Some more interesting insights into the Ukraine/Russia conflict by Martin Armstrong (https://armstrongeconomics.com). Consider this Part 2 of the post "War in Ukraine: Navigating Western Propaganda to Discover an Alternative Perspective".

If Putin is defeated in Ukraine, then the entire fate of Russia hangs in the balance. Do you honestly think he would let the collapse of Russia take place? At that point, any animal will attack if its back is against the wall. If Ukraine were to win, the ONLY option for Putin will be to push the red button.

Be very careful who you are cheering for. This is not a soccer match or a video game. Zelensky gets billions from all the Russian gas that flows to Europe through Ukraine. He is fighting for revenue. He cut off all the water supply to Crimea while he has been shelling the Donbas. None of this is being reported by the mainstream press. Crimea sits on top of vast gas fields which he wants desperately to compete with Russia.

Link: https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/war/who-is-the-adviser-death

Putin is in power BECAUSE of the antics of the New York Bankers with the support of the Clintons. Are we in a grudge match against one man that the West has blamed for even putting Trump in office and now that justifies World War III? This is the backdrop that everyone should know before they send their boys off to die.

Let’s follow the money. Ever since the United States under the Clintons authorized the NY bankers to try to take over Russia with their own puppet, Boris Berezovsky, there has been a direct unspoken World War III that began in the financial markets. I was personally asked to invest $10 billion into Safra & Browder’s joint venture Hermitage Capital Management in 1999. I declined for our model warned that Russia was unstable. I was told they had that covered.

Republic National Bank was also in cahoots with the US Treasury and was shipping skids of $100 bills to Russia. The link between the Clinton Administration and Republic National Bank was firmly in place. This is why all the bankers donated to Hillary yet banned their own people from donating to Donald Trump. The Clintons were 100% behind the bankers.

The Clintons made student loans non-dischargeable in bankruptcy for the bankers. Then the bankers got the parents to co-sign, and suddenly they had their houses all exempt from bankruptcy. They could just wipe people out financially, including the entire families, and throw them out on the street. This is all for an education that never taught even common sense, and rarely does anyone ever do what they ended up with a degree in except doctors, lawyers, and other specific training courses. There are no degrees in heading a country, running a bank, or even being a hedge fund manager.

So the bankers wanted to take over Russia for all the hard-money assets — gold, oil, platinum, diamonds, etc. This is why the Clintons were supported by the bankers and the idea was with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, they would be able to take over Russia for all the wealth. The speculation was that the Clintons allowed the bankers to scheme their take over of Russia, then NATO would move to the border with China and they would surround them. Yet, NATO claims it is defensive but always moves strategically in an offensive manner. Without Russia, there would be no need for NATO. So absorbing Russia would transform its purpose to now confront China. Putin even asked what if Russia joined NATO, and they laughed.

Why do you think Hillary made the entire claim that Putin interfered in the 2016 election? She thought it was payback for the intervention and blackmailing of Yeltsin not to run in 2000. What is now surfacing thanks to Durham is that Hillary Clinton and her top foreign policy advisor, Jake Sullivan, spread a bogus Trump-Russia “collusion” narrative.

Putin’s speech has a lot of truth, for no dispute is ever just one-sided. The West has constantly moved eastward to the very borders of Russia. When Russia attempted to do the same to the USA by putting missiles in Cuba, we reached the brink of war, and only then did the world hold its breath and finally blinked. That crisis was avoided only because of a Russian who disagreed with his country’s propaganda, and risked his life and that of his family to save the world, for which he was punished. (see the Courier).

However, it certainly appears that world leaders are deliberately pushing us into World War III. In Slovakia, it’s now a crime to express any “acceptance of support” of the Russian actions or of their leaders, and special police commandos are hunting down people who do so in public offline or online. The punishment is 10-25 years in prison or up to a maximum of life. The Czech Republic is adopting the same law, but the punishment will be 1 to 3 years in prison. This is obviously inviting war, for this is ending any discussion or negotiation.

You then must look at the whole Syria nonsense where the evil Putin stepped in. It was just one year after Qatar’s proposal to run a pipeline to Europe to knock out Russia from supplying gas to Europe in the plot to undermine the Russian economy. This is when Assad began negotiations for another pipeline plan with Iran, which would carry Iranian gas to Europe across Iraq and Syria. Russia endorsed this project since it would clearly have more control over gas flow rather than the U.S.-linked Qatar. This agreement would strategically strengthen the gas flow to Europe in Russia’s hands and was not acceptable to the USA. Consequently, the Iranian pipeline became a priority for Russia.

Damascus and Moscow began working together to block the Qatar pipeline and create the alternative Iranian pipeline, which has been the real backdrop to the current events. Meanwhile, Obama argued to invade Syria to protect its own citizens as argued to justify the invasion of Iraq. However, Americans were growing tired of endless wars and Obama’s grand scheme was rejected by the people. President Obama was even trying to launch a military attack on Syria while Congress was on vacation. The entire Syria propaganda was directed at trying to run the pipeline from Qutar to circumvent Russia in Europe and to starve it out of energy income.

