anthony
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Posts posted by anthony
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"The benignant sympathy of her example".
As fresh, today
"She well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy, and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom.
The fundamental maxims of her policy would insensibly change from liberty to force....
She might become the dictatress of the world. She would be no longer the ruler of her own spirit...."
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Knowledgable and experienced ex-soldier yet entirely wrong premises. Historical determinism, etc. Worst of all this discourse 'sets the stage' for some incendiary false flag event, to allow the West a virtuous "off-ramp"..
Repeat: the winning side has no motive for a nuclear escalation, the losing side does. The superior (conventional) weapons Russia has in quantity, and its bolstered army haven't even been fully employed yet--and they clearly had and have no intention to "carpet bomb" towns and cities and mega-deaths of civilians to achieve Ukr capitulation. Let alone - use a tactical nuke on one. Russia's "escalation" could occur in many small steps--long before nuclear. As for helping Ukraine recover lost territory - too late. The West eschewed with disdain the diplomatic route, implementing a minor - and agreed upon - concession for autonomy for the Donbas; many officials have stated e.g. Josep Borrell EU: this "will be decided on the battlefield" i.e. no negotiations to be entered into with Russia. (Premised on the fantasy of Ukraine beating Russia!). Now they will have to live by their macho talk.
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On 6/27/2023 at 4:01 AM, Michael Stuart Kelly said:
Tony,
Good Lord!
Russia is partying--literally partying--while the mainstream media is saying they are being oppressed by a bloodthirsty dictator who is toast and will fall because of a humiliating defeat in Ukraine.
Except there is no defeat.
There is no fall.
There is only the sound of the party.
l
Michael, The magic formula "regime change" is the West's simplistic answer to international "problem-children", real or perceived. I'm very sure that the 2014 coup, a "Color Revolution", in Ukraine was tested and anticipated as the prequel to recreating one later in Russia.
Ukraine's role, merely a convenient stepping stone towards inciting "a grassroots revolt" in its neighbor. Punitive sanctions and a prolonged war would hurt the Russian population, then, upheaval and very possibly civil war, aimed at fragmenting Russia into several weak nations (like the Baltics) easily dominated, politically and financially, for their geo-strategic position in Asia and of course, their natural resources.
(I make clear, I'm in the radical "laissez-faire" camp. I think "might" does not "make right", and other countries - and individuals - must be left alone, while not dismissing diplomacy or temporary assistance : i.e. they have free will to self-determine themselves for better or worse, often the latter. Whether one approves of them, their ideology, governments and leaders, or not - live and let live -- "left alone" to decide their own destiny).
I regularly ask myself lately, was this, and any, 'emergency' engineered by the "powers that be"? or was it a 'natural' and unforeseen event taken advantage of? (The pandemic and its possible origins and dictatorial controls comes to mind)
A cynical exploitation of an unhappy situation("never let a crisis go to waste") - or - a plot by the global elites that down the line predictably will be cause of a bloody conflict, then to be also exploited.
The third possibility, non-exclusive, it can be both in many mixtures.
All in all, to the bitterness of many outsiders, it seems Russians are most satisfied with Putin. Regime change is not on the cards. One more time, as with misjudging its economic resilience and military strength, they reveal how arrogantly they totally failed to identify Russia and the Russian character.
Predominantly I've found Russians didn't welcome any war, but they understand the limited options Putin had left to maintain Russian security and sovereign integrity. A major cause of his popularity is forgotten, that he singly pulled the country out of a very bad period for the majority of people. I detect an implication from Russia's harshest critics, unspoken mostly: Russia was starting to succeed, "too, damn well". A rising "peer competitor" as geo-political analysts say. And why should increasing productive competitiveness hurt anyone else?
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A Site for "Rag tag bunch of conservative misfits".
Scenes included of St. Petersburg and poor, repressed Russian citizens. Don't they realise there's a war on? Who'd not wish to travel there and maybe live a while?
Sunday Talks - Anthony Blinken Spins a Tale of Woe for Vladimir Putin - The Last Refuge
THECONSERVATIVETREEHOUSE.COMWell, I have not written about the events with Wagner in Russia, in part because coincidentally I have a good source in St Petersburg who told...-
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Elation in Rostov's streets at the peaceable conclusion. Quick sighting of Prig.
