Showing posts with label John Kerry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Kerry. Show all posts

Thursday, January 07, 2016

Those who believe US Government propaganda constantly repeated by the despicable mainstream media, must believe that Russia, with the finest army in the world, attacked Ukraine but somehow have not yet reached Kiev. Talk about gullible! The true story is that the US overthrew the freely-elected president and replaced him with a US-manipulated stooge, amounting to a literal coup d'etat. So while Americans take their "facts" from the mainstream medea, the Russian-speaking people of Ukraine have become subjects to ethnic cleansing ...and Russia is sanctioned for allegedly attacking Ukraine. How many lies can you swallow America?


Gallup: Ukrainians Loathe the Kiev Government Imposed by Obama

By Eric Zuesse                                                                           Region: ,
Global Research,December 24, 2015                                              Theme:

On December 23rd, Gallup headlines “Ukrainians Disillusioned With Leadership,” and reports that “nearly nine in 10 Ukrainians (88%) say corruption is widespread in their government, and about eight in 10 (81%) see the same widespread problem in their country’s businesses.” 8% of Ukrainians now say they “have confidence … about the national government.” 17% approve of the job-performance of their President, Petro Poroshenko. While the pre-coup President, Viktor Yanukovych, was in office, 2010-2014, that figure had been averaging about 23%, and was never as low as Poroshenko’s is now.

Gallup reports, “fewer Ukrainians now say their leadership is taking them in the right direction than before the revolution,” but that statement calling this coup a ‘revolution’ embodies the propaganda-lie of one of Gallup’s main clients, the U.S. government itself, which calls the U.S. coup in Ukraine in February 2014 a “revolution,” when every honest and knowledgeable person now knows that this U.S. government claim — that it had helped install democracy instead of having ended it in Ukraine on 20 February 2014 — to have been a lie. Even the founder of the “private CIA” firm Stratfor has called the overthrow of Yanukovych “the most blatant coup in history.” It had been that because it was the first coup to be videoed by numerous people from many different angles with their cellphones and by TV cameras, uploaded to the Web by even anti-Yanukovych countries such as the UK’s BBC; and those videos, the best compilation of which is here, make clear that this was, indeed, a coup d’etat, no authentic revolution at all, such as the U.S. government claims.

Furthermore, the EU’s investigator who had been assigned to report to their Foreign Affairs Minister Cathy Ashton about the overthrow, reported to her that it had been a coup, and that even Petro Poroshenko himself said that “our” side — meaning the anti-Yanukovych people, had done it. Subsequently, evidence came to light showing how it had been organized: the organization for it had started in the U.S. Embassy in Kiev by no later than March 2013. Then, after all of that preparation, on 4 February 2014, the U.S. State Department’s Victoria Nuland gave the final instruction to the U.S. Ambassador in Kiev, to have Arseniy Yatsenyuk appointed to run the country after the coup, and he became appointed 18 days later, on 22 February 2014, to run the country as Prime Minister, until a new President would be elected ‘democratically’; but, even the election of President Poroshenko on 25 May 2014 was no democratic event, because the U.S. government didn’t want residents in the area of Ukraine that had voted over 90% for Yanukovych to be voting in that election. That area of Ukraine (which historically had been a part of Russia) was called Donbass, and it had no say whatsoever in determining Ukraine’s President after the coup, because the new coup-imposed Ukrainian government was already bombing it, starting on 9 May 2014. None of this could have happened without that ‘revolution’: U.S. President Barack Obama’s very bloody coup in Ukraine.


And then, right after the coup, America’s stooge who now was running Ukraine for the U.S. regime, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, installed leaders of Ukraine’s two rabidly anti-Russian racist fascist or nazi parties into all of the top internal security and military positions, in order to carry out what they called the ‘Anti Terrorist Operation’ (ATO), or program to exterminate and drive out the residents of Donbass. The prestigious fascist U.S. think tank, the Brookings Institution, urged Obama to increase the firebombings of Donbass, but he decided not to follow that advice, at that particular time.

Obama wants ultimately to base American nuclear missiles in Ukraine on Russia’s border (much like the Soviet dictator Nikita Khrushchev had unsuccessfully tried to do to America in the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis), and this coup and ethnic-cleansing (to make the coup-regime stick) is how he goes about achieving his goal. Perhaps the next U.S. President will succeed in it. The entire plan had started under U.S. President George Herbert Walker Bush, in 1990; and every U.S. President since then has advanced it further. The United States, ever since around 1980, hasn’t been a democracy; it’s a dictatorship. That’s why it does things like this.

Back in June 2014, shortly after Poroshenko became Ukraine’s President, a Gallup poll in Ukraine taken for the U.S. government showed (p. 27) a geographical breakdown of the answers to the question “Tell me whether you think Russia has played a mostly positive role or a mostly negative role in the crisis in Ukraine. Percent ‘mostly positive’”. The entire country was broken down into 6 regions there, which included not only the regions that had voted against Yanukovych in 2010 (such as the May 25th election had excluded) but also the two regions that had voted the most heavily for Yanukovych, Donbass (which had voted over 90% for him, and which here constituted the eastern half of the region called “East,” which entire region was shown as having rated Russia’s “role in the crisis in Ukraine” 35.7% as having been “mostly positive”), and also Crimea (which constituted the entirety of one of those 6 regions, and which had voted around 75% for Yanukovych, and which answered 71.3% that Russia’s “role” had been “mostly positive”). The only other region where Russia’s “role” had been rated as “mostly positive” by more than 3% was the area around Odessa, called here “South,” where 28.4% of the people rated it “mostly positive.”

All three of the other regions of the pre-coup Ukraine were the regions where the Presidential election had been held on May 25th of 2014: these were the regions Gallup categorized as Center (2.4% “mostly positive”), North (1.8% “mostly positive”), and West (1% “mostly positive”). So, Poroshenko had been elected as the President for all of Ukraine, but by  only voters in the most anti-Russian half  of that extremely divided country; and now the residents of two of the other areas (areas in the strongly pro-Yanukovych half of Ukraine) had tried to separate from Ukraine and to join again with Russia (of which those regions had long been parts): Crimea, and Donbass. Crimea was accepted by Putin into Russia, but Donbass was not.

U.S. President Obama imposed the economic sanctions against Russia for Russia’s having accepted the pleas of Crimeans to rejoin Russia, and for Russia’s having accepted the pleas of Crimeans to rejoin Russia, and for Russia’s opposition to the Obama-imposed government’s ethnic-cleansing program to exterminate and/or expell from Ukraine the residents of the Donbass region of Ukraine. The same European Union that accepted Obama’s bloody February 2014 Ukrainian coup have also been accepting his ethnic-cleansing campaign there; and Obama insists upon its being ultimately continued, notwithstanding his Secretary of State, John Kerry’s, internal opposition to it.


