Ukraine – The Pawn of Foreign Powers


Armstrong Economics Blog/Uncategorized Re-Posted Feb 21, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Hi Marty,

Would it not be better for Putin to follow the American model and invade all of Ukraine vs. using nuclear weapons? There is still time to execute such a strategy.

Taking control of all of Ukraine would give Russia control of the borders, hence no more major offensive weapons would cross to Ukraine from Poland.

On the flip side, using nuclear weapons is bad PR. The public opinion is against nuclear weapons, so if Putin were to use them, NATO would then have an excuse to enter the conflict directly. All it would take is a PR spin.

Cheers from Canada,
Lucas

ANSWER: If Russia nuked Ukraine, that would not provide a legal excuse for NATO since Ukraine is not a member of NATO. The whole criticism of Putin in Russia is that he has been too “soft” because he is too nostalgic and regards Kiev as the first capital of the Rus. To him, nuking Kiev would be like the US nuking London. He launched his “special” operation to defend the Donbas because the West lied about the Minsk Agreement to buy time for Ukraine to create an army.

The problem we really face is that the West has conspired to create war with Russia and to use Ukraine as cannon fodder. From the start, Zelensky has drafted 18 to 60-year-olds. Tass has reported that Ukrainian prisoners taken recently are 16 and 17-year-olds.

The West does not care about the Ukrainian people. The more civilians killed, the better. That will enable the West to rally troops for revenge. This war could have ended in 10 minutes. All the West had to do was to allow Ukraine to seek peace and honor the Minsk Agreement – nothing more.

But the West is outright trying to destroy Russia and the bankers are in line once again licking their lips at all the wealth of Russia from gold and platinum to rare earths, diamonds, and energy. Just as I was solicited to join them back in 1999 and I refused, they are back again cheering war.

The Ukrainian people have nothing to gain from this. The Donbas is occupied by Russians for hundreds of years. The Ukrainian people NEVER had a country. They finally got one in 1991 and they are throwing that all away for the Donbas. Zelensky will fly at the last moment to Florida when Ukraine falls. This is the leader of a country who takes orders from foreign powers.

CNN Accidentally Provides Evidence of World War Reddit – No Kyiv Air Raid Sirens in Five Days Before Biden-Zelenskyy Performance


Posted originally on the CTH on February 20, 2023 | Sundance 

I’m not going to re-write anything. [SEE HERE]  Instead, I’m just dropping this little video snippet into the discussion as a confirmational datapoint.

CNN journalist Alex Marquardt: “I’ve been here for the past five days. I have not heard any explosions. I have not heard any air sirens, until about half an hour ago, right when President Biden was in the center of Kyiv.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Takes His “Not Campaigning, Campaigning Tour” to New York, Illinois and Beyond to Promote Law Enforcement


Posted originally on the CTH on February 19, 2023 | Sundance

Keeping up the coy and deliberately managed strategy of not running for 2024 while running for 2024, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will embark on a multi-state promotional effort to showcase his pro law enforcement outlook.

DeSantis starts Monday in Staten Island, New York, and the managers are counting on being able to do the ’24 run for office without angering the base Republican voters who see duplicity and deception in the construct.

As George Soros said of DeSantis personality, he’s “shrewd, ruthless, and ambitious,” the perfect blend of characteristics to operate as a pliable vessel operating on behalf of his Machiavellian management team.

NEW YORK – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will visit New York City Monday for a pro-law enforcement rally at a catering hall in Staten Island – a holiday incursion into one of former President Trump’s most loyal strongholds.

The 7:30 a.m. President’s Day speech at Privé will be the governor’s first stop on a multi-city tour to showcase his pro-cop bona fides as he gears up for an expected 2024 White House campaign, insiders said.

 “On Staten Island, we are proud to support our law enforcement,” said Assemblyman Mike Tannousis, the Staten Island GOP chairman. “I’m happy that our law enforcement community will get some recognition and support.”

The city’s reddest borough is packed with Trump backers, who gave him 57% of the island’s vote in 2020 – making Monday’s foray a crucial test of DeSantis’s chances among the former president’s remaining devotees. (read more)

Sunday Talks, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Moraweicki Discusses State of NATO With Ukraine and Upcoming Biden Visit


Posted originally on the CTH on February 19, 2023 | Sundance 

With a visit by Joe Biden coming up next week, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki discusses the status of the ongoing Ukraine conflict with Russia and the expectation of this being a long NATO supported fight.

Poland is in a weird place with their internal politics.  Domestically, their population is not in alignment with the leftist, globalist approach.  However, for the past two years -especially since the Russia/Ukraine conflict began – they appear to be walking a tightrope with U.S. policy, leaning favorably to the Biden administration.

