Paul Klee Sicilian Landscape1924
RIP Daniel Ellsberg
Ellsberg
https://twitter.com/i/status/1669804346668720128
Milley
This is what desperation looks like:
"More than 6.000 Ukrainians are being trained right now at 40 different training locations in 33 nations on three continents"
-Mark Milley, US General pic.twitter.com/1gsHOa5GD5
— Richard (@ricwe123) June 16, 2023
The F-16s will have to be stationed in Germany and Poland. And Russia will not wait till they show up in Ukraine airspace. Dangerous development.
“In case Kiev gets some F-16s and stations them at bases outside Ukraine, “we will need to look at how and where we can hit those assets..”
• Putin Predicts Fate Of F-16 In Ukraine (RT)
Any F-16 fighters the West sends to Kiev will be destroyed just like the tanks they have already delivered, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday. In case they are based outside of Ukraine, that may lead to open war with NATO, he added. Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Putin described how the much-heralded Ukrainian offensive, using Western heavy equipment delivered for the purpose, was actually going. “Tanks are burning. Among them are the Leopards. They burn. So will the F-16s. There is no doubt,”the Russian president said.
Kiev has repeatedly demanded F-16s from the US and its allies. Ukrainian pilots are already being trained on the fourth-generation jets, though none have yet been delivered. The US-made fighter requires very specific airfield conditions, however, which Ukraine may not be able to provide. In case Kiev gets some F-16s and stations them at bases outside Ukraine, “we will need to look at how and where we can hit those assets used in combat operations against us,” Putin said at SPIEF. “This is a serious danger of further dragging NATO into this armed conflict.”
Moscow has repeatedly warned NATO that sending weapons to Kiev only prolongs the conflict and risks open confrontation. The US and its allies insist they are not a party to the hostilities, but only supplying Ukraine with money, weapons, ammunition, equipment, intelligence and advice in order to “defeat Russia.” Though the F-16s do not pose a serious challenge to the Russian air force, Moscow has raised concerns with the UN Security Council over their possible deployment because the planes are capable of carrying tactical nuclear bombs. Earlier this month, one influential US think-tank advocated giving such weapons to Ukraine.
Putin warned those who risk using airfields outside of Ukraine for F16s during military operations in Ukraine https://t.co/JkOumauDf9 pic.twitter.com/r6zlIoY8j1
— Victor vicktop55 (@vicktop55) June 16, 2023
“Leopards burn, in the same way F16s will burn. No doubt!”
— Putin pic.twitter.com/4RZAxoE0iT— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) June 16, 2023
aka we’re getting butchered.
• Kiev ‘Facing Tough Resistance’ From Russian Troops – Zelensky (RT)
Russian troops are responding fiercely to Ukrainian attempts to break through their defenses amid Kiev’s long-anticipated counteroffensive, President Vladimir Zelensky admitted in an interview aired on Thursday. Speaking to NBC News, the Ukrainian leader said Ukrainian troops “are facing very tough resistance” and claimed that “for Russia to lose this campaign to Ukraine… actually means losing the war.” Despite the apparent difficulties, Zelensky attempted to put an optimistic spin on the battlefield situation, describing the news from the front line as “generally positive, but it’s very difficult.” The Ukrainian president also reiterated calls for supplies of F-16 fighter jets to Kiev, arguing that deliveries are being hindered by bureaucracy.
“We are losing time, we are losing people, and, the most important thing, we are losing our advantage,” Zelensky said, insisting that without Ukraine being given modern Western aircraft, “Russia is controlling the air.” Zelensky’s remarks came as the Washington Post cited officials in Kiev as saying that Ukraine was reluctant to delay its attacks on Russia. According to the outlet, Ukraine wants to demonstrate real battlefield progress before the winter, in order to assure its Western backers that it can prevail. However, the Post’s sources warned that offensive action would result in heavy losses in personnel and equipment, which they claimed would be exacerbated by the lack of Western-made jets and long-range artillery needed to attack Russian targets far from the front line.