Thursday, December 17, 2015

"Would you be willing to defend your country against a foreign invasion? That’s all Putin is doing in Syria." Thus proposes blogger Mike Whitney, who covers the Middle East, North Africa, Russia, 9/11, 'War on Terrorism', US NATO War Agenda, Syria, and in the present case reads the mind of Vladimir Putin who met John Kerry yesterday and no doubt gave him harsh message to carry back to Obama and his neocon masters.


Putin Throws Down the Gauntlet


Would you be willing to defend your country against a foreign invasion?

That’s all Putin is doing in Syria. He’s just preempting the tidal wave of jihadis that’ll be coming his way once the current fracas is over.  He figures it’s better to exterminate these US-backed maniacs in Syria now than face them in Chechnya, St Petersburg and Moscow sometime in the future.  Can you blame him? After all, if Washington’s strategy works in Syria, then you can bet they’ll try the same thing in Beirut, Tehran and Moscow.

So what choice does Putin have?

None. He has no choice.  His back is against the wall. He has to fight.  No one in Washington seems to get this. They think Putin can throw in the towel and call it “quits” at the first sign of getting bogged down. But he can’t throw in the towel because Russia’s facing an existential crisis.  If he loses, then Russia’s going to wind up on the same scrap heap as Afghanistan, Iraq or Libya. You can bet on it. So the only thing he can do is win. Period. Victory isn’t an option, it’s a necessity.

Do you think that Putin and his advisors have had their heads in the sand for the last 15 years, that they haven’t noticed the US rampaging around the globe bumping off one country after the other leaving behind nothing but anarchy and ruin? Do you think they don’t know that Russia is on the top of Washington’s hit-list? Do you think they haven’t noticed NATO inching closer to Russia’s borders while foam-at-the-mouth politicians in Washington wave their fists and growl about Hitler Putin and evil Russia?

Of course they’ve noticed. Everyone’s noticed. Everyone knows Washington is on the warpath and its leaders have gone stark raving mad. How could they not notice?

But all that’s done is focus the mind on the task at hand, and the task at hand is to whoop the tar out of the terrorists, put an end to Washington’s sick little jihadi game, and go home. That’s Russia’s plan in a nutshell.  No one is trying to cobble together the long-lost Soviet empire. That’s pure bunkum.  Russia just wants to clean up this nest of vipers and call it a day. There’s nothing more to it than that.

But what if the going gets tough and Syria becomes a quagmire?

That doesn’t change anything, because Russia still has to win. If that means sending ground troops to Syria, then that’s what Putin will do. If that means asymmetrical warfare, like arming the Kurds or the Yemenis, or the Taliban or even disparate anti-regime Shiites in Saudi Arabia, then he’ll do that too. Whatever it takes. This isn’t a game, it’s a fight for survival; Russia’s survival as a sovereign country. That’s what the stakes are. That’s not something Putin takes lightly.

Keep in mind, that Russia’s situation is entirely different than that of the US. The US is engaged in a vast “pivot” project to remove secular regimes that are hostile towards Washington, control vital resources from North Africa through the Middle East and across Central Asia, establish military bases wherever necessary, maintain the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency, and redraw the map of the ME in a way that best suits the commercial and strategic interests of its core constituents; the banks, the multinational corporations and the big weapons manufacturers.

Russia doesn’t have any grandiose plans like that. Putin just wants to sell oil, make money, raise living standards in Russia, and get on with life. He figured that if he played by the rules– Washington’s rules– joined the WTO, then he’d be okay. But that’s not the way it works. The WTO’s rules, like the IMF’s rules are only upheld as long as they suit Washington’s strategic objectives. And when they don’t, well, then they’re dumped like a hot potato just like they were when the US implemented its economic sanctions on Russia or when the IMF allowed Ukraine to stiff Moscow for $3 billion in loans.  The point is, it’s a free market when Washington says it’s a free market, otherwise all bets are off.

The same rule applies to terrorism. For example, On Saturday, a group of terrorists detonated a car bomb near a hospital in the Syrian city of Homs. 22 people were killed and more than 70 were injured. So the Syrian government asked the UN Security Council to condemn the attack. Naturally, the Security Council said “Yes”, right?

Wrong. In fact, the UNSC refused to make any statement at all about the attack because, to do so, would be seen as supportive of the Syrian government that the US wants to topple. The bottom line: Blowing up civilians with car bombs is hunky-dory as long as the US benefits from it.

By the way, the Security Council is currently chaired by the US who made sure the draft was never even put to a vote.

Does that sound like a country that’s seriously committed to fighting terrorism or a country that is run by hypocrites?

The reason I ask this now is because, on Tuesday [NB two days ago], Secretary of State John Kerry is [was] scheduled to attend an emergency meeting in Moscow with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov to discuss issues that are too sensitive to reveal to the public. There’s a lot of speculation about what the two men will talk about, but the urgency and the secrecy of the meeting suggests that the topic will be one of great importance. So allow me to make a guess about what the topic will be.

When Kerry arrive[d] in Moscow tomorrow [yesterday] he’ll be rushed to meeting room at the Kremlin where he’ll be joined by Lavrov, Putin, Minister of Defense Sergey Shoygu and high-ranking members from military intelligence. Then, following the initial introductions, Kerry will be shown the evidence Russian intelligence has gathered on last Sunday’s attack on a Syrian military base east of Raqqa that killed three Syrian soldiers and wounded thirteen others. The Syrian government immediately condemned the attack and accused US warplanes of conducting the operation. Later in the day,  Putin delivered an uncharacteristically-harsh and threatening statement that left no doubt that he thought the attack was a grave violation of the accepted rules of engagement and, perhaps, a declaration of war. Here’s what he said:

“Any targets threatening the Russian groups of forces or land infrastructure must be immediately destroyed.”  This was followed shortly after by an equally disturbing statement by Putin to the Russian Defense Ministry Board:

Special attention must be paid to strengthening the combat potential of the strategic nuclear forces and implementing defense space programs. It is necessary, as outlined in our plans, to equip all components of the nuclear triad with new arms.
Why would an incident in the village of Ayyash in far-flung Deir Ezzor Province be so important that it would bring the two nuclear-armed adversaries to the brink of war?

I’ll tell you why: It’s because there were other incidents prior to the bombing in Ayyash that laid the groundwork for the current clash. There was the ISIS downing of the Russian airliner that killed 224 Russian civilians. Two weeks after that tragedy, Putin announced at the G-20 meetings that he had gathered intelligence proving that 40 countries –including some in the G-20 itself–were involved in the funding and supporting of ISIS. This story was completely blacked out in the western media and, so far, Russia has not revealed the names of any of the countries involved.

So, I ask you, dear reader, do you think the United States is on that list of ISIS supporters?

Then there was the downing of the Russian Su-24, a Russian bomber that was shot down by Turkish F-16s while it was carrying out its mission to exterminate terrorists in Syria. Many analysts do not believe that the   Su-24 could have been destroyed without surveillance and logistical support provided by US AWACs or US satellites. Many others scoff at the idea that Turkey would engage in such a risky plan without the go-ahead from Washington. Either way, the belief that Washington was directly involved in the downing of a Russian warplane is widespread.

