The latest Russia Scare and our foreign policy being determined by private companies

The rhetoric regarding Russia and Ukraine has gotten extremely heated in recent days.
President Biden said he "would send reinforcements to Nato’s eastern flank in the wake of a Russian invasion of Ukraine". On top of that, Washington is considering imposing the economic "nuclear option" - completely cutting off the Russian banking system from the world.

Sanctions against Russia by the U.S. are being weighed to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin from launching an invasion into Ukraine, including severing the country from the SWIFT international payment system used by banks worldwide, CNN reported on Monday (Dec. 6), citing sources.

Final decisions regarding the direction are still in the works, with the Biden administration in discussions with European partners to coordinate any action.

This would be the equivalent of economic war against Russia. It would not be good.
On top of that, President Putin had the domestic equivalent of the SWIFT system created about five years ago (the SPFS) because he expected Washington to eventually pull this. He's also tested it with the Chinese and Iranian SWIFT-type systems, so they could continue some amount of international trade.
Cutting Russia off of SWIFT would hurt them, but it would not bring them to their knees. What you would have instead is a wounded bear.

Unlike Russiagate, Republicans are fully onboard with the anti-Russia belligerence this time. Like all things bipartisan these days, it's effing awful. Such as our meddling in Russia's elections.

Of course Washington would never bang the drums of war unless there is undeniable proof that the Russian are about to invade Ukraine, amirite?
Yes, indeed. We have satellite photos. We all know that Washington has never, ever used bogus satellite photos to start a war, amirite?
We got those incriminating satellite photos from a Pentagon spy sate...No, wait.
We are looking to start a large scale war against a nuclear power based on photos taken from a private corporation.

The photos, collected by Maxar Technologies and provided to Fox News, show troop buildup and the deployment of ground forces equipment in western Russia and Crimea.

That seems weird. It sort of reminds me how all of the evidence that "Russia hacked the DNC server" came from Crowdstrike, not from the FBI. Crowdstrike also happened to be founded by an expat Russian named Dmitri Alperovitch.
Plus, Crowdstrike was the ONLY company that discovered that the Sony hack was done by North Korea, and another major hack was done by China. Funny how only Crowdstrike was able to discover that all of the major hacks in recent years just happened to be done by the people that our military conveniently wanted to fight.
And what do you know, after discovering exactly what the PTB wanted to hear, Crowdstrike got huge government contracts and went from a money-losing operation to being a billion dollar company.

But I'm getting off track. We're talking about Maxar Technologies.
How are they doing?

Its balance sheet is underwhelming with only $10 million in cash, compared with $13 million in short-term debt. From a growth standpoint, its EBITDA has grown an average of 53.5% per year over the past three years, but fell 27.1% over the past year.
The stock also looks overvalued with a trailing P/E of 42.72 and a forward P/E of 39.84. MAXR has mainly shown bearish momentum since late June.

Wow. Not good. They are hemorrhaging cash. That was from about 5 weeks ago. About 10 days later, just after they started taking those Russia photos, this is the news.

Maxar Technologies (NYSE:MAXR) surges 21% this week

Something tells me that Maxar is about to sign some big Pentagon contracts. Who wants to take that bet?

For those who don't remember Ukraine didn't know anything about this so-called Russian troop build-up when it started.

Ukraine's defence ministry on Monday denied a media report of a Russian military buildup near its border, saying it had not observed an increase in forces or weaponry.

The Washington Post said at the weekend a renewed buildup of Russian troops near the Ukrainian border had raised concern among some officials in the United States and Europe who are tracking what they consider irregular movements of equipment and personnel on Russia's western flank.

That is indeed curious. Well, maybe Ukraine's military simply didn't have all the information. Right?
Then why did this happen the very next day?

Ukraine defence minister Andrii Taran has submitted a letter of resignation, the government representative to parliament Taras Melnychuk said on his Telegram channel on Tuesday.
Reuters was not able to reach Taran for comment. Melnychuk gave no reason for the resignation.

Hmm. I wonder why the defense minister would feel it necessary to resign the day after he contradicted the official story for starting a war?

The question is why is Russia looking to invade Ukraine? Why are they massing their troops along the border?
Well, here's the thing - Russia isn't doing that.

Satellite pictures supplied by U.S. space company Maxar Technologies showed around 1,000 military vehicles near the Russian town of Yelnya, about 250 km north of the Ukrainian border.

Uh, 250km is a long-ass way. This is what it looks like on Google maps.

yelnya.PNG

Unless you think the Russians feel that they need a "running start" to invade Ukraine, this is comically ridiculous.
There's been other troop build-ups. Surely these must be on the Ukrainian border, right? No.

Russia sent troops to a site in Crimea called Cape Opuk and moved a larger number to a former warehouse complex near the Russian town of Pavlovsk.

Where is Cape Opuk? on the exact opposite side of the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine, roughly 120 km away from the border.

capeopuk.PNG

You simply can't get further away from Ukraine and still be in Crimea.

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not India

India and Russia announced expanding defense ties on Monday during a visit by President Vladimir Putin to New Delhi, including the details of a $5.4 billion missile defense system sale to India, despite a risk of sanctions from the United States.

