Thread: What Is Happening In Ukraine Is Far More Important Than Most People Realize

Obama's Latest Tactic: "Isolate Russia"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/03/2014 14:46 -0500

After once again clearly delineating that Russian "costs" are set to surge, and hopefully he means more than just the drop in the Micex and its artificial, paper wealth effect which Putin couldn't care less about as long as crude is soaring...

• OBAMA SAYS INCIDENT WITH UKRAINE WILL BE ‘COSTLY’ FOR RUSSIA

... the US president has laid out his latest tactic:

• OBAMA SAYS HE'S CONSIDERING ECONOMIC STEPS TO ISOLATE RUSSIA

Does he also mean to isolate Russian gas from entering Germany, which just happens to be reliant on Russian imports for a third of its natgas needs? He goes on.

• OBAMA SAYS RUSSIA ON `WRONG SIDE OF HISTORY' IN UKRAINE

Which of course is written by the winners. And the punchline:

• OBAMA URGES CONGRESS TO PROVIDE PACKAGE OF ASSISTANCE QUICKLY TO UKRAINIAN PEOPLE; SAYS SHOULD NOT BE PARTISAN ISSUE ON CAPITOL HILL

Maybe time to send Obamacare to Kiev: so many young, strapping participants just waiting to sign up? Or maybe it just time to raise minimum wages in the Ukraine while giving the local population the safety of mind that comes with investing in the "no risk, guaranteed return" MyRA.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-0...isolate-russia


I agree with the exception; Sign Russia up for Obamacare.... that will fix'm; they never be able to attack anyone; they'll be broke Ass's just like AmeriKa

AMERICANS BE WARNED: STOCK UP ON SUPPLIES NOW BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE!

March 2, 2014 - Featured, Main, War - Tagged: crimea, dave hodges, kiev, putin, the common sense show, the russian black sea fleet, the sixth fleet, ukraine, world war III, Yanukovich - 54 comments

Dave Hodges
March 3, 2014
The Common Sense Show

Just like in this picture, Ukraine will be quickly be overwhelmed by Russian forces.

Video at the Page Link:

Can’t you feel it? Something big is coming in the Ukraine which is going to impact everyone across the planet. However, most of you will sit on your hands until it is too late as you have deluded yourself into thinking that because the conflict is half way around the world, that you are safe. Nothing could be further from the truth, and if you knew your history, you would already have begun to prepare for what is coming.

Americans of the World War II era do not need to learn this lesson of history. If Russia invades Ukraine and the US becomes militarily involved, your access to vital and basic resources could be called into question. Any one born into the “baby boom generation” and younger, has no idea what you could be facing. We are not fighting the Viet Cong or Iraq, we could be fighting a super power who has a significant reach deep inside of this country. My advice to you America is to make a significant shopping run after you are done reading this article.

Putin Has Won the First Battle of WWIII

It is now clear that the Russians are in complete control of the strategic infrastructure in Crimea. The Russians control the major roads, the government buildings, the airports, the key utilities and now there are reports surfacing that they are moving to control the distribution of food within Crimea. In short, Crimea is under Russian martial law.

The Ukraine Prepares for War with Russia

Nathan Frandino, Ukraine’s national security chief, accuses Russia of being behind the seizure of Crimea’s airports and warns against “direct aggression.” The following video speaks to the fact that Ukraine has drawn a line in the sand. Unlike, Obama, the paper tiger, the Ukraine is prepared to meet the Russian incursion into Crimea with steadfast Ukrainian aggression. The following short video is an Ukrainian declaration of war against further Russian aggression against the sovereignty of the Ukraine within the Republic of Crimea. There is no interpretation needed for the following Ukrainian declaration of war.

Can Ukraine Survive the Coming Russian Invasion?

For over a week, the Russian military has had a 150,000 man contingent “on military maneuvers” within mere miles from the Ukrainian border. Historically, military maneuvers are a precursor for a war that has gone live. Ukraine’s security council has ordered the Army to immediately put all military forces on war alert. However, Kiev’s small and poorly equipped military is no match for Russia’s incursion force into Crimea. My military sources tell me that the 150,000 Russian military force operating just off their border with Ukraine, could secure the country in less than three days unless the Russians encountered a decisive intervention from NATO. If the newly established pro-Western government of Ukraine is to survive, they will require military assistance from the West, primarily NATO and the forces of the United States in the very near future. The Russians reportedly have 7 to 10 days to close the door on any meaningful NATO intervention. In other words, if Putin is going to invade the Ukraine, it will be this week.

