Tag: russia

European ‘peacekeepers’ in Ukraine? A horrible idea.

President-elect Trump is reportedly advancing the idea that a large and heavily armed peacekeeping force from Europe (but including NATO members) could be introduced into Ukraine as part of a peace settlement there. It is important that this very ill-thought-out idea be shot down before it does serious damage to the prospects for an early peace and causes Ukraine still further human, economic and territorial loss.

According to the Wall Street Journal and Le Monde, this idea first emerged in private talks between French and British officials in November. It was discussed on Thursday by NATO foreign ministers in Brussels. Trump made the suggestion to French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a meeting in Paris on December 7.

Macron then traveled to Warsaw to discuss a plan for 40,000 heavily armed European “peacekeepers” with the Polish government whose officials, however, have so far given it a cool public response. In the words of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk: “To cut off speculation about the potential presence of this or that country in Ukraine after reaching a ceasefire, … decisions concerning Poland will be made in Warsaw and only in Warsaw. At the moment we’re not planning such activities.”

Friedrich Merz of the German Christian Democrats, almost certain to be chancellor after the elections due in February, has also distanced himself from the idea.

On the face of it, this idea might seem to reconcile several mutually contradictory pressures on the Ukrainian peace process: The Russian demand for a treaty that will permanently bar Ukraine from NATO membership; the Ukrainian demand for Western guarantees against future Russian aggression; Trump’s determination not to put U.S. troops on the ground or make additional and permanent U.S. commitments to Ukraine; and the real need for a substantial international force to patrol an armistice line.

There is just one problem: According to every Russian official and expert with whom my colleagues and I have spoken (most recently on Thursday), the idea of Western troops in Ukraine is just as unacceptable to the Russian government and establishment as NATO membership for Ukraine itself. Indeed, the Russians see no essential difference between the two.

Seen from Moscow, such a Western “peacekeeping force” would be simply a NATO advance guard that would provide cover for the gradual introduction of more and more NATO forces. Indeed, while President Zelensky has said that Ukraine “may consider” the idea of peacekeepers, it would only do so if it is also given a clear timeline for future NATO membership. If this proposal is put forward by General Kellogg, President-elect Trump’s choice as his Ukraine envoy, in negotiations, the Russian side will therefore reject it out of hand; and if it is insisted on, the talks will fail.

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Ukraine Assassinates Russian Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense Chief, General Kirillov, in Moscow Bomb Blast in Major Escalation

The Kiev regime once again resorts to ‘asymmetrical tactics’ (a.k.a. terrorism) and assassinates a top Russian General, in a move that is sure to generate a considerable escalation and also certain retaliation by the Russians against top Ukrainian officials.

On today’s early morning (17), an improvised explosive device (IED) was detonated on Moscow’s Ryazansky Prospekt.

The massive, deadly blast killed high profile Russian chemical defense chief General Igor Kirillov.

Sputnik reported on Telegram:

“The Russian Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case into the murder of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of the Troops of Radiological, Chemical, and Biological Defense of the Russian Armed Forces, and his assistant.

The IED was planted on an electric scooter positioned at the entrance of a residential building in southeast Moscow.”

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The Long Train of Abuses that Culminated in the Ukraine War

“A fox knows many things, but a hedgehog knows one big thing.” Scott Horton is the liberty movement’s foreign policy hedgehog, endeavoring to convince the American public of one essential truth: the folly of war. But within that sphere, Horton is a fox, weaving an encyclopedic knowledge of various conflicts into an elaborate and convincing tapestry that indicts elites, intellectuals, the military-industrial complex, and—with characteristic vitriol—neoconservatives in pushing the US toward unnecessary wars.

Provoked: How Washington Started the New Cold War with Russia and the Catastrophe in Ukraine, fits this mold to a tee—not because Horton contorts facts to a preconceived narrative. Rather, because it is often the same people pushing conflict after conflict who, unsurprisingly, resort to the same, well-worn playbook. Horton’s tome is riveting, from beginning to end. Here, I will focus on the early post-Cold War years, since this part of the story is oft-neglected in contemporary debates about the origins of the Ukraine war.

