Political scientist John Mearsheimer, one of the most prominent critics of American foreign policy since the end of the Cold War, has argued for many years that the United States, in seeking to expand NATO eastward and establish friendly relations with Ukraine, increased the likelihood of war between nuclear powers and laid the foundation for the position Vladimir Putin in relation to Ukraine. Today, against the background of Russia's special operation in Ukraine, Mearsheimer adheres to his position, according to which the United States is to blame for what happened.
As the expert said in an interview with The New Yorker, all the problems really began in April 2008 at the NATO summit in Bucharest, after which a statement was published saying that Ukraine and Georgia would join the alliance. Russia, in turn, made it clear that it considers Ukraine's transformation into a "pro-American liberal democracy" an existential threat.
“If Ukraine becomes a pro-American liberal democracy, a member of NATO and a member of the EU, the Russians will find this categorically unacceptable. If there had been no NATO expansion and EU enlargement, and Ukraine had simply become a liberal democracy and been on friendly terms with the US and the West more broadly, it would probably have gotten out of trouble. When you are a country like Ukraine and live next door to a great power like Russia, you have to be careful what the Russians think, because if you take a stick and poke them in the eye, they will retaliate.” says John Mearsheimer.
He also recalled that America's policy over the past 30 years since the end of the Cold War has been to build liberal democracies in the Middle East. Bush's doctrine was basically that if the US could create a liberal democracy in Iraq, it would have a domino effect, and countries like Syria, Iran, and eventually Saudi Arabia and Egypt would become democracies. However, everyone knows perfectly well how it ended.
“We have gone around the world trying to create liberal democracies. Our main focus, of course, was on the Greater Middle East, and you know how that worked. Not very good, ”the expert notes.
As for Ukraine, Mearsheimer believes that until 2014, the US did not consider NATO expansion and EU enlargement as a policy aimed at containing Russia. However, after the events in Kyiv, a serious crisis erupted and the West "had to put the blame on others, since it was never going to blame itself."
“There is clear evidence that before February 22, 2014, we did not consider Putin an aggressor. This is the story we made up to blame him. In my opinion, the main responsibility for this catastrophe lies with the West, especially the United States. But no American politician - and no one anywhere in the American foreign policy establishment - will want to admit this sequence of arguments, and they will say that the Russians are to blame, ”the political scientist notes.
He is sure that the Russian president is not going to recreate the Soviet Union or try to build a great Russia, and the story that Putin is very aggressive and is the main culprit of this crisis in Ukraine was invented by the United States. To take over the Baltics or other countries of Eastern Europe, for example, would require a huge army, and this would require an economic basis that modern Russia does not have anywhere near. Therefore, says Mearsheimer, there is no reason to fear that Russia will become a regional hegemon in Europe. But China is a serious adversary for America, but US policy in Europe "reduces our ability to confront the most dangerous threat facing us today."
“In order to deal with China with “laser precision”, we need to relax our attention to Europe, this is the first. And secondly, we must work tirelessly to establish friendly relations with the Russians. The Russians are part of our anti-China coalition to ensure the balance of power. If you live in a world where there are three great powers (China, Russia, and the US) and one of those great powers, China, is an equal competitor, then your job, if you are the US, is to get Russia on your side. Instead, we pushed the Russians into the arms of the Chinese with our unreasonable policy in Eastern Europe. This is a violation of the balance of power policy,” the political scientist believes.
As John Mearsheimer concludes, there is a strategic and moral dimension to every issue of international politics, but when it comes to military conflict, strategic considerations take precedence over moral ones. In an ideal world, it would be great if Ukrainians could choose their own political system and their own foreign policy, but in the real world, this is impossible. Therefore, a strategically wise strategy for Ukraine today is to end its close relationship with the West, especially the United States, and try to accommodate Russia and work out its differences. And there is a high probability that the Ukrainians will be able to work out some way to coexist with the Russians.
https://russian.rt.com/inotv/2022-03-19 ... Mirshajmer - zinc
https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/ ... in-ukraine - original in English
The author, a bright representative of those circles, who wanted to play Nixon's scheme of agreements with China in the 70s, only now with Russia against China. Now they are sad because the Biden administration has effectively destroyed the possibility of such a combination and only strengthened China's ties with Russia, while both countries are enemies of the United States.
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7502639.html
Can you help me defeat your friends?
March 19, 17:16
The official representative of the Chinese Foreign Ministry uses the well-known memetic map of the so-called "world community" in the context of the negotiations between Biden and Xi Jinping, where the US was unable to force China to withdraw its support for Russia.
Liu Xin, a well-known Chinese news anchor, commented on yesterday's Sino-US talks in one sentence Liu Xin described the US administration's cautious attitude towards China as follows: the future?"
"Friends", meaning Russia.
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/7503156.html
All above Google Translator
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THE EXCESSIVE SANCTIONING OF THE US SHOOTS AT THE HEART OF CAPITALISM
Ernest Cazal
17 Mar 2022 , 3:09 p.m.
It seems that the United States, "sanctioning" Russia, is declaring war on neoliberalism as an expression of the current capitalist system (Photo: Dado Ruvic / Reuters)
For months some economists unrelated to the mainstream circuits , critics of the capitalist system such as Michael Roberts, have been predicting a picture of inflation and recession ( stagflation ) in the United States and Europe, and it is now when, with the outbreak of the Russian military operation in Ukraine is beginning to show too much in front of the eyes of the unwary and the blind with arrogance.
