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Washington's relentless drive for war in East Ukraine

Mike Whitney
Counterpunch
Fri, 06 Feb 2015 00:00 UTC
Image
© Unknown

The real reason Washington feels threatened by Moscow
"I want to appeal to the Ukrainian people, to the mothers, the fathers, the sisters and the grandparents. Stop sending your sons and brothers to this pointless, merciless slaughter. The interests of the Ukrainian government are not your interests. I beg of you: Come to your senses. You do not have to water Donbass fields with Ukrainian blood. It's not worth it."

- Alexander Zakharchenko, Prime Minister of the Donetsk People's Republic
Washington needs a war in Ukraine to achieve its strategic objectives. This point cannot be overstated.

The US wants to push NATO to Russia's western border. It wants a land-bridge to Asia to spread US military bases across the continent. It wants to control the pipeline corridors from Russia to Europe to monitor Moscow's revenues and to ensure that gas continues to be denominated in dollars. And it wants a weaker, unstable Russia that is more prone to regime change, fragmentation and, ultimately, foreign control. These objectives cannot be achieved peacefully, indeed, if the fighting stopped tomorrow, the sanctions would be lifted shortly after, and the Russian economy would begin to recover. How would that benefit Washington?

It wouldn't. It would undermine Washington's broader plan to integrate China and Russia into the prevailing economic system, the dollar system. Powerbrokers in the US realize that the present system must either expand or collapse. Either China and Russia are brought to heel and persuaded to accept a subordinate role in the US-led global order or Washington's tenure as global hegemon will come to an end.

Comment: In Ukraine one thing seems clear: Washington has created another quagmire/tinderbox par excellence. And the next shoe could drop far sooner than this summer, as the article suggests. The only question that remains at this point seems to be just how far the U.S. is willing to go to achieve its objectives for world hegemonic power. We are watching the moves and the countermoves - with no end in sight -and many millions of lives hanging in the balance.

See also: Ukraine crisis analysis: Hollande/Merkel trip suggests situation dire - peace prospects dim

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Crusader

Lavrov's speech at the Munich Conference

Sergey Lavrov
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation
Sat, 07 Feb 2015 23:25 UTC
lavrov

Lavrov answering questions at the Munich Security Conference.
Remarks and replies to media questions by Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov, during the discussion at the 51st Munich Conference on Security Policy, Munich, February 7 2015

Ladies and gentlemen,

Mr. Wolfgang Ischinger included in the agenda the topic of "the collapse of world development". It is impossible not to agree that the events unfolded not by the optimistic scenario. But you cannot accept arguments of some of our colleagues that a sudden, rapid collapse of the world order, which existed for decades, had occurred.

On the contrary, the events of the past year have confirmed the validity of our warnings regarding deep, systemic problems in the organization of European security and international relations in general. I would like to remind about the speech by President Putin spoken here eight years ago.


Comment: You can watch the rest of the Q&A in the video above. It must be difficult - to say the least - for Lavrov to have to field such asinine questions from uninformed people. His patience knows no bounds.

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Mr. Potato

Saakashvili's bizarro world: U.S.-armed Ukraine could 'capture all of Russia'


Sputnik
Sat, 07 Feb 2015 22:52 UTC
Saakashvili
© AP Photo/ Virginia Mayo
Mikhail Saakashvili, the former president of Georgia, told Ukrainian television that with the appropriate knowledge, skills and weaponry, the Ukrainian military could "capture the whole of Russia."

Former Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili told Ukrainian television on Saturday that a properly armed and prepared Ukrainian army has the "spirit" to capture all of Russia.

In an interview for Ukraine's Channel 24, Saakashvili noted that "our officers, who were trained by the Americans, are now training your military. They say that the spirit of Ukrainian soldiers is the best in the world, and that if they were given the necessary knowledge, skills and weapons, they would be able to capture the whole of Russia."

Comment: Saakashvili seems to have left objective reality behind for a world more to his liking. Could he possibly be more wrong? No, apparently Ukraine, whose armed forces currently can't even defeat some local homegrown militias, has what it takes to do what no country has done before: take on Russia, and win. Dream on, Mikhail.

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2 + 2 = 4

Putin is not autistic - Putin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov


news.com.au
Fri, 06 Feb 2015 22:31 UTC
Putin asperger's
© AFP
Angry ... Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman has rejected a report that suggested he has Asperger’s Syndrome.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman has angrily dismissed a Pentagon study that claimed the Russian leader had Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism.

