The build-up to war on Russia

[conniption]

<<<--- Regarding the last post - Putin's speech at Davos WEF posted on the previous page.

The Saker
(embedded links)

Xi and Putin make the case for win-win vs. zero-sum
February 02, 2021
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By Pepe Escobar, posted with permission and first posted at Asia Times

So the Davos Agenda has come and gone.

That was the virtual Great Reset preview, hosted by Kissinger acolyte cum World Economic Forum (WEF) oracle Herr Klaus Schwab.

Still, corporate/political so-called “leaders” will continue to wax lyrical about the Fourth Industrial Revolution – or its mild spin-offs such as Build Back Better, the favorite slogan of the new White House tenants.

The WEF co-sponsors – from the UN and the IMF to BlackRock, Blackstone and the Carlyle Group – will continue to expand their synchronicity with Lynn Forester de Rothschild and her corporate-heavy Council for Inclusive Capitalism with the Vatican – pop Pope Francis at the helm.

And yes, they accept Visa.

Predictably, the two really crucial events at Davos received minimal or non-existent coverage across the wobbly West: the speeches by President Xi and President Putin.

We have already highlighted Xi’s essentials. Aside from arguing a powerful case for multilateralism as the only possible road map to deal with global challenges, Xi stressed nothing substantial may be achieved if the inequality gap between North and South is not reduced.

The best in-depth analysis of Putin’s extraordinary speech , hands down, was provided by Rostislav Ishchenko, whom I had the pleasure to meet in Moscow in 2018.

Ishchenko stresses how, “in terms of scale and impact on historical processes, this is steeper than the Battles of Stalingrad and Kursk combined.” The speech, he adds, was totally unexpected, as much as Putin’s stunning intervention at the Munich Security Conference in 2007, “the crushing defeat” imposed on Georgia in 2008, and the return of Crimea in 2014.

Ishchenko also reveals something that will never be acknowledged in the West: “80 people from among the most influential on the planet did not laugh in Putin’s face, as it was in 2007 in Munich, and without noise immediately after his open speech signed up for a closed conference with him.”

Putin’s very important reference to the ominous 1930s – “the inability and unwillingness to find substantive solutions to problems like this in the 20th century led to World War 2 catastrophe” – was juxtaposed with a common sense warning: the necessity of preventing the takeover of global policy by Big Tech , which “are de facto competing with states”.

Xi and Putin’s speeches were de facto complementary – emphasizing sustainable, win-win economic development for all actors, especially across the Global South, coupled with the necessity of a new socio-political contract in international relations.

This drive should be based on two pillars: sovereignty – that is, the good old Westphalian model (and not Great Reset, hyper-concentrated, one world “governance”) and sustainable development propelled by techno-scientific progress (and not techno-feudalism).

So what Putin-Xi proposed, in fact, was a concerted effort to expand the basic foundations of the Russia-China strategic partnership to the whole Global South: the crucial choice ahead is between win-win and the Exceptionalist zero-sum game.

Regime-change that commie!

The Xi-Putin road map is already being examined in excruciating detail by Michael Hudson, for instance in this essay based on the first chapter of his upcoming book Cold War 2.0: The Geopolitical Economics of Finance Capitalism vs. Industrial Capitalism. Many of these themes have been elaborated in a recent conversation/interview between Michael and myself.

The whole Global South is figuring out how the contrast could not be starker between the American model – neoliberalism redux, in the form of turbo-financialization – and East Asia’s productive investment in industrial capitalism.

Alastair Crooke has outlined the dubious “appeal” of the American model, including “asset markets…severed from any connection to economic returns”; markets that “are not free, but Treasury managed”; and “enterprise capitalism…morphed into monopolistic oligarchism”.

The glaring counterpoint to Xi-Putin at Davos has been a so-called “strategy paper” released by NATO think tank The Atlantic Council, pompously titled The Longer Telegram, as if this was as relevant as George Kennan’s 1946 Long Telegram that designed the containment of the USSR.

Well, the least one can say to the anonymous “former senior government official with deep expertise” on China is, “Mr. Anonymous, You’re No George Kennan”. At best, we’re dealing with a sub-Mike Pompeo with a massive hangover.

Amidst a tsunami of platitudes, we learn that China is a “revisionist power” that “presents a serious problem for the whole of the democratic world”; and that the Chinese leadership better get its act together and operate “within the US-led liberal international order rather than building a rival order”.

The usual toxic mix of arrogance and condescension totally gives away the game, which boils down to “deterring and preventing China from crossing US red lines”, and applying good, old Kissingerian Divide and Rule between Russia and China.

Oh, and don’t forget regime change: if the “strategy” works, “Xi will in time be replaced by the more traditional form of Communist Party leadership.”

If this is what passes for intellectual firepower in Atlanticist circles, Beijing and Moscow don’t even need enemies.

The Asian center of gravity

Martin Jacques, now a visiting professor at Tsinghua University and a senior fellow at the China Institute of Fudan University, is one of the very few Westerners who actually has real “expertise” on China.

He’s now focusing on the main battlefield in the evolving US-China clash: Europe. Jacques notes that, “the trend toward a growing distance between Europe and the US will be slow, tortuous, conflict-riddled, and painful.” We are now “in new territory. American decline means that it has increasingly less to offer Europe.”

As an example, let’s jump cut to a distinct feature of the BRI/New Silk Roads and one of its key hubs, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC): the Digital Silk Road .

In partnership with Huawei, fiber optic cable is being laid out all across Pakistan – as I saw for myself when I traveled the Karakoram Highway, the northern part of CPEC. This fiber optic cable all the way from the Karakoram to Balochistan will link with the Pakistan-East Africa Connecting Europe (PEACE) submarine cable in the Arabian Sea.

The end result will be high-end connectivity between a host of BRI-participating nations and Europe – as the Mediterranean section is already being laid, running from Egypt to France. Before the end of 2021, the whole 15,000 km-long fiber optic cable will be online.

This shows that BRI is not as much about building roads, dams and high-speed rail networks but especially the Digital Silk Road, intimately connected with state of the art Chinese cyber-tech.

It’s no wonder Jacques fully understands how “the gravitational pull of China, and Asia more generally, is drawing Europe eastward. Nothing illustrates this phenomenon better than the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative.”

In ReOrient: Global Economy in the Asian Age, an extraordinary book published way back in 1998, the late, great Andre Gunder Frank exhaustively smashed Eurocentrism, demonstrating how the rise of the West was a mere historical blip, and a consequence of the decline of the East around 1800.

