Below is my column in the Hill on the limits of international law in face of a “war of aggression” by Russia. Indeed, it will likely be international economics rather than international law that will drive the outcome of this conflict.
Here is the column:
As Russia continues its scorched-earth campaign across Ukraine, a rising number of governments and officials accuse Russia of war crimes. Those accusations largely concern Russia’s use of indiscriminate weapons on civilian areas and banned munitions. It notably does not include the unprovoked, unjustified invasion of a sovereign country. The reason is a long-standing blindspot in international conventions over the prosecution of “wars of aggression.”
If anything, Putin is more likely to be charged with how he prosecuted the war than he is for the war itself. In that respect, it seems like not much has changed since World War II on a legal level. Yet what has changed are the economic rather than the legal consequences of aggression.
Any war-crimes prosecution would occur many years from now, if ever. Russia is not a signatory to the International Criminal Court and holds a veto at the United Nations. Putin is a relic of the 20th century — a strongman who still believes in “victor’s justice,” by which the winning combatant defines what is a “just” war.
There is not a scintilla of support under international law for Russia’s attack on Ukraine; it has all of the legal justification of a drive-by shooting. However, violating international law does not mean accountability to international law.
When most people think of war crimes, they think of the Nuremberg trials following World War II. These tribunals were transformative moments that included U.S., British, French and Russian judges seeking to hold Axis leaders accountable for their crimes against humanity. Notably, the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg declared that “to initiate a war of aggression is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.”
Judging from that statement, one would think Putin could be frog-marched before a Nuremberg-like tribunal if he is defeated in Ukraine. However, it is far more complicated.
“Aggression” holds an odd place in international law and what is called jus ad bellum, the law governing the use of force. For years, international law advocates have sought to give individuals, like Ukrainian citizens, viable claims as victims of aggression.
On Feb. 28, Karim Khan, the prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC), announced the initiation of an investigation into potential war crimes in Ukraine. The ICC does have jurisdiction over the crime of aggression, following an amendment in 2018 to the Rome Statute. Yet neither Ukraine nor Russia are state signatories to the Rome Statute which, in 2002, established the ICC. Khan is relying on statements from Ukraine that it would accept the jurisdiction of the court for crimes committed within its territory.
There is another problem: The ICC cannot actually investigate the crime of aggression in Ukraine. The 2018 amendment specifically bars the exercise of jurisdiction over crimes of aggression by the nationals of, or on the territory of, a state that is not party to the statute. It can investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity, but other countries — including the United States — may be leery of broad interpretations of those crimes.
That is why countries are focusing on alleged crimes like targeting civilian areas, but those can be difficult to prove. The relevant articles governing attacks on civilians refer to “intentionally directing” or “intentionally launching” attacks on civilians or “civilian objects.” Again, many countries may feel uneasy about allowing a looser showing for such intentional acts on a battlefield. (There also are possible questions under the Geneva Conventions for both Russia and Ukraine.)
Many of us believe there is evidence of such war crimes. Moreover, as leaders like Vice President Kamala Harris have referred to war crimes, it may be difficult for countries to back out of such investigations or even to drop sanctions after a resolution of the conflict.
However, Russia has shown how such threats hold little influence on countries in war. That has not changed since Nuremberg. What has changed is the power of economic sanctions.
The globalization of markets has led to an interdependence which, as in the case of Russia, can threaten financial ruin for a sanctioned nation. Thus, economics — rather the law — may achieve the lofty goals of Nuremberg in creating future deterrents for wars of aggression. That may include China in its saber-rattling at Taiwan.
One of the most important economic theories is the Coase Theorem, dealing with concepts like transactional costs and perfect markets. Nobel laureate economist Ronald Coase famously used his theory to discuss the incompatibility of a neighboring farmer and a rancher. One of the most cited aspects of his work is that, in a perfect market, it does not matter which party has an “entitlement” or legal advantage to grow crops or raise cattle. In such a market, the outcome of a conflict will depend on which is more valuable — cattle, or crops.
In a strange way, the Russian invasion shows how the international entitlements or rights favoring Ukraine are, at least in the short term, immaterial to the outcome. In a perfect world (like a perfect market), Ukraine would prevail. Peace is more valuable. Yet, even with all of the legal entitlements and international rights resting with Ukraine, Russia still invaded due to the added costs for Ukraine and the world in opposing Putin.
Under the Coase Theorem, the less valuable activity can prevail because of the role of “transaction costs” (or the added costs of exchanges, trades and negotiations). No real markets are “perfect” given such additional costs.
However, it is the market rather than the law that may drive the ultimate outcomes in this or future conflicts. These have been unprecedented economic sanctions that are now adding transactional costs for tyrants. As a result, the Russian ruble has lost almost half of its value, its stock market cannot open, and virtually every major corporation has cut off the country.
Putin may be thinking strategically in the 20th century, but he is acting economically in the 21st century. Indeed, while he is unlikely to recreate the territory of the old Soviet Union, he is moving to recreate its disastrous planned economy. Faced with transnational corporations fleeing Russia, Putin is moving toward the failed Soviet example of nationalized industries and centralized economic planning.
It is possible, of course, to exist as a legal and economic pariah. You just have to be willing to reduce the Russian existence to the comparable subsistence level of your allies Syria and Iran. Even China recently refused to protect the crashing ruble in its own markets.
The costs are rising for Russia as actual trades and market transactions fall; it must try to sustain a major economy through surrogates like China. That is like trying to build a bridge while standing one that’s collapsing. The Russian economy is imploding, and Russia is rapidly approaching a disastrous loan default.
In the end, however, Putin cannot create markets through propaganda, or compel international lenders by force of arms. That is why markets may well force a conclusion to this conflict. Putin is threatening both peace and profits in his destructive actions. To use Coase’s construct, which is more valuable — Putin or peace? Putin already likely knows the answer, as he rushes blindly toward Kyiv and economic ruin.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. Follow him on Twitter @JonathanTurley.
The Saudis are trading with the Chinese in currency other than dollars. That crashing sound is your standard of living. Thank President McGoo and the Russophobes like the ones we read here on the blog. America will be on its knees to Donald Trump in weeks if this incompetent Dim Party keeps its power.
Have the Saudis decided to accept Yuan or are they just considering it? Once again, Biden’s foolish administration fails to see the basis of US prosperity and power. If the US dollar is reduced in significance as a reserve currency our public finances will collapse.
“If the US dollar is reduced in significance as a reserve currency our public finances will collapse.”
Can you explain that, in lay terms? (That’s not an antagonistic question. I sincerely don’t understand.)
