Ukraine
-
@Victor-Meldrew said in Ukraine:
I wait for the evidence and then try and work it out fairly. As hard as this is.
It's not hard to work out Putin is a liar, it really isn't.
Western leaders lie too
And sometimes during war its necessary
-
Why would he lie in this situation. Maybe he would but it seems unlikely.
Off the top of my head.....
- He immediately dismissed the US warnings of an ISKP attack as "imperialist propaganda" and would look stupid if he then said it was ISKP
- Saying it was ISKP would make his security forces - and by extension Putin - look weak and incompetent
- The last thing Putin wants is to inflame Central Asians in Russia as they are a key source of labour in his war-economy
- Scapegoating Ukraine feeds into his narrative of blaming Ukraine and the West for a declining economy
-
Here's an article on the Wests push for (another) war.
But I think it's too late for Ukraine.
The war in Ukraine is the culmination of a 30-year project of the American neoconservative movement. The Biden Administration is packed with the same neocons who championed the US wars of choice in Serbia (1999), Afghanistan (2001), Iraq (2003), Syria (2011), Libya (2011), and who did so much to provoke Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The neocon track record is one of unmitigated disaster, yet Biden has staffed his team with neocons. As a result, Biden is steering Ukraine, the US, and the European Union towards yet another geopolitical debacle. If Europe has any insight, it will separate itself from these US foreign policy debacles.
The neocon movement emerged in the 1970s around a group of public intellectuals, several of whom were influenced by University of Chicago political scientist Leo Strauss and Yale University classicist Donald Kagan. Neocon leaders included Norman Podhoretz, Irving Kristol, Paul Wolfowitz, Robert Kagan (son of Donald), Frederick Kagan (son of Donald), Victoria Nuland (wife of Robert), Elliott Abrams, and Kimberley Allen Kagan (wife of Frederick).
The main message of the neocons is that the US must predominate in military power in every region of the world, and must confront rising regional powers that could someday challenge US global or regional dominance, most importantly Russia and China. For this purpose, US military force should be pre-positioned in hundreds of military bases around the world and the US should be prepared to lead wars of choice as necessary. The United Nations is to be used by the US only when useful for US purposes. This approach was spelled out first by Paul Wolfowitz in his draft Defense Policy Guidance (DPG) written for the Department of Defense in 2002.
==================
The most likely outcome of the current fighting is that Russia will conquer a large swath of Ukraine, perhaps leaving Ukraine landlocked or nearly so. Frustration will rise in Europe and the US with the military losses and the stagflationary consequences of war and sanctions. The knock-on effects could be devastating, if a right-wing demagogue in the US rises to power (or in the case of Trump, returns to power) promising to restore America’s faded military glory through dangerous escalation.
Instead of risking this disaster, the real solution is to end the neocon fantasies of the past 30 years and for Ukraine and Russia to return to the negotiating table, with NATO committing to end its commitment to the eastward enlargement to Ukraine and Georgia in return for a viable peace that respects and protects Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
-
@Victor-Meldrew said in Ukraine:
Why would he lie in this situation. Maybe he would but it seems unlikely.
Off the top of my head.....
- He immediately dismissed the US warnings of an ISKP attack as "imperialist propaganda" and would look stupid if he then said it was ISKP
- Staying it was ISKP would make his security forces - and by extension Putin - look weak and incompetent
- The last thing Putin wants is to inflame Central Asians in Russia as they are a key source on labour in his war-economy
- Scapegoating Ukraine feeds into his narrative of blaming Ukraine and the West for a declining economy
Maybe.
We do not yet know the exact nature of the information the US possessed or passed or how clear it was. Intelligence can often be vague and hard to act on.
But the US has a vast intelligence-gathering machine and watches IS closely. The branch suspected of the Moscow attack was also linked to one on US forces and civilians at Kabul airport in August 2021, as well as more recent deadly bombings in Iraq.
But if the intelligence that was shared with Russia was credible and specific about IS, then the FSB and Mr Putin might appear to be on the back foot about why they did not take it more seriously.
And if so, it may be easier for Moscow to relate the attack in some way to Ukraine in order to deflect blame and also build support for Russia's actions there, rather than acknowledge what they might have missed.
I
-
Crocus Hall attack was down to MI6 and the UK's colonialist past apparently, according to Russian State media.
State Rossiya 1 reporter Andrei Medvedev saw the hand of MI6, which, according to him, "patronises the Ukrainian HUR" (Main Intelligence Directorate) and "chose precisely migrants to carry out a monstrous terrorist attack".
"The British, due to their long colonial past, are very serious professionals in the field of inciting ethnic conflicts," he wrote in a post on the popular platform Telegram, that garnered almost 900,000 views. link here
-
Putin acknowledges ISIS did it. Adds some vague nonsense about Ukraine.
-
Putin acknowledges ISIS did it. Adds some vague nonsense about Ukraine.
Why Russian President Vladimir Putin Didn't Comment On ISIS Link In Moscow Terror Attack?
Russian President Vladimir Putin has refused to directly blame the Islamic State for the Moscow concert hall terror attack despite a claim by the extremist group and has implied that the attackers had links to Ukraine.
It should, however, be noted that Putin has acknowledged that radical Islamists were behind the attacks.
“We know that the crime was carried out by the hand of radical Islamists with an ideology that the Muslim world has fought for centuries,” Putin said in remarks posted on the Telegram messaging app but he does not directly mention Islamic State.
IS claimed the attack Friday evening on the Crocus City Hall concert venue on the outskirts of Moscow that left at least 137 people dead. France and the US also said that they have reasons to believe, based on intel inputs they received, that the Islamic State is behind the attacks.
-
US House of Representatives votes for $60bn of military aid to Ukraine.
-
60 billion. What an appalling waste of money.
But I wonder how much money will flow back into the Reps back pocket. Including the Big Guy
EDIT. Its one issue with the low salary politicians get. It would be much better to pay them collectively an extra say 500 million a year and have strict restrictions on campaign contributions, current and future consultancy work, speaking fees and other perks etc.
Regarding 500 million. Or less or more. To try and attract a different type of person. One who will just do the job without being tempted by future treats. Make the pay + pensions so good there is no need for this stuff. But couple it with strict restrictions too.
-
Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for the third time, had actually soft-pedaled his opposition to Ukraine aid in recent days as the dam began to break on the House Republican blockade. He stood by Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, who assembled the complicated aid packages for Ukraine, Israel and America’s Asian allies, and against threatened efforts to bring down Mr. Johnson’s speakership and plunge the House back into chaos. And he stayed quiet on Saturday, declining to pressure Republicans to vote no.
-
Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for the third time, had actually soft-pedaled his opposition to Ukraine aid in recent days as the dam began to break on the House Republican blockade. He stood by Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, who assembled the complicated aid packages for Ukraine, Israel and America’s Asian allies, and against threatened efforts to bring down Mr. Johnson’s speakership and plunge the House back into chaos. And he stayed quiet on Saturday, declining to pressure Republicans to vote no.
It looks to me that they couldn't get Trump on Board with the money side. As he already had enough
But the (corrupt) legal actions and fines have done it. He's now on-Board with the elite's agenda. Including endless wars.
We now need to prepare for a major war. Promoted entirely by the West. But in a way so that they can blame Iran, Russia or China to the (sound asleep) Blue pill takers.