Of Chess and Checkers
What a mess this war is. The Russians invaded their neighbor, setting off the second recent war in Europe. The first was Clinton's war to destroy Yugoslavia.
The Ukraine government came to power, in 2014, in a bloody coup, which the Neo-Nazis claim wouldn’t have happened without them.
Since then, the Ukrainian army, led by the Azov Battalion, the Right Sector, C14, and other followers of the real Nazis of World War II, have spent the last eight years inflicting pain on the ethnic Russians who have lived in the Donbas region of Eastern Ukraine.
Then, there are the 33 biological labs throughout Ukraine, according to US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland in her testimony to Congress, this month.
Is It Racial or Racism?
World leaders voted on a resolution in the UN General Assembly, March 2, to condemn Russia over its actions in Ukraine. The vote by country was lopsided in condemnation. The breakdown in population was much more balanced. Nations with large populations voting to abstain or voting no included China, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Most striking of all was the geographical and ethnic or racial split. The world’s white population voted overwhelmingly to condemn Russia. Most of Russia’s votes came from Asia and Africa. Since the UN vote, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa blamed NATO for provoking Russia into invading its neighbor Ukraine. Speaking in Parliament, March 17, Ramaphosa said the war, now entering its 4th week, could have been avoided if NATO hadn’t expanded eastward.
US power comes from its Empire, and its English speaking allies, including the Five Eyes (US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) and its NATO cohorts. There is more to the world than the white nations that have ruled for hundreds of years. There should be a reconsideration of the balance of forces in the world in the 21st Century.
Strategy and Tactics in Russia’s Military Operation
In February, because of the escalating situation in the Donbas, the Russians back in Russia, said they had had enough. Their troops crossed the border determined to demilitarize, denazify, and deNATOize Ukraine.
The killing and maiming of Ukrainians moved from Eastern Ukraine to Central Ukraine. The would-be Nazis were pushed back from a few miles outside of Donetsk and Luhansk all the way to the headquarters of the Azov Battalion in Mariupol on the Sea of Azov.
Even though Vladimir Putin announced the goals of the incursion (the American name for its own invasions), as stated above, the so-called strategists of the West thought the Russians were intent on capturing Kyiv and the other major cities of Ukraine.
The Demilitarization of Ukraine
The New York Times has finally caught on to the Russian game, which means so has the Pentagon and NATO. The Russians are doing just what they said they would do, that is, demilitarize Ukraine. This involves reducing its armies to junk. This is much easier to do out in the countryside where artillery, missile emplacements, fortified positions, and convoys of truckloads of “gifts” from other countries are more accessible.
So why do we see shattered Russian tanks and trucks in Kyiv and other major cities? We see them because this is where the journalists and videographers are located. It’s also why the US and other countries moved immediately to cut off our access to Russian media. The result is we see lots of blown-up Russian vehicles and hardly any Ukrainian army damage.
If there was any journalistic objectivity, we would see that the Russians are well on their way to demilitarizing Ukraine. A clue to the actual situation on the ground is that Zelenskyy is changing his tune. He is now saying that he doesn’t want to join NATO anyway, and neutrality isn’t such a bad thing.
The Denazification of Ukraine
It’s estimated that only about 10 percent of the Ukrainian Army are Nazi supporters. However, according to Rita Katz, executive director of the SITE Intelligence Group and a terrorism analyst, they are actively recruiting fighters throughout the world.
Though Azov remains a fringe movement in Ukraine, it is a larger-than-life brand among many extremists. It has openly welcomed Westerners into its ranks via white-supremacist on-line sites. Azov stickers and patches have been seen around the globe.
During the past eight years, it was almost exclusively neo-Nazis who volunteered to fight the separatists of the two Peoples Republics, Donetsk and Luhansk. Before the Russian invasion, 14,000 people had died in the fighting between Donbas and Ukrainians. Most of these were residents (civilians) of Donetsk and Luhansk, who were not in the military.
