RUNNING UPDATES ON THE CONFLICT IN UKRAINE - 18.12.2023
Including geopolitical issues affecting the balance of power in the ongoing end game war to establish our common future, a closely monitored prison planet or tolerance for diverse modes of governance.
THE ROAD TO THE ULTIMATE CONCLUSION OF WORLD WAR III RUNS THROUGH HERE.
*** UKRAINE REGIME CORRODING FROM WITHIN - RUSSIA MAKING GAINS ***
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“Ukraine. What is the truth...?
Why won’t western media tell both sides…?”
***
VIRTUALLY UNREPORTED ATROCITY IN LUGANSK, 2nd JUNE 2014
A lot has been said about atrocities in the western media claimed to have been perpetrated by the Russians, for example at Bucha and Mariupol among others. These assertions are conveyed on the say so of the Ukrainian authorities. How willing though are western news broadcasters to convey atrocities attributed to the Ukrainians? The following will I think provide the answer.
If anyone wonders if they are receiving accurate coverage of the conflict in Ukraine I would suggest watching the video below of an event which occurred on the 2nd of June 2014 and ask themselves if they recall hearing about it on any mainstream media news channel at the time.
The video is harrowing to watch. The bodies (five women and three men) are real. Yet across western media there was only one single news report that occurred a day later. This was from CNN and occurred only because a CNN team happened to be nearby at the time of the atrocity and so the network could hardly ignore it as all others so obviously did.
The video below shows the unvarnished truth that was not considered newsworthy in western mainstream news.
THE SINGLE WESTERN MSM REPORT ON THE LUGANSK ATROCITY, 3rd JUNE 2014
The video at the CNN link below is the crime scene sanitised by CNN, though played straight with honest reporting on the scene not playing things to Kiev’s tune.
(There was a time early in the war in the Donbass when CNN were not afraid to contradict the Ukrainian regime in Kiev.) Watch, because it's the first and last time you will see this.
5 women and 3 men died, all civilians.
Air attack on pro-Russian separatists in Luhansk kills 8, stuns residents.
…………
Lead feature:
ALEXANDER MERCOURIS of THE DURAN
Kiev Crisis: Bug Found Zaluzhny Office, Ukr Army Discontent Boils Over, West No Plan B, Rus Advances.
ALEX CHRISTOFOROU of THE DURAN
Serbia elections. Zaluzhny wiretap. NYT, The Putin bought Heineken for $1.
THE DURAN
Palestine to Ukraine. Conflicts without Solution - Alastair Crooke, Alex Mercouris & Glenn Diesen.
GLENN DIESEN
Mearsheimer's warning (in 2015) against provoking a war in Ukraine.
GLENN DIESEN - COLONEL DOUGLAS MACGREGOR
US overextending itself in Ukraine and the Middle East.
RUSSIAN NEWS
Putin's speech at the congress of the United Russia political party.
JUDGE ANDREW NAPOLITANO - SCOTT HORTON
Scott Horton: Unearthing the Truth about the Ukrainian Crisis.
JUDGE ANDREW NAPOLITANO - LARRY JOHNSON (EX-CIA)
Israel Shoots Itself in the Foot.
PROFESSOR JEFFREY SACHS
JEFFREY SACHS HONEST INTERVIEW ABOUT U.S - UKRAINE IN DEEPER LOOK, UKRAINE IS NO MORE ? THE TRUTH ?
THE JIMMY DORE SHOW
“The Germans Screwed Themselves Over Ukraine!” – Tucker Carlson.
HINDUSTAN TIMES
PM Modi To Send Jaishankar To Russia; Lavrov Meeting, Russia-Ukraine War On Agenda.
LEVAN GUDADZE
Over the past 24 hours alone Ukraine has lost over 600 military personnel and 41 combat vehicles...
Ukraine has a few months left - IMF, Zaluzhny under wiretapping, UK military against Russia, Red Sea.
EMIL COSMAN
Gen. Zaluzhny's office wiretapped. Who did it? Suspects: Zelensky, US, Russia, UK, SBU, Budanov...
BORZZIKMAN
Russia Destroyed NATO's Secret Bunker With 40 High-Ranking NATO Officers In UKRAINE.
REDACTED w/ COLONEL DOUGLAS MACGREGOR
"The U.S. is about to LOSE its Super Power status."
ANDREI MARTYANOV
About Military Profession.
HINDUSTAN TIMES
Young Americans Want Israel Abolished, Justify Hamas' Oct. 7 Attack - Harvard Survey.
HINDUSTAN TIMES
Israel Loses 5 Soldiers In 24 Hours; Putin Warns Finland.