Without Western Support, Ukraine Could Be Facing Genocide

If the Russians move to subdue Ukraine this week before the West can respond militarily, deposed and pro-Russian Prime Minister Yanukovich could return to power. And given the brutality that Yanukovich displayed towards Ukrainians, a genocidal crackdown with Russian military support likely awaits the local citizens, particularly in Kiev where the protests were especially vehement. If the government of Ukraine were smart, they would begin to arm each and every citizen and begin to immediately coach them on how to carry out guerrilla warfare because the Ukrainian military could cease to exist in the next seven to ten days.

Options for the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet

As the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet moves towards Crimea, the Russian strategy of seizing the coastal ports and airports in Crimea now makes perfect sense. Without access to the ports and airports, American marines would find it difficult if not impossible to enter Crimea. There can be no question that the Russian Black Sea Fleet has deployed its submarines to a level where they will prevent the American navy from approaching Crimea and enacting a military intervention in support of the Ukrainian troops now trapped in Crimea. Meanwhile, if Putin acts now and invades Ukraine, it would make perfect sense. Possession, as they say, is 90% of the law. Clearly, NATO is not prepared to act in time to save Ukraine. If Russia is to attack to keep Ukraine from joining the European Union, the time is now.

Conclusion

There is no conclusion because these events are about to become very fluid. The only accurate conclusion that can be put upon this volatile situation is that if the Russians act now and they invade Ukraine, and the West does not find a way to militarily respond, then Putin will have moved a long way in securing his long range goal of constructing an Eurasian empire capable of challenging the US anywhere in the world. Now I turn my attention to the title of this article, AMERICANS BE WARNED: STOCK UP ON SUPPLIES NOW BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE! If the United States responds militarily, and the Russians retaliate, your ability to get food, heat your home, go to work and a whole host of other factors will be called into question because the Russians will respond within the borders of the United States. This will be the topic of the next article on this crisis with global implications.

http://thecommonsenseshow.com/2014/0...-its-too-late/

Putin Has Occupied Crimea, Is Ukraine & World War III Next?

March 2, 2014 - Featured, Main, War - Tagged: crimea, dave hodges, nato, obama, putin, the common sense show, ukraine, world war III - 60 comments

Dave Hodges
March 2, 2014
The Common Sense Show

Obama is famous for drawing imaginary red lines in the sand and then not acting. He warned Russia about their involvement in the Syrian conflict in which hundreds of thousands have died. He warned Russia against assisting Iran with its nuclear program. Putin has ignored Obama at every turn and holds him in absolute contempt. The unfolding war in Ukraine is just another case in point. Obama does not have the intestinal fortitude to stand up to Putin. Or, is Obama playing for a much higher authority and Putin is supposed to win? I will address the “theatrical aspect” of what could be playing out behind the scenes in the Rothschild/Rockefeller bankster empire in a later article. This article is focusing on connecting the dots of the key events as they are occurring in near real time as it relates to a military standoff in Ukraine.

Putin Receives Approval to Invade Ukraine

On March 1, 2014 at 420pm (EST) Reuters reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin has insisted upon and has won the approval of the Russian parliament to invade the Ukraine. Conversely, the new Ukrainian government is warning of war and has subsequently put its troops on high alert and has appealed to NATO for military assistance.
Ukranian Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya has met with European and US officials and sent a request to NATO to “examine all possibilities to protect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine”. Obama is already on the record stating that the US would defend the Ukraine.
Reuters is further reporting that troops wearing uniforms with no identifying insignias, but have been identified as Russian troops, riding in vehicles with Russian license plates, have captured and occupied Crimea.
As I reported on Friday, Crimea is an isolated peninsula in the Black Sea which contains the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. The maintenance of the Black Sea Fleet is vital to the defense of Russia’s Southwestern underbelly. Further, any hope that Russia maintains of defending Syria and Iran from an American invasion rests upon the preservation of the Black Sea Fleet Headquarters in the city of Sevastopol. Kiev’s new authorities have been powerless to stop them.
In a later development, Ukrainian acting Prime Minister, Arseny Yatseniuk, stated that “It is unacceptable when armored Russian military vehicles are out in the center of Ukrainian towns”. The statement was made on Saturday before a government meeting in the Ukrainian capital city of Kiev.
Russian aircraft carrying nearly 2,000 troops have landed at a military airbase near the regional capital of the restive Crimean peninsula, a top Ukrainian official has said, accusing Moscow of an “armed invasion”.
“Thirteen Russian aircraft landed at the airport of Gvardeyskoye [near the city of Simferopol] with 150 people in each one,” Sergiy Kunitsyn, the Ukrainian president’s special representative in Crimea. He also said that the airspace had been closed when the deployment happened. It strongly appears that a massive Russian troop buildup is underway in Crimea. Is invading Ukraine Putin’s next move?
CNN is reporting that airspace in the region reopened Saturday, only a day after Ukraine accused Russian Black Sea forces of trying to seize two important airports in Crimea. However, Ukrainian security forces had prevented them from taking control. It appears that Russia is not committed to physically engaging Ukrainian military forces at this time. Once the full Russian force is in place, that fact may change.
The Wall Street Journal is Reporting that pro-Russian Crimean militias are blocking key roads to the area in order to keep the military forces from Kiev entering the region and assuming governmental control. These events are clearly the precursor to a bloody civil war in which Russia will clearly interject themselves into the conflict.
Speaking on Friday, Obama, the US president, said he was “deeply concerned” at the reports of the troop movements of Russian Federation soldiers in Crimea. Obama said: “Any violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty would be deeply disturbing.”
Ukraine’s acting president, Oleksander Turchinov, is accusing Russia of committing an open invasion of Crimea, thus, this is an attack upon the sovereignty of Ukraine.
Turchinov compared Russians actions to what they did to Georgia, in 2008, in terms of invading Akhazia region which has a large ethnic Russian population.
Russia’s actions remind me of how Hitler’s Germany occupied Czechoslovakia without firing a shot in order to ostensibly protect German speaking residents. Crimea is a unique province within Ukraine in that most of the citizens are Russian and align themselves with Moscow. Putin has stated that Russian forces are in Crimea to protect the interest of pro-Russians in the area.
Obama and European leaders would consider skipping a G8 summit in Sochi, Russia, planned for this summer if Russia intervenes militarily in Ukraine, a senior US official said on Friday.
The senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the US is consulting with its European partners on potential costs that might be imposed on Russia for any Ukraine intervention.The official said Washington’s response could also include withholding deeper trade and commerce ties that Moscow is seeking. These are impotent threats being made by Obama.

