Puppet MastersS


Sherlock

The unpalatable truth in Ukraine

Andrew Latham
The Hill
Mon, 06 Jun 2022 02:14 UTC
Zel/Put
© skynewsVolodymyr Zelensky • Vladimir Putin
At one point in the novel Sign of the Four, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's inimitable detective Sherlock Holmes explains and demonstrates to Dr. Watson his method of observation and deduction. Confronted with an apparently inexplicable circumstance, Dr. Watson is utterly perplexed. He simply cannot understand how the event in question came to pass, given the facts as he understands them and the laws of nature. Slightly irritated at his plodding companion's bafflement, Holmes once again shares with him the methodological key to solving all such mysteries: "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

And the truth is, once we have eliminated all the impossible scenarios, the least improbable outcome of the war in Ukraine is a Russian victory.

Note that I did not say such an outcome would be desirable. Russia's inevitable victory is anything but. Nor did I say it would be total. The outcome of this war is going to fall far short of the Kremlin's initial hopes and expectations. Nor, finally, did I say it would be without significant cost. Any conceivable Russian victory now will entail such a loss of blood and treasure that it will have to be judged Pyrrhic at best.

But it will be a victory nonetheless — and we in the West had better come to grips with that hard truth.

Let's begin by eliminating the impossible.
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Footprints

German spies believe Russia could soon seize Donbass - media


RT
Sun, 05 Jun 2022 15:04 UTC
soldiers
© SputnikRussian soldiers in Donbass, June 3, 2022
Russian troops could soon wrest the remainder of the Donbass region from Ukraine's forces, Germany's foreign intelligence agency, the BND, has warned, according to a report by Der Spiegel magazine.

The Berlin-based outlet cited recent classified BND briefings as saying that the agency "fears that Ukrainian resistance could even be broken in the next four to five weeks."
"BND analysts have noted that while the Russians are moving much more slowly than they did at the beginning of the war, they are able to conquer small bits of territory each day. The BND thinks it possible that Putin's troops could bring all of the Donbas under their control by August."
The report further said that it makes "a huge difference" to the situation on the battlefield when heavier German weapons are delivered.

The Russian forces have been steadily making gains in the Donbass, closing on the town of Severodonetsk and pushing Ukrainian troops westward.

Comment: Zelensky says Russia is expanding its control in Ukraine:
Russia is currently occupying about 20% of Ukraine's territory, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told Luxembourg's parliament. "We have to defend ourselves against almost the entire Russian army. All combat-ready Russian military formations are involved in this aggression," he said, adding that the front lines of battle stretched across more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles).


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X

Russian gas embargo not on table - EU


RT
Sat, 04 Jun 2022 12:33 UTC
Gas flame
© Getty Images/Fentino/KJN
Paolo Gentiloni has told Italian media that Brussels is seeking to hurt Russia without harming itself too much.

Discussions in the EU regarding further sanctions on Russia over its military operation in Ukraine do not include a ban on Moscow's gas, European Commissioner for Economy Paolo Gentiloni has revealed.

In an interview with Italian newspaper La Stampa published on Saturday, Gentiloni said that while no punitive measures were off the table for the European Commission, "today we are not talking about a gas blockade."

He noted that Brussels is seeking to strike the right balance between hurting Russia's economy as much as possible and minimizing the secondary effects on its members.

Gentiloni acknowledged that, despite the EU's efforts, the sanctions have taken a toll on the bloc as well. Nevertheless, he believes its members had no other choice but to respond to Russia's military campaign in Ukraine "with economic weapons." The commissioner cautioned, however, against believing the conflict can be won solely through sanctions.

Comment: Far reaching ramifications as Swiss engineering company suspends its activities in Poland:
Dozens of Polish employees took to the streets on Friday to protest the government's decision to suspend the activities of Sulzer Turbo Services due to its ties to Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg.

According to Polish media, around 160 people lost their source of income overnight due to sanctions imposed on a minority shareholder of the company. The demonstration took place in front of the Ministry of the Interior in Warsaw. The protesters were heard chanting "Sanctions for Russians, not for Poles."

Vekselberg's Renova Group controls Tiwel Holding AG which, as of May 2018, held a total of 48.82% in the Swiss industrial engineering company.

At the end of April, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki's government introduced sanctions on 35 organizations and 15 individuals from Russia and Belarus, including Vekselberg for his alleged "close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin and former President Dmitry Medvedev."

Assets in Poland related to these organizations and individuals were subsequently frozen. Following the suspension of all bank accounts, two Polish branches of Sulzer Turbo Services - in Lublin and Warsaw - have been unable to pay employees, settle obligations, or fulfill contracts.
"The Polish sanctions apply to Sulzer's minority shareholder, Viktor Vekselberg, and have been expanded over Sulzer's two Polish entities, even though Mr. Vekselberg has no control or ownership of any Sulzer entity and is deprived of all his economic rights at Sulzer."
Sulzer noted that it is not sanctioned in any other countries, it is "able to continue to develop its business globally."

