RUNNING UPDATES ON THE CONFLICT IN UKRAINE - 20.04.2023
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.
*** THE WORLD OUTSIDE THE COLLECTIVE WEST IS DISGUSTED BY IT ***
…………
“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
Russia Advances on Key Bakhmut Road, Ukr Area Shrinks; West Splits on Negotiations, Zelensky Worried.
THE DURAN
Biden White House, out of control w/ Mike Adams (Live).
ALEX CHRISTOFOROU of THE DURAN
EU folds on grain fight. Stoltenberg visits Kiev, flash in the sky. Absolut vodka ban. U/1
THE DURAN
Q & A: BRICS rising as neocons destroy the West.
THE DURAN
Q & A: Existential conflict.
THE NEW AFRICA CHANNEL
Zambia's Fred M'membe Says West Threatened By China Developing Africa.
RUSSELL BRAND
IT’S HERE…Zelensky’s Dissent CRACKDOWN! - #112 - Stay Free With Russell Brand PREVIEW.
PARROT TV
FOREIGN POLICY REVIEW: E.U. COMING APART AT THE SEAMS.
LEE CAMP - RORY VARRATO
Inverted Totalitarianism: We Don't Know We're Enslaved.
NEIL OLIVER
Neil Oliver – They’re pushing us to breaking point!
The BBC are NOTHING MORE than a mouthpiece of the state.
TARA READE
Dmitry Polyanskiy | Russia's Push to Investigate NordStream 2 Sabotage.
THE JIMMY DORE SHOW
U.S. Sends Troops To Taiwan!
ASIAN QUICKTAKE
US‘s DEBT CRISIS is IMMINENT! A net of $664.7 Billion in US Bonds has been SOLD-OFF.
SEAN FOO
The Dollar Is In DANGER! | Yellen Admits The Obvious, U.S. Hegemony At Risk.
LEVAN GUDADZE
Fall of Bakhmut, US satellite over Kiev, Friction between Warsaw and Kiev, $325 million for Zelensky.
RUSSIAN NEWS
Lavrov's speech at a press conference in Venezuela | Russia, Caracas, Ivan Khil, Ukraine.
THE JIMMY DORE SHOW
FBI Actually Arrested Black Socialists Over Russiagate Garbage.
Biden’s Words On Russia & China Come Back To Haunt Him!
JUDGE ANDREW NAPOLITANO - SCOTT RITTER
U.S. Intel, Ukraine Russia and China.
BREAKTHROUGH NEWS
Proxy War in Ukraine: the View from China and from the US Anti-War Movement.
CHAVEZ NEWS
Ukrainian soldier on the front complains that he and his comrades were abandoned at their positions.
GARLAND NIXON
BIDEN DOJ CHARGES BLACK ACTIVISTS FOR SUPPORTING RUSSIA.
RICHARD MEDHURST
The West Wants a Ceasefire in Sudan... What About Ukraine?
SCOTT RITTER
Extra Ep. 62: Ask the Inspector.
LARRY JOHNSON (EX-CIA)
Former CIA Analysis Talks Ukraine/Russia & More.
STEPHEN GARDNER - TONY SHAFFER
Russia Is CRUSHING Ukraine.
CCTV VIDEO NEWS AGENCY
China, Russia Pledge to Support Each Other in Safeguarding Core Interests: Spokesman.
Morning Briefing of The Ministry of Defense of Russia (April 19, 2023).
TELESUR ENGLISH
Russia prevents sabotage organised by Ukrainian troops.
ShanghaiEye魔都眼
Bulgaria: the latest EU country to ban Ukraine grain import; Lavrov to talk grain deal with UN chief.
SINO SPHERE
Saudi Arabia's GAME CHANGING Decision JUST SHOCKED The World Leaves The US In Turmoil!
FIRSTPOST
China MoFA LIVE: Chinese Foreign Ministry Holds Daily News Conference
HINDUSTAN TIMES
Putin ally brands West as 'modern day Nazis'; Belarus warns against looming World War III.
Big blow to Zelensky's Ukraine; Four EU nations ban grain imports amid Russian invasion | Details.
Putin sends Russian bombers near Alaska; US, Canada scramble fighter jets | Watch:
Putin has the last laugh as Ukraine lashes NATO; 'Come on, beg us for membership' | Watch:
Russia foils big attack on Crimea power plant; 'Proof' of Ukraine special services link seized.
