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The Origin of the ‘New Cold War’
The Origin of the ‘New Cold War’
This will be history, replacing myth. So: if at the start it might seem unbelievable, I request the reader — please click onto the sources; and, as you read them, you will (if you have been getting your ‘news’ from the popular mainstream and ‘alternative’ ‘news’ sources) experience the replacement of myth by actual history. The world in our time will come directly alive via the most-reliable sources that exist; and it clearly contradicts, it disproves, the widespread myth that has been projected from the ‘news.’
To start with: the ‘new Cold War,’ against Russia, is something of a misnomer, because it differs from the original version, against the U.S.S.R., in that it’s already a hot war, which started in Ukraine as being the key proxy-state for the American Government’s chief foreign-policy aim, of defeating Russia; and it’s a war that is very bloody, and widely lied-about in both the U.S. and Europe, but that is discussed in Russia as if it were somehow the result of mere errors by Western powers, when in fact all of the Western leaders knew from the get-go that this was intended to be a lynching of Russia by Uncle Sam, and when the EU have been going along with this aim because the U.S. aristocracy supposedly have the interests of European aristocrats in mind and not only their own: it’s ‘the Western Alliance,’ after all.
But it’s not ‘the Western Alliance,’ really. It’s instead a gangland war by aristocrats on the global stage, and it’s threatening to become the hottest war that ever was.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Financial collapse leads to war
Financial collapse leads to war
Scanning the headlines in the western mainstream press, and then peering behind the one-way mirror to compare that to the actual goings-on, one can’t but get the impression that America’s propagandists, and all those who follow in their wake, are struggling with all their might to concoct rationales for military action of one sort or another, be it supplying weapons to the largely defunct Ukrainian military, or staging parades of US military hardware and troops in the almost completely Russian town of Narva, in Estonia, a few hundred meters away from the Russian border, or putting US “advisers” in harm’s way in parts of Iraq mostly controlled by Islamic militants.
The strenuous efforts to whip up Cold War-like hysteria in the face of an otherwise preoccupied and essentially passive Russia seems out of all proportion to the actual military threat Russia poses. (Yes, volunteers and ammo do filter into Ukraine across the Russian border, but that’s about it.) Further south, the efforts to topple the government of Syria by aiding and arming Islamist radicals seem to be backfiring nicely. But that’s the pattern, isn’t it? What US military involvement in recent memory hasn’t resulted in a fiasco? Maybe failure is not just an option, but more of a requirement?
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Russia deploying next-gen Nebo-M radar complexes to counter NATO threat
Russia deploying next-gen Nebo-M radar complexes to counter NATO threat
Russia has begun deploying the next generation of Nebo-M anti-missile radar facility systems as part of a responsive measure to a threat stemming from NATO anti-ballistic missile systems in Eastern Europe.
“The mobile multi-range programmable Nebo-M complex is capable of performing the tasks of providing information on small-sized aerodynamic and hypersonic targets in a difficult jamming background, as well as providing information for anti-missile weapon systems,” said colonel Aleksey Zolotuhin, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry’s press service.
The development and deployment of next-gen anti-missile systems featuring Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) technology is a top priority for the Russian Defense Ministry, as US anti-ballistic missile system are springing up in Romania, Turkey, Poland, and even in Spain.
The new Nebo-M 3-D radar system features a programmable multi-band design. The complex includes central data fusion and command post module as well as three radars, all deployed on separate high-mobility 8 x 8 24-ton vehicles. According to Aviatioweek, radars feed data to the command post using high-speed narrow-beam digital data links in the microwave band.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Nuclear Specter Returns: ‘Threat of War Is Higher than in the Cold War’
Nuclear Specter Returns: ‘Threat of War Is Higher than in the Cold War’
The Ukraine crisis has dramatically worsened relations between NATO and Russia. With cooperation on nuclear security now suspended and the lack of a “red telephone,” experts at the Munich Security Conference warn any escalation in tensions could grow deadly.
The scientists had no idea that their experiment could spell the end of civilization. On Jan. 25, 1995, Norwegian and American researchers fired a rocket into the skies of northwestern Norway to study the Northern Lights. But the four-stage rocket flew directly through the same corridor that American Minuteman III missiles, equipped with nuclear warheads, would use to travel from the United States to Moscow.