Now, only two centuries later, the planet’s center of gravity is back in Asia, as it’s been for most of recorded history. The fate of those blind to the evidence and unable to adapt is to telegram themselves to utter irrelevance.

https://thesaker.is/xi-and-putin-make-t ... -zero-sum/

~~~

Moon of Alabama

This Is Why They Attack Him - Putin Explains Why We Need New Economic Policies

February 02, 2021
Comments

The President of Russia Vladimir Putin has given a great speech to the Davos 2021 online forum organized by the World Economic Forum. As usual it created little echo in the 'western' media.

Putin sees a new danger of large international conflicts. Economic imbalances have caused socio-political problems in many countries which, when externalized, can lead to international conflicts.

To solve this one has to reject the laissez faire doctrines that caused the economic imbalances. The nation states must intervene more in their economies. The people must be seen as the ends, not the means of such economic policy. There must be more international cooperation through global organizations to enable this everywhere.

There is more in the speech than that. But the above is the core idea. U.S. neo-liberalism will of course reject such a program.

Following are excerpts that reflect on the above points.

The big picture view points to great danger:

The pandemic has exacerbated the problems and imbalances that built up in the world before. There is every reason to believe that differences are likely to grow stronger. These trends may appear practically in all areas.

Needless to say, there are no direct parallels in history. However, some experts – and I respect their opinion – compare the current situation to the 1930s. One can agree or disagree, but certain analogies are still suggested by many parameters, including the comprehensive, systemic nature of the challenges and potential threats.

We are seeing a crisis of the previous models and instruments of economic development. Social stratification is growing stronger both globally and in individual countries. We have spoken about this before as well. But this, in turn, is causing today a sharp polarisation of public views, provoking the growth of populism, right- and left-wing radicalism and other extremes, and the exacerbation of domestic political processes including in the leading countries.

All this is inevitably affecting the nature of international relations and is not making them more stable or predictable. International institutions are becoming weaker, regional conflicts are emerging one after another, and the system of global security is deteriorating.

Klaus [Schwab] has mentioned the conversation I had yesterday with the US President on extending the New START. This is, without a doubt, a step in the right direction. Nevertheless, the differences are leading to a downward spiral. As you are aware, the inability and unwillingness to find substantive solutions to problems like this in the 20th century led to the WWII catastrophe.

Putin then goes into the details of the above theses.

What caused the current economic imbalances?

These imbalances in global socioeconomic development are a direct result of the policy pursued in the 1980s, which was often vulgar or dogmatic. This policy rested on the so-called Washington Consensus with its unwritten rules, when the priority was given to the economic growth based on a private debt in conditions of deregulation and low taxes on the wealthy and the corporations.

As I have already mentioned, the coronavirus pandemic has only exacerbated these problems. In the last year, the global economy sustained its biggest decline since WWII. By July, the labour market had lost almost 500 million jobs. Yes, half of them were restored by the end of the year but still almost 250 million jobs were lost. This is a big and very alarming figure. In the first nine months of the past year alone, the losses of earnings amounted to $3.5 trillion. This figure is going up and, hence, social tension is on the rise.

At the same time, post-crisis recovery is not simple at all. If some 20 or 30 years ago, we would have solved the problem through stimulating macroeconomic policies (incidentally, this is still being done), today such mechanisms have reached their limits and are no longer effective. This resource has outlived its usefulness. This is not an unsubstantiated personal conclusion.

According to the IMF, the aggregate sovereign and private debt level has approached 200 percent of global GDP, and has even exceeded 300 percent of national GDP in some countries. At the same time, interest rates in developed market economies are kept at almost zero and are at a historic low in emerging market economies.

Taken together, this makes economic stimulation with traditional methods, through an increase in private loans virtually impossible. The so-called quantitative easing is only increasing the bubble of the value of financial assets and deepening the social divide. The widening gap between the real and virtual economies (incidentally, representatives of the real economy sector from many countries have told me about this on numerous occasions, and I believe that the business representatives attending this meeting will agree with me) presents a very real threat and is fraught with serious and unpredictable shocks.

The economic imbalances create deep socio-political problems:

In this context, I would like to mention the second fundamental challenge of the forthcoming decade – the socio-political one. The rise of economic problems and inequality is splitting society, triggering social, racial and ethnic intolerance. Indicatively, these tensions are bursting out even in the countries with seemingly civil and democratic institutions that are designed to alleviate and stop such phenomena and excesses.

The systemic socioeconomic problems are evoking such social discontent that they require special attention and real solutions. The dangerous illusion that they may be ignored or pushed into the corner is fraught with serious consequences.

In this case, society will still be divided politically and socially. This is bound to happen because people are dissatisfied not by some abstract issues but by real problems that concern everyone regardless of the political views that people have or think they have. Meanwhile, real problems evoke discontent.

The danger rises when the socio-political problems get externalized:

And finally, the third challenge, or rather, a clear threat that we may well run into in the coming decade is the further exacerbation of many international problems. After all, unresolved and mounting internal socioeconomic problems may push people to look for someone to blame for all their troubles and to redirect their irritation and discontent. We can already see this. We feel that the degree of foreign policy propaganda rhetoric is growing.

We can expect the nature of practical actions to also become more aggressive, including pressure on the countries that do not agree with a role of obedient controlled satellites, use of trade barriers, illegitimate sanctions and restrictions in the financial, technological and cyber spheres.

Such a game with no rules critically increases the risk of unilateral use of military force. The use of force under a far-fetched pretext is what this danger is all about. This multiplies the likelihood of new hot spots flaring up on our planet. This concerns us.

What can be done to prevent the danger which arises from socio-political problems caused by imbalanced economies?

Clearly, with the above restrictions and macroeconomic policy in mind, economic growth will largely rely on fiscal incentives with state budgets and central banks playing the key role.

Actually, we can see these kinds of trends in the developed countries and also in some developing economies as well. An increasing role of the state in the socioeconomic sphere at the national level obviously implies greater responsibility and close interstate interaction when it comes to issues on the global agenda.
...
It is clear that the world cannot continue creating an economy that will only benefit a million people, or even the golden billion. This is a destructive precept. This model is unbalanced by default. The recent developments, including migration crises, have reaffirmed this once again.

We must now proceed from stating facts to action, investing our efforts and resources into reducing social inequality in individual countries and into gradually balancing the economic development standards of different countries and regions in the world. This would put an end to migration crises.

The essence and focus of this policy aimed at ensuring sustainable and harmonious development are clear. They imply the creation of new opportunities for everyone, conditions under which everyone will be able to develop and realise their potential regardless of where they were born and are living.

Here Putin sets the goals for national strategies:

I would like to point out four key priorities, as I see them. This might be old news, but since Klaus has allowed me to present Russia’s position, my position, I will certainly do so.

