All things concerning the Russia Ukraine war for February 27, 2022

Please check the comments under this post as that is where most of the substance will be. Some materials will make their way into the post though, so check back now and again.

UPDATE: Tanks of some type on streets of Kiev.

1. NATO Secretary General Warns Russia of ‘Article 5’ Counter Attack

Jens Stoltenberg, the Secretary General of NATO, has warned Russia that if Moscow’s attack against Ukraine spills over into other European nations who are member states of NATO, it will force the intergovernmental military alliance to take counteraction.

“For NATO Allies, we provide the absolute security guarantees under the Washington Treaty Article 5. An attack on one will be regarded as an attack on all,” Stoltenberg said in a Feb. 25 press conference.

“And we are clear on this distinction because it is important to make sure that we don’t have an even bigger crisis in Europe where Russia challenge, or is threatening, or attacking any NATO allied country.”

Cyber attacks on NATO nations can also trigger Article 5, Stoltenberg stated. NATO is presently focused on “strengthening our cyber defenses” and providing support to Ukraine, he added.

2. Recycling old news articles and blaming the casualties on the Russians

3. Shallow Fakes. A video exposing BILD for the total leftist fraudsters they are. Like the CBC, NYT, etc. BILD creates a narrative then fabricates or spins what it needs to make you support the issue it wants you to.

One of the things I’ve noticed about the war in Ukraine has been the prevalence of fake photos and fake videos being used to advance the West’s propaganda. The images are generally from some previous conflict, and usually not taken in Ukraine. There are so many of them that it makes me wonder whether this war has produced more fakery than previous wars, or whether the earlier fakes went undetected because the search and detection capabilities of the Internet weren’t as advanced as they are now.

The following video from Germany busts some fake video footage put out by the tabloid Bild. The clips used are from 2014 and 2015, and have nothing to do with the current war. Someone peddled them deliberately as disinformation. Was it Bild itself? Or did Bild just get snookered by some other actor? (Video at link)

4. Please read this essay at Gates of Vienna. He does an excellent job of detailing how both sides are using lies and deception in the current war, but how our side is much more heavy handed and clumsy at it.

Until now I haven’t written about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, mainly because the topic is complex, and I’m not an expert on it. However, I’ve browsed enough data and edited enough material about it to have some idea of what’s going on.

First of all, from my perspective there are no good guys in this war. The anti-Russian invective being generated by Western media and politicians is vile, but anyone who takes the antipodal point of view and regards Vladimir Putin as a righteous defender of Russians and freedom is making a big mistake.

About 98% of what is written about the invasion is propaganda. Virtually anything that appears in the Western mainstream media is part of a carefully crafted narrative engineered by the Deep State (the State Department, the CIA, and analogous institutions on the other side of the Atlantic). However, there are also deep tranches of Russian disinformation out there. It’s more subtly executed than the heavy-handed dreck peddled by CNN and The New York Times, but it’s quite effective. Many people on what I consider my side of the fence have fallen for at least some of it. After all, when they do an about-face from the propaganda of the American MSM, they run head-on into material derived from dezinformatsiya planted in various Russian media outlets.

In other words, the atmosphere around the war in Ukraine is all but opaque with a thick cloud of metallic chaff released by every party that holds an interest in one side or the other in the conflict.

However, one thing that Vladimir Putin says is true: he has invaded Ukraine with the intention of de-nazifying it. The current government of Ukraine contains real Nazis — not the “nazis” decried by Justin Trudeau or the Southern Poverty Law Center, but organizations whose unbroken Nazi lineage may be traced back the SS and Stepan Bandera. You won’t read much about them in the media, but they are there — promoted, funded, and whitewashed by the globalist Left. Those Nazis were installed by George Soros’ NGOs and the State Department in 2014 during the Maidan coup.

For an in-depth analysis of what happened in Ukraine in 2013 and 2014, see these two essays by Takuan Seiyo, “Things Are Not What They Seem” and “Ukraine as Quantum Decoherence, Part 1”.

