Category Ukraine

Jan 24 2023

Why do Neocons Want War with Russia?


Armstrong Economics Blog/War Re-Posted Jan 24, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Lindsey Graham is the twin brother of John McCain. I had asked John McCain once why he hated Russia so much. He never responded with any reason. It was always the same nonsense he always spread before Putin and after. It has baffled me as to what the difference is between Germany and Russia. We do not belittle Germany or hate its people solely because of Hitler. When it comes to Russia, it does not matter who is president, nothing ever changes. Graham said:

“If Putin gets away with this, there goes Taiwan. If Putin’s successful in Ukraine and isn’t prosecuted under international law, everything we’ve said since WWII becomes a joke. He will continue beyond Ukraine.” 

Lindsey Graham is an outright neocon who will say anything to achieve his dream – the destruction of Russia even though it is not communist. There is absolutely ZERO evidence since the fall of the USSR that anyone has sought to conquer Europe. Both Hitler and Napoleon were seeking to re-establish the old Roman Empire and rule over all of Europe. Both attempted to take Egypt to relive the glory of Rome. Some say to fulfill the prophecy that the end will come when the Holy Roman Empire Rises for that will be the time when we die. Don’t worry, Putin does not aspire to that dream. I’m not so sure about the American Neocons.

To even say if Putin wins in Ukraine, “there goes Taiwan” is an absolutely delusional statement. If anything, China would be better off taking Taiwan as the US foolishly keeps sending military arms to Ukraine. The US has already transferred thousands of artillery shells from a military weapons stockpile in Israel to Ukraine. They did the same sending weapons from South Korea to Ukraine. It was reported back in March of 2022 that planes take off almost daily from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware filled with Javelins, Stingers, howitzers, and everything else they can fit. Likewise, Germany began the same in February 2022.

Just this past week, the US military warned Biden that Is the U.S. Running Out of Weapons to even send to Ukraine. The EU foreign policy chief  also warned that “the military stocks of most [EU] member states has been, I wouldn’t say exhausted, but depleted in a high proportion, because we have been providing a lot of capacity to the Ukrainians.”

While the US aid to Ukraine came in at $113 billion far greater than Russia’s budget of 65.9 billion, it is double the military budgets of both France and Germany. It is approaching 50% of the annual budget of China. Just looking at the military spending, Russia has not been preparing to invade Europe. This is absolutely an absurd argument.

John McCain has never changed his view of Russia regardless of who is at the helm. Politico called him the “American antagonist of Russia.” It was McCain who kept pushing NATO Eastward up to the border of Russia all on his claims that if the West does not expand NATO, then Russia will. He proclaimed that those in power did not want to restore the “Soviet Union, but the Russian empire.” There was NEVER a single move that Russia ever made to imply that theory was remotely correct post-1991 and the fall of the USSR.

Lindsey Graham is carrying the banner of hatred for all Russians. It does not matter if Russia overthrows Putin, he dies, or retires. He will still hate Russia and want an all-out war to destroy Russia wiping it off the map once and for all.

The Russian people like Europeans and Americans, do not want war. Like everyone else they just want to enjoy life and take care of their families. It is always the leaders who create all the wars. We are just the dirt beneath their feet – the great unwashed who are always expendable because there are too many of us anyway.

This hatred of Russia is a strategic psychological tactic to sell the idea of war to the common people so they are willing to die for something they think is noble. Not much different from the young arab terrorists who are told this is a holy war and God will reward them if they blow themselves up. The leaders there too will never blow themselves up either.

So why do people like Lindsey Graham just hate Russians and wants war at all cost? It is hard to say. We do not hate Germans today because of Hitler. So why do we hate Russians because of Stalin? One thing is for sure, this hatred of Russia is exhausting our own conventional military supplies so while we cheer claiming Ukraine is winning, we will not be in a position to defend even ourselves if China and North Korea, as well as Iran, decide to join the party.

Jan 23 2023

Recipe for Perfect Pancakes


Posted originally on the CTH on January 22, 2023 | Sundance

Making good pancakes is one of the easiest processes; however, you need just the right ingredients.  Consider this recipe next time:

2 large eggs

1 1/4 cups whole milk

4 tablespoons melted butter

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 tablespoon sugar

.

UPDATE: Here’s what I know:

♦ I know the key principals have read the outline, reached out, connected, seem to concur with the scale of the problem, and are discussing options.

♦ I know this is uncomfortbly outside the box for almost all involved.

♦ I know I have assembled an external small group ready, willing and capable to engage.

♦ I know the alliance group -outside govt- comprehend the larger outline (as below), and despite initial reservations now agree on goals and objectives.  The human resources are there, and their ability to get things going seems solid.

♦ I know everyone inside and outside wants to do the right thing, the best thing.

The basic elements are in place, and in my opinion the goal timeline would be to have all the preliminary structural and logistical work done by Easter; then blitz with intense speed on “Operation Sunlight” for the following six months.

Beyond that, all other aspects are now contingent upon what happens inside the discussion silo of the principals.

