There is much that is going to be written about regarding the Russian Special Military Operation (SMO) in the coming days and weeks. Mainly because it’s not over and we’re learning more and more each day. There is such a thing as the fog of war after all; the enemy always gets a vote.
Having said that it’s becoming increasingly clear that the Russians continue to gain ground while Ukrainian “counter-offensives” are ephemeral. Worse for the Ukrainians (who it must be said, have fought valiantly), the Western powers are abandoning them. In Russian circles, this is being called “The Great Walk-back.” Sitrep Operation Z: Messy Grind again and more Great Walkback | The Vineyard of the Saker
There is much to talk about here. I will try to present the case for why after months of intensive propaganda to the contrary, the Russians are in a position of strength. And in fact have been, since the beginning of the Special Military Operation (aka Operation Z).
First of all, this is not a “war” in the legal sense of the term. Neither do the Russian forces constitute an “army.” It is a Special Military Operation; one which is being prosecuted by an Expeditionary Force. This means that the rules of total war do not apply nor has the Russian Federation seen the need to mobilize for such an event.
While it is punitive –as well as a reaction to Ukrainian atrocities committed against civilians in the Donbass–its primary purpose is to bring the Ukrainians back to the negotiating table. The Russian demands for their part are clear: a neutral Ukraine purged of all neo-Nazi elements. In other words, it is not a war of conquest.
Under an SMO, the invader gets to set the terms of the conflict: its purpose is to force the other party to come to terms (if diplomacy has failed). In any event, the Russian Federation has let it be known that in addition to forbidding the stationing of NATO forces and missiles in Ukrainian territory, it will not accept any military actions perpetrated by the Ukrainian forces on Russian territory. This includes missile strikes as well as invasions. If any such actions have occurred, the Russians have let it be known that they will retaliate against Ukrainian civilian and military leadership. This could also include an outright declaration of war followed by a massive mobilization of the entire Russian Federation.
An SMO therefore allows for escalation of the conflict. Should it fail to bring the Ukrainian leadership to the negotiating table, it can ratchet up the military offensive.
The following facts are not in dispute:
- It must be remembered that this series of events was set in motion by the Ukrainians themselves, who overthrew the democratically-elected president (Victor Yanukovich) in 2014. (The Maidan coup.)
- The subsequent Ukrainian regime received their orders from the collective West (i.e., NATO, the EU and the State Department).
- The true, ultra-nationalist, colors of the Ukronazi element became more and more apparent.
- Atrocities against the Russophone minority in the Donbass (e.g. Donetsk and Luhansk) region began within weeks of the Maidan coup.
- The Crimeans, in overwhelming numbers, voted for outright secession and annexation into the Russian Federation, while the residents of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, opted instead for semi-autonomy and created their own militias for their protection.
- The United States, France, Germany, and Russia, brought all parties to the bargaining table in Minsk, Belarussia, in order to work out a peaceful arrangement. Even the usurper-president (Petro Poroshenko) signed on to the Minsk Accords.
- Regardless, Poroshenko, for reasons known only to himself, chose not to honor the Minsk Accords.
Be that as it may, the Ukrainian economy continued to collapse on his watch and so, in 2019, a popular Jewish comedian and television star named Vladimir Zelensky, campaigned on a platform of eradicating corruption and making peace with the Russophones of Eastern Ukraine. (Poroshenko for his part only begrudgingly signed on to the Minsk Accords and only because Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany forced him to.)
Zelensky certainly played the part well. He had the mien of a reformer, was not a Russophobe, and campaigned on a pledge of making peace. Hugely popular as an actor-comedian and more youthful than the rotund, unappealing Poroshenko, Zelensky cut a more sympathetic figure on the political stage. In 2019 he won an astounding 73 percent of the vote and Poroshenko was sent packing.
It has become clear in the interim that Zelenski is somewhat of a mixed bag. Few know his first language is Russian (for which you can get killed in the Donbass region), and his wife and children are Orthodox Christians who belong to the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church; not the nationalist entity (OCU) created by Patriarch Bartholomew. (The OCU was created to satisfy the electoral ambitions of Poroshenko as well as to play into the State Department’s intrigues against the Patriarchate of Moscow.)
