Nemo_bis 🌈What the #USA learnt from 40+ years of #war in #Afghanistan: let's replicate the experiment on the eastern border of the EU.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/08/us/politics/us-sanctions-russia-ukraine.html
Imagine if France planned to support an armed insurgency in Canada, or China in Mexico. What would the NYT write?
Ah yes, because the war in Syria went so well.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/14/us/politics/russia-ukraine-biden-military.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/14/us/politics/russia-ukraine-biden-military.html
First step: prepare the ground to brand as illegitimate any government opposing USA involvement. Where have I heard this before?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/20/us-russia-ukraine-government-sanctions
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/20/us-russia-ukraine-government-sanctions
«Mi-17 transport helicopters originally meant for use in #Afghanistan [are going] to #Ukraine instead.»
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/23/russian-ships-tanks-and-troops-on-the-move-to-ukraine-as-peace-talks-stall
How convenient that surplus weapons find another destination so quickly after one war (ostensibly) ends.
Madeleine Albright also envisions a new #Afghanistan in #Ukraine, with more military supplies from the USA.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/22/us/politics/russia-biden-sanctions-ukraine.html
#IMF in #Ukraine. I wonder how long until they become as popular as the troika in Greece.
https://www.reuters.com/business/imf-starts-discussions-ukraine-next-tranche-disbursement-2022-02-23/
https://www.reuters.com/business/imf-starts-discussions-ukraine-next-tranche-disbursement-2022-02-23/
Compare and contrast.
"peaceful entry of coalition forces to eliminate weapons" [1]
"military operations to disarm" [2]
"special military operation [...] to demilitarise" [3]
[1] https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030317-7.html
[2] https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030319-17.html
[3] http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67843
«#Putin deliberately frames his operation in #Ukraine in the same way that the United States has framed its own regime-change operations in #Kosovo, #Iraq and #Libya, charging that Ukraine has committed human rights violations and is a terrorist state.»
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/08/russia-ukraine-war-possible-trajectories
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/08/russia-ukraine-war-possible-trajectories
"The Constitution of #Russia": error 404, page not found.
https://web.archive.org/web/20220307174404/http://en.kremlin.ru/acts/constitution
https://web.archive.org/web/20220307174404/http://en.kremlin.ru/acts/constitution
«If there's just 1% chance for us to stop this #war, I think that we need to take this chance. We need to do that. I can tell you about the result of this negotiations — in any case, we are losing people on a daily basis, innocent people on the ground [...] unfortunately, our dignity is not going to preserve the lives. So, I think we have to use any format, any chance in order to have a possibility of negotiating».
https://edition.cnn.com/europe/live-news/ukraine-russia-putin-news-03-20-22/h_12a9e3fa87cba15cdb904a35e8926b9e
https://edition.cnn.com/europe/live-news/ukraine-russia-putin-news-03-20-22/h_12a9e3fa87cba15cdb904a35e8926b9e
«I had to use force to get them out. I lied to them, whatever I could think of, I said ‘there’s hot food waiting for you, electricity, mobile phone signal’ I lied and I’m not ashamed. I believe that the people I got out are in less danger than they were inside the city».
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/21/some-were-too-scared-to-leave-the-man-who-rescued-25-people-from-devastated-mariupol
Just the other day I was reading #Popper on #Plato and #truth vs. #lies.
«The problem whether or not a good end justifies bad means seems to arise out of such cases as whether one should lie to a sick man in order to set his mind at rest ; or whether one should keep a people in ignorance in order to make them happy ; or whether one should begin a long and bloody civil #war in order to establish a world of peace and beauty.»
https://archive.org/details/opensocietyitsen0001popp_n9a8/page/286/mode/2up
The irresistible American classic, #RegimeChange abroad, soon released in a (#war) theater near you. From the producers of #Iran, #Cuba, #Venezuela, #Syria and more currently screening worldwide.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/mar/26/biden-butcher-putin-cannot-be-allowed-to-stay-in-power
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/mar/26/biden-butcher-putin-cannot-be-allowed-to-stay-in-power
The White House retracted the #regimechange statement one hour later... #Russia #ukraine #usa https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/white-house-says-biden-is-not-calling-regime-change-russia-2022-03-26/
#Biden: «Over the last 30 years, the forces of autocracy have revived all across the globe.»
