US/NATO War on Russia

[David Guyatt]

Breedlove's Bellicosity: Berlin Alarmed by Aggressive NATO Stance on Ukraine

By SPIEGEL Staff
AP
Top NATO commander General Philip Breedlove has raised hackles in Germany with his public statements about the Ukraine crisis.

This strikes me as a warning from Merkel to the US war-hawks to stop meddling.

But they won't of course.

I now can't help wonder if the US is going to push the Europeans to terminate NATO because of this, and that the whole Atlantic alliance will crumble because of it? This whole affair should be left to Merkel and Hollande and other Europeans to sort out with Putin, but the neocons can't stop themselves from meddling and planning further war with Russia down the road.

Just imagine the Germans and French agitating in Mexico, providing weapons and military trainers to develop Mexico's ability to wage war on America. Imagine America sending a warning message to the Europeans and it being ignored and plans made to increase their aid to Mexico and openly incite war between Mexico and the US.

Imagine the response of the US to that scenario.

[Magda Hassan]

This strikes me as a warning from Merkel to the US war-hawks to stop meddling.

But they won't of course.

I now can't help wonder if the US is going to push the Europeans to terminate NATO because of this, and that the whole Atlantic alliance will crumble because of it?

This has been something I have been considering also. Apart from any thing else it will save them billions in these times of 'austerity'. Even by their own criteria there is no reason for NATO to exist any longer.

Just imagine the Germans and French agitating in Mexico, providing weapons and military trainers to develop Mexico's ability to wage war on America. Imagine America sending a warning message to the Europeans and it being ignored and plans made to increase their aid to Mexico and openly incite war between Mexico and the US.

Imagine the response of the US to that scenario.

Well, we know what their reaction would be because it played out in 1963 in Cuba. But saner heads prevailed then than are around now.

[Paul Rigby]

Description from a contributor to The Vineyard of the Saker's site:

This is a long (70 mins) talk by Andrei Fursov (historian, sociologist) from mid-April via Poznavatelnoe.tv (English subtitles).

There is a LOT of information in this talk.
Make what you will of it … Major topics:



04:30 Overview of the major oligarch clans in Ukraine : Akhmetov (mining & steel), Yanukovych (administration), Kolomoisky (banking), Firtash (energy).
Akhmetov backed Yanukovych, while Kolomoisky backed Yuschenko and Tymoshenko. Firtash works for the Rothschilds. Several more powerful domestic and foreign players in Ukraine. Kolomoisky is said to be the motor behind current events.

12:00 Foreign oligarchs have moved in to control large sectors of Ukraine. At the same time all the big western intelligence agencies have had a free hand since the late 90s (CIA, FBI, MI6, BND, plus one mid-east country), including preparing the Banderite underground for the recent take-over.

24:45 The under-recognized significance of the Lebanese diaspora and Hezbollah in South America and Africa, and how they have gotten in the way of the global hegemon.

28:45 The Banderization of Ukraine is an instrument to conquer Russia and weaken China, lest they become strong enough to challenge the Atlanticist hegemony.

37:30 While the West has been effective for years in steering developments in Ukraine, their Russian counterparts by comparison have been a pathetic failure and need to learn from the West.

43:30 In the last 200-300 years Russia has endured numerous aggressions from the West, while Russia conversely has done virtually nothing against the West. Western expansion is "aggressive" while Russian expansion is "defensive" (buffer).

49:00 The EU intends to bury nuclear waste on the site of Chernobyl, which in a few years will cause massive depopulation of Ukraine (or neighboring Belarus and Russia). The waste train is waiting at the Polish-Ukrainian border. It is speculated that Muzychko was assassinated for knowing too much about this.

53:35 Nato's genocide of pro-Russian Serbs by dropping uranium and infertility agents. Cancer now widespread.

58:45 A Rubicon has been crossed with the February-March events of 2014. Relations between the West and Russia have passed the point of no return. The gloves are off. Russia's "era of defeats" is over. The return of Crimea demonstrated that Russia will not only stand up to aggression but unexpectedly take the initiative.

1:00:30 Next steps for Russia: eliminate the fifth column, reconfigure the economic and social framework, leave anti-Russian international structures, take the initiative against the Western aggressor, and, finally, prepare the domestic population to be ready ...

Apologies for the machine translation, but you'll get the gist without too much agonising:

RUN, VALTSMAN, RUN

By ALEXANDER YABLOKOV

http://rusdozor.ru/2015/03/20/begi-valcm...-yablokov/

In Kiev, reinforced police squads patrolled the city center, along with the National Guard. Police cars at every intersection. Near the Presidential Administration are buses with tinted windows, full of riot police in full gear. Verkhovna Rada cordoned off by police officers and representatives of Turbat "Kyiv-1" and "Kiev-2." Periodically go service dogs, friendly looking around. Armored "KAMAZ" Pritula near the Mariinsky Palace. Coup? No.