Ukrainian forces launched a large-scale offensive on June 4, repeatedly attempting to breach Russian lines in several sections of the front. Their efforts have been to no avail, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. On Wednesday, Moscow estimated Ukrainian frontline losses to be 7,500 soldiers killed or wounded since the start of the offensive. On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin also claimed that Ukraine was “taking heavy casualties,” which he said were greater than Russia’s by a factor of ten. He claimed that Kiev had failed to gain any ground and had lost up to 30% of its Western-supplied equipment.
Tough Resistance. How tough?
• Putin: Kiev Has Lost 186 Tanks, 418 Armored Vehicles, Losses Mounting (Sp.)
Ukrainian forces launched a long-awaited counteroffensive earlier this month after stocking up on NATO weapons, including Leopard heavy tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles. The offensive has stalled after running into well-prepared Russian defensive lines, with even Kiev’s Western backers expressing concerns about Ukraine’s heavy losses. Ukraine has failed to reach any strategic objectives amid its ongoing counteroffensive, losing 186 tanks and 418 armored vehicles to date as losses continue to mount, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said. “In some places Ukrainian forces manage to reach the first line of defense, in some places not. That’s not the question,” Putin said, speaking to reporters during the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday.
“The question revolves around the fact that they are using their so-called strategic reserves, which consist of several components. The first is meant to be used to break [Russian] defenses, the second to use forces to entrench their foothold over territory. They have not reached their goals at a single section of the front. This is what is important,” he said. “Their losses are indeed very large, even more than ten to one compared to the Russian army. This is a fact. In terms of equipment, losses are mounting daily. As of today, this includes 186 tanks lost and 418 armored vehicles of various classes,” Putin said. Russia’s defense enterprises are working round-the-clock to supply the military with weapons, working double or even triple shifts, Putin said. “We have increased the output of military production by 2.7 times, and when it comes to the most needed equipment – by 10 times.”
As for Ukrainian forces, Putin predicted that “soon they will stop using its own equipment” entirely because it’s being systematically destroyed. “Everything they’re using to do battle, and everything they’re using is coming from abroad. One can’t fight that way for long,” he said. Putin also once again took the opportunity to delve into the root causes of the present crisis, saying “the war in Ukraine, in southeastern Ukraine, was started by the Kiev regime with the support of their Western sponsors in 2014. But everyone in the West tries not to speak about this. I am forced to remind them that aviation, tanks, artillery were used used against the Donbass [back then]. What is this if not a war?”
Kiev “refused” to entertain an end to the Donbass crisis using peaceful means, Putin said, “forcing us to use our armed forces to attempt to put an end to this war.” It wasn’t Russia that led its Western partners “by the nose” between 2015 and 2022 by signing the Minsk peace deal for Donbass, “without any plans to implement it, as they publicly admitted recently,” he added, referring to recent revelations by the former Ukrainian, German and French leaders that they only signed the Minsk deal to give Kiev time to rearm and prepare for war with Russia.
“..Hungary is interested in seeing a supporter of peace as the head of the United States..”
• Orban Claims Only Trump Can Stop Ukraine Conflict (Sp.)
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban once again voiced his support for Donald Trump on Friday and argued that only the former US president could stop the conflict in Ukraine. “If there is a person in the Western world who can stop this war and make peace, it is former US President Donald Trump, and Hungary is interested in seeing a supporter of peace as the head of the United States,” Orban said on Kossuth Radio After the conflict, “the truth will remain with the supporters of a peace settlement,” including Hungary, whose position has “moral righteousness,” the Hungarian prime minister added.
Trump has claimed on numerous occasions that had he been the US president he would have settled the conflict in Ukraine within 24 hours. Ukraine’s Western donors have repeatedly called on Russia to hold peace talks, while Ukraine has enshrined its refusal to negotiate in law. Moscow said it would be open to peace talks as long as Ukraine recognizes the territorial changes that have taken place in the course of the conflict. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s peace plan, on the other hand, insists on the restoration of Ukraine’s full territorial integrity.
“..the current Ukrainian authorities openly celebrate Nazi figures, most notably supporters of Stepan Bandera..”