The US and UK, along with Russia’s neighbors Poland and Ukraine, strongly oppose Nord Stream 2. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has called Nord Stream 2 “a dangerous political weapon” because Ukraine gets revenue from Russian gas flows. There is far more to this Ukrainian affair than just evil Putin invading a free democratic country that denied the right to vote on separatists since 2014.

What about Donetsk and Lugansk in the Donbas region?

The republics of Lugansk and Donetsk in the Donbas region (LPR and DPR) declared independence after the 2014 coup in Kyiv that saw the overthrow of Yanukovych who was a native Russian speaking politician from the East.

Where Yanukovych passed a law making both Ukrainian and Russia recognized languages, Zelensky has subsequently passed anti-Russian language laws, affecting the largely Russian-speaking population of the two Donbas republics. Only Ukrainian is the officially recognized language. Donbas has since then been fighting against the Ukrainian government defending their democratic right to vote. What if the EU ordered that everyone in Europe must speak only French? Would that go over as freedom?

The Western press paints Russia as invading to end democracy which is actually the opposite of the truth. Putin has avoided taking the cities because he knows that massive civilian casualties will provide World War III providing great photo ops for CNN etc. Kyiv has branded the regions as separatist, launching a civil war against their own people that has now lasted for eight years. But if there is no negotiation, then Europe will not win against Putin if Russia really became aggressive.

Zelensky has allowed shelling the Donbas region. I can verify that Zelensky’s hero Dmytro Kotsyubaylo did indeed tell the press that he feeds the bones of Russian-speaking children to his pet wolf. This is not something that inspires the Donbas region to remain as part of Ukraine.

Simple Solution

The solution would have been so simple to just allow the Donbas region to vote for their independence. But this is NOT about democracy, human rights, or any other lofty goal. This is about politics, controlling the flow of gas to Europe, and trying to isolate Russia to prevent it from selling energy to Europe. People wanting to send troops to defend Ukraine against the Evil Putin, are really dumbasses rushing into Donbas. Why is the entire world to be engulfed in war all because of Ukraine’s refusal to allow independence of their Russian population?

Once more, we have the government pretending to be honorable wearing the white hat while lying about everything as they have always done no matter what administration be it Bush and the Weapons of Mass Destruction, Obama and Syria, or Biden and COVID. They are whipping up the people to hate Russians. They have even blocked Russian porn sites and asked stores to stop selling Vodka. Nobody tells Zelensky to let the two provinces vote. It is politicians who create war and inspire hatred just as they have turned vaccinated against the unvaccinated. They are masters at dividing people. Now Russia will move in and the logical strategy would be to capture him for he is trying to set the world on fire.

All I can say is always look deeper. Those in power ALWAYS want more power. Every way is propaganda. There are two sides to everything and it is about time we STOP killing each other and turn around and just look at those ordering us to fight to the death so they gain more power and wealth. Follow the MONEY!

Link: https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/russia/the-real-backdrop-nobody-will-discuss

Dividing the World Economy = Economic Decline

This is creating a dangerous new cold war that can easily turn very hot. If Putin was losing and his position would be in jeopardy, then he would get much more aggressive. My point is that people are not those who create wars – it is politicians. Some people are stupid followers and just believe the political statements.

This is all drama and we have to look at the big picture here. Is it really wise to push Russia into total isolation? Using the SWIFT option is highly dangerous and now Swiss banks have frozen the money of Russian individuals. The West has now shown to the entire world that the global financial system is political and not independent. That has been a huge mistake. That will only provide the incentive to push forward China’s alternative SWIFT system. That is a division of the world economy and will only raise trade barriers and reduce economic growth going forward.

World peace has NOT been created by nuclear weapons. It has been created by international trade. Neither Russia nor China would want war as long as their economies benefit from the global economy. Isolate them and you now remove the incentive for peace. We are tormented by short-sighted people in government everywhere who fail to comprehend how and why the world economy has benefited everyone.

Imposing sanctions, which are never a deterrent, and removing Russia from SWIFT, they now know the US and Europe are the enemies. The sanctions from Crimea have never been lifted. Once imposed, they always become permanent. This leaves the future very dark indeed and these morons are clueless about incentives, human nature, or history. These brilliant leaders of the free world are pushing society to its doom. Severing world trade with Russia is a warning sign even to China. Disagree with the West and you will be cut out of the world economy. That leaves only ONE resolution – WAR.

Link: https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/war/dividing-the-world-economy-economic-decline

Ukraine & Russia Peace Talks End

While Zelensky gets the West to spin this as Ukraine is fighting for freedom, Zelensky refuses to allow the Eastern portion which is virtually entirely Russian ethnically to separate and has allowed shelling of their regions. The question is why is he pushing his country into an obstinant war and refusing any compromise? Is he really being told by Western powers who need war right now as the diversion from COVID?