(A metaphysical comment about entrenched, irrational Russophobia: "They" aren't any different from "us".)
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Maskirovka or mental crackup? Who knows.
Russia's Academy Award Winning Performance For Best Coup, Prigozhin Scores Best Actor - A Son of the New American Revolution
SONAR21.COMWhat if the Prigozhin “Coup” is Maskirovka? I want to explore that possibility. Earlier today (Saturday on the east coast of the U.S.) I was... -
On 6/23/2023 at 8:05 PM, Peter said:
And now from the latest news. Russian mercenary boss says Moscow's war in Ukraine based on lies Story by By Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Friday that the official Kremlin-backed version of why Moscow invaded Ukraine was based on lies concocted by his perennial adversary - the army's top brass.
Prigozhin has for months been accusing Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Russia's top general, Valery Gerasimov, of rank incompetence, but on Friday he for the first time rejected Russia's core justifications for invading Ukraine on Feb. 24 last year in what it calls a "special military operation".
"... the Defense Ministry is trying to deceive society and the president and tell us a story about how there was crazy aggression from Ukraine and that they were planning to attack us with the whole of NATO," Prigozhin said in a video clip released on Telegram by his press service, calling the official version "a beautiful story".
Prigozhin has become notorious for his madly erratic effusions, usually castigating the RF high command for being too restrained and sabotaging Wagner's operations. Many on the Russian side think the hardliner egomaniac should be disciplined.
Most often, he seems to be yanking the media's chains, telling them what they want to hear.
Believe him you can believe anything.
But - of course - Kyiv and NATO had been building a formidable army for no particular purpose, in all innocence! How could they be accused of the motive of using it to finally defeat the Donbas and retake Crimea? Ten years now of uninterrupted bombardment of E. Ukr civilians is proof of intent. And who could not predict that Putin might take exception to more imminent aggression coming and counter-aggress?! No surprise. There's the UAF's "purpose", readied to 'defend' against Russia when - with 100% certainty - it took the bait and invaded.
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8 hours ago, Peter said:
Putin wouldn’t / shouldn’t leave until he wins, and now he is threatening to use new missiles with nuclear warheads?
When questioned, Putin has reiterated often that Russia's policy is "no first use". BUT, specified the 4 conditions for use. Naturally the media jumped on that, out of context.
Headlines:
"Putin threatens nuclear weapons!!!
How the MSM consumers are hoodwinked. Unfailingly, writers told us that obviously Putin has no "red lines". He didn't respond to hostile provocation, here or there. Then we can push him over the limit with no reactions. Such people don't get others' self-restraint: Russia has been constantly ultra-cautious to not be the cause of escalated war.
Whatever the propagandists and/or military 'experts' assured everybody, the 'winning' by Russian forces was an eventual foregone conclusion. (Even Obama remarked in 2016 that Russia "...has escalation dominance" - i.e. fighting in their front yard, no one will beat them).
So what would rational people have done with the reality of certain defeat? Or, second best - even a long drawn-out war without certain victory? Clear - diplomatically end the conflict, soonest. One has to have zero value in human lives to welcome a losing (or Pyrrhic) war by one's supposed ally.
Are human sacrifices the enlightened "Western values" the (undemocratic, corrupt and semi-Nazified) Ukraine regime are "defending"?
(So long as Russians are dying also, we don't mind you being killed...)
Only the insane wanted this war to go on. But being crazed, they have avoided and blocked Zelensky from partaking in two peace initiatives agreed to by Russia early in 2022, and still want it to go on today. To gain a "better bargaining position"! (Blinken, I think)
Russia is winning by conventional warfare means. They have no need for nukes.
The loser is always the one desperate to escalate. Everybody knows that repeatedly doubling-down until broke is the loser's strategy, known as the Gambler's Fallacy.
Their last throw of the dice, the promoted Ukr counter-offensive is failing.
Western publicity has been 'prepping' the west for human 'survivability' in "a limited" nuclear war. It's been raised in high level discussions, you can bet on it.
