OMNI

US, NATO, UKRAINE v. RUSSIA WAR

#24 origins, consequences, peace

July 4, 2022

Compiled by Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace, Justice, and Ecology.

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What’s at stake.  These anthologies on the Ukrainian War were gathered to show how much more complicated were its causes, how much more ruinous were its consequences, and how many more alternatives to war were possible than have been explored by US leaders or reported in US mainstream media (MSM).  My belief is that the people of the US and the world wish to understand the complications of US wars and do not desire again to be engaged in massive destruction and mass slaughter without the fullest and most careful consideration.  --Dick

CONTENTS US, NATO, Ukraine, Russia Anthology #24

Dick – The US Press is doing a terrible job of reporting this war.  This even includes the PBS news, and NPR.  There is no context, no history, little about the details of strategy or diplomacy, little explanation of why any particular incident (such as the siege of Mariupol) might have occurred, little discussion of alternatives.  Reporting is mostly one-dimensional and simple-minded.  Most of it consists of tragic stories of civilian suffering.  And all of it is infused with flag-waving patriotism and simple “good guys and bad guys” mentality.  It’s not that simple.  Putin’s invasion was immoral and (worse yet) stupid, but he is not Hitler.  It is important for us to hear the stories of suffering because they teach us the reality and the tragedy of war, but the focus should be much broader than this.   There should be much more commentary, including commentary from left-wingers and right-wingers.  The only discussion seems to come from the US government and military people.  There should be much more history, much more criticism.  Basically, the reporting is irrational and emotional.   A suggestion:  Letters to the editor are an effective way to reach the public.  Our group should write, and encourage others to write, such letters.   Peace – Art

CAUSES of the WAR #24

Mark Rolofson.  A Brief History

Shapiro.  President Clinton and NATO Expansion.

Carey.  Western (Sovietphobia) Russophobia:  United Kingdom.
Krieger.  “Putin’s Offer to Negotiate on Nukes” Rejected.

Kuzmarov.  MIC War Profiteering.
Lauria.  Censorship: Nulan-Pyatt Tape, Smoking Gun of Kiev Coup 2014.

Kuzmarov.  Propaganda: US National Endowment for Democracy Awards
     to anti-Russian NGOs.

Norton.  Conspiracy: “U.S. Government Plots to Break Up Russia in Name
      of ‘Decolonization.’”

McCoy.  Another Cold War = Nuclear Threat, US $2 Trillion.

Hornberger.  “What If the U.S. Had Invaded the Ukraine?”

Chomsky and Barsamian.  War and Warming, and Orwell’s Doublethink.

CONSEQUENCES
Moon of Alabama.  US Escalation.
Brenner.  World Has Changed Opposite to Plans.

Al Mayadeen Net.  Censorship: Stone’s Film Ukraine on Fire.

Steve Sweeney.  Ukrainian Crackdown on Left and other Opponents.    

Ritter.  “Lithuania’s Brinkmanship.”

UN WIRE.  Casualties in the War.

Johnstone.  CIA in Ukraine.

Moon of Alabama.  Zelensky Lied re Burned Shopping Center.

Salami.  Egypt’s Tightrope Neutrality.

Knight.  “Joe Biden’s saber-rattling threatens World War III—with China and Russia.” 

CONCORD

Hixson.   PrincipalNeeds for Peace, to prevent and stop wars. 

Kuzmarov and Brown.  End False Ukrainian Reports of Russian atrocities.

World Beyond War, Code Pink, and International Peace Bureau. “Peace
       Wave” International Appeal for End to the War.

United for Peace and Justice: 4 International Reports.

    Ukraine [Anti-] War Resources

    US Conference of Mayors Adopts Peace Resolution

     Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons First Meeting in Vienna

     Condemnation of Nuclear Threats (Abolish Nuclear Weapons)

UFPJ Peace Petition

Paul Ingram.  “Russia’s Nuclear Threat.”

Lynch.  Conflict Transformation.

Koehler.  “Embracing the Complexity of Peace.”

Contents of #23

TEXTS #24

ORIGINS, CAUSES

LET’S GO BACK SEVERAL DECADES to continue putting together the pieces that enable us to evaluate this war while it is in process and while we can STOP IT.

A QUICK HISTORY

Mark Rolofson.  “Is the West finally realizing that Russia will win the war in Ukraine?”   Editor.  Mronline.org (6-24-22).

Originally published: People's Party of Oregon  on June 1, 2022 by Mark Rolofson (more by People's Party of Oregon) (Posted Jun 23, 2022)

Imperialism, WarAmericas, Europe, Russia, Ukraine, United StatesNewswire

[The opening paragraphs offer a coherent summary of“the US proxy war against Russia in Ukraine.”  --Dick]

This article is the fourth in a series of articles I have written covering the US proxy war against Russia in Ukraine. ]    While this civil war in Ukraine actually began 8 years ago in 2014, the Western media narrative has portrayed this conflict as an unprovoked invasion by Russia that began on February 24, 2022.  The 8 year civil war in the Donbass Region is a direct result of the US backed coup and color revolution known as the Maidan Revolution, that ousted the democratically elected President Viktor Yanukovych and installed an ultra-nationalist, anti-Russian, Nazi government.

The coup government was rejected by the majority ethnic Russian population in the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine, who had supported Yanukovych.  The result was protests throughout eastern Ukraine and Odessa in the south. The Russian speaking population understood that they would experience harsh persecution under the new, anti-Russian government.  On May 2, 2014 in Odessa, protesters took refuge in the Odessa Trade Union Hall trying to escape the attacks of Neo-Nazi vigilantes, who then set the building on fire.  Forty-eight protesters were either burned alive or died jumping out of the building.  No one was ever prosecuted for the Odessa Massacre.

