not just a pipeline, it’s a window into the future; a future in which Europe and Asia are drawn closer together into a massive free trade zone that increases their mutual power and prosperity while leaving the US on the outside looking in. Warmer relations between Germany and Russia signal an end to the “unipolar” world order the US has overseen for the last 75 years. A German-Russo alliance threatens to hasten the decline of the Superpower that is presently inching closer to the abyss. This is why Washington is determined to do everything it can to sabotage Nord Stream and keep Germany within its orbit. It’s a matter of survival.
That’s where Ukraine comes into the picture. Ukraine is Washington’s ‘weapon of choice’ for torpedoing Nord Stream and putting a wedge between Germany and Russia. The strategy is taken from page one of the US Foreign Policy Handbook under the rubric: Divide and Rule. Washington needs to create the perception that Russia poses a security threat to Europe. That’s the goal. They need to show that Putin is a bloodthirsty aggressor with a hair-trigger temper who cannot be trusted. To that end, the media has been given the assignment of reiterating over and over again, “Russia is planning to invade Ukraine.” What’s left unsaid is that Russia has not invaded any country since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and that the US has invaded or toppled regimes in more than 50 countries in the same period of time, and that the US maintains over 800 military bases in countries around the world. None of this is reported by the media, instead the focus is on “evil Putin” who has amassed an estimated 100,000 troops along the Ukrainian border threatening to plunge all of Europe into another bloody war.
All of the hysterical war propaganda is created with the intention of manufacturing a crisis that can be used to isolate, demonize and, ultimately, splinter Russia into smaller units. The real target, however, is not Russia, but Germany. Check out this excerpt from an article by Michael Hudson at The Unz Review:
“The only way left for U.S. diplomats to block European purchases is to goad Russia into a military response and then claim that avenging this response outweighs any purely national economic interest. As hawkish Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Victoria Nuland, explained in a State Department press briefing on January 27: “If Russia invades Ukraine one way or another Nord Stream 2 will not move forward.” (“America’s Real Adversaries Are Its European and Other Allies”, The Unz Review)
There it is in black and white. The Biden team wants to “goad Russia into a military response” in order to sabotage NordStream. That implies there will be some kind of provocation designed to induce Putin to send his troops across the border to defend the ethnic Russians in the eastern part of the country. If Putin takes the bait, the response would be swift and harsh. The media will excoriate the action as a threat to all of Europe while leaders around the world will denounce Putin as the “new Hitler”. This is Washington’s strategy in a nutshell, and the whole production is being orchestrated with one goal in mind; to make it politically impossible for the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to wave NordStream through the final approval process.
The only way the US/UK can trigger it is by some assault on Donbas which Russia feels duty bound to protect from genocide.
If I were Putin I’d make it quite clear to Scholz there’ll be no full-scale invasion. And further that Russia has no illusions about invading/occupying, running the whole of Ukraine. But there could be a defence of Donbas – should that be required, which would be followed by a swift withdrawal.
The Russians should be shouting this from the rooftops diplomatically. The whole western media narrative of plucky Kyiv grannies preparing to resist, is just a disinformation campaign to fool western audiences.
A defense of Donbass with a swift withdrawal will not deter Ukraine – or, more precisely, its sponsors. There’s just too much to be gained politically from an open Russian military incursion. That’s why Putin said last year that an attack on Donbass would be “dangerous for Ukrainian statehood”. His only deterrence option is to up the ante.
The monitors need to play a vital role but they are being withdrawn. Sadly, our corrupted western media can’t be trusted to report honestly about who initiates aggression in the East.
I don’t know what we’ve done to deserve these wretched media liars in the west, politics here always attracted horrendous individuals, but without basic honest media reporting, society is completely screwed.
same thing happened in Iraq just before the invasion. Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei were assiduously looking for, and not finding, the wmd’s that the US insisted were the whole basis for the invasion. Despite the utter lack of evidence, they were forced to leave the country (probably precisely because it was becoming so obvious the stated rationale was all bullshit). shock and awe ensued. these maniacs seem to think Russia is just another “shitty little country to throw up against the wall” (I think that was Max Boot, noted neocon, on Iraq).
“A defense of Donbass with a swift withdrawal will not deter Ukraine…”
It will if Kiev has no soldiers or weapons left.
Interestingly enough. Here in the windy climes of East Anglia not one person in pubs, the shop I work in, in anywhere in public in fact, seems to give a damn about any of it. The pub I’m sitting in now the words Bullshit scaremongering are dominating the debate. It seems that Putin is far more trusted than Johnson or Biden!!
duty bound doesn’t describe it in wholeness.
We were one country not so very long ago. No borders. No hostilities. One land for everyone. My cousin studied in Donetsk college. My father is 75 now. He had relatives there in Donbass. Many Russians have family there, and many Ukrainians have relatives here.
It’s not a faraway country, it’s Ukraine!
The policy of their recent few years cannot change what has evolved over the centuries in our common territory!
This new Ukrainian regime discriminates against people, whom they themselves believe to be their citizens, but speaking wrong language, but having wrong religion, but sharing wrong views, but having no right to elect a mayor… We f*cking don’t care what they write in their f*cking Ukrainian fascist laws. If they fail to implement Minsk, if they decide to attack our people, we will retaliate. As simple as this.
I do not sit next to Putin and cannot vouch for him. I can speak for ordinary people.
Even if Putin, as the head of the country, is bound by laws and wouldn’t have responded to an attack, still a lot of ordinary Russian guys will pick up their ordinary Russian guns and go to the rescue of the same ordinary Russians on the other side of this artificially created border – a border that doesn’t reflect the real state of affairs and real desires of the population.
The western media is suddenly full stories about a Russian ‘false-flag’, a term previously banished by our MSM, who alleged it was only used by ‘conspiracy theorists’.
Of course, the west itself doesn’t carry out ‘false-flags’, even though history is littered with well-documented cases.
Basically, any attack on the East will now be called a Russian ‘false-flag’ no questions asked. The UK media are either being profoundly credulous, or just plain evil, not sure which?