First, everyone must have comfortable living conditions, including housing and affordable transport, energy and public utility infrastructure. Plus environmental welfare, something that must not be overlooked.

Second, everyone must be sure that they will have a job that can ensure sustainable growth of income and, hence, decent standards of living. Everyone must have access to an effective system of lifelong education, which is absolutely indispensable now and which will allow people to develop, make a career and receive a decent pension and social benefits upon retirement.

Third, people must be confident that they will receive high-quality and effective medical care whenever necessary, and that the national healthcare system will guarantee access to modern medical services.

Fourth, regardless of the family income, children must be able to receive a decent education and realise their potential. Every child has potential.

This is the only way to guarantee the cost-effective development of the modern economy, in which people are perceived as the end, rather than the means. Only those countries capable of attaining progress in at least these four areas will facilitate their own sustainable and all-inclusive development. These areas are not exhaustive, and I have just mentioned the main aspects.

A strategy, also being implemented by my country, hinges on precisely these approaches.

What should be done globally:

We are open to the broadest international cooperation, while achieving our national goals, and we are confident that cooperation on matters of the global socioeconomic agenda would have a positive influence on the overall atmosphere in global affairs, and that interdependence in addressing acute current problems would also increase mutual trust which is particularly important and particularly topical today.

Obviously, the era linked with attempts to build a centralised and unipolar world order has ended. To be honest, this era did not even begin. A mere attempt was made in this direction, but this, too, is now history. The essence of this monopoly ran counter to our civilisation’s cultural and historical diversity.

The reality is such that really different development centres with their distinctive models, political systems and public institutions have taken shape in the world. Today, it is very important to create mechanisms for harmonising their interests to prevent the diversity and natural competition of the development poles from triggering anarchy and a series of protracted conflicts.

To achieve this we must, in part, consolidate and develop universal institutions that bear special responsibility for ensuring stability and security in the world and for formulating and defining the rules of conduct both in the global economy and trade.

It is no wonder that the neo-liberal 'west' constantly attacks Putin and at the same time takes care that his speech gets as little attention as possible. It is dangerous because it could give the deplorables some ideas.

It is also sad that no 'western' politician I am aware of would ever give such a speech.

Posted by b on February 2, 2021

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2021/02/t ... icies.html

[conniption]

Another take on the Davos Agenda:

Strategic Culture
(embedded links)

Xi and Putin Stand Up for Humanity at Davos: Closed vs Open System Ideologies Clash Again

Matthew Ehret
February 1, 2021

Where one system promotes the trojan horse seeds of its own annihilation, the other promotes the seeds of fruitful new epochs of continual growth and discoveries both on the surface of the earth and also beyond, Matthew Ehret writes.

Between January 25-29, 2021, world leaders were corralled into a digital conference titled “The Davos Agenda” in order to discuss the foundations of the emerging new world economic architecture which has come to be called “The Great Reset”.

For those who have not yet made this disturbing discovery, the Great Reset agenda was first unveiled by the World Economic Forum as a cover for imposing a new world economic order upon nation states. This reset hides behind a veneer of morality but is actually reveals a to feudalism with a technotronic twist.

“Technotronic” in this sense does not refer to the 1980s band that made “Pump up the Jam” famous but rather Zbigniew Brzezinski’s 1970 ‘Between Two Ages: America in the Technotronic Era’ where the arch globalist famously stated:

“The technotronic era involves the gradual appearance of a more controlled society. Such a society would be dominated by an elite, unrestrained by traditional values. Soon it will be possible to assert almost continuous surveillance over every citizen and maintain up-to-date complete files containing even the most personal information about the citizen. These files will be subject to instantaneous retrieval by the authorities.”

As I outlined in my recent study “Maurice Strong and the Roots of the Great Reset Agenda”, and which Brzezinski’s life’s devotion indicates, while this plan was officially unveiled in June 2020, its origins can be traced back many decades earlier.

The formula driving this “global cure-all” is simple and starts with the following presumptions:

> COVID-19 has caused world economic systems to grind to a halt. 2) Now the leaders of the world have a golden opportunity to correct the abuses of unbounded free market monetarism which became hegemonic since 1971 and establish a new global economic order. 3) This new order will be premised on a mass behavioral modification of humanity in order to end climate change (by decarbonizing the world to pre-industrial levels) while also creating top-down regimes that can end COVID-19, all in one unified thrust. Whether or not these crises are in fact the existential threats we have been sold or whether they are chimerical non-issues created by computer modellers is a topic to be tackled another day.

Giddy Technocrats Celebrate the Crisis

Speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF) last year, Prince Charles stated buoyantly “We have a golden opportunity to seize something good from this crisis- its unprecedented shockwaves may well make people more receptive to big visions of change. It is an opportunity we have never had before and may never have again.” (1)

WEF founder and Chairman Klaus Schwab echoed these words saying: “The pandemic represents a rare but narrow window of opportunity to reflect, reimagine, and reset our world”.

Even the Vatican itself under Pope Francis has jumped on board endorsing the Great Reset while creating a green “Council for Inclusive Capitalism With the Vatican”.

U.S. Special Envoy for Climate John Kerry stated on January 23: “The notion of a Reset is more important than ever before. I personally believe we’re at the dawn of an extremely exciting time.”

Of course, words like “social justice”, “equality” and “development” are freely bandied about by Davos creatures but when one digs into the means promoted to achieve the mass decarbonization of world civilization, a different picture emerges.

Not only would these “decarbonizing Green New Dealers” tie civilization to low quality, incredibly expensive and woefully unreliable forms of energy rooted in windmills and solar panels, but forcing the swift elimination of fossil fuels (and the conspicuous absence of nuclear power development) would constrict civilization’s ability to sustain its population and agro-industrial needs in stark terms. The greatest hit under this green paradigm would be the poor who, at least for a short period, desperately require vastly increased uses of the fossil fuels located under their soil in order to industrialize.



Additionally, Davos Creatures promoting this de-carbonized world have laid out in depth, a new system of Green hegemonic digital currency controlled by the City of London and the Central Bankers’ Climate Councils. These financiers love the idea of expert panels of managing humanity outside of the “messy institutions of democracies” which have historically blocked the enlightened elite from making the “tough draconian” decisions for the common good since the days of the League of Nations.

What is it about Putin and Xi which inspires such fear in the hearts of the Great Reset Architects? In the simplest terms, the answer is “open system economics”.

Open vs Closed Systems

While the Great Reset Architects are thoroughly committed to closed operating systems which demand computer models be imposed onto the world guiding a zero-growth policy towards total equilibrium and “entropy”, the multipolar alliance led by Xi and Putin are committed to “open system” thinking.

Where the closed system/unipolar model demands the submission of governments to a totalitarian system of controls of “experts” who are uniquely qualified to control the diminishing rates of return of fixed resources, the open system/multipolar model demands a respect for sovereign nations and a focus upon the creation of new resources via scientific and technological progress. Where one is premised on a zero-sum game of win-lose behavior (aka: the survival of the fittest), the other is premised upon a non-zero-sum game of win-win cooperation.

When confronted with resource scarcity and population growth, closed system thinkers adopt a Malthusian view that population growth must be culled to adhere to mathematical models of “carrying capacity” in some imagined stated of “natural equilibrium” which said models demand must exist.