With the closing of the Cold War, and the USSR dissolving, the U.S. faced a crisis of success: what use is the NATO military alliance without the Soviet enemy to align against? More broadly, what grand strategy should the US adopt now that containing communism was obsolete? For neoconservatives, whose answer post-Cold War was benevolent global hegemony, the solution was to adapt NATO. NATO must gradually absorb more European nations, while leaving Russia out in the cold—contained and encircled, in an even worse position than during the Cold War. NATO must expand its mission to keep European peace and expand Western democracy, or wither on the vine.

From George H.W. Bush to today, the record meticulously compiled by Horton demonstrates that U.S. and other Western leaders communicated to Russia leaders and officials that NATO would not expand east—and could even allow for Russian membership in NATO. Various efforts like the Partnership for Peace and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe were promoted to foster this impression that Russia would be included in European affairs, alliances, and institutions, rather than these structures aligning against them. All the while, these same US and Western leaders took virtually the opposite positions internally, with the result that the US willfully misled the Russians. The exact internal and external postures waxed and waned over the years, but this ultimate pattern held firm. This was even though, all along, Russian officials warned about how they and the Russian people would react to NATO advancing east. What we see is, in terms with which Americans are well-familiar, “a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object.”

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Russia advances across multiple fronts, Kyiv reports 214 battles

Battles are raging across the front in Ukraine, with heavy fighting reported in 214 locations, according to the evening situation report of the General Staff in Kyiv, with battles focused in the cities of Pokrovsk and Kurakhova in Donbass. There, Russian forces have made major territorial gains in recent days due to mass attacks.

“The situation there is and remains serious,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

In the city of Pokrovsk, Ukrainian forces are reportedly encircled at some locations, in some cases involving hundreds of men. However, in the Kursk region of Russia, where Ukrainian forces are still lodged, Ukraine is reporting heavy losses of North Korean soldiers for the first time.

A number of pro-Ukrainian accounts published footage of what they say are the bodies of North Korean soldiers covered in snow in a long row to X. The accounts claim North Koreans soldiers gathered the bodies of comrades at the front after heavy fighting.

It is currently not possible to verify those claims.

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Russian Forces Destroy More US Patriot Launchers & Advance Closer To Pokrovsk

Amid the continued rapid advance of Russian forces in Ukraine’s east, and with the Donetsk villages of Vesely Gai and Pushkino (15km south of Pokrovsk) having been captured, Russia is also going after US-made Patriot batteries.

“Russian forces have destroyed four Patriot anti-aircraft missile launchers provided to Ukraine by Western nations,” the Defense Ministry announced Saturday.

The statement said that air force jets along with with drones and artillery groups, “destroyed a combat control vehicle, an AN/MPQ-65 radar station and four launchers of the Patriot anti-aircraft missile system made in the US.”

Zelensky has pleaded with the West to hand Ukraine at least 25 Patriot batteries, and some European countries have recently donated theirs to Ukrainian forces.

This isn’t the first time that Russia has taken out Patriots. Back in October the defense ministry said its forces struck “two Patriot launcher stations made in the US” along with a control station and radar set part of the Patriot defensive network.

At that time a Ukrainian member of parliament had revealed that at least one Patriot battery was damaged in the October attack, but Kiev typically doesn’t comment on the extent of damage to its Western-supplied weapons systems.

Early last summer the Biden administration took the drastic step of pausing all Patriot deliveries to allies, instead announcing that they would be redirected to Ukraine.

“We’re going to reprioritize the deliveries of these exports so that those missiles rolling off the production line will now be provided to Ukraine,” Biden said at the time, with these first shipments having rolled out by late summer and into fall.

Patriot missile batteries have also been sent to to Ukraine from US bases of operations in neighboring Poland. All of this has been controversial as it impacts Europe’s home defense.

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NATO Head Says “Wartime Mindset” Needed; Redirect “Pensions, Health, Social Security” To Military Spending

Former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who was this year selected as the Secretary General of NATO, has stated that Europeans need to “shift to a wartime mindset” and that military spending must be increased, likely at the expense of things like health care.

Rutte made the remarks at, ironically, a meeting of The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Brussels, declaring that Russia is trying to “crush our freedom and way of life.”