Thanks in advance.
Sam:
“Can you explain that, in lay terms? (That’s not an antagonistic question. I sincerely don’t understand.)
Thanks in advance.”
*********************************
Not to steal Daniel’s thunder but since I first raised the issue, this is what I meant. The economic benefit of being the world’s reserve currency (the American Dollar) is that is serves as the medium of exchange for most goods among other nations due to its stability. That is to the benefit the reserve currency’s economy because it means the other trading countries have to buy dollars for their international currency reserves which keeps the dollar of relatively high value vis a vi’ other currencies. Thus, if you need to have dollars to trade, you’ll have to buy them from us. Since we print them, we (and the moneymarkets) set the Dollar’s value against your currency. So we have something you want and we set the price which stabilizes and builds our wealth. Conversely, if another currency is used as the reserve currency, Dollars become less valuable. So if the dollar in your pocket can but two Korean kimchi pots (when its the reserve currency), but the dollar’s value shrinks (when it isn’t the world’s reserve currency), you may only be able to buy one Korean kimchi pott which, of course, makes you poorer. Hope this helps you understand your very good question.
“That is to the benefit the reserve currency’s economy because it means the other trading countries have to buy dollars for their international currency reserves which keeps the dollar of relatively high value vis a vi’ other currencies.”
*That* is the connection to the U.S. economy that I did not know. Your kimchi pot is an excellent example, and the entire explanation is very clear.
Thank you.
Pol sumasshedshiy.
David – 229 weeks and you still have gotten me those citations. For goodness sake, you are almost next door to a university library. Get the freshman to help you.
See? He just proved it.
David Benson – get to the library and get me my citations. You are 229 weeks late.
CENSORED: See Oliver Stone’s “Ukraine On Fire” IN FULL
806,632 views
Mar 9, 2022
https://www. banned.video/watch?id=62293b42456fae60bcdda47f
Mar 14, 2022
Dr. Francis Boyle joins Owen Shroyer live via Skype to deliver his expert analysis on the U.S. run biolabs in the Ukraine and across the world.
banned.video/watch?id=622fa3198e5a4374b649cbbf
Is Joe Biden a lost character from the Wizard of Oz?
Is he the Scarecrow or Lion that somehow wandered off the movie Lot?
Toto’s waste.
Biden doesn’t even rise to the level of a flying monkey, nor even an apple-flinging tree.
From CNN:
“This, from special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, makes clear what Russia did:
“First, a Russian entity carried out a social media campaign that favored presidential candidate Donald J. Trump and disparaged presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Second, a Russian intelligence service conducted computer-intrusion operations against entities, employees, and volunteers working on the Clinton Campaign and then released stolen documents. The investigation also identified numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump Campaign.”
Remembering those facts makes Trump’s oft-repeated assertion that “no one” was tougher than him on Russia seem laughable. And it makes Eric Trump’s insistence that Putin knew his father was “a very strong person” equally humorous.”
Trump is the big joke here, which isn’t funny any more now that Ukrainians, including women and children, are being murdered. Putin didn’t invade Ukraine while the orange one was smelling up the White House because he didn’t need to: when his lap dog wasn’t siding with Putin and against American Intelligence, he was trashing the EU and NATO and was lobbying to try to get Russia back into the G-7. Trump was also planning to withdraw the US from NATO. Putin is deathly afraid of NATO, and he invaded Ukraine to try to prevent it from joining NATO. President Xi asked Putin to hold off doing anything aggressive until after the Olympics, which was delayed for a year due to COVID. These are the reasons why the invasion didn’t happen when the orange one was in the White House–not his intrinsic “wonderfulness” or phony “strength”. Eric Trump made the laughable claim that Putin looked into Trump’s “soul” or something similar, and could read “strength”. Such malarky! Everyone who looks at Trump’s record knows he’s all bluff and bluster: a braggadocious liar. What could the orange one do that Biden hasn’t done? Would he actually use nuclear weapons or threaten to do so? If you threaten to nuke someone, you better mean it, otherwise you prove that you are just bluffing and that makes you look weak. So, as usual, talk is cheap.
One of Putin’s calculations was that Trump had so divided America and alienated it from its allies that Biden couldn’t pull together a cohesive opposition to him, either domestically or internationally. He also thought he could just roll over the Ukrainians. He was wrong on both counts, but the Trumpian effect of constantly criticizing Biden because he beat Trump continues, including alt-right media posts that are being broadcast as Russian propaganda. How utterly shameful. THIS is what makes America appear weak: lying and constant attacks on our own President.
Natacha – CNN is NOT a reliable source!
CNN was literally quoting from the Mueller Report. You can read it for yourself. They also were quoting Eric Trump. You can view the clip of that for yourself. The last paragraph is commentary, but it is in context with the reliable citation to the Mueller Report and the Eric Trump commentary and their conclusions about the laughability of the claim that Trump was tough on Russia is well-founded. CNN IS reliable. The alt-right media you rely on are not reliable, and, you are a blind disciple to them as your comment proves. You have been conditioned to automatically reject anything that doesn’t come from alt-right.
Natacha – all you have to do is watch Chris Cuomo’s video for his brother and a blind person can see how much they (CNN) is unreliable.
Paul, the following is a quote from the Special Counsel’s report, Vol. 1, pp 1-2:
“As set forth in detail in this report, the Special Counsel’s investigation established that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election principally through two operations. First, a Russian entity carried out a social media campaign that favored presidential candidate Donald J. Trump and disparaged presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Second, a Russian intelligence service conducted computer-intrusion operations against entities, employees, and volunteers working on the Clinton Campaign and then released stolen documents. The investigation also identified numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump Campaign. Although the investigation established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome, and that the Campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts, the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.205521/gov.uscourts.dcd.205521.122.1.pdf
Anonymous – and how many elections of foreign governments has the US interfered in?
And, so you admit that Russia helped Trump cheat? What’s your explanation for why Trump continues to support Russia and Putin, and why your alt-right media re-broadcast Russian propaganda and lies, like the debunked story about “biological warfare labs in Ukraine” or accusing the bloodied pregnant woman photographed outside the bombed-out maternity hospital of being an actress? This was to bolster Putin’s lie that the building was an abandoned former nursing home. Why is your hero seemingly beholden to Putin, and tell us, is this the reason why he just won’t shut up and go away–because he continues to serve a means to get support for Putin before the American public and to sell his lies and propaganda, aided and abetted by alt-right media that people like you turn to for your daily affirmation? This IS what is happening.
