#russia nato nuclear war

[tamilethnicity]

Vladimir Putin ally pinpoints scary moment WW3 nearly started

A close ally of Vladimir Putin has claimed nuclear war with NATO nearly broke out during Joe Biden’s administration. Former Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev criticised the US president for his handling of the Russia-Ukraine war, claiming that it almost escalated to a more widespread conflict. He wrote on Telegram: “What did catch my attention was his unhealthy interest in Ukraine, even…

[methamphetatitties]

I find it fucking insane that the US has the strongest and most capable military in the world, largely to defend itself from Russia but we can just throw that all out the window because Donald Trump is just gonna bend over for Putin and take it in the ass.

And then people are gonna give him credit for stopping ww3 at the expense of Europe. I say Europe and not Ukraine because do you really think Russia is going to stop with Ukraine? Absolutely fucking not.

The only thing standing between Russia and the rest of Europe is NATO and the US. But if the president of the United States is a Russian asset, Europe is practically hung out to dry.

I have no idea how many of you tumblrites have poked your head out from under your fandom rock lately, but the war with Ukraine has been escalating to dangerous levels FAST.

But it just pisses me off that Trump is just going to give this fucking clown everything he wants just because Putin has blackmail on him. There's no way that this blackmail is just footage of Trump getting pissed on. It has got to be way fucking worse than that for this coward to be in complete submission to Putin. Whatever it is Putin has on him, it is probably something unspeakable.

[docprof]

Mene mene tekel upharsin. The Belshazzar's feast… Bloodless hand… God has pronounced the judgment …

The single most meaningful consequence of the NATO/Ukraine proxy war against Russia is that most of the major geopolitical players outside the imperial realm are suddenly in open defiance of the capricious "rules-based international order" and its rapacious monetary system.

The catalyst for this rebellion was that Vladimir Putin’s Russia stood alone amongst the kings, princes, presidents, and prime ministers of a trembling world, turned to the masters of empire, and said, “Not an inch further. In fact, you must withdraw to your 1997 status, and take all your armaments with you, beginning with your missiles in Poland and Romania.”

................to be continued

[originalleftist]

I'm going to be blunt: There is literally nothing-NOTHING-in this world more important right now than keeping Trump and Republicans out of power.

He could easily blunder us into nuclear war, or cause one with his invitation to Putin to invade Europe (and he just picked a VP who supports territorial concessions by Ukraine). But even more than that, while Biden has set us on track to cut carbon emissions in half by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050, Trump's approach to the climate crisis is to actively promote more fossil fuels, and actively suppress and ban alternatives. If he wins, BILLIONS could and probably will die.

Whatever you do to help Democrats beat Trump, it may very well be the most important thing you ever do in your life.

[thefreethoughtprojectcom]

The world is at its most dangerous moment since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Back then, however, the fear of total destruction consumed the public; today, few people seem even to be aware of this possibility.

Read More: https://thefreethoughtproject.com/antiwar/natos-endgame-appears-to-be-nuclear-war

#TheFreeThoughtProject #TFTP

[nicklloydnow]

“Ukraine's former military Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhny said that the direct involvement of Russia's autocratic allies in its war on Ukraine means that World War III has started.

"I believe that in 2024 we can absolutely believe that the Third World War has begun," said Zaluzhny, who is now Ukraine's envoy to the United Kingdom, during a speech at Ukrainska Pravda's UP100 award ceremony.

"Because in 2024, Ukraine is no longer facing Russia. Soldiers from North Korea are standing in front of Ukraine. Let's be honest. Already in Ukraine, the Iranian 'Shahedis' are killing civilians absolutely openly, without any shame," said Zaluzhny, adding that North Korean and Chinese weapons are flying into Ukraine.

"It is still possible to stop it here, on the territory of Ukraine. But for some reason our partners do not want to understand this. It is obvious that Ukraine already has too many enemies. Ukraine will survive with technology, but it is not clear whether it can win this battle alone," he said.

(…)

Zelenskyy fired Zaluzhny in February after rising tensions between the two on how the war in Ukraine should be fought — as well as Zaluzhny's growing popularity, which made him a potential political threat.”

“Germany is drawing up a list of bunkers that could provide emergency shelter for civilians, the interior ministry has said, at a time of rising tensions with Russia.

The list would include underground train stations and car parks as well as state buildings and private properties, a ministry spokesperson said.

A digital directory of bunkers and emergency shelters will be drawn up so people can find them quickly using a planned phone app. People would also be encouraged to create protective shelters in their homes by converting basements and garages, the spokesperson told a press briefing.

(…)

The country of 84 million people has 579 bunkers, mostly from the second world war and the cold war era, which can provide shelter for 480,000 people, down from about 2,000 bunkers previously.”

“Sweden on Monday started to distribute copies of a booklet advising its citizens how to prepare for war, as Nordic countries teach people how to brace for a potential Russian attack.

The 32-page brochure, which is also available in English and several other languages, advises citizens on warning systems, how to seek shelter during an air raid and even psychological and digital security.