Russian Army 'liberates' Bakhmut from three sides; Ukraine loses over 400 troops in fight.
GEORGE GALLOWAY
NEW WORLD ORDER - MOATS Episode 231.
THE HAYDEN CENTER
"REFLECTING ON THE IRAQ WAR."
BREAKTHROUGH NEWS
Lula to China, Putin to South Africa: BRICS Reshape Global Power Dynamics.
Leaked Pentagon Docs Show US Elites Want Never-Ending Ukraine War.
KITCO NEWS
U.S. enters ‘sustained’ crisis as recession fears, de-dollarizarion push ETFs into gold.
ROBERT KIYOSAKi
What Joe Biden Is Doing With Ukraine. 💰⚔️
GERALD CELENTE
PENTAGON PAPERS 2.0, AMERICAN LIES CONTINUE.
JACKSON HINKLE
BOMBSHELL: 9/11 Hijackers Were CIA Recruits.
SYRIANA ANALYSIS
SCANDAL- Mainstream Journalists Funding Revealed.
REDACTED
Putin just DESTROYED NATO'S top Ukraine leaders with this attack, U.S. is silent.
Angry Warhawk: The Battle Of Bakhmut.
TELETRUTH
Moment Wagner storms garment factory a Ukrainian stronghold area of Bakhmut.
DANNY HAIPHONG - SCOTT RITTER
Russia is Ready to FINISH Ukraine After the US Undermines Peace Negotiations.
REDACTED
BRICS just did the UNTHINKABLE to the U.S. economy | Redacted with Clayton Morris.
INVESTOPADS
Get Ready! De-Dolarization Is Here! BRICS Preparing Something Big | Robert Kiyosaki.
SINO SPHERE
US is DOOMED After China REVEALED This Insane Move!
TECH REVOLUTION
Saudi Arabia And Russia JUST SHOCKED The World With This NEW Oil DEAL Set To CRUSH The Entire Market.
CGTN
Chinese peacekeepers hold defensive drills at UN base in Sudan as conflict escalates.
BREAKTHROUGH NEWS
Proxy War in Ukraine: the View from China and from the US Anti-War Movement.
acTVism Munich
Die Bedeutung des von China vermittelten Abkommens zwischen dem Iran & Saudi-Arabien.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
JEFFREY SACHS: THE GREED OF WESTERN COUNTRIES
Article published by Russia Today (RT) - 20th April 2023:
China’s role in the Yemen war ceasefire should not go unnoticed.
Beijing deserves some credit for bringing the end of one of the most brutal conflicts in history closer.
Eight and a half years of the Yemeni civil war has seen the Arab country torn into shreds.
Estimates suggest at least 350,000 people have died from the war or its consequences, which began in 2014. This includes approximately 85,000 children under the age of five who have died of starvation. Basic civil infrastructure and supply chains have collapsed, and typically treatable communicable diseases like cholera have claimed countless lives.
The war is primarily between the Yemeni government of Rashad al-Alimi, who took over in 2022 from Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, and the Houthi armed movement. The conflict escalated significantly when Saudi Arabia became involved in 2015 by backing Hadi (and now al-Alimi) in what is seen as a proxy war between Riyadh and Tehran, who is rumored to be supporting the Houthis.
Some of my first memories as a writer and college radio host was speaking to victims of the war and learning about the situation on the ground.
Fortunately, it now looks like the war might come to a close. US media reported on April 6th that a ceasefire had been struck between warring parties at least through the end of this year. Then, on April 7th, Lebanese news outlet Al Mayadeen reported that Riyadh had informed the Yemeni presidential leadership council of its decision to end the war and close the Yemen file once for all. This was further corroborated by a Reuters report, confirming that Saudi delegates would travel to the capital Sana’a to discuss a “permanent ceasefire.” And indeed these talks just wrapped up on April 14th and are expected to have a follow-up.
What is apparent from this situation, and what I had previously noted, is that the thawing of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia would likely lead to an end to the conflicts in Yemen and Syria. We are now seeing that play out. Most importantly, it was not US President Joe Biden – who had promised to end the conflict – but China that set the stage for this diplomatic achievement. And it’s not even a secret among US commentators since outlets like The Intercept, heavily quoting foreign policy experts, are giving China the credit.
