Putin Recognizes Donbass Republics, Sends Russian Military to 'Denazify' Ukraine

[4d candidate]

Chelsea football club has been seized as part of the sanctions against Russia.

MSN

I think that many of the Russian oligarchs who stole billions of dollars from Russia and its citizens in the 1990s and then went to the West consuming the fruits of the labor of 150 million poor people will return back to Russia as prodigal sons, or at least with some of the stolen cash to their country of origin to reinvest and multiply their profits. The West's hatred of Russia and the Russians in the world over the armed conflict in Ukraine may cause them to make accelerated decisions about securing the value of their capital holdings. And in this way, I don't know if in a cosmic or Putinic way we are just slowly moving towards harmony in our part of the Universe that is striving for balance.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

 

[ApotheosisMMC.]

I looked at the Zvezda website and found this

Решительность и профессионализм: МО РФ рассказало о новых подвигах российских военных на Украине

This thing TOS-1A really shoots thermobaric projectiles.
Here we have another serious inconsistency formed. Putin used to openly say that conscripts were not involved in the operation, only contract soldiers, but yesterday it turned out that they were involved and even some of them were captured. The authorities have recognized this. Putin ordered conscripts to be removed from Ukraine and to find those guilty of non-execution of the order.

I'll add it just in case. In the photo above, the building of the Government of the Russian Federation. If you look from this handle, then on the right, right across the street is the American Embassy

Spoiler: Russian spelling

Эта штука действительно стреляет термобарическими снарядами. Тут у нас еще одна серьезная нестыковочка образовалась. Путин раньше открыто говорил, что в операции не участвуют солдаты срочной службы, только контрактники, однако вчера выяснилось, что участвуют и даже кое-кто из них попал в плен. Власти это признали. Путин распорядился срочников убрать из Украины и найти виновных в неисполнении приказа.
На всякий случай добавлю. На фото выше здание правительства РФ. Если смотреть с этого ракурса, то справа, прямо через дорогу располагается Американское посольство

In any case they are not prohibited against military targets despite the propaganda; As long as it doesn't affect civilians.

The plot just thickened

https://twitter.com/x/status/1501186294961082369

It seems that Russia wants to go down a similar line and they said that in certain laboratories they were working with coronaviruses from bats and also how to transmit biological weapons through these animals.

https://russian.rt.com/ussr/news/973891-biolaboratorii-ukraina-eksperimenty-koronavirus

The Ministry of Defense announced the conduct of experiments with coronavirus in the biological laboratories of Ukraine​

In biological laboratories on the territory of Ukraine, experiments were carried out with samples of coronavirus from bats. This was stated by the official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Major General Igor Konashenkov.

“In the biolaboratories created and funded in Ukraine, as the documents show, experiments were carried out with samples of bat coronavirus,” he said.
The Russian Defense Ministry said earlier that more than 30 laboratories in Lviv, Kharkiv and Poltava were working with dangerous infectious agents as part of a US-led military biological program.
The Pentagon said that this information is not true.

Spoiler: Text in Russian

В биологических лабораториях на территории Украины проводились эксперименты с образцами коронавируса летучих мышей. Об этом заявил официальный представитель Минобороны России генерал-майор Игорь Конашенков.

«В созданных и финансируемых на Украине биолабораториях, как показывают документы, проводились эксперименты с образцами коронавируса летучих мышей», — рассказал он.
В российском Минобороны ранее заявили, что более 30 лабораторий во Львове, Харькове и Полтаве проводили работы с опасными возбудителями инфекций в рамках военно-биологической программы под руководством США.
В Пентагоне сообщили, что данная информация не соответствует действительности.

https://russian.rt.com/ussr/news/974084-minoborony-rossiya-myshi-ssha

CBRN: US labs near Russia's borders develop bioweapon delivery via bats​

Igor Kirillov, Chief of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Forces of the Russian Armed Forces, spoke about the R-781 project, where, according to him, bats are considered as carriers of potential agents of biological weapons.

He drew attention to the fact that research is being carried out in close proximity to the borders of Russia - in the areas of the Black Sea coast and in the Caucasus.
Kirillov added that the project is being implemented with the involvement of not only Ukrainian, but also a Georgian biological laboratory controlled by the Pentagon, in cooperation with the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and the US Geological Survey.
Earlier it was reported that the Russian Ministry of Defense became aware of the details of the "UP-4 project", which was implemented with the participation of the United States and laboratories from Kiev, Kharkov and Odessa .
Russian Permanent Representative to the OPCW Alexander Shulgin commented on RT reports on the activities of biological laboratories in Ukraine that participated in the American military biological program .
Meanwhile, State Department spokesman Ned Price said the United States does not have chemical or biological laboratories in Ukraine .
According to Price, the US is in full compliance with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons and Biological Weapons Convention, and does not develop or possess such weapons anywhere.

