Another Putin Disaster
POSTED BY: THGRRI
UPDATED: Wednesday, August 26, 2026 22:07
VIEWED: 114667
PAGE 67 of 160
KIKI posted this in April 2019. It's a good summary of policy in 2019, under Trump, and we can see it in hyperdrive today, under Biden*
A good indicator that foreign policy isn't made by Presidents but by "The Interagency".
Quote:
My #1 priority is avoiding nuclear war with Russia. At this point either country can single-handedly destroy the entire planet at least a few times over. That's a good reason to not get into nuclear conflict, because nobody wins.
It's #1 because if we can't avoid nuclear war in the immediate future, then nothing else matters.
There are 4 kinds of pro-nuclear-war agendas I've noticed.
· One is to provoke Russia with every non-nuclear scenario that can be implemented, including setting up large NATO forces directly on the Russian border, sending nuclear-capable bombers to Europe, pre-deploying nuclear weapons in Europe, threatening or attacking Russia's allies (Syria, Venezuela, Iran), and instituting sanctions for extremely specious reasons - with the (apparent) assumption Russia won't retaliate either with nuclear weapons, or escalate into nuclear war. Most democrats and most republicans are behind this because they've both bought into the deep state regime.
· The second is by dropping out of nuclear treaties.
· The third is through the democratic-supported policy of US 'limited' nuclear first-strikes or 'limited' use of nuclear weapons in proxy wars. That might escalate directly into nuclear war. The other scenario that those brilliant minds haven't seemed to consider is that the US could be subjected to a 'limited' nuclear counterattack that we will have to endure in order to avoid all-out nuclear war.
· The fourth is by trying to have 'the best, fantastic, you would not imagine how unbelievable' nuclear arsenal; which as a side effect has already started another cold war, including the militarization of space.
When it comes to Venezuela, Russia (an ally) has already sent troops. In addition China (also an ally) has also just sent troops. Hopefully the US will think twice before militarily engaging two powerful countries.
As agents of the deep state, the msm has already started jonesing for confrontation, in the person of Fareed Zakaria, in a double-barreled CNN/ WaPo propaganda push. They're both summarized here with appropriate links to originals: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-04-02/cnn-wapo-demand-trump-furthe
r-escalate-tensions-russia
Given how gullible Americans are (WMDs, anyone?) and how steadfastly people refuse to learn the fact that the government lies all the time, I'll be interested to hear the candidates' takes on this.
- http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=63022
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Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
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Russia Formally Quits 'Open Skies' Treaty, Saying There's No Point Without US
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/russia-formally-quits-open-skie
s-treaty-saying-theres-no-point-without-us
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Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
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Quote:
Originally posted by 1KIKI:
Putin never wanted Ukraine. It's a garbage dump full of westerners and oligarch rats gnawing whatever flesh is left.
Oh, btw - Chernobyl? That's Ukraine, not Russia, fyi. Another oozing festering Ukrainian rot.
Oops...
T
Russians Have Suddenly Stopped Buying Putin’s Anti-American Propaganda
MOSCOW—It’s easy to see why President Vladimir Putin might have thought ratcheting up tensions on Ukraine’s border and blaming it all on NATO and the U.S. would rally his faltering support back home, but this time something different is happening.
Most Russians aren’t buying it.
Domestic propaganda levels have reached near-hysteria this year after anti-Putin protests swept the country following the attempted murder and imprisonment of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
The drumbeat of war against Ukraine is becoming louder by the week and Putin has made ever wilder demands of NATO, which was the primary focus of his talking points in the video conference summit with President Biden earlier this month. He must surely know those demands can never be met.
If you follow the local—state-owned—TV stations in Russia, you are constantly warned that a new war is on the horizon; that Russia will bravely stand up to the West; and that America is the real enemy.
That message is increasingly falling on deaf ears.
A study published this week by the Levada Analytical Center showed that for the first time in years more Russians think positively than negatively about the U.S.—by 45 percent to 42 percent.