The rocket’s speed and flight pattern very closely matched what the Russians expected from a Trident missile that would be fired from a US submarine and detonated at high altitude, with the aim of blinding the Russian early-warning system to prepare for a large-scale nuclear attack by the United States. The Russian military was placed on high alert, and then President Boris Yeltsin activated the keys to launch nuclear weapons. He had less than 10 minutes to decide whether to issue the order to fire.
Yeltsin left the Russian missiles in their silos, probably in part because relations between Russian and the United States were relatively trusting in 1995. But if a similar incident occurred today, as US arms expert Theodore Postol warned recently, it could quite possibly lead to nuclear catastrophe.
Deep Mistrust
“Five or six minutes can be enough time, if you have trust, if you have communication and if you can put this machinery immediately to work,” former Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said on the sidelines of last weekend’s Munich Security Conference. Unfortunately, he argued, this machinery works very poorly today, and there is great mistrust.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Pentagon deploys A-10 attack jets, 300 pilots to Germany amid Ukraine turmoil
Pentagon deploys A-10 attack jets, 300 pilots to Germany amid Ukraine turmoil
The US Air Force dispatched a dozen A-10 Thunderbolt II attack jets and about 300 airmen to Germany as part of a military exercise, which is expected to involve NATO allies in Eastern Europe amid simmering tensions over Ukraine.
The Cold War-era aircraft, nicknamed the Warthog, on Monday departed Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona for Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve.
READ MORE: Art of drills: 10 NATO war games that almost started armed conflicts
Lt. Col. Christopher Karns, a spokesman for the Air Force at the Pentagon, said the aircraft would“forward-deploy” to sites in Eastern European NATO states, where the units will participate in training with allied forces to “strengthen interoperability and…demonstrate US commitment to the security and stability of Europe,” he told military.com.
The highly reliable A-10 carries a seven-barrel GAU-8/A Avenger Gatling gun that fires 30mm rounds designed to destroy tanks and other armored combat vehicles.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
War and Default in Europe Pose Merkel’s Biggest Challenge
War and Default in Europe Pose Merkel’s Biggest Challenge
(Bloomberg) — After almost a decade as German chancellor, Angela Merkel faces a moment of truth as a resurgent Russia and fed-up Greeks challenge her blueprint for Europe’s future.
As bloodshed in eastern Ukraine escalates and the new Greek government rejects austerity championed by Merkel, her deliberate leadership style may be reaching the limit of its effectiveness.
With Europe’s post-Cold War order and its unifying currency at stake, the weight of global and domestic expectations is pushing Merkel out of her comfort zone and into two direct confrontations. Both adversaries and allies have repeatedly underestimated Merkel’s determination as she rose from obscurity in an East German lab to become the world’s most powerful woman.
“It underscores how much Germany is really the pivotal power in Europe and Angela Merkel is the pivotal leader,” Daniel Hamilton, head of the Center for Transatlantic Relations at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, said in an interview. “Much of it has to do with Germany’s success, but much of it also has to do with default by other powers. It’s not like she or Germany aspires to this role.”
Merkel’s status as Europe’s go-to leader will be on display when President Barack Obama hosts her at the White House on Monday. In the run-up, she’s resisting pressure by U.S. politicians to send arms to Ukraine’s government.
The biggest risk for Merkel is if either crisis spiraled out of control. At that point, she would have failed to address “German concern about stability,” Hamilton said.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Sarkozy: Crimea cannot be blamed for joining Russia
Sarkozy: Crimea cannot be blamed for joining Russia
Crimea cannot be blamed for seceding from Ukraine – a country in turmoil – and choosing to join Russia, said former president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy. He also added that Ukraine “is not destined to join the EU.”
READ MORE: French President Hollande calls for broader autonomy for E. Ukraine
“We are part of a common civilization with Russia,” said Sarkozy, speaking on Saturday at the congress of the Union for a Popular Movement Party (UMP), which the former president heads.
“The interests of the Americans with the Russians are not the interests of Europe and Russia,” he said adding that “we do not want the revival of a Cold War between Europe and Russia.”
