Simple Truth

U.S.-NATO Threaten Wider War in Ukraine

General Philip Breedlove, NATO’s commander in chief, says the West should not rule out arming Ukraine

Nothing good so far has come out of all the high-level meetings in Kiev and Moscow.  US-NATO continue to threaten Russia with more and wider war in Ukraine.  Russia is basically told they have to accept the US-NATO backed onslaught in eastern Ukraine.  Russia must stop supporting eastern self-defense forces or expect even more of the west's Strategy of Tension.

Many critical commentators are saying that the Merkel (Germany) and Hollande (France) duo are running a public relations campaign (approved by Washington) to make it appear that the west is truly interested in peace in Ukraine. In truth NATO has played a vital role in arming and directing Kiev's blitzkrieg against their own citizens near Russia's border.

Speaking to reporters at a security conference in Munich on Saturday, NATO Commander General Breedlove said: “I don’t think we should preclude out of hand the possibility of the military option [in Ukraine].”

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has already said the organization’s Response Force in Europe may increase to 30,000 troops - more than double the current 13,000 - with the majority to be posted near Russia’s borders.

NATO and the US have been arming Kiev's military forces. Russia’s ambassador to NATO, Aleksandr Grushko, says “there is a bulk of evidence that Western-made arms are being used in Ukraine,” mentioning lethal munitions such as NATO standard artillery shells. He has asked the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to investigate the claims.

In return Russia has been supplying the self-defense forces in eastern Ukraine with weapons as civilians in that part of the country have been repeatedly targeted for shelling by Kiev's neo-Nazi led military during the past year.  Over 5,300 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in this civil war so far.

US-NATO are counting on Russia to continue to defend the beleaguered civilians in eastern Ukraine and intend to use that fact to expand their international campaign to demonize Putin and Russia.  The US-NATO endgame is 'regime change' in Russia. The only thing that can come from all this is a wider war and listening to the Republicans who now control Congress in Washington it seems abundantly clear that war with Russia is just what they are pushing for. (Let me be fair and say the Republicans are joined on the Ukraine issue by the vast majority of Democrats.  They agree on the overall policy but disagree on the best 'project implementation' strategy.)

Across the west certain NGO's have been funded by George Soros, the National Endowment for Democracy, US AID, and the CIA to serve as shills for the US-NATO war project.  These NGO's pose as promoters of non-violence and peace but their real job is to neutralize the peace movement by sowing confusion and doubt.  In the end they help build support for the plan to encircle Russia and China. They help corporate capital's plan to take down the remaining 'obstructions' to Full Spectrum Dominance of the global economy and declining planetary resources.

"High Rate of Kills"

This is a four-minute Boeing video on their high energy laser weapon developed at Kirtland AFB in New Mexico. Global Network board member Bob Anderson who lives in Albuquerque found this.  He's been tracking Kirtland's laser programs for years.

Scrap the Trident Nuclear Submarine Replacement in UK

Post by Russell Brand.

Kiev Uses White Phosphorous Again

More war crimes as the desperate Kiev regime tries to hang on.....

Overnight into February 5 Donetsk in embattled eastern Ukraine was shelled with phosphorous ammunition.

The flashes were clearly seen from downtown over Kievskiy district around midnight. Witnesses filmed the event.

Snow and Big Power Dealings

• Our back yard is covered with snow and not many places remain for the plow driver to put more of it.  Our wood pile (under the blue tarp) is hard to get to and the shed where we keep the kindling for the wood stove has to be unburied after each plowing.  During the last 10 days or so it's been a daily chore for me to reopen the paths.  When we moved to Maine in 2003 friends in Florida told me that after 30 years in the 'sunshine state' I'd not last long up in the frigid north.  One friend though did acknowledge that I am very stubborn and I am still here shoveling away.... though I have to admit by body is very sore today.
• Remember the war in Afghanistan that Obama said was over?  His new Secretary of War Ashton Carter told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he is open to committing more US troops to Afghanistan if conditions “degrade” in 2016. (Of course they will!) Carter gave his shortest answer to over 300 prepared questions from the committee when asked:
  
  Q: If security conditions on the ground in Afghanistan degrade in 2016, would you consider recommending to the President revisions to the size and pace of the draw down plan announced by the President in order to adequately address those security conditions?
  
  A: Yes.
• With Ukrainians in revolt over Kiev's war against its own citizens, the Rada (Parliament) today passed a law which authorizes commanding officers to use physical force against army defectors. It comes as the latest Kiev military mobilization has seen a lack of enthusiasm on the part of drafted soldiers. The Kiev military has actually been shooting 'deserters' for quite some time but with the problem growing the Rada has made it official.  The old saying "Watch your backs boys" takes on new meaning in Ukraine.
• With the growing collapse of the US-NATO war project in Ukraine, Washington officials (John Kerry, Victoria 'Fuck the EU' Nuland, V-P Joe Biden and others) are flying into Kiev in a desperate attempt to rescue the patient.  German and French leaders will visit Moscow on Friday in hopes of saving the face of western political decision makers who have encouraged Kiev all along to carry out this maniacal killing operation along Russia's border.  
• The US forced economic sanctions on Russia are hitting Germany and France hard and business leaders in those countries are pressuring to get the sanctions lifted since they do alot of trade deals with Moscow.  It looks now like Putin holds all the cards and people say he is quite a good chess player.