If a tactical nuke is used, perhaps as a false flag, blamed like all previous incidents upon Russia, odds are overwhelming it will be by NATO.
Right this moment is the critical time for saner heads to prevail.
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I tried to dig into where Russia has - in that post Cold War period - explicitly threatened European and western countries - and come up short. With all their predictable growth pangs away from hateful Communism, their ideology has been mostly eliminated.
Largely my impression is Putin has acted in good faith, and been receptive of and conciliatory to the West, and been rebuffed.
My question: prior to 2022 what was the threat that Russia posed to others?
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I fear NATO.
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10 hours ago, Peter said:
he thinks Russia acted in "good faith" with its invasion of Ukraine . . . but all I can think of is that a rational person needs to rethink their position on NIOF, or non initiation of force principle. Stop finding excuses for the initiation of force.
The one-sided view of IOF. It doesn't wash, simply finding excuses for the status quo.
I've made a fair explanation backed by the facts for Russia's intervention, one in part, to immediately rescue lives from force initiated by Kyiv, fallen on deaf ears.
The broader and long term cause is against NATO pressing to Russia's borders, and all this implies - fixed military bases and icbms a couple of kms over the border aimed your way. The implicit hostility of which should be self-evident. No self-respecting people would tolerate it. Most countries would not be powerful enough to prevent it. "Rule-based international order" is useless to stop such grievances. But who makes the rules?
(Visibly, Putin is most aware of "implications" - pragmatic like most leaders, but irrational he isn't).
NATO is culpable for 'creeping' or incremental initiation of inherent force. That's the potential threat nearby nuclear weapons bring. Even unused, they are a permanent psychological constraint to the freedom of action by citizens of a country. (A hold-up man never needs to 'use' - to fire - his gun at anyone he robs; pointing it at the victim is enough to get anything he wants).
Striking first, a pre-emptive (and defensive) force is wholly objectively moral : One is not required to wait for and receive the blow that you can see is coming.
Of course with many who believe that other (lesser) countries should never have a "sphere of influence" which extends even to their immediate vicinity, while the USA/NATO can and should extend its "sphere" faraway across the world, one is going to meet an impasse.
Then we can go into what nations/collectives/individuals are - intrinsically- superior, as contrasted to objectively better.
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5 hours ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:
EDIT: You wrote, characterizing an argument, "Ukraine somehow initiated the force used against themselves."That's not accurate. Nazi Ukrainians--during peacetime--bombed the shit out Russian Ukrainians in the Donbas region and elsewhere after the 2014 coup.
The CIA favors the Nazi Ukrainians.
Michael, this is correct. And since the newly enlarged (with NATO arming and training) UAF Army was poised for a fresh attack on the region, early 2022, Putin was faced with a hard choice. Now or never. Wait longer and the Donbas would be overrun, the resident inhabitants (property and business owners and others who'd lived there for generations) would have had to flee for their lives into Russia as some millions had already done.
The territory would be 'ethnically cleansed' of Russian Ukrainians, and you can bet the predatory corporates were ready to move in on valuable land, mining concessions, etc.,when emptied - de-Russification, terrorising and expelling the locals as well as killing some was the point of sustaining that civil war.
Publicly and to their discredit, a blind eye was turned on this ongoing injustice by western politicians.
Much is made of NATO "expansion!" as Putin's main rationale. True, but people also forget - and are seldom directed to by MSM - the plight of the Donbas citizens. Ukraine's admission to NATO was still years away, not an immediate threat. The Donbas situation was urgent and impending, what I think "pulled the trigger" for rapid invasion before they were invaded. Those separatists appealed for help, and after refusing to earlier, Putin eventually obliged. Legally by UN Charter (and "R2P"- UN's 'responsibility to protect' to prevent genocides).
In his words and by his non-actions for 8 years, it seems most plasuible that Putin was counting upon Minsk to be implemented. The ex-Ambassador Jack Matlock is on record for his conviction that Putin wouldn't have invaded if MInsk (autonomy within Ukraine, etc.) had been implemented, bears it out. Did Russia need the headache of gaining territory and people at huge, somewhat predictable, risks and expense?