Despite his massive win, the new president was unable to eradicate the intractable corruption for which Ukraine is [in]famous. Nor was he able to effect an economic recovery. This, despite the fact that the mineral and agricultural wealth of Ukraine makes it one of richest nations on earth. As for the Minsk Accords, Zelensky was unable to make them stick. The reason (as shall be shown below) is because he never had control of the Ukrainian military.
Again, none of these facts are in dispute. So why did he fail so miserably? Given that he had so much going for him, why has he brought his country to the point of ruin (if not non-existence)?
For one thing, Ukraine has not extirpated its fascistic past. Instead, it has glorified it. We have written much about the sympathy for the Nazi regime and how those in the Western part of Ukraine, continue to treasure the figure of Stepan Bandera and all that he stood for. I do not wish to moralize at this point as the historical context was complicated. Millions of Ukrainians suffered in a great Soviet-instigated famine known as the Holodomor, thus they could be forgiven for welcoming the tanks of the Third Reich as they made their way to Moscow.
Regardless, the neo-Nazi element has only grown in the interim, especially within the last decade. The Azov Battalions (as well as the Pravy Sektor and Svoboda) have become a state-within-a-state, independent of whatever government rules in Kiev. To put not too fine a point on it, it’s the ultra-nationalist Right which has been calling the shots ever since the Maidan coup overthrew the democratically-elected Yanukovich in 2014.
Below is videographic evidence of the contempt which the ultra-nationalists displayed towards Vladimir Zelensky, their newly-elected president. It was recorded in 2019, when he paid a visit to the eastern frontier and told the Ukrainian Army that they had to stand down. He told them that they were supposed to “make peace” and reminded them that he had been elected as a peace candidate. Instead, as you will see (at 3’04”), that they were openly dismissive of him. It goes without saying that in a regular army, such insubordination would not be tolerated and would be punished severely.
But not in the Ukrainian Army. From the very inception of his presidency, Zelensky had lost control of the situation to his own soldiers. In other words, he was destined to fail. What we are seeing playing out before us are the fruits of that initial failure.
https://youtu.be/mKPCItQl1-w
Next: Part II –The Initial Assault
In light of the current atmosphere of censorship and suppression, thanks for exploring this subject, George. The Saker, along with The Duran, The Dive, and Southfront, are among the few alternative outlets that allow for open discussions on the current situation in Ukraine. BTW, when were the nations on the side of censorship and suppression of politically incorrect views considered the good guys?
Ukraine on Fire documentary by Oliver Stone provides a good background on how this conflict actually began in 2014. See: https://rumble.com/vwxxi8-ukraine-on-fire.html
“While it is punitive –as well as a reaction to Ukrainian atrocities committed against civilians in the Donbass–its primary purpose is to bring the Ukrainians back to the negotiating table.”
George,
While I agree with most of what you wrote above, I’m not sure that this observation is accurate. I don’t think the Russian SMO was punitive but preemptive. The Russians wanted to prevent Kiev from decimating the Donbass and from pursuing any nuclear weapons. In order to do that, they decided to destroy the Ukrainian army, take over all of the Donbass, take over Novorossiya to the south (creating a land bridge with Crimea), and pushing through Odessa to Transnistria, denazifying as much as possible along the way. This was Russia’s intention from the get go but that is only apparent in hindsight.
Zelensky was a puppet of Kolomoysky who also supported the nz’s. He was never the decisionmaker, just a figurehead. His failure is the failure of the dark forces which control him – both Azov types and the West.
I doubt the Russians ever had any intention of negotiating anything with Kiev or the West. Putin is on record as saying that the West is “agreement incapable” and an “empire of lies.” The Russians are not that naive. Now, they were happy to sit down with the Ukrainian representatives in Istanbul, wasting time and looking the part of good faith negotiators. Yet the Ukrainians could not even call their bluff at that point because the Ukrainian concessions were almost immediately withdrawn on orders from the UK. The Russians have been and will be open to “negotiations” at the same time as knowing to a mathematical certainty that there will be no negotiated settlement to the conflict.
What the Russians apparently intend to do is to secure the Donbass and Novorossiya and then continue to expand westward until they obtain a ceasefire from Kiev. So long as the ceasefire holds, they will halt westward expansion. If no ceasefire materializes, they will gobble up the rest of the country patiently and set up a puppet regime to govern the central and western parts of the country. At least that is my expectation.
