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@AG
“The Commission is a force equipped with personnel by EU governments not their parliaments.”
This is how it should be. The government of the day is elected by the electorate of the member state who then put forward their choice of candidate to the commission. I would be totally against electing commissioners because that would give them more power and a political base outside of their own electorate. The commission president and commissioners should have no political power at all. All political power and directives should rest with, and only with, the EU council with the heads of state and their ministers and the EU parliament elected as that is directly by the member states’ electorates.
My problem is with Ursula von der Leyen and Borrell being given far too much space in which to express their own political views. I don’t think some states in the EU would be happy with her stating, as commission president, she’d only work with pro-NATO supporters. Who the f*** does she think she is? Where does that leave Ireland, a non-NATO member? Will she refuse to work with the Irish government because Ireland is a non-NATO member?
AG
Very tragic to see Germany just sinking deeper and deeper into the world of warmongering.
Germany and the nordic nations were, up until somehwhere at 2000, the “sane” ones in europe, now all have gone mad and these nations are now one of the most hawkish in the EU, it just happen that those particular nations also are one of the most pro-american ones in the region:
1. International public opinion of the U.S. remains positive
https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2022/06/22/international-public-opinion-of-the-u-s-remains-positive/Instead the lead for right and wrong have taken by smaller nations:
Slovenia in the vanguard of Europe’s criticism of Israel
Slovenia is the only EU member state to have joined the proceedings at the UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the case which the Republic of South Africa has brought against Israel.
https://www.osw.waw.pl/en/publikacje/analyses/2024-01-25/slovenia-vanguard-europes-criticism-israelNorway also have some decency left apparently:
Norway slams Israeli de-facto annexation of Palestinian land as Oslo makes case for State of Palestine at ICJ
https://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/58/1262/518254/War-on-Gaza/War-on-Gaza/%F0%9F%94%B4-LIVE-UPDATES-Norway-slams-Israeli-defacto-annex.aspxSo tragic to see the EU that was supposed to be about peace, and sure peace has been achieved in the EU, but instead the EU have started picking fights with nations outside of the union.
JACK
A question is whether sociology e.g. could offer sound explanations for the sad fact that it is these privileged very societies investing, allegedly into education (whatever that is), into access to information (whatever THAT is), into social security to offer more than just realities at work, that now so totally fail in practising elementary forms of a critical public and politics based on scientific and open exchange.
In fact it is those very countries which have been among the ones more prone to social(ist) and anti-capitalist convictions that now have surrendered to capitalist think in its most blunt Leninist shape.43 min. lecture by German General Harald Kujat, the former Chief of Staff of the German armed forces and Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, warns that the US and NATO instigated the Ukraine War to destroy Russia:
AG
Thanks, will check that video tommorow. Yes Nato seems hellbent to escalate the Ukraine conflict to world war:
Ukraine can deploy F-16s to attack deep inside Russia – NATO
Kiev will be able to use the fighter jets outside its claimed borders, the bloc’s head has said
https://swentr.site/news/593023-nato-ukraine-strike-russia/
Why even send such provocative messages? Ukraine will take that as a green light to expand the war! Totally unnecessary and dangerous.It is like Nato deep down understand that they did not win this round in Ukraine against Russia, so they try to go all in and beat Russia in the next round.
And again, good example regarding the so called socialists being the worst warmongers today:Nato boss sang anti-Nato songs as a youth
NATO boss Jens Stoltenberg has reminisced about his evenings as a teenager spent singing anti-Nato protest songs from a song booklet with a picture of Lenin on the front page.
https://www.thelocal.no/20150806/nato-boss-sung-anti-nato-songs-as-a-youthAnd look at him today, being part of the forces that drive the world toward nuclear escalation.
Ivan Katchanovski interviewed on Scheerpost, 100 min.
“Ukraine’s Maidan Coup: The Evidence, 10 Years Later (w/ Ivan Katchanovski)”(interview made by the two “kids on the block” Jones&Ramos, a real expert on UKR would have been nice as interviewer which doesn´t mean they dont´t do a decent job. But Stephen Cohen or Richard Sakwa needed decades for who they became. And Aaron Maté is no freshman either.)