(…)

The booklet provides some information on how people can get involved in collective preparedness, such as joining a volunteer defense organization, taking a course in emergency CPR, donating blood, or talking with neighbors about how to become more prepared.

“To resist these threats, we must stand united. If Sweden is attacked, everyone must do their part to defend Sweden’s independence — and our democracy. We build resilience every day,” the pamphlet adds. “You are part of Sweden’s overall emergency preparedness.”

As Norwegian paper Aftenposten recently reported, Norway's citizens have also received similar “emergency preparedness” pamphlets because “in the worst case” acts of war could also affect Norway.

Finland's government, too, has released a digital booklet to prepare citizens for “incidents and crises,” stating that the country “has always been prepared for the worst possible threat, war.”

(…)

Sweden will increase military spending to 2.4 percent of GDP next year.”

“Britain has three years to prepare for war against an "axis of upheaval" as Russia, China, North Korea and Iran increasingly work together, says the new head of the army.

In his first public speech, General Sir Roly Walker, chief of the general staff, said he believed the army had "just enough time" to "re-establish" a credible land force that could deter enemy nations from heading into battle with the West.

He said it did not matter how the war in Ukraine ended because either way Russia would emerge "very very dangerous" and "wanting some form of retribution for what we have done to help".

(…)

However, he said that the army, which has about 72,500 troops, the fewest since the Napoleonic era, may have to fight using old equipment because new vehicles and artillery systems coming into service may not be ready in time.

"We have just enough time... to prepare, act, and assure the re-establishment of credible land forces to support a strategy of deterrence," he told the land warfare conference at the Royal United Services Institute. He said that the "need is urgent" and although the UK was not on an "inexorable path to war" credible hard power must be restored in order to provide deterrence.

He said that if the UK was to "deter an increasingly aligned axis of upheaval" then it needed to "apply all strengths as a free-market democracy against the weaknesses of their rigid, autocratic, command economies".

Walker believes he has until 2027 or 2028 to bolster the army's fighting power. He said he wanted to double the army's ability to fight and kill within three years and triple it by the end of the decade. His thinking is in line with the US, which has warned of Beijing's readiness to invade Taiwan by 2027, an event that would probably drag the US and Britain into a Third World War. Walker also has concerns over Iran's nuclear weapons programme.

He believes that by 2027 Russia may have been able to sufficiently re-arm with the help of countries such as China, Iran and North Korea. Moscow will also be feeling "angry and resentful" by then, whichever way the war in Ukraine turns out, the army fears. Walker said a conflict in one area could "detonate" another.

(…)

"When you think they are down they Russial will come roaring back to get their vengeance," he said in a briefing on the fringes of the conference. He said Russia's intent went further than Ukraine and was to break up the Euroatlantic security architecture.

A combination of all those countries together, working to a degree in an alliance but at the very least supporting each other industrially, is what makes him fear there is not as much time to prepare for war as other allied nations may think.

A major review of UK defence is under way and due to conclude in the first half of next year, although it remains unclear when the government will begin the process of increasing defence spending from 2.3 per cent of GDP to 2.5 per cent, as Labour promised in its manifesto.

There are concerns within the MoD and within industry that the defence review could lead to critical projects being axed because of a multibillion pound black hole in the equipment plans.

(…)

Walker said "it will take more time than I think we have for new fighting systems to be fielded at scale in our fighting formations" and if the army is called to battle before then it will have to use old equipment, as well as limited stockpiles as logistic support systems.

Yet he outlined plans to transform his service with the aim that it will be able to destroy a force at least three times its size and "keep on doing that" so it will be able to "fight anyone and win".

He said the idea that troop numbers alone determined fighting power was out of date and that the fact that the army was "medium-sized" should be embraced.

He wants a UK brigade combat team of around 7,000 to be able to destroy a force such as Russia's 18th combined-arms army of approximately 20,000 which has been deployed to Ukraine.”

[raiden-genshin]

