Puppet MastersS


Bad Guys

Details of Ukraine/Russia neutrality plan revealed

Max Seddon, Roman Olearchyk, Arash Massoudi, Neri Zilber
Financial Times
Wed, 16 Mar 2022 21:38 UTC
Zelensky
© Ukraine presidency/AFP/GettyUkraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky during a meeting in Kyiv on Tuesday with the leaders of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia
Ukraine and Russia have made significant progress on a tentative peace plan including a ceasefire and Russian withdrawal if Kyiv declares neutrality and accepts limits on its armed forces, according to five people briefed on the talks.

Ukrainian and Russian negotiators discussed the proposed deal in full for the first time on Monday, said two of the people. The 15-point draft considered that day would involve Kyiv renouncing its ambitions to join Nato and promising not to host foreign military bases or weaponry in exchange for protection from allies such as the US, UK and Turkey, the people said.

However, the nature of western guarantees for Ukrainian security — and their acceptability to Moscow — could prove to be a big obstacle to any deal, as could the status of the country's territories seized by Russia and its proxies in 2014. A 1994 agreement underpinning Ukrainian security failed to prevent the Kremlin's aggression against its neighbour.

Although Moscow and Kyiv both said they had made progress on the terms of a deal, Ukrainian officials are sceptical Russia's President Vladimir Putin is fully committed to peace and worry that Moscow could be buying time to regroup its forces and resume its offensive.

"There's a likelihood this is trickery and illusion. They lie about everything — Crimea, the build-up of troops on the border, and the 'hysteria' over the invasion," said a Ukrainian source briefed on the talks.

Comment: There are reports that Ukraine has backtracked on its willingness to negotiate after the U.S. promised to send more lethal aid:



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Blue Pill

Zelensky begs US Congress and Canadian parliament for WWIII no-fly zone, asks Biden to be 'leader of the world'

Libby Emmons
The Post Millennial
Wed, 16 Mar 2022 21:24 UTC
zelensky
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the US Congress on Wednesday morning to encourage that body to authorize greater sanctions and defenses of Ukraine.

As Zelensky's image came up on screen in Congress, the joint session of Congress stood and cheered as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi congratulated him for his "courageous leadership."


Comment: So happy to have a leader willing to fight the Russians down to the last Ukrainian.


Zelensky said he was proud to greet Congress from Ukraine's capital city of Kyiv, saying that the city "doesn't give up." He said the population has been "resisting the Russian aggression for eight years."

"Right now, the destiny of our country is being decided," he said.

"Russia has attacked not just us... it went on a brutal offensive against our values, basic human values, it threw tanks and planed against our freedom against our right to live freely in our own country," he said through a translator, the American ambassador to Ukraine.


Comment: You know, basic human values like rampant government corruption, Ukrainian neo-fascism, racial purity myths, and virulent anti-Russia sentiment - just your basic human values.


He appealed to congress members' love and dedication to freedom, and American's wish to live freely.

"In your great history," he said, "you have pages that would allow you to understand Ukrainians. Understand us now," he said.

Comment: You're no "Archduke Ferdinand", Zelensky - hardly worth starting a world war over. (He made a similar appeal to the idiots in Canada's parliament.)

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Arrow Up

Petrodollar cracks: Saudi Arabia considers accepting Yuan for Chinese oil sales

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Tue, 15 Mar 2022 12:00 UTC
Aramco
© Reuters/RRAramco Facility, Saudi Arabia
One of the core staples of the past 40 years, and an anchor propping up the dollar's reserve status, was a global financial system based on the petrodollar. This was a world in which oil producers would sell their product to the US (and the rest of the world) for dollars, which they would then recycle the proceeds of in dollar-denominated assets and, while investing in dollar-denominated markets, explicitly prop up the USD as the world reserve currency. All of this would support the standing of the US as the world's undisputed financial superpower.

Those days are coming to an end.

Comment: 'When this crisis is over'; It's becoming fairly evident that the establishment in the West appear intent on using continual crises, such as the proxy-war on Russia, as justification for the eventual the destruction of the societies they control, in order to facilitate the 'Great Reset' the Build Back Better borgs have been bleating on about for the last few years.