Spoiler: Text in Russian

Начальник войск радиационной, химической и биологической защиты ВС России Игорь Кириллов рассказал о проекте Р-781, где, по его словам, в качестве переносчиков потенциальных агентов биологического оружия рассматриваются летучие мыши.

Он обратил внимание на то, что исследования проводятся в непосредственной близости от границ России — в районах черноморского побережья и на Кавказе.
Кириллов добавил, что проект реализуется с привлечением не только украинских, но и подконтрольной Пентагону грузинской биолаборатории в сотрудничестве с Политехническим институтом Вирджинии и Геологической службой США.
Ранее сообщалось, что российскому Министерству обороны стали известны подробности «проекта UP-4», который реализовывался с участием США и лабораторий из Киева, Харькова и Одессы.
Постпред России при ОЗХО Александр Шульгин прокомментировал RT сообщения о деятельности биологических лабораторий на Украине, которые участвовали в американской военно-биологической программе.
Между тем пресс-секретарь Госдепартамента Нед Прайс заявил, что Соединённые Штаты не имеют химических или биологических лабораторий на территории Украины.
По словам Прайса, США полностью соблюдают свои обязательства по Конвенции о химическом оружии и биологическом оружии, нигде не разрабатывают такое оружие и не обладают им.

Regarding the controversial bombed hospital:

RT на русском

A fake about “a Russian air strike on a maternity hospital in Mariupol, where women, children and doctors remained” spread through the Western media and social networks .

In fact, the "pregnant footage" was staged, @warfakes reports .

As the Ukrainian users themselves noticed, the girls filmed in the ruins were played by the same beauty blogger - Marianna Podgurskaya. She is dressed up in various shots.

She could not be in the maternity hospital at the time of the strike - according to local residents, the medical facility was recently evacuated and used by Azov nationalists as a fortified facility.

In the video posted from inside the building, there are no people, no traces of blood - only shards of glass and collapsed walls.

Staged photos of the "victim" got into The Times, Daily Express and other publications.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation has repeatedly stated that they do not strike at civilian infrastructure facilities . Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called this fake information terrorism.

Spoiler: Text in Russian

По западным СМИ и соцсетям разлетелся фейк об «ударе российской авиации по роддому в Мариуполе, где остались женщины, дети и врачи».

На самом же деле, «кадры с беременными» были постановкой, сообщает канал @warfakes.

Как заметили сами же украинские пользователи, девушек, заснятых на руинах, играла одна и та же бьюти-блогер — Марианна Подгурская. На разных кадрах она переодета.

Находиться в роддоме в момент удара она не могла — по словам местных жителей, медучреждение недавно было эвакуировано и использовалось националистами «Азова» как укреплённый объект.

На видео, опубликованном изнутри здания, нет ни людей, ни следов крови — только осколки стёкол и разрушенные стены.

Постановочные фото «пострадавшей» попали в The Times, Daily Express и другие издания.

В Минобороны РФ не раз заявляли, что не наносят удары по объектам гражданской инфраструктутры. Представитель МИД Мария Захарова назвала этот фейк информационным терроризмом.

 

[Ca.]

French media is challenged by a savvy French audience.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1501613082094805001

Today we know that these laboratories exist. The real question is therefore: what would have prevented the Kiev government from using these bacteriological weapons knowing that they have been starving and bombarding the Russian-speaking populations for years?

Opinion:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1501938140960804877

https://twitter.com/x/status/1501957499448180745

https://twitter.com/x/status/1501589333404491781

 

[Benjamin]

From Sputnik, 2 hours ago. Now that I can see it, it's hilarious! How to go from goosestepping to boot-licking in 8 years.

US Reportedly Weighs Easing Venezuela Sanctions After Ban on Russian Energy Imports​

WASHINGTON, (Sputnik) - The United States is ready to relax economic restrictions on Venezuela after banning the imports of Russian oil and other energy products, but the final decision will depend on the outcome of talks between Caracas and the opposition, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing a senior administration official.

Talks about the oil trade are taking place on a broader level and American officials, who visited Venezuela on Saturday, did not commit to any easing of sanctions, the report said.