JACK
thx for the F-16 bit.
Stoltenberg should be ashamed.
By now I believe that former leftists are worse when in power because their tradition is one of anti-power. So they are not used to operate with it and eventually are more war-mongering than traditional conservative assholes who have always believed in class division and top down rule. So they are more capable of some restraint (this is NOT true for Germany of course) but it’s sort of a superficial observation I made.Looks like it’s time for me to radicalise myself. Gonna scratch my soul looking for hatred, as we are on the very eve of great war and I need to abandon all this humanity and peace-loving attitudes. Pacifists die first, I believe.
An article from medialens entitled Elite Fear Of The Public: Ukraine, Gaza and Assange.
They detail how media suppresses actual public opinion which more often is against what is being done in our name. Most Europeans are against the war in Ukraine and any escalation.
As I have argued before, there is no evidence for any change re: NATO with Trump as POTUS.
Moon Of Alabama confirming my view today:
Intro of the blog entry:
“(…)
Trump Wants NATO To Be The Same Racket That It Has Always BeenThere is this weird claim in librul media that Donald Trump, should he be reelected as president, would shun NATO.
Fears of a NATO Withdrawal Rise as Trump Seeks a Return to Power – NY Times, Dec 9 2023
I have found no evidence that would justify the headline. In fact the authors remark:
Yet as he runs to regain the White House, Mr. Trump has said precious little about his intentions. His campaign website contains a single cryptic sentence: “We have to finish the process we began under my administration of fundamentally re-evaluating NATO’s purpose and NATO’s mission.” He and his team refuse to elaborate.
—
Trump’s incendiary NATO remarks send very real shudders through Europe – CNN, Feb 12 2024
What causes the actual ‘shudders’ is that Trump attempts to use NATO to blackmail member countries into buying more U.S. produced weapons:
[W]hen the former president suggested on Saturday that he would let Russia do “whatever the hell they want” to any NATO member that doesn’t meet spending guidelines, the impact was acute.
He recalled what he said was a conversation with a “large” NATO ally – it was unclear who he was referring to or when the conversation took place – which, according to his telling, had declined to spend the 2% recommended equivalent of their GDP on defense, but nevertheless wanted assurances from the US that they would be protected if Russia attacked. Trump said he would not give such an assurance, as the ally was “delinquent,” and Russian President Vladimir Putin should feel free to have his way.
(…)
No one was shocked by that. The U.S., and Trump, have played that game since NATO existed.
(…)”.And the RU government has always been aware of this.
Natylie Baldwin featuring Gordon Hahn on the Putin-Carlson interview
“Gordon Hahn: The Carlson-Putin Interview: Putin’s Failed but Very Russian History Lesson”intro:
“Tucker Carlson’s interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin was a tour de force of both journalism and political communication, with a few caveats. Here I will address the issue of Putin’s long historical preamble to Carlson’s first question as to why he chose to invade Ukraine precisely on February 24, 2024, escalating the Ukrainian civil war to a NATO-Russia Ukrainian War.
This was not one of Putin’s communication successes during the interview. Many Americans were perplexed, consternated, and/or irritated by Putin’s long introductory exegesis on Russian history in response to a question regarding the reasons he chose to invade Ukraine when he did. But Putin did not do this to filibuster or avoid answering the question. He gave us a review of more than a thousand years of mostly Russian but also Ukrainian history and relations between Russia and the West for several very Russian reasons.”
On the Carlson-Putin interview, one very popular feedback here in Russia is by Candace Owens.
Someone cared to translate her video into Russian, and Russian people literally flooded the comment section saying their application. In case she reads it 🙂 I’d like to say my thanks too!40 min. I recommend to everyone:
Nicolai Petro interview on peace perspectives
Febr. 4th 2024
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pKT8AfxemIp.s. his book “The Tragedy of Ukraine” is available for 20 Euros by now
This is an interesting short piece of news. Unfortunately I don´t get the connection:
Former US-ambassador to Germany, Grenell, a Trump guy, blames Merkel for the war in UKR.
So far so good.
