South Korean melon farmers resist Pentagon MD deployment

 

 

Seongju Residents, Police Clash Again Over THAAD ['Missile Defense'] Base Delivery

 

By Rosyn Park 

Residents in the central town of Seongju were locked in a standoff with police and military personnel Wednesday over the delivery of more materials and equipment to a base housing an American missile defense system in the area.

A few dozen residents and activists staged a sit-in protest in the morning to try and block the passage of vehicles heading to the base for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system.

But it did not last long, according to the Ministry of Defense, as police managed to disperse the crowd to allow for the "successfully delivery of the non-weapon materials."

Three residents were injured during the process and transferred to a nearby hospital.

The ministry earlier informed that it was planning to move electricity equipment and construction equipment to the base, which it said had "nothing to do with the THAAD battery capabilities."

However, protesters suspected the shipment was a necessary step in improving the anti-ballistic missile system.

Local residents have long been opposed to the stationing of the battery in their village, located some 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, citing environmental and other concerns [like now being a prime target in any US war on China].

The U.S. base was established in 2017 amid strong opposition from China and North Korea.

South Korea and the U.S. have stressed that the system aims to better cope with North Korea's growing missile threats. [THAAD is being used against China - North Korea is not a threat. Neither is China.]

U.S. connections to Ukraine's Nazi's

 

 

 Ukrainian ultranationalist lobby flaunts influence over Biden, blocks top Russia expert’s appointment

 

By Moss Robeson

The GrayZone

Demonstrating the power the ultranationalist Ukraine lobby has attained in Biden’s Washington, the White House has withdrawn consideration of esteemed Russia specialist Matthew Rojansky

Matthew Rojansky is the head of the Kennan Institute, a notable think tank at the US government-funded Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington. Despite his well-established expertise on Russia and lengthy record of leadership on the issue, he has been judged “too soft” to work in the Biden White House.

An increasingly influential element within Washington’s powerful anti-Russian lobby is taking a victory lap after Politico credited it for helping to block Rojanksy’s appointment to Russia director at the National Security Council. It is the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), an organization with close ties to the extremist Banderite movement.

The UCCA made its opposition to Rojansky known in the form of an “emphatic request” to President Joseph Biden, accusing the veteran Russia hand of making unspecified “incendiary comments over the years” which supposedly indicated that “Ukraine is expendable to secure closer U.S.-Russia relations.”

Meanwhile, the Chicago-based leadership of the Illinois Division of the UCCA fired off indignant letters of protest to President Biden and Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), co-chair of the Senate Ukraine Caucus, which was founded in 2015 on the initiative of the UCCA.

The Chicago leaders objected to Rojansky’s seemingly benign observation that “peaceful coexistence [with Russia] remains an imperative,” likening the statement to “appeasement.” They also baselessly suggested that Rojansky might be “influenced because of overt or covert financial support from Russia.”

As the director of the Kennan Institute since 2013, Rojansky is far from the pro-Kremlin boogeyman he’s been made out to be by his most rabid antagonists. If anything, he represents the legacy of the man his employer is named for: George Kennan, the architect of the post-war US policy of containing the Soviet Union. But in a Biden administration dominated by anti-Russia hardliners, it appears even Kennan –– who criticized NATO’s eastward expansion after the Soviet Union’s collapse as a “fateful error” –– would be unwelcome.

The Banderites take over the UCCA

It is also no secret that the UCCA has for decades been led by cult-like followers of the late Ukrainian fascist Stepan Bandera, a Nazi collaborator whose devotees carried out numerous genocidal pogroms against his country’s Jewish population. 

Bandera’s “Revolutionary” faction of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN-B a.k.a. OUN-R) participated in the Nazi “Holocaust by Bullets” in western Ukraine. Since then, it has hijacked the organized Ukrainian diaspora, and cozied up to much of the US foreign policy establishment, not to mention the far-right in Ukraine.

In 1980, a coordinating body of OUN-B “facade structures” formerly known as the “Ukrainian Liberation Front” staged a divisive coup in the UCCA, from which the organization has never fully recovered.

1980 convention of the UCCA (Ukrainian Weekly, October 19, 1980)

The Banderites continue to play a leading role in the UCCA under the umbrella of the U.S. Division of the so-called “International Council in Support of Ukraine,” the successor of the “Liberation Front,” which relocated its headquarters from New York to Toronto in 2013. (The GrayZone previously reported on the Canadian Division’s ties to the Conservative Party of Canada.)

Days before he passed away in August 2019, Jaroslaw Fedun, a 45-year member of the UCCA and the chairman of its audit committee, filed a complaint with the New York State Charities Bureau about the “egregious improprieties” of the UCCA. 

A self-described “son of pioneers” of the Ukrainian community in New York City received Fedun’s complaint just before he died and submitted it on his behalf.

In a second complaint to the Charities Bureau dated September 28, 2019, Fedun’s anonymous confidant further alleged in a sensational manifesto that “most of [the] UCCA Board members and all of its employees are OUN(R) members.” He described the Banderites as a “group of individuals with a hidden extremist agenda.”

Throughout the Cold War, the UCCA waged war on Kennan’s containment strategy, condemning it as a form of appeasement while advocating a policy of rollback that could have resulted in all-out war.

“The collapse of Kennanism in this country is a good sign,” Lev Dobriansky, a former president of the UCCA and co-founder of the right-wing Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, once remarked. Dobriansky was a close ally of Yaroslav Stetsko, a notorious Nazi collaborator who succeeded Bandera as leader of the OUN-B.

In the 1960s, Dobriansky and other UCCA leaders even lambasted a rival OUN faction that had been backed by the CIA as too soft on communism. Despite its history of extremism, the UCCA has apparently attained considerable influence over the Biden administration, while realists like Rojansky have been effectively blacklisted.

See the rest of this important article here

Foreign interference in Myanmar

 

 

The Western media is trying to convince global audiences that organic, self-organized protests are rising up against Myanmar’s central government.

However, evidence reveals that ongoing protests as well as armed ethnic insurgencies are the work of US and British interference - including the funding, arming, and training of armed militants.

This is evidence taken not from Myanmar’s central government - but from US-backed groups themselves and media networks the US has funded for years.

Propaganda department: U.S. is looking for ways to expand Nazi training in Ukraine

 

US special operations chief for Europe heads to Ukraine in aftermath of Russian border buildup

 

By JOHN VANDIVER
STARS AND STRIPES

STUTTGART, Germany — The head of U.S. special operations in Europe met with troops this week in Ukraine, marking the two-star general’s first official visit to a country where a recent Russian military buildup sparked U.S. threat alerts.