CTH password protected posts are under the password: wolverines

Communication, discussion and step-by-step outlining is a very time consuming enterprise.  If you are wondering about the light CTH posting recently, refer to the prior sentence.  I cannot say much, except to say no one is more cynical than I, and yet… We live our best life and remain pragmatically hopeful.  If they do this, we will all benefit.

As previously noted, the 118th Congress is expected to authorize a “Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.”   The subcommittee will fall under the jurisdiction of the House Judiciary Committee led by Chairman Jim Jordan.  Additionally, Thomas Massie (R-KY) is being reported as a representative under consideration for the chairmanship of the House Subcommittee.

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan and potential House Subcommittee Chair Thomas Massie should have a grasp of the scale and scope of the opposition they are about to face.  Assuming they have a fully prepared staff to support them – willing to take on a very consequential investigation; then we begin by first anticipating who will oppose their effort to investigate the “weaponization of government“.   Which is to say, everyone!

The defensive apparatus of the DC political system will likely do everything in their power, individually and with collective assistance, to ensure this committee fails.  The stakes are quite high.  As readers here can well attest, DC politics is an institutional system of purposefully created compartmentalized silos.

The compartmented information silos permit plausible deniability, and this collection of weaponized institutions contains career bureaucrats who view their opposition as the American people.

Example – The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), and every Republican member therein, including SSCI Vice-Chairman Marco Rubio, will make it their willfully blind priority to obstruct any investigation that touches on how the intelligence apparatus of the United States Government is weaponized against the people.

The SSCI is the institution that facilitated the creation of the National Security State.  Any effort to investigate the outcome of that system will make the House investigators adversarial to their colleagues in the Senate.

Additionally, every executive branch intelligence institution, including the DOJ-NSD, FBI, DHS, ODNI, CIA, DoD, DIA, NSC and every sub-agency within their authorities, will do anything and everything to block a subcommittee looking into their domestic activity.

A lot of bad decisions have led to really bad things.  DC does not want those bad things discussed.

Every national security justification that exists, and some that have yet to be created by the DOJ National Security Division solely for the expressed interest of blocking this subcommittee, will be deployed.

Every member of the subcommittee and their staff will be under constant surveillance.  Phones will be tapped and tracked, electronic devices monitored, cars and offices bugged, physical surveillance deployed, and top tier officials at every subsidiary agency of the U.S. government will assign investigative groups and contract agents to monitor the activity of the subcommittee and provide weekly updates on their findings.

The White House together with the National Security Council will also backchannel to and from these agencies doing the surveillance.

The intelligence apparatus media will be deployed, and daily leaks from the various agencies to their contact lists in the New York Times, Politico, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and MSNBC will be in constant two-way communication for narrative assembly and counterpropaganda efforts.

This is the context of opposition to begin thinking about before anything moves forward.

Additionally, the national security state will demand the House investigation take place on their terms.  They will demand secrecy, national security classification and require House subcommittee members to adhere to the Intelligence Community terms for review and discussion of anything.

Each agency will not voluntarily assist or participate in the investigation of any of their conduct.  Every official within every agency will do the same; and they will require legal representation that will be provided to them by Lawfare, political operatives skilled in the use of “National Security” and “classified information”, as a justification for non-compliance and non-assistance.  A protracted legal battle should be predicted.

Lastly, anticipate Special Counsel Jack Smith using his position to block the House Subcommittee from receiving evidence.  The House should anticipate that congressional representatives are already under investigation as a result of the authorities granted to Jack Smith by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco {Go Deep}.  The White House and all of the executive branch agencies will use the existing Special Counsel to block House investigation. Heck, that looks to be the primary purpose of the appointment.

As a result, expect the House Subcommittee members to be under constant threat from the DOJ, via the Special Counsel, specifically from DAG Lisa Monaco, with statements that House Subcommittee investigative efforts are “obstructing” a special counsel investigation.  The aforementioned agencies and the Senate Intel Committee will work with the DOJ to use the Jack Smith special counsel as a shield to block participation with the House Subcommittee.

With all of that in mind, what is the successful path forward?

♦ First, everything has to be done in sunlight and maximum transparency, even the planning and organization of the committee construct, purpose and goals.

The committee can have no shadow operations, unknown guiding hands or secrets that can be discovered and then weaponized against the intent.  Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

I know DC has little concept of working like this, but you can train yourself to do it.  You have nothing to hide; however, those who are being investigated have everything to hide.  Do not provide them ammunition by retaining secrets that can be weaponized against you.

As Andrew Breitbart said, be open with your secrets.

Your second cousin Alice will be a source for the New York Times to write about the Thanksgiving dinner three years ago when she heard the “N” word or a tasteless joke about something outrageous.  Every member of the committee and staff need to prepare for a dossier completed by the FBI about them and distributed to the government allies in mainstream media.

Security clearances will be leveraged and threatened as a tool of the national security state to stop the secrecy envelope from being opened publicly.  This will happen; so just anticipate it.  When the security clearance of [insert_name_here] is threatened, go to the microphones and tell the public who is doing the threatening, and why.