The euphoria of the gringo-European "sanctions" against Russia joins the strong economic and commercial slowdown, and therefore financial , that was experienced during the first two years of the covid pandemic, and that continues to drag its tail to Western society.
Medium and small companies have been devoured by big capital, employment has suffered a setback in many latitudes of the world, causing a social crisis unprecedented in the history of humanity, falling on households with lower incomes all the weight of the measures of financial and commercial war waged by Washington.
The indicators that we are in a period of recession in the western countryside are notorious, with an acceleration of this scenario due to sanctioning hybris .
THE PRODUCTIVE FRAGILITY OF WORLD CAPITALISM UNDER "SANCTIONS"
Before President Vladimir Putin gave the military order to "demilitarize" and "denazify" Ukraine, the economic slowdown was being reported, coupled with rising inflation in the United States and Europe.
For weeks the measure of the US Federal Reserve to raise interest rates as a measure was delayed, a fact that was already announced on March 16 with the aim of "fighting inflation" after the prices of some raw materials rose and the interruption in supply chains, specifically oil, gas and food as a result of the western financial war against Russia.
It is no longer a crisis on the demand side like those already experienced in 2008-2009 and in 2020-2021, but on the supply side: the capacity to produce goods and services in the world capitalist economy has been diminished in the short and medium term.
Reuters economist John Kemp comments : "The crisis threatens to disrupt global trade in raw materials and essential industrial components, from aluminium, nickel and noble gases to auto parts, shipping and land rail transport. ".
Although Kemp's vision is pro-American, he does not hesitate to comment that it is ordinary citizens in the West who will pay dearly for the sanctioning repercussions:
"Lower-income households in advanced and developing economies will be particularly hard hit, as they spend a much larger share of their income on food and fuel and have fewer options to alter their spending patterns."
Coercive measures, especially those of Anglo countries, "increase economic disruption," says Kemp, and are causing the Russian energy and food market to relocate to Eurasia and other nodes of the multipolar world.
The fact that there is no way that the United States and Europe can totally replace Russian oil and gas exports in the next 12 months will definitively open the floodgates of stagflation, which is just beginning to appear and the pockets of the common already suffer. .
The quoted Kemp analysis was published before the United States and the United Kingdom announced that the Russian energy embargo is going. In the above scenario, he wrote that a progressive escalation of "sanctions" "would allow more time to secure replacement supplies from others, such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iran, Venezuela and the US shale industry during the 12 to 36 months".
Now this seems more difficult, even though Venezuela has the will to produce more with a hypothetical lifting of the blockade and embargo on PDVSA, which would allow access to the US and European capital markets for greater investment in the Orinoco Oil Belt, and therefore Therefore, there would be a relief on the energy supply side in the Western Hemisphere.
But it would not be enough, thinking about it with a cool head, at least in the short term. Because crude oil prices depend not only on the supply in the US market, but also on the world market. And supply chains are being severely affected, according to a recent report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
*The report says, explicitly: "The unprecedented sanctions imposed on Russia will harm financial intermediation and trade, which will inevitably lead to recession."
Even more so if we take into account the threats of the Joe Biden administration to issue measures against China, the main productive workshop of world capitalism, for its support of Russia as an integrated strategic ally .
It seems that the United States, "sanctioning" Russia, is declaring war on neoliberalism as an expression of the current capitalist system. Is this the product of a calculated game or is it pure excess of the former empire? Judging by the "brilliant" minds taking the reins in the White House, who cannot see beyond what their visceral navel dictates, the second option is more logical than the first.
TO TURN ON THE DOLLAR PRINTING MACHINE AGAIN
Tyler Durden, who maintains the ZeroHedge site on the US and world financial markets in general, made an analysis of the rise in interest rates by the Federal Reserve that is difficult to summarize in these few pages, but can be summarized in what following: yields on US Treasury bonds plummet and, therefore, this will result in a greater injection of dollarized liquidity, after the United States decides once again to turn on the greenback printing machine.
The financial analyst agrees with Roberts that a stagflation caused by the "misguided policies" of the Federal Reserve is expected. The incessant printing of dollars will produce more inflation, in his opinion, and there will be a contraction in demand as an immediate consequence, that is, there will not only be a picture of a crisis in the supply of energy and food products, but there will be less and less citizens who will be able to buy them at market prices.
What's interesting about his analysis is that Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is looking to "keep raising rates in the coming months in hopes of inducing a modest recession to squash commodity demand." Literal translation: Wall Street financial oligarchs are trying to right the political economy mistakes of the Biden administration by propping up a further crisis in the pockets of Western citizenship.
It is worth noting that the very high inflation that is expected on a global scale will directly affect Latin America and the Caribbean, taking into account the high dependence on imports in the areas of energy and food raw materials in most of the countries of the region.
While in Eurasia they are taking the pertinent measures to de- dollarize their economic, financial and commercial integration , in the Latin-Caribbean field we still depend on the dollar-centric system due to commercial proximity and, therefore, we are exposed to the systematic madness of the US political economy operators. The depression, and not just the economic recession, is knocking on our doors.