Maj. Gen. David Tabor, who leads U.S. Special Operations Command Europe, said the U.S. is looking for ways to expand training efforts in Ukraine.

“U.S. forces in Europe remain committed to collective defense cooperative security alongside European allies and partners,” Tabor said in a statement Wednesday. “By seeking out new training opportunities, we ensure that U.S., allied and partner forces maintain the ability to meet and defeat any number of threats.”

Tabor met with U.S. and Ukrainian service members at the 142nd Training Center, which serves as a hub for that country’s elite forces.

Training Nazi's in Ukraine (and then sending them to attack their Russian-speaking fellow citizens in the Donbass) is a bi-partisan program in Washington. Pictured in the center with former Ukrainian President Poroshenko are (from right to left) Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC), Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). Sen. Amy Klobucher (D-MN) and Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH).

In recent years, U.S. special operators have worked closely with their Ukrainian counterparts to improve their crisis response capabilities. In February 2020, the U.S. gave $1.5 million for improvements at the training site, located not far from the Ukrainian capital of Kiev.

Tabor’s meeting in Ukraine was intended to serve as a demonstration of the “continued commitment to building the capacity of Ukraine’s forces to defend more effectively against Russian aggression,” SOCEUR said in a statement.

Tabor’s visit came after Russia’s decision last week to reduce the number of forces it had built up around Ukraine.

The situation, which Western officials said involved more than 100,000 Russian troops, heightened concerns among allies that Russia was poised to invade.

Moscow said its troops were taking part in training drills. It still isn’t clear how many forces or how much gear was left behind in the region by the Russian military.

The rapid troop buildup was the largest force assembled around the country since Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, the Pentagon said. In the years since, Russian-backed separatists have been fighting a civil war in Ukraine’s east.

Russia also maintains a large naval presence off the coast of Ukraine and Moscow said it will block all foreign naval vessels from transiting a part of the Black Sea known as the Kerch Strait until October. The area has been a flashpoint in the past between Russian and Ukrainian naval vessels.

vandiver.john@stripes.com
Twitter: @john_vandiver 

Coming soon: Space Alert!

 

Board Members of the Global Network launch the first episode of a new monthly live stream, Space Alert! 

May 4 10:00 am EST

Bruce Gagnon (Maine), Tarama Lorincz (Canada) and Dave Webb (UK) from the Global Network discuss US-NATO space issues and more! 

YouTube link to watch the live stream: https://youtu.be/7wgKcOL2Vxo

Everyone should have healthcare like the VA

 

By Laura Flanders

American police are armed to the teeth with military-grade weapons, and the results are in. The more combat gear, the more combat.

So how about we arm our cities with military-grade healthcare instead?

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is part of the most generously funded institution in the government, and guess what? All that investment pays off.

It might not be perfect, but in contrast to the rest of our healthcare sector, instead of being fragmented, fractious, profit-driven, and poorly prepared, the VA is national, integrated, non-profit, and relatively effective.

It’s national: The VA operates thousands of healthcare facilities in rich and poor places, including 170 VA Medical Centers and 1,074 outpatient sites. And the VA’s response to Covid has shown what’s possible when your healthcare system is actually a system.

It’s integrated: While other vaccination programs rolled out in fits and starts, the VA pulled together its pandemic response plan last summer and began vaccinating veterans before Christmas. Knowing their history of hesitancy, they held listening sessions with minority veterans that gave them a jump on building trust. Now, they report only 2 percent refusals and an inoculation rate above the norm across every racial group.

The latest chart on the Veterans Affairs website reports that, in just three months, they’ve distributed over 3 million doses to over 2 million veterans plus their partners, their caregivers, VA employees, and loads of other federal workers.

As Linda Ward Smith, a VA nurse from Las Vegas, tells my program this week, “That’s one good thing that the VA does well. We communicate.”

The VA’s not-for-profit. Private shareholders play no role in the Veterans Affairs system. While the private sector, and even many nonprofit hospitals and healthcare systems, have fired or furloughed staff because the procedures they make their money off of weren’t taking place during the pandemic, the VA has been accepting non-veteran patients and delivering PPE to all sorts of public health programs. They’ve sent VA  staff to 49 states and territories and vaccinated people all over the country, including rural vets in Montana and homeless vets in Dallas.

As Dana Brown, executive director of the Next System Project at the Democracy Collaborative told the LF Show recently, “There’s just a real difference here in what the logic is, the defining logic of these systems.” One is care, the other is profit.

None of which causes me to make peace with the war machine, but it does make me wonder. If the Covid pandemic is often compared to a war, doesn’t that make us survivors veterans of it? If veterans can get lifelong, integrated healthcare with no co-pays thanks to their service, why can’t we? Veterans Care for all? I’d far rather healthcare spilled out of that bloated pentagon pipeline than pepper spray and bullets.

~ Laura Flanders interviews forward-thinking people about the key questions of our time on The Laura Flanders Show, a nationally syndicated radio and television program also available as a podcast.

Always a good analysis

 

Alexander Mercouris from London.

Spring is sprung - beauty makes a comeback

 

A neighbor's blooming cherry tree - in the distance is the Kennebec River. Bath Iron Works shipyard is two blocks to the left where the Navy builds Aegis destroyers that are being used to encircle Russia and China with so-called 'missile defense' systems. (Click any of the photos for a better view)

 

After a long cold winter our spring is finally here in Bath, Maine.

I've been working outside the last couple of weeks on my garden.  I started early with lettuce, spinach and radishes by growing them in our south facing mud room and now have them in the ground outside.

A week ago I planted a peach tree which I am very excited about.

New peach tree in the ground - with 'peace rose' bush just beyond the tree that was given to us last summer when we moved into this house by friend Eric Herter

I got a couple different blueberry bushes this week and have yet to plant them - want to let them get used to the spot for a couple days. 

Blueberry bushes waiting to go into the ground

Near our driveway are stone steps leading to the house that have been here for many years and tucked amongst the rocks are some 'Hens and Chicks' plants.  I had never heard of them until we moved here and found bunches amongst the many rocks.  They are just amazing and I was astounded by the tall stalks they grew in late summer and fall.

Working in the yard is a good meditation for me - a great way to get my mind off the insanity of the world for awhile.  It also is a way that I can spend some energy and see some results - not something that comes quite so easily in the work I do.

The Hens and Chicks tall stalks last fall were something to behold

Bruce 

The Kinks sang in the song Scrapheap City:

There ain't no beauty
And there ain't no style,
There's no quality
And there's no purity.
Honour's dead and buried
Because it's unnecessary....

Israel (usually the attacker) gets hit back

 

Interview with Syrian girl who is well known and respected for her political analysis.

On April 22, in the dead of night before dawn, a Syrian missile exploded only 30 km away from the ultra-sensitive Israeli nuclear reactor of Dimona.

