Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, USA: Jingoism and escalation

First video is about Germany warned Russia on its massing of military assets on the Ukrainian border. The video is already out of date however, as the US has submitted to Russian requests to remove ‘War ships” out of the region. No idea if these are carrier groups or destroyers or whatever they may be, but the US called them off.

Third video: Russia appears to have upwards of 80,000 troops on the Ukrainian borders.

 

This one deals with Russian response to Turkish drones being supplied to Ukraine:

FOX News link: Biden declares Russia threat ‘national emergency,’ lobs sanctions; 10 diplomats booted over election meddling

President Biden on Thursday signed an executive order declaring a “national emergency” over the threat from Russia, as his administration slapped new sanctions on the country.

The U.S. Department of State said it is expelling 10 officials from Russia’s bilateral mission.

“Today, we announced actions to hold the Russian Government to account for the SolarWinds intrusion, reports of bounties on U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, and attempts to interfere in the 2020 U.S. elections,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

Thanks to Richard, M., and all who contributed to this post.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

9 Replies to “Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, USA: Jingoism and escalation”

  1. And as we all knew that this would happen when Creepy Joe gets platnted into the White House.
    World War Three seems are real possibility now and would have started 4 years earlier if Trump didn’t throw the wrench into their evil machinations.
    But on the “bright side” maybe they’ll be forced to stop the Mengele-Juice injections……..

  2. The warships are two Burke-class destroyers. Montreux Treaty forbids non-litoral states from putting aircraft carriers into the Black Sea.

    The destroyers were removed, because the Russians would have obliterated them if hostilities began.

    • Thank you. It also seems that Russia may have been responding rather than instigating this build-up. Fog of war, first casualty of war is truth, and all that.

      • I’ll tell you one thing that I know for sure and that is that we in the West know absolutely bugger-all about the history of Eastern Europe and cannot hope to have any understanding of Crimea or Tatars or Ukraine or any of the complex history of the region. We, Westerners, have heard of The Spanish Armada and Henry VIII and Sir Francis Drake and Leonardo da Vinci and the Reformation but we know absolutely diddly about the East. I’m not saying that Putin’s in the right, I’m just saying that I don’t have a clue and I don’t think Biden does either so we shouldn’t go around acting with such firm resolve when we don’t know diddly about the situation…

        • Solid. Also Biden doesn’t have a clue about anything. The only think I know about Biden is, whoever is president of the United States, it isnt him. It literally could be anyone else outside of an assisted living facility. But for sure it isn’t him.

          • There’s the “Russian World” and the “Asian World” and the “African World” and the “Spanish World”, to name a few, and we only know about our own little “Anglo-Saxon Empire” (Vladimir Putin word). The first time I entered one of these “worlds” I was unprepared for how completely different it was from what I was used to and how little I knew about it. Like, not everyone listens to Western music or worships Western democracy.

            As for Russia, I don’t really know why the Europeans and the left are so hell-bent on getting into a fight with them. I know Trump felt the same way and it broke my heart when the Democrats forced him to keep away from making peaceful overtures toward them and saying that Trump was a Russian Agent. The Democrats are as evil as it comes, and that’s just one more piece of evidence of their evil…

            Russians are really cool people and I would personally welcome any chance at peace and understanding happening between our cultures – if possible. Just like Trump said…

            • As far as I can tell the Western Left hates Putin because he isn’t following their version of leftism. What I know of Russia says it is more like the old Russian Empire with Princes (Oligarchs) and a Czar (in all but name) they own most of the land and means of production.

              To an extent this resembles Communist China although the Russian People seem to have more rights and are allowed the true ownership of land.

              The people being allowed to own land and factories (no matter how small) is heresy to the left and they must destroy all that support this idea.

