Puppet MastersS


Broom

Russia carries out airstrikes on ISIS hideouts following attack in central Syria


SouthFront
Sat, 05 Mar 2022 16:07 UTC
syria russia bomb air strike
FILE PHOTO
On March 4, ISIS terrorists ambushed a vehicle of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in the eastern Homs countryside in Syria's central region.

The terrorists targeted the vehicle as it was passing on a road near the area of Sabkha al-Meleh, to the east of the ancient city of Palmyra. According to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, three soldiers of the SAA were killed in the ambush. These claims are yet to be verified.

Following the attack, warplanes of the Russian Aerospace Forces carried out a series of airstrikes on hideouts of ISIS in the outskirts of the town of al-Resafa in the southern countryside of Raqqa.

Sabkha al-Meleh ambush was ISIS' first attack in central Syria in a while. The terrorist group's cells in the region have been inactive for the last few weeks as a result of a series of operations by government forces and their allies.

Comment: Meanwhile Russia is also routing US-backed terrorists out of Ukraine: NewsReal: Crossing the Rubicon



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Russian Flag

Escobar: How Russia will counterpunch the US/EU Declaration Of War

Pepe Escobar
Zero Hedge
Sat, 05 Mar 2022 07:00 UTC
Putin etc
© Getty ImagesPresident of Russia Vladimir Putin and Military Brass
Only self-sufficiency affords total independence. And the Big Picture has also been keenly understood by the Global South...

One of the key underlying themes of the Russia/Ukraine/NATO matrix is that the Empire of Lies (copyright Putin) has been rattled to the core by the combined ability of Russian hypersonic missiles and a defensive shield capable of blocking incoming nuclear missiles from the West, thereby ending Mutually Assured Destruction (M.A.D.)

This has led the Americans to nearly risk a hot war to be able to place hypersonic missiles that they still don't have on Ukraine's western borders, and so be within three minutes of Moscow. For that, of course, they need Ukraine, as well as Poland and Romania in Eastern Europe.

In Ukraine, the Americans are determined to fight to the last European soul - if that's what it takes. This may be the last roll of the (nuclear) dice. Thus the next-to-last gasp at coercing Russia into submission by using the remaining, workable American weapon of mass destruction: SWIFT.

Yet this weapon can be easily neutralized by rapid adoption of self-sufficiency.
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Chess

Putin ushers in the new geopolitical game board

Tom Luongo
Gold Goats 'N Guns
Fri, 25 Feb 2022 00:00 UTC
ChessPutin
© Derek Bacon/The EconomistThe Long Game
Up until February 23rd, 2022, the powerful countries of the world played a very rarified game.

Too many people try to analyze geopolitics like it is a game of chess. Move, counter-move. Push a pawn? Threaten a knight, that type of thing. It's easy to understand and makes for good copy.

In the past I've tried to liken it to a multi-player version of Go, with anywhere from four to 6 different colored stones on the board trying to take territory. It was a better metaphor but nearly impossible to describe adequately. In fact, at times, it was exhausting.

The reality is that neither of these metaphors are explanatory.

Because the only accurate model for geopolitics is actually Calvinball.

You know that game. That's the one from Calvin & Hobbes.

Contrary to your memory of the legendary comic strip, there were rules to Calvinball that went something like this: Calvin got to make the rules up as he went along. In geopolitics it pretty much comes down to whoever is the strongest player got that power.

Comment: See also:

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Oil Well

Putin knows West's economic strength is its weak spot

David McWilliams
davidmcwilliams.ie
Fri, 04 Mar 2022 00:00 UTC
PutinEU
© FT montage/Reuters/EPA/AFP/Getty ImagesRussian President Vladimir Putin and sanction targets
In time of war, talking about money may seem distasteful but the flow of finance, capital and the direction of trade will have as much bearing on the endgame in Ukraine as the movements of tanks.

The entire western strategy against Russia is an economic one. The economic implications of the current conflict can be broken down into three broad areas.

The first concerns financial markets over the next few weeks and months, particularly commodity prices. In economics terms, Russia is a large petrol station, with a productive wheat farm attached to it. As well as being the second largest oil exporter in the world, Russia is the world's largest wheat exporter. The prices of energy and food, two of the main components in the West's rate of inflation, will rise. Allied to commodities will be all sorts of financial market gyrations as the news from Ukraine ebbs and flows.

The second area that will be critical over the coming months is the extent to which economic and financial sanctions will deter Moscow. There are various types of restrictions, beginning with the mafia boss approach, where the West treats Putin like a mafia don and makes life uncomfortable for the Russian oligarchs whom he has fostered and who in turn bolster him.
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Fire

Russia: Ukrainian nationalists behind nuclear plant fire

Al Mayadeen
almayadeen.net
Fri, 04 Mar 2022 14:02 UTC
SNA fighters
© Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty ImagesFighters of Social Nationalist Assembly, part of the ultra-nationalist Right Sector party
Russian Defense Ministry Spokesperson Igor Konashenkov pointed out Friday that Kiev wanted to accuse Russia of creating a radiation focus at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (NPP).

On Thursday, the Russian National Guard thwarted a terrorist act by Ukrainian extremists at the Zaporizhzhia NPP, Konashenkov announced, noting that the national guard took control of the NPP to avoid a recurrence of extremist attacks on it. The Ministry accused Ukraine of attempting to implement a monstrous provocation on the territory adjacent to the NPP.

In particular, while patrolling the protected area adjacent to the station, a mobile patrol of the Russian National Guard was attacked by a group of Ukrainian nationalists.