If they’re anything like ABC News, I’d mostly go with the former, Goose. Perhaps ABC should start up a correspondence course on Waffen SS divisional insignia with Thomas Mair.
https://twitter.com/mossrobeson__/status/1493001855521202185
Wolfsangel emblem also in full view in this clip from Beeb World with Orla Guerin*.
https://twitter.com/SuheylaTopuz/status/1493036499293638660
* 1 down. A ruin ogler (anag.) 4-6
“The UK media are either being profoundly credulous, or just plain evil, not sure which?”
Neither, I think. Just fond of money and keeping their jobs. That’s how these things usually work.
Remember Hannah Arendt’s phrase about “the banality of evil”? Just jobsworths following orders – that’s usually all it ever is.
Yes, I thought the widely-touted “story” and images of plucky Valentyna taking shooting lessons from an actual Neo-Nazi reached a new low, even for the BBC and The TImes.
Excellent analysis, except …
There’s no need “to induce Putin to send his troops across the border”. With a westerner media regurgitating Pentagon and MoD press statements, expect a false flag operation to make it look like “those damn Ruskies have crossed the border”.
This would explain the “certainty” on the timing of the “imminent invasion”. The Pentagon knows the timeline of the “invasion” down to the second ‘cause there the ones doing the “invading”.
The Green Berets “pride” themselves in just this very sort of operation. Green Berets are believed to be in position in Eastern Ukraine (possibly under the cover of Academi (new operating name for Blackwater) for direct Pentagon deniability).
What does the UK get out of all this, except for the likely soaring gas prices?
Were I in Putin’s place, I’d have turned off the gas to Ukraine some time ago, using the discrimination by the govt in Kyiv against against ethnic Russians as justification, the discrimination that Tatyana describes. The transit fees Kyiv collects are no small sum – they are worth billions – without gas, Zelensky’s govt falls quickly unless the EU wants to adopt the country and its problems at the behest of its US sponsors.
So Donbas is attacked, Russia naturally responds… Germany announces NS 2 is cancelled and it’s high-fives all around in Washington, with Nuland uncorking the champagne to toast their amazing success?
Why are European politicians so f*cking naive being played like this?
Goose
Europeans have become more subserviant to the U.S. than ever before, it is really pathetic but nontheless dangerous, it is like they have left their own house for the americans to rule. They do not understand that if there is war it is europeans that that will die. Not americans.
Meanwhile Russian Diesel Exports To U.S. at Three-Year High!
https://perilofafrica.com/2022/02/russian-diesel-exports-to-u-s-at-three-year-high.html
I do not understand europe being against NS2, a pipeline that would give them cheap and more reliable gas transit and for what reason? It is absurd.
“Why are European politicians so f*cking naive being played like this?”
Because the US has troops in their countries to make sure they do what the US wants, if bribery fails?
Indeed the power the US exerts over EU capitals is unhealthy for democracy.
Look at the votes in the EU parliament and the anti-Russian sentiment on display, which often borders on hatred. This while the US accuses Russia of having extensive influence operations across Europe. So extensive, that no one ever speaks up for them?
The US accusing others of meddling when it meddles in politics a thousandfold.
I don’t believe they are “naive”, Goose. Merely pursuing their own personal interests. To save space and avoid repetition, may I refer you to my previous comment https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2022/02/cry-havoc-and-let-slip-the-dogs-of-war/comment-page-3/#comment-1009293
Today…
Johnson : Get Nordstream out of the bloodstream.
It really is ALL about NS 2.
It is a mystery to me why North Stream 2 is considered so terrible, but North Stream 1 is apparently OK.
Get graphene hydroxide into Johnson’s bloodstream as soon as possible?
[ Mod: Sockpuppet of ‘stib‘.
Kindly use a single identity. ]
—
A very well written comment – showing a rare understanding – at least compared to Western MSM, which is absolutely shocking. Idiotic.
But you overlook the security angle in all this – Putin has been talking about it for almost two decades. Now with the expansion of NATO since the 90’s they are right on Russia’s front porch.
This is an existential crisis for Russia.
Russia – which was invaded many times from the West – which suffered unspeakable horrors in WW2, to beat back the Nazis. Some 80% of all German military resources were employed in the East against the USSR – thereby saving our asses here in the West.
It is THE fundamental issue. All these other things – definitely important – are secondary. And we keep hearing this from Lavrov & Putin in respect of the Western responses to their two documents (one to the US, one to NATO) – demanding a serious discussion on security.
Watch Putin talking about it very recently – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdXVsoa0byk – he is angry, it will explain everything.
The fact that the US & others – brazenly lied to Gorbachev about “not one inch to the East”…
Do you think Gorbie would have agreed to the reunification of Germany without this promise?
If we are able to “get through” this current Ukraine crisis without incident – I am expecting some western provocation in the Donbass designed to provoke the Russians to react in order to defend their people – and so we shall see.
But even if we get through Ukraine – the Russians have promised military-technical response if they are not able to get a reasonable solution to this issue.
And that is not going to be pleasant.
For us.
At all.
Sorry .. Eva Bartlett –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kER6Kheq0rc
Brian, is there a link from where this is from?
As now noted at the top of the quotation, it appears to be an excerpt from:
The Crisis in Ukraine Is Not About Ukraine. It’s About Germany (11 Feb 2022) – by MIKE WHITNEY (Unz Review, 1,700 words).
Apologies for letting that misattribution slip through.
(BrianFujisan, such lengthy quotations are discouraged here: commenters should instead rely on a link to the source text, and only reproduce small excerpts to highlight specific points.)
Unfortunately it wasn’t clear which parts of Brian’s post comprised quoted text and which parts were original. It turns out that none of it was original, so therefore it also infringes the ‘Contribute’ rule in the moderation rules for commenters:
Contribute
Contributions which are primarily just a link to somewhere else will be deleted. You can post links, but give us the benefit of your thoughts upon them.
Accordingly, moderators should have suspended the entry and prompted Brian to provide a link to the source text, to summarise the main points, and to offer his own opinions.
On Feb 10, four US B-52 strategic bombers, callsigns HATE11 to HATE14, arrived and landed at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, UK.
Last night, while the US population was glued to Super Bowl, two of them took off under callsigns CHIEF12 and CHIEF11, flew south-west out over the Atlantic, turned south, and avoiding EU airspace proceeded via the Straight of Gibraltar to begin crossing the Mediterranean. Watchers assumed that Ukraine was their destination.
