RUNNING UPDATES ON THE CONFLICT IN UKRAINE - 22.10.2024
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.
*** BRICS=PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE | WEST=MORE WAR ***
“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.
COLLECTIVE WEST-UKRAINE <-> RUSSIA
SHAMELESS WESTERN MEDIA IGNORED THIS:
Airstrike in Lugansk - 10 Year Anniversary.
ALEXANDER MERCOURIS of THE DURAN: Rus Storms Girnik, 60% Taken, Kiehl Institute: West Unable Match Rus Weapons; BRICS Kazan Summit.
ALEX CHRISTOFOROU of THE DURAN: China & India resolve dispute. Ukraine out of soldiers, enter France. Austin in Kiev. Kamala & Liz.
PEPE ESCOBAR - ALEXANDER DUGIN: Pepe Escobar v Alexander Dugin | BRICS expansion, de-dollarization, Russia BRICS SUMMIT 2024.
Pepe Escobar: Date With Destiny - BRICS Offers Hope in a Time of War.
This is it. A date with destiny. All set for the most crucial geopolitical/geoeconomic gathering of the year and arguably the decade: the BRICS Summit under the Russian presidency in Kazan, capital of Tatarstan, where Sunni Tatars coexist in perfect harmony with Orthodox Christians.
All the excruciating work by sherpas and analysts throughout 2024 – supervised by the lead Russian diplomat in charge of BRICS, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov – converged to three final, separate key meetings in Moscow before the summit, grouping BRICS finance ministers and central bank governors, working groups, and the Business Council.
All that in a context that is now familiar for the Global Majority. The combined GDP of the current BRICS nations is over $60 trillion, way ahead of the G7; their average growth rate by the end of this year is projected to be 4%, higher than the 3.2% global average; and the bulk of economic growth for the near future will come from BRICS member-nations.
Even before the meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov was stressing that BRICS is keen to bypass “politicized” Western platforms – a subtle reference to the sanctions tsunami and the weaponization of the US dollar – as BRICS work to create their own, Global Majority-friendly international payments system.
The context for what will be decided in Kazan this week is no less than incandescent, as the uncontrolled chaos of the Hegemon’s Forever Wars – from Ukraine to West Asia – has even materially affected the heavy work of BRICS and the necessity to build a new international system of geoeconomic relations practically from scratch.
A credible war escalation scenario may have been thwarted by the leak of secret high-level intel to the Five Eyes on the preparations by Israel-US to strike Iran. The strike will eventually happen – with dire consequences – but probably not this week, when it could have been timed to explicitly, and completely, disrupt the summit in Kazan and expel it from global headlines.
The joint statement by the BRICS finance ministers and central bank governors may not sound too adventurous, but the constraints reflect not only caution when facing a dangerous, cornered Hegemon, but internal contradictions among BRICS members.
The statement recognizes “the need for a comprehensive reform of the global financial architecture to enhance the voice of developing countries and their representation.” Yet it remains clear the US has less than zero interest in a profound reform of the IMF, the World Bank and the Bretton Woods system. Russia and China, especially, are fully aware that what is needed is a post-Bretton Woods.
The statement is more forceful on the BRICS Cross-Border Payments Initiative, dubbed BCBPI, welcoming “the use of local currencies in international trade” and “the strengthening of banking networks” to enable them. Yet everything for the moment is only “voluntary and non-binding.” Kazan is expected to give the process some edge.
'Not an Anti-Western Group, Just a Non-Western Group'
In his speech at the BRICS Business Council last Friday and in a subsequent roundtable with heads of media groups of BRICS members, President Putin in fact summed up all the major dossiers. Here are the highlights.
On the role of the Shanghai-based NDB, the BRICS bank: Russia “will expand the capabilities of the NDB”; the bank should become the main investor in major technological and infrastructure projects for BRICS members and the wider Global South. That makes total sense, with the NDB financing infrastructure development and commercially involved with local, private companies. Incidentally, the next president of the NDB will be Russian; the top candidate is Aleksei Mozhin, who was previously at the IMF.
