Welcome to European Tribune. It's gone a bit quiet around here these days, but it's still going.

EU Can Only Muster Silence and Denial

by Oui Wed Feb 15th, 2023 at 11:12:13 AM EST

Indeed it's from historical investigative journalist Seymour Hersh to nail the economic attack on Germany and Europe performed by the United States. A decision made in total secrecy for NATO allies which had baffled many for its audacity ... and stupidity. Hersh did not have to search long as the decision of Joe Biden had many NSC members who had warned of this act of war against an ally.

The main source with direct knowledge came from top level of decision making, so a "deep throat" source. Cat has covered many angles already and I will link to his posts.

Nord Stream Whodunnit [Update] | by Cat on Oct 31st, 2022 |


Western disinformation in Seymour Hersh has kicked off ...

This diary is focused on how media remains in silence at best, or worst propagate the lies coming from the White House.

Dutch media are truly horrible in their reactions ... even from expert reporters who dare to manifest they are "open-minded" to the allegations and evidence put forward.

Eelco Bosch van Rosenthal has retweeted ...

A single tweet with no follow-up

Translations:
Waiting for confirmation -seems to me- from eg Norway; a partner in this action, writes Hersh. Or from others. If that confirmation is not forthcoming, Hersh will once again destroy his reputation. [🥱 sure Eelco]

OSINT-er did fact-check Hersh's claim about Norwegian minesweepers and concludes: can't be right

Covered by b @MofA ...

Seymour Hersh:

The story that Hersh tells seems incomplete and not researched as deeply as possible. I bet that his sources know more than that.

But it still fits with the tale I had constructed from open data a day after the pipeline was destroyed:

While the Baltops 22 maneuver already took place in June and July of this year the U.S. Sixth Fleet left the Baltic Sea only a few days ago (in German, my translation):

Big Fleet Group From U.S. Navy Passes [German island passage] Fehmarnbelt

On Wednesday morning the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge, escorted by the Landing Ships USS Arlington and USS Gunston Hall, was en route towards west. Previously, the ships were part of US units that took part in NATO maneuvers and called at numerous ports in Germany, Scandinavia and the Baltic States.

The "USS Kearsarge", flagship of the association and largest warship of the US Navy, which was in action in the Baltic Sea in the last 30 years, has 40 helicopters and fighter planes ... the around 4,000 soldiers are heading back home on the east coast of the US after their six-month deployment.

Parts of the Kearsange operations in the Baltic Sea were dedicated to test special sub sea mine destruction technologies.

From the diaries ...

US Navy Passes Fehmarnbelt

Latest interviews with Seymour Hersh h/t Cat ...

 German media reaction after days of silence ...

Cui bono: Wer profitiert von Seymour Hershs Enthüllung zu den Nord-Stream-Anschlägen?

Discredit efforts against Hersh are ongoing.

No established mass media has published an account of the Nord Stream attacks that is even remotely as extensive, detailed and plausible. In Germany, the Attorney General is investigating "on suspicion of anti-constitutional sabotage" in order, as Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) said, "to track down the saboteurs and to be able to bring them before a German court".

"For reasons of public interest"

Members of the left-wing faction in the Bundestag asked the federal government whether the federal government had results from surveillance and secret service sources that point to the originators of the explosions. Robert Habeck's Federal Ministry of Economics (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) replied in Mid-December: "
After careful consideration, the Federal Government has come to the conclusion that the questions cannot be answered for reasons of public welfare." Even the environmental catastrophe caused by escaping methane gas is apparent The FDP had already said not to really interest the Greens.

Enjoy this BS article from a former BBC reporter following the war narrative briefed by the Pentagon, MI6 and Downing Street 10 ... a second generation Judith Miller born in Georgia.

By Natalia Antelava | 14 Feb. 2023 |

Editor at Coda Media Inc. in New York. A online crisis reporting news platform, headed by Natalia Antelava, a former BBC correspondent, and Ilan Greenberg, a magazine and newspaper writer who served as a staff reporter for The Wall Street Journal. Peter Pomerantsev, a British journalist and TV producer, serves as the editor-at-large. [worked at the Legatum Institute in London with Anne Applebaum]

Explains all ...

From my diary ...

Counterinsurgency Cyberwarfare NATO vs. Russia - Part 3 | Jan. 30, 2018 |

Battles are not not won by just hard aggressive force but also through information deception or the loose term of "psychological warfare". In proper academic circles, it is the usage of "soft power"

  • What does the secretive 77th Brigade do?
  • British Army 77th Brigade - Influence and Outreach
  • This report, "Winning the Information War: Techniques and Counter-Strategies in Russian Propaganda," is produced under the auspices of the Center for European Policy Analysis' (CEPA) Information Warfare Initiative. Co-authored by CEPA Senior Vice President Edward Lucas and Legatum Institute Senior Fellow Peter Pomerantsev, it is part of an ongoing effort at CEPA to monitor, collate, analyze, rebut and expose Russian propaganda in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).

    Natalia Antelava and her Coda Story dissected ...

    Nord Stream, Seymour Hersh and how disinformation works

    Those who didn't pick up the original story, like Al Jazeera, reported on the Russian reaction to it. (In case you are wondering, Russians agreed with Hersh). We will never know who Hersh's single, anonymous source on this story was, but in the end, the product bears all the hallmarks of disinformation. 

    "This is how disinfo 101 works," says Emily Bell [on the fruits of early censorship when lives are in danger], director at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University in New York. "A piece is published, it triggers a reaction. Media then reports on the reaction, further extending the lifespan of that original piece."

    The result: millions of people around the world now believe that the United States conducted an act of war against Russia. Even though they haven't seen any actual proof. 

    And millions more who will one day hear the allegation and google "Nord Stream pipeline" will find themselves lost in the avalanche of information that will either confirm their pre-existing biases or just confuse them further. Either way, truth and nuance are lost in the noise. Disinformation wins. [EUvsDisinfo]

    It is a poignant sign of the weirdness of our era, that this disinformation tale centers around one of the great legends of American journalism. 