Guerra en Ucrania

¿Cómo poner fin a la guerra en Ucrania? ¡La respuesta de la concubina es así! En primer lugar, proporcionaremos las armas necesarias en las cantidades requeridas. Enviaremos más tropas, por supuesto, tantas como necesitemos, no, más. Invade Rusia y conquista Moscú, lo que hace en un corto período de tiempo. ¡La razón es que no les damos tiempo para usar armas nucleares! Arrestar a Putin y a sus cuadros y abolir las industrias militar, militar y de aviación de Rusia. La KGB, el Reichstag y la estructura política fueron completamente desmantelados. Bueno, es inevitable que tengamos que seguir ocupándola durante 10~20 años. Está claro que es necesario invadir Rusia para acabar con ella de manera justa. ¡Debe ser lo más limitado posible! Y el mayor obstáculo es que los países occidentales no están dispuestos a hacerlo (hasta el punto de estarlo). ¡Está claro que no tienen intención de aplastar a Rusia! Trump dijo que podría terminarlo en 24 horas, pero lo que está diciendo es lo mismo que el de Putin. En resumen, renuncia al territorio tomado, admite la derrota, cambia la forma en que lo dices y ríndete porque es suficiente. Tanto Trump como Putin lo han dicho. ¿Cree que el pueblo ucraniano lo aceptará? Parece que los países occidentales y la OTAN se están cansando del "juego de guerra". Eso es lo que está presionando al presidente Zelensky para que pida un alto el fuego y el fin de la guerra. ¿Cómo crees que puedes poner fin a esta guerra? ¿Qué hay que hacer para conseguirlo? Me gustaría que lo pensaran detenidamente. Me gustaría hablar un poco sobre las Autodefensas. Las actuales Fuerzas de Autodefensa solo tienen escudos, pero si solo los defienden, eventualmente perderán. Por lo tanto, el gobierno está tratando de tener una espada en nombre de la capacidad de contraatacar las bases enemigas, pero eso no es suficiente. Al final, no tendrán más remedio que enviar tropas terrestres a territorio enemigo. La razón es bastante simple: incluso si bloqueas el movimiento de la serpiente venenosa, eventualmente escapará y volverá a atacar. Por lo tanto, te verás obligado a una situación en la que no tendrás más remedio que moler la cabeza de la serpiente venenosa. El presidente Zelensky ahora pide que se levanten los grilletes sobre el uso de armas donadas, no, lo ha estado haciendo durante mucho tiempo. La razón es que ahora solo hay escudos en Ucrania. En Ucrania, es esencial tener una espada que corte profundamente en territorio enemigo, donde acechan los puntos clave. El problema es que nadie te quiere dar esa espada. No dejes que ganen, no dejes que pierdan. En otras palabras, no vivas, no mates. Parece que Occidente ha estado jugando a este "juego" durante mucho tiempo y finalmente se ha cansado de él.

[kevinwikse]

JOE BIDEN OFFICIALLY GREENLIGHTS THE BOMBING OF RUSSIA WITH LONG MISSILES BY NATO. ONE SECOND TO MIDNIGHT ON THE NUCLEAR CLOCK. WW3 ALERT.

Joe Biden, the still acting United States President (remember him, democrats?!), officially greenlights the bombing of Russia with long-range missiles by NATO in what can only be described as a treasonous act to escalate the war in Ukraine and bring WW3 down on America under the incoming Trump Administration.

If NATO starts bombing Russia, we immediately go to one second to midnight on the nuclear clock.

I know. You Liberal scumbags are still crying over your truly humiliating loss on Nov 6th. You are angry that the majority of America will no longer tolerate your nonsensical bullshit, such as men can get pregnant. You are hysterical that nobody will ever feel pressured to use your stupid fucking pronouns. You are horrified that sex with children will be seen as a Federal offense, not a "preference," and the "unaliving: of pedophiles is being normalized.

In response, you are moronically applauding the treasonous actions of your Pedophile and Chief, Joe Biden, but consider this during the inevitable nuclear war which will most certainly follow, as there is ZERO chance of Russia not retaliating with tactical nuclear weapons; there is no Starbucks. No Reddit. No Furry conventions. No Netflix. But there is, however, lots and lots of bleeding out your eyeballs and asshole due to near extinction-level event nuclear radiation.

If you really desire to profusely bleed out your eyeballs and asshole, I got 5 minutes, a tire iron, superhuman strength, and years of hands-on-experience applying appalling levels of violence, so we can make that happen without all that nuclear fallout and the loss of Netflix.

So...options. Consider them.

-Kevin WIkse

[ukrainenews]

Daily Wrap Up March 4-6, 2023

Under the cut:

Ukraine said on Monday its troops were still fighting against the attempted encirclement of Bakhmut, while Washington said that even if the eastern city should fall to Russia's offensive, it would not necessarily give Moscow momentum in the war.

NATO intelligence estimates that for every Ukrainian soldier killed defending Bakhmut, Russian forces have lost at least five, a military official with the North Atlantic alliance told CNN on Monday. The official cautioned the five to one ratio was an informed estimate based on intelligence.

The city council in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia has declared Monday a day of mourning after 13 people were killed when a rocket hit a high-rise residential building earlier this week, the council's secretary Anatoliy Kurtiev said.

Most of Ukraine’s winter grain crops – winter wheat and barley – are in good condition and could produce a good harvest, Ukraine’s academy of agricultural science was quoted as saying on Monday.

Negotiations to return the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) to Ukraine’s control are not progressing, Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said Sunday.  

According to the U.K. Defense Ministry's intelligence update on March 6, the Russian military has been deploying 60-year-old T-62 main battle tanks as a result of continued heavy equipment losses. Furthermore, there is a "realistic possibility" that the 1st Guards Tank Army, Russia's elite tank force, will be re-equipped with the T-62s, the U.K. Defense Ministry added.