Heavy fire was opened from small arms from the windows of several floors of an educational and training complex located outside the power plant. The firing points of the Ukrainian nationalist group were suppressed by return fire from small arms.

Leaving the building, the group set fire to the building.

Comment: Forget protecting Ukrainian citizens from radiation poisoning! Framing Russia is the priority.

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Rocket

Ukrainian army's missile hits nationalist battalion's headquarters in dispute


TASS
Fri, 04 Mar 2022 04:48 UTC
Azov Battalion
© Sergei Supinsky/Getty ImagesUkraine-based Azov Battalion
The nationalist battalion Azov refused to obey orders from and coordinate actions with the Ukrainian army's command, deputy commander of the DPR militia Eduard Basurin informed.

The Ukrainian army' conflict with the nationalist detachment Azov has resulted in a missile strike against the nationalists' command center in the southwest of Mariupol, the deputy commander of the Donetsk People's Republic's militia, Eduard Basurin, told a news briefing on Friday.
"Contradictions between the Ukrainian army's command and the nationalist groups have developed into a direct confrontation. After the commander of the operational tactical group East, Lieutenant General Sodol, suffered lethal wounds in a clash with Azov militants, who also refused to obey any orders from and coordinate operations with the Ukrainian army's command. The headquarters of the special purpose detachment Azov in the southwest of Mariupol was hit by the Ukrainian army's missile Tochka-U."
Basurin also said on the Rossiya-1 television channel that the Tochka-U missile, fired by the Ukrainian army, destroyed 10 vehicles and left 20 soldiers of the Azov detachment killed.
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SOTT Logo Radio

SOTT Focus: NewsReal: Crossing the Rubicon


Sott.net
Sat, 05 Mar 2022 00:00 UTC
graham putin assassination NewsReal
© Sott.net
Carthago Delenda Est - 'Carthage must be destroyed' - was how Cato the Elder signed off senatorial speeches during his push for war between Rome and Carthage. In our time, American senators are demanding similarly 'total solutions' for Russia as a country in response to Vladimir Putin 'crossing the Rubicon' and invading Ukraine.

Effectively 'de-platformed' from the entire communications network of the West, Russia - and Russians - are being subject to a form of collective punishment that its architects pray will result in Putin's assassination. In the meantime, the Russian government says that its military intervention in Ukraine is going as planned, and will be completed.

What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? We're going to find out soon enough! In this NewsReal, Joe and Niall disperse the fog of disinformation cloaked around Russia's war in Ukraine, explain why Rome-Caesar comparisons are more apt than people realize, demonstrate conclusively that Ukrainian state civilian and military institutions have been taken over by actual Nazis, and forecast the potential non-linear effects on global trends.

Correction: Since airing, it has come to our attention that the video of Red Cross crates full of US$ (01:43:45) allegedly 'found by Chechen forces in Ukraine' are in fact crates of US$ smuggled into Libya in 2011.
Running Time: 01:55:02

Download: MP3 — 79 MB

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Quenelle

Musk's Starlink rejects governments' requests to ban Russian news: "Won't do it unless at gunpoint"

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Sat, 05 Mar 2022 18:23 UTC
An astronomer in the Netherlands captured the Starlink train
© Vimeo/SatTrackCam LeidenAn astronomer in the Netherlands captured the Starlink train zooming across the sky shortly after its launch.
Moscow-backed news outlets across the European Union were banned this past week. Across the pond, RT America pulled the cord, ceased all operations, and laid off most of its staff due to "unforeseen business interruption events." The Orwellian measures that governments impose to silence opposition and control narratives is the same playbook used during the virus pandemic.

In the 'fog of war,' it's important to hear both sides so one can make an informed decision -- even though the other side might be wrong (or lying) -- the ability to objectively hear both sides leaves room for debate.
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Bullseye

Russia and Ukraine 2

Patrick Armstrong
Russia Observer
Fri, 04 Mar 2022 17:55 UTC
russia ukraine usa conflict
© Andrianocz | Dreamstime.com

Comment: Read Part 1 of Patrick Armstrong's analysis here.


Tactics, Strategy and Operations

So far the Russian military operation in Ukraine has been a reconnaissance in force preceded by the destruction of the supplies and headquarters of the Ukrainian Armed Forces by standoff weapons. The object being to suss out where the Ukrainian forces are, to surround them, to check existing Russian intelligence against reality and, at the same time, destroy known headquarters, air and naval assets, supplies and ammunition depots. And, perhaps, there was the hope that the speed and success (Russian/LDPR forces dominated an area of Ukraine about the size of the United Kingdom in the first week) would force an early end (aka recognition of reality).

At the moment they are readying for the next phase. The long column that so obsessed the "experts" on CNN is the preparation for the next phase. And that is this: "You didn't get the hint, so now we have to hit you". The fact that the column has been sitting there indicates that the Russians know they have complete air superiority. Secondly it is a message to the Ukrainian armed forces that it's over, give up. (And one should never forget that the Russians/Soviets have always been the best at strategic deception, so who knows what's actually there versus what the images show?)
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Arrow Up

US Senate votes to end COVID-19 national state of emergency

Libby Emmons
Post Millennial
Thu, 03 Mar 2022 21:45 UTC
fauci
The Senate GOP successfully passed a resolution on Thursday to end the national state of emergency inspired by the Covid-19 pandemic. This marks an end to the emergency declaration that was enacted in 2020.

This comes as much of the nation opens up fully abandoning mask and vaccine mandates, dispensing with social distancing, and commences to live life as normal.

Comment: Let's wait and see shall we... See also: WHO moving forward on GLOBAL vaccine passport program

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