It appears Poland is like many EU countries in the leadership disconnect from the mindset of the underlying population that grants them power, with NATO representing the corrupting influence in the disconnect.  Then again, the same could be said for almost the entire western system of government, including the United States.   Interesting dynamic to watch: 

(Transcript) – MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to Face The Nation. President Biden heads to Poland this week, his second visit since Russia began its war in Ukraine. For more we go now to Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. Good morning to you.

POLISH PRIME MINISTER MATEUSZ MORAWIECKI: Good morning madam.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So President Biden will be visiting Warsaw, we know you’ve said President Zelenskyy will also be in Poland. What do you expect from these visits?

PRIME MINISTER MORAWIECKI: Well, I expect that there will be very strong confirmation of our resilience and our joint efforts to defeat Russia in Ukraine, because instead of saying, some Western European politicians say that Russia cannot be- cannot win this war and Ukraine cannot be defeated. We have to change that paradigm and we have to say, Ukraine must win and Russia must be defeated. And I believe that the words of President Biden will reassure all Europe, that the United States is with us in this fight for freedom and peace.

MARGARET BRENNAN: It sounds like you’re referring to the French president’s recent comments. Does NATO actually want Ukraine to win this war and regain its lost territory?

PRIME MINISTER MORAWIECKI: I believe so. I’m absolutely sure that this is the only way how we can restore peace and stability. I cannot imagine that Putin and the Kremlin winning this war, and then peace and stability is around us because the nature, the very nature of Russia is to conquer other countries. Russia has actually somewhat the worst of the 20th century, colonialism, imperialism, nationalism, and this is- this is the nature of “Russkiy mir” as they call, and this is why it’s such a critical moment in our history.

MARGARET BRENNAN: President Biden said he believes the war has to end in a negotiated settlement that’s favorable to Ukraine. You said last year, Poland doesn’t negotiate with criminals- criminals, “nobody negotiated with Hitler, would you negotiate with Hitler? With Stalin? With Pol Pot?” Are you saying peace is not possible if Putin stays in power?

PRIME MINISTER MORAWIECKI: I just came to here- to this interview from Munich Conference. Munich Security Conference, very important platform to exchange opinions today, but in 1938, there was another Munich Conference, where all the leaders of the Western world succumbed to Hitler, and they believed they- they are they are bringing peace to their countries. And one year later, the Second World War broke out. We can, of course, negotiate, but it has to be under conditions and under the definition presented by Ukrainians themselves. It’s up to them to define what- what terms and conditions can be acceptable to negotiate with- with the Kremlin.

MARGARET BRENNAN: One of Ukraine’s neighbors, Moldova, has warned that there was a plot to overthrow their government and open a new front in the war. An ally of Putin recently said that Russia should ‘denazify and demilitarize Poland next.’ Do you see evidence that Russia is going to try to move into other countries including yours?

PRIME MINISTER MORAWIECKI: Well, first of all, I can see more and more provocations around us. One of the missiles of Ukrainian defense system fell on Polish territory, killing people. And this was a direct consequence of a rocket- a rockets and missiles attack from Russia on Ukraine. A couple of weeks, a couple of days ago, another missile rocket went over the territory of Romania. It was sent over the territory of Romania and yes, I do see lots of fingerprints of Russian forces, Russian services in Moldova. This is a very weak, very weak country and we all need to help them. Poland is delivering some financial support for Moldova to survive this very- those very difficult times.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But in terms of Poland, you are in NATO, so the United States would have to come to your defense if you went to NATO and asked for it. There are 11,000 U.S. service members on rotation in Poland currently, I know your government’s asking for more. Do you have any indications from the Biden administration that they will send more troops or make them permanent on your soil?

PRIME MINISTER MORAWIECKI: We are in the process of discussion with President Biden’s administration about making their presence more permanent and increasing them. But- but I’m very grateful also for sending new Patriot systems and other very modern weapons and munitions. Because this is also, to some extent, a proxy for- a proxy for- for presence of soldiers, but of course, the two go in tandem. I also recall the words of President Biden from last fall, from his last visit in Poland, when he said that every inch or square inch of NATO’s country’s territory, is- will be defended, and Russia is not going to put any inroads into- into those countries. And I do believe that NATO countries, we are all very much secure. But it’s not only about us. It’s also about creating stability around us,, in our direct neighborhood. And if we fall to integrate Ukraine in NATO and European Union, Ukraine will always be a zone- a buffer zone, which is- which is not right.

MARGARET BRENNAN: You’ve offered fighter jets to Ukraine, Soviet-era MiG jets, the U.S. has rejected that offer in the past. Any indication they’ll change their position now?

PRIME MINISTER MORAWIECKI: Well, like as you probably recall, Madame, there were many things beyond our imagination at the beginning of the war, and then unimaginable became realizable. And so was with tanks, so was with the Patriot anti-aircraft, anti-missile- anti-rocket system. And I believe that also with fighter jets, eventually, there will be fighter jets from the West, delivered to Ukraine. Poland’s position is we can do this, but only in combination with other NATO allies, and in particular, under the leadership of the United States.