Tell me, when the Russians put missiles in Cuba aimed at the US, did Eisenhower go on television and/or give interviews criticizing Kennedy’s response? Did Truman go on the offensive criticizing Eisenhower? Did Bush go on the air to criticize Obama and the decisions he made? Has any prior President in US history refused to concede, or go on tours to stir up his fans into believing that they were cheated out of their vote, or constantly criticize their successor, or continue to stir the pot by constantly going on television and on tours promoting lies about their “landslide victory” being “stolen by a rigged election”? What does this say about America and the vulnerability of a segment of our population to propaganda?
Trump continues to be Putin’s errand boy, and continues his efforts to divide America, to weaken our President by lying about him and serving as a messenger for Russian propaganda. Trump has always been a morally weak, lying loser, and needs badly to borrow money to keep his empire afloat so he’s looking to Russian oligarchs, but what’s your excuse?
Natacha – the Democratic Party spent 4 1/2 tying Trump to Russia. Didn’t happen. Trump has said he got along better with leaders like Putin, because he could understand where they were coming from. He also told Putin not to invade any of the buffer states while he was in office. Putin didn’t.
In 2016 Russia played both sides like a corporation that donates to both campaigns (hedging its bets).
Trump never cooperated with Mueller–he gave evasive responses to interrogatories that were answered by Giuliani, and refused to amend or supplement his evasive answers. He refused to produce documents. Because he didn’t cooperate, he couldn’t be exonerated. Mueller was following DOJ guidelines (not the law) about compelling discovery from members of the Executive Branch. So, when you claim that Trump did nothing wrong, YOU are wrong. He prevented a full investigation of his conduct. But, that didn’t stop the lying and the fake victory laps.
Trump lives in a fantasy world in his own head in which he is charming and well-liked by everyone, attractive to women, men are jealous of his intrinsic wonderfulness and power and that he’s a successful self-made billionaire (despite 6 bankruptcies and being supported by his father well into his forties–after he got dementia and lost control of his finances, that’s when the bankruptcies started).In truth, he’s very sick with narcissism: to get something from him, all you have to do is kiss up to him and flatter him. Do you think that Putin, former KGB doesn’t understand just how weak and vulnerable Trump is due to his narcissism, or that he doesn’t know about all of the failed businesses, Trump University, the thousands of lawsuits and the other failed ventures? Trump is a well-established pathological liar: he has NO credibility among sensible people. Why would anyone believe that a former KGB agent like Putin would “obey” a loser like Trump? Just more of his fantasies, like his “stolen landslide victory”–(can’t be JUST a victory–his ego requires that it must be a landslide). In truth, Putin was scared sh*tless of Hillary Clinton, which is why he expended so many resources to prevent her victory when it was clear she had an advantage in the polls. He knew she was smart and that he couldn’t bluff or bully her. He also knew that Trump, who is NO patriot, would cooperate by allowing his campaign to work with Russian operatives to smear Hillary Clinton in key districts that could sway the Electoral College.
It’s becoming abundantly clear that Trump is and has always been, a Russian pawn, and that his financial failures, massive ego and general lack of intelligence are the reasons why–he has to keep borrowing money to keep his little empire afloat, and banks won’t lend due to too many defaults. Trump let Russian representatives into the White House where they could see classified documents on the Resolute Desk. He publicly defended Russia over his own Intelligence agencies. He lobbied to get Russia back into the G-7, and he trashed the EU and NATO, calling it “obsolete”, all to the benefit of Russia. Then, when Putin invaded Ukraine, he effusively praised him as “smart, savvy” and called the invasion “wonderful”. Alt-right media have gone along, too: Tucker Carlson’s commentaries are broadcast nightly on Russian television. Trump also won’t stop lying about his “stolen landslide victory”, which continues to divide this country. He attacks Biden constantly, along with alt-right media, and these attacks are also broadcast on Russian television as proof that Russia is in the right. Trump won’t go away or shut up simply because the divisive effect he is having benefits Russia, and he is looking to borrow money from oligarchs, and/or to try to regain power.
The only reason Putin didn’t invade Ukraine while Trump was in office is because he didn’t need to: his lap dog was on the offensive against the EU and NATO, and Trump was looking for a way to pull the US out of NATO. Also, President XI asked Putin to hold off until the Olympics were over, but they were delayed for a year due to the pandemic. Of course, the narcissist has to claim that his wonderfulness and his strength and power allowed him to command Putin not to start something, and that Putin would obey. I am literally shocked at how many Americans can’t see Trump for the egotistical liar and Russian pawn that he is, or why they believe all of the lies about our President.
Natacha – have you examined Donald Trump personally? If not, the APA does not like people diagnosing from afar.
I don’t know. If you know, then tell us. Either way, how is that relevant to the whether CNN accurately quoted the report?
For the record, even though Mueller concluded that there wasn’t sufficient evidence that people in the Trump campaign met the legal requirements to charge them with conspiracy (a conclusion that some lawyers disagree with), he also said in the report that he didn’t attempt to address “collusion” because there’s no crime called “collusion.” There’s no question that members of Trump’s campaign colluded with Russian agents: Manafort with Kilimnik, and Stone with Guccifer 2. And of course Trump publicly called for Russia to commit crimes to harm Clinton. I consider it truly disgusting that an American presidential candidate did that. How about you?
Is this the same Robert Mueller who, whilel he was going after the Italian mafia in Eastern New England gave whitey Bulger cover, because whitey became an informant. While under the watchful eye of the FBI whitey continued to run his criminal enterprise, which involved murder. 19 that we are aware of. Yah, this Mueller is a real hero.
No one here claimed that he’s a hero. Do you dispute the truth of anything in the SCO report?
I take issue with you on that assumption. He’s being treated like a hero because he chaired that BS investigation of Trump that produced nothing but harassed Trump. He is a hero to the liberal left.
Who *here* is claiming that he’s a hero? (Not me.)
You claim that the investigation was BS, but when I asked you “Do you dispute the truth of anything in the SCO report?” you didn’t answer. If you dispute the truth of something in the report, quote it or just give the page # and say what your evidence is that it’s not true. Otherwise you just sound like a kid whining about someone you don’t like.
Paul, some cultists support CNN because they are hoping to catch Jeff Tobin on a Zoom session
🍆
Anonymous – I think they have taken Tobin’s moisturizer away from him. 😉
That’s the best you can do?
Natacha – after coming back from the doctor’s where I did some testing, yes, that was the best at the time. 😉 What to you have?
