Puppet MastersS


Extinguisher

Redefining success in Ukraine

Richard Haass, Charles Kupchan
Foreign Affairs
Fri, 17 Nov 2023 00:00 UTC
Ukraineflag
© Thomas Peter/ReutersCommemorating fallen Ukrainian soldiers • Kyiv • October 2023
Ukraine's counteroffensive appears to have stalled, just as wet and cold weather brings to a close the second fighting season in Kyiv's effort to reverse Russian aggression. At the same time, the political willingness to continue providing military and economic support to Ukraine has begun to erode in both the United States and Europe. These circumstances necessitate a comprehensive reappraisal of the current strategy that Ukraine and its partners are pursuing.

Such a reassessment reveals an uncomfortable truth: namely, that Ukraine and the West are on an unsustainable trajectory, one characterized by a glaring mismatch between ends and the available means. Kyiv's war aims — the expulsion of Russian forces from Ukrainian land and the full restoration of its territorial integrity, including Crimea — remain legally and politically unassailable. But strategically they are out of reach, certainly for the near future and quite possibly beyond.

The time has come for Washington to lead efforts to forge a new policy that sets attainable goals and brings means and ends into alignment. The United States should begin consultations with Ukraine and its European partners on a strategy centered on Ukraine's readiness to negotiate a cease-fire with Russia and to simultaneously switch its military emphasis from offense to defense. Kyiv would not give up on restoring territorial integrity or holding Russia economically and legally accountable for its aggression, but it would acknowledge that its near-term priorities need to shift from attempting to liberate more territory to defending and repairing the more than 80 percent of the country that is still under its control.
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No Entry

EU media names member states against Ukrainian membership


RT
Sat, 18 Nov 2023 14:51 UTC
flags
© Omar Havana/Getty ImagesEU and Ukrainian flags • European Parliament • Brussels, Belgium
Austria and Hungary are among the bloc's members expected to impede Kiev's European integration...

Several EU member states are likely to resist the proposed accession of Ukraine to the union, media outlet EUObserver has reported, citing an unnamed diplomat.

Kiev's possible integration into the European bloc is set to be discussed by the 27 EU heads of government at a summit in Brussels in December, after the European Commission recommended this month that integration discussions should begin. But while the European Council is expected to back the plan, signs indicate that the process may receive pushback from several key member states, EUObserver said in a report on Thursday.
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SOTT Logo Radio

SOTT Focus: NewsReal: Why is Israel's War Against Palestinians 'Existential' for the West?


Sott.net
Sun, 19 Nov 2023 19:07 UTC
nakba gaza refugees newsreal
© Sott.net
Israel's mission in Gaza is now clear: to push all Palestinians out of the Strip and on to either Egypt or elsewhere. This has produced unprecedented tension in the region, tension that will surely express itself elsewhere in due course. In the meantime, Western governments' total support for Israel remains unchanged. This week on NewsReal, Joe and Niall explore the various weird mythologies used to justify a patently inhuman strategy of giving Israel whatever it wants, a strategy that is going to be the undoing of so-called Western civilization.


Running Time: 01:45:27

Download: MP3 — 72.4 MB

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Blue Planet

First Ladies make joint call on the world about Palestine


UzDaily.com
Fri, 17 Nov 2023 23:46 UTC
One Heart for Peace Istanbul November 2023
© UzDailyFirst Ladies make joint call on the world about Palestine
Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- In a gathering in Istanbul on 15 November 2023, the spouses of Heads of States and Government, along with representatives from various countries, convened at the "United for Peace in Palestine" Summit.

Turkiye's First Lady Emine Erdoğan hosted the summit titled "One Heart for Palestine" with the spouses of leaders in Istanbul.

Spouses and special representatives of state leaders from many countries, including Qatar, Malaysia, and Uzbekistan, conveyed a message to the world for the innocent people of Gaza.


Comment: Turkey has a population of 85+ million, Qatar close to three, Malaysia 33+ million, Uzbekistan 36+ million, in total, 157+ million!, or 1.9 percent of the world's publicly estimated population

By comparison, the UK has 67+, France 68+, Germany 84+, the US 334+.
Imagine, that the significant other of the leaders of the western countries got together for a good or bad cause, do you think you would have heard of it?


Comment: How do views of Emine Erdogan differ or concord with what is promoted by your government, and influential media outlets?

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Briefcase

Trump mistrial request rejected in $250 million NY fraud case

Citizen Frank
CF.org
Fri, 17 Nov 2023 18:43 UTC
engoron trump fraud trial nyc
© MSNBCJudge Arthur Engoron and former President Donald Trump.
A New York judge on Friday denied a request by former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants for a mistrial in the $250 million civil business fraud case against them.

Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron said the arguments for a mistrial were "utterly without merit" as he declined to sign the defendants' bid for a motion to throw out the case.

The ruling came two days after attorneys for Trump Sr., Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, the Trump Organization and its top executives argued that the case had been undermined by political bias.

The defense lawyers claimed that Engoron and his principal law clerk have "tainted these proceedings" and that "only the grant of a mistrial can salvage what is left of the rule of law."