The alarms are already on, it's up to us to listen to them with foresight and assertiveness (ergo, to buy gold!).
https://misionverdad.com/investigacione ... apitalismo
Google Translator
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“Our Mission is to Lead the White Races of the World in a Final Crusade…Against Semite-led Untermenschen [subhumans]”
By Jeremy Kuzmarov and Steve Brown - July 29, 2021 6
Azov Battalion with Nazi flag and Heil Hitler salute. [Source: sofrep.com]
Meet Some of America’s Newest Best Friends
With barely a whisper of protest from either the media or the American people, Barack Obama and Joe Biden supported and empowered a group of far-right, Nazi-idolizing, Hitler-worshipping, anti-Semitic militias to fight against Russian-backed separatists in Eastern Ukraine.
Members of these militias had participated in the violent and illegal overthrow of the democratically elected government of Ukraine because—well, because they did not like how chummy it was getting with Russia.
Obama’s elite team of foreign policy advisers—Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice and Samantha Power—did not like the fact that Ukraine’s president, Viktor Yanukovych, was having sensible second thoughts about joining the EU (European Union) and possibly NATO, because it would antagonize Russia, which was not only its major trading partner, but also a touchy nuclear power with which it shared a porous 1,400-mile border.
But what did the concerns of the Ukraine government matter? They were irrelevant. Such disobedience to U.S. wishes was simply not to be tolerated. What right had any government to interfere with the privileged desires of an imperial hegemon like the United States?
Ukraine 2014—A Historical Turning Point
The year 2014 was a major turning point in modern Ukrainian history and the history of the new Cold War.
In February of that year, using a playbook almost identical to the one they used to overthrow the democratically elected government of Iran in 1953 (not to mention the governments of Chile, Guatemala, Iran, Iraq, Laos, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Grenada, Panama, Haiti, Honduras, Libya, Venezuela, and many more) the CIA helped organize and fund a faux grass-roots revolutionary movement that succeeded in toppling the legally elected pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych.
He was replaced by the pro-Western, neo-liberal, NATO-affiliated interim president Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who was succeeded by billionaire oligarch Petro Poroshenko.
Arseniy Yatsenyuk – POLITICOArseniy Yatsenyuk [Source: politico.eu]
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's Allies Start Deserting Him | TimeViktor Yanukovych [Source: time.com]
When the Maidan Square protesters were unable to collect enough signatures to force Yanukovych’s impeachment, they forced him to flee the country through violence, while massacring trade union activists in the city of Odessa.[1] Under the new regime, eight suspicious suicides of former supporters of Yanukovych occurred.[2]
John McCain was among the U.S. politicians to visit Ukraine to spur on the Maidan protests, appearing on stage with Oleh Tyahnybok, leader of the far-right Svoboda Party, which was given one-quarter of the Cabinet positions in the post-coup government.[3]
The late-Senator John McCain (R-AZ) waves to pro-European protesters during a mass rally at Independence Square in Kiev in December. Oleh Tyahnybok is seen to his right. [Source: nbcnews.com]
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland famously handed out “cookies” to the demonstrators while revealing that the U.S. had spent $5 billion in “democracy-promotion” in Ukraine since 1991.[4]
Victoria Nuland handing out cookies to demonstrators in Maidan Square protests. [Source: rt.com]
Later, a call would leak between Nuland and U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt in which they discussed their choice of Yatsenyuk to head the new Ukrainian government.
It did not matter to them that Yatsenyuk enjoyed little support among the Ukrainian people, polling at around one percent.
In the same phone call, Nuland famously told Pyatt “Fuck the EU.”
In March 2014, Russia made its countermove by annexing the Crimea peninsula, whose people voted to rejoin Russia (which it had been part of for more than 200 years) in a referendum in which over 97% voted in favor of rejoining Russia.
Crimea, March 15, 2019. [Source: aljazeera.com]
Turnout for the referendum was 89%, an impression figure when compared to the anemic voter turnouts in U.S. elections.[5]
However, instead of accepting this overwhelming demonstration of the popular will, the Washington foreign policy establishment and politicians denounced the supposed Russian aggression and supported Ukraine’s cruel water blockade of Crimea.
Dry reservoir in Crimea due to water blockade [Source: euromaidanpress.com]
The stage was now set for the third chapter of the conflict when a grass-roots protest movement in Eastern Ukraine turned into a full rebellion, called the Novorossiya Rebellion.[6]
To aid in the suppression of the rebellion, the United States has provided more than $2.5 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since 2014, including $275 million in military aid that has been announced in the last five months under President Biden.
A key grievance underlying the Novorossiya Rebellion was a new language law enforced on the Eastern provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk along with a desire to sustain close ties with Russia and general opposition to the Western-imposed junta in Kyiv, which ranked near the bottom of global corruption indices.[7]
Supporters of the Novorossiya Rebellion in Odessa. [Source: ukrainesolidaritycampaign.org]
The Ukrainian military, which lacked organization and basic fighting supplies, was slow to act against its own citizens in the Donbas and sustained very heavy losses in the fighting that broke out. This left a vacuum filled by nationalist militias—financed by regional warlords—which engaged in brutal ground warfare.
One of those civilian militias made up of mostly far-right soccer ultras was the Azov Battalion or Regiment, which was incorporated into Ukraine’s formal military structure.
