July 2023

Jul 31, 2023

Featured • Ukrainian Soldiers Tell Of High Losses For Little Gains, Moon of Alabama, Jul 31, 2023
    "Since the Ukrainian 'counter-offensive' was launched the Russian Defense Ministry has reported on average 710 Ukrainian casualties per day.
    "The U.S., and its Ukrainian proxy, have sent these soldiers into battle knowing well that the 'counter offensive' would have no chance to win anything.
    "As the Wall Street Journal wrote a week ago:
        "When Ukraine launched its big counteroffensive this spring, Western military officials knew Kyiv didn’t have all the training or weapons—from shells to warplanes—that it needed to dislodge Russian forces. But they hoped Ukrainian courage and resourcefulness would carry the day.
        "They haven’t. ...
    "Largely untrained draftees with mediocre equipment and without sufficient artillery and air-support were willfully pushed into a fight they had no chance to win or even survive.
    "It was a cruel policy. Those who pushed them, and in fact anyone with military training and knowledge of military history, had known that all along."

Featured • The ‘Scandal Implosion’ Stratagem: Will It Work for Ukraine?, Alastair Crooke, Strategic Culture Foundation, Jul 31, 2023
    Crooke is invariably insightful and rewarding to read. His essays are sequential and cumulative. Often, his links carry the subterranean part of his argument. Here, he explains how the Western narrative will try to use the ‘scandal implosion’ technique to escape the political consequences of its self-made Ukraine trap. It won't work.

 • Moscow names condition for withdrawal of nuclear weapons from Belarus, RT, Jul 31, 2023

 • Final Corruption of the American Republic | MOATS with George Galloway, Jul 30, 2023
    The strictly US part begins at 7:20.

 • Germany May Face Irreversible Deindustrialization - CDU Chair, Oleg Burunov, Sputnik International, Jul 30, 2023
    They are trying to do everything at once: Russia sanctions, green transformation, nuclear phaseout, and then came the Nordstream bombing. Isn't lignite usage increasing? It may or may not be "green," but it is certainly a decline.

 • Zelensky ‘in Frustration’ Over Downing of US-Made HIMARS Missiles by ‘Superb’ Russian Air Defenses, Oleg Burunov, Sputnik International, Jul 30, 2023
    MacGregor. It is hard to understand how this administration could be so stupid. Well we do understand, and it has to do with the servility of the elite media -- their willingness to lie.

Jul 28, 29, & 30, 2023

Featured • No better time for Ukraine peace talks than now – NATO member, RT, Jul 29, 2023
    "‘There will be no better conditions for peace negotiations than the present,’ Szijjarto told journalists on Friday following his meeting with the Turkish foreign minister, Hakan Fidan. ‘Yesterday’s conditions were better than today’s, and tomorrow’s conditions will be worse than today’s,’ the Hungarian minister added."

 • Seymour Hersh: Opera Buffa in Ukraine, Scheerpost, Jul 29, 2023
    Small correction to this useful and no doubt authentically-sourced article: Russia was already ending the grain agreement prior to this latest Kerch Bridge attack.
    Separately, Patrick Henningsen quotes Arestovich (on video), noting that Ukraine's Kerch Bridge strategy is comprised of war crimes: “We need to demolish the bridge and that's it! And we have two million people in #Crimea who have nowhere to go, who have no water, no food. You can negotiate.”

 • Challenging the Lies About Russia and the War in Ukraine, Larry Johnson, Jul 28, 2023
    "I will leave you with this rule of thumb for those who monitor Western media — whatever you read in establishment media always assume that there is a purpose — usually nefarious — behind the information you are being allowed to read. Here is a very recent example — Joe Biden, after years of silence, finally acknowledged the bastard grand daughter from Hunter’s one night stand with a stripper. Why now? Is there concern among Biden’s campaign staff that his prior refusal to embrace that little girl paints him as the angry, spiteful little man that he is? That is small potatoes compared to the manipulation of the Ukraine/Russia narrative. Remain alert. Question everything."

 • Western money keeping Ukraine alive – Orban, RT, Jul 28, 2023
    "Ukraine is not a fully sovereign country, since it depends on Western donations to fund government spending, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has argued. And it’s the US that determines whether that aid will continue, he believes.
    "‘The Americans can pull out a lot of money with all sorts of financial manipulations, but the euro is a different story, it’s not suited for that,’ Orban said on Friday, in an interview with state broadcaster Kossuth radio.
    "While it is true that Ukrainians have suffered most from the hostilities, the premier added, the country’s dependence means that the conflict cannot be called Ukrainian. A nation that cannot pay its expenses cedes sovereignty to donors, he stated."

 • Define the Mission, The White House has an obligation to explain, explicitly and officially, what we are trying to achieve in Ukraine, Warren Davidson, The American Conservative, Jul 26, 2023
    While this is not exactly how we see the situation in its totality, the author's headline point is abundantly true. He is a congressman from Ohio, and must communicate with diverse audiences. He is offering good, truthful talking points for other politicians.

 • US Military Planners to Blame for 'Stupid' Ukraine Counter-Offensive, James Tweedie, Sputnik International, Jul 25, 2023
    "US military pundits have pointed out that the Pentagon would never have launched such a military campaign without first gaining air superiority — which they admit Ukraine is incapable of.
    "Retired diplomat Jim Jatras told Sputnik that the US-devised plan for Ukraine's southern offensive was not only ‘stupid’ but ‘criminal.’
    "‘These people sent the Ukrainian forces into this meat grinder, knowing exactly what the result was going to be,’ Jatras charged. ‘The only thing I can think of is they had some idea they could use this as some kind of a jujitsu to justify a direct military intervention of perhaps close air forces in Ukraine. That doesn't seem to be on the cards either, now.’"
    The alleged number of tanks destroyed in this article is way too high. Get those numbers elsewhere.

Jul 27, 2023

 • More Warmongers Elevated In The Biden Administration, CaitlinJohnstone.com, Jul 26, 2023

 • US Officials Say the Main Thrust of Ukraine’s Counteroffensive Has Started, Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com, Jul 26, 2023

 • Battle For Robotyne - Ukraine Open Thread 2023-178, Moon of Alabama, Jul 26, 2023

 • Ukraine Offensive Achieving NOTHING w/Col Doug Macgregor (ret), Judging Freedom, Jul 25, 2023

Jul 26, 2023

 • Glimpses of an endgame in Ukraine, M.K.. Bhadrakumar, Indian Punchline, Jul 25, 2023

 • The coming Russian-Polish war, Gilbert Doctorow, Armageddon Newsletter, Jul 23, 2023

Jul 25, 2023

Featured • Russia Raises Stakes With Bold Strike On Danube Port, Simplicius, Jul 24, 2023
    " • The plan is being developed for Poland to annex Western Ukraine in exchange for Ukraine joining NATO
    " • The big point: Partition of Ukraine is unacceptable to Belarus. And if necessary, Belarus is ready to ‘act’ to keep Poland from enveloping it from the southern direction …
    " • Lukashenko instructs Putin to do an official overview with the Russian MOD about Belarus’s decision to act—potentially militarily—against Poland should they attempt to annex western Ukraine.…
    "…the simple fact that these plans are now being so openly and candidly discussed at the highest level, by the state leadership of Belarus and Russia means that the Polish/NATO plan must be both real and fairly progressed into its actualization.…
    "Just today, another Polish unit of 200 armored vehicles and equipment reportedly arrived near the Belarusian border…"

Featured • Counter-Revolution – ‘Do You Know What Time It Is?’, Alastair Crooke, Strategic Culture Foundation, Jul 24, 2023

 • Russia does not target civilian buildings – Kremlin, RT, Jul 24, 2023
    The headline is correct. Why in the world would Russia do that? The credulous, corrupt Western media will be our ultimate bane if we let it.