So, I ask you, dear reader, do you think Washington gave Turkey the greenlight?

Finally, we have the aerial attack on the Syrian military base in Deir Ezzor, an attack that was either executed by US warplanes or US-coalition warplanes. Not only does the attack constitute a direct assault on the Russian-led coalition (an act of war) but the bombing raid was also carried out in tandem  with a “a full-scale ISIS offensive on the villages of Ayyash and Bgelia.”  The coordination suggests that either the US or US allies were providing  air-cover for ISIS terrorists to carry out their ground operations.  Author Alexander Mercouris– who is certainly no conspiracy nut–expands on this idea in a recent piece at Russia Insider which provides more detail on the incident. The article begins like this:

    Did Members of the US-Led Coalition Carry Out an Air Strike to Help ISIS? Russia Implies They Did. Russian statement appears to implicate aircraft from two member states of the US led coalition in the air strike on the Syrian military base in Deir az-Zor….This information – if it is true – begs a host of questions.

    Firstly, the Syrian military base that was hit by the air strike was apparently the scene of a bitter battle between the Syrian military and the Islamic State.  It seems that shortly after the air strike – and most probably as a result of it – the Islamic State’s fighters were able to storm it.

    Inevitably, that begs the question of whether the aircraft that carried out the air strike were providing air support to the fighters of the Islamic State.

    On the face of it, it looks like they were. After all, if what happened was simply a mistake, it might have been expected that the US and its allies would say as much.  If so, it is an extremely serious and worrying development, suggesting that some members of the US-led anti-Islamic State coalition are actually in league with the Islamic State.  (Did Members of the US-Led Coalition Carry Out an Air Strike to Help ISIS?” Alexander Mercouris, Russia Insider)
So there it is in black and white. The Russians think someone in the US-led coalition is teaming up with ISIS. That should make for some interesting conversation when Kerry sashays into the Kremlin today.

Does Kerry have any clue that Putin and his lieutenants are probably going to produce evidence that coalition warplanes were involved in the bombing of the Syrian military base?  How do you think he’ll respond to that news? Will he apologize or just stand there dumbstruck? And how will he react when Putin tells him that if a similar incident takes place in the future, Russian warplanes and anti-aircraft units are going to shoot the perpetrator down?

If I am not mistaken, Kerry is in for a big surprise on Tuesday. He’s about to learn that Putin takes war very seriously and is not going to let Washington sabotage his plans for success. If Kerry’s smart, he’ll pass along that message to Obama and tell him he needs to dial it down a notch if he wants to avoid a war with Russia.

Mike Whitney lives in Washington state. He is a contributor to
Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion (AK Press). Hopeless is also available in a Kindle edition. He can be reached at fergiewhitney@msn.com.

The original source of this article is
CounterPunch 
Copyright © Mike Whitney, CounterPunch, 2015

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Paul Craig Roberts' blog is the number-one source of the important things we should all know but which our lying government won't tell us. In this case he opens with an appeal to support his endeavor, because he is no longer in a high place in the government (e.g. with Ronald Reagan) and tells the truth (mainly that our government is the "Evil Empire" but doesen't want We to People to know it). In this very important post he reminds us all that he needs donations to keep up his blog (fortunately I dropped him a sizable contribution a couple days ago). But donation or not, be sure to read the rest of this important post and subsequent related material that I've added.


Kerry’s Moscow Meeting: A Hopeful Sign?

December 16, 2015 | Original Here                                            Go here to sign up to receive email notice of this news letter

Kerry’s Moscow Meeting: A Hopeful Sign?

Paul Craig Roberts

As those of you who support this website know, the deal we made is that this is your site, and it will remain up as long as you support it. Many of you have kept our bargain.

Today this website alone has hundreds of thousands of readers, and millions more from the many websites in the US and abroad that republish my columns. But only a relatively few readers financially support the website. The reluctance of Americans to support those who give them truth is one reason Americans have so little of it.

Columns on the website created at your request are translated into many languages: Chinese, Russian, Iranian, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Greek, Romanian, and perhaps others of which I am unaware. Japanese readers tell me that my columns are discussed in Japan.

Three books have originated from columns I have posted on this website. One is The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism And Economic Dissolution Of The West. This book has been pubished in German, English, Czech, Chinese, and Korean.

Another book is How America Was Lost. This book has been pubished in German, English, French, and is forthcoming in Russian.

My most recent book is The Neoconservative Threat to World Order: Washington’s Perilous War For Hegemony. This book has been pubished in English and in German.

Recently, former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama used my articles about the alleged ISIL Paris attack to raise questions in Japan’s parliament about the official story of the attack.

Also recently, a prominent French commentator, Philippe Grasset, wrote about my warning that Washington has the planet on the road to destruction in nuclear war. Grasset agrees about the road that we are on, but hopes that Washington will collapse from economic and political dysfunction before Washington can initiate nuclear war.

We must all pray that the French writer’s hopes are on the mark and that the evil in Washington collapses before it can destroy life on earth.

In the meantime we must face reality, which can be discouraging. Yesterday, December 15, US Secretary of State John Kerry met in Moscow with the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, and Defense Minister, Sergey Shoygu, followed by a meeting with President Putin. The day before the meeting the Russian Foreign Ministry accused Washington of failure to comply with the Russian-American agreement designed to avoid conflict between Russia and NATO in Syria.

The combination of Russian diplomacy and the West’s presstitute media makes it unlikely that we will learn what Lavrov, Shoygu, and Putin told Kerry. It is likely that Kerry was presented with evidence that Washington is the culprit that attacked a Syrian military base in the area of Russian operations, and that the Russian government sees this as a violation of the accepted rules of engagement, to which Washington had agreed, and perhaps as an indication that the crazies in Washington intend war against the Russian/Syrian coalition against ISIS.

Additionally, more evidence has materialized that Turkey’s attack, which downed the Russian SU-24, had the logistical support of US AWACs aircraft or US satellites. http://russia-insider.com/en/natos-got-brand-new-syrian-bag/ri11846

In other words, Russia has Washington cold on Washington’s involvement with, and support of, ISIS and Turkey’s act of war against Russia.

We will not know if a confrontation occurred, but Kerry came out of the Moscow meeting talking a different talk: “We see Syria fundamentally very similarly, we want the same outcomes.” “The US stands ready to work with Russia.” “Russia and the United States agree that you can’t defeat Daesh (ISIL) without also deescalating the fight in Syria.” “Syrians will be making decisions on the future of Syria.” “We don’t seek to isolate Russia as a matter of policy.”

From the Russian side, things don’t sound as well. Today, according to Reuters, Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova said that serious differences remain between Russia and the US. Still, it is not completely clear that the Russian government and media understand that behind the evil of ISIL is the greater evil of Washington. How many more times will Russia be burned as a result of trusting Washington?