https://web.archive.org/web/20250118183232/https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/03/26/remarks-by-president-biden-on-the-united-efforts-of-the-free-world-to-support-the-people-of-ukraine/
I wonder what changed 30 years ago and who might have had something to do with it. 🧐
«Orbán’s stance on the #war has left #Hungary increasingly isolated among its western allies but has proved popular among voters, especially those in rural areas.»
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/03/viktor-orban-expected-to-win-big-majority-in-hungarian-general-election
Easter celebrations were banished from #Ukraine media (they "chose not to do a live transmission on the prayer, as they have traditionally done").
https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2022/04/as-pope-extols-peace-ukrainian-and-russian-women-carry-the-cross-together
It's always the other side that lives in a communications bubble, as we're regularly informed.
As pope extols peace, Ukrainian and Russian women carry the cross together
Though the Way of the Cross is a 14-stations meditation on Jesus’ Passion, the attention of many was on the 13th station, when a Ukrainian and a Russian woman together carried the cross, despite an uproar among many Ukrainians.
"Much has been said about the Russian shelling of Ukrainian towns. [...] The danger to civilians is no different under the barrels of Ukrainian artillery".
Who knew.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/18/world/europe/ukraine-forces-cluster-munitions.html
«Ukrainian forces set fire to grain fields around Mariupol so they could not be “stolen by the occupiers”, Sergiy Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Odesa regional military administration said».
Apparently this is what you do these days to prove you care about local farmers and global food security.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/30/volodymyr-zelenskiy-orders-evacuation-of-donetsk-region
3 G$ for USA #war industries, to replace the stockpiles sent to the scrapyard, ahem, frontlines.
«None of that equipment will arrive for months, if not years.» But shareholders need support now, and they'll get it.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/24/biden-billions-ukraine-defense-russia-00053635
The "Togliatti-Odessa pipeline" sounds like some obscure communist policy of the 1950s but it's actually a major infrastructure of the global fossilagrochem industry, currently in the news due to #energy and #ammonia prices.
https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/un-proposed-ammonia-deal-ukraine-would-stabilise-grain-deal-diplomat-2022-09-13/
https://tass.com/politics/1509021
https://tass.com/politics/1509019
https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/un-proposed-ammonia-deal-ukraine-would-stabilise-grain-deal-diplomat-2022-09-13/
https://tass.com/politics/1509021
https://tass.com/politics/1509019
UN trying to get Russian ammonia to world through Ukraine
The United Nations is trying to broker a resumption of Russian ammonia exports through Ukraine, a Western diplomat said on Tuesday, a move that could stabilize a landmark deal allowing Ukrainian food and fertilizer shipments from Black Sea ports.
Neoliberal western capitalism is already sending the bill for its "support", after the #IMF prepared the ground in February.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/04/ukraine-must-revamp-labour-laws-and-step-up-privatisation-to-fix-economy
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/04/ukraine-must-revamp-labour-laws-and-step-up-privatisation-to-fix-economy
If a state bombs a city after telling civilians not to evacuate it, is that a war crime?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2022/oct/20/russia-ukraine-war-ukraine-restricts-power-use-abundant-evidence-russia-using-iranian-drones-says-us-live?page=with:block-6350d8098f08eb546778aee9#block-6350d8098f08eb546778aee9
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2022/oct/20/russia-ukraine-war-ukraine-restricts-power-use-abundant-evidence-russia-using-iranian-drones-says-us-live?page=with:block-6350d8098f08eb546778aee9#block-6350d8098f08eb546778aee9
Economic #war is expensive, it turns out.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-20/europe-racks-up-700-billion-energy-tab-as-fiscal-battle-rages
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-20/europe-racks-up-700-billion-energy-tab-as-fiscal-battle-rages
Europe Racks Up $700 Billion Energy Tab as Budgets Strain
European Union governments have pledged more than 550 billion euros ($536 billion) to protect citizens and businesses from soaring energy costs over the past year, highlighting the enormous fiscal burden the bloc’s leaders face as they jostle over how to pay for it.