♦GOALS – The goal needs to be crystal clear to anyone and everyone who would contemplate assisting.  Yes, there needs to be a legislative intent in order to legally formulate the committee; that’s a no-brainer.  However, the ultimate goal should NOT BE accountability on those who may have perpetrated or supported weaponized activity against American Citizens.  The ultimate goal SHOULD BE for maximum public information, transparency and sunlight about the weaponization as it is discovered.

Let us assume the goal is accepted.  Before moving forward, the subcommittee needs a professional communication strategy in place before the rules, terms and member outlines are structured or made public.

A thoughtful communication strategy so that information can come from the committee to the public without the filtration of a corrupt system that will bend and skew the findings as a weapon against the committee itself.

♦COMMUNICATION PORTAL – Hire a communication staff, and set up a website for the sharing of information directly from the committee to the public.  The daily activity of the committee should be shared publicly in granular detail.  The witness names as scheduled, documents requested, everything that involves the committee activity should be known to the general public. This system should be updated at least DAILY, or as information is compiled.

This communication network should also contain a separate staff assigned to solicit, accept and distribute information provided by the public to the subcommittee.  Yes, you read that correctly, the subcommittee website should be able to accept information provided by the public as it relates to the ongoing committee work.

Crowdsource We The People as research leverage against the much more effective Lawfare operations you will face in opposition.  This means a portal where the ‘open source’ information can be delivered by researchers, many of those on the spectrum, who hold deep knowledge of the information and system processes in the silos.

In the past several years, thousands of documents have been retrieved by FOIA and public records investigations.  Hundreds of experts in the granular details of the DHS, FBI, DoD and DOJ-NSD systems have knowledge that can benefit the committee; you just need a way for them to transmit the evidence/information to you.

That ‘open source’ evidence should flow into the committee portal with address sourcing that allows the committee staff to review and locate it independently.  This avoids the predictable counterargument, from the national security state, that Russia (or foreign actors) is feeding disinformation into the committee.

The documentary evidence will mostly be “open source,” extracted and then cross-referenced from within the multiple silo system the national security state uses as a shield. And the origination of the documents will be traceable and easy to duplicate, thereby providing secure provenance.   The internal staff manager for this inbound portal is critical (think former HPSCI Nunes staff).

Documents found by the committee should then be uploaded to the same communication system (website), permitting the public -especially the autists- to review and then cross reference the committee material; ultimately channeling information back into the committee if important dots connect or puzzle pieces clarify.   Think of this as a massive counter Lawfare operation with hundreds of Deep State subject matter experts assisting the committee.

Witness transcripts should be uploaded within 36 hours of testimony.  Then let the public do the research, background review and dot connecting from the testimony.  If you build it, they will come.

♦ Next, GO PUBLIC with everything.  Do not use the terms and conditions of the secretive administrative state.  Tell the public what you are finding as you are finding it.  You can share information without violating “sources and methods.”   Schedule a media appearance at the 8pm hour twice weekly with a high visibility broadcast media network to provide updates and answer questions.

These scheduled appearances should be in addition to random media press releases and press comments as pertinent information to the subcommittee arrives.   What this means is that you do not wait to produce a 2,000-page final report before releasing the information.  The final report should be an update and summary of all previous findings that have been released to the public along the way.

♦ At the outset, put no rules on media contacts with any subcommittee staff or member.  Counter the darkness that fuels the intelligence community agenda with maximum sunlight and transparency.  Use truth as a weapon against disinformation.  That means no nondisclosure agreements at any part of the process.

Yes, this is radical change in approach, but this is also a radical enemy you are facing.  Playing the secrecy game works in their favor, not yours.  Transparency is your tool, not theirs – use it.

Use truth as a weapon.

Every member of the committee can say anything they want about any of the material or witness testimony they hear during the course of the investigation.  Public hearing or closed-door sessions, it matters not.  The same rule applies.  Committee members are completely free to discuss any findings as the information is reviewed.

The goal should NOT BE accountability on those who may have perpetrated or supported weaponized activity against American Citizens.  The goal SHOULD BE for maximum public information, transparency and sunlight about the weaponization as it is discovered.  This approach makes We The People the accountability portion of the process.  As a result, the next section is again rather groundbreaking….

♦ Every witness to the committee should be granted full legal immunity provided by the House and House Speaker for anything said during the testimony or admitted as being done as part of the evidence fact-finding.  Again, the goal is transparency and openness, not prosecution and accountability.  Use sunlight as a weapon to draw out the truth, then let the American people be the judges of what that truth means when contrasted against the constitution of our nation.

Let me repeat this… There should be ZERO legal liability for any conduct that happened as a part of any witness effort to weaponize the United States government against the American people.  The immunity should cover everything *except* perjury from the witness to the committee itself (ex. Oliver North).   If the witness lies, the immunity evaporates.

Why this approach?  Because (a) it circumvents any issues that might impede testimony, removes hurdles; (b) immunity compels confession, honest sunlight and the urgency of the situation; (c) immunity makes the truth more likely; and finally, (d) you are not going to get legal convictions anyway.   The truth has no agenda.

Another reason for the immunity is because the operation of the subcommittee should be heavily focused on witness testimony, not documents.  The documents can come as part of the follow-up to the witness testimony, but it is the witness testimony needed; the publication of the transcripts then provides the public sunlight.  This is key.

