US Attempted Color Revolution in Russia?

[mick silver]

US Attempted Color Revolution in Russia?Posted by Stephen Lendman (http://www.veteranstoday.com/author/lendman/) on December 21, 2014

by Stephen Lendman (http://www.veteranstoday.com/author/lendman/)
http://www.veteranstoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/US-and-Russia-640x480.jpg<img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-336357" src="http://www.veteranstoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/US-and-Russia-640x480.jpg" alt="US and Russia" width="640" height="480" />
America seeks unipolar/New World Order dominance. All nations bowing to its will. Russia is in the eye of the storm.
Longstanding US policy calls for regime change. Eliminating its sovereign independence.
Replacing it with pro-Western stooge governance. Puppet rule Washington controls. Color revolutions are a US specialty.
Tactics developed earlier. Through years of trial and error. Largely perfected. Successful most often.
Twice ousting sitting Ukrainian governments. Ordinary people lost out both times. Much more so now than earlier. In 2004.
US-installed neo-Nazi fascists run things today. Destroying fundamental freedoms. Waging dirty war on their own people.
Impoverishing an entire nation. Bankrupting it. Goading Russia irresponsibly. Risking open conflict. With full US support and encouragement.
Color revolutions mask dark intentions. Ordinary people are manipulated like pawns. The usual suspects are involved.
Including CIA elements. The National Endowment of Democracy (NED). International Republican Institute (IRI). National Democratic Institute (NDI).
USAID. Freedom House. Soros Foundation. Anti-democracy NGOs. Right-wing think tanks. Various corporate groups. More below on how color revolutions work.
Russia is mindful of America’s intentions. Putin blamed illegal sanctions and manipulated oil prices for Russia’s economic woes.
“They will always try to chain the bear,” he said. “And once it’s chained, they’ll rip out its teeth and claws.”
“They’ll stuff it. And start to put their hands on its Taiga (Siberian forest belt). We’ve heard statements from Western officials that Russia owning Siberia (isn’t) fair.”
Today’s problem is that US-led Western nations “refuse to stop. They think they have won.”
They want Russia co-opted. Contained. Isolated. Weakened. Decapitated. Controlled. Balkanized. Plundered.
“Do we want relations on an equal basis,” asked Putin? “Yes, we do, but on the condition that our national interests are respected, in the sphere of security and in the sphere of economy.”
Peace requires building common humanitarian space. Not walls, he stressed. “Russia pays the cost of remaining a nation, a civilization and a state.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov commented on 2014 events. Saying relations with Western countries “reached the point (where) goodwill gestures (don’t) produce required results.”
Russia is irresponsibly blamed for Ukrainian crisis conditions, said Lavrov. Illegal sanctions are imposed.
“We have repeatedly stressed that attempts to speak to Russia using the language of ultimatums is totally unacceptable and will yield no results,” Lavrov stressed.
“(I)n cases when governments of some countries try to isolate Moscow, Russia will actively foster cooperation, strengthen business, humanitarian, scientific, educational and cultural ties.”
“Our country is pursuing a multi-vector foreign policy…” Approved by Putin in 2013.
“We are ready to develop mutual and equal relations with all those who show an oncoming willingness to do that.”
“Putin has repeatedly stated that interaction with the Asia-Pacific region is a strategic priority for us throughout the 21 century, and that Russia, as an Asia-Pacific power, will take full advantage of the enormous potential of the region’s rapid development, including the development of the Far East and Eastern Siberia.”
“…(E)very nation has the inalienable right to self-determination and the sovereign right to choose its own path of development.” Russia respects this choice.
Containment wasn’t “invented yesterday. (E)very time someone thinks that Russia becomes too strong,” policies to contain it are implemented.
“Problems in our relations with the US had started to accrue before the Ukrainian crisis, what is more – not through our fault.”
“The White House has set a course for confrontation, blaming Russia for all sins in connection with the Ukrainian crisis that they had provoked to a significant extent.”
“Washington wound down bilateral dialogue” on numerous issues. “(A)ttempts to isolate some (world) leaders impose one’s own unilateral recipes from a position of ‘exceptionalism.’ which the US has taken, is futile.”
“(T)alking with Russia from a position of strength is futile.” Russophobia rages today.
US-led NATO “continues its course toward containing Russia. Steps are taken to strengthen (its) military capacity at Russia’s borders.”
Hostile actions stoke tensions. Undermine stability. Risk conflict. Obama irresponsibly includes Russia on his list of global threats.
US policies include NATO’s increased Eastern European presence. Provocative military exercises close to Russia’s borders.
Thousands of missions near its airspace. American ships in Black Sea waters.
US-manipulated oil wars. Targeting Russia’s economy. Weakening it. Making it scream. Hammering the ruble.
On December 19, Obama embargoed Russia’s Republic of Crimea. Illegally.