Hezbollah Launches 10 Attacks On Israel In 1 Day; 90 Killed In Jabalia; Pak’s War Threat To India.
ANTIWAR NEWS WITH DAVE DECAMP
IDF Kills Three Israeli Hostages in Gaza, Israeli Official Says Turn Gaza Into Auschwitz, and More.
GLENN GREENWALD
The Horrifying War in Gaza Continues.
PROFESSOR JEFFREY SACHS
HONEST INTERVIEW ABOUT WHY THE U.S WANTS TO DOMINATE THE WORLD.
FIRSTPOST
China MoFA LIVE: China, North Korea Hold High-Level Meeting Amid Missile Launches.
SINO SPHERE
China & Russia Just Scored A Power Move Against U.S And Israel.
AL JAZEERA ENGLISH
China, Saudi Arabia And Iran Call For Immediate Ceasefire in Israel-Gaza War
JUDGE ANDREW NAPOLITANO - PROFESSOR JEFFREY SACHS
Is the US the Essential Nation?
PROFESSOR RICHARD WOLFF
A Changing World Economy - G7, BRICS, Capitalism and Socialism.
GEOPOLITICAL ECONOMY REPORT
Is neoliberalism really dead? Or does it live on like a zombie?
RUSSIAN NEWS
United States military biological activities in Ukraine raise questions! Russia.
LIU SIVAYA
ZALUZHNY ESPIADO: Zelensky ataca al Comandante en Jefe de las Fuerzas Armadas de Ucrania | liusivaya.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
NEUTRALITY STUDIES
Proof That Neocons Believing Their Own Lies Is Killing Ukraine | Kuleba VS Putin.
Articles from Sputnik International - 18th December 2023:
Scott Ritter: Ukrainian Military to Crumble by Mid-2024.
The West's military aid to Kiev has been drying up, sealing the fate of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Scott Ritter, former US Marine Corps intelligence officer and UN weapons inspector, told Sputnik's New Rules podcast.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's charm offensive has failed, as US members of Congress are fixing to leave for winter break without passing Biden's $61 billion package for Kiev.
Even though the Democratic-controlled Senate has delayed holiday recess to unlock the aid, the House shows no sign of returning to pass it through the full Congress.
"The day of the West turning over hundreds of tanks, hundreds of armored fighting vehicles, hundreds of artillery pieces is over," Scott Ritter, a military analyst and former US Marine Corps intelligence officer, told Sputnik. "We just don't have any left to give. So the best Zelensky can hope for is your penny packets of armor, penny packets of infantry fighting vehicles, some ammunition, and maybe an F-16 or two. He's going to want a lot of money to continue, to not only sustain the funding of the Ukrainian state, but also to sustain the greasing of Ukrainian corruption, because that's the only thing that keeps Zelensky in power."
The US House of Representatives voted in favor of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on December 14. The bill extended the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative through the end of 2026, authorizing $300 million for Kiev in the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024, as well as the next one. Still, the US media admits that it's just a drop in the bucket when compared to the $61 billion requested by Biden.
Both American voters and members of Congress have grown skeptical about funneling more money into Ukraine. Almost 50 percent of US voters believe Washington is spending “too much” in military and financial aid for Ukraine, as per the latest FT-Michigan Ross monthly survey. The sentiment is largely explained by Kiev's crushing defeat during the summer counteroffensive.
Meanwhile, Kiev officials behave as if they are absolutely unaware of the troublesome trend. Earlier this month, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense handed over a "list of armaments to meet the needs of Ukraine’s defense forces" to their American counterparts.
In addition to artillery shells, F-16 fighters, drones, and missiles the list also included F-18 Hornet fighter jets, Boeing Apache attack helicopters, Lockheed Martin Black Hawk choppers, and even the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) air defense system, among other top-notch weapons.
Per Ritter, there's zero chance whatsoever that Ukraine will ever see anything on that wish list, with the exception of perhaps a handful of old F-16 fighters and a fraction of the artillery ammunition that they've requested.
"This is a sign of absolute panic on the part of Ukraine," Ritter believes. "Zelensky is approaching a delusional state where he appears to be of a mindset similar to that which Adolf Hitler possessed in the final days in the Berlin bunker as the Red Army closed in, where he fantasized armies, he was moving nonexistent troops and aircraft on a map with his hands."
The former Marine intelligence officer explained that providing sophisticated weaponry to Kiev is throwing away money and throwing away capability in the eyes of Washington. Furthermore, Russia knocking out F-18 fighter jets or THAADs would create a bad precedent, let alone the security challenge of US technologies falling into the hands of the Russian military, according to Ritter.