Subtitles are available - hit the cc  

See more on this story here

Russia & China again promote space weapons ban treaty

 

It was a great joy to hear the recent announcements by Russia and China as they once again called upon the world to join them in creating a 'legally binding international instrument that would ban the development of any type of weapons in space'.

The announcements by the two space-faring nations, just days apart, reveal the continued leadership by these states in attempting to ensure that we keep space for peace.

In addition both Russia and China invited global nations to join them in a 'multilateral initiative on making a political commitment not to be the first to place weapons in outer space'. So far 30 nations are full-fledged participants in this important initiative.

Since the founding of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space in 1992 we've witnessed Russia and China repeatedly attempting to create a PAROS Treaty (Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space). But sadly the key promoter of the militarization of space, the United States, has refused to discuss and has even blocked such treaty negotiations at the United Nations.

Washington (during both Republican and Democrat administrations) has continually claimed, 'There is no problem, there are no weapons in space. We don't need a treaty.'

The reason the US has taken that position is quite simple.  Washington has long dreamed of 'controlling and dominating space and denying other nations access to space'.  The Air Force Space Command famously displays their logo on the HQ building at Peterson AFB in Colorado that reads 'Master of Space'.  

The US-based aerospace industry views space as a new market for weapons and nuclear power.  Thus they have refused to join in serious treaty negotiations to close the barn door before the horse gets out.  The dream of massive profits trumps logic.

With the recent creation of the Space Force, Washington signaled to the world that its goal of control and domination would not be interrupted by sound thinking nor concern for the trashing of the heavens with weapons and more space debris. 

(Recall that the Democrat party led House of Representatives could have killed the enacting legislation but only requested to call it the 'Space Corp' - evidence of the bi-partisan nature of the US drive to weaponize space.)

Members of the Global Network have worked tirelessly for years to build support for a space weapons ban treaty and we are grateful to Russia and China for doing their best to keep the vision of peace in space alive.

There will be no substantial progress on the admirable [Ban] Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons as long as US-NATO are allowed to run free and move the arms race into space. Russia and China can't afford to surrender to Washington.  That is what the US demands - 'full spectrum dominance'.

It is now up to the people around our tiny orbiting globe to help push this important vision to fruition.

Bruce  

PS See the Global Network's space video page on YouTube here

Africa is choosing its own course

 

 Africa Is Choosing China over the U.S.: The Case of Cape Verde

 

Below are some selected bits from a much larger and more in-depth article that I highly recommend.  It illuminates the 'mystery' of US-NATO operations on the African continent.  The question of China's role in Africa gets major play in this important piece as well. 

 

By Aidan O’Brien

Cape Verde’s hero—Amilcar Cabral—was completely aware of the post-World War II restructuring of imperialism. In 1968, he noted:

“[T]he Portuguese government is able to count more than ever on the effective aid of the NATO allies...

“ It is our duty to stress the international character of the Portuguese colonial war against Africa and the important and even decisive role played by the USA … If the Portuguese government is still holding out on the three fronts of the war which it is fighting in Africa, it is because it can count on the overt or covert support of the USA, freely use NATO weapons [and] buy B26 aircraft for the genocide of our people …” 

Amílcar Cabral was born in Guinea Bissau in 1924 and assassinated in Conakry in 1973. He was the leader of the Liberation Movement of Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau and founded the African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC). He is regarded as an icon of African history. Declassified Portuguese archives and testimonials made it clear that the conspiracy behind Cabral’s assassination was a plot involving the Portuguese secret police [likely with the US CIA in support].

Since the assassination of Cabral in 1973, the U.S. and its NATO proxies may have lost their formal grip on Africa; but they continue to strangle Africa militarily. The most blatant example of this is NATO’s destruction of Libya in 2011.

Before the U.S. and its “democratic” partners bombed Libya, that country “had the highest Human Development Index, the lowest infant mortality and the highest life expectancy in all of Africa.” There was also—at the time of the bombardment—75 Chinese companies (36,000 employees) working inside Libya—constructing housing, railways, telecommunications and hydroelectric facilities.

The end result of NATO’s unprovoked act of war against Libya (and Africa) was a catastrophic socio-economic reversal in the region, summarized in headlines such as “Slavery in Libya: Life inside a container” and “Slavery and Human Trafficking in Libya.”

When asked about the murder of the man (Muammar Gaddafi) who led Libya to the top of the African human development index, the then U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, succinctly expressed the barbaric values underpinning the U.S. approach to Africa: “We came, we saw, he died.” And then she laughed.

War is the language of imperialism and, in Africa today, the U.S. speaks it fluently. Under the cover of “counterterrorism” and “counterinsurgency,” the U.S. and its NATO allies are inserting their forces throughout the continent. [The US goal is pure chaos creation to inhibit successful development and stability.]

On the one hand, there is the ongoing French Operation Barkhane (2014) that has spread thousands of NATO soldiers across West Africa.

And on the other hand, there is the United States African Command (AFRICOM—founded in 2007). The mission statement of AFRICOM is clear: It exists to “to advance U.S. national interests … and … support U.S. Government foreign policy … through military-to-military activities.”

In 2019, just 12 years after its creation, AFRICOM had a “network” of 29 military bases spread across 15 African countries. 

 

Indeed, for U.S. leaders Africa is now “a petri dish and a proving ground for the development of a limited power-projection paradigm of drones, Special Operations forces, military advisers, local proxies, and clandestine intelligence missions.”

As the 21st century began, China entered into this “apocalyptic” U.S.-made situation. And as it did in the 1960s, it changed the orientation of Africa for the better. In contrast to Western “terror from above” (dictates and drones), China has been building up from below.

Since 2011, China has been the biggest player in Africa’s infrastructure boom, claiming a 40% share that continues to rise. Meanwhile, the shares of other players are falling precipitously: Europe declined from 44% to 34%, while the presence of U.S. contractors fell from 24% to just 6.7%.

Today’s partnership between Cape Verde and China is the cutting edge of this “construction boom.” In the 1960s these two nations combined to defeat the politics of imperialism. Now they are combining to battle the economics of imperialism: “the unjust and inequitable economic order left over from the past.”

If there is “great power competition” in Africa today, the U.S. has already lost the moral high ground since it remains committed to the infrastructure of imperialism—a system which creates nothing but destabilization. For the U.S., therefore, Africa is first and foremost a “security issue”—a “heart of darkness.”

Africa, however, is not an ahistorical enigma or a prize to be won in a competition. It is a proud continent which broke free from imperialism around the same time as China broke free from imperialism. And at the 1955 Bandung Conference both Africa and China invested in freedom from empire and peaceful cooperation. No evidence to date suggests that China has disavowed the spirit of Bandung.

