Here we go again-Ukraine once again

[Jimbuna]

[Jimbuna]

[Skybird]

https://beta.dw.com/en/opinion-nord-...ail/a-63282676

The internet is awash with conspiracy theories about what caused the Nord Stream leaks. But Moscow is the only one to benefit — at least indirectly.

The Kremlin has indignantly rejected allegations that Russia was behind the pipeline sabotage in the Baltic Sea. Just as Vladimir Putin also claims Russia did not initiate the war in Ukraine. Or that his country is not attacking civilian targets there.
Putin has also called the accusation that Moscow is weaponizing energy "a load of nonsense." Even before the attack on Ukraine, both Putin and his foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, dismissed any claims of such intent as malicious speculation. Now it seems, everyone in eastern Ukraine who took part in their sham referendums is in favor of Russian annexation. The list of lies is endless.

Where is Russia's composure?

Even if the Russian government is now denying any responsibility for the "incidents" in the Baltic Sea, no one is likely to take it seriously. The current leadership has long forfeited any last vestige of credibility. What remains is the fear of losing power — the prospect of losing the war against Ukraine and being held accountable for its crimes. Fear that manifests itself in hysterical bluster and wild threats directed at the West. If Russia is so sure of victory against the civilized world, where is its composure?

Things are hardly going according to plan on the battlefield. On the contrary. Though small in comparison to Russia's might, a highly motivated army is currently routing Moscow's military apparatus. The entire world — including China — is watching.
Putin's actions have inflicted lasting damage on Russia's authority: If the Russian military is already outclassed by Ukrainian soldiers, how much more so by Chinese, Turkish, or any number of others? Putin's long-held ambition that Russia be perceived on a par with the United States, at least militarily, has vanished in a puff of smoke in eastern Ukraine.

Who benefits?

Since it will be weeks before we know more about what or who was behind the Nord Stream sabotage, all we can do at this point is speculate. Who benefits from this act? Certainly not Europe. Nor, for that matter, the US. After all, the Americans achieved their goal as soon as Putin attacked Ukraine. Thanks to Russia's aggression, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline — once a trans-Atlantic bone of contention — was reduced to scrap metal languishing on the seabed.
Europe is now doing everything it can to reduce supplies of raw materials from Russia — to zero, if possible. Despite some initial difficulties, the countries of Europe will no doubt succeed. One thing is certain: Economically, they will pay a high price. They will see their prosperity diminish. But they will certainly recover.


Russia produces nothing marketable

By contrast, things could hardly be worse for Moscow. Selling raw materials is Russia's livelihood — especially to Europe via its pipelines. What are Russians supposed to live on if the West does not buy their oil, gas, gold, nickel and other raw materials — even if their prices are lower than on the global market? Russia produces nothing that it can sell abroad. Putin's government has spent 20 years proving that it is incapable of modernizing the domestic economy.
With this winter over, Russia's economic prospects will be bleak: Europe will buy LNG gas from the US, Norway, Qatar and others. Oil is plentiful in North Africa and many Arab states. Moscow's touted reorientation in the direction of Asian markets will take decades. It doesn't take a genius to see that this much-vaunted goal is little more than a pipedream.



Blackmail, Russia's only way out

So what can Russia do? Try once again to blackmail the West! Russia was most likely responsible for the attacks on its own Gazprom pipelines. But the message to Europe is: Next time it could be those from Norway to Poland or from Africa to Italy — Moscow's submarines can strike anywhere!
Ultimately, the West must not and cannot allow itself to be blackmailed. NATO is not defenseless. Defending critical infrastructure is just one more reason to drastically increase the defense budgets of Western countries. If nothing else, it would allow their warships and submarines to maintain a stronger presence in the Baltic, the North Atlantic and the Black Sea.