By executive order “prohibit(ing) the export of goods, technology, or services to Crimea and prohibits the import of goods, technology, or services from Crimea, as well as new investments in Crimea.”
(A)uthoriz(ing) the Secretary of the Treasury to impose sanctions on individuals and entities operating in Crimea.”
Russia’s Foreign Ministry called his action “politicized discrimination.” Against Russia and its people.
On December 20, Zero Hedge reported federal Judge Arthur Schwab ruling Obama’s executive orders “unconstitutional.” In a deportation case. Schwab saying:
“President Obama’s unilateral legislative action violates the separation of powers provided for in the United States Constitution as well as the Take Care Clause, and therefore, is unconstitutional.”
A previous article said rule by executive order diktats raises questions. No constitutional authority permits them.
Other than stating “executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America (Article 2, Section 1).”
Abused by bypassing Congress. “All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives (Article 1, Section 1.).”
Constitutional checks and balances prevent empowering one governmental branch over another.
Diktat power reflects tyranny. Not how democracy is supposed to work. In America, it’s pure fantasy. None whatever exists.
Washington’s anti-Russian “Ukraine Freedom Support Act of 2014 (UFSA) authorizes lethal aid for Ukraine. Including heavy weapons.
More sanctions on Russia. Intensified US propaganda. Through Voice of America. Radio Free Europe. Radio Liberty.
Washington’s global propaganda bullhorn. Suppressing hard truths. Featuring Big Lies. Turning reality on its head.
Obama may be headed for direct confrontation with Russia. Aimed at toppling its government. By war, color revolution, or combination of both.
A previous article explained how color revolutions work. In 1997, RAND Corporation researchers John Arquilla and David Ronfeld developed the concept of “Swarming & the Future of Conflict.”
Based on communication patterns and movements of bees and other insects. Applied to military conflicts and street protests.
War by other means. Exploiting the information revolution. Taking full advantage of “network-based organizations linked via email and mobile phones to enhance the potential of swarming.”
In 1993, Arquilla and Ronfeldt prepared an earlier document. Titled “Cyberwar Is Coming!”
Saying “warfare is no longer primarily a function of who puts the most capital, labor and technology on the battlefield, but of who has the best information” and uses it advantageously.
State-of-the art IT techniques use “advanced computerized information and communications technologies and related innovations in organization and management theory,” they explained.http://www.veteranstoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/hireveterans165x1201.jpg<img class="alignright wp-image-331646 size-full" src="http://www.veteranstoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/hireveterans165x1201.jpg" alt="Find Your Job at HireVeteran.com" width="165" height="120" /> (http://www.hireveterans.com/)
Information technologies “communicate, consult, coordinate, and operate together across greater distances.”
Cyberwar today is what blitzkrieg was to 20th century warfare. In 1993, Arquilla and Ronfeldt focused on military conflicts.
In 1996, studying net and cyberwar. Examining “irregular modes of conflict, including terror, crime, and militant social activism.”
In 1997, developing the concept of swarming. Suggesting it might “emerge as a definitive doctrine that will encompass and enliven both cyberwar and net war.”
Envisioning “how to prepare for information-age conflict.” Calling swarming a way to strike from all directions.
Effectiveness depends on various elements able to interconnect. Using revolutionary communication technology.
What works on battlefields proved effective on city streets. US-instigated color revolutions achieved regime change in Serbia (2000/2001).
Georgia (2003). Ukraine (2004). Kyrgyzstan (2005). Ukraine (2014). Other efforts fell short.
Color revolutions reflect America’s modern day New World Order strategy. Following Soviet Russia’s dissolution. Direct and proxy hot wars rage at the same time.
US strategy is multi-faceted. Including subversion. Destabilization. Mass surveillance. Blitzkrieg propaganda. Successful swarming tactics accomplish coup d’etats by other means.
Washington openly backs Russian hard right extremists. Figures like Boris Nemtsov. Garry Kasparov. Alexei Navalny. A convicted embezzler.
Masquerading as an anti-corruption activist. A relentless Putin basher. Accusing him of aggression.
In March, New York Times editors featured his op-ed headlined “How to Punish Putin.” Irresponsibly accusing him of empty promises.
Lying about invading Ukraine. Wanting to rule for life. With “powers on par with the czars.”
Russian democracy shames America’s sham version. Navalny didn’t explain. Or New York Times editors featuring his rubbish.
It bears repeating. Russia is in the eye of the storm. Regime change is longstanding US policy. Obama is going all-out to topple its government.
Putin is a master chess player. A world-class geopolitical leader. On the right side of history. Besting his Western counterparts.
Making Obama look amateurish by comparison. Buffoon-like. Don’t bet against him coming out on top in the end.
Our best chance for world peace and stability. By beating America’s dirty game.