In stark contrast, the U.S.—around 1950—chose to partner with Western Europe (NATO) rather than with the world. It chose empire. It chose to violently oppose “Bandung.” It chose war, racism and the neoliberal apocalypse. If Africa must now choose between China and the U.S., the choice is obvious.

Wow, this is a must watch!

 

 

Don't hear this kind of response to mainstream media BS very often!

Enjoy every second of it.

Share it so others can see this as well. 

It's a very important modeling as to how one should speak to the corporate media.

Bruce

No more denying the truth....

 

Photo by Mike Hastie

When I deliver lunches to the homeless three

days a week on the street, this is what I see

constantly. This is going to get worse, because

the prevailing narrative in this country is pro-

found blindness. I certainly don't have to con-

vince anyone of this. When you see it day after

day, any sort of denial does not exist anymore.

There is only reality left. We have two choices

in this country: You can either have programs of

social uplift, or you can have bombs and bullets.

The American people are still contemplating...

Mike Hastie
Army Medic Viet Nam
Portland, Oregon

Sunday song

 

Techo-feudal world not for me

 

 

AMAZON’S IMPENDING TAKEOVER: The One-Stop Shop for Smart Cities with Digital Currency Control

By Corey's Digs

This sounds like a dystopian science fiction movie, but unfortunately, it’s already in the works, they are just putting the final touches on their master plan. A “smart city?” Shop for products, food, and healthcare while [they are] tracking us? A biometrics palm scanner? All autonomous vehicles and public transit? No more cash or credit cards – all digital currency? The ability to freeze our accounts or prevent us from purchasing certain items? Does this sound crazy? It should! Let’s take a look at the rollout and possible ways to navigate and combat some of this.

Amazon’s been quite busy progressing in areas most people are unaware of. This goes far beyond taking out the little guys – they’re going for the middlemen, and heading straight for your family. How are they pulling all of this off?

Amazon’s “Takeover” Consists of 3 Stages, In A Nutshell:

Stage One: Obliterate the competition by taking over the organic food market, media, crushing all bookstores to control content, provide nearly every consumer product and get others to sell through your shop, and beefing up production with expedited shipping to make it so desirable, no one can compete, and everyone comes to rely on Amazon.

Stage Two: Capitalize on an event that demolishes small businesses, demolishes remaining competition, crushes the farming industry, increase service by billions while people are stuck in their homes, and consolidate power forces to takeover other markets. Produce drones for delivery and autonomous cars for getting around smart cities. Create blockchain and step up air freight to soar past the delivery competition. Make all of it sound like you are saving humanity during hard times.

Stage Three: Continue to expand products and services, add a healthcare division, grocery delivery, implement digital currency, expand the AI division, then step down as CEO to focus on the final stages of the agenda.

What the Heck is A “Smart City?”

“Smart Cities” and “smart growth” are the talk of the town among the so-called elite, philanthropists, mayors, and of course the UN. They want you to believe they are creating ultra-convenient cities where everything you need is at your fingertips. That’s right – smartphones, smart cars, smart public transportation, smart shopping, smart TVs, smart health – you name it, AI is here to save the day and track you all the way. This is neither myth or fantasy. In fact, the infrastructure has already begun in your city, long ago.

 

Is Amazon Part of The “Smart City” Plan?

You betcha! Apart from all of their “smart” (spying) devices to fill everyone’s “smart homes” in their “smart cities,” their AWS cloud is high on their list, as noted on their city transformation page: “Public sector innovation is moving faster than ever before, delivering cloud-connected thinking that is revolutionizing cities across the world. Harness the power of Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning, artificial intelligence, and more.” They talk about how the “smart city” and community environments will involve connecting “smart devices” and systems in sectors such as transportation, energy, manufacturing, and healthcare in fundamentally new ways that will “enhance the quality of life.” Be “smart,” and don’t be fooled.

Here is a short clip of Bill Gates talking about it a few years ago, but the plans began decades before. Whether or not Gates plans to build a “smart city” on the land he purchased in Phoenix is irrelevant, because they are already underway in thousands of cities across the country and the world. Keep your eyes open for Corey’s Digs report coming out in the near future, on this specifically, with detailed instructions on “OUTsmarting” them.

See the rest of this article here

Brits attempt return to imperial glory

 

 

As British Warships Deploy to Black Sea, Putin Warns of Red Lines

 

By Finian Cunningham

The British are being told that they cannot just sail their warships into the Black Sea and rattle their sabers in Russia’s face. Putin is telling the Brits and anyone else not to even think about getting that close.

Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a stern warning to countries trying to provoke military tensions, saying that his nation is drawing up red lines for defense.

Putin delivered the sharp remarks during his annual state-of-the-nation address to lawmakers from both chambers of the Russian parliament. The stark warning comes amid spiraling tensions over Ukraine between Western supporters of the Kiev regime and Russia.

Specifically, days before Putin’s set-piece speech, British media reported that Britain’s Royal Navy is planning to deploy two warships to the Black Sea: a Type-45 destroyer armed with anti-aircraft missiles; and a frigate for hunting submarines. A British ministry of defense spokesman is quoted as saying the move was a sign of “unwavering support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity” in the face of alleged Russian aggression.

The British deployment is planned to take place in the coming weeks. The two warships will transit Turkey’s Bosphorus Strait to enter the Black Sea. International shipping is permitted under the Montreux Convention. However, the British plan seems far from an innocent passage, and a rather more calculated provocation.

The two ships will be part of a bigger battle group, the newly launched HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier which will station in the East Mediterranean. The battle group will be able to supply F-35B Lightning fighter jets and Merlin helicopters with submarine-hunting missiles. All in all, it is a pretty audacious attempt by the British to raise tensions with Russia.

It is notable that the United States last week abruptly cancelled sending two of its guided-missile destroyers to the Black Sea after Russia mobilized its own fleet in the region and warned the Americans to “stay away”. Days later, the British seem to have stepped into the breach with their proposed Black Sea operation. Did the Biden administration ask London to step up to the plate and to show “solidarity”, or is the British maneuver a gambit to curry favor with Washington by flexing AngloSaxon muscles for Uncle Sam?

 

In any case, London’s move comes on the back of an already brazen buildup of British military forces in the Black Sea. Britain has previously sent naval personnel and equipment to train Ukrainian warships. The Royal Air Force has also dispatched a squadron of Typhoon fighter jets to patrol the Black Sea in support of the Kiev regime and its claim to take back control of the Crimean Peninsula. The Peninsula voted in a referendum in March 2014 to join the Russian Federation after a NATO-backed coup d’état in Kiev the previous month which ushered in an anti-Russian regime.