“Ukraine said on Monday its troops were still fighting against the attempted encirclement of Bakhmut, while Washington said that even if the eastern city should fall to Russia's offensive, it would not necessarily give Moscow momentum in the war.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office said he discussed the Bakhmut operation with the chief of the general staff and commander of ground forces, who both spoke in favour of "further strengthening positions in Bakhmut" to continue the defensive operation.

Russia is trying to surround Bakhmut to secure what would be its first major gain in more than half a year, at the culmination of a winter offensive that has brought the bloodiest fighting of the war.

After Russian gains in recent weeks, Ukrainian troops have been reinforcing positions west of Bakhmut in apparent preparation for a possible retreat. However, the reports from commanders on Monday suggested they had not yet decided to pull out.

The intense battle has depleted both sides' artillery reserves, with thousands of shells fired daily along the eastern and southern fronts. Kyiv's European allies are working on a deal to procure more ammunition for the fight.

In the latest sign of a feud between Russia's military and the Wagner private army leading its Bakhmut assault, Wagner's boss demanded more ammunition and said his aide had been barred from the military's operational headquarters.

Speaking to reporters in the Middle East, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he would not predict when or if Ukrainian troops might leave the city, but that its fall "won't necessarily mean that the Russians have changed the tide of this fight".

"I think it is more of a symbolic value than it is strategic and operational value," Austin said.

Moscow says capturing the city would be a step towards its major objective of seizing the full territory of the surrounding Donbas region. Kyiv says Russia's losses in trying to seize a city reduced to rubble could determine the future course of the war by destroying combat power ahead of decisive battles later this year.

Ukraine's ground forces commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, visited Bakhmut on Sunday, according to the military. He said that Wagner had thrown additional forces into the fight but that Ukraine's soldiers were fighting on.

Volodymyr Nazarenko, a Ukrainian commander in Bakhmut, said there had been no order to retreat and "the defence is holding", albeit in grim conditions.

"The situation in Bakhmut and around it is utter hell, as it is on the entire eastern front," Nazarenko said in a video posted on Telegram.”-via Reuters

~

“NATO intelligence estimates that for every Ukrainian soldier killed defending Bakhmut, Russian forces have lost at least five, a military official with the North Atlantic alliance told CNN on Monday.

The official cautioned the five to one ratio was an informed estimate based on intelligence.

The official spoke to CNN on the condition they remain anonymous because they are not allowed to discuss this intelligence. Despite the favorable ratio, they also said Ukraine was suffering significant losses defending the city.

Ukrainian officials have repeatedly claimed they were inflicting heavy losses on Russia as Moscow tried to take Bakhmut.

“Our defenders inflicted significant losses on the enemy, destroyed a large number of vehicles, forced Wagner's best assault units to fight and reduced the enemy's offensive potential,” Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of the Ukraine’s land forces said after a visit to Bakhmut on Sunday. The Institute for the Study of War also said Russia’s efforts to capture Bakhmut had significantly deteriorated its capacity for additional offensives.

“The Russian military will likely struggle to maintain any subsequent offensive operations for some months, giving Ukraine a chance to seize the initiative;” it said on Monday.”-via CNN

~

“The city council in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia has declared Monday a day of mourning after 13 people were killed when a rocket hit a high-rise residential building earlier this week, the council's secretary Anatoliy Kurtiev said.

“This is a great grief for the whole Zaporizhzhia. That is why tomorrow is declared a day of mourning in our city. Together, let us honor the cherished memory of everyone whose life was cut short forever on that tragic night in March,” Kurtiev said on Telegram Sunday.

Rescuers from the State Emergency Service searched for survivors for four days after the strike hit Thursday. Crews found men, women and a small child deceased.

Nine people — including one pregnant woman — were rescued from the rubble early Thursday, the State Emergency Service reported. Five others remain missing, Kurtiev said.

“Let's also thank the rescuers of the State Emergency Service who have been clearing the rubble for almost four days, day and night, without a break. They are our heroes. We bow to them,” he said. Kurtiev added that a city council meeting will be held Monday with the surviving residents of the affected building.”-via CNN

~

“Most of Ukraine’s winter grain crops – winter wheat and barley – are in good condition and could produce a good harvest, Ukraine’s academy of agricultural science was quoted as saying on Monday.

“The analysis of the viability of winter wheat … showed that the vast majority of plants were in relatively good condition,” the APK-Inform consultancy quoted a report by the academy as saying, despite Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Reuters reports the winter wheat area sown for the 2023 harvest decreased to about 4.1m hectares from more than 6m sown a year earlier as a result of Russia’s fullscale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February last year.

Of the winter wheat sown last year, only 4.9m hectares were harvested in Ukrainian-controlled territory, as Russian forces occupied some areas.

Ukraine’s wheat harvest declined to 20.2m tonnes in 2022 from 32.2m tonnes in 2021. Overall grain output fell to around 54m tonnes from a record 86m in 2021.”-via The Guardian

~

“Negotiations to return the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) to Ukraine’s control are not progressing, Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said Sunday.  

