Guest Post by Paul Craig Roberts
The Israeli agents who comprise the Neoconservatives, a collection of war criminals that control US foreign policy, have already handed you your death certificate. The neoconservatives have far more power than they have intelligence or humanity.
At the recent St. Petersburg International Economic Conference, President Putin excoriated Western Journalists for endlessly repeating Washington’s lies that are driving the world to nuclear war. He asked Washington’s bought-and-paid-for-whores, the scum who comprise the Western news media: “How do you not understand that the world is being pulled in an irreversible direction toward nuclear war?”
Yes, indeed, how is it possible for the Western media to be totally blind? The answer to this question is that Americans live in the system of lies that comprise The Matrix, and media are paid to support the system of lies. The determining questions are: Can Americans escape their captivity in time to save life on earth? Do Americans have what it takes, or are Americans already a proven failed people who cower in ignorance under the threat of implausible “foreign threats”?
How much confidence can we place on the intelligence and judgment of the American people? That remains to be seen. Life on Earth depends on the American people’s ability to perceive their government as the greatest threat to their existence.
To make the crisis clear for my readers and for all peoples, Washington is surrounding Russia with nuclear missile sites that can be silently converted from ABMs to first strike nuclear missiles that can reach Russian targets in a mere few minutes. Washington attempted to disguise this first strike capability with the explanation that the missiles were there to protect against an Iranian ICBM attack on Europe. This explanation was given by the US government despite the fact that everyone knows that Iran has neither ICBMs nor nuclear weapons.
As Putin asked the Western presstitutes, we know and you don’t?
It is dangerous for any writer to assume that intelligence any longer exists among Western peoples. But assuming that somewhere in the West, under a rock perhaps or on Tatooine with Obi-Wan Kanobi, a bit of intelligence and a speck of humanity still exists, the important question is: Do you believe the Russians will sit there awaiting a nuclear strike, or will they pre-empt it with a strike of their own?
The fact that the entirely of the US government lacks the intelligence to have asked this question tells us why we are doomed.
As I have previously written, the government in Washington is the concentration of the entire evil of the universe. No greater danger to life has ever existed than the government of the United States.
After squandering many of Russia’s opportunities in hopes of diplomacy, Vladimir Putin now sees the West for what it is: An immoral, power-crazed entity that will destroy the planet before it gives up its goal of hegemony over the entirety of the Earth. Why should the “indispensable, exceptional people” settle for anything less than hegemony over the world?
The crazed American government drowning in its own hubris has set us on a course to nuclear war. Can America produce a leader who can reverse course?
US Sends Another 1,000 Troops To Poland As Part Of NATO Effort To Counter Russia
by Tyler Durden
Jul 8, 2016 11:53 AM
President Obama is in Warsaw, Poland today where NATO members are holding a summit to show the alliance will stand firm against new threats, including a “resurgent Russia.” The Warsaw meeting is being held in a district of the capital, Praga, that Poles view as a symbol of Russian betrayal of their nation.
In the meeting, Obama called on NATO to “stand firm” against Russia, terrorism and other challenges even as a key member, UK, retrenches from Europe. In an op-ed published in the Financial Times on Friday, Obama says the U.S. and European nation “must summon the political will, and make concrete commitments” to affirm European cooperation.
“This may be the most important moment for our transatlantic alliance since the end of the Cold War,” Obama wrote. “Russia’s aggression against Ukraine threatens our vision of a Europe that is whole, free and at peace.” The US president added that “NATO will once again send a very clear message that we are here.”
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg echoed the US President, mentioning deployment of troops, military infrastructure and hardware closer to Russia’s borders.
Stoltenberg said that Russia’s hostile actions in Ukraine have spurred the alliance to raise its defenses on the eastern flank. Stoltenberg spoke to reporters before the NATO summit opened in Warsaw on Friday to approve, among others, the presence of four battalions in Poland and the Baltic states. These nations feel threatened after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and continues to back separatists in eastern Ukraine. Stoltenbeg said: “No one was talking about reinforcing deterrence” before the aggressive action in Crimea. Still, Stoltenberg added that the alliance wants “a meaningful and constructive dialogue with Russia” to reduce risks, increase predictability and enhance transparency “in times like these.”