Hopefully, the meeting in Moscow helped Kerry understand that the Obama regime’s neoconservative policies have created a momentum toward war that needs to be broken. As the Syrian drama unfolds, the Russian government will learn whether Kerry’s words are for real or just more of Washington’s dissembling. 


Here are some key statements from the meeting between Vladimir Putin, Sergei Lavrov, and John Kerry in Moscow on the 15th of December to which Paul Craig Roberts refers in the preceding post. However, it remains to be seen that "isolation of Russia is not included in the plans of the United States," given our government's propensity for lying.






Key statements following meeting between Putin, Lavrov, and Kerry in Moscow


The Kremlin website may have more substantial information, at least on what the Russian delegation said.

Hopefully, the Kremlin counted the silver before the US delegation left. With Nuland, Tefft and company, no telling what they would lift as souvenirs.

From Fort Russ

Translated by Ollie Richardson for Fort Russ
15th December, 2015


U.S. Secretary of state John Kerry confirmed to the President of Russia Vladimir Putin that Washington is ready to work with Moscow to defeat the terrorist organization ISIS.

The President of Russia Vladimir Putin met with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry after his talks in Moscow with Russian foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

In the meeting, which lasted more than three hours, the Russian side was also attended by the Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, on the American side assistant Secretary of state Victoria Nuland, special assistant to the U.S. President for Russia Celeste Wallander and the US Ambassador to Russia John Tefft.

On the situation in Syria:

The parties agreed to continue work on compiling the list of terrorist organizations operating in Syria.

We agreed to continue to work in terms of compiling a unified list of terrorist organizations and to assist the UN in forming the delegations of the opposition – Sergei Lavrov
We found some areas of agreement in the classification of terrorist groups, but I can’t talk now about what we have agreed on a bilateral basis, because, as he said Sergei (Lavrov), the whole support Group Syria should participate in this discussion and it is important that all contributed to the decision – John Kerry
U.S. Secretary of state John Kerry confirmed to the President of Russia Vladimir Putin that the United States stands ready to work with Russia to defeat Russia banned terrorist organization “Islamic state” (is, formerly ISIS).
I confirmed to President Putin that U.S. ready to work with Russia to defeat the ISIL – John Kerry
Confirmed today the agreements that were reached between the military of the Russian Federation and the United States, and agreements that apply to the United States led a coalition to combat “Islamic state” (ISIS is a terrorist group banned in Russia). In practical terms agreed on some further steps that will help to make the fight against terrorism more effective – Sergei Lavrov
The parties agreed that the agreements reached in Vienna on Syria was approved by a UN resolution.
We agreed to continue work on the terrorist problem and on the organization of negotiations between the government and the opposition, we nevertheless deemed it appropriate at this stage to confirm the agreements that were reached in Vienna on October 30 and November 14 in the form of a resolution of the UN Security Council – Sergey Lavrov
During the negotiations was also affected by the military operation HQs of the Russian Federation in the SAR.
A recent report to the UN contained the assertion that the Russian operation in Syria has led to increased suffering of the civilian population. In these statements there were no references to facts. We requested the UN present such facts – Sergei Lavrov
Isolation of Russia is not included in the plans of the United States:

At the conclusion of the talks, Kerry said U.S. President Barack Obama about Russia’s isolation and explained that they were caused by the situation with the Crimea. Also the parties expressed unanimity in commitment to the Minsk agreements on settling the situation in Ukraine.
We exchanged assessments regarding the challenges to resolve the crisis in Ukraine. The Russian Federation and the USA are building on the agreements in principle reached between presidents Putin and Obama reaffirm their support of the Minsk agreements, we support “Normandy format” and will use their opportunities to achieve full implementation of the Minsk agreements – Sergei Lavrov
The USA does not have a specific policy on the isolation of the Russian Federation. We have a position related to the fact that we defend our principles and values. But, like I said, it is important for us to find areas of agreement and constructive behaviour – John Kerry
http://fortruss.blogspot.com/2015/12/key-statements-following-meeting.html

Monday, December 14, 2015

Tomorrow, December 15, John Kerry will meet with Vladimir Putin and Sergey Lavrov in Moscow. The subject will be Ukraine and Syria, the former still being attacked by Russia according to US and European propaganda and the latter now being protected by Russia, to the chagrin of Washington who wants Syira destroyed by ISIS and other terrorist groups. Russia’s intervention alone has achieved progress, while Washington is trying to subvert it. Vladimir Putin whishes to save humanity from the scourge of global war, whereas the neocons currently pulling the strings in Washington are just insane enough to kill us all.


US “Unofficially” Waging War on Russia Without a Formal “Declaration of War”


By Stephen Lendman
Global Research, December 12, 2015

Washington’s undeclared war on Russia (and China) is the greatest threat to world peace, risking the unthinkable – possible nuclear war.

Both countries stand in the way of unchallenged US global dominance – allied with NATO partners (mainly Britain, France, Germany and Turkey), Israel and the  Middle East regimes led by Saudi Arabia, a metastasizing cancer masquerading as a nation-state.

Two major flashpoint areas risk igniting global war – Ukraine and Syria.

Washington transformed Kiev into a de facto Neo-Nazi regime  (for the first time in Europe since WW II) – used as a dagger targeting Russia’s heartland, along with other Eastern European countries close to its border.

Preserving Syrian sovereign independence is the lynchpin of preventing Iran’s isolation and the entire region from becoming a US/Israeli colony, partnered with ruling Saudi tyrants using ISIS and other terrorist groups partnered with Washington to ravage Syria, Iraq and Yemen, ahead of what increasingly looks like an inevitable US/Russia clash.

On December 15, John Kerry will meet with Vladimir Putin and Sergey Lavrov in Moscow. Ongoing conflicts in Syria and Ukraine will be discussed – both countries at odds on resolving them.

Russia’s supports nation-state sovereignty, America wants all independent governments replaced by pro-Western ones it controls – using ISIS and other terrorist groups to achieve its objectives.

Next week’s meeting between US and Russian officials will resolve nothing, not as long as Washington’s hegemonic aims remain unchanged.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry called US/Moscow relations “difficult,” citing Washington’s “confrontational steps…under the pretext of the Ukrainian crisis.” They negatively “impacted cooperation between (both) countries.”

US support for ISIS and other terrorist groups in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere further exacerbated relations. Nothing in prospect suggests positive change.

“…Russia has been consistently stressing the necessity to observe the principles of equality, mutual respect and non-interference into (the) domestic affairs” of all nations, its Foreign Ministry said.

Moscow’s hope for better US/Russian relations furthered by Kerry’s upcoming visit is more pipe dream than reality.

Kerry heads to Moscow after a planned December 14 meeting in Paris with European and Arab foreign ministers. They’ll discuss ongoing Middle East conflicts, plotting strategy to continue them and ways to subvert Russia’s war on terrorism.