"That is stupidity not worthy of comment," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Gazeta.ru news website.

His comments came after USA Today reported that a 2008 study carried out by an internal Pentagon think tank, the Office of Net Assessment, suggested that Mr Putin has Asperger's syndrome, giving him a need to exert "extreme control" on his surroundings and is uncomfortable with social interaction.

The Pentagon played down the study, saying it apparently never made its way to the desk of the defence secretary or other top decision makers.

Comment: It is utterly stupid. Especially given the fact that, in reality, Putin is eloquent, polite, courteous, and socially adept. This is what happens when people without any psychological depth attempt to analyze someone who has it.

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SOTT Logo Radio

The Truth Perspective: Weekly Broadcast - 7 February 2015


Sott.net
Sat, 07 Feb 2015 19:00 UTC
Sott Talk Radio logo
Broadcasting from deep in the heart of the American Empire, join your host Harrison Koehli and fellow Sott.net editors as they discuss everything from current events and the latest machinations and manipulations of the global elite to history, science, and religion, and how it all fits together.

This week, join our hosts as they discuss the latest events in Ukraine, and some history that may help put it all in context. History may not repeat, but it certainly does rhyme!

The Truth Perspective is brought to you by the SOTT Radio Network and SOTT.net, your one-stop source for independent, unbiased, alternative news and commentary on world events.

Live every Saturday from 2-4pm EST / 11am-1pm PST / 8-10pm CET.

Running Time: 01:44:00

Download: MP3

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Snakes in Suits

That didn't take long: The first lie about Moscow meeting

Pepe Escobar
Russia Insider
Sat, 07 Feb 2015 17:59 UTC
Image

Brig. Gen. Jack D. Ripper from 'Dr. Strangelove'
RUSSIAN AGGRESSION, RUSSIAN AGGRESSION, RUSSIAN AGGRESSION, RUSSIAN AGGRESSION, RUSSIAN AGGRESSION, RUSSIAN AGGRESSION, RUSSIAN AGGRESSION, RUSSIAN AGGRESSION, RUSSIAN AGGRESSION

Not much has filtered out of the Medusa Merkel/General Hollande/Vlad tense threesome in Moscow. And yet John Kerry, as usual, is already lying through his teeth about their trip to the Kremlin.

He said Putin had sent "a couple of ideas" to France and Germany, and Merkel/Hollande were responding. Nonsense: Merkel/Hollande - in desperation - went to Moscow to talk to Putin because Putin has the ONLY possible plan to stabilize Ukraine - and that has been the case for months now.

Otherwise, there WILL be war, which is exactly what Empire of Chaos masterminds in D.C. want.

Comment: It can't be any clearer what the US wants in Ukraine: war. Even Biden has chirped in that Ukraine has the right to defend itself against Russian aggression.

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Megaphone

NATO sending "lethal military aid" to Ukraine is all about them losing the war they launched

Finian Cunningham
Strategic Culture Foundation
Thu, 05 Feb 2015 16:10 UTC
Image
© Reuters/Maks Levin
In yet another sleight of hand, Western news media are this week spinning the notion that the US and NATO are «considering sending lethal military aid» in order «to defend» the Kiev regime from «Russian aggression».

That's a pathetic joke. The real explanation is that NATO is losing its war in Ukraine and needs to send more military fuel in order to salvage the mounting losses.

First, the Western media slyly acknowledge that US-led NATO has so far «only dispatched non-lethal military equipment». That rhetorical ruse is used to pretend that non-lethal material is somehow not really military grade. But whether non-lethal or lethal, military equipment is military equipment. So, let's just dispense with that bunch of semantics. The US and its public-relations alter-ego, NATO, are already deeply involved militarily in Ukraine, supporting the Kiev regime whose 10-month offensive on eastern Ukraine has resulted in over 5,300 deaths.

Secondly, the notion that Washington is «reconsidering» whether to send «lethal aid», as reported in the New York Times on Monday, is another risible illusion. The US and its NATO allies are already sending lethal military equipment to the Ukraine. US President Obama said this week that «pouring more weapons into Ukraine» will not resolve the conflict. While German Chancellor Angela Merkel also vowed that Germany would not be supplying weapons to the Kiev regime, adding that the conflict cannot be solved by military means. Both Obama and Merkel are either woefully deceptive or living in cloud-cuckoo land. Probably both.

