The Russians Are Reportedly Using “120-Caliber Mortars” And “Hand-Held Anti-Tank Grenade Launchers” To Bombard Ukrainian Positions
April 4, 2021 by Michael Snyder
Why is the corporate media in the United States so quiet about this? As more Russian forces race toward the conflict zone, the Russians have reportedly been hammering Ukrainian positions over the past couple of days. But I haven’t been able to find a peep about this from the corporate media. I don’t understand why they aren’t covering this, because this conflict has the potential to start a global war. Joe Biden is pledging “unwavering support” for Ukraine, and if a Russian invasion actually happens that promise of “unwavering support” would be put to the ultimate test. We are now closer to a shooting war with Russia than we have been at any point since the end of the Cold War, but most Americans are totally clueless about the drama that is unfolding on the other side of the globe right now.
If a way to defuse this conflict is not found, we could literally be looking at a scenario that eventually leads us into World War 3.
And the clock is ticking, because once Putin gives the order to invade there will be no going back.
On Saturday, the Ukrainians once again reported that forces on the other side of the conflict zone opened fire. The following is an English translation of a report that was posted on the official website of the Ukrainian military…
Ignoring the agreements reached on July 22, 2020 within the framework of the Tripartite Contact Group, the Russian occupation forces continue to shell the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Since the beginning of this day, on April 3, 6 violations of the ceasefire regime by the armed forces of the Russian Federation have been recorded.
In the area of the Vostok operational and tactical group near the town of PISKY, the Russian occupiers opened fire with 120-caliber mortars, large-caliber machine guns, hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers and small arms prohibited by the Minsk agreements. Near AVDIYIVKA and VODYANOY in the Azov Sea, Russian occupation forces fired large-caliber machine guns, anti-tank and automatic machine-gun grenade launchers.
Technically, the ceasefire that was agreed to on July 22, 2020 is no longer in effect because it expired on April 1st.
But the Ukrainians continue to frame these incidents as “ceasefire violations”.
On Sunday morning, the Ukrainian military posted another update…
Russian occupation forces continue to shell Ukrainian defenders’ positions in order to further accuse them of violating the ceasefire.
During the past 24hrs, on April 3, 10 violations of the ceasefire by the armed forces of the Russian Federation were recorded.
In the area of the operational and tactical group “East” near the settlement of SAND, the Russian occupiers opened fire with mortars of 120-caliber, large-caliber machine guns, hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers and small arms prohibited by the Minsk agreements, and from near the village. hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers. Near the settlements of AVDIYIVKA, SHYROKYNE and VODYANE in the Azov region, Russian occupation forces fired large-caliber machine guns and grenade launchers of various systems.
Subsequently, the firing seemed to stop, and that is probably because there is a high level of respect on both sides for the religious holiday that was taking place.
But it is quite likely that the fireworks will resume on Monday, and hopefully the corporate media in the United States will start to properly cover this exceedingly important story.
At this moment, there are three seemingly unsolvable issues which need to be addressed if this conflict is to be defused somehow.
First of all, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed Decree No. 117/2021 on March 24th, the Russians essentially considered it to be a declaration of war against them. That document makes it the official policy of the Ukrainian government to reconquer Crimea, and the Russians consider Crimea to be their sovereign territory. I don’t anticipate that either side will ever back down, and the Biden administration has been pushing hard to make this a very important issue internationally.
Secondly, the Biden administration has been doing everything that it can think of to try to sabotage the completion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Selling gas to the Europeans is exceedingly important to the Russians from an economic standpoint, and the possibility that the Europeans could end that relationship is probably the number one thing holding Putin back from launching an invasion right now. But if the Biden administration is successful in killing the Nordstream pipeline and in getting the Europeans to start rejecting Russian gas, then Putin may figure that there is nothing left to lose.
Thirdly, the Russians will never, ever accept Ukraine joining the NATO alliance. Having NATO forces right on the Russian border is considered to be completely and utterly unacceptable by Russian military strategists, and the Russians are extremely alarmed that NATO forces could soon be deployed to Ukraine on a large scale…
The Kremlin said on Friday that any deployment of NATO troops to Ukraine would lead to further tensions near Russia’s borders and force Moscow to take extra measures to ensure its own security.