Always the insults and non-substantive responses, just like your hero. It was proven to you that CNN was correct, both on the quote from the Mueller Report and the video of Eric Trump, so you
resort to insults because you know you’re wrong.
“One of Putin’s calculations” is that he saw Biden’s debacle in Afghanistan. And he knows that Biden has weakened America domestically. Which means that he has weakened America internationally.
Want to know who’s responsible for propping up Russia’s economy? — Biden and his anti-energy zealots. By kneecapping America’s energy production, Biden has caused the price of oil and gas to skyrocket. That means that Putin can charge more for his oil and gas.
The Afghanistan “debacle” is Trump’s fault: he drew down our troops from 14,000 to 2,500 and released 5,000 Taliban from prison. He negotiated with the Taliban without even involving the Afghanistanis, and failed to negotiate for an air base or even a presence in Afghanistan. These things are responsible for the problems with the Afghanistan withdrawal, and they are Trump’s fault.
Trump is clearly a Russian pawn: Russia helped him get elected, he lobbied for Russia at the G-7, he trashed the EU and NATO, of which Putin are afraid, he was planning to pull the US out of NATO and he’s now praising Putin and the premeditated murder of Ukrainians. Trump refuses to stop lying about his “landslide victory” being stolen, he attacks and criticizes Biden and his alt-right enablers do the same, all of which are broadcast on Russian television as propaganda. He is on television every single day, lying and attacking Biden and the disciples sop it right up. Can you even imagine Eisenhower praising Kruschev while Kennedy was in office? Kruschev wasn’t actually killing women and children, either–just promising “we will bury you”. Of course, Eisenhower wasn’t a malignant narcissist who had run out of banks to borrow from to keep his business empire afloat and he was a true patriot, unlike your hero who faked his way out of serving in the military, and who only got into office by cheating with Russia’s help. Putin has a high-profile stooge right here in America with a devoted following of gullibles, and Trump won’t go away or shut up because Putin doesn’t want him to. Trump is serving Putin by weaking America from within–attacking our President, lying about him and praising a murderous dictator, something literally unthinkable up to now. You have to be very blind and/or stupid not to see what’s going on right in front of your eyes–a former President and media enablers attacking our own government and President and their rhetoric being used as Russian propaganda while Russia is murdering innocent people.
And, who’s going to be buying Russian oil and gas, anyway? He’s going to lose most of his customers. Did it occur to you that we wouldn’t be vulnerable if we didn’t depend on oil and gas, but used clean energy instead? That’s what Biden’s trying to do–get us off of our dependence on fossil fuels. The issue isn’t “propping up Russia’s economy” either: it’s weaking America both domestically and abroad, and Trump is guilty of this, along with his media enablers.
Remind us, did Joe Biden serve in the military? How about his son Beau? Was that short stint in a JAG desk job done out of patriotic selfless service to our country or in furtherance of his own political aspirations bc it sure would look good to say he had “served in the military”? We all know the answer.
Remind me: did anyone named “Trump” ever put on the uniform? Do you know that when Trump, Jr. expressed a desire to go into the service that your hero told him he’d be disinherited if did? Yes, Beau Biden did serve his country. If he was in the JAG, that’s because that’s where they assigned him. Don’t you know that you don’t get to choose your assignment when you’re in the military? Joe didn’t pass the physical on legitimate grounds, not because his Daddy got a podiatrist tenant of his to fake up a deferment. You don’t speak for “we all” in anything, especially in defending Comrade Trump.
The only thing the Big Guy Joe Biden has ever been in service to is stuffing his own family’s bank accounts with the millions he got from selling out his own country. Putin knows exactly who he is playing with.
Or how about when VP Joe Biden pulled strings to receive an age waiver so he could foist his loser, drug-addicted, sex-addicted son and all his problems onto the Navy to rehabilitate him — which lasted about six months? So patriotic of Joe Biden.
Joe Biden has always been known as a dumb and easily bought off, corrupt politician. He and his family are totally compromised, bought and paid for by Russia, Ukraine, China. Look at the policy decisions Biden has been making since day one in the White House and it is clear that Joe Biden is little more than a lying, filthy corrupt politician. He disgusts all patriotic American who are actually paying attention. Which is now ALL of us.
No, you have it wrong: truly patriotic Americans see that Comrade Trump is a pawn of Russia, and has always been, starting with feeding information to Russia to help him cheat his way into office, continuing by lobbying for Russia at the G-7, siding with Putin over American intelligence at Helsinki, trashing NATO and the EU, threatening to pull the US out of NATO, and lately, praising Putin as “smart and savvy” for invading Ukraine and murdering innocent women and children. Because it continues to divide America, which helps Putin, Trump refuses to: 1. concede that he lost in 2020; instead, he continues to lie to his fans about their votes being stolen by a “rigged election”, which weakens America from within 2. honor the tradition of not criticizing his successor; no prior President has ever done this; 3. stay out of politics, to honor the will of the majority of Americans. Not only that, Russia re-broadcasts Trump’s criticism of Biden and the US, as well as that of his media enablers as propaganda that Russia is in the right. Alt-right media also re-broadcast Russian lies, including the lie about bio labs being in Ukraine, that there are Nazis in Ukraine, and alt-right media claimed that the bloodied pregnant woman photographed outside the maternity hospital in Ukraine was an “actress”. All debunked pro-Putin lies. Trump continues to serve as a useful idiot for Putin, and he is helping to tear this country apart. Why can’t you see the facts that are staring you in the face?
We all see the facts staring us in the face. Do you?
Joe Biden is senile. Joe Biden is a puppet. Joe Biden is bought off and compromised. Joe Biden is an illegitimate occupier of the office. Joe Biden does not have popular support. Joe Biden did not get 80 million people in this country to get out and legally, legitimately vote him into office. That is obvious on its face. The truth is clear to all who are paying attention.
Trump was busy running a business, building things, creating jobs while Joe Biden was hanging around Washington DC being bought off by Putin and Xi, stuffing his pockets after selling out his country and creating absolutely nothing but millions for his own greedy family along with more government waste and corruption.
Trump was busy burnishing a fake image of a fabulously-wealthy self-made billionaire, complete with a helicopter and airplane, defrauding students of “Trump University”, building casinos that flopped, cheating contractors and material suppliers, getting sued for racial discrimination, bankrupting business after business and generally frittering away the millions he inherited from his Daddy. The only jobs that Trump “created” were for attorneys to defend him in thousands of lawsuits–then he refused to pay them, too, so now, he’s running out of lawyers.
Where’s the proof that Putin and Xi “bought off” Biden?