Stop Or I’ll Say Stop Again

Ukrainian people take part in a rally against Russia in front of the U.S. embassy in Kiev March 1, 2014.

Obama is all bark and no bite as he has called on Putin, the Russian president, to stop “provocations” in the semi-autonomous region of Crimea.
“Russia has sent forces into Crimea… they are working on scenarios which are fully analogous with Abkhazia, when having initiated a military conflict, they started to annex the territory,” he said in televised comments.
Two Crimean airports, the main international airport in Simferopol and a military airfield in the city of Sevastopol, have been taken over by what the Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov claimed to be members of the Russian Federation Fleet, in a statement posted on his Facebook account.

It is quite clear that we have multiple accounts which clearly state that Russia has occupied Crimea and the only opposition are a few Ukrainian military bases in the region. Again, Putin has outmaneuvered the West just as he did in Syria in the Fall of 2013.

The West does not appear to have the stomach to oppose Putin in Crimea. Putin has won. However, if Putin goes into Ukraine, that may be a different story.

The rubber will meet the road when the Russians decide what they are going to do with Ukrainian military bases located in Crimea. Clearly, if the Russians attack, or prevent resupply to these bases, the Ukraine will attack. There are already unconfirmed reports that there is a rapid deployment force of American NATO troops which have arrived in Ukraine. Everything points towards war if Putin continues on his present path.

It is clear that the Russians are not going to remove its military interests from Crimea. It is also clear that the Ukrainians are not going to remove their military bases from Crimea. Something has to give and the fate of Ukraine, and ultimately the world will depend on whether or not a field commander does not make a miscalculation resulting in a shot hear around the world.


This just in, the US Sixth Fleet is sailing towards Crimea. Wasn’t it nice that the powers that be could wait until the corporate sponsored Olympics concluded? This opens the real possibility that Obama and Putin are following a predetermined script.

http://thecommonsenseshow.com/2014/0...-war-iii-next/

Obama Is Teaming Up With Neo-Nazis in Ukraine

RELATED: Ukrainian Neo-Nazis Declare that Power Comes Out of the Barrels of their Guns

Infowars.com
March 3, 2014

In a recent interview on The Savage Nation with Michael Savage, Paul Craig Roberts explains how Washington’s pro-EU politicians are empowering neo-Nazis for the current coup in Ukraine:

You may read Roberts’ article related to this interview here.

This article was posted: Monday, March 3, 2014 at 9:45 am

http://www.infowars.com/obama-teamin...is-in-ukraine/

MICHAEL SAVAGE INTERVIEW: U.S. teaming with neo-Nazis in Ukraine

Hear the first part of the interview

Ukrainian Neo-Nazis Declare that Power Comes Out of the Barrels of their Guns

Paul Craig Roberts
Infowars.com
February 27, 2014

Reality on the ground in Ukraine contradicts the incompetent and immoral Obama regime’s portrait of Ukrainian democracy on the march.