Just late last night in the capital of a sovereign, independent Ukraine came to the governor at least, if not more sovereign Dnipropetrovsk region, patriot and "zhidobanderovets" Igor Kolomoisky. Naturally, his visit could not go unnoticed. Especially that Benya, as always, made particularly bright and words did not choose. Igor had to personally resolve a situation that oligarch described briefly but succinctly: "oh ... they ate." On the night of the nineteenth on March 20 began the long-awaited, long predicted war oligarchs in Ukraine. It's not even a default, and a full fox.

It is appropriate to recall briefly the history of the conflict, which can destroy the remnants of the country's statehood. March 2, 2014 by the decree of the Speaker and the President Alexander Turchinov Benya Kolomoiskiy appointed governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region. The idea of ​​the power in the regions belong to the oligarchs Yulia Tymoshenko. Her just released from prison, and it was at that time very active. Sergei Taruta, was promoted to the head of the Donetsk regional council, and all the other oligarchs refused the offer of seats. In particular, Vadim Novinsky ("Smart Group") refused to Crimea. I can understand him. Alexander Yaroslavsky tactfully declined the offer pogubernatorstvovat in Kharkiv region. Did the same Grigorishin that offer Sumy region.

What happened to the Taruta, everyone knows today, he rubs in the Verkhovna Rada, where he was even an oligarch not think so. Thus, the sheer misunderstanding. But Benny Kolomoysky turned vengeance. He bought the "Right Sector" together with Dmitry Yarosh, and guts. In record time terrorized the entire Dnipropetrovsk region, where he has no one dares utter a word. Ran through the streets of Dnepropetrovsk boeviki- "pravoseki" preventively beating everyone deem "wool." Team Kolomoiskiy formed several destroyer battalions, the most famous of them - is "Donbass" Seeds Semenchenko. All regional structures - the police, the prosecutor's office, the Provincial Department of Security Service of Ukraine - a fully formed under Kolomoisky. Mainstream media almost boiling wrote with delight, describing what Benya and fellow patriot. Oh, wow, announced the award of ten thousand dollars for each dead "Muscovite". Bravo, Benny! Wow, Vladimir Putin called "schizophrenic". Here is burning !! The official mouthpiece of the State Department in the Internet space of Ukraine, edition "Ukrainian Truth" in every way lauded the merits of the oligarch-patriot, who single-handedly stopped the Russian aggression, Dnepropetrovsk saved from occupation and personal finances "volunteer battalions." Yes, and diesel fuel for Ukrainian tanks purchases. And in the "UP" at the time worked by reviewers, investigators Mustafa Nye and Sergei Leshchenko. But about them later.

Among the "achievements" Igor Kolomoisky - mass burning Odessites in the House of Trade Unions on 2 May. It was he who proposed speaker President Turchinov "nip in the bud" revolt in Odessa. And his fighters were killed and burned people. "Only" in exchange for control of the Odessa region. Governor of the region became man Kolomoiskiy - Igor Mace. Benny also wanted to put their own people in Nikolaev, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, however Valtsmana elected president, who, along with the group Firtash-Levochkina Kolomoisky hinted that the more he did not shine. It was not a declaration of war, but only a prelude. On the TV channel "Inter", which belongs to Levochkin was featured series "Chameleon", exhibition Kolomoiskiy in a very bad light. Benny gave the command to "rub out" Oleg Lyashko, who was project Liovochkin. Thanks to the TV channel "1 + 1", owned by Kolomoisky ratings "radicals" were reduced by 5.8 percent.

After the May presidential and parliamentary elections in October grouping Valtsmana-Liovochkin-Firtash and Kolomoiskiy (Bogolyubov, Corban and Filatov) frozen in opposition. In January 2015 it became clear that war was inevitable. Parties have gained strength and resources. More precisely, the accumulated Benya, who managed to hold on various party lists and mazhoritarke about seventy members of the Verkhovna Rada, as well as to place his people in seemingly minor but key positions in the Cabinet. Moreover, he was able to "recruit" the prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who promised at least a blind eye to the traditional scheme of the "Private".