“Hostile actions against Allied countries are real and accelerating… These attacks are not just isolated incidents. They are the result of a coordinated campaign to destabilise our societies and discourage us from supporting Ukraine,” he added.

Rutte further asserted that Russia is using unconventional “hybrid warfare” attacks against Europe, circumventing NATO’s traditional defence and bringing “the front line to our front doors. Even into our homes”.

“Ukrainians are fighting against Russian swarms of drones. That’s what we need to be prepared for”, Rutte told the conference.

“I know spending more on defence means spending less on other priorities. But it is only a little less,” he continued, adding that “On average, European countries easily spend up to a quarter of their national income on pensions, health and social security systems.”

“We need a small fraction of that money to make our defences much stronger, and to preserve our way of life,” he proclaimed, reasoning that “freedom does not come for free.”

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Commentary on Ukraine & Syria & Big Picture

Today’s Simplicius article focused on Zelensky’s dilemma to lower the draft age to satisfy the blood-hungry Outlaw US Empire politicos who demand such an act in exchange for more weapons that don’t work, thus making clearer than ever their policy of fighting Russia to the last Ukrainian. And then there’s the fact that Europe will be forced to pay for its own defense which is one of the main causes for the political chaos we’re seeing. Here’s my comment:

What we haven’t seen is mass kidnaping of people in far western Ukraine for military servitude, which is also where the bulk of Ukraine’s remaining economy resides. However, as I’ve commented here before, the best Ukie soldiers are now deployed in the major cities that are already or soon to come under attack. Outlying areas can thus be rapidly advanced over since what troops are there lack will and means–a company holding a village is reduced to a platoon or two that then retreats to the next village to augment the company that’s there, and the situation gets repeated over and over. This is seen a lot, which enables Russia to allow rather large flank areas thinly defended for long periods. The methodical advancement in Toretsk and Chasov Yar suggest Russian taking few casualties while almost all Ukie resistance is KIA’d via bombardment. A slow-moving Pac Man gobbling up everything is an a-visual analog to what’s happening on the ground. And the Russian advance seems slow because the high frequency of rotation, which keeps down casualties–fresh, warm, alert troops fight better and safer as they don’t need to take big risks.

Politically, EU/NATO is proving to all that it’s a liberal totalitarian entity as Rutte demanded all EU/NATO states give up social spending to support the war. Macron went to Poland because he has no government in France. The majority of Europeans have no will nor reason to fight Russia–it’s only those bribed by the Outlaw US Empire or EU/NATO freaks who insist. Many are thinking that they didn’t get freed from Soviet Colonialism to become serfs to US Colonialism. And we haven’t even entered the deeper half of Winter yet. Richard Wolff said it well today that Europeans are being forced to do something they don’t want to do and enter a future very few want, and the only way to avoid both is to revolt.

Syria is and will remain a tragedy for an unknown amount of time. Pepe Escobar wrote a very dark article on the situation, which also explains why Assad was never able to reconstitute the Syria that existed before 2010—the vast multitude of factions most of which could easily be bought and owned to be used as proxies. Nothing like Hezbollah or IRG existed in Syria that could form the power core for the political class. Politically, the situation was similar to Lebanon but much worse factions-wise: There’ were never enough unifiers and still aren’t. And for the ordinary apolitical people, it’s either go along to get along or become a refugee—neither of which will be easy to do. And as Escobar notes, the Zionist advance into Syria exposes Hezbollah’s left flank, which it probably never considered needed extensive defenses; now it does. More than ever the economic siege on the Genocidalists needs to be kept and escalated. That Hamas congratulated HTS is significant, but to what degree remains unknown.

