By Alexander G. Markovsky, AM THINKER
Right before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley told lawmakers that Kiev could fall within 72 hours if a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine takes place. But why, if the US expected Ukraine to collapse, didn’t NATO stop the impending conflict by admitting that NATO had no intention of having Ukraine join the alliance? Then, Moscow’s security concerns emanating from NATO’s eastward expansion would be addressed, and Putin would have had no reason to attack Ukraine.
Isn’t what expected from the alliance whose stated mission is:
NATO is an active and leading contributor to peace and security on the international stage. It promotes democratic values and is committed to the peaceful resolution of disputes.
But after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization launched itself across the world in a wave of ideological exaltation to reshape the world around Western values. The world has witnessed the pursuit of NATO’s new mission statement in the Balkans, Lebanon, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, and now in Ukraine.
After the humiliating defeat in Afghanistan, NATO needed another war to justify its existence. This war was supposed to contrast with previous NATO misadventures. It would be sharp and short with no Western casualties. And, this time, NATO would be victorious.
NATO leaders seemed to relish the prospect of war. When in December 2021, in a last-ditch effort, Putin demanded that NATO stop eastward expansion and committed to not admitting Ukraine to NATO, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg arrogantly rejected any discussion of the subject.
Nothing prevented Zelensky from avoiding the war either. If he had renounced his request for NATO membership, it would have satisfied Moscow’s demands, and the invasion would have been called off. However, the corrupt rulers in Kiev were not motivated by concern for the stability and integrity of Ukraine. They were moved by billions in financial and military aid and unlimited prospects for personal enrichment.
Some Europeans, lacking any capacity on their own for revenge for centuries of defeats and humiliation, saw an opportunity for reprisal, especially without direct military involvement. Biden looked forward to extricating himself from Afghanistan and making the Ukrainian crisis a turning point in his presidency.
Ironically, everybody wanted this war except Putin.
Indeed, NATO designed a daring gambit. The strategy was that America and its allies would provoke Moscow’s invasion and use it as a pretext to impose devastating sanctions on Russia. The sanctions were supposed to cripple the Russian economy and create domestic pressure on President Putin, which would force him out of power. Putin’s exit would create a power vacuum, which would weaken Russia geopolitically. What would happen to Ukraine was irrelevant; it served as bait.
However, the NATO strategic geniuses failed again. Ukraine did not collapse, the sanctions did not achieve their desired outcome, and NATO got sucked into a war by proxy with Russia.
This sobering reality forced NATO to reshape the conflict and come up with a new strategy. The current strategy is centered on a prolonged war of attrition to weaken Russia economically and militarily and force it into some kind of surrender. Since the war rages on Ukrainian soil, Ukraine pays a devastating human and economic price. About half of the population of 35 million has left the country or were killed or incapacitated. Its infrastructure, which took about 200 years to build, is being destroyed, the economy practically is devastated, and what used to be the breadbasket of Europe recently adopted a law to raise marijuana.
The country is in a state of material penury dependent for its survival on international assistance. Zelensky has been walking with an outstretched hand around the world, begging for military and economic aid. Shamefully, this suffering country with a well-educated population became a country of beggars. Zelensky even dresses like a beggar.
Zelensky believes that since he is advancing Western interests, there should be reciprocal obligations. He sees the country’s salvation in joining NATO and the EU, being adopted, and getting on international welfare. In addition, he expects the West to offer hundreds of billions of dollars for reconstruction.
A recent NATO meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania, poured cold water on Zelensky’s aspirations. As cemeteries all over Ukraine are fast running out of space, NATO refused even to issue an invitation for membership. Zelensky, who has been running for NATO membership like a greyhound racing to catch a mechanical rabbit (video here), seemed to realize that the dream of Ukraine ever becoming a NATO member had evaporated and emphatically vented his frustration to NATO’s leadership.
But NATO’s leaders, who are perfectly content avoiding a confrontation with nuclear power and letting Ukrainians fight, did not take Zelensky’s outburst lightly. Some are unhappy that Ukraine sustained the Russian initial assault. If we are to believe General Mark Miley, NATO did not plan for an independent Ukraine even to be there.