The Kiev regime has also been stepping up its violations of the ceasefire in Eastern Ukraine where ethnic Russian populations have declared breakaway republics in defiance of the 2014 NATO-backed coup. Civilian centers in Donetsk and Luhansk are being shelled on a daily basis. This is clearly a cynical attempt by the Kiev regime to escalate the civil war in such a way as to drag NATO further into the conflict. Russia has mobilized sizable army divisions on the border with Ukraine in what Moscow says is a matter of national self-defense. Yet, ironically, the United States, Britain, and other NATO powers are demanding Russia to “de-escalate” tensions.

NATO’s very public backing for the Kiev regime and the supply of American lethal weaponry is no doubt emboldening the regime to step up its offensive fire on Eastern Ukraine and making menacing moves towards Crimea.

The British are in particular giving the Kiev regime a dangerous sense of military license for its bravado towards Moscow.

The situation is an extremely dangerous powder-keg. One wrong move, even unintended, could spark off a wider war involving the NATO powers and Russia.

In this highly combustible context, Russia is right to close off areas in the Black Sea that encompass its territorial waters. Those areas include the coastal waters off the Crimean Peninsula.

 

Crimean War 1853-1856 - Russia has not forgotten Britain's role in that disaster

NATO powers sending warships into the region is the height of criminal folly. If Britain and other members of the U.S.-led alliance contend that they are “defending Ukraine’s territorial integrity” then the logic of that position dictates that they will attempt to make an incursion into Crimean coastal water since they don’t recognize Russia’s sovereignty. In that event, a military confrontation is bound to happen.

President Putin’s declaration of red lines is not so much a rhetorical putting it up to the West. It is a responsible position to prevent a war from breaking out.

The British are being told that they cannot just sail their warships into the Black Sea and rattle their sabers in Russia’s face. Putin is telling the Brits and anyone else not to even think about getting that close.

Blast from the past: Maine Walk for Peace

 

 

Peace walk from Ellsworth, Maine to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It took 16 glorious days of hard work, community building and full of good spirits.

Still inpiring to watch this video - thanks Regis Tremblay for producing it.

Washington's domination of Australia

 

Western media portrays Australia as a beautiful nation with independent people and a close ally of the United States. 

But the American Empire has no allies, only vassal states. 

Australia became a colony of the American empire in 1975 after an Anglo-American directed coup. 

Most Australians hardly noticed since Australia had been a British colony since its inception and dispatches military forces when ordered to fight imperial wars. 

These days Washington has sent Australia after China. 

Situation in Iran & Afghanistan

 

David Andersson speaks with Bahman Azad, Executive Secretary with the U.S. Peace Council and an NGO representative of the World Peace Council at the United Nations. Bahman is originally from Iran.

Where are we standing with the Iran Nuclear Deal and how to understand the removing of U.S. troops from Afghanistan on September 11, promised by President Biden?

'It's politicized intelligence'

 

On this episode of Going Underground, they interview former MI6 agent Alastair Crooke. 

He discusses the alleged Israeli Mossad attack on the Natanz nuclear facility, and the division among Israel’s politicians about whether to continue pursuing Netanyahu’s maximum containment policy.

Also discussed is the landmark strategic deal signed between Iran and China and how it changes the game in the Middle East. 

In addition the war in Syria and how the UK, US and other Western allies are preventing reconstruction efforts, Western support for Islamists in Syria and much more! 

Get Pelosi off the TV!

 

 

Jimmy Dore tells the truth....more on cop killing, Pelosi's horrible words about George Floyd - thanks him for his 'sacrifice'.

Latest from Russia

 

RT reports:

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has announced that troops deployed in the west and south of the country in recent days will soon begin returning to base, saying they have now passed tests of their combat readiness.

The chief of the country’s military revealed on Thursday that a number of units of the regular army and airborne divisions had been transferred to the area, near the shared border with Ukraine, as part of surprise military exercises. The buildup had caused alarm in Kiev, and been cited by Western nations as a potential precursor to an invasion, which the Kremlin repeatedly denied.

According to Shoigu, “the goals of the sudden inspection have been fully achieved. The troops demonstrated their ability to ensure reliable defense of the country.”

As a result, he has now ordered commanders to “plan and begin the return of troops to their places of regular deployment, beginning from April 23.” By the end of the month, the minister said, “the personnel of the 58th Army of the Southern Military District, the 41st Army of the Central Military District, the 7th, 76th Air Assault and 98th Airborne Divisions of the Airborne Forces” will return to their normal bases.

However, he warned that the army would “react and respond adequately to all changes in the situation near Russian borders.”

 

From The Saker:

This is an excerpt of the (relatively short) part of Putin’s speech (April 21) dealing with foreign issues:

“We really want to maintain good relations with all those engaged in international communication, including, by the way, those with whom we have not been getting along lately, to put it mildly. We really do not want to burn bridges. But if someone mistakes our good intentions for indifference or weakness and intends to burn or even blow up these bridges, they must know that Russia’s response will be asymmetrical, swift and tough.

Those behind provocations that threaten the core interests of our security will regret what they have done in a way they have not regretted anything for a long time.

At the same time, I just have to make it clear, we have enough patience, responsibility, professionalism, self-confidence and certainty in our cause, as well as common sense, when making a decision of any kind. But I hope that no one will think about crossing the “red line” with regard to Russia. We ourselves will determine in each specific case where it will be drawn.” 

US Order against Russia: Italy at attention

 

A Bath, Maine built Navy Aegis (Arleigh Burke class) destroyer prowling the waters of the Black Sea helping (not to defend America) but to take CIA directed instability to the Russian coast on behalf of corporate capital.

Art of war

By Manlio Dinucci (il manifesto, Italy)

Italian Foreign Minister Di Maio and Italian Defense Minister Guerini were urgently summoned to NATO headquarters in Brussels for an extraordinary meeting of the North Atlantic Council on April 15: the same day, in Washington President Biden signed the "Executive Order Against Harmful Foreign Activities of the Russian Government". 

As reported by the media, the Executive Order not only decreed expulsions of diplomats and economic sanctions, but established "If Russia continues or intensifies its destabilizing international actions",  then "The United States will impose such costs as to cause a strategic impact on Russia". 

It precisely is the preparation for the "strategic impact", that is an intensified political-military escalation against Russia. The North Atlantic Council was convened at the level of  Foreign and Defense Ministers of the 30 NATO countries and formally chaired by the Secretary-General Stoltenberg, in reality by US Secretary of State Blinken and US Defense Secretary Austin.

