Tuesday, April 5, 2022

Links — 5 Apr 2022 Part 1

Moon of Alabama
If The Pentagon Can Not Confirm The Bucha Tales, Who Can?
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/04/if-the-pentagon-can-not-confirm-the-bucha-tales-who-can.html

The Vineyard of the Saker
Press Briefing by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia on the situation in the town of Bucha (Kiev Region) and related matters
The Saker
http://thesaker.is/press-briefing-by-permanent-representative-vassily-nebenzia-on-the-situation-in-the-town-of-bucha-kiev-region-and-related-matters/

Dreizin Report
The Dead Rise
https://thedreizinreport.com/2022/04/03/the-dead-rise/

The Real and the Fake
https://thedreizinreport.com/2022/04/04/the-real-and-the-fake/
Jacob Dreizin

War on Fakes (private, Russia-based)
Global lies over Bucha: How people’s minds are manipulated
https://waronfakes.com/lies-about-bucha/strong-global-lies-over-bucha-how-people-s-minds-are-manipulated-strong/

https://thegrayzone.com/2022/04/03/testimony-mariupol-hospital-ukrainian-deceptions-media-malpractice/

Consortium News
PATRICK LAWRENCE: The US Bubble of Pretend
https://consortiumnews.com/2022/04/05/patrick-lawrence-the-us-bubble-of-pretend/

CaitlinJohnstone.com
US Interventionism Always Makes Things Worse: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix
Caitlin Johnstone
https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2022/04/05/us-interventionism-always-makes-things-worse-notes-from-the-edge-of-the-narrative-matrix/

‘Gods of War’: How the US weaponized Ukraine against Russia
TJ Coles (Apr 1, 2022)
https://thegrayzone.com/2022/04/01/war-us-weaponized-ukraine-russia/

The Unz Review
Biden, Zelensky and the Neocons
Philip Giraldi, former CIA counter-terrorism specialist and military intelligence officer, now Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest and founding member of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity
https://www.unz.com/pgiraldi/biden-zelensky-and-the-neocons/

Zero Hedge
Zelensky Demands Russia Be Expelled From UN Security Council (probably not coincidentally, the US has been aiming at either removing Russia and China from the UNSC or forming a UN replacement, which is what the US-led "rules-based order" actually is. Only Russia and China stand in the way of the US goal of permanent world domination now. Is Zelensky being coached? Some former CIA people think so. See link above, for example.)
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/watch-zelenksy-addresses-un-security-council-bucha-mass-killing-allegations

Washington Blocks Russian Dollar Bond Payments In Latest Attempt To Isolate Moscow
https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/washington-blocks-russian-dollar-bond-payments-latest-attempt-isolate-moscow

RT (Russian state-sponsored media)
Putin warns against seizing Russian assets abroad ("double-edged sword")
https://www.rt.com/news/553354-putin-warns-nationalization-weapon

Naked Capitalism
China – A Sub-Imperial Ally of the West?
Interview with Patrick Bond and Michael Hudson
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/04/china-a-sub-imperial-ally-of-the-west.html

Dances with Bears
A NEW WORLD ORDER IS ALREADY HERE (Indian perspective)
R.K.Raghavan and Ajay Goyal
http://johnhelmer.net/a-new-world-order-is-already-here/











12 comments:

Peter Pan said...

eugyppius: a plague chronicle
Why are the Chinese losing their minds over Omicron?
https://www.eugyppius.com/p/why-are-the-chinese-losing-their?s=r

Lockdowns and mass testing and contact tracing and masking are all Asian (primarily Chinese) policies, adopted en masse and with little forethought by western countries in Spring 2020. Our public health mandarins set aside their own planning and opted for Chinese mass containment instead, because they noticed the virus was not very deadly in Asia, and they assumed this was because whatever it was the Asians were doing was the thing to do. Mass containment is a worldwide delusional rain dance: Everyone hops about trying to coax water out of the heavens, copying whatever dance was current in the first place it started to rain.

lastgreek said...