NATO’s massive build-up in the three Baltic countries and Poland is officially labeled “assurance measures,” but not everyone in the alliance is keen to take part in what the Foreign Minister of Europe’s most important NATO member, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, called three weeks ago “saber-rattling and warmongering.”
“Whoever believes that a symbolic tank parade on the alliance’s eastern border will bring security is mistaken,” Steinmeier said in defiance of multiple war games in the region. A recent YouGov poll found that 64 percent of Germans agreed with his statement, with only 16 percent rejecting it.
Other prominent Germans agreed: the country’s Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, an influential yet moderate politician, said NATO must revise its policy. “We must ask if the world would be a better place when both sides conduct military exercises on the borders and arm themselves,” he told Passauer Neue Presse on Thursday, adding that it is time for Europe to start a new “disarmament initiative.”
It was not just Italy: Italy recently said it is wary of NATO’s hardline policy towards Russia. The alliance should “build bridges” in Eastern Europe and cooperate with Moscow to tackle global terrorism, Italian Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti told Corriere della Sera on Wednesday. “We agree with what Steinmeier has said,” she added.
Still, Germany – where weapons nearly doubled last year – expressed a different angle, with its defense minister saying that NATO is right to deploy troops on its eastern frontiers to counter what she called a “completely unpredictable and aggressive Russia.” Ursula von der Leyen says the Baltic states want protection because Russia’s annexation of Crimea shows that Moscow “doesn’t respect borders.”
Disagreeing with Steinmeier, Leyen told German broadcaster ARD on Friday that NATO needs to maintain a dialogue with Russia from what she called a “position of strength.” Von der Leyen said “it’s important that NATO deploys with such strength that it’s clear nobody can see an advantage in attacking this military alliance.” She spoke as heads of NATO member states were meeting in Poland, where relations with Russia will be among the top issues.
* * *
Meanwhile, Moscow, which has always opposed NATO’s build-up in its neighborhood, said it is “closely watching” the Warsaw summit and keeping the door for dialogue open, especially to fight what it sees as a “genuine threat” – terrorism. “We hope common sense will prevail,” the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday.
“It is absurd to speak of a threat coming from Russia when dozens of people are being killed in the heart of Europe, while hundreds die in the Middle East every day,” he stressed. Peskov added that NATO’s “anti-Russian hysteria” and multiple troop deployments do not help find common ground for cooperation.
Peskov added that “Russia is not looking (for an enemy) but it actually sees it happening. When NATO soldiers march along our border and NATO jets fly by, it’s not us who is moving closer to the NATO borders.”
* * *
Russia’s stance notwithstanding, AP reports that leaders of NATO and the European Union nations signed a “historic deal” that boosts their cooperation in defense against new challenges. The deal was signed Friday in Warsaw, shortly before a NATO summit opened there to show the Western world’s unity in facing threats from the East and the South. It was signed by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
Stoltenberg said it was a “historic deal” that gave “new substance, new impetus” to the EU-NATO partnership in fighting hybrid warfare, cyberattacks and containing the massive wave of illegal migrants.
Tusk said the new deal would mend a situation in which it could seem sometimes that NATO, a military alliance, and EU, a political and economic bloc, are “on different planets,” not in the same city. Both have headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, though some nations belong to only one organization.
Hybrid warfare is the use of different tools such as propaganda and psychological campaigns, cyberattacks, and use of political, economic and energy pressure, among others.
But the most important development was Obama announcement that the U.S. is sending an additional 1,000 U.S. troops to Poland as part of a NATO effort to reinforce its presence on the alliance’s eastern flank.
The U.S.-led battalion is one of four that NATO will begin rotating through the region. The move is meant to act as a deterrent to Russia, AP adds.
Obama is touting the decision in remarks to reporters after a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda. The U.S. president thanked Poland for its contributions to the campaign against the Islamic State group, including its F-16 aircraft and special forces trainers. He called Poland “a lynchpin in the defense of NATO’s eastern flank.”