"Ukraine does not factor into the legitimate national security interests of the United States," the military expert highlighted. "We are not going to sacrifice ourselves on the altar of Ukrainian nationalism. We've given them some support, but that support was merely sufficient to create the perception of Ukrainian strength. But we were never going to give the Ukrainians the ability to win this war, because they were never going to have the ability to win this war. Ukraine cannot defeat Russia. They're not physically capable of defeating Russia, regardless of the equipment that the West gives them. So why would we sacrifice the best equipment we have on this altar?"
Meanwhile, as Western military aid to Ukraine is dwindling, Kiev has virtually no chances of withstanding a potential Russian offensive in 2024, Ritter believes. To complicate matters further, Ukraine lost over 125,000 troops during the six months of Kiev's botched counteroffensive, per the Russian Ministry of Defense.
Currently, the Russian military is steadily improving its positions along the entire, nearly 2,000 km-long, contact line in the special military operation zone, as Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed Thursday during his annual presser.
The fate of the Ukrainian Army is sealed, as it does not have the luxury of an operational pause to catch its breath, according to the former UN weapons inspector.
"I don't see Ukraine surviving too long into 2024. Right now, there has been some talk about the potential of a major Russian offensive in the direction of Odessa sometime in the spring of 2024. And I believe that if Russia is moving towards Odessa at that time, it means that the end is imminent for Ukraine," Ritter concluded.
Scott Ritter: Ukrainian Military to Crumble by Mid-2024.
To the Last Ukrainian: Fico Exposes Dark Reality of Western Plan for Kiev.
Most European states are consumed by hatred for Russia and Western countries are ready to fight to the last Ukrainian soldier in order to weaken the Russian Federation, believes Slovakia's prime minister.
Ukraine and its citizens have simply become a bargaining chip in the geopolitical squabble, says Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico.
"In fact, most of the member states of the European Union are obsessed with Ukraine and hatred towards Russia, which leads to peculiar views that are undoubtedly propagated in the European media — that the war in Ukraine should continue to weaken Russia," Fico said in his video address published on social media.
The Slovak leader said that obsession was linked to unfounded scaremongering claims that Russia might attack a NATO member.
"In reality, Ukraine is only being used for geopolitical purposes to weaken Russia both economically and internationally," Fico added.
The Slovak prime minister also viewed Ukraine's possible accession to the EU as nothing more than a political gesture to cover up inconvenient realities on the battlefield.
He emphasized that it will take years before Ukraine can realistically join the EU as the country is not ready both in terms of democratic functioning and the fight against corruption — putting the European Union in a hopeless situation.
"When major EU members calculate the hundreds of billions of euros that Ukraine's EU membership would cost, the decision made in Brussels will remain a political gesture for many years," Fico added.
He believes that Ukraine is simply a 'golden goose' for Western companies involved in the arms trade — regardless of the human cost.
"I fear that, in the name of these geopolitical goals, the West will continue to fight with Russia until the last Ukrainian soldier, and we are not far from that," Fico said.
On Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed as "complete nonsense" recent comments by US President Joe Biden about a possible Russian attack on NATO. Putin stressed that Russia has no interest in waging war against NATO countries, saying there was no political, economic or military reasons to do so.
Moscow has previously argued that Kiev intends to continue fighting "to the last Ukrainian" in the interests of Western powers.
Russia earlier warned NATO countries against further arms shipments to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said any cargo containing weapons for Ukraine would be a legitimate target for Russia. The Russian Foreign Ministry has previously accused NATO countries of "playing with fire" by supplying weapons to Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that arming Ukraine with Western weapons would not contribute to the success of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations and would only have a negative impact. Lavrov charged that the US and NATO are directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine, "not only through arms supplies, but also by training personnel... on the territory of the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and other countries."
To the Last Ukrainian: Fico Exposes Dark Reality of Western Plan for Ukraine.
Gazprom Sets New Daily Record for Gas Deliveries to China.
The new record emphasizes the importance of Russia’s partnership with its Asian neighbor, as Europe struggles with the irony of their economic failures following their unprecedented sanctions imposed on Russia, as well as the cost of liquefied natural gas exports from the US.
On Sunday, Russian gas giant Gazprom announced that it had set a new daily record for gas deliveries to China the previous day. The company did not disclose the volume of gas it had sent to its partner, but emphasized that it is working to increase its supply to Beijing along the Power of Siberia pipeline which is to thank for its new daily record.
"On December 16, China’s application for the supply of Russian gas through the Power of Siberia gas pipeline once again exceeded the daily contractual obligations. Gazprom delivered all the requested volumes and set a new historical record for daily gas supplies to China," the statement said.
