Links — 5 Mar 2022 Part 1

Reminiscence of the Future
Saturday Primer.
Andrei Martyanov, former USSR naval officer and expert on Russian military and naval issues

http://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/2022/03/saturday-primer.html

Moon of Alabama (Zelensky was made an offer he couldn't refuse — Mafia style.)
Zelensky And The Fascists: "He will hang on some tree on Khreshchatyk" [main street in Kiev]
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/03/zelensky-and-the-fascists-he-will-hang-on-some-tree-on-khreshchatyk.html

Aaron Maté at Substack
By using Ukraine to fight Russia, the US provoked Putin's war

Aaron Maté

https://mate.substack.com/p/by-using-ukraine-to-fight-russia

 The following post is an important backgrounder by former CIA senior offical with a former posting in Turkey. (When you lose people like this.…)

Turkey is arguably the most important Muslim country in the world today. It has also become a maverick in international relations. So where does it stand in the complex proxy war between NATO and Russia over Ukraine?

Graham E. Fuller

Turkey on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: It’s complicated
Graham E. Fuller | adjunct professor of history at Simon Fraser University, formerly vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council at the CIA, and a former senior political scientist at RAND

https://grahamefuller.com/turkey-on-russias-invasion-of-ukraine-its-complicated/

See also by Fuller
Washington Denies Reality of “Spheres of Influence”–a New Pinnacle of Hypocrisy

https://grahamefuller.com/washington-denies-reality-of-spheres-of-influence-a-new-pinnacle-of-hypocrisy/

Washington weaponizes the dollar; Russia weaponizes energy. Which is more significant?

To be sure, the blowback to the US sanctions has begun. This is of course only the beginning. Trust Russia to go further and further up on the escalation ladder. Russia would have no conceivable reason to cooperate with the US from now onward....

India Punchline

Russia hits back on “sanctions from hell”
M. K. Bhadrakumar | retired diplomat with the Indian Foreign Service

https://www.indianpunchline.com/russia-hits-back-on-sanctions-from-hell/

CBS News (San Francisco has already breached $5)
Americans should get ready for $5 a gallon gas, analyst warns
Anne Marie Lee

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gas-prices-5-dollars-gallon-russia-ukraine-oil/

The Vineyard of the Saker
Sitrep Ukraine (daily’ish)
Information gathered by Amarynth for The Saker Blog
http://thesaker.is/sitrep-ukraine-dailyish/

Day 10 of the Russian special operation in Banderastan

The Saker

http://thesaker.is/day-10-of-the-russian-special-operation-in-banderastan/

The hype (info war) around the alleged "attack" on a nuclear plant is intense. The hyping of the "radiation" around the nuclear site at Chernobyl was quickly put to rest, as this should have been. Dmitry also notes the shutting down of Facebook in Russia, along with other subversive media. However, the Facebook story is more complicated than simply censorship. Facebook shut down Russian news outlets and Russia says it is responding in kind by shutting down Facebook in Russia. Lots of other interesting stuff in the post.

Not exactly Chernobyl

Dmitry Orlov and posted with the author’s permission

http://thesaker.is/not-exactly-chernobyl/

Status Snapshot: Ukrainian Ultra-Nationalist Units
Nat South for the Saker Blog
http://thesaker.is/status-snapshot-ukrainian-ultra-nationalist-units/

The following is a good historical backgrounder, but it is much too short to do justice to the issues, which are far more complicated and also complex, making future highly volatile and uncertain. What is left unsaid is that all the current issue arise from 1) the process of decolonization and the break up of empires at the winding down of the previous feudal period. These issues will take at least a century to resolve and probably more, many such issues and problem areas remain in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Lots of conflict coming in the unfolding of the historical dialectic.

Lebanon, Ukraine and Taiwan 

Ghassan Kadi for the Saker Blog

http://thesaker.is/lebanon-ukraine-and-taiwan/

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that he chose to attack Ukraine beyond the borders of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR) to prevent the West from “endlessly” supplying “nationalists and radicals” with various resources, such as weapons and money. He added that the Russian forces were “practically done” destroying Ukrainian military sites, such as air defenses and weapons depots.

The president stated that he had ordered Russian troops to invade Ukraine last week in order to neutralize the “real threat” coming from Kiev and NATO. Moscow has long protested the Western military infrastructure along its borders and Ukraine’s aspirations to join the US-led bloc.

“They began to say more actively that they will admit [Ukraine] to NATO. What will this lead to? All other members of the alliance must back Ukraine in the case of a military conflict,” Putin said. “They will [attack] Crimea, and we will be forced to go to war with NATO. Do you understand the consequences?” The president stated that he wanted Ukraine to become a neutral country....

You may need to use special means if you want to access RT; it is being blocked in some areas. The Westseems to be taking a lesson from China in narrative control.

RT (Russian state-sponsored media)
Putin explains why Ukraine attack went beyond Donbass

https://www.rt.com/russia/551314-putin-explains-ukraine-tactic/

MSN
Musk says Starlink won’t block Russian media outlets ‘unless at gunpoint’

Igor Bonifacic

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/musk-says-starlink-wont-block-russian-media-outlets-unless-at-gunpoint/ar-AAUEHHd?ocid=BingNewsSearch

Sixth Tone

How Weibo Became a Diplomatic Battlefield (Weibo is a premier Chinese social media venue.)

Sun Jiashan

https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1009822/How%20Weibo%20Became%20a%20Diplomatic%20Battlefield