RUNNING UPDATES ON THE CONFLICT IN UKRAINE - 18.11.2024
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.
*** DEEP STRIKES INSIDE RUSSIA? IF SO, HOW WILL PUTIN RESPOND? ***
COLLECTIVE WEST-UKRAINE <-> RUSSIA
ALEXANDER MERCOURIS of THE DURAN: Moscow Tough Response Biden ATACMS Decision, Trump Team Furious, UK-France Dither; Xi Scolds Biden.
ALEX CHRISTOFOROU & ALEXANDER MERCOURIS of THE DURAN: BIDEN lame duck, approves ATACMS strikes into Russia.
ALEX CHRISTOFOROU of THE DURAN: Angry Biden escalates towards US-Russia conflict. EU leaders celebrate more war. G20 begins.
Harvest Time, Ukrainians Stuck In Kursk, Long-Range Missiles Mystery. Military Summary For 2024.11.18
Biden Authorizes Ukrainian Long-Range Strikes Into Russia Using ATACMS Missiles.
The US and its allies spent months debating whether or not to give Ukraine the go-ahead to use its NATO-provided long-range strike systems to target Russia. In September, President Putin warned that allowing Kiev to use its Western long-range missiles on Russia would mean NATO's direct participation in a war against the Russian Federation.
President Biden has signed off on the Ukrainian military's use of US-made ATACMS missiles to try to help defend its faltering positions in Ukrainian-occupied areas of Russia's Kursk region, the New York Times reported on Sunday, citing US officials apprized of the situation.
Officials told the newspaper that they "do not expect the shift" in policy "to fundamentally alter the course of the war" (NYT's phrasing), and indicated that Biden could further authorize Kiev to use the weapons in directions besides Kursk in the future.
Washington reportedly expects the ATACMS to be used to strike troop concentrations, military equipment, logistics, ammunition depots and supply lines, all with the goal of "blunt[ing] the effectiveness" of the ongoing Russian military operation to clear Kursk of Ukrainian forces.
According to NYT's information, some Pentagon officials opposed delivering the missile systems to Ukraine in the first place due to the US Army's limited supply. Others reportedly expressed fears that their delivery and use could escalate the conflict and even prompt direct Russian retaliation against US and NATO forces - something President Putin has explicitly warned about.
The ATACMS go-ahead also appears to be connected to to the increasingly dire situation for Ukrainian forces across the front, with US officials said to have become "increasingly concerned" about the Ukrainian army being "stretched thin by simultaneous Russian assaults in the east, Kharkov and now Kursk."
President-elect Trump's statements about seeking to quickly end the conflict have also reportedly weighed in the outgoing administration's decision, NYT said.
Putin: NATO's Approval of Use of Long-Range Missiles by Ukraine Will Mean It is at War With Russia
What Are ATACMS?
The Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) is a solid-fuel, surface-to-surface ballistic missile with an effective firing range of up to 300 km, and a maximum velocity during boost phase of up to Mach 3, or 1 km/second.
The weapon's ordinance varies wildly depending on model and block number, and can include 500 pound (230 kg) penetrating high-explosive blast fragmentation warheads, or other explosives weighing between 160 and 560 kg, including anti-personnel and materiel cluster 'bomblets'. ATACMS also vary in terms of the guidance systems they carry, which can include inertial guidance and/or built-in GPS.
An unspecified number of ATACMS were 'quietly' shipped to Ukraine in the spring of 2024, with the US restricting their use to the local battlespace, and the Russian military regularly reporting on the downing scores of the weapons in fighting over the summer.
President Putin's September warning about the implications of NATO countries freeing Kiev's hand to use long-range missiles to target areas deep inside Russia seemed to have influenced alliance plans to do so, with the bloc publicly backpeddling on its plans later that month.
Biden Authorizes Ukrainian Long-Range Strikes Into Russia Using ATACMS Missiles.
MOSCOW COMMENTS ON BIDEN'S REPORTED APPROVAL OF STRIKES DEEP INSIDE RUSSIA.
President Vladimir Putin has previously warned that the move would mean NATO’s direct involvement in the conflict.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has already shared his thoughts on possible Western approval for Ukraine to carry out long-range strikes deep within Russian territory, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.
According to a report from the New York Times on Sunday, which cited unnamed American officials, US President Joe Biden has given Kiev the green light to deploy long-range American missiles against targets within Russia’s internationally recognized borders.
“The president has expressed his opinion on this matter,” Zakharova told news outlet RBK on Sunday.