"Unprovoked and unjustified invasion", the unquestioned, genius product of psy-ops propagandists, and false.
Anybody mention "Initiation of force"?:
IOF: the overthrow of a democratic govt. and Maidan, aided-funded by the CIA's "National Endowment for Democracy" (- Ha!)
IOF: The repression and rights abuses of, and a lengthy and illicit war against, their own people by the non-democratic Kyiv regime
IOF: (Fraud) - The sabotage of the Minsk protocols agreed to by all participants (we know now, a farce, only a ploy "to buy time" for the Ukr Army buildup, as Merkel and the other two admitted lately. The militias at that point were whipping the Ukraine forces and had to stopped by a ceasefire trickery. Putin was duped).
IOF: The concentration of Kyiv troops and increased shelling in preparation for the final assault at the Donbas borders in early 2022.
As consequence, "pre-emptive/defensive force" - by Putin's SMO.
Of course Putin (or any Russians) can never be seen - in part explanation for the conflict - to have been acting humanely for a population's protection. Western indoctrination eliminated that. "Evil!" doesn't correspond with humaneness.
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A fabulous speech which "...would seem subversive" today.
I guess, because you don't "appease your enemy"--don't enter into dialogue, don't seek the end of conflict (especially one that's not self-defensive) don't understand the other side's concerns, don't make concessions, keep ramping up the war regardless whoever gets to pay the human cost because 'winning' is all (Hollywood shows us) .
Really? Is that the O'ist position? A 'principle' that drops context is rationalism.
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A worthwhile background roundup from the soldier-scholar.
Everything seems to return to power and domination, global or local.
Col. Macgregor - "other people's success is not our misfortune..."
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Tucker at 1.05. (Not you - too - Nikki!!)
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The lies, propagandizing and "staged theater" isn't slowing. Just to keep Ukrainians fighting on to the bitter end, a barely upright boxer who never had a realistic chance against his opposition, but might still strike a lucky punch before he goes down with brain damage. And to keep the West's public compliant with the massive aid still flowing into the black hole.
Latest propaganda: "Success!" "The Patriot battery outside Kyiv just shot down Russia's touted hypersonic missile!", in effect has appeared on news channels. I said half-seriously a year back, you could divide (or multiply) anything which came out of government-controlled media on Ukraine by a factor of ten. More, any claim they made about victories/atrocities/casualties/culpability etc should be subject to the inversion method. The exact opposite of what they told was more often close to the truth. Indeed, all off-msm accounts report a Kinzhal missile penetrated defenses and severely damaged the expensive Patriot system - now running out of weapons options, Nato is scrambling.
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https://rumble.com/vwxxi8-ukraine-on-fire.html/
Ukraine on Fire: The Real Story - Full Documentary by Oliver Stone (Original English version)
WWW.BITCHUTE.COMUkraine, the 'borderlands' between Russia and 'civilized' Europe is on fire. For centuries, it has been at the center of a tug-of-war between... -
The best yet, imo. Long essay but worth reading.
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7 hours ago, Peter said:
Satellite imagery does show Kiev is dark because power plants were destroyed, and another news story says women were raped by Russian's who were ordered to do it to demoralize the population. The Ukrainian women protesting had large tears drawn on their faces. And everyone should give credence to the fact that Russia invaded, murdered, and tried to set Ukraine up as their territory. Oh gee. Is that a fake story too? You Ukes leave Moscow alone!
The normal diet of half-truths, deception, leaving out significant facts, minimising and magnifying deeds etc, for mass emotional appeal which is only found in the main media.
Think: *A Hostage Situation*.
It is very apparent in retrospect, Putin was faced with staying out - and letting the Donbas Russian-Ukrainians be brutalized, (the Right Sector and neo-Nazi thugs) slaughtered, driven out or rounded up in camps - or going in to rescue them. Hard decision, assuming he understood the high price Russia would have to pay.
But he's intelligent and apparently rational, future-oriented. He must additionally have known the situation would only worsen re: Russia's security by doing nothing - once the Donbas inevitably fell this year. With a rampant, victorious, large and well-trained and -armed UAF directly at the Russian border. And eventually with Ukraine's NATO admittance and what that implies.