Remind us all, how “clean” and reliable is “clean energy”?
Answer: it is neither.
“Answer: it is neither.”
And all that cobalt that is needed for the batteries in electric vehicles — a major source of it is China (and significantly Russia). So the Green New Deal zealots are responsible for empowering yet another dictatorship (and Putin, yet again).
Making Americans poorer, while propping up the world’s dictators. Do anti-fossil fuel types ever think through the consequences of their policies?
Do fossil fuel types ever think through the consequences of their policies?
“a major source of [cobalt] is China (and significantly Russia)”
The largest exporter by far is the Democratic Republic of Congo. Australia exports almost as much as Russia and more than the PRC. Australia also has larger known reserves than Russia and China combined. Canada’s reserves are almost as large as Russia’s. The PRCs reserves don’t even make the top 10 list.
More to the point: the top countries from which the US imports cobalt are Norway, Canada, Japan, and Finland. Russia and China are not significant sources of cobalt for the US.
So your claim that “the Green New Deal zealots are responsible for empowering yet another dictatorship (and Putin, yet again)” is bunk.
“The largest exporter by far is the Democratic Republic of Congo.”
Check the *ownership* of the Congolese operations.
Think more; copy and paste less.
“The Afghanistan “debacle” is Trump’s fault:”
I’m pretty sure Biden was president at the time. His withdrawal, his debacle.
“That’s what Biden’s trying to do–get us off of our dependence on fossil fuels.”
At least he’s successful at something — killing America’s *current* sources of energy.
I’m pretty sure that at the time the withdrawal was happening, our troop strength had been drawn down from 14,000 to 2,500, 5,000 more Taliban had been released, we had a sucky deal for no continuing presence or air base in Afghanistan and the Afghanistanis were demoralized over not even being involved in negotiations. Just another mess Trump created and left for Biden to deal with.
Russia has a 20% government debt. The US has 120%. Russia is self-sufficient. We won’t even talk about Europe. And Russia still has major trading partners.
The Arabs dumped the dollar for gold after Jimmy Carter dumped the Shah. The American people dumped Jimmy shortly thereafter. I’m just saying be careful what you wish for.
$13.6 Billion in Ukraine Aid
[$13,600,000,000 USD]
–
$13.6 Billion ÷ 50 US States = $272,000,000.00
$13.6 Billion ÷ over 10 years (3652 including Leap Day Yrs) = $3,723,986.86/Day
$13.6 Billion ÷ 435 Congressional Districts = $31,264,367.82
$13.6 Billion ÷ 3,006 US Counties = $4,524,284.76
$13.6 Billion ÷ 209,128,094 U.S. Adults = $65.03
$13.6 Billion ÷ 331,894,000 Avg U.S. Population (2021) = $40.98
$13.6 Billion ÷ 44,130,000 Avg Ukraine Population (2020) = $308.18
Ukraine Population would receive $267.20 more Per Person, than U.S. Person(s).
–
1,000,000,000
A billion is a thousand times a million. It can be written as 1,000 × 1,000,000 =1,000,000,000.
In scientific notation, it is represented as 1 × 109. In simple words, it has 9 zeroes.
Were you aware that Congress approved a defense budget of $777billion this year?
Presidenta McGoo, what are we allowed post this week?
Ok!
Please, everyone stay away from Boyle’s comments today on Banned.Video.
Prez McGoo & henchmen no likey so much I think.
President McGoo has struck again. Now India has formed an alternate system to trade with Russia and do a workaround the West’s futile attempt to expel Russian from the trade markets. China is also meeting with India to work out their border dispute and ordering Russian oil by the tankerfull. So Bumbling Joe has now aligned our two major adversaries with the world’s largest democracy and made the sanctions backfire directly against us. So for sake of Ukraine (and “defending democracy” though the cruel joke is that we overthrough the real democratically elected government there) , we decouple Russia from the West and push them into the arms of the Easter powers. The Left has always been stupid on foreign affairs and now they’re dangerous.
While the Chickenhawks on the blog are shaking swords at him, Putin has outmanuevered us economically and ushered in an axis of rival economic power that would make the Berlin-Tokyo-Rome Axis look like the three stooges. Now all it would take is the removal of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency and we’ll be on our knees. Of course, the upside is that Westen globalism would be dead in an instant with the downside being we’d be in a Depression that would make the 30s look like a day at Coney Island. Might be worth it to rid ourselves of the cowardly Leftists who would almost immediately become Russophiles and bolt the country.
We used to say “The Lord looks after fools, drunks, and the United States.” Who knew we’d come to occupy 1st and 3rd position?
Doing a heck of job, Joey. On us!
Mespo, India was NEVER supportive of NATO in this war. Nor was China. So you’re imagining a non-existent axis to satisfy your Putin-loving tendencies.
Yeah, White Nationalists like you are living a period of constant dismay. That’s a hang-over from the Trump era.
Aninny:
Mespo, India was NEVER supportive of NATO in this war. Nor was China. So you’re imagining a non-existent axis to satisfy your Putin-loving tendencies.
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I guess economics and its interplay with strategic geopolitics isn’t your strong suit sorta like rational thinking isn’t. It is not a military alliance – yet – you twit. It’s worse, it’s a dire economic one that you and your confederacy of dunces neither saw coming nor have any idea how to fix. You pushed Russia into China’s arms with your reckless rhetoric. You’ll feel the consequences of that mistake later.
I think mespo hates Biden and Democrats in general more than he loves Putin.
A:
No love of the cat or the mouse. Just honest enough to admit the roles of each and who is starring in each. Let’s just say Biden’s no pussy here.
Mespo, ya know, I just hate it when you slap us in the face with a dose of reality.
IB:
“Mespo, ya know, I just hate it when you slap us in the face with a dose of reality.”
********************************
“You know ideals and reality are very far apart. Someday [we’re] gonna see that …” (One of my favorite movie line starts at 2:40)
What is happening now in Ukraine is the consequence of the arrogant disregard of the security concerns of a great power expressed clearly and explicitly over many years. These concerns, and the need to adjust policy to them, have been noted from the beginning by astute observers such as Kennan, Kissinger, Mearsheimer and even Burns (now head of the CIA).
The overthrow of the freely and fairly elected Ukrainian President in 2014 and the establishment of a pro EU/NATO regime there was a US project led by Biden, Sullivan and Nuland, and they have simply picked up where they left off.