 […] 

5. Even if you view this as entirely enemy propaganda, (which CBC, CTV, Global News, the NYT, CNN etc. indisputably are against Canadians and Americans) it is important to see the propaganda the enemy makes for you, as well as what they make for domestic consumption if you are to understand a conflict and have any kind of effective role in it.

6. Recent president, Donald Trump last night (Excerpts)

7. Julian Assange: “Nearly every war that has started in the past 50 years, has been the result of media lies”.

(I only have about 15 years as a blogger and occasionally working for non-legacy media orgs. And I am confident this is true. The media is now, and has been for a while, and in many cases always has been a weapon. Nothing more, and nothing less. A strategic weapon at that. Let’s compare how the West treated Julian Assange for being in possession of leaked info (legal) with how the Trudeau govt. used stolen, hacked information against citizens who contributed to a legal protest. And voila! You know all you need to know about the media in the West.)

8. This makes some sense. It almost sounds like much of what Brad Johnson said, if he could speak more freely.

Please keep eyes peeled. The comments and post hopefully will offer some lucidity, or perhaps just actual information which raises more questions. This is also a good thing. Not knowing what is true is better than being certain of what is false.

About Eeyore

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

34 Replies to “All things concerning the Russia Ukraine war for February 27, 2022”

  1. This analysis says that Russia in moving very heavy weaponry into position behind lighter forces. It also say that these conventional weapons have the capabilities of WMD and can result in genocide. My impression is that this information is not presented hyperbolically, but factually:

    https://youtu.be/wpatJUosG5A

    • It makes sense. Putin may have to go “scorched earth” to bring this to a close. I’ve noticed up until now, he has avoided nailing power and communications infrastructure for the most part (probably to keep things intact anticipating a rapid capitulation of the defenders). Now that things are not going as planned….

  2. This conflict is about cutting-out the cancer of US & UK influence on Ukraine. Russian oil and LNG to western Europe mostly travels through Ukraine, which of course profits from that shipping. But Ukraine is strongly influenced by the US and UK, who tell Ukraine to charge an astronomical price for shipping, and to impose all manner of bureaucratic BS to slow or stop Russian shipments. It’s been a thorn in Russia’s ass for 20 years and has been getting worse now that Germany & others are buying more energy than ever from Russia. So it’s time to excise that western cancer. Naturally, the globalist scum in the west are screaming like hell in protest, but I sincerely hope Zelenskyy and Putin can come to a peaceful agreement soon. Otherwise, I would expect the US to kill Zelenskyy, blame it in on Russia, and launch a truly massive war effort against that country, since they refuse to succumb to the cancer of globalism.

    If Ukraine and Russia can sort this whole thing out on their own, it will be a serious blow to the global communists. Putin’s security is tight so he’ll be okay, but I don’t know about Zelenskyy. Pray that he survives the US’ attempts to kill him.

    • I know Zelensky has to consider the damage to his people and country, but I don’t think I’d meet with Putin if I were him. I wouldn’t trust the Russians to obey a flag of truce, and they will kill him in the end anyway, regardless of where he goes. The Scottish Clan that makes comprises some of my heritage had a long feud with a neighboring enemy Clan. In the end, the enemy clan sued for peace because they were losing. When the Clan chief met with his enemy, the other chieftain shot him in the back with 2 poisoned bullets. At least in those days, even the ruffians had some sense of honor, so the rival chief was hunted down by all the clans and hung.

    • Hmmm tools is the new word used by global fancy dancing tools.

      Patriots need to use tools to disband the World Economic Forum.

    • EU to ban RT & Sputnik in order to ‘counter Russian state-controlled narrative’ – Josep Borrell

      The EU will ban Russia’s RT and Sputnik media outlets from broadcasting in the union, Josep Borrell stated, claiming that ‘Putin wants to conquer the people’s minds’

      • Bah, let them talk. That way we can take our bullshit and their bullshit and try to pick through enough of it to find the peanuts.

    • DEUTSCHE PRAVDA – European Union announces delivery of weapons to Ukraine, new sanctions on Russia

      ( 25 min 31 )

      The European Union said it will spend €500 million on weapons and equipment for Ukraine.