Alexander G. Markovsky is a senior fellow at the London Center for Policy Research, a conservative think tank that examines national security, energy, risk analysis, and other public policy issues. He is the author of “Anatomy of a Bolshevik” and “Liberal Bolshevism: America Did Not Defeat Communism, She Adopted It.” Mr. Markovsky is the owner and CEO of Litwin Management Services, LLC. He can be reached at alex.g.markovsky@gmail.com
@Bear
Unlike the use of the word Nazi employed by you in your hyperbolic attack on Russia, it is more than hyperbole which shades Ukraine as a Nazi state. Putin does not have any member of his govt tied to the Nazi movement. Nor does any Russian minister hold the privileged status of having founded a Nazi political party. Nor does the Russian Army have whole units centered around the Nazi ideology, openly wearing Nazi iconography, studded with Nazi symbols. Also Russia does not celebrate the Nazi leaders of WWII, does not have national holidays in their memory, does not have statues dotted across the nation in their image, and does not have streets named after them. Ukraine has had all of these in recent years, and most of them still persist to this day.
Despite this fact, it should be telling that the Nazi image which was impressed on Ukraine following the US managed Orange Revolution was entirely rejected by the Ukrainian people in 2010. More than this, following the 2014 coup, the Ukrainian people, despite the attempt to radicalize them, still voted for a peace candidate who was actually one of the founders of the Party of Regions, the party which the ousted Yukanovych had led before the coup. More telling than this, in 2019, the Ukrainians not only voted in a peace candidate, but a Russian Jew peace candidate, albeit his Jewish regard is all for show, like everything else about Zel the charlatan – but no Nazi would vote in either a Jew, or a Russian or a peace candidate.
So, no, I do not believe that the Ukrainans are actually Nazi’s, but it is undeniable that they have a high regard for the Nazi’s, a high tolerance for Nazi’s in their govt, and a high respect for their Nazi warriors. Ukraine simply has a Nazi problem. It is no hyperbole, and it is no analogy. I find the notion of such a problem to be a particularly troubling fact, and I have no connection to Ukraine, no geographic relation to it. Putin, however, does.
So I will not tell Putin anything about Ukraine, as he is most likely far more well informed about its nature than I could attest. You are of course correct in stating that Ukraine is not Nazi Germany, and yet Ukraine does indeed have a Nazi problem, and if I had the power to force a cure for this problem upon Ukraine, I would surely do so, and frankly, it would bother me that you and others might not. Such features of the Cold War as the employment of Nazi’s to battle on against the Russians when they were communists was never something which I ever supported, and it certainly could not gain my support now that the Russians are no longer communists.
As to the Jews emigrating from Russia and Ukraine, it has long been a wonder to me that any Jew would live in either of these nations. No doubt they have their reasons for leaving which are unpleasant and disturbing, but in truth the greater misfortune is that they did not follow the massive migration of the Jews from both these nations decades ago.
@Peloni, tell Putin Ukraine is not NAZI Germany talk about miscoloration and overuse of the NAZI analogy. I actually agree the usage of NAZI’s to describe one’s enemies is misdone and over done. Putin though is a mass murdering monster who is a dictator. He does not wear swastika’s or NAZI garb however.
So tell me is Putin a dictator or not?
Is Putin a mass murder or not?
Would you be happy to be living in a country run by Putin or not?
Clearly the Jews and many other including many of the educated are not happy to be living under Putin and are fleeing when they can.
@Bear
This is not true. Nazi Germany was initially subsidized by the West. Later, when war broke out, like every socialist, the National Socialists stole the wealth of the Jews and the nations they conquered. Their economy was a ponzi scheme which only survived so long as someone else was providing the economics upon which it stood. Putin’s Russia is far more substantial. It is based upon the exploitation of domestic assets. They have liquidated the assets of no other people in pulling themselves out of the debt created for them under the American hegemony in the 1990’s. We should all have such capable leaders guiding the economy as Russia has had over the past 20yrs.
One more thing. The common use of the Nazis to color one’s enemies is an unfortunate consequence in the modern world, but Russia is not Nazi Germany and it only minimizes the truth about the Third Reich when such false comparisons are made.
@Bear
This is not what I said.
If Putin is a dictator, the economy is the product of his dominion over the nation. If the economy is not related to his rule, but is in spite of his efforts to milk the economy, as Stoner suggests, he is not a dictator.
As you say, you have your views, and I have mine, but don’t misreport mine for me. The dictatorial actions taken by Putin can be traced back to the Yukos trial, but as with the economy, Putin’s actions in that trial benefited the Russian state. A leader may be dictatorial in some aspects or all, but if he provides good governance, it should not be misattributed to being in spite of his actions.
As to the notion that the Soviets would not have responded to a NATO armed, trained and funded army being placed in Ukraine, murdering ethnic Russians on the Russian border in the years following a US coup in Ukraine, I find this to be a remarkably delusional claim – do you actually believe this nonsense? Serious question.