The Power of Siberia is the main gas pipeline stretching from Russia to China, and covers about 3,000 kilometers. Last year alone, the Russian gas giant exported 15.4 billion cubic meters through the pipeline, and for the year 2023 estimations have predicted that it will reach 22 billion. In September, Russia’s Energy Ministry also estimated that exports will reach 30 billion in the year 2024.
And on Thursday, Gazprom had announced cooperation plans with the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) for next year which may include potential gas supplies from Russia through Mongolia. The project has been called the Power of Siberia 2, or the Altai gas pipeline with the designed capacity to carry 50 billion cubic meters per year.
The Power of Siberia has proven to be a successful commitment between Russia and Asia, developing against all odds, despite the unprecedented Western pressure on Russia’s economy. Ironically, the sanctions imposed on Russia have left Europe grappling with spiraling inflation and surging energy bills.
Gazprom Sets New Daily Record for Gas Deliveries to China.
Western Companies Declare Over $100Bln in Losses After Leaving Russian Market - Reports.
Western companies that announced their withdrawal from Russia following the start of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine in 2022, suffered losses of more than $103 billion, The New York Times reported on Sunday.
The report noted that Russia has been able to benefit from the departure of companies, including by dictating conditions for them to withdraw their businesses from Russia.
In addition, the report said that while Ukraine was preoccupied with short-term imperatives, such as pleading for more aid, the stability of the Russian economy allowed Moscow to play a long game.
After the start of Russia's military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Western countries significantly expanded their list of sanctions against Moscow. The European Union, in particular, has already adopted 11 sanctions packages.
Western Companies Declare Over $100Bln in Losses After Leaving Russian Market - Reports.
MAPPING/ANALYSIS CHANNELS
* Updates will be added here as and when they become available.
MILITARY SUMMARY CHANNEL UPDATE
SnowStorm | Ukraine Retreats From Novomykhailivka | Ivanivske Pincers. Military Summary 2023.12.18
A Wiretap Was Found In Zaluzhny Office | Russians Attack Supply Routes. Military Summary 2023.12.18
DEFENSE POLITICS ASIA UPDATE
Russian forces entering Novomykhailivka (possibly), Donetsk Front.
WAR ROOM MAPPING UPDATE
No update posted so far toda
THETI MAPPING UPDATE
WAR UPDATE: Russian Forces Advance On Five Fronts In One Week.
MILITARY AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS NETWORK
No update posted so far today
NEW WORLD GEOPOLITICS
No update posted so far today
M MAPPING UPDATE
No update posted so far today
RYBAR MAPPING UPDATE
No update posted so far today
HS MAPPING UPDATE
Surprise Russian Advance l Danger Of Encirclement l Russia Enters Synkivka.
FREE RUSSIA MAPPING CHANNEL
Recent Russian Advance Threatens A Massive Encirclement | Russians Are About To Capture Klishchiivka.
WEEB UNION MAPPING UPDATE
New Russian Advances Escalate The Threat On Ukrainian Positions.
VICTORY BELONGS TO RUSSIA: IT IS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME
Each day that passes makes a conclusive Russian victory in the Donbass and beyond more certain. As Russia bolsters her forces, and weaponry, those of Ukraine decrease. Russian forces gain ready access to rest and recuperation as troop numbers increase. The increasingly exhausted and demoralised Ukrainian troops have an ever decreasing prospect of such respite. This situation is likely to bring them to complete breakdown as Russia unleashes the firepower of the more modern and advanced weaponry that is arriving with the newly mobilised Russian troops.
The various Ukrainian offensives are now weak when confronted by the reinforced Russian lines. A few futile efforts achieve quite miserable results before fire reigns down on the Ukrainian troops and they are forced back to their starting positions.
And now, all this being said, we have arrived at the wet, and later, freezing conditions where these pathetic Ukrainian forces will be subject to myriad forms of abject misery with death and injury all around them while they lie sodden or frozen, abandoned to their fate by Kiev.
The pitiable young and old of Ukraine have been frogmarched to their deaths as cannon-fodder while the bestial elites of the collective West urge their "president" to add more to their number there at the gates of Hell and their doom. We must feel for the majority of them as they are not the Nazis we revile, in most part they are decent men, fathers, sons, brothers, husband and uncles, who no doubt saw through the coup of 2014 for what it was. But sadly, their fate seems sealed.
Nothing will stop Russia now. Every factor favours them. Victory will be Russia's. In Donbass and beyond and in due course across the world.
Victory belongs to Russia: It is now only a matter of time.