[mapuc]

Now Putin accuse USA for being behind the sabotage of these Pipelines in the Baltic sea.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said the "unprecedented sabotage" against the Nord Stream gas pipelines was "an act of international terrorism," the Kremlin said in a statement.

https://www.reuters.com/world/putin-...in-2022-09-29/

Markus

[Rockstar]

I think reducing NS1 and 2 to scrap metal did in the short and long term definitely benefitted those in Europe who appreciate freedom. Only detrimental short and long term effects were to the German Russian alliance, but who cares? I sure as hell don’t!

In 2016, leaders of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia signed a letter to European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker expressing concern over the “potentially destabilising geopolitical consequences” of the pipeline’s construction. Since then, Poland has become particularly vocal over security concerns.

Beyond this, Ukrainian officials worry that the pipeline would mean less gas passing through its borders. Ukraine earns transit fees from gas passing through the country, and Nord Stream would decrease Russia’s reliance on pipelines there.

Ukraine has remained wary of Russian interests since the country invaded the Crimean region in 2014. Since then, Ukraine has carefully balanced its relationships with Russia and Europe, but Nord Stream could upset its strategic position. Officials have said that Nord Stream 2’s gas flows could decrease Ukraine’s pipeline income by up to $3bn. “It is still unclear to us whether Russia is ready to fulfil its obligations properly when it comes to the energy security of Ukraine and the preservation of Ukraine’s role as a transit state.”

In the eyes of the US Government, the pipeline would make several European nations more reliant on Russia. For political reasons, the US sees this increase in international power as unacceptable. As a result, it has made several attempts to slow or sanction construction progress.

Under President Trump, the US threatened to sanction any vessel it found to have assisted construction of the pipeline. After the US elections in late 2020, President Biden retained this policy, which maintains widespread support in the country.

NATO, “keep the Germans down, the Americans in and the Russians out” since 1949.

Ismay understood that a Europe caught between Germany and Russia would always need a powerful outside ally, one with resources and manpower well beyond those of Great Britain. Ismay, a favorite of Churchill’s and a military adviser to British governments, had a remarkable sense of history — namely that constants such as historical memory, geography, and national character always transcend the politics of the day.

In layman terms some things never change.



Die Linke



Wonder why the German chancellor Olaf Scholz leader of the Social Democrat Party (SPD) is so goddamn washy washy in his response to Russian aggression? https://www.irishtimes.com/news/worl...llor-1.4780677


Wait for it….. : “ya but what about Trump?”

Germans caused this debacle NATO will end it.

[Rockstar]

Originally Posted by mapuc

Now Putin accuse USA for being behind the sabotage of these Pipelines in the Baltic sea.



https://www.reuters.com/world/putin-...in-2022-09-29/

Markus

I agree, but I agree not because I support Putin. I agree because fook Putin, his pipeline, and all of the German Putin lovin colluding sympathizers that wanted that pipeline

On a side note: I can’t wait for what the Finnish ditzy two timing whore has to say about this. Especially since she allowed the pipeline to pass through Finlands waters.

[Jimbuna]

Russia's Vladimir Putin is to hold a signing ceremony to annex four more areas of Ukraine - at 13:00 BST

He will make a major speech at the Kremlin, and a concert will be held in Moscow's Red Square in the evening.

The formal process - which will see these occupied areas incorporated into the Russian Federation - will happen over the next few days.

Meanwhile, the regional governor in Zaporizhzhia says at least 23 civilians have been killed in a Russian missile strike in the region, which is one those set to be annexed.

Russia does not fully control any of the four areas it has decided to annex, and Ukraine and the West have denounced the votes as illegitimate.

The exercise began across 15% of Ukraine last Friday with only a few days' notice.

Today's speech echoes Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, which also followed a discredited referendum.

[Jimbuna]

[Jimbuna]

British Secretary of Defense Wallace secretly visited Kyiv and met with Reznikov

The ministers discussed military aid to Ukraine from Great Britain.

Wallace stated this in Twіtter, reports Censor.NЕТ.

"I am glad to have visited my good friend Oleksiy Reznikov in Kyiv this week to discuss more military aid and assistance to Ukraine," he wrote.