90% of the committee work should be focused on witnesses and questions therein.  Only 10% of the committee work should be seeking documents.   Avoiding the documents shortens the time needed for investigative disclosures and avoids protracted legal battles therein.  If the people on the committee, those who are asking the questions, do not already know the details behind the questions and the locations of the supportive documents, then you have the wrong people on the committee.

Every response to a questioned witness should come with the following question: “How do you know this?”   That is how you will discover the nature of the documents, communications, emails etc that support the fact-finding mission.  “How do you know this” also leads to more witnesses.  Work the issue from the bottom up.   How do you know this; who told you this; why did you do this; what authority guided you; who authorized this approach? etc. etc. etc.

Use fully immunized witnesses to tell the story, then go look for the documents to corroborate the witness statements using the ‘under oath’ transcript as part of the impenetrable subpoena itself; but don’t wait, keep questioning witnesses.

♦DOCUMENTS – Once you identify the location of documents that would assist the sunlight objective, don’t only rely on the government side of the conversation as the targeted source for retrieval.  If the document contains communication to external parties, ie public-private partnership, then move to gain the documents from the private side, thereby avoiding the roadblocks inside government.

Regardless of the status of the document search, and regardless of whether legal battles will be needed to retrieve those documents, keep moving forward with the witness testimony.  Do not stop committee work just because internal silo opposition is being fought.  Keep working the plan and bringing immunized witnesses, both inside government and outside government, forward for questioning.  Leaders within organizations and agencies are important, but clerks, staff, and administrative aides in/around those same leaders could also provide important information.

This subcommittee approach, along with the people needed, will obviously take more time to assemble.  However, once put together everything thereafter moves at a very rapid pace, which is also part of the strategy.  Flood the information zone with maximum sunlight and keep the opposition off balance.

The goal is sunlight. Rip the Band-Aid off, call the baby ugly and start the process to fix this crap by exposing it. Restore the First and Fourth Amendments, and heal the injury.

From the Church Commission we got the secret FISA court and more tools for violations of our Fourth Amendment rights.  From the 911 Commission we got The Patriot Act, DHS, TSA, DNI and many more violations of our rights and Fourth Amendment protections.   We do not need any legislation as an outcome of the House “Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.”

We do not need your legislative help.  All prior legislative help only ended up making things worse.

What we need is a full, uncensored, brutally honest expose’ of how bad things have become and how that system can be dismantled.  The existing constitution is the protection, just remove the stuff that is violating it.

I know this approach is rather different from the norm.  However, if this roadmap seems reasonable, I am certain you will find support from within the silo system that is currently operating, and from people outside the government who will volunteer time and effort to assist.

Summarized: (1) Know the scale of opposition.  (2) Formulate a communication strategy around it and build a website. (3)  Communicate findings by telling the story to the American people as it is discovered. (4) Grant immunity to all witnesses. (5) Don’t wait until the end to generate another useless report that few will read. (6) Make sunlight the motive of the committee. (7) Consider success when the American people can see the problem.  (8) Dissolve any weaponized systems.  (9) Don’t create new ones.

If you tell us the truth, We The People will fix it ourselves.

Jan 22 2023

Didn’t Ukraine Become Sovereign in 1918?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Ukraine Re-Posted Jan 22, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: I thought Ukraine claimed it was independent in 1918. Was that not then a country?

PH

ANSWER:  In the aftermath of World War I which began in 1914, that is when the Russian Revolution took place. That is when Ukraine first tried to assert its independence on January 26th, 1918. The Bolsheviks who seized control of Russia in November 1917 at first sought to negotiate peace with the Central Powers of Europe, which was the coalition that consisted primarily of the German Empire and Austria-Hungary, the “central” European states that were at war from August 1914.  The former Russian state of Ukraine attempted to declare its total independence in the midst of this chaos, not unlike the Jews who sought independence when Nero died ending the Julio-Claudian Dynasty in 68AD. The Jews also issued coinage declaring their independence.

Because of the Russian Revolution in 1917, the paper currency of Russia was no longer valid. Russian coins were the only acceptable medium of exchange. This is the only reason why we see a brief issue of Ukrainian paper currency between 1918 and 1921. The Russian paper money was no longer valid.

Nonetheless, the Russian gold reserves, which were the largest in the world, had been hidden to prevent the Bolsheviks and Lenin from using that money. After the collapse of the Czarist government in 1917, the Provisional Russian Government and the Bolsheviks continued to issue the Czarist 5 Ruble note retaining the date of 1909 pretending they had the gold reserves when they did not. The only significant difference between the Czarist and the Bolshevik issues is that the Czarist notes had a full serial number consisting of two letters and six digits. As you can see, the Bolshevik notes had only a series number consisting of two letters and 3 digits again to hide the quantity that they were printing.  The lack of serial numbers and backdating of the notes allowed them to issue large quantities of unbacked currency.  The 5 Ruble note continued to feature the Romanov Imperial Eagle on both sides.  The Czarist note was backed by gold which could be exchanged 3.87 grams of gold. The Bolsheviks were counting on that misconception to fund their revolution.