 • Russian Industry Minister: Monthly Munition Production Exceeds Volumes for the Whole of 2022, Sputnik International, Jul 24, 2023

 • Zelensky’s ‘cannon fodder’: The strange lives and pointless deaths of foreign mercenaries fighting in Ukraine, RT, Jul 24, 2023

 • The Looming War Against China, Michael Hudson, Jul 22, 2023
    "Today’s fighting against Russia on the Ukrainian front can be thought of as the opening campaign in World War III. In many ways it is an outgrowth of World War II and its aftermath that saw the United States establish international economic and political organizations to operate in its own national self-interest. The International Monetary Fund imposes U.S. financial control and helps dollarize the world economy.
    "The World Bank lends dollars to governments to build export infrastructure to subsidize US/NATO investors in control of oil, mining and natural resources, and to promote trade dependency on U.S. farm exports while promoting plantation agriculture, instead of domestic food-grain production. The United States insists on having veto power in all international organizations that it joins, including the United Nations and its agencies.
    "The creation of NATO is often misunderstood. Ostensibly, it depicted itself as a military alliance, originally to defend against the thought that the Soviet Union might have some reason to conquer Western Europe. But NATO’s most important role was to use “national security” as the excuse to override European domestic and foreign policy and subordinate it to U.S. control. Dependency on NATO was written into the European Union’s constitution. Its objective was to make sure that European party leaders followed U.S. direction and opposed left-wing or anti-American politics, pro-labor policies and governments strong enough to prevent control by a U.S.-client financial oligarchy.…
    "We are witnessing what seems to be an inexorable Decline of the West. U.S. diplomats have been able to tighten their economic, political and military control leadership over their European NATO allies. Their easy success in this aim has led them to imagine that somehow they can conquer the rest of the world despite de-industrializing and loading their economies so deeply in debt that there is no foreseeable way in which they can pay their official debt to foreign countries or indeed have much to offer.…
    "The US is so heavily debt-laden, its housing prices are so high and its medical care is so extremely high (18% of GDP) cannot compete. It cannot re-industrialize without taking radical steps to write down debts, to de-privatize health care and education, to break up monopolies and restore progressive taxation. The vested Financial, Insurance and Real Estate (FIRE sector) interests are too powerful to permit these reforms.
    "That makes the U.S. economy a failed economy, and America a Failed State."

Jul 23 & 24, 2023

Featured • The Empire Knows It’s Pouring Ukrainian Blood Into An Unwinnable Proxy War, CaitlinJohnstone.com, Jul 24, 2023

 • WSJ: Western Officials Knew Ukraine Didn’t Have Enough Weapons and Training for Counteroffensive, Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com, Jul 23, 2023

 • West's decisions driven by 'impotent rage' – Moscow, RT, Jul 22, 2023
    "Ryabkov went on to describe the West’s behavior on the international stage as being driven by 'impotent rage.'
    "The diplomat said he senses 'deep geopolitical volatility and offendedness' in the decisions made by the US and its allies.
    "Western leaders are suffering from 'megalomania and inferiority complex' at the same time, which is a 'dangerous mix,' Ryabkov stressed."

 • China overtaking US – NATO member’s PM, RT, Jul 22, 2023

Jul 22, 2023

Featured • Putin Issues Stark Warning to Poland and NATO, Larry Johnson, Jul 21, 2023

 • Storm clouds gathering in the Black Sea, M.K. Bhadrakumar, Indian Punchline, Jul 21, 2023

 • Strelkov's Vatic Fantasy Fulfilled as He's Taken Into Custody, Simplicius, Jul 21, 2023

Jul 21, 2023

 • Something Amiss, Moon of Alabama, Jul 21, 2023

 • Putin: Poland Plans to Form Coalition Within NATO to Directly Intervene, Seize Land in Ukraine, Sputnik International, Jul 21, 2023

 • Discarding Illusions, Ending Wars, Colonel (ret) Douglas Macgregor, The Kennedy Beacon, Jul 20, 2023
    Discard illusions or have them destroyed. These recommendations are blindingly obvious. The longer the West indulges in fantasies the worse the outcome will be for everyone.
    "First, whatever form the Ukrainian State assumes in the aftermath of the conflict, Ukraine must be neutral and non-aligned. NATO membership is out of the question. A neutral Ukraine on the Austrian model can still provide a buffer between Russia and its Western Neighbors.
    "Second, Washington and its Allies must immediately suspend all military aid to Ukraine. Doubling down on failure by introducing more equipment and technology the Ukrainian Forces cannot quickly absorb and employ is wasteful and self-defeating.
    "Third, all U.S. and allied personnel, clandestine or in uniform, must withdraw from Ukraine. Insisting on some form of NATO presence as a face-saving measure is pointless. The attempt to extend NATO’s 'new globalist world order' to Russia has failed."

 • Scott Ritter: Ukrainian Counteroffensive Stumbles Over Russian Minefields, Sputnik International, Jul 20, 2023

Jul 20, 2023

 • Shocking Extent of Ukraine's Unrelenting Demographic Collapse, Drago Bosnic, SouthFront, Jul 20, 2023

 • Putin Strikes Back: Ukrainian Ports Devastated To Cap Grain Deal's Termination, Gennady Trukhanov, Simplicius, Jul 19, 2023

 • Russian military issues maritime warning for Black Sea, RT, Jul 19, 2023

Jul 19, 2023

Featured • Ukraine Sitrep - Reality Defeats The War Narrative, Moon of Alabama, Jul 18, 2023

Featured • Why NATO was Obsessed with Ukraine and is now in a Panic, Larry Johnson, Jul 18, 2023
    This short summary is particularly apt. It may seem exaggerated but I don't think it is. From all we have read over the past 9 years about this situation, this pretty much sums up the deep reality, sketch though it is. In Ukraine, there is a direct line from the 1940s to today, and a direct line from the Wall Street interests so ably brought into government by Allen Dulles and the early CIA to what happened in 2013-2014 and what is still happening today. The same forces and institutions are involved, in much the same way. The current occupant of the White House is however unique in his family's personal involvement and corruption, to Ukraine's sorrow. In Ukraine, "the past is never dead. It's not even past." By making itself a Western tool, Ukraine is committing national suicide. It can have no viable future under present leadership or with present alliances.

 • Pentagon explains F-16 delay for Ukraine, RT, Jul 19, 2023

 • "Most Of The World Is Tired Of War" – PM Orbán Touts Hungary And Latin America's Pro-Peace Stance At EU-CELAC Summit, ZeroHedge, Jul 19, 2023
    A real statesman. BTW, CELAC was an ally of ours in creating the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

 • US Pressuring Ukraine to Push Harder in Counteroffensive, Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com, Jul 18, 2023
    Again on this topic. MoA said it best.

 • US pressuring Ukraine for ‘decisive breakthrough’ – WaPo, RT, Jul 18, 2023
    This was discussed in yesterday's MoA article. Sure, it's the fault of the Ukrainian soldiers, say U.S. sources. How disgusting.

 • NATO to quadruple presence in Eastern European state, RT, Jul 18, 2023
    "Upgrading this force is part of NATO’s plan for a massive military build-up in eastern Europe, announced last week at the summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. The US-led bloc plans to dramatically expand its 40,000-strong Response Force (NRF) to over 300,000 troops, citing the supposed danger from Russia and the Ukraine conflict."
    Over a long time frame I am sure. NATO bloviates, puffing up its chest, which apparently makes its U.S. corporate-government sponsors happy.

Jul 18, 2023

 • Kerch Bridge Déjà Vu - Breakdown, Simplicius, Jul 17, 2023

 • US Bid to Prolong Ukraine Proxy Conflict Risks Getting Stuck in Another Quagmire, Sputnik International, Jul 17, 2023
    "The collective West under US leadership wants to destroy Russia without going to war directly but by using Ukrainians as cannon fodder,'American University in Moscow President Edward Lozansky told Sputnik. 'Thus we are witnessing a crime that supersedes the atrocities in Vietnam and the Middle East.'
    "However, in previous proxy fights, he added, the US could at least use countering communism or terror as a pretext.     "'Here we see a policy of provoking, funding, and prolonging the war between the two Christian nations that lived together for over three centuries and who were bounded by close historical, religious, economic, cultural, and family ties under the false flag of preserving a non-existing democracy in the most corrupted state to preserve the geopolitical advantage of the hegemon and its willing vassals,' Lozansky said. The collective West under US leadership wants to destroy Russia without going to war directly but by using Ukrainians as cannon fodder," American University in Moscow President Edward Lozansky told Sputnik. 'Thus we are witnessing a crime that supersedes the atrocities in Vietnam and the Middle East.'
    "However, in previous proxy fights, he added, the US could at least use countering communism or terror as a pretext.
    "'Here we see a policy of provoking, funding, and prolonging the war between the two Christian nations that lived together for over three centuries and who were bounded by close historical, religious, economic, cultural, and family ties under the false flag of preserving a non-existing democracy in the most corrupted state to preserve the geopolitical advantage of the hegemon and its willing vassals,' Lozansky said."

Jul 16 & 17, 2023

Featured • A Bonfire of the Vanities, Alastair Crooke, Strategic Culture Foundation, Jul 17, 2023

 • Moscow accuses US and UK amid Crimean Bridge terror attack, RT, Jul 17, 2023
    Well, obviously we were involved. Very likely in operational detail and if not that, just from the sheer fact that the war could be over in a day if the US wanted that.