However, near Palma they turned north and returned to Fairford UK, crossing Spanish airspace but going out of their way to avoid French airspace; possibly the French government denied them clearance? Interesting that they kept almost entirely out of EU airspace until their mission was apparently aborted:
https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=ae58b2,ae58a7
Apparently it is only CHIEF12 that returned to the UK. CHIEF11 is currently near Cyprus, having visited the Red Sea and passing close to Russian bases in Syria.
Apparently CHIEF12 suffered some problem, and returned to the UK “declaring an urgent situation” or “PAN”, whatever that is. Probably that’s why it passed over Spain.
Maybe the same as French “panne”, meaning “mechanical breakdown”. 😎
Clark
Maybe USUKIS are trying to penetrate Russian air defence systems . In the shooting down of Flight MH 17 over Ukraine Israel is believed to have shadowed the plane , either to draw anti aircraft fire from.the ground, or to shoot it down.
We have to expect USUKIS to do their worst having made so.much anti- Russian propaganda in the MSM. If they do another MH17 or Beirut , they may immediately start banking sanctions on the tidal wave of indignation .
Putin has no doubt ‘ built in ‘ the boring predictability of USUKIS criminality and deception.
The worst horror movie is after all only actors in scary make up and a film set. USUKIS has been deeply embarrassed by losing the Syrian war through the failure of its bullshit. If Israel does anything underhand by air in Ukraine again and the pro Israel Islamists celebrate Russia’s pain then that will confirm their allegiance to Zionism, Nazism and doing war by deception and confirm their disbelief in Islam.
The Russian SAM crews must be suffering dreadful itches in their trigger fingers. Enormous, lumbering, unmanoeuverable 1950s aircraft that the North Vietnamese shot down like turkeys 60 years ago.
The only problem with such aircraft is that they may carry stand-off missiles and launch those unexpectedly from a distance. That shouldn’t be critical, as I expect Russian SAMs can shoot down anything of that sort that the USA can field.
I gather that there is a considerable concentration of Russian warships in the Eastern Mediterranean, as well as in the Black Sea. The B52 might conceivably be gathering information about them, but I’m glad I’m not flying on it. I would feel very vulnerable.
Apparently, Boris is raiding a number of museums to build a fleet of Lancaster’s to bomb Ukraine. Rule Britannia, bring back bomber Harris.
Henry Smith
Craig quotes from Julius Caesar Act 3 , Scene 1
What aboiut Richard 2 , Act 1, Scene 1 in which Richard 2 unsuccessfully tries to calm the coup which is going to result in his own regime change.
Richard 2 . ‘ Old John of Gaunt, time-honour’d Lancaster, … ‘ etc.
KING RICHARD II:
Then call them to our presence; face to face,
And frowning brow to brow, ourselves will hear
The accuser and the accused freely speak:
High-stomach’d are they both, and full of ire,
In rage deaf as the sea, hasty as fire.
Hope their Spanish course did not take them over Palomares.
YouGov showing Keith’s Labour have dropped 4 points since he wrapped himself in the NATO flag last week. Maybe the public doesn’t have the same hunger for confronting the Bear as the dorks do.
He’s positioned them so they’re overlapping the Tories. Really don’t understand the need for an opposition party that doesn’t oppose?
They may as well merge. No wonder Tory MPs are crossing the floor.
“Really don’t understand the need for an opposition party that doesn’t oppose?”
Window dressing. “Democracy” theatre. Aimed to deceive the broad masses, who are so childishly easy to deceive.
At least the Romans ran chariot races, which were fun to watch and profitable for bookies.
650MPs
Enough for a UK Squid Game.
Although, they’d all probably stab each other in the back before the actual games began.
By the next election ,as in Byzantium we could well have the Blues running against the Greens(who absorbed the Reds).
BTW ,any insights on French election this time round?
oh yeah, and Byzantium too, the Greens and the Blues.
Maybe his political antennae can’t stay away from the only country within a day’s travel where he looks really good compared to the local government.
He is trying to get away from the questionaire on his desk…
The liar should have been gone by today.
Glad to see the fake relaxation on the covid restrictions.
Does this include the emergency legislation they implemented to control us and Parliament?
any ideas anyone?
fake relaxation indeed. Try to get into a hospital to visit a loved one. The NHS Gestapo wont allow it.
Voila, a government win. It ain’t us folks, we relaxed the restrictions, it’s the NHA administrations making these decisions. See how nasty a free at the point of service healthcare system is? Let the market speak and people will not patronise such hospitals. All the while leaving hospitals in a legal quagmire as to the level of measures they are required to take.
This is astonishing
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/eu-hands-britain-post-brexit-olive-branch-an-offer-to-lead-new-security-council/ar-AATO1Kr?ocid=msedgntp
“Proposals for a “European Security Council” are being drawn up by Germany, the Netherlands and Poland in order to bring “Britain back into the fold” of major foreign policy discussions outside the confines of the European Union.
Boris’ old cronies at the Torygraph trying to build Boris as the great Leader that will get Europe out of trouble.
“Eastern countries, including Poland and those in the Baltics, are keen to forge closer relations because they still trust London more than Brussels, Paris or Berlin as the leading guarantor of European security.
Membership of the European Security Council would be judged on strict criteria, with levels of defense spending being included in early considerations.”
So the Eastern countries including Ukraine are keen and obviously ‘they share our values’.
But nobody has stopped and asked: is Ukraine governance really any better than that of Russia? Both have powerful oligarchs dictating the policy. But at least in Russia there is an opposition, although the strongest opposition comes from the communists and not Navalny. And all opposition is banned in Ukraine where there is a strong extreme right wing element. Are these really our rule based values?
SA
But that’s why I voted to leave the EU, to drive a coach and horses through their military security alliance by means of which they trashed Syria. They can’t just reinstate the bad bits, like synchronous war, without having the good bits, like free movement of goods and people, and the European Court of Justice.
Or if they try to scam that past on the sly I will demand my EU citizenship back in full.
Good laugh is maybe what we need just now, to relax. Hardly anyone takes seriously imminent invasion, when one reads Spiegel or Sky News.