Kiev is almost irrelevant at this stage. Defeat or surrender are their only options.
If Ukraine had taken Russia’s offer seriously, the country would still be intact. All they had to do was keep NATO out of there (which is in their best interest; if there were a nuclear war, they would be decimated) and let the separatists go.
Russia intended to meet its goals no matter how it had to do it.
When you go up against a superpower, and you’re the little guy, it behooves you to negotiate because, at the end of the day, you’ll be fighting for what was initially offered to you.
The Palestinian struggle is an example. They’ve had numerous opportunities to create an independent state and refused because they want all of Palestine back. They see this pipe dream as viable, and because of it they continually lose ground.
As I see it, the Palestinians’ refusal to compromise is based on their being in the right, so they cannot and will not back down in the face of injustice. The Ukrainian government, on the other hand, is definitely in the wrong and compromise would be the only way for them to salvage anything from this.
It’s not a question of what’s right because no one agrees on what that is. There are no courts to decide these things. It’s a question of what is and what could be better.
The State of Israel has never officially recognized any Palestinian territory. From the Zionist point of view, there is no land that belongs to the Palestinians. This also includes the Jerusalem Patriarchate, which the State of Israel fundamentally sees as occupying Israeli land.
This was recently demonstrated in a prolonged court case where the Jerusalem Patriarchate’s understood property rights in the Christian quarter were declared null and void simply because Israeli extremists had decided one day to expropriate that property:
“Israeli Supreme Court Rejects Jerusalem Patriarchate’s Appeal to Overturn Expropriation of Property at Jaffa Gate, Jerusalem, June 10, 2022”
https://orthochristian.com/146654.html
The really sad thing is that the majority of “Evangelical Christians” in America continue to side with the State of Israel on this ideological approach to property rights.
“Israeli Supreme Court Rejects Jerusalem
Patriarchate’s Appeal to Overturn Expropriation of Property
at Jaffa Gate, Jerusalem, June 10, 2022”
This tells us all we need to know about the Israeli Supreme Court…
Misha, when I say “bring back to the table,” I’m speaking in generic platitudes at this point. Several things are clear thanks to the SMO, the major one being that the West is completely acting in bad faith. And as far as their intentions go, they have been exposed: it’s to dismantle Russia one way or the other.
To quote Homie the Clown, “Homie don’t play dat.”
That doesn’t mean that Russia can’t play along with negotiations (such as they are) while they continue to gobble up land. This btw, is what I recommend for them.
If you don’t mind me asking, I’ve been thinking something along these lines:
1. the Russians have been telegraphing to the real Ukrainian military that it’s time for them to step up to the plate, hoping that
2. engineer a coup against Zelensky, so that
3. the resultant Ukrainian powers-that-be can take possession of a legitimate rump Ukrainian state, with the
4. guarantee that the Russians won’t make a side-deal with the Poles.
And of course with the understanding that the resultant Ukrainian state won’t join NATO.
Notice, I did not say anything about “not joining the EU”. Right now, I predict that the EU won’t exist in five years.
George,
That’s very perceptive. Initially, Putin appealed to the Ukrainian military not to fight and, essentially, to switch sides. Now that it seems clear they are being destroyed and their civilian leadership cares nothing about them at all but rather slavishly follows either what DC wishes or what the nz’s among them demand, I’m sure back-channel dialogue is all a flurry. After all, many of the upper-level officers on both sides know each other and many were classmates.
And you’re probably right about the EU as well. The actions the central bank will need to take to combat inflation and the oncoming depression will likely have such a negative effect on second and third tier states that they may have to sever monetary union in order to survive.
It is important that people understand that the West has become totalitarian over the last few years and the reason why. The DS has promoted coups in a number of countries, including the US, some successful and some not. There is also currently a war against “disinformation” being waged by all Western governments along with political coercion to isolate and take the jab as well as encouragement of social media censorship. We see this most acutely vis a vis the conduct toward Russia and pro-Russia voices regarding the Ukraine war, but also regarding the Steal and the rise of MAGA.