But his argument to me makes no sense:here the core of the statement:
“(…)The former US ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell , blames former Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) for the wars in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip. “ Donald Trump had three main concerns that Germany did not want to fulfill,” said the former US president’s close confidante to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. These were the end of Nord Stream 2, higher defense spending and new Iran sanctions.
“History has shown that he was right in all three cases,” Grenell continued. Nevertheless, he sees no excuse for this from Merkel or the current federal government. “If she had followed us, we wouldn’t have been at war in Ukraine or Gaza ,” said the former ambassador with conviction.
(…)”What do Trump´s 3 demands have anything to do with the war in UKR and Israel´s massacre?
entire piece here:
BERLINER ZEITUNG:
https://archive.is/sv2Vra second, invaluable interview with Nicolai Petro, put online shortly after I posted the first one above.
Both are good but this one is more substantial, more profound, not least due to its length of 100 min. and the two interviewers instead of one, Glenn Diesen and Alex Mercouris.
“Towards negotiations between Russia & Ukraine/NATO? Nicolai Petro, Alexander Mercouris, Glenn Diesen
Is there anything in this world that is not somehow (allegedly) related to Russia?
The ongoing protests by Polish farmers against Ukrainian imports have an “obvious Russian trace” behind them, Kiev’s foreign minister, Dmitry Kuleba, has claimed.
https://swentr.site/russia/593165-kuleba-russia-farmers-poland/
…and then the west claim Russia believe in nutty conspiracy theories!The Russian-is-behind-every-ill is directly linked to the Judeo-bolshevik conspiracy theory the nazis used. Today, almost the same accusations, are spread like it is something normal and sanitzied:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_BolshevismWhat if someone said well jews control the world and cause every problem for the west. Racism right, how come one could so freely claim that not only Russia but russians themselves are everywhere trying to cause problems for the west behind the scenes?
The Duran discussing a remarkable NYT piece on 12 US CIA-spy bases on the border between UKR/RU operating for 8 years now.
The Duran:
at TC 50:00
https://theduran.com/rus-advance-quickens-patriots-destroyed-8-year-anti-rus-cia-ukr-operation-g7-asset-seize-backs-off/Mercouris e.g. mentions that Budanov seems to be a CIA asset (at least that comes to one´s mind reading the NYT) and that Trump was never fully briefed about these bases.
NYT piece:
“The Spy War: How the C.I.A. Secretly Helps Ukraine Fight Putin
For more than a decade, the United States has nurtured a secret intelligence partnership with Ukraine that is now critical for both countries in countering Russia.”
Feb. 25, 2024
https://archive.is/OpOwJfirst paragraphs of the NYT:
“The listening post in the Ukrainian forest is part of a C.I.A.- supported network of spy bases constructed in the past eight years that includes 12 secret locations along the Russian border. Before the war, the Ukrainians proved themselves to the Americans by collecting intercepts that helped prove Russia’s involvement in the 2014 downing of a commercial jetliner, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. The Ukrainians also helped the Americans go after the Russian operatives who meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Around 2016, the C.I.A. began training an elite Ukrainian commando force — known as Unit 2245 — which captured Russian drones and communications gear so that C.I.A. technicians could reverse-engineer them and crack Moscow’s encryption systems. (One officer in the unit was Kyrylo Budanov, now the general leading Ukraine’s military intelligence.)
And the C.I.A. also helped train a new generation of Ukrainian spies who operated inside Russia, across Europe, and in Cuba and other places where the Russians have a large presence.”also remarkable that the TIMES still goes with 2 blatant lies, Russiagate and MH-17 downing by RU.
Is there any other socialdemokratic party leader in the EU that speak the truth like the slovakian PM?
Slovak PM: Russian-Ukraine war ‘started back in 2014 with the rampant spread of Ukrainian neo-Nazis’
https://rmx.news/nato/slovak-pm-russian-ukraine-war-started-back-in-2014-with-the-rampant-spread-of-ukrainian-neo-nazis/This is the core of problem, the core of the issue that triggered the conflict, if it was not for this radical ideology, element in Ukraine there would be no war today.
Yes, nazis. As if it some sort of surprise 🙂
Interesting to read the recent comments under the 5-year old video“Ukrainian Fascist Leader Speaks in US Congress, While Nazis Launch Racist Attacks”
https://youtu.be/mlh6gJmmlN8How could an alleged socialdemorat say such stupidity? Take from the social budge and use it for a senseless war!?