Look, they both reported they have obtained a new invasion map that the CIA presented to the NATO countries. Following the red arrows on that map, you can see Odessa (Ukrainian city) is going to attack Moldova 🙂
https://www.google.com/amp/s/news.sky.com/story/amp/russias-invasion-plan-could-see-military-take-nine-routes-into-ukraine-hitting-kyivs-doorstep-within-two-days-reports-12538657
Geography teachers, cheer up, soon your tutorship will be of big demand!
They say they know the order has been given to invade etc…Could Russia be deliberately feeding false information?
Always thought espionage + surveillance, however good, is vulnerable and could be undermined, by feeding lots of junk information into the channels.
I think the case is they simply lied. Sucked it out of their finger.
For money. Stories like this one are paid well. Also, one can write off the accountable money for the ‘costs of whistleblowers’. Many ways to get a bit richer when it’s security on stake.
Anyway, ‘any trash they consume’ as a Russian saying пипл хавает.
‘Protecting our sources’ is a convenient and robust excuse for not divulging further info.
It basically allows any old crap to be peddled to the public.
Russians will be invading Chernobyl via Belarus!
On submarines!
Surely you medieval cossacks will be using the only weaponry you have, namely horses and bows and arrows?
Oh, Rhys, so disrespectful! Cossacks are much more progressive! Their well-known weapons are шашка kind of saber, cavalry sword and нагайка a whip.
Not to forget pet bears.
They practise regularly on effigies of Winston Churchill
Nancy Pelosi gives the game away.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2022/02/13/its-official-white-house-ukraine-crisis-is-manufactured-pelosi-says-if-russia-doesnt-invade-ukraine-it-proves-strength-and-brilliance-of-joe-biden-policy/
It’ll be hugely anticlimactic for the warmongers if it doesn’t happen. Although it’ll welcomed by every normal person, including those in Russia and Ukraine.
Personally, I think there may be a ‘provocation’ followed by a Russian incursion in the East, which the US and UK will claim is an invasion and implement sanctions demanding Germany do the same. But a full-scale invasion and occupation of Ukraine, including the capital Kyiv, was imho, never likely.
Guess folks will find out over the next 48 hours whether Boris Johnson is correct.
Goose
You’ve given me an idea, Boris Johnson as JR in a new run of Dallas. If he’s 50 now, that’ll take him all the way through to the new Tory retirement age. Half shares in the royalties between me and you, and I won’t even have to watch it because I don’t have a TV.
What is amazing is that all and sundry including politicians, commentators and journalists know exactly what Putin thinks and then go on to construct a fictional scenario about what they have made up and come up with their own clever answer. Everyone is also falling over themselves predicting in the most bloodthirsty way war and devastation with very little evidence.
SA
Quote : “… predicting in the most bloodthirsty way war and devastation with very little evidence”
Well, that’s easy to explain…
The US and UK want Russia to do enough to trigger their planned sanctions and to stop NS 2, but not to get control of Ukraine, which they’d see as worst-case scenario playing out. If Russia were to control Kyiv the smiles in Washington and London would vanish. Basically they want a limited incursion only, whether Russia gives them it, who knows? I suppose it’ll depend on the scale of the provocation.
SA
Exactly, I see this everyhere, so called experters are writing full page of what Putin is going to do this and that date and every alleged move in full detail!
And then when nothing happens, they just change the date! It is absurd and dangerous, how could people become so stupid and uncritical? This is pure conspiracy theory mongering!
The rhetorical war horror talk by Johnson and US officials evoking images of death and horrific suffering, betrays their fears that Russia may blast a path all the way to Kyiv.
The US/UK want to keep Russia in the sanctions doghouse, not have them owning the house.
If Russia doesn’t attack, it will be the most treacherous non-invasion in history! Ukraine will demand to impose sanctions on Russia, for deceived expectations, because they’ve prepared, and mobilized the population, and bought a bunch of weapons *with an expiring date* on credit!
Nancy should have realised she is the only left aside who didn’t come to Moscow to talk to Putin. Actually, the last person who talks to Putin before Feb. 16 may claim it was his achievement, it was due to his wise diplomacy and efforts, that Putin decided not to invade.
Thus, the last ‘pacifier’ gets a Nobel prize for Peace. It must be pretty money and much honour and privilege! Look how many of them racing to Moscow this week!
US really doing everything to cause more division and drag Ukraine towards US/Nato. Ukraine on their part do not realize it is being used, Ukraine should ask why Nato won’t let them join. Could it be because US and Nato do not give a damn about ukrainians to begin with but using the ukrainian soil against Russia?
“Source close to Zelensky told me the U.S. first warned his team of a Russian invasion last fall, putting the chances at 80%. The Ukrainians didn’t buy it, but they saw an opportunity — “more aid, more attention” — and played along. Now they have regrets. Too much attention.”
https://twitter.com/shustry/status/1493306526286688260
“U.S. considering offering Ukraine up to $1 bln in sovereign loan guarantees “
https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1493306649955782665
Any decision on NATO enlargement must be made “by unanimous agreement”.
There is no way that it happens without incredible US arm-twisting. And If Crimea’s status is as no, no country is going to vote to go to war with Russia by choice, are they?
While the world’s attention is on Ukraine, Russia studied NATO’s response to our draft treaty. NATO declined the key points: not expanding to the East, returning to the 1997 status quo, and the most important point – non-deployment of strike weapons.
Russia sends counter-response paper today, 10 pages. Too much reading, one may think 🙂
My personal opinion, it maybe that much because it contains all the necessary reference from Cambridge dictionary and Geography maps. Just in case NATO people are the same school graduates as Ms.Truss is.
Neeps,
It is not by accident that Bozo is there to defuse the Indy campaign which can’t be stopped by Nicola all by her own.
Let’s look at the current hot of the presses Narrative while the only two leader in Europe meets Putin to seal the future they have been working on for years. “The US can go fuck itself” – the perfect revenge upon Nuland and co. A dish served cold.
So A time to deal with Home issues.
If the Scottish government (currently SNP, unionist, nato supporting, nuclear power) believes that Free Ports are at all good for any part of Scotland, surely that would be good for ALL of that nation?
But that would require Independence from England.
Scottish freeports deal splits SNP and Greens
Even if it costs Scotland £10 BILLION PER YEAR FOR A LONG LONG TIME as apparently the Express reports Sturgeon was WARNED.