Lost Boys—The Azov Regiment
The Azov Regiment used a copy-cat image of the Nazi Wolfangel, though they claim it stands for “national idea.”
When a journalist with The Guardian, Shaun Walker, interviewed one of its members, named Dmitry, he said that Putin was not Russian “but a Jew” and waxed lyrical about Hitler being a great military leader while expressing belief that the Holocaust never happened.[8]
Walker found that many of the Azov members had “disturbing views” and that “almost all were intent on bringing the fight to Kiev”—implying that they supported a fascist military coup.
In December 2019, Daily Beast reporters Will Cathcart and Joseph Epstein interviewed an Azov Regiment drill sergeant named Alex, who wore a patch depicting Thor’s hammer, an ancient Norse symbol appropriated by neo-Nazis. Alex admitted that he was a Nazi and said he and his comrades were supporting strong leadership in Ukraine, like in Germany.[9]
A news broadcast by German ZDF station on September 8 showed soldiers of the Ukraine Azov Battalion in Mariupol with Nazi symbols on their helmets and weapons. [Source: ottawacitizen.com]
Azov’s ranks have been bolstered by 17,000 foreign mercenaries from more than 50 countries, including some U.S. white supremacists who came to Ukraine to fight the Russians.
According to the German magazine Lower Class, Azov mounts a semi-underground outfit which recruits among neo-Nazi youth in Germany, France, and Scandinavia. Muslim Chechens and Crimean Tatars with a deep loathing of Russia have also fought with Azov.
One former volunteer referred to the Azov recruits as “idiots basically or lost boys. A lot of people have lost their way. They’re wanting to be accepted, and they’ll say, ‘Yeah, fuck the Jews. Fuck the n***ers.’”
Azov’s original leader, Andriy Biletsky—who served as a member of the Ukrainian parliament from 2014 to 2019—said that the mission of Ukraine was to “lead the white races of the world in a final crusade … against Semite-led Untermenschen [subhumans].”
Andre Biletsky, leader of the Avov Battalion. [Source: historica.fandom.com]
Called “the white chief” by his comrades, Biletsky—like many of his colleagues—dreams of the Reconquista, where Eastern European nations would be put under the control of a white supremacist dictatorship that ruled Ukraine during World War II.
Andriy Biletsky, center, with other members of the Azov Regiment. [Source: electronicintifada.net]
In 2008, Biletsky had helped create the Social National Assembly (SNA) and Patriots of Ukraine whose members were arrested in connection with the Vasylkiv terrorist case—an attempt to blow up a statue of Russian Communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin in the Ukrainian city of Boryspil in August 2011.
The Patriots of Ukraine were known for “xenophobic and neo-Nazi ideas and were engaged in violent attacks against migrants, foreign students and anyone opposing their views,” according to Halya Coynash of the Kharkiv human rights group.
Honoring Ukraine’s Fascist Past
Biletsky graduated with a degree in history from the University of Kharkiv where he wrote a thesis on the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, which engaged in guerrilla warfare against the Soviet Union during World War II and collaborated with the Nazis.
The Ukrainian Insurgent Army was the military arm of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). It emphasized the fascist ideals of national rebirth, militarism, and ethnic purity.
The OUN for many years was led by Stepan Bandera whose vision of Ukraine was resurrected by Biletsky and Azov decades later.
Historian Karel Berkhoff, among others, has shown that Bandera, his deputies, and the Nazis shared a key obsession, namely the notion that the Jews in Ukraine were behind Communism and Stalinist imperialism and must be destroyed. “The Jews of the Soviet Union,” read a Banderist statement, “are the most loyal supporters of the Bolshevik Regime and the vanguard of Muscovite imperialism in the Ukraine.”
When the Germans invaded the USSR in June 1941 and captured the East Galician capital of Lvov (now called Lviv), Bandera’s lieutenants issued a declaration of independence in his name. They further promised to work closely with Hitler, then helped to launch a pogrom that killed 4,000 Lvov Jews in a few days, using weapons ranging from guns to metal poles. “We will lay your heads at Hitler’s feet,” a Banderist pamphlet proclaimed to Ukrainian Jews.[10]
After the war, British intelligence used Bandera to help run agents into Ukraine to gather intelligence and to help the Ukrainian underground against the Soviets. The CIA used some of Bandera’s former cronies for similar reasons, but never used Bandera himself—as Ukrainian sources concluded that “fighting people in the homeland … [were] not prepared to accept [Bandera] as a dictator,” and that Bandera’s program “was unacceptable to the resistance movement inside [Ukraine].”[11]
When the Soviet Union collapsed, Ukrainian politicians revived Bandera’s legacy to create a new sense of Ukrainian national identity. In 2007, the city of Lviv put up a statue of Bandera; multiple other cities followed its lead with statues of their own.
Monument to Bandera in Lviv. [Source: heritageandmemorystudies.humanities.uva.nl]
In the middle of the Maidan Square protests, 15,000 Ukrainians conducted a “torchlight procession” to celebrate Bandera’s birthday.[12] A giant portrait of Bandera also appeared during the protests.[13]
Human Rights Atrocities in the East
Not surprisingly given their pedigree, the Banderite forces have committed legions of atrocities in Eastern Ukraine.