It is difficult to compare such horrors but in my years speaking with victims of conflict, including Ukrainian refugees now, or previously with Afghans, Syrians and others, some of the most striking stories I’ve heard are from Yemenis. It is undoubtedly one of the most brutal and total wars seen in modern history, yet almost entirely off the radar for most Western media for nearly a decade.
Despite all of its diplomatic capital and links to the Middle East, somehow Washington managed – despite promising to halt the conflict – to be so anti-peace that it has driven perennial enemies to the table. And now, as the Wall Street Journal recently reported, CIA Director William Burns “expressed frustration” with Riyadh over its rapprochements with regional adversaries. Apparently, the US feels ‘blindsided’ by the deluge of peaceful resolutions – things it could never even fathom, apparently – and it’s angry with Riyadh, hitherto one of America’s largest arms importers.
Of course, buried under this frustration is a sense of loss. Anyone with some degree of familiarity with US politics and especially US foreign policy knows it is dominated by big money. In foreign affairs, this is primarily the military-industrial complex, which thrives off war and hatred. Peace is bad for business. And thus, the owners of US officials – the people who bankroll their campaigns and/or their bosses’ campaigns – are probably ticked.
Such a reaction explains why US diplomacy is inherently antithetical to peace. The US has been involved in numerous conflicts in the Middle East for some three decades, arguably more. With all of this history between Washington and its ‘partners’ in the region, it has extraordinarily little to show for it. The truth is that the US has stoked, proliferated and literally profited from sowing discord and conflict.
On the other hand, China wants to do business in other ways. Beijing is, to be fair, the fourth largest arms supplier in the world – but, according to Statista, it only has a global market share of 5.2% compared to Washington’s 40%. Chinese companies want to sell their goods or services, develop infrastructure and sell affordable and reliable products. This creates a political environment where stability, predictability and orderliness are cherished values.
As such, Chinese diplomacy is largely to thank for the expected conclusion of the gruesome human tragedy that has been the war in Yemen. Counter to what Washington spews about their so-called “rules-based international order” that no one can ever seem to articulate, Beijing believes in the post-WWII status quo – international law, the United Nations, sovereignty and diplomacy. And that is precisely why a growing number of high-level European officials, including most recently French President Emmanuel Macron, believe China can also help mediate the conflict in Ukraine.
MAPPING/ANALYSIS CHANNELS
* Updates will be added here as and when they become available.
MILITARY SUMMARY UPDATE
Wagner cut 0506 road. The Russians advanced in the South. Military Summary And Analysis 2023.04.20
Massive Drone Attack. Wagner and Airborne Forces Advances. Military Summary And Analysis 2023.04.20
NWE WAR REPORTS UPDATE
BAKHMUT Supply Road Cut | Ukrainian Risk being TRAPPED. BAKHMUT Supply Road Cut | Ukrainian Risk being TRAPPED.
DEFENSE POLITICS ASIA UPDATE
UKRAINE COUNTEROFFENSIVE STARTED? - 4 Ukraine jets shot down [ Ukraine SITREP ] Day 420 (19/4).
DPA WAR UPDATE
No update posted so far today
THETI MAPPING UPDATE
No update posted so far today
BALKAN MAPPING UPDATE
No update posted so far today
PROJECT GREAT UPDATE
Russia Just Cut Last Road In Bakhmut? Russia's Multiple Advance In North & South Of Bakhmut City.
MILITARY AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS UPDATE
Battlefield Ukraine Do You Want Total War.
RYBAR UPDATE
Rybar Daily Digest of the Special Military Operation: April 19, 2023.
M MAPPING UPDATE
Ukraine:Day 420 [ 20 April ] Massive Fighting North Of Bakhmut.
HISTORY OF MAKUS ENG
No update posted so far today
WEEB UNION UPDATE
Russian Forces Cut Khromove Road | Fully Capture Central Bakhmut | Front Update 20/04/23
Detailed situation reports can be found on a daily basis concerning events in Ukraine over the past 24 hours at the ‘A SKEPTIC’ Substack account:
Link to 'A SKEPTIC' Substack channel.
***
SUPPORTING SCOTT RITTER
I've been listening to Scott Ritter describe how things are for him and I suspect have been for him for quite some time now.
He has been doing a LOT of unpaid work with a great many interview requests coming in that he has been ready and willing to agree to. But the work where receives some pay for have suffered due to this, being left until the wee small hours of the night to complete work on.