Ukraine made a colossal political misjudgment in failing to recognise the need for balance given its geographic position. The expressions by the US and NATO of support for Ukraine’s joining NATO, and the development of interoperability in the meantime, most recently discussed in the formal charter entered into by the US and Ukraine on November 10, could not but provoke Russia, which has been invaded many times by the west. Russian leaders are not thinking merely about today and tomorrow, but many years down the road.
From the US perspective, accommodating Russia’s concerns by accepting the return of Crimea to Russia, acknowledging the legitimacy of Russian complaints about the Donbas and abandoning the “Ukraine in NATO” fantasy, were not in fact big asks. They remain the only way to solve this problem and thereby prevent more of Ukraine from being reduced to rubble, mass casualties among the Ukrainian civilian population and the possible escalation of this local conflict into a much wider war.
The continuation and expansion of sanctions also puts the global economy at risk, especially if the Biden administration maintains its war on fossil fuel development, and ultimately could increase pressure on other countries to reduce reliance on the dollar as a reserve currency, which would devastate our public finances.
It is disappointing that, aside from a few voices on Defense Priorities, Tucker Carlson (and some of his guests) and Glenn Greenwald and a couple of other Substackers, the “realist” perspective on this has been largely silenced.
It would be an act of true heroism for Zelensky to steer his country towards a settlement of the kind mentioned above that could save some semblance of an independent but smaller Ukraine and accommodate Russia. It is in the US interest to urge him to do so.
REGARDING ABOVE:
Daniel is yet another puppet of The Blog Stooge with yet another Putin-friendly harangue.
Daniel is also Ralph, Giocon, Feldman, James, Margot Ballhere, El Cid and many, many more.
That is false.
Daniel, if you think Zelensky should ‘accommodate’ Russia, you’re just a Putin-loving creep.
Name calling is not an argument.
Since 2014 the Ukrainian governing class has made a catastrophic miscalculation. They gambled the fate of their country and people on integration into an alliance that was not going to accept them any time soon despite their words and in the process antagonised their powerful neighbour who had stated time and time again that it would not tolerate that and had in the past demonstrated the will to use brutal force to get its way.
In a world without the reality of power a policy of this kind might succeed. In the world as it exists it is irresponsible.
I hope the negotiating process being mediated by Israel’s Bennett can salvage something from this disaster before it spins out of control into a wider conflict. Who governs what parts of Ukraine and whether the country that emerges is neutral between Russia and NATO are in the end not issues of great moment to the US. The avoidance of a wider war with Russia, the restoration of global economic relations, the preservation of the dollar as a reserve currency and the disruption of a China/Russia entente, on the other hand, are all major US concerns.
No, Seth, Daniel isn’t any of those other people. You sound as confused about people’s identities as Allan S. Meyer.
Sorry, comrade, we’re not buying it. We smell you and you stink.
Kremlin Memo To Putin-Friendly Media: “Use More Tucker Carlson”
On March 3, as Russian military forces bombed Ukrainian cities as part of Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of his neighbor, the Kremlin sent out talking points to state-friendly media outlets with a request: Use more Tucker Carlson.
“It is essential to use as much as possible fragments of broadcasts of the popular Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who sharply criticizes the actions of the United States [and] NATO, their negative role in unleashing the conflict in Ukraine, [and] the defiantly provocative behavior from the leadership of the Western countries and NATO towards the Russian Federation and towards President Putin, personally,” advises the 12-page document written in Russian. It sums up Carlson’s position: “Russia is only protecting its interests and security.” The memo includes a quote from Carlson: “And how would the US behave if such a situation developed in neighboring Mexico or Canada?”
A section headlined “Victory in Information War” tells Russian journalists to push these specific points: The Ukrainian military is beginning to collapse; the Kyiv government is guilty of “war crimes”; and Moscow is the target of a “massive Western anti-Russian propaganda” operation. It states that Russian media should raise questions about Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s state of mind and suggest he is not truly in charge of Ukraine. This is the section of the memo that calls on Russian media to make as much use as possible of Tucker Carlson’s broadcasts. No other Western journalist is referenced in the memo.
It’s unclear whether these memos had any impact on Russian media outlets, which already were regularly citing and praising Carlson. Pro-Putin media organizations in Russia may not have needed the Kremlin’s recent encouragement to make Carlson a star. RT, the Russian propaganda outlet, embraced Carlson’s defense of RT after social media companies banned RT content. And on Friday, Komsomolskaya Pravda ran a splashy story headlined “Well-known American TV journalist Carlson was outraged by the ‘lies of the United States.’” It was all about Tucker’s on-air (and unfounded) anger over the Nuland testimony and the biolab allegations. In this instance, a pro-Putin Russian media outlet was using Carlson’s disinformation to advance Moscow disinformation. Just like the Kremlin wanted.
Edited From:
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/03/exclusive-kremlin-putin-russia-ukraine-war-memo-tucker-carlson-fox/
The Left have destroyed our country esp the propagandists like Mother Jones and their Communist loving boot lickers
We are one false flag attack(an American specialty) away from a direct military confrontation with Russia leading inevitably to a nuclear exchange. The table is set. We have let the crazies know that all they need to do is set off yet another false flag chemical attack(we’ve had numerous ones in Syria already) and it´s time for WW3.
And where are our people? Where is the anti-war movement? They’re almost all cheering for the destruction of the world. Shame on all of us.
Ivan, you Putin-loving POS, Saddamn Hussein was NEVER a U.S. “buddy”. Iraq’s army was totally equipped by the Soviet Union and anyone who remembers the Gulf War remembers all that Soviet equipment getting destroyed by American weapons.
You ignorant anonymous MF. We sided with Iraq during their war with Iran in the early 80´s even as they used chemical weapons against the Iranians. You disgusting POS.
Ivan, no sitting president ever met Saddamn. And all Saddamn’s equipment was Soviet-made.
Reagan sent Rumsfeld despite Saddam having used chemical weapons on the Iranians.
This is Biden’s fault. Democrats have crippled our country, divided our nation and have allowed a senile old man steal the election by censoring damaging info on Hunter Biden. All of this is Biden’s fault
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
– Edmund Burke
https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2022/march-2022-survival-mode
“Stress in America: Money, inflation, war pile on to nation stuck in COVID-19 survival mode”
March 11, 2022, marks the second anniversary of the COVID-19 global pandemic declaration by the World Health Organization. In the two years since that declaration, virtually all aspects of life have been altered.
To better understand the impact of the past two years on individual stress, the American Psychological Association partnered with The Harris Poll to conduct a survey between February 7 and 14, 2022. In light of recent events leading up to its release, the survey was supplemented by a late-breaking poll, fielded March 1-3.