Over the weekend, a US delegation paid a rare visit to Venezuela to discuss a range of issues, including energy security and the health of Americans detained in the Latin American country, the White House said.

Late Tuesday night, President Joe Biden announced that Venezuela released US citizens Jorge Fernandez and Gustavo Cardenas, who was one of six Citgo executives arrested in the country in 2017.

A senior US administration official told reporters that Venezuela did not offer Washington oil in exchange for Americans detained in the country.

As a result of the US sanctions from 2014 to 2020, Venezuela lost 98.6% of all foreign exchange earnings, with the allocations of the PdVSA (Venezuela's state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela) to the country's central bank over the past seven years decreasing from $56.6 billion to $73.4 million per year, or more than 99%. In 2019, the US Treasury took action to prevent Venezuelan creditors from taking control of PdVSA assets, among which was a US-based and most valuable asset, oil refinery Citgo with multiple locations in the country.

 

[Laura]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1501936987820888065

Twitter allows death threats against Russians in new Ukraine war policy - Geopolitical Economy Report

Twitter updated its terms of service to allow users to call for the deaths of Russian politicians and soldiers, due to the war in Ukraine. This comes soon after US Senator Lindsey Graham called for assassinating President Vladimir Putin, and Facebook greenlighted support for Ukrainian Nazis.

multipolarista.com

Eurasia​

Twitter allows death threats against Russians in new Ukraine war policy

Twitter updated its terms of service to allow users to call for the deaths of Russian politicians and soldiers, due to the war in Ukraine. This comes soon after US Senator Lindsey Graham called for assassinating President Vladimir Putin, and Facebook greenlighted support for Ukrainian Nazis.

By
Benjamin Norton

Published
2 hours ago

Twitter has made an exception to its rules that now allows for users to make death threats against Russians, due to the war in Ukraine.

The Daily Beast quietly reported on March 8 that it had obtained an internal Twitter memo that states, “Based on the current safety guidelines on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, content wishing, hoping or calling for serious harm against leaders of the Russian government, military leaders, soldiers or para-military fighters will result in No Action.”


That is to say, now that Western governments are sending billions of dollars of weapons to Ukrainian insurgents and essentially waging a war on Russia, the social media company gave its users the green light to discuss killing Russian politicians and soldiers.


Like most major Silicon Valley corporations, Twitter is a US government contractor, and has worked with the Department of Homeland Security while taking money to promote US state propaganda outlets.

This policy update came after prominent right-wing US Senator Lindsey Graham used Twitter to call for the assassination of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Republican politician tweeted on March 3, “Is there a Brutus in Russia? Is there a more successful Colonel Stauffenberg in the Russian military? The only way this ends is for somebody in Russia to take this guy out. You would be doing your country – and the world – a great service.”

Graham, a major ally of former president Donald Trump, was echoing similar comments he had made in an interview with conservative talk show host Sean Hannity on Fox News.

The Daily Beast reported on March 4 that a Twitter spokesperson had told the website “that Graham’s posts did not violate the platform’s rules against violent threats and incitement of physical harm. Therefore, no action will be taken against the tweets.”

Twitter’s decision to allow death threats against Russians comes after Facebook reversed its ban on users praising Ukrainian Nazis.

Facebook is also a US government contractor, and has worked with the Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security.

The social media giant Meta, which owns Facebook, said it now allows posts praising Ukraine’s explicitly neo-Nazi and white-supremacist Azov regiment because it is part of the country’s national guard and is fighting Russia.

 

[youlik]

Today we know that these laboratories exist. The real question is therefore: what would have prevented the Kiev government from using these bacteriological weapons knowing that they have been starving and bombarding the Russian-speaking populations for years?

I once read about a similar laboratory in Georgia. Everything is arranged there in such a way that the local authorities, even the authorities, cannot even go into there if they do not want to quarrel with the Americans. I think that in Ukraine it is arranged in a similar way. Americans use these places as a testing ground and do not want to share the results of research.

Spoiler: Russian spelling

Я когда то читал про аналогичную лабораторию в Грузии. Там все устроено так, что местные, даже власти не могут туда даже зайти, если не хотят поссориться с американцами. Думаю, что на Украине устроено подобным образом. Американцы используют эти места как полигон и результатами исследований делиться не хотят.