“The situation is currently at a standstill,” the energy minister said during the Ukrainian national telethon “United News.”

The nuclear plant, which is Europe’s largest, has been under Russian control since March last year.  

“Our position, which we voice on all international platforms, is that any negotiations on ZNPP should be based on: first, demilitarization of the plant, second, withdrawal of (Russian nuclear company) Rosatom employees from ZNPP. Thirdly, Ukrainian personnel should be able to operate the nuclear facility without pressure,” the minister said. “But in response to this, we received (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's null and void decree that ZNPP is 'federal property,'" the energy minister said.

Zaporizhzhia is among the Ukrainian regions annexed by Russia in violation of international law, and as part of that seizure, Putin has declared the plant Russian property and installed workers there.

As Russia continues to occupy the plant, Halushchenko claimed Ukraine is receiving “alarming signals” from experts with the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency working at the plant. The minister accused the Russian side of “behaving extremely unprofessionally” at the nuclear site.

Last week, the head of IAEA, Rafael Grossi, expressed concern about the situation in the plant, citing delays in rotations of its team of experts in the facility, an increased security presence on-site and nearby fighting.”-via CNN

~

“According to the U.K. Defense Ministry's intelligence update on March 6, the Russian military has been deploying 60-year-old T-62 main battle tanks as a result of continued heavy equipment losses.

Furthermore, there is a "realistic possibility" that the 1st Guards Tank Army, Russia's elite tank force, will be re-equipped with the T-62s, the U.K. Defense Ministry added.

According to the ministry, about 800 T-62s have been taken out of storage and equipped with better sighting systems that will "highly likely improve" their performance during nighttime operations.

The report also states that Russian BTR-50 armored personnel carriers, first fielded in 1954, have also been deployed in Ukraine in recent days.

According to the defense ministry, these older tank models are subject to "many vulnerabilities on the modern battlefield" due to the lack of modern explosive reactive armor.

According to the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces, Russia has lost 3,423 tanks, 6,703 armored fighting vehicles, 5,307 vehicles and fuel tanks in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.”-via Kyiv Independent

[theculturedmarxist]

Answer: to a pre-emptive Russian Strategic Nuclear attack on the Continental United States

Once my televised interviews are posted by the hosts on their websites and Twitter accounts, I often take a look at the Comments from viewers to better understand the audience and its mood.  After my first appearance on one of India’s largest circulation English-speaking news channels with global reach, I was amused to see the remark: “hey, the old guy isn’t saying what they expected him to say!”  A bit further down the Comments column was the remark that the viewer was delighted to see an unusual point of view presented on the channel.  Perhaps the general management also reads the Comments, because I have been invited back on their various programs repeatedly since then.

Regrettably, not every “old guy” in public view says what is not expected of him. A case in point is the very hawkish and reckless position aired by Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) at their news conference a few days ago when they explained the Resolution they have introduced in the Upper House on a bipartisan basis.

I say that their position was expected of them because as longstanding pillars of the Neoconservative majority in Congress they advocate a foreign policy that is ‘as American as apple pie.’ That is to say it is based entirely and exclusively on domestic political considerations.. They say in the Resolution that they want the warning to reach the ears of Putin and his military generals, but they are really focused on rallying their peers on Capitol Hill for further military aid to Ukraine, meaning further billions to the military industrial complex that is building or replacing that hardware.

Their message will, of course, be reported to Putin. Indeed it is already the subject of the day on Russian state television and social media. But the good Senators misjudge entirely what the Russian reaction will be, and they misjudge because they do not listen to Russian opinions and military doctrine that has been revised and clarified over the past year as the war evolved. Nor do they begin to understand the strength of Russian military forces at both conventional and nuclear arms, the strength of the Russian economy and the relevance of Russia’s being aligned with more than half of the world’s population and with producers enjoying a greater share of global GDP than the USA and its G7 allies today.

Unfortunately virtual reality, which is the space in which Blumenthal and Graham apparently reside, is not just a marketing gimmick of Zuckerberg and his peers in the entertainment industry. Virtual reality is the only reality that the American political Establishment knows. External, objective reality simply does not exist for these people. All the more so that we are living in a post-truth world ushered in by Donald Trump.

I take a special interest in the ‘old guy’ Richard Blumenthal, because he was a classmate of mine in Harvard ’67, one of at least four classmates who rose high in their respective professional fields of government or news media and have, over the course of several decades, done their absolute best to bring the United States into a kinetic war with Russia.

About my Gang of Four classmates I will write below, but now let us look at the pending Resolution in the Senate.

 The Resolution states how the United States should respond to Russia’s possible use of tactical nuclear weapons in the Ukrainian war theater plus one other nuclear scenario. Of course, the chance of the Russians resorting to tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine is nil, given they are doing splendidly at present batting away the Ukrainian counter-offensive with conventional weapons and are enjoying a 10:1 kill ratio while destroying the latest Western tanks, armored personnel carriers and artillery units almost as quickly as they are delivered to Ukraine by the NATO countries.  The authors of the Resolution surely know this.  Talk about tactical nuclear weapons is merely the cover for the real thrust of the Resolution: to make an awaited Russian attack on the Zaporozhie nuclear power plant a casus belli.