Naturally, Russia will promptly respond in kind and send even more troops to its borders with Europe, and the escalation will continue until finally an “accident” happens and the next phase of this unprecedented redux of the Cold War enters its next phase.
Great…….let’s just all spend our retirement money on hookers and blow and party like it’s 1999 and go out with a big fukkin bang. I’d hate to think we all scrimped and scraped our whole life and never enjoyed it. Live on the edge, become Jason Statham and live it large. Tell your spouses you’ll be back in 6 months…………..Uh huh …right. Now take out the trash before she gets pissed.
Washington And NATO Go Hysterical—— amping Up For War with Russia
By Michael T. Klare
For the first time in a quarter-century, the prospect of war—real war, war between the major powers—will be on the agenda of Western leaders when they meet at the NATO Summit in Warsaw, Poland, on July 8 and 9. Dominating the agenda in Warsaw (aside, of course, from the “Brexit” vote in the UK) will be discussion of plans to reinforce NATO’s “eastern flank”—the arc of former Soviet partners stretching from the Baltic states to the Black Sea that are now allied with the West but fear military assault by Moscow. Until recently, the prospect of such an attack was given little credence in strategic circles, but now many in NATO believe a major war is possible and that robust defensive measures are required.
In what is likely to be its most significant move, the Warsaw summit is expected to give formal approval to a plan to deploy four multinational battalions along the eastern flank—one each in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Although not deemed sufficient to stop a determined Russian assault, the four battalions would act as a “tripwire,” thrusting soldiers from numerous NATO countries into the line of fire and so ensuring a full-scale, alliance-wide response. This, it is claimed, will deter Russia from undertaking such a move in the first place or ensure its defeat should it be foolhardy enough to start a war.
The United States, of course, is deeply involved in these initiatives. Not only will it supply many of the troops for the four multinational battalions, but it is also taking many steps of its own to bolster NATO’s eastern flank. Spending on the Pentagon’s “European Reassurance Initiative” will quadruple, climbing from $789 million in 2016 to $3.4 billion in 2017. Much of this additional funding will go to the deployment, on a rotating basis, of an additional armored-brigade combat team in northern Europe.
As a further indication of US and NATO determination to prepare for a possible war with Russia, the alliance recently conducted the largest war games in Eastern Europe since the end of the Cold War. Known as Anakonda 2016, the exercise involved some 31,000 troops (about half of them Americans) and thousands of combat vehicles from 24 nations in simulated battle maneuvers across the breadth of Poland. A parallel naval exercise,BALTOPS 16, simulated “high-end maritime warfighting” in the Baltic Sea, including in waters near Kaliningrad, a heavily defended Russian enclave wedged between Poland and Lithuania.
All of this—the aggressive exercises, the NATO buildup, the added US troop deployments—reflects a new and dangerous strategic outlook in Washington. Whereas previously the strategic focus had been on terrorism and counterinsurgency, it has now shifted to conventional warfare among the major powers. “Today’s security environment is dramatically different than the one we’ve been engaged in for the last 25 years,” observed Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter on February 2, when unveiling the Pentagon’s $583 billion budget for fiscal year 2017. Until recently, he explained, American forces had largely been primed to defeat insurgent and irregular forces, such as the Taliban in Afghanistan. Now, however, the Pentagon was being readied for “a return to great-power competition,” including the possibility of all-out combat with “high-end enemies” like Russia and China.
The budgetary and force-deployment implications of this are enormous in their own right, but so is this embrace of “great-power competition” as a guiding star for US strategy. During the Cold War, it was widely assumed that the principal task of the US military was to prepare for all-out combat with the Soviet Union, and that such preparation must envision the likelihood of nuclear escalation. Since then, American forces have seen much horrible fighting in the Middle East and Afghanistan, but none of that has involved combat with another major power, and none entailed the risk of nuclear escalation—for which we should all be thankful. Now, however, Secretary Carter and his aides are seriously thinking about—and planning for—conflicts that would involve another major power and could escalate to the nuclear realm.