Cohen: They are Calling for War with Russia

STEPHEN COHEN: What’s happening in Ukraine? Gorbachev had it right. We’re in a new Cold War with Russia. The epicenter of the new Cold War is not in Berlin, like the last one, but it’s right on Russia’s borders, so it’s much more dangerous. You and I have talked about this since February, I think. What I foresaw in February has played out, I regret to say: A political dispute in Ukraine became a Ukrainian civil war. Russia backed one side; the United States and NATO, the other. So it’s not only a new Cold War, it’s a proxy war. We’re arming Kiev. Russians are arming the eastern fighters. And I think, though I don’t want to spoil anybody’s day—I said to you in February this had the potential to become a new Cuban missile-style confrontation with the risk of war. That’s where we are now. And I think Gorbachev was right.

~ Professor Stephen Cohen professor emeritus of Russian studies and politics at New York University and Princeton University. His most recent book, Soviet Fates and Lost Alternatives: From Stalinism to the New Cold War, is out in paperback. See his recent writings on Ukraine at TheNation.com.

Jeju Activists Coming to Maine

Thanks to Dan Ellis for making the flyer.

Obama's New Secretary of War: Ashton Carter on 'Missile Defense'

Obama's new Secretary of War Ashton Carter visiting a 'missile defense' battery

"Ballistic missiles that threaten the United States, that is one of the reasons that we need to keep our missile defenses and especially our ICBM defenses current, capable and large enough in size to deal with both the perspective Iranian threat and the also very real North Korean ICBM threat."

Dr. Ashton Carter
Secretary of Defense Nomination Hearing
February 4, 2015  

Iran and North Korea are the boogy-men used to justify major expenditures on 'missile defense' research, development, testing, and deployment to encircle Russia and China.

The Missile Defense Agency's FY 2016 budget request of $8.127 billion is the highest in three years.

U.N. Peacekeepers Look Like Attackers

Post by Revolution News.

More on US Weapons to Kiev Regime

Former US diplomat: US is arming Ukraine to force the EU wimps into more confrontational position.

The New York Times reports that top US and NATO officials seriously discuss sending arms to Ukraine this behind closed doors. Among them - NATO's General Breedlove, Secretary of State John Kerry, General Martin Dempsey, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Obama's National Security advisor Susan Rice.

The Handiwork of US-NATO in Eastern Ukraine

The video of evacuation in Uglegorsk with English subtitles:

Several days ago Uglegorsk (a town to the north of Debaltsevo) was seized by the DPR Army [eastern Ukraine's self defense forces]. Upon their retreat, Ukrainian government forces [supported by US-NATO] called a “Grad” missile strike at the town destroying its center. People had been hiding in the basements for days being in the middle of front line between the militias and counter-attacking UAF groups.

On the 3rd of February the DPR Army began evacuating people of Uglegorsk. Unfortunately, the Ukrainian army refused to cease fire, so the evacuation is being held under shelling. Pensioners and children are being evacuated in the first place. People will be accommodated in cities and towns next to Donetsk. The places have already been prepared for them, people will be provided with food.

According to the human rights ombudswoman of the DPR Darya Morozova, around 600 people have decided to leave the combat zone. The evacuation of people is also being held in other settlements. 

In the video you hear several women calling out the name of Kiev's President Poroshenko - calling for him to end the war.  It is Poroshenko that recently met with Obama in Washington and was given the chance to speak to a cheering joint session of Congress.  Obama and the Congress are now discussing providing more offense weapons to their puppet regime in Kiev (on top of weapons that flow into Kiev's neo-Nazi led Army from other NATO countries like Poland).

This is the handiwork of the US-NATO project along the Russian border.  It is illegal (extermination of civilian populations), immoral, and should be called by its proper name - genocide.

Men in Ukraine Rejecting Kiev's War

Ukrainian border sealed to hold 80% of men fleeing mobilization - Minister of Defense

February 2, 2015
Translated by Kristina Rus

All regions of Ukraine managed to recruit only 20% of the necessary number of soldiers during mobilization. This was stated by the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Stepan Poltorak. He proposed to limit the travel abroad of all men from 18 to 60 years old.

He explained that many Ukrainians are trying to avoid mobilization and migrate to other countries, RIA Novosti reported with reference to the Ukrainian media.

According to the head of the Defense Ministry, because of this, travel abroad of all men from 18 to 60 years old will be limited. "That's the reason for introduction of certificates at the border. All men who will fall under this category must provide a certificate, showing the cause of departure was approved. This should be done not only by those who have received the summons," - said Poltorak.

Translators Note:

The men voted with their feet, I will believe this survey before any other! How does the Ukrainian government think they have a mandate to wage war, if 80% of males are against it? And probably even a higher percentage of females. This will give you an idea of how much trust this government has and how much out of touch they really are!