Implementation of any of these dastardly acts by the Russians would spread nuclear clouds into neighboring NATO nations and still further afield. Under the terms of the Resolution they could thereby trigger implementation of the famous Article 5 of the North Atlantic Alliance treaty.

The problem with the last named red line is that an attack on the nuclear plant is now being planned and may be implemented in the coming days by the Kiev regime under the “false flag” scenario that the United States and its vassals have perfected over the years in operations ranging from the alleged chemical attacks on civilian populations blamed on Bashar al Assad in Syria, to the MH-17 downing over Ukraine and on to the staged Bucha massacre in Ukraine that Russia is said to have perpetrated. Since Graham was in Kiev colluding with Zelensky and his circle of war criminals a couple of weeks ago, there is good reason to suppose that he is a co-author of the plan to attack the nuclear power station.

Russian social media and even Russian state television news today speak of a Ukrainian strike on the power station at any time from tonight, 5th July through 9th July. The cut-off date would leave sufficient time to draft and pre-approve among NATO members their collective response to the alleged Russian crime for an official vote at the gathering on the 12th.  

Russian social networks tell us that the Ukrainians will use one or more Soviet vintage Tochka-V missiles to hit the power plant. We saw them in action at the very start of the Ukraine war when the Kiev forces struck downtown Donetsk with such missiles.  It is doubtful that a normally configured Tochka missile would have the force to seriously damage the reactors. But it is assumed that the missiles will be fitted with warheads containing radioactive spent fuel, of which there is a vast quantity available in Ukraine.  In that case, a missile striking the reinforced concrete shell covering the reactors would upon explosion release radioactive dust suitable for the purposes of a false flag operation against Russia.

The news conference of Blumenthal and Graham was rich in material incriminating them both as war mongers. Here is a brief sampling from the C-Span printed record:

Quote

I applaud President Biden for putting on the table that the threat of Putin using a nuclear weapon in Ukraine is real and our message is to those around Putin that if you do this, if you follow his order, if he ever gives it, you can expect a massive response from NATO and you will be at war with NATO.

I put everybody in this body and this Congress on notice that the threat of use of a nuclear device by Russia is real and the best way to deter it is to give them clarity…..if they do that, they will be in a war with NATO.

It’s based on fact and science and it is meant to send a message to Vladimir Putin and even more directly to his military, they will be destroyed, they will be eviscerated if they use tactical nuclear weapons or if they destroy a nuclear plant in a way that threatens surrounding NATO nations.

{Putin] has committed industrial level war crimes thinking he will eventually get away with it. His goal now is to wear the west out. Slow down the counter offensive. Get people in Washington and other capitals of the world to just break and offer and offer him some face saving deal…If he gets away with this, Putin, there goes Taiwan.

If you think Putin will stop in Ukraine, you’re not listening to what he’s saying. This is a moment in world history to stop one of the most aggressive, brutal people on the planet, send a signal to China.

Unquote

The total indifference of these Senators to the situation on the ground in Ukraine, not to mention to the real persona and public speaking record of Vladimir Putin speaks for itself. Their understanding of the Russian leader is at the level of juvenile caricature, or to put it in terms all too familiar to Americans – at the level of one of the last dunces in the White House, George W. Bush, who once upon a time sought to punish Vladimir Vladimirovich by disinviting him to a Fourth of July hotdog party on the White House lawn. Now the stakes for this kind of kindergarten level statecraft have risen to the point of declaring war on Russia for crimes that our vassal in Kiev may commit. 

The latest thinking of the Russian leadership on the use of nuclear weapons as set out in its public pronouncements is that a pre-emptive strike can be envisioned if there is an imminent threat of nuclear attack from abroad.  This is not about some tactical weapons being used against troop concentrations in Ukraine, or even about their being used against the Ramstein air force base in Germany should it be the starting point of F-16s sent against Russian forces in Ukraine.  No, it is about striking the puppet master behind the entire show, namely Washington and the Continental USA if anything like the Blumenthal-Graham Resolution is passed and put into action following the false flag operation described above.

Heaven help us all!

                                                                        *****

As I noted at the outset, Richard Blumenthal has long been a voice against coexistence with Russia on Capitol Hill. He exemplifies how the Neocon ideology that was spawned by disaffected Leftists in the 1970s and ‘80s and won over Republican adherents like Senator John McCain, aided and abetted by one of the movement’s theoreticians, Robert Kagan, eventually took hold in the Democratic Party, including its entire Progressive wing.

Other portraits from my Harvard Class of 1967 which hang in my gallery of rogues and would-be war criminals are those of Richard Morningstar, Tom Ridge and Serge Schmemann.