Scott, I think you will agree, has been one of the most influential voices out there on Russia and Ukraine.
I was moved by Scott's words to take an annual subscription to his Substack account that he runs in coordination with his colleague on 'U.S. Tour of Duty', Jeff Norman. This is the main way that Scott recommends to help him with finances with which to upgrade his delivery of comment on Russia and Ukraine, via a better microphone etc. and perhaps the creation of a recording studio in his basement to create a more professional and impressive look. To invest in these things he would like to be sure that this has a viable financial future.
Would you also like to help by subscribing at one of the various levels to Scott's Substack account? I hope so. If so the link is here:
Below you'll find the edited part of the video where Scott talks of his commitments to get the facts out on events in Ukraine and of the finances that would come in handy to enhance their delivery:
***
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.
UPDATES TO BE ADDED HERE AS AND WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE OVER THE NEXT 24 HOURS.
UPDATES TO BE ADDED HERE AS AND WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE OVER THE NEXT 24 HOURS
THE U.S.A., ITS SELF-CREATED MESS AND THE TOILET BOWL OF HISTORY
If they had believed they had more time they could, and perhaps would, have done things differently. But the political elites of the USA were in a hurry.
9/11 spurred them to get the job done they had agreed upon in the days after very quickly. So, they rushed headlong into the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Their plan to take out all the nations who were in a potential rivalry situation with them was about to go horribly wrong all the way to the present day. But the impetus to get this done for the future defense of the USA ruled all.
The Taliban were guilty (in the eyes of Washington) only of providing a place where al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden have a base. Bad enough you might say, but a full scale invasion and occupation of a land impossible to tame? A huge tactical mistake.
Then came Iraq and the pressure to find a reason to attack and invade there too. In a rush the weapons of mass destruction gambit was fixed upon. To add a little more support to their invasion plans a bare-faced lie was told about a possible nuclear program and a fake story about buying Uranium Orange Cake was put together. Not content with this it was put about that Saddam Hussain was in league with the 9/11 plotters, al Qaeda. This was an even greater lie than that about the non-existent nuclear program. In any case, despite no clear mandate from the UN the attack and invasion took place as we all know well. And how that whole saga ended.
Libya was another primary target. Syria too, Both were attacked by one means or another. Libya had its economy obliterated and with it its social cohesion, governmental system ushering an anarchy that rumbles on yet where mutually exclusive rivalries fight it out, often literally... and the disgusting re-emergence of a slave trade leaks out to further despoil another failed regime change operation. As bad as Libya was in the delivery of its murderous and enthusiastically created devastation by NATO the war against Syria was at its heart far more evil in its methodologies. Not only would the previous enemies of America be utilized, armed and funded they would be encouraged to take over a country brought to its knees by every means possible. The rise of ISIS was engineered and encouraged by Washington. Speed was of the essence and both Afghanistan and Iraq had been too expensive in terms of blood and treasure. Now proxy forces would be used, any proxy forces, the more violent and ruthless the better.
Syria, like Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan before it quickly became yet another disaster for the White House. And after four years in, with Syria's president still firmly in place but losing his grip on ever more Syrian territory Russia stepped in to stymie the American's plans just as they believed they were finally getting somewhere. Putin was determined that no caliphate would arise in Syria, the ultimate outcome whether the USA wished it or not. Supplying logistical help, weapons and funding to extremists and losing track of which extremist was which and where the weapons migrated to made the ultimate destination of an ISIS caliphate inevitable. They were the most ruthless of all the ruthless actors fighting the Syrian government and it was inevitable that they would celebrate the final victory, until Russia entered the conflict and turned the tide of war against them. Yet another disaster for the U.S. policy to bring down all its targeted leaders and the economies of the nations that supported them in power.
With all this failure behind them next came the decision to support the rioting mobs on Kiev's Maidan, doing their utmost to bring down the democratically-elected president and government who had come to office in two elections called 'free and fair' by the thousands of presiding monitors. John McCain, Victoria Nuland, Geoffrey Pyatt and those who ran special courses for the leaders of the riots all got behind the chaos and anarchy supporting it to the hilt in complete contravention of all their noble pretensions to safeguarding democracy. The chief agency for the USA created to be involved in such episodes, The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) was used, without a trace of irony to use an insurrection to level the democracy of an entire nation in a murderous coup. Ukraine of course is a nation of two distinct halves, the west looking west, the east to the east. The east had been responsible for voting in the president and government now ousted. What were they supposed to do as their democratic rights were subverted by those who had no qualms about telling those in the east just how much they hated them? They did what you would also have done, they took matters into their own hands using the example of what had transpired on Maidan, but WITHOUT the violence. It was Washington's proxies from western Ukraine who brought that.