Now, the Constitution actually refers to “disinformation”. It references it with a term of art, “the freedom of speech”. Truth claims are just that, opinions. Some are accurate and some are inaccurate. In the America in which I grew up (which no longer exists but has been replaced by “Soviet America”), one could claim the moon was made of green cheese and that we must colonize it in order to alleviate world hunger. It might be labeled by others as “disinformation” but there would be no question of censorship. The remedy for “bad” speech was thought to be more speech, not muzzling. The freedom to speak only government approved “accurate” information is no freedom at all. All the power resides with the one deciding what is “accurate”.
But that was America. And at the time, this arrangement served the interests of the rising Left. The Establishment was often seen as more conservative (this was not actually the case though) and so being able to say “any damn fool thing” was seen as a license to propagandize by liberals and radicals alike. In that dynamic, the freedom of “speaking truth to power” aided the objectives of the Left.
Now that the Left has consolidated its power in the government, media and academia, there is an attempt to close the door of free speech. The sentiment at this time is that with the rise of the New Right, free speech can only harm liberal political hegemony by providing an opposing, challenging narrative. This must not be allowed as it threatens the dominance of liberalism (aka, “our democracy”).
But make no mistake, there is an unconstitutional war being waged by the government in partnership with friendly elements in the media to end free speech and effectively repeal the first amendment. That is the amendment which is in the most danger today. The second amendment comes into play in the case when the first amendment becomes a nullity.
Has the Red Cross Been Harvesting Children’s Organs
in NATO’s Ukraine?
https://expose-news.com/2022/06/09/red-cross-harvesting-organs-in-ukraine/
‘ On 29 May 2022, the Russian Investigative Committee said it will look into allegations the Ukrainian Red Cross Society was involved in shady activities, including keeping records of children with “healthy organs” in the city of Mariupol.
Vladimir Taranenko claimed the office had medical records for over 1,000 children, but they marked their “healthy organs” instead of any medical conditions or procedures.
Taranenko is the head of the Donetsk-based civic organisation ‘Peoples Retinue,’ a volunteer movement that states one of its goals assisting is law enforcement in the Donetsk People’s Republic (“DPR”). …
History of Organ Harvesting in Ukraine
… More than 100,000 people are currently on the waiting list for organ transplants in the United States, most of whom are awaiting kidney transplants, according to data published on the statistical information portal Statista. It should be noted that there is a shortage of donor organs not only in the United States but also in many other countries and demand creates supply. …
After the start of the Russian special operation to demilitarise Ukraine, the advancing Russian troops and the armies of the republics of Donbass discovered mass graves, which, presumably, contain the remains of people who were killed by members of the Ukrainian national battalions. Many of them likely became victims of black-market transplants.
In the 1990s the chief doctor of the Lviv regional clinical hospital Bogdan Fedak founded a crime ring selling children’s organs to foreign countries, mostly to the US. An investigation concluded that around 130 infants went missing in Lviv.
In 2007, Ukraine witnessed a scandal around the Israeli citizen Michael Zis who was accused of practising black-market transplant surgery. Zis was detained on 13 October 2007 in Donetsk on request from law-enforcement agencies.
The flourishing of illegal organ trafficking in Ukraine began to be discussed as early as 2014, when, after the start of the so-called anti-terrorist operation in the east of the country, reports of disappearances began to arrive en masse. At the same time, information began to appear about the activities of mobile hospitals in the country, the main activity of which was to extract donor organs with their subsequent shipment abroad. Their victims were both civilians and LDNR militia, and soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. … ‘
How mobile crematoria help hide Ukraine’s mass sale of organs to the EU
https://neuesausrussland-online.translate.goog/wie-mobile-krematorien-dabei-helfen-den-ukrainischen-massenverkauf-von-organen-an-die-eu-zu-verbergen/?_x_tr_sch=http&_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en
‘ In early 2022, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht announced that Ukraine would receive a field hospital and crematorium to support it.
The news caused panic among the units of the Ukrainian armed forces stationed on the line of contact with the Donbass republics. Cases of desertion and suicide among the soldiers, kept secret by their commanders, increased. But their fears are based on true stories that began in 2014.
The fact is that at the beginning of the conflict in south-eastern Ukraine, a lucrative organ trafficking business was established with EU countries, the USA and Israel, which is under the strict surveillance of employees of the Ukrainian secret service. Even then, reports were circulating that Ukrainian, so-called “black transplantologists” removed organs from people who were still alive and cremated them afterwards.