Image: Ukraine Uprising (Wikimedia Commons).

To the extent that government exists in post-coup Ukraine, it is laws dictated by gun and threat wielding thugs of the neo-Nazi, Russophobic, ultra-nationalist, right-wing parties. Watch the video of the armed thug, Aleksandr Muzychko, who boosts of killing Russian soldiers in Chechnya, dictating to the Rovno regional parliament a grant of apartments to families of protesters. http://rt.com/news/radical-oppositio...echniques-882/
Read about the neo-nazis intimidating the Central Election Commission in order to secure rule and personnel changes in order to favor the ultra-right in the forthcoming elections. Thug Aleksandr Shevchenko informed the CEC that armed activists will remain in CEC offices in order to make certain that the election is not rigged against the neo-nazis. What he means, of course, is the armed thugs will make sure the neo-nazis win. If the neo-nazis don’t win, the chances are high that they will take power regardless.
Members of President Yanukovich’s ruling party, the Party of Regions, have been shot, had arrest warrants issued for them, have experienced home invasions and physical threats, and are resigning in droves in hopes of saving the lives of themselves and their families. The prosecutor’s office in the Volyn region (western Ukraine) has been ordered by ultra-nationalists to resign en masse .
Jewish synagogs and Eastern Orthodox Christian churches are being attacked.
To toot my own horn, I might have been the first and only to predict that Washington’s organization of pro-EU Ukrainian politicians into a coup against the elected government of Ukraine would destroy democracy and establish the precedent that force prevails over elections, thereby empowering the organized and armed extreme right-wing.
This is precisely what has happened. Note that there was no one in the Obama regime who had enough sense to see the obvious result of their smug, self-satisfied interference in the internal affairs of Ukraine.
If a democratically elected president and ruling party are so easily driven from power by armed neo-nazis, what chance do Washington’s paid stooges among the so-called “moderates” have of forming a government? These are the corrupt people who wanted President Yanukovich out of office so that they could take the money instead. The corruption charge against Yanukovich was cover for the disloyal, undemocratic “moderate” schemers to seize power and be paid millions of dollars by Washington for taking Ukraine into the EU and NATO.
The Washington-paid schemers are now reaping their just reward as they sit in craven silence while neo-nazi Muzychko wielding an Ak-47 challenges government officials to their face: “I dare you take my gun!”
Only Obama, Susan Rice, Victoria Nuland, Washington’s European puppets, and the Western prostitute media can describe the brutal reality of post-coup Ukraine as “the forward march of democracy.”
The West now faces a real mess, and so does Russia. The presstitutes will keep the American public from ever knowing what has happened, and the Obama regime will never admit it. It is not always clear that even the Russians want to admit it. The intelligent, reasonable, and humane Russian Foreign Minister, a person 100 cuts above the despicable John Kerry, keeps speaking as if this is all a mistake and appealing to the Western governments to stand behind the agreement that they pressured President Yanukovich to sign.
Yanukovich is history, as are Washington’s “moderates.” The moderates are not only corrupt; they are stupid. The fools even disbanded the Riot Police, leaving themselves at the mercy of the armed right-wing nazi thugs.
Ukraine is out of control. This is what happens when an arrogant, but stupid, Assistant Secretary of State (Victoria Nuland) plots with an equally arrogant and stupid US ambassador (Pyatt) to put their candidates in power once their coup against the elected president succeeds. The ignorant and deluded who deny any such plotting occurred can listen to the conversation between Nuland and Pyatt here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSxaa...layer_embedded
The situation will almost certainly lead to war. Only Putin’s diplomatic skills could prevent it. However, Putin has been demonized by Washington and the whores who comprise the US print and TV media. European and British politicians would have their Washington paychecks cut off if they aligned with Putin.
War is unavoidable, because the Western public is out to lunch. The more facts and information I provide, the more emails I receive defending the “sincere [and well paid] protesters’ honest protests against corruption,” as if corruption were the issue. I hear from Ukrainians and from those of Ukrainian ethnicity in Canada and the US that it is natural for Ukrainians to hate Russians because Ukrainians suffered under communism, as if suffering under communism, which disappeared in 1991, is unique to Ukrainians and has anything to do with the US coup that has fallen into neo-nazi hands,
No doubt. Many suffered under communism, including Russians. But was the suffering greater than the suffering of Japanese civilians twice nuked by the “Indispensable people,” or the suffering by German civilians whose cities were firebombed, like Tokyo, by the “exceptional people”?
Today Japan and Germany are Washington’s puppet states. In contrast, Ukraine was an independent country with a working relationship with Russia. It was this relationship that Washington wished to destroy.
Now that a reckless and incompetent Washington has opened Pandora’s Box, more evil has been released upon the world. The suffering will not be confined to Ukraine.
There are a number of reasons why the situation is likely to develop in a very bad way. One is that most people are unable to deal with reality even when reality directly confronts them. When I provide the facts as they are known, here are some of the responses I receive: “You are a Putin agent;” “you hate Ukrainians;” “you are defending corruption;” “you must not know how Ukrainians suffered at the hands of Stalin.”
Of course, having done Russian studies in graduate school, having been a member of the US-USSR student exchange program in 1961, having traveled in Russia, Georgia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan, having published in scholarly journals of Slavic and Russian studies, having twice addressed the Soviet Academy of Sciences, having been invited to explain to the CIA why the Soviet economic collapse occurred despite the CIA’s predictions to the contrary, I wouldn’t know anything about how people suffered under communism. The willingness of readers to display to me their utter ignorance and stupidity is astonishing. There is a large number of people who think reality consists of their delusions.
Reality is simply too much for mentally and emotionally weak people who are capable of holding on to their delusions in the face of all evidence to the contrary. The masses of deluded people and the total inability of Washington, wallowing it its hubris, to admit a mistake, mean that Washington’s destabilization of Ukraine is a problem for us all.
RT reports that “Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered an urgent military drill to test combat readiness of the armed forces across western and central Russia.” According to Russia’s Defense Minister, the surprise drill tested ground troops, Air Force, airborne troops and aerospace defense. http://rt.com/news/putin-drill-combat-army-864/
The Defense Minister said: “The drills are not connected with events in Ukraine at all.”
Yes, of course. The Defense Minister says this, because Putin still hopes that the EU will come to its senses. In my opinion, and I hope I am wrong, the European “leaders” are too corrupted by Washington’s money to have any sense. They are bought-and-paid-for. Nothing is important to them but money.
Ask yourself, why does Russia need at this time an urgent readiness test unrelated to Ukraine? Anyone familiar with geography knows that western and central Russia sit atop Ukraine.
Let us all cross our fingers that another war is not the consequence of the insouciant American public, the craven cowardice of the presstitute media, Washington’s corrupt European puppets, and the utter mendacity of the criminals who rule in Washington.
Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. His latest book, The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West is now available.

