U.S. directly threatens Russia with war
If you only listen to the American MSM you would think that the U.S. is reluctantly standing up to a belligerent military titan. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The Biden administration is weighing sending military advisers and new equipment including weaponry to Ukraine as Russia builds up forces near the border and US officials prepare allies for the possibility of another Russian invasion, multiple sources familiar with the deliberations tell CNN.
The discussions about the proposed lethal aid package are happening as Ukraine has begun to warn publicly that an invasion could happen as soon as January. The package could include new Javelin anti-tank and anti-armor missiles as well as mortars, the sources said.
...
Retired Lt. Col. Cedric Leighton told CNN that Javelin antitank missiles "are quite effective against the T-80 tanks which the Russians are actually employing in these efforts against Ukraine right now." But he noted that any additional assistance to Ukraine undoubtedly risks "further heightening tensions" with Moscow
This is alarming on every level. 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.
Unless you think the Russians feel that they need a "running start" to invade Ukraine, this is comically ridiculous.
But wait. 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.
You simply can't get further away from Ukraine and still be in Crimea.
Finally, there is Pavlovsk.
Now this is only 60 km from the Ukraine border, which makes this almost (but still not) a believable location for an invasion. Also a "warehouse complex" in a town of roughly 20,000 people? How big can this place even be?
It isn't just troop movement though. Putin's rhetoric has been threatening too.
Moscow may be conniving with the Belarussian government to flood Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia with refugees from the Middle East. Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian officialdom called the effort to manufacture a refugee crisis a "hybrid attack" on the European Union. Meanwhile the Russian military tracks and decries NATO naval movements in the Black Sea basin; last summer Moscow threatened to "bomb" naval vessels exercising the right to innocent passage through Crimean waters.
"May be conniving with Belarus to send refugees in a hybrid attack"?
What?!? WTF are you saying?
Let's focus on Russia's problem with NATO in the Black Sea.
OK. Red Lines. That sound like something specific.
"We're constantly voicing our concerns about this, talking about red lines, but we understand our partners - how shall I put it mildly - have a very superficial attitude to all our warnings and talk of red lines," Putin said.NATO - with which Moscow severed ties last month - had destroyed all mechanisms for dialogue, Putin said.
What the Hell?! Rehearsing a nuclear strike sounds serious.
But how did they allow Russia to find out about it?
Russia's defence minister on Tuesday accused U.S. bombers of rehearsing a nuclear strike on Russia from two different directions earlier this month and complained that the planes had come within 20 km (12.4 miles) of the Russian border.
WHAT THE FUCK!
Are you insane?!? Has the Pentagon been taken over by crazy people?
On what soon to be bombed into non-existent planet could anyone think that this was a good idea?
Right now, Putin is the sane person.
Comments
I'm sure we're not seeing the real sales-pitch for war here.
Somewhere in a side-room of the Pentagon the corporate executives are being told something along the lines of: "don't worry, this will just be small-scale, it won't get out of hand -- and you'll profit from it forever."
“When there's no fight over programme, the election becomes a casting exercise. Trump's win is the unstoppable consequence of this situation.” - Jean-Luc Melanchon
A couple of additions to the theme of this essay.
Propagandists doing what they are paid to do.
Insane
I heard an NPR reporter casually talking about the possibility of "military conflict" with China over Taiwan. There seems to be a generation of people that don't understand the seriousness of military conflict between nuclear powers. There is every risk of escalation and too much incentive not to give in. Who will blink? How will the escalation stop? If one side is losing with conventional weapons, will it be willing to be humiliated or will it use nukes. We have certainly had idiots in office recently that don't understand the seriousness of using nukes and talk about using them. These morons are insane.
Who knew it was a documentary?
C'mon john.
Your first two inserts are the new york slimes and cnn.
Surely you can find lower quality talent than that.
But then you follow up with military.com who sucks even to military personnel.
Yet overall you balance it out with those who agree with you about what the fuck is happening.
It seems, as usual, our homegrown media cheerleaders want war to uptick their ratings.
Overall you get a A- for aggravation factor.
Well done!
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
Don't worry, Biden's got a brilliant new Foreign Policy Advisor!
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!
Dr. Strangelove.
Thanks gonsit.Thank you Stanely Kubrick. Amazing that approxametly 55 years ago this movie is still timely.The Ukraine situation freaks me right out.So dicey and an obvious ploy. Added to my dislike of both Hillary and John Kerry. The beat goes on and on. Good god who gives a shit about Putin or Russia? Dag this is absurd. A sign of the times that this kind of times that on top of all the scary bs.they pile on you your supposed to get tweaked about Russia, Putin and the sad state of affairs in the Ukraine. Which Im sure the US freaking caused and jerked us all around about Once more reason I dislike and won't vote for the useless Dems. Now watch them tweek this so called build back better bs.They keep the war drums beating and pay obscene amounts of money to protect us from fhantom enemys. Such a waste.
And, then there's this:
NATO - with which Moscow severed ties last month
- had destroyed all mechanisms for dialogue, Putin said.
(North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
How many treaties are they breaking now?
The REAL conflict will be with China
Putin and Russia are just the sideshow.
Chomsky may have been wrong about COVID but he recognizes that China has the military and financial ability to destroy US global hegemony within the next decade. There are many powerful players within the US government that will find that completely unacceptable - another "Better Dead than Red" with Chinese characteristics.
The stench
of " manufactured consent" is all over this. Expect the Ukonazies to be prodded into attacking the Donbass and Russia responding with long range stand off weapondry to decimate them.
Our regime will not respond. We just want to see how well the new Russian weapons perform.
The PTB will sacrifice the stupid nazies just to gain this info.
IMHO
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
At this point, I finally wish
that they’d just get on with it, already.
Like many people of a certain age, abject fear of this stuff has been ruling my existence for over half a century. I enjoyed the handful of years lately that my duck-and-cover-inspired white flash nightmares were in abeyance. That was an aberration, apparently.They are back now, nearly nightly, and increasing in frequency.
Given a choice between the long further diminution of my ability to function as a human being, and the quick vaporization that is the only possible outcome of a nuclear exchange (at least here where I live), I’m leaning towards the latter. I keep my tux and my bar supplies close at hand, so that if I get notice I can go become one with the fireball in formal dress and with a perfect Manhattan in hand. Otherwise, in my sleep will do just fine.
In the meantime, I’m just going to focus on home life and the handful of things that still bring me joy, and the rest of all this shit can go pound sand.
That is all.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Caitlyn nails it
This was posted in last night’s EBs and is worth a read.
https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2021/11/23/erm-i-know-youre-busy-but-nuclea...
Biden’s team that is probably running the country wants war with Russia no matter the costs to the world and keeps testing Putin’s red lines. Obama decided that we needed to bankrupt the country with newer nukes and you don’t do that unless you plan on using them. Mini nukes that won’t do as much damage is a fallacy because Russia doesn’t have them and would use their big ones if hit by our nicer and kinder nukes.
Joe also posted an excellent article from Media Benjamin if you missed it.
Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?
Neither China nor Russia
....are threatening to attack anyone beyond their borders.
They certainly have no intention of attacking the United States. They are making no demands except to return to normal diplomatic relations.
The real fear that Americans have is that those countries may fight back if the US attacks them.
Has the US made any demands on China? What does it want China to do?
The US wants Crimea, home of Russia's Navy base for the past 250 years, and Russia's only access to the Mediterranean Sea, to be reattached to Ukraine against the wishes of Crimea's ethnic Russian-speaking population. That's not going to happen.