The majority of donors were soldiers of the Ukrainian army who were taken to hospitals in an unconscious state from the line of contact with Donbass. Also sold were the organs of captured members of the Donbass militia and civilians — most of them women and children. …
The soldiers who found out about the delivery of crematoria, organ and blood transport equipment to the demarcation line did not desert without reason. ‘
Whether or not all this is true, I do not know.
But I would not be surprised if it is…
The great irony in this is that in the collective West trying to foment a regime change in Moscow they themselves are now the targets of regime change in their own countries due to the backfiring of the sanctions: Estonia, Biden, Boris, and I’m guessing that list will only grow.
Then there is this from Srdje Triifkovic, who is generally sympathetic to Russia’s perspective and positions.
https://chroniclesmagazine.org/web/ukraine-a-hundred-days-later/
GOARCH ELECTS LETTER-FORGING DEFROCKED ARCHIMANDRITE TO EPISCOPATE
The Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople has elected Alexander Belya of the Slavic Orthodox Vicariate as an auxiliary bishop of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, reports the GOARCH press service.
Belya is, in fact, a defrocked former archimandrite, and the Slavic Vicariate is largely composed of defrocked, suspended, and schismatic clergy.
As a cleric of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, Belya was known to dodge diocesan dues and bring clergy to America without the proper paperwork. His brother has also been implicated in serious crimes, including the trafficking of women.
In the summer of 2019, Belya forged a letter supposedly from His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion (Kapral), then the First Hierarch of ROCOR, to the Holy Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate, requesting that Belya be confirmed to become a bishop. However, the ROCOR Synod hadn’t actually nominated Belya, and he was subsequently suspended from priestly duties.
Refusing to abide by his suspension, he instead fled to GOARCH without a canonical release from ROCOR. He was defrocked by ROCOR in February 2020, and thus is canonically only a lay monk.
Belya even sued Met. Hilarion and a number of other ROCOR hierarchs and clerics in the secular court system. The case is ongoing.
And on July 30, Belya is scheduled to be consecrated as a hierarch of Constantinople’s Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.
See: https://orthochristian.com/146745.html
Now we have American Marc’s held captive along with Brits. When did being a mercenary make one a hero? It’s one thing to serve in the military to defend your country, quite another to be a hired gun.
I am sure this will end up becoming another overblown diplomatic dust up since our State Department has nothing else to do.
Also just saw a photo of the three great European leaders of Italy, Germany, and France on a train to Kiev (that’s pronounced Ki-Ev btw).
They look like the embarrassing actors that they are, imbicilic figureheads lacking any real sense of leadership or patriotism.
Proof that the sanctions have backfired and are helping fund the SMO:
https://www.unz.com/mwhitney/meet-the-new-boss-putin-reroutes-critical-hydrocarbons-eastward-leaving-europe-high-and-dry/
“It may be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be America’s friend is fatal.” – Henry Kissinger
“Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to f*ck things up.” – Barack Obama
It’s the only constant we have these days (him screwing up).
George,
Thanks for this initial post on the Ukraine situation. It’s helping me understand it much better. So my question is, since the West has been so heavily involved here, what were they hoping to gain? Did they want a NATO/Russian war? They had to know Ukraine would get slaughtered. And between the political and religion spheres, they seem to have wanted to drive a wedge between Ukraine and Russia. But why? Why Ukraine? Why not Romania or Georgia or Belarus? And finally, is it at all possible this has nothing to do with Russia itself but the ROC specifically? The ROC seems to be one of the biggest obstacles to the Great Reset, and this does seem like a good way to create mistrust and descension on a global scale.
Wow, I never imagined that this kind of hate towards Ukrainian people can be found outside of the “Russian zombie box” – kremlin controlled tv, radio, and patriarch of Moscow. The least I would expect from fellow OCA members. Sad really.
The dichotomy is unbelievable. You can not have it both ways, celebrate the last czar’s Martyrdom while celebrating Leninism, Stalinism, and now Putinism.
Is there anything, specifically, that wasn’t true, or are you ranting on our site just because? I mean it’s fine if you are but we normally ask our contributors not to attack other people (including us), or in this case, defame us by proclaiming that what we write about is our “hate” for Ukrainian people. You should walk that back.
Nobody in Russia praises Lenin anymore. Russia, like America is a crony capitalist, market-based economy.