    I remember my first, brief meeting with Seymour Hersh in Beirut in 2009. I was based there for the BBC, while he regularly came through the city on his way to Damascus, where he socialized with the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and his family. I remember being taken aback by how close he seemed to the Assads, but starstruck nevertheless. Hersh was a hero, whose dogged, brave, incredibly smart reporting exposed the My Lai massacre by U.S. troops in Vietnam, a number of Pentagon cover-ups and revelations of U.S. torture in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. 

    But by the time the Syrian civil war sent shockwaves through the Middle East, Hersh's relationship with the Assads seemed to affect his journalism.

    Assad and Netanyahu close on a peace deal over the Golan Heights - Fall 2010.

    John Kerry as Senator also visited Damascus on numerous occasions to meet Bashar Assad. Part of diplomacy the US has forgotten about.

    The lady has a blindspot and herself deeply involved in Western war narrative and propaganda.

    Display:
    Millions of us marched over Iraq - and were ignored. Now we have broken politics and endless war | The Guardian - Opinion |

    No one can say they weren't warned. Mass opposition to wars tends to emerge only after they have been waged for some time, yet protests against the Iraq war reached unprecedented heights well before it began. On 15 February 2003, the largest demonstration in British history took place in London, attended by an estimated 1.5 million to 2 million people. It was also part of the largest ever international anti-war protest, with perhaps as many as 30 million people demonstrating across every continent.

    The march itself was a carnival of resistance. There were people of every age, race, religion and nationality, from huge numbers of school students to members of the Muslim community and other faith organisations and trade unionists. There were tens of thousands of banners and placards ranging from "make tea not war" to "not in my name". Part of the reason for the sheer size of the march was that people thought that being there in person, as individuals, really could make a difference and convince the government not to go to war.

    This turned out not to be the case. The march and the wider anti-war movement did not stop the war. And we still live with the consequences of both the conflict itself, and the rejection of democratic accountability demonstrated by the government.

    Keir Starmer's cynical embrace of Nato is a sad sight indeed

    The Labour leader has directed his ire at anti-war campaigners, even though he knows we've been proved right again and again

    'Sapere aude'

    by Oui (Oui) on Wed Feb 15th, 2023 at 12:31:20 PM EST
    Stop the War March in 2003, speech Jeremy Corbyn

    In the digital age and protest movement to stop wars has become more difficult ...



    'Sapere aude'
    by Oui (Oui) on Wed Feb 15th, 2023 at 12:32:27 PM EST
    [ Parent ]


    'Sapere aude'
    by Oui (Oui) on Wed Feb 15th, 2023 at 06:44:02 PM EST
    [ Parent ]


    'Sapere aude'
    by Oui (Oui) on Wed Feb 15th, 2023 at 06:42:51 PM EST
    [ Parent ]
    The diary should have been titled "US destroyed the Nord Stream pipelines" or something like that. I almost missed it.

    It always seemed the most plausible explanation, and personally I trust Hersh. Clearly the German government must have been informed about it. It is a really insulting thing for the US to do to Germany -- to destroy the infrastructure, to prevent future German backsliding -- but the pipelines should never have been built in the first place. Europe had plenty of pipeline capacity for Russian gas, via Poland and Ukraine most notably, and going solo in a tight embrace with Putin's Russia (to get the cheapest energy possible for German industry) turns out to have been (to put it kindly) a colossal strategic blunder.

    As to why nobody is making a big deal about it in the European press : nobody seems able to corroborate Hersh's story, which clearly relies on an anonymous source. Also : there's a war on, and the major media probably find it not opportune to stir trouble between Germany and the US.

    It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II

    by eurogreen on Wed Feb 15th, 2023 at 05:10:22 PM EST
    EU or intl justice are just one big cluster...ck nowadays
    https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2022/12/14/vrede-voor-de-wereld-onvrede-in-het-vredespaleis-a4151491
    by Tom2 on Wed Feb 15th, 2023 at 05:54:12 PM EST
    Biden's 'Multilateralism' Amounts To AmericaFirst!! | Mar 25th, 2021 |

    From my diary mid-year 2021 ... on a path of war.

    'Sapere aude'

    by Oui (Oui) on Wed Feb 15th, 2023 at 06:47:10 PM EST
    Promoting Human Rights Starting In Ukraine | Jun 17th, 2021 |



    'Sapere aude'
    by Oui (Oui) on Wed Feb 15th, 2023 at 06:48:16 PM EST
    [ Parent ]
    A Royal Navy warship was "sticking up for our values" in an incident with Russian forces in disputed waters around Crimea, Boris Johnson has said.

    The prime minister said the UK does not recognise Russia's annexation of Crimea and was pursuing freedom of navigation in international waters.

    Mr Johnson denied UK relations with Russia were at an all-time low. He refused to be drawn on whether he had personally authorised the HMS Defender voyage.



    'Sapere aude'
    by Oui (Oui) on Wed Feb 15th, 2023 at 06:49:08 PM EST
    [ Parent ]
    NATO Provocation ... what did you expect?  ... a free ride to Sevastopol?

    German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas warned against cutting economic ties with Russia.

    Isolating Russia 'dangerous' for Europe, says Maas | DW News - July 1, 2021 |



    'Sapere aude'
    by Oui (Oui) on Wed Feb 15th, 2023 at 06:50:45 PM EST
    [ Parent ]
    Ukranews | Ukraine Begins Buying Diesel Fuel In US For First Time, 15 Feb
    "which imported the specified batch, the manufacturer of petroleum products was Marathon Petroleum Company"

    epravda.com.ua | Why is the state-owned Ukrtransnafta overpaying for Hungarian diesel in a flooded [sic] market, 15 Feb

    With the first volley of missiles on February 24, 2022, the Ukrainian oil market [sic] lost more than 90% of the supply of diesel fuel and 50% of gasoline. In a moment, sea [?!] imports  and deliveries from Belarus and Russia were blocked [by RUB?].
    inconceivable
    According to the enemy's plan, the shelling  of oil refineries [?] and the destruction of oil bases [port terminals?] were to put an end to the issue of providing Ukraine with fuel. The result—in May, the country was engulfed in a large-scale crisis with kilometer-long queues at gas stations, limits of one tank and gasoline at UAH 100 per liter.