• Zelensky ‘A Disgrace To The Jewish People’ – Putin (RT)
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky brings shame on the entire Jewish people, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday, pointing to Kiev’s turning a blind eye to neo-Nazi ideology. Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), the Russian leader was asked to comment on the criticism of Russia’s stated goal to “denazify” Ukraine, with Western experts arguing that such an aspiration is ridiculous because Zelensky himself is Jewish. Putin responded by saying that his friends in the Jewish community do not share this view. “They say that Zelensky is not a Jew, he is a disgrace to the Jewish people. I’m not joking, this is not irony,” Putin said. He pointed to the fact that the current Ukrainian authorities openly celebrate Nazi figures, most notably supporters of Stepan Bandera, a Ukrainian nationalist who collaborated with the Third Reich during World War II.
The Russian leader recalled that out of six million Jews killed during the Holocaust, 1.5 million were from Ukraine, with Ukrainian nationalists being heavily involved in mass executions. However, nobody wants to hear about Bandera being an anti-Semite, because Zelensky himself is a Jew, Putin said. “But with his actions, he provides cover for this scum,” the Russian leader said. On Tuesday, Putin blasted Kiev’s decision to remove Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin – who he says basically founded Ukraine – from public squares and replace him with Bandera, whom he referred to as “a scoundrel and a fascist.” At the time, he said he was “surprised” by the move, pointing to Zelensky’s Jewish roots.
“..autonomy and independence of any structures on the global arena that are related to the West are becoming the main trend today.”
• The World Will Be Different When The Ukraine Conflict Ends – Lavrov (RT)
By the time the conflict in Ukraine is resolved, Kiev will respect the loss of its former territories, and Western-led globalization will be dead, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told RT Arabic on Friday. Speaking on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Lavrov described the West’s proxy war with Russia as “a geopolitical conflict,” in which the US was attempting to eliminate a powerful competitor and “preserve its hegemonic position by all means.” “The attempt is futile, and we all know this,” Lavrov stated, adding that Ukraine and its backers will be forced to accept new “concrete realities” before a ceasefire is reached.
Firstly, Kiev must accept that any potential peace agreement will need to take into account the loss of the Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporozhye Regions, which voted to join the Russian Federation last year. Before sending its military into Ukraine, Moscow offered more generous terms, and Lavrov warned on Friday that “the longer they put off talks, the more difficult it will be for them to reach an agreement with us.” Ukraine and its European backers have admitted that the 2014 and 2015 Minsk agreements – under which Kiev promised to grant limited autonomy to Donetsk and Lugansk – were a ruse to buy Ukraine time to prepare for war with Russia. This situation will never be repeated, Lavrov told RT. “We won’t be prepared to let security guarantees be based on more pledges and promises or even documents the West may offer us,” he said. “We must guarantee our national security on our own.”
“We fully understand that we can only rely on ourselves and build relations only with countries open to an equal and mutually beneficial partnership,” Lavrov continued. “This is not what we see in the West these days.” Lastly, Lavrov declared the era in which the US and its allies control the institutions of globalization – primarily development banks and multilateral organizations – will come to a close. Aside from hosting the SPIEF, which drew thousands of delegations from more than 100 countries this week, Russia plays a leading role in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and Greater Eurasian Partnership, as well as the expanding BRICS group. “Today, there is an understanding that growth processes need to be regionalized and this vision prevails,” Lavrov said. “All the countries of this vast continent should use their God- and nature-given advantages to develop mutually beneficial logistic, financial, and transport chains.”
The foreign minister added that Russia would “leave all doors open” for partnership with European countries who realize that their interests are better served by cooperation with Russia rather than by playing Washignton’s “ideological and geopolitical games.” “The world will be different,”Russia’s top diplomat concluded. “And the processes we see unfolding today were whipped up by the West’s response to Russia’s Special Military Operation, when we accepted the challenge that they flung at us. These processes clearly show that autonomy and independence of any structures on the global arena that are related to the West are becoming the main trend today.”
“The West chooses itself as the only subject. It holds a system of values deemed to be universal – that everybody else must follow.”
• Russia’s New Roadmap for Multipolar World (Pepe Escobar)
The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum is not only the premier platform for discussing everything that matters in business and geoeconomics concerning Russia and the wider Eurasia. It’s a privileged space where trends of the past, present and future are explored in detail: a microcosm of multipolarity at work. The business program is usually an intellectual feast. It’s impossible to convey its breadth and reach in only a few lines, not to mention the exhilarating atmosphere of jumping from room to room in search of the perfect expose. What follows could be regarded as a sort of incomplete Greatest Hits of the Thursday, June 15 sessions – packing enough punch to drive multipolarity-heavy debates for weeks if not months ahead.