 

[Tyomodachi]

I once read about a similar laboratory in Georgia. Everything is arranged there in such a way that the local authorities, even the authorities, cannot even go into there if they do not want to quarrel with the Americans. I think that in Ukraine it is arranged in a similar way. Americans use these places as a testing ground and do not want to share the results of research.

Not only Georgia, I have heard many times about laboratories in Kazakhstan and probably other countries.

I found this post with ousted Prime Minister of Ukraine Azarov from 2020

We were overthrown because we wanted to close the Pentagon's biolaboratories

In his Facebook, the ex-premier emphasized that his government had nothing to do with the opening of these centers. The decision to start their work was made by Yulia Tymoshenko's cabinet.

And an agreement was signed between the US Department of Defense and the Ministry of Health of Ukraine on the establishment of such laboratories in August 2005 under the presidency of Viktor Yushchenko, when Tymoshenko was already retired.

"What to say? Of course, not a single sovereign and independent country that thinks about its people and the future will let other people's uncles into the issues of biological security of the population"

He notes that the goals for which these laboratories were created are unknown to this day, since all their activities are classified, and Ukrainian citizens are not even allowed to work closely.

“Since 2005, the United States has established laboratories in Odessa, Vinnytsia, Lvov, Kherson, Ternopil and a number of other settlements in Ukraine. I emphasize that these are the laboratories of the American military "

According to him, after his government came to power in 2010, negotiations were launched with the Americans on this issue. In 2012, Kyiv started talking about granting Ukrainian scientists access to these centers or their complete closure. At that time, inspections of the activities of these laboratories were initiated.

“Something like they showed us something, but what we saw did not suit us. In 2013, we sent an official letter to the US Government to terminate this agreement. What happened next, you yourself know: a coup d'état, Maidan, which, in fact, was organized by the Americans. Now these laboratories continue to work in Ukraine. Nobody controls them, they flourish"

Нас свергли за то, что мы хотели закрыть биолаборатории Пентагона — Азаров: EADaily

В своем Facebook экс-премьер подчеркнул, что его правительство никакого отношения к открытию этих центров не имело. Решение о начале их работы принималось кабинетом Юлии Тимошенко. 27 апреля 2020. EADaily

eadaily.com

 

[Benjamin]

From Sputniknews 5 hrs ago. Emphases by Sputniknews.

Russian MoD on US Biolabs: One Goal Was to Create Bioagents That Can Target Certain Ethnic Groups​

The Russian Defence Ministry earlier announced that the United States had poured money into biological research facilities in Ukraine, alleging they may have been used in order to create biological weapons and conduct bat coronavirus-related experiments.
Among the goals of the biological research laboratories in Ukraine suspected of having been funded by the United States was the creation of bioagents that would be capable of targeting certain ethnic groups, the Russian Defence Ministry revealed on Thursday.

"The available documents confirm numerous cases of the transfer of biological samples of Ukrainian citizens abroad. With a high degree of probability, we can say that one of the tasks of the United States and its allies is the creation of bioagents that can selectively affect various ethnic groups of the population", said Igor Kirillov, the head of the Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Protection Troops of the Russian Armed Forces.

Kirillov said that 350 cryocontainers with blood serum samples were transferred from the Public Health Centre of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine to a reference laboratory for infectious diseases at Australia's Doherty Institute under the pretext of determining antibody titers.

The Russian Defence Ministry has obtained documents confirming that the high-risk biological research in Ukraine is led by US specialists. According to Kirillov, the documents also showed that the US Defence Department funded the biological research in Ukraine.

He also said that Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland "indirectly" confirmed American participation in the Ukrainian biological research when she said that Washington was concerned about the Ukrainian biolabs being taken over by the Russians.

The biological research funded by the US in Ukraine, according to Kirillov, included the projects "UP-2, UP-9, UP-10, aimed at studying the pathogens of anthrax and African swine fever". The UP-4 project, in particular, is said to have been in development in laboratories in Kiev, Kharkov, and Odessa, and was scheduled until 2020.

Studying the spectrum of pathogens spread by bats
© Photo : Russian Defence Ministry

Per Kirillov, the Pentagon was also interested in insect vectors that can spread dangerous infectious diseases.

"The analysis of the received materials confirms the fact that more than 140 containers with ectoparasites of bats - fleas and ticks - were transferred from the biological laboratory in Kharkov abroad", he elaborated.

Peculiarities of conducting military-biological research
© Photo : Russian Defence Ministry

Most of the documentation related to the research has already been evacuated from Ukraine by the Americans, Kirillov noted.