Oh dear, Nicola! Sturgeon warned independent Scotland could face devastating £181BN bill – by Paul Withers (Daily Express, 14 Feb 2022)
By whom was this major threat made?
Some paragraphs down it was an associate professor of something at De Montfort university.
Not the Crown state then?
£10 billion a year? That’s chump money.
But being the Unionist Express it doubles down with another anti-independence bit of cry wolf that Nicola will surely heed. It will be the new Greece! I don’t know if this is them looking for an upside to global warming.
Scotland warned it would become ‘Greece without sun’ after independence – by Charlie Bradley (Daily Express, 14 Feb 2022)
Well, just address the following issues one by one:
ON the plus side you have great opportunities for energy independence, building a forestry sector to rival the Scandinavians.
Let’s see the sums of your income and outgoings for 5 years post-independence, with all the assumptions that may or may not be acceptable to your southern neighbours.
That’s how you answer these accusations. You won’t be able to answer them just saying: ‘You’re all southern yobs!’
Scotland is not a baby that needs the English crown’s formulas to look after itself.
It has been made clear many times that a debt can not be imposed upon a nation throwing off its conquestors.
The imperialist can’t impose such conditions. I doubt if the jumped up Americans paid any compensation to George III or any later monarch.
It had been made clear that Scotland would immediately ‘retain’ its own seat at the Security Council as one of the world’s nuclear weapons powers.
It has been made equally clear that a Scottish government with an independent Scottish bank would issue its own fiat currency and expect taxes and trade to be undertaken in that currency.
Any debt claimed by the rump English state would clearly be argued and the BoE would be forced to do to Scotland what it has done to other countries’ funds it has sequestrated at the behest of the Crown.
I’d probably move to an Indy Scotland and convert all my English £’s, especially if it can guarantee Greek sunshine.
Heh heh
The UK will back Ukraine no matter what it decides when it comes to pursuing membership of NATO, one of Britain’s top military chiefs has said after Kiev’s envoy in London claimed the Eastern European nation could drop its long-held ambitions of joining to avoid a major conflict with neighboring Russia.
https://www.rt.com/russia/549287-uk-position-ukraine-join-nato/
Now then, what does that remind me of? Oh yes…
“Don’t you dare…”
Sir Keir Shitstain to the Swedish prosecutor who wished to drop the Assange investigation in 2012.
I’m sorry Craig and Mod. That was a mistake.
Aaron Maté and Max Blumenthal on The Grayzone interview Dmitry Polyanskiy, Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN. I was very impressed with the informative, articulate, even dark humorous interview of yet another Russian diplomat in the class of Lavrov. The timeline of events and agreements, of how we got to this situation and how Ukraine is only just a segment of Russias case to revert back to 1997.
Oh that one day Palestine, as Russia feels confident today, it too demands reverting back to 1967.
Gosh. It only took a week after that trainwreck stoush between the AP journalist and the ex-CIA, now State Dep, flunky for the wretched False Flag BS to be resurrected. One forlornly hoped it would die the ignominious death it deserved after such a revealing episode, but no… the war must go on and the masses are clamouring for their daily dose of propaganda, so out it comes again.
The BBC, imho, has just sunk to a record low by making snide insinuations about John Pilger, a close ally of Craig Murray (especially in the campaign to free Julian Assange), and one of the most honest and sincere journalists ever.
The link appears on the BBC News front page today as “Is Russia waging an information war?“:
“Ukraine crisis: Is Russia waging an information war?
By Kayleen Devlin and Olga Robinson
BBC Monitoring & Reality Check
14 Feb 2020
As Russia continues its military build-up on Ukraine’s border, it’s also attempting to control the media narrative – but which parts are misleading?
We’ve looked at some examples of the methods used by pro-Kremlin outlets.”
[ … ]
“Using Western voices to exaggerate support for Russia
Activity on accounts spreading pro-Russian propaganda increased dramatically in November last year, according to research from the counter-disinformation group Mythos Labs.
During this month, these accounts were tweeting about Ukraine 213 times a day on average.
One tactic – as noted by researchers – was to share material from non-Russian voices with views that fall in line with Moscow’s stance.
| John Pilger’s tweets have been shared by accounts spreading Russian propaganda, according to researchers.
One of those whose views have been shared is the Australian journalist John Pilger who, in a recent tweet, accused the US of overthrowing the elected government in Ukraine in 2014.
His tweets have been retweeted by 87 accounts identified by researchers as having spread pro-Russian propaganda about Ukraine.”
[ End of article ]
This is the Beeb openly portraying John Pilger as a Russian sympathiser who spreads misinformation about the 2014 coup in Ukraine. Because he’s listed as the only example of “Using Western voices to exaggerate support for Russia” on a page about Russian misinformation tactics, it looks like they’re insinuating that he’s effectively a shill for the Russian government.
How will Mr Pilger react to seeing himself portrayed as a pro-Kremlin misinformation agent by the British state broadcaster? (Keep checking for tweets, folks … )
I expect Craig Murray might have something to say about this too – though if he kicks up a major fuss about it, he might be next in line for a BBC hatchet job.
‘The link appears on the BBC News front page today as “Is Russia waging an information war?“’
Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.
— Betteridge’s Law
Although of course anyone seeking to establish the truth in the face of a campaign of lies could be described as “waging an information war“.
This is, to me, the most worrying aspect. The rubbishing of any opposing views by the “conspiracy theory nut job” route, which has been forced down the public’s throats for many years.
The evil psychopaths in power have the MSM in their pockets, and the mega wealth to do anything they want.
We can’t physically protest in large numbers, because that has been banned; and any attempt would be portrayed as a rabid ‘rent a mob’ gathering of extremists.
We can’t protest in writing to the media, because we just be portrayed as mentally deranged conspiracy theorists, and then ignored.
The situation makes me feel so helpless. How do you escape when trapped on a planet with the world’s greatest bullies?
The Guardian repeats more lies in its front page today about Russian ‘disinformation’. According to that CIA sewer rag, Russia engaged in a very bloody invasion of Ukraine in 2014. No mention of Nuland Fuck the EU, Russian troops already in Crimea and not a single fatality there. But there were over 50 people burned to death in Odessa for opposing the US coup and ethnic cleansing in the east. Shame on the Guardian, it gets worse by the week.