EU citizens must tighten belts to deter Russia – member state
EU nations must prioritize defense spending by carving out money from social programs to deter Russia amid the Ukraine conflict, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has argued.
https://swentr.site/news/593251-eu-welfare-cuts-russia/What the hell is wrong with these people? If they love war or care so much, go, travel to Ukraine and bring your family and every related person with you! What are you waiting for?
I find polls always only of limited help.
But over the course of 2 years some simple facts are confirmed by them:In Germany e.g.:
“(…)
Berlin’s hardline demand that Russia must lose the war not only goes against the sober assessment of the situation by experienced military officers, but also a clear majority of the population.In a survey conducted by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) in twelve European countries in the first half of January, just ten percent of all German respondents stated that they believed Ukraine could still win the war.
In contrast, 19 percent saw Russia as the winner, while 31 percent expected a compromise between Moscow and Kiev.
Although 32% still thought the EU should support Ukraine militarily, 41% said they would prefer Brussels to urge Kiev to negotiate with Moscow.
Although an Ipsos survey conducted at the beginning of February revealed that around 25% of the German population believed that Ukraine could still win the war, 40% said that this was no longer possible.
A further 39% were still in favor of supplying weapons to Ukraine; however, 43% were against it.
According to the survey, by far the largest proportion of those in favor of supplying weapons are supporters of Bündnis 90/Die Grünen (72%), who also have the highest proportion of those who believe a Ukrainian victory is still possible (47%).
(…)”The figures of those in favour of peace in whatever form are probably much highher. Usually people who oppose media and government views are less willing to take part in surveys.
And this is even more the case for those who favour RU. They will be entirely left out of ANY survey.
A reality not shown in a reality check.
Gordon Hahn with a new piece recapitulating the path to war:
“Did the West Intentionally Incite Putin to War?”
https://gordonhahn.com/2024/02/27/did-the-west-intentionally-incite-putin-to-war/a few paragraphs:
beginning with the end:
—“A final side note. All this has led to NATO and the US being combatants in a war against Russia, which threatens us with world war and nuclear conflagration. You doubt NATO is a combatant? Here is how a NATO official describes NATO involvement in organizing deep communications and targeting (!) for Ukraine down to the front unit level: “(T)he way targeting has been achieved within Ukraine and the way that data has been provided down to almost the lowest tactical unit there for them to be able to call joint fires in is extraordinary. … I think that the tempo that’s been achieved to give those capabilities to do a sort of trial in the field, where the risk appetite is very high. I think many allies look on enviously how quickly that can be done in comparison to more traditional processes” (www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2023/7/18/ukraine-war-is-exposing-nato-interoperability-gaps).”
—“In late 2022 then Ukrainian presidential advisor and unofficial spokesman Oleksiy Arestovich asserted that in December 2021 Kiev had been stealthily moving to the conflict zone, ‘forward positioning’ some 40-60,000 troops (https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses/8504). Did this come from Western advice, and did Russian intelligence catch these deployments? Was this connected to Zelenskiy’s provocative statement to Ukrainian intelligence services a month before Putin’s SMO began: “We have learned to deter and counter external aggression quite effectively. I am convinced that the time has come to move to offensive actions to defend our national interests”? (www.president.gov.ua/en/news/zovnishnya-rozvidka-vidigraye-vazhlivu-rol-u-protidiyi-zagro-72517).
On the eve of the war the West, in particular Washington, was issuing repeated warnings that Putin was planning to invade Ukraine, but the warnings were so hysterical and accompanied a deafening silence in US diplomacy, suggesting the goal was to provoke the reater green Zelenskiy into a misstep that Russia might use to justify an invasion https://gordonhahn.com/2022/02/20/western-intel-as-incendiary-device-does-washington-want-russia-to-invade-donbass-ukraine/. Indeed, soon Zelenskiy cooperated, perhaos falling for the trap, by announcing Kiev was going to abandon the Budapest memorandum which is the basis for Ukraine’s non-nuclear status. Then throw into this combustible mix the exponential increase in firing across the contact line undertaken by Ukrainian forces first and Zelenskiy’s threat to pursue nuclear capability.”