NATO voiced concern on Thursday over what it said was a big Russian military build-up near eastern Ukraine after Russia warned that a serious escalation in the conflict in Ukraine’s Donbass region could “destroy” Ukraine.
And it is also being reported that the Ukrainian military is scheduled to hold joint military exercises with NATO in just a few months…
UKRAINE’s armed forces have said joint military drills with NATO troops would begin in a few months’ time in a move which is likely to infuriate Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and stoke already heightened tensions with Moscow, which has expressed its opposition to the idea.
The Trump administration didn’t provoke Russia, and so for four years there was relative stability in the region.
But now the Biden administration has decided to put enormous amounts of pressure on Russia on multiple fronts, but this could backfire dramatically if the Russians decide that military action in Ukraine becomes unavoidable.
In recent articles I have described Biden as a “hothead” and a “warmonger”, and at this point his cognitive decline is apparent to everyone. He is easily persuaded, and the fact that his national security team is packed with extremely aggressive warmongers is not reassuring.
This is a story that is not going to end well, but the vast majority of Americans have very little interest in foreign policy at this point, and most of them do not regard Russia as any sort of a threat.
But once the Biden administration actually gets us into a war, all of a sudden a lot of people are going to wake up and get really upset.
Of course a potential conflict is not just looming with Russia. We are also stumbling toward potential conflicts with China, North Korea and Iran, and Biden’s national security team does not seem to know how to handle any of those relationships.
"The time for war has not yet come, but it will come and that soon, and when it does come, my advice is to draw the sword and throw away the scabbard." Gen. T.J. Jackson, March 1861
Re: Ukraine goes hot
[Re: ConSigCor]
#175792 04/13/202102:05 PM04/13/202102:05 PM
Heavy Shelling Is Being Reported In Ukraine As Russian Television Discusses A Possible “Nuclear Strike”
April 6, 2021 by Michael Snyder
A new war in Ukraine would be bad for the entire globe, but we might just get one anyway. Once the Biden administration took control of the White House, they decided to wage a campaign of maximum pressure against Russia, and Ukraine is one of the key tools that they are using. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky never would have signed Decree No. 117/2021 on March 24th without the encouragement of the Biden administration, and the extremely aggressive statements about Crimea in that document deeply alarmed the Russians. Even more importantly, it appears that the Ukrainians were secretly preparing a massive offensive against areas of eastern Ukraine that are held by the separatists. If those areas could have been captured before Russia could react, that would have been a massive victory for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the Biden administration. But the Russians caught wind of what was going on, and that is why they have been sending forces into Crimea and into separatist-held areas of eastern Ukraine in numbers that we have never seen before.
If Zelensky and the Biden administration would have left things alone, we wouldn’t be on the verge of war today.
But now tensions in the region are extremely high, and a major conflict could break out at any moment. The following is an example of how the current state of affairs is being viewed in Russia…
After six years of an uneasy and at times violent truce, the specter of a new war is looming large in Russia-Ukraine relations. In retaliation for Kiev’s recent crackdown on pro-Russian media and politicians, Moscow is staging a large-scale and ostentatious military buildup along the Ukrainian border.
The situation is especially volatile in Donbass, where the ceasefire between the Ukrainian army and Moscow-sponsored breakaway territories has effectively broken down. Both sides accuse each other of provocations and regularly exchange fire, with the casualties mounting among both military personnel and civilians.
Zelensky made things even worse on Tuesday when he urged NATO to add Ukraine as a member as soon as possible…
Ukraine’s president has called on Nato and key member states to hasten his country’s membership of the western military alliance in response to a growing buildup of Russian forces on his country’s borders.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy spoke to Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, on Tuesday, and urged for Ukraine to be put on a pathway to future membership to halt the long-running conflict in the eastern Donbas region.
Everyone knows that Russia is desperate to keep Ukraine out of NATO, and so Zelensky had to know that his statements would result in even more stress in the region.