"According to the available information, the Americans have already managed to evacuate most of the documentation from the laboratories in Kiev, Kharkov, and Odessa, including databases, biomaterials, and equipment to the Lvov Research Institute of Epidemiology and Hygiene and to the American Consulate in Lvov. It is possible that part of the collection will be moved to Poland", he said.

Additionally, biological laboratories in Ukraine and Georgia are working on a project involving bats as carriers of bioweapons, Kirillov said.

Similar concerns were earlier voiced by Major General Igor Konashenkov, the spokesman of the Russian Defence Ministry. He said that the US-funded biological labs in Ukraine were conducting experiments with bat coronavirus samples and studying the possible spread of pathogens via wild birds, migrating between Russia, Ukraine, and other countries in the region.

Study of the possibility of spreading especially dangerous pathogens through migratory birds
© Photo : Russian Defence Ministry

White House press secretary Jen Psaki has denied that the United States is engaged in the development of biological and chemical weapons in Ukraine.

"This is preposterous. It's the kind of disinformation operation we've seen repeatedly from the Russians over the years in Ukraine and in other countries, which have been debunked, and an example of the types of false pretexts we have been warning the Russians would invent", she said.

According to Psaki, Washington is in "full compliance" with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological Weapons Convention and has no plans to develop or possess such weapons anywhere.

Victoria Nuland, whose statements were referred to by Igor Kirillov, said on Tuesday that "Ukraine has biological research facilities" and noted that Washington was "working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces should they approach". She, however, did not elaborate on whether the US participated in the biological research in Ukraine.

 

[Cosmos]

George Galloway smells a rat:

 

[Aeneas]

Interesting article on the Saker:

The opinion of a professional about the special operation in Ukraine (MUST READ!) | The Vineyard of the Saker

A bird's eye view of the vineyard

thesaker.is

I think the author is onto something that if anything, Russia has underestimated the incredible power of the Western propaganda machine. They literally turned Kiev into a movie set, Wag-the-dog-style, and went all-out on the information warfare front.

At the beginning, it seems the Russians just didn't care, but then realized how important it is and started going out on Twitter and so on. While they probably don't care much about Western public opinion at this point, they DO care about what people in Ukraine thing, because this has very real consequences for their military strategy. Maybe people from Russia can give some insights, but it seems to me that they even realized that the propaganda is very dangerous on the home front as well and more effective than they might have thought (even a minority of Russians who are swayed by Western propaganda efforts could cause serious trouble). This would also explain why they went so hard not only against Western media in Russia, but against Russian liberal "Trojan horse media" as well.

Thank you for that link. It is an interesting article and it sounds legitimate even if it just a perspective.

He makes at the end some observations about the Ukrainian people and that some of what is happening now is their cross to bear, not the Russians. As he says: "Criminal indifference and complicity is also a punishable act. Not by us, by life itself."
Here is the last bit of the article, where some of these observations are found:

Let the Ukrainians pickle themselves in the cities, digesting the Banderites who have settled in and the “territorial battalions” fooled by Nazi propaganda. Who can no longer cope with looters there, never mind the “reflection of aggression”. This is not our problem now, no matter how cruel the words may sound.

The final turning point will come after the cleansing of Kharkov, blocking or taking Odessa. All the heroic self-defense forces of other settlements will dissolve by themselves, obvious signs of a humanitarian catastrophe are already visible in the surrounded cities. The fog, when it is completely fake, subsides most quickly in the dark, invigorating coolness and on an empty stomach.

The population is not morally ready to stand to the last. Ukrainian social networks are already full of messages from places where local administrations remained after the arrival of the Russian Army, food is being delivered smoothly, street lighting is on, local police control the streets. With each new day, the fake hysteria will subside, the thought will come to the drugged heads: what next?

Will the encircled Banderites begin to commit atrocities in their impotent anger? Well, Ukrainians should also carry this cross on their own. Of course, we will try to do everything to rescue children and the elderly. But Putin will not allow to bear sensitive losses, this is not that war.

It was not us who raised the fiend of hell, nurtured it, allowed it to seize power and hostages in the person of an entire nation. It was not us, who armed them and sent them to kill Donbass, taught them to hate Russians. Criminal indifference and complicity is also a punishable act. Not by us, by life itself.”

I agree that in some places it is very cynical, but this is only from the point of view of a civilian. Any military action –that is a different reality…

A commenter to the article sums up a few reasons why Russia didn't do this back in 2014 as many armchair generals at the time wanted.