 

The North Atlantic Council - the Alliance political body  which according to NATO rules decides not by majority but always "unanimously and by mutual agreement" or in agreement with what Washington decided - has immediately and unanimously approved a 'Declaration of solidarity with the United States on actions announced on April 15, to respond to Russia's destabilizing activities'. 

The Council then listed the charges against Russia: "Destabilizing and provocative behavior, violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine and Georgia, interference in US and Allied elections, vast disinformation campaign, use of nerve gas against Navalny, support for attacks on US/NATO forces in Afghanistan, violation of agreements on non-proliferation and disarmament”, the same words as in the Biden Executive order.

US military radar in Vardo, Norway - right up close to the Russian border.  It tracks Russian military operations and would assist in missile targeting during a US-NATO attack

 

Regarding these accusations just consider one for all, the latter:  who accused Russia of having violated the agreements on non-proliferation and disarmament is the United States, which has always violated the Non-proliferation Treaty deploying nuclear weapons in Italy and other European countries, and tearing up the INF Treaty by reopening the way for new nuclear missiles installation in Europe.  

The escalation is not just verbal. The day before the North Atlantic Council meeting, the US Army in Europe announced that it will hold back three bases in Germany that it should have returned to the German government, because it will receive two new operational units in the coming months.  

The same day Washington announced an agreement with Norway allowing the US to have four air and naval bases on the border with Russia. In the meantime, the US destroyer Arleigh Burke [made in Bath, Maine] has returned to Europe after undergoing a modernization that has "increased the range and capacity of its armaments". 

The Arleigh Burke destroyer is one of the four advanced deployment missile units of the Sixth Fleet that operate mainly in the Baltic and Black Sea under the orders of the US Naval Forces Command in Europe (their headquarters are in Naples-Capodichino). 

These ships are equipped with Lockheed Martin Mk 41 vertical launchers, capable of launching (according to official technical specifications) "missiles for all missions: anti-aircraft, anti-ship, and attack against land targets". These latter, including the Tomahawk missile, can be armed with a conventional warhead or a nuclear warhead. 

Without knowing it, Russia might assume there are nuclear attack missiles aboard these ships near its territory. 

[In addition the Pentagon has deployed these same systems on land in Romania and Poland - calls them 'Aegis Ashore' launch platforms. It's a Cuban Missile Crisis in reverse and the public knows nothing about it. But they have probably heard about Navalny.]

While London also announced the forthcoming missile unit dispatch to the Black Sea, Moscow announced that no passage of foreign warships will be allowed through Russian territorial waters in three areas of the Black Sea from  April 24 to  October 31. 

The situation will become even tenser when next summer the US-Ukraine Sea Breeze exercise will take place in the Black Sea with over 30 ships supported by airplanes, helicopters, and drones and the participation of other NATO countries. 

History flashback: Why NATO's destruction of Libya?

 

 

Who gave NATO forces in Libya the right to eliminate Qaddafi? 

This story is one example of why Putin is demonized by the west.  The US-NATO claim that they cherish the 'rule of law'. But in the case of Libya (2011) we saw the destruction of that nation and the ugly street assassination of Qaddafi. What about his right to a fair trial? Washington was afraid to put him on the witness stand.

(Recall Hillary Clinton's famous words at the time: "We came, we saw, he died"). Clinton showed her dark heart in that moment.  Pure arrogance.

 

Overthrowing Qaddafi was a humanitarian and strategic debacle. It was also illegal under international law.  But who would ever hold US-NATO responsible for these crimes?

So when Putin dared to simply raise questions he signaled to Washington-Brussels that he was not playing along with their game.  This was around the time that the vicious demonization of Putin and Russia really ramped up.

I know it is not 'popular' to defend Putin (or Qaddafi for that matter) but I'm an old man now and have little to lose - except my own conscience.

This is the world we live in today.  Anyone who dares to defend the demonized is demonized in return. People say, "You must have been Putinized".

My response is no - I'm actually an independent thinker who just searches for truth and tries to actually defend international law - even if that is not the popular thing to do - especially for those who live inside the most unlawful nation on the planet.

Bruce 

Democracy when?

 

 

Aaron Mate used to work for Amy Goodman at Democracy Now. 

He confirms what many around the nation have been saying for some years - Amy Goodman has joined the corporate demonization line on Syria, Russia and more. 

Why?

Money talks. 

Russia & Belarus claim US-backed assassination & COUP against Lukashenko failed

 

The Saker writes:

Amazing news over the week-end: President Lukashenko [Belarus] has declared that Biden gave the order to kill him in a coup organized by the CIA.  Now, we all know that Lukashenko says all sorts of things, many of them false or plain silly.  Except that the Russian FSB has confirmed it all!  According to the Russians, a joint operation of the (Belorussian) KGB and the Russian FSB has uncovered the plot early on and the Russians monitored the full operation until they had enough evidence to arrest all the plotters.  Not only do the Russians have videos of their meetings, they also intercepted their Zoom video conferences.

Unlike the US/UK and others, the Russian FSB did not say that they were “confident” that it was “highly likely” that this operation took place.  They released all the footage of a meeting of the plotters in Moscow which confirms it all (I don’t have the time to translate that footage, but I am confident that somebody will).

Much more relevantly, the Kremlin fully confirmed the story and the Russian media discussed it at length.  It also became known that Putin and Biden discussed this topic during their telephone call (ironic, no? Biden called Putin a ‘killer’ while the self same “Biden” tried to kill a foreign head of state).  

Not surprisingly no western media had said a word about this attempted coup in Belarus although the 'free press' do keep talking about Navalny's hunger strike.

Time for a treaty to ban weapons in space

 

Letter to the New York Times

By Alice Slater

It is ironic that in his reporting of President Biden’s decision to pull US troops out of Afghanistan, finally ending the US’s 20 year failed and brutal efforts for reform, David Sanger strangely concludes, not that we need more peace in the world, but that we need to focus on “far bigger strategic challenges—in space and in cyber space” coming from Russia and China.  

Perhaps Sanger is unaware that only days earlier, Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov, in acknowledging the 60th Anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s April 12, 1961 accomplishment as the first man to orbit the Earth, also reminded the world of Russia’s repeated calls for the prevention of an arms race in space as well as Russia’s past rejected efforts, together with China, to start negotiations on a draft of a treaty to ban space weapons. 

 

Both nations submitted drafts to the Committee on Disarmament in Geneva, in 2008 and again in 2014. Sadly, the US blocked all discussion of a space ban treaty in that consensus bound forum.   Also, perhaps Sanger was unaware of the Times own coverage of Putin’s offer to President Obama in 2009 to negotiate a treaty to ban cyber war.