A UN investigation found that the Azov Regiment in and around Shyrokyne (31 km east of Mariupol) participated in the looting of civilian homes and targeted civilian areas between September 2014 and February 2015.
Another OHCHR report documented an instance of rape and torture, writing:
“A man with a mental disability was subject to cruel treatment, rape and other forms of sexual violence by 8 to 10 members of the ‘Azov’ and ‘Donbas’ (another Ukrainian battalion) battalions in August–September 2014. The victim’s health subsequently deteriorated and he was hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital.”
A report from January 2015 meanwhile stated that a Donetsk Republic supporter was detained and tortured with electricity and waterboarding.
One mother of a victim even claimed to have received her son’s head in a box—indicating the adoption of the ISIS tactic of beheading.
Ukrainian servicemen from the Azov Battalion detain men at a site of battle with pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, June 13, 2014. [Source: newsweek.com]
Inspiring Right-Wing Extremists across the Globe
Azov’s exploits inspired right-wing extremists across the globe. The Australian [Brenton Tarrant] who, in March 2019, murdered 51 worshipers at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, claimed in his manifesto that he had traveled to Ukraine; during the attacks he wore a symbol used by the Azov Battalion.
Brenton Tarrant during his arraignment on murder charges in Christchurch New Zealand. He claimed to have traveled to Ukraine and wore a symbol adopted by the Azov Battalion. [Source: straitstimes.com]
The FBI director, Christopher Wray, warned that American extremists were traveling overseas for paramilitary training. Among those who have trained with Azov are several of the men responsible for fomenting violence at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017.
Supporters of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. Some participants had trained with Azov and were inspired by its message. [Source: wikipedia.org]
Not a Fringe Group in Ukraine
Azov it should be noted is not some fringe group within the Ukraine, but is supported at the highest levels of the Ukrainian government.
Anton Gerashchenko, the deputy interior minister, called the Azov Battalion’s efforts “heroic” in their fight against “terrorists” sent by Putin in the East.
Anton Gerashchenko [Source: kyivpost.com]
Arsen Avakov, Ukraine’s Interior Minister of 2014-2021 calls Azov Battalion members “patriots.” In his view, any effort to criticize them is part of a Russian disinformation campaign to weaken the Ukraine.
Serhiy Sternenko [Source: wikipedia.org]
Burning of trade union house in Odessa by neo-Nazis in 2014.[ Source: theguardian.com]
Financed by oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, Zelensky is a zealous proponent of Ukraine’s joining NATO.
He has enhanced the growing authoritarian climate within Ukraine by banning pro-Russian television outlets ZIK, NewsOne, and 112 Ukraine, which are affiliated with pro-Russian opposition leader and oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk, who favors a negotiated peace settlement with Moscow and the Donbas separatists.
Zelensky’s dangerous push for a confrontation with Moscow over Crimea and the Donbas is not too surprising, considering that, during the 2019 election campaign, he had criticized the incumbent Petro Poroshenko—the butcher of Eastern Ukraine—for being too friendly with Moscow.
Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s Obama, who deceived Ukrainians with his slogan of hope and change. [Source: nypost.com]
U.S. Mercenaries—The Whores of War
In the early days of fighting in Eastern Ukraine, about 40 American mercenaries traveled to join the fight on either side as Buzzfeed News reported. Among those was Brian Boyenger, a U.S. army veteran from North Carolina, who is alleged to have recruited Georgian mercenaries during the Maidan Square protests to carry out black-flag terrorist attacks and sniper killings that could be blamed on Viktor Yanukovych’s security forces in order to discredit them.[15]
Brian Boyenger [Source: journalnow.com]
Another Azov recruit was Craig Lang, an ex-U.S. army soldier who was described by a contemporary as a “maniac” who “got [his] rocks off firing Kalashnikov automatic rifles or the battalion’s machine gun and shoulder-fired rocket-propelled grenade launchers.”
Craig Lang [Source:indyweek.com]
David Plaster, an American who fought in Azov with Lang, said that Lang liked to boast about “fucking people up” and doing “extrajudicial shit” in the war zone, especially to enemy combatants captured by Right Sector.
Foreign mercenaries, including Craig Lang (middle row), fighting with the Azov Regiment.[Source: buzzfeednews.com]
Today, Lang is set to be extradited back to the United States to stand trial for a double murder in Florida. He and another army officer, Alex Zwiefelhofer, robbed and then killed a couple to amass the funds that were needed to travel to Ukraine.
Craig Lang (center) and his fiancé, Anna Osipovich, next to him, at the Kyiv Court of Appeal during his extradition hearing in March.[Source: buzzfeednews.com]
Robert Rundo, the American neo-Nazi who started the Rise Above Movement (RAM) in southern California, was another American who has travelled to Ukraine to enjoy the “playground for white supremacy.”
American Robert Rundo (center) with Ukrainian Azov Battalion members at the Reconquista Club in Kyiv on April 27, 2018. [Source: rferl.org]
Grayzone investigative journalist Ben Norton reported also on the FBI’s arrest of Jarrett William Smith, a U.S. soldier who sought to join Azov.
While serving in the U.S. military, Smith had given fascist militants in Ukraine and other countries information on how to build bombs.