Cosimo on March 10, 2022 · at 1:02 am EST/EDT
What was not ready in 2014:
1. Nuclear deterrence, as you wrote.
2. Modernization of nearly every aspect of Russia’s military forces for intervention in the Ukraine.
3. Learning from the great tragedy in Syria, how to cope with Banderas and takfiris without losing the civilian population. Chechnya was so different that its tragic suffering did not give lessons for the Ukraine.
4. The cancer of Ukraine’s rulers was not yet obvious to the people of Ukraine. The Rada had no yet passed the law so Ukraine’s land can be sold off to foreigners. As bad as the drop in living standards was from 1990 to 2014, it had to go much lower. The hope of the EU saving Ukraine had to die, and not because of any Russian opposition but rather because the EU had to show its own selfish and rapacious face. Patriotic Ukrainian cultural and literary figures like Oles Busina had not yet been murdered by the Nazis, so Ukrainians could still believe Nazi ideology was compatible with a Ukraine worth living in. The people of Russia had not yet extinguished the irrationality of the anti-Russian liberals and Russians had not yet 100% understood the costly lessons of the tragic 1990’s.
5. I assume, since I have no hard information, that certain internal processes needed to happen within Russia, to prepare for life under the sanctions and to prepare a full range of economic survival strategies.
6. The Chinese people needed to also draw all the important lessons, to get their own military ready for whatever might happen, and to prepare for a better economic future for the world.
7. The world needed to see what was happening, and to draw its own lessons. Among the many items, was the shoot-down of MH17 and the massive lies to cover up the truth. Before it happened, no one would have believed the “black box” flight data recorders would never be released to the public, no one would have believed the governments would prevent the families of the victims from opening the coffins to see the bodies and to have autopsies, and no one would have believed the crash site would not be investigated and all the pieces could sit in the field for years, not retrieved like any other civil aviation crash site. Such possibilities would have been dismissed out of hand, since governments – democracies like the Netherlands or Australia – would obviously not do such dirty tricks, or so we thought at the time.
8. The West had to rot enough to become less of a threat to Russia. No one could have predicted the US political process would be exposed as a fraud, but in hindsight it’s not a big surprise. And many of the EU countries had to undergo a similar process. In particular, in Italy, MS5 had to be exposed as a dead end, along with other “alternative” parties, and a banker had to be installed to run the country, so no one has any illusions about who their masters are. In France, the Yellow Vests could not have been predicted in 2014, but they stepped forward, and France is no longer a monolith.
I could probably dig up more stuff, but this is plenty. I myself thought, back in 2014 – 2015, that Russia needed to do more to help, but no … Hindsight gives 20-20 vision. As I wrote a few hours ago, the only mistake was for Russia to positively recognize the legitimacy of the election fraud in May, 2014. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs should have said the truth, and wished “Good Luck” to the people of that tragic land.

 

[Laurentien2]

Zelenskiy Saves His Butt, While Russian Forces Advance: Fourteenth Day Of Military Operations In Ukraine

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ZELENSKIY SAVES HIS BUTT, WHILE RUSSIAN FORCES ADVANCE: FOURTEENTH DAY OF MILITARY OPERATIONS IN UKRAINE​