      For the first time in its history, the European Union will purchase weapons for a country under attack, said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. In a meeting on Sunday, EU foreign minister agreed to budget €500 million ($564 million) for weapons and equipment for Ukraine.

      Poland agreed to work as a logistic hub for the delivery of weapons.

      She also said EU airspace would be closed to Russia-owned, registered or controlled aircraft, explicitly mentioning that the ban would apply to “the private jets of oligarchs.”

      Additionally, von der Leyen announced the 27-member bloc would take steps to stop “the Kremlin’s media machine in the EU” by banning state-owned Russia Today, Sputnik and their subsidiaries. “We are developing tools to ban their toxic and harmful disinformation in Europe,” she said. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the move was aimed at “turning off the tap for Russia’s disinformation in Europe.”

      In addition to the measures against Russia, von der Leyen added that the EU agreed to sanction Russia’s ally Belarus, which she called “the other aggressor in this war.”
      In a message to the hundreds of thousands of people fleeing Ukraine, von der Leyen said they would be welcomed with “open arms.”

      Kiev and Moscow have sent envoys to peace talks on the Belarus border. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was willing to “try” talks with Russia but added he is “skeptical” they will lead to a ceasefire. “I will be honest, as always: I do not really believe in the outcome of this meeting, but let them try,” Zelenskyy said in a video statement. If there was a “chance” to end the war, he should take part in the talks, he added

      • Well this is a really terrible idea. The EU (i.e., Germany) can’t really cope with Greece and Italy, how the hell are they going to manage a dysfunctional state like Ukraine?

        Not to mention the fact that this is unnecessarily provocative and may lead Putin to think he has “no other choice” than to up-the-ante. All for some virtue signalling nonsense for a proposed EU membership they wouldn’t even consider if not for the invasion.

  3. RuF Nuclear Forces have moved to a `special alert status`, the road mobile Topol TEL`s rumbled out of the shelters this morning and off to deployment positions.
    I cannot stress this enough.
    Be ready to run inside a half hour.
    Run before NORAD tells you’ve got inbound.
    Know where the targets are around you.
    Know what the weather -winds aloft- is doing.
    Pick your route and destination.
    The idea of running is to have enough time and maneuver room to dodge or be clear of fallout plumes.
    Yes, it is that stupid.
    Recall what Georgie and Klaus want.
    Decide what to do.
    A wrong guess will kill you dead as canasta.

  4. Vlad, I think you did a nice summary here of the known and unknown. There is so much propaganda being tossed about it is challenging to get a clear picture of the situation in Ukraine, let alone the motivations of Putin.

    I think there are a couple of things we can probably ascertain with a fairly high degree of reliability:

    1. Neither the Russians or the Ukrainians are “good guys”. Russia is a totalitarian despotic regime, and so is Ukraine. Corruption is rampant in both nations. Ukraine is far from the idyllic bastion of “democracy” presented by the Western media (to the point it is actually nauseating).

    2. The “color revolution” in Ukraine (which deposed a Russian puppet government) was fomented by outside forces (*cough* Soros). This was viewed quite unfavorably by Russia for a variety of obvious reasons.

    3. Putin (and Russia generally) have an interest in seeing Ukraine as being a “non-threat” (at a minimum). Russia has been invaded many times in its history – the Germans (of course), Napoleon, the Swedes, even the Kingdom of Lithuania (yes seriously). Ukraine has always been an essential buffer to securing the Russian heartland against invasion, and remains an existential imperative for Russia, as it has for centuries.

    4. Yes, Nazi influence is strong in Ukraine. A big reason for this I think was the abuse heaped upon the Ukrainian populace by Russia (especially Stalin). Many years ago when living in Atlanta, an older Ukrainian woman used to cut my hair. She HATED the Russians, and had survived the Holodomor as a child. She told me of how the Russians took all their food and grain. They survived by scavenging for grain that had fallen beneath the floorboards and by even boiling the soles of their shoes. It was little wonder many Ukrainians viewed the Nazis as “liberators” and even joined their cause. This isn’t presented as an endorsement of Nazism – it is an observation of cause and effect.