Separately, interviewed by Spanish EFE news on Friday, Bashar al-Assad stressed Washington, its NATO partners and regional allies aren’t serious about fighting terrorism. They’re the problem, not the solution.

Russia’s intervention alone achieved progress, Washington trying to subvert it. The struggle for Syria’s soul continues, along with Putin’s efforts to save humanity from the scourge of another global war. He deserves universal support against US-led pure evil.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs.


Monday, March 09, 2015

Stephen Lendman is an unfettered journalist of current events. He writes in short paragraphs of only one or two sentences. Each of his paragraphs reveal something profound. He used to publish on OpedNews but now posts only on his blog. Here Paul Craig Roberts has reposted his latest. It’s about our lying government. Stephen says that Obama is a congenital liar. But he reports that: “Scholars recently rated John Kerry America’s worst Secretary of State in the past 50 years – along with Hillary Clinton perhaps the worst two ever.” Americans and Russians should take heed.


As Stephen Lendman makes clear, the Obama regime is a congenital liar.

March 6, 2015 | Guest Contributions | Original Here                   Go here to sign up to receive email notice of this news letter

As Stephen Lendman makes clear, the Obama regime is a congenital liar.


The Great American Lying Machine 


by Stephen Lendman


It’s unprecedented in outrageous lies on Ukraine. Everything from calling US-installed Nazis democrats to phantom Russian hordes pouring across the border Wehrmacht-style.


US officials recite one Big Lie after another. Media scoundrels regurgitate  them like gospel. Mindless Americans believe whoppers anyone paying minimal attention would reject. 


Wars without end persist. Millions die. Survivors suffer horrifically. Ukraine is in the eye of the storm. 


It’s just a matter of time before full-scale conflict resumes. Perhaps with US combat troops involved and/or shock and awe terror-bombing. Maybe setting the entire continent ablaze.


Megalomania and delusions of grandeur define US ambitions. George Clemenceau once said “(w)ar is too important to be left to the generals.” He should have added rogue politicians like Obama and neocons infesting his administration.


In his State of the Union address, Obama shamelessly accused Russia of “aggression” in Ukraine.


Earlier he said it’s “provable” that “Russian combat forces and tanks” moved into Ukraine. 


“(T)hese are the facts. They are provable. They’re not subject to dispute.” No proof whatever was presented. Not earlier. Not now. None exists.


No Russian forces operated in Ukraine at any time during months of conflict. Nor does Moscow supply rebels with weapons.


“(S)how us” proof, Sergey Lavrov repeatedly says. “Present proof” or stop making baseless accusations.


On numerous occasions, Lavrov said “no (Russian) military intervention” in Ukraine exists. His comments fall on deaf ears. Truth is conveniently buried.


Whenever she gets a chance during Security Council sessions, neocon US envoy Samantha Power rants about nonexistent “Russian aggression” in Ukraine.


“Russian troops fight alongside” rebels, she claims. Invisible ones no one can see.


Scholars recently rated John Kerry America’s worst Secretary of State in the past 50 years – along with Hillary Clinton perhaps the worst two ever.


Both reflect brazen imperial arrogance. They’re shameless demagogues, war criminals multiple times over, an embarrassment to legitimate governance, and indifferent to human suffering.


No just just society would tolerate their high crimes. America glorifies them. Kerry’s brazen lying is notorious.


He bellows “Russian aggression” every chance he gets. He turns truth on its head accusing Putin of invading Ukraine, violating its sovereignty, and spurning international law.


“You just don’t…invad(e) another country on a completely trumped up pretext,” he said. The whole world knows Russia didn’t invade Ukraine.


It knows since WW II alone, Washington directly or through proxies lawlessly invaded North Korea, Lebanon, Cuba, southeast Asia, Indonesia, Latin America, Somalia, Haiti, Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Syria and Ukraine.


It partners with Israel in all its wars of aggression. Post-9/11 alone, It’s responsible for millions of death, mass destruction and appalling human suffering.


“Let there be no doubt about who is blocking the prospect of peace” in Ukraine,” Kerry blustered recently.


“Russia with impunity…acted to cross (its) border at will with weapons, with personnel, with the instruments of death.”


“Russia’s continued aggression” is Ukraine’s greatest threat, he ranted. “(W)e cannot close our eyes to (its) tanks crossing the border…”


“We cannot close our eyes to Russian fighters in unmarked uniforms…leading companies of so-called separatists in battle.”


“We cannot close our eyes” to Kerry’s Big Lies throughout months of conflict through current very shaky ceasefire conditions.


Deputy NATO Secretary-General Alexander Vershbow runs the organization. Jens Stoltenberg is a convenient US stooge – a front man representing Washington.


No nation threatens world peace, security and stability more than America. None works harder to resolve Ukraine’s conflict diplomatically than Russia.


Washington bears full responsibility for Ukrainian crisis conditions – including illegitimate fascist governance and naked aggression on its own citizens.


Last month, Vershbow lied saying “Russia has torn up the international rule book. It has returned to a strategy of power politics.”  


“It threatens not just Ukraine, but European and global security more generally…Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is not an isolated incident, but a game-changer in European security.”


“Russia has used force to alter legally recognized borders and to actively subvert the government of a neighboring state.”


On March 3, US General Ben Hodges urged Washington supply Kiev with more heavy weapons than already.


He ludicrously calls doing it “giv(ing) muscle to diplomacy.” He lied claiming “Russia has 12,000 (troops) in eastern Ukraine.”


He provided no evidence proving it. None exists. No Russian hordes operate anywhere in Ukraine.


Hodges wants Kiev heavily armed for more war. He wrongfully accused Putin of “want(ing) to destroy (NATO), not by attacking it but by splintering it.”


He ludicrously added “(i)f you don’t believe Russia is directly involved in Ukraine now, you’ll never believe it. You don’t want to believe it.”


Hodges heads US Army Europe (USAREUR). He ignored Kiev’s military chief Viktor Muzhenko saying Ukrainian forces “engaged in (no) combat operations against Russian regular units.”


Assistant State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf was asked about Hodges’ claim. Instead of answering, she asked why the question was asked.


“I am not going to be more specific,” she said. She lied saying “(o)bviously (there’s) a huge (Russian) presence (in Ukraine), not just of people but of weapons and other things.”


“But I’m not going to give more detail on that.”


“And where did you get your numbers,” she was asked?


“I can check and see,” she responded. “I’d refer you to the Department of Defense on their numbers that their officials put out, but I can check and see with our team.”


A previous article discussed Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland’s House Foreign Affairs Committee testimony.


It was beginning-to-end Big Lies. She called year ago US responsibility for violence using well-trained Nazi thugs “peaceful protest(s) by ordinary Ukrainians.”


She turned truth on its head about nonexistent Russian involvement claiming “Russia and its separatist puppets unleashed unspeakable violence and pillage.”