The heavyweight-laden panel How The Russian Economy Will Develop featured Governor of the Russian Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina, Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov and top Putin aide Maksim Oreshkin. The unflappable Nabiullina stressed now “inter-operability” will help “the Russian paying system to be integrated in the global system”. She remains in favor of “selected privatization”, keeping “confidence in capital markets”, and low inflation. Siluanov was keen on the “need to change the paradigm”; the importance of the State creating demand; and the need to reduce subsidies. Macro-stability is important – “but we should not overdo it.” Oreshkin agrees: the government should get rid of assets “it does not really need”. A De-Dollarization panel debated the plausibility of transitioning from the US dollar towards a “fundamentally new supranational currency, overseen by a broad consortium of states operating on principles of partnership”. That’s essentially what’s being discussed at the heart of both the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU) and BRICS.
The future of Russia was at the center of the Horizon 2040 debate. Andrey Bezrukov, president of the Technological Sovereignty Exports Association and a professor at MGIMO, stressed how in 2024 Russia holds the chairmanship of BRICS: it’s time, right now, to “turn it not only into an alliance of equal partners but also a financial, technological and economic force.” Alexander Dugin engaged in a stunning presentation, explaining paths towards development in parallel to how Russians should understand identity. That led to an inevitable critique of ethnocentrism: “The West chooses itself as the only subject. It holds a system of values deemed to be universal – that everybody else must follow.” That’s “the West as the whole of humankind”, coupled with a drive to “de-subjectify the rest. The global subjectivity of the West is built in”. Dugin described it as “a virus”, developed “over centuries.”
Integration in the Global West, according to Dugin, “leaves Russia without a future.” Rather, Russia should declare the West to be “one force among several. Not an existential threat.” Russia can “proclaim itself as a sovereign state. Exercise a “mental de-colonization of society.” That’s how a “civilization-state that defines its own goals” should act. Showing a diagram in three steps, “between red and lilac”, Dugin illustrated how Russia can perform the transition from “understanding itself in the Western world” towards “sovereign development.”
“..saying that Western values are being protected in Ukraine is the same as saying that Nazism is your mode of existence..”
• Anglo-Saxons Control Collective West – Lavrov (RT)
London and Washington run the show in the “rules-based world order,” trying to dictate policy to their own allies as well as countries outside the West, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told RT on Friday. Russia fully understands that building relations with other countries needs to be based on mutual benefits and equal partnerships, Lavrov said in an interview with RT at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). “This is not what we see in the West these days. The Anglo-Saxons are basically running the show, controlling the rest of the collective West. They are using the current situation, which they created through Ukraine – this war against Russia – to remove competition,” Lavrov elaborated.
“They see us as a competitor, they see China as a competitor. Their doctrinal documents clearly state that. But they are also removing their competition in continental Europe. It’s obvious. The economic and social processes in Germany are grim. Other countries are not much better off,” the Russian foreign minister added. The only Western state benefiting from the current situation is the US, Lavrov said, “and the UK is always somewhere around, helping America reach its selfish goals.” According to Lavrov, the “Anglo-Saxons and their allies” are currently trying to pressure countries around the world to side with them against Russia, including the Arab world, using methods he can only describe as “rude.”
“You see, when they talk about these ‘rules’ on which the international order must be based, what they really mean is their diktat,” Lavrov told RT. “Colonial instincts – live at the expense of others. Nothing else.” Lavrov took particular exception to Western proclamations that their support for Kiev is “defending democracy” and that Ukraine is fighting for “Western values” in the conflict with Russia. “First of all, if they really see it that way, I cannot but be convinced that they are holding on to Nazi views. Because saying that Western values are being protected in Ukraine is the same as saying that Nazism is your mode of existence,” the diplomat told RT. As for democracy, he added, “they only speak about democracy when they teach others how to live,” but not when it comes to respecting the sovereign equality of other states, per the UN Charter.