Today in totally unexpected #war news: «Finland's National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said it has information that criminals in Finland have captured military arms, such as assault rifles, destined for Ukraine.»
https://yle.fi/news/3-12670239
https://yle.fi/news/3-12670239
What was that oft-repeated slogan about #NATO not taking orders from non-members?
https://www.politico.eu/article/nato-countries-must-ramp-up-arms-production-for-battles-ahead-ukraine-dmytro-kuleba/
https://www.politico.eu/article/nato-countries-must-ramp-up-arms-production-for-battles-ahead-ukraine-dmytro-kuleba/
How to to find the truth behind #war propaganda? The Guardian: this state is an ally of our state (aka "free") so what they say is likely true.
Oh silly me, I thought it would be harder than that.
Former PM boasts about getting his country involved in a #war against the will of his parliamentary majority and without even telling his own cabinet. This is democracy within #NATO.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/18/bulgaria-secretly-supplied-ukraine-fuel-ammunition-first-months-war-russia
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/18/bulgaria-secretly-supplied-ukraine-fuel-ammunition-first-months-war-russia
«Tank maker #Rheinmetall raises sales view, asks Berlin for firm orders».
https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/tank-maker-rheinmetall-raises-sales-view-ukraine-war-boosts-demand-2023-01-24/
«Sales of #USA military equipment to foreign governments rose 49% to $205.6 billion in the latest fiscal year».
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-arms-exports-up-11-fiscal-2022-official-says-2023-01-25/
Tank maker Rheinmetall raises sales view, asks Berlin for firm orders
German defence group Rheinmetall on Tuesday raised its sales expectations for 2025 on higher demand for weapons due to the war in Ukraine and called on Berlin to speed up planned big orders and make good on a pledge to boost its armed forces.
«Ukraine had withdrawn from its libraries 19m copies of #books by last November that came either from the Soviet era or were in Russian, a senior lawmaker has said.»
«It was not immediately clear what happened to the withdrawn books.»
Top #EU "diplomat" allegedly stated he's working for the #war to not be over.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/19/ukraine-war-over-unless-eu-boosts-military-support-says-top-diplomat
The EEAS version of the speech, in text and social media video, doesn't contain the word "over". Did the press invent that part?
https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/munich-security-conference-speech-high-representativevice-president-josep-borrell-european_en
https://nitter.lacontrevoie.fr/JosepBorrellF/status/1627376364184813569#m
Borrell did state that the EU is "using coercion" and "becoming a hard power" and that it will target "partners in the South to make them participate" [in said use of coercion].
European diplomacy in such a sad state, that the task of coming up with a 12-paragraph list of (former) banalities, little more than a word cloud from post-WWII treaties and statements (like "nuclear wars must not be fought" and "security of a country should not be pursued at the expense of others"), was left to China.
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202302/1286152.shtml
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202302/1286152.shtml
Even the #ECB top brass now points out how convenient the #war sanctions have been for some: «Workers have so far borne the brunt of the "Putin tax", suffering a large loss of real income while, on balance, firms' mark-ups remained stable or even increased in some sectors».
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/date/2023/html/ecb.sp230216~a297a41feb.en.html
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/date/2023/html/ecb.sp230216~a297a41feb.en.html
While in Italy the press is busy with the trope of the "fake pacifist", The Guardian openly writes about pacifism as something to be dropped.
«Scholz has gone a long way to move Germany [away] from a position of pacifist neutrality». (Reporter uncritically adopts USA position on whether this is a good thing, praises the government's will to ignore the popular majority.)