“Hundreds of Russian heavy weapons and (thousands of)
 troops poured across the border, fueling the conflict,” she blustered.


She ludicrously called Ukraine ” a manufactured conflict controlled by the Kremlin, fueled by Russian tanks and heavy weapons; financed at Russian taxpayers’ expense and costing the lives of young Russians…”


Media scoundrels regurgitate these Big Lies like gospel. Obama lies. Joe Biden lies. Kerry lies. His assistant secretary, spokespersons, UN envoy and ambassadors lie. 


Congress lies. Virtually everyone connected to government in Washington lies.


The great American lying machine has many voices. Truth is their mortal enemy. It’s buried to suppress US high crimes – to conceal its ruthless imperial agenda.


People are willfully deceived. America’s maniacal drive for world hegemony risks WW III. 


Its determination to eliminate Russia and China as major rivals may make it unstoppable. Fascist extremism headquartered in Washington may end life on earth.


Its common thread is unchallenged dominance through mass slaughter, vast destruction, unspeakable human misery, and transforming people everywhere into exploited serfs getting poverty or sub-poverty wages. 


The business of America is war – cold-blooded naked aggression against weak countries easy to roll over.


Except when ordinary people rise up and resist – from North Vietnamese to Afghans to Syrians, to Donbass freedom fighters.


Anti-fascist patriots unite. Survival depends on confronting this monster and crushing it.


Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 


His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”


http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html


Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 


Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.




Friday, February 06, 2015

Paul Craig Roberts tears into our despicable American "presstitutes", aka the cowardly "mainstream media."


The Cowardly and Despicable American Presstitutes

February 5, 2015 | Original Here                                            Go here to sign up to receive email notice of this news letter

The Cowardly and Despicable American Presstitutes

Paul Craig Roberts

February 5, 2015. There is a brouhaha underway about an American journalist who told a story about being in a helicopter in a war zone. The helicopter was hit and had to land. Which war zone and when I don’t know. The US has created so many war zones that it is difficult to keep up with them all, and as you will see, I am not interested in the story for its own sake.

It turns out that the journalist has remembered incorrectly. He was in a helicopter in a war zone, but it wasn’t hit and didn’t have to land. The journalist has been accused of lying in order to make himself seem to be “a more seasoned war correspondent than he is.”

The journalist’s presstitute colleagues are all over him with accusations. He has even had to apologize to the troops. Which troops and why is unclear. The American requirement that everyone apologize for every word reminds me of the old Soviet practice, real or alleged by anti-communists, that required Soviet citizens to self-criticize.

National Public Radio (2-5-15) thought this story of the American journalist was so important that the program played a recording of the journalist telling his story. It sounded like a good story to me. The audience enjoyed it and was laughing. The journalist telling the story did not claim any heroism on his part or any failure on the part of the helicopter crew. It is normal for helicopters to take hits in war zones.

Having established that the journalist had actually stated that the helicopter was hit when in fact it wasn’t, NPR brought on the program a psychologist at the University of California, Irvine, an expert on “false memory.” The psychologist explained various reasons a person might have false memories, making the point that it is far from uncommon and that the journalist is most likely just another example. But the NPR presstitute still wanted to know if the journalist had intentionally lied in order to make himself look good. It was never explained why it made a journalist look good to be in a helicopter forced to land. But few presstitutes get to this depth of questioning.

Now to get to the real point. I was listening to this while driving as it was less depressing to listen to NPR’s propaganda than to listen to the Christian-Zionist preachers. In the previous hour NPR had presented listeners with three reports about civilian deaths in the break-away provinces in eastern and southern Ukraine. The first time I heard the report, the NPR presstitute recounted how explosives had hit a hospital killing 5 people in the break-away Donetsk Republic. The presstitute did not report that this was done by Ukrainian forces, instead suggesting that it could have been done by the “Russian-supported rebels.” He didn’t offer any explanation why the rebels would attack their own hospital. The impression left for that small percentage of informed Americans capable of thought is that presstitutes are not allowed to say that the Washington-backed Ukrainians attacked a hospital.

In all three reports, Secretary of State John Kerry was broadcast saying that the US wanted a diplomatic, peaceful solution, but that the Russians were blocking a peaceful solution by sending tank columns and troops into Ukraine. On my return trip, I heard over NPR Kerry twice more repeating the unsupported claim that Russian tanks and troops are pouring into Ukraine. Obviously, NPR was serving as a propaganda voice that Russia was invading Ukraine.

Think about this for a minute. We have been hearing from high US government officials, including the president himself, for months and months about Russian tank columns and troops entering Ukraine. The Russian government denies this steadfastly, but, of course, we cannot trust the now-demonized Russians. We are not allowed to believe them, because they are positioned as the Enemy, and good patriotic Americans never believe the Enemy.

But how can we help but believe the Russians? If all these Russian tank columns and troops that have allegedly been pouring into Ukraine were real, Washington’s puppet government in Kiev would have fallen sometime last year, and the conflict would be over. Anyone with a brain knows this.

So, we arrive at my point. A journalist told a harmless story and has been roasted alive and forced to apologize to the troops for lying. In the middle of this brouhaha, the US Secretary of State, the President of the United States, innumerable senators, executive branch officials, and presstitutes have repeatedly reported month after month Russian tank columns and troops entering Ukraine. Yet, despite all these Russian forces, the civilians in the break-away provinces of eastern and southern Ukraine are still being slaughtered by Washington’s puppet state in Kiev.

If Russian tanks and troops are this ineffective, why are NATO commanders and neoconservative warmongers warning of the dire danger that Russia poses to the Baltics, Poland, and Eastern Europe?

It doesn’t make any sense, does it?

So the question is: Why are the presstitutes all over some hapless journalist rather than holding accountable the Great Liars, John Kerry and Barak Obama?

The answer is: It is costless to the presstitutes to try to destroy, for totally insignificant reasons–perhaps just for the pleasure of it, like “American Sniper” killing people for fun–one of their own, but they would be fired if they hold Kerry and Obama accountable, and they know it. But they have to get someone, so they eat their own.

A democracy without an honest media cannot exist. In America democracy is a facade behind which operates every evil inclination of mankind. During the past 14 years the American people have supported governments that have invaded, bombed, or droned seven countries, killing, maiming, and displacing millions of people for no reason other than profit and hegemonic power. There is scant sign that this has caused very many Americans sleepless nights or a bad conscience.

When Washington is not bombing and killing, it is plotting to overthrow reformist governments, such as the Honduran government Obama overthrew, and the Venezuelan, Bolivian, Ecuadoran, and Argentine governments that the Obama regime is current trying to overthrow. And, also, of course the democratically elected government in Ukraine that has been supplanted by Washington’s coup.

The new Greek government is in the crosshairs, and so is Putin himself.