Crimea voted to secede and was annexed into Russia.  Donetsk and Lugansk became breakaway provinces thus leaving Ukraine, but were soon invaded by Ukrainian Nazis who refused to give up the region.  Western media rarely acknowledged the huge civilian death toll in eastern Ukraine.

Minsk 1 (September 5, 2014) and Minsk 2 (February 12, 2015) Peace Agreements contained a ceasefire and were ratified by the United Nations with Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France as signers.  The agreement called for the breakaway provinces to be reabsorbed into Ukraine, but receive regional autonomy which essentially meant the right to use the Russian language.  The 2014 coup government outlawed the use of the Russian language in media and schools.  For the agreement to be finalized it required that the leaders of the Ukrainian government had to negotiate the terms with the leaders of Donetsk and Lugansk.  Negotiations never happened, nor was the ceasefire even honored by Nazi paramilitaries.  On February 13, 2015, Minsk 2 was immediately rejected by the Right Sector leader, Dimitri Yarosh, who vowed to keep fighting.  The rocket shellings of the Donbass by Nazis continued for almost 8 years resulting in 14,000 mostly civilian deaths.

The United States had endorsed the Minsk Agreements and Obama was reluctant to supply Ukraine with weapons.  This changed under Trump who was convinced to sell arms to Ukraine to prove he wasn’t Putin’s puppet.  Zelensky was elected in 2019 by 73% of Ukrainians because he ran as the peace candidate, stating that he would implement Minsk 2.  US media hardly acknowledged this fact, and focused on Trump’s phone call to Zelensky regarding investigating Hunter Biden and Burisma, after he temporarily withheld a weapons shipment to Ukraine.  Zelensky received death threats, over his goal to implement the Minsk agreement, in an interview with the Right Sector (a Nazi Party) leader, Dimitri Yarosh, who said “He will hang on some tree on Khreshchatyk – if he betrays Ukraine and those people who died in the Revolution and the War.”  Zelensky was powerless to achieve the goal of peace without strong backing from the United States, which instead was more interested in arming and training a proxy force to fight Russia.

The Biden Administration took things to new level in 2021 by sending more weapons and giving special forces training to Ukrainian Nazi paramilitaries.  In April 2021, Zelensky said he was not going to honor the Minsk 2 Agreement and was planning to retake the breakaway regions and Crimea by force.  The US created this war by preparing Ukrainian forces for the invasion.

OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) reports show ceasefire violations, the majority by Ukrainian forces, increased from 57 on February 14, 2022 to 1,927 on February 21, 2022.  It was an invasion by Ukraine on Donetsk and Lugansk that caused Russia to intervene on February 24, 2022.  Putin described it as a “peacekeeping mission.” Certainly the people and soldiers of the DPR and LPR were glad the Russians finally intervened.  Over 150,000 Ukrainian troops were lined up west of the line of contact, about to fight 31,000 mostly volunteer soldiers of the DPR and LPR.  It would have been a genocide had Russia not intervened.  Russia had multiple reasons to finally intervene, including protecting Crimea and preventing Ukraine from joining NATO, which would have led to nuclear missile bases on its borders.

As we know, this is not the story we’ve been told in the Western Press.  We have been told that Vladimir Putin is a madman, who may want to conquer Europe if he succeeds in Ukraine.  There has been little or no historical context given to the conflict, including Ukraine’s Nazi past going back to the 1930s with Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera, who was the head of the OUN-B (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists – Section B) and is now considered a national hero in Ukraine.  The US government calls Ukraine a democracy, but nothing could be further from the truth with opposition media banned and socialist political parties outlawed.  Ukraine is a US vassal state and a NATO proxy force.  Its people are cannon fodder for the US to fight a war against Russia.  The goal is to weaken Russia or preferably cause regime change in Moscow, so the US can wage war against China, the main threat to US Hegemony.

US and UK corporate media outlets have been the cheerleaders for US-NATO wars throughout their history.  That said, the war in Ukraine marks a blatant increase in war propaganda filled with major distortions and outright lies.  Those journalists and commentators that question or expose the lies of the pro-Ukraine, anti-Russian narrative are called Russian assets or Putin apologists, while some get banned from YouTube, Twitter or Twitch.  The amount of censorship around this conflict is unprecedented.  MORE   https://mronline.org/2022/06/23/is-the-west-finally-realizing-that-russia-will-win-the-war-in-ukraine/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=is-the-west-finally-realizing-that-russia-will-win-the-war-in-ukraine&mc_cid=f6b7d2a167&mc_eid=ab2f7bf95e

A Big Piece of the Puzzle

Clinton Administration’s  most fateful error: nato expansion

OMNI’S anthologies on the US-NATO-Ukraine War vs. Russia have explored the history beyond the US/NATO/Ukraine/US Mainstream Media reports.  An article in the latest no. of The New Republic (July-August 2022) takes us back to the 1990s: “America’s Long Lost Weekend” by Walter Shapiro. 

     “If there was a pivotal moment in the deterioration of relations with Russia, it was probably Clinton’s cheerleading for NATO expansion into former Soviet bloc countries like Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, which formally occurred in 1999.  But the seeds had been planted much earlier, as Clinton had stressed to Polish President Lech Walesa on a visit to Warsaw in 1994, that he strongly supported bringing Poland into the alliance.  But throughout the lengthy process, Clinton continually demonstrated a tin ear about Russia’s concerns for its security and prestige.”  In 1994 Boris Yeltsin  attacked “NATO expansion and the United States for wanting a ‘cold peace’ in place of the Cold War.”  “…there was never a point when the Clinton administration seriously addressed the legitimacy of some of the Russian president’s concerns about thrusting NATO eastward.  In a 1997 article, George Kennan, the nonagenarian architect of containment during the Cold War, bitterly called NATO expansion “’the most fateful error of American policy in the entire post-cold-war era.’” (42-3)(--Dick.  See OMNI’s NATO docs. and docs. on empathy and J.W. Fulbright and empathy.)