 • CIA Leaking Like a Sieve as it Blames Ukraine for Impending Debacle, Larry Johnson, Jul 17, 2023

 • Updated: Kiev Killed Two Civilians in Terrorist Attack on Crimean Bridge with Two Naval Drones (video 18+), SouthFront, Jul 17, 2023

 • Ukrainian plot to assassinate RT editor-in-chief thwarted – FSB, RT, Jul 15, 2023
 • ‘Treason is worse than death’ – RT editor-in-chief on failed assassination plot, RT, Jul 15, 2023
    Good old democratic Ukraine, upholding the humanitarian values we love.

 • 20% of Ukrainian weapons destroyed in just two weeks – New York Times, RT, Jul 15, 2023

 • US delaying approval of F-16 training for Ukraine – Politico, Jul 15, 2023

 • Cracks in NATO’s Ukraine Project, Gordon Hahn, Jul 13, 2023
    "The tensions between Zelenskiy and his Western backers, on the one hand, and Zelenskiy and Ukraine’s military high command will untenable for continued stability in the NATO-Ukraine war effort should failure on the front persist, let alone should a Russian counteroffensive produce more territorial gains for Moscow in Odessa, Kharkov and/or left bank Kiev. Zelenskiy must either cease the offensive to please the latter and thereby displease the former, or he can push forward with the offensive to satisfy his backers and to keep the military equipment flowing and thereby alienate the Ukrainian military. One way out of this conundrum is victory on the battlefield, and that seems most improbable. The other exit path is NATO’s abandonment of expansion to Ukraine and the opening of peace talks with the Kremlin, and that seems equally as implausible. In months, crunch time may be coming in Kiev. In this context, it comes as little surprise that, according to some reports, Zelenskiy was lobbying NATO for support (only moral support apparently) for implementation of the proposed Polish-Ukrainian Union and the deployment to western Ukraine of a Polish-Lithuanian brigade or army corps this year perhaps to be supplemented later with Latvian and Estonian troops. Supposedly, NATO refused to discuss it, and therefore Zelenskiy now has passed on the idea.[15] I sense that in a pinch the project may go forward anyway. If it does, crunch time comes closer for all Europe. If it does not, the war ends early next year, and NATO expansion dies on the steppes of eastern Ukraine."

Jul 15, 2023

Featured • House Votes Down Amendment to Block Cluster Bomb Shipment to Ukraine, Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com, Jul 13, 2023
    Provides important indicators of how the Ukraine war, and cluster bombs, are viewed in Congress. Includes links to detailed voting records and related articles. U.S. cluster bombs have already arrived in Ukraine as noted. Southfront reports that cluster munitions from Soviet stocks, as well as some made by Israel, Sweden, and various NATO countries have already been used in Ukraine, and that U.S. cluster munitions had already been supplied to Ukraine at the time of the "decision" to do so.

 • Vilnius Summit Locks Ukraine in Servile Status, Brutal War With No Way Out, Sputnik International, Jul 14, 2023
    Dan Lazare, Chuck Spinney, Michael Brenner. Spinney:
    "The pattern of NATO non-decisions and evasions in Vilnius did not paint an attractive or impressive picture of alliance decision-making, Spinney observed.
    "'The Vilnius NATO summit will be remembered as a predictable, if ridiculous, effort to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. The summit's near-term goal seems to have been to squirm out of a NATO Article 5 commitment to Ukraine,' he said.
    "Nevertheless, the NATO leaders in Vilnius appeared still focused on using the Ukraine conflict as a tool to drain Russia and even destroy it, Spinney cautioned.
    "The summit's 'long term goal seems to have been to rationalize a continuation of NATO's US-driven neocon fantasy weakening - and perhaps breaking up - Russia by enmeshing Russia and Ukraine in an ever deepening, unending Russo-NATO proxy war of attrition - [fighting] to the last Ukrainian,' he said."

 • Watch: Mike Pence Squirms As Carlson Dismantles Neocon Talking Points On Ukraine, ZeroHedge, Jul 14, 2023

 • Enlisting to Fight for Ukraine Would Be 'Suicide', Brazilian Soldier Warns, Andrei Dergalin, Sputnik International, Jul 14, 2023
    "According to Brazilian journalist Lucas Leiroz, Ukraine and its NATO sponsors no longer have enough manpower to conduct aggressive military operations against Russia, considering the fact that NATO is not officially at war with Russia and thus cannot officially commit its forces to the Ukrainian conflict. 'Ukraine is weakened, its armed forces are weakened, the [Ukrainian] neo-Nazi units that played an important role in combat operations are practically neutralized,' Leiroz told Sputnik.
    "Thus, he argued, Kiev and its sponsors now seek a 'source of manpower needed to wage an aggressive war against Russia in the long-term perspective,' as Ukraine’s efforts to press gang more citizens into military service have produced questionable results. 'The Global South is Kiev’s and NATO’s latest bet in a quest for manpower to feed the long-term war,' the journalist said. “Extensive propaganda efforts are being aimed not just at the groups sympathetic to Kiev – such as extremists, neo-Nazi networks and neo-fascist movements – but also at ordinary people who are being seduced with propaganda and promises of Ukrainian citizenship.'"

 • A Tale of Two Cities, Alastair Crooke, Strategic Culture Foundation, Jul 14, 2023

Jul 14, 2023

Featured • The Jig Is Up, William Schryver, imetatronik, Jul 13, 2023

 • Ukraine Lost Sovereignty Upon Receiving Western Money and Weapons – Orban, Sputnik International, Jul 14, 2023
    Should be obvious to all.
    "'Kiev has lost its sovereignty and receives money and weapons from the West, that is why the conflict will end immediately as soon as the US wants it,' Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday.
    "He added that the whole world does not understand why Washington doesn't want to end the conflict, and is waiting for an answer to this question.
    "'If the Americans want it, there will be peace tomorrow morning. And why the Americans do not want this is a question that the whole world is thinking about. After all, Ukraine has actually lost its sovereignty: it has no money, no military industry, no military production capacities of its own. It receives money mainly from the US, military funds — also from the Americans and the West," Orban told the local radio broadcaster.
    "The veteran Hungarian leader repeatedly stressed that Ukraine has no chance of succeeding on the battlefield and that hostilities will end as soon as the West ceases pumping Kiev with weapons and munitions. Orban dubbed Ukraine as a 'non-existent country in financial terms' and slammed the US and European Union for their aggressive anti-Russian policy."

 • Popov's Sound and Fury and Vilnius Signifying Nothing, Simplicius, Jul 13, 2023

 • Scott Ritter: NATO Summit Serves Up Cringe Nothing-Burger, Sputnik International, Jul 13, 2023

 • Is Biden Preparing to Take the U.S. to War Against Russia?, Larry Johnson, Jul 13, 2023

 • Putin ‘already lost’ war in Ukraine, Biden says, Brett Samuels, The Hill, Jul 13, 2023

 • NATO suffering delusions of grandeur – Lavrov, RT, Jul 13, 2023
    "The NATO document stated that 'the deepening strategic partnership between [China] and Russia and their mutually reinforcing attempts to undercut the rules-based international order run counter to our values and interests.'
    "Commenting on Thursday during a trip to Indonesia, Lavrov said that 'apparently, we are not even allowed now to have a relationship [with China], or so they wish.' The diplomat noted that the US had previously limited itself to referring to Russia and China as its 'rivals.'"

 • Remilitarized Germany Playing Long Game in Ukraine, M.K. Bhadrakumar, Consortium News, Jul 13, 2023

Jul 13, 2023

Featured • NATO Spent Years Preparing For Proxy War With Russia in Ukraine, Ekaterina Blinova, Sputnik International, Jul 12, 2023
    Valuable -- includes detailed timeline of military aid from 1990 on.
    "The US neocons and their likeminded NATO allies have long been apparently seeking to knock Russia out of the political arena before trying to crack down on China in a bid to preserve the US dominance, retired US Air Force Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski believes.
    "According to the US military expert, three problems have emerged in the result of Washington's misreading of the Russia and Ukraine conflict:
    "· First, that intent of weakening and isolating Russia did not play out 'as it must have done in Jake Sullivan's brainstorming sessions.'
    "· Second, the supplies have illustrated a variety of strategic weaknesses in US and NATO defense industrial production, where we see Joe Biden actually stating the obvious that the 'US is out of ammunition.'
    "· Third, taking the Ukraine-Russia destruction project on at a time when the US is experiencing financial weakness, with very limited reserves of gold, guns and 'war spirit' demonstrates that the 'war planning' of the White House and Pentagon has been done in a vacuum, and under false assumptions.
    "As per Kwiatkowski, peace is possible but it may require a difficult re-evaluation of the US role in the world while neocons and war profiteers do not accept this re-evaluation.
    "'Their ideology is mated to unipolar US power,' the US military veteran said. 'I suspect some leaders in the West are beginning to understand that there is a way to peace, and it starts with acceptance of the truth of all sides, and negotiations based on that truth. Imagine a sane US government, a concerned NATO, a true patriot of Ukraine in Kiev, and the Russians all speaking honestly. As Trump stated months ago, this war could be ended in one day.'"