On creating a single digital infrastructure for BRICS: already on. Russia is working on “the use of digital currencies in investment processes in the interests of other developing economies.” That ties up with BRICS work on their own version of SWIFT for international financial transactions. And also ties up with BRICS Pay – a debit card whose first trial run happened during the Business Council last week, not dissimilar to AliPay in China, and soon to be rolled out across BRICS members.
A BRICS single currency: “Not being considered yet, this issue is not ripe yet.” De-dollarization, Putin stressed, is proceeding step by step: "We're taking individual steps, one after another. As regards finance, we did not drop the dollar. The dollar is the universal currency. But it wasn't us – we were banned and barred from [using] it. And now 95% of all the external trade of Russia is denominated in national currencies. They did it themselves with their own hands. They thought we would collapse."
The challenge for a unified BRICS currency: That “requires thorough economic integration (…) Apart from high level of integration among BRICS members, the introduction of a single BRICS currency would involve comparable monetary quality and volume (…) Otherwise, we will face even bigger issues than those that occurred in the EU.” Putin recalled that when the euro was introduced in the EU, their economies were neither comparable nor equal.
Putin will have at least 17 bilateral meetings in Kazan. He emphasized, once again, that “BRICS is not an anti-Western group, it’s just a non-Western group.”
And he named the key economic drivers in the near future: Southeast Asia and Africa. Development “will objectively take place primarily in BRICS member countries. This is the Global South. This is Southeast Asia. This is Africa. Positive growth will exist in powerful countries such as China, India, Russia, and Saudi Arabia, but the countries of Southeast Asia and Africa will show faster growth for several reasons."
He also highlighted the top infrastructure development projects among BRICS and the Global South: the Northern Sea Route – which the Chinese define as the Arctic Silk Road – and the International North-South Transportation Corridor (INSTC), with the BRICS triad Russia-Iran-India as the key partners. On the Northern Sea Route, Putin highlighted how “we are building an icebreaker fleet that has no peers in the world. It's going to be a unique fleet, seven nuclear icebreakers and 34 diesel-propelled, high-class, heavy-duty icebreakers."
On the Russia-China strategic partnership: it’s one of the key factors of stability in the world; in the relations between the two, "there are no elders or youngers." On the Great Chessboard, “Russia does not interfere in relations between the USA and China,” even as "Europeans have been dragged into Asia through NATO. Nobody is asking the Europeans whether they want to spoil their relationship with China, whether they want to use NATO entities to enter Asia and to create a situation that would cause concern for the region, for China specifically. Still, they are dragged like puppies."
Forever Wars Target BRICS
There will be a special session on Palestine in Kazan with BRICS members plus BRICS Outreach – as in partners (Turkiye is included). Putin believes that “dissolving the Middle East Quartet was a mistake.” The Quartet included Russia, US, UN, and EU. In theory, it should have mediated the Israel-Palestine peace process. In practice, it didn’t.
The notorious warmonger Tony Blair was part of the Quartet. Diplomatically, Putin said, “I do not intend to accuse the United States in every aspect here, but unfortunately it was a wrong thing to do to disband the four [the Quartet].”
He re-emphasized that “Russia has consistently maintained the view that the United Nations Security Council's decision to establish two states – Israel and Palestine – should be implemented.” And, significantly, he added that “Russia is in ongoing contact with both Israel and Palestine.”
That may be interpreted as strategic mediation, and serious back-channel exchanges. Yet he did not venture head on into the fire, just saying he hopes the "endless exchange of blows" between Israel and Iran will stop, while adding that “searching for a compromise in the Arab-Israeli conflict is possible, but this is a very delicate area.”
All of the above is highly significant for the BRICS context because the Forever Wars in West Asia have been seriously interfering with the work within BRICS. And on top of it, the Forever Wars, cold, hybrid, and hot, are in fact essentially directed against three BRICS members, Russia, Iran and China – not by accident described as the Top Three existential threats to the Hegemon.
And that inevitably brings us to Ukraine. Putin emphasized, “the Russian army has become one of the most combat effective and high-tech armies in the world (…) When NATO will get tired of waging this war against us, just ask them. We were ready to continue fighting, to continue the struggle, and we will have the upper hand.”