The very name Ukraine is meant at the border or borderland of Russia. It was flat and one of the major wheat-producing regions of Europe. It also had major deposits of coal which were a vital energy source at that time. Most of Ukraine had become part of the Russian empire after the second partition of Poland in 1793. The Eastern portion, known as the Principality of Galicia, had remained part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. It was this region that became a strategic battleground on World War I’s Eastern Front. It was a Serb who assassinated the Arch Duke in 1914 which ignited World War I.

Immediately following the overthrow of the Russian czar in February 1917, Ukraine declared independence and set up a mega-shift provisional government proclaiming itself a republic, yet within the structure of a federated Russia. When Vladimir Lenin seized power with the help of Germany smuggling him into Russia to stop the war, Ukraine, like Finland, declared its independence in January 1918.

Ukraine’s newly formed Rada government did not really have the support of the people. They also did not have any financial backing. Their first issue of money was actually postage stamp currency. It had serious difficulty imposing its rule of law on the people without their consent. Then there was the Bolshevik opposition and counter-revolutionary activity within Ukraine and the fact that it was a major source of food for Europe that Germany and Austria sent in troops in an effort to support the new government. They managed to force the Russian troops to withdraw thereby establishing a treaty at Brest-Litovsk. That treaty was then signed in March 1918. In truth, Ukraine was really just annexed while pretending to recognize Ukrainian independence. At the time, the German commander in charge of Ukraine, Wilhelm Groener, famously remarked:

“The [Ukrainian] administrative structure is in total disorder, completely incompetent and in no way ready for quick results. It would be in our interests to treat the Ukrainian government as a cover and for us to do the rest ourselves.”

The defeat of the Central Powers, Germany & Austria, followed by the signing of the armistice in November 1918 forced them to withdraw from Ukraine. At the same time, with the fall of the Austro-Hungarian empire, an independent West Ukrainian republic was proclaimed in the Galician city of Lviv. The two Ukrainian states proclaimed their union in early 1919, but independence was short-lived, as they immediately found themselves in a three-way struggle against troops from both Poland and Russia. The Ukrainian government briefly allied itself with Poland, but could not withstand the Soviet assault. In 1922, Ukraine became one of the original constituent republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR); it would not regain its independence until the USSR’s collapse in 1991.

Ukraine was NEVER a standalone sovereign nation. It was the territory of one of the major powers. That is why they joined the German Nazi movement and began their own ethnic cleansing to exterminate everyone in the region who they regarded were not pure-blood Ukrainians. It was Hitler who promised them the right to carve out their own country. This is why the first coinage of Ukraine was that of the German Nazi occupation.

And as for Kiev, it was founded by the Russ – the Russians. It was destroyed by the Mongol invasion in 1240AD and all that stands today is the golden gate. The Russians finally reestablished their capitol giving birth to Moscow. So sorry, the Ukrainians were the Cossacks which were a roaming tribe that has no actual nation-state.

While the hatred of Polish, Russian, and Austrian-Hungarian peoples in the region stems from their subservient position to one major power to another, it was Stalin who saw the failure of Communism and then stole the food from Ukraine creating the Holodomor where up to 7 million died of starvation. The hatred of anyone other than Ukrainian has been a major issue in Ukraine. Within Ukraine, there are indigenous peoples that nobody mentions. There are three ethnic groups that do not have a mother state but have occupied Ukraine for centuries. This applies to the Crimean Tatars, Karaites, and Krymchaks.

Jan 21 2023

Why Would Poland Ever Support Ukraine?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Ukraine Re-Posted Jan 21, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Hello Mr. Armstrong.
I am from Poland and I know the history and our differences with Russia, but in this war, I’m against Ukraine. They don’t even want to apologize for atrocities committed on civilians but want us to help them. The west of Ukraine was always Polish but in our mind, it no longer belongs to us because everyone there was killed or run away. Donbas is different for the population is still Russian.

Three times a charm. After you wrote about Napoleon and Hitler trying to invade Russia, I wonder if you know about the year 1610 when Poland conquered Moscow, and of course, if Socrates has this data in.
Thank you for what you do.
LM

REPLY: Oh yes. Even the first date in the list of International Panics was 1683 when the Turks invaded the region with the intent of conquering the Holy Roman Empire. What we call Ukraine today was the territory of other empires – never Ukraine. The Battle of Poltava on June 27th, 1709 was a turning point in Russian history.

This was a battle, where Peter the Great (1672-1725) and the Russians defeated the Swedish army at a turning point in the war with Sweden. Poltava is actually in Ukraine, and Ivan Mazepa (1639–1709), was the Cossack Hetman in Left-bank Ukraine, from 1687–1708. He remains a Ukrainian hero and a traitor to Russia to this very day. This was the decisive battle that placed Russia as a major power on the European stage of politics.

In 1569, the Union of Lublin created a dynastic link between Poland and Lithuania that established a constitutional union of the two States as the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Ukraine simply became part of Poland at this time and we see an influx of more people from Poland moving into Ukraine establishing Polish rule of law. Poland began to grant to Polish nobles and Ukrainian princes loyal to the king, territory that was controlled by the Cossacks. There was rising discontent regarding the treatment by Cossacks and this led to a rebellion in about 1590. Ukrainian princes were mostly replaced by Polish. Peasants lost their land ownership and civil rights to the Polish and we see European serfdom transforming Ukraine.