As you can see, a possible future military junta (if Poroshenko is toppled) would have even less support, and only from their own active radical minority.

This actually means that there is a light at the end of the tunnel!

Ukraine is tired of war...  

• In a related story I was interviewed by Sputnik International about US military spending and what it is doing to the country.  You can find the story here

A Must Read If You Can.....

Our dangerous new McCarthyism: Russia, Noam Chomsky and what the media’s not telling you about the new Cold War

Perverse, diabolical obsession: Policy cliques in D.C. have no intention of desisting in this war until they win it

By Patrick L. Smith

It is time to attempt that hardest of things—to see ourselves for who we are, to see what it is we are doing and what is being done to us.

Two things prompt the thought. We have the latest news on Washington’s confrontation with Russia, and we have a newly precipitous decline in the national conversation on this crisis. In my estimation, we reach dangerous new lows in both respects.

One of the running arguments this past year has been just who started the trouble in Ukraine and who authors the hostility now prevailing between Russia and the West. Relying on half-truths, untruths, and the good old “power of leaving out,” the orthodoxy solidifies on the unsubstantiated presumption that Russia must be wrong, especially given Putin presides over it. No need of evidence; saying it is enough.

A few reporters and analysts who refuse to surrender their integrity—Robert Parry at Consortium News, Stephen Cohen at Princeton, a couple of others—marshal the plentiful and persuasive evidence of Washington’s responsibility: It extends back to the Soviet Union’s collapse. The Europeans are reluctant tag-alongs.

We can now comprehend Washington’s logic—a perverse, almost diabolical logic, Strangelovian logic. In last week’s column I used the term “monomania,” single-minded obsession. I hesitated to keep it in—too strong, I worried—but there was no need. The policy cliques in Washington have no intention of desisting in this war until they win it. Recognize this and you will find the prospect of hot war staring you down.

Incessant red-baiting, incessant Russia-baiting, incessant Islamophobia, incessant what have you: The deafening noise of jingoism and contempt for others’ perspectives renders people unable to think. Such people are no longer self-governing. They are the powerless subjects of masters. 

Click on the link above for the full article.....its a winner

~ Patrick Smith is the author of “Time No Longer: Americans After the American Century.” He was the International Herald Tribune’s bureau chief in Hong Kong and then Tokyo from 1985 to 1992. During this time he also wrote “Letter from Tokyo” for the New Yorker. He is the author of four previous books and has contributed frequently to the New York Times, the Nation, the Washington Quarterly, and other publications. 

Ride, Baby, Ride

Car culture
is killing us

gas
roads
oil, oil, oil
ground, air, water
contamination
atmospheric
consequences
drill
baby
drill


'we love
the car'
they plant
this seed
into our
eager brains 
 
'the ride'
freedom
becomes
redefined

liberty
justice
truth
get lost
in the backwash

endless war$

'freedom
ain't
free'

the oligarchy
reminds us
we've got
to kill
and 
dominate
'to cover
the costs'

'we'll go
high-tech'
fight with
space
satellites
you'll love it
space launches
exciting
thrilling
fly, baby, fly
 
'lower
troop levels'
you won't
even
feel it
ain't 
freedom
just great?!

hop
in the car
and fa-get-a-bout-it
ride
baby
ride     

Special recognition to: Randy, David, Bob, Jean, Tom, Rose... for leading the way

US-NATO Stir Up Conflict & Chaos

US-NATO total hypocrisy.  They encircle Russia and then blame Moscow for being nervous about it.  What if Russia set up bases in Mexico and Canada?  Anyone remember the friggin Cuban Missile Crisis?

Powerful People Named in Child Sex & Corruption Scandal

The Jeffrey Epstein/Alan Dershowitz child sex scandal has mainly fallen through the cracks of mainstream media’s attention, but the story has the potential to become the Bill Cosby scandal on steroids. America’s Lawyer, Mike Papantonio, discusses the case with Thom Hartmann.

Defending Gangjeong Village

Ten members of the Pacific Northwest peace delegation meet with Yang Yoon-Mo during their recent ten days on Jeju Island, South Korea.  (Delegation member Rodney Herold made the video).

Yang Yoon-Mo was an acclaimed film studies professor in South Korea who quit his work and came back to Jeju to join the resistance.  He's been jailed several times - once spending about 18 months in jail for blocking Navy base construction vehicles.  During two of his jail sentences he fasted for long periods of time coming close to death.

He was again arrested on Saturday in the recent struggle to defend Gangjeong village land as the Navy attempts to now take more of the village for military housing.

Super Bowl of $$$$$ and Militarism

F-16 fighter jets, a Blackhawk helicopter, thousands of police officers and hundreds of federal agents will be on patrol at the Super Bowl on Sunday, on the lookout for what the Department of Homeland Security fears could be ‘lone wolf attackers.’ Though no specific threats have been made against the event that generates hundreds of millions in revenues for the National Football League, the massive operation is being organized at the expense of taxpayers. RT’s Manila Chan takes a look.

Sunday Song