The sourcing of this delusional claim being traced back to Politico is of course quite amusing, and quite telling.
@Peloni you actually believe Putin is not a dictator. Wow. As I have said to you several times at least you are entitled to your views. This one is actually amazing to me and actually hard to believe. The argument that the economy is running is proof that Putin is not the dictator is faulty. NAZI Germany’s economy ran very well for a while until Hitler destroyed Europe and Germany. Similar in some ways to Putin I say.
Putin Isn’t Just an Autocrat. He’s Something Worse.
Putin’s style of leadership differs from his recent predecessors. That difference helps explain his war against Ukraine.
Alexander J. Motyl is a professor of political science at Rutgers University-Newark.
Full Article here:
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/03/14/lets-call-putin-fascist-autocrat-00016982
@Bear
Good luck finding a war where this is not true.
@Bear
The article you shared by Stoner was written in May ’22 at the height of the damaging effects of the US economic war against Russia, which has been well reversed since then. It is hardly relevant today, one year later, when Russia’s economy is in a far more promising position than when the article was written.
https://tradingeconomics.com/russia/monthly-gdp-yoy
One thing which should be noticed in the article, Stoner claims that the benefits of the economic boom which Russia had under dictator Putin was due to the independence of the head of the central bank, Elvira Nabiullina. So the Russian dictator is kept at bay by the head of the Russian Central Bank? Is that the way dictatorships work? Forgive the sarcasm, but this plainly displays a flaw in the routine claim leveraged against Putin. He is the dictator who can not be allowed to be credited with any benefits of the govt which he runs. Quite silly. If he is a dictator, he has done a good job over the years running the Russian economy. If, however, his desires of corrupting the economy for himself and his cronies are held at bay by his independent Banker, how is he actually a dictator? In effect, is he a dictator or is he not responsible for the Russian economic recovery. It can’t be both.
Putin’s war has harmed Jews and other Russians and Ukrainians in Russia and the Ukraine. This is not a Jewish war but Jews and others have suffered because of this war.
Russian propaganda has tried to steer the conversation away from their crimes in this war against all Ukrainians and painted it as a war against NAZI’s. This is a favorite theme in Russia carried over from when the Soviet Union fought the NAZI’s in the second World War.
https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/how-putins-war-in-ukraine-has-ruined-russia/
Not only is their a brain drain in Russia because of the war and those tired of living in fear under the Russian dictatorship. The Jewish population is fleeing for some of those same reasons plus others.
https://religionnews.com/2023/07/07/report-finds-a-growing-exodus-of-jews-from-russia-and-ukraine/
BEAR
Why would I ignore a Jewish person today who when Russians are losing their youth in the fight against out and out Nazis, that is the Ukrainian Army also known as Ukronazis, obviously is hating those comrades of Russia more than the Nazis. Honourable?
There’s not a cigarette paper between the Ukronazis and those Lithuanian Nazis which I’ll tell you about.
Have you forgotten Bear?
In the next post I’ll find and publish from a favourite writer also my twitter friend.
To educate too youth of Ireland
@Peloni I actually agree with you that Ukraine lacks more than just a competent air-force. With a competent air-force and willing fighters which they had you can accomplish a lot on the battlefield. Their lack of an air-force however keeps them from being able to win.
About the NHK documentary. NHK has Fascist roots being part of Japanese Fascism in the war.
After the war press reorganization by America in power there and CIA were central so NHK comes out of that
Now used to support Fascists
The film intro is all about how Zelensky was massively brave. It is swarmy lying sickening and in Ritter film ex Israel PM Bennett shows he was a complete coward. They lie all the time. Check Ritter film. Michael this film you posted is lies.
@Bear
Unfortunately for Ukraine, they lack far more than just a competent air-force. Ukraine lacks arms, they lack tanks, they lack artillery, they lack munitions, they lack training. They have arms and equipment being shipped to them from a variety of nations, and all of these arms require specific training, and unique munitions. The logistics of dealing with such a smörgåsbord arms program is yet another of their failings, and likely not the least of their problems.
In short, Ukraine’s lack of success on the battlefield is due to the combined weight of all of their deficiencies, which clearly includes the lack of a competent air force, but is not limited to this alone. To your point, the Russian air force is a decidedly crippling advantage, but it is not the only advantage which prevented Ukraine from ever having any chance of wining this war.
Hi, Bear. Good posting. I noticed,
This is the bottom-line answer to all the anti-American and anti-NATO voices here. These Western entities have been going through their greatest social and economic turmoil since the Great Depression, yet literally millions from around the world, including Russia, have been using every means available to come live in our countries. This speaks the truth of the matter, better than everyone’s propaganda.