Since they can't beat Russia and China it seems they're going to cut the West off from much of Eurasia, despite apparently having no obvious contingency plans for all the critical commodities their nations need, and the fact that much of the rest of the planet aren't intending to go along with the agenda. Perhaps the establishments pathological state really has them believing that their citizens will be content to 'own nothing [freeze in winter and suffer rolling blackouts and food shortages] and be happy'?: Also check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: Russian Operations in Ukraine Proceeding as Planned, But Risk of War Contagion Grows



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Wolf

Zelensky says NATO 'never looked weaker', Ukraine relying on 'own strength', as US pledges $13 billion in aid


RT
Tue, 15 Mar 2022 16:50 UTC
zelensky in hiding
© AP / Ukrainian Presidential Press OfficeUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's looking a little rough.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned NATO on Tuesday, furthering his criticism of the alliance in the wake of Russia's assault, claiming the US-led military bloc is not committed to the Article 5 collective defense clause.

Speaking in a video address, the Ukrainian leader claimed that the mutual defense article has never looked "as weak as it is today." He argued that NATO would likely fail to protect its own members if one came under assault from an adversary, such as Russia.


Comment: It's true, NATO is hardly a truly coherent and collinear organisation, particularly because the US puts its own, nefarious, interests before all others. That said, NATO would pull together to defend themselves against attack. However, as it is, both US-led NATO and Russia know that any direct clash between the two would likely result in mutually assured destruction for all involved. That's why the US has chosen to launch its war on Russia via its vassal, Ukraine.


NATO has refused to send troops directly to defend Ukraine, as it is not part of the military alliance, and warned that its involvement would lead to direct confrontation with Russia. Zelensky suggested, however, that the bloc would respond "in the same way" if Russia attacked a member state.


Comment: The US & NATO are doing everything but sending in their own men (at least in significant numbers).


Comment: So, NATO lied to Ukraine for years; well, that's NATO, and more the fool for anyone that believed otherwise. Note that during the most recent talks between Ukraine and Russia, Russia reiterated its terms for ceasing its incursion, and one of them was that Ukraine guarantee it will never join NATO, and so the timing of these comments from Zelensky is notable; is he perhaps preparing to make that concession on behalf of his masters in the US?

Even so, the US just approved $13 BILLION in 'aid' - probably both lethal and non-lethal - so it's unlikely that they're about to give up using their vassal for their proxy-war just yet.

And check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: Russian Operations in Ukraine Proceeding as Planned, But Risk of War Contagion Grows



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Snakes in Suits

NATO Press Conference with Sec. Gen. Jens Stoltenberg prior to the Extraordinary meeting of NATO Ministers of Defense


NATO
Tue, 15 Mar 2022 17:46 UTC
Stoltenberg
© NATOSecretary General Jens Stoltenberg

The following is the entire transcript of the recent press conference. The views and reactions are startling as NATO feeds its own frenzy:


As delivered by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, his opening remarks:

"Good afternoon. NATO Defence Ministers will meet tomorrow at a defining moment for our security.

"President Putin's brutal invasion of Ukraine is causing death and destruction every day. It has shocked the world. And shaken the international order. For months, we have exposed Russia's long list of lies. They claimed they did not plan to invade Ukraine. But they did. They claimed they were withdrawing their troops. But they sent in even more. They claim to be protecting civilians. But they are killing civilians.

"Now they are making absurd claims about biological labs and chemical weapons in Ukraine. This is just another lie. And we are concerned that Moscow could stage a false flag operation, possibly including chemical weapons.

Comment: NATO may very well up the ante of involvement in Ukraine, as fear mongering resets the stage.

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Target

Romney's "Treason" smear of Tulsi Gabbard is false and noxious, but now typifies U.S. discourse

Glenn Greenwald
greenwald.substack.com
Tue, 15 Mar 2022 00:00 UTC
RomneyGabbard
© Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images/Wikipedia Creative CommonsSen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) • Lt. Col. Tulsi Gabbard, former Congresswoman from Hawaii
The Founders limited "treason" in the Constitution due to grave concerns it would be weaponized to criminalize dissent: exactly how the term is now routinely used.

The crime of "treason" is one of the gravest an American citizen can commit, if not the gravest. It is one of the few crimes other than murder for which execution is still a permissible punishment under both U.S. federal law and the laws of several states. The framers of the U.S. Constitution were so concerned about the temptation to abuse this term — by depicting political dissent as a criminalized betrayal of one's country — that they chose to define and limit how this crime could be applied by inserting this limiting paragraph into the Constitution itself; reflecting the gravity and temptation to abuse accusations of "treason," it is the only crime they chose to define in the U.S. Constitution.