Washington and its fawning presstitutes branded the elected Ukrainian government that was a victim of Washington’s coup, “a corrupt dictatorship.” The replacement government consists of a combination of Washington puppets and neo-nazis with their own military forces sporting Nazi insignias. The American presstitutes have been careful not to notice the Nazi insignias.

Ask yourself why a journalist’s false memory episode of an insignificant event is so important to the American presstitutes, while John Kerry’s and Barak Obama’s extraordinary, blatant, blockbuster, and dangerous lies are ignored.

In the event you have forgotten the efficiency of the Russian military, remember the fate of the American and Israeli trained and equipped Georgian Army that Washington sicced on South Ossetia. The Georgian invasion of South Ossetia resulted in the deaths of Russian peace-keeping soldiers and Russian citizens. The Russian military intervened, and the American and Israeli trained and equipped Georgian Army collapsed in five hours. All of Georgia was back in Russian hands, but the Russians withdrew and left the former province of Russia independent, despite the lies from Washington that Putin intends to restore the Soviet Empire.

The only correct conclusion that any American can make is that every statement of the US government and its presstitute media is a blatant lie designed to serve a secret agenda that the American people would not support if they knew of its existence.

Whenever Washington and its whore media speak, they lie.



Sunday, July 06, 2014

Ray McGovern was a CIA analyst for 27 years and served as chief of CIA's Soviet Foreign Policy Branch as well as preparer/briefer of the Presidents Daily Brief. If he were still in that position, President Obama would instruct him not to tell him any facts that disagree with the fictitious story that he wishes the public to buy.








The Risk of a Ukraine Bloodbath

Exclusive: Pressured by neocons and the mainstream U.S. media, the Obama administration is charting a dangerous course by seeking a military solution to Ukraine’s political crisis and possibly provoking Moscow to intervene to protect ethnic Russians, ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern warns.

By Ray McGovern


Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko – by thumbing his nose at the leaders of Russia, Germany and France as they repeatedly appealed to him to renew the fragile ceasefire in eastern Ukraine – has left himself and his U.S. patrons isolated, though that’s not the version of the story that you’ll read in the mainstream U.S. press.

But the reality is that an unusual flurry of high-level conference calls last weekend from key European capitals failed to dissuade Poroshenko from launching major attacks on opposition forces in eastern Ukraine. Washington was alone in voicing support for Poroshenko’s decision, with a State Department spokeswoman saying “he has a right to defend his country.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin during a state visit to
Austria on June 24, 2014. (Official Russian government photo)
As Ukrainian air and artillery strikes increased on Tuesday, so did diplomatic activity among the Europeans with the U.S. playing no discernible role in the peace efforts. There was no sign, for example, that Secretary of State John Kerry was invited to a hastily called meeting in Berlin on Wednesday involving the foreign ministers of Germany (Frank-Walter Steinmeier), France (Laurent Fabius), Russia (Sergey Lavrov), and newly appointed Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin.

This marginalization of the U.S. is a consequence of a well-founded suspicion that Poroshenko’s fateful decision to “attack” came with Washington’s encouragement. The continued provocative behavior of Secretary Kerry, Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Victoria Nuland and other U.S. hardliners comes despite the fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin still holds the high cards in this regional standoff.

Putin has at his disposal a range of alternatives short of sending in tanks to protect the ethnic Russians of eastern Ukraine, many of whom had voted for President Viktor Yanukovych who was ousted in February by violent protests. The uprising was led by western Ukrainians demanding closer ties to Europe but was turned into a “regime change” on Feb. 22 through a putsch spearheaded by neo-Nazi militias contemptuous of the ethnic Russians living in the east and south.

Yanukovych’s ouster was strongly encouraged by Nuland, who handpicked Arseniy Yatsenyuk to be the leader of the interim government, while at least four ministries were awarded to the neo-Nazis, including the office of national security, in recognition of their key role in the final attacks that forced Yanukovych and his officials to flee for their lives.

Though hailed as “legitimate” by the U.S. State Department, the coup regime was rejected by many ethnic Russians in eastern and southern Ukraine. In Crimea, the population voted overwhelmingly to secede from Ukraine and rejoin Russia, a development that U.S. officials and the dutiful mainstream media characterized as a Russian “invasion.”

Similarly, in the east, in the so-called Donbass region, ethnic Russians rose up and asserted their independence from the Kiev regime, which then deemed them “terrorists” and launched an “antiterrorist” campaign that incorporated some of the neo-Nazi militias as National Guard units deployed as shock troops to crush the uprising. Several bloody massacres of ethnic Russians followed in Odessa and other cities.

In May, the election of Poroshenko – in balloting mostly conducted in western and central Ukraine – held out some hope for a negotiated settlement with guarantees to respect the ethnic Russian population and greater autonomy granted to the eastern regions. However, Poroshenko had trouble getting control of his hardliners and he refused to negotiate directly with the rebels, leading to the failure of a shaky ceasefire.

A Fateful Decision

While the focus over recent days has been on Poroshenko’s decision to end the ceasefire and go on the offensive, Putin has continued to rely on diplomacy as his primary tool, especially with European officials fearful of the economic consequences of a full-scale confrontation between Russia and the West. Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov has made considerable headway in getting at least Berlin and Paris to join Moscow in trying to restrain Washington in its apparent eagerness to stoke the fires in Ukraine.

Speaking on Russian TV on Saturday, Lavrov said, “Peace within the warring country [Ukraine] would be more likely if negotiations were left to Russia and Europe,” adding, “Our American colleagues … according to a lot of evidence, still favor pushing the Ukrainian leadership towards the path of confrontation.”

That evidence is increasingly evident to Europeans. What is new is their apparent willingness to slip softly out of their accustomed lockstep subservience to the U.S. in such matters.

Washington is losing support elsewhere in Europe as well. Last Thursday, Kerry declared it “critical for Russia to show in the next hours, literally, that it is moving to help disarm the separatists,” and on Friday the European Union leaders set a Monday deadline for Russia to take a series of steps to avoid further sanctions.

Alas, Monday showed the Europeans putting off any action for at least another week. This delay has driven the editors of the neocon flagship Washington Post to distraction; in Wednesday’s edition they pouted that such lack of resolve amounts to “craven surrender” to “Russian aggression.”

Putin, meanwhile, is maintaining a determined coolness in his public remarks. In a major speech on Tuesday, he noted, in a more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger tone:

“Unfortunately, President Poroshenko has resolved to resume military action, and we failed – when I say ‘we,’ I mean my colleagues in Europe and myself – we failed to convince him that the road to a secure, stable, and inviolable peace cannot lie through war. … Mr. Poroshenko had not been directly linked to the orders to begin military action, and only now did he take full responsibility, and not only military, but political as well, which is much more important.

“We also failed to agree to make public a statement approved by the foreign ministers of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine on the need to maintain peace and search for mutually acceptable solutions.”