Wallace assured that British support for Ukraine in the fight against Russian aggression is growing and will continue "until 2023 and beyond!".

Neither the Ukrainian nor the British side reported on Wallace's visit. The details of his meeting with Reznikov are also unknown. Source: https://censor.net/en/n3370580

[Jimbuna]

Total combat losses of the Russian Federation since beginning of war - about 59,080 people, 264 planes, 225 helicopters, 2,338 tanks, 1,391 artillery systems, 4,932 armored vehicles

The Russian invaders, who invaded the territory of Ukraine, continue to suffer losses. As of the morning of September 30, the loss of enemy personnel is approximately 59,080.

This is stated by Censor.NЕТ with reference to рress center of AFU General Staff.

As noted, the total combat losses of the enemy from 24.02 to 30.09 approximately amounted to:

personnel ‒ about 59080 (+500) persons were liquidated,

tanks ‒ 2338 (+13)

APV ‒ 4932(+23)

artillery systems – 1391 (+6)

MLRS – 333 (+2)

Anti-aircraft warfare systems ‒ 176 (+1)

aircraft – 264 (+2)

helicopters – 225 (+1)

UAV operational-tactical level – 1003 (+8),

cruise missiles ‒ 246 (+0),

warships / boats ‒ 15 (+0)

vehicles and fuel tanks – 3768 (+17)

special equipment ‒ 131 (+0).

"The enemy suffered the greatest losses in the Kramatorsk and Donetsk directions," the AFU General Staff reported. Source: https://censor.net/en/n3370577

[Commander Wallace]

^ The number of lives lost is sure to go up as Russia is sending mostly untrained conscripts to the front lines in the Ukraine.


The term, Cannon Fodder springs to mind.

[Skybird]

This analysis by Gabor steingart for FOCUS describes very well what Putin is after, and why the destruytion of the piepülines is in his interest, and that Germany strill is not capbale of understanding the strtageic depth behind all this. Putins strategic goal always was the restauration of the Sovjet Union. For this he has to overocme this annpoying imperticnce named reiostance form Europe. And tio crush that resistance ability of Europe,. he has to crash its main economic drive: Germany.

I therefore wpoudl condpude that the qar against Ukraione and its annexation is only a tacical ambition. The stratgeic goal of his is war is: Germany. And he spent two decades on making Germany ripe for the attack.

German plicy-.maskers just lakc the aiblity of long-termed stratgeic thinkling, they always just work form day to day and focus on harvest shorttermed gains. We even have a word for this of ruining poltics: we call it"herummerkeln", yes, the word stems from the name "Merkel", and refers to the meaning of "bumbling about", "to hem and haw".

From FOCUS:
-----------------------------

Warlord Putin is not concerned with the Donbass, he is concerned with the restoration of Russian power while weakening Western Europe. And anyone who wants to weaken Western Europe must first pull the plug on the EU's economic powerhouse: Germany.

Everyone is always talking about the war in Ukraine. But this term is now tantamount to trivialization. Putin is waging a war against Western Europe, more precisely against Germany. He is waging this war, like many warlords before him, at high risk, with all military, economic and human resources and without a Plan B. He is, as they would say on Wall Street, fully invested: all in.

The goal of the war, which he has never formulated to the public in this way, is now obvious: it is not about the Donbass, it is about restoring Russian power while weakening Western Europe. And if you really want to weaken Western Europe, you don't start in Greece, Malta or Portugal, but first you have to pull the plug on the economic powerhouse of the European Union: the Federal Republic.

In accordance with this objective, Putin is by no means acting like a haredevil. The rationality of the apparent irrationality lies in the fact that the war against the Federal Republic is being waged on five clearly delineated fronts, so that the enemy of the war, i.e. us, suffers losses in every case.

Germany, that may play a role in this fixation, is the only Western country where Putin lived for years as a spy for the KGB and whose language he speaks. He likes to watch German television programming, as he reported in an interview shortly before the occupation of Crimea, preferring Maybrit Illner's talk show.

