Biden realizes he was wrong about Russia and is changing course. But he’s still making the same mistake
His original stupid blunder was not listening to Russia. His new stupid blunder is not listening to Russia.
(Your air strike update for Jan 5 is the last main post in this newsletter)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/so-now-washington-tells-us/
So now Washington tells us
By Doug Bandow
Excerpt:
The Biden administration and European officials are quietly shifting their focus from supporting Ukraine’s goal of total victory over Russia to improving its position in an eventual negotiation to end the war, according to a Biden administration official and a European diplomat based in Washington. Such a negotiation would likely mean giving up parts of Ukraine to Russia.
Author Doug Bandow thinks he knows wherein Biden blundered.
But Bandow is making the same mistake as Biden – not listening to Putin.
If Bandow and Biden had listened to Putin at the beginning of the special military operation on Feb 24, 2022, they would not be thinking a negotiation with Russia “would likely mean giving up parts of Ukraine to Russia.”
While Putin has spoken of “talks,” he has also said he will not be negotiating with Ukraine because that country is only a puppet of the US.
Thus, there will be no negotiations with Ukrainian puppet officials, ONLY with US officials.
He also said quite clearly that his goals are
1. Denazifying Ukraine, and
2. Demilitarizing Ukraine
But Russian officials later modified this by hinting that the ultimate goal will be to denazify and demilitarize the West as well.
So, no, Russia isn’t talking about only keeping parts of Ukraine. Knowing Russia’s situation in the West and among its hate-filled neighbors can only lead one to the conclusion that Russia could never reconcile with the Ukronazis who - with Washington’s blessing - fired deadly artillery into civilian areas of Russian speaking Donbass ever since 2014 when the US de facto took control of Kiev and cynically claimed Ukraine had to fight for its “sovereignty.” Russia will never tolerate a nest of murderous Nazis right next to its border. After all, it suffered through a genocide at the hands of German Nazis for 3 years during the siege of Leningrad and is not about to let anyone repeat that experience.
I think it’s cute the way Western officials and “analysts” think they can read the Russian mind. For example, the more bellicose Westerners are now pretty sure that if Russia wins the war in Ukraine, it will invade NATO. But the more level-headed ones think that will not happen because Russia would have no reason to attack a NATO country.
The more bellicose side could be right, but not because Russia is prone to “unprovoked” invasions (I showed here that Putin’s incursion into Ukraine WAS provoked).
If some observers think Russia would have no reason to invade a NATO country, they simply haven’t been reading the news.
Politicians in both the US and Europe have not only been making dangerously provocative statements about, and threats to, Russia, they have also been pushing hard to send more arms to Ukraine and train more military specialists to use lethal arms against the Russians. There is right now in the works a plan to send F-16s and train Ukrainian pilots to use them to kill Russians.
That’s a provocation.
Plus the combined West is gleefully hatching plans to steal $300 billion worth of Russian assets deposited in Western banks.
That too is a provocation.
Plus, Biden ordered the destruction of the Russian Nord Stream pipelines. Billions of dollars’ worth of equipment and labor.
Another provocation tantamount to an act of war.
So yes, Russia has a legitimate reason to invade or attack the NATO countries that have stated their intent to help Ukraine kill Russians, destroy Russian property and steal Russian assets. After all, continuing the war and sanctions is not an invitation to negotiations and Russia has no illusions in that regard.
And, BTW, neither the US nor NATO is in a position to win a war against Russia.
Russia has abundant oil and gas reserves in large pockets, whereas the US has mostly oil and gas deposits locked tightly in shale layers, which require expensive fracking to produce.
Further, Russia has been rapidly building up its industrial military capacity. For example, Ukraine plus the combined West has only the capacity to produce max. 400-500 tanks a year vs 1500 for Russia.
The problem for the West boils down to its economic philosophy, namely, capitalism, and more specifically, its total dependence on a corporate military production scheme.
And why is this a problem?
Because while Russia can retool or tool up is its military production for any quantity of whatever weapons it needs, the US government cannot command its private arms makers to make x-number of a weapon because the private manufacturer will not invest in a new plant or tool up its facilities unless it has a signed contract for production of a given amount over enough years to justify the cost of building a new plant, and the US can’t usually tell how much of weapon-x it will need in a given period of time because it has no idea how well or poorly a given war is going to proceed. And it is constantly embarking on new wars – all of which it loses.