[keehah]

US MIC contractors planned this war for the Feds out in 2019.

antiwar.com: Rand Report Prescribed US Provocations Against Russia and Predicted Russia Might Retaliate In Ukraine (https://original.antiwar.com/Rick_Sterling/2022/03/27/rand-report-prescribed-us-provocations-against-russia-and-predicted-russia-might-retaliate-in-ukraine/)

March 28, 2022
According to a 2019 Rand report titled "Overextending and Unbalancing Russia", the US goal is to undermine Russia just as it did the Soviet Union in the cold war. Rather than "trying to stay ahead" or trying to improve the US domestically or in international relations, the emphasis is on efforts and actions to undermine the designated adversary Russia. Rand is a quasi-US governmental think tank that receives three-quarters of its funding from the US military.

The report lists anti-Russia measures divided into the following areas: economic, geopolitical, ideological/informational, and military. They are assessed according to the perceived risks, benefits and "likelihood of success".

The report notes that Russia has "deep seated" anxieties about western interference and potential military attack. These anxieties are deemed to be a vulnerability to exploit. There is no mention of the cause of the Russian anxieties: they have have been invaded multiple times and had 27 million deaths in WW2...

Rand suggested provocations

Prior to 2018, the US only provided "defensive" military weaponry to Ukraine. The Rand report assesses that providing lethal (offensive) military aid to Ukraine will have a high risk but also a high benefit...

The Rand report lists many techniques and "measures" to provoke and threaten Russia...

These and many other provocations suggested by Rand have, in fact, been implemented...

Since 2008, when NATO "welcomed" the membership aspirations of Ukraine and Georgia, Russia has said this would cross a red line and threaten its security. In recent years NATO has provided advisers, training and ever increasing amounts of military hardware. While Ukraine is not a formal member of NATO, it has increasingly been treated like one. The full Rand report says "While NATO’s requirement for unanimity makes it unlikely that Ukraine could gain membership in the foreseeable future, Washington’s pushing this possibility could boost Ukrainian resolve while leading Russia to redouble its efforts to forestall such a development."...

Ukraine as US client

In November 2021, the US and Ukraine signed a Charter on Strategic Partnership. This agreement confirmed Ukrainian aspirations to join NATO and rejection of the Crimean peoples decision to re-unify with Russia following the 2014 Kiev coup. The agreement signaled a consolidation of Washington’s economic, political and military influence.

December 2021 Russia red lines followed by military action

In December 2021, Russia proposed a treaty with the US and NATO. The central Russian proposal was a written agreement that Ukraine would not join the NATO military alliance.

When the proposed treaty was rebuffed by Washington, it seems the die was cast. On February 21, Putin delivered a speech detailing their grievances. On February 24, Putin delivered another speech announcing the justification and objectives of the military intervention to "demilitarize" and "denazify" Ukraine.

As Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov later said, "This is not about Ukraine. This is the end result of a policy that the West has carried out since the early 1990’s."...

It appears that Ukrainian citizens are similarly being manipulated to serve US goals.

A "disadvantageous peace settlement"

The Rand report says, "Increasing US military aid would certainly drive up the Russian costs, but doing so could also increase the loss of Ukrainian lives and territory or result in a disadvantageous peace settlement."

rand.org: Extending Russia Competing from Advantageous Ground (2019) (https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR3000/RR3063/RAND_RR3063.pdf)
ISBN: 978-1-9774-0021-5, HQD177526

[pp107]] The largest step the United States could take would be to institute deeper or even comprehensive financial sanctions on Russia. This would prohibit the use of the U.S. banking system by Russia or any Russian entity, as well the use of the U.S. banking system by any entity—such as European banks—that dealt with Russia or Russian entities. Such a move would effectively cut Russia and Russian businesses off from use of the U.S. dollar, which constitutes the largest medium of exchange for international trade and investment transactions. As of December 2016, 62 percent of the external debt of Russia was denominated in dollars, of which the largest portion was attributable to Russian banks and businesses rather than the government.107 As of May 2017, the Russian government and Russian entities held nearly $100 billion of U.S. debt.108 The deepest sanctions would be similar to those placed on Iran before it agreed to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the international agreement aimed at its nuclear program.There are a variety of mechanisms for implementing such sanctions. One is through Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act...

There would certainly be loopholes to any such sanctions. Russia could tap overseas deposits of dollars and arrange to have dollar payments channeled through non-U.S. banks or arrange to have international payments made in other internationally traded currencies.

[pp110] Risks
There are three notable risks regarding broadening sanctions. First, U.S. businesses would be hurt. While the Russian direct investment position in the United States is $4.6 billion, the U.S. direct investment position in Russia is $9.2 billion.118 U.S. business activity with Russia would be hampered, potentially but modestly affecting U.S. jobs and profits, as well as any future investments that could be made with those profits.

A second, related risk would be that the sanctions could be ineffective if other countries do not join. The United States would have used one tool in its kit for international influence, potentially limiting future use of that tool for influencing Russia. More importantly, companies of foreign countries will have gained advantage over U.S. companies, so that Russia might be only lightly harmed or not harmed at all.

[pp112] Overall, deeper sanctions would likely cause meaningful harm to the Russian economy. They could also have a disproportionate negative effect on ordinary Russian citizens while elites could maneuver to protect their assets. Notably, sanctions would also likely harm the economies of the sanctioning country, although not as much. For maximum effect, they should be multilateral. Instituting unilateral sanctions would extend Russia economically but also could alienate important U.S. allies, friends, and partners..

[pp124] CHAPTER FOUR
Geopolitical Measures

Perhaps the most literal way to extend Russia would be to increase the costs of its foreign commitments.

[pp124] Intensifying the challenge to Russian military presence and operations abroad could have several consequences. It might cause Russia to withdraw from some of these commitments, which could be an important win for the United States but would do the opposite of extending Russia—causing it, rather, to contract, perhaps to a more defensible perimeter. Crimea, Eastern Ukraine, and Syria are drains on the Russian treasury and defense budget. Alternatively, and more likely, Russia might escalate, possibly seizing more of Ukraine, supporting further advances of the Damascus regime, or actually occupying a wavering Belarus. Such moves would likely impose serious additional strains on Russian defense and economic capacity, but would also represent a serious setback for U.S. policy. Given this range of possible responses, any U.S. moves of the sort described in this chapter would need to be carefully calibrated and pursued within some larger policy framework.

Measure 1: Provide Lethal Aid to Ukraine...