The Ukrainian people thought that they were voting for peace when they originally voted for Zelensky, but instead he has been a nightmare.
Within the last 24 hours, more shelling has erupted in eastern Ukraine. According to the Ukrainian military, mortar fire was reported close to the village of Nevelske…
In particular, in the area of responsibility of the operational and tactical group “East”, near the village of NEVELSKE, the enemy opened fire with 82-mm mortars, large-caliber machine guns and machine-gun anti-tank grenade launchers.
As a result of enemy shelling, one Ukrainian soldier received non-life-threatening injuries. In addition, in the area of the Joint Forces operation, one serviceman died as a result of an explosion on an unknown explosive device.
Even more alarming, video footage posted on social media shows “heavy shelling” near the city of Avdiivka…
"The time for war has not yet come, but it will come and that soon, and when it does come, my advice is to draw the sword and throw away the scabbard." Gen. T.J. Jackson, March 1861
Re: Ukraine goes hot
[Re: ConSigCor]
#175793 04/13/202102:08 PM04/13/202102:08 PM
Russia Has Moved Missiles That Can Carry Nuclear Warheads Into The Conflict Zone With Ukraine
April 11, 2021 by Michael Snyder
How close can Russia and Ukraine come to war without actually going over the precipice? Over the weekend, more forces on both sides continued to pour into the conflict zone. And on the line of separation in eastern Ukraine, there are regular reports of gunfire and shelling. At this point, there are no negotiations on the horizon, and one false move could easily spark an all-out war. In fact, a Kremlin spokesperson is warning that we could soon see “full-scale combat operations”…
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Thursday said the situation in eastern Ukraine was ‘very unstable’ and warned it risked leading to ‘full-scale combat operations.’
As Kiev warned it could be ‘provoked’ by Russia’s aggression, several Western nations have voiced fears that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s move could trigger an all-out war, which could drag Nato allies, including Britain, into the conflict.
By rushing so many forces to the conflict zone, the Russians have prepared themselves to be ready for any scenario that may unfold.
According to one British news source, Russia now has “close to 100,000 troops” in the region…
The Russia-Ukraine crisis could explode into all-out war within days after Moscow amassed close to 100,000 troops at the flashpoint border, it was feared last night.
Senior Ukraine military sources fear Moscow’s war-planners may have wrong-footed Kiev by being far more battle-ready for a major land and sea attack than previously suspected.
If a full-blown war does break out, the Ukrainian military will be no match for the Russian military.
The Ukrainians would literally beg NATO for help, and Joe Biden has already promised “unwavering support” for the regime in Kiev.
Since the end of the Cold War, the U.S. and Russia have never been closer to war than they are right now, and that is why this crisis is far more important than most Americans realize.
Within the last 24 hours, there has been quite a bit more activity along the line of separation. The following is an English translation of a report that was posted on the official website of the Ukrainian military…
During the past 24 hours, on April 10, in the area of the Joint Forces operation, the armed forces of the Russian Federation violated the ceasefire 10 times, including 9 shellings of Ukrainian defenders and 1 flight of an enemy UAV crossing the line of demarcation.
In particular, in the area of responsibility of the operational and tactical group “East”, the Russian occupation forces fired at our positions near the village of PYSCHEVYK with 82 mm mortars, anti-tank and hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers prohibited by the Minsk agreements. In the suburbs of the villages of PISKY and SHYROKYNE, the enemy opened fire with small arms, and near AVDIYIVKA and KAMYANKA – with grenade launchers of various systems.
In the area of responsibility of the operational and tactical group “North”, near the village of MAYORSKE, armed formations of the Russian Federation fired at the positions of Ukrainian defenders with hand-held anti-tank and grenade launchers.
Near the village of ZOLOTE-3, the enemy opened fire with automatic machine grenade launchers, large-caliber machine guns and small arms.
Of course the Ukrainians don’t always disclose when they fire upon forces on the other side, and that has been happening on numerous occasions as well.
This sort of low level fighting is only a concern because it could potentially lead to a much larger conflict.
And in preparation for such a conflict, the Russians have been moving some very serious hardware into the region.