In the midst of this current brutal media blitz demonizing both Russia and China, the NY Times should be wary of leading with skewed, immoral or untruthful charges similar to the media onslaught that led up to the catastrophic war in Iraq.  At that sorry time, the Times acknowledged its erroneous front-page reports of Saddam Hussein’s non-existent weapons of mass destruction, which contributed to the chaos that ensued.  

When discussing the wrongdoing of other nations, it is essential that we examine the role the US has played in the current hostilities, not only in space, but in cyber-warfare, NATO expansion, abandoning the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, surrounding Russia and China with military bases, and other aggressive postures-- driven clearly by what President, formerly General, Eisenhower warned us against -- the Military-Industrial Complex.    

The Times must follow the money and tell the truth.

Sincerely,

Alice Slater
New York, NY 

Rocket Lab: Growing opposition in New Zealand

 

By Murray Horton

Rocket Lab started life as a small New Zealand company but is now much bigger and has become the local subsidiary of a US company, with its owners including arms industry behemoths such as Lockheed Martin. 

It specialises in frequent launches of small satellites for clients including a range of US military and intelligence agencies. These launches are conducted from New Zealand, which prides itself on being nuclear free (it was kicked out of the ANZUS Treaty in 1986 by the other two parties - the US and Australia - for having banned US nuclear warships from entering. That remains the status quo today). 

NZ also claims to have an independent foreign policy. But it remains the most junior of the Five Eyes global electronic spying network (with the US, UK, Canada and Australia). Having Rocket Lab operating a private enterprise space port in New Zealand for US military and intelligence agencies, with the active backing of Jacinda Ardern's Government, totally undermines that claim.
 
Rocket Lab has, up until recently, received uncritical, even adulatory, coverage by the NZ news media. That, plus the fact that its' launch pad is in a very remote, sparsely populated area (the Mahia Peninsula on the North Island's east coast) means that it has been off the radar (pardon the pun) of the NZ public. 

 

 

In 2021 that is now changing. Mainstream media coverage has become more critical, the best example being  "Mahia, We Have A Problem", by Ollie Neas in the March 2021 North & South (a national monthly magazine). And opposition has started, right in Rocket Lab's back yard, in the Mahia area, led by local Maori women (Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand). 

There was a protest against Rocket Lab's most recent military satellite launch; the group - Rocket Lab Monitor - has taken its case to the local media; and, via billboards, etc, directly to the people. They have set up a Website. 

Opposition is also being organised on a more national scale - New Zealand is one of the most urbanised countries in the world and Rocket Lab's assembly plant and headquarters is situated in the country's biggest city, Auckland.
 
Murray Horton
Secretary/Organiser
Anti-Bases Campaign
Christchurch, New Zealand

Israel fears growing international support for Palestine

 

Going Underground speaks to world-renowned Israeli historian Prof. Ilan Pappé. 

He discusses the situation in Gaza and the West Bank on Palestinian Prisoner Day, the strength of the pro-Israel lobby in both the U.K. and the United States, why the ‘two-state solution’ is a cover for the West’s inaction, the pro-Palestinian shift in American public opinion, the antisemitism allegations that brought down Jeremy Corbyn and much more!

Sunday song

 

Saturday Matinee: We've gone to the dark side

 

 

A Good American“ is a gripping docu-thriller about a groundbreaking surveillance program, the brilliant mastermind behind it and how a perfect alternative to mass surveillance was killed by NSA-management for money – three weeks prior to 9/11.

Bill Binney was a brilliant cryptologist and long-time National Security Agency (NSA) analyst, since 1997 serving as Technical Director. Binney developed a sophisticated program named ThinThread for gathering data capable of providing clues, in real-time, of potential terrorist threats.

Built-in safeguards would have prevented the massive surveillance methods later exposed by Edward Snowden. Why was this program killed off? And who was behind that?

Friedrich Moser’s eye-opening and deeply disturbing documentary tells the complete story of Bill Binney and those, both inside the NSA and out, who backed ThinThread. A program that gathered data, lawfully, effectively, and more inexpensively, than the now discredited programs pursued by the US and EU governments.

It’s also a chilling account of those willing to go on the record and what happened to them when they tried to expose the truth.

This is how the propaganda works

 

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” ~ Joseph Goebbels (German Nazi politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. He was one of Adolf Hitler's closest and most devoted associates.)

 

Whether it is the Korean war, Vietnam, Cuba, Panama, Yugoslavia, Iraq, Syria, Yemen or Venezuela - the media big-wigs always run their scripted 'news story' through the corporate meat grinder first. Mr. Big's media underlings review the oligarchy talking points before they are fed to the public. Strictly Madison Avenue and Hollywood stuff. 

The duly-elected Ukrainian government was toppled in 2014 after the US and its 'Euro-allies' worked for many years to spawn 'color revolutions' there.  Always the goal was to turn Ukraine into a failed state right on Russia's border. Washington-Brussels thinking has been to tie Moscow down so it can't challenge other US-NATO ugly moves on the grand chessboard. 

Russia ain't going along with it.  For years I've heard activists dream of a time when some nation would arise to challenge Washington's long bout of arrogance and domination. But Putin has been so demonized by the west (with shitloads of stories invented and placed in western media) that even many activists friends (who normally are very perceptive) just don't see how they have climbed into the tar pit with Mr. Big on this particular issue.  Very sad.

Having religiously studied the Ukraine-Russia issue since 2014 on I've come to the conclusion that the same techniques used by the CIA to run color revolutions around the world are also run here at home. Many were invented here. 

One of those techniques is to place CIA clones into virtually every institution in America. The nation is saturated with intel and surveillance. Also propaganda promotion and neutralizing key leaders that get a big following are other techniques. Paul Wellstone was one of those who they killed.

I have long believed the peace movement (like all other movements outside of Mr. Big's total control) are similarly infiltrated with some paid operatives. They can become top leaders - they get money, media and protection from the oligarchs. Their job is to steer the movements in certain directions that serve the 'interests' of Wall Street and the war machine. 

The Ukraine coup was where I really learned this in 2014.  For about two weeks straight I followed a couple leads from Fazebook and burrowed into several people to learn about their jobs, funding sources, and links to academia (where profs are often funded to steer young minds into acceptable capitalist foreign policy thinking). 

One of them had challenged one of my posts on FB - calling me 'Putinized'. He was quite an unfriendly guy who was using a peace organization page to promote the anti-Russian line.  I discovered he was American and worked in Ukraine prior to the coup. He was hired to help train NGO's in how to reach young people, fire them up, and use their good-hearted enthusiasm for cynical purposes. The energy at the 'Maidan' in Kiev was handed over to the Nazi's who then physically muscled their way into the new government.  The rest is history. US-NATO fingerprints are all over that crime. In addition to CIA there were the National Endowment for Democracy, USAID, State Department agencies, Pentagon, and the Soros 'Open Society Foundation' - among others.