Western (Sovietphobia) Russophobia: Our British Allies

An Atrophied And Warlike Kingdom

By Patrick Carey, Popular Resistance (7-1-22).. As reported recently across the U.K., General Sir Patrick Sanders, the British Army’s new Chief of the General Staff, overall controller of the British Army, has stated that today’s generation of British soldiers must prepare "to fight in Europe once again" as the conflict in Ukraine continues. The Sun newspaper banner headline on 18th June had it thus: “UK army must get ready to fight the Russians and win in potential WW3, says Britain’s top general”. The newspaper added that “He vowed to forge an Army that can beat Russia in battle.” “There is now a burning imperative to forge an Army capable of...   -more-

US Leaders Need Deeper,  Wider,  Longer Memories and Perspectives: Here’s a Piece, as the US and NATO intensify their demonization of Putin
U.S. Should Accept Putin's Offer to Negotiate on Nukes

by David Krieger
The fuel for a new nuclear arms race was already on the fire, and a Russian strategic response was predictable, when the U.S. withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty [in 2002] and began developing and emplacing missile defense systems globally. The U.S. withdrawal and abrogation of the ABM Treaty may prove to be the greatest strategic blunder of the nuclear age.   As the two most powerful nuclear powers on the planet, with enough nuclear weapons to end civilization as we know it and possibly the human species, the two countries need to be engaged in productive and good-faith negotiations to end the nuclear weapons threat to each other and to all humanity.  Truthdig, March 7, 2018.    To read more, click here.
Krieger is the founder and recently retired president of the excellent peace and justice organization Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.

And here’s another piece: MIC Profiteering

“While Biden Gives Ukrainian Army ‘The Most Lethal Weapon,’ War Profiteer BAE Systems Stock Soars.”

Jeremy Kuzmarov.  Mronline.org (6-30-22).

The Russian Interior Ministry reported that it had destroyed U.S.-made howitzers through use of attack drones.

CENSORSHIP

CONSORTIUMNEWS.COM, INTERNATIONAL, SOCIAL MEDIA, UKRAINE

Nuland-Pyatt Tape Removed From YouTube After 8 Years.   Consortium News, May 25, 2022.

A popular version, with subtitles, suddenly was made unavailable on Wednesday. The tape provides the smoking gun of U.S. involvement in 2014 Kiev coup. (Read the transcript).

By Joe Lauria
Special to Consortium News
The smoking gun proving U.S. involvement in the 2014 coup in Kiev has been removed from YouTube after eight years. 

It was one of the most watched versions of the intercepted and leaked conversation between then Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and Geoffrey Pyatt, the then U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, in which the two discuss who will make up the new government weeks before democratically-elected Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was overthrown in a violent coup on Feb. 21, 2014.

The two talk about “midwifing” the unconstitutional change of government and “gluing it together” and of the role then Vice President Joe Biden should play and what meetings to set up with Ukrainian politicians.

The U.S. State Department never denied the authenticity of the video, and even issued an apology to the European Union after Nuland is heard on the tape saying, “Fuck the E.U.” Mainstream media at the time focused almost exclusively on that off-color remark, ignoring the greater significance of U.S. interference in Ukraine’s internal affairs. 

Consortium News has numerous times embedded the YouTube video in articles about the overthrow of Yanukovych. CN successfully embedded it earlier this week in an article now being written, but on Wednesday the video suddenly appeared this way in the draft article: 

The video was posted on April 29, 2014 and had 181,533 views before it was taken down, was among the most viewed versions of the conversation on YouTube. Eight years worth of comments on the video have also been removed.

This is a screenshot taken earlier from the video that has now been removed.  The same video can be viewed on Rumble here.

Nuland in screenshot from now removed YouTube video.

Timing of Removal

The removal of a video that had existed online for eight years raises major questions as it comes during the war in Ukraine. Corporate media has studiously avoided mentioning the causes of the current conflict, including NATO eastward expansion, the rejected Moscow treaty proposals in December, the civil war in Donbass and the 2014 coup in Kiev that led to the Donbass uprising and violent repression by the coup government. 

The coup in 2014 is the starting point that led to all these events culminating in Russia’s invasion in February. Removing the video would be consistent with the suppression of any information that falls outside the enforced narrative of events in Ukraine, including whitewashing any mention of the U.S.-backed coup.   MORE  CONSORTIUMNEWS.COM, INTERNATIONAL, SOCIAL MEDIA, UKRAINE

Joe Lauria is editor-in-chief of Consortium News and a former U.N. correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and numerous other newspapers, including The Montreal Gazette and The Star of Johannesburg. He was an investigative reporter for the Sunday Times of London, a financial reporter for Bloomberg News and began his professional work as a 19-year old stringer for The New York Times.  He can be reached at joelauria@consortiumnews.com and followed on Twitter @unjoe  

 Help Us Beat the Censors! Donate to Consortium News‘  2022 Spring Fund Drive

PROPAGANDA (read Orwell’s 1984)

US Government Plots To Break Up Russia In Name Of 'Decolonization'

By Ben Norton, Multipolarista. Popular Resistance.org (6-24-22).   A US government body held a Congressional briefing plotting ways to break up Russia as a country, in the name of supposed “decolonization.” The participants urged the United States to give more support to separatist movements inside Russia and in the diaspora. They proposed the independence of numerous republics in the Russian Federation, including Chechnya, Tatarstan, and Dagestan, as well as historic areas that existed centuries ago such as Circassia. This is far from the first time that hawks in Washington have fantasized about carving up foreign countries.  -more-

Subject: What if the U.S had invaded Ukraine?
Forwarded by Sonny San Juan.  Date: Thu, Jun 16, 2022 at 9:33 PM
JUNE 15, 2022 “What If the US Had Invaded Ukraine?”