This is the sort of thinking going on behind the eyeballs of World Wildlife Foundation founder Prince Philip of Mountbatten who stated in a 1988 interview with Deutsche Press Agentur:

“The more people there are, the more resources they’ll consume, the more pollution they’ll create, the more fighting they will do. We have no option. If it isn’t controlled voluntarily, it will be controlled involuntarily by an increase in disease, starvation and war. …In the event that I am reincarnated, I would like to return as a deadly virus, in order to contribute something to solve overpopulation.”


Thomas Malthus and his model of population growth

On the other hand, open system thinkers promote scientific and technological progress and industrial growth in order to overcome said states of “carrying capacity”. This approach reflects an understanding that value is not located in money, or any material phenomenon per se, but rather in the immaterial powers of cognition and metaphysical laws of intention, creativity, morality, hope and justice. Malthusian materialists tend to get very uncomfortable at such “abstract” and “unscientific” ideas.

Where one system promotes the trojan horse seeds of its own annihilation, the other promotes the seeds of fruitful new epochs of continual growth and discoveries both on the surface of the earth and also beyond.

Xi Jinping’s Speech

Speaking on January 25, President Xi called for “four major tasks facing people of our times”: 1) macro economic needs, 2) a foreign policy of peaceful co-existence and win-win cooperation, 3) close the north south inequality gap and 4) coordinate to deal with global challenges.

On the first task, Xi stated: “We need to shift the driving forces and the growth models of the global economy and improve its structure, so as to set the course for long term, sound, and steady development of the world economy.”

Pushing back against the Hobbesian unipolarists presiding over the summit, Xi defended his 2nd Task saying: “Difference in itself is no cause for alarm. What does bring alarm is arrogance, prejudice, and hatred. It is the attempt to impose hierarchy on human civilization, or to force one’s own history, culture, and social system upon others. The right choice is for countries to pursue peaceful coexistence based on mutual respect, and only finding common ground, while shelving differences, and to promote exchanges and mutual learning. This is the way to add impetus to the progress of human civilization.”

Defending poor nations’ rights to control their own developmental pathways, Xi announced the 3rd task saying: “The international community should keep its eyes on the long run, honor its commitment to provide necessary support to developing countries and safeguard their legitimate development interests.”

And finally on the 4th task, Xi stated: “No global problem can be solved by any one country alone. There must be global action, a global response, and global cooperation.”

While Xi supported the WHO, globalization and Paris Climate Accords, his approach to net carbon neutrality by 2060 is hinged not on degrowth, but rather advanced scientific and technological progress, equal access for development, the defense of sovereign nation states as outlined in the UN Charter. On these points Xi stated:

“China will invest more in science and technology, developing and enabling systems for innovation as a priority, turn breakthroughs in science and technology into actual productivity at a faster pace, and enhance intellectual property protection, all for the purpose of fostering innovation-driven, higher-quality growth. Scientific and technological advances should benefit all humanity, rather than be used to curb and contain other countries’ development.”

Putin’s Speech

After paying lip service to Schwab and applauding the extension of the START treaty with the USA, Putin pointed out in his January 27 Davos speech that the overarching dynamic under Biden continues to be degenerative, driving us towards world war with stark parallels to the 1930s. Here Putin warned that experts “compare the current situation to the 1930s… As you are aware, the inability and unwillingness to find substantive solutions to problems like this in the 20th century led to World War 2 catastrophe. Of course, such a heated global conflict is impossible in principle, I hope. That is what I am pinning my hopes on, because this would be the end of humanity. However as I have said, the situation could take an unexpected and uncontrollable turn – unless we do something to prevent this. There is a chance that we will face a formidable break-down in global development, which will be fraught with a war of all against all and attempts to deal with contradictions through the appointment of internal and external enemies and the destruction of not only traditional values such as the family, which we hold dear in Russia, but fundamental freedoms such as the right of choice and privacy.”

Putin amplified Xi’s earlier remarks, laying out three domains for reform starting with 1) economic development for all, 2) the prevention of the takeover of world policy by big tech giants saying “they are de facto competing with states”, and 3) a reform towards win-win international relations.

While Putin’s entire speech should be studied in depth, the spirit of his message was captured in his clearly hopeful but stark warning that: “we have a shared responsibility to prevent this scenario which looks like a grim dystopia, and to ensure instead that our development takes a different trajectory- positive, harmonious and creative.”

Special Address by Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation | DAVOS AGENDA 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPClu1B ... =emb_title
Jan 27, 2021
World Economic Forum

The Nature of 21st Century Energy Needs

While China certainly invests quite a lot in green energy grids, it derives the actual industrial energy needed to power its capital-intensive infrastructure megaprojects and high-speed rail grids from its world leading investments into nuclear power and fossil fuels.

China, Russia and India together represent over 50% world nuclear energy projects while the west has all but abandoned the technology long ago.

China currently has 17 reactors under construction and has created the most advanced molten salt fast breeder (4th generation) reactor which is 60x more efficient than other reactors due to its closing of the fuel cycle (allowing its users to reprocess “waste” into new fuel rather than bury it as has been the common practice in the west since Carter sabotaged the closing of the fuel cycle in the 1970s.) As these next generation units featuring molten thorium are increasingly brought online (alongside similar ambitions in India and Russia), while the fuel cycle is finally brought to a close, such fears of meltdowns, radiation, and nuclear waste that poisoned generations of minds will finally be healed.

Why the FEAR of Radiation is DEADLY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfC4O64 ... =emb_title
Rising Tide Foundation
Aug 6, 2019

Additionally, China has become a leader in nuclear fusion development with openly stated aims to mine the moon for Helium 3 (found in abundance in Lunar soil, but nearly totally absent on the Earth due to our magnetic field). When the inevitable fusion breakthroughs arise, experts estimate that about three truck loads of this isotope shipped to the earth from the moon will supply one year of energy needs at current capacities.

At an important Energy summit in 2019, Putin laid out the important role of fusion power as the foundation for a harmonization between the realm of nature (the biosphere) and the realm of creative reason (the technosphere) saying: “super-efficient scientific, engineering and manufacturing solutions will help us establish a balance between the biosphere and the technosphere… fusion energy which in fact is similar to how heat and light are produced in our star, the sun, is an example of such nature-like technologies.”

Having signed several joint agreements on nuclear development and technology sharing over the past decade, China and Russia have become world leaders in nuclear power, not only in their own borders, but internationally as well, providing the technology widely across Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South America as evidenced by the following map.



While earlier efforts to promote this type of policy were once championed by American statesmen during the 1940s-1960s, the deep state coup which emerged over the dead bodies of JFK, MLK and RFK, ensured that no such policy would ever be permitted under the Anglo-American empire.

Both China and Russia have signed an agreement to jointly build a lunar base by 2030 and both have expressed an understanding that space mining, fusion power, and large-scale infrastructure development via the BRI, Polar Silk Road and beyond which have opened vistas of potential for global growth and economic justice which keeps closed system technocrats up at night.