When Levada asked the same question in May, only 31 percent said the U.S. was “good” vs. 54 percent “bad.”
In those intervening months, Moscow has accused Washington of “fueling tension” over Ukraine, gas pipelines, Navalny, and hacking. Tit-for-tat diplomatic spats have led to the U.S. embassy cutting 75 percent of staff in Moscow and no longer processing visas, meaning Russians wanting U.S. travel visas and green cards now have to apply in Warsaw. An agreement is in the works to fix that particular stand-off, but it shows the real world impact of diplomatic wrangling on ordinary people.
“Politicians and ordinary people often have different agendas,” said Susanna Emirali, a young advertising producer. “Most of my friends understand that ordinary Americans are cool.”
Emirali is typical of the Russians who are now rejecting state propaganda. She says she avoids watching political talk shows on television and prefers to read her news on independent outlets online. She believes the United States has nothing to do with Russia’s biggest problems and hopes the conflict between Moscow and Washington will soon end.
While Moscow and Washington are at loggerheads over “red lines” and security guarantees, ordinary Russians are growing tired of the aggressive anti-Western propaganda thrown at them from their TV sets every night. This flies in the face of years of assumptions that Putin can turn up the dial on anti-Americanism feeling among Russians at will.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russians-have-suddenly-stopped-bu
ying-putin-s-anti-american-propaganda/ar-AARXEZI?ocid=msedgntp
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Russia on Monday expelled two German diplomats in response to Berlin ordering two Russian diplomats to leave over a German court's ruling that Moscow had ordered the 2019 assassination of an ex-Chechen commander in a Berlin Park.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russia-on-monday-expelled-two-ger
man-diplomats-in-response-to-berlin-ordering-two-russian-diplomats-to-leave-over-a-german-court-s-ruling-that-moscow-had-ordered-the-2019-assassination-of-an-ex-chechen-commander-in-a-berlin-park/ar-AARZFzh?ocid=msedgntp
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Russia seeks urgent US response on security demands
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russia-seeks-urgent-us-response-o
n-security-demands/ar-AARYYkS?ocid=msedgntp
Too funny. How many times does he have to hear fuck you no?
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Russia demands USA, NATO, roll back to 1997 configuration.
This is a detailed description -including a direct reading of the Russian provisions/ demands- of two documents provided to the USA via State Department representative.
You should give it a listen if you want to know what the Russians are REALLY proposing.
On the face of it, the documents are unacceptable to NATO and the USA, altho the Russians say they that they're facing a "Cuban missile crisis" in reverse, with nuclear missiles practically on their border, and they want security guarantees.
Mercouris seems to think that Russia is prepared to negotiate over a long timeframe about NATO's eastward march.
I personally think that these proposals are a lot more hostile, and that Russia (and by extension, China) is prepared to force the issue, taking a non-response from the USA as a signal for some action- "you are behaving like a hostile nation, so we will deploy missiles/ mass troops/ shoot down your planes/ sink your ships/ cut of gas supplies" or take whatever military action they feel is necessary to force the issue. China has said they back Russia, and might be prepared to make this a two-front provocation. And with Russia and China taking action,Iran may take the oppty to expands its scope of action in the Mideast.
Just my $0.02
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Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
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Russia Is Now Claiming the U.S. Is Preparing a ‘Chemical Weapons’ Attack in Ukraine
After the Kremlin’s ultimatums to NATO appeared to fall flat earlier this week, Moscow ratcheted up the crazy on Tuesday with new claims of U.S. mercenaries supposedly preparing a “chemical weapons” attack and a threat of unspecified “military-technical” action.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russia-is-now-claiming-the-u-s-is
-preparing-a-chemical-weapons-attack-in-ukraine/ar-AAS1h5h?ocid=msedgntp
Anything short of an invasion by Putin now and he loses face. He has backed himself into a corner. Can you say desperate?