And what do we see happening now in Ukraine eight years later? The conflict is still a running sore with two regions of the Donbass of south-eastern Ukraine constantly surrounded by Kiev's minions (both the Ukrainian military and the savage, hate-fueled ultra-nationalist and neo-Nazi 'volunteer battalions'. The crucial question in regard to all the USA's disastrous previous regime change ops is of course how this one is turning out for it. Not very well as it happens. America and its ally, the EU has had to pour hundreds of millions into the Kiev money-pit with little to show for it. Russia is now strong enough to insist that this whole malignant campaign end and America's chief warmongering tool, NATO, retreat from its borders. Ukraine is buckling under the increasingly disastrous economy which has shrunk down to a shadow of its former level before the U.S./EU intervention took place. Another disastrous campaign by the U.S. One more sore on its decaying level of influence and reputation.
Let us now turn to the primary targets the USA has had in its sights all along, Russia and China. The plan was to get to them as soon as possible, but to take the low-hanging fruit first denying them allies and in any case dealing with the weaker nations first, something that didn't come as easy as expected as we've seen. Those low-hanging fruit turned out to be pretty poisonous for the rapacious gullet of the American war machine. At this point a wild card entered the scene, Donald J. Trump, sociopath. Though a thoroughly self-interested corporate criminal and all round thug Trump may have been cannier than he looked. Was his scheme in currying favor with Putin and Russia in the presidential campaign and the earliest days of his presidency based on a certain obvious logic looking back from today when China and Russia have become closer to an unbreakable alliance than ever before?
If the USA was not in such a hurry to 'get the job done' demanded by 9/11, to eliminate all rivals and potential rivals to its global hegemony, it would have done the smart thing and attempted to win over Russia against China. Is it possible that through the almost totally vacant and narcissistic brain of Donald Trump (or that of Bannon, his chief adviser at the time) that if Russia could be made a friend they could both then do their utmost to bring China down together? When we compare this possibility to what actually transpired, the making of Russia into a despised enemy (on a totally false basis, Russiagate) and the driving of Russia into the arms of China we can see the USA creating yet another mess for itself. Because China has started to rise fast and Russia with it. New pipelines are being constructed from Siberia to China, they are trading more and more in Euros, not dollars, technical and military cooperation is becoming more and more common and a plethora of new agreements have just been signed off on. These two now present the USA with a challenge it cannot possibly surmount. It can certainly now no longer have any real hope of achieving the goals it set itself after 9/11. In fact, with its people at each other's throats, with its national debt now soaring over $30 trillion and Covid-19 having decimated great swathes of its population and inflation now soaring... North America will be lucky to achieve its goals even close to home. Venezuela and Cuba have both shown just how tough that can be and with Argentina now joining China's Belt and Road initiative the rot has only just begun.
Truly, the USA is its own worst enemy. Careering down the road to something approaching oblivion still thrashing its military arms in a vain attempt to hurt whoever is around akin to a terminally wounded animal feeling its power fast draining away. The sorry story of a great nation led by donkeys has been seen before, in Britain during World War One. Now an even more tragic concatenation of error, hubris, over-extended aggression and false pride named exceptionalism, has brought it on a road normally reserved for GOOD intentions, the name of the road being of course the road to ruin.
It is a total mess. A horrible, murderous mess of overweening ambition, hatred, false pride, jingoism, bare-faced lying, dirty tricks and legalized slaughter, torture and a litany of some of the most criminal acts by national elites ever known and serially perpetrated by a single nation. As they sometimes say in the USA, what goes around comes around. It's a little bit like a form of national karma. And we will, in our lifetimes see the outcome for all the crimes the elites of the USA have committed. We will finally see them quarantined as Russia-China rises to eclipse their malignant power and end their rampant criminality once and forever.
The U.S. and its self-created mess will then be dutifully consigned, with no regret observed, to the toilet bowl of history.