U.S. Government Support for the Azov Battalion
In November 2017, photos that the Azov Battalion put up on its website showed U.S. military advisers directly meeting with the Ukrainian neo-Nazi militia (see below).
[Source: thegrayzone.com]
Images of the encounter showed American army officers poring over maps with their Ukrainian counterparts, palling around and ignoring the Nazi-inspired Wolfangel patches emblazoned on their sleeves.
A Daily Beast reporter was earlier told by a sergeant in the Azov Battalion that U.S. medics, volunteers, and engineers had been working with Azov.
In October 2016, a Texas-based company, Airtronic, announced a contract to deliver $5.5 million worth of rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launchers to an “allied European military customer.”
A year later, photos turned up on Azov’s website showing its fighters testing these very same RPG launchers. The Voice of America subsequently reported that the sale of the launchers had been authorized through very close coordination with the U.S. embassy, U.S. State Department, U.S. Pentagon and UK government”—a fact confirmed later by the pro-NATO Atlantic Council.
Azov soldier testing a rocket-propelled grenade launcher that was made by a Texas-based company. The sale was facilitated by the U.S. Embassy and Pentagon. [Source: thegrayzone.com]
The Azov Battalion additionally received weapons from U.S. proxy Israel—despite its anti-semitic ideology.
Azov’s website in 2018 showed Israeli-licensed Tavor rifles in the fascist group’s hands.
The rifles are produced under license from Israel Weapon Industries and, as such, would have been authorized by the Israeli government.
Azov Battalion member showcasing Israeli weapons including sniper and assault rifles. [Source: thegrayzone.com]
In 2015, the U.S. Congress unanimously passed a bipartisan amendment to H.R. 2685, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 2015, sponsored by John Conyers and Ted Yoho, that blocked the Azov Battalion from receiving military training.
During budget meetings in 2016, the Pentagon effectively lobbied Congress to remove the amendment, though it passed in 2018—albeit without any mechanism to enforce it.
On October 16, 2019, a group of 40 Democratic Party lawmakers led by Rep. Max Rose (NY) signed a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo demanding to know why the Ukrainian National Guard regiment Azov had not yet been designated a terrorist organization—making them susceptible to sanctions—when Russian ultranationalist groups that fought in the Donbas had been.
As of yet there has been no response.
Clandestine Financing: Burisma and Kolomoisky
Besides official channels, there is evidence to suggest that the Azov Battalion received clandestine financing through profits from Burisma, the energy company on whose board Hunter Biden sat.
Burisma has all the markings of a CIA-front company, as, besides Hunter Biden, it appointed to its board Cofer Black, formerly one of the most powerful men in the CIA, who has also worked for Blackwater. [Source: covertactionmagazine.com]
According to journalist John Helmer, the central shareholder of Burisma was Ihor Kolomoisky, Ukraine’s most powerful oligarch who controlled Burisma through the two directors of Burisma’s board—Anzelika Pasenidou and Riginos Kharalambus.
They worked for a Cyprus-based law firm connected to Kolomoisky, who financed the Azov Battalion, along with other private militias such as the 2,000-person Dnipro Battalion
Ihor Kolomoisky [Source: wikipedia.com]
Kolomoisky ironically is himself Jewish and holds dual Ukrainian and Israeli citizenship. According to Newsweek, he offered a bounty of $10,000 of his own money for each captured Russian “saboteur.”
Russia in response issued a warrant for his arrest for organizing the killing of civilians.
The high-level state support for Kolomoisky and his importance to the war effort in the East was apparent in his appointment as Governor of his home Dnipropetrovsk region near the war’s front line.
Ukrainian media furthermore reported that Prosecutor General Vitaly Yarema was ousted on February 11, 2015, because he had reopened the Burisma investigation aiming not at Burisma’s official CEO, Mykola Zlochevsky, but Kolomoisky, who had him fired.
Joe Biden—Hawk on Ukraine
Though heralded in The New York Times as a new FDR, America’s 46th president, Joe Biden, bears as much responsibility for the U.S. alliance with fascists in Ukraine as almost any other government official.
FDR it should be remembered led the U.S. crusade against fascism in World War II and supported an alliance with Russia after the war ended under the February 1945 Yalta agreements—whereas Biden has pushed for confrontation with Russia.
The Big Three - Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin at the Yalta Conference, February 1945 (from an Illustration in Trud) 1102576 | National Trust Collections
FDR with Churchill and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin on his right at the Yalta Conference in February 1945. Biden would be among the last people to call for a new Yalta-style agreement. [Source: naitonaltrustcollections.org]
During his vice presidency (2009-2017), Biden was appointed as the Obama administration’s point person on Ukraine and traveled there a record six times.
Biden’s foreign policy adviser, Michael Carpenter, stated that “Ukraine was one of the top three foreign policy issues we were concentrating on. Biden was front and center.”
Biden, during his December 2015 visit, gave a stirring speech to the Ukrainian parliament in which he said that the world had been “transfixed” by the “thousands of brave Ukrainians storming the Maidan, demanding a revolution of dignity” and then was “horrified” when the peaceful patriots were met by violence.”
In Ukraine, Joe Biden Pushes a Message of Democracy - The New York Times
Biden speaks before the Ukrainian parliament on the same visit in which he blackmailed Ukrainian leaders. [Source: nytimes.com]
No mention was made of the presence of neo-Nazi elements among the “peaceful patriots” even though Bandera’s portrait was widely on display.