“..Warsaw is considering submitting restitution demands to Kiev for the 1943 Volhynia massacres, which saw over 100,000 Poles killed..”
• Poland Covets Western Ukraine – Putin (RT)
Poland has its own ambitions in the Ukraine conflict and is seeking to claim parts of the country’s territory, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed during a discussion at the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday. “The Poles have their own goals, they sleep and dream of seeing the return of western Ukraine, and, apparently, they are gradually moving towards this,” the Russian leader told participants of the forum, noting that Poland has still not forgotten the genocide of its people by Ukrainian ultranationalists during World War II. The president’s comments come after several Russian officials have suggested that Warsaw is secretly planning to annex parts of western Ukraine, primarily the so-called ‘Eastern Borderlands’, which were controlled by Poland between the two world wars and include four regions of modern Ukraine: Lviv, Volyn, Ivano-Frankovsk, and Ternopol.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who now serves as the deputy chairman of the National Security Council, claimed back in January that Poland’s decision to send Western main battle tanks to Ukraine was a secret ploy to partition the country. Last year, the director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergey Naryshkin, suggested that Polish President Andrzej Duda had already instructed the “relevant services” to come up with a justifiable basis to claim those territories. He also stated that he had received intelligence suggesting that Warsaw is considering submitting restitution demands to Kiev for the 1943 Volhynia massacres, which saw over 100,000 Poles killed by the Nazi-allied Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists led by Stepan Bandera. Kiev currently considers the Nazi collaborator a national hero.
Warsaw, however, has repeatedly denied claims that it plans to take over Ukrainian territory, dismissing it as a Russian disinformation operation. Nevertheless, Duda has expressed hope that a time will come when both Poland and Ukraine will live “together on this land, building and rebuilding our common happiness and common strength that will allow us to resist every danger.” In early March of 2022, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky stated that “effectively, we no longer have a border with Poland, with a friendly Poland,” referring to how welcoming Warsaw had been to Ukrainian refugees.
Remarkable: “According to Zelensky, Russia “deceived” the world for years with the Minsk process and is trying to do so again..”
• Zelensky Offers Zero Flexibility To African Leaders (RT)
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky brushed off the African Union peace initiative on Friday, insisting there can be no negotiations with Russia. The high-ranking delegation, led by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, visited Kiev and is headed to Moscow next. “I have said clearly and many times during our meeting today that allowing any talks with Russia while the occupiers are still on our land means freezing the conflict, the pain and the suffering,” Zelensky said at the press conference afterward. According to Zelensky, Russia “deceived” the world for years with the Minsk process and is trying to do so again. For peace to happen, he argued, “Russian troops need to leave our entire independent territory.”
The Franco-German proposal Ukraine had agreed to in 2015 was supposed to bring peace in the Donbass, but former German chancellor Angela Merkel admitted last year that its true intent was to buy time for NATO to arm Ukraine. Former French president Francois Hollande has confirmed Merkel’s account. Russian President Vladimir Putin reacted with disappointment, saying he believed for years that Berlin and Paris had been sincere. Zelensky also told reporters that Ukraine was greatly helping African nations with food security and setting up “grain hubs” on the continent “with our partners,” accusing Russia of using hunger and social instability as a tool of political pressure. The grain Kiev exported under the terms of the Black Sea Initiative, however, has mostly gone to the EU and ended up as animal feed.
Meanwhile, the UN has failed to unblock the export of Russian food and fertilizer to Africa, which used to account for a far greater share of the continent’s needs. The African Union mission got off to an inauspicious start in Warsaw, when Polish authorities held up Ramaphosa’s security detail. While in Kiev on Friday, the visitors were reportedly told to take shelter from incoming “Russian missiles.” Ukrainian authorities later claimed to have shot down six Russian hypersonic rockets. “There’s obviously some deliberate misinformation being spread here,” Ramaphosa’s spokesman Vincent Magwenya later told South African media, adding that the delegation didn’t hear any explosions or see anything out of the ordinary.