    In a record short time, the market had to reorient itself to deliveries from the European direction. Government officials, oil traders[,] and even Ukrzaliznytsia, which had no such experience, were involved in the [purchase] process.

    [A]nother state-owned company, which operates the "Medvedchuk Pipeline", the management was even changed for this purpose. Instead of Mykola Havrylenko, Volodymyr Tsependa, who is close to the Prime Minister, sat in the chair of the director of Ukrtransnafta.

    buh bye, transit fee revenue and forward contracts. Hello, Mr Market.
    [...]
    After the start of the Russian invasion, the government allowed state-owned companies to make large purchases of strategic goods [?] without using the Prozorro system. Without open competitive tenders, without the possibility of contesting them in the AMCU, without publication of all data on the results of procurement. Government customers were to report only on the fact of procurement with minimal details about suppliers and cost.

    At this time, the state-owned Ukrtransnafta established the reverse [flow] of diesel fuel [read: crude oil] from Hungary through the "Medvedchuk Pipe". [It] was arrested two years ago [!] as part of the criminal proceedings against the traitor Viktor Medvedchuk  and in the summer of 2021 was transferred to the state company for management.
    [...]

    by Cat on Thu Feb 16th, 2023 at 02:28:32 PM EST
    [ Parent ]


    'Sapere aude'
    by Oui (Oui) on Wed Feb 15th, 2023 at 10:42:19 PM EST


    'Sapere aude'
    by Oui (Oui) on Wed Feb 15th, 2023 at 10:43:20 PM EST
    [ Parent ]


    'Sapere aude'
    by Oui (Oui) on Wed Feb 15th, 2023 at 10:45:15 PM EST
    [ Parent ]
    Ukrinform | Zelensk*: We have new strong decisions on protecting our country, 14 Feb
    President Volodymyr Zelensky said this in his video address to the nation, Ukrinform reports, referring to the president's press service.
    [...]
    Today is the day of another Ramstein, a meeting of the group of military support for Ukraine. 54 partner countries. This is the ninth such meeting. We have got regular strong decisions on protecting our country and strengthening our warriors.

    Our partners have confirmed more air defense systems, more tanks, more artillery and shells, and more training for our military. As we heard today, Ukraine must be successful. And here we agree: there must be success.

    Of course, not everything about Ramstein can be reported in public. Much of the agreements and discussions should be kept behind closed doors of the Contact Group. But I can say for sure that the basic trends remain unchanged. Ukraine and its partners are doing everything together to make the terrorist state lose. And to make it happen as soon as possible.
    [...]
    And I thank all our partners who realize that speed is important. I thank all of our American friends for their leadership and systematic coordination of the Ramstein meetings, as well as for the personal participation of Mr. Lloyd Austin, Secretary of Defense of the United States, and Mr. Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in the meetings.

    Today I met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada [Melanie Joly], who was on a visit to Ukraine. The topic of our conversation was also, so to speak, "Ramstein-based". First of all, defense support, new weapons for Ukraine, and new sanctions against Russia. I thanked Canada for the support it has already provided. And we discussed in detail with the Minister what is needed now to continue to oust the occupier from the Ukrainian land
    [...]
    Glory to everyone who is now fighting for Ukraine!

    We are doing everything to give our warriors more weapons, longer-range weapons and greater might for the offensive we are preparing.

    And... today is Valentine's Day. I sincerely congratulate everyone who is in love on this holiday, on this day. And I congratulate all those in love with Ukraine!

    Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand describes object that was shot down by NORAD
    (16.02.23, A/V, 00:01:40, EN)
    by Cat on Thu Feb 16th, 2023 at 02:47:29 PM EST
    [ Parent ]
    Same at CNN
    Spoiler alert: A second day's CNN site-search for 'Seymour Hersh' returns only years-old Bin Laden stuff.

    verified!

    by Tom2 on Thu Feb 16th, 2023 at 06:28:39 PM EST
    This Is Not Propaganda by Peter Pomerantsev review - dispatches from the war on truth | The Guardian - July 28, 2019 |

    A timely volume of analysis and memoir shows how populism is destabilising democracy and reshaping our sense of normality

    In the course of his autobiographical notes here, Pomerantsev remarks how he returned to London in 2010 in part for the psychological necessity of getting away from a world "where spectacle had pushed out sense". In fact, of course, he returned to more of the same.

    What he had observed in Russia, "a radical relativism" with "conspiracy replacing ideology, facts equating to fibs, conversation collapsing into mutual accusations that every argument is just information warfare... and the sense that everything under one's feet is constantly moving, inherently unstable, liquid" also began to characterise British politics.

    He quickly saw how the methodologies that brought Putin to power had been exported, finding their expression first in Brexit and then in the election of Trump. Gleb Pavlovsky, one of the principal architects of Putin's rise, explains to the author at one point how, in the absence of the old ideologies, the aim became "to lasso disparate groups together around a new notion of `the people', bound around an amorphous but powerful emotion which everyone can interpret in their own way, and then sealed with enemies who will threaten to undermine that feeling".

    Instead of a rational project directed toward the future, the aim was to offer the people "emotional highs" and sloganeering based in vague and unsupported nostalgias. The local equivalent of "Make America great again" or "Take back control" was "Bring Russia off its knees".

    Pomerantsev offers compelling fine detail of the ways in which social media campaigns would stoke fears about threats to a national way of life and offer simplistic solutions.

    Bio Peter Pomerantsev

    Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible by Peter Pomerantsev review - Putinism and the oil-boom years | The Guardian: Book review - Feb. 4, 2015 |

    'Sapere aude'

    by Oui (Oui) on Fri Feb 17th, 2023 at 08:14:32 PM EST
    From the diaries ...