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After the lightning victories of Russian troops on the territory of Ukraine in the first days of the military operations, Russian forces and their allies are now focused on performing tactical tasks on the separate battlefields. There are fewer and fewer statements about Russian Armed Forces taking control over the cities, but the strategy of the Russian military leadership is becoming more and more distinct, at least in the short term.
While securing the occupied territories, Russian troops are primarily aimed at taking control over the areas in Eastern Ukraine, which Russia has recognized as territories of the DPR and LPR. First of all, this includes the moping-up in Mariupol and the encirclement, followed by the destruction of the AFU grouping in the Donbass region.
After a series of failed attempt to organize humanitarian corridors for civilians from the blockaded city of Mariupol, the joint Russian and DPR forces entered the city and began the moping-up operations.
The DPR PM is operating in the Vostochny district on the left bank of the city, where the main forces of the Ukrainian nationalist battalions are deployed. Russian forces entered the city from the northern and eastern directions.
On March 9, the DPR People’s Militia reported the destruction of the base of the Azov nationalist battalion in the region. About 30 vehicles, 5 armored vehicles, an ammunition and fuel depots were reportedly destroyed.
Ukrainian militants are hiding in the residential areas, on the roofs, in kindergartens, hospitals, putting at risk the lives of local civilians.
At the same time DPR forces began the moping-up of the town of Volnovakha to the north of Mariupol, which was blockaded from the eastern, northern and southern directions. DPR forces have taken control over the biggest part of the town, clashes continue in the western districts.
In its turn, the grouping of the LPR troops continue the encirclement of the city of Severodonetsk, which risks to suffer from similar street clashes and humanitarian catastrophe as Mariupol in the coming days.
Fighting continue in the area of the city of Severodonetsk, and south of the city near the village of Popasnaya. However, no significant advances of the LPR forces were reported in these areas.
The LPR soldiers reportedly managed to repel the UAF from the village of Olginka. If confirmed, this is an important step towards the village of Bakhmut and the cut off the road to the city of Severodonetsk.
On the other front lines the situation is relatively stable.
Russian forces are steadily encircling the capital of Ukraine, without shelling on the city. Following the recent advance of the Russian grouping from the eastern direction, clashes continue with the UAF continue in the areas of Brovary and Boryspil in the east and in the area of Fastov in the southwest.
In the North-East of the country, the situation remains unchanged. Trench clashes continue on the outskirts of Kharkiv.
Russian forces are not in a hurry to enter the city of Mykolaiv and are strengthening their positions around the city. Sporadic clashes are reported in the area. Odessa is waiting for the landing of the Russian assault forces.
Meanwhile, neither Kiev nor Moscow announce the upcoming next round of negotiations, after the parties failed to reach any significant agreements on March 7, and agreements on providing humanitarian corridors collapsed due to Kiev’s inability to control the fighters of nationalist battalions in the blockaded cities. Zelenskiy, in turn, takes advantage of the diplomatic pause and continues his PR campaign, heroically declaring his desire to negotiate personally with Putin, at the same time delaying the official negotiation process between the countries.

 

[Cosmos]

OK, the latest from Gonzalo is a must-watch/listen to understand what the sanctions mean for the world economy. It probably will be brutal across the West. Time to make some good decisions in order to survive financially!

I've gone through most of the video and Gonzalo makes some very interesting remarks backed by data and logical reasoning about the financial implications of the sanctions and the inevitable counter-sanctions that will follow, and what it entails for the future of the West.

He starts off by sharing some key data about the commodities and agricultural products controlled by Russia. Between Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, they control:

• 35% of potash, a fertiliser component
• 15% of urea, a fertiliser
• 25% of wheat
• 25% of barley
• 15% of corn

The three countries also represent:

• 50% of Europe’s food
• 40% of Europe’s gas
• 50% of Europe’s oil

The sanctions do not hurt anyone in the higher echelons of the Russian leadership as they can redirect the gas and other commodities to China and South-East Asia while in return buying products and services from these countries that they usually get from Europe and the US, even if the quality may not be as good. But it's something they don't really need as these goods are not essential or existential to the country. However, Russia’s food and energy is existential for Europe. You will always need food, electricity, oil and gas for heating and gasoline. In fact, Hungary recently pulled all the its grain exports from the market.

It's remarkable how Russia was cut off almost completely from the West which is still getting existential goods it needs from Russia whereas Russia didn’t loose anything it existentially needed. If you antagonise the seller and the seller has other customers, who gets screwed? Russia has yet to pull the trigger on its response to the sanctions, but they will pull the trigger and have already started. Recently, Russians shut down a major natural gas pipeline to Europe accounting for 15% of the gas flowing to Europe, i.e. 6% of Europe’s total gas needs and this is just a warning sign.

Gonzalo also remarks that renewable energy is not predictable. Renewable energy is only viable when local Governments give huge incentives to producers, such as subsidies, tax breaks or regulatory breaks, something Europe has scaled back on substantially.

He argues that central banks will have to raise interest rates to offset the high inflation which will push real estate prices down across Europe. Europe will cash out hard assets in order to keep pace with commodity prices, something similar to what happened in Chile in 1970-73 when the Leninist regime crashed the economy which led to hyperinflation before the military took over. People had to sell assets for cash to buy food.

He then explains the difference between Europe, primarily a service-based economy and Russia with its manufacturing sector. It’s easier to fire people from a service economy but harder in manufacturing. Labour flexibility also means recession can hit a lot faster. If you have high inflation and people receive the same salary but have to pay more for food and gasoline, you will lose revenue and will have to fire people. The latter start selling their possessions to get cash in order live, chewing through all their savings. On the flip side, if you are a producer of commodities, you end up getting a big influx of money and the hard money and commodities that Russia holds will be backing the ruble.