January 15 the Verkhovna Rada adopted a law aimed at the conclusion of control management Kolomoiskiy state joint-stock company "Ukrnafta". In the role of the major newsmakers, information accompanying the bill, were already mentioned Mustafa Nye and Sergei Leshchenko, become deputies to the block list Poroshenko. And, of course, Oleg Lyashko. Due to ordinary legal literacy development bill lawyers Kolomoiskiy was easily nullify the whole effect of this law. It turned out that it can not be applied to the company "Ukrnafta". In response team Kolomoiskiy launched an offensive. Firstly, zakoshmarili chief editor of "UP" Alain Pritula, the publication of which was an information platform for arrivals on Beni empire. I do not know what they did with Allen, but she abruptly put the editor in chief of "Ukrainian Truth" some Uzbek Sevgil Musayev-Borovik, and she moved to the United States. Management of the publication is done remotely, the benefit of modern technology make it easy to do so. Second, transfer personal greetings Nayemu, Leshchenko and Ljashko. If they were smart people, then listened to the recommendations. Third, the militants Benny began to prepare a military coup on the anniversary of the Maidan. In one fell swoop to solve all the problems. The more that the role of the military junta planned controlled Kolomoisky people - from Dnepropetrovsk, Secretary of the National Security Council, Alexander Turchinov, First Vice-Speaker Andrew Paruby, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov and prime Yatsenyuk. The threat of a coup was so high that many MPs simply left the country to weather the turbulent times the distance from the epicenter of events. Moreover, they have taken their families.

But Washington did not give a visual signal to the coup. I do not know what arguments were used to convince Benya, but he decided to change tactics. "Okay, then I'll buy all" - allegedly said Kolomoisky. Indeed, the fourth of March at a meeting of the provisional ad hoc committee BP, led by associate Benny Filatov, Dnepropetrovsk oligarch announced the start of mass re-privatization. His idea is simple: you take away all the bad oligarchs (Firtash, Liovochkin, Hryhoryshyn, Novinsky, Pinchuk) and give a good businessman, patriot Kolomoisky.

Apparently, Valtsmana Firtash and scared such a question. They have for several months with the SBU were working hard to discredit and neutralize the militants Kolomoiskiy of volunteer battalions. They managed to ruin and to neutralize the battalion "Aydar" which is currently funded not Benya and Igor Eremeev - mini-oligarch from western Ukraine. The owner of the refinery "Galicia" and the network of gas stations «VOG». In parliament he controls fraction "will of the people." Member of the faction recently became commander of "Aydar" Sergei Melnychuk, who went to the scandal of the "radicals" Lyashko. Similar work was carried out against the "Donbass" Seeds Semenchenko and other battalions, which offers a choice: either go to the APU, at worst in the National Guard, or sit behind the looting and work at the FSB.

Valtsman after the war in the DNI and the LC passed the stage of frozen conflict, he decided that he has a chance to end the Kolomoiskiy. Firstly, the US supported him. Secondly, it is necessary to show everyone who's boss and telling flog Kolomoiskiy. The result was dealt a double blow. March 19 Speaker Groisman literally handed over Radu new version of the law on public joint stock companies, which theoretically allows the shift management Kolomoiskiy of "Ukrnafta". Benny was ready for such developments, as his lawyers have developed a scheme of bankruptcy "Ukrnafta" with the judicial process. The lawsuit by five billion hryvnia has already served in the Pechersk District Court. However, he was not ready to force capture of the head office to another company, formally state, but completely controlled "Private". This refers to the "Ukrtransnafta", which was led by a man Benny Alexander Lazorko. Kolomoysky "honestly pressed" company in 2009 by agreement with the then Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Suddenly, armed men burst into the office of "Ukrtransnafta" thrown out of the office and the factory Lazorko former esbeushnika Yuri Miroshnikov which must now run the company. Naturally, Benny could not resist and came personally to resolve a situation. You have to understand the logic of actions of this man. He really believes "Ukrtransnafta" his company and took action Cabinet as "hitting". First, "Ukrnafta", then "Ukrtransnafta". This is the cornerstone of Benin oil empire, sources multibillion profits. Kolomoysky threw Miroshnik, sent away the minister of fuel and at the same time Demchishin journalist of "Radio" Liberty "Andrushko. It makes no sense to retell the video "Benny advises Andrushko shove language in there ... poo." Some reason think that Kolomoysky broke, got nasty. Guys, this is his usual style of communication. He does not swear obscenities, he speaks on it.

And now the fun begins. What will happen next? I can not predict all the different postures in which Benny starts to have Valtsmana and his company, as well as all their information subservient. I can only say that it will be spectacular, exciting and painful. Benny took place as a businessman in the nineties of the last century. Meanness, unscrupulousness, cynicism and raiding - this is his main work methods. He challenged. He accepted it. The first thing he will do - at all costs keep control of "Ukrnafta" and "Ukrtransnafta". Any - it means really any. If this should be publicly raped in the central square Mustafa Nayem and Leshchenko, do not help either parliamentary immunity, neither personal intercession Jen Psak. Kolomoysky professes the following principle: if someone is trying to nip it in the piece, it must be indicative punish the villain, regardless of any costs. Matter of principle, because he felt slack, it will tear. Time retaliation for it does not matter. At least two hours, at least a year, at least fifteen years. Many conflicts with Kolomoiskiy last for decades.