For example, it is being reported that the Russians have moved at least six “city destroyers” into the conflict zone…
At least six 2S4 Tyulpan self-propelled mortars – capable of firing warheads 12 miles – were filmed on flat-bed trains. Dubbed the ‘city destroyer’, the weapon’s devastating power has demolished strongholds from Chechnya to Afghanistan.
Even more importantly, we are being told that the Russians have been deploying Iskander missile systems close to Ukraine…
Open-source intelligence specialist at Janes Thomas Bullock identified Russian Iskander missile systems that have moved or are moving to the Ukrainian area of operations since late March through open-source intelligence.
Thomas Bullock posted a Janes article from 8 April that said he identified the deployment of Iskander short-range ballistic missile systems, likely belonging to the 119 Missile Brigade, to Voronezh from the Sverdlovsk region.
This is a sign that the Russians are definitely not messing around.
Iskander missile systems can be used to deliver conventional payloads, but they are also designed to carry nuclear warheads…
Russian official sources claim that the R-500 missile carries a conventional 500 kg warhead or nuclear warhead with a yield of around 10-50 kT. It is likely that there are several different conventional warheads, including cluster, fuel-air explosive, and bunker-busting. The missile can overcome enemy air defense systems while offering high-probability of failure-free operation in countermeasures environments. It has a target accuracy of 5m to 7m and operates even in fog or low visibility.
If push came to shove, the Russians would not hesitate to use tactical nukes if they felt it was necessary.
We should all carefully monitor the situation in Ukraine, because this really does have the potential to spark World War 3.
Of course there are two other potential conflicts that could also cause global war to erupt.
China has been eyeing a potential invasion of Taiwan for quite some time now. If China decides to actually pull the trigger, the U.S. and China would immediately be at a state of war.
Also, it appears to be just a matter of time before Israel and Iran go to war. On Sunday, Iranian officials announced that the Natanz nuclear facility “was hit by a ‘terrorist” attack”…
Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility was hit by a “terrorist” attack on Sunday, the country’s nuclear chief said, hours after reports of an electrical “accident” – and a day after new uranium enrichment centrifuges were started up.
Iran reserves the right to “take action” against those behind the incident at the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facility in Natanz, the head of the nation’s Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, told state TV on Sunday.
He called the incident at the plant an act of “nuclear terrorism.”
Iran’s nuclear program has been steadily moving forward, and Israel had made it abundantly clear that it will never allow the Iranians to develop their own nuclear weapons.
The clock is ticking, and there will be war at some point.
So which flashpoint will erupt first?
I don’t know, but the red horse is getting ready to ride, and things could start to spiral out of control at any time.
I believe that we will be the generation that will experience World War 3, and it truly will be too horrible for words.
"The time for war has not yet come, but it will come and that soon, and when it does come, my advice is to draw the sword and throw away the scabbard." Gen. T.J. Jackson, March 1861
Re: Ukraine goes hot
[Re: ConSigCor]
#175795 04/13/202104:03 PM04/13/202104:03 PM
Conflict with Russia may be inevitable. Kiev’s strident threats to resolve the crisis in Eastern Ukraine with force of arms, combined with Washington’s refusal to acknowledge that Moscow actually has legitimate national security interests in Eastern Ukraine, makes it so. Equally troubling, the president sees no particular reason why he should explain to the American people why Washington’s readiness to support Kiev’s use of force against Russia makes strategic sense for America.
In 1937, when the Imperial Japanese government expressed sincere regret for attacking and sinking the U.S.S. Panay, an American gunboat that had been patrolling China’s Yangtze River, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Joseph Grew was not satisfied. He warned the Japanese Foreign Ministry that “Facts mean more than Statements.”
Grew was right. A Biden-Harris guarantee of support for the Ukrainian government’s plan to reconquer its lost territories, including Luhansk, Donetsk, or Crimea, is about as meaningless as the British government’s 1939 guarantee of assistance to the Poles in the event of a German attack on Poland.