In September, Putin stated that Ukrainian forces lack the capability to carry out attacks with Western-supplied long-range missiles without external assistance. “It is not a question of allowing the Ukrainian regime to strike Russia with these weapons or not. It is about deciding whether NATO countries become directly involved in the military conflict or not,” he said.
READ MORE: Biden approves Ukrainian strikes deep inside Russia with US missiles – NYT
Putin added that if a decision allowing the strikes were made, Moscow would make “appropriate decisions in response to the threats that will be posed to us.”
Moscow comments on Biden’s reported approval of strikes deep inside Russia.
DANNY HAIPHONG - BRIAN BERLETIC of THE NEW ATLAS: Russia DEVASTATES Ukraine's Army in Kursk, Kiev ATACMS Won't Halt Putin's Advance.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: Putin's Stern Warning as Biden Allows Ukraine to Use US Weapons to Strike Russia: Flashback, 9/2024.
DANIEL DAVIS: "The Missiles will speak for themselves. Definitely" Biden Allows Long Range Strikes into Russia.
DANIEL DAVIS: Biden allows Ukraine to use U.S. arms to strike inside Russia.
GEORGE GALLOWAY: The war this time.
RACHEL BLEVINS: Report: Biden Gives Zelensky Green Light to Strike Russia With Long-Range U.S. Missiles.
THE DURAN: Failure to Consider Russian Security (Clip 24.10.2024)-Former CIA Director of Russia Analysis.
LEVAN GUDADZE: US, UK and France declaring war on Russia? Washington, London and Paris authorize long-range strikes.
LARRY JOHNSON: Ukraine Strikes Deep into Russia - Is Nuclear War Next?
SCOTT RITTER: Biden Suddenly Relevant as He Begins WWIII.
RAY MCGOVERN: Will Kiev Use US Missiles On Moscow?
COLONEL JACQUES BAUD: WW3 on the Horizon in Ukraine?
DANIEL P WELCH: Putin's Explosive Reaction to Biden Giving Ukraine the Green Light to Strike Russia.
CALEB MAUPIN: WW3 Before He Leaves?
GARLAND NIXON: NEOCONS TO VOTERS: IF WE LOSE, YOU DIE. - BIDEN MOVES TO ATTACK RUSSIA!
SERGEY LAVROV: I can't imagine how Trump will solve the Ukrainian issue.
The Biden administration wants ‘World War III’ – Trump Jr.
The president-elect’s son blasted the “imbeciles” in Washington for reportedly approving Ukrainian missile strikes deep inside Russia.
Donald Trump Jr. speaks during a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden on October 27, 2024 in New York City © Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images
US President-elect Donald Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., lashed out at the Democrats following reports that outgoing President Joe Biden has allowed Ukraine to use American-made long-range missiles to strike internationally recognized Russian territory.
Trump Jr., who campaigned alongside his father during the 2024 presidential election and has been helping him pick members of his future cabinet, did not mince words on social media.
“The Military Industrial Complex seems to want to make sure they get World War 3 going before my father has a chance to create peace and save lives,” he wrote on X on Sunday. “Gotta lock in those $Trillions. Life be damned!!! Imbeciles!”
READ MORE: Biden approves Ukrainian strikes deep inside Russia with US missiles – NYT
The Biden administration previously restricted the use of ATACMS missiles by Ukraine, citing fears of possible retaliation by Russia. The White House, however, had decided to reverse its policy, according to reports by multiple news agencies. The White House and the Pentagon have chosen not to comment on the matter.
The reported decision is widely seen as a last-ditch effort to boost Ukraine’s military capabilities before Trump could assume office on January 20. During his re-election campaign, the president-elect cast doubt on the necessity of unconditional aid to Kiev and vowed to resolve the conflict by diplomatic means. His looming return to the White House made the Democrats, together with officials in Ukraine and the EU, worry that the new administration could abandon Ukraine.
Moscow has repeatedly stated that allowing Western weapons to be used deep inside Russia would be a signal of NATO’s direct involvement in the conflict. President Vladimir Putin said that Russia will take “appropriate decisions in response to the threats.”
The Biden administration wants ‘World War III’ – Trump Jr.
ISRAEL-WEST <-> PALESTINE-IRAN-SYRIA-IRAQ-LEBANON-YEMEN-VENEZUELA-DPRK
LARRY JOHNSON: IDF Collapsing in Lebanon.
COLONEL JACQUES BAUD: Israel's Downfall.
UN Chief Calls For Ceasefire In Gaza, Lebanon At G20.
Global Outrage Over Israeli Airstrike On UNRWA-Run Gaza School Shelter.