 • NATO seeking global domination – Moscow, RT, Jul 13, 2023
    This is quite accurate.
    "The North Atlantic alliance intends to use Ukraine as a proxy for endless war while expanding into the Arctic and Asia in pursuit of neocolonial objectives, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday, after a NATO meeting wrapped up in neighboring Lithuania.
    "'The 'collective West' led by the US is not willing to accept the formation of a multipolar world and intends to defend its hegemony by all available means, including military ones,” the ministry said in a statement.
    "What the West calls the 'rules-based order' is nothing but a 'license they granted themselves to violate international law,' and has nothing to do with the UN, which NATO frequently invokes, according to Moscow.
    "'NATO’s achievements are well known: the growing instability, destruction of countries, rampant terrorism, war crimes that are committed with impunity, the blood of civilians, including children, and the endless flow of refugees,' the Russian Foreign Ministry said."

 • 'War Effort In Shambles As Hawks Turn On Each Other' At NATO Summit, ZeroHedge, Jul 13, 2023

 • Grain Deal Shenanigans, Moon of Alabama, Jul 13, 2023
    "The grain deal had two parts. One was the access of ships to Ukrainian harbors. The other was the normal export of grain and fertilizer from Russia. While Russia had facilitated the first part of the deal the 'West' had collectively blocked the second part. The lengthy creation of exclusive payment channels that can be blocked and controlled by the 'West', as Guterres now offers, is not a solution that Russia will support. When you see the next headline about 'Russia blocking Ukrainian exports to hungry people' keep the above in mind."

 • NATO Summit Exposes Fractures in Alliance Over Support for Ukraine, Fantine Gardinier, Sputnik International, Jul 12, 2023
    "Gilbert Doctorow, an international relations and Russian affairs analyst, told Sputnik it was 'irrelevant' which international institution the West chooses to provide Ukraine with security guarantees. 'The only force that can provide meaningful security guarantees is the United States, and the US will not give Ukraine such guarantees because Congress will not give its consent,' he said. 'Period.'
    "'The NATO summit has been a disaster for Zelensky,' Doctorow said. 'He failed on the battlefield, losing 26,000 soldiers and officers in the past month of his counter-offensive as well as losing most of the tanks, personnel carriers and other advanced equipment which NATO countries had supplied in the preceding weeks. The decision by the USA to quietly pull the plug on the Ukrainians is only natural and certainly not 'absurd.' The game is up.'…
    "[Rasmussen, a retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel]: 'Also, they're not even self-sufficient now. If it wasn't for the funding coming from the West, the whole economy and the government would completely collapse. So they don't want to put up notices. There's no discussion on the action plan, no timeline provided whatsoever. It's just a continual carrot to keep Ukraine [fighting] basically to the last Ukrainian. So it could drag this conflict on as long as possible. That's their intention. It always was, it was the intent to weaken Russia - although that's not going too well. But they have no reverse gear. They seem to want to double down no matter what.
    "Rasmussen said that Zelensky 'knows he’s not going to win,' because the only way Ukraine has a chance of winning is if NATO puts boots on the ground in Ukraine, and even then, to win NATO 'would have to escalate to nuclear, and then nobody wins.'"

 • Cluster Munitions: A Deadly Weapon w/ Col Douglas MacGregor, RFK Jr Under Attack At Reason Magazine, Kim Iversen Show, rumble, Jul 10, 2023
    MacGregor's interview lasts about 30 minutes and concerns wider issues as well as the current military situation. Repetitive for some listeners.

Jul 12, 2023

"NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg […]

'We will provide support to Ukraine for as long as it takes. Because unless Ukraine wins this war, there's no membership issue to be discussed at all.' [MoA emphasis]

Jul 11, 2023

Featured • The New ‘New World’, Michael Brenner, Consortium News, Jul 10, 2023
    "The oddity in this woeful performance lies not in the serial misjudgments per se. It is that most are not the outcome of a deliberate policy process. Rather, they appear as rash, compulsive and disconnected effusions.
    "These decisions and actions express an irrepressible urge to fill a want, a desire, a selfish need. They are expected to achieve their aim because that is the natural outcome due the privileged self. This behavioral pattern is pure narcissism — writ large for the collective elite persona.
    "When Reality Confronts Narcissism…
    "What happens when reality punches the narcissist(s) in the face? When the Russian army is on the Dnieper? When deindustrialization joins with inflation to drag the EU into depression? When the Sino-Russian bloc of BRICS breaks the American controlled phalanx of financial overlords? When Saudi Arabia waves good-bye?…
    "Continuity is a lot easier than reorientation. It doesn’t demand fresh thinking and different skills. Quite frankly, today, the caliber of high- and mid-level personnel would have to be upgraded. Less amateurism and careerism, more experience and sophisticated knowledge.
    "It follows that the United States will not negotiate any Ukrainian peace deal that satisfies Moscow’s primary conditions.
    "It follows that its mano y mano contest with China will escalate as Washington resorts to increasingly drastic measures — more so since early indicators of success are disconcertingly rare.
    "It follows that Washington will pull out all stops to coerce smaller, vulnerable BRICS states back into the fold.
    "It follows that schemes will be devised to stymie the ramifications of the Saudi-Iranian détente — all in cahoots with Israel.
    "It will accelerate and expand its new-found statist industrial policy whereby a trillion or is funneled to the big players in high tech, IT and energy while erecting barriers to foreign involvement in the American economy.
    "It will do so even as it continues to demand that the rest of the world abide by neoliberal strictures that open the way for American financial and corporate profit seekers."

 • Erdogan ties Sweden’s NATO bid to Turkish membership of the EU, RT, Jul 10, 2023
    Ilargi Mejier: "The EU will never accept a Muslim nation as a member."

 • SCOTT RITTER: NATO Summit, a Theater of the Absurd, Consortium News, Jul 10, 2023
    "Normalizing failure might best describe the best that NATO can accomplish in Vilnius.
    "Any failure to try to stop the accumulation of debacles that represent the current NATO policy toward Ukraine will result in further collapse of the military situation in Ukraine, and the political situation in Europe, which, in their totality, push NATO closer to the moment of its ultimate demise.
    "This prospect does not bode well for those whose task it is to put as positive a spin as possible on reality. But NATO has long ago stopped dealing with a fact-based world, allowing itself to devolve into a theater of the absurd where actors fool themselves into believing the tale they are spinning, while the audience stares in dismay."

 • Prigozhin’s War, Joe Lauria, Consortium News, Jul 7, 2023
    A good sampling of divergent views, with some harsh "lessons learned" for U.S. propagandists. Even so, bear in mind that nothing is as it appears to be in this matter, for Lauria as for the rest of us. There is no certainty about almost anything alleged to have occurred behind the scenes.

Jul 10, 2023

Featured  • America Has Just Destroyed a Great Empire, Michael Hudson, The Unz Review, Jun 29, 2023
    A sketch, but really outstanding in all respects. Why isn't at least most of this obvious to everybody? The answer is not that political and opinion leaders are ill-informed. They don't want to be informed. They don't want to read the writing on the wall, plain as day.
    "Fast-forward to today’s drive by the Biden administration to extend American military power against Russia and, behind it, China. The president asked for advice from today’s analogue to antiquity’s Delphi oracle: the CIA and its allied think tanks. Instead of warning against hubris, they encouraged the neocon dream that attacking Russia and China would consolidate U.S. control of the world economy, achieving the End of History.
    "Having organized a coup d’état in Ukraine in 2014, the United States sent its NATO proxy army eastward, giving weapons to Ukraine to fight an ethnic war against its Russian-speaking population and turn Russia’s Crimean naval base into a NATO fortress. This Croesus-level ambition aimed at drawing Russia into combat and depleting its ability to defend itself, wrecking its economy in the process and destroying its ability to provide military support to China and other countries targeted for seeking self-dependency as an alternative to U.S. hegemony. After eight years of provocation, a new military attack on Russian-speaking Ukrainians was conspicuously prepared, ready to drive toward the Russian border in February 2022. Russia protected its fellow Russian-speakers from further ethnic violence by mounting its own Special Military Operation....
    "American diplomats avoid thinking about this scenario [revolt of the Global South, decline in dollar dependence]. They rely to the one unique advantage the United States has to offer. It may refrain from bombing them, from staging a color revolution to “Pinochet” them by the National Endowment for Democracy, or install a new “Yeltsin” giving the economy away to a client oligarchy.
    "But refraining from such behavior is all that America can offer. It has de-industrialized its own economy, and its idea of foreign investment is to carve out monopoly-rent seeking opportunities by concentrating technological monopolies and control of oil and grain trade in U.S. hands, as if this is economic efficiency, not rent-seeking."