Let's cut to the chase. NATO is at war in Ukraine and has been so for the past year, if not covertly for the past two decades.
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Heart - Black

U.S. deports Professor Sami Al-Arian, Palestinian civil rights activist who defeated terrorism charges

Murtaza Hussain and Glenn Greenwald
The Intercept
Thu, 05 Feb 2015 15:51 UTC
Image
© Kevin/Wolf
In 2003, Sami Al-Arian was a professor at the University of South Florida, a legal resident of the U.S. since 1975, and one of the most prominent Palestinian civil rights activists in the U.S. That year, the course of his life was altered irrevocably when he was indicted on highly controversial terrorism charges by then Attorney General John Ashcroft. These charges commenced a decade-long campaign of government persecution in which Al-Arian was systematically denied his freedom and saw his personal and professional life effectively destroyed.

Despite the personal harm he suffered and the intense surveillance to which he had been subjected since as early as 1993, the government ultimately failed to produce any evidence of Al-Arian's involvement in terrorist activities, instead relying at trial overwhelmingly on the pro-Palestinian writing and speaking he had done over the years.

His ordeal finally ended last night, 12 years after it began, as Al-Arian was deported yesterday at midnight (EST) from the United States to Turkey. His deportation was part of a 2006 plea bargain to which he acquiesced in order, he told The Intercept last night while at the airport preparing to leave the U.S., to "conclude his case and bring an end to his family's suffering." Al-Arian added: "I came to the United States for freedom, but four decades later, I am leaving to gain my freedom."

A 2003 Justice Department investigation led by Ashcroft allegedly implicated Al-Arian and 8 other men in supporting Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a group which had been designated a terrorist organization under the Clinton administration for carrying out bombings and other attacks in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian Territories. Ironically, Al-Arian had been a prominent supporter of Clinton, and even met Clinton in the White House. He once remarked to The Intercept that the multiple occasions when he stood in very close proximity to the U.S. President should, by itself, demonstrate how ludicrous were the "terrorist" allegations. In 2000, he supported the Bush campaign (after Bush denounced racial profiling).

Comment: This case serves as a reminder to anyone who might consider speaking out against the government and against what is happening to Palestinians. The U.S. government can and will do whatever it takes to silence those who speak up. The U.S. has not been a democracy for quite a long time, and the experience of Al-Arian should only confirm that. This man's life was ruined, and in the end he did nothing wrong except speak up for those who can't, to defend the innocent.

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Bullseye

Chechen leader Kadyrov says US & Western Intel "spawned" Islamic State


RT
Fri, 06 Feb 2015 04:12 UTC
kadyrov
© RIA Novosti/Said Tsarnaev
Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov
Ramzan Kadyrov has accused the US and other Western nations of "spawning" the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorist group in order to incite hatred towards Muslims all over the world.

"Today, no one doubts the fact that this group has been spawned by America and other Western countries in order to spark hatred of Islam in the hearts of people all over the planet, to stop the process of mass conversion to Islam," the head of the Chechen Republic wrote on his Instagram page.

Kadyrov also suggested the West was backing IS in order to distract public attention from numerous problems in the Middle East, in the hope of destroying Islamic nations from inside.

Comment: Who is behind the Islamic State? That's the question we'd all like answered. Does Kadyrov have the answer?

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Network

Absurd! EU wants to snoop on Skype to combat terrorist threat


RT
Fri, 06 Feb 2015 03:47 UTC
Image
© Reuters/Paul Hackett
The EU agency for judicial cooperation says the bloc needs to develop a common approach to lawfully intercept services like Skype and Viber, to help keep track of European militants arriving back home from the Middle East.

The measures were outlined in a Eurojust report, which was discussed by a committee of the European Parliament on Thursday, said Reuters after they saw the report.

Following deadly terror attacks in Paris last month, EU nations are worried about the danger of radicalized and trained Islamists returning from the Middle East. Militants have often used social networks to spread ideas, jihadist propaganda and recruit new members.

"The use of the internet for terrorist purposes creates an additional burden for investigations and prosecutions of foreign fighters," the Eurojust report said.

The report touched on the fact that "the interception of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communications (e.g. Skype, Viber, etc.) is problematic and seriously hinders relevant investigations." It believes that "a harmonized approach at EU level may be necessary to address technical difficulties and legal challenges in the gathering and admissibility of e-evidence."

Comment: Considering other causes of death, terrorism is pretty low on the list. So all these terrorism prevention techniques will gain nothing and only cause you to loose more of your rights.

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