There has been a civil war raging that the press will never report the truth because they are anti-Russian. I do not see why Zalensky is pushing the world to the brink of war all on this issue. It’s very nice PR to put beauty queens on the front lines who will be taken out in a heartbeat by professional soldiers.

Zelensky has been calling world leaders to get them to go against Russia. Besides Turkey, he has even called on India to turn against Russia. Zelensky is pushing the world to war. He is trying to get every nation to go against Russia when in fact he is dangerously dividing the world the same as Western governments divided the people between vaccinated and unvaccinated. Except for this time, they are playing with nukes if pushed too far.

Putin is by far the smartest leader in the world right now. That does not mean he is not ruthless, cunning, or strategic. He is deliberately avoiding attacking cities because (1) he knows the West will love dead civilians on the streets to serve as a rallying cry, and (2) he does not want to conquer Ukraine or he would have done so in 3 days and sent in 100% of his troops – not 30%.

We must understand that war never appears to be what the press says. Remember the Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq? Almost 35,000 American troops died or were wounded for that fake news. There were over 200,000 Iraqi civilian deaths. Some are claimed over 1 million Iraqis died in total. All of this for Weapons of Mass Destruction that did not exist and Saddam Husein had nothing to do with religious terrorism. The press never says "Oops, sorry!"

Link: https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/war/ukraine-russia-peace-talks-end

Greenwald: War Propaganda About Ukraine Becoming More Militaristic, Authoritarian, & Reckless

Everyone watching this week-long mauling of dissenters understood the messaging and incentives: either get on board or stay silent lest you be similarly vilified. And that, in turn, meant there were fewer and fewer people willing to publicly question prevailing narratives, which made it in turn far more difficult for anyone else to separate themselves from unified group-think.

One instrument of propaganda that did not exist in 2003 but most certainly does now is social media, and it is hard to overstate how much it is exacerbating all of these pathologies of propaganda. The endless flood of morally righteous messaging, the hunting down of and subsequent mass-attacks on heretics, the barrage of pleasing-but-false stories of bravery and treachery, leave one close to helpless to sort truth from fiction, emotionally manipulative fairy tales from critically scrutinized confirmation. It is hardly novel to observe that social media fosters group-think and in-group dynamics more than virtually any other prior innovation, and it is unsurprising that it has intensified all of these processes.

One realization I had for the first time during Russiagate was that history may endlessly repeat itself, but those who have not lived through any such history or paid attention to it previously will not know about it and thus remain most susceptible to revisionism or other tactics of deceit. When Russiagate was first unveiled as a major 2016 campaign theme — through a Clinton campaign commercial filled with dark and sinister music and innuendo masquerading as “questions” about the relationship between Trump and the Kremlin — I had assumed when writing about it for the first time that most Americans, especially those on the left taught to believe that McCarthyism was one of the darkest moments for civil liberties, would instantly understand how aggressively the CIA and FBI disseminate disinformation, how servile corporate media outlets are to those security state agencies, how neocons are always found at the center of such manipulative tactics, and how potent this sort of propaganda is. The common theme is creating a foreign villain said to be of unparalleled evil or at least evil not seen since Hitler, then accusing one's political adversaries of being enthralled by or captive to them. We have witnessed countless identical cycles throughout U.S history.

But I also quickly realized that millions of Americans — either due to age or previous political indifference — began paying attention to politics for the first time in 2016 due to fear of Trump, and thus knew little to nothing about anything that preceded it. Such people had no defenses against the propaganda narrative and deceitful tactics because, for them, it was all new. They had never experienced it before and thus had no concept of who they were applauding and how such official government/media disinformation campaigns are constructed. Each generation is thus easily programmed and exploited by the same propaganda systems, no matter how discredited they were previously.

Link: https://greenwald.substack.com/p/war-propaganda-about-ukraine-becoming

Follow the money: how Russia will bypass western economic warfare

The US and EU are over-reaching on Russian sanctions. The end result could be the de-dollarization of the global economy and massive commodity shortages worldwide.

“Booting Russia from the critical global system – which handles 42 million messages a day and serves as a lifeline to some of the world’s biggest financial institutions – could backfire, sending inflation higher, pushing Russia closer to China, and shielding financial transactions from scrutiny by the west. It might also encourage the development of a SWIFT alternative that could eventually damage the supremacy of the US dollar.”

With more Russian companies using SPFS and CIPS, even before they merge, and other maneuvers to bypass SWIFT, such as barter trade – largely used by sanctioned Iran – and agent banks, Russia could make up for at least 50 percent in trade losses.

The key fact is that the flight from the US-dominated western financial system is now irreversible across Eurasia – and that will proceed in tandem with the internationalization of the yuan.

Meanwhile, we’re not even talking yet about Russian retaliation for these sanctions. Former President Dmitry Medvedev already gave a hint: everything, from exiting all nuclear arms deals with the US to freezing the assets of western companies in Russia, is on the table.

Link: https://thecradle.co/Article/columns/7385