[keehah]

fair.org: Western Media Fall in Lockstep for Neo-Nazi Publicity Stunt in Ukraine (https://fair.org/home/western-media-fall-in-lockstep-for-neo-nazi-publicity-stunt-in-ukraine/)

FEBRUARY 23, 2022
If the corporate media reported more critically about Western support for the neo-Nazi-infested Ukrainian security services, and how these forces function as a front-line proxy of US foreign policy, public support for war might be reduced and military budgets called into greater question.

Western corporate news's sudden and unexpected full support of war Nazis the last several months makes more sense now.
CIA journalists gonna be supporting CIA Nazis.

antiwar.com: Report: 8-Year Secret CIA Training Program in Eastern Ukraine Helped Prepare for Russian Invasion (https://news.antiwar.com/2022/03/16/report-secret-cia-training-program-in-eastern-ukraine-helped-prepare-for-russian-invasion/)

Posted onMarch 16, 2022
CIA paramilitaries had been training Ukrainian forces on the frontlines of the Donbas war against Russian-backed separatists since 2014 and were only pulled out by the Biden administration last month, Yahoo News reported on Wednesday (https://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-secret-cia-training-program-in-ukraine-helped-kyiv-prepare-for-russian-invasion-090052743.html) [March 16, 2022], citing former US officials.

The CIA first sent a small number of paramilitaries to eastern Ukraine when the war started in 2014, which was sparked by a US-backed coup in Kyiv and the Donbas separatists declaring independence from the post-coup government.

As part of the training, CIA paramilitaries taught Ukrainian forces sniper techniques, how to operate US-provided Javelin anti-tank missiles, and how to avoid being tracked on the battlefield by using covert communications and other means. The former officials said at first the CIA was surprised at the capability of Russia and the separatists compared with US adversaries in the Middle East.

The US military held similar training programs for Ukrainian forces in western Ukraine that have been publicly acknowledged. In January, Yahoo News revealed (https://news.yahoo.com/cia-trained-ukrainian-paramilitaries-may-take-central-role-if-russia-invades-185258008.html) that the CIA had also been holding a US-based training program for Ukrainian forces. A former CIA official said the US-based program was training “an insurgency” and taught Ukrainians how to “kill Russians.”

The secret CIA program in eastern Ukraine was much more provocative than the other training programs since it essentially meant the US was involved in a proxy war on Russia’s border. The former officials told Yahoo News that During the first year of the Trump administration, National Security Officials reviewed the program, which had begun under the Obama administration.

The CIA paramilitaries were directed to advise and train but not participate in combat. Trump administration officials feared the authorities were too broad and that the mission was too ambiguous. One former official said questions that were asked included: “How far can you go with existing covert action authorities? If, God forbid, they’ve shot some Russians, is that a problem? Do you need special authorities for that?”

The former official said that the Trump administration discussed what Russia’s redlines could be and determined the US support for Ukrainian forces fell within historically acceptable bounds. “There was a school of thought that the Russians spoke the good old language of proxy war,” the official said.

Despite the concerns, the secret program continued for years until February. The former officials said that when a Russian invasion became “increasingly acute,” the Biden administration pulled all CIA personnel out of Ukraine, including the paramilitaries. One former official said the Biden administration was “terrified of even clandestine folks being on the frontline.”

nytimes.com: Commando Network Coordinates Flow of Weapons in Ukraine, Officials Say (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/25/us/politics/commandos-russia-ukraine.html)

June 25, 2022
A secretive operation involving U.S. Special Operations forces hints at the scale of the effort to assist Ukraine’s still outgunned military.
Military advisers from about a dozen allied countries also trained thousands of Ukrainian military personnel in Ukraine over the past several years...

Representative Jason Crow, a Colorado Democrat on the House Armed Services and Intelligence Committees, said in an interview that the relationships Ukrainian commandos developed with American and other counterparts over the past several years had proved invaluable in the fight against Russia.

“It’s been critical knowing who to deal with during chaotic battlefield situations, and who to get weapons to,” said Mr. Crow, a former Army Ranger. “Without those relationships, this would have taken much longer.”

The C.I.A. officers [post February 2022] operating in Ukraine have focused on directing the intelligence that the U.S. government has been providing the Ukrainian government. Most of their work has been in Kyiv, according to current and former officials.

Updated June 27, 2022

While the U.S. government does not acknowledge that the C.I.A. is operating in Ukraine or any other country, the presence of the officers is well understood by Russia and other intelligence services around the world.

But the agency’s expertise in training is in counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations, former intelligence officials say. What Ukrainians need right now is classic military training in how to use rocket artillery, like the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, and other sophisticated weaponry, said Douglas H. Wise, a former deputy director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and retired senior C.I.A. officer.

“We’re talking about large-scale combat here,” Mr. Wise said. “We’re talking about modern tank-on-tank battles with massive military forces. I can’t imagine the C.I.A. training Ukrainian guys how to fire HIMARS.”



I Visited 'New' Russian McDonald's

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FResJGpJj-8
11:12

Fries less salty. The rest of the food looked and tasted the same.

[keehah]

adelaide.edu.au/newsroom: Bots manipulate public opinion in Russia-Ukraine conflict (https://www.adelaide.edu.au/newsroom/news/list/2022/09/08/bots-manipulate-public-opinion-in-russia-ukraine-conflict)

Sep 8 2022
Researchers from the University of Adelaide have found bots have had a major online presence during the war between Russia and Ukraine.