The Guardian and Labour Right want war so badly they are prepared to tell liberals that Johnson and Truss are now truthtellers, who can be 100% trusted in everything they say about Russia and its intentions.
Wonder if liberals ever notice this about their favourite media and politicians.
It never fails to amaze me that the presenters reading current news out forget what they read out say seven years ago..
Yanucovych the elected President of Ukraine fled to Russia and it wasn’t because he fancied a holiday.
The Parliament was full of neo Nazis who terrorised the representatives into staying away ( remember the pictures on Tv>)
Then there was the killing ( not solved to this day) of the shooting of 100 plus citizens ) and of course the Setting fire of any buildings linked to the left wing in Ukraine.
Nuland later appeared with some cup cakes for the neo -fascists. so no wonder in the Russian East they asked to be defended against these reactionary forces both the US and the Coup government.
This still holds today.
It’s not that the media has the mind of a Goldfish – that would be unfair to Goldfish – but it is lying by omission which they all excel at.
No doubt many of them would be old enough to praise John Pilger years ago and some will have praised Julian Assange at the time too but they are reverse propaganda merchants.
What they don’t tell the public is more important than what they do tell them.
Joe McCarthy lives on. as long as we are resurrecting the Cold War.
in Spiked today
https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/02/12/liz-truss-an-embarrassment-to-britain/
“The foreign secretary’s arrogance and ignorance has further damaged UK-Russia relations…
Truss: ‘Russia must move its troops away from the Ukrainian border, or else…’
Lavrov: ‘Why should we? It’s up to Russia where it deploys its troops inside Russia’ (which, of course, it is).
He then asked, for good measure: ‘Do you recognise Russia’s sovereignty over the Rostov and Voronezh regions?’
At which point Truss mounted her high horse and responded with all the authority of the UK’s chief diplomat: ‘The UK will never recognise Russia’s sovereignty over these regions.’
This is where the UK’s ambassador to Moscow, Deborah Bronnert, is said to have leant across to Truss and discreetly informed her that these regions were actually in Russia. Her assumption had apparently been that they were the two so-called breakaway regions on the Ukrainian side of the border…”
So, Ms. Truss’ assumption was that they were talking about Ukrainian regions? She didn’t even bother to learn the names of the rebel regions, in order to distinguish ‘Lugansk and Donetsk’ from ‘Rostov and Voronezh’? One reliable supporter of Ukrainian territorial integrity, indeed!
Like guys who change partners often, don’t take the risk of using their first names and use “darling” or “baby” instead.
UK’s next prime minister, they say.
The best they can find on the conservative benches.
Beggars belief what the rest are like.
Argh Tatyana please try not to refer to that evil agit prop deepstate site for anything useful except to give it a well deserved kicking – it is a wholly controlled Red/Brown bridging platform. ?
eerrr, mainstream media do not publish this, though it’s true.
British Embassy in Moscow published explanation, saying Ms.Truss was thinking they were talking about Ukrainian regions. Of course they took care to publish it in such a way, so it is not seen by wide public. In their Telegram channel https://t.me/BritishEmbSpokesperson
On Minsk agreements.
Solovyov, probably the most pro-Putin TV host in Russia, said yesterday that this is the German ambassador to Ukraine, Anka Feldhusen, who supports the Ukrainian government in refusing to implement the Minsk agreements.
This fact may clarify what Kozak meant when, after 9 hours of negotiations in the Normandy format, he commented that we do not see Germany and France demanding Ukraine to comply with the Minsk agreements.
Solovyov also mentioned that Anka Feldhusen on a TV show laughed merrily at the Ukrainian host’s joke, when he said “We (Kiev) baptized Russia, we will serve the requiem.”
So Russia withdraw their troops etc from borders..
Russian troops withdrawing from Ukraine border – Moscow
https://www.rt.com/russia/549402-troops-withdrawing-ukraine-border/
WATCH Russian weaponry going home after Belarus drill
https://www.rt.com/russia/549404-russian-tanks-belarus-videos/
Russia prove again the sickening propaganda was false by the west, no invasion occured because there was no invasion planned.
The thing is, this wont ease the warmongering US/Nato, they will now claim that Russia just put the invasion on hold because they got scared by US/Nato stance and threats of sanctions.
Yes, Konashenkov reported they finished Russia-Belorussia drills and part of the military are returning to their places. Expect many articles in English-speaking media, boasting how they frightened Putin and made him withdraw from Ukrainian border 🙂 Or, else more fantastic conspiracies…
The news of the day is that Communist party made an initiative to recognise Donetsk and Lughansk as independent states, and our Parliament voted Yes! Of course, it’s far from recognising yet, but Putin’s hands are now free to do it.
The moment for this is wrong, I think. It may only make things worse.
Yet, I was right to praise Sardana Avksentieva some time on this site. Her comment in the parliament I agree. I think it’s up to Foreign Office to do their job, and I think parlamentarians should better focus on our inner affairs.
The tanks will be riding back from Belarus, making pretty good picture for crying INVASION BEGINS !!!
What if Biden took the Feb.16 date for invasion, because he have read the end of the drills date on our Defence Ministry website?
I think that it would count both human intelligence, and signal intelligence, and also coming from a top reliability high-level source! Biden even could swear he had seen it with his own eyes! And that wouldn’t even be a lie!
Tatyana
Exactly, I agree, Russia called the bluff by west about invasion – that is a win also because whatever west have said, Ukraine will not join Nato from now on, therefore Russia should not recognize any breakaway regions, that would only fuel the fire and “prove” Russia have bad intentions.
What Russia should do is to urge diplomacy; that is, pushing for Minsk agreements to be fulfilled.
Fuck this. Germany should just switch on Nordstream 2 with immediate effect and end NATO and the West’s idiocy. In the meantime President Putin could u please invade the UK and become our President and apply some intelligence and dignity to our Govt?
phew !!! what a tangled web we weave!!!
is it daft to suggest that a portion of this kind of money could make our children and our planet so much more enjoyable and healthier ???
tks Sonja an eye opener ?