"If The Pentagon Can Not Confirm The Bucha Tales, Who Can?"

[SMH]

Tom, with respect, post some serious articles by serious analysts and journalists like Melvin Goodman and Patrick Cockburn, respectively.

"Yeah," the Ukrainians murdered their own, all 400+ of them, just to show up Putin in the Kremlin. Sheesh!

lastgreek said...

Why Russia Fumbled in Ukraine, China Lost Its Way, and America Should Exercise Restraint
APRIL 5, 2022 BY MICHAEL T. KLARE

Balance of forces vs. correlation of forces. Very informative

https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/04/05/why-russia-fumbled-in-ukraine-china-lost-its-way-and-america-should-exercise-restraint/

Tom Hickey said...

I don't put up links that are in paradigm with the narrative since there is no reason to do so. The narrative has plenty of exposure in the media.

I put up links that question the narrative based on information and analysis based on this information. Obviously, most of this is controversial, but reading the narrative alone, one would not be aware of the controversy.

My putting up a link is not an endorsement unless I specify agreement or disagreement.

What is important in my view is to subject the narrative to information and analysis that counters it and which is credible.

Moreover, I don't necessarily agree or disagree with everything in a post. Usually, I agree with somethings and disagree with others. This is especially true when economics comes into play since only the MMT cohort is in paradigm with MMT and that is a very small cohort so far.

Everyone can choose to read or not read whatever they please. It would be helpful if people that comment on a post have actually read the post.

It is also useful to keep in mind that most accounts are partially true and partially untrue. The challenge is to sort this out. The untruth results from a numbers of factors — lying, stupidity, lack of qualifications, cognitive bias, and so forth, as well as inadequate information.

It is often difficult to identity the factor(s) in many cases. Just because someone is "smart," it is not possible to conclude that they know what they are talking about or are telling the truth in any particular instance. Even smart people are subject to cognitive bias.

One also has to look at everything in the context of the whole, which implies that one has a grasp of the big picture. Very few people are capable of thinking on this level, and fewer still of doing a good job of it most of the time.

Ahmed Fares said...

lastgreek,

From Michael Klare's article:

The Ukrainian military has, in fact, fought the Russians to a near-standstill.

This is far wide of the mark. Had you actually put Scott Ritter's sexual proclivities aside and listened to his analysis, you would know that they're going to be writing about this in the history books as one of the greatest examples of maneuver warfare.

Kiev was a feint. It was meant to draw in Ukrainian troops and fix them in place. This from former Indian diplomat M. K. Bhadrakumar:

The Russian feint paid off in pinning down the Ukrainian forces in Kiev through past month. By the time the truth dawned on the Kiev set-up ( and their western “advisors), the damage was done. The enormity of the resultant situation needs some explanation.

The above map reproduced from the Novosti (unfortunately, in Russian language) on the exact ground situation as of April 3 and the commentary by Ivan Andreev, an experienced war correspondent who covered the Russian operations in Syria, gives the salience of the cauldron in Donbass where the crème de la crème of the Ukrainian forces numbering several divisions are entrapped, isolated by opposing forces from their logistical base and other friendly forces.

The cauldron is fairly large, marked in blue and black stripes on the map in the upper reaches of the Donbass region in the direction of Kharkiv. The massive Russian column that retreated from the Kiev region a week ago is manoeuvring in a big arc toward that cauldron bypassing Chernihiv in the north and the cities of Sumy and Kharkiv (near the Russian border in the northeast).

The Ukrainian forces are well-armed and have fortified themselves heavily but are unable to escape from the entrapment. Nor is it feasible for Kiev to send reinforcements as the countryside to the west through consists of largely open farmlands (all the way to the Dniepr River). The Russians have air supremacy and it is impossible to hide any enemy movements from their roving eyes.


source: Fake news in Kiev heralds cruel April

Ahmed Fares said...

It's beginning.

