by Oui
Tue Sep 12th, 2023 at 12:38:19 PM EST
I have followed all developments for NATO under US leadership, these were steadfast towards the ultimate confrontation v the Russian Federation. Hybrid warfare, hacking, disinformation and a flow of scripted war narrative and propaganda. The think tanks turned away from diplomacy and "bless you" peace initiatives, to rightwing fascism and turning public opinion into Russophobia, preparing a war footing. A slow but steady process only slowed down during four years of the Trump administration which was pre-occupied with Middle East warfare and biased pro-Israel policy and its execution.
I can't recall whether I missed this critical moment where the Pentagon and the White House finalized military plans for the battle to push Russia out of Ukrainian territory. Joe Biden never cared about the ceasefire in the Minsk Agreement nor did he take into account the number of deaths and wounded of his foolish actions.
As the War Room planning of the U.S. and Ukraine took shape, most of Europe was fighting the Covid-19 pandemic and the Germans were heading to general elections and a new Chancellor to succeed a strong European voice of Angela Merkel. Emmanuel Macron and Mark Rutte would be the elder politicians in the EU as the decisions were made in Washington DC.
I did do a write-up ...
Will the EU-27 Survive the Biden Years? | Sept. 14, 2021 |
Nord Stream 2: Last piece of gas pipeline is in place | DW |
Construction on the controversial Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline took a major step to completion. According to the company, the final piece of piping has been welded together. It will then be lowered into place in the Baltic Sea. It must then be connected and will then be expected to begin operating soon.
Zelensky's U.S. visit: new tone in relations | UkrInform |
The US is not happy with what it believes will be a more dependent relationship between Europe and Russia. Washington does not want Moscow using energy as a weapon, and has sought assurances from Berlin that it will act if that is seen to be the case.
[...]
U.S.: Rumsfeld's 'Old' And 'New' Europe Touches On Uneasy Divide | RFERL - Jan. 24, 2003 |
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld touched a nerve in Europe this week, dividing the continent into what he called "old Europe" and "new Europe." Reaction from France and Germany -- which Rumsfeld put squarely in the "old" category -- was swift and harsh. But the U.S. official's underlying point cannot be denied. On Iraq, divisions in Europe appear to run deep, with the main fault line falling between NATO's "older" European members and its new ones.
🔻🔻
Ukraine, US Sign Defense Deal Amid Russian Threat | Sept. 1, 2021 |
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and Minister of Defense Andrii Taran shake hands after a signing ceremony at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C., Aug. 31, 2021. DOD photo by U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Brittany A. Chase.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky knows what it means to fight the Russians, and he came to Washington asking for more military assistance to help keep Russian President Vladimir Putin from encroaching further on Europe.
In Oval Office remarks with Zelensky on Sept. 1, President Joe Biden made note of a $60 million security assistance package that included Javelin anti-tank missiles, and he underscored why Ukraine matters to U.S. interests.
"Ukraine and the United States have a similar value system and the strong commitment to the fulfillment of a promise ... and that is a Europe whole, free, and at peace," Biden said.
Zelensky, in turn, stated a number of the security challenges he intended to discuss with Biden, from help repelling Russia's proxy war in eastern Ukraine and the occupation of Crimea, to threatened energy security once the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is activated. He also asked for Biden's "vision of Ukraine's chances to join NATO."
The meeting comes one day after Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and his Ukranian counterpart signed a new defense cooperation deal at the Pentagon aimed at improving Ukraine's military institutions and capabilities. Ukraine, the largest democracy in Eastern Europe, has been occupied and engaged in conflict with Russian-backed separatists for eight years following the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014. Since then, the United States has provided $2.5 billion in security assistance.
"We again call on Russia to end its occupation of Crimea and to stop perpetuating the conflict in eastern Ukraine, and we will continue to stand with you in the face of this Russian aggression," Austin said in his welcoming remarks, during Zelensky's and Ukrainian Defense Minister Andrii Taran's visit to the Pentagon.
The agreement outlined strategic priorities
to help Ukraine counter Russian aggression, including through training and exercises and defense sector reforms that would improve NATO interoperability. It also will include increased cooperation in regards to cybersecurity, national security systems, and defense intelligence.
[...]
Minister of Defense Andrii Taran would be replaced early November by Alexei Reznikov.
... the decision to change the minister has been made a long time ago and everyone knows everything. The replacement of the most important military man was started by Zelensky, who surrounds himself with "the right people."