Ukrainian Cossacks were actually emerging as the defender against the invasion of the Turks and Tatar hordes. To this day, Crimea has a large population of Tatars. The Cossacks were causing diplomatic problems for Poland since the Turks in the Ottoman Empire has used the Cossacks as an excuse for wars against Poland. When Cossack’s leader, Ivan Pidkova, conquered Moldova in 1577, Poland captured and executed him in order to appease the Turks. Poland’s power was clearly declining. They tried to control the Cossacks by recruiting some of them into the Polish military system. However, this never really worked very well.

Ukraine was NEVER a country – EVER! They joined the German Nazis because Hitler promised to carve out a country for them. I have assembled the entire monetary history of the world. There were NEVER any coins ever issued by some pretend Ukrainian government. The first coinage that ever said the word Ukrain was issued during the German Nazi occupation.

This war in Ukraine is an invasion of Ukrainian into the regions that were formerly the Russian Empire. They were never under some sovereignty of Ukraine that never existed. The West simply wants to destroy Russia, This has been on the agenda for decades and the fall of communism never changed that policy. They will do the same with China. In truth, this is Ukrainians invading Russian terrorism where Russians have lived for centuries. The propaganda has flipped this completely around claiming Putin is invading Ukrainians when they began this civil war in 2014 and launched the first attacks on the Donbas.

The treatment of Polish, Jews, and Russians during WWII even horrified the German Nazis. What would Poland ever support Ukraine can only be that its leaders are told what to say and do by those behind NATO seeking World War III. The Polish people should wake up for they will be the next to be thrown on this altar of geopolitical sacrifice.

The Polish Association of Memory of Victims of Crimes of Ukrainian Nationalists documented 135 methods of torture and murder practiced by Ukrainian Nazis. Poland officially called the Ukrainian actions genocide. The Ukrainians have been protected by the CIA for decades ONLY because they hated Russians. They continue to protect the Ukrainian Nazis only because they are waging war against Russia. No Ukrainian was ever prosecuted for war crimes that made the Nazis look like amateurs.

The Ukrainians were unprecedented in their war crimes during WWII and the sheer outright cruelty has NEVER been addressed. They above all should have been hunted down more so than the Germans. The torture Ukrainas inflicted even on Polish and Hungarians along with Russians and Jews included:

  • Running children through with stakes
  • Cutting a person’s throat and pulling their tongue out through the hole
  • Sawing a person’s torso in half with a carpenter’s saw
  • Cutting open the belly of a woman in an advanced stage of pregnancy, removing the fetus, and replacing it with a live cat, before sewing up her abdomen.
  • Cutting open a pregnant women’s abdomen and pouring in broken glass
  • Nailing a small child to a door.

All the various wars and history of this region are included in the databanks of Socrates. That is how it was able to pinpoint Ukraine as the hot spot where all this will unfold. There is no account of war crimes that has EVER surpassed those inflicted by Ukrainians. It is an embarrassment that Europe and the USA would support Ukraine in this land grab. As for those that blame everything on Putin, get your head out of the sand and open your eyes for you are a casualty of this propaganda to promote WWIII.

Jan 20 2023

PUTIN LIBERATES Bakhmut STRONGHOLD (Kleshcheevka)


What is going on in the Ukraine?

Jan 20 2023

Zelensky’s Propaganda Productions


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics Re-Posted Jan 20, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

This reminds me of one of my favorite movies about how corrupt it really is in DC Wonderland. It’s a great flick!

Jan 20 2023

Will Zelensky Resign?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Ukraine Re-Posted Jan 20, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

This is a very disturbing undercurrent in Ukraine. Many are starting to question Zelensky on many levels and his comments at Davos that he even questioned if Putin was still alive has many wondering if his act has not gone just too far. He paints this image that if just Putin was killed somehow there would be peace. That is absurd. Even the former Russian President and Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev has constantly raised the issue of nuclear war and recently hinted that Moscow might resort to nuclear strikes should it fail to win its war with Ukraine by conventional means. Zelensky told the Italian Parliament that Russians were torturing children with no proof and that vanished the next day.

Zelensky seems to make up things all the time and is constantly trying to engulf everyone in World War III from begging NATO to invade Russia to NATO should launch an immediate nuclear attack to destroy Russia. There is a rising group within Ukraine that sees what is taking place and that the West is perfectly happy to watch Ukraine take the vanguard position against Russia and its culture and people to die for land that was never occupied by Ukrainians since Ukraine was never a country before the USSR breakup.

Most disturbing is that Zelensky hid his Jewish origin for Jews and Russians were hated by the Neonazis. Here is a video of him on stage making a joke about targeting Jews and Russians. This is a video of how Zelensky was before he became President. He married a Christian girl and his children were baptized, Christians. He suddenly became a Jew when soliciting money from Israel. Listen to his jokes. It is funny to rob the property of both Russians and Jews.