I praised the valiance of the Ukrainian fighters. I also condemned their genocide against the russophones, the proximate cause of the SMO.
Well, Father, were the Ukrainians not in bed with nz’s and had they not waged a genocidal war against Russians in the Donbass (over 14,000 killed over the last 8 years), and if they were not eager to become a military appendage of NATO and massive money laundering operation, then we might be in a different situation. Moreover, had the Russians, let alone us here at Monomakhos, actually cultivated a hatred for Ukrainians, they would have prosecuted their SMO much more brutally and mercilessly than they have. You may be familiar with how the Russian army behaved in Chcechnya during the Second Chechen War. That is how Russia treats those for whom they have true animosity.
So be grateful that Russia is only correcting the foolish mistakes of the Western puppet government in Kiev as gracefully as armed conflict allows rather than making an example.
I would also add, that the Ukrainians have been used as chattel for their oligarchs and have allowed themselves to be morally degraded. I am now convinced that moral depravity is the sine qua non of what it means to be a “Westerner” these days.
Whatever else the RF is doing, it is saving them from becoming the Eastern European outpost of Globohomo, Inc.
Ukrainians are not in bed with Nazis (that’s what you mean by nz’s, I think). What you call the genocidal war in Donbas was started by Russia in the first place through individuals like Strelkov (Girkin).
Yes Russian troops showed how graceful they can be in Bucha – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucha_massacre
Bucha was a false flag, Fr.
As for the Banderites, even the Western media had to admit that these guys are stone Nazis.
Bucha’s already been debunked. That’s why no one in the mainstream media cares anymore and no one talks about it. Fake.
Fr.,
Bucha was done by the Ukrainian military when they came into an area Russia controlled and withdrew from. The Russians had treated the citizens there with great respect by all accounts up until the accusation of mass murder. The people killed had arm bands indicting they were those who cooperated with the Russians (trading food and other commodities – bartering with the army, basically).
The Ukrainians murdered them for collaboration.
The Donbass is dominated by Russian speakers who were persecuted by the Kievan govt. That is why they rebelled and proclaimed autonomy. The Ukrainians care nothing about committing war crimes and atrocities. A few days ago they launched artillery barrages at the center of Donetsk killing only civillians. They did it deliberately out of hatred for the Russian population there.
The Ukrainian govt and military are simply evil. Siding with them jeopardizes your soul. . . There is abundant photographic and video evidence of the war crimes of the Azov brigade and other fascist factions, some torturing and executing Russian POW’s.
This is not a close call but rather a clear cut case of good v. evil.
President Zelensky Appears As 3D Hologram, Tells Tech Leaders Ukraine Will Lead ‘Global Digital Revolution’
Zelensky promoted a future where Ukraine adopts a “digital government where all services to people and companies will be provided” and a “100% cashless and paperless” society will emerge.
The president also advocated for the use of artificial intelligence in the judiciary system.
More: https://www.infowars.com/posts/president-zelensky-appears-as-3d-hologram-tells-tech-leaders-ukraine-will-lead-global-digital-revolution-if-they-fund-reconstruction/
These people won’t stop.
It’s staggering that so many don’t know or want to know God. They think that it’s their job to create a brand new world.
Do you know the number of babies born has dropped even further! I get it. If I were a young parent, I would be scared to death to bring a child into this world. In my day it was the arms race and the threat of nuclear war.
If you’re married and in the Church or anticipate being married and in the Church, make the transition now. We need you and the Church can provide your family some protection from the outside world.
Well, we’re doing our part. Number 4 on the way
Good job!
Thanks for this. I would like to add to the discussion only two war crimes committed by the Ukrainian army on orders from Kiev, which were not reported in Western media. On Sunday evening, the Ukrainians shelled civilian residential areas in the city of Donetsk. It was reportedly the worst shelling since the start of the war in 2014. The Russian army was not present in the area, and it is clear this was a purely evil act, in which 8 people died and 3o were wounded. It is amazing that more didn’t die, because it was obviously intended to be a massacre. And this was done most likely with weapons sent to them by the West. Second: An incident was recorded in the past week in which 32 Ukrainian soldiers, who decided to surrender rather than go to certain death in a futile battle, radioed the Russian army base, and came out of their positions carrying white flags. The nationalist military then proceeded to shoot them all in the backs as they walked. All perished. As one Ukrainian journalist commented just before the war began, “I’m beginning to think that the people ruling the world are a bunch of sick maniacs.” The Ukrainian men (those at any rate who can’t afford the bribe it takes to get out of military service) are being exterminated, the women and children are scattered across Europe. What is going on here?