These more recent findings were alarming, with more adults rating inflation and issues related to the invasion of Ukraine as stressors than any other issue asked about since the Stress in AmericaTM survey began in 2007. Top sources of stress were the rise in prices of everyday items due to inflation (e.g., gas prices, energy bills, grocery costs, etc.) (87%), followed by supply chain issues (81%) and global uncertainty (81%).
You have learned well the Trumpian tactic of projection: you lie and claim that Biden is really responsible for every bad thing Trump has done. Explain this to me: if Biden is so senile and incompetent, how did he pull off “stealing” Trump’s “landslide victory”? Trump was predicted to lose by every poll. He never pulled even a 50% approval rating, and 26 Secretaries of State were Republican and they certified Biden’s victory. Where’s the proof of the “stolen landslide”? Trump is the one who is dividing America, beginning even before Election Day claiming that the election would be “rigged” because the polls predicted his loss. He went on “Stop the Steal” campaigns, exhorted his disciples to come to Washington to try to prevent certification of Biden’s victory, incited a riot, all after he couldn’t litigate, bully or lie his way back into power. So, what has Biden done to “divide America”? Beat Trump and stir up resentment of his disciples, stoked every day by the election loser who can’t stop spreading the Big Lie and who won’t go away or shut up?
No one “censored damaging information on Hunter Biden, either”. The “Hunter Biden Scandal” was made up by disgraced suspended attorney Giuliani. And, just whom do you believe is responsible for causing our economic problems? How about Trump’s tariffs with China that caused supply-chain problems even before he lost the election? How about his mishandling of the pandemic, resulting in unnecessary deaths and illnesses, causing factories, restaurants, businesses, retail shops and schools to close down, which also made supply-chain problems worse because factories can’t turn around immediately when demand goes back up like it is now. Then, there’s the 10% unemployment rate under Trump, who turned around the most-successful economy in decades to the worst recession since the Great Depression. Biden created more jobs in the shortest period of time in US history. And, yet, there’s the steady drumbeat of lies about him: he’s senile, he’s weak, he’s stupid, yada, yada, yada, and such commentary is broadcast as Russian propaganda. Trump just loves Russia, so alt-right media goes along with praising Russia. Trump has divided America worse than any other threat since the Civil War, all because of his ego and his pandering to racism, xenophobia and fears of non college educated whites who resent educated women and minorities.
Ivan, your frequent misuse of diacritical marks makes me wonder if you’re not using an English keyboard.
I’m in Peru at the moment…where I was born visiting my dad although I grew up in Long Island and have lived in the US my whole life you pathetic POS. Are you going to accuse me of being Russian because my name is Ivan now? That’s where desperate minds go when they lose the argument. I’m your typical Long Island white boy and I would kick your anonymous butt with one look. We can meet up when I get back if you want to.
War fever and ignorance go hand in hand. The levels of both are off the charts. Our post WW2 history is riddled with endless illegal wars, declared and undeclared, all for the benefit of the few at the top who never shot a gun. None of this is a mystery. The typical Westerner lives in a make believe world. You are puppets of the elite. “Useful idiots” spewing the party line. Cowards who dare not look behind the curtain lest they see their own complicity in evil.
For those who wish to look behind the curtain I suggest watching “Ukraine on Fire” and “Revealing Ukraine” which are available on Rumble for free. If that sparks a fire in your mind(as it should), then keep looking for more…and you will find an endless flood of paradigm shifting information. But that’s only if you are brave enough to face up to your own previous stupidity and cowardice.
Sir, I am beginning to believe you are a neocon now coming out of the closet. I ask you: what about the almost 14,000 deaths due to shelling of the northern region of Ukraine by the support of the Ukrainian and US governments for seven years now? How do you think this fits into a wars crime case? Or are you ignoring these deaths as the media has done?
Phil Davis, mostly those are due to the thugs who are the insurrectionists. The Ukrainian armed forces do not respond to provocations, other than clever use of drones.
Thank you, but you see the obvious answer here is letting the residents vote whether leaving or not. Yet the opposite has happened where Russians are not allowed to even vote. This is straight up a regional issue not an international crisis the neocons wish it too be. If Americans would only transfer the situation using Mexico or Canada as examples then decide what their opinions should be instead of letting MSM write the script for them, I think we would see a much different situation. Notice too that military leaders around the world are not interested in getting involved. This indicates that this mess is a political quagmire not a military crises, as usual.
David, Phil Davis is just another puppet of The Blog Stooge. He’s been furiously writing Putin-friendly comments. I think ‘Ivan’ is another.
China is now supporting Russia. This from the formerly independent Hong Kong based news agency “South China Morning Post”, now an arm of the China Communist Party propaganda machinery. This is very bad news. Russia + China will wipe the world flat
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3170458/ukraine-war-china-willing-give-military-support-russia-us-tells-eu
“Ukraine war: China willing to give military support to Russia, US tells EU”
The EU was tipped off to China’s position but said the US had yet to share the underlying intelligence, so Brussels ‘does not have proof’, source says
Beijing has ‘signalled its willingness’ to help, according to an initial report in the Financial Times
OTOH, there are many stories about how the sophisticated Chinese are going to wind up taking rube Russia to the cleaners for any help they offer. But XI ma may be having 2nd thoughts.
——–
Xi Jinping beginning to turn on Putin as nervous China snubs Russia’s plea for help
PRESSURE is beginning to mount on Chinese leader Xi Jinping to turn away from Russia with the Beijing elite understood to be angry over Vladimir Putin’s “full-throttle” invasion.
Sat, Mar 12, 2022
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1579546/China-Russia-latest-Xi-Jinping-Vladimir-Putin-alliance-Western-sanctions-Ukraine-news-vn
That which is essential is invisible to the eye, to paraphrase The Little Prince.
What is being hidden in the fog of war?
Prarie Rose: The Seth Warner above is just another puppet of The Blog Stooge. He’s also James, Feldman, Giocon, Margot Ballhere, Mistress Addams, Ralph and many, many more.
You are that person. The only way anyone knows with certainty who is posting what is the authors. You are the authors, the whiny, mentally ill “stooge” who is an attention seeking wh 0 re
I was thinking of this and the larger whole:
“Putin already likely knows the answer, as he rushes blindly toward Kyiv and economic ruin.”
It is a masterful production with real destruction and loss, but the reality of Ukraine is conveniently veiled. Biolabs, Bidens, and a seemingly dumb red Reset Button given to the Russians by Clinton….and probably more shenanigans. Geez, this is worthy of a complicated Dostoyvetsky or Dumas novel.