This is the foundation of the “Sustained development” open system paradigm of Eurasia which stands in total contrast to the deconstructionist “sustainable development” closed system paradigm of the west.

Which version of the Great Reset will ultimately come out on top still remains to be seen.

Note

(1) While many don’t pay the impending King of England much respect, the fact is the WEF website itself credits him as the key organizing force behind it stating: “The Great Reset is a new initiative from the WEF and HRH the Prince of Wales to guide decision-makers on the path to a more resilient, sustainable world beyond coronavirus”.

https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/ ... ash-again/

[BenDhyan]

Hmmm...are we seeing a change in the rhetoric after the 4 years of Trump?

Top US Admiral warns threat of nuclear war from Russia and China a ‘real possibility’

February 5, 2021

A top US admiral has called on the nation’s leaders to seek new ways to face threats by Russia and China, including the “real possibility” of nuclear conflict.

Admiral Charles Richard, who heads the US Strategic Command – which is responsible for nuclear deterrence – warned that Moscow and Beijing have “begun to aggressively challenge international norms” in “ways not seen since the height of the Cold War”.

“There is a real possibility that a regional crisis with Russia or China could escalate quickly to a conflict involving nuclear weapons, if they perceived a conventional loss would threaten the regime or state,” he wrote in the February issue of Proceedings, the US Naval Institute’s monthly magazine.

“Consequently, the US military must shift its principal assumption from ‘nuclear employment is not possible’ to ‘nuclear employment is a very real possibility,’ and act to meet and deter that reality.”

cont...

https://www.news.com.au/world/asia/top-us-admiral-warns-threat-of-nuclear-war-from-russia-and-china-a-real-possibility/news-story/290ead11db014b7df575ac35f6afe51f

[Iamwhomiam]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGFkw0hzW1c

[conniption]

The Saker
(embedded links)
Putin rewrites the law of the geopolitical jungle
By Pepe Escobar
April 23, 2021

Putin’s address to the Russian Federal Assembly – a de facto State of the Nation – was a judo move that left Atlanticist sphere hawks particularly stunned.

The “West” was not even mentioned by name. Only indirectly, or via a delightful metaphor, Kipling’s Jungle Book. Foreign policy was addressed only at the end, almost as an afterthought.

For the best part of an hour and a half, Putin concentrated on domestic issues, detailing a series of policies that amount to the Russian state helping those in need – low income families, children, single mothers, young professionals, the underprivileged – with, for instance, free health checks all the way to the possibility of an universal income in the near future.

Of course he would also need to address the current, highly volatile state of international relations. The concise manner he chose to do it, counter-acting the prevailing Russophobia in the Atlanticist sphere, was quite striking.

First, the essentials. Russia’s policy “is to ensure peace and security for the well-being of our citizens and for the stable development of our country.”

Yet if “someone does not want to…engage in dialogue, but chooses an egoistic and arrogant tone, Russia will always find a way to stand up for its position.”

He singled out “the practice of politically motivated, illegal economic sanctions” to connect it to “something much more dangerous”, and actually rendered invisible in the Western narrative: “the recent attempt to organize a coup d’etat in Belarus and the assassination of that country’s president.” Putin made sure to stress, “all boundaries have been crossed”.

The plot to kill Lukashenko was unveiled by Russian and Belarusian intel – which detained several actors backed, who else, US intel. The US State Department predictably denied any involvement.

Putin: “It is worth pointing to the confessions of the detained participants in the conspiracy that a blockade of Minsk was being prepared, including its city infrastructure and communications, the complete shutdown of the entire power grid of the Belarusian capital. This, incidentally means preparations for a massive cyber-attack.”

And that leads to a very uncomfortable truth: “Apparently, it’s not for no reason that our Western colleagues have stubbornly rejected numerous proposals by the Russian side to establish an international dialogue in the field of information and cyber-security.”

“Asymmetric, swift and harsh”

Putin remarked how to “attack Russia” has become “a sport, a new sport, who makes the loudest statements.” And then he went full Kipling: “Russia is attacked here and there for no reason. And of course, all sorts of petty Tabaquis [jackals] are running around like Tabaqui ran around Shere Khan [the tiger] – everything is like in Kipling’s book – howling along and ready to serve their sovereign. Kipling was a great writer”.

The – layered – metaphor is even more startling as it echoes the late 19th century geopolitical Great Game between the British and Russian empires, of which Kipling was a protagonist.

Once again Putin had to stress that “we really don’t want to burn any bridges. But if someone perceives our good intentions as indifference or weakness and intends to burn those bridges completely or even blow them up, he should know that Russia’s response will be asymmetric, swift and harsh”.

So here’s the new law of the geopolitical jungle – backed by Mr. Iskander, Mr. Kalibr, Mr. Avangard, Mr. Peresvet, Mr. Khinzal, Mr. Sarmat, Mr. Zircon and other well-respected gentlemen, hypersonic and otherwise, later complimented on the record. Those who poke the Bear to the point of threatening “the fundamental interests of our security will regret what has been done, as they have regretted nothing for a very long time.”

The stunning developments of the past few weeks – the China-US Alaska summit, the Lavrov-Wang Yi summit in Guilin, the NATO summit, the Iran-China strategic deal, Xi Jinping’s speech at the Boao forum – now coalesce into a stark new reality: the era of a unilateral Leviathan imposing its iron will is over.

For those Russophobes who still haven’t got the message, a cool, calm and collected Putin was compelled to add, “clearly, we have enough patience, responsibility, professionalism, self-confidence, self-assurance in the correctness of our position and common sense when it comes to making any decisions. But I hope that no one will think about crossing Russia’s so-called red lines. And where they run, we determine ourselves in each specific case.”

Back to realpolitik, Putin once again had to stress the “special responsibility” of the “five nuclear states” to seriously discuss “issues related to strategic armament”. It’s an open question whether the Biden-Harris administration – behind which stand a toxic cocktail of neo-cons and humanitarian imperialists – will agree.

Putin: “The goal of such negotiations could be to create an environment of conflict-free coexistence based on equal security, covering not only strategic weapons such as intercontinental ballistic missiles, heavy bombers and submarines, but also, I would like to emphasize, all offensive and defensive systems capable of solving strategic tasks, regardless of their equipment.”

As much as Xi’s address to the Boao forum was mostly directed to the Global South, Putin highlighted how “we are expanding contacts with our closest partners in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BRICS, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the allies of the Collective Security Treaty Organization”, and extolled “joint projects in the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union”, billed as “practical tools for solving the problems of national development.”

In a nutshell: integration in effect, following the Russian concept of “Greater Eurasia”.

“Tensions skirting wartime levels”

Now compare all of the above with the White House Executive Order (EO) declaring a “national emergency” to “deal with the Russian threat”.

This is directly connected to President Biden – actually the combo telling him what to do, complete with earpiece and teleprompter – promising Ukraine’s President Zelensky that Washington would “take measures” to support Kiev’s wishful thinking of retaking Donbass and Crimea.

There are several eyebrow-raising issues with this EO. It denies, de facto, to any Russian national the full rights to their US property. Any US resident may be accused of being a Russian agent engaged in undermining US security. A sub-sub paragraph (C), detailing “actions or policies that undermine democratic processes or institutions in the United States or abroad”, is vague enough to be used to eliminate any journalism that supports Russia’s positions in international affairs.

Purchases of Russian OFZ bonds have been sanctioned, as well as one of the companies involved in the production of the Sputnik V vaccine. Yet the icing on this sanction cake may well be that from now on all Russian citizens, including dual citizens, may be barred from entering US territory except via a rare special authorization on top of the ordinary visa.