 • NATO powers in ‘frantic’ race to conceive Ukraine deal – Politico, RT, Jul 10, 2023

 • Ukrainian Counteroffensive Headed for ‘Disaster’ – Ex-US Marine, Ilya Tsukanov, Jul 9, 2023
    Many of our friends find Berletic insightful; we don't have time for long podcasts.

 • The Era of Nukes and No Diplomacy: ‘Crossing a Rubicon to Armageddon’, Scheerpost, Jul 7, 2023
    "Lears’s piece warns that despite the public indifference, a 'winnable nuclear war' has entered the minds of American strategists and politicians once again, undermining years of work towards nuclear disarmament. Lears tells Scheer that it is similar to the attitudes from the Cold War, yet this time, there is an eerie disinterest from the American side about even talking to someone like Vladimir Putin. '[T]his is, in a sense, a return to the worst kind of confrontations of the early 1960s but there’s a big difference because even Kennedy and even Reagan, cold warriors that they were, were eager to create common ground ultimately between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. And that common ground no longer exists between the U.S. and Russia, and there is no interest in diplomacy at all,' Lears said. [Ilargi Mejier comments correctly: "In Russia there is."]
    "Scheer and Lears highlight a critical factor in shaping public perception: the Russiagate controversy and the media’s role in complying with government demands for secrecy, beginning in the late 1970s, while also promoting narratives that fostered consent for war with Russia. Scheer said, 'if you even dare suggest there’s some complexity to this issue, or that the other side might have a point of view, or there’s something even worth negotiating about, you’re now considered unpatriotic.' Lears agreed: 'We have former directors of the CIA who have perjured themselves before Congress, now posing as professional wise men and professional truth tellers on MSNBC and CNN.'"

Jul 9, 2023

Featured  • Biden Admin Lying to Americans 'About Everything to Do With Ukraine' - RFK Jr, Svetlana Ekimenko, Sputnik International, Jul 8, 2023
    "'It is existential for the Russians… they have a legitimate national security interest,' Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pointed out, referring to Moscow’s ongoing special military operation in Ukraine. 'We [US] wanted the war, for the reasons that Biden has said… The real reason for the war in Ukraine is regime change in Russia,' RJK Jr. emphasized in the interview on the Judging Freedom podcast. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. previously slammed decades of policy conducted by the US and NATO toward Ukraine and Russia for fueling the current conflagration. 'We have neglected many, many opportunities to settle this war peacefully,' Kennedy said in June during a live town hall event with NewsNation."      https://youtu.be/8tIs-JBOdQc

 • Germany Set Against Ukraine’s Bid for NATO Membership - Reports, Sputnik International, Jul 8, 2023
    While France has changed its mind and is now for it.

 • The dangers of Europe’s blindness to a long war in Ukraine, Matthew Blackburn, Responsible Statecraft, Jun 29, 2023
    "As we approach the NATO summit in Vilnius next month — and with the recent fiasco around Prigozhin still fresh — it is unrealistic to expect any serious changes on the war in Ukraine. Europe appears to have no way out; it is not in control of policy, and it is driven forward by uncontrollable events. Escaping the dark possibilities in the medium to long term demands responsible statecraft and determined leadership in the present. In the short term, Europe’s leaders must stop yielding to war fever and the euphoric projection of victory. It is time for Europe to seriously reassess the consequences of a long war in Ukraine rather than blindly marching into a future of instability, forever war, decline and impotence."

Jul 8, 2023

Featured  • ‘Russian victory’ worse than civilian cluster-bomb deaths – Pentagon, RT, Jul 8, 2023
    "Asked if the Pentagon has assured its allies that the munitions will not cause excessive civilian harm, Kahl replied: “I’m as concerned about the humanitarian circumstance as anybody, but the worst thing for civilians in Ukraine is for Russia to win the war. And so it’s important that they don’t."...In an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, US President Joe Biden described the decision to supply the controversial shells to Ukraine as “difficult.” He said that it was in part motivated by the fact that both Kiev and Washington recognise a deficit in ordinary ammunition, adding that Ukraine “needed” cluster munitions to prevent Russia from stopping its ongoing counteroffensive."
    "Ilargi: If there were any evidence of Russia using cluster munitions, it would be on every front page today."

Featured  • Germany to refrain from sending cluster munitions to Ukraine — foreign minister, TASS, Jul 7, 2023
    "The Convention on Cluster Munitions was signed by 123 countries in the Norwegian capital in 2008 and took effect on August 1, 2010. By now, 110 countries have ratified it. In Europe, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Greece, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Turkey, and Ukraine have not signed the document."
    GM: The U.S., Russia, China, and Ukraine have not signed. China is not involved. Of the remaining three, only Russia still stands as not having used or OK'ed cluster munitions so far. For its part, Ukraine has spread aerially-dispersed "petal" mines, not quite a cluster munition but close to one, in urban areas in the Donbass with no conceivable military purpose, violating the core and universally-held principles of humanitarian law (i.e. "laws of war"). Ukraine routinely attacks purely civilian targets in the Donbass and has shot civilians attempting to flee the war zone (at Mariupol, and other places I can't remember). To my fairly well-informed knowledge, Russia has never targeted civilians so in this war. Yes, civilians can and have been killed by Russian strikes against military and dual-use targets, which happens in every war. And people die of hardship. Note that Russia has not destroyed the infrastructure Ukrainians need to live -- damaged it, yes. Civilian government buildings are not attacked -- yet, although if Ukraine attacks Crimea with long-range missiles, this has been threatened. The bottom line is that the longer this war goes on, the more Ukrainians will be killed -- mostly soldiers, but civilians as well, as a small fraction of the whole. It's up to Biden and the publics in NATO countries, especially the US, as to whether they want the carnage to continue. Biden could stop the war in a day. Unfortunately, the American left especially is cowardly and silent.

 • US giving cluster munitions to Ukraine in ‘desperate gesture,’ Russian ambassador says, TASS, Jul 7, 2023
    "The US decided to supply cluster munitions to Ukraine out of despair, but the move won’t affect Russia’s determination to achieve the goals of its special military operation, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said on Friday.
    "'Cluster munitions are a desperate gesture. This measure tells the story that the US and its satellites have realized they are powerless. However, they do not want to admit their own failures and the failure of the attempts of Ukrainian forces to conduct an offensive against Russian regions. Hence this latest madness on their part,' he said.
    "The diplomat said he believes that by raising the stakes in the Ukrainian conflict, Washington is bringing humanity closer to a global conflict.
    "'The current level of American provocations is indeed off the charts, bringing humanity closer to a new world war. The United States is so obsessed with the idea of defeating Russia that it does not realize the gravity of its actions. They are only increasing the number of victims and prolonging the agony of the Kiev regime,' he went on to say.
    "The ambassador stated that Washington turned a blind eye to civilian casualties, paid no regard to the concerns of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, and shrugged of the objections from its allies.
    "'The cruelty and cynicism with which Washington has approached the issue of transferring lethal weapons to Kiev is astounding. The administration completely ignored experts, human rights activists, and lawmakers that voiced the theses that the move would be inhumane. It turned a blind eye to civilian casualties. Now there is a risk that the submunitions will be blowing up innocent civilians for many years ahead because of what the US is doing,' Antonov said.
    "He said he believes that the funneling of Western weapons into Ukraine will not be able to affect Russia’s efforts to achieve the goals of its special military operation, 'which aims to eradicate threats to the security of the Russian Federation, including Nazism that has been nurtured in Ukraine.'"