Inflation Protests Erupt Across Peru As President Imposes Curfew, Calls In Military

I'd watch the Middle East.

The Egyptian "bread riots" of 1977 (“The Bread Intifada”) affected most major cities in Egypt from 18–19 January 1977. The riots were a spontaneous uprising carried out by hundreds of thousands of lower-class people protesting World Bank and International Monetary Fund-mandated termination of state subsidies on basic foodstuffs. As many as 70 people were killed and over 550 injured in the protests, which only ceased with the deployment of the army and the re-institution of the subsidies.

Incidentally, most Middle Eastern countries get their grain from Russia and Ukraine. This came up recently:

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday Moscow would carefully "monitor" food exports to "hostile" nations as the West pummels the country with sanctions over its military action in Ukraine.

"Against the backdrop of global food shortages, this year we will have to be prudent with supplies abroad and carefully monitor such exports to countries that are clearly hostile towards us," Putin said at a meeting on agriculture.


source: Putin Says Russia Will 'Monitor' Food Exports to 'Hostile' Countries

Tom Hickey said...

@ lastgreek

Michael Klare (professor), Melvin Goodman (intel analyst), and Patrick Cockburn (journalist) have zero military experience, let alone having studied military science. In my view they are unqualified to assess military operations.

Tom Hickey said...

BTW, I don't want to come down too hard on the above. Many people with a lot of military experience and who studied military science at the academies fell for the Russian deception, although, as Scott Ritter points out, it should have been obvious it was a feint and that Russia was never serious about attacking Kiev since it had deployed nowhere near the force needed to do so. It was a fixing operation to fix the VSU contingent in Kiev, preventing them from reinforcing other operational fronts. When that was accomplished in the southeast, Russia entered Phase 2, which is a war of attrition in Donbass, a switch from the previous maneuver warfare in play owing to different conditions on the ground. This is the decisive battlefront that Russia aimed to take and needs to take. This is the kind of war that Russia is famous for, based on heavy use of artillery.

Peter Pan said...

Since this isn't an invasion, Zelenskyy and his regime will stick around, playing Washington's narrative indefinitely. The public won't be told of the facts on the ground; whether something was negotiated or imposed; or how many died at whose hand.

Washington's preferred outcome has been achieved: divorce of Russia and Europe.

Good for at least one generation, no?

Matt Franko said...

“ Washington's preferred outcome has been achieved: divorce of Russia and Europe.”

LOL Trump wanted Russia back in G-8…. EU wouldn’t agree with him…

You’re falling for Tom’s charms… when GOP screws up Tom says “hey! Look what the GOP did!”… when Democrats screw up Tom says “Hey! Look what the US did!”

He does this ALL THE TIME…

Matt Franko said...

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52885178

“ The UK and Canada have opposed Russia's return to the G7, deepening a rift over US President Donald Trump's wish for the country to rejoin.
Mr Trump said on Saturday he would postpone the G7 summit scheduled to take place this month until September.
The president said the G7's "outdated group of countries" should be expanded to include others, including Russia.
On Sunday, Mr Trump told Russian President Vladimir Putin of his plan to invite him to the summit.
The White House said making "progress toward convening the G7" with Russia was among the topics the leaders discussed in a phone call.”

Peter Pan said...

Trump is gone, EU remains.

Did the EU want to cut off trade with Russia, in addition to keeping them out of the G-8 summits?
Didn't Trump make noise about the gas pipeline to Germany?

The more interesting question is what would have happened had Trump gotten a 2nd term. By 2020, the Ukrainian military had been shelling the breakaway republics for 6 years.

You’re falling for Tom’s charms…

No doubt this blog's audience is sympathetic to Russia's concerns because of his efforts. What would you have him do - post the same crap that is found on the MSM?

When has Tom used partisan language to describe Washington foreign policy?

Bottom line is Russia was provoked. Ukraine had a peace deal they could've lived up to. Actions have consequences, and pointing that out doesn't mean someone is taking sides.