Many interesting points were again made by the Hudson/Wolff duo on Nima’s show this morning that’s linked to above. One item I caught while looking for news was Medvedev’s visit to China for talks with Xi using his position as head of the United Russia party instead of his Security Council position. IMO, the ruse didn’t fool anyone as Putin has a very heavy domestic calendar, more of which will be posted later. Today he was very busy presenting state awards. One of the issued discussed by Hudson was should BRICS become a military alliance to counter NATO? Now, both Russia and China have made great efforts to note that neither the SCO or BRICS is or intends to become a military alliance. SCO already has a very potent anti-terrorism program—and we know who the #1 terrorist is—which is ready to confront the Outlaw US Empire’s Terrorist Foreign Legion. I agree that the only real power projection ability remaining for the Empire is its Terrorists, thus BRICS and the Global Majority only need to prepare themselves to combat that, not full-scale military operations. Having missiles capable of keeping the USN at bay as Ansarallah has shown ought to be enough for most nations. That leaves far more capital available for development.

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Russia Responds To Recent ‘Ukrainian’ ATACMS Attacks On Russian Soil, Sending Hundreds Of Missiles Into Ukraine

Russia has responded as advertised for ‘Ukraine’ launching 6 ATACMS against a Russian airfield yesterday.

Russia launched a massive aerial attack against Ukraine on Friday, firing 93 cruise and ballistic missiles and almost 200 drones, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, describing it as one of the heaviest bombardments of the country’s energy sector since Russia’s full-scale invasion almost three years ago, reported ABC News.

In response to Kiev’s attack on a military airfield in Taganrog using ATACMS missiles, the Russian army carried out a precision strike on major Ukrainian fuel and energy facilities that support the country’s defense industry, the Defense Ministry reported, reported Russian state news agency TASS.

Defense Ministry report

– In response to the ATACMS missile attack on the Taganrog military airfield, Russia’s military carried out targeted strikes on crucial Ukrainian fuel and energy infrastructure facilities that ensure the operation of its defense enterprises, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

– The attack was carried out with the help of high-precision long-range airborne and sea-based weapons, as well as strike drones.

– According to the ministry, the strike was a success, hitting all designated facilities.

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Moscow Threatens Retaliation After Ukraine Strikes Russia With 6 US-Made ATACMS Missiles

Moscow has announced a very serious escalation out of Ukraine on Wednesday, with defense ministry officials saying that six US-made ATACMS ballistic missiles were launched against a Russian airfield inside the country’s sovereign territory.

Taganrog is a Black Sea port city in southwestern Russia, and was targeted in the heavy attack. The military claimed that all six were able to be intercepted and downed before reaching their target, with two reported intercepts by a Pantsir air defense system, and the others destroyed after electronic warfare systems diverted them.

“Missile fragments caused injuries among personnel. There was no destruction, but two buildings in the airfield’s technical area and three military vehicles sustained minor shrapnel damage. Civilian vehicles in a nearby parking lot were also damaged,” the Russian Defense Ministry statement said.

Apparently this damage occurred through “falling fragments of the missiles” according to the ministry, which also vowed that retaliation is coming for the strike.

“This attack by Western long-range weapons will not go unanswered, and appropriate measures will be taken,” it added, but without specifying anything further.

It appears that at least other drones or missiles which were part of the broader assault made it through Russian aerial defenses:

In the early hours of Wednesday, Dec.11, multiple explosions shook the city of Taganrog in Russia’s Rostov region, regional governor Yuri Slyusar reported, describing the attack as a “missile strike.”

The attack, reported around 4:20 a.m., triggered air defense systems and caused at least ten explosions, local residents told the Shot Telegram channel. Eyewitnesses suggested the target might have been a military airfield, according to CHEKA-OGPU Telegram channel.

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U.S. Gives Ukraine $20 Billion in Stolen Russian Assets

The Biden administration announced today that the U.S. will pump Ukraine with $20 billion in stolen Russian assets to keep the war going — which is part of a $50 billion effort by the G7 announced in October

“These funds – paid for by the windfall proceeds earned from Russia’s own immobilized assets – will provide Ukraine a critical infusion of support as it defends its country against an unprovoked war of aggression,” Janet Yellen, the secretary of the Treasury, said in a statement. She continued: “We are sending an unmistakable message of resolve by making Russia increasingly bear the costs of its illegal war, instead of taxpayers in our coalition.”

(U.S. taxpayers already sent Ukraine over $60 billion in weapons.)

The International Monetary Fund warned in May that the Western push to confiscate Russian assets or the interest on these funds could dramatically undermine the global monetary system.

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