In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt decided not to retaliate against the Japanese. FDR knew there was no public support in the United States for a war with Japan or any other great power. FDR also resisted pressure from the U.S. Navy’s admirals to retaliate because he knew America’s armed forces were not ready for a full-scale war. As for our British friends, they were not ready to weaken their fleet in the Atlantic to join a fight against Japan when the threat of war with Germany was growing.
It is easy for presidents to moralize and posture in public about matters thousands of miles from America’s borders when it currently costs nothing in terms of American blood. Unfortunately, this condition won’t last. Fighting in Eastern Ukraine will produce heavy casualties on both sides. Russian and Ukrainian soldiers are courageous, intelligent, and ruthless. None of them are “woke.” All are motivated by patriotism, ingrained discipline, and a strong professional military ethos.
Because the Russian military is larger and better armed, the most likely outcome is a Russian victory. Moscow is then likely to direct its forces to swallow Ukraine’s territory east of the Dnieper River making matters far worse for Kiev. As Angela Merkel observed in 2015, Putin is confident that the battle in Eastern Ukraine is one that he can definitely win.
Onward and upward, airforce
Re: Ukraine goes hot
[Re: ConSigCor]
#175796 04/13/202106:36 PM04/13/202106:36 PM
It was upon Clinton, the UK and then Russian leader Yeltsen’s pledge to respect the borders, and support them if their borders were ever threatened, that the Ukraine agreed to give up 100% their share of the soviet nuclear Arsenal they inherited. They had wanted to keep them as a way to guarantee their own borders from just such threats, but Clinton insisted that we had their back, and that the Russians posed no threat.
Short memories in politics.
"Government at its best is a necessary evil, and at it�s worst, an intolerable one." Thomas Paine (from "Common Sense" 1776)
Re: Ukraine goes hot
[Re: ConSigCor]
#175810 04/16/202110:42 PM04/16/202110:42 PM
Biden Backs Down After Putin Warns Him To Stay Away From Ukraine For His ‘Own Good’ Biden orders troops to stand down, stop heading for Black Sea.
By Tom Pappert | National File Thursday, April 15, 2021
Earlier this week, it was reported that Joe Biden sent two U.S. Navy warships to the Black Sea as Russia builds up troops in Eastern Ukraine.
Yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the United States and Biden to stay away from the region for the country’s “own good”. Today it was confirmed that Biden ordered the troops to stand down and stop heading for Black Sea.
Biden recently threatened “consequences” for Russia as they prepared a large military buildup in Eastern Ukraine.“As we speak right now, I tell you I have real concerns about Russia’s actions on the borders of Ukraine… President Biden’s been very clear about this. If Russia acts recklessly, or aggressively, there will be costs, there will be consequences,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The next day, Putin offered a veiled threat to the Biden regime, warning them to stay away from the region for the United States’ “own good.” Russian Deputy Foreign Ministry Sergei Ryabkov was reported as saying, “We warn the United States that it will be better for them to stay far away from Crimea and our Black Sea coast.” He continued, “It will be for their own good.”
Today Biden seems to have backed down from the confrontation, with the Daily Mail reporting “President Joe Biden has cancelled the deployment of two US warships from the Black Sea despite warning Vladimir Putin there would be ‘repercussions’ for the troop build-up in Ukraine.” The British website continued, “the Biden administration has reversed the decision after the Kremlin warned them to ‘stay away for their own good.’”
Instead, the Biden regime announced new sanctions against Russia for their alleged meddling in the 2020 election. Intelligence experts say that Russia attempted to interfere on behalf of the Republican Party, while China and Iran attempted to interfere on behalf of Biden and the Democrat Party. Biden has remained completely silent on Chinese and Iranian interference.
Biden’s decision to back down also comes as he has asked Putin for a one-on-one, in person meeting, despite rejecting a similar offer from Putin one month ago. Putin previously offered to live stream such a discussion to better foster relations between the two countries, with the Biden White House almost immediately declining the opportunity, claiming the American president is “quite busy.”