BY JACOB G. hORNBERGER. 
HTTPS://WWW.COUNTERPUNCH.ORG/2022/06/15/WHAT-IF-THE-US-HAD-INVADED-UKRAINE/

Let’s engage in a thought experiment. Suppose that Ukraine was headed by a pro-Russia regime. After repeated failed attempts at assassination by the CIA, the Pentagon finally decides to invade Ukraine for the purpose of bringing about regime change — i.e., ousting the pro-Russia regime from power and replacing it with a pro-U.S. regime.

What then would be the response of American statists, especially those within the U.S. mainstream press?

There is no doubt about the answer. Everything would be different than it is today with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The media would be proudly embedding itself within the U.S. military’s invading forces. Mainstream papers would be reporting and commenting on the courage of U.S. troops. There would be no sympathetic pictures or videos of Ukrainian civilians killed; they would all be labeled as “collateral damage.” Church ministers across the land would be exhorting their congregations to pray for the troops. Every statist across the land would be tripping over himself to find some soldier to thank for his service. Airlines would be inviting soldiers to board planes first as a way to honor them. Statists would be condemning the “bad guys” — that is, those Ukrainians who were shooting at American soldiers. Every statist would be praising and glorifying the Pentagon for bringing freedom to Ukraine. 

How do we know that American statists would react in this way to a Pentagon invasion of Ukraine?

Two answers: Afghanistan and Iraq. That’s how statists reacted when it was the Pentagon that invaded those two countries. That’s how we know that that’s how statists would react if it were the Pentagon, rather than Russia, that invaded Ukraine.

When I was in high school and college, a common question that would be asked regarding World War II was: How could the German people overwhelmingly support Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party? After all, today the Nazi regime is easily recognized by most Americans as the “gold standard” when it comes to evil. Why weren’t the Germany people able to see that?

The answer lies in the power of state indoctrination and government propaganda. 

The German people had the same conception about government that American statists do. They believed that the more powerful their government, the stronger their nation. Actually, it’s the exact opposite. The more powerful the government, the weaker the nation — that is, the weaker the populace. That weakness is reflected by citizens with passive and deferential mindsets — ones that are easily molded into believing whatever government officials want people to believe. 

That’s why powerful governments will always have the nation’s children herded into state education camps — that is, “public” schools. The purpose is always to mold the mind of the child from its earliest years to become loyal, patriotic, passive, and deferential. That mindset becomes so well-fortified over 12 years in school that it oftentimes lasts until the person dies. 

Consider the words of Nazi official Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials: “Of course the people don’t want war. But after all, it’s the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it’s always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it’s a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger.”

Isn’t that why U.S. statists overwhelmingly supported the Pentagon’s invasion of Afghanistan? Didn’t they passively and patriotically buy into the U.S. government’s official pronouncement that the Taliban was complicit in the 9/11 attacks? Didn’t they also passively and patriotically buy into the U.S. government’s official pronouncement that Iraq was about to unleash “mushroom clouds” over American cities?

And isn’t that also why U.S. statists are doing everything they can to avoid confronting the sordid role that the Pentagon, operating through its old Cold War dinosaur NATO, has played in producing the Russia-Ukraine war that has now killed thousands of people? 

This is what happens under omnipotent government. You get a weak nation of citizens with passive, deferential mindsets, ones that go with whatever the official flow is. 

As I point out in my new book An Encounter with Evil: The Abraham Zapruder Story, it is always easy to identify and confront evil in foreign regimes. Anyone can do that, as American statists are easily able to do with respect to Nazi Germany. It is a much more difficult task to identify and confront evil within one’s own regime, which is why most Germans were unable to identify and confront the evil of the Nazi regime. What we need in America is a great awakening, one in which Americans achieve a higher level of conscience, consciousness, and independence of thought, one that would empower them to identify and confront the evil within their own regime.   --Jacob G. Hornberger.
 

WAR AND WARMING

.

CONSEQUENCES OF THE WAR ANTHOLOGY #24

Ukraine - The US Is Moving Towards Escalation

By Moon of Alabama. Popular Resistance.org (6-19-22).  The catastrophic economic consequences of the 'western' proxy war with Russia are setting in. As a result the high inflation, caused by supply side constraints due to sanctions and far too much spending, will ruin the middle classes of many countries. To those who did not wear blinders and who knew of the real economies of the 'west' and Russia this was very predictable and predicted: The U.S. is pushing its European 'allies' to commit economic suicide by sanctioning everything Russia. The U.S. should be more careful. It is one of the biggest buyers of Russian oil and its aircraft industry depends on titanium from Russia.  -more-

Last Tango In Washington?

 By Michael Brenner, Consortium News. Popular Resistance.org (6-19-22).   Reality has a way of catching up to us. Sometimes it comes via a sudden shock — Sputnik or Tet. Sometimes it creeps up incrementally — as in Ukraine with each thousand round Russian artillery barrage and the steady rise of the ruble now 25 percent higher than at the onset of the crisis. Dim the lights, the party’s almost over. But that is not the end of the affair. Whatever the exact outcomes, there is no going back to the status quo ante — the world, especially Europe, has changed in fundamental respects. Moreover, it has changed in ways diametrically opposite to what was desired and anticipated.  -more-

CENSORSHIP

“Censorship: Youtube deletes then restores as flagged a documentary on Ukraine” By Al Mayadeen Net. 