The systemic ethnic hatred in Ukraine will prevent any peace with Russia. They live for the day of total annihilation of every Russian in Ukraine and in Russia. Ukraine is notorious for its ethnic cleansing which is why they joined the German Nazis. They have been against anyone other than pure-blood Ukrainian living in Ukraine.

There is a quiet political crisis brewing in Ukraine, and recently Zelensky’s close advisor, Aleksey Arestovych resigned. There are those who are trying to mount an impeach meant effort and Zelenskuy for his lies and corruption. There is rising discontent that people are dying for no legitimate reason when the Donbas has historically been Russian and even if Putin withdrew, they would still be waging war against the Russians that live there until they are all annihilated. The slogan I was told in 2014 was that Crimea will be Ukrainian or Crimea will be depopulated. That was their battle cry at the start of the civil war instigated by the US-installed unelected government in 2014.

Some believe that the United States is not just sacrificing Ukrainians for its proxy war against Russia, but that it is sacrificing Europe as well. There are many in Europe starting to realize that NATO is pushing for direct conflict with Russia using Ukraine as the expendable vanguard to weaken Russia. NATO will then invade conventionally and destroy Russia once and for all.

Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the EU, made an emotional plea to EU leaders that they should give Kyiv any weapon that can be used there. There is no European consensus for many are starting to see that they are expected to sacrifice their own economies all to conquer Russia.

Indeed, nobody seems to be considering what would happen if Russia lost. The country has nuclear weapons all around and Russia would quickly divide into states and we would then have numerous nuclear power states in the middle of absolute chaos. As always, nobody seems to think beyond the immediate step. They took out Sadam Husain and opened the door to religious terrorism.

Meanwhile, Washington has refused any peace negotiations and instructed Zelensky to fight until the last Ukrainian falls. I reported months before that inside info from Ukrainian sources was telling me that over 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers were dead. I got hate emails saying that was fake news. It was classified info Zelensky was hiding from his own people.

Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the EU, had released a video and then edited it deleting that very information at the request of Zelensky that 100,000 Ukrainians have already died on the battlefield. All this is to hide the fact that Ukraine has been losing the war contrary to Zelensky’s propaganda.

The Ukrainian economy has fallen off a cliff. People have lost everything all for land that was never occupied by Ukrainians. The EU has transferred 3 billion euros for
budgetary needs, which only pays for government salaries for a brief period. Much of Ukraine’s energy system has been destroyed. There is rising discontent that this war offers nothing for the future of Ukraine and has destroyed the future and savings of the people with no possible economic gain for the next decade.

Zelensky’s personal career is coming to an end. He will eventually be whisked away by the Americans and allowed to live on the beach in the Caribbean.

As for Ukraine itself, we are approaching a very critical turning point on April 6th, 2023. It is entirely possible that Zelensky might flee if the discontent gets the foothold it is seeking for an impeachment. There is rising discontent that Zelensky has betrayed Ukraine and some are hinting that perhaps it is payback for the Neonazi’s persecution of the Jews and how he married a Christian and baptized his children, all to blend in to hide his Jewish heritage.

Jan 20 2023

Kissinger Sells Out on Ukraine?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Geopolitical Re-Posted Jan 20, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Martin, what do you have to say about Kissinger now?
I am sure many want to know.

AP

ANSWER: Well I had hoped that Henry could have made it to the WEC this year. I think it would have been a very interesting discussion between the two of us. I am well aware of Henry’s background even with Schwab. He delivered a speech at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, and he flipped in his position saying: “Before this war, I was opposed to membership of Ukraine in NATO because I feared that it would start exactly the process that we have seen now. The idea of a neutral Ukraine under these conditions is no longer meaningful.”

I have long admired Kissinger’s geopolitical analysis. He was instrumental in moving Richard Nixon to open with China which was really a policy to divide and separate Russia from China. While he said that dialogue must be kept open between Russia and other countries even as the war rages on in Ukraine, for if you do not talk, there cannot be any possible resolution.

I fully disagree with Kissinger saying that Ukraine should recapture territory that has been annexed by Russia while simultaneously holding negotiations to end the war. Some of Ukraine’s neighbors really support Russia and would not be so upset if Ukraine was completely destroyed for many view that as karma for their alliance with Nazi Germany. The Western press does not wish to report on how in that region, Ukraine is not trusted nor respected. Some have even expressed the view that Kyiv should be nuked for that is the only way to restore world peace – exterminate the Nazis and their ethnic cleansing once and for all.

While Kissinger said that a diplomatic process could help Russia “re-evaluate its historic position, which was an amalgam of an attraction to the culture of Europe and a fear of domination by Europe.” He did not elaborate on that “fear of domination by Europe” statement, but the fact is that Russia has NEVER sought to invade Europe, but Europe has tried to conquer Russia many times with the two most prominent being Napoleon and Hitler. After the statements that the whole Minsk Agreement was just to fool Putin to buy time for this latest attempt to conquer Russia with NATO planning for the long-haul to invade Moscow after Ukraine is finished depleting Russia’s conventional ability to defend itself.