Not Turkey

Turkey’s leader says his country is considering buying a second Russian missile system despite strong objections by NATO ally the United States.
...NATO member Turkey was kicked out of the F-35 programme and its defence officials sanctioned after it bought the Russian-made S-400 missile defence system.

Not Pakistan

Russia’s foreign minister on Wednesday said Moscow and Islamabad will boost ties in the fight against terrorism, with Russia providing unspecified military equipment to Pakistan and the two holding joint exercises at sea and in the mountains.

not Iran

Russia is preparing to supply Iran with an advanced satellite system that will give Tehran an unprecedented ability to track potential military targets across the Middle East and beyond, according to current and former U.S. and Middle Eastern officials briefed on details of the arrangement.

The plan would deliver to the Iranians a Russian-made Kanopus-V satellite equipped with a high-resolution camera that would greatly enhance Iran’s spying capabilities, allowing continuous monitoring of facilities ranging from Persian Gulf oil refineries and Israeli military bases to Iraqi barracks that house U.S. troops, the officials said. The launch could happen within months, they said.

Not China

Russia’s defense chief on Tuesday signed a roadmap for closer military ties with China, pointing to increasingly frequent U.S. strategic bomber flights near both countries’ borders.

During a video call, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe “expressed a shared interest in stepping up strategic military exercises and joint patrols by Russia and China,” according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

Then there is Iraq, Syria, Vietnam, most of central Asia.
There is very little of Asia that isn't friendly with Russia.

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Pricknick's picture

to the Eu and USA having to pay for goods in gold.
If you cut off SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) you cut off access to transactions in us dollars.
Both China and Russia are ready to deal in their own currencies and gold. They are also ready to work out arrangements (which they already have for some) for many other countries to dump the dollar in favor of individual currencies.
Maybe brandon will cut his own throat before the us dollar takes a total shit.
I'd buy that for a dollar.
[video:https://youtu.be/85cL1HisrNc]

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

reality.

That can only be the only explanation for this.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/6/biden-to-urge-putin-to-return-t...

Biden to urge Putin to return to diplomacy amid Ukraine ‘buildup’

US President Joe Biden will warn his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin of “direct costs” should Moscow invade Ukraine, a senior Biden administration official has said, on the eve of a scheduled call between the two leaders, as the CIA director reported a buildup of Russian troops along the border.

Biden intends to “send a clear message to Russia that there will be genuine and meaningful and direct costs should they choose to go forward with a military escalation” with Ukraine, the official told reporters on condition of anonymity on Monday.

Late on Monday, the Wall Street Journal quoted Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns as saying that he has seen “steady and unusual buildup” by Russia along the border with Ukraine.

The White House said Biden, in a call with leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Britain, discussed their “shared concern” about the buildup and “Russia’s increasingly harsh rhetoric.”

US State Department spokesman Ned Price also told reporters on Monday that Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spoken to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy about the upcoming phone call between Biden and Putin.

Price said Biden will warn Putin that the US will use “high impact economic measures that we have refrained from using in the past.”

Price added that the US remains committed to NATO’s open door policy and that the alliance should remain ready to aspirants when they’re ready. Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, now aspires to join the European Union and NATO.

As an aside Ned Price must have been peeking at Biden's teleprompter.

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snoopydawg's picture

@humphrey

Love to hear what they say to each other. Will Biden be alone or have a mouthpiece wired into his ear! Scary that we have to rely on him being coherent.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

@snoopydawg That is to not burst out in laughter when biden babbles like he normally does.

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snoopydawg's picture

There has been too much yada yada from Blinken’s mouth and others that keep warning us that Russia is ready to invade and lining up punishments for when they do to not have something planned in advanced. We are closer to nuclear war than during the Cuba missile crisis. Russia has stated that if we put nukes East of Germany or in Ukraine they’d park submarines loaded with nukes off our coast. Putting more lethal weapons in Ukraine will see the same results. Biden said that he doesn’t pay any attention to Russia’s red lines. You idiot. You had better. Putin has also stated that Russia will be left standing after any war. Too many people are on board with war with Russia because the media has been manufacturing consent for 5 years. Haven’t they learned yet not to listen to them by now? Apparently not.

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11 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

@snoopydawg They simply regurgitate whatever their sources tell them without any actual fact checking.

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The Liberal Moonbat's picture

So it looks like Morgoth's spoiling for a war with China AND Russia?!? Right after losing to a gaggle of cavemen, too....

GO HOME, AMERICA, YOU'RE DRUNK!!!

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10 users have voted.

In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

Roy Blakeley's picture

Push Back with Aaron Mate.

video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2kx4mlW3KU

Really pressed for time so I hope someone will fix the link if it doesn't work.

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snoopydawg's picture

@Roy Blakeley

Sadly the comments on the oh my gawd Russia is going to invade Ukraine next month! on my local rag were in favor of Ukraine joining NATO and the US to arm them against those dastardly Russians! I left a comment saying that people might look at a map to see where those Russian troops are in their own country are instead of just taking the mainstream media word for it. Let’s see if the moderates will let it be seen.

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3 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

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3 users have voted.