Amazing. Pentagon admits, through the NYT, that they can't use the International Criminal Court to prosecute #war crimes in Ukraine, because otherwise the USA would be next in line for a trial.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/08/pentagon-international-criminal-court-russia-war-crimes
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/08/pentagon-international-criminal-court-russia-war-crimes
«European ammunition maker says plant expansion hit by energy-guzzling TikTok site: Norwegian group Nammo blames "storage of cat videos" for threatening its growth».
https://www.ft.com/content/f85aa254-d453-4542-a50e-fa1171971ab0
You know your business is in trouble when you need to pick a fight with Big Kitten to justify your failure to plan for an #EnergyCrisis.
Personally I'm not sure who contributes the most to national security and peace: cute viral cats or weapon manufacturers?
Bloomberg News admits that sometimes to end a #war you need «some of the external powers that fed the conflict with money and arms [to switch to] talks to put a permanent end to the fighting». Now imagine if we realised this *before* having hundreds of thousands of civilians dead, millions of people displaced etc.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-05/syria-peace-talks-what-s-at-stake-for-assad-turkey-s-erdogan-russia-and-us
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-05/syria-peace-talks-what-s-at-stake-for-assad-turkey-s-erdogan-russia-and-us
Why Efforts to End Syria War Have Gained New Impetus
After more than a decade of war in Syria, some of the external powers that fed the conflict with money and arms are in talks to put a permanent end to the fighting. Turkey, which backed Syrian rebels trying to topple President Bashar al-Assad, appears to have accepted that he can’t be defeated as long as he has Russian backing. And Gulf states that had spurned Assad are offering to welcome him back into the club of Arab leaders and encouraging him to make peace with Turkey. It’s a frustrating tu
When we do #nuclear sharing, it's freedom. When the others do it, it's vassaldom.
Always priceless NYT.
https://web.archive.org/web/20230622124554/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/22/world/europe/belarus-russia-lukashenko.html
Sending cluster bombs into a quagmire proves that at best we care about supporting an allied *state*, but certainly not about the *people* under it, human rights, or war crimes. Even those who supported the Iraq #war draw a line.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/10/the-guardian-view-on-supplying-cluster-bombs-not-just-a-difficult-decision-but-the-wrong-one
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/10/the-guardian-view-on-supplying-cluster-bombs-not-just-a-difficult-decision-but-the-wrong-one
«Šefčovič laid out a vision for Ukraine to be a major supplier of the critical minerals and products needed for a green overhaul of the EU economy as well as a strategic store of natural gas.»
https://www.politico.eu/article/frans-timmermans-quit-eu-climate-chief-return-dutch-politics/
I'm glad we're wasting no time admitting we're in it in the hope of some nice colonialism.
It's whoopsie week in #war PR land.
A #NATO wannabe accidentally cheers an SS volunteer, a NATO expansionist accidentally does business with the alleged enemy.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/25/canadas-house-speaker-apologises-after-praising-ukrainian-veteran-who-fought-for-nazis
https://news.err.ee/1609078387/kaja-kallas-scandal-the-story-so-far
Only one #war at a time can get frontpage coverage in western media (40+ wars involving brown people need not apply) but luckily some war leaders are more adept than others at riding the main narrative of the day.
In case you're concerned about a #war killing hundreds of civilians a day, the NYT carries the regular industry reminder that this is actually "Lots of good news out there" (#Raytheon) and "a moment of opportunity" (USA State Department).
https://web.archive.org/web/20231018012931/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/17/us/politics/israel-gaza-global-arms-sales.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20231018012931/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/17/us/politics/israel-gaza-global-arms-sales.html
Unilateral "sanctions" make the #fossil fuel industry even more wasteful, while the well-connected privatize the formerly public profits: «about $11 billion is going into what might be called a delivery spread. Some of that will represent legitimate shipping costs, but almost all of it goes through anonymous traders or unknown shipping companies.»
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-12-06/oil-prices-how-russia-punched-an-11-billion-hole-in-west-s-sanctions-regime