"The time for war has not yet come, but it will come and that soon, and when it does come, my advice is to draw the sword and throw away the scabbard." Gen. T.J. Jackson, March 1861
Re: Ukraine goes hot
[Re: ConSigCor]
#175811 04/16/202110:43 PM04/16/202110:43 PM
BREAKING: Russia Kicks Out Biden Diplomats, Bans AG Merrick Garland And FBI’s Christopher Wray Humiliating sanctions imposed on Biden officials after regime targets Russian companies
By Gabriel Keane | NationalFile.com Friday, April 16, 2021
The Russian government announced Friday that it would be expelling ten U.S. diplomats and banning multiple U.S. officials from the country after the Biden regime imposed crippling sanctions and expelled some Russian diplomats on Thursday.
“The entrance is closed for John Bolton, the former Assistant to the President of the United States for National Security and Permanent Representative to the UN, and Robert Woolsey, the former Director of the CIA,” Russian officials noted Friday.
Most importantly, FBI Director Christopher Wray, who spread conspiracy theories of Russian election interference in 2020, anti-gun Antifa apologist Attorney General Merrick Garland, and former National Security Advisor John Bolton are also barred from stepping foot in Russia, as well as Susan Rice and Alejandro Mayorkas.
Spreading alarm about Russia has been a key focal point of the Biden regime. A conspiracy theory that was heavily touted by Joe Biden, Liz Cheney, and the corporate media which claimed Russian soldiers were putting ‘bounties’ on U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan was debunked earlier this week.
Biden backed down from deploying troops to Russia on Thursday after Putin warned him to stop for America’s “own good.”
Earlier this week, it was reported that Joe Biden sent two U.S. Navy warships to the Black Sea as Russia builds up troops in Eastern Ukraine. Yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the United States and Biden to stay away from the region for the country’s “own good”. Today it was confirmed that Biden ordered the troops to stand down and stop heading for Black Sea.
Biden recently threatened “consequences” for Russia as they prepared a large military buildup in Eastern Ukraine.“As we speak right now, I tell you I have real concerns about Russia’s actions on the borders of Ukraine… President Biden’s been very clear about this. If Russia acts recklessly, or aggressively, there will be costs, there will be consequences,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The next day, Putin offered a veiled threat to the Biden regime, warning them to stay away from the region for the United States’ “own good.” Russian Deputy Foreign Ministry Sergei Ryabkov was reported as saying, “We warn the United States that it will be better for them to stay far away from Crimea and our Black Sea coast.” He continued, “It will be for their own good.”
"The time for war has not yet come, but it will come and that soon, and when it does come, my advice is to draw the sword and throw away the scabbard." Gen. T.J. Jackson, March 1861
Re: Ukraine goes hot
[Re: ConSigCor]
#175812 04/17/202112:32 AM04/17/202112:32 AM
Could The U.S. Could Soon Be Involved In Wars In Taiwan, Ukraine And The Middle East Simultaneously?
April 12, 2021 by Michael Snyder
Warmongers are now firmly in control in Washington, and they are pushing us toward war a little bit more each day. A military conflict with Russia, China or Iran would be a nightmare scenario, but there is also a possibility that we could end up fighting all three of them simultaneously. Such an outcome would have been unthinkable under the Trump administration, but times have changed. Biden administration officials have been boldly declaring that “America is back”, and they have been trying to aggressively exert U.S. influence all over the globe. Unfortunately, the rest of the world is not as intimidated by the U.S. military as it once was.
Tensions with China have been rising for quite some time, and Taiwan has become the central point of contention.
Taiwan continues to edge closer to declaring formal independence, and the Chinese insist that is a red line that must never, ever be crossed.
In recent weeks, the Chinese have been attempting to send a message by repeatedly sending military aircraft into Taiwan’s airspace, and on Monday we witnessed the most alarming incursion yet…
China’s People Liberation Army flew 25 warplanes into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ) on Monday, its largest incursion yet as tension in the Taiwan Strait continues to escalate.
According to Taiwan’s defence ministry, the PLA warplanes – 14 Jian-16 fighter jets, four Jian-10s, four H-6K bombers, two Y-8 anti-submarine warfare planes and one KJ-500 airborne early warning and control aircraft – entered the island’s southwest zone on Monday.
