Brussels-based commentator Gilbert Doctorow is getting rather incensed about the “Joe Biden” Adminstration’s slide towards global war. He suspects that the push to give the Ukraine long-reach missiles to hit targets deep inside Russia is an effort to bait Russia into making a counter-attack.
Gilbert Doctorow – International relations, Russian affairs
“Mr. Lavrov and Mr. Putin have said that this is something that will trigger a response that is unequivocal, and that will be a counterattack. Now, a counterattack is probably what Washington wants right now, because then you would have a full-blown war, and that’s what they’re seeking. If there’s a full-blown war, then Kamala will be elected easily, because there’ll be a rally- around-the-flag upsurge of patriotism in the States, and the horror of Mr. Trump coming to power will have been avoided.”
I find it hard to believe that a Russian attack on, say, military bases in Germany or on the City of London would trigger a rally-round-the-flag effect in the US – indeed, possibly the opposite. The technique of taunting the designated enemy into attacking first worked for FDR – but that was then, this is now, and Kamala Harris is no FDR.
Mostly unhardened warehouses in revetments but a good number of hardened storage areas reflecting lessons from the First Gulf War such as large berms in front of the entrances to block PGMs.
Toropets is 300 miles north of the Ukraine, and only 150 miles east of NATO chihuahua Lithuania. Hmmm!
Seems like a strange place for Russia to have put an ammunition storage site, given NATO’s well-known aggressive tendencies. But corruption and incompetence are endemic to all bureaucracies.
Presumably a rational response would be for Russia to stop stockpiling ammunition and instead drop it on the Ukraine as rapidly as they produce it?
Possibly. But that assumes the evil West would enforce the Minsk Agreements (both I and II) that they solemnly signed, committing them to stopping Zelensky’s civil war against then-Ukrainian citizens who were Russian speakers.
Instead, the evil West armed up the Zelensky regime to continue its aggression against its own citizens.
And 15 European countries that have had Russian boot on their heads must be lost sheep? Why is everyone on the perimeter of Russia so adamantly against it? Maybe first-hand experience with a brutal lying psycho regime that Americans don’t really have?
Have you paid any attention to the lying psycho regime that we (s)elected to occupy the Washington DC Swamp? No one can deny that our regime lies. As for brutal – look at the multi-year jail treatment of citizens who strolled peacefully through the People’s House.
I am perfectly willing to believe that the Russian kettle is black. But the US pot is no longer the shiny bright color it once was.
I think there is a difference between Soviet Russia and Russia today. For one thing, they have a coherent leader who can put a long string of sentences together. Say what you will about Putin; he knows his history, has a vision for his nation and he can coherently elaborate it. Who in the self-congratulating west can do likewise? As I see it, Russia is clearly ascendant with competent leadership. We are the exact opposite. Oh, so you say Russia today lacks a Bill of Rights. In case you haven’t noticed - neither do we have one any longer.
This is a decent point. The question is whether the feelings of Russia’s neighbors is based on reality or history.
Most if not all of the countries next to Russia certainly have memories of Russian crimes. Whether it be the raping that Russian soldiers did in mass as they pushed back the Germans or the Russians that took land as they moved into these countries after the war or even the actions of Russia before world war 1. I grew up in a community of what were called Russian Germans. They immigrated to the US in the 1880s. They came from around Odessa. The Russian Czar had encouraged Germans to move there to farm and then took the farms.
The point is that Russia, not just Soviet Russia, has a history of aggression just like you could say about the British, French, Italians, Spanish and the US so it isn’t surprising that the memories and distrust hasn’t faded.
I certainly don’t know if it is legitimate or not. I would be more certain if the US and the West would have agreed that Ukraine would not become part of NATO.
And that’s a valid point from you. As much as I love the common Russian (farmer) culture, I have a serious problem with post-Putin psyops activities. Here’s some more recent evidence:
Notice how the proximity to Russian psychological operations affects the vaccination rates. Furthermore, notice how Serbia and Hungary, Russian allies, aren’t subject to the same psyops, and has higher vaccination rates (in part because they offered the Sputnik vaccine):
And if you think vaccination hurts, take a look at a map of excess mortality and compare:
My conclusion from this is how stunningly effective are US psyops. We have no problem whatever keeping our satellites in orbit. They never even need course adjustments!
@eggspurt sometimes you throw statistics around like paper airplanes.
?WHAT exactly does your "excess mortality chart actually MEAN. One can make a case that ALL excess mortality was caused by the vaccine. There would be a lot of truth in such a statement, albeit not necessarily the WHOLE truth. But “excess mortality” would seem mostly to reflect care of elderly. ?So what then is your conclusion about the charts you put up.
An interesting observation by Simplicius is that this particular Russian munitions depot had nothing to do with the proxy war in the Ukraine. This munitions depot – much closer to the NATO Baltic states than to the Ukraine – was apparently for the new army Russia is setting up in the north in response to the threat from Finland & Sweden joining NATO.
Add this to the earlier “Ukrainian” destruction of Russian long-distance radar warning stations in the south, built to give early warning of any NATO attack from that direction. It would be quite rational for Russia now to suspect that NATO is nibbling away at their defenses to set up the situation for a major attack on the Russian homeland.
I wish I had confidence that NATO truly is a “defensive” alliance and that Our Betters honestly are seeking peace.
Excess mortality can be defined in several ways, some of them misleading. We have already dismissed the thesis that vaccines are a direct causes of excess mortality on Scanalyst on the case of excess mortality timing in New Zealand.
For me, statistics are like birds. One of them might not mean much, but a whole flock of them migrating south might mean that the winter is coming. Thing is, if you dismiss each and every one of them individually, you won’t see the flock.