Regarding Crimea’s choice to secede from Ukraine when the country was in the midst of political turmoil, Sarkozy noted that the residents of the peninsula cannot be accused for doing so.
“Crimea has chosen Russia, and we cannot blame it [for doing so],” he said pointing out that “we must find the means to create a peacekeeping force to protect Russian speakers in Ukraine.”
In March 2014 over 96 percent of Crimea’s residents – the majority of whom are ethnic Russians – voted to secede from Ukraine to reunify with Russia. The decision was prompted by a massive uprising in Ukraine, that led to the ouster of its democratically elected government, and the fact that the first bills approved by the new Kiev authorities were infringing the rights of ethnic Russians.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Ukraine ‘Peace’ Talks In Tatters: Defiant Putin “Won’t Tolerate Unipolar World”; Hollande Proposes “Strong Autonomy” For Rebel Region
Ukraine ‘Peace’ Talks In Tatters: Defiant Putin “Won’t Tolerate Unipolar World”; Hollande Proposes “Strong Autonomy” For Rebel Region
Just as the existing ‘truce’ in Ukraine has been made a total farce as 1000s of military and civilians have been killed, so any ‘hope’ that this weekend’s “peace efforts” will result in anything but more talk is rapidly diminishing… Germany’s Merkel exclaimed honestly that it’s “uncertain whether this will be successful,”seemingly resigned to the fact as she added, “but it’s at least worth making an attempt.” French PresidentHollande admitted that Ukraine’s eastern regions likely need “strong autonomy.” Ukraine’s Poroshenko blustered that he “trusts” Merkel, that the economy is collapsing (more money please), that the country does not need peacekeepers and a lack of arms is fueling conflict (so send us weapons) while pushing for a Russian withdrawal and quick cease-fire. Finally Vladimir Putin blasted that Russia is unwilling to tolerate a post-Cold War global system dominated by one absolute leader, to which US VP Joe Biden remarked simply “get out of Ukraine.” But apart from that, talks are going great…
Stocks rallied after hours on Friday on a spurious headline that peace talks were progressing…
That appears to be entirely false…
Merkel… not optimistic… (via Bloomberg)
“It’s uncertain whether this will be successful, but in my view and in the view of the French president, it’s at least worth making an attempt,” Merkel says in speech at the Munich Security Conference. “I feel that we at least owe it to those affected in Ukraine.”“Russia needs to show its contribution” in defusing Ukraine crisis, Merkel says.
“This conflict can’t be solved militarily,” Merkel says
Minsk accord must be fulfilled: Merkel
Hollande… does not see a united Ukraine anytime soon (via France24)
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Failed Statebuilding versus Peace Formation: The Consequences and Implications over the Last 25 Years
Failed Statebuilding versus Peace Formation: The Consequences and Implications over the Last 25 Years
Recent years have seen an abundance of foreign intervention to achieve peace and statebuilding. Below, Oliver Richmond discusses how statebuilding often fails to achieve its goal of long-term peace and a stable state, and questions whether peace formation should come from actors and institutions?
The Limits of Peacebuilding and Statebuilding
1.5 billion people are currently affected by conflict1 so all peacemaking activities impact upon a significant percentage (over 20%) of the world’s population. The story of the last twenty-five years of western interventionism to build a “liberal peace” and the modern neoliberal state within an international community characterised by law and rights, is one of great plans often going awry. Initially, the modern intervention narrative consisted of a mix of western triumphalism about liberal democracy and capitalism with cruder interests of the remaining major powers at the end of the Cold War. The defeated, vanquished, or merely poor were not treated with too much empathy or solidarity by the rich and powerful states of post-Cold War order, however, even in those heady days of the earlier 1990s, notably during the siege of Sarajevo from 1992-5.
The new peace and liberal orientation in many conflict-affected states in the 1990s, however, seemed to mean it deserved the epithet of peace, even if the liberal peace and the state were far from perfect. Human rights, democracy, capitalism, and a reinforcing international peace architecture made up of liberal states appeared to represent the best hope for, and historically most advanced form of, peace ever seen (as the international officials, not a few from the global south, and many scholars from the world’s elite universities were fond of repeating).