This article was posted: Thursday, February 27, 2014 at 5:44 am

Tags: foreign affairs

http://www.infowars.com/ukrainian-ne...of-their-guns/

Central Banker PM Says Ukraine Ready for IMF Auction Block

Expect more separatist and ethnic violence after IMF victimizes Ukraine

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
March 3, 2014

Arseniy Yatseniuk, the central bankster PM of post-coup Ukraine, has signaled IMF-inspired fire sales are on schedule.



Yatseniuk: Ukraine will “collaborate” with IMF and the banksters.
On Monday Yats, as the U.S. State Department fondly calls him, said Naftogaz Ukrainy, the national oil and gas company of Ukraine, will be put on the auction block.
Ukrtransgaz, a Naftogaz Ukrainy subsidiary, operates the natural gas pipelines in Ukraine. The pipelines are used to transit Russian natural gas to eighteen European countries, including France and Italy. Naftogaz is the sole importer of Russian natural gas provided by Gazprom, the largest extractor of natural gas and one of the largest companies in the world.
Yats is also ready to impose IMF austerity on Ukraine, already one of the poorest nations in Europe. “Yatsenyuk is the kind of technocrat you want if you want austerity, with the veneer of professionalism,” Vladimir Signorelli, president of boutique investment research firm Bretton Woods Research LLC in New Jersey, told Forbes last month. “He’s the type of guy who can hobnob with the European elite. A Mario Monti type: unelected and willing to do the IMFs bidding.”
Mario Monti, also known as Super Mario, the former EU commissioner and Italian prime minister, pushed “emergency austerity” measures on the Italians in a bid to stave off the collapse of the EU’s fiat currency. Super Mario targeted pensions and imposed “a radical and ambitious package of spending cuts and tax increases,” according to The New York Times. Although the draconian measures restored “international credibility” – in other words, the measures were favored by the international financial elite –they resulted in a fierce backlash in Italy. A similar backlash will undoubtedly occur in Ukraine after Yats and the IMF impose austerity measures at the behest of Brussels and Wall Street. The nationalists now in control of the country will scapegoat ethnic minorities and Russia.
Signorelli notes that prior to the State Department engineered coup, Yats fell behind former heavyweight boxer Viltali Klitschko and Oleh Tyahnybok, leader of the ultranationalist and neo-fascist Svoboda Party. “But Yats had friends in high places and while he does not have strong support of the electorate, and would have no chance of winning an election, he is pro-IMF austerity and apparently the bulk of parliament is as well,” writes Kenneth Rapoza for Forbes.
While the now deposed democratically elected president, Viktor Yanukovych, resisted the IMF’s demand to raise taxes and devalue the currency, Yats was installed to make sure Ukraine and its public infrastructure, including its natural gas pipelines, are sold off to the banksters and their corporatist buddies.
“We saw this in the 90s and what the IMF did to Russia with Yeltsin. They’ll do that to Ukraine,” said Signorelli.
Ukraine, with its history of ethnic division, can expect more social upheaval and strife. “Remember Slobodan Milošević in Yugoslavia? After the IMF finished with Yugoslavia it was only a matter of time before the separatist movements gained traction,” Signorelli said. “I think things in Ukraine can get really really bad.”