·       https://english.almayadeen.net/news/Art-Culture/censorship:-youtube-deletes-then-restores-as-flagged-a-docum

·       10 Mar 13:07 

·       Youtube deletes Oliver Stone's documentary, "Ukraine on Fire", and then restores it, albeit as flagged, following a severe public backlash.

·       "Ukraine on Fire" features Oliver Stone interviewing figures around the 2014 events in Ukraine.

Following its active participation in censorship against Russian-state content on its platform, Youtube has gone a step further and removed a famous documentary made by award-winning producer Oliver Stone, entitled "Ukraine on Fire." 

The documentary features executive producer Oliver Stone interviewing key figures around the 2014 events in Ukraine, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovich, and describes how Ukrainian ultranationalism came to prominence in the country. The documentary also sheds light on the US-engineered 2014 coup, according to social media activists.  (continued)

 “Ukrainian communists pictured alive but face pressure to admit to trumped-up charges.”  Steve Sweeney.  Mronline.org (6-24-22).

Alexander and Mikhail Kononovich were detained on March 3 following the Russian invasion, part of a crackdown on left and opposition groups.

Lithuania's Brinkmanship

By Scott Ritter, Consortium News. Popular Resistance.org (7-2-22).    On June 18 the government of Lithuania acted on a decision by the European Commission that goods and cargo subject to European Union sanctions could be prohibited from transiting between one part of Russia to another, so long as they passed through E.U. territory. Almost immediately Lithuania moved to block Russia from shipping certain categories of goods and materials by rail to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, encompassing the former East Prussian Baltic port city of Konigsberg and its surrounding environs. They were absorbed into Russia proper as a form of war reparations at the... -more-

 SPIES PROLIFERATE

Western officials admit Ukraine is crawling with CIA personnel

Caitlin A. Johnstone.  Mronline.org (6-29-22).

The New York Times reports that Ukraine is crawling with special forces and spies from the U.S. and its allies, which would seem to contradict earlier reports that the U.S. intelligence cartel is having trouble getting intel about what’s happening on the ground in Ukraine.

LYING

“Another Zelensky Lie Debunked” By Moon of Alabama. Popular Resistance.org (6-29-22).   Yesterday I mentioned the burning shopping center in Kremenchuk, Ukraine, of which the Ukrainian president Zelensky falsely claimed that thousand people had been inside. I asked: Satellite pictures show that the shopping center is right next to the large Kredmash machine plant. Was that the real target of the attack with the shopping center being an unintended casualty? It has now been confirmed that the answer to my question is 'yes'. Today's report on the war by the Russian Defense Ministry says: On June 27, in Kremenchug (Poltava region), Russian Aerospace Forces launched a high-precision air attack at.... -more-

Dr. Mohammad Salami.   “Egypt is Walking a Tightrope on the Ukraine Crisis.” Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, June/July 2022, pp. 38-39

https://www.wrmea.org/north-africa/egypt-is-walking-a-tightrope-on-the-ukraine-crisis.html

THE IMPACT of the Russian invasion of Ukraine has spread beyond Europe. In fact, its economic and political challenges are affecting every country in the world, including Egypt.

Along with less bread on the table in Lebanon, Yemen and elsewhere in the Arab world, where millions already struggle to survive, Egypt is facing major challenges to its food security, tourism industry and its need for political neutrality.

Egypt is at a crossroads in the choice between Russia and Western-backed Ukraine, and it has seen its best choice as neutrality and the pursuit of a middle ground. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has deep economic and political ties with Moscow and does not want this partnership to be damaged.

El-Sisi has had the support of Russian President Vladimir Putin since Egypt’s coup in 2013. On the other hand, he owes much to the West for its financial support, so he is trying to be neutral. Instead of condemning one side, Egyptian statements stress ending tensions and urging dialogue instead of war. El-Sisi followed that principle in a March 9 phone call with Putin.   continued

Dee Knight.  “Joe Biden’s saber-rattling threatens World War III—with China and Russia.”  Editor.  Mronline.org (6-11-22).

Fits long pattern of war-mongering and provocations that are a feature of the American Century.  [Russia Anthology #22 provided a dozen articles on ways to PEACE in Ukraine.  But the most fundamental pathway argues Knight is acknowledgement of US imperial aggressions.]
Originally published: CovertAction Magazine  on June 8, 2022 by Dee Knight (more by CovertAction Magazine)  |  (Posted Jun 10, 2022)

Imperialism, State Repression, Strategy, WarAmericas, Asia, China, Europe, Russia, United StatesNewswireWorld War 3

NO TO WAR, YES TO PEACE

WALTER L. HIXSON.  “U.S. Hypocrisy and the War in Ukraine.”  Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, June/July 2022.

https://www.wrmea.org/2022-june/july/u.s.-hypocrisy-and-the-war-in-ukraine.html

THERE IS NO DEFENSE for Tsar Vladimir Putin’s blood-drenched assault on neighboring Ukraine. But there is plenty of historical myopia and human rights hypocrisy, if not outright racism, in the U.S. reaction to Russia’s war. 

After the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the United States failed to seize a historic opportunity to do everything possible to forge closer economic, cultural and political ties with post-communist Russia. Even a new Marshall Plan for Russia might have been in order. Washington chose instead to promote neoliberal economic policies, which enabled oligarchs to amass wealth by plundering Russian resources. At the same time, U.S. security policy centered on the expansion of NATO, which since its creation in 1949 has served as an anti-Russian military alliance.