    Hybrid Warfare: Statecraft Integrity Initiative | Dec. 26, 2018 |

    Neocons 2.0: The problem with Peter Pomerantsev | Pando - Apr. 15, 2015 |

    The hearing was put on by Orange County neoconservative Republican Ed Royce; the purpose of the hearings was to drum up fear about Russia's "unprecedented" information war on the West -- a propaganda battle which obviously exists, but whose dimensions and dangers are being cynically exaggerated -- and then convert that fear into budget money for US propaganda and NGOs to subvert Kremlin power.

    What made Pomerantsev's lobbying appearance with the neocons so disturbing to me is that he's not the sort of crude, arrogant meat-head I normally identify with homo neoconius. Pomerantsev's book, "Nothing is True and Everything is Possible: The Surreal Heart of the New Russia", is the most talked-about Russia book in recent memory. His many articles on the Kremlin's "avant-garde" "information war" and its "political technologists" have been hits in the thinking-man's press: Atlantic Monthly, London Review of Books...

    • Glenn Simpson's testimony heretical of `hero' Bill Browder and key Magnitsky Act | LA Times - Jan. 14, 2018 |
    • Glenn Simpson worked for a Russian oligarch to defeat the Magnitsky Act, destroys Bill Browder

    More on the Henry Jackson Society in London



    'Sapere aude'
    by Oui (Oui) on Fri Feb 17th, 2023 at 08:17:34 PM EST
    [ Parent ]
    The Menace of Unreality: Combatting Russian Disinformation in the 21st Century | Legatum Institute |

    Anne Applebaum, Director of the Legatum Institute's Transitions Forum, moderated a discussion with Geoffrey Pyatt, US Ambassador to Ukraine, Oleksander Scherba, Ambassador at Large at the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Michael Weiss, Editor-in-Chief of The Interpreter, and Peter Pomerantsev, journalist and documentary producer. John Herbst, Director of the Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Centre at the Atlantic Council and partner for this event, gave introductory remarks.

    How neocon Michael Weiss went from hosting Islamophobic rallies with far-right hate queen Pamela Geller to lobbying for Islamist rebels in Syria | Grayzone Max Blumenthal  - Aug. 15, 2017 |

    Coda Story contributing editor Peter Pomerantsev was listed on the "LSE Team" of the Integrity Initiative, a covert info war network organized by British military-intelligence officers and funded by the UK Foreign Office.

    'Sapere aude'

    by Oui (Oui) on Fri Feb 17th, 2023 at 08:19:49 PM EST
    [ Parent ]
    I found another excellent Disinformation think tank (start in 2006) with some exclusive sponsors with outstanding credentials ...

    @ISDglobal

    Notable publications:

    Applebaum, Anne; Pomerantsev, Peter; Smith, Melanie; Colliver, Chloe (December 2017). "Make Germany Great Again" (PDF).

    Hmmm ... same actors as the Legatum Institute, Integrity Initiative and Coda Story. The greatest propaganda effort since Nazi Germany and Goebbels. UK (mis)leading.

    ISD partners with a number of Western governments, including agencies in Canada,[58] Norway,[59] the Netherlands,[60] Germany, the United Kingdom,[61] New Zealand,[62] Australia, the United States,[63] and the European Commission.[64] It also works on funded projects with technology companies and organisations such as Google,[65] Microsoft,[66] Meta,[67] and the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism.[68]

    Notable sources of foundation support include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,[69] the Omidyar Network,[70] the Gen Next Foundation,[71] and the Open Society Foundation.[72] Other institutional partners include the Global Disinformation Index,[73] the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society,[74] Institut Montaigne,[75] the British Council,[76] and the German Marshall Fund.[77]

    Somehow their writings don't match mine on certain topics like Ukraine.

    'Sapere aude'

    by Oui (Oui) on Sat Feb 18th, 2023 at 08:59:39 AM EST
    [ Parent ]


    'Sapere aude'
    by Oui (Oui) on Fri Feb 17th, 2023 at 08:49:42 PM EST
    Remind me, how many dead?

    The term "terror" or "terrorism" is being demonetized (just like "genocide"), and by the same people.

    They are serious concepts with serious meanings.

    It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II

    by eurogreen on Tue Feb 21st, 2023 at 10:09:40 AM EST
    [ Parent ]
    So true, with impunity and no one held to account. See US Congress rapid action "The Hague Invasion Act"  😡

    Last Throes the Previous Time -- US Army fighting insurgency in Iraq War.

    'Sapere aude'

    by Oui (Oui) on Tue Feb 21st, 2023 at 01:02:12 PM EST
    [ Parent ]
    So you're defending the description of the sabotage of a pipeline as a "terror attack"?

    Language is cheap these days, but you should think through the implications.

    "Somebody dented my car! Terrorist!"

    It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II

    by eurogreen on Tue Feb 21st, 2023 at 01:53:48 PM EST
    [ Parent ]
    A friend mailed me this article ... just as Mr. Henk Neumann of the Dutch Institute for Peace Issues [before merger into Clingendael], you will not find these men of courage anymore. The world is worse off. These men were educated and/or lived in my present neighbourhood. I can relate to them.

    "Giving others safety and well-being, that is the meaning of life I have arrived at" | De Volkskrant |

    Looking back at a life of more than seventy years, Ko Colijn concludes that above all he was 'very lucky'. First of all, because his cradle was 'not in the Congo in 1800, but in the post-war Netherlands'. Then because he found parents with a "clear educational ideal" for their three daughters and only son: "The children should be better off than themselves."

    Colijn, a former journalist, teacher and Clingendael director, is also grateful for the 'political upbringing' of his father, a civil servant at the Chamber of Commerce in The Hague and 'a typical Cold War person'. As a 5-year-old, little Ko already empathizes with the situation in 1956 [Hungary Uprising], the beginning of a lifelong fascination for 'safety and well-being'. He is also lucky with his secondary school, the Free-thinking Lyceum [Vrijzinnig Christelijk Lyceum VCL] in The Hague ('very liberal and not very Christian') and with his student days in Leiden in the 1970s, 'the time in which I formed my moral framework'. The keynote: belief in "the goodness of man" and "trust in collective action." Those supports are unbroken.