Hi, Ted
I hope you got to see the video,
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/ondemand/video/4001427/
as so many others have. The part I thought you might be especially interested in, is the note that Biden refused ANY substantial military aid to Ukraine, particularly Strela shoulder-fired missiles, until AFTER the Russians invaded. This does not look like a NATO alliance working to annex Ukraine; and looks every whit what it was: Joe Biden using Putin and Ukraine as a distraction from Hunter’s laptop.
Also note the part informing that the US was confident Ukraine would fall in 72 hours. Biden and Putin have been partners in crime, using the Russian and Ukrainian people as cannon fodder.
@Felix you are have your views. I have mine and my beliefs. My beliefs and communist pro Russia, pro Putin views are not compatible nor reconcilable. They are simply different realities of the world we live in.
I unlike you will not call you names. What is the point. Nor make derogatory remarks about your intelligence.
After this I will do like I did in the past Felix, I will just ignore you and request you ignore me. Dialog of value between the two of us is not possible, so what is the point.
I wish to challenge not just some of what Bear says here but all of it 100 per cent
I wish to show that you misunderstood all about this event according to Ritter not a full war
In fact you haven’t a clue
Starting with your comment
“@Peloni, Ukraine’s problem militarily in this war always has been the lack of a competent air-force.
Not having fighter aircraft they have been unable and will be unable to dislodge the well entrenched Russian forces, to any significant degree The Russian’s have set up a good ground defense. Without a real air-force they have managed to keep the Russian’s from capturing most of the country, as the Russians did not mount a coordinated offensive in the original attach meant to capture Kiev and quickly win the war.
So unless the firepower of either side significantly changes this war has become a battle of attrition and a stalemate.”
The Russians had the Fascists totally broken in late 2014 and Putin refused to take over and got caught in the negotiations trap.
Then it was all hands on deck with NATO “creating a new army from scratch”
Now refer to Colonel McGregor a military expert. He advised cannot be done like that
Refer also to Jacques Baud of NATO experience.
Read all of Baud.
This army was an army of Fascism he says to extent of 40 per cent on top of Azov and other Ukronazis
It is a Fascist force.
That on a nutshell is the source of the weakness.
Into the bargain you ALSO deny the concept of Mother Russia.
The Russian poorest are giving their sons once more to fighting Nazis
You should as a Jew not be so distainful of that happening
There can not be ever ever and is not stalemate against Fascism
You stupid Bear don’t even know that with your background is crazy.
NHK it is and they lied in the first 30 seconds.
View second film by Scott Ritter on Zelensky who not so brave, attested to by Israeli ex PM Bennett
Film is all lies Michael.
@Peloni, Ukraine’s problem militarily in this war always has been the lack of a competent air-force.
Not having fighter aircraft they have been unable and will be unable to dislodge the well entrenched Russian forces, to any significant degree The Russian’s have set up a good ground defense. Without a real air-force they have managed to keep the Russian’s from capturing most of the country, as the Russians did not mount a coordinated offensive in the original attack meant to capture Kiev and quickly win the war.
So unless the firepower of either side significantly changes this war has become a battle of attrition and a stalemate.
Michael NHL it’s history is supporting Japanese Fascism and after the war being the mouthpiece of your own CIA
KEEP GOING MICHAEL!
It is interesting that Ukraine is so proficient at putting out propaganda films and fake news claims such as Ghost of Kiev. It is to their discredit however that they are unable to actually change the outcome on the battlefield. Information wars are useful to deceive people of reality, so I have to ask if Russian troops are so feeble, why is it that Ukraine can not simply cross the 75 miles needed to cut the land bridge which they have been trying to do since they were pushed out of this position by those same feeble Russians in the first place. Do recall that Russia has had only a few months to ready their defensive line while still being besieged. Ukraine had 8yrs to ready their version of a Marginot line which Russia’s “weak offensively” forces took in just a few months. Yet in the more than a year which has passed since losing these positions, Ukraine, with all the arms, tanks and cash which has been sent to them from the West, this NATO trained, armed and funded force has been unable to even cross Russia’s main defensive line.
Propaganda aside, where are the gains being made by Ukraine in their long awaited, much hyped, failing offensive? This NATO proxy force is simply incapable of sealing the deal and no propaganda can actually change this reality. The Ukrianian lack of success is not really surprising given their history of being kept at bay by just the Donbas militia for so long, notably careful to avoid any fight with the Russians in neighboring Crimea for the 8yrs in which they preferred to slaughtered their own citizens than to face the Russians nearby on Crimean soil.