Iran Condemns Israel’s Assassination Of Hezbollah’s Media Chief.
NON-ENGLISH NEWS
LIU SIVAYA: UCRANIA ESTÁ ACABADA (y Zelensky también) Y ES EL PROPIO OCCIDENTE QUIEN HA FIRMADO SU SENTENCIA.
RUSSIA / EXPATS IN RUSSIA
MOSCOW PHOTOGRAPHER: TRUMP 2.0 - Will He Strike A Deal With PUTIN?
MAPPING CHANNEL UPDATES
Harvest Time, Ukrainians Stuck In Kursk, Long-Range Missiles Mystery. Military Summary For 2024.11.18
Russian Federation Missile Strikes Hit Dozens of Targets.
What Just Happened? TWO Key Russian Advances Threaten Chasiv Yar & Pokrovsk Garrisons.
Dozens Of Energy Facilities Destroyed, Missile Restrictions Lifted. Military Summary For 2024.11.18
Massive Battles Ahead As Fighting For Five Important Ukrainian Strongholds Intensify.
Huge Missile Attack | US lifts Restrictions, Will Anything Change? North Korea?
Russian Forces Force Ukrainians To Withdraw From Big Pocket.
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.
WILL MISSILE STRIKES DEEP WITHIN RUSSIA START WORLD WAR THREE?
The outgoing, largely demented president of the USA with his hate-fueled mania regarding Vladimir Putin has created the conditions for a final world war that could potentially destroy us all.
If current reports are true, and the outgoing Biden administration, laden as it is with Neocons, has just authorized missile strikes deep within Russia then we stand at the most dangerous moment yet in the war between the West and Russia.
Make no mistake concerning who is at war with whom. The missiles that hit targets deep inside Russia will have GPS coordinates guiding them courtesy of NATO/ U.S. satellites, the technicians who program the missiles using U.S. software will be from the U.S., Britain or France and of course the missiles themselves are made in and supplied by the USA, UK and France.
Putin knows all this and stated it publicly during an interview a month or two ago.
Putin: NATO's Approval of Use of Long-Range Missiles by Ukraine Will Mean It is at War With Russia.
"I have already mentioned this, and any experts will confirm, both in our country and in the West, that the Ukrainian army is not capable of [independently] carrying out strikes using Western modern, long-range precision systems. It cannot do this. This is possible only with the use of intelligence from satellites which Ukraine does not have. This data is only available from satellites of the European Union or the United States, in other words, from NATO satellites.”
Putin: NATO's Approval of Use of Long-Range Missiles by Ukraine Will Mean It is at War With Russia.
Joe Biden, a man hardly in control of his mental faculties, in what appears to be a last, utterly irresponsible, throw of the dice, has given the green light to what could well see the beginning of a nuclear war. Of course it cannot be discounted that Biden was persuaded to do this by others, the most likely cadidate being Tony Blinken, arch-Neocon U.S. Secretary of State.
If the reports are true then we will soon see NATO at war with Russia for this is the inescapable conclusion Vladimir Putin has pointed out must be made in this eventuality. Whether a single Ukrainian finger clicks a computer screen somewhere after all the targeting information has been entered into the West-created, West-controlled and updated software, who knows? But in all other respects as Putin knows, this missile enters and hits targets in Russia by western hands.
No one can predict the ultimate consequences of this decision by the Biden administration. The response by Russia cannot be known. Many of the most fervent Neocons in the West believe Russia’s response will be muted, that Putin’s strong words on this subject can be ignored, that he is only bluffing and that they can safely call his bluff. We will see. It may well be that Putin will not wish to escalate in the manner we should all fear, a strike directly back at the West. He may take other, less direct revenge for the West’s blatant aggression and harm to his nation.
Putin has already said that there are other ways to hit back at the West if things reach this point. Supplying Russia’s allies across the world with advanced weaponry and technology is certainly one path he could choose. Iran could be safeguarded from further attack by Israel by providing nuclear weapons and the infrastructure to use them. The provision of advanced missile systems or other assistance to the Houthis in Yemen would be another way to hit back. As we all know well and thank goodness for it, Putin is not a man to act in a hot-headed manner. He will certainly consider all his, and Russia’s options before taking the most effective course.
Now more than ever we are blessed to have such a man at the head of the Russian state. The contrast between Vladimir Putin and the warmongering, mindless and essentially light-weight politicians of the West could not be more stark. These next few months until Biden is relieved of power along with his rabid minions will potentially be some of the most dangerous humanity has ever lived through. The primary hope, that we emerge unscathed and enter a new era where war is not seen as a top priority and where Neocons become far less influential, must keep us going meanwhile.