 • Keep Ukraine out of NATO, US experts argue, RT, Jul 7, 2023

 • Don’t Let Ukraine Join NATO, Foreign Affairs, (paywall - Here is an open summary) Jul 7, 2023
    "Ukraine should not be welcomed into NATO, and this is something U.S. President Joe Biden should make clear. Kyiv’s resistance to Russian aggression has been heroic, but ultimately states do what is in their self-interest. And here, the security benefits to the United States of Ukrainian accession pale in comparison with the risks of bringing it into the alliance. Admitting Ukraine to NATO would raise the prospect of a grim choice between a war with Russia and the devastating consequences involved or backing down and devaluing NATO’s security guarantee across the entire alliance. At the Vilnius summit and beyond, NATO leaders would be wise to acknowledge these facts and close the door to Ukraine."

 • Tucker Carlson: Ukraine is a red line in US business and politics, twitter - Russell Brand, Jul 7, 2023
    The result of nobody speaking out. Those who have the freedom to speak must do so, or it will get increasingly hard to speak up for everybody.

Jul 7, 2023

Featured  • SITREP 7/6/23: Zelensky Builds One Last Suicidal Thrust to Appease Masters, Simplicius, Jul 6, 2023

Featured  • Regarding the Upcoming NATO Summit, I Couldn't Write it Better, Larry Johnson, Jul 6, 2023

Featured  • The capitalists are circling over Ukraine, Thomas Fazi, UnHerd, Jul 5, 2023
    "Last year, the Ukrainian government essentially outsourced the entire post-war "reconstruction" process to BlackRock, the world’s largest asset management firm. They signed an agreement to "provide advisory support for designing an investment framework, with a goal of creating opportunities for both public and private investors to participate in the future reconstruction and recovery of the Ukrainian economy". In February, J.P. Morgan was brought on board as well....
    "Over the years, across a series of similar events, Western governments and corporate leaders have made no secret of their enthusiasm to use the post-Maidan regime — and now the war — to radically alter Ukraine’s political economy. The agenda: to open up the country and make it safe for Western capital by transforming it into a special economic zone. This neoliberal shock therapy should, in their view, include "strengthening the market economy", "decentralisation, privatisation, reform of state-owned enterprises, land reform, state administration reform", and "Euro-Atlantic integration", as well as widespread "deregulation" and the slashing of "outdated labour legislation leading to complicated hiring and firing process, regulation of overtime, etc". In short, the Washington Consensus on steroids."

 • Zelensky ‘dragging entire planet’ to hell – Russian envoy, RT, Jul 7, 2023
    "We call on the curators of the Kiev regime to exercise responsibility and exert influence on their 'wards' in order to avoid a large-scale catastrophe," he added. "American and European citizens are hardly ready to march in orderly rows to the hell into which the Zelensky government is dragging the entire planet."
    "International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors, who are on the ground at the ZNPP, reported on Wednesday that they have found no signs of any mines, either at the cooling pond – as Kiev initially claimed – or on the roofs of the reactor buildings.
    "The IAEA observer mission was deployed to the ZNPP in September 2022. Prior to that, the station and its environs had been repeatedly targeted by Ukrainian artillery, which Kiev admitted at one point. Just before the IAEA mission arrived, Ukrainian commandos also attempted to seize the facility but were driven back. Russia has provided evidence of Ukrainian attacks to the UN, which has avoided assigning blame."

 • Zelensky holding out for NATO’s direct involvement in Ukraine conflict, Lukashenko says, TASS, Jul 6, 2023
    "According to Lukashenko, Zelensky has finally realized that he will not win the war, and so has gradually started making demands on those who pushed his country into it. The Belarusian leader noted that Zelensky’s demands would, above all, concern money and new weaponry. "By July 11 (the start date of NATO’s Vilnius summit - TASS), they [the NATO countries] will be expected to come up with something to demonstrate" support for Kiev, he said."

Jul 6, 2023

Featured  • Prigozhin and the Diminishment of Europe, Alastair Crooke, Strategic Culture Foundation, Jul 3, 2023
    "Europe, in short, has made itself a vassal – a willing, submissive vassal. When the EU followed the U.S. and embraced sanctioning Russia, EU leaders anticipated the rapid financial collapse of Russia. They were wrong. When the EU selflessly disavowed the purchase of Russian energy, they calculated that Russia could not manage economically – absent the EU market – and would quickly capitulate. They were wrong. When NATO led the war on Russia (via Ukraine), the EU expected a rapid rout of Russian and Donbas forces. They were wrong. When Prigozhin launched his 'insurrection', EU leaders looked eagerly to immediate civil war. They were wrong again.
    "Now the EU finds itself locked into forever sanctions on Russia (with China to follow); a forever subsidy to 'Kiev'; a forever cycle of NATO militarism; and an economy sliding into de-industrialisation, high energy costs and relative diminishment. The EU has not achieved its longer-for 'global player' status. By every measure, Europe has a diminished economy, and diminished agency around the globe.
    "When will EU leaders offer some accountability for their wrong decisions? When will they answer the Carlson question: Why exactly is it an European interest to be at war with Russia?
    "Why was it in the European interest to condition any resolution to the conflict with Russia on complete Ukrainian victory? Was this decision properly thought through?
    "For the last thirty years, neo-cons have dominated U.S. foreign policy: The Guardian, as one example, has noted that as a subsidiary of Axel Springer, which has long-standing ties to the neocon clique, every employee at Politico is expected to be "pro-U.S., pro-NATO, pro-Israel, pro-austerity, pro-capital, anti-Russia, anti-China". Springer said that they would not require Politico employees to sign documents in support of a transatlantic alliance, though this policy is enforced at the German newspaper Bild, another Springer subsidiary.
    "Europe is not ‘America’. The neocon trend represents but one facet to the U.S. that nonetheless has captured and held the commanding heights of U.S. policy-making for decades. It has failed in all that it has endeavoured, and has become increasingly detached from (even) the most basic interests of most Americans. Yet the EU leadership has made Europe subservient to this particular current – embracing it, and its inherent authoritarianism, with gusto." (Emphasis in original)

 • White House issues NATO warning to Ukraine, RT, Jul 6, 2023

 • NATO’s Scorched Earth in Ukraine, Tony Kevin, Consortium News, Jul 5, 2023

 • IAEA Says No Sign of Explosives at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant, Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com, Jul 5, 2023

 • Kremlin warns of ‘high threat’ of nuclear sabotage by Ukraine, RT, Jul 5, 2023

Jul 5, 2023

Featured  • SITREP 7/4/23: Final Hour of Zelensky's Terror Ploy, Simplicius The Thinker, Jul 4, 2023
    "The most exigent matter on the table is once again the brewing Zaporozhye plant showdown. It’s now believed by some that Zelensky is planning to carry out the ZNPP falseflag in the next few days on the eve of the big NATO summit in Vilnius, which is on July 12. The purpose would be to galvanize the NATO members and shape the entire policy discussion of the summit around Ukraine and the 'nuclear disaster'.
    "For such a plan to work, the ZNPP would have to be blown well in advance to give it at least a few days lead time to shape the proper narrative of ‘fall out’ and nuclear consequences which can be used as the catalyst to bring reluctant NATO members to heel and cement their solidarity with Ukraine, as well as ideally issue some major demarche like the fabled activation of 'Article 5' Ukraine so breathlessly dreams about.
    "There’ve been a variety of developments in this direction...."

 • Russian nuclear giant claims Ukrainian attack on power plant imminent, RT, Jul 4, 2023
    "Ukraine could launch a large-scale attack on the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) overnight, a senior Russian atomic energy industry official warned late on Tuesday. Kiev may also strike the plant with a missile stuffed with radioactive waste, he added.
    "The warning was voiced by Renat Karchaa, a senior aide to the head of Rosenergoatom, a subsidiary to Russia’s state-owned atomic energy giant Rosatom. The official cited intelligence data received by the industry.
    "On July 5, literally overnight, while it’s still dark, Ukrainian forces will attempt an attack on the Zaporozhye plant with long-range high-precision munitions, as well as suicide drones," he told Rossiya 24 TV channel.
    "Kiev is also expected to attempt a strike on the plant with a heavy, Soviet-made Tochka-U tactical ballistic missile, Karchaa went on. The munition has been filled with radioactive waste collected from the South-Ukrainian nuclear power plant, the official claimed."

