The Unsaid Context of the Ukraine Conflict

[Allhallowsday]

 

  MERRY CHRISTMAS  TO ALL !!  


        

[ralfy]

"The Claim That The Ukraine War Advances US Interests Discredits The Claim That It's "Unprovoked""

https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/the-claim-that-the-ukraine-war-advances

You see US empire lackeys gushing all the time about how extraordinarily efficient and cost-effective the proxy war in Ukraine is for furthering US interests against Russia, which is funny because they spend the rest of the time talking about how this invasion was "unprovoked" and rending their garments about how horrible it is. The official imperial position is somehow simultaneously (A) "We hate this war and never wanted it," and (B) "This war benefits us tremendously."

The only way to reconcile these two positions is to believe that Vladimir Putin acted against the interests of Russia in the service of the United States by invading Ukraine, for no other reason than because he is too stupid and evil to do otherwise. The other choice is to do what most empire loyalists do and simply not think very hard about those obvious contradictions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIMZcK-SC1M

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"Traitors!"

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/traitors

A picture, they say, is worth a thousand words. But there are only a few profane words to describe the obscene scene as the two women closest in line for the presidency hoisted the Ukrainian flag from the dias of the House of Representatives while swooning over Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Congress cheered on December 21. (This appears to be the first time in history the flag of another nation essentially flew inside the U.S. Capitol building.) 

 “They asked me to bring this flag to you, to the U.S. Congress, to members of the House of Representatives and senators whose decisions can save millions of people,” Zelenskyy said before handing the flag to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Kamala Harris.

 “This flag is a symbol of our victory in this war.”

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Might be related if more Twitter Files show up, especially on anti-Russian propaganda:

"Twitter Aided the Pentagon in Its Covert Online Propaganda Campaign"

https://theintercept.com/2022/12/20/twitter-dod-us-military-accounts/

On July 26, 2017, Nathaniel Kahler, at the time an official working with U.S. Central Command — also known as CENTCOM, a division of the Defense Department — emailed a Twitter representative with the company’s public policy team, with a request to approve the verification of one account and “whitelist” a list of Arab-language accounts “we use to amplify certain messages.”

“We’ve got some accounts that are not indexing on hashtags — perhaps they were flagged as bots,” wrote Kahler. “A few of these had built a real following and we hope to salvage.” Kahler added that he was happy to provide more paperwork from his office or SOCOM, the acronym for the U.S. Special Operations Command.

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Also related:

"'Almost every conspiracy theory that people had about Twitter turned out to be true': Elon Musk"

https://thepostmillennial.com/almost-every-conspiracy-theory-that-people-had-about-twitter-turned-out-to-be-true-elon-musk

Former head of Twitter Trust and Safety Yoel Roth was advised by Chan to falsely categorize details of Hunter Biden's business dealings from his laptop as a Russian "hack-and-dump" scheme, which the media picked up and reported, claiming it was a conspiracy theory to report otherwise.

Across the various installments of the Twitter files, especially round six, details arose detailing the collusion between the social media giant and the FBI, with Taibbi saying the government agency acted as a "subsidiary" for the company before Elon Musk's takeover.

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From RT:

https://twitter.com/RT_com/status/1606922828347056128

Hillary Clinton has described Ukraine as ‘a good investment.’ Her statement comes after President Zelensky's address to the US Congress.

It explains conflicting actions by the U.S., e.g., arming authoritarian regimes like those of Saudi Arabia while condemning others, like those of Russia. In this case, the "good investment" involves a country run by corrupt Ukrainian politicians.

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Interesting point from a leftist perspective:

"Ukraine and the ‘left’"

https://weeklyworker.co.uk/worker/1417/ukraine-and-the-left/

Bernie Sanders, who did not sign the letter but said he agreed with its withdrawal, is typical. Fans cheer when he speaks out in favour of medical care for all, but maintain a discreet silence when it comes to foreign policy - an area in which his views are decidedly mainstream. Over the course of his long career in Washington, he has thus voted in favour of sanctions against Iraq, the Nato bombing of Serbia, the ‘Authorization to Use Military Force’ in the wake of 9/11, and the invasion of Afghanistan.6 To be sure, he voted against the 2003 invasion of Iraq, but only after a good deal of wavering.7

...

As for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Congress’s second most famous ‘socialist’, her record is equally centrist. She opposed Trump’s call for a Syrian withdrawal on the grounds that it “could have catastrophic consequences and risks, laying the ground for immense violence and suffering”,13 and echoed Hillary Clinton’s charge that Trump is Putin’s “puppet”. His “actions have been so destabilizing and destructive,” she wrote, “that the FBI had to open [an] inquiry on whether the most powerful person in the United States is actually working for Russia”.14 Where Sanders called for “severe sanctions on Vladimir Putin and his fellow oligarchs” the day Russian troops entered the Ukraine, AOC went one better by calling for “targeted sanctions” the day before.15 So it is not surprising that she has little appetite for anti-war activities.

It's strange, too, that it's Trump who's seen as a tyrant but it's his opponents who support war backed by capitalists.