    During his career he was lucky enough to have 'good jobs': from teaching economics at the Rijnlands Lyceum in Oegstgeest ('Getting exemption from military service') through his journalistic work for the weekly magazine Vrij Nederland and a teaching position at Erasmus University, finally his directorship of Clingendael, the think tank for international relations - a top position that he achieved 'by more luck than wisdom'.

    The Leon Wecke Prize 2020 has been awarded by the jury to Ko Colijn



    'Sapere aude'
    by Oui (Oui) on Sat Feb 18th, 2023 at 10:01:14 AM EST
    Fri Aug 19th, 2022

    Q: Did your ancestors collaborate with NAZI German government? Did your ancestors collaborate in drawing "territorial integrity" of WWII victors?
    A: Never happened. We are all victims of The Genocide® and The Holodomor® perpetrated by the USSR. We are Ukraine! Helpless! The Whole World® must pay (USD) for PUTIN's imperial Re:Vision and crimes against humanity in Ukraine since 1945!

    APsplainin: Ukraine shuns [CoE] OSCE gathering in Vienna over Russian presence

    ..."I do sympathize with the fact that some members find it unbearable to sit in the same room as the aggressors," the parliamentary assembly's president, Margareta Cederfelt, told the opening session. "But for those present today, this is your opportunity to stand up for Ukraine and to confront the lies from the aggressors."...
    delegates: 323 members from 56 parliaments
    archived COE parliamentary Assembly (PACE)
    by Cat on Thu Feb 23rd, 2023 at 03:57:36 PM EST
    [ Parent ]


    'Sapere aude'
    by Oui (Oui) on Sat Feb 18th, 2023 at 10:31:51 AM EST
    Maybe he's saving the punchline for the end, but there's nothing new so far. Oh, this :

    Putin continues to talk on economic matters. He is currently criticising those who spent their money in the west rather than in Russia and who have now lost their possessions, saying that he had warned them.

    Oh, is he turning against the oligarchs? That's a good sign (of regime disintegration) if it's real.

    It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II

    by eurogreen on Tue Feb 21st, 2023 at 10:15:15 AM EST
    No. The EU is doing that for PUTIN by listing a"Kremlin-tied" asset forfeiture opportunities published in 10 sanctions' guidelines.

    Just sayining that in case you're willing and able to form an opinion, including EU-prohibited "media operator" propaganda, about the sanctity of private property and "high-value" POWs on a wartime footing.

    by Cat on Tue Feb 21st, 2023 at 02:32:13 PM EST
    [ Parent ]
    Personally, I've never had strong opinions about the sanctity of private property. Seizure of the assets of drug dealers and oligarchs, I'm for it. I would enlarge these categories considerably if I could. EU oligarchs, for example.

    Putin is doing populism; his reign has always been an uneasy alliance with the economic power of the robber barons. He has been able to pick off dangerous individuals who were too interested in politics; but if he should now think that he can do without them as a class... that would be interesting.

    It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II

    by eurogreen on Wed Feb 22nd, 2023 at 06:14:23 AM EST
    [ Parent ]
    by Oui (Oui) on Tue Feb 21st, 2023 at 12:52:01 PM EST


    Putin gives few hints about what's next for Ukraine as he rallies Russian elites
    Russian President Vladimir Putin gave no indication that he would end the war in Ukraine any time soon in his state-of-the-nation speech in Moscow on Tuesday (21 February), despite not having achieved any of his objectives nearly a year into the full-scale invasion.

    Speaking before 1,500 members of Russia's political and military elite, including both houses of parliament, Putin started by invoking a familiar narrative about why his invasion of Ukraine was, in his reading, forced upon Russia by the West.
    [...]
    Without providing evidence [!], Putin said that "many basic civilian sectors of the domestic economy not only have not shrunk but have actually increased production".

    He also lashed out at Russian businesspeople for using their profits for "yachts, estates and elite real estate" abroad, urging them to forget about whatever assets they may have lost to Western sanctions.

    "None of the simple citizens of the country, believe me, was sorry for those who lost their capital in international banks."

    In what could be seen as a signal that Russia is serious about entering a new phase of self-reliance as it further cuts itself off from the West, Putin announced a series of domestic measures, from infrastructure plans and mortgage subsidies to changes in the country's education system.

    archived psychotic break with ROW "impersonating" the IMF
    by Cat on Tue Feb 21st, 2023 at 02:53:54 PM EST
    [ Parent ]
    Global safe havens for money Russian oligarchs ...

    London - Istanbul - Cyprus - Tel Aviv - Dubai - New York.

    Cyprus is losing its Russians, confronting existential questions about its economy | March 15, 2022 |

    ... and of course the good corrupt oligarchs have little to fear.

    'Sapere aude'

    by Oui (Oui) on Tue Feb 21st, 2023 at 04:33:53 PM EST
    [ Parent ]
    Calling for the downfall of a sovereign state by any means.

    US Congress members and many leading figures in the West openly calling for the assassination of a head of state.

    The West has decidedly made the choice of building a wall of enforced steel between the Atlantic Alliance and all of the Russian Federation ... by extension also its close allies and proxy states. Once hostilities broke-out, and the war took hold and deepened by escalation, the point of no return had passed by the end of March 2022. The terror act of 26-09 sealed the fate of Europe and in particular the German Republic, a close ally of US intelligence and the military.

    More now on Putin's speech, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling Russia's decision to suspend its participation in the New Start Treaty "unfortunate and irresponsible".

    "We'll be watching carefully to see what Russia actually does. We'll of course make sure that in any event, we are postured appropriately for the security of our own country and that of our allies," he told reporters.