Confirming what crack military analyst Andrei Martyanov has been studying for years, Putin explained how modern warfare is the war of mathematicians – something that totally escapes NATO armchair warriors: “I have heard from the people that fight on the ground that today's war is the war of mathematicians. Radio-jamming devices would be effective against certain delivery vehicles and they would suppress them. The other side has, for example, calculated and reckoned what is the counterforce and reprograms the software of its striking assets in a week or three weeks.”
s for the battleground, with the “rules-based international order” meeting its humiliating demise in the black soil of Novorossiya, Putin could not be more emphatic on the “Nuclear Ukraine” gambit: "It is a dangerous provocation because any step in this direction will face a response (…) I will say it outright Russia will not allow this to happen no matter what."
The stakes in Kazan could not be higher. By the end of the week, the Global Majority will know whether Kazan will go down in history as the landmark of a new, emerging system of international relations, or if crass divide and rule tactics will keep postponing the inexorable demise of the Old Order.
Pepe Escobar: Date With Destiny - BRICS Offers Hope in a Time of War.
Here’s why Russia’s BRICS presidency is at a critical crossroads.
At the Kazan summit, the expansion debate takes center stage amid growing interest from developing nations seeking alternatives to the Western-dominated international system.
By Samir Bhattacharya, an Associate Fellow at Observer Research Foundation (ORF), New Delhi, India.
Welcoming ceremony at the 16th BRICS Summit in Kazan.
Among all the BRICS summits so far, the upcoming meeting under the Russian presidency is arguably the most important, as tensions over membership expansion could threaten the group’s cohesion, potentially ripping it apart. It will be challenging for Russia to carry on the work, taking over from South Africa and advancing the agenda of the Global South.
From October 22 to 24, Russia will host the 16th annual BRICS Summit in Kazan. After its largest expansion ever in 2023, international media reports suggest that an increasing number of developing countries are eager to join the group, raising the possibility of further expansion.
Some experts suggest that this surge of interest in joining BRICS is driven by FOMO or ‘fear of missing out’ on a prominent club with increasing visibility. This is important, especially when the doors of other US-led groupings are shut. For instance, several post-coup governments in Africa, which are seen in the West as unconstitutional, are banned from financial access to the IMF and World Bank. They view BRICS and its development bank as a viable alternative for support and cooperation.
When these countries’ leaders gather, the agenda of expansion will undoubtedly receive the highest priority. During last year’s expansion, member states had significant disagreements regarding the choice of members.
Read more: A new world order in the making: Here’s why this BRICS summit will be special
Each member country of BRICS has a vested interest in the bloc. With the US and its allies imposing various sanctions, Russia is eager to invite more friendly countries. An expanded BRICS with more friends inside will help Russia return to normalcy in international trade and investment, which has been restrained by US pressure.
Meanwhile, China’s relationship with the US – though it has not deteriorated in the last four years to the extent that occurred during the previous administration of President Donald Trump – has remained relatively stagnant. Nevertheless, China recognizes the need to engage with the West to sustain its growth and continues to be part of the Western economic system.
Therefore, by increasing the number of BRICS members, China would want to enhance its political influence. According to a number of experts, China aims to create a China-centric alternative world order, and BRICS represents another vehicle similar to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
Meanwhile, both India and Brazil have strengthened their ties with the US recently and will be cautious of being perceived as part of an anti-US grouping. This sentiment is somewhat shared by the Saudis and the UAE as well.
For New Delhi, it is more important, as India and China have several border disputes and are fighting for regional supremacy in one form or other. Indian experts think that Beijing will want to include more China-friendly, anti-India countries such as Pakistan to undermine New Delhi’s influence in the group. Some Indian experts also believe that New Delhi may consider a BRICS-exit in that scenario. As India already has bilateral relations with these countries, it stands to lose little.
Read more: Why the world’s largest democracy isn’t buying ‘freedom of speech’ US-style
It will fall under Russia’s leadership to break the ice between these two countries and prevent the group from disintegrating.
In any case, for India, being a member of BRICS also provides benefits, including having a platform to carry on its discussions with Russia and pursuing a more balanced stance, in the ethos of nonalignment.