Lately, a fierce battle is taking place between the Russians and the Donetsk Peoples Republic Militia against the Azov Battalion, which it is trying to dislodge from the city of Mariupol. Whether or not Putin believed his own rhetoric about denazification, it seems clear that considerable resources are being expended against the Neo-Nazis.
The Role of the US and NATO
Despite Zelenskyy’s repeated call for a “no fly” zone, none of the Western leaders, including Biden, seem to support it. Perhaps this is because it could quickly lead to World War III, as Russian and American fighter jets do battle in the skies over Ukraine.
In addition, the West is flooding Ukraine with dangerous weapons. That didn’t work so well in Afghanistan where a largess of firepower ultimately ended up in the hands of Al Qaeda.
With the war hysteria currently removing Russian Vodka from supermarket shelves and forcing Russian restaurants to close their doors, it is sometimes hard to remember that the United States is not at war with Russia. Yet, the frenzy has reached the point where a sitting US Senator, Mitt Romney, has called a former Congressmember, Tulsi Gabbard, a traitor for simply talking about the biolabs. Later, Romney said Gabbard should be jailed.
How Solvent is Russia?
According to Reuters, Russia received a blow, but not a fatal one, from being kicked out of SWIFT, the banking processing system. Russia calls its piggy bank the National Wealth Fund (NWF). It contains both gold and foreign currency.
Most foreign currency comes from oil, which Russia buys when the per barrel price is higher than $44. Below that price, Russia sells petrodollars.
Russia has a huge amount of gold, which is safely tucked away within the country. Foreign currency is another matter entirely. About half of Russia’s foreign currency is vulnerable because it is in foreign banks or in Russian bank branches in the West.
Russia, China, Iran and a score of other countries will probably start paying international transactions in their own currency, rather than in dollars, at least part of the time. There are currently (March 20) 105.5 rubles to the dollar. Like most of the sanctions being levied against Russia, there will be blowback to the US and European economies.
At risk for Russia is still about half its foreign currency which is where hostile countries can get their hands on it. France, on March 20, seized $24 billion in Russia accounts.
It is unknown at this time who in the top echelons of the Russian government was foolish enough to leave half of Russia’s foreign currency exposed to seizure by unfriendly countries. We will probably find out when their name stops being mentioned.
Silly Things Americans, and Europeans, Do
While nothing compares to doing bad things to Ukraine, no matter what the provocation, some Americans have gone off the deep end:
• Russian restaurants in NY had their doors kicked in. A 20 year old Russian prodigy pianist was canceled. Russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin was stripped of honors for being the first human in space. – Prof. Zenkus @anthonyzenkus
• Another culprit has been found in the endless search for bad Russians. It is the “so devious” Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who has been dead for 130 years. Tchaikovsky was cancelled from an upcoming program by the Cardiff (Wales) Philharmonic Orchestra, because it would be “inappropriate at this time.” Meanwhile, still living conductor Valery Gergiev and soprano Anna Netrebko lost their gigs for being too friendly with Vladimir Putin.
• When Nancy Pelosi screamed "Slava Ukraini!" this week, she was repeating a slogan which was invented by the League of Ukrainian Fascists in the 1920s, then popularized by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists – explicit allies of Hitler - in the 1940s. –Michael Tracey @mtracey
• The United States spent more money on mercenaries and lethal aid to Ukraine than on your healthcare during a pandemic, reported Joey Wreck @joeywreck.
Just think what would happen if the US was at war with Russia.
Negotiations Between Ukraine and Russia
As of March 20, negotiations between the two parties had again broken up. Ukraine is likely waiting for more pressure – and more weapons – from its Western allies, while Russia is probably counting on occupying more territory, and destroying more of Ukraine’s military machine.
The “behind the scenes” players, the US and NATO, could be hopeful that they will bleed Russia until it is unable to pursue the war. I’m hearing more and more repetitions of the saying, “America will fight to the last Ukrainian.” True or false, it is a sad commentary on the state of humanity, and its sick humor.