    But Blinken left the door open to resuming negotiations at any time. "We remain ready to talk about strategic arms limitations at any time with Russia, irrespective of anything else going on, in the world or in our relationship," he said.

    A BS statement with false intent as past decades has proven ...

    "We remain ready to talk about strategic arms limitations ..."

    NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg called on Putin to reconsider. "With today's decision on New START, the whole arms control architecture has been dismantled." ... 🤣 🤣 goofball

    Putin: Russia to suspend participation in last remaining nuclear treaty with U.S. | AXIOS |

    Three nuclear states--India, Israel, and Pakistan--have never signed the treaty. India and Pakistan have publicly disclosed their nuclear weapon programs, and Israel has a long-standing policy of deliberate ambiguity with regards to its nuclear program at Dimona. Re: whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu

    Not the time for limitations as the nuclear power states are at each other's throats ... modernization, smaller nukes for the battlefield ... readied for use ... the U.S. is not under direct threat, some proxy states are.

    Russia thrown out of observer status to NATO ...

    German Chancellor Angela Merkel persuaded Trump to hold off on withdrawal for 60 days to give diplomacy one last chance, but Washington and Moscow spent more time assigning blame for the crisis than discussing ways to resolve their concerns.

    Related reading ...

    Why is America getting a new $100 billion nuclear weapon?

    'Sapere aude'

    by Oui (Oui) on Tue Feb 21st, 2023 at 03:02:15 PM EST
    [ Parent ]

    From the diaries ...



    'Sapere aude'
    by Oui (Oui) on Thu Feb 23rd, 2023 at 02:24:19 PM EST
    The New York Times on Ukraine: Vietnam [and Iraq] déjà vu | Anti-War - Sept. 28, 2022 |

    The New York Times is going full-bore for war in Ukraine. It is difficult to explain the yellow journalism, but the so-called "paper of record" did the same thing on Vietnam (see below). In other words, the Gray Lady is whoring again.

    Shameful

    Never having been held accountable for reporting as flat fact that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and cheerleading for the U.S./UK war of aggression starting in March 2003, The New York Times seems to feel it has carte blanche to demonize Russian President Vladimir Putin, in exactly the same way it did Saddam Hussein--and Ho Chi Minh, for god's sake, four decades earlier.

    Over the weekend the Times's reporting has been slanted to lead readers to conclude that Putin is some kind of monster with whom no one could possibly negotiate. NYT reporters and also opinion writers rely now on Ukrainian officials; then on U.S. intelligence officials. The collective performance is truly a travesty.

    On Saturday, for example, opinion writer David Brooks tells us Putin is "a deeply wounded tiger." And ( get this!): Brooks goes on to say, "This week I learned a bit about how American officials are thinking about this situation... I'm told that somewhere between 80,000 and 110,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded in the past seven months... morale is awful... the Russians are on the defensive, or falling back." [Reminds me of how many Viet Cong we were killing and wounding, according to earlier "American officials.]

    Maureen Dowd would not be outdone on Sunday. Her NYT website piece features a photo of Putin grinding his teeth, under the title "Solo Soulless Saboteurs" (the other "saboteur" is Donald Trump). Putin is a "megalomaniacal supervillain" a "thug," "unhinged," and then Dowd's closer "No one can deal with someone so inhumane." Got that?

    Dowd is careful to call Russia's attack on Ukraine "unprovoked"--reflecting naïveté or simple dishonesty (See: "Brainwashed for War With Russia") She does refer to Vietnam, where she acknowledges:

      America has its own history of lying itself into wars in Vietnam and Iraq [she doesn't mention how the NY Times greased the skids for both], and then prolonging the killing of young soldiers as a sop to male politicians' egos.

    Vietnam Gulf of Tonkin False Flag Attack

    The Times hailed the Tonkin Gulf resolution in 1964 as proof of "our united determination to support the cause of freedom in Southeast Asia... against the mad adventure by the North Vietnamese Communists ... United States determination to assure the independence of South Vietnam, if ever doubted before, cannot be doubted now by the Communists to the north or their allies."

    U.S. "retaliation" came swiftly, even though the North Vietnamese "raid" in the Gulf on August 4 never happened and even though--as President Lyndon Johnson's national security adviser McGeorge Bundy later told NPR--he had cautioned Johnson about the dubious evidence for it.

    The Times's David Halberstam [Pulitzer Prize winner] warned:

      Withdrawal means that the United States' prestige will be lowered throughout the world and it means that the pressure of Communism on the rest of Southeast Asia will intensify.

    Very often the US Navy spearheads the preliminary attack to start a war of choice ... see also Bay of Pigs and close encounter in the Strait of Hormuz. The skipper of the USS Vincennes was decorated by President Reagan, the poor scums in the Donbas were crucified by the West and used for anti-Putinism war propaganda to avoid dialogue, but provoke war.

    'Sapere aude'

    by Oui (Oui) on Thu Feb 23rd, 2023 at 02:28:28 PM EST
    The U.S. Intelligence community deeply involved in RussiaGate and disinformation and censorship PropOrNot campaign ... thx to the Washington Post.

    EU/NATO Propaganda It's About Daesh and Russia [Update5] | @BooMan by Oui on Nov 24, 2016 |

    A shady website PropOrNot claims "Russia is Manipulating US Opinion Through Online Propaganda" has compiled a list of websites its anonymous authors accuse of pushing fake news and Russian propaganda.

    ... Despite the Washington Post's charitable description of PropOrNot as a group of independent-minded researchers dedicated to protecting the integrity of American democracy.

    ... Former Obama senior advisor Dan Pfeiffer, are hailing Timberg's story as Pulitzer-level journalism. "Russia appears to have successfully hacked American democracy," declared Sahil Kapur, the senior political reporter for Bloomberg.

    The dead-enders of Hillary Clinton's campaign for president have also seized on PropOrNot's claims as proof that the election was rigged, with Clinton confidant and Center For American Progress president Neera Tanden declaring, "Wake up people," as she blasted out the Washington Post article on Russian black ops.