The researchers analysed 5,203,764 tweets, retweets, quote tweets and replies posted to Twitter between 23 February 2022, and 8 March 2022, containing the hashtags
#(I)StandWithPutin, #(I)StandWithRussia, #(I)SupportRussia, #(I)StandWithUkraine, #(I)StandWithZelenskyy and #(I)SupportUkraine.

“We found that between 60 and 80 per cent of tweets using the hashtags we studied came from bot accounts during the first two weeks of the war,” said co-lead researcher Joshua Watt, an MPhil candidate in Applied Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Adelaide’s School of Mathematical Sciences.

Pdf of the report: #IStandWithPutin versus #IStandWithUkraine: The interaction of bots and humans in discussion of the Russia/Ukraine war (https://arxiv.org/pdf/2208.07038.pdf)

We found that 90.16% of [bot] accounts fell into the ‘ProUkraine’ category, while only 6.80% fell into the ‘ProRussia’ category...

Pro-Russian non-bot accounts are most influential overall, with information flows to a variety of other account groups. No significant outward flows exist from pro-Ukrainian non-bot accounts, with significant flows from pro-Ukrainian bot accounts into pro-Ukrainian non-bot accounts. We find that bot activity drives an increase in conversations surrounding angst as well as those surrounding work/governance.

[keehah]

Real or fake the summary report is a competent analysis of the effects of the Ukraine Russia conflict.

wikipedia.org: Nya Dagbladet (https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nya_Dagbladet_(svensk_tidning))

Nya Dagbladet is a Swedish online newspaper founded in 2012. The paper is nationalist, scientific-sceptic and non-partisan, with historical links to the National Democrats. It labels itself as humanistic and ethnopluralist with an anti-globalist stance. It often references pseudoscience and vaccine hesitancy.

nyadagbladet.se: Shocking document: How the US planned the war and energy crisis in Europe (https://nyadagbladet.se/utrikes/shocking-document-how-the-us-planned-the-war-and-energy-crisis-in-europe/amp/)

As the first outlet in Europe, Nya Dagbladet can publish what appears to be classified US plans to crush the European economy by means of a war in Ukraine and an induced energy crisis...

A document (https://nyadagbladet.se/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/rand-corporation-ukraina-energikris.pdf) signed RAND [Executive Summary, January 25, 2022 Confidential], under the opening heading of “Weakening Germany, strengthening the U.S.”, suggests that there is an “urgent need” for an influx of resources from outside to maintain the overall American economy, but “especially the banking system”.

“Only European countries bound by EU and NATO commitments can provide us with these without significant military and political costs for us.”

According to RAND, the main obstacle to this ambition is the growing independence of Germany. Among other things, it points out that Brexit has given Germany greater independence and made it more difficult for the United States to influence the decisions of European governments.

A key objective that permeates this cynical strategy is, in particular, to destroy the cooperation between Germany and Russia, as well as France, which is seen as the greatest economic and political threat to the United States.

”If implemented, this scenario will eventually turn Europe into not only an economic, but also a political competitor to the United States.”, it declares.

In order to crush this political threat, a strategic plan, primarily focused on destroying the German economy, is presented.

“Stopping Russian deliveries could create a systematic crisis that would be devastating for the German economy and indirectly for the European Union as a whole”, it states, and believes that the key is to draw the European countries into war.

rand.org: Fake RAND Report on 'Weakening Germany' (https://www.rand.org/news/press/2022/09/14.html)

FOR RELEASE

Wednesday September 14, 2022

A supposedly leaked RAND report about a bizarre U.S. conspiracy to “weaken Germany” is fake.

[keehah]

Current years' war criming woke western deep-state puppet politicians are now even worrying the puppeteer war criming western deep-state?
Or have current years' war criming woke western deep-state puppet Ukrainianing politicians done enough (for now at least) to supply the western MIC with billions of taxpayer funds?

rand.org: Avoiding a Long War (https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PEA2510-1.html) U.S. Policy and the Trajectory of the Russia-Ukraine Conflict (https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PEA2510-1.html)
2023

Summary: Western war criminals should not force a nuclear war, this escalation is current path as Russia was/is forced to act and Ukraine gets increasingly showered with war criming western politician money and weapons, western citizens won't (and polling shows increasingly do not) support a long drawn out war, economic sanctions are really hurting Russia so lets use this leverage (lol) to negotiate with Russia by offering Russia an end to the western politician's economic and energy disasters before western Europe is damaged.

WaPo: The argument for why the West should change course on Ukraine (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/02/01/ukraine-avoid-long-war-rand-talks-argument/)

February 1, 2023
A new report takes issue with this position, warning that it puts the United States on the path toward open-ended conflict that could escalate even more dangerously. “Avoiding a long war: U.S. policy and the trajectory of the Russia-Ukraine conflict,” published recently by the influential Rand Corp., a Washington-based think tank, argued that the longer the war dragged on, the more likely the risk of an escalation that could pit Russia in direct conflict with NATO and possibly see the Kremlin deploy nuclear weapons on the battlefield. Instead of enabling the war to sprawl onward, Western powers should do more to push the warring parties toward talks, it advised.

This is an argument that has been made before — including by Henry Kissinger, a venerable fixture of the U.S. foreign policy establishment. But the Rand report marks perhaps the most systematic case for a shift in policy put forward by a Washington think tank, the vast majority of which have hailed the war in Ukraine as a good and necessary fight, as well as a moment to reassert U.S. leadership on the world stage. In a departure from the Beltway script, the report does not reference “democracy,” “rule of law,” or Western “values” once.