In 1997, the legendary diplomat George F. Kennan—the architect of the Cold War containment strategy and the preeminent expert on all things Russian—warned that NATO enlargement would inflame “the nationalistic, anti-Western tendencies in Russian opinion...restore the atmosphere of the Cold War to East-West relations” and would be “a strategic blunder of epic proportions.” History has now taught us the bitter lesson that Kennan was right. 

Since he came to power in 2000, Putin’s rage has been fueled by resentment of the provocative decision to expand NATO eastward incorporating several former Soviet republics and Warsaw Pact allies. Hardly purely defensive in orientation, NATO has engaged in large offensive operations, notably in Libya and especially the former Yugoslavia. Both NATO and the United States—along with their ally Israel—promote militarism through large-scale arms sales and development of all manner of weapons systems.

Russia could hardly be indifferent to an array of formerly allied states being armed with nuclear missiles on the same borders through which it was twice invaded in the 20th century. Just imagine the U.S. response if a hostile alliance attempted such a gambit in Canada, Mexico, or the Caribbean (recall the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis).

None of this justifies or excuses the brutal Russian invasion or the mendacious claim that Ukraine is part of Russia, but it does help explain the origins of the war and why most Russians support it.

Ultimately only a diplomatic solution—which if pursued more vigorously at the outset might have headed off the horrific war—can resolve the conflict. Meanwhile the military-industrial complex (the term may be hackneyed but the complex is thriving) is happily manufacturing weapons for Ukraine, while the Cold War adversaries arm to the teeth and face off with weapons of mass destruction. This situation is as scary as it is stupid, particularly in an era in which climate change, poverty, disease control and other pressing issues should be the top priorities in world affairs.

MEDIA MYOPIA [contrasting US MSM coverage of the Ukraine war with its coverage of Israel’s occupation of Palestine and ME generally]

Compare the saturated American mainstream media (MSM) coverage of the war in Ukraine with the coverage of Middle East conflicts. Just imagine if Israel’s ongoing illegal and brutal repression of Palestine—the assassinations, massacres, illegal settlements, home demolitions, beatings and incarceration, including children—received remotely the type of around-the-clock media coverage and demonization of the aggressor, day after day for weeks on end, as we have seen in the case of the Ukraine war.

Well, you indeed need to imagine such coverage because U.S. national security elites and the MSM bow to Israel and its lobby in refusing to report responsibly the ongoing human rights nightmare in Palestine. What conclusions should we draw when U.S. national security elites and the MSM gloss over the repression and killing of brown-skinned Palestinians, Afghans, Iraqis, Syrians and Yemenis while offering saturation coverage of the victimization of white, European Ukrainians?

[MSM coverage of Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen]
Western media condemns Putin, and rightfully so, as a war-making dictator who has plundered Russian resources, amassed a vast personal fortune, and is a ruthless autocrat who silences criticism and dispenses with political opponents through repression and murder. Well, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) embodies these very same “qualities,” including waging the endless, blood-drenched war in Yemen, which has produced vastly more casualties than the war in Ukraine yet receives little coverage in the MSM. Meanwhile, MBS remains an American ally whose human rights violations are routinely overlooked.

The United States has a long history of bolstering the dictators that it likes and condemning and seeking to overthrow those that it doesn’t. The MSM, and thus most of the public, plays along.

A more even-handed, human rights-conscious, and conflict resolution-focused foreign policy would lead to fewer wars and a much safer world.

“Is Russia’s Bombing of the Mall in Kremanchuk Another False Atrocity Story Being Used to Justify Ongoing Military Intervention in Ukraine?”  By Jeremy Kuzmarov and Steve Brown on Jul 01, 2022 08:01 am.

Empty mall parking lot and existence of a munitions plant nearby raise questions about official narrative advanced in mainstream U.S. media

On Tuesday June 28, mainstream media outlets reported that at least 18 people were killed and dozens injured in a Russian missile strike on a “crowded shopping mall” in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk on Monday. 

Thirty-six other people were said to be missing and a survivor was on record saying that she had been shopping with her husband when the blast threw her into the air. 

The Associated Press, Reuters, The New York Times, NPR and other news outlets reporting on the story used Ukrainian government officials as their primary source, notably Mayor Vitaliy Maletskiy—who wrote on Facebook that the attack "hit a very crowded area, which is 100% certain not to have any links to the armed forces.” 

But they made no independent investigation as to the truth of the self-serving statement. Also without verification they quoted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky—who said in a Telegram post that the number of victims was "unimaginable,” and cited reports that more than 1,000 civilians were inside at the time of the attack.

However, other reports contradict Zelensky and suggest that the Russian missile attack in Kremenchuk is just one more false story about alleged Russian atrocities known to have been fabricated by Ukraine’s very active propaganda mill. […]

The post Is Russia’s Bombing of the Mall in Kremanchuk Another False Atrocity Story Being Used to Justify Ongoing Military Intervention in Ukraine? appeared first on CovertAction Magazine.

Letter to Jeremy Kuzmarov  7-1-22
Jeremy, I am copying your Ukraine reports to my Uk War anthologies.  (You are receiving them?)   If you receive additional evidence regarding this bombing that either corroborates Russian guilt or exonerates Russia, please send to me.  Dick

updated article on Russian mall bombing

https://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/07/01/is-russias-bombing-of-the-mall-in-kremanchuk-another-false-atrocity-story-being-used-to-justify-ongoing-military-intervention-in-ukraine/

Hi Dick, I have updated the article. i was contacted by a physicist who analyzed it in great depth. He concluded that the missile strikes by Russia targeted the machine plant but struck the ground next to it because the technology was not 100% accurate, and that there was a small fire in the mall but that all shoppers were evacuated and there few if any casualties from the mall.