It would help if Adam could explain what was happening from 2014 to 2020, generally, the main items
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-putin-immigration-kazakhstan-technology-c041eb0b7472668087bb94207de2f71d
Russian Brain drain is huge. Educated fleeing Russian when they can as they do not wish to live under an ever restrictive and nasty dictatorship. Nor do they want to be drafted into the military for a war they do not believe in. They do not want to be cannon fodder in the Ukraine.
Ted some how my last 2 comments are getting caught in spam or something
Russian Brain drain is huge and ongoing. Educated Russians do NOT want to live under the current dictatorship. Nor do they wish to be used as cannon fodder in a war they do not believe in.
Russia’s tech workers are looking for safer and more secure professional pastures.
Brain drain in Russia tremendous. Many 10,000s have left because they do not want to live under the Russian dictatorship. Nor do they want to be drafted and used as cannon fodder in war they do not believe in.
Russia’s tech workers are looking for safer and more secure professional pastures.
A different approach to prognosticating the eventual outcome of the proxy war between Russia and the US (face it, that’s what is) is to consider a few intangibles. Over the last three decades since the fall of the Soviet Union there is plenty of evidence that Russia had been moving closer to the west where I believe most Russians wanted to move. Indeed Gorbachev threw in the towel because he wanted peace, “can’t we all just get along” kind of thing. The American government, both parties, on the other hand took Gorbachevs gesture as capitulation—-“We won”—-in the words a number of years later, of Condoleezza Rice, with the further implication that we are now coming to claim our prize.
In light of the extraordinary propaganda coming from western governments and media in the last 500 days, and I think this is of the essence, Putin has demonstrated to the people of Russia that they are condescended to and hated in the west, “Orcs”. As I’ve heard on one YouTube video Russians have lost any empathy they had in February 2022 for the people of Ukraine and any love they may have had for the west. They are woke and not in any contemporary western sense of the term. The psychological implications of this transformation in terms of the fortitude of Russians are incalculable but certainly of considerable weight.
The other thing I would remind the war mongers about is the United States is led by the most ignorant and stupidest leaders ever who have no sense of history, economics or science. There is no one in Washington who intellectually can hold a candle to Putin or Lavrov both of whom are very comfortable and erudite speaking extemporaneously on complex subjects. The only time Biden speaks extemporaneously he demonstrates his senility. To put it simply the US is in an advanced state of decay from which there is no sign of recovery.
If you were handicapping this race which horse in the long run, maybe not so long run, would you be betting on?
The invasion of Ukraine, a documentary by NHK:
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/ondemand/video/4001427/
Check it out, Ted.
@ Michael, Russian military has been greatly damaged and shown itself to be weak offensively and in its current state is no challenge to NATO unless they are on a suicide mission.
Alex Markovsky sent me this email.
@mICHAEL
You got that backwards. The question is, when will Russia be safe from the globalists?
Hi, Bear
Europe will only be safe from Putin when Putin dies. After that, we will have to deal with the other Russian Orcs, like Shoigu and Prygozhin. The following clip epitomizes the futility of trying to reason with these barbarians:
https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineConflict/comments/15lq5zv/ukrainian_babusia_yells_at_russian_soldiers/
For the Ukrainian people, this is simply an existential war. For reasons of His own, God has been coming to their aid against daunting odds. DC duplicity aside, the most important strain I see in the Western Alliance, is that the Brits have been insisting that Zelenskyy commit his troops to suicidal maneuver warfare without supplying him with the fighters and tanks (in large numbers) that he would require for this. Failing this, he has heeded the advice of his generals and fought in a way to minimize Ukrainian casualties. The ground cover (concealing mines) and trench lines make rapid maneuver without adequate air cover impossible. Meanwhile, the Orcs have suffered at least as much losses as the Ukrainians, maybe much more.
Whether they realize it or not, NATO is fighting an unrestricted war against China, Russia, Iran and their allies. This will continue, until one side or the other is defeated. Of course, North Korea is also involved — an excellent example of what happens when we “co-exist” with our enemies.
@Adam.
Good work. Thanks for the info. I asked the author to reply.
NATO has a hard and fast rule no country with a territorial dispute is eligible to be a member. Ukraine did not qualify before the war neither do they now.
No country wants its young men and women to die for the Ukraine. They maybe willing to send them weapons or money but not soldiers. Zelensky thinks everyone owes him or Ukraine or least that is the act he puts on.
Ukrainian army has hurt the Russians a lot with western weapons and this does make eastern Europe safer from Putin’s expansionist ambitions. So in that sense Zelensky does have a point.