Today Ukrainian politicians and journalists are actively discussing the same topic: Poroshenko Kolomoiskiy dismiss from his post as governor of the Dnepropetrovsk or not? For Beni this post does not mean anything. He believes his city Dnepropetrovsk, and if there will come a new protege Valtsmana, he has one destiny. Very unenviable. You have to understand what resources today Beni. Firstly, this private army of security structures and "volunteer battalions", fully equipped, armed and employs 15 000 people. Two thousand, of which he spoke, - so, the vanguard. Secondly, "Privat-Bank" is stranoobrazuyuschim financial institution. It is the largest private bank in Ukraine with tens of millions of investors. If Kolomoysky wants, the banking system in Ukraine will not. Third, remember the petrol crisis of 2008? It was hi Beni Kolomoiskiy. The country may be left without fuel in a matter of hours. Fourthly, a powerful media resource. And finally, the fifth - money. During crisis situations Benya never skimp easily outbid lawyers, judges and prosecutors. I think that Valtsmana no chance. Theoretically possible "worlds". But only if Kolomoisky will provide an opportunity to pick up assets from Hryhoryshyn, Firtash, Novinsky, in short all to whom he designates. As a "moral compensation". If not, then Poroshenko will open a second front. And all the chances to win are at Beni. Even if Kolomoisky will be forced to leave the country, it does not mean anything.

[Lauren Johnson]

Really intriguing video by Joseph Farrell on economic changes within Russia.

[David Guyatt]

The guy drives me potty with his repetitive "now listen to what I'm going to say folks", but both the introduction of payment cards and it's own credit rating agency that ignores geopolitical risk as a criteria are giant strides for Russia. The days of total western dominance of the international banking and economic system are fast drawing to a close - and rightly so too.

The entire Ukraine affair has been an utter disgrace and in it the US sowed the seeds of its own gradual demise.

Such is the consequence of the abuse of power.

[Lauren Johnson]

Pepe Escobar

The World Economic Forum in Davos is submerged by a tsunami of denials, and even non-denial denials, stating there won't be a follow-up to the Crash of 2008.

Yet there will be. And the stage is already set for it.

Selected Persian Gulf traders, and that includes Westerners working in the Gulf confirm that Saudi Arabia is unloading at least $1 trillion in securities and crashing global markets under orders from the Masters of the Universe - those above the lame presidency of Barack Obama.

Those were the days when the House of Saud would as much as flirt with such an idea to have all their assets frozen. Yet now they are acting under orders. And more is to come; according to crack Persian Gulf traders Saudi Western security investments may amount to as much as $8 trillion, and Abu Dhabi's as $4 trillion.

In Abu Dhabi everything was broken into compartments, so no one could figure it out, except brokers and traders who would know each supervisor of a compartment of investments. And for the House of Saud, predictably, denial is an iron rule.

This massive securities dump has been occasionally reported on corporate media, but the figures are grossly underestimated. The full information simply won't filter because the Masters of the Universe have vetoed it.

There has been a huge increase in the Saudi and Abu Dhabi dump since the start of 2016. A Persian Gulf source says the Saudi strategy "will demolish the markets." Another referred to a case of "maggots eating the carcass in the dark"; one just had to look at the rout in Wall Street, across Europe and in Hong Kong and Tokyo on Wednesday.

So it's already happening. And a crucial subplot may be, in the short to medium term, no less than the collapse of the eurozone.

The Crash of 2016?

So a case could be made of a panicked House of Saud being instrumentalized to crash a great deal of the global economy. Cui bono?

Moscow and Tehran are very much on it. The logic behind crashing markets, creating a recession and a depression - from the point of view of the Masters of the Universe above the lame duck President of the United States is to engineer a major slow down, cripple buying patterns, decrease oil and natural gas consumption, and point Russia on a road to ruin. Besides, the ultra low oil price also translates into a sort of ersatz sanction on Iran.

Still, Iranian oil about to reach the market will be around an extra 500,000 barrels a day by mid-year, plus a surplus stored in tankers in the Persian Gulf. This oil can and will be absorbed, as demand is rising (in the US, for instance, by 1.9 million barrels a day in 2015) while supply is falling.

Surging demand and falling production will reverse the oil crash by July. Moreover, China's oil imports recently surged 9.3% at 7.85 million barrels a day, discrediting the hegemonic narrative of a collapse of China's economy - or of China being responsible for the current market blues.

So, as I outlined here, oil should turn around soon. Goldman Sachs concurs. That gives the Masters of the Universe a short window of opportunity enabling the Saudis to dump massive amounts of securities in the markets.