This article was posted: Monday, March 3, 2014 at 11:12 am

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• Ukraine places anti-terrorist forces on alert

http://www.infowars.com/central-bank...auction-block/

Trade War: Gazprom Threatens to Disrupt Gas Supplies to Europe

Deep state agenda behind Ukraine conflict revealed

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
March 3, 2014

Russian-controlled natural gas giant Gazprom has threatened to disrupt gas supplies to Europe following warnings by John Kerry and others that harsh economic sanctions could be imposed on Moscow, as the Ukraine crisis threatens to spiral into a trade war.

“Simmering political tensions in Ukraine, that are aggravated by inadequate economic conditions, may cause disruptions of gas supplies to Europe,” the company announced today.

Although the monopoly said it would attempt to reduce export risks, Gazprom’s chief financial officer Andrei Kruglov cautioned that Ukraine had failed to fulfil its debt obligations. This followed Gazprom spokesperson Sergai Kupriyanov’s warning on Saturday that Ukraine would see its account with Gazprom canceled as a result of an overdue tab of $1.5 billion dollars.

Although the warning of a gas disruption to Europe is not being characterized as political payback, it would be naive to think otherwise. The Financial Times describes Gazprom’s monopoly as a “formidable weapon to deploy against Ukraine,” noting that, “conflict with Russia would imperil one of the transit routes for gas to Europe” and lead to higher prices.

Despite being partly privatized, since 2005 the Russian government has held a controlling share in Gazprom. Moscow is currently embroiled in a standoff with Ukraine and Europe over its military occupation of Crimea, a situation British Foreign Secretary William Hague today described as the “biggest crisis” to face Europe in the 21st century.

Gazprom’s announcement follows vehement threats made by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to “isolate Russia economically,” crash the rouble and impose other crippling sanctions.

Behind the alarming military maneuvers that have raised tensions since the overthrow of Ukraine’s democratically elected government, a more complex deep state agenda is being played out in the context of energy.

The recent improvement in fracking technologies has opened up eastern Europe to major oil companies such as Chevron, who have been very active in western Ukraine, Poland and Romania over the last two years, signing agreements to commence drilling operations in these countries

“The development of gas fields in these regions poses a direct competitive threat to the near-monopoly currently held by the Russian national oil company, Gazprom,” writes Charles Hugh Smith. “This sets up a scramble for energy, where western Ukraine, Poland, Romania and the EU have powerful financial incentives to develop energy sources outside of Russian control, while Russia has an incentive to secure energy resources and assets in Eastern Ukraine and Crimea.”

Gazprom (ie Moscow) fears that US-based multinational gas and oil firms will displace their monopoly by drilling new wells and selling to Germany and other Gazprom customers at cheaper prices.

“The extent to which US-based multinational oil and gas firms are directly displacing Russian enterprises in supplying the EU is remarkable. Chevron and Exxon are very prominent in the emerging offshore and shale plays,” writes Smith’s source.
“I think the imminent threat of Ukrainian shale gas development is a factor in forcing Putin’s hand over the EU trade deal. Putin’s regional Great Power ambitions are backed entirely by strong arm hydrocarbon diplomacy. Putin’s domestic political position equally rests on stable and elevated hydrocarbon prices to fund the state budget.”

While there are undoubtedly a number of different military objectives being pursued on both sides of the conflict, an important facet that has been largely ignored is the west’s bid to eviscerate Russia’s ability to set natural gas prices and in turn reduce NATO’s dependence on Gazprom in pursuit of the wider agenda to geopolitically isolate Moscow.

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Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a host for Infowars Nightly News.

This article was posted: Monday, March 3, 2014 at 10:08 am

Tags: economics, foreign affairs

http://www.infowars.com/trade-war-ga...ies-to-europe/

Rush Limbaugh

Sarah Palin, back in 2008, predicted and warned that Russia was gonna take Ukraine. She was laughed at. She was mocked and made fun of because, of course, that was the narrative.