In a press release sent to members of the media, the company said it had "clearly expressed its position on Russia's aggression against Ukraine" by donating over 1.4 million zlotys ($327,000) to help refugees in Poland.

One of the company's employees who took part in the protest on Friday told Gazeta Wyborcza.
"The last payment was sent to our accounts on April 10, and since then we have been destitute. Meanwhile, people have taken loans from banks, they have to pay back installments, pay for nurseries and kindergartens. After all, we have to live off something."
Protesters complain that both the Polish government and the US- and Switzerland-based Sulzer owners cut themselves off from these problems "for political reasons. They left us to ourselves," they said.

The looming economic, food, and energy crisis sparked by the Russian military offensive in Ukraine and the sanctions imposed on Moscow by the West have already prompted mass protests in several countries, including Spain, Iran, Morocco, and others.
The onus for the shut down of international business, disruption to industry, financial ramifications of this decision and disengagement of the work force is on the company, not Russia.

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Piggy Bank

The World Economic Forum's uncertain conclusion

Peter Koenig
New Eastern Outlook
Fri, 03 Jun 2022 00:00 UTC
WEF sign
On 26 May the 2022 WEF concluded not with a bang, but with a whimper. When mainstream journalists start questioning the usefulness of the WEF, the world should listen. They asked to what extent WEFs slogan, "Committed to Improving the State of the World", was relevant. Improving the state of the world - Really?

What did the WEF and all the illustrious attendants of the Davos meeting do to stop the Ukraine War? - Nothing. Zilch.

Professor Schwab, didn't even offer to mediate for Peace? Instead, he introduced President Zelenskyy of Ukraine on video, who addressed the WEF in his brown T-shirt - a brown that may otherwise and during WWII have been associated with the Nazi-color - coincidence?

In an aggressive tone, Zelenskyy demanded from the West more billions of cash and weapons to kill more Russians. He was very clear that Peace was not an option, but more war against his arch-enemy, Russia.

Winning that war is indeed not the slightest option, despite all the western propaganda. And Zelenskyy knows it. So, why continue a useless war that kills thousands and thousands of innocent people, more Ukrainians than Russians? Instead of accepting Putin's / Lavrov's proposals to talk, to negotiate? - What's the hidden agenda - or perhaps not so hidden, as NATO, not Zelenskyy is calling the shots?
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Bomb

Ukrainian military shells residential areas (VIDEOS)


RT
Sat, 04 Jun 2022 06:40 UTC
Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) shelling by the Ukrainian military
Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) was subjected to heavy shelling by the Ukrainian military late on Saturday.
The attack targeted central Donetsk, killing at least five and wounding 20.

The capital city of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) was subjected to heavy shelling by the Ukrainian military late on Saturday. Multiple districts of Donetsk came under almost simultaneous attack by Kiev's forces, which used howitzers and rocket artillery to target the city.

Donetsk was hit by more than 40 rockets launched from BM-21 Grad systems, as well as by multiple 122mm artillery shells, according to local authorities. Footage from the scene shows the munitions exploding in residential areas of the city.

Comment: See also:

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Rocket

Putin warns Ukraine against long-range missiles


RT
Sun, 05 Jun 2022 09:02 UTC
Putin missile
© UnknownPresident of Russia Vladimir Putin on the issue of missiles
Russia will hit targets it has so far not struck if long-range missiles are delivered to Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned. Putin told Russia 1 in an interview broadcasted on Sunday:
"If they are supplied, we will draw the appropriate conclusions and use our weapons, which we have enough of, in order to strike at those objects that we have not yet struck."
The Russian president noted that the shipment of US-made multiple-launch rocket systems confirmed by President Joe Biden on Tuesday is unlikely to bring anything new to Kiev's forces. The Ukrainian military already has Soviet- and Russian-designed Grad, Smerch, and Uragan systems of the same kind, he explained.
"The range does not depend on the system itself, but on the missiles that are used. And what we've learned on the matter has nothing to do with trust in the Ukrainian regime."
According to the Russian president, the whole "fuss around" the additional arms deliveries to Kiev "serves only one purpose - to prolong the armed conflict as much as possible."

Comment: Hidden Ukraine war weapons from foreign sources met the Russian fate:
Russian airstrikes have destroyed foreign-supplied tanks in the Ukrainian capital on Sunday. Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said during a regular briefing:
"Russian forces carried out airstrikes on the outskirts of Kiev, destroying the T-72 tanks and other armored vehicles that were supplied by Eastern European countries and kept in railcar repair facilities."
The spokesman did not specify where the tanks came from, but Poland previously said it had donated T-72 tanks to Ukraine.

Konashenkov said that military targets were also hit in Donbass, as well as in eastern and southern Ukraine, including multiple rocket launchers and a US-made mobile counterfire radar.