Drone footage shows that the crater blast was not at the mall, and the video released by Zelensky has the mall well to the left of the site where the missiles struck.

Jeremy

TAKING ACTION
[The action by WBW, Code Pink, and International Peace Bureau is not now available but is still described 7-4-22 and worth remembering.]

Incredible Agenda for 24-Hour Peace Wave

 The following 4 items were provided by United for Peace and Justice (June 2022).

Ukraine War [PEACE] Resources  1) Thorough, Balanced Mainstream Media (MSM), 2) Diplomacy as first choice, war as absolutely last, 3) a more even-handed, human-rights, conflict resolution foreign policy.

The Ukraine war goes on, and so does the debate over how those working for peace should respond. United for Peace & Justice continues to update our Ukraine resource page with materials ranging from organizational statements by peace groups to commentary from the Ukraine independent Left to statements by the Russian government. Some links worth visiting include a new site featuring commentary from Russia, Ukraine, and their neighbors, including interviews with Russian student anti-war activists, and the Permanent Assembly Against the War, bringing together antiwar activists from across Europe.

U.S. Conference of Mayors Adopts Bold New Mayors for Peace Resolution
At the close of its 90th Annual Meeting in Reno, Nevada, on June 6, the final plenary of the United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) unanimously adopted a sweeping new resolution, titled “Forging a Path to Peace and Common Security.” The resolution calls for a negotiated end to the war in Ukraine, global elimination of nuclear weapons, and the redirection of military and nuclear weapons spending to support safe and resilient cities and meet human needs. This is the seventeenth consecutive year the USCM has adopted resolutions submitted by U.S. members of Mayors for Peace. The USCM is the official nonpartisan association of America’s big cities. Resolutions adopted at its annual meetings become official policy that guides the organization’s advocacy efforts for the coming year. READ MORE.

TPNW Unites World Governments and Global Abolition Movement at First Meeting in Vienna
From June 21-23 the First Meeting of State Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) was held at the United Nations in Vienna, with friends, allies, and members of UFPJ groups in attendance. It is the first time member states met since the TPNW was negotiated in 2017. The treaty entered into force in 2021, following ratification by 50 governments. As the number of states parties continues to grow, further pressuring nuclear armed states and their allies to act on abolition, this Meeting of States Parties laid out the practical matters and process for implementation of the totality of the legally binding treaty, “until every nuclear weapon is eliminated from the earth.” Read the full story by Matt De Vlieger, former UFPJ National Coordinator, reporting from Vienna.

Meeting of Nuclear Ban Treaty Condemns Nuclear Threats
Threats to use nuclear weapons made this year by the Russian government have surfaced a reality long suppressed in the media and public sphere: the incredible peril posed by the ongoing reliance of Russian, American, and other governments on their nuclear arsenals. At the first meeting of states parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, held June 21-23, this reality was front and center. The declaration adopted by the meeting states: “We are alarmed and dismayed by threats to use nuclear weapons and increasingly strident nuclear rhetoric. We stress that any use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is a violation of international law, including the Charter of the United Nations. We condemn unequivocally any and all nuclear threats ….” READ MORE.

DIPLOMACY

“Reminder: All Out for Peace in Ukraine, May 7. . . .”  5-2-22
United for Peace & Justice contact@unitedforpeace.org via email.actionnetwork.org

Negotiated Peace in Ukraine Petition: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JcayvvAlDALQzX-B42YJnAX3wZclo7G75iqQGxddRpw/edit?usp=sharing

AND, join us in supporting negotiations for peace in Ukraine! International Day of Action for Peace in Ukraine, May 7. Will the war in Ukraine turn into another endless war like the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? How many Ukrainians must die and be displaced? That depends on whether the United States and its allies support a negotiated solution.

This war should be a global wake-up call. The terrifying war in Ukraine should propel us to implement the UN ban on nuclear weapons and move from reliance on fossil fuels to green energy. Instead of war, let’s all cooperate to build a peaceful and sustainable world for all our children and grandchildren. So far, U.S. leaders have urged Ukraine to keep sacrificing its people, using U.S. weapons paid for by our tax dollars — $5.3 billion and counting since 2014.

The U.S. can support peace in Ukraine by:

·  Agreeing to lift sanctions if Russia keeps its side of a peace agreement.

·  Committing humanitarian assistance to Ukraine instead of more weapons.

·  Ruling out further escalation of the war, such as a “no fly zone.”

·  Agreeing to end NATO expansion and committing to renewed diplomacy with Russia.

The U.S. military spending is 12 times that of Russia. That it failed to prevent this war should signal the urgency of radically reordering our priorities from wasted weapons spending to the needs of our people and planet.

Tell Biden & Congress: Negotiate for Peace in Ukraine! Click here.

Find an event or login to host your own Stop the War in Ukraine protest. Click here.

UNITED NATIONS, UN WIRE (5-9-22).

Security Council backs UN chief's Ukraine peace efforts

Russia was among members of the United Nations Security Council, which adopted a resolution last week voicing concern over "the maintenance of peace and security" in Ukraine and support for efforts by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to broker a peaceful solution to the conflict. The UN chief says he will "spare no effort to save lives, reduce suffering and find the path of peace."

 Full Story: Reuters (5/7)

Meet Rus­sia’s nuc­lear threat with diplomacy.

“Russia’s nuclear threat” by PAUL INGRAM. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.  30 May 2022.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has made us all more acutely aware of the dangers of nuclear conflict than at any time since the end of the Cold War. Now, with Russia losing ground against an entrenched Ukrainian resistance, the stakes are going to get higher.