I am sure a lot of deaths are unusual. David Kelly’s death seems to be one of them. But, as I understand, a Home Office pathologist found no compelling evidence to persuade him/her of homicide. I am aware that a number of medics thought that given cause was extremely unlikely. But unlikely events do happen. The Post Morten would have been attended by lots of interested parties. There would be recording of the autopsy. Not that easy to fool everyone there if there was any intention to do so.
it was pretty easy to fool everybody about the Skripals. or Iraqi wmd’s. well, not everyone, but enough.
I recommend you read: “An Inconvenient Death: How the Establishment Covered Up the David Kelly Affair, by Miles Goslett”.
The tangled webs, state interference and lies will leave you questioning what Blair, Campbell, Straw, Scarlett and others were up to. The usual suspects, the usual outcomes.
Some of the most honest and distinguished statesmen of modern Britain you’re talking about there, be more respectful.
Thanks for the recommendation. I will read it.
If NATO could bomb and breakup Yugoslavia under an R2P mandate to prevent genocide, without a UNSC ok, then Russia can do same regarding the 10m ethnic Russians that are currently being genocided by the azov battalions (and right wingers in the ukrie Parliament) , the 14k Ukrainian deaths we hear truss squealing about are mostly russki who have died in Donbass. And Chancellor Scholz seems to have tacitly agreed, no doubt he doesn’t want to be known as the man behind feeding the warlike activities of the nazi bandera/kapo alliance currently ruling Ukraine, with more EU billions. All along when with EU energy consumers paying billions more so that the same nazi alliance can continue earning billions from Gazprom land gas transit whilst hunter Biden makes sure Nordstream2 with its 55bcm capacity stays closed/sanctioned.
It’s a copy of my post at MoA for these who don’t visit that bar.
Are we 24 – 72 hours away from doom or to watch the rise of the first whole world truly human empire on Earth.?
What happens when the gamble by the worst poker players since the game was invented continues to fail? Will they still claim they were right because their latest odds calculator shows it was the ‘correct play’ and in a 100 such times it would win. Or will they know when to fold?
They forgot to hire the slave to whisper in their ears not to believe in their own godhood.
So a happy day nearer to the rebirth as the dying by Empire crumbles daily faster and their major works and statues join Ozymandias in bits in the sands.
Run rabbits.
The unipolar Empire is dead dead dead!
Question: So what is that sh1tstain Luke Harding actually doing in Ukraine ?
We know he is not really a journalist rather an MI6 employee embedded in the US’s Guardian rag.
What does a ‘journalist’ do all day ? Harding’s ‘news’ articles could easily be written from London so why does he need to be on the ground in Kiev ?
He was heavily involved in the fake Skripal fiasco along with his buddies Pablo Miller [2] and Mark Urban [3], Miller’s Tank Regiment pal.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luke_Harding
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Miller
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Urban
Russia has just officially announced that troops are being sent back to garrison(s). Troops are now pulling back from the Ukraine border. .
And of course, the bandits called USNATO will claim it as a ‘victory’ over Russia, in a pathetic attempt to reply the Cuban Missile Crisis.
I wouldn’t make much of it. Russia conducted similar symbolic withdrawals in Syria a few times.
It must break the warmongers hearts in the West, that one of their funded news outlet Reuters is reporting that some Russian troops are pulling out and heading back to base including tanks and armoured vehicles.
Russia says it returns some troops to base in areas near Ukraine (15 Feb 2022) – Reuters
Are they serious to say ‘Russia’s military districts adjacent to Ukraine‘ and titling the photo ‘military exercises in the Leningrad Region‘??? Finland and Estonia may feel offended, and there’s still Lithuania, Latvia and Belarus before they get any closer to Ukraine.
Folks, I was super excited to know today of fleet exercise started in the Barents Sea 🙂 I wish I saw Ms. Truss’s face when she gets this news 🙂 Please, don’t tell her we haven’t yet exercised in the Bering Sea, Beloye Sea and Baikal 🙂
Britain will never acknowledge Russian sovereignty of the Baikal region. You Russians must stop placing your army near NATO bases.
According to the Daily Mail NATO has now declared victory.
Lolssss
Ukraine is only one segment of of a bitter fruit that Russia has had to taste. Going back in time and reversing NATO expansion back to Germany and the ” Austrification ” / ” Finlandificatin ” neutrality of all former Soviet Republics is still Russian goal. When Russia wrote to individual NATO countries asking each their own view on the “agreed principle” that all countries are free to choose their security needs BUT NOT at the expense of others – Russia got no replies, but a short note from US and EU ignoring and rejecting that principle. I am afraid the desire for distraction, lies propaganda and sanctions is hard wired into our so called rules based Democratic corrupt system. Dialogue and reason with the Collective West or individual countries is now pointless.
All countries are free to choose – it’s a lie.
Russia applied to join NATO and was laughed out with no discussion among the member states. This alliance was created and exists to fight Russia, and to protect US interests.
Tatyana.
As the first secretary-general of NATO, Lord Ismay, once quipped, NATO was formed “to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down”.
It could be the fake Russian invasion pushed by Washington was to reaffirm Nato (US) interests in Europe, by slowing down or reducing trade in Europe with Russia and China, Russian gas certainly. I’ve read that Germany and France wanted a summit with Russia, but it was veoted and replaced with a Nato voice (US) instead.
Germany is still an occupied country (US forces) to such an extent that the US president feels comfortable to say that he can get the Nordstream II pipeline’s supply of Russian gas to Germany when the licences are granted to do so stopped.
France’s president Macron, putting aside his disdain over the UK/US/AUS subs debacle, appears to be leaning more to an EU army outside Nato, and away from US influence, but he needs Germany to be onboard, however any hostilities in Ukraine would see Macron fall in line with the Nato narrative such is the fragility of the EU’s voice in Nato.
The current Nato debacle over the lies that Russia will invade Ukraine tells me that Nato is weak, and that its days are numbered, Russia will extend the hand of friendship via commerce to Germany, if Germany can shake-off US influence in the country, France would surely follow, the US cannot afford to let this happen, but it will in my opinion, with China helping the transition, US aggression is the only thing that can stop it albeit not on a permanent basis.
On the Ukraine claptrap Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said “15 February 2022 will go down in history as the day Western war propaganda failed,” According to her, the West has been “shamed and destroyed without firing a single shot.” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called the US and British game plan to underminw Russia over Ukraine abetted by CIA installed President Zelensky, “information terrorism.” In light of really dumb ‘predictions’ of invasion, a CIA construct accepted by MI6 as worthwhile disinformation and media expanded public brainwashing, UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss should ‘curl up and die.”
oh, nice, so NATO declared victory, our Foreign Ministry declared victory, everything is very nice! win-win.