    5. Interestingly Nazism has endured rather well in many former Soviet block countries (save Poland, which suffered under both Nazism and Communism). I noted this in my travels through central and eastern Europe. Again, see point #4 above – I think my theory has some validity here.

    6. As much as we deplore Nazism, let’s not forget that Communism killed far more people in the 20th Century – very conservative estimates place that figure around 100 million. I think it’s much higher than that. If you read Gulag Archipelago, Solzhenitsyn make a good case for about 60 Million alone in the Soviet Republics. Mao (I’m sure) killed far more. That doesn’t include Pol Pot and the rest. We should be as appalled at the sight of the Soviet and Chinese flags that get waved around at Antifa rallies as we do at the sight of the Swastika – but we aren’t. This is a failure of the Western educational system, and can be laid squarely at the feet of Western “intellectuals”. Again, Solzhenitsyn discusses this at some length. This isn’t to say that modern Russia is “communist” per se, but let’s not forget Putin was a well-regarded KGB dude – I doubt he jettisoned all of the lessons he learned in his previous career.

    7. Putin could have likely accomplished a great deal WITHOUT a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He firmly established control over Donetsk and Luhansk (where he already had defacto control) – I also understand these areas have a lot of coal and other resources. He previously took control of the strategic peninsula of Crimea. Assurances by Western powers not to “incorporate” Ukraine into NATO would have been a reasonable thing to demand – and receive, and should have been easy for the West to “give”. But Putin made clearly outrageous demands, including NATO members NOT staging military equipment or troops in NATO countries near Russian (huh, seriously?). I mean, we were NEVER going to agree to that. Whether that was some negotiating tactic or he was seriously, I can’t say. But it was an outrageous demand.

    8. There has been much “caterwauling” about Western interference in former Soviet Republics like Ukraine, and how provocative this was to Putin. But Putin’s hands are far from clean. He did everything in his power to complicate our efforts in the Middle East, and provided direct and indirect support to insurgencies (just one example). He delighted in keeping us “bogged down” and bleeding. This is nothing new guys. The Russians have always done this to us, and we have also done this to them. The use of proxies to “preoccupy” your opponent is a tried-and-true, centuries old tactic that is frequently used. The hands of NO GREAT POWER are clean in this regard. So grow the f*ck up, and quit whining about it (it’s really self-righteous and annoying) – this is how the game is played, like it or not.

    9. Most serious and objective geopolitical analysts (George Friedman is my favorite) didn’t expect Putin to invade the whole of Ukraine. None were surprised by the move in Donetsk and Luhansk, but it was generally agreed that a full-scale invasion of Ukraine was very risky and unnecessary. They were pretty much universally surprised when it happened. Once Putin embarked on this adventure, it threw the whole calculus of the rational motivations for Putin’s actions into question. This was rightly a cause for concern.

    10. Julian Assange’s statement that “All wars are predicated on lies” I think is correct. But I take exception to some of the implications of Assange’s statement that I find particularly naive and misleading. I may get shot for this, but here goes… Assange’s contention (while not wrong) nonetheless leads one to the conclusion that all war must be avoidable and unnecessary because there is lying and propaganda. This is ridiculous. War is and always has been an inescapable feature of “civilization” (there, I said it). Nations have vital and existential interests. When those vital interests are in conflict, and the nations involved are threatened (whether in actual fact, or perceived), there will be war – it is actually the only way that some of these things can get sorted out. Moreover, Assange implies that Western “democracies” are moral reprobates for engaging in the practice of war – in all it’s trappings and methods (of course allowances are always made for WW II, where there was nonetheless propaganda and lies by the allies, regardless). I don’t know why governments’ aren’t “straight” with their populaces on the geopolitical imperatives for the wars that they fight – perhaps it wouldn’t be understandable to many, perhaps it wouldn’t evoke the necessary motivation (or whatever) – but just because there is a war, and that war inevitably contains some element of falsehood, does NOT necessarily mean it is not needed or warranted (though sometimes there isn’t actually adequate cause, or government reasoning is flawed). This doesn’t mean I like war, I endorse war, I think all wars are necessary, or that I like lying (I’d personally prefer straight talk). But it is a reality, and one cannot avoid war indefinitely and be a power of any substance.