It’s hard to know where to begin when commenting on all this, given the atmosphere of Cold War hysteria. There is, first of all, the question of proportionality: are US and NATO moves on the eastern flank in keeping with the magnitude of the threat posed by Russia? Russian intervention in Crimea and eastern Ukraine is certainly provocative and repugnant, but cannot unequivocally be deemed a direct threat to NATO. Other Russian moves in the region, such as incursions by Russian ships and planes into the airspace and coastal waters of NATO members, are more worrisome, but appear to be more political messaging than a prelude to invasion. Basically, it’s very hard to imagine a scenario in which Russia would initiate an armed attack on NATO.
Then there is the matter of self-fulfilling prophecies. By announcing the return of great-power competition and preparing for a war with Russia, the United States and NATO are setting in motion forces that could, in the end, achieve precisely that outcome. This is not to say that Moscow is guiltless regarding the troubled environment along the eastern front, but surely Vladimir Putin has reason to claim that the NATO initiatives pose a substantially heightened threat to Russian security and so justify a corresponding Russian buildup. Any such moves will, of course, invite yet additional NATO deployments, followed by complementary Russian moves, and so on—until we’re right back in a Cold War–like situation.
Finally, there is the risk of accident, miscalculation, and escalation. This arises with particular severity in the case of US/NATO exercises on the edge of Russian territory, especially Kaliningrad. In all such actions, there is a constant danger that one side or the other will overreact to a perceived threat and take steps leading to combat and, conceivably, all-out war. When two Russian fighters flew within 30 feet of a US destroyer sailing in the Baltic Sea this past April, Secretary of State John Kerry told CNN that under US rules of engagement, the planes could have been shot down. Imagine where that could have led. Fortunately, the captain of the destroyer chose to exercise restraint and a serious incident was averted. But as more US and NATO forces are deployed on the edge of Russian territory and both sides engage in provocative military maneuvers, dangerous encounters of this sort are sure to increase in frequency, and the risk of their ending badly will only grow.
No doubt the NATO summit in Warsaw will be overshadowed to some degree by the UK’s Brexit vote and ensuing political turmoil in Europe. But as Western leaders settle down to business, they must not allow their inclination to “demonstrate unity” and “act resolutely” lead them to approve military moves that are inherently destabilizing. Surely it is possible to reassure the Baltic states and Poland without deploying many thousands of additional troops there and inviting an additional military buildup on the Russian side.
Source: The United States and NATO Are Preparing for a Major War With Russia
Since war is peace, our peace-keeping troops will secure the region peacefully. Nuclear peace may come but better it comes sooner rather than later. Future generations depend on it.
Here’s apparent confirmation of Roberts’ warnings – from an unknown, anonymous source:
you will need to open a new window and expand to full size to read it.
It seems to me that the people, companies, and government agencies that enjoy a lavish lifestyle do not want to see NATO vanish. In order to have a relevant NATO, we need an enemy – the only choice is Russia.
PCR is correct – “As I have previously written, the government in Washington is the concentration of the entire evil of the universe. No greater danger to life has ever existed than the government of the United States.”
Now, we can’s have peace breaking out – how are we going to maintain world hegemony? NATO is America’s out-of-body entity, it is us but not us.
Forget about a nuclear war.
Economically, I doubt 5% of the population can afford to retire. The whole 401K, Roth, asset allocation, diversification, insurance, risk avoidance talk is nothing but bullshit.
It was old in the 80’s – and the financial pukers are still pedaling it on weekend talk radio – to the millennials? Who don’t have a pot to piss in.