Focus on Europe

Putin reminded his audience of Russian ambassadors that “Europe is our natural and most significant trade and economic partner.” Adding a gentle reminder about Europe’s dependence on natural gas from Russia, Putin noted that Moscow had developed a reputation as a “reliable supplier of energy resources.” He also explained why Russia has put Ukraine on a pre-payment system for the delivery of natural gas, noting that Kiev had not paid its bill for several months.

Putin also took a dig at economic “blackmail” in referring to “the pressure our American partners are putting on France to force it not to supply Mistrals [helicopter carrier ships] to Russia.”  Russia bought two Mistral-class ships from France for $1.6 billion in what was Moscow’s first major foreign arms purchase since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Appearing on French TV last month, Putin said, “We expect our French partners to fulfill their contractual obligations” and held out the prospect of future orders, an important enticement given France’s struggling economy.

Toward the end of his speech Putin also drew attention to the spread of “radical, neo-Nazi” elements not only in the fledgling states of the former USSR, “but also in Europe as a whole.”  He warned that “social contradictions … can be a breeding ground for … the growth of extremism.”

Putin added that even in seemingly stable countries ethnic and social contradictions can suddenly escalate and become ripe for external players “to seek illegitimate, non-democratic regime change, with all the ensuing negative consequences.”

Putin seems to be challenging the Germans and French, in particular, who have had direct experience living under fascism (and who now have their own home-bred fascists to deal with), to decide whether they really wish to acquiesce in the brutal suppression of southeastern Ukrainians with the help of admirers of the late Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera and other Ukrainian fascists who helped Hitler cleanse Ukraine of Jewish and Russian “vermin.”

There is serious question as to whether Poroshenko can now rein in these Frankenstein extremists even if he seriously tried to do so. The ultra-nationalists and other hardliners in western Ukraine have made it clear to Poroshenko that they expect him to fulfill his promises about rapidly crushing the eastern Ukrainian uprising.

Meanwhile, the neocon-dominated Western mainstream media has consistently downplayed the role of fascists and neo-Nazis in the Putsch of Feb. 22, in the subsequent violence in other key cities like Odessa, and now in southeastern Ukraine. Mentioning Ukraine’s “brown shirts” destroys the U.S. media’s preferred narrative of Washington-backed “white hats” vs. Moscow-backed “black hats.”

The Russians, of course, have their own violent history with fascists and seem intent on waking other Europeans to the dangers – with the coup in Kiev a very recent reminder. Professor Stephen F. Cohen of New York University provides an excellent wrap-up of the evidence on this issue in a new article, “The Silence of American Hawks About Kiev’s Atrocities.”

Taking the Ukrainian Army Seriously

Nastupat is a strong word in Ukrainian and Russian. It means “attack” – and Poroshenko hit the word hard in announcing he had ordered his forces to “attack and free our lands.” He seemed intent not only on snubbing his peace-seeking telephone partners from last weekend, but also on channeling John Kerry’s hawkish buddy John McCain.

There were even hints of Bandera’s old attitude about ethnically purifying Ukraine in Poroshenko’s warning that Kiev’s new attack would rid Ukraine of “parasites.” The Ukrainian defense ministry quickly announced the launching of attacks “from the air and land,” and the violence has escalated sharply.

It struck me, though, as I watched the short clip from Reuters that the Washington Post and Huffington Post ran before the footage of Poroshenko’s solemn “nastupat’” announcement, that the segment did nothing to burnish the image of the Ukrainian troops he is sending off to battle.

The clip shows a ragged line of soldiers applauding two comrades as each approaches the corpulent, fatigue-clad, Poroshenko for an award that looks like a small box of chocolates – presumably from Poroshenko’s own candy factory.

The choreography was not the best. Nor has been the performance of Ukrainian troops sent to the east so far. But it would be far too easy to underestimate the kinds of casualties that elite Ukrainian units are capable of inflicting on lightly armed opponents – not to mention the highly trained Right Sektor and other fascists. A bloodbath may be in the offing.

Will Good Sense Prevail?

In his speech on Tuesday, Putin expressed the hope that “pragmatism will eventually prevail.” He tucked in one short paragraph relating directly to Russia’s relations with the U.S., stating merely, “We are not going to shut down our relationship with the United States,” while conceding that relations “are not in good shape” and blaming Washington for ignoring Russia’s “legitimate interests.”

And there is some reason to hope that, as the foreign ministers of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine gather in Berlin, they will be able to reinstate the ceasefire and move the conflict off the battlefield and onto the negotiating table.

If Poroshenko chooses the path of bloodshed, however, Putin will react strongly. Russia can be counted on to supply arms to those under air and artillery attack from the Ukrainian military. If this proves to be not enough support, Moscow may decide to do even more, possibly adopting a favorite American strategy of declaring a “no-fly zone” and shooting down attacking aircraft.

But any overt or even covert Russian government assistance to the rebels would, in turn, be sure to add fuel to the fiery hysteria in Official Washington about “Russian aggression.” There would be demands on President Barack Obama to retaliate. Who knows where this madness would end?

In the first part of his Tuesday speech, Putin was upfront about the possibility of a Russian intervention to stop any Ukrainian military slaughter of ethnic Russians. He said he “would like to make clear” to all that Moscow might feel compelled to protect “Russians and Russian-speaking citizens of the Ukraine. … I am referring to those people who consider themselves part of the broad Russian community; they may not necessarily be ethnic Russians, but they consider themselves Russian people.”

Putin said, “This country will continue to actively defend the rights of Russians, our compatriots abroad, using the entire range of available means – from political and economic to the right to self-defense envisaged by international humanitarian law.”

Putin’s reference to “international humanitarian law” sounds very much like the “Responsibility to Protect” so favored by some of President Obama’s foreign policy advisers, though apparently not when the people doing the killing are being supported by the U.S. government.

If an even more dangerous crisis is to be averted, the Russian leader’s words need to be taken seriously. To stanch bloodletting in eastern Ukraine and to protect those on the receiving end of Poroshenko-authorized attacks, I would not expect Putin to let himself be mouse-trapped into invading Ukraine – at least not until he had exhausted all other alternatives.

More likely, he would impose a no-fly zone in an attempt to shield the opposition in the east and save it from being decimated. But that itself could represent a dangerous escalation. Poroshenko and his supporters should realize that such matters can get quickly out of hand. Putin has his own tough-guy John McCains to deal with.

Someone might remind Poroshenko of the embarrassingly bloody nose that the Russians gave Georgia’s then-President Mikheil Saakashvili in August 2008 when he sent Georgian forces to attack the city of Tskhinvali in South Ossetia. Moscow justified its military retaliation as necessary to prevent the killing of Russians as well as the Ossetians in the area.

Ultimately, President George W. Bush and then-Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who had encouraged Saakashvili’s adventurism, were powerless to protect him.

Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, a publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Savior in inner-city Washington. During his 27 years as a CIA analyst, he served as chief of CIA’s Soviet Foreign Policy Branch as well as preparer/briefer of the President’s Daily Brief.  He is now on the Steering Group of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).