May you and your families, friends, colleagues and indeed all of us remain safe meanwhile…
First published 20th October 2023:
WHY HAS THE WORLD DESCENDED TO THE CURRENT MADNESS WE SEE NOW?
On the face of it we are observing the mass irrational, the group equivalent of an individual ‘seeing red’, enraged and reckless, uncaring concerning his or her well being or anyone else’s. On the international level such recklessness can potentially cost millions of lives. What could possibly be at stake to justify such apparent madness?
Diplomacy used to be the way we got ourselves out of messes like this. However, since 9/11 there has been a distinct lack of it. Replaced by a stand alone and constantly applied belligerence against all who are seen as ‘not on our side’. This taking of sides with 100% conviction where that ‘other side’ is constantly demonised to create as much hate as possible within the general population has become standard.
Diplomacy was killed off as an art form or science or whatever designation it might be given. It simply ceased to exist. To use another metaphor we negan to see one prize fighter take off his gloves and put on knuckle-dusters instead and announce that the fight would not end until the opponent was dead. This is no way for those responsible for hundreds of millions of peoples’ lives to act. In the past we called these people madmen, tyrants, psychopathic dictators without an iota of empathy for those they recklessly affected by their actions.
Joe Biden is currently behaving as the most irresponsible leader of recent times in respect of all of the above. He seems to embody the worst traits described above, worse even than one of his predecessors, George W. Bush. The world according to Biden is virtually identical to that of Dubya, “You Are Either With Us Or You Are Against Us”. AS the saying goes ‘An Eye For An Eye Makes The Whole World Blind’ and this demonisation in the absence of diplomacy that Biden employs is set to blind millions in death.
After all the deceptions of the past, all the barefaced lies told, it is truly remarkable how many are willing to be emotionally charged up by basic, shallow mistruths and obvious propaganda. The manufacture of consent, and consent to possible Armageddon unbelievable, appears to be easier than ever. Are so many so numbed by feelings of helpless impotence in the face of the dangerous situations now raging on our planet that they have simply given up and decided to accept whatever fate awaits us all?
The western world is SO badly led currently with high political positions held by mental midgets that the great men and women of the past would hardly credit their eyes and ears that such ridiculously irresponsible nonentities could ever reach such positions. What has happened to this world they would surely ask, that it has descended to this state. What happened to the rules and institutions we set up to avoid things reaching this level of insanity? How could things go so catastrophically wrong with human psychology that things have reached this calamitous stage?
These are questions each person reaching this will have their own answers for. For the author it is clear. The entire panoply of western political and media elites have been fighting tooth and claw for decades now to avoid becoming irrelevant in the face of powers rising elsewhere. They are engaged in an all or nothing, do or die war to destroy those who, in the natural order of things, supplant them. They cannot bear this thought, it is anathema to them. They see all their power and the trappings, assets, status and structures of influence that go with that power melting away before them in prospect. So they fight. Tooth and nail.
This above is the conjecture I have come to through thousands of hours of thought on this issue. The western elites are akin to a dying beast, a beast that was once the supreme animal in the jungle. In the time it has left this beast is attacking any others who no longer bow down to its power using every weapon at its disposal. It gives no quarter, attempting to kill weak and strong alike in a rabid attempt to destroy in reckless, enraged abandon. In essence the western elite machine has become insane and has thrown all principles to the wind, willing now to countenance ANY level of death and destruction in the vain hope of maintaining its fast waning power.
The era of western unbridled power is ending. The worst aspects of that power have now come to the fore, all more positive aspects such as ethical and moral conduct, adherence to high principles, normal rules of behaviour in war and all else that provided a civilized face to it have been dispensed with. The naked fury of a dying beast seeing enemies everywhere has taken its place. Along with a willingness to see all others die if that is its own fate. This is the insanity we face now and see exhibited to ever greater degree and which now threatens each and every one of us.
THE TRAGEDIES OF UKRAINE FAIL TO TOUCH ICE-COLD NEOCON HEARTS
How long will the suffering & dying go on in Ukraine? It seems it will go on as long as a majority of western leaders have hearts cold as ice. Until now the thaw has been excruciatingly slow.
Even if by some miracle the regime in Kiev could gather a few hundred thousand more hapless conscripts together it must be in doubt how long they would last on the battlefield with the few weeks of basic training they now receive. These final conscripts must surely be the least experienced and least motivated yet. All that could be expected of them perhaps is that they hold a gun and don a uniform before they are blown away without firing a shot.