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Ukraine “Truce”? Tanks Are Rolling In Poland As NATO Plans Permanent Eastern European Bases
Ukraine “Truce”? Tanks Are Rolling In Poland As NATO Plans Permanent Eastern European Bases
With Ukraine, Germany, and France all expressing their concern this morning about “conflict escalation” between pro-Russian separatists and the Ukraine military, the so-called “truce” appears to be hanging by a thread of semanticism (despite OSCE’s please for respect of the cease-fire and the demarcation line). Today’s triple whammy of ‘escalation’ appears more focused on the non-Russian side as first, France begins sending tanks into Poland; second, Ukraine shifts its tanks to the front-line; and third – and potentially most inflammatory for Putin – NATO has confirmed plans to create permanent command centers in Eastern Europe. Putin has not responded yet but reports of ‘nuclear bombers’ flying above the English Channel “with transponders turned off,” suggests the sabre rattling continues.
Ukrainian civilians are being evacuated:
- *UKRAINE EVACUATED 1,000 PEOPLE FROM DEBALTSEVE YDAY
- *7 CIVILIANS DEAD, 4 WOUNDED IN DONETSK REGION IN 24 HRS: POLICE
- *11 SERVICEMEN ALSO INJURED IN MILITARY CAMP BLAZE, IFX SAYS
The OSCE is calling for the truce to stand…
- *OSCE’S DACIC SAYS MAXIMUM EFFORTS MADE TO END UKRAINE VIOLENCE
- *OSCE CALLS FOR CEASE-FIRE, RESPECT FOR DEMARCATION LINE: DACIC
- *OSCE’S DACIC SAYS NO ONE CONSIDERING NEW UKRAINE PLAN FOR NOW
Everyone is “concerned”
- *POROSHENKO, MERKEL, HOLLANDE DISAPPOINTED BY MINSK TALKS
- *POROSHENKO CALLS FOR RUSSIAN REACTION TO UKRAINE TALKS FAILURE
- *UKRAINE, GERMANY, FRANCE CONCERNED ABOUT CONFLICT ESCALATION
Leaders call for immediate “cease-fire” to fighting in east Ukraine after speaking on the phone today, AFP says, citing the French president’s staff.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
How to Start a Nuclear War
How to Start a Nuclear War
The United States has just made an exceptionally dangerous, even reckless decision over Ukraine. Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet leader who ended the Cold War, warns it may lead to a nuclear confrontation with Russia.
Rule number one of geopolitics: nuclear-armed powers must never, ever fight.
Yet Washington just announced that by spring, it will deploy unspecified numbers of military “trainers” to Ukraine to help build Kiev’s ramshackle national guard. Also being sent are significant numbers of US special heavy, mine resistant armored vehicles that have been widely used in Afghanistan and Iraq. The US and Poland are currently covertly supplying Ukraine with some weapons.
The US soldiers will just be for training, and the number of GI’s will be modest, claim US military sources. Of course. Just like those small numbers of American “advisors” and “trainers” in Vietnam that eventually grew to 550,000. Just as there are now US special forces in over 100 countries. We call it “mission creep.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Delusional America
Delusional America
Robert Parry is one of my favorite columnists. He is truthful, has a sense of justice, and delivers a firm punch. He used to be a “mainstream journalist,” like me, but we were too truthful for them. They kicked us out.
I can’t say Parry has always been one of my favorite journalists. During the 1980s he spent a lot of time on Reagan’s case. Having been on corporate boards, I know that CEOs seldom know everything that is going on in the company. There are just too many people and too many programs representing too many agendas. For presidents of countries with governments as large as the US government, there is far more going on than a president has time to learn about even if he could get accurate information.
In my day Assistant Secretaries and chiefs of staff were the most important people, because they controlled the flow of information. Presidents have to focus on fund raising for their reelection and for their party. More time and energy is used up with formalities and meetings with dignitaries and media events. At the most there are two or three issues on which a president can attempt leadership. If an organized clique such as the neoconservatives get into varied positions of authority, they can actually “create the reality” and take the government away from the president.
As I have reported on many occasions, my experience with Reagan left me with the conclusion that he was interested in two big issues. He wanted to stop the stagflation for which only the supply-side economists had a solution, and he wanted to end, not win, the cold war.