However, as Iran has been included in the group, it increasingly resembles an anti-US bloc. Therefore, both India and Brazil will want discussions related to or introduced by Iran to be limited to the economic sphere, steering clear of political agendas.
South Africa finds itself in a relatively comfortable position. It is the biggest beneficiary of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), giving its thousands of items duty-free access to the US market. Meanwhile, given its extensive coastline and naval security concerns, it has security arrangements with Russia and China. Further, South Africa was heavily criticized for its naval exercises with Russia and China last year. Although the country defends its actions as a matter of strategic autonomy and partnership choice, the timing, coinciding with the anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, has negatively impacted its reputation in the West.
This growing interest among developing countries in joining BRICS bodes well for the group. It will be intriguing to see how India navigates its interests amid China’s growing assertiveness, which frequently conflicts with Indian priorities. Only a more assertive India can ensure that BRICS does not evolve into a pro-China club.
Read more: Two world giants are vying to control this vital resource
The upcoming summit in Kazan will take place amid several global crises: The Russia-Ukraine conflict, the escalating crisis in the Middle East, and change of governments in several African countries. The uncertainty looming over this year’s US presidential election further complicates the situation. This year’s event will also mark the first gathering of the expanded BRICS.
For Russia, this year’s summit is an opportunity to show that it is not as cornered as the West wants to project. On the contrary, Russia seeks to reaffirm its continued relevance on the global stage by inviting leaders from India, China, South Africa, and Brazil.
Despite some doomsday predictions, BRICS has so far managed to survive and thrive. However, it is now at a crossroads where one wrong move could crumble it like a pack of cards. A lot will depend on how Russia handles its partner countries in the Global South.
Here’s why Russia’s BRICS presidency is at a critical crossroads.
THE DURAN: West pushes Ukraine towards military defeat w/ Brian Berletic (Live).
DANNY HAIPHONG - SCOTT RITTER: Russia CRUSHES NATO with This Move, Turkey Joining BRICS Means Game Over.
SEBASTIAN SAS: Zelensky DEMANDS Action As Ukraine Is On The Brink.
GARLAND NIXON: WINDING DOWN THE UKRAINE WAR.
Dr. GILBERT DOCTOROW: BRICS and the Conflicts in Ukraine & Middle East.
THE DURAN: Russia Changes Nuclear Doctrine - Sergey Karaganov, Alexander Mercouris & Glenn Diesen.
DANIEL P. WELCH: Russia's Policy in the Middle East and Ukraine.
BORZZIKMAN: Russia Showed Video of The Destruction of US Army Rangers┃RUSSIA Achieved a Breakthrough in KUPYANSK.
ISRAEL-WEST <-> PALESTINE-IRAN-SYRIA-IRAQ-LEBANON-YEMEN-VENEZUELA-DPRK
SCOTT RITTER: Israel on the Brink: IDF Morale Collapsing Amid Escalating Chaos.
LARRY JOHNSON (EX-CIA INTEL ANALYST): Netanyahu's Desperate Gamble: Is He Leading Israel to Disaster?
BREAKTHROUGH NEWS: Gulf Arab States Will ‘Pay a Very High Price’ If They Back a US-Israeli Attack on Iran.
RACHEL BLEVINS: Leaked U.S. Intelligence Docs on Iran Attack Plans Confirm Israel Has Nuclear Weapons.
MINTPRESS NEWS: "This is not a war." - The Conduct of IDF Operations with former Green Beret Alan Shebaro.
MULTIPOLARITY - RUSSIA-CHINA / BRICS
BRICS is a response to the ‘odious’ Western system – former Pentagon official.
Washington’s “weaponization” of the dollar will drive more countries toward the economic group, Michael Maloof has predicted.
This week’s BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan will entice more countries to join the growing group, and Washington only has itself to blame, former Pentagon analyst Michael Maloof told ex-British MP George Galloway on Sunday.
Speaking on Galloway’s Mother of All Talk Shows (MOATS), Maloof applauded Russian President Vladimir Putin for recognizing that countless states around the world are seeking a more inclusive economic system and looking, in Maloof’s words, “to get out from under the odious sanctions of the West and the financial system that has really encumbered them.”