When war broke out in Eastern Ukraine, Biden referred to the Donbas rebels as “separatists, thugs and criminals” –terms which helped legitimate Ukrainian government actions in the eyes of the U.S. public.
Within the Obama administration, Biden promoted greater economic aid and military support to Ukraine for a conflict that has resulted in the deaths of more than 14,000 people and displacement of over one million more.
On a 2014 Easter visit to Kyiv, Biden pressured the Ukrainian government through aid inducements to sustain the war effort in the face of troop desertions.
Biden in turn spearheaded the effort to send U.S. troops to train Ukrainian Special Forces, to provide critical military equipment, including armored Humvees and surveillance drones, and valuable security and intelligence support—knowing full well that this would be used by the right-wing militias that were integrated into the Ukrainian military.
Biden further lobbied for the provision of Javelin anti-tank missiles and other lethal weapons, which were authorized only under President Donald Trump.
Predictably, Biden, as President, has continued to escalate U.S. military support to Ukraine and to praise the Ukrainian government, without mentioning its infiltration by the far-right Right Sector.
President Zelensky greatly welcomed Biden’s victory last November, and, in a meeting in April, Biden pledged unwavering support for Ukraine.
That the American public is not bothered by all this is a testament to the success of the incessant anti-Russian propaganda that has been promoted over the last decade—and since the 1917 Russian Revolution more broadly.
The internalization of this propaganda has made alliance with Neo-fascist elements acceptable—much like during the early Cold War.
https://covertactionmagazine.com/2021/0 ... subhumans/
Note that this is a year old, this has long been known.
A few photos excluded for redundancy.
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Liberation of Volnovakha through the eyes of a serviceman of the Donetsk army
Progress in urban combat mode could not be fast. Having broken through several enemy defense lines - about 35 kilometers inland - the army had to disperse for almost a week in the territory adjacent to Volnovakha and wait until the filigree work of the infantry under the accurate cover of artillery was completed.
Already, the entire city is under our control, and the Ukrainian army is making attempts to somehow resist. True ... already outside the city. It must be taken into account that our troops are really trying not to destroy infrastructure. We are trying not to touch houses, and cities in general, destroying only the personnel and equipment of the enemy. However, when I, an artilleryman, first got to the beginning of Volnovakha, I saw the light.
When artillery was being adjusted during the negotiations, it was not clear what, where and how was going on. Five-story buildings, a yellow store, enemy infantry fighting vehicles, tanks, infantry - just a small part of the memorable phrases. I saw it live. As it turned out, all these names are associated with the beginning of the city, where the Ukrainian troops tried to hide - skyscrapers, the private sector, tanks behind the houses, the church. To understand the current state of the outskirts of the city, it will be enough to include a chronicle, for example, Grozny or Debaltseve.
Collapsed entrances of five-story buildings, apartments black from fires, a huge flame from a gas pipe, the bodies of Ukrainian ex-military personnel, burned and abandoned cars, lined Ukrainian equipment - it is difficult to put into words what awaits a person who intends to come to Volnovakha now.
To my sincere regret, I managed to exchange a few phrases only with civilians who were looting a local hardware store. One of them later asked the young man at the post a question: “What, Donetsk was really shelled all this time?”. I confess, when I was passing by and heard this question, I could not restrain myself, breaking into rudeness, and sent it in non-literary language to my apartment. Although literally 5-10 minutes before that, he sincerely empathized with all the locals, having seen enough of a very young girl of about ten years old, who stood by the fire near the entrance and looked fascinated at the personnel and military equipment scurrying back and forth.
However, I will return to the details about the liberation of the city. According to my information, thanks to the work of reconnaissance and their adjustment with the help of UAVs, our artillery fire managed to destroy at least several tanks and infantry fighting vehicles in the city, a certain number of mortar crews, as well as an enemy infantry deployment point, and much more. In general, it’s funny to listen to talks on the radio, when men transmit data to each other and, unable to contain the emotions and memories of the dead brothers-in-arms that have accumulated over 7 years of positional war, shout at the top of their voices “They stirred up an anthill, *** there again” or even more, moving on to some hysterically joyful notes, violating all conceivable rules of negotiations: “Yes, yes, yes! Beauty-a-avtsy! More more more! Take revenge on the bastards!"
The enemy, realizing that he obviously does not have enough strength to repel the attack of the liberation army, continues to adhere to terrorist tactics. The Ukrainians did not want to let the civilian population out of the city under any circumstances. A human shield from the civilian population, what could be better... Therefore, the information about the evacuation of civilians from the partially liberated Volnovakha, which leaked into the network during the military operation, is pure truth. If my memory serves me right, a dozen civilians were found in the very first occupied five-story building, from where they were taken out, put in a car and sent to the rear, away from the war.
Unfortunately, the Ukrainian military, even realizing the hopelessness of the situation, does not want to surrender or go over to the side of the winner, indulging themselves with illusions about exhausting the Russian army. There is not a single adequate suggestion as to why things are happening the way they are. I would like to call them typical, but misguided Russians who cannot move away from their convictions. However, bearing in mind that we are trying to destroy only the enemy, and they do not allow civilians to leave the shelled areas, their Russianness in my eyes is coming to naught. Some crippled Little Russians, who never reached the level of moral development of their older brother with a long history.