Zelensky has previously turned down the Vatican’s offer to mediate a ceasefire as well, telling the papal envoy Cardinal Matteo Zuppi earlier this month that he would only accept the terms of his own Ukrainian “peace formula.” The list of ten demands includes Russia’s withdrawal from all territories Kiev claims as its own, payment of reparations, war crimes trials and NATO membership for Ukraine. Moscow has dismissed it as delusional and said that any peace talks will be with Zelensky’s “masters” in the West, rather than their puppet.
“They [Washington] also humiliate and cause problems for the European Union as much as they can while considering them [EU] as reliable partners, allies and dear friends..”
• Some Peace Proposals On Ukraine Have Ideas That Could Work – Zakharova (TASS)
Peace initiatives on the Ukrainian conflict settlement proposed by various countries contain ideas that could work, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in an interview with TASS. Asked by a TASS correspondent at the 2023 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) whether there were viable ideas in the peaceful settlement plans proposed by other countries, Zakharova replied “of course there are.” “I reiterate that we are thankful to every country, every state or every public figure – because many initiatives were personally proposed by prominent figures, internationalists; we are grateful to everyone, who speaks about peace, who speaks about [peaceful] settlement and, who wants to be useful regarding this issue,” she said.
“There are interesting ideas, which may work. There are ideas that are in sync with our approaches, and, for instance, it includes the Chinese initiative,” she continued. Zakharova stressed that the main problem is that such initiatives are being blocked “by the Kiev regime, which banned itself” from holding any negotiations with Russia. “All of it was blocked by [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky, because this concept was laid out by Washington. Washington pursues the concept of ‘kill as many Russians as possible.’ This concept was voiced by prominent representatives of the US political establishment including [ex-US President] George Bush Jr and Senator [Lindsey] Graham,” Zakharova said. The Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman added that that Washington adhered to the concept of utter domination in the world and strategic defeat of Russia.
“They used to speak about it and documented it as dismemberment. But now, they are somehow trying to publicly rewind it back – I mean previously voiced statements and concepts of US diplomats – as they now say that this is not dismemberment of Russia, but some kind of punishment for Russia,” she stated. “Although it may seem not to be important, they have shaped it up with a precise formulation,” Zakharova said. “This is why this issue is not about the essence of the proposed initiatives, but about the inability of Ukraine to move towards the peace because of the block set by political scientists from Washington. They [US political scientists] have a totally different view of Ukraine’s future,” she continued.
According to her, the United States has no interest in the flourishing and, moreover, independent Ukraine as they view this country as a tool of influence upon Russia and the region on the whole.”Therefore, we see its relevant projection on China and the European Union,” she continued. “It’s because Russia is not the final aim at all for Washington in this game. Their aim is definitely China, and they [Washington] go insane over their [Chinese] rate of their economic growth, with their technological development, with their independent course, with their capabilities, with their determination, with their inked partnership with other countries,” Zakharova said. “They [Washington] also humiliate and cause problems for the European Union as much as they can while considering them [EU] as reliable partners, allies and dear friends,” Zakharova added.
“Putin clearly sees how the chessboard has been laid out. And he also sees how “Ukraine” does not even exist anymore..”
• Putin and What Really Matters in the Chessboard (Escobar)
It’s been a long way since Putin examined the chessboard in the early 2000s and then unleashed a crash missile program for defensive and offensive missiles. Over the next 23 years Russia developed hypersonic missiles, advanced ICBMs, and the most advanced defensive missiles on the planet. Russia won the missile race. Period. The Hegemon – obsessed by its own manufactured war against Islam – was completely blindsided and made no material missile advances in nearly two and a half decades. Now the “strategy” is to invent a Taiwan Question out of nothing, which is configuring the chessboard as the ante-chamber of no holds barred Hybrid War against Russia-China.
The proxy attack – via Kiev hyenas – against Russophone Donbass, egged on by the Straussian neocon psychos in charge of US foreign policy, murdered at least 14,000 men, women and children between 2014 to 2022. That was also an attack on China. The ultimate aim of this Divide and Rule gambit was to inflict defeat on China’s ally in the Heartland, so Beijing would be isolated. According to the neocon wet dream, all of the above would have enabled the Hegemon, once it had taken over Russia again as it did with Yeltsin, to blockade China from Russian natural resources using eleven US aircraft carrier task forces plus numerous submarines. Obviously military science-impaired neocons are oblivious to the fact that Russia is now the strongest military power on the planet.