MARGARET BRENNAN: I have to let you go, but I want to quickly ask you, does the U.S. continue to raise concern to you about your own government’s crackdown on gay rights, curbing of the judicial system, and press freedom? Or have they moved those issues to the side because of the war?

PRIME MINISTER MORAWIECKI: We have no provenance of those issues whatsoever, madam. This is not the issue of war, which  actually put those questions aside. We- we’re introducing reforms to reform post-communist judiciary system, but this has nothing to do with war and other issues. We are in very frequent contact with President Biden administration. And by the way, we struck a deal. We made a compromise with Brussels, in the counter- in the format of new legislation, and I believe that those issues will- will be so on completely resolved.

MARGARET BRENNAN: All right, Mr. Prime Minister, we’ll be watching that visit. Thank you for your time.

PRIME MINISTER MORAWIECKI: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

[Transcript link]

Gate’s Plan to End World Hunger


Armstrong Economics Blog/Humor Re-Posted Feb 19, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

He Did It Again – General Secretary Admits NATO Has Been at War Against Russia in Ukraine Since 2014


Posted originally on the CTH on February 18, 2023 | Sundance 

I must admit that sometimes I scratch my puzzler, when I watch geopolitical influence agents say the quiet part out loud, and yet no one seems to pay any attention.

In case you missed it – a few days ago (2/14/23), NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stepped in front of the cameras for an impromptu presser following a meeting of the NATO Defence Ministers at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

General Stoltenberg openly tells western media that NATO has been in a war against Russia since 2014. That’s when the combined effort of western political leadership, led by the U.S. State Department and NATO forces, overthrew the former Ukraine government and established the country as the center for strategic military operations against Russia. This isn’t the first time Stoltenberg has made this admission.

Against this backdrop, the February 2022 military incursion by Russia into eastern Ukraine (Donbas region), can be viewed as a counter-offensive against the NATO advancement; yet, almost no one in western media seems to hold these NATO admissions as a reference point in their outlines of the conflict.  WATCH (06:07) Prompted:

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Interview: NATO military defeat to destabilize the dollar?


Click here to wWatch Martin Armstrong’s latest interview, “NATO military defeat to destabilize the dollar?” with Mike Adams.

Nuclear Arms no Longer Key to Peace


Armstrong Economics Blog/War Re-Posted Feb 17, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Russia has fitted its fleet with tactical nuclear weapons both in the North Sea and in the Atlantic. The United States and NATO have convinced themselves that they can destroy Russia and China and neither will report to nuclear weapons.  Nobody ever questions: What if we are wrong?

Once upon a time, it was PRESUMED that having nuclear weapons promoted peace. We needed the nuclear arms race to promote deterrence and thus peace. That theory is now completely dead. Everyone has nuclear weapons and now they think nobody will use them and we can now conquer foreign lands even if they have nukes. So why did we invade Iraq?

After having serious discussions about the “what-if” scenario that Russia nukes a major city in Ukraine justifying itself as did the United States with Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I found that there was no playbook for such an event and there remains nothing but disagreement as to how the U.S. would even respond. Macron has come out and stated that France would NOT launch nuclear weapons if Russia nuked Ukraine. Macron is not an insane neocon. If there was any retaliation, the cloud of nuclear fallout would be drifting over NATO countries in Western Europe. That would wipe out crop production and unleash further food shortages. We would see instead of a volcanic winter event, it would be a nuclear winter event.

Actually, most people do not realize but during the Obama administration, they conducted a war game simulating Russian use of nuclear weapons in the Baltics. Even back then, there were fundamental disagreements about how to respond. The US policy is to conquer and destroy Russia. They know this. It has been the US demanding no peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. Under this proxy-war reality, Russian military doctrine published since 2000 has envisioned the first use of nuclear weapons in response to a conventional threat in a regional war. This is precisely what the US and NATO are carrying out right now. Even Russia’s smallest nuclear warheads are many times the explosive power of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Russia nuking Ukraine has been talked about behind closed doors for months. Those in the military arm have been warning the Biden administration for several months that Russia could be pushed into a corner where they will do the unthinkable. The Biden Administration “prefers” to think they can accomplish their end goal without nuclear weapons. Those behind Putin would push the button in the blink of an eye. They see that as a serious option and believe it would end the war as did Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

There is no clear-cut scenario. Many say it would depend if they used a small nuke to wipe out Ukrainian troops rather than nuking a major city. The only thing that the Biden Administration seems to agree on is just to increase the sanctions. That will only further divide the world economy and increase the chances of world war III. Other are saying that unless a NATO country was hit by Russia, then the U.S. would not have any obligation to respond.