Morningstar made his move into government during the Clinton Administration thanks to his big financial contributions to the party. He was given important assignments by Madeleine Albright to sabotage the Russian network of active and planned gas and oil pipelines to Europe with the objective of destroying the Russian economy. It was a close race, but the prize in those contests went to the better man, Vladimir Putin, and Morningstar’s efforts against the South Stream and other projects uniformly failed. He ended his public career as ambassador to one of the countries in which he was active from the beginning, Azerbaijan.

Tom Ridge moved from state level politics to the federal level after George W. Bush appointed him as the country’s first Secretary of Homeland Security. In that capacity, Ridge was responsible for implementing the Freedom Act which was part and parcel of the suppression of all civil liberties in the USA for purposes of furthering the War on Terror. In this way, Ridge had personal responsibility for choking off free speech and free thinking in the USA, thereby preparing the country for the brain dead present half of the population that supports Biden and the war. 

Finally, I mention once again classmate Serge Schmemann, member of the editorial board of the New York Times, who over the course of decades in various journalistic positions has been venomously anti-Putin and essentially anti-Russian.

And who says that ‘old guys’ from Harvard do not count in American politics?

©Gilbert Doctorow, 2023

[xtruss]

Why “North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO)” Has No Right to Complain About Russian Nukes in Belarus

— Sunday May 28, 2023 | Ilya Tsukanov

Moscow and Minsk signed agreements this week on the deployment of Russian tactical nukes at a special storage facility in Belarus. The deployment will mean a significant security boost for Minsk, and threaten to unravel NATO’s entire missile defense strategy, says international relations and security analyst Mark Sleboda.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has confirmed that Russia has moved ahead with the deployment of tactical nukes to Belarus.

“We had to prepare storage areas and the like. We have done this, so the movement of nuclear weapons has already begun,” Lukashenko said, speaking to Russian media in Moscow on Thursday.

The Biden administration responded predictably, with White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre slamming the nuclear deployment as “yet another example of making irresponsible and provocative choices” by Russia, and reiterating Washington’s commitment “to collective defense of the NATO alliance.”

Jean-Pierre’s remarks echo those made by NATO in March, when Moscow and Minsk first outlined plans on the transfer of tactical nukes to Belarusian soil. At that time, an alliance spokesperson called Russia’s plans “dangerous and irresponsible,” and dismissed any suggestion that the decision was a response to longstanding NATO policy – including the stationing of US nukes on European soil.

Mark Sleboda rejects these excuses. “First off, it has to be said, one of the first justifications Russia used for doing this is that the US has actually had tactical nuclear weapons in Europe for decades, hundreds of them, in fact, and they have recently even been upgraded to the B61-12 tactical nuclear warheads [in place] of older gravity bombs,” Sleboda pointed out in an episode of Radio Sputnik’s The Final Countdown on Friday.

“They are located in a number of NATO countries, including Belgium, Italy, Germany. They’ve been there for decades, and Russia has long complained about it. And that longstanding grievance, combined with other NATO escalations, convinced Russia that if you set the precedent and you don’t consider it a violation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, then you can hardly accuse us of doing the same if we do it in Belarus. But of course, hypocrisy knows no bounds,” the observer said.

US Nukes in Europe: Where are They Stationed? Russia's plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus sparked an outcry from North Atlantic Terrorist Organization (NATO), with the alliance issuing a statement condemning Moscow for its "Dangerous" and "irresponsible" move. But given that the US has around 100 nukes at six separate European bases, the rhetoric seems like a case of the pot calling the kettle black. (March 27th, 2023)

Russia’s move isn’t an act of “escalation” so much as it is “an act of equity,” according to Sleboda, with the decision sending a “definite signal” on Russia’s commitment to Belarus’ security, and the future of any potential NATO-Russia conflict.

Combined with the deployment of Russian Iskander-M missile systems and the modification of Belarusian jets to carry nuclear weapons, the analyst hopes the move will cool any hotheads in the Pentagon, Warsaw, and NATO as a whole.

Inoculation Against Color Revolution

Pointing to Belarus’ alliance with Russia, including its membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Russian-Belarusian Union State, is “something that’s not often talked about with the West because they don’t like to acknowledge its existence,” Sleboda said, recalling the regular threats to Belarusian security from the West, including an attempted color revolution in the country in 2020.

“Just in the last week, a Polish general and former deputy defense minister, Waldemar Skrzypczak, appeared on Polish TV and said there will be an uprising in Minsk. He spoke about a ‘pro-Ukrainian army’ by which I assume he means the Belarusian neo-Nazis fighting for the Kiev regime –basically the idea that they will come home and overthrow the Belarusian government, and that Poland should be prepared to support them. Obviously this is exactly one of the types of things that this placement is meant to secure Belarus from,” Sleboda said.

On top of that are the strategic considerations, both given NATO’s nuclear provocations – like staging nuclear-capable bomber drills near Russia’s borders over the Black and Baltic Seas in recent years, and longstanding efforts to create missile defenses in Eastern Europe to try to render Russia’s nuclear deterrent obsolete. The nuclear deployment in Belarus should counter these threats, from Moscow’s perspective, Sleboda believes.