In Ukraine, the neocons were hoping that a provocation would cause Moscow to deploy other secret weapons apart from hypersonic missiles, so Washington could better prepare for all-out war. All those elaborate plans may have miserably floundered. But a corollary remains: the Straussian neocons firmly believe they may instrumentalize a few million Europeans – who’s next? Poles? Estonians? Latvians? Lithuanians? And why not Germans? – as cannon fodder as the US did in WWI and WWII, fought over the bodies of Europeans (including Russians) sacrificed to the same old Mackinder Anglo-Saxon power grab.
Hordes of European 5th columnists make it so much easier to “trust” the US to protect them, while only a few with an IQ over room temperature have understood who really bombed Nord Stream 1 and 2, with the connivance of the Liver Sausage German Chancellor. The bottom line is that the Hegemon simply cannot accept a sovereign, self-sufficient Europe; only a dependent vassal, hostage to the seas that the US control. Putin clearly sees how the chessboard has been laid out. And he also sees how “Ukraine” does not even exist anymore. While no one was paying attention, last month the Kiev gang sold Ukraine to $8.5 trillion-worth BlackRock. Just like that. The deal was sealed between the Government of Ukraine and BlackRock’s VP Philipp Hildebrand.
They are setting up a Ukrainian Development Fund (UDF) for “reconstruction”, focused on energy, infrastructure, agriculture, industry and IT. All remaining valuable assets in what will be a rump Ukraine will be gobbled up by BlackRock: from Metinvest, DTEK (energy) and MJP (agriculture) to Naftogaz, Ukrainian Railways, Ukravtodor and Ukrenergo. What’s the point in going to Kiev then? High-grade toxic neoliberalism is already partying on the spot.
Xi is interested in the WHO and its new lockdown plans. And Gates=WHO.
• China’s Xi Jinping Welcomes ‘Old Friend’ Bill Gates in Beijing (Sp.)
US billionaire Bill Gates met with China’s leader Xi Jinping in Beijing on Friday. “On June 16, President Xi Jinping met the American Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation co-chairperson Bill Gates in Beijing,” Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported. “You are the first American friend I have met in Beijing this year. We have always placed our hopes on the American people, and hoped for continued friendship between the peoples of the two countries,” Xi reportedly told Gates. Gates was cited as saying he was “very honoured to have this chance to meet”. The Microsoft co-founder is believed to have last met with the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 2015, on the sidelines of the Boao forum for Asia in Hainan province.
[..] The visit by Bill Gates to China comes against the backdrop of spriralling geopolitical tensions that have brought Washington-Beijing ties to one of their lowest points in decades. However, the world’s second-largest economy has been making efforts to attract foreign investors to reinvigorate the economy post-lockdowns. A flurry of stopovers have been made in China by tech bosses. Apple CEO Tim Cook was in the country to attend the China Development Forum.The CEO of CEO of JPMorgan Chase, America’s largest bank in terms of assets, Jamie Dimon, also recently went to China. Most recently, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk visited China, meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, and vowing that his electric carmaker would continue to expand operations in the world’s largest EV market.
China’s Xi Jinping Meets ‘Old Friend’ Bill Gates in Beijing | WSJ
Source: WSJ News (YouTube) pic.twitter.com/6pPPfNs8Y6— Wittgenstein (@backtolife_2023) June 16, 2023
At this point it is worth noting that the China visits feed into the rivalry between Gates and Musk. The owner of Twitter met in person with three senior government officials: China’s foreign, commerce and industry ministers, and reportedly conferred with Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang.” However, Bill Gates scored a major win over the South African-born American entrepreneur by wecuring a sit-down with the Chinese leader, Xi Jingping. “It is worth noting that on my recent trip to China I went to senior leadership there. I think we had some very productive discussions on artificial intelligence risks, and the need for some oversight or regulation,” Elon Musk said on Twitter Spaces on June 5.