At some point hopefully there will be a cease-fire and the bloodshed can stop.
Ted, i am forced to ask you to try to request that you find my latest comment under this article from cyberspace oblivion. I worked on it for about an hour researching, it contains some information that Peloni may find useful for his own research. Please help if you can.
@peloni The sanctions campaign has been far more successful in damaging the Russian economy than the Putinists in the West are willing to admit. For one thing, the Russians are nearly out of foreign exchange, except for the exchange that the Western governments have frozen, This means that the only way they will be able to import anything will be with rubles, But there is little or no demand for rubles abroad,making it unlikely that forein importers would want Russian products so badly that they would exchange their “hard” currency for rubles, The sanctions have also cut the Russians off from updates to their communications and industrial systems from Western corporations, which in the past they have always had to rely on to keep their systems compatible with those in the West, and to make their industrial and communications products (such as internet programs, games, etc.) competitive with Western competition and compatible with Western computer and electronic systems, Putin has admitted himself in several public speeches that this has become a serious “challenge” for Russia..
There is alsoa severe labor shortage in Russia, especially of skilled workers, because so many thousands of them have been :called to the colors.” This has necessitated wage increases that most employers cannot afford.
The consensus among Western economic “gurus” is that the only other way that Putin can fund a continuation of the war would be a sharp increase in taxes on the Russian people. But this would be extremely unpopular, especially with the next (Russian) Presidential election coming up next year. It seems to me unlikely that Putin will push through major tax increases over the next year, if he intends to run for reelection. However, if he chooses not to run for reelection, and to leave the whole economic and military mess to his successor, he must just push through a large tax increase.
In any case, the Ukrainians one remaining chance to win the war is if the Russian economy collapses before the Ukrainian one does. This gives the Ukrainians an advantage on on the economic “front” of the war, since they are more likely to obtain substantial loans and grants over the next twelve months than Russia.
Ted,
Did their spokesman come forward and say “I am a liar”? Should we believe what the liar says, namely, that he is a liar?
I think the “sources” you and Peloni repeatedly dredge up are nothing but Putin agents. What they say is irrelevant, because the shots are being called in DC. (IMHO)
Adam.
That comes as no surprise to me. My sources have been telling the truth from the beginning. CNN and the Whitehouse have been lying. They are just beginning to tell the truth.
Hi, Adam.
By “the Administration”… I’m still not sure who that is. Is it Barack Obama? Zuck? Bill Gates? Soros? Xi? Where does the buck stop? Perhaps Biden is as good a placeholder as any.
Rev. 13
[12] And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
[13] And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
[14] And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
[15] And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
“Wound by a sword”. Who is that? Biden is a zombie, after a fashion, the living dead… It’s close. Actually, the language concerning the “image of the beast” sounds like Yuval Noah Harari’s vision of Humanity 2.0
Whoever these guys are, There is much skuttlebut about Obama planning to throw BIDEN under the bus, and there’s still plenty of treachery left after that to do so to others. The Ukraine, of course, has always been expendable — a grift playground for Putin and the Biden Gang.
Remember, Adam, that those same actors have been trying for seven years to throw Donald Trump under the bus, and they haven’t succeeded.
I don’t think the Ukrainians are as willing to be “thrown” as many think.
Here’s a thought — What if Zelenskyy has Biden over a barrel, because of things he knows (about the Crime Family, Obama, the Clintons, biolabs, the works). Short of snuffing out Zelenskyy, those nefarious actors would have to off Joe & Hunter… Nah, I think Zekenskyy has the goods on all of them. We’ll see how it goes.
This is a very important article, from CNN, about the status of U.S.-Ukrainian relations. Among other things, it says that leading U.S. military :experts” now say that the U.S. overestimated” the ability of Ukraine to wage a successful counteroffensive in the spring and summer of 2023 and that they do not expect the Ukrainians to make any significant progress before the approach of winter. Once winter does come, the “experts” say, the Russians will have an overwhelming advantage because of their posession of overwhelming air superiority, which they think is especially effective in winter conditions, and their overwhelming superiority in tanks and armored vehicles. In order to even hold their own in future fighting, they say, and report to a Congressional committee, the Ukrainians would need a large fleet of state-of-the art Jet aircraft,and they say there is absolutely no possibility of their acquirinng such aircraft anytime soon. The experts therefore recommend that the U,S, :reassess its commitment to Ukraine.