The House of Saud may need the money badly, considering their budget on red alert. But dumping their securities is also clearly self-destructive. They simply cannot sell $8 trillion. The House of Saud is actually destroying the balance of their wealth. As much as Western hagiography tries to paint Riyadh as a responsible player, the fact is scores of Saudi princes are horrified at the destruction of the wealth of the kingdom through this slow motion harakiri.

Would there be a Plan B? Yes. Warrior prince Mohammed bin Sultan - who's actually running the show in Riyadh - should be on the first flight to Moscow to engineer a common strategy. Yet that won't happen.

And as far as China - Saudi Arabia's top oil importer is concerned, Xi Jinping has just been to Riyadh; Aramco and Sinopec signed a strategic partnership; but the strategic partnership that really matters, considering the future of One Belt, One Road, is actually Beijing-Tehran.

The massive Saudi dumping of securities ties in with the Saudi oil price war. In the current, extremely volatile situation oil is down, stocks are down and oil stocks are down. Still the House of Saud has not understood that the Masters of the Universe are getting them to destroy themselves many times over, including flooding the oil market with their shut-in capacity. And all that to fatally wound Russia, Iran and... Saudi Arabia itself, only a pawn in their game.

Meanwhile, Riyadh is rife with rumors there will be a coup against King Salman - virtually demented and confined to a room in his palace in Riyadh. There are two possible scenarios in play:

1) King Salman, 80, abdicates in favor of his son, notorious arrogant/ignorant troublemaker Warrior Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 30, currently deputy crown prince and defense minister and the second in the line of succession but de facto running the show in Riyadh. This could happen anytime soon. As an extra bonus, current Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi, not a royal, would be replaced by Abdulaziz bin Salman, another son of the king.

2) A palace coup. Salman - and his troublemaker son - are out of the picture, replaced by Ahmed bin Abdulaziz (who was a previous Minister of the Interior), or Prince Mohammed bin Nayef (the current Minister of the Interior and Crown Prince.)

Whatever scenario prevails, the British MI6 is intimately aware of the whole pantomime. And the German BND might be. Everyone remembers the BND memo at the end of 2015 that depicted Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as a "political gambler" who is destabilizing the Arab world through proxy wars in Yemen and Syria.

Saudi sources for obvious reasons insisting on anonymity stress that as much as 80% of the House of Saud favors a coup.

Yet the question is whether a House reshuffle would change their slow motion hara-kiri. The categorical imperative remains; the Masters of the Universe are ready to bring the whole world down in a major recession basically to strangle Russia. The House of Saud is just a pawn in this vicious game.

[Lauren Johnson]

Excellent interview of Stephen F. Cohen by John Batchelor -- very sobering. I highly recommend listening to interview at the link.

Nation contributing editor Stephen F. Cohen and John Batchelor continue their weekly discussions of the new US-Russian Cold war. This installment focuses on the Pentagon's announcement that it will quickly quadruple the positioning of US-NATO heavy military weapons and troops near Russia's eastern borders. The result, Cohen argues, will further militarize the new Cold War, making it more confrontational and likely to lead to actual war with Russia. The move is unprecedented in modern times. Except during Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union, Western military power has never been positioned so close to Russia, making the new Cold War even more dangerous than was the preceding one. Russia will certainly react, probably by moving more of its own heavy weapons, including new missiles, to its Western borders, possibly along with a large number of its tactical nuclear weapons. The latter reminds us, Cohen points out, that a new and more dangerous US-Russian nuclear arms race has been under way for several years, which the Obama Administration's decision can only intensify. The decision will also have other woeful consequences, undermining ongoing negotiations by Secretary of State Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov for cooperation on the Ukrainian and Syrian crises and further dividing Europe itself, which is far from united on Washington's increasingly hawkish approach to Moscow.

Cohen ends by expressing despair that these ongoing developments have been barely reported in the US media and publicly debated not at all, not even by current presidential candidates and the moderators of their "debates." Never before has such a dire international situation been so ignored in an American presidential campaign. The reason may be, Cohen adds, that everything that has happened since the Ukrainian crisis erupted in November 2013 has been blamed solely on the "aggression" of Russian President Putina highly questionable assertion and media-policy narrative.

[David Guyatt]

Excellent interview of Stephen F. Cohen by John Batchelor -- very sobering. I highly recommend listening to interview at the link.

Nation contributing editor Stephen F. Cohen and John Batchelor continue their weekly discussions of the new US-Russian Cold war. This installment focuses on the Pentagon's announcement that it will quickly quadruple the positioning of US-NATO heavy military weapons and troops near Russia's eastern borders. The result, Cohen argues, will further militarize the new Cold War, making it more confrontational and likely to lead to actual war with Russia. The move is unprecedented in modern times. Except during Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union, Western military power has never been positioned so close to Russia, making the new Cold War even more dangerous than was the preceding one. Russia will certainly react, probably by moving more of its own heavy weapons, including new missiles, to its Western borders, possibly along with a large number of its tactical nuclear weapons. The latter reminds us, Cohen points out, that a new and more dangerous US-Russian nuclear arms race has been under way for several years, which the Obama Administration's decision can only intensify. The decision will also have other woeful consequences, undermining ongoing negotiations by Secretary of State Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov for cooperation on the Ukrainian and Syrian crises and further dividing Europe itself, which is far from united on Washington's increasingly hawkish approach to Moscow.