Front section number 1: In Ukraine, he is testing in a very fundamental way our readiness to go to war. He is disturbing the peace of mind of the country of Gustav Stresemann, Carl von Ossietzky, Willy Brandt and Petra Kelly. He challenges a state in which non-violence became the secret business basis of society after 1945, despite the Bundeswehr and the post-disarmament resolution.

In doing so, he also deprives us of the peace dividend we had so looked forward to after the implosion of the Soviet Union. With his 100-billion-euro rearmament program, Olaf Scholz is not the inventor of the "turn of the times. The turn of the times was triggered by the man in Moscow. Scholz is its notary.

Front section number 2: Putin is depriving us of the cheap energy that we have used for decades to fuel Germany's industrial export model. The fact that the Federal Republic has been able to maintain its high industrial base despite high wages and a developed welfare state is primarily thanks to a fossil energy base that seemed to be cheaply secured in the German-Russian energy partnership.

By withdrawing this basic industrial energy, Putin is making the economic conditions in Germany dance. Putin has pushed our country into a recession. The constant energy price hikes act like kick mines that will blow up many companies this winter.

Front section number 3: Where our national budget used to be, there is now a deep crater. Putin has bombed away the most important thing that distinguished this country from many of its neighbors, a sound financial constitution.

Through the shadow budgets that have emerged since the attack on Ukraine, the government is trying to hide from us the fact that we are in a huge debt mess. The fact that after spending 100 billion on rearmament, the coalition now has to spend another 200 billion to prop up the economy shows the magnitude of the damage done to us.

There is talk of a protective shield. Yet this 200-billion-euro credit authorization, which was released by the traffic light coalition yesterday, is basically nothing more than a war bond.

Front section number 4: Putin allies himself with our most important Asian trading partner, the People's Republic of China. Like a godfather, the new world power holds its protective hand over his bellicose activities and helps him to take the punch out of the Western sanctions regime.

At this front, at the latest, the Federal Republic is running out of economic firepower. Although we can see that China has immediately closed the supply chains and technology cycles severed by the West in the areas of gas, oil and international payments, we are incapable of reacting. The dependence of the automotive industry, chemical companies and mechanical and plant engineering on China is too great. Putin's Chinese reinsurer works.

Front section number 5: By weakening the Federal Republic, Putin is endangering the most important project of the postwar era, European unification. Solidarity within Europe is being enormously weakened because the Federal Republic, with a now ten percent inflation rate and significantly increased debt, has to go on self-protection in times of recession.

Many of our European friends consider the Federal Republic to be one big ATM machine. But this ATM is gradually running out of cash. The display says in red: Please choose a smaller amount and talk to your bank advisor.

Conclusion: Only if Putin's war is understood in its totality does Germany have a chance. A war chancellor is being sought. So far, only allotment gardeners have been sighted.

------------------------------

Honestly said, I do not care that much who destroyed the pieplines, the US or the wannabe-neo-USSR. But that would hardly become the majority opinion over here. I now wish somebody would crash the German business relaitons to China. The germans sitll have not got it, it seems, and with entzhsuasm big Gemrna companies tzhrow themsleves into even deeper dependency for China.

He who does not want to learn, must suffer.

[mapuc]

It will be a day in infamy for the Ukrainians

Markus

[Skybird]

Today's Russian propaganda show is not worth to even mention it with a single word.

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No proof of US sabotage of Nord Stream pipeline. Everbyody, stop believing in Russian drivel just because the lie's content damages much disliked Biden.

https://beta.dw.com/en/fact-check-us...ine/a-63295189

[August]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Today's Russian propaganda show is not worth to even mention it with a single word.

------------------------
No proof of US sabotage of Nord Stream pipeline. Everbyody, stop believing in Russian drivel just because the lie's content damages much disliked Biden.

https://beta.dw.com/en/fact-check-us...ine/a-63295189

Stop telling everybody what to do. You never had a problem believing Russian drivel just because the lies content damaged much disliked Trump.