Harnwell: Russian Foreign Policy Mag — Russia Should Consider Launching Nuclear First Strike

15:50

A Russian journal asks how Russia might shock NATO into realising that Ukraine is not an existential issue for the West as it is for Russia. Its answer is terrifying.

“In order to prevent the slide into global thermonuclear war” that losing in Ukraine would provoke Russia into initiating — argues ‘Russia in Global Affairs’ — Russia might have to launch a limited nuclear first strike. To avoid Armageddon, NATO would quit Ukraine and retreat back into its own sphere of influence. This is the point to which President Magoo has now brought us.

https://rumble.com/embed/v36qiaj/?pub=4

19 Aug, 2023 14:34

US officials admit they missed opportunity for Ukraine peace – Politico

With Kiev’s counteroffensive failing, the White House now recognizes that it should have heeded earlier calls for talks, anonymous sources have claimed

American officials have told Politico that they may have “missed a window” to push for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. Speaking anonymously, they conceded that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley “had a point” when he offered a grim pronouncement on Kiev’s chances for victory last year.

More than two months into Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russian forces, Kiev has failed to capture more than a handful of hamlets and villages in Zaporozhye region, and has lost at least 43,000 men and nearly 5,000 pieces of equipment in the process, according to the latest figures from the Russian Defense Ministry. Although the Ukrainian government still insists it can retake all of its claimed territory by force, Washington is increasingly unsure.

“We may have missed a window to push for earlier talks,” a US official told Politico on Friday, adding that “Milley had a point.”

Speaking in New York in November, Milley said that a military victory would likely be unachievable for Ukraine, and that Kiev could use the wintertime pause in fighting to enter negotiations with Moscow and avoid any further losses.

His comments reportedly angered Kiev and caused panic in the White House, which rushed to reassure the Ukrainian leadership that it would continue to support President Vladimir Zelensky’s maximalist aims – which include retaking Crimea, an historic Russian territory that voted to rejoin the Russian Federation in 2014.

Media reports suggest that Washington has been divided on the idea of peace talks since at least last year, with President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken vehemently rejecting negotiations, against the wishes of some members of the military and intelligence agencies. This split persisted as Ukraine geared up for its counteroffensive, with reports indicating that despite Biden’s and Blinken’s optimism, the Pentagon knew Kiev wasn’t ready for the operation, and the CIA expectedit to end in failure.

Pessimism is now spreading in the White House, another anonymous official told Politico, saying that the Biden administration is increasingly asking itself “If we acknowledge we’re not going to do this forever, then what are we going to do?”

Milley has continued to suggest a diplomatic solution to the conflict. “If the end state is ‘Ukraine is a free, independent, sovereign country with its territory intact’… that’s gonna take a long, long time, but you can also achieve those objectives — maybe, possibly — through some sort of diplomatic means,” he told the Washington Post this week.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that any negotiations will be held “not with Zelensky, who is a puppet in the hands of the West, but directly with his masters.” The Kremlin also maintains that any potential peace deal will have to recognize the “new territorial reality” – that the regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporozhye will not be ceded back to Ukraine.

https://www.rt.com/news/581509-milley-missed-peace-ukraine/

I’m sorry but this is perverse, the same could be said of every terrorist dictator, including Joe

19 Aug, 2023 17:47

Church distances itself from priest who consecrated Stalin monument

Thanks to the Soviet leader’s repressions the Orthodox Church gained many new martyrs, the cleric had argued

The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) has distanced itself from a priest who consecrated a new monument to Joseph Stalin unveiled in the northwestern town of Velikiye Luki earlier this week.

The priest acted on his own and his actions did not represent the official position of the ROC, the local eparchy said in a statement on Thursday. Members of the church present at the ceremony did not get “blessing and permission” to participate, it noted, adding that an inquiry would be made into the affair.

The deputy head of the Moscow eparchy, Archbishop Savva, condemned the ceremony, describing the consecration of the monument as “outrageous.” The central church authorities are investigating the situation as well, Savva said in a Telegram post on Friday.

The towering, 8-meter monument to the late Soviet leader was unveiled in Velikiye Luki on Tuesday. The statue was consecrated by a local priest, Fr. Antoniy, with video from the ceremony promptly going viral. The clergyman made controversial statements during the ritual, arguing that thanks to Stalin-era political repressions, the church had received “many new martyrs and confessors.”

The comments were received poorly by church hierarchs, with Archbishop Savva stating that such a take on Stalin’s misdeeds was particularly “blasphemous.”

“Yes, the Lord turned evil into good, having shown steadfastness in the faith of many Christians during the days of persecution, who now serve as an example for us and pray for us before His heavenly throne. But atrocities do not become a lesser evil thanks to that, and in no way should one feel a sense of gratitude towards persecution and persecutors,” Savva explained.

https://www.rt.com/russia/581512-orthodox-priest-stalin-scandal/

Republican Chris Christie Advocates for More War, More Conflict, More Turmoil, More Weapons, More U.S Intervention

August 19, 2023 | Sundance | 190 Comments

Big Picture: Democrats want power, Republicans want money – and when it comes to foreign policy, they are in complete UniParty alignment. This is the baseline to understand why only Donald J. Trump represents an alternative to the foreign policy worldview of the corrupt DC system. This is also why they hate him and us.

There is no genuine alternative, no distinction between the foreign policy of professional Democrats and the foreign policy of professional Republicans. The nature of each wing of the UniParty vulture flows in complete sync on the issues of U.S. global interests and the multinational beneficiaries who pay for the policies of intervention.

At the absolute core of the issue for Republicans is the money. The financial mechanisms which create a need for outcomes in various nations. The ultimate and biggest pay-to-play scheme, where the policy of the United States is sold to the highest bidder and becomes an outcome of the interests of the multinational corporations. It is maddening to watch this dynamic continue to play out and yet feel incapable of stopping it. This is part of the value in Donald Trump.

(Politico) – Speaking to Erick Erickson at an Atlanta-area conference on Saturday morning, Christie went deep on his foreign policy vision, saying the U.S. must push back against authoritarian leaders and uphold democratic rights and norms in a broad preview of what foreign policy in his administration would look like (more).

Uphold “democratic rights and norms” while we still have the memories of the COVID-19 regime in our memory banks. How exactly was democracy evident in forced vaccinations, mandated medical rules by fiat, shutdowns, lockdowns, violations of just about every right these presumed democrat leaders claim to advocate? Who exactly are the totalitarians in this equation?

It wasn’t Russia or Vladimir who forced the U.S. government to mandate medical procedures. It wasn’t China or Xi Jinping who denied people the ability to comfort their sick, infirmed and dying loved ones. It wasn’t North Korea or Chairman Kim who arrested parents on playgrounds, chased people from the beach or set about rules saying if you were seated in a restaurant you were safe, but if you stood up the rona would kill you. These were the insufferable fiats of hypocritical politicians right here in the USA.

But seeing as it is Chris Christie making this argument, let me go bigger.

(Christie is the barge that will never fit in the port.)

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/