Describing attempts to confront the Ukrainian army, it must be clarified that initially the enemy was not only in Volnovakha, but also from 3 other cardinal points around the DPR army. At first, Ukrainian shells from tanks, artillery and mortars whistled not so often - it would be more correct to say that sometimes this did not happen, while it seemed impossible to determine the level of danger. However, over time, even without really wanting it, you begin to determine by the volume, range of the shot and the length of the whistle whether it flies at you, or you can continue to stand at full height. It happens on some subconscious level. Let me give as an example a case that occurred when we were briefly taken to a more or less calm rear.
High-rise buildings, the apartment where my friend lives, with whom we drink coffee and have a casual but quick conversation, because there are literally minutes of free time. At this moment, I hear a very quiet and incomprehensible rustling sound. Having completely lost the thread of the conversation, quickly going through all sorts of options for what is happening in my head and not finding a military explanation, I realize that this incomprehensible sound comes from the neighbors from above. Professional deformation in all its glory. Being at war, you constantly have to listen and think - who, where, from where and who is shooting.
The most unpleasant thing that happened near Volnovakha was enemy tanks scattered across uncontrolled green spaces. The flight of the projectile is too fast, which means that everything depends only on your reaction, the loud exclamation of the commander or banal luck. In fairness, the flying shells of the MLRS "GRAD" were also unpleasant. For several weeks near Volnovakha, the fighters of our unit several times observed how this thing growls during the flight, and several times they observed shell explosions. Even from afar, it looks scary and bewitching at the same time.
And it’s also insanely infuriating that during the liberation of the Russian city, the Ukrainian army was as indiscriminate as possible in its attempts to “snarl”. Looking at the miserable game of the Ukrainian army in the counter-battery artillery war, there was a sharp feeling that they were shooting exclusively at the eye. Therefore, civilians or fields fell not so often, but rather regularly.
In fact, no matter how rude it may sound, such behavior of the enemy brings excellent results in the form of support from the population of the now liberated territories of the Donetsk People's Republic. More than once I heard from locals from the villages under our control that when the Russians came in, they shot more accurately, and crests, they say, shoot indiscriminately. The law enforcement officers of Volnovakha are already “ours” and are ready to serve the people together with the winners. I am sure that, by analogy with Crimea, there will definitely be purges of personnel in the ranks of the police, although even now I would force each of them to take an oath of allegiance to Russia, under the lenses of video cameras and a dozen journalists from various publications.
Summing up, I want to say that the brilliantly practiced military operation carried out by the 100th brigade of the NM of the DPR in the Volnovakha region should in no case give a reason to relax or lose vigilance, either military or civilian. Ukrainian shells continue to fly into the central regions of the front-line cities, and on the horizon of the soldiers looming the well-fortified Avdiivka and Marinka, after which we have to deal with Kramatorsk, Artemovsk, or the hero city of Slavyansk, which are still far away for us.
Author: Stanislav Varg
https://novorosinform.org/osvobozhdenie ... 91822.html
Google Translator
Russian Armed Forces ready to release nationalists from Mariupol to save civilians
Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the National Center for Defense Control of the Russian Federation, said that Moscow officially approached Kiev with a proposal to release the militants of the national battalions from Mariupol, but was refused.
The representative of the Ministry of Defense noted that Kyiv is aware of its powerlessness and inability to provide assistance to the nationalists in the besieged Mariupol, and therefore wants to make them "martyrs"."We officially appealed to the Kiev authorities and two days ago announced that we are ready to open humanitarian corridors and release all your bandits in any direction in order to save the city and people from these so-called martyrs, who have already glorified themselves by blowing up a kindergarten, two schools, a maternity hospital and the buildings of the Drama Theatre," Mizintsev said.
https://novorosinform.org/vs-rf-gotovy- ... 92083.html
(That would have been a bitter pill to swallow for the veterans of Donbass though I'm sure they'd recognize the humanity of it. Those Nazis think they will be martyrs but they will just be spit upon.)
Arestovich said that the Armed Forces of Ukraine will not be able to deblock Mariupol
Aleksey Arestovich, adviser to the head of the office of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, admitted that help from the Armed Forces of Ukraine would not be able to come to Mariupol.
According to him, political and diplomatic steps are now being taken to overcome the humanitarian catastrophe.
"The nearest units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are fighting hard battles north of Volnovakha. They are being attacked by superior enemy forces - and there can be no talk of any deblockade of Mariupol, they would have fought back there themselves," Arestovich said.
He added that there were attempts to provide air support, but they were unsuccessful. He concluded that there was no longer a military solution to this issue.
“At the moment, there is a way for a political and diplomatic settlement of the situation around Mariupol, first of all, a humanitarian catastrophe,” said the adviser to the head of the Presidential Office of Ukraine.
https://novorosinform.org/arestovich-za ... 92082.html
All above Google Translator
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Lack of training of personnel in the use of modern ATGMs and MANPADS
On avian influenza: project working documents have been published with a minimum content of information and a large number of announced plans, 70% of which will never be fulfilled (who wrote grant applications knows). It is impossible to draw any conclusions based on these documents alone.