Since CNN is often a mouthpiece for the Democratic Party administration, I think this means that the administration is contemplating :cutting loose The CNN Ukraine before the 2024 elections. The story also claims that recent polls show that 55-45, the U,S, public opposes continued aid to Ukraine. and that this weighs on the administrations: internal discussions of future “options” toward
Ukraine.
Reminiscent of the U.S. throwing South Vietnam off the bus in 1975, ans similar abandonment of the anti-Taliban forces in Afghanistan, and the Kurds in both Iraq and Syria.
@Adam
I would suggest that not only is this a possible solution, it is actually THE desired solution of the West as described by both Sen. Graham and Biden quite early in the war. What is more, this was to be the outcome of destabilizing the Russian economy with the US sanction war on Russia which failed to have the effect which the US intended. The Ukraine war was always intended by the West attempt to regime change Russia, much as was their desired outcomes of the wars in Serbia, Libya and Iraq. Yet, while your suggestion would certainly satisfy the West, as you note yourself this is not the desire of the Russian people, who hold Putin in some regard and who should have a right to keep their govt over the objections of others.
As to your suggestion that Putin is so unpopular in the military, I would question if this were true why is it that when Prigoghyn raised his rebellion, why not a single army unit support Prigoghyn, nor did a single general, nor any member of the general staff. If Putin is so “unpopular with all ranks in the army”, why is it that the army stood so faithfully in support of Putin during what was clearly an opportunity for them to make their dislike of him known. Instead the military stood by Putin, much to the consternation of the West who seemed to be of the same opinion as you when they were supporting and likely planning and funding Prigoghyin’s rebellion.
As to
In addition to Ted’s well made comment I have a few additional points to add. The leaders of France, Germany and Ukraine, among others, have all come out acknowledging that their support for the Minsk agreements were based upon duplicitous intentions of simply buying enough time to raise an army in Ukraine capable of facing Russia, an army which received Western funding, training and arms. Further than this, though, is the US coordinated coup in Ukraine which violated the Budapest Memorandum, the Helsinki Final Act and the UN Charter. Additionally since 2014 Russia has been involved in multiple efforts to peacefully resolve the issue in Ukraine. Here are only some of these efforts :
-The Geneva agreement of April 2014
-The Minsk accords of August 2014
-Minsk II Accords of February 2015
–The Morel Plan of October 2015
–The Steinmeier Formula of December 2015
–The Sajdik Initiative of January 2019
–The Clusters Approach of 2021
This is of course far from an exhaustive list of the negotiations which have taken place between Putin and the West. Though none of these efforts were successful, it seems that the Western powers did not find Putin’s credibility so slight as to prevent them from entering into these negotiations with him, even as they never intended to follow thru on these diplomatic attempts.
So where credibility is concerned, it would appear that the West has little credibility, themselves, from which to boast, as they seemed undeterred from negotiating, albeit in bad faith, with Russia for nearly a decade. Like Ted, I am interested in what lies it is that you are referencing that Putin told.
@Adam
Please provide the quotes and date them. You make some accusations but do not date them nor provide any context.
This was true when the Minsk agreements were signed but these agreements were violated by NATO.
Hi, Ted. You said,
Markovsky has a “thesis”, while the Ukrainians have bombed-out cities. Maybe Markovsky is right; maybe he is wrong. What difference does that make to the Ukrainians? or, for that matter, for the Russian people, many of whom do not want this war?
I’ve just been listening to a Victor Davis Hanson video about the Spanish-American War of 1898. The purported reason for starting that war was the sinking of the battleship “Maine” — the cause of which continued to be debated TO THIS DAY. I’m curious as to how the cause of a war of 125 years ago still isn’t settled, while pundits on both sides in the Ukraine War are already convinced they “know” what caused this fiasco — at that, while the conflict is very much alive.
I am unconvinced of EVERYONE’s explanations; but I am convinced that none of them matter. What matters is the war itself.
If I remember correctly, the Biden-Obama regime did publicly assurw both the Russian government and the U,S, Congress that it had no intention of admitting Ukraine to NATO “for at least the next forty years. ” True they never promised that they would not supply Ukraine with weapons if it were invaded.
The problem is that Putin has told so many lies to foreign governments that he has no credibility with any of them. This is not to say that Russia has no legitimate security concens about the stationing of NATO soldiers, even in small numbers, in Ukraine. Of course it does. But Putin and his administration are not credible negotiating partners.