The MIC may need to put Boris on the no fly list first

theguardian.com: Boris Johnson makes surprise trip to Ukraine (https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jan/22/boris-johnson-makes-surprise-trip-to-ukraine)
22 Jan 2023

[Cebu_4_2]

I Visited 'New' Russian McDonald's

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FResJGpJj-8
11:12

Fries less salty. The rest of the food looked and tasted the same.

That deluxe burger or whatever it was called was never seen in a US McDonalds... Ever. It actually looked good enough to try but of course not in the USi. Lol, the cheese slice half off the bun is classic lol.

[monty]

My mental picture of Russia was something like 1950s USA. I did not realize all the business establishments were so new and modern.

[Neuro]

My mental picture of Russia was something like 1950s USA. I did not realize all the business establishments were so new and modern.

It definitely changed a lot from the time I was in Moscow 1992, when it was somewhere between communism deprevation and the wild west. I went without a visa from Estonia, and pretty much everyone was drunk (me included) from morning to evening… When I got back to Estonia I went to a night club called Lucky Lukes got too drunk on drinking huge shots of vodka got kicked out and ultimately robbed by a Russian taxi driver who dropped me at the wrong destination was trying to overcharge me 5-10x for the ride and got annoyed with me when I told him lets go to the police to settle this. He ran over to my side pulled me out of the taxi punched me down and took the money he thought he deserved for his efforts. Leaving me bleeding on the street in a place I didn’t know.

[keehah]

rand.org: Extending Russia Competing from Advantageous Ground (2019) (https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR3000/RR3063/RAND_RR3063.pdf)
ISBN: 978-1-9774-0021-5, HQD177526
In proving NeoCon may be vain;
The best-laid schemes o' Mil an 'Gov
Gang aft agley,
An'lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!

rand.org: An Unwinnable War; Washington Needs an Endgame in Ukraine (https://www.rand.org/pubs/external_publications/EP70091.html)

Archived copy of the Rand report:
scribd.com/document: An Unwinnable War - Washington Needs An Endgame in Ukraine - Foreignaffairs (https://www.scribd.com/document/652970024/An-Unwinnable-War-Washington-Needs-an-Endgame-in-Ukraine-Foreignaffairs#)

11/6/23
A study from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, using data from 1946 to 2021 compiled by Uppsala University, found that 26 percent of interstate wars end in less than a month and another 25 percent within a year. But the study also found that “when interstate wars last longer than a year, they extend to over a decade on average.”...

A long war between Russia and Ukraine will also be highly problematic for the United States and its allies, as a recent RAND study I co-authored with the political scientist Miranda Priebe shows. A protracted conflict would keep the risk of possible escalation—either to Russian nuclear use or to a Russian-NATO war—atits current elevated level. Ukraine would be on near-total economic and military life support from the West, which will eventually cause budgetary challenges for Western countries and readiness problems for their militaries. The global economic fallout of the war, including the volatility in grain and energy prices, would persist. The United States would be unable to focus its resources on other priorities, and Russian dependence on China would deepen. Although a long war would also further weaken Russia, that benefit does not outweigh these costs...

Since talks will be needed but a settlement is out of the question, the most plausible ending is an armistice agreement. An armistice—essentially a durable cease-fire agreement that does not bridge political divides—would end the hot war between Russia and Ukraine but not their broader conflict.

salon.com: They lied about Afghanistan. They lied about Iraq. Now they're lying about Ukraine (https://www.salon.com/2023/07/08/they-lied-about-afghanistan-they-lied-about-iraq-now-theyre-lying-about-ukraine/)

JULY 8, 2023 Chris Hedges
The playbook the pimps of war use to lure us into one military fiasco after another, including Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and now Ukraine, does not change. Freedom and democracy are threatened. Evil must be vanquished. Human rights must be protected. The fate of Europe and NATO, along with a "rules-based international order" is at stake. Victory is assured.

The results are also the same. The justifications and narratives are exposed as lies. The cheery prognosis is false...

Once the truth about these endless wars seeps into public consciousness, the media, which slavishly promotes these conflicts, drastically reduces coverage. The military debacles, as in Iraq and Afghanistan, continue largely out of view. By the time the U.S. concedes defeat, most barely remember that these wars are being fought...

Since the end of the Second World War, the government has spent between 45 to 90 percent of the federal budget on past, current and future military operations. It is the largest sustained activity of the U.S. government. It has stopped mattering — at least to the pimps of war — whether these wars are rational or prudent...

If Russia did not want to be the enemy, Russia would be forced to become the enemy. The pimps of war recruited former Soviet republics into NATO by painting Russia as a threat. Countries that joined NATO, which now include Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Albania, Croatia, Montenegro and North Macedonia, reconfigured their militaries, often through tens of millions in Western loans, to become compatible with NATO military hardware. This made the weapons manufacturers billions in profits.

It was universally understood in Eastern and Central Europe following the collapse of the Soviet Union that NATO expansion was unnecessary and a dangerous provocation. It made no geopolitical sense. But it made commercial sense. War is a business.

...The war industry, not Putin, is our most dangerous enemy.

[C.Martel]

I have known this for a while. Wagner is heavily cia linked. Working with cia actors such as Haftar in Libya.