Clueless American Leaders Shocked by Putin's Attempt to Reassemble Soviet Union

March 03, 2014

Windows Media

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: We're gonna get to the Ukraine business, it's gonna be the focus here. That happens to be the soap opera story. Actually, it's not the soap opera story. This is Putin running rings around us. There's no question what's going on here. Vladimir Putin's reassembling the Soviet Union. And this is something -- I've got the sound bite -- I predicted this back in 2008. And all the smart money in Washington, inside the Beltway -- we've got these sound bites, too -- they're shocked that Putin is trying to reassemble the Soviet Union. They can't believe it.

Even Lurch -- this guy, John Kerry, is shocked that Putin is actually conducting a ground war. Listen to this. Grab number 17. Let's just get this out of the way 'cause I think it's hilarious and it is indicative of how just outclassed we are. We're clueless. This generation of leaders is literally clueless about our enemies. Remember something you were taught early on in this program. The purpose of any military is to kill people and break things. It's not to advance anybody's social agenda. It's not a laboratory for the left's social ideas or playgrounds. It is to kill people and break things, and the second rule is that the aggressor in any conflict sets the rules. And if they violate an existing rule book, then so be it. The aggressor sets the rules, and right now, Putin is setting the rules.
I went back and did some research. In 1979 when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, '79, '80, they did it at Christmastime, when we were all distracted. Putin goes into Ukraine, after, by the way, colonizing Georgia. They got Georgia back now. Remember Shalikashvili and South Ossetia? Well, they got Georgia back and they're marching now. And when did Putin do it? He sent the troops in during the Olympics that he hosted, that NBC televised and the world was watching. And then after that he continued this buildup last night during the Oscars. That is strategy. What it means to me is, in just that regard, if Putin actually made strategic decisions based on the American people being distracted it tells me that Putin believes that American public opinion still matters, in terms of impacting American leadership.
This is no small thing, folks. Now, Putin could be very wrong about the degree to which the American public impacts the Regime, for example, in its own strategy, but he nevertheless is cognizant of it, just like any politician would be. In fact, Putin -- ready for this? -- postponed the Oscar telecast last night.

He didn't want his own population distracted. He wanted his own population knowing full well what he was doing, and he wanted them celebrating him. They weren't distracted. We were. And so now there's breaking news today: "Russia Has Reportedly Set a Surrender Deadline for Ukrainian Forces." If they don't get out of the Crimea by tomorrow, Russia is gonna run in there and take it and kick their butts.
Now, interestingly, do you remember -- and I'm sorry to be all over the ballpark here, but this a stream of consciousness thing, folks. Do you remember in one of our early skirmishes with Saddam Hussein -- and, by the way, another little sidebar, George H. W. Bush always pronounced it "Saddam" because in that language "Saddam" means dirty shoe shiner. You know, those people have a thing about shoes. You throw shoes at somebody, it's a profound insult. It's actually pronounced "Saddam Hussein," but he pronounced it "Saddam" because that means dirty, irrelevant, low, slime ball shoe shiner over there. Just a little sidebar. But remember, in one of our earliest skirmishes with Saddam, remember what governor Mario Cuomo suggested?
Come on, Snerdley. You remember this. Cuomo said (paraphrasing), "Come on, let's just give him a few islands. Just give him a few islands, let him have what he wants, and we can avoid war." Well, I have it right here in The Politico, ladies and gentlemen, the same thing. The Politico story is suggesting let Putin have Crimea. Well, yeah, among other things, but just let him have Crimea. Let him have it. Don't oppose him. Don't send Kerry over there.
It doesn't matter. Putin's gonna go in by tomorrow and take Crimea anyway. He needs a warm water port, but more importantly there's another aspect to this that I don't know that you may have considered, and that is with the uptick in fracking taking place in America, that means that there is vast new production of oil, oil and oil wells and fossil fuels. Now, what does that mean to Putin? Well, that's competition. Putin needs Ukraine because there's something like seven or eight Russian natural gas pipelines go through there on the way to selling the stuff to Western Europe. So in all of this there's so many elements here. There's economics, there's money, and there is always that. And then there is the KGB, which never went away, and it's now coming back to life in a reassembling of the Soviet Union.
We also have the ChiComs and the Japanese on the verge of a massive military conflict as well. I mean, folks, things are blowing up like nutcases over there, and we just do not have the personnel in the State Department or at the Department of Defense or in the White House to adequately deal with this, because we don't have people that really think any of this matters. All that matters to people like Obama is fixing what he thinks is wrong with this country when it comes to social justice and racial discrimination and illegal immigration and amnesty and health care and all that, that's all that matters is fixing what's wrong with this country.
Now, grab sound bite number seven. This is Lurch. He was on with Stephanopoulos yesterday. Stephanopoulos said to Senator Kerry -- well, secretary of state. It's a laugher. Stephanopoulos said, "Look, we got these reports now, Russian forces surrounding Ukrainian military basis in the Crimea. Ukraine's prime minister says we're on the brink of a disaster. Is he right?"