Russia, on the other hand, knows that the entire combined West has been trying feverishly to destroy it ever since the Soviet Union fell, and that the arms needed to defeat these mentally ill warmongers in Washington will be virtually unlimited.
Already it is beefing up its missile and drone production, which is why it is able to fire off over 150 of these weapons in one nightly combination air strike shower all over Ukraine.
But even if the US-NATO decided to nationalize arms production, it is, unfortunately, running low on cash, having just breached the dizzying $34 trillion debt threshold, and this at a time when:
1. It has at least 7 wars on the drawing board or in progress (Ukraine, Israel, the Red Sea and Yemen, North Korea, Taiwan, Syria, Iraq, and possibly Iran and Lebanon will be next)
2. Its reckless sanctions and its criminal confiscation of Russian bonds are signaling to world investors to steer clear of the US dollar, and
3. There is a de-dollarization campaign within the constantly expanding BRICS and elsewhere to settle foreign trade only in local currencies.
4. Internal strife is clawing at America’s national fabric
5. Its unconditional support for a wanton genocide in full view of the world is costing it its credibility and the trust and support of its allies and “winning” it new enemies everywhere. It makes you wonder if the US can survive the Biden regime.
And the reckoning just keeps adding up.
**
Here’s your air strike update for Jan 5, 2024
https://topwar.ru/233622-ukrainskie-istochniki-vsju-noch-obekty-na-ukraine-atakovali-bpla-vs-rf.html
Ukrainian sources: All night, objects in Ukraine were attacked by UAVs of the Russian Armed Forces
On the night of January 5, 2024, the territory of Ukraine was subjected to a large-scale attack by unmanned aerial vehicles of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. This follows from reports from Ukrainian sources.
According to the Ukrainian press, objects in Ukraine were attacked by UAVs of the Russian Armed Forces throughout the night. Currently, an air alert remains in place in the Vinnytsia, Khmelnytsky and Chernivtsi oblasts, where groups of Russian drones are flying.
At night, a UAV struck one of the enterprises in Krivoy Rog. Apparently, this is an enterprise involved in the repair or modernization of military equipment or the production of ammunition.
In addition, night explosions are reported in the Nikolaev oblast, in the city of Mirgorod, Poltava oblast, where the Ukrainian Armed Forces airfield is located. Explosions followed in the Dnepropetrovsk oblast.
Local media traditionally do not report on the consequences of strikes on Ukrainian territory. This is due to the strict censorship existing in the country.
Unlike the Kyiv junta, which uses terrorist methods, the Russian Armed Forces strike exclusively at Ukrainian military infrastructure facilities, as well as logistics and energy facilities used for military purposes. At the same time, the Russian Armed Forces act as carefully as possible, trying to avoid casualties among the civilian population. Such surgical strikes surprise Western military experts, who note fundamental differences in the actions of the Russian and American armies during military operations.
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Our thanks to JS for this
https://israelpalestinenews.org/9000-gazan-children-amputations-many-without-anesthesia-day-81/
2 reports debunk nyt mass rape report
https://us11.campaign-archive.com/?e=ebbe9c8233&u=70b9fc567465118fa0b7b6e67&id=759d89bd74
‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 91: As hunger and cold take their toll in Gaza, all eyes turn to Lebanon
Pro-Palestinian protesters cover Antony Blinken’s SUV with fake blood
**
From Jeff Brown’s channel:
1. How China works: why and how it is so successful in taking care of its citizens, Part II
2. GoPro Guerilla Warfare (vs. A TikTok Genocide)
https://seektruthfromfacts.org/guess-submissions/gopro-guerilla-warfare-vs-a-tiktok-genocide/
Biden and Netanyahu are campaigning, in sync, for war and austerity. The Globalist elites have anointed them as 'The Chosen Ones' for their mission: depopulation.
The American Conservative article does sum it up well. The clown show that is the Justin Trudeau regime is even worse than Obama and Biden's. So it could be worse. Trudeau could be the American leader :). Seriously though, whatever happen to serious minded, pragmatic diplomacy? Now all we have is incompetence and ideological sloganeering unconnected from reality.