This leaves the door open that perhaps the ONLY way to stall World War III is to take nuclear action against Ukraine in some measured manner. With subs armed with supersonic nuclear missiles just offshore of the USA, they could take out Washington DC before Biden could even make it to a safe room. Perhaps nuking Ukraine becomes the only way to wake up the population of Europe demanding to end this warmongering. All they had to do was honor the Minsk Agreement and Putin would have no choice but to withdraw.

NATO Preparing for World War III


Armstrong Economics Blog/War Re-Posted Feb 17, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Perhaps NATO is starting to wake up. They now realize that they may have to wage war on two fronts simultaneously. NATO is considering what they call a defensive move which is an “Article 5 conflict” but also an “out-of-area” battle. This is showing that NATO is no longer what it was supposed to have been – the defense of Europe against a Soviet invasion that never took place. The “out-of-area” is none other than China invading Taiwan. NATO is simply usurping power that it was never authorized to carry out. This, Article 5 event is an attack on a NATO member, whereas the “out-of-area” is a non-NATO member.

Clearly, we are witnessing how once power is taken, it is always abused. NATO has always billed itself as a “defensive alliance” but it has embarked on an offensive posture with Ukraine and now even Taiwan. Don’t forget, NATO joined the hostilities in Yugoslavia during the 1990s and again with Libya in 2011. Many have viewed that NATO has been usurped by the American Neocons to further their agenda of manipulating US foreign policy. That is becoming self-evident by even considering war with China and Russia.

All our sources confirm that the US has demanded that Brussels increase its defense expenditures. Everyone is expected to chip in 2% of GDP – ASAP. The US is now also expecting that it will have to fight on two fronts against both China and Russia. The Neocons are demanding higher Pentagon budgets now. They simply want war and we have no right to vote on any of this confirming once again, we do not live in a democracy, but in a dictatorship masquerading as a republic.

You NEVER go to war without weight the gains against the losses. What is taking place is the very same bankers that tried to take over Russia I wrote about in the 2000 Plot to Seize Russia, are back after 23 years and they are pleading to wage war and are licking their lips once again at seizing all the natural resources of Russia from gold and diamonds, to energy and uranium.

What if Russia Nukes Kyiv?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Ukraine Re-Posted Feb 16, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Dear Mr. Armstrong,
In the event that Russia does employ nuclear weaponry in/over Ukraine, does Socrates offer any insight as to what effect that might have on Ukrainian food/energy/commodities -production in general (…. let alone their capabilities, or likely lack thereof, to transport, said items from fields/mines/etc. to harbors/rail-lines/etc.); and what type of effect will (potentially, severely) reduced outputs like that (from the “bread basket of Europe”) have on shortages, inflationary cost-pressures, disease-cycles, population migration, and so forth and so on? Having traveled through Ukraine in my youth (around the time of your Israel sojourn; and yes, I had a whole lot more hair than too still), I remember marveling at arable topsoil some 8 to 10 feet deep; what (long-term?) effect would nuclear fallout have on such valuable planting-media, one wonders?

All my very best to you, Mr. Armstrong, believe me; I admire your bravery a great deal. You, Sir, are a Prince & a true gift to humanity!
Sincerely, …. tlk

ANSWER: Everything to the East of the river was the Russian Empire from the days of the Tzar. Ukraine was NEVER a country – period! That is why they joined Hitler who promised to carve out territory so they could be a nation. I get hate mail from Ukraine calling me a Putin lover. They will not respond when I ask do you really think you can destroy Russia and survive? Is it worth losing the country you finally won in 1991 all for the Donbas where the majority of people are Russian? They will not respond to any such questions. They are blinded by the hatred of Russians and cannot see that they are risking it all. They had a country. That was their dream. They are throwing that all away with nothing to gain even if they won – they will never survive the conflict. It just makes no sense.

100 Kiloton

That said, Russia could nuke Kyiv. It would all depend upon the size of the bomb. This would be the destruction of Kyiv with 100 kilotons. The argument inside Russia is that Putin has been too “soft” and he should have gone all in for the kill. The military believes they have been held back and could have won had they not had their hands tied.

This would be 100 metric tons. So you can see, they can nuke Kyiv and “win” the war without destroying all of Ukraine. This is what some are pushing for because they see this as a war against NATO and not just a war now to defend the Donbas. Ukraine has been the fool on the hill. They have listened to the West, and gone head-to-head against Russia which has more nukes than the United States, which cannot defend itself against a hypersonic nuclear missile.

Everyone has gone just mad. There is NOTHING to gain from this and the Ukrainian people will only wake up when it is too late. Zelensky is the Adolf Hitler who has brought death and destruction to their dream of a nation-state. Russia could take out Kyiv without harming Crimea or the Donbas.