The Russian paper Vedomosti has noted that in such paranoid atmosphere the risks for large companies such as Yandex or Kaspersky Lab are significantly increasing. Still, these sanctions have not been met with surprise in Moscow. The worst is yet to come, according to Beltway insiders: two packages of sanctions against Nord Stream 2 already approved by the US Department of Justice.

The crucial point is that this EO de facto places anyone reporting on Russia’s political positions as potentially threatening “American democracy”. As top political analyst Alastair Crooke has remarked, this is a “procedure usually reserved for citizens of enemy states during times of war”. Crooke adds, “US hawks are upping the ante fiercely against Moscow. Tensions and rhetoric are skirting wartime levels.”

It’s an open question whether Putin’s State of the Nation will be seriously examined by the toxic lunatic combo of neocons and humanitarian imperialists bent on simultaneously harassing Russia and China.

But the fact is something extraordinary has already started to happen: a “de-escalation” of sorts.

Even before Putin’s address, Kiev, NATO and the Pentagon apparently got the message implicit in Russia moving two armies, massive artillery batteries and airborne divisions to the borders of Donbass and to Crimea – not to mention top naval assets moved from the Caspian to the Black Sea. NATO could not even dream of matching that.

Facts on different grounds speak volumes. Both Paris and Berlin were terrified of a possible Kiev clash directly against Russia, and lobbied furiously against it, bypassing the EU and NATO.

Then someone – it might have been Jake Sullivan – must have whispered on Crash Test Dummy’s earpiece that you don’t go around insulting the head of a nuclear state and expect to keep your global “credibility”. So after that by now famous “Biden” phone call to Putin came the invitation to the climate change summit, in which any lofty promises are largely rhetorical, as the Pentagon will continue to be the largest polluting entity on planet Earth.

So Washington may have found a way to keep at least one avenue of dialogue open with Moscow. At the same time Moscow has no illusions whatsoever that the Ukraine/Donbass/Crimea drama is over. Even if Putin did not mention it in the State of the Nation. And even if Defense Minister Shoigu has ordered a de-escalation.

The always inestimable Andrei Martyanov has gleefully noted the “cultural shock when Brussels and D.C. started to suspect that Russia doesn’t ‘want’ Ukraine. What Russia wants is for this country to rot and implode without excrement from this implosion hitting Russia. West’s paying for the clean up of this clusterf**k is also in Russian plans for Ukrainian Bantustan.”

The fact that Putin did not even mention Bantustan in his speech corroborates this analysis. As far as “red lines” are concerned, Putin’s implicit message remains the same: a NATO base on Russia’s western flank simply won’t be tolerated. Paris and Berlin know it. The EU is in denial. NATO will always refuse to admit it.

We always come back to the same crucial issue: whether Putin will be able, against all odds, to pull a combined Bismarck-Sun Tzu move and build a lasting German-Russian entente cordiale (and that’s quite far from an “alliance’). Nord Stream 2 is an essential cog in the wheel – and that’s what’s driving Washington hawks crazy.

Whatever happens next, for all practical purposes Iron Curtain 2.0 is now on, and it simply won’t go away. There will be more sanctions. Everything was thrown at the Bear short of a hot war. It will be immensely entertaining to watch how, and via which steps, Washington will engage on a “de-escalation and diplomatic process” with Russia.

The Hegemon may always find a way to deploy a massive P.R. campaign and ultimately claim a diplomatic success in “dissolving” the impasse. Well, that certainly beats a hot war. Otherwise, lowly Jungle Book adventurers have been advised: try anything funny and be ready to meet “asymmetric, swift and harsh”.

https://thesaker.is/putin-rewrites-the- ... al-jungle/

[dada]

"the era of a unilateral Leviathan imposing its iron will is over."

So like, no more Stalins, no more Hitlers. "We have a new type of rule now. Not one-man rule, or rule of aristocracy or plutocracy, but of small groups elevated to positions of absolute power by random pressures and subject to political and economic factors that leave little room for decision. They are representatives of abstract forces who have reached power through surrender of self. The iron-willed dictator is a thing of past.

There will be no more Stalins, no more Hitlers. The rulers of this most insecure of all worlds are rulers by accident. Inept, frightened pilots at the controls of a vast machine they cannot understand, calling in experts to tell them which buttons to push."

Bill Burroughs said that in 1990.

[stickdog99]

"the era of a unilateral Leviathan imposing its iron will is over."

So like, no more Stalins, no more Hitlers. "We have a new type of rule now. Not one-man rule, or rule of aristocracy or plutocracy, but of small groups elevated to positions of absolute power by random pressures and subject to political and economic factors that leave little room for decision. They are representatives of abstract forces who have reached power through surrender of self. The iron-willed dictator is a thing of past.

There will be no more Stalins, no more Hitlers. The rulers of this most insecure of all worlds are rulers by accident. Inept, frightened pilots at the controls of a vast machine they cannot understand, calling in experts to tell them which buttons to push."

Bill Burroughs said that in 1990.

Max Weber described the modern state in largely this same manner 70 years before Bill did.

[dada]

Kind of a view that opposes the elite illuminati conspiracy perspective.

[8bitagent]

"the era of a unilateral Leviathan imposing its iron will is over."

So like, no more Stalins, no more Hitlers. "We have a new type of rule now. Not one-man rule, or rule of aristocracy or plutocracy, but of small groups elevated to positions of absolute power by random pressures and subject to political and economic factors that leave little room for decision. They are representatives of abstract forces who have reached power through surrender of self. The iron-willed dictator is a thing of past.

There will be no more Stalins, no more Hitlers. The rulers of this most insecure of all worlds are rulers by accident. Inept, frightened pilots at the controls of a vast machine they cannot understand, calling in experts to tell them which buttons to push."

Bill Burroughs said that in 1990.

BINGO. Also diggin your others posts lately. Of all the "conspiracy" forums Ive been on since the latter 1990s, RI was always the smartest. I wish all the minds that had contributed on here since the mid 2000s were magically on here to give their hot takes to this crazy 2020s decade. A lot of the stuff, even the wild shit people predicted on here years ago have come true or seem on the verge of happening.
All I know is Blinky(Biden) and Blinken seem like theyre on a crash course with World War 3 in a way not even Bush or Obama seemed to be on

[dada]

Always good to see you here, 8bit. Glad you are digging the posts. I guess I've been trying to tune in to a different frequency, play host to some thoughts that run on new wavelengths. Weird combinations, strange attractors.

And yeah, I think that it would be nice if some of the old guard came back and gave us their perspectives. But then I think well, they got out of here, maybe they've got into something better, and they're having a good time with it. I like to imagine it that way, like they each had an "aha!" moment, and don't need this funny little message board anymore.

[conniption]

The Saker
(embedded links)
Putin rewrites the law of the geopolitical jungle
By Pepe Escobar
April 23, 2021

Putin’s address to the Russian Federal Assembly – a de facto State of the Nation – was a judo move that left Atlanticist sphere hawks particularly stunned.

>snip<

He singled out “the practice of politically motivated, illegal economic sanctions” to connect it to “something much more dangerous”, and actually rendered invisible in the Western narrative: “the recent attempt to organize a coup d’etat in Belarus and the assassination of that country’s president.” Putin made sure to stress, “all boundaries have been crossed”.

The plot to kill Lukashenko was unveiled by Russian and Belarusian intel – which detained several actors backed, who else, US intel. The US State Department predictably denied any involvement.

Putin: “It is worth pointing to the confessions of the detained participants in the conspiracy that a blockade of Minsk was being prepared, including its city infrastructure and communications, the complete shutdown of the entire power grid of the Belarusian capital. This, incidentally means preparations for a massive cyber-attack.”

And that leads to a very uncomfortable truth: “Apparently, it’s not for no reason that our Western colleagues have stubbornly rejected numerous proposals by the Russian side to establish an international dialogue in the field of information and cyber-security."

>snip<

https://thesaker.is/putin-rewrites-the- ... al-jungle/