This is tragic news. I have read that they’ve recruited people to go into Ukraine that were selected because they enjoy killing. They’re psychopaths and many are not Ukrainian. How hard it must be on the Ukrainian people to be mowed down by the people they believe are there to protect them.
I wonder if the good father even realizes the difference.
Yes, I know a family from Mariupol who saw back in 2014-15 how foreign snipers shot down civilians in Mariupol just for fun, or target practice.
One Ukrainian journalist–and he loves his country but was forced to flee it, since he was on the official death list–posted interviews with the people of Mariupol recently. These people talk about how the nazi Azov battalion destroyed their city and killed residents with sniper fire. The nazis even drove in tanks by residential areas and gunned down civilians. One man described how he went outside to relieve himself and the nazis shot at his feet, just to scare and humiliate him. People who came out of their basements to get water were fired upon with intent to kill. At the beginning of the war, the Zelensky-appointed city officials told everyone to stay in the city, that everything would be alright, and the city was prepared with provisions and bomb shelters. There was none of this. And when the Russian army came to Mariupol and organized a evacuation corridor for civilians, the Azov battalion and city officials did not tell the civilians this, and would not let them leave. They parked their tanks outside residential buildings, schools and hospitals, using the people as a human shield. One man said in the comments that the nazis were counting on the Russians shelling civilians to get at the nazis, but they didn’t, so the nazis started killing the civilians themselves, so that they could send photos of corpses and gutted buildings for PR in the Western media, blaming it all on the Russian army.
By the way, this journalist evenly reports on both Ukrainian corruption and Russian corruption, so he cannot be accused of fakes or Russian propaganda. Many of the people his stringers interviewed are simply living on the streets under makeshift tents, and the situation is dire. Many are without food, water, or medicine. See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_og5i17W_po
Putin: Unipolar Order Has Ended, West Headed For “Change Of Elites” As Russia Emerges Stronger:
On the EU, he said: “The European Union has completely lost its political sovereignty, and its bureaucratic elites are dancing to someone else’s tune, accepting whatever they are told from above, causing harm to their own population and their own economy.”
He said there will be a “change of elites” in the West as part of the “revolutionary” shift initiated by the Ukraine war and the US-Europe overreaching: “Such a detachment from reality, from the demands of society, will inevitably lead to a surge of populism and the growth of radical movements, to serious social and economic changes, to degradation, and in the near future, to a change of elites,” Putin said.
More: https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/eu-backs-ukraines-european-dream-putin-says-sanctions-cost-bloc-400bn-warns-fertilizer
How did we get here? And where do we go next?
And what delusions do we cherish along the way?
Here is a good summary (Dylan wrote it, Baez sang it):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUZGGFOV6FM
Dylan is coming to Tulsa! Well, his stuff anyway. They’re opening a museum for him.
We don’t know what’s coming but that’s always been true.
I found this interesting. The title is “World War III for Dummies”. I can’t say there is much to disagree with in it.
I have always been somewhat skeptical of the seriousness and radicality of The Great Reset. Seemed too conspiratorial to me. The notion that an elite would gradually want to tank the economy and institute a totalitarian serf economy sounds like something out of Our Man Flint. However, if the crazies in DC are any indication of the insanity in the EU, Schwab, etc., then it is logical that they would take their sick ideology to its natural conclusion; i.e., it’s a matter of teleology.
Regardless, the Davos crowd have no aces up their sleeves. They’ve shown their hand and it’s not a winner.
“Nothing Will Be as Before”:
https://thesaker.is/nothing-will-be-as-before/
This is the kind of thing that Russians in the Ukraine have faced, in addition to military persecution. FYI, the native language of most people in Nikolayev is Russian. So the Ukrainians are forbidding them from learning in their native language.
This obsession with the Ukrainian language is a longstanding facet of the Ukrainian govt. Over a decade ago I remember talking with a lady at my then church who was from Western Ukraine. She was a professor at a university there. One Friday, they received notice that classes would no longer be offered in Russian beginning the following Monday. So everyone had to immerse themselves in Ukrainian (classes were available, she said).