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From 2014:

"American democracy and the Ukraine"

https://daniellazare.com/2014/03/11/american-democracy-and-the-ukraine/

This is pretty much the situation in the United States, a corrupt but still-liberal oligarchy that allows people to freely to denounce the powers-that-be and the government to freely ignore them. On February 15, 2003, hundreds of thousands of Americans took part in a global day of protest against the upcoming invasion of Iraq. Since Saddam Hussein had obviously had nothing to do with the attack on the World Trade Center, protesters pointed out over and over again that attacking him in response to 9/11 would be like attacking Mexico in response to Pearl Harbor. Yet the effect was nil. During the Senate “debate” on the proposed invasion – which was more like a mini-Nuremberg rally – one Democrat after another echoed Republican lies about Saddam Hussein and the mushroom cloud he was supposedly preparing to unleash.

...

So are Russian fears baseless or not? Remnick seems to be of two minds, although he is absolutely certain that the Russian leader is “an unabashed authoritarian” who “risks alienating himself not only from the West and Ukraine.” Facts be damned – the guy is still an SOB.

The last point ironically mirrors most of the sentiments given in the now-locked thread.

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"Volodymyr Zelensky and ethnopolitics"

https://www.voltairenet.org/article218518.html

President Zelensky has just been named by Time magazine "politician of the year 2022". It is not to have realized his coup de force of July, in favor of the war. He had all the political parties that opposed him banned; assassinated the personalities who resisted him; controlled all the media, written, audiovisual and internet; banned the Russian language; destroyed 100 million books; confiscated many of the assets of the oligarchs, including the one who personally financed him; nationalized the assets of Russian investors and companies; and finally banned the Orthodox Church.

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Some of the blowback of neoliberalism:

"Exclusive: Russia likely to buy yuan on FX market in 2023 - sources"

https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/russia-likely-buy-yuan-fx-market-2023-sources-2022-12-22/

"IMF admits US dollar hegemony declining, due to rise of Chinese yuan, sanctions on Russia"

https://multipolarista.com/2022/03/31/imf-us-dollar-decline-china-russia/

"Russia and Iran are building a trade route that defies western sanctions—Bloomberg"

https://twitter.com/thatdayin1992/status/1607341508029734913

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Related:

"Why You Need to Start Paying Attention to the 'Twitter Files'"

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/kevindowneyjr/2022/12/24/why-you-need-to-start-paying-attention-to-the-twitter-files-n1656136

The FBI knew the Hunter Biden laptop story was real, they knew it was coming out — weeks before the 2020 election — and they told Big Tech to expect a “Russian disinformation” drop and squelch the story. That means the FBI corrupted the election to help Joe “totally showered with his daughter, Ashley” Biden.

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"Zelensky’s diaspora delegation led by economic hit-woman who led plunder of Ukraine"

https://thegrayzone.com/2022/12/23/zelenskys-diaspora-hit-woman-ukraine/

Several of the Ukrainian delegates I encountered on the way into the US Capitol happened to have played significant roles in the transformation of Ukraine from a neutral state into a hyper-militarized vassal of the US and the IMF.

The most voluble among them, acting as a de facto spokesperson for the group, was Natalie Jaresko. A Ukrainian-American financial industry operative, Jaresko presided over several IMF austerity packages and the rampant privatization of Ukraine’s economy as the country’s Minister of Finance in its post-coup government

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"Condoleeza Rice explained in 2014 the motives for the CIA to committ an act of terrrorism against the Nord Stream 1 & 2 pipelines in Europe."

https://twitter.com/ivan_8848/status/1575839811688345601

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One of the effects of neoconservatism:

"Top Zelensky advisor threatens war with Iran"

https://thegrayzone.com/2022/11/12/zelensky-threatens-war-iran/

On November 5, Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, has advocated for military strikes on drone production sites located in Iran. President Zelensky echoed Podolyak’s belligerent rhetoric the following day, demanding Iran be “punished” for allegedly supplying drones to Russia. 

Kiev adopted its hostile posture towards Tehran after claiming Russia deployed Iranian-supplied drones to strike Ukrainian civilian infrastructure throughout much of October.

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Related:

"How the pro-Ukraine NAFO troll operation crowd-funds war criminals"

https://thegrayzone.com/2022/10/20/ukraine-nafo-troll-war-criminals/

Celebrated in mainstream US media for its anti-Russian trolling, the Twitter operation known as NAFO was founded by a Polish antisemite to raise money for a militia that has hosted war criminals, white nationalists and wanted murderers.

Whether they know it or not, anyone who has checked Twitter for recent coverage of the Ukraine proxy war has likely encountered at least one of the thousands of trolls that comprise NAFO, or the “North Atlantic Fellas Organization.” Thanks to the efforts of NAFO and its “fellas,” any journalist or prominent figure critical of Ukraine or NATO on Twitter is likely to receive hundreds of replies accusing them of being paid by Russian President Vladimir Putin (or even performing fellatio on him) from accounts with Shiba Inu dog avatars.