 • Blatant support for Ukrainian Nazis to leave indelible mark in US history — Russian envoy, TASS, Jul 4, 2023
    "The US is smirched with dishonour as it blatantly supports the Ukrainian Nazis, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said on Tuesday when commenting on the visit to the United States of representatives of the Azov nationalist battalion (terrorist organization outlawed in Russia) and their meetings at the Capitol.
    "One cannot look indifferently at how the heirs of Hitler and Bandera are honored in the country that contributed to the defeat of the fascist Germany. This is a betrayal of the memory of the Americans who gave their lives during World War II. The blatant support for the Ukrainian Nazis will leave an indelible mark in the American history," he said.The US is smirched with dishonour as it blatantly supports the Ukrainian Nazis, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said on Tuesday when commenting on the visit to the United States of representatives of the Azov nationalist battalion (terrorist organization outlawed in Russia) and their meetings at the Capitol."

Jul 4, 2023

Featured  • The Cancer of the National-Security State, Jacob G. Hornberger, Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, Jul 3, 2023
    "For many years, I have been recommending a book titled National Security and Double Government by Michael J. Glennon, who is a professor of law at Tufts University and served as counsel to the US Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee.
    "Glennon’s thesis is a simple but extremely ominous one. He persuasively makes the case that it is the national-security branch of the government — that is, the Pentagon, the CIA, and the NSA — that is actually running the federal government, especially in foreign affairs. The other three branches — the executive, legislative, and judicial — are permitted to maintain the veneer of power. But that’s all it is — an appearance. The real power, Glennon argues, lies with the national-security establishment.
    "That means that it is the Pentagon, not the deferential executive or legislative branches, that is calling the shots and running the show in Ukraine. Given the extreme anti-Russia hostility that drove the national-security establishment and its willingness to risk nuclear war during the Cold War, Glennon’s thesis does not bode well for the longterm future and well-being of the American people.
    "The national-security state is a malignant tumor on the American body politic. Although our nation faces lots of problems, the priority should be given to the removal of this cancer and to the restoration of our founding governmental system of a limited-government republic, before it is too late."

Featured • Blobocracy, James Howard Kunstler, Jul 3, 2023
    "This holiday we admire the birth of that new nation, though it has aged into a monster repudiating its finest achievements: liberty and the rule of law. The DC Blob is the new distant, implacable authority, and many of us are not happy with it.
    "By happenstance lately, out and about, I met up with several old friends and attempted to check-in with where they stood on these matters — how are things going in our country? The phrase our country seemed to make their heads snap back a little and their eyes goggle. Their answer, uniformly, was “Trump, Trump, Trump,” issued as a sort of barking. Trump’s criminal insults to democracy must be stopped, was the drift.
    "My next question was: How’s “Joe Biden” doing? (They didn’t see the quote marks, and I didn’t use my fingers to signify.) “He’s doing pretty well… accomplished a lot,” they said. What’d they make of the developing bribery scandal? “Huh… the what?” Raking in all that money from foreign governments when Joe was Veep, and then after. “Oh… right-wing talking points… baseless….”
    "This is what my old friends think. Quite a few of them are aware that I write this blog. They don’t actually read it; they seem to just hear about it. The old community of Boomer friends thinks I’ve “gone off the deep end.” One thing these encounters taught me is how successful the censorship and propaganda campaign of the Blob has been. These were people, you understand, who came of age believing in free speech, freedom of the press, respecting civil rights, decrying political persecutions, and, most of all, being against hegemonic wars — which, back in the sixties, was called imperialism.
    "These days they’re all for a righteous defense against misinformation that threatens our democracy, meaning: censorship. They wouldn’t call it that, exactly. They consider it a battle against right-wing extremism, white supremacy, misogyny, homophobia, the usual bugbears. It never occurs to them that the Blob lies to them continually, remorselessly, promiscuously about everything."

 • What Will NATO Do About Ukraine?, Larry Johnson, Jul 3, 2023
    "I think the NATO Summit is unlikely to produce a strong, joint communique re-committing NATO to fighting to the last Ukrainian. Some members will certainly push for that outcome, but others show waning enthusiasm for that policy.
    "Between now and next Tuesday I expect Ukraine to launch some desperate attacks in hopes of creating a public relations victory that can be celebrated at the Summit. But Russia is not sitting on its heels in a defensive crouch. It is carefully monitoring the build up of Ukrainian forces along the line of contact and hitting those assembly points with rockets, missiles and bombs delivered by combat air....
    "Western obsession with the Wagner PMC and the erroneous belief that Wagner is a critical military component of Russia’s military power is a dangerous mistake. Russia has made good use of the time since last August, when contract soldiers returned home and Russia was forced to withdraw from Kharkiv and the surrounding areas, by building up its manpower and ensuring the new soldiers are fully trained and equipped. The productivity of Russia’s military industrial plants is increasing, which means a seemingly unending supply of artillery, ammunition and cruise missiles. Neither Ukraine nor NATO are able to match Russia’s massive military industry output.
    "The dilemma NATO faces is figuring out how to extract itself from the war in Ukraine without destroying itself. I do not see a solution...."

Jul 3, 2023

 • Assisted Suicide, Raúl Ilargi Meijer, The Automatic Earth, Jul 2, 2023
    "NATO is the past. Its power has waned. The US alone spends more than 10 times more on its defense budget than Russia, but is lagging way behind in weapons development. And it’s not going to make up for that disadvantage anytime soon. Certainly not in time to turn the Ukraine conflict around. And still guys like Rutte and Milley want to send more tanks into the battlefield. These people need psychiatric assistance. As do the next tranches of Ukraine cannon fodder. What we, the collective west, are providing Ukraine with, is not a chance at winning a war, but a mind boggingly huge assisted suicide program. And we, NATO citizens, should ask ourselves if we want to be part of that. If you live in NATO/EU territory, this is now on your conscience. No escaping anymore. They speak and act in your name. You can no longer claim innocence.
    "How many more young Ukrainians are left for you to kill?"

 • Is Moscow Burning as Prigozhin's Vast Network of Side Businesses is Exposed?, Larry Johnson, A Son of the New American Revolution, Jul 2, 2023

 • They Lied About Afghanistan. They Lied About Iraq. And They Are Lying About Ukraine. Chris Hedges, Jul 2, 2023
    No new information or great insights, but very well-written as always and may speak to important audiences in ways that other essays don't.
    Hedges says the Russian invasion of Ukraine was a war crime. I don't think we can be sure of that. While preemptive (anticipatory) defense (U.N. Charter, Article 51) and "responsibility to protect" are typical excuses of aggressors, sometimes they are valid. The question of whether post-2014-coup Ukraine has been a sovereign state is also germane. Certainly NATO countries, especially and above all the U.S., lack the moral standing to make that accusation, after so many utterly unjustified wars of aggression since 1945. The entire thrust and weight of U.S. policy in and around Ukraine has been to present Russia with the dire choice of either a) initiating military action or b) accepting profound existential dangers to the Russian state. The goal of these policies has been and still is, simply, to destroy Russia, replace its leadership, and prevent the rise of any unified power in Eurasia that could threaten U.S. hegemony. That strategy has backfired and accelerated the decline of U.S. and all who sail with us.
    The dangers of escalation by the West are dire, for all parties, especially for Ukraine (which is being utterly destroyed by the unwillingness of the West to acknowledge the legitimate concerns of Russians in the four breakaway provinces and in Russia) but also for the West itself. The party being damaged the least is Russia.

Jul 2, 2023

Featured • America has Just Destroyed a Great Empire, Michael Hudson, Jun 29, 2023

 • Former Pentagon Analyst: Sweden Should Reconsider ‘Turmoil’ It Would Become Part of in NATO, Fantine Gardinier, Sputnik International, Jul 1, 2023
    Very common-sense, wise observations and advice.

 • Today’s Democratic Party has led us to the brink of nuclear war, @TulsiGabbard twitter, Jul 1, 2023

 • Ukraine Preparing for Second Stage of Counteroffensive in Zaporozhye Region - Official, Sputnik International, Jul 1, 2023

 • The Myth of the Ukrainian Stalemate, Larry Johnson, Jul 1, 2023

Jul 1, 2023

Featured • SITREP 6/30/23: Winds Gather Before the NATO Summit, Simplicius, Jun 30, 2023

Featured • Ukraine Timeline Tells the Story, Joe Lauria, Consortium News, Jun 30, 2023

 • West’s ideas about how to end crisis in Ukraine 'schizophrenic' — Lavrov, TASS, Jun 30, 2023
    "The way I see it, they are trying to temporarily freeze this conflict, to achieve some kind of cease-fire and buy time to beef up Ukraine’s military muscle again, to create a new military infrastructure, and to supply it with new lethal long-range weapons,' Lavrov pointed out, adding that this scenario 'is being advanced by US political scientists.'
    "He cited a recent article in Foreign Affairs magazine that promotes 'exactly this type of scenario.'
    "Make peace, take a breather. Yes, Russia will also get a break, but the entire West is behind Ukraine, so we (the Western countries - TASS) will make it much stronger and then [will] continue to press ahead for the same aims mentioned in Zelensky's plan."