“The United States is in charge of the ‘Rules Based Order’, which means that they can not only make the rules, but break them at will, and we’ve seen this constantly in its own decision making. And the world is saying ‘we’ve seen enough of this crap,’” he told Galloway.
”We’re going to be seeing challenges to the hegemony of the dollar, [and] the weaponization of the dollar and the Western system, and we’re already seeing mechanisms that will be offered at this summit this week,” he continued.
READ MORE: A new world order in the making: Here’s why this BRICS summit will be special
After it was effectively excommunicated from the Western financial system over the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Russia stepped up its efforts to settle foreign trade in rubles and other currencies. “We did not refuse to settle transactions in dollars. Rather, we were refused, and were simply forced to look for other options,” Putin explained at the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok last month.
Putin noted that Russia and its BRICS partners are now using national currencies in 65% of mutual trade settlements. According to Reuters, Russia will propose a new blockchain-based international financial system at this week’s summit. While Moscow has not commented on Reuters’ report, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov previously told RT that Moscow and other BRICS countries are working on a new cross-border payment infrastructure independent of the Western SWIFT system.
The willingness of the US and its allies to weaponize the dollar and shut rival powers out of the Western system has pushed even Washington-friendly countries like Brazil, India, and the UAE to seek alternate arrangements, Maloof said. This, coupled with the fact that sanctions have driven Russia and China into an ever-closer partnership, demonstrates that “you don’t see strategic thinking coming out of the United States anymore,” he told Galloway.
READ MORE: BRICS to discuss new global financial system – Reuters
BRICS was originally founded in 2006 by Brazil, Russia, India, and China, with South Africa joining in 2011. Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates joined in January 2024. Saudi Arabia has yet to ratify its membership after being invited to join.
Russia currently chairs the group. More than 30 nations, including NATO member Türkiye, have applied to join.
BRICS is a response to the ‘odious’ Western system – former Pentagon official.
PEPE ESCOBAR - ALEXANDER DUGIN: Pepe Escobar v Alexander Dugin | BRICS expansion, de-dollarization, Russia BRICS SUMMIT 2024.
Dr. GILBERT DOCTOROW: BRICS and the Conflicts in Ukraine & Middle East.
Russia, Kazan hosts the BRICS 2024 Summit.
Dollar’s Diktat Will Prove Its Downfall Once Emerging Powers Unite – Analyst.
The annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank kicked off in Washington, DC on Monday, with the gatherings, set to run through Saturday, expected to focus on the global debt crisis and ways to save the US-led international financial order. Here's what will need to happen for the dollar's dominance to fade into history.
The US accounts for over a third of the skyrocketing $100 trillion in global public debt, with the country's $35.75 trillion in borrowing (and climbing) gradually putting the economic behemoth in jeopardy as its share of global GDP by PPP sinks to below 15% - its lowest showing since the Great Depression of the 1930s, and down from a historic high of as much as 50% (in nominal terms) in the mid-1940s and the creation of the Bretton Woods System of international exchange.
“Countries are seeking ways and means of conducting trade and business outside the US-dominated financial architecture, because they are fed up with the US dictating terms to multiple countries, especially by preventing countries from doing business with countries under US sanctions,” Chintamani Mahapatra, founder and chairman of the Kalinga Institute of Indo-Pacific Studies, told Sputnik, commenting on the US's relative decline against the backdrop of this week's IMF/World Bank Group meetings.
There is essentially no other option for many countries at the moment “to conduct business with countries under US sanctions, even if they do not support US sanctions,” Mahapatra stressed, pointing out that the rising Chinese yuan has a way to go before it can “emerge as a credible international currency,” and that US-led institutions like the IMF, World Bank and WTO will be certain to do their best to “ensure that the US and its allies maintain their dominance in the global financial ecosystem.”
“The combined West will try not to allow an alternative system from rising. And the non-West is hardly united. Countries have complex interdependence,” the observer said. “Thus, one cannot write the obituary of the dollar-dominated system at the moment. Other economies have to improve to a point where the relative US domination declines further, and in that case the alternative system will easily emerge.”