China has been conducting extremely detailed military exercises which simulate an invasion of Taiwan, and the military plans for such an invasion are already drawn up.
Everything is ready to go for when the order is finally given.
The only thing stopping the Chinese is the U.S. military, and on Sunday Secretary of State Antony Blinken once again confirmed that the U.S. will stand behind Taiwan…
“What we’ve seen, and what is of real concern to us, is increasingly aggressive actions by the government in Beijing directed at Taiwan, raising tensions in the Straits. And we have a commitment to Taiwan under the Taiwan Relations Act, a bipartisan commitment that’s existed for many, many years, to make sure that Taiwan has the ability to defend itself, and to make sure that we’re sustaining peace and security in the Western Pacific. We stand behind those commitments. And all I can tell you is it would be a serious mistake for anyone to try to change the existing status quo by force,” Blinken said Sunday during an interview with NBC News’ Meet the Press.
China understands that an invasion of Taiwan would mean war with the United States, and so the Chinese will probably hold off for the moment.
They will be waiting for an opportunity, and that could come when we are tied up with a major military conflict on the other side of the globe.
Speaking of which, the Israeli cyberattack on the Natanz nuclear facility is yet another sign that the “shadow war” between Israel and Iran is getting dangerously close to a shooting war.
Israel has not formally taken responsibility for the attack, but even the Israeli media is acknowledging what everybody else already knows…
Iran blamed Israel on Monday for an attack on its underground Natanz nuclear facility that damaged its centrifuges — sabotage that imperils ongoing talks over Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal and brings a shadow war between the two countries into the light.
Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack, but Israeli media widely reported that the country had orchestrated a devastating cyberattack that caused a blackout at the nuclear facility. Israeli officials rarely acknowledge operations carried out by the country’s secret military units or its Mossad intelligence agency.
In the aftermath of the attack, Iranian officials pledged to “take revenge” on Israel…
“The Zionists want to take revenge on the Iranian people for their success in lifting the oppressive sanctions, but we will not allow it and we will take revenge on the Zionists themselves,” Zarif said in comments carried by Iran’s official IRNA news agency.
If a major war does erupt and missiles start flying back and forth between Israel and Iran, the U.S. will enter the conflict on the side of Israel.
The Iranian nuclear program has been a seemingly unsolvable problem for a number of years, and I think that Israeli leaders are starting to realize that there simply is not going to be a diplomatic solution.
Meanwhile, Russia and Ukraine continue to edge closer to a major military conflict. In fact, one of the most popular news anchors in Russia just stated that the Russians may be forced to “de-Nazify” Ukraine by force…
Russia is ‘one step from war’ with Ukraine, state TV has warned in the latest bout of sabre-rattling between Moscow and Kiev that has jangled nerves across Europe.
Dmitry Kiselyov, a Russian news anchor who has been called a ‘Putin propagandist’ in the past, issued the warning during a primetime broadcast in Russia on Sunday.
He branded Ukraine a ‘Nazi’ state, saying that Russia may be forced to ‘de-Nazify’ it by force – a process he said would bring about its ‘economic and military collapse’.
And a top Russian official just made headlines all over the world by suggesting that a full-blown military conflict “would be the beginning of the end of Ukraine”…
The deputy head of Russia’s presidential administration, Dmitry Kozak: “I support the assessment that the start of military action – this would be the beginning of the end of Ukraine.”
Of course things would have never gotten to this point if the Biden administration hadn’t decided to use Ukraine as a tool to put pressure on Russia.
I do not think that Russia intends to invade Ukraine right now. But when the Russians learned what the Biden administration and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky were planning, they rapidly massed forces in Crimea and eastern Ukraine.
The Russians are going to keep those forces in the region for the foreseeable future, and that is going to keep tensions high.
Hopefully this show of force will convince Biden administration officials that they should not try to push things any further. Because the Russians are quite willing to strike first if they believe that a move by the other side is imminent.
And once the Russians start pouring across the line of separation, the U.S. and Russia will be at a state of war, and that is something that nobody should want to see.