So he went in. With his minimal invasion. Still counting on Kyiv recognizing the good sense of peace negotiations along Minsk lines. Which was a near outcome until Boris Johnson the immoral little sneak more or less black-mailed and bribed Zelensky into dropping out of the talks: Because we can beat Russia! (Who is this "we" white man?) Boris must take a large part of the blame for all the deaths that transpired afterward.
Yeah, what's been fed to us is "a fake story". That left out most. Predicated on "Russians-evil".
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"The former ambassador [Jack Matlock] noted that Kiev had multiple opportunities to avert war. He believes that Russia would not have sent troops into Ukraine in February if Kiev “had been willing to abide by the Minsk agreement, recognize the Donbas as an autonomous entity within Ukraine, avoid NATO military advisors, and pledge not to enter NATO.”"
Oct 18, 2022
US should not listen to Kiev, former ambassador to Moscow warns — RT World News
WWW.RT.COMJack Matlock, the last US ambassador to the USSR, has called for a change of Washington’s policy toward Ukraine -
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6 hours ago, Marc said:
Every one of these news stories are fake and the simple reality is that for the most part they get away with most of them.
Comes that time the created celeb believes his own constructed image is for real.
Polish farm, "Russian" missile, crying wolf and other tall tales (that theater):
Zelensky and Media Lackeys Caught in Most Dangerous Lie Yet - scheerpost.com
SCHEERPOST.COMWith Kiev exposed for a lie that could have triggered a third world war, it is time to examine past deceptions that Western media promoted. -
https://www.rt.com/news/566937-nato-ukraine-stoltenberg-talks/
Send more arms to achieve peace... How does an amoral concretist become NATO chief? He hasn't heard of 'guns don't kill people, people kill people'. You need men with the will and the skill to fight, along with the tools. And Ukraine's soldiers are running low after huge losses, some disobeying orders or deserting, and there are less experienced men able to use the weapons and will get themselves killed trying. From the beginning to pump in weapons only intensified and lengthened the fighting and delayed the inevitable. Now the outcome is dawning on Stoltenberg it seems, in order to attempt to gain parity, some bargaining position at the negotiation table, Ukrainians must suicidally fight on, to hold - or win back - territory, apparently. But it was always crucial to not arrive at the point where either Russia or Ukraine would be forced to capitulate. Anyway whoever 'won', parts of Ukraine would be wrecked. The Kremlin has kept its doors open to a ceasefire and a realistic settlement at every stage - but the warlike Alliance believed they would gain a glorious battle victory and rejected them. No one has realized that Russia's efforts have been tightly self-restrained this far. Now, with the first conventional offensive by sufficient Russian troops coming this Winter, having eventually laid the ground work and badly degrading the Ukraine power grid, military infrastructure, transport and communications (as 'normal' warfare specifies), the gloves come off and it might be too late to talk.
Another warmongering fantasist, Josep Borrell, EU: "This war will be decided on the battlefield". Quite, but not how he envisaged.
Ukraine and Endless War for Profit
in 4 - Politics
Posted
Not really, Michael. The same indoctrination goes on here. The same 'innocent Ukraine is winning' and superficial Russia vilification by reporters, Press and a public with fixed prejudices who seem not to know any background and don't want to know. I took the trouble over a year ago to find dozens of alternative sites and channels I regularly check for (greater) factual truth content. The West's war propaganda machine is either unreliable, or false and outright lying, in what it does NOT inform viewers - as well as what it simply fabricates. And is monolithic, fed outwards into the world from a very few state sources, Kyiv to Washington to London, etc. all constructing a single narrative, often with identical wording.
Especially by the corporate-owned media (once considered more trustworthy- but who've sold out, aligned with government interests).
A Swiss research group, pre-war in 2019, came up with a study: The Propaganda Multiplier. Worth a read, the graphic tells a tale.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwj_zZHUnfz_AhV9SvEDHbTBBmsQFnoECAsQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fswprs.org%2Fthe-propaganda-multiplier%2F&usg=AOvVaw24vszEFMwjKtGcJVMnHFw5&opi=89978449