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Tensions with Russia are now spilling into space, complicating International Space Station partnership
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/tensions-with-russia-are-now
-spilling-into-space-complicating-international-space-station-partnership/ar-AAS16qK?ocid=msedgntp
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Russian Businessman Taken by U.S. Accused of Swiping Earnings Reports From Tesla, Others
Swiss authorities in Zurich put Vladislav Klyushin, a Russian businessman widely noted for his Kremlin ties, on a flight bound for the U.S. on Saturday, ending a months-long extradition fight that cast a pall over this summer’s Putin-Biden talks in Geneva.
Swiss reporters first confirmed Klyushin’s extradition Saturday night; the U.S. Justice Department on Monday said the 41-year-old, a top official at Moscow-based IT firm called M-13, would stand trial on charges of insider trading, citing information allegedly “stolen from U.S. computer networks,” netting “tens of millions of dollars in illegal profits.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russian-businessman-taken-by-u-s-
accused-of-swiping-earnings-reports-from-tesla-others/ar-AAS0hy8?ocid=msedgntp
Russian hackers and those who do business with them should not leave Russia. We'll get you if you do.
tick tock
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On Christmas Day 1991, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev delivered a monumental speech from the Kremlin. Gorbachev announced that after 74 years as one of the world's most powerful nations, the Soviet Union no longer existed, and would break up into 15 separate countries.
"People have short memories," said Vladislav Zubok, a Russian historian who teaches at the London School of Economics. He's also the author of a new book, Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union.
"The story of Ukrainian-Russian tensions go all the way back to the rapid and unexpected collapse of the Soviet Union," said Zubok.
The collapse meant thousands of Soviet nuclear weapons were spread across four of the newly formed states, including Russia and Ukraine.
Russia kept its nukes. Ukraine gave up its arsenal in 1994 in exchange for a promise from Russia and others that its borders would not be violated.
It seemed like a win-win. But Zubok says the reality proved much more complicated.
"When empires of big states collapse suddenly, history produces a lot of flotsam and jetsam, a lot of debris that blocks not just good relations, but block even understanding between the countries," he said.
And when there's friction, Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly intervened.
He calls the Soviet collapse the "greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century." Russian forces seized the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, and remain to this day. Putin wrote last summer that Russia and Ukraine are really one country — which they were for long periods over the centuries.
At a Kremlin news conference Thursday, Putin said he wasn't planning an invasion. He said again, as he has many times before, that the real threat comes from NATO expansion into Eastern Europe, and the possibility that Ukraine may someday join the alliance.
"It was the United States that came with its missiles to our home, to the doorstep of our home," Putin said in a reference to NATO. "And you demand from me some guarantees. You should give us guarantees. You! And right away, right now."
NATO now totals 30 members, including 14 European countries that have been added over the past two decades. They include three former Soviet republics, the Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Zubok says he doesn't know what will happen short-term. But as a historian, he sees long-term friction.
A lasting solution, he says, "would require a fundamental change of regime, either in Russia or in Ukraine, and I don't see any preconditions for either development."
Missed opportunities
Former U.S. diplomat Donald Jensen says predictions about Russia are always hard. He served at the embassy in Moscow as the Soviet Union was collapsing, and again in the years afterward.
He believes the U.S. was too focused on trying to build democracy in Russia, while the Russians were actually battling each other over power and money.
"By pursuing the set of policies that were premised on a democratic transformation, we got into big trouble," he said. "I say this with great humility, we misunderstood what happened because of missing things like the money issue."
He cites an example in 1995, when he was riding a tram in Moscow and saw Vladimir Kryuchkov, the former head of the Soviet security service, the KGB, who led a failed coup attempt against Gorbachev in August 1991, four months before the Soviet collapse.
Jensen set up a meeting, and over a bottle of vodka they discussed the final days of the Soviet Union. Jensen said he was struck by how some top Soviet officials seemed less worried about a Soviet breakup than about losing privileged positions that allowed them to make large sums of money.
"We spent a lot of time thinking of you (Kryuchkov) as a hard-line communist ideologue, and it looks to me like the KGB was making money," Jensen told Kryuchkov. "He looked at me, with his big Coke-bottle glass
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