This conflict is clearly lost. While Russia can make widespread missile attacks time after time, what earthly chance does the Kiev regime have of mounting anything approaching an effective challenge? This whole thing has developed into a West-sponsored, long-drawn-out mass suicide for Ukraine. It is long overdue that a halt was called and the modest Russian demands are acceded to.
To observe this ongoing tragedy for any length of time is excruciating for anyone not completely caught up within a partisan mania filling them with hatred for whoever they conceive their enemy to be. This cold-blooded perspective can only be maintained at a distance where the grotesque daily horrors of the battlefield are viewed almost as if they were onscreen features of a computer game. No blood, no screams of pain, no bodies ripped apart. No loved ones back home grieving considered. A sanguine gazing at a screen with only the occasional thought of satisfaction that others and not ourselves are doing the suffering and dying.
There are those however who feel nothing at all for any of the combatants in this war that never should have been. Those who continue to promote the Ukraine war, urging its continuation into some unseen and uncertain future. People such as Anthony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of State along with the coterie of U.S. Neocons that have similarly cauterized emotions. They clearly manage the task of compartmentalizing their foreign policy ambitions from the heart-wrenching realities of the battlefield. The same clearly goes for Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commision and the majority of EU nation leaders and officials. At every turn they resist any and all calls for the abomination of this war to be brought to a close.
In the USA and in Europe however, there are a growing number of politicians who recognise the utter tragedy of the war and are determined to stand against the tide and call for it to be ended through negotiations and a permanent settlement. No one doubts that the war will end in negotiations sometime in the future, however on the Blinken/Von der Leyen side that time is never now. Politicians in Europe such as Victor Orban of Hungary and Robert Fico of Slovakia have long called for negotiations to begin immediately and for an end to the fuelling of the war by both the USA and EU. They have been joined in recent times by the U.S. president-to-be, Donald Trump and many who he has picked to be in his administration.
With somewhere between two and three thousand deaths/injuries occurring per day it is clear that this monstrous conflict is inflicting a monstrous on all sides, Ukrainians, Russians, Poles, U.S. and UK troops, and those of many other nations, who are fighting on the front lines. The trauma involved stretches out from the battlefield to involve an increasing number who look on in horror. The fighting in Ukraine and the ongoing genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza and in the West Bank is traumatising and dividing the entire world. We have never been as divided as a species in the way we view the wars we have been in recently and on those raging now.
The attitude of the Biden administration, following on from previous U.S. administrations, is that where nations differ substantially from those in the West in regard to governance then they are fair game for covert or overt destabilization, even to the extent of fomenting war within them. Using non-governmental organizations (NGOs) societies are split apart and elements within them weaponized against their governments. In addition, punitive sanctions are applied affecting the poorest in those societies in the hope of making them rise up and bring down their national leaders. This was effected most dramatically during the Maidan insurrection against Ukraine’s democratically-elected president and government in 2014.
There are those in leadership positions across the western world who clearly find it easy to ignore the suffering of millions when it comes to the achievement of their most fervent goals regarding regime change and their desire to achieve full global domination in perpetuity. This latter goal is in truth what the wars fragmenting our world are all about. The western powers are fighting to retain their geopolitical pole position that they have held for so very long now. Since 9/11 they have been motivated not only to shore this domination up wherever it is at risk of being weakened, but to push ever forward to an unassailable position of what they call, ‘full spectrum dominance’ ie. total global control.
No amount of suffering, death, destruction, chaos or fragmentation of nations can emotionally touch those who believe that the ends, in every case, always justify the means. They will use whatever tools that come to hand in their project to reach a position where they exercise total control. No ethical, moral or legal barrier will restrict them. No plea to their collective conscience will affect them. For them war is an effective tool whereby they can disrupt the status quo and create the chaos they need in order to bring down their target leaders and raise their choices to power. This was seen most clearly after the Maidan riots where the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt and the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, Victoria Nuland decided who would be the new government of Ukraine.
Those who see their role in the world as regime change warriors cannot afford a conscience. They have risen to the positions they currently hold due to the ability they have to eye events only with the coldest, analytical and tactical thoughts in mind. On the global chessboard they visualize only their next moves. The blood-strewn chessboard is never in sight. These are quite unique individuals whose latent compassion and capacity for fellow-feeling regarding those they disagree with has been long excised from them. They gaze down from on high, completely convinced of their being exceptional and all-knowing, wise beyond any need for advice, coldly manipulating our world in supreme arrogance. These are the sociopaths whose work we now see in both Ukraine and the Middle East. Their ice-cold hearts can devastate every last one of us if we do not remove them from power… and soon.