On Saturday night, the Donetsk authorities said Ukrainian troops shelled the city, killing five civilians and wounding 20.


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Calendar

Western allies meeting regularly to game out potential framework for Ukraine ceasefire as war hits 100th day

Natasha Bertrand, Katie Bo Lillis
CNN
Fri, 03 Jun 2022 02:51 UTC
Severodonetsk
© Aris Messinis/Getty Images/AFPSeverodonetsk, Donbas, Ukraine • June 2, 2022
Staring down the prospect of an extended stalemate in Ukraine, the US and its allies are placing a renewed emphasis on the need for a negotiated settlement to end the war as the conflict grinds into its 100th day with no clear victory in sight for either side.

US officials have in recent weeks been meeting regularly with their British and European counterparts to discuss potential frameworks for a ceasefire and for ending the war through a negotiated settlement, multiple sources familiar with the talks told CNN. Among the topics has been a four-point framework proposed by Italy late last month. That framework involves Ukraine committing to neutrality with regard to NATO in exchange for some security guarantees, and negotiations between Ukraine and Russia on the future of Crimea and the Donbas region.

Ukraine is not directly involved in those discussions, despite the US commitment to "nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine." US and Ukrainian officials said the US has not been pressuring Ukraine to commit to a certain plan or directly pushing them to sit down with the Russians.

Still, there is some confusion about what kind of framework the US would consider appropriate to bring to the Ukrainians for further discussion.
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Beaker

Batsh*t Crazy! Did DOD pay EcoHealth Alliance to do secret virus research on a Pacific island?


capitolsheila.substack.com
Tue, 24 May 2022 00:00 UTC
DTRA/ECOHEALTH
How a DOD grant to EcoHealth Alliance to study bats in Western Asia led to work in the Pacific Ocean on an island populated by birds!
For the birds

Deep in U.S. funding data for bat virus research is something very odd.

It looks like funds designated for bat coronavirus research in Western Asia may actually have gone to bird virus research on a Pacific island.

The group getting the funds, EcoHealth Alliance, is a familiar one to those following the COVID-19 discussions over the last two years. For years before the COVID-19 pandemic, EcoHealth sent U.S. funds to the Wuhan Institute of Virology and collaborated with Wuhan's scientists on bat virus studies.

What adds intrigue on top of intrigue is one of the funding sources of EcoHealth Alliance's Pacific-island research: the Defense Department's "Combating Weapons of Mass Destruction" account.
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Arrow Down

Poland does not belong in EU - ex-president


RT
Sat, 04 Jun 2022 15:23 UTC
Walesa
© Getty Images/NurPhotoLech Walesa
Former Polish President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Walesa has suggested that the European Union should dissolve itself to create a new bloc without Poland and Hungary.

In an interview with the Polish portal Interia about the European Commission finally approving the National Reconstruction Plan for his country, Walesa, who was president between 1990 and 1995, said that sending billions of euros in investments to Warsaw would be a "failure" for the EU. In his opinion, these funds will be stolen "anyway" and thus "without the rule of law, it makes no sense to waste billions of euros."
"The Union, instead of compromising with Poland, should dissolve itself and, moments later, create a new bloc based on Germany and France, but without Poland and Hungary."
If Poland still wanted to join the new union, Walesa argued, they would have to "accept obligations."
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Bad Guys

Putin meets with African Union leaders who agree that Russia working to open export corridors for grain blocked by Kiev & Western sanctions


Al Jazeera
Sat, 04 Jun 2022 10:44 UTC
Putin african union
© Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via APRussian President Vladimir Putin, left back to a camera, speaks greets African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat, center, and Senegalese President and the chairman of the African Union Macky Sall during their meeting in the Bocharov Ruchei residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, Friday, June 3, 2022.
The chairman of the African Union, Senegal's President Macy Sall, told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday that the fighting in Ukraine and Western sanctions had worsened food shortages, and appealed to other countries to ensure grain and fertilizer exports aren't blocked.

For his part, Putin blamed the West for emerging global food and energy crises and repeated his government's offers of safe passage for ships exporting grain from Ukraine, one of the world's leading exporters of wheat and corn.

"We will facilitate the peaceful passage and guarantee the safety of arrivals to these ports, as well as the entry of foreign ships and their movement through the Azov and Black seas, in any direction," Putin pledged, in remarks carried on Russian state TV after his meeting with Sall in the Black Sea city of Sochi.


Comment: The continued supply of Russian energy to Europe, despite the West's relentless hybrid warfare against Russia, demonstrates that Russia is not like the West, it does not attempt to destroy others through embargoes and sanctions, in addition, there's no real benefit to Russia to see neighbouring countries struggle, destabilized, and starve.


Comment: A destabilised planet confers little benefit to Russia, however apparently the establishment in the West is wiling to let the world burn in its attempts to destroy Russia and maintain its global choke hold.

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