Article III, Section 3 of the Constitution states:
Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.
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X

Ukraine admits it won't be part of NATO


RT
Tue, 15 Mar 2022 16:12 UTC
Zelensky
© UnknownVolodymyr Zelensky addresses the UK Joint Expeditionary Force meeting
NATO allies don't want to see Ukraine among their ranks and Kiev realizes that, President Volodymyr Zelensky told Western leaders on Tuesday. Now Kiev seeks protection from individual member states.

Zelensky, during a video call the UK Joint Expeditionary Force, a meeting of the leaders of Nordic and Baltic nations hosted by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, said:
"We've been hearing for years that the [NATO] doors were supposedly open, but now we know we won't enter there. That is the truth, and we must acknowledge that. I am glad that our people are beginning to understand that and to rely on ourselves and those partners that aid us."
The Ukrainian leader apparently included the people he was addressing on the list of good friends of Ukraine, despite most of them leading NATO allies. He said the military organization was in no position to offer the security guarantees that his country wants to receive from other nations. But individual states could help Ukraine even with NATO doors closed to it, he suggested, and have been doing so for eight years of what he described as a Ukrainian war against Russia.

Comment: Zelensky bites back at NATO:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned NATO on Tuesday, furthering his criticism of the alliance in the wake of Russia's assault, claiming the US-led military bloc is not committed to the Article 5 collective defense clause.

Speaking in a video address, the Ukrainian leader claimed that the mutual defense article has never looked "as weak as it is today." He argued that NATO would likely fail to protect its own members if one came under assault from an adversary, such as Russia.

Leaders from NATO countries have repeatedly rejected any suggestion that they are not committed to the Article 5 clause that guarantees the mutual defense between member states. Speaking in Lithuania last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken described America's commitment to Article 5 as "sacrosanct."

The latest criticism from Zelensky came as the Ukrainian leader seemingly conceded that his country will never join NATO, stating that his citizens have "realized" they won't be permitted to be part of the alliance.
Searching for a substitute? The guilt trip continues:
Ukraine needs to make a "defensive alliance" with a country armed with nuclear weapons like the UK, the top security official in Kiev Alexey Danilov said in a radio interview on Tuesday, dismissing as useless most international organizations set up after WWII.

"The whole world already understands what is happening in Ukraine. Unfortunately, not all countries react appropriately," Danilov, who chairs the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine, told Kiev's NV Radio.

Condemning countries that care more about money than "democratic values," Danilov said some Western states are on Kiev's side, but others "left us hanging at a tough moment," and their names will live in infamy.

Danilov dismissed a "bunch of international organizations created after the Second World War" that "don't affect anything, but only express concern."

"Ukraine needs to make a new defensive alliance, which must include a country with nuclear weapons. Today that is Great Britain," he said.
Contrary to NATO's rhetoric and Ukraine's belligerent rhetoric, there are glimmers of progress:
Alexey Arestovich, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, has said that Moscow and Kiev could sign a peace deal in the coming weeks.
"I believe, most likely, we'll have a peace agreement by May, in early May, or maybe even earlier. We'll see how it goes"
He added that in the best-case scenario, a deal on the withdrawal of Russian troops could even be reached in "one to two weeks."

The adviser said the fourth round of talks, conducted on Monday via video link, was somewhat more "constructive." Mykhailo Podolyak, another Ukrainian presidential adviser, said negotiators had taken a "technical pause" until Tuesday for "clarification of individual definitions."

In a daily video address on Tuesday, President Zelensky claimed that during 19 days of warfare, Russia has lost 80 warplanes, as well as "hundreds of tanks and thousands of other units of equipment." The Russian Defense Ministry, meanwhile, reported on Monday evening that it had destroyed nearly 1,300 Ukrainian tanks and other armored vehicles, nearly 600 different artillery pieces, and 145 drones.

The Russian Defense Ministry said it had continued destroying radar stations and weapons depots on Monday. The Ukrainian General Staff reported on Tuesday morning that the Russian ground offensives had "no significant success."

Both sides have remained tight-lipped about their casualties. Zelensky acknowledged on Saturday that around 1,300 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed. Moscow released its last casualty update on March 2, saying that 498 soldiers were killed and nearly 1,600 wounded.
Retaliation and punishment to stoke the situation, someone must pay:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a law that allows for the jailing of anyone helping Russia amid its ongoing military offensive against Ukraine, the deputy speaker of Ukraine's parliament said.