—“In 2019, an amendment to Ukraine’s Constitution entered into force stipulating membership in NATO as a strategic foreign and security policy objective, overturning the neutrality policy of the pre-Maidan regime Yanukovych government. This followed a June 2017 Ukrainian legislation reinstating NATO membership as a Ukrainian foreign and security policy goal. At the 2016 NATO Summit in Warsaw, NATO included in the alliance’s Comprehensive Assistance Package (CAP) “to support Ukraine’s ability to provide for its own security and to implement wide-ranging reforms based on NATO standards, Euro-Atlantic principles and best practices.” Under CAP, NATO “helped Ukraine transform its security and defense sector for many years, providing strategic-level advice via the NATO Representation to Ukraine and practical support through a range of capacity-building programmes and initiatives. Through these programmes and tailored advice, NATO has significantly strengthened the capacity and resilience of Ukraine’s security and defence sector, as well as its ability to counter hybrid threats.”
As UKR former ambassador to GB, Vadym Prystaiko (fired after criticizing Zelensky), past December stated in an interview, GB had proposed sending an expeditionary force up to the Dnieper, to the Belarus border, and the RU border with Norway and Finland, to disperse RU forces and as well carrying out possible NATO strikes onto RU territory.
see:
https://marksleboda.substack.com/p/nato-countries-discuss-sending-troopsthe news outlets Sleboda is quoting:
RIA
https://archive.is/Eufl1
in Russian
https://ria.ru/20240202/nato-1925140885.html?utm_source=ground.news&utm_medium=referralRT
“UK contemplating sending troops to Ukraine – ex-ambassador ”
https://archive.is/ElLyoand the original source, a very long exclusive interview with the frm ambassador by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Dec. 2023:
“Experiments with Britain will be very expensive.” Vadym Prystaiko about his resignation, “Zelensky’s sarcasm” and NATO’s prospects”
https://archive.is/1Otw4Interestingly I could only find an original publication of the interview in UKRAINIAN conducted by a member of Radio Svoboda.
Which would most likely be ignored by Western media. Which is also why I didn´t read about this at all in German sources.
The Western media´s hypocrisy is astounding: They love Ukraine. However whenever unpleasant truths are spilled out in UKR press they are conveniently ignored – even if the sources originate with the West, like Radio Free Europe.
It is like the whole of Ukraine is infiltrated by the west:
Western special forces working in Ukraine – FT
Multiple European leaders have denied any official plans to send troops into Ukraine to fight against Russia
https://swentr.site/russia/593291-western-special-forces-ukraine/The other day it was reported that CIA had dozens of bases inside of Ukraine being involved in attacks against Russia:
CIA builds 12 secret spy bases in Ukraine along Russian border
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/02/27/cia-secret-spy-bases-ukraine-russia-kyiv/Basically the west provides weapons, ammo, money, political support, agents/spies/advisors to Ukraine.
Funny how when Iran support Palestinians or Houthis, it is framed as a “proxy-war” where Iran cynically use these groups as pawns for their own interest, but when the western world are knee-deep involved in Ukraine, it is not smeared as a proxy war at all in the media!Jack, the CIA secret spy facilities in Ukraine was yesterday on our news, mentioning The New York Times:
“It took root a decade ago, coming together in fits and starts under three very different U.S. presidents, pushed forward by key individuals who often took daring risks.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/25/world/europe/cia-ukraine-intelligence-russia-war.html
I wonder if Nuland and Blinken are those ‘key individuals’?
Today, the article is analyzed in detail by journalist Kornilov, and he points to the confirmed unreliability of the “Nalivaichenko tapes” on MH 17.
And also that Kiev’s military plans are not a conspiracy theory, since there are confirmed recordings of Biden scolding Poroshenko for the failure of the raid on Crimea in 2016.Also, our media is discussing the publication of the Financial Times, confirming the presence of Western special forces in the war in Ukraine.
https://www.ft.com/content/10df6f24-7ce6-407f-8509-76c65ec6e740the complete NYT spy bases piece would be here:
https://archive.is/OpOwJ