Of course the United States can’t exactly afford any new wars at this point, because we are absolutely drowning in debt.
If you can believe it, our budget deficit for the month of March was a whopping 660 billion dollars…
The U.S. federal budget deficit widened 454% in March from a year earlier, as the government issued a third round of stimulus checks to help Americans ride out the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The budget gap rose to $660 billion in March, the Treasury Department said Monday, from $119 billion in the same month last year. Revenue rose 13% to $268 billion in March, while spending increased 161% to $927 billion.
A budget deficit of 660 billion dollars for an entire year would be bad enough.
To achieve that level in just one month is catastrophic.
Needless to say, even one war would make our fiscal situation much worse, and multiple conflicts would probably break us financially.
Of course if a global war does erupt, financial problems won’t exactly be among our greatest concerns at that point.
"The time for war has not yet come, but it will come and that soon, and when it does come, my advice is to draw the sword and throw away the scabbard." Gen. T.J. Jackson, March 1861
Re: Ukraine goes hot
[Re: ConSigCor]
#175814 04/17/202108:15 PM04/17/202108:15 PM
Tucker Carlson: ‘We Are Moving Toward Some Kind of Larger Confrontation with Russia — Why Are We Doing That?’ Elites have been pushing false narrative to get what they want, whether it's to hurt Trump or stoke war
By Infowars.com Saturday, April 17, 2021
Fox News host Tucker Carlson broke down the recent revelation that the New York Times story claiming the Russian government offered bounties on U.S. troops in Afghanistan was false.
On his Friday monologue of “Tucker Carlson Tonight”, Carlson explained how that fake news, coupled with incendiary rhetoric from the Biden administration, could be a sign of a coming contrived war with Russia.
“So rarely has a news story with a swifter or more profound effect than this one did. And by now, of course, you have guessed the punch line: it was fake,” Carlson said.
“The New York Times story was a lie. It was placed in the paper by neocons in order to subvert our democratic system, and it did, and once again impose their will on the country.”
“The so-called Intel Community is now admitting this. They are admitting that the story was not true and they are doing it for a very specific reason, Joe Biden has decided he now wants out of Afghanistan, but before we can withdraw the troops, we need new facts.”
“You have to fix the story or you can’t pull the troops out and the CIA is happy to oblige. So none of it was real. They can say that now.”
Carlson then played tape of Biden gloating about expelling Russian diplomats for “interfering” in the U.S. election.
“Save that tape for the future when you want a reminder of just how insane things got in the year 2021,” Carlson said. “That wasn’t posturing. That wasn’t their bad. Those are actions against a sovereign nation, a foreign power, expelling their diplomats, destroying their economy and threatening to back their enemies in a war? A real war, too, not a war of words, a war where people get killed.”
“We are doing all of those things. But the question is why are we doing them? That is the part that nobody ever explains. But they don’t really need to because Vladimir Putin is so unbelievably historically monstrously evil, you don’t need a justification to go a war against him.”
“This is a head of state who has like over a thousand nuclear weapons aimed at us. Why is our President talking about Russia this way?” Carlson asked rhetorically.
“Well, it is obvious. Clearly, we are moving toward some kind of larger confrontation with Russia. Why are we doing that? And what would it look like?”
"The time for war has not yet come, but it will come and that soon, and when it does come, my advice is to draw the sword and throw away the scabbard." Gen. T.J. Jackson, March 1861
Re: Ukraine goes hot
[Re: ConSigCor]
#175817 04/18/202104:43 PM04/18/202104:43 PM
remember when Reagan called the Soviet Union the "axis of evil?" The difference is, Reagan knew what he was doing. Biden, on the other hand...
Frankly, Putin is about as close to evil as you can get. But Russia also has a legitimate interest in Crimea. The situation calls for diplomacy - which this White House seems to be inept at.
At the same time, China is gobbling up Hong Kong, placing Uyghurs in concentration camps, threatening Taiwan, and generally making a nuisance of itself. Yet the White House seems oblivious to all of this.
Is Biden TRYING to lose the midterm elections? It doesn't make much sense, but nothing else he's doing makes sense either.