    'Sapere aude'
    by Oui (Oui) on Thu Feb 23rd, 2023 at 02:30:23 PM EST
    [ Parent ]
    US Navy From the Gulf of Tonkin to the Baltic Sea | Seymour Hersh |

    The secret and incomplete history of US-Norway collaboration in covert operations

    Why Norway? In my account of the Biden Administration's decision to destroy the Nord Stream pipelines, why did much of the secret planning and training for the operation take place in Norway? And why were highly skilled seamen and technicians from the Norwegian Navy involved?

    The simple answer is that the Norwegian Navy has a long and murky history of cooperation with American intelligence. Five months ago that teamwork--about which we still know very little--resulted in the destruction of two pipelines, on orders of President Biden, with international implications yet to be determined. And six decades ago, so the histories of those years have it, a small group of Norwegian seamen were entangled in a presidential deceit that led to an early--and bloody--turning point in the Vietnam war.



    'Sapere aude'
    by Oui (Oui) on Thu Feb 23rd, 2023 at 02:32:27 PM EST
    [ Parent ]

    Vikings in Vietnam Norwegian Captains and CIA Clandestine Operations in North Vietnam

    'Sapere aude'

    by Oui (Oui) on Thu Feb 23rd, 2023 at 02:34:35 PM EST
    [ Parent ]
    Norwegian mercenaries to operate the "Nasty" high speed (PTFs) coastal patrol boats into North Vietnamese waters.

    In Vietnam War, role for dedicated naval special warfare craft, the PTF (fast patrol boat) 1964-1972

    President Kennedy's mandate gave birth to the U.S. Navy SEALs in January 1962. The naval commando who's role is to have a sea air and land capability. The Navy and SEALs were now looking for delivery platforms for this sea-borne raider.

    Operations against North Vietnam by the PTFs began in late May 1964 and set the pattern of raids that would last until the last operations in 1971. It is note worthy that these operation were comparable to American PT's and British MTB's of WWII. This was extremely rare and unique in the Vietnam war and any other conflict since WWII. These missions include, direct action missions, insertion and extraction of SCT teams for recon, prisoner snatches, and demolition raids, insertion and extraction of agents. Psychological operations, which included floating in special one frequency radios that would only pick-up only a SOG propaganda station.

    Also fishermen from the north would be kidnapped and taken south where they would be wined and dined and shown the wonders of South Vietnam. They were given presents and taken back to the north with the hope they would spread dissent. The success of this program was questionable but popular as many North Vietnamese fishermen were repeat guests and had many volunteers.

    Coastal patrol and interdiction of the northern coast included junk captures, board and search and the disruption of North Vietnams maritime industry. The PTFs aided in hydrographic surveys of North Vietnam and were available assets in the recovery of downed pilots. The most dramatic missions of the PTFs were shore bombardment and direct combat action against North Vietnam's naval combatant craft.   Perhaps the most dramatic effect of the raids up north occurred on 2 Aug. 1964 the USS Maddox DD- 731 was making a Desoto patrol [intell sweep] when it was attacked by North Vietnamese  P-4 torpedo boats. The attack was repulsed, but the ramifications were historic. The North Vietnamese government claimed it was chasing South Vietnamese PT boats and assumed the Maddox was also part of the raid.



    'Sapere aude'
    by Oui (Oui) on Wed Mar 22nd, 2023 at 09:43:37 PM EST
    [ Parent ]


    'Sapere aude'
    by Oui (Oui) on Thu Feb 23rd, 2023 at 02:36:01 PM EST
    US Stonewalling Results of Investigation Nord Stream

    Russia to continue to insist on fair probe into explosions of Nord Stream -- Kremlin | TASS |

    Dmitry Peskov stressed that the refusal to give Moscow access to the investigation of the Nord Stream explosions hampers the search for the truth

    Peskov was commenting on the results of a meeting of the UN Security Council on the topic of gas pipeline explosions.

    "On the one hand, we managed to draw attention to the need for a thorough and transparent investigation to confirm those suspicions, which are supported, by the way, by some quite detailed, surprisingly, investigations regarding who could be behind this sabotage, and this can and should be characterized as a terrorist act against critical energy infrastructure for the European continent," Peskov said.

    He also added that "on the other hand, we come up against a brick wall of unwillingness to do this, on the part of the countries of the collective West, and, on the contrary, we see their desire not to focus too much on this issue and gradually ensure that this topic is swept under the rug."



    'Sapere aude'
    by Oui (Oui) on Thu Feb 23rd, 2023 at 02:37:58 PM EST
    [ Parent ]
    Never quite recovered from Soviet era, using their tools in a New Cold War.



    'Sapere aude'
    by Oui (Oui) on Thu Feb 23rd, 2023 at 02:39:40 PM EST
      🤣

    #freedom #democeacy #FFD #USIP #Omidyar

    'Sapere aude'

    by Oui (Oui) on Thu Feb 23rd, 2023 at 02:46:55 PM EST
    As I have written, the Dutch government, the EU in Brussels and the UK Government have funded so-called "fact-checkers" that were part of their own campaign of propaganda and disinformation. Adding conspiracy allegations to an event to obscure the actual facts.



    'Sapere aude'
    by Oui (Oui) on Sat Mar 4th, 2023 at 07:40:39 AM EST
    In Germany one provider of the daily spectacle is the premier news program of public TV, 'Die Tagesschau'. It has an online presence which includes a section for 'fact checking' deceptively called Faktenfinder. Its current main purpose is to promote the NATO war in Ukraine and to blame Russia for waging it.

    It is quite embarrassing to read its highly manipulative pieces. Last week though it topped its usual nonsense with a mistake that exposed it to a wider audience and led to lots of taunts and jeering.

    Its main writer was tasked with debunking Seymour Hersh's piece about the U.S. terror attack on the Nord Stream pipeline.

    Not being sufficiently capable of understanding the original English text, the writer used Google Translate to convert it to German.

    [Google Translate is quite good if you need some base to work from but it is far from perfect.]  