“The first step should be to attempt to create an alternative financial system for global trade, so that the payment system can be other than the current financial architecture dominated by the United States. However, de-dollarization is not easy. The emerging economies will have to resolve their bilateral political and security differences before seeking to create a de-dollarized order based on non-discrimination, equity and justness,” Mahapatra emphasized.
For now, “the US, and not many other countries, are benefiting a great deal from the current war in Europe and the West Asian region. Thus, expecting other economies to perform better now is not appropriate,” Mahapatra added.
As far as the IMF/World Bank agenda's focus on debt is concerned, the observer stressed that so long as the dollar's hegemony is maintained, growing debt in the US will create major risks for the global economy.
"Although the US, the largest global economy, is facing huge public debt, the US economy is unlikely to suffer much. After all, the US Federal Reserve prints dollars and not any other country. But decline or turbulence in the US economy due to huge and unsustainable debt will have global ramifications and thus countries are trying to avoid shocks as a natural reaction," Mahapatra said.
"The global economy will turn turbulent, if the US economy falters. [This] is partly because of the dominance of the US dollar in global trade and transactions. The financial system of the globe is controlled by the US due to the power and influence of its currency. International trade is not possible without countries entering the US controlled financial system and it is best reflected in US sanctions that prevent other countries from conducting transactions. There are limits of currency swaps and barter trade in the contemporary global economic ecosystem," Mahapatra explained.
That said, Russia's experiences since 2014, and particularly after 2022 and the leveling of over 20,000 sanctions against the country by the West, have demonstrated that at least larger countries have the ability, and the means, to break through the dollar-based blockade of trade. At this week's BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia will seek to show its partners systematized ways to increase trade in national currencies, and strengthen the banking networks to enable them.
Dollar’s Diktat Will Prove Its Downfall Once Emerging Powers Unite – Analyst.
NON-ENGLISH NEWS
LIU SIVAYA: RUSIA DICE BASTA Y PASA A LA ACCIÓN: LA OTAN SE VE OBLIGADA A ACEPTAR SU DERROTA (y sus pérdidas).
MAPPING CHANNEL UPDATES
Russians Have Completed The Encirclement Of The Ukrainians In Selydove⚔️ Military Summary 2024.10.22
Russia Launched Massive Attack & Made Significant Advances On Donetsk Front. Front Update.
RUSSIA SQUEEZE IT LIKE A TOOTHPASTE... - Ukraine War SITREP / Summary.
#Russia #Russian #Victories #SITREP #SituationReport #Kiev #Regime #Disaster #Donbass #Donbas #Hirnyk #Selydove #Catastrophe #SMO #ZOV #Z
Disaster Unfolding | Hirnyk Stormed From 3 Sides | Selydove Catastrophe.
Last Supply Line Under Fire Control | Desperate Counter-Attack | Pilot Hunted - Ukraine Map Update.
MASSIVE FRONTLINE MELTDOWN; that area is now history; finger | Ukraine War Frontline Changes Report.
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.
BRICS AND A MULTIPOLAR WORLD - WHAT ARE THE WESTERN POWERS SCARED OF?
Might there be a better path for the USA & its allies to find their optimum place in the world rather than endlessly fighting all others in order to change them? Why not join them instead?
Today marks the start of the 16th BRICS summit which is taking place in Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia. Discussions, decisions and agreements made over the next few days will change the geopolitical underpinnings of our world. The nations of the global south and Eurasia, those nations whose populations compose the global majority have chosen a different path from those of the collective west. That collective west, with its wars, its sanctions and constant interference in their affairs, is being brought to a condition of being quarantined as the mad dog of our world. The aim of BRICS is uninterrupted peace where trade can find the stability to bring nations together, free of the intolerance and aggression the West appears unable to extricate itself from.
There was never any need for the western powers to act as they did. The self-interest and avid desire to 'have it all' is now about to drive it into increasingly indebted isolation. For centuries the nations that comprise the West have sought only to exploit the weaker nations of the world to their continual benefit. BRICS is the result of an international backlash against all those centuries of economic abuse. Slowly but surely the nations the western powers exploited have combined together to resist the power and influence of the West. The process is ongoing and unstoppable at this stage. However, when the political stewards of the West finally have the courage and faith to acknowledge that all nations have a right to inalienable sovereignty they too will be gladly welcomed to the fold.