Towards the end, he talks about the role of the US dollar as a reserve currency, arguing that if Russians come up with a currency clearing house where you don't need to rely on the dollar to trade goods, there will be less demand for it and therefore less need for US treasury bonds. So how will the US finance its treasury funding and the build back better program? They will have to print more dollars to pay for the goods internally, but when more dollars are printed in the US with no demand for it outside of the country, the value of the dollar inflates. That’s how hyperinflation starts.

Great summary, thank you! I would only add that he gave some concrete investment advice, although we probably should take it with a big grain of salt since nobody can really predict such things, especially the time frames. He basically says that as the Dollar loses value and Russia stops exporting its crucial commodities, investors will flee all risky investments that have been so popular lately (including crypto!) and put their money into low-risk things, especially commodities. You can clearly see how commodities already skyrocket. Silver and Gold are of course also good options. He also predicts that the Russians will manage to stabalize the Ruble, and it might even go way up if Russia manages to sell its oil and gas in Rubles. So, according to him, if you have invested into riskier things, it might be a good time to shift it to commodity ETFs or stock of big commodity corporations or the like.

He also said fill up your gas tanks, like right now. Because prices will only go up from now on. He says that it will take some time for the real catastrophe, like hyper-inflation and off-the-charts gas prices, to unfold because so many people don't realize yet what's going on. But again, we should take all of that with a grain of salt. The future has a way of smacking us with totally unexpected things...

Yes, I think, logically speaking, that Gonzalo's predictions sound pretty realistic, although I also think that in reality things could play out differently (as is often the case). One point Gonzalo didn't take into account, for example, is that Putin might not be so quick and hasty to completely cut Europe's and America's (western) energy, food and economic supply. I think all cards are on the table, but I also think that Putin knows what pulling that plug could mean for normal people in the West, and he might be generous (yet again) to not let the worst happen for the sake of those people. Then again, he could do it and it would be perfectly right and justified. And they also might have a longer strategy. In any case, things are really getting very interesting!

 

[Cosmos]

Interesting article on the Saker:

The opinion of a professional about the special operation in Ukraine (MUST READ!) | The Vineyard of the Saker

A bird's eye view of the vineyard

thesaker.is

I think the author is onto something that if anything, Russia has underestimated the incredible power of the Western propaganda machine. They literally turned Kiev into a movie set, Wag-the-dog-style, and went all-out on the information warfare front.

At the beginning, it seems the Russians just didn't care, but then realized how important it is and started going out on Twitter and so on. While they probably don't care much about Western public opinion at this point, they DO care about what people in Ukraine thing, because this has very real consequences for their military strategy. Maybe people from Russia can give some insights, but it seems to me that they even realized that the propaganda is very dangerous on the home front as well and more effective than they might have thought (even a minority of Russians who are swayed by Western propaganda efforts could cause serious trouble). This would also explain why they went so hard not only against Western media in Russia, but against Russian liberal "Trojan horse media" as well.

Thank you for that link. It is an interesting article and it sounds legitimate even if it just a perspective.

He makes at the end some observations about the Ukrainian people and that some of what is happening now is their cross to bear, not the Russians. As he says: "Criminal indifference and complicity is also a punishable act. Not by us, by life itself."
Here is the last bit of the article, where some of these observations are found:

In my view, the likelihood that Putin and co. were not prepared for, or underestimated "the incredible power of the Western propaganda machine" is on the lower side. I don't think they were taken by surprise there. They have noted and followed the craziness (not only in the west) very closely for years (often by necessity), therefore I don't think they are or were surprised about it now. IMO they likely expected that what they will do will cause a lot more of that nonsense and much more furiously as before. My hunch is that they simply decided to ignore it to some extent (beforehand, already) and instead focus more on practical reality on the ground.

 

[Aeneas]

George Galloway smells a rat:

Wow, Galloway is on fire and brings up some good points worth sharing. One of those the import of 450 ISIS fighters from Idlib in Syria to fight along side the Nazis in Ukraine and with the support of the West. As he says, they will be in a street near you when the conflict is over. And well armed to sow more chaos in Europe. I think that was mentioned in the transcripts some years ago, as a possibility.

 

[bjorb]

Wow, Galloway is on fire and brings up some good points worth sharing. One of those the import of 450 ISIS fighters from Idlib in Syria to fight along side the Nazis in Ukraine and with the support of the West.

The Empire is literally throwing all its proxies at Russia in Ukraine.