Kissinger also made the statement that “[e]ach side needs to consider for itself how the threat to human survival of the destructiveness of weapons, coupled with making them almost conscious in their application, can be dealt with.” This is a proxy war and Zelensky has no respect for his own people. This is all about a land grab and the Donbas has been historically occupied by Russians as has Crimea. Simply because Khruschev drew the border for Ukraine purely for administrative purposes does not suddenly give Ukraine the right to claim those regions when Ukraine was NEVER a country before the USSR.

Kissinger had advocated for a ceasefire that would see Ukraine accept some of the annexed territories as Russian land for those people are Russian and they should not be compelled to surrender their language and their religion. I cannot explain Henry’s flipping this position for it seems to be only one of two possible explanations (1) old age being 99, or (2) he was told to support Ukraine for this is the objective to destroy Russia by the deep state. The same deep state that took down JFK, Nixon, and Trump for all being anti-war.

I support the people in the Donbas against the tyranny of Zelensky and Kyiv for I have not flipped my position which is consistent worldwide for all people. In 2014, I advocated splitting Ukraine according to the ethnic language of the people. Governments have no absolute right to power. Kissinger has forgotten his history. Any government exists only with the support and consent of the people. Zelensky ran and won promising peace and the end of corruption. He has done neither.

Our computer pinpointed Ukraine would be the place where World War III would begin. On December 3rd, 2013 we published: Ukraine Maybe The Most Important Country To Watch! Our computer is unbiased and it looks at the geopolitical consequences of war and where they begin and end.

As Thomas Paine (1737-1809) explained, government becomes drunk with power and presumes that they are the sovereign when that power resides only with the people. The U.S. Supreme Court stated in LEGAL TENDER CASES, 110 U.S. 421 (1884) (also referred to as Julliard v Greenman),

“There is no such thing as a power of inherent sovereignty in the government of the United States. It is a government of delegated powers, supreme within its prescribed sphere, but powerless outside of it. In this country, sovereignty resides in the people, and congress can exercise no power which they have not, by their constitution, entrusted to it; all else is withheld.”

The Supreme Court held that the Constitution is the Supreme Law of the land and binds every forum whether it derives its authority from a state or from the United States Cook v Moffat, 46 US 295 (1847). “It may be regarded as settled that the Constitution of the United States is the only source of power authorizing action by any branch of the Federal government.” Dorr v US, 195 US 138, 140 (1904).

This is why I do not support Zelensky or his ruthless proxy war with Russia on behalf of the USA and NATO. The fake Minsk Agreement confirmed that from day one, the West has been planning to wage war with Russia – the third wave to conquer and destroy Russia directed by the Deep State. They are using the Ukrainian people as cannon fodder and could care less how many die to achieve their end goal – the total destruction of Russia.

What is also MISUNDERSTOOD is Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence which expressed the same idea as Thomas Paine. By stating that “all men are created equal” had nothing to do with slavery as some tried to re-interpret. He stated that these are “unalienable rights” that are NOT granted by any government. Governments are created to secure those rights, not to suppress them as so many have done and Zelensky is doing right now to the people of the Donbas which the Minsk Agreement was to be their Declaration of Independence that the west has bluntly pissed all over it. When a government becomes destructive to those rights, as the West and Zelensky have done, then “it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it” in the words of Jefferson.

I am sorry, up to now I have always respected you, Henry. I would not have invited you to our WEC had you flipped your position perhaps you were not sick and were told by the deep state not to attend our WEC. There is no purpose to NATO other than to confront Russia. Let’s get that straight. NATO is no different than ancient Athens demanding tribute from everyone to protect them against another invasion by the Persians which also never came. Russia under Khrushchev was very different. It was pushing Marxism and believed that communists would rule the world. Yeltsin choose Putin because he was NOT a Communist, nor was he an oligarch. Those days are long gone and the Russian people themselves would not support a return to communism. They are free to even go to church and pursue a career they decide on rather than the state.

The West has refused to accept Russia as a member of the world economy. It has been the West that has tried to keep the cold war going. NATO, of course, refused to ever accept Russia was no longer communist and kept the paranoia going that they wanted to conquer and dominate Europe which was a goal that died with communism. Neither Russia nor China wants to occupy the United States or Europe. The days of empire-building also died long ago.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has no incentive to believe anything coming from Ukraine, NATO, or the United States after what they saw with the deliberate fake Minsk Agreement to only buy time for war. The Donbas should be allowed to vote and let that vote be monitored. They are Russians ethnically and they have an inherent unalienable human right to establish their own government, to worship their own religion freely, and to speak their own language. Zelensky is a fake actor playing a role dictated by NATO and the USA. He is putting his own people on the geopolitical altar for sacrifice to seize a region that has always been Russian denying them any Democracy option when he claims he is defending Democracy. When the last Ukrainian standing falls, Zelensky will be given a free ride to the Bahamas to live the rest of his life on a warm tropical beach with the billions he has stolen.

No government has a right to Deny Any Region to Separate

That Applies in the United States for our day will also come

Sorry Henry – You Lost My Respect I hope it was Old Age

Jan 16 2023

Ukraine Weighs BAKHMUT Retreat Due To RUSSIAN Offensive


The Dive With Jackson Hinkle Streamed on: Jan 15, 11:07 pm EST