China has made enormous strides over the last thirty years in building her economy. Russia, on Vladimir Putin’s watch, has done the same over the last quarter of a century. Alongside these within the BRICS group India has also made great gains in this respect also. Now the entire African continent is poised for something similar. In general the nations of the global south, Middle East and in Latin America are tending to gravitate toward the BRICS group, i.e. to link up with Brazil, Russia, China and India. Nations that joined the group in recent times are Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
What is the purpose of the BRICS group?
The BRICS group was formed to enhance ease of trading between its members in an atmosphere of non-interference, equality, and mutual benefit.
Up to forty countries including Algeria, Bolivia, Indonesia, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, Comoros, Gabon, and Kazakhstan have expressed interest in joining the forum. The BRICS group has a bank embedded within its structure, the New Development Bank.
The latest primary goal of the BRICS group of nations is to increase the use of local currencies when trading. Currently the vast majority of trades are conducted in dollars due to stability, reliability and efficiency factors. The move away from the dollar is seen as necessary however as its use leaves countries open to economic blackmail and sanctions unilaterally applied by the USA, unaccountable to any universal law. The nations seeking to improve their trading networks and to get out from under the threat always held over them by the USA are therefore seeking in increasing numbers to join the BRICS group.
The political elites of the USA, naturally enough, see the above as a threat to their global dominance and are using a variety of methods including sanctions and even the use of the U.S. military to oppose, and if at all possible, to weaken the group.
Inherently bound up with the BRICS group is the concept of multipolarity where power is shared by all nations rather than as it has been up till now, dominated by one nation and its allies, that nation being the United States of America.
At the fall of the Soviet Union and with China still a relatively poor nation compared to the western powers, the USA found itself at the apex of power worldwide in what has become known as the ‘Unipolar Moment’. At this time it was believed that the USA, exercising its newfound and virtually unlimited power, would transform the world in its own image.
The advent of 9/11 and the reaction of the USA’s political elite to it brought into being an extremely powerful dynamic to minimize the power of all potential enemies and, where they deemed it necessary, to eliminate them completely. Thus began a campaign that continues to this day focusing on target nations, among whom are Russia, China, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Venezuela, Nicaragua, North Korea and Cuba, some of which are BRICS nations of prospective BRICS nations.
Instead of fighting, along with its allies, to maintain its dominance over all others and in doing so first fragmenting the world, and then presumably knitting it all back together again under its sole command, is there perhaps not another, better way, to proceed? Essentially, all that needs to happen to achieve that alternative of a well-balanced, multipolar world is that the USA, UK and their allies stand down in their attempt to halt that process. This by somehow or other developing greater insight into the lack of harm in the long term to them, the destructiveness of their current policy, and into the beneficial effects of what will happen if they do this. Currently they are living in the past of former glories with a paranoid filter before their eyes thinking that others will behave as they have done to this point and begin to treat them as enemies.
The very worst thing that is likely to happen in the short term is that their economic prospects will suffer to a degree. You might think that is bad enough and a good enough reason to keep pushing an aggressive, warlike stance against the rising powers of Russia, China and the rest. However, how much of the thinking going on among western elites is projection, that the Russians and Chinese those aligned with them will do to them what they would like to do to those they regard as enemies?
Is there really any reason to believe that the Russians or the Chinese want to act as global cops as the western powers have done for so long now? It is quite clear that their present behavior indicates a very different approach based upon a high degree of tolerance for diverse systems of governance and an absolute minimum of anything approaching an ideological stance. Their concentration is on coming to agreements that create the stability required for increased trade.
If the USA, UK and EU dropped the idea that they are the indispensable nations and that collectively their duty is to force all other nations to mirror them, the world would
It is certain that from this point onward we would see the newly-formed multipolar world embracing the new, non-aggressive US, UK and EU gladly within its trading network as members fully signed on to maintaining a tolerant ethos worldwide. From this point onward the valuable expertise and ingenuity of the North American people could reach new heights within a new and far more balanced, stable and peaceful world, as opposed to instigating wars that constantly fragment it.