Cohen ends by expressing despair that these ongoing developments have been barely reported in the US media and publicly debated not at all, not even by current presidential candidates and the moderators of their "debates." Never before has such a dire international situation been so ignored in an American presidential campaign. The reason may be, Cohen adds, that everything that has happened since the Ukrainian crisis erupted in November 2013 has been blamed solely on the "aggression" of Russian President Putina highly questionable assertion and media-policy narrative.

The Neocons are so desperate to retain their global franchise that they'll risk war with Russia in order to surround and quell her. For me this has to be the last hand thrown in the last chance saloon as the world is definitely changing and the US is losing it's iron grip. This is not to say the strategy is not extremely dangerous.

PS, I would say that one thing that reflects the USA's diminishing power and influence is yesterday's decision by the UN too favour Julian Assange.

[David Guyatt]

Yats in no longer the guy.

The personnel change but the propaganda and lies remain unaltered.

From Robert Parry:

Yats' Is No Longer the Guy

April 11, 2016

Exclusive: Several weeks before Ukraine's 2014 coup, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Nuland had already picked Arseniy Yatsenyuk to be the future leader, but now "Yats" is no longer the guy, writes Robert Parry.
By Robert Parry
In reporting on the resignation of Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the major U.S. newspapers either ignored or distorted Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland's infamous intercepted phone call before the 2014 coup in which she declared "Yats is the guy!"
Though Nuland's phone call introduced many Americans to the previously obscure Yatsenyuk, its timing a few weeks before the ouster of elected Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was never helpful to Washington's desired narrative of the Ukrainian people rising up on their own to oust a corrupt leader.

Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Victoria Nuland, who pushed for the Ukraine coup and helped pick the post-coup leaders.

Instead, the conversation between Nuland and U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt sounded like two proconsuls picking which Ukrainian politicians would lead the new government. Nuland also disparaged the less aggressive approach of the European Union with the pithy put-down: "Fuck the E.U.!"
More importantly, the intercepted call, released onto YouTube in early February 2014, represented powerful evidence that these senior U.S. officials were plotting or at least collaborating in a coup d'etat against Ukraine's democratically elected president. So, the U.S. government and the mainstream U.S. media have since consigned this revealing discussion to the Great Memory Hole.
On Monday, in reporting on Yatsenyuk's Sunday speech in which he announced that he is stepping down, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal didn't mention the Nuland-Pyatt conversation at all.
The New York Times did mention the call but misled its readers regarding its timing, making it appear as if the call followed rather than preceded the coup. That way the call sounded like two American officials routinely appraising Ukraine's future leaders, not plotting to oust one government and install another.
The Times article by Andrew E. Kramer said: "Before Mr. Yatsenyuk's appointment as prime minister in 2014, a leaked recording of a telephone conversation between Victoria J. Nuland, a United States assistant secretary of state, and the American ambassador in Ukraine, Geoffrey R. Pyatt, seemed to underscore the West's support for his candidacy. Yats is the guy,' Ms. Nuland had said."

Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk. (Photo credit: Ybilyk)

Notice, however, that if you didn't know that the conversation occurred in late January or early February 2014, you wouldn't know that it preceded the Feb. 22, 2014 coup. You might have thought that it was just a supportive chat before Yatsenyuk got his new job.
You also wouldn't know that much of the Nuland-Pyatt conversation focused on how they were going to "glue this thing" or "midwife this thing," comments sounding like prima facie evidence that the U.S. government was engaged in "regime change" in Ukraine, on Russia's border.
The No Coup' Conclusion
But Kramer's lack of specificity about the timing and substance of the call fits with a long pattern of New York Times' bias in its coverage of the Ukraine crisis. On Jan. 4, 2015, nearly a year after the U.S.-backed coup, the Times published an "investigation" article declaring that there never had been a coup. It was just a case of President Yanukovych deciding to leave and not coming back.
That article reached its conclusion, in part, by ignoring the evidence of a coup, including the Nuland-Pyatt phone call. The story was co-written by Kramer and so it is interesting to know that he was at least aware of the "Yats is the guy" reference although it was ignored in last year's long-form article.
Instead, Kramer and his co-author Andrew Higgins took pains to mock anyone who actually looked at the evidence and dared reach the disfavored conclusion about a coup. If you did, you were some rube deluded by Russian propaganda.
"Russia has attributed Mr. Yanukovych's ouster to what it portrays as a violent, neo-fascist' coup supported and even choreographed by the West and dressed up as a popular uprising," Higgins and Kramer wrote."Few outside the Russian propaganda bubble ever seriously entertained the Kremlin's line. But almost a year after the fall of Mr. Yanukovych's government, questions remain about how and why it collapsed so quickly and completely."
The Times' article concluded that Yanukovych "was not so much overthrown as cast adrift by his own allies, and that Western officials were just as surprised by the meltdown as anyone else. The allies' desertion, fueled in large part by fear, was accelerated by the seizing by protesters of a large stock of weapons in the west of the country. But just as important, the review of the final hours shows, was the panic in government ranks created by Mr. Yanukovych's own efforts to make peace."

Ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

Yet, one might wonder what the Times thinks a coup looks like. Indeed, the Ukrainian coup had many of the same earmarks as such classics as the CIA-engineered regime changes in Iran in 1953 and in Guatemala in 1954.
The way those coups played out is now historically well known. Secret U.S. government operatives planted nasty propaganda about the targeted leader, stirred up political and economic chaos, conspired with rival political leaders, spread rumors of worse violence to come and then as political institutions collapsed watched as the scared but duly elected leader made a hasty departure.
In Iran, the coup reinstalled the autocratic Shah who then ruled with a heavy hand for the next quarter century; in Guatemala, the coup led to more than three decades of brutal military regimes and the killing of some 200,000 Guatemalans.
Coups don't have to involve army tanks occupying the public squares, although that is an alternative model which follows many of the same initial steps except that the military is brought in at the end. The military coup was a common approach especially in Latin America in the 1960s and 1970s.
Color Revolutions'
But the preferred method in more recent years has been the "color revolution," which operates behind the façade of a "peaceful" popular uprising and international pressure on the targeted leader to show restraint until it's too late to stop the coup. Despite the restraint, the leader is still accused of gross human rights violations, all the better to justify his removal.
Later, the ousted leader may get an image makeover; instead of a cruel bully, he is ridiculed for not showing sufficient resolve and letting his base of support melt away, as happened with Mohammad Mossadegh in Iran and Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala.
But the reality of what happened in Ukraine was never hard to figure out. Nor did you have to be inside "the Russian propaganda bubble" to recognize it. George Friedman, the founder of the global intelligence firm Stratfor, called Yanukovych's overthrow "the most blatant coup in history."
Which is what it appears if you consider the evidence. The first step in the process was to create tensions around the issue of pulling Ukraine out of Russia's economic orbit and capturing it in the European Union's gravity, a plan defined by influential American neocons in 2013.
On Sept. 26, 2013, National Endowment for Democracy President Carl Gershman, who has been a major neocon paymaster for decades, took to the op-ed page of the neocon Washington Post and called Ukraine "the biggest prize" and an important interim step toward toppling Russian President Vladimir Putin.
At the time, Gershman, whose NED is funded by the U.S. Congress to the tune of about $100 million a year, was financing scores of projects inside Ukraine training activists, paying for journalists and organizing business groups.
As for the even bigger prize Putin Gershman wrote: "Ukraine's choice to join Europe will accelerate the demise of the ideology of Russian imperialism that Putin represents. Russians, too, face a choice, and Putin may find himself on the losing end not just in the near abroad but within Russia itself."
At that time, in early fall 2013, Ukraine's President Yanukovych was exploring the idea of reaching out to Europe with an association agreement. But he got cold feet in November 2013 when economic experts in Kiev advised him that the Ukrainian economy would suffer a $160 billion hit if it separated from Russia, its eastern neighbor and major trading partner. There was also the West's demand that Ukraine accept a harsh austerity plan from the International Monetary Fund.
Yanukovych wanted more time for the E.U. negotiations, but his decision angered many western Ukrainians who saw their future more attached to Europe than Russia. Tens of thousands of protesters began camping out at Maidan Square in Kiev, with Yanukovych ordering the police to show restraint.
Meanwhile, with Yanukovych shifting back toward Russia, which was offering a more generous $15 billion loan and discounted natural gas, he soon became the target of American neocons and the U.S. media, which portrayed Ukraine's political unrest as a black-and-white case of a brutal and corrupt Yanukovych opposed by a saintly "pro-democracy" movement.
Cheering an Uprising
The Maidan uprising was urged on by American neocons, including Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Nuland, who passed out cookies at the Maidan and reminded Ukrainian business leaders that the United States had invested $5 billion in their "European aspirations."

A screen shot of U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Victoria Nuland speaking to U.S. and Ukrainian business leaders on Dec. 13, 2013, at an event sponsored by Chevron, with its logo to Nuland's left.

Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, also showed up, standing on stage with right-wing extremists from the Svoboda Party and telling the crowd that the United States was with them in their challenge to the Ukrainian government.
As the winter progressed, the protests grew more violent. Neo-Nazi and other extremist elements from Lviv and other western Ukrainian cities began arriving in well-organized brigades or "sotins" of 100 trained street fighters. Police were attacked with firebombs and other weapons as the violent protesters began seizing government buildings and unfurling Nazi banners and even a Confederate flag.
Though Yanukovych continued to order his police to show restraint, he was still depicted in the major U.S. news media as a brutal thug who was callously murdering his own people. The chaos reached a climax on Feb. 20 when mysterious snipers opened fire, killing both police and protesters. As the police retreated, the militants advanced brandishing firearms and other weapons. The confrontation led to significant loss of life, pushing the death toll to around 80 including more than a dozen police.
U.S. diplomats and the mainstream U.S. press immediately blamed Yanukovych for the sniper attack, though the circumstances remain murky to this day and some investigations have suggested that the lethal sniper fire came from buildings controlled by Right Sektor extremists.
To tamp down the worsening violence, a shaken Yanukovych signed a European-brokered deal on Feb. 21, in which he accepted reduced powers and an early election so he could be voted out of office. He also agreed to requests from Vice President Joe Biden to pull back the police.
The precipitous police withdrawal opened the path for the neo-Nazis and other street fighters to seize presidential offices and force Yanukovych and his officials to flee for their lives. The new coup regime was immediately declared "legitimate" by the U.S. State Department with Yanukovych sought on murder charges. Nuland's favorite, Yatsenyuk, became the new prime minister.
Throughout the crisis, the mainstream U.S. press hammered home the theme of white-hatted protesters versus a black-hatted president. The police were portrayed as brutal killers who fired on unarmed supporters of "democracy." The good-guy/bad-guy narrative was all the American people heard from the major media.
The New York Times went so far as to delete the slain policemen from the narrative and simply report that the police had killed all those who died in the Maidan. A typical Times report on March 5, 2014, summed up the storyline: "More than 80 protesters were shot to death by the police as an uprising spiraled out of control in mid-February."
The mainstream U.S. media also sought to discredit anyone who observed the obvious fact that an unconstitutional coup had just occurred. A new theme emerged that portrayed Yanukovych as simply deciding to abandon his government because of the moral pressure from the noble and peaceful Maidan protests.
Any reference to a "coup" was dismissed as "Russian propaganda." There was a parallel determination in the U.S. media to discredit or ignore evidence that neo-Nazi militias had played an important role in ousting Yanukovych and in the subsequent suppression of anti-coup resistance in eastern and southern Ukraine. That opposition among ethnic-Russian Ukrainians simply became "Russian aggression."

Nazi symbols on helmets worn by members of Ukraine's Azov battalion. (As filmed by a Norwegian film crew and shown on German TV)

This refusal to notice what was actually a remarkable story the willful unleashing of Nazi storm troopers on a European population for the first time since World War II reached absurd levels as The New York Times and The Washington Post buried references to the neo-Nazis at the end of stories, almost as afterthoughts.
The Washington Post went to the extreme of rationalizing Swastikas and other Nazi symbols by quoting one militia commander as calling them "romantic" gestures by impressionable young men. [See Consortiumnews.com's "Ukraine's Romantic' Neo-Nazi Storm Troopers."]
But today more than two years after what U.S. and Ukrainian officials like to call "the Revolution of Dignity" the U.S.-backed Ukrainian government is sinking into dysfunction, reliant on handouts from the IMF and Western governments.
And, in a move perhaps now more symbolic than substantive, Prime Minister Yatsenyuk is stepping down. Yats is no longer the guy.

[Peter Lemkin]

Breedlove's Bellicosity: Berlin Alarmed by Aggressive NATO Stance on Ukraine

By SPIEGEL Staff
AP
Top NATO commander General Philip Breedlove has raised hackles in Germany with his public statements about the Ukraine crisis.

This strikes me as a warning from Merkel to the US war-hawks to stop meddling.

But they won't of course.

I now can't help wonder if the US is going to push the Europeans to terminate NATO because of this, and that the whole Atlantic alliance will crumble because of it? This whole affair should be left to Merkel and Hollande and other Europeans to sort out with Putin, but the neocons can't stop themselves from meddling and planning further war with Russia down the road.

Just imagine the Germans and French agitating in Mexico, providing weapons and military trainers to develop Mexico's ability to wage war on America. Imagine America sending a warning message to the Europeans and it being ignored and plans made to increase their aid to Mexico and openly incite war between Mexico and the US.

Imagine the response of the US to that scenario.

But don't forget, the USA is 'exceptional' and can NOT be compared with other nations doing the same thing.:: It is not bad, by definition, when we do 'it' ['it' being anything the USA does]! Simple. It is called power and the projection of power and propaganda.