Comment: Engoron is a real piece of work:





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Camcorder

Speaker Mike Johnson to release ALL videos from January 6


The Daily Mail
Fri, 17 Nov 2023 18:35 UTC
Speaker house Mike Johnson
© European Press AgencySpeaker Mike Johnson announced Friday he would be making all of the January 6th footage available to the public immediately, following through on a promise to right-wing conservatives that started under former Speaker Kevin McCarthy
Will blur out the faces of some of rioters

Speaker Mike Johnson announced Friday he would begin making all of the January 6th footage available to the public immediately, following through on a promise to right-wing conservatives that started under former Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

The clips will be posted on the Committee on House Administration's website and much of the more than 44,000 hours of security footage from Jan. 6 has already gone up. Around 90 hours of footage is expected Friday and the rest over the coming months.

The clips will blur the faces of private citizens to ensure no one is 'targeted for retaliation of any kind.' The speaker said roughly five percent of the footage would not be posted so as not to release sensitive security information 'related to the building architecture.'

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., had first demanded McCarthy make the footage public in negotiations to get him the speaker's gavel.

Comment:

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Eye 1

UK gov't departments compiling 'secret files' on its critics to prevent them speaking at official events

Anna Fazackerley
The Guardian
Sat, 18 Nov 2023 16:11 UTC
uk education
© Hollie Adams/Getty ImagesThe Department for Education is one of 15 government departments found to have been monitoring social media activity of perceived critics.
Fifteen government departments have been monitoring the social media activity of potential critics and compiling "secret files" in order to block them from speaking at public events, the Observer can reveal.

Under the guidelines issued in each department, including the departments of health, culture, media and sport, and environment, food and rural affairs, officials are advised to check experts' Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn accounts. They are also told to conduct Google searches on those individuals, using specific terms such as "criticism of government or prime minister".

The guidelines are designed to prevent anyone who has criticised the government in the previous three to five years from speaking at government-organised conferences and other events.

Comment: Indeed, a government that feels compelled to engage in such practices - once derided as the activity of surveillance states - evidently isn't confident in their own position, and is likely terrified that their incompetency and corruption will be exposed. But then, considering the rapidly deteriorating state of UK state institutions, it's hardly surprising:


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Attention

WH denies report that Israel, Hamas close to 5-day fighting pause to free dozens of hostages via US-brokered deal

Patrick Reilly and Nikki Mascali Roarty
New York Post
Sun, 19 Nov 2023 03:26 UTC
israeli hostages 1
© Getty ImagesA tentative US-brokered deal between Israel and Hamas could free several women and children being held hostage in Gaza.
A tentative US-brokered deal between Israel and Hamas could free several women and children being held hostage in Gaza — and lead to a five-day halt in fighting, the first since the war began six weeks ago, according to a report that the White House denied.

Dozens of women and children could be freed in the next several days, which would coincide with the first pause since Hamas' shocking Oct. 7 attack on Israel, sources familiar with the deal told the Washington Post Saturday night.

However, in a tweet responding to the report, White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson wrote that a deal has not yet been reached "but we continue to work hard to get to a deal."

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters earlier Saturday that "there was no deal on the table" regarding the hostages "as of now," and dismissed "incorrect reports" about the situation, The Times of Israel reported.

According to the Washington Post, military operations on both sides will be suspended for at least five days under close aerial surveillance, per the six-page agreement. During the pause, 50 or more hostages will be released in groups every 24 hours.

Some 239 hostages are being held captive by the terrorist group in total.
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Vader

Best of the Web: Israel and America's Growing Zugzwang

Simplicius The Thinker
simplicius76.substack.com
Sat, 18 Nov 2023 19:57 UTC
chess zugzwang
Zugzwang: A situation found in chess and other turn-based games wherein one player is put at a disadvantage because of their obligation to make a move; a player is said to be "in zugzwang" when any legal move will worsen their position.
We can now safely say that our previous reading of the Israeli situation appears to be accurate. The U.S. is acting as a rudderless ship, rushing to the MidEast out of reflex with no clear gameplan, and is in fact terrified of Iranian escalations.

We now know this due to a confluence of new data.

Firstly, recall when I said you'd know how serious the U.S. was based on where it positioned its carrier group. It's now turned out that the USS Eisenhower is positioned off the coast of Oman exactly where I said it would be if the U.S. were not serious about doing anything more than posturing. That's because it's too distant to strike the most important targets of Iran, but is safely out of reach of a majority of coastal missile defense systems.
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Red Pill

Some neo-cons slowly coming to grips with reality in Ukraine

Larry Johnson
Sonar21
Sat, 18 Nov 2023 00:00 UTC
VPut
© UnknownRussian President Vladimir Putin
This week's "No Shit Analysis" award goes to Eugene B. Rumer for his Wall Street Journal op-ed, It's Time to End Magical Thinking About Russia's Defeat. Only took him 22 months to figure this out. He may be a slow learner but give him some credit, he finally awakened from his dream world and is beginning to grasp that the Ukraine project is swirling down the toilet.
Eugene B. Rumer is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defense University, Washington DC. Previously, he served at the State Department, on the staff of the National Security Council and at RAND.
Despite his pedigree, he is struggling to acknowledge reality and still feels the need to spin nonsense. Here is an example:
Putin has reason to believe that time is on his side. At the front line, there are no indications that Russia is losing what has become a war of attrition. The Russian economy has been buffeted, but it is not in tatters. Putin's hold on power was, paradoxically, strengthened following Yevgeny Prigozhin's failed rebellion in June. Popular support for the war remains solid, and elite backing for Putin has not fractured.
Yep. Russia's economy is so battered that it is headed toward 4% growth, its defense industry is out producing Europe and the United States combined, it is manufacturing new, more deadly drones and the stores across Russia are filled to the brim. If that is "battered" give me some.
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