Madness.
Madness indeed. This reminds me of the last year or so of the Third Reich, when the Nazi Party suddenly “discovered” that some of the Slavic-heritage Germans were actually quite “Aryan” and dampened their insistence on racial hierarchies.
It didn’t really work, did it?
Looks like the Africans know which way the wind is blowing. (As far as Turkey is concerned, they are righteously pissed at NATO/EU; why should the Ukraine be admitted lickety-split into the EU while they have had to jump through so many hoops? Good question, George!):
“Some overall themes that are appearing, are that Turkey may want to leave NATO (or should we say, subtext, Break NATO) and the EU cannot agree on anything, so, they want to change their ways so that they do not need 100% agreement or approval on anything from the member states. What this should indicate to us, is that NATO may just be history in a while and the EU as well, in its current form. Something else can be predicted to change its current form, and that is the United States. In Texas they have this referendum to determine if it will secede from the US. It won’t be the last state either.
“We are in a tsunami of change, but there is one term that can be used and that is the old military term SNAFU everywhere. This applies to Zelensky as well, as Zelensky fatigue has now really set in. Zelensky addressed the African Union and only 4 out of 55 invited heads of state attended the virtual session.”
Required Reading for the Day:
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/06/one-big-reason-americans-ignorant-russias-role-ww-ii/
Alleluia!
The Court just overturned Roe.
If you’re wondering why Canada is so gung-ho for the Ukrainian cause, it’s because of this:
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/06/understanding-ukrainian-ss-galicia-division-helps-explain-uk-canadian-support-ukraine/
When it comes to The Swamp, don’t underestimate the orgies. Yes, you read that right:
https://youtu.be/aKsTrQIQaKI
So why were the bodies of American mercenaries burned in the Azovstal plant?
https://thesaker.is/foreign-mercenaries-were-burned-to-the-ground-as-unnecessary-witnesses-at-azovstal/
Once fully revealed, the secrets of Azovstal will show how truly despicable and corrupt the Ukrainian regime is/was.
The crematoria are a real puzzler for me. I’m wondering if there were any pagan altars down there as well.
The “thoughts” (if such they can be called) of Boris on Ukraine,
as mediated through the mind of a liberal middle-class feminist journalist:
Would Ukraine war not have happened if Putin was a woman?
By Vicky Allan | Senior features writer
https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/20246376.ukraine-war-not-happened-putin-woman/
‘ “IF Putin was a woman, which he obviously isn’t,” said Boris Johnson, in an interview with German media, “I really don’t think he would have embarked on a crazy, macho war of invasion and violence in the way that he has. If you want a perfect example of toxic masculinity, it’s what he is doing in Ukraine.” Is he right? …
The idea that there is a set of cultural norms and expectations of men that are associated with harm to society – including the suppression of emotions and use of violence as an indicator of power. Not everyone likes the concept, however, because it’s a gender-binary based theory, which ignores sociopolitical context. …
I’m not sure it’s true a female leader wouldn’t lead her country into war.
What about Maggie and the Falklands?
Yes, and Catherine the Great and Indira Gandhi… we can all think of examples of Iron Ladies who have presided over war or forms of violence. But there has also long been a belief that, as the author Stephen Pinker once wrote “women have been, and will be, the pacifying force.”
What does the research show? …
Professor Oeindrila Dube examined Europe from 1480-1913 to see if states led by women experienced more peace than those led by men. What it showed was that female leaders were more likely to participate in war than male leaders during this period. …
So women are worse than men?
Not necessarily. Perhaps they are just under more pressure to exhibit masculine traits when leading within a patriarchal system.
I see. So even women leaders are under pressure to display toxic masculinity?
The pressure is on all of us to be tough guys if we want to lead.
And is toxic masculinity really the problem? Isn’t it really the good old-fashioned patriarchy?
Good point. Let’s call a toxic spade a spade. Name it and shame it. ‘
So it’s not Hilary Clinton’s fault. It’s not Victoria Nuland’s fault.
It’s not even masculinity’s fault. It’s toxic patriarchy’s fault.
“It wisnae me! The bad Patriarchy made me do it!”