Avril Haines, director of National Intelligence for the Biden administration, recently stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin “would probably only authorize the use of nuclear weapons if he perceived an existential threat.” But as the war drags on, Haines added that it heightens the potential for Putin to see the prospect of defeat as an existential threat.

Even a singular nuclear launch and limited response from NATO or elsewhere could, in a nightmarish but possible scenario, cascade into a full-scale nuclear exchange. Though it is extremely difficult to accurately predict the likelihood of this happening, it is undeniable that many are justifiably concerned.

We are all familiar with the immediate devastation that nuclear weapons could do to the cities they target and the radiation clouds that would spread further afield. Nuclear detonations also cause fierce firestorms that loft soot into the stratosphere which, in high enough volumes, can block out the sun and reduce global temperatures and rainfall. This soot cloud would persist for several years, triggering a phenomenon known as nuclear winter.

A 2007 study suggests global nuclear winter effects could be triggered by as few as 100 lowyield nuclear weapons. If a larger proportion of the world’s 12,700 nuclear bombs were used, the effects would be devastating.

Depending on the severity of the winter, crop yields in the United States could drop to 2 percent of their current output for up to a decade. This would result in starvation for the majority of Americans, while leaving those left to face sub-zero temperatures in summer and cascade effects that would almost certainly be fatal.

I began my career in international relations a few years after 1983—when a war game brought the world close to the brink of a nuclear launch—in order to help prevent nuclear weapons from spreading and to advocate for disarmament. I am now a researcher at Cambridge University’s Center for the Study of Existential Risk, where we look at the different ways that we could trigger an end to our civilization and how they can be counteracted.

It feels as if there is little we can do about the nuclear threat prompted by the invasion of Ukraine, but that’s not true. We need to push our elected representatives to avoid triggering any serious escalation.

Ukraine deserves our support, and Russia our condemnation. But we also have to consider how Russia is perceiving the war and to what extent it would view defeat as an existential threat. In order to prevent the worst outcomes, we need to draw the Russians into negotiation and be prepared to compromise.

Our governments have displayed a singular lack of leadership, commitment and imagination when it comes to finding diplomatic solutions. This needs to change. And urgently.

“Conflict Transformation for Ukraine and Russia.”

Jake Lynch.  TRANSCEND MEDIA SERVICE.  Solutions-Oriented Peace Journalism. Week 25 // 20 Jun - 26 Jun 2022.   All three sources of generative force (Direct, Structural and Cultural Violence) need to be explored – with problems diagnosed, prognoses made from present trends if allowed to continue, and appropriate therapies devised – if conflict is to be not merely resolved, but transformed.   Read more...

Embracing the Complexity of Peace

Robert C. Koehler | Common Wonders – TRANSCEND Media Service
15 Jun 2022 – Just imagine for once if we led the world in funding peace and not wars. One can also quickly, unavoidably imagine the cynicism that rushes in whenever someone tosses out the word “peace.” Just imagine for once if we led the world in funding peace and not wars.

CONTENTS  US, NATO, UKRAINE, RUSSIA #23, Nazis in Ukraine(twenty essays)

Evan Reif.  3-Part Series. I.  From Pre-WWII Ukrainian Fascists to Post-WWII Anti-Communist Heroes. [Stepan Bandera was the anti-communist head of the militant wing of theOrganization of Ukrainian Nationalists, and during WWII supported the Nazis.]

 II. Yaroslav Stetsko and CIA Secret War Behind Iron Curtain.

[I received a welcome article employing careful analysis of the evidence pertaining to how many ethnic Russians were killed by the Ukrainian army from 2014 to 2022 byMichael Karadjis.  Truth is the first and continuing victim of war, leaders lie, and gullible, patriotic populations, the US sometimes foremost, rush to the slaughter.  So I believe critical thinking should be taught from K-12.  https://mkaradjis.com/2022/06/16/on-the-fantastic-tale-that-the-ukrainian-army-killed-14000-ethnic-russians-in-donbas-between-2014-and-2022/   These 23 anthologies serve that need by resisting the one-sided, militaristc reporting of the 2024- US-NATO-Ukraine-Russia war. of 2014-present.   –Dick]

Ben Norton.  “Inside Operation Gladio: How [CIA and] NATO Supported Nazis and Terrorists” v. USSR.

2014-

“Stadiums of Hate,” Violent Nazism and Racism in Ukraine.
Caitlin Johnstone.  Azov Battalion Drops Neo-Nazi Symbol.

Stepan Malentsov.  The War should be for socialism not just the denazification of Ukraine.

Gordon Hahn.  “Eight Years Ago in Odessa.”  The right-wing murder of pro-Russian protesters of the anti-Russian government that gained power by a coup.

Ron Ridenour.Iceland Welcomes Zelensky, But No Mention of some Inconvenient History.

Voices from Dombas: Malnikov and Katya A (Donetsk), Alexey Albu (Lugansk)

John Parker.  Three More on Odessa.

Alexander Rubenstein.  US Citizens Fighting with Ukrainian Army.

Caitlin Johnstone.  Azov Battalion Removes Neo-Nazi Symbol.

Laurent Brayard.  3-part series on right-wing neo-nazi leaders: Biletsky, Igor Mosiychuk, and Evgueny Karas.

Mehmet Perinҫek.  “The Donbas Diaries Part II: The Azov Battalions.”

Jacques Baud.  Denounces Western coverage of Ukraine Invasion.”
Lev Golinkin.  “Neo-Nazis and the Far Right Are on the March in Ukraine.”

Andrew Bacevich.  “The F-Word…Repurposed and Misapplied.”
Earlier anthologies contain additional articles on Ukrainian Nazis.

END US-NATO-UKRAINE-RUSSIA WAR ANTHOLOGY  #24 JULY 4, 2022