    'Sapere aude'
    by Oui (Oui) on Sat Mar 4th, 2023 at 09:19:41 AM EST
    [ Parent ]


    'Sapere aude'
    by Oui (Oui) on Sat Mar 4th, 2023 at 09:21:55 AM EST
    [ Parent ]


    'Sapere aude'
    by Oui (Oui) on Sat Mar 4th, 2023 at 09:22:57 AM EST
    [ Parent ]
    "Faktenfinder" tappt in Falle -- ARD blamiert sich mit Übersetzungsfehler | 24 Feb. 2023 |

    Richtig wären "C4-Hohlladungen" gewesen

    The sabotage report by Seymour Hersh never was about vegetation as camouflage for the C4 explosives 🤣

    Seymour Hersh's report never claimed that anything was planted along the pipelines as camouflage. The US journalist wrote instead that Norwegian Navy divers swam to the gas lines. Their task was, as it says in the original English text, "(to) plant shaped C4 charges on the four pipelines". The correct translation for this is: "(...) to attach C4 shaped charges to the four gas lines". The English word "plant" can mean "plant", but in this case it has to be translated as a verb. As in "to plant a bomb".



    'Sapere aude'
    by Oui (Oui) on Sat Mar 4th, 2023 at 09:24:16 AM EST
    [ Parent ]
    🤣 🤣 France 🇫🇷 Ukraine 🇺🇦 Libya 🇱🇾 Syria 🇸🇾



    'Sapere aude'
    by Oui (Oui) on Sat Mar 4th, 2023 at 08:28:34 AM EST

    'We Lost a Great Deal of Time in Libya Because of the Germans' | Der Spiegel - March 30, 2011 |

    French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy has been a fierce proponent of military intervention in Libya. SPIEGEL spoke with him about Germany's "shameful" abstention from the UN Security Council resolution, the democratic leanings of rebel leaders in Libya and why some in the West might want the Arab spring to come to an end.



    'Sapere aude'
    by Oui (Oui) on Sat Mar 4th, 2023 at 08:29:38 AM EST
    [ Parent ]

    BHL a leftist? BS he is a fuc*ing pro-Israel fascist neocon. #imperialism #WeAreNato

    France, which had been the scene of a new flowering of radicalism in 1968, transformed itself into the capital of European intellectual reaction. Former Maoists like France's Bernard Kouchner or Bernard-Henri Levy (BHL) joined the so-called New Philosophers to reassert Eurocentrism against Third Worldism. They upheld the right and duty of imperial powers to defeat totalitarianism, and bring civilization to the barbarians by any means necessary.

    These intellectuals transmogrified each new supposed enemy into a totalitarian -- that U.S. imperialism had a duty to overthrow.

    Bernard-Henri Lévy, a friend to Israel | Al Jazeera - April 22, 2012 |

    'Sapere aude'

    by Oui (Oui) on Sat Mar 4th, 2023 at 08:31:14 AM EST
    [ Parent ]
    All credit bestowed on Ukrainian divers 🇺🇦 🤡 🤥

    The Seymour Hersh report was silenced in Western NATO bloc of nations ....

    In first two hours:

    Quite some coordination in unity war propaganda #WeAreNato #clowns 🤡

    New York Times and History Iraq War Lies Judith Miller etc etc

    CIA jewels joining hands with journalists, editors, newspapers, tv broadcasts a film industry Hollywood -- Operation Mockingbird and MKULTRA

    'Sapere aude'

    by Oui (Oui) on Tue Mar 7th, 2023 at 06:05:08 PM EST


    'Sapere aude'
    by Oui (Oui) on Tue Mar 7th, 2023 at 07:16:36 PM EST
    [ Parent ]


    'Sapere aude'
    by Oui (Oui) on Tue Mar 7th, 2023 at 08:33:07 PM EST



    'Sapere aude'
    by Oui (Oui) on Tue Mar 7th, 2023 at 08:35:45 PM EST
    [ Parent ]
    New York Times: Proukrainische Gruppe hat Nord Stream zerstört | Berliner Zeitung |

    Die New York Times meldet, dass amerikanische Geheimdienste davon ausgehen, dass der Nord-Stream-Anschlag von einer proukrainischen Gruppe verübt wurde.

    It then goes on to say, "US officials said they had no evidence that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy or his top lieutenants were involved in the operation, or that the perpetrators acted on orders from Ukrainian government officials." linking Russia to Western Europe would fuel public speculation about who was to blame from Moscow to Kiev and from London to Washington and remains one of the most momentous unsolved mysteries of Russia's year-long war in Ukraine to date, according to The New York Times.

    The Ukrainian government and secret service claim they had no role in the attack and do not know who carried it out."

    According to The New York Times, the American secret services have not provided any information on where their information came from and which group could be behind the attack. But US authorities also say they found no evidence of Russian government involvement in the attack. "Officials who reviewed the information said the saboteurs were most likely Ukrainian or Russian nationals, or a combination of both. US officials said no American or British nationals were involved."

    If you negate all statements in the NYT article, you most likely are closer to the facts. 🤣

    'Sapere aude'

    by Oui (Oui) on Tue Mar 7th, 2023 at 08:40:37 PM EST
    [ Parent ]
    Trail of explosions at Nord Stream leads to Ukraine, German probe establishes -- Die Zeit | TASS |

    German experts have made a breakthrough in the investigation into the sabotage of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines, they have established that the trail leads to Ukraine, the Zeit newspaper reported on Tuesday.

    "The investigators managed to identify a vessel that, in all likelihood, was used in a covert operation. They are talking about a yacht that was rented by a company, which was registered in Poland and apparently belonged to two Ukrainians," the newspaper reported.

    Pure coincidental of course a few days after top secret meeting in White House by Joe and Olaf tête-à-tête  ... 4 yr eyes only.

    'Sapere aude'

    by Oui (Oui) on Tue Mar 7th, 2023 at 08:56:11 PM EST
    [ Parent ]


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