Why is Russia Deploying Tactical Nuclear Weapons in Belarus? Announcing this week’s signing of a deal on maintaining Russian tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian soil, Russia and Minsk reiterated that this is a response to the aggressive policies pursued by unfriendly countries. What prompted Moscow to deploy its non-strategic nukes in Belarus? May 26th, 2023

As compared to strategic nuclear weapons, an NSNW is less powerful and aims to devastate enemy targets in a specific area without causing widespread destruction and radioactive fallout.

"I would like to note that all the activities are organized strictly in accordance with existing international obligations and do not violate the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,” Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said.

He Sergei Shoigu all of this indicates that both Belarus and Russia are facing a very hostile environment, which in turn prompts the two to further strengthen their partnership, particularly pertaining to bilateral relations in the military sphere. Peskov did not specify whether Russia had started deploying TNWs in Belarus or not.

"Over the last two and a half years, the Republic of Belarus has been subjected to unprecedented political, economic and information pressure from the United States, the United Kingdom and its NATO allies, as well as the member states of the European Union. In view of these circumstances, and the legitimate concerns and risks in the sphere of national security arising from them, Belarus is forced to respond by strengthening its own security and defense capabilities," the Belarusian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The Russian president underlined that the immediate trigger for the deployment of TNWs in Belarus was the UK government’s decision to provide Ukraine with armor-piercing shells containing depleted uranium, something that he said was “one way or another related to nuclear technology."

— May 26th, 2023, Sputnik International

Belarusian Military Train in Russia to Operate Iskander-M Missile Systems! The Iskander-M is a mobile short-range ballistic missile system developed by Russia. It has a range of up to 500 km and is capable of carrying a range of conventional and nuclear warheads. The missile system is designed to evade interception and can be quickly deployed across different landscapes, such as deserts, snow-covered, and rough terrain. It also integrates advanced technologies such as inertial and optical guidance systems, making it highly accurate.

“One of the reasons they’re putting them there is, you know, the tactical value of having nuclear weapons closer to NATO’s borders, which ruins all of their missile defense plans… But it also puts Russia’s nuclear shield more firmly over Belarus. There will be no military incursion into Belarus [because] there will be nuclear weapons there. And likewise as well, it makes any future attempts at some kind of color revolution or Maidan type insurgency to overthrow the Belarusian government extremely unlikely because Russia will then always have an excuse to intervene,” he said.

Along with the increased security, the nuclear agreement might mean the transfer of additional advanced military hardware to Belarus, and perhaps some undercover “economic sweeteners” for Minsk, like cheaper gas prices, the observer suggested.

Change in Russia’s Nuclear Posture?

Asked about what the nuclear deployment in Belarus means for Russia’s nuclear doctrine, and whether it signals a shift in Moscow’s willingness to preemptively use nuclear weapons – including in Ukraine, as written about ad nauseam in Western legacy media and by DC think tanks, Sleboda stressed that until Moscow announces otherwise, “Russia’s nuclear doctrine does not allow for a first strike capability.”

“The exception for that is, of course, the use of some other type of weapons of mass destruction against Russia, you know, chemical weapons, biological weapons… The other situation, and this is an exceptional one, is an overwhelming conventional attack [that may] threaten the very existence of the Russian state, which is generally interpreted to mean a gigantic NATO conventional attack that manages to destroy the Russian military and is marching on Moscow or St. Petersburg,” he explained.

“I would say that there have been a number of Russian officials and political figures that have been very loose with nuclear talk. They talk about the casual use of nuclear weapons like US congressmen do, you know, it’s like [late Arizona Senator John] McCain saying we should turn something into a ‘glass parking lot.’ But those statements of bluster and rhetoric have nothing to do with reality. And I have to say that in this particular situation I find such use of nuclear threats (that are not part of Russia’s nuclear doctrine and so are meaningless) to be less than constructive,” Sleboda noted.

Otherwise, the international security observer noted, “Russia’s nuclear doctrine is clear,” and that unless someone uses nukes or other WMDs against Russia first, a nuclear response will not follow, including in Ukraine.

[latestnews-now]

UK intelligence chief Richard Moore has accused Russia of conducting a dangerously reckless sabotage campaign across Europe and warned that a Russian victory in Ukraine could embolden adversaries worldwide. Learn how MI6 and French intelligence are working to counter this threat. Discover the global implications and why Western unity is critical in this escalating crisis. Stay informed – watch now!

[immaculatasknight]

Time to pump the brakes

[tomsecker]

Subscribercast #94 - The Diplomat Season Two

Netflix’s The Diplomat is cutting edge State Department propaganda, as well as being a Homeland replacement set in and around the US embassy in London. On this subscribercast we look at season two of The Diplomat, asking why NATO is never referenced in the series, why the writers seem to have no knowledge of British politics, taking a look at the influence of the US and UK governments on the show…