~~~

MoA
(embedded links)

U.S., EU Profess Support For Belarus Then Launch A War Against Its People

June 22, 2021

In there attempt regime change the country the U.S. and the European Union have launched an economic war against the people of Belarus.

First they doubted the results of elections in Belarus which the longtime socialist President Alexander Lukashenko had won against an politically unexperienced English teacher who was backed by a 'western' aligned group with a strong neoliberal program.

Belarus is still a mostly socialist industrialized country with many production assets owned by the state and relatively good social services. The people of Belarus have seen their neighbor countries Russia and the Ukraine go through extreme economic problems and poverty after the Soviet Union broke down. Neoliberalism had ruined those countries. It is thus quite plausible that a majority does not want to experience that in their own country and that Lukashenko has indeed won the votes of that majority.



The U.S. and EU claimed election fraud and supported demonstrations and riots against the results. This was an obvious color revolution attempt directed from the outside by 'western' supported forces.

The demonstrations soon died down. The color revolution attempt had failed. A few sanctions against some Belorussian politicians and functionaries were issued by the U.S. and the EU with claims that they are supporting the people of Belarus. But the effort soon ran out of steam and went no further.

Then a mysterious bomb threat against a plane flying from Greece to Lithuania led to the pilot deciding to land the plane in Minsk. Two passengers on board had outstanding warrants against them and were arrested after passing through passport control. A U.S. paid agitator for the color revolution immediately claimed that plane had been 'hijacked' to arrest the two people.

However the evidence provided so far shows that this was a typical bomb threat as they happen every once a while all over the world and that the pilot's decision to land in Minsk was absolutely normal. The authorities in Belarus reacted to the incident exactly as they are supposed to do.

But the whole western media and its politicians promoted the 'hijacked' propaganda version.

Moon of Alabama has discussed the evidence and laid out the timeline, narrative control and consequences of the incident.

The fake story propagandized by the media reignited the regime change efforts and was used to rush out new sanctions against Belarus. These are no longer directed at only a few persons but aim at the core of the Belorussian economy and thereby at all its people.

As the New York Times headlines:

Belarus Faces Expanded E.U. and U.S. Sanctions, Targeting Economy

European Union foreign ministers, meeting in Luxembourg, also voted on Monday to hit important parts of the Belarus economy — banking, oil and tobacco and, notably, the potash industry — representing an effort to broaden the punishment by penalizing organizations rather than just individuals responsible for repression. Those sectoral sanctions are expected to be confirmed by European heads of state and government who meet later this week.
...
“We didn’t use economic sanctions in the beginning because we know they affect everyone, because they affect the economy,” Mr. Borrell said. But he also said that Brussels was prepared for a fifth round of sanctions if necessary.
...
Asked Monday morning about what these sanctions are expected to accomplish, Mr. Borrell, the bloc’s foreign policy chief, said the new sanctions would increase the pressure for change.

“Sanctions are a way of putting pressure on the government of Belarus,” he said. “And these are going to hurt the economy of Belarus, heavily. What do you expect when you punish something? To change their behavior.”

Borrell admits that the new sanctions against the economy of Belarus will hurt all its people.

His 'theory of change' is that the 'sanctions increase the pressure for change'. But there is no evidence that the theory works.

Economic sanctions that hurt all people of a country tend to strengthen the government. Pushed into poverty the people become more reliant on government help. I am not aware of any example where sanctions which pushed people into poverty have then let to the people overthrowing the government they depend on.

Neither will the sanctions change Lukashenko's behavior one bit. They will only confirm his opinion about the 'west'.

Even while the U.S. and EU profess support for the people of Belarus they are punishing them by plunging them into poverty.

As Stephen Gowans noted on Twitter:

With friends like these, enemies are redundant.

---
Previous Moon of Alabama post on the Ryanair incident in Belarus:

Lukashenko's Revenge (Served Cold) - May 24 2021
Roman Protasevich - Arrested In Belarus - Is A Western Government Financed Neo-Nazi - May 26 2021
By The Book - What Really Happened With The Ryanair Flight In Belarus - May 27 2021
Ryanair Incident - Email Warning Received Before Plane Entered Belorussian Airspace - May 28 2021
How ProtonMail Lost The Public Trust It Needs To Do Business - May 29 2021
'Like An Amoral Infant' - How ProtonMail Contributes To False Media Claims About Belarus - May 30
Ryanair Bomb Threat In Belarus - 'Western' Media Narrative Disagrees With The Facts - May 31
Timeline, Narrative Control And Consequences Of The Ryanair Incident In Belarus - June 2
Roman Protasevich, Casualty Of The Ryanair Incident In Belarus, Is Spilling The Beans - June 4
Putin Teaching A Journalist And Other New Bits Around Ryanair Flight 4978 - June 15
U.S., UK Information Warfare Behind Regime Change Drive In Belarus by Kit Klarenberg - June 15

They will hurt all people in Belarus. Those people who the U.S. and EU claim to help.
_______

Posted by b on June 22, 2021

comments

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2021/06/u ... -them.html

[conniption]

MoA

These Uppity Brits Need A Slap-like Lesson
June 23, 2021

The Brits were getting a bit uppity today so the Russians responded by opening fire:

A Russian patrol ship and fighter jet have fired warning shots after the British destroyer HMS Defender violated the country’s border in the Black Sea. The UK embassy's defense attaché has been summoned by officials in Moscow.