Speaking to Ukraina 24 on Tuesday, Alexander Kornienko argued that the punishment should also apply to around 20 "unpatriotic" MPs, who he said have fled the country in the face of the Russian attack that began on February 24.

The law, which was passed by parliament in early March, provides for up to 15 years in jail for anyone helping "an aggressor state," including making public statements in its support. This also includes voluntarily holding leadership positions in "illegal government bodies" on "temporarily occupied territories."

Those found guilty of helping the enemy can be jailed for life if their actions lead to deaths or "other severe consequences."

Ukraine's State Investigative Bureau said last week that 38 high treason cases were opened against officials and police officers who defected to or worked with Russian troops.


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Gold Coins

Say hello to Russian gold and Chinese petroyuan

Pepe Escobar
The Cradle
Tue, 15 Mar 2022 00:00 UTC
gold coins
© The Cradle
It was a long time coming, but finally some key lineaments of the multipolar world's new foundations are being revealed.

On Friday, after a videoconference meeting, the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and China agreed to design the mechanism for an independent international monetary and financial system. The EAEU consists of Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus and Armenia, is establishing free trade deals with other Eurasian nations, and is progressively interconnecting with the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

For all practical purposes, the idea comes from Sergei Glazyev, Russia's foremost independent economist, a former adviser to President Vladimir Putin and the Minister for Integration and Macroeconomics of the Eurasia Economic Commission, the regulatory body of the EAEU.

Glazyev's central role in devising the new Russian and Eurasian economic/financial strategy has been examined here. He saw the western financial squeeze on Moscow coming light-years before others.
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Better Earth

Putin: West's global political and economic dominance ends


RT
Wed, 16 Mar 2022 14:06 UTC
Putin
© Kremlin Press Service/Handout/Anadolu Agency/Getty ImagesRussian President Vladimir Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin has opined that the latest rounds of unprecedented sanctions imposed on Russia by the US and its allies over the Kremlin's military campaign in Ukraine, mark the end of an era. According to Putin, from now on the West will be losing its "global dominance" both politically and economically.

Speaking on Wednesday, the Russian head of state proclaimed that the
"myth of the Western welfare state, of the so-called golden billion, is crumbling." Moreover, it is the "whole planet that is having to pay the price for the West's ambitions, and its attempts to retain its vanishing dominance at any cost."
The president predicted food shortages across the world as Western sanctions against Russia are adversely affecting the entire global economy.
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Arrow Up

Send in the Clown

The Good Citizen
Substack
Wed, 16 Mar 2022 19:13 UTC
Zelensky Addresses Oligarchs!
© Substack/The Good Citizen
The clown of Ukrainian Oligarchs and American politicians' sons is wrapping up his transatlantic tour of victimhood and grievance through the sacred halls of empire corruption. The western empire loves a victim with an evil oppressor to paint their animosities upon, especially if he's a white male from Russia.

The clown used all the usual American buzzwords to stroke the neoconservative and neoliberal war mongers of the blood thirsty western hyena war den known as District of Counterglobalwarfareintoperpituity. He gave them the full reach around experience complete with Pearl Harbor and 9/11 references and even threw in a Martin Luther King Dream reference just before they climaxed.

War and death and suffering really gets them off when they're not transferring the next ten generations' of American taxpayer money to the corporate assholes who pay them back millions to get them elected.

The poor janitors of the Congressional hyena auditorium will be cleaning for weeks. The blood that was dripping from their mouths will require all the seats be reupholstered. Of course, they'll just bill the taxpayers again.

For them it was worth it. It was worth every minute of the Clown's performance. They acted like they didn't know him, like he was a stranger in a strange land, like half of them haven't visited him or him them in their hyena dens, on the cocktail circuit, at the cocaine clubs in Miami.

The clown played his role well. He pretended he didn't know his audience. He made it clear that his handlers want more missiles and rockets and toys that will require more thank-you cards from Putin.

The clown put on his happy face by saying the skies should be closed over Ukraine. How noble. How heroic.

He's not only willing to sacrifice a few thousand more Ukrainian civilians, he's willing to turn the entire continent into rubble for the sake of his ego and pride. Both of which are directly connected to the aims of global management who own him and are negotiating a continuation of the war by all means because it is they who need a world war from which nothing will be left standing. Ashes and dust, the perfect conditions from which to 'build back better'.
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