The Libyan strongman (Haftar) who went from CIA asset to Trump favorite

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/the-libyan-strongman-who-went-from-cia-asset-to-trump-favorite

Haftar’s Russian Mercenaries: Inside The Wagner Group - a BBC World Service investigation

https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/2021/haftars-russian-mercenaries-inside-the-wagner-group-world-service-investigation

When the cia want to destroy a nation, they control both sides. This is Wagner role for years. This was ISIS, Al Qaeda. These are cia and mossad groups. Netanyahu, mossad, bush, pompeo control these groups. Wagner is one group to destabilize the enemy of zion/cia.

Since Putin is a cia linked dude with ties to cia linked Chabad, cia linked Jewish Russian Mafia, cia linked Jewish Oligarchs and using cia linked Wagner for years; my guess is Putin could use fake "rogue" Wagner to invade NATO without sending the RAF, and claim the cia controlled Kremlin is not behind the Wagner attack on the EU. Putin is already using fake weakness of this Wagner cia coup to make it seem Russia is losing and getting idiots to believe Putin is weak. When it was similar to a 9/11 attack, the cia attacked itself for nefarious reasons. cia wagner attacked cia Chabad controlled Kremlin for many reasons. Europe needs to rearm, Germany needs to rearm, seeing Wagner coup, they feel fake security.

[C.Martel]

my guess is Putin could use fake "rogue" Wagner to invade NATO

Poland Sounds Alarm as Putin Allies Suggest Wagner Will Invade NATO Country

"This is definitely a step towards a further hybrid attack on Polish territory," Morawiecki said. "They are likely to be disguised as Belarusian border guards and will help illegal immigrants enter Polish territory, destabilize Poland, but they are also likely to try to enter Polish territory posing as illegal immigrants, which creates additional risks."

https://www.newsweek.com/poland-sounds-alarm-putin-allies-suggest-wagner-will-invade-nato-country-1816173

I called this with minimum info on Wagner in Belarus, 10 days ago, was thinking of this days before. I knew Wagner and Putin were in on it with the fake coup, and figured out with Wagner "rogue", they could easily launch an invasion of NATO with the lie that Wagner went "rogue", a lie planned in cia boardrooms to potentially spread the war futher. This would be a hot button issue for Trump, to scare voters to support "pro-peace"/anti-NATO Trump, who could make a "deal with Putin" to end the war by giving away parts of Ukraine to Putin and leaving it without an alliance to defend it. Later invented Jewish excuses for their zio-war in a future invasion of Ukraine/grand invasion of Europe.

The present situation is not a guarantee of a Wagner attack on NATO, though is eerily similar to the Russian build-up before the large scale invasion of Ukraine.

When you know cia run groups are handled and directed by cia boardroom plans, you can see the options the cia have in destabilizing Europe.

And it is typical of the cia to get the morons to cheer for Wagner believing they are going to take down Putin, only to have Wagner invade NATO. A cia MO, SOP. This is a cia script. Not sure if the cia are going to execute the plan.

For nearly a year and a half I have been contacting governments in Europe to rearm, none of them listening. Month after month, year after year, they are in the trap the cia and Washington want NATO Europe (xUK, xFrance) to be in. If Germany rearms and gets nukes, Anglo-Zionists would chimp out, washington and london lose Europe with a German full rearmament. biden is not telling EU states to rearm, not telling NATO to rearm. The trap is set. Wagner on the NATO border does not get NATO Europe to rearm, they are too busy handing their tiny amount of weapons to Ukraine.

When you know the cia is planning the war. And know from E Michael Jones research that the cia hates EU and NATO Europe. A Brit said the purpose of NATO was to keep the Germans down. When you know the Russians are on the payroll of the cia, the whole keeping the Russians out is no longer part of the mission of the Anglo-Zionist NATO in UK and US, a defeated Europe is the plan. Defeated by Chabad Russia and cia Wagner. This is the cia script, whether the cia actually go though it, very troubling for Europe, Europe needs to rearm.

[keehah]

NYT: With Sanctions, U.S. and Europe Aim to Punish Putin and Fuel Russian Unrest (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/04/us/politics/russia-sanctions-ukraine.html)

The Biden administration and European officials are crushing the Russian economy and stirring mass anxiety to pressure President Vladimir V. Putin to end his war in Ukraine.

March 4, 2022
WASHINGTON — As they impose historic sanctions on Russia, the Biden administration and European governments have set new goals: devastate the Russian economy as punishment for the world to witness, and create domestic pressure on President Vladimir V. Putin to halt his war in Ukraine, current and former U.S. officials say.

The harsh penalties — which have hammered the ruble, shut down Russia’s stock market and prompted bank runs — contradict previous declarations by U.S. officials that they would refrain from inflicting pain on ordinary Russians. “We target them carefully to avoid even the appearance of targeting the average Russian civilian,” Daleep Singh, the deputy national security adviser for international economics, said at a White House briefing last month.

The escalation in sanctions this week has occurred much faster than many officials had anticipated, largely because European leaders have embraced the most aggressive measures proposed by Washington, U.S. officials said.

With Russia’s economy crumbling, major companies — Apple, Boeing and Shell among them — are suspending or exiting operations in the country. The Biden administration said on Thursday that it would not offer sanctions relief amid Mr. Putin’s increasingly brutal offensive.