  3. STUCK IN A CUL-DE-SAC WITH NO WAY OUT – HALF-SPEED AHEAD
    In my latest piece for RT (which you can read here), I discuss the chaos that is American policy towards Russia. First, US president Joe Biden phones Vladimir Putin and suggests that they normalize relations and hold a summit. Then he slaps a bunch of new sanctions on Russia and expels 10 Russian diplomats. Meanwhile, in other news, 2 US warships headed towards the Black Sea, and then turned around and said that they weren’t going to go the Black Sea after all. In other words, a picture of total foreign policy confusion.
    To my mind, the phone call and summit offer were something of a blip in American policy, brought upon by a sense of alarm at the possibility of war between Russia and Ukraine. This induced the Americans to try and row back a bit. The problem is that the current in the other direction is just too strong, and so they ended up even further downstream than before.
    In any case, I’m not sure that the Americans actually know how to change directions. Take a look at their policies towards Cuba and Iran – they’ve been sanctioning them for decades. It hasn’t made those countries more friendly, but they keep on at it. The policy is a complete dead end, but it’s like America is a massive 18-wheeler that has entered a narrow cul-de-sac and just doesn’t have the maneuverability to get out again. All it can do is keep trying to ram through whatever is blocking the way out, smashing itself (and the obstacle) up in the process, but not getting anywhere.
    By now, you’d have thought that they’d have learnt not to keep driving into cul-de-sacs. But, for some reason they keep on doing it (Venezuela is another one). It seems like there’s no learning process.
    Other than backing out, the18-wheeler has only chance to escape – when it first enters the cul-de-sac, and still has forward momentum. That’s the moment when the driver needs to step on the gas and smash through the obstacle. After that, occasional little shoves from a standing start won’t do the trick, especially if somebody is busily strengthening the obstacle all the time.
    It’s the same with sanctions. Academic studies suggest that if they are to succeed in coercing the targeted party, they need to be fairly comprehensive and immediate – that’s to say, you need to do a lot and do it all at once. Gradual incrementalism is doomed to failure. The target adapts and is often one step ahead, limiting his vulnerability long before you hit him.
    So it is with American sanctions against Russia. The latest round will have very limited practical effect. But bit by bit, the sanctions are having the effect of cutting Russia off from America. As that happens, America loses whatever leverage it had at the start. That in turn means that each successive round of sanctions has less prospects of causing real damage than the last.
    In short, it’s a dead-end, and no amount of effort to bash through the obstacle is going to work. Sooner or later, the 18-wheeler will have to back out. Judging by past experience, later is more likely than sooner. The danger is that it may be so late that by then the vehicle will have fallen entirely apart. At that point, it’s only hope will be that a nice new Chinese tow-truck comes along and rescues it. Prof Paul Robinson
    https://www.rt.com/russia/521101-biden-putin-policy-rethink/

  4. Will Putin invade Ukraine and China either Taiwan, Philippines or both? Yes both Russia and China are too poor to waste that much money on a bluff.

    Will they invade at roughly the same time of on a different schedule? If I were them I would have Putin invade Ukraine and suck the European war ships out of the Pacific then China invades the island nation of its choice.

    What will Biden do when both nations invade other nations? He will run his mouth but won’t commit US forces, this will let Russia seize as much of Ukraine as he wants and gives China a much better chance of winning in the Pacific.

    Will it go nuclear? I don’t know both Britain and France have nukes and so does India and Pakistan. if pushed to the ragged edge any or all of the above are capable of using nukes.

    Will Taiwan or Japan use conventional warheads on missiles to take out Chinese dams as a last resort? I don’t know, the Brits took out 3 dams in WWII to temporarily reduce the German electricity Germany had to use in factories as well as temporally drain the canals and move raw materials and finished goods. What has been used once will be used again if the nation is despite enough. One of the oldest pieces of knowledge that soldiers have is that you can always take at least one with you. Nations have been known to think the same way.

    Will bio weapons be used? They were used in the Dark and Middle Ages and there is a lot of circumstantial evidence that the Wuhan Flu and its many mutations are man made and deliberately released. Once again what has been used once will be used again if the nation is desperate enough.