Biden should now make a solemn speech, and for Nobel peace prize I suggest Steinmeier as he was the last who warned Putin of his very naughty behaviour etc.etc. Also, it’s Steinmeier who invented formula to implement the Minsk agreement, and he was just re-elected the president of Germany. Perhaps for some good position on the NordStream2. My hope is he will also change their ambassador to Ukraine. That woman’s attitude is unacceptible.
Let’s now return to the Minsk agreements and make Ukraine do it finally.
I want an ex comedian to be our next Prime Minister. Zelesky’s previous career was satirising Ukranian leaders and this has given him the wisdom and courage to send out three important fingers up to NATO.
Could we have either a cartoonist or dissident comedian please? Anybody know any good ones? The qualifications of popular satire are exactly the right ones for Prime Minister. No wonder Tom Tugentwat is annoyed.
Foreign leaders he was satirising also 🙂
Look for a daredevil to call Erdogan a mustachioed cockroach, as Zelensky did.
But I like your kind of humour better., Tatyana. It is more subtle but biting, nevertheless.
Your comment yesterday:
“I only hope they recognise Russian sovereignty over Rostov and Voronezh, unlike Ms.Truss. Otherwise, it would be total mess in the media, telling you about Russian troops stationed here and there everywhere in neighbouring countries and Russian Fleet rushing at full speed along the strait between the Baltic and Black Seas. “
had a certain swiftness to it and I was smiling throughout the day… I think you’re sometimes as good as your Foreign Minister Lavrov with his quick responses 🙂
Thanks for your kind words, Beata. I hesitated if I could write a Thank you, really, we cannot have this comment section filled with personal courtesy 🙂 I do my best to be less emotional and less personal when commenting here, and to keep to the topic, and behave as is supposed for a political forum. But I often fail to, because I see live humans behind the screen and I find it extremely hard to resist the desire to greet them, or say Thank you.
Anyway, I hope everyone here knows I read your comments, even if I don’t answer.
We already have a Bafoon as PM.
Our World view is Eurocentric, self centered. The majority of the countries of the world however are slowly throwing of the burden of colonialism and their old masters, finding self belief and independence as exampled by China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, Syria and many more like Barbados rejecting Monarchy.
Major countries like South Africa and India didn’t follow through however. Even the Palestinian Authority like the ANC fell for the corruption offered.
Excellent essay Craig! ‘But there’s none so blind as those who refuse to see’, I might add, whatever the reason. The BBC especially, have ‘elevated’ lying to an artform called Objective Journalism where the objective is to mislead the public.
In the press conference with the German Chancellor, the President of the Russian Federation was asked by a reporter about Natos’s role of keeping the peace in Europe ! What ! he replied, like bombing Yugoslavia without a security council mandate !
I don’t do Twitter and your Facebook page no longer gets updated with your latest blogs. Is there another way that I can get notified when you publish a new blog?
Use a Feed Reader and subscribe to:
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/feed/
I don’t think it’s quite that simple, the full name for these feeders is RSS feeder, you will need to search the web to find one. A search will turn up numerous results, such as https://zapier.com/blog/best-rss-feed-reader-apps/ You download the app that you would like to try and install it for whatever device you use, then you need to set it up by adding a site you want to visit, that’s where you would insert the web address Clark refered to. Then every time Craig makes a post the feeder will update. I can’t endorse any feeder as that would be advertising and I don’t know what system you may be using.
Sorry if this sounds like mansplaining, it’s not intended.
And now on with the war.
In truth I find the coverage in the UK media of events in Ukraine… utterly disgraceful and grossly misleading. Most of it sounds like they’ve simply ‘tarted up’ press releases from MI5 or the military, or Downing Street. Whatever happened to real journalism in the UK? Whatever happened to liberal democracy? Can one really be said to be living in a healthy and functioning democracy anymore, if the media is so full of propaganda designed to groom the public for war with Russia?
What happens to the credibility of the media when the Russians don’t invade Ukraine by the date set by Washington/London? How, like with Iraq and their non-existent WMDs, does the media explain how they managed to get something so important, so wrong… again! Will. there be any reflection, any self-examination, any remorse, any apologies, this time. Will they learn anything at all from another debacle?
Today 16/2 invasion will happen
just after PMQ!
Good Day!
I try my best to pronounce it in a manner of Alexander Mercouris 🙂
We woke up today and nothing happened! Checking news while having my coffee, I was pleased to see Vladimir Kornilov’s article on RIA. Clever guy he is, and I appreciate his journalistic manner. Kind, humourous and dignified, I never met anything silly or low in his materials.
He writes about forecasts in the Western media, about Zelensky’s bewildered reaction, he also bites Liz Truss a little for her phrase “from the Mongols to the Tatars.” And he asks the question – how will the media justify themselves now and how will this affect their authority?
https://ria.ru/20220216/voyna-1773033091.html
The operation to force Russia into war failed
“… Western Kremlinologists, who have recently been called Invasion Scientists brought a flurry of statements that Russia is beginning to de-escalate and even “retreats from the Ukrainian border”, following the message of the Russian Defense Ministry on withdrawal of troops that completed the exercises, to their places of permanent deployment.”
“… ‘invasion scientists’ got worried. For several months, making money on whipping up anti-Russian hysteria and suddenly feeling that they are losing their jobs is not the most pleasant test. For example, look at the nature of the publications of Forbes columnist David Axe … From December to the present day, this author has published 37 materials, of which 30 are devoted to the analysis of the upcoming “Russian-Ukrainian war.”
“… One can imagine Axe’s loss … so much effort has been put into inciting hysteria, and the pacifism of the obnoxious Russians is ruining their earnings. Although these ‘invasion scientists’ may re-educate themselves for ‘retreat scientists’. Axe could write “What prevents Russian tanks from retreating beyond the Urals faster” or “Will Russia withdraw troops from Voronezh and Rostov, which are not recognized as part of Russia by Britain.”p>
I especially liked “the pacifism of the obnoxious Russians is ruining their earnings”!