 • Ukraine's Zaluzhny Is Back And Asking For More Weapons, Moon of Alabama, Jun 30, 2023
    "In total the Ukraine lost in one month more than Zaluzhny requested back in December and more than it has received during the time since....
    "When Zaluzhny will get his F-16s he will immediately learn that the Russian Su-35 is by far superior to them. Its radar can see farther than the F-16's and its long range over-the-horizon missiles can kill the F-16s before they even have a chance to fire their own ones.
    "The 'west' is currently unable to produce as much ammunition as Ukraine wants to fire. And while the U.S. still has some Bradleys and Abrams battle tanks in its reserves the depots for 'every weapon' in other NATO countries are already empty. There are no more tanks, armored vehicles or howitzers they could give away.
    "In total there simply is not enough to replace the losses the Ukraine has on a daily base. Meanwhile Russia is already producing more of every weapon than its military needs for its daily operations.
    "There is no way the Ukraine can win this fight or even hold on to its current positions. That was easy to foresee and predict. Those who urged Ukraine on should be condemned for the murderous slaughter they caused.
    "Ukraine needs to make peace with Russia. Yes, it will come with conditions that are not easy to swallow. Still, there is no other way out.
    "To continue the fight, with ever increasing losses of men and land, is not a sustainable alternative."

 • Poland wants US nuclear weapons – PM, RT, Jun 30, 2023

 • NATO Pushes Ukraine to Continue Conflict Despite Failure of 'Counteroffensive', Chay Bowes, RT - twitter, Jun 30, 2023
    "Peace has become a dirty word in Washington and London. The grim reality is that NATO will not survive a Russian victory in Ukraine, therefore, Ukraine will be sacrificed whatever the cost."

 • Russia will destroy foreign fighters and Western generals in Ukraine – Lavrov, RT, Jun 30, 2023

 • ‘The Real Purpose In Making The Bomb Was To Subdue The Soviets.’ Now It’s Happening Again, On A Vast Scale. Why? – July 22 At Fuller Lodge, Los Alamos Reporter, Jul 19, 2023

 • Bulletin 330: "'The real purpose in making the bomb was to subdue the Soviets.'* Now it's happening again, on a vast scale. WHY?" A conversation with acclaimed historian Peter Kuznick and Greg Mello in Los Alamos, July 22, Jul 7, 2023

 • Ukraine War Makes it Harder to be a Nuclear ‘Dove’ | Our Land, Laura Paskus, New Mexico in Focus, Jun 30, 2023

 • Bulletin 329: Russia rules out nuclear disarmament negotiations; second week of Ukrainian offenses fail; what will US and NATO do? Build 60 projects in LANL's Pajarito Corridor?, Jun 17, 2023

 • Ukraine; Biden's Manicheism; the U.S. cannot even conduct a nuclear arms race, let alone win one, LASG friends ltr, Mar 16, 2023

 • Ukraine protest and updates, pit production delays and cost increases in NNSA's new budget, LASG friends ltr, Mar 14, 2023

 • Antiwar rally 2 pm Saturday in Albuquerque; LANL pits delayed, endorse the "Call for Sanity"; Ukraine update; the Nordstream investigation (and likely impeachment) "imperative" LASG friends ltr, Mar 11, 2023

 • Ukraine losses mount toward critical point; ANSWER rally against the war is now 2 pm (not 1 pm), March 18, Albuquerque; nearly half U.S. citizens believe WWIII is near, LASG friends ltr, Mar 7, 2023

 • Ukraine news and views; antiwar rally March 18; pending guest editorial; pit production precis, LASG friends ltr, Mar 3, 2023

 • Bulletin 325: Understanding the Nordstream sabotage and punishing those responsible, Feb 18, 2023

 • Ukraine news with comments and excerpts; bookmark for future reference if desired,LASG friends ltr, Feb 8, 2023

 • Bulletin 324: Opposition to Ukraine war gains visibility in New Mexico and via our web site, more broadly, Feb 6, 2023

 • Anti-nuclear activist opposes helping Ukraine, encourages peace, Santa Fe New Mexican, Feb 5, 2023

 • Bulletin 323: "Nuclear Hotseat" interview / Ukraine war updates, Feb 4, 2023

 • Bulletin 322: Right and Left To Join in D.C. Protest: ‘Not One More Penny for War in Ukraine’ / Bulletin of Atomic Scientists resets clock, blames Russia, Jan 25, 2023

 • $10 Trillion for Nuclear War: Racing to the Nuclear Cliff, The Socialist Program with Brian Becker, Jan 10, 2023

 • Bulletin 321: Last day for 2022 donations! / A few quick updates, Dec 31, 2022

 • Bulletin 320: Neocon humiliation -- or nuclear exchange / The centrality of war resistance in moral politics / 3 days left for 1:1 donation match!, Dec 29, 2022

 • Bulletin 319: Ukraine; NDAA: omnibus appropriations bill; fundraising --thank you; some matching funds still available, Dec 21, 2022

 • Stop the war now, Jean Nichols, The Taos News, Dec 19, 2022

 • Bulletin 318: Speak out now against further U.S. escalation in Ukraine; daily updates for your use, Dec 14, 2022

 • Agenda for tonight's emergency Ukraine meeting in Albuquerque, and by Zoom, Nov 15, 2022

 • Bulletin 314: Reminder re next week's antiwar, disarmament, & nuclear safety events: come if you can or tune in, outreach needed; pit interview on KNME tonight 7 pm; fundraising drive continues; erratum, Nov 11, 2022

 • Bulletin 313: Important meeting about Ukraine next week; DNFSB hearing in Santa Fe; more, Nov 7, 2022

 • Biden Administration releases aggressive nuclear strategy envisioning "first use" of nuclear weapons in wars like Ukraine, press release, Oct 27, 2022

 • Bulletin 310: Speak up! We urge you to take up the call for peace in Ukraine, Sep 25, 2022

 • Pope Francis: "World War III has been declared." We agree. Stop LANL's pit factory; Stop the U.S. war against Russia, presentation, Jun 15, 2022

 • Bulletin 301: Oppose the war! Demand and create accountability for lawmakers who fund and promote more war in Ukraine, May 16, 2022

 • Grave dangers loom in Ukraine war votes and escalations; opportunities open for journalists and citizens; We urge news media to widen debate, pose questions, create accountability, press release, May 16, 2022

 • LASG friends ltr: Thursday evening public discussion in Albuquerque: Ukraine, propaganda, progressives supporting Nazis and war, May 10, 2022

 • Escalation in Ukraine: The Nuclear War Danger is Real, Brian Becker & Greg Mello discuss the U.S. policy of waging proxy war on Russia, BreakThrough News, May 4, 2022

 • Bulletin 299: Emergency call to action: stop Biden's proposed $33 billion war escalation, Apr 28, 2022

 • Bulletin 298: Talk on pits & renewed U.S. nuclear weapons production Tuesday evening 4/26/22; antiwar billboard; what you can do, Apr 25, 2022

 • The core debate, Searchlight New Mexico, Mar 23, 2022

 • Bulletin 294: Please consider forwarding this fine statement from UNAC re Ukraine, Mar 23, 2022

 • Nuclear expert speaks on the dangers of war between the US and Russia, World Socialist Website, Mar 15, 2022

 • A Proposed Solution to the Ukraine War, Consortium News, Greg Mello, Mar 7, 2022

 • Bulletin 293: Ukraine conflict: If you want a ceasefire (as we do), stop firing, Mar 5, 2022

 • Bulletin 292: Statement on the Ukraine conflict and war with Russia, Mar 1, 2022

 • "What can we in New Mexico do?," LASG letter, Feb 23, 2022

 • Bulletin 288: US nuclear weapons since 2020: continuity and change, Dec 7, 2021 (see discussion of US, NATO, and Russia)

 • Nuclear experts speak on the dangers of war between the US and Russia, World Socialist Web Site, Apr 15, 2017

 • US Leaders Reject “Nuclear Winter” Studies, Ignore Existential Danger of Nuclear War. Turn a Blind Eye towards Armageddon, Steven Starr, Global Research, Nov 1, 2016

 • The Ukraine Conflict: What's Behind It? Why Is It Important?, Sep 26, 2015

 • Bulletin 200: Warhead budget bloat; U.S.-caused Ukraine catastrophe at the brink; hello peak oil, Feb 8, 2015