The only foundation that has been built in Ukraine since 2014 is chaos. Check out chaos theory.

Bruce

Words from some internet wags

 

 Azov is a Neo-Nazi Ukrainian National Guard regiment

• Poison is in everything, and no thing is without poison. The dosage makes it either a poison or a remedy. Paracelsus. [Ukraine President] Zelenski has chosen his poison, aka the west. The dosage at this moment in time certainly has a potential to be a lethal one. No matter what he does now, it will not end well for him or Ukraine. His choices now are as follows:
  

1. Descalate and look weak in the eyes of the Ukronazi resulting in intense pressure to have him removed.

2.Forge forward with a full scale attack on the Donbass and face complete destruction by the Russian military.

3. Resign and leave with his head attached to his shoulders and live a happy life somewhere in zone A and watch the inevitable full collapse of the Ukraine.

Option 1 & 2 carries with it a potential lethal dose. Any wise person would choose option 3. Let’s see what Zelenski the comedian will do. 

• I have already said that all of this is a Lead Up to a false flag, planned to be much (much!) bigger than 9/11. Repeating this message again for those who missed that comment. World better get ready for it. Fully recognizing it for what it is that they are seeing when it happens, will be a good start.

• I think the best action for U.S. interests would be to walk back from the Ukraine mess and seek a diplomatic end to the crisis. Biden, though, has his personal reputation at stake; is this a factor? Biden was one of the people involved in the Ukraine coup; in Nuland’s infamous phone call he was scheduled to hold an “attaboy” meeting with “Yats”. If the Ukraine project fails it reflects on him. While the U.S. would benefit from ending this fiasco, Biden would not. I hope he does not drive this mess into the terminal phase to protect himself.

 

Russia has closed the Kerch Strait until October

 

• I also think there has been a change in the Russian mood recently. They used to brush off U.S. provocations (which mostly backfired on the U.S.), but now the U.S. actions have Russian and Chinese counter-reactions.

• This is what you might call a classic “tail wagging the dog” situation in which reality is back to front. The reality is that Washington and its European allies are responsible for engendering a grave escalation in tensions by indulging the reckless authorities in Kiev. Calling on Moscow to de-escalate is akin to a trespassing burglar admonishing a householder to stop shining a light in his eyes and go back to bed.

• Russia has every right to mobilize military forces anywhere within its borders as a prerogative of its national defense. Moscow has consistently affirmed that it does not present a threat to any nation. Yet American media outlet CNN and others have fabricated reports which purport to show the Russian military preparing to invade Ukraine. This is while up to 30-40,000 NATO troops are currently conducting so-called “war games” along Russia’s entire western border from the Baltic down to the Black Sea. The inversion of reality assumes new heights of absurdity with Western leaders claiming they are “defending” Ukraine and other European countries from “Russian aggression”.

• Russian troops are in Russia. American troops are being positioned over 8,000 kilometers away from U.S. territory on Russia’s doorstep.

• Our ruling elites have become a death cult. They loot and cannibalize their own companies and industries. They deliberately destabilize and destroy developing nations. They deliberately cause chaos and death everywhere they can.

• Asked if the United States was ready, if necessary, to increase its forces on Ukrainian territory, the US ambassador said: "We are constantly monitoring the situation in Ukraine and assessing the needs of the Ukrainian side. There are 160 US troops in Ukraine on a permanent basis and if the demand changes and their number needs to increase, we will take that into account.”

• The next move on the devil's chessboard. Ukraine is too weak economically and militarily to be able to distract Russia with a regional war. Poland another nation with an extremist government and a grudge, also under US control is plan B. Keep in mind Zelinsky's former occupation before running Ukraine into the ground was a comedian.  

 

 

• DEFENDER-Europe 21 activities begin this month across Europe and continue through June. DEFENDER-Europe is an annual large-scale U.S. Army Europe and Africa-led, multinational, joint exercise designed to build strategic and operational readiness and interoperability between U.S., NATO allies and partners.

Biden's magic tricks - watch both hands

 

 

Yesterday I watched with outrage, and some amusement, as Joe Biden held a press briefing (only took two questions at the end as he started to walk away).

Here are a few things he said and some of my reactions - in parenthesis:

 

• Elections are sacred (that is a joke coming from the US which interferes in other nations elections quite routinely. This Democratic party talking point of 'Russian interference in US elections' for more than four years running has yet to be proven with any real evidence).

• Biden brought up the alleged 'SolarWinds cyber hack' (which again has not been proven with the slightest bit of evidence. Intelligence agencies can make all kinds of claims but who will confirm if they are true? The mainstream media? Hardly).

• Biden announced new expulsions of Russian diplomats and new sanctions. (More of the same).

• Biden claimed he wants 'a more stable relationship' with Russia. (Anyone who is closely following US moves in Ukraine, and the surrounding regions, clearly understands that it is Washington that is 'destabilizing' things in that part of the world.  Just today it was announced in Russian media, not in western media, that Washington, Oslo Sign Revised Deal to Allow Expansion of US Military in Norway.

• Biden droned on with claims that the US was eager to extend the New Start Treaty, wants better communication, wants to meet Putin in person someplace in Europe, and that now is the 'time to deescalate'. (Yes, the US wants Moscow to pull its troops back from inside its own border with Ukraine. All the while the US continues with arming Kiev's Nazi army, NATO expansion, war games on Russia's border and Pentagon troop deployments in Norway, Poland, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and more! Hardly a fair trade.)

• Biden concluded by saying, 'I'm opposed to Nord Stream 2 - that issue is still in play'. (The undersea natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany has continually been challenged by Washington. The US instead wants Europe to buy LNG fracked gas, transported on ships across the Atlantic, at a much higher price.  German industry wants Nord Stream 2.)

• This morning I heard on BBC radio that Ukraine's comedian-president Zelensky was in Paris.  Germany and France for years have been trying to get Ukraine to implement the Minsk agreements between Kiev and the Donbass.  Kiev signed the agreements but has never honored them.  

• Ukrainian forces violated the Minsk agreement ceasefire 36 times over the past week, said DPR People’s Militia deputy chief-of-staff Eduard Basurin. The enemy used mortars, IFVs, anti-aircraft guns, and grenade launchers to target 16 DPR townships.

 

• So is the US really serious about a stable relationship with Russia and deescalation in the region? No.  Check out the Rand Corporation study that clearly lays out the US strategy of destabilization and break up of Russia into smaller countries in order for western fossil fuel corporations to get their greedy hands on the resources that are beneath the melting Arctic ice.

Bruce