Not long before the Russian invasion of February last year, Putin assured both the NATO governments, including the USG, that he had no intention of invading Ukraine. He even claimed that Russia had begun a gradual withdrawal of the soldiers it had in Ukraine, Both the NATO powers and the Ukrainian government believed him . The Zelensky goverment didn’t even put the Ukrainian armed forces on alert for a possible invasion.. Putin even lied to his own soldiers, and even senior army chiefs, that he had no plans to invade Ukraine. He told the soldiers that he had sent to Ukraine that they were sent there for a training mission and would not be used for an invasion of Ukraine. As a result, although Putin may remain popular among the civilian population, sources that I consider reliable say that he is unpopular with all ranks in the army. More later.
If my analysis is correct, the real obstacle to peace is not NATO and Ukraine vs. Russia, but NATO and Ukraine versus Putin. A possible solution that might lead to a peaceful end to the war in the forseeable future would be for both NATO and neautral countries to do whatever they can to persuade other members of the Russian political-economic elite to find some way of “retiring” Putin, with guarantees for his personal safety and a pledge of non-prosectution, and replacing him with a prominent individual of known personal integrity to succeed him.
I couldn’t overcome the temptation to repost 2 of my older posts with an explanation of why this whole thing was started and is continuing.
By now more than half of the Ukrainian land is owned by American businesses/corporations while the country is being emptied out, especially of its population.
See my previous comments for the explanation.
I reject Markovsky’s thesis
It is based on one statement’
How could Milley mean that, given that NATO spent the last 7 years building up the Ukrainian Army. He obviously didn’t believe that Kiev would fall in 72 hours.
Maybe he was encouraging the Russian full-scale invasion by suggesting an easy victory.
Then Markiovsky writes,
The answer is that they didn’t expect Ukraine to collapse. All the more reason not to provoke a war. But as I see it, NATO wanted Russia to invade so as to invoke punishing sanctions on Russia. Also together with Ukraine, they could weaken Russian and perhaps cause regime change.
Why so? It seems to me that NATO would lick its wounds for a few years before undertaking another war. Most see NATO as a defensive organization so it didn’t need a war to justify itself.
The photos of Zel at Vilnius were quite telling. Dressed super casual at a formal gathering, Zel looked forlorn in his state of isolation as he peered in disbelief at his masters’ as they scorned him a seat at their NATO table. Of course, lesson’s to learn from the NATO playbook should include the ‘Lucy Pulls the Football’ gambit which Zel found himself experiencing amid his disbelief of his latest NATO rejection. Ukraine is caught in a permanent state of fulfilling NATO’s needs without the ‘protections’ of being a NATO member, and this is in no small part due to Ukraine being Ukraine.
Besides the complications which making Ukraine a NATO member during its war with Russia, Ukraine is the Money Laundering capital of the world, a major hub of human and child trafficking in Europe, and an all around corrupt nation which is currently enacting the most retrograde political and social reforms of the post-war period in Europe. Always a bridesmaid but never a bride, the cross dressing thespian turned war profiteer seemed almost clueless as to what it is which makes the nation he sold out to the highest bidder to be such an unattractive prospect given his complete capitulation of making his nation the butt of every proxy joke known to history.
With all of this in mind, I found myself supporting a bit of remorse as I watched Zel at Vilnius – not for Zel of course, but rather for the millions of people who were betrayed when they voted for a peace candidate who only bought them war. Given the plutocratic, oligarchic, militaristic nature of Ukraine, some might ask what might the average citizen have done to have avoided the outcome in which the average Ukrainian is now held captive.
The answer would be to resist rather than support the coup which made their fellow citizens objects of scorn, ridicule and demonization. Whereas the American coup was popular in the non-Russian centers of Ukraine, the illegitimacy around the overthrow of the national govt could not have been easy to misinterpret. The coup empowered nationalists which made it acceptable, but the fact that it was a foreign coup of a Ukrainian govt should have united Ukraine against the coup. Also, the coup re-centered the nation towards a nationalist ideology made it additionally popular, but in doing so it also empowered Nazi’s in the most sensitive positions of the govt which should have further unified Ukraine against the coup. The antiRussian sentiment added even more to the popularity of the coup, but the reality that this took the nation to a state of civil war should have made the greatest influence in unifying Ukraine against the coup. The Ukrainians allowed themselves to be lulled into redefining their society, capitulating their right to political independence, and sacrificed the rights of their minorities altogether.
It was the failure of the Ukrainian public to stand as guardians of their nation, their people and their unity that has led them to the impossible fate in which they are now trapped. And so, those poor souls not already holding refugee status in some foreign land have now become the human drones of NATO’s latest failing war, the Expendables of Europe as Markovsky well describes them. It is indeed a sad fate in which they are suffering, but not one which they did not invite upon themselves.