    11. Propaganda is rife in the Ukrainian-Russia conflict – on all sides. It’s hard to get a clear picture of what is REALLY happening, but I think a few things are apparent. For one, Russia’s military is not impressing right now. As they have done throughout my life, they have vastly exaggerated their hardware and warfighting prowess, and the West has swallowed it hook-line-and-sinker. If Russia was doing well, this would have been over with by now. A favorite quote I heard from the late Tom Clancy in an interview I saw, he said (and I may not get this exactly right): “The greatest danger Russian military hardware poses is to the occupants”. We saw evidence of this in Gulf War I where highly feared armored vehicles like the BMP fighting vehicle were easy game, owing in part to an “unfortunate” location of the munitions magazine which was perilously exposed to fire by even low caliber weapons. Second, if the Russians manage to finally subdue Ukraine, it will be a great cost – a pyrrhic victory. I think these guys are done. Keep feeding the Ukes weapons and let them grind the Russians down until they are missing at least one arm and a leg. Nasty I know, but that’s life.

    I know this is long, and I’m sorry but I hope you read and find it worthwhile. I would definitely recommend seeking out more objective sources of information to better understand this conflict (and many others). It is challenging, I know. I mentioned George Friedman at Geopolitical Futures (https://geopoliticalfutures.com/). I appreciate his objectivity and his reluctance to engage in political rhetoric. I’ve written George a few times and he even responded personally once. Peter Zeihan is “OK” (the Accidental Superpower was a fascinating book), though I’ve had a few discussions with him and I think he’s generally a glib dick that thinks too much of himself. But he does generate some good insights (or will at least get you to think). I’d avoid Jacob Shapiro (another guy I’ve had some scuffles with) – he’s all “global warming” and “wealth inequity” and it colors everything he does – unfortunate. I don’t get any remuneration from the Friedman recommendation, I just think he’s pretty damn good. He’s certainly changed the way I look at the world.

  5. conservative tree house – Peace Talks Possible Between Russia and Ukraine, As Magnificently Defiant Zelenskyy Stands atop The Alamo of Kyiv Taking Selfies

    The propaganda pouring out of Ukraine from the U.S. State Department and the taxpayer funded Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO’s) is, in a modern scale, historic.

    […]Thus, you do not need to see shooting or actual war type stuff. Instead, the contest to save the planet is boiled down to who can take a better selfie.

    As Deputy National Security Advisor Daleep Singh stated last week, the U.S. government has rallied the collective west to defeat Russia using the cultural weapon of social likeability. Vladimir Putin is getting pummeled.

    It’s all a grand pantomime folks. All of it. Volodymyr Zelenskyy is the newest Michael Avenatti.

    […]

    https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2022/02/27/peace-talks-possible-between-russia-and-ukraine-as-magnificently-defiant-zelenskyy-stands-atop-the-alamo-of-kyiv-taking-selfies/

  6. RT – Inside Ukrainian military base captured by DPR forces

    A reporter has shared footage from inside a captured Ukrainian military base.

    The base in Donskoy, occupied by Ukraine’s 37th motorized infantry battalion, was captured by DPR forces, with the footage being filmed on Sunday.

  7. sky news UK – Massive Russian convoy seen outside Kyiv

    A huge three-mile convoy of Russian military equipment has been spotted outside Kyiv.

    Hundreds of military vehicles ferrying troops, tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and artillery were captured in satellite imagery around 40 miles from the capital.

    The Mayor of Kyiv, the former heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, earlier said the city was “completely surrounded” but later withdrew that statement.

  8. CBC – ‘Our goal is to suffocate the Russian regime,’ Canada’s minister of foreign affairs

    Melanie Joly joins Rosemary Barton Live as a G7 meeting discussing the response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine concludes.

    She says Canada is willing to impose more sanctions and do what it takes to add pressure on Putin.

    • When the Islamic state was committing Genocide against the Yazidi people, Trudeau offered to send them snow suits. No weapons or any means of defence. But he did offer to send them snow suits.

      I suspect a little white supremacy at the PMO.