According to Russia’s Ministry of Defense, the British naval ship entered the country's territorial waters at 11:52am local time and traveled 3km inside the frontier, near Cape Fiolent, in Crimea. The peninsula is not recognized by the United Kingdom as Russian land and London believes it to be illegally occupied Ukrainian territory.

“At 12:06 and 12:08, a border patrol ship fired warning shots,” the Defense Ministry said. “(And) at 12:19, a Su-24m aircraft performed a warning bombing (4 OFAB-250) ahead of the course of the USS Defender.”

Four minutes later, at 12:23, the destroyer left Russian territory.

The Brits denied that any shots were fired at(!) them:

UK Defense Ministry claimed that HMS conducts an "innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters in accordance with the international law" and rejected Russian Defense Ministry’s claims that warning shots were fired or bombs were dropped in the destroyer’s path.

"The Royal Navy ship is conducting innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters in accordance with international law," the Defense Ministry press service said in its Twitter Wednesday, referring to the internationally recognized right to sail through territorial waters of a country provided they mean no harm. "We believe the Russians were undertaking a gunnery exercise in the Black Sea and provided the maritime community with prior-warning of their activity. No shots were directed at HMS Defender and we do not recognize the claim that bombs were dropped in her path."

The Defense Ministry also claimed that the destroyer was traveling in an "internationally recognized traffic separation corridor."

That is non-denial denial. Warning shots are never directed AT the target.

A BBC journalist on board of the British ship does not think that it was just an 'innocent passage':

The crew were already at action stations as they approached the southern tip of Russian occupied Crimea. Weapons systems on board the Royal Navy destroyer had already been loaded.

This would be a deliberate move to make a point to Russia. HMS Defender was going to sail within the 12 mile (19km) limit of Crimea's territorial waters. The captain insisted he was only seeking safe passage thorough an internationally recognised shipping lane.

Two Russian coastguard ships that were shadowing the Royal Navy warship, tried to force it to alter course. At one stage one of the Russian vessels closed in to about 100m (328ft).

Increasingly hostile warnings were issued over the radio - including one that said "if you don't change course I'll fire". We did hear some firing in the distance but they were believed to be well out of range.

As HMS Defender sailed through the shipping lane it was buzzed by Russian jets. The Captain, Vincent Owen, said the ship detected more than 20 military aircraft nearby. Commander Owen said his mission was confident but non-confrontational.

The BBC reporter phoned his report in. One can hear Russian jets buzzing the ship.



Innocent passage with loaded weapons? That is a no no. Passing a battle ready warship through Russian territorial water without necessity? There are no 'shipping lanes' in that area but lots of room to the west to pass around Crimea.

So no. The Brits were clearly seeking a confrontation. There was also a U.S. spy plane flying in the area to record the Russian reaction.



This came just hours after the U.K had signed an agreement with the Ukraine for the "enhancement of Ukrainian naval capabilities":

Contractual work will now begin to implement the following projects:

Missile sale and integration on new and in-service Ukrainian Navy patrol and airborne platforms, including a training and engineering support package.
The development and joint production of eight fast missile warships.
The creation of a new naval base on the Black Sea as the primary fleet base for Ukraine and a new base on the Sea of Azov.
Babcock will participate in the Ukrainian project to deliver a modern frigate capability.
A Government to Government sale of two refurbished Sandown class mine countermeasure vessels.

The editor of the Chinese Global Times says that Britain should receive a "slap-like lesson" for today's incident. That is probably a good idea. But Russia tends to not react hasty over such issues. Revenge is best served cold.

Unrelated to the above a slap-like lesson was given to Britain today when U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken arrived in Germany:

"I think it's fair to say that the United States has no better partner, no better friend in the world than Germany," Blinken said. He is scheduled to meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.

London will not like that statement.

Next week NATO will run its Exercise Seabreeze in and near to the Black Sea in which soldiers and sailors from some 30 nations will take part. In light of today's provocation the Russian military will probably prepare some surprises for them.

Posted by b on June 23, 2021

comments

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2021/06/t ... esson.html[/url]

[MacCruiskeen]

The year is 2022, and suddenly it's no longer just "conspiracy nuts" who suggest that a giant nation-state might plan and carry out a false-flag attack to justify an invasion. Suddenly that term is respectable diplomatic language, to be reported respectfully in respectable newspapers such as The Guardian. But do check first with the US government to see which states one may safely accuse.

US claims Russia planning ‘false-flag’ operation to justify Ukraine invasion”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... tack-claim

The US has alleged Russia has already positioned saboteurs in Ukraine to carry out a “false flag” operation to use as a pretext for a Russian attack, which Washington says could begin in the coming month.

Meanwhile, Putin is still Stalin, or possibly Hitler, or maybe Al Capone or somebody:


https://i0.wp.com/www.broeckers.com/Wor ... =674&ssl=1

[BenDhyan]

This could be the last gasp...

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Kyiv on Wednesday in a whistle-stop diplomatic push to defuse tensions with Moscow over Ukraine, warning that Russia could launch a new attack at “very short notice”.

Blinken will meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and then travel to Berlin for talks with allies before going to Geneva to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov after negotiations last week produced no breakthrough.

https://nypost.com/2022/01/19/us-se...inken-aims-to-defuse-moscow-ukraine-tensions/

[Harvey]

US claims Russia planning ‘false-flag’ operation to justify Ukraine invasion”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... tack-claim

The US has alleged Russia has already positioned saboteurs in Ukraine to carry out a “false flag” operation to use as a pretext for a Russian attack, which Washington says could begin in the coming month.

In light of $700 million worth of weapons authorised for shipment to Ukraine since Biden took office and using the brute force method of decoding Guardian (reverse every aspect of the story) then:

"The US has already positioned saboteurs in Ukraine to blame on 'Russians pretending to be Ukrainian' - but who are actually Ukrainian and US special forces - to carry out a fake 'false flag' operation as a pretext for any American 'defence' of Ukraine"

All of which could well occur at the same time as the NATO exercise Defender Europe 2022 in which Ukraine is expected to participate. Perhaps a wide-spread 'cyber-pandemic' originating from within Ukraine - with 'Russian language annotations in the code' and Putin's autographed photo discovered at the scene etc.