@Persnickety
Very intriguing
“At the recent St. Petersburg International Economic Conference, President Putin excoriated Western Journalists for endlessly repeating Washington’s lies that are driving the world to nuclear war. He asked Washington’s bought-and-paid-for-whores, the scum who comprise the Western news media: “How do you not understand that the world is being pulled in an irreversible direction toward nuclear war?”” ——— article
Here it is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PgSX-WD96Q
(ANTIMEDIA) Indianapolis, IN — War games and nuclear policy perpetuated by the Obama administration are “fueling growing tensions” with Russia and putting the world at risk of a nuclear war, according to an official nonpartisan organization consisting of 1,407 mayors and other leaders of cities with 30,000 or more inhabitants.
http://theantimedia.org/mayors-slam-obama-nuclear-policy-russia/
The Media Eats Shit!!!
–Who calls into question the designation of Russia as the number one security threat to the United States and our military moves in its vicinity?
–Who queries when U.S. generals acquired the right to verbally declare war on foreign powers as has been done repeatedly by former NATO Commander General Philip Breedlove and his successor General Curtis Scaparrotti?
–Who points out that we have been aiding and abetting al-Qaeda in Syria for years – and asks ‘why?’
–How have we placed ourselves in the absurd position of the CIA facilitating the transfer of anti-aircraft ‘man-pads,’ and TOWs to al-Qaeda/al-Nusra while the U.S. Army is training and advising their Kurdish enemies in Northwestern Syria?
–Who asks why we have allowed the Islamic State to carry on a lucrative oil commerce to finance their operations without taking military action against it?
–Who examines in detail why we give Saudi Arabia and Turkey a free pass to succor both terrorist organizations?
–Who asks why have we participated tangibly in the destruction of Yemen while our enemies there – al-Qaeda and ISIL – exploit what we are doing to gain strength?
–Who demands that President Obama explain how he could declare the Afghan war over in a White House ceremony in December 2014 and now commit us to an open-ended fight on the ground?
–Who bothers to correct the record on our leaving Iraq in December 2011 to explain that we were told to leave by the duly constituted government of Mr. al-Maliki and had no choice?
–Who indicts the President for personally approving the CIA’s hacking into the computers of the Senate Intelligence Committee?
–Who has undertaken an investigation of the plotting that went into the secret drafting of the Trans Pacific Partnership treaty whose terms contravene principles of the Constitution?
–Who condemns the American orchestration of the coup in Ukraine?
–Who asks as to the American role in the Brazilian coup now revealed in published documents?
–Who strives to uncover why the Obama administration has committed us to spend $1 trillion on a massive upgrade of our nuclear arsenal when there is no stated or evident enemy and the logical implication is that “modernization” will produce a greater readiness to use the “bomb”?
from a Russian perspective ….
==========================
War always starts unexpectedly. Deepest dreams occur before dawn. People cannot believe that their peaceful lives are over. On June 21, 1941 the Soviet nation was more sure than ever that war wouldn’t happen. It was clear to everyone that sooner or later they would have to fight the fascist beast, but not today. Not tomorrow. German troops along our borders were just training. The main thing was not to panic and respond to provocations. Knowing the inevitable, a human heart desperately clings to the hope that the storm will pass. The enemy always takes advantage of this, attacking when least expected.
Today NATO troops are at our door, carrying out training exercises along our borders. There are an increasing number of NATO military bases around Russia. The Federal Republic of Germany accepts a new military doctrine, that Russia is an enemy. Our propagandists, repeating statements by ambassadors and other representatives of the Federal Republic of Germany word for word, say: you simply misunderstood the German word – it does not mean ‘enemy’, this is how they refer to a friend. But training exercises are going on at our borders. It’s no big deal. No one is planning to attack. War will never happen. Don’t panic, don’t respond to provocations. Lock arms in safe warehouse and give the key to the German ambassador to avoid the temptation to respond to provocations.
At the end of the last century, the nations of the Soviet state, losing their Motherland, sensed disaster in the air. However, until the last minute, they didn’t believe things would go as they did. That Nazis would seize power on the outskirts; terrorists would penetrate our houses. Wars would break out here and there. They would kill ordinary people, soldiers and civilians. Bandits and rich people would make deals with each other – sell and buy each other. Real aircraft, loaded with bombs, would take off; real arms would be unsheathed and used in towns and villages, mountains and forests; not somewhere else, far away, but here on our land, where state farms, factories and pioneer camps once stood, and only one flag – the red one – flew. But it all happened. The country broke apart, and a frantic fratricide began between its parts.
The Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia, Transdniester, Chechnya – we know little about these wars that were going on in one periphery or another of a dead empire. We know nothing of the bloody horror that began in Central Asia after the red banner of Russian communism was lowered. And no one, either in Moldova, or in Tajikistan wanted to believe — or could believe —that war was around the corner, a month, or even a day before.
On July 8, 2014, a Ukrainian hit squad started firing on Donetsk. Yet the day before, the citizens of Donetsk probably hoped this would not happen. Although the Maidan, the takeover and confrontation, and the punitive operation against the Donbass in revolt, officially announced by Kiev, had already happened, they still could not believe that someone could do this: turning rifles and mortars on a peaceful city, on homes where little angels slept in their cribs, shooting them round after round.
Nazis, bastards, hit squads and their English-speaking proprietors have always been ready, knowing who to kill. They’re always happy to kill Russians, especially, Soviets. They decided to punish the Donbass for remaining too Russian, too Soviet even 20 years after the USSR’s collapse. The hit squads were always ready to kill us.
But they weren’t ready to face pushback. They didn’t think that the people of Novorossia would take up arms and defend themselves. They were even less ready for the young and not so young, and even the old ones to stand up, without waiting for the order to fight. They didn’t expect that volunteers and trains carrying aid would be sent to the Donbass. And even the indecisive Russian government would be forced to put up its hands, warning back off!
The Ukrainian Nazis and their Anglo-Saxon proprietors wanted to teach us their Nazi science saying: “You are Russians. Why do you need to feed Ossetians? And you, Jews, aren’t you disgusted having to live with Gentiles, Russians? Proud Karelians can’t be friends with Buryat, because they’re Mongols, and you are a man of the North, a Hyperborean. Hate each other. Kill each other. And we shall dance on your bones.
Well, you’re lying, Nazi-capitalists. Here, we’re all Russians, and Soviets. Even monarchists or White Guards are our Soviet monarchists. The Donbass is ours, too. And together we will defend it.
Those bastards never expect organized pushback. They count on surprise, weakness and discord among our people. They dream of fragmenting us to kill us one by one. So we need to stick together, to be ready for war. We need to prepare for war every day, as if it were going to happen tomorrow. Only then will we have a chance to avoid it.
The days of a comfy retirement bouncing grandchildren on your knee replacement are over . An ohalgarchy runs the American government now and they have thru fiat currency stolen , raped pillaged and plundered the economic power once held by average Americans . The party is over , industry is gone and Washington insiders still rearrange the deck chairs on the sinking ship.
The article and Stucky’s comment are boring – they are true, but it’s old hat – nothing new here. What the fuck is Putin wasting his time taking to presstitues who are dead, sold their soul to NWO and cannot change. When the separatists were winning the war in Donbass and the EU and NATO had no stomach to get involved, he could have taken the coastal half of Ukraine, where there is much support for Russia. But oh no – he let the Ukraine soldiers out of Donbass caulron of Delbastevo only to come back with American arms. Clueless – he is either a fuckin’ coward, clueless or false NWO opposition – so when is that balding Putin tosser gonna fight? – when NATO are at the gates of Moscow? Maybe the article and Stucky’s comment was to try and convince Putin – it won’t – unless you all club together to give him more dosh than the thirty pieces of silver from NWO – hahaha . Stop wasting my time with such friggin articles and comments ‘cos we all know that NWO is satanic and NATO wants regime change in Russia come what may -tell me something I dont know please – that aint news to me. You cannot convince the masses – fuck em – it will be good when the whole world is enslaved ‘cos they dont deserve any better for their ignorance – fuck em – let ’em eat GM cake and get fucked over by the NWO – let ’em get swamped by immigrants -they would probably enjoy it – the little masochistic shits. Schadenfreude when they realise have nothing, no children ‘cos they are state property – livestock – and no hope … but I am being far too optimistic – they’ll never realise shit. It’s over.