Both of these agendas put Reagan at odds with two of the most powerful of the private interest groups: Wall Street and the military/security complex.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
US and Russia in danger of returning to era of nuclear rivalry | World news | The Guardian
US and Russia in danger of returning to era of nuclear rivalry | World news | The Guardian.
A widening rift between Moscow and Washington over cruise missiles and increasingly daring patrols by nuclear-capable Russian submarines threatens to end an era of arms control and bring back a dangerous rivalry between the world’s two dominant nuclear arsenals.
Tensions have been taken to a new level by US threats of retaliatory action for Russian development of a new cruise missile. Washington alleges it violates one of the key arms control treaties of the cold war, and has raised the prospect of redeploying its own cruise missiles in Europe after a 23-year absence.
On Boxing Day, in one of the more visible signs of the unease, the US military launched the first of two experimental “blimps” over Washington. The system, known as JLENS, is designed to detect incoming cruise missiles. The North American Aerospace Command (Norad) did not specify the nature of the threat, but the deployment comes nine months after the Norad commander, General Charles Jacoby, admitted the Pentagon faced “some significant challenges” in countering cruise missiles, referring in particular to the threat of Russian attack submarines.
The Global Energy Security War
The Global Energy Security War.
Concerns about energy security have shot to the top of the political agenda in Europe. But the US has no intention of letting the EU down. “The United States will be working with the EU to develop a plan for the mid- to long-term evolution of a more energy-secure future”, said US Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz at a conference of the Atlantic Council in Istanbul. At this summit, top US officials and energy experts showed themselves surprisingly positive about the progress the EU has made reducing its dependence on Russia. “A few years ago, we couldn’t have solved the Ukrainian problem. Now we can.” With US LNG exports under way, the “monumental” Southern Corridor under construction, and Gazprom’s South Stream project increasingly under pressure, Europe’s position will only get stronger. Karel Beckman reports from Istanbul.
In his opening address at the Atlantic Council’s Energy and Economic Summit 2014 in Istanbul (19-20 November), President and CEO Frederick Kempe immediately made it clear the Atlantic Council is playing for high stakes. “Europe is in the middle of an inflection point of its history”, he said. 2014 “is every bit as dramatic as 1815 – the year of Versailles”. Or, he added, 1989, the year of the fall of Communism. “The future of the international liberal order”, said Kempe, “is at stake”.
Actually, listening to many of the presentations at the Istanbul summit, the mood among the Americans recalled not so much of a specific year, as a period in history: the Cold War. Clearly for the Atlanticists – and it’s probably fair to say that the bipartisan Atlantic Council represents the conventional geopolitical look of the Washingon DC establisment – with the “resurgence” of Russia the Cold War is back all the way.
Russia Warns May Send Troops To Ukraine After Congress Unanimously Votes To Give Lethal Aid To Kiev | Zero Hedge
While the market, and America’s media, was focusing over the passage of the Cromnibus, and whether Wall Street would dump a few hundred trillion in derivatives on the laps of US taxpayers once again (it did), quietly and unanimously both houses passed The Ukraine Freedom Support Act of 2014, which authorizes “providing lethal assistance to Ukraine’s military” as well as sweeping sanctions on Russia’s energy sector.
The measure mandates sanctions against Rosoboronexport, the state agency that promotes Russia’s defense exports and arms trade. It also would require sanctions on OAO Gazprom (GAZP), the world’s largest extractor of natural gas, if the state-controlled company withholds supplies to other European nations (yes, the US is now in the pre-emptive punishment business, and is enforcing sanctions on a “what if” basis).
But while one may debate if additional sanctions will do much to impact a Russian economy which is already impaired due to the plunging ruble, the clear escalation is that unlike previously, when the US limited itself – at least on paper – to non-lethal assistance to the Ukraine, now the US is finally preparing to send in weapons, and potentially “military advisors” as well. We say “on paper”, because in late November hacked US documents revealed the extent of secret US “Lethal Aid” for the Ukraine army. And since America’s under-the-table support for Ukraine’s insolvent armed forces has been revealed, there is little point in pretending to keep a moral upper hand (especially in light of recent “other” revelations involving the US, most notably its intelligence services).
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