The thinking among some U.S. and European officials is that Mr. Putin might stop the war if enough Russians protest in the streets and enough tycoons turn on him. Other U.S. officials emphasize the goals of punishment and future deterrence, saying that the carcass of the Russian economy will serve as a visible consequence of Mr. Putin’s actions and a warning for other aggressors.

But Russia’s $1.5 trillion economy is the world’s 11th largest. No countries have tried pushing an economy of that size to the brink of collapse, with unknown consequences for the world. And the actions of the United States and Europe could pave the way for a new type of great-power conflict in the future...

The French finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, has used some of the harshest language yet to articulate the mission, telling a radio program on Tuesday that Western nations were “waging an all-out economic and financial war on Russia” to “cause the collapse of the Russian economy.” He later said he regretted his words.

Evidence of shock and anger among Russians — mostly anecdotal in a country with restricted speech and little public opinion polling — has raised the specter of mass political dissent, which, if strong enough, could threaten Mr. Putin’s grip on power...

Whatever their precise goal, sanctions have a poor record of persuading governments to change their behavior.

Or was Europe always the target?

piie.com: Will tough US sanctions deter Russian aggression in Ukraine? (https://www.piie.com/blogs/realtime-economic-issues-watch/will-tough-us-sanctions-deter-russian-aggression-ukraine)

The Russian economy would suffer from even a partial decoupling of ties with the West, but comprehensive sanctions against Russia also would hit European economies far more than US producers and consumers. The European Union's trade and investment with Russia is substantially greater than US commercial ties with Russia: EU merchandise trade with Russia is eight times greater than US trade, and EU foreign direct investment (FDI) in Russia is almost 25 times greater than US FDI.
varsity.co.uk: Sanctioning Russia has civilian casualties (https://www.varsity.co.uk/opinion/23386)

March 16 2022
Article 50 of the 1899 Hague Regulations explicitly states (https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docindex/v2_rul_rule103) that, ‘No general penalty, pecuniary or otherwise, can be inflicted on the population on account of the acts of individuals for which it cannot be regarded as collectively responsible.’ Nevertheless, in light of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict, collective punishment of the Russian population has become the preferred tool by Western politicians and businessmen.

Rather than searching for specific measures that would encourage deescalation and save lives, imprecise and dangerous policies are being pursued. Media attention has largely focused on the seizure of superyachts and the freezing of assets belonging to billionaires, but the bulk of the action lies in the ongoing effort to destroy not just Moscow’s war effort but Russia as a whole. According to British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, the objective of Western governments is ’to make sure… that the Russian economy is crippled’ with ’punishing sanctions to inflict maximum and lasting pain on Russia.’...

By cutting Russia out of the world economy, it is argued, the West can use its financial power to stop funding for the Kremlin’s military offensive and possibly even turn the Russian people against its own government, thereby bringing the conflict to a swift end.

But is there any evidence for this? It may hamper the Russian state to some extent even though it largely produces its own armaments, which will last them a while. In country after country, economic warfare has primarily hurt the average citizen. In places such as North Korea and Venezuela, such policies have little to show for the deaths of thousands they have caused in the process. Why try it again in Russia? Additionally, the truly performative nature of some of these acts, such as the banning of Russian-branded vodka or exclusion of Russian-bred cats from competitions, suggests that this is primarily about making us feel better about ourselves, as if we are doing something of value when in fact we are not.

bloomberg.com: Key Sanctions Adviser Leaves US Treasury for Private Sector Job (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-01/key-sanctions-adviser-leaves-us-treasury-for-private-sector-job)

Elizabeth Rosenberg helped shape response to Russia’s invasion
Program included price cap on Russian oil, bank asset freezes

February 1, 2024
Rosenberg, who returned to the Treasury at the beginning of the Biden administration following an earlier posting at the department, was part of a core group of officials, including former Deputy National Security Advisor Daleep Singh, who developed the economic response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including the freezing of sovereign bank assets and the price cap on Russian oil.

Rosenberg visited 25 countries, helping secure support for price constraints and convincing allies of the need for stricter adherence to sanctions and export controls on goods supplied to Russia.
Wikipedia: Elizabeth Rosenberg (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Rosenberg)

Elizabeth Rosenberg is an American government official who serve[d] as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorist Financing in the Biden administration, having been confirmed on December 18, 2021, by the United States Senate....

Rosenberg earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Politics and Religion from Oberlin College and a Master of Arts in Near Eastern studies and Arabic from New York University....

From 2013 to 2021, Rosenberg was a fellow at the Center for a New American Security (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_a_New_American_Security).

CNAS has received funding from large corporations, including defense contractors. Donors have included Northrop Grumman, Chevron, Amazon, and Google, This has prompted criticism of CNAS from left-wing media outlets, with In These Times saying in October 2019 that the organization has "long pushed Democrats to embrace war and militarism.
Wikipedia: Daleep Singh (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daleep_Singh)

Daleep Singh is an American economic advisor who was a Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics in the Biden administration and later joined PGIM Fixed Income in June 2022 as chief global economist
menafn.com: Russian economy doing better than EU equals (https://menafn.com/1107810191/Russian-economy-doing-better-than-EU-equals)

2/5/2024
In a surprising turn of events, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin announced on Friday that the country's economy has exceeded initial expectations, projecting a growth rate of up to 4 percent for the year 2023. This anticipated growth outpaces European counterparts and surpasses the global average, defying the challenges posed by Western sanctions.