The two tech gurus who have been vying for the role of the world’s richest man (according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Elon Musk recently regained the title, surpassing LVMH’s Bernard Arnault) have been recently verbally sparring on Twitter. Musk slammed the fellow billionaire for holding a short position on Tesla shares worth around $2 billion. After a series of viral exchanges, in an interview with a French YouTuber, Gates spoke of his record on climate change philanthropy and questioned the benefit of electric vehicles. In response, Musk tweeted, ‘Sigh.”
But we stand with Ukraine…
• Germany Has No More Money For EU – Finance Minister (RT)
Germany cannot afford to pay more money into the EU budget, Finance Minister Christian Lindner told the newspaper Die Welt on Friday. Although Germany is the bloc’s largest contributor, it has been forced to make cutbacks as its economy contracts. “In view of the necessary cuts in our national budget, we are currently unable to make any additional contributions to the budget of the European Union,” Linder told reporters in Brussels, adding that other member states have come to the same realization. Lindner explained that the EU has maxed out its long-term budget through 2027, largely as a result of the bloc’s lavish aid packages to Ukraine.
According to the latest figures from Brussels, the EU has given Kiev €72 billion ($79 billion) in economic, military, and humanitarian aid since Russia’s military operation in Ukraine began last February. Despite this unprecedented outflow draining its coffers, the European Commission is reportedly readying an additional €72 billion financial aid package to keep the Ukrainian economy limping along to 2027. According to Lindner, the commission will release a report next week asking member states for more money to cover the bill. Germany is the EU’s largest net contributor, giving €21.4 billion ($23.4 billion) to the bloc’s budget in 2021. Its next-door neighbor, Poland, is the largest net drain on the budget, receiving €12.9 billion ($14.2 billion) in 2021.
Once regarded as Europe’s industrial powerhouse and the EU’s most resilient economy, Germany is currently experiencing deindustrialization as a consequence of its decision to cut itself off from cheap Russian gas and transition to more expensive green energy. The German economy fell into recession in the first three months of this year, and Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government is planning to reveal around €20 billion ($21.8 billion) in budget cuts later this month. However, a vote on the budget may be delayed, as Scholz and Lindner’s coalition partners in the Green party argue for tax hikes instead of spending cuts.
The west wants Syria to be off balance and suffer..
• Unprecedented Funding Crisis: UN To Cut Food Aid For 2.5 Million In Syria (MEE)
The UN has warned that due to an unprecedented funding crisis, it will be cutting food aid to at least 2.5 million Syrians. More than 5.5 million Syrians rely on the UN World Food Programme (WFP) for their basic food needs. The WFP is in the process of drawing up plans to prioritise the remaining three million Syrians who are unable to make it from one week to the next without food assistance. The UN body warned that if it continued to provide aid to all the 5.5 million people in need it would run out of food completely by October. “Instead of scaling up or even keeping pace with increasing needs, we’re facing the bleak scenario of taking assistance away from people, right when they need it the most,” said WFP Representative and Country Director in Syria, Kenn Crossley, in a statement. Finding hard cash for Syrians amid the war in Ukraine, a growing humanitarian crisis in Sudan, and a long-simmering one in Yemen might be difficult.
The amount of money needed to feed Syrians alone is staggering, with the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently pleading for more money. “We are asking for $11.1 billion, our largest appeal worldwide. We have no time to spare,” he warned. “There are nutritional supplies which are distributed exclusively by the WFP,” said Dr Mahmod Asaad, the nutritional officer at the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS), speaking to Middle East Eye. If there is a reduction in support then “we should expect a high incidence of malnutrition from pregnant and lactating women and high rates of anaemia in women in general, which is currently 53 percent and is classified as phase five which is very critical or catastrophic. “High incidence of malnutrition in children and an increase in the incidence of children stunting, which currently reached 28.6 percent and is classified as phase four critical or severe,” he added.
Tesla
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) June 16, 2023
Eagle
I don’t think people realize how large eagles are. This helps put things into perspective. pic.twitter.com/v4FTV4bYm4
— Mark Smith Photography (@marktakesphoto) June 16, 2023
Humming
— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) June 16, 2023
extroverts vs introverts
it's like extroverts vs introverts
(jukin media) pic.twitter.com/KOUn2ra0rQ— theworldofdog (@theworldofdog) June 16, 2023
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