For a different, if not more more knowledge, informed and realistic understanding of the forces and influences at work, I recommend reading:
The Ins and Outs of Whose Money is it Anyway?
If one were inclined to spend the time, effort and “money,” the article behind Zerohedge’s pay wall by Zoltan Poszar may prove most enlightening.
If one not so inclined, articles by and information on Zoltan Poszar are accessible at many non-cost sites.
I do not affirm or disaffirm Zoltan Poszar’s thinking and analysis. I do consider his thinking and analysis of far more interest and value, if any, then the professor’s professing.
The choice is one for you to make or not.
dennis hanna
Just how many people were killed in Iraq by Americans under the pretense of Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Golden Country,
How many Shiites, Kurt’s and Kuwaiti’s were killed by Saddam Hussain during his years in power??
F>ck-off with your attempt to equate the U.S. with Russia.
Should we start counting from the moment Saddam stopped being an ally of the US? If you want the totals you may want to ask the US since we supplied him with the weapons when we were best buds.
Do we count the 500,000 children who died due to our sanctions? Ask Madeleine Albright if she cares.
Our Invasion and destruction of Iraq was based on deliberate lies. No weapons of mass destruction. No ties with Al Qaeda. And we had a torture program to boot. The history of the United States is far, far worse than Russia. Your ignorance is astounding.
What’s Putin’s excuse again for killing thousands of innocent people?
The same reasons Democrats kill a developing baby and call their murdering a “choice”.
Killing is always wrong. Terminating life is evil. Abortion is worse than all other murders because the baby is defenseless and unable to defend herself.
That embryo has no right to use the woman’s body without the woman’s consent, any more than you have a right to someone else’s bone marrow to save your life if you need a bone marrow transplant.
The mother who aborts is a murderer. PERIOD. She murdered her own child. Actions have consequences…..and murder is one of them.
Embryos are not people. Biologically, most embryos are incapable of developing into people. Frozen embryos are not frozen people.
Not a single state prosecutes a woman who has had an abortion as a murderer.
Your personal opinion that it’s murder is an opinion, not a fact.
“There is not a scintilla of support under international law for Russia’s attack on Ukraine . . .”
Well, maybe a scintilla or two — preemptive and preventive war, which George W. Bush announced as his policy on June 1, 2002 and the NSS formalized as US policy three months later, displacing deterrence and containment in situations determined by the United States. “If we wait for threats to fully materialize,” Bush said, “we will have waited too long.” Condolezza Rice used this rationale for our invasion of Iraq and removal of Saddam, and in a 2007 paper, Joe Barnes and Richard Stoll asked their readers to, “Imagine that the U.S. government learned that a “rogue state” was developing a WMD, and that these efforts were focused on a small number of facilities. A coordinated series of air attacks against these facilities would be a strike.” Russia, of course, considers NATO an anti-Russian alliance, and it insists that it was cooperating with NATO to develop biological weapons and intended to join NATO. “Now imagine,” Barnes and Stoller wrote, “a different “rogue state” that is repeatedly both threatening and taking aggressive actions against its neighbors. The U.S. response is to invade and conquer the rogue state; this would be a campaign.”
Among the examples they cite to support preemptive and preventive strikes and campaigns were Israel’s June 1967 attack on Egypt and its atttack on Iraq’s nuclear facility in June 1981, Japan’s attack on Russia in 1905, the beginning of World War I, and the US attack on Iraq in 2003. International law is not only codified, it is customary, so if there are examples of something in practice which was not condemned as a war crimes, it effectively becomes acceptable practice. In this case, it was (and still is, I suspect), US policy. You can find the paper at . . . .
https://www.bakerinstitute.org/media/files/Research/50987fa2/Preemptive_and_Preventive_War-1.pdf
As for destroying Russia economically, it is not clear that will happen, given efforts by BRICS to create alternate financial and economic systems since 2014, nor is it in our interest to pursue regime change in a nuclear power, as we have done with less than stellar outcome in Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Afghanistan, at least in the opinion of the director of Defense Studies at DC’s Center for the National Interest. China, India, South Africa, Pakistan, and several African countries would sooner support Russia than NATO, and, as Jeffrey Sachs asked, where does NATO stop an what gives it the “right” to expand as far as it pleases? You may disagree, but it is a question which needs to be answered, especially since the sanctions threaten to remove the dollar as the world’s currency, and if that occurs and the yuan replaces it, the United States will effectively be bankrupt and unable to repay its debts. As it is China’s CIPS has replace SWIFT in several countries, and the DNB has grown, not enough to replace the World Bank, but enough to have influence.
https://thefederalist.com/2022/03/14/the-wests-real-ukraine-strategy-is-russian-regime-change/
Apologies . . . “it insists that Ukraine [not ‘it’]. . .” and CIPS is competing with; it has not yet replaced SWIFT.
Putin obviously opted for a campaign, not a strike, probably because he reasoned that after a strike NATO would immediately move into Ukraine, which, from Russia’s perspective, would have been a disaster. It might still occur, but it seems Russia has chosen preventive war because, as Bush said, if it waits, it might be too late. Hardly a moral thing to do, but relations among states have never been moral; they have been practical. On financial systems . . .
https://www.cnbctv18.com/world/russiaukraine-warcan-cips-chinas-potential-swift-competitor-help-russia-12673332.htm
An Old Guy is another one of many puppets used by The Blog Stooge. He is also James, Giocon, Ralph, Feldman, Margot Ballhere, Mistress Addams, Pblinc and most recently Paul Schulte.
Economic collapse is often a cause of cessation of war. World War 1 ended with Germany on French, Belgium and Netherlands soil and it’s economy collapsed because of starvation in Germany, lack of many essentials to sustain the population and popular unrest which then toppled the government.. People forget that there was a naval blockade of Germany almost from the start by the Royal Navy and it was highly effective in stopping virtually all German Trade. Russia’s economy also collapsed leading to it’s withdrawal from the allied cause in 1917. Japan collapsed in WW2 because all trade to the home islands was disrupted and/or stopped. No oil or commodities for the war industries or food. Besides the B29 bombing raids of Japan, they also dropped massive numbers of mines in all the inland seas and passages of the Home Islands bringing movement of food to a standstill and starvation was stretching over the entire land. Once they surrendered the next largest logistics problem was getting massive amounts of food to Japan before the winter of 1946 because everyone faceD starvation. They still had over 1 million men under arms in Japan and thousands of aircraft. Economists were used by both the British and US to target specific industries to both impede armaments production, kill production workers and interrupt food, stop transportation, and oil.