As already reported, Alexei Reznikov, a lawyer with 20 years of experience, a professional lawyer and just a person with a "hanging tongue" who can speak beautifully, will become the new defense minister. It is such a minister that Zelensky needs: firstly, Reznikov is governed and completely dependent on the office of the president, and secondly, he can deliver speeches perfectly, and Kiev needs a "talking" minister instead of the "silent" Taran.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told Air Force Magazine during a pull-aside interview that Zelensky and Austin discussed how to meet Ukraine's needs and keep a buffer of democracy in Eastern Europe.
"In the meeting between the President and the Secretary of Defense, we discussed some specific areas of how this framework agreement will be unfolded," Kuleba said.
Former American ambassador to Ukraine William B. Taylor told Air Force Magazine the disparate Ukrainian security services will need to consolidate for coordination with the states to improve.
Taylor, who was ambassador to Ukraine from 2006 to 2009 and then again from 2019 to 2020, said America's tailored military assistance to Ukraine is helping to deter Russia.
"The javelins are a very powerful, effective deterrent to the Russians, and the Russians, apparently, respect them. They are backing away from the range," he said of Russian tanks positioned just outside the Donbas front line.
"Ukraine is where the Russians attack first," Taylor added. "Whether it's militarily or whether it's election meddling, whether it's hacking into electrical grids, they start in Ukraine. ... They try it, and if it works in Ukraine, they try it out in Europe. And then they try it out in the United States."
UTTER CRAP BY BILL TAYLOR
"Served" from Vietnam, through Baghdad, Libya, Middle East and Ukraine.
A trail of blood, destruction and utter despair for citizens. An All American kind of guy. That he was appointed under Bill Bradley is quite a surprise for me ...
Think Tanks Are Information Laundering Ops For War Profiteers
The British Barkley twins billionaires-owned newspaper The Telegraph has an appalling new article out which reads like a paid advertisement for a missile manufactured by Lockheed Martin. The title even sounds like it was written by a marketing team: "A war-winning swarm missile will knock China out of Taiwan -- fast", subtitled "Rapid Dragon is a military gamechanger that provides the US Air Force with a crucial edge in the Pacific".
The article is written by a war propagandist named David Axe, whose work I have written about before. His covert advertorial for Lockheed Martin's JASSM missile revolves around the findings of a study by the military industrial complex-funded think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), who you'll be shocked and astonished and surprised and stunned to learn lists the Lockheed Martin Corporation as one of its top donors.
Needless to say, David Axe makes no mention of this extreme conflict of interest anywhere in his exuberant prose celebrating the wonders of this new piece of technology in what is falsely presented as an objective news article intended to educate and inform.
Brass Parachutes: Defense Contractors' Capture of Pentagon Officials Through the Revolving Doors | Nov. 5. 2018 |
A similar think tank as CSIS was founded in The Hague by Rob de Wijk ... HCSS. The original "transparency" webpage results in a -404- notice. The funding is delegated to an organization called GlobalFoundation .com or .eu headed by a well connected person Erik Frinking, closely tied to RAND Europe and NATO HQ Brussels. How so "independent" think tank on defense issues ... look at the employed experts. Warmongering with no opinion on diplomacy and peace.
HCSS Arend Jan Boekestijn Warmongering with no opinion on diplomacy and peace.
Found an article as docent at Utrecht University - Feb. 17, 2022.
'Peace for our time': "In the West we are Chamberlain-esque"
Historian, former VVD politician and teacher-researcher Arend-Jan Boekestijn spoke about war and peace during the BNR program The Big Five. The threats on the border between Ukraine and Russia were also discussed in detail: "I am concerned because we do not have the right mental state to stop Russia. We are Chamberlain-esque."
Will there be a Russian attack?
Boekestijn does not see a Russian attack happening anytime soon. "We are in a very dire situation and it is extremely unstable and uncertain, but I don't think there will be a 'full scale attack' from the north. There are a lot of reasons for Putin not to do it." For example, he mentions the sanctions that Putin would face and the fact that the Russian people have no interest in a war. Yet Boekestijn is not entirely sure. "But it could also be that we are wrong and he still attacks from the north. That's possible, that's possible."
Balance of power
Boekestijn points out that the nineteenth century was much more peaceful than, for example, the eighteenth and twentieth. According to him, this was because the world powers had reached a consensus at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 on how to conduct foreign policy. And such a consensus no longer exists. "There are two things going on. We see the physical balance of power shifting, because China is heavily arming itself and so has Russia in recent years. But we also see that norms and values differ."
One of my diaries ...