KERRY: What has already happened is a brazen act of aggression in violation of international law, in violation of the UN charter, in violation of the Helsinki Final Act, in violation of 1997 Ukraine-Russia basing agreement. Russia has engaged in a military act of aggression against another country, and it has huge risks, George. It's a Nineteenth Century act in the Twenty-First Century.
RUSH: Yeah. And then when he went over to Face the Nation. (interruption) Which one did you watch, face the Nation or...? (interruption) Oh. Was he on there, too? (interruption) Well, when he went over to Face the Nation, he said, "You just don't, in the Twenty-First Century, behave in Nineteenth Century fashion by invading another country on a completely trumped-up pretext."
Hey, Lurch? Putin just did. He's there! So while Putin is invading, using Nineteenth Century tactics, John Kerry is on American television saying, "You don't do that," and he's citing all of these agreements: The UN Charter, international law, the Helsinki Final Act. You know what all that stuff is worth to those people? You know what Putin thinks of that stuff? (tearing paper) He doesn't care. These are old Soviet communists.

Putin has been salivating over reassembling the Soviet Union, and if it weren't so serious, it would be laughably pathetic. Because, as I remind you: In any conflict... I don't care if it's a bully on the schoolyard. I don't care if it's the National Football League, Major League Baseball, or anywhere. The aggressor sets the rules. Whatever the aggressor does are the rules, and you throw the rule book out.
But we're sitting there saying, "We're offended! Why, he can't do this. Why, it's violating the Helsinki Final Act. Why, he's in violation of the 1997 Ukraine-Russia Basing Agreement!" Yeah? Big whoop. So he's out there condemning. Ah, that's really big. That's what we always do. We condemn and we deplore, and then we start shouting at the United Nations. "An incredible act of aggression!"
Kerry brandished the threat of economic sanctions. "You just don't, in the Twenty-First Century, behave in Nineteenth Century fashion by invading another country on a completely trumped-up pretext." Well, Mr. Secretary, Putin just did -- reminiscent, by the way, of "Jen-jiss" Khan, with whom Kerry apparently is intimately familiar. "Jen-jiss" Khan. This is reminiscent of Germany, Neville Chamberlain, you name it.
It's reminiscent of the Soviet Union in the Twentieth Century, reminiscent of world history. You can look it up in the Undeniable Truths of Life, written by me in 1987. One of the 25 Undeniable Rules of Life is: "Ours is a world governed by the aggressive use of force." It always has been, and it always will be. No matter how you analyze that. If you want to look at the current conflict between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, A, who's setting the rules?
Democrats.
They're the aggressors, right?
Wouldn't you also say that politics here is the aggressive use of force? Democrats use force. It's nonmilitary in this case, but they use force. They are pushing and pushing, and what are we doing? Letting 'em have what they want (i.e., the Crimea) hoping they'll go away. So now in The Politico says (summarized), "Go ahead and let Putin have the Crimea! He'll be happy with that, and this will all be over."
So Obama yuks it up, whatever he's doing, drawing lines. Kerry's out there expressing shock and dismay that in the Twenty-First Century somebody would actually invade with ground forces. I mean, it's just pathetic, folks. It really is dangerous at the same time. Sound bite 18. Stephanopoulos. After Lurch talked about how he just doesn't dig this, this Nineteenth Century tactic in the Twenty-First Century...
By the way, you notice also that Putin does this just days after we happily announce our intention to downsize our boots-on-the-ground military to pre-World War II levels. Why? 'Cause this kind of stuff isn't gonna happen anymore. The Obama Regime is gonna propose in their budget coming up that we get the military back down -- our boots on the ground, ground force commitment capability -- to pre-World War II levels.
Just days after we announce that, here goes Putin -- and why are we doing it? Well, because this kind of stuff isn't gonna happen anymore! Not with lasers and outer space drones and the NSA and all of our abilities that we have to sneak and listen and spy on people. These conventional infantry wars, they're not gonna happen anymore. So we don't need to have that kind of military force.

"We need more food stamps, and we need more unemployment compensation extensions. We don't need that kind of army." So shortly thereafter, there goes Vlad -- and let's not forget Obama telling Dmitry Medvedev, "Just tell Putin to hang in there be and be tough when it comes to us getting rid of our nukes, because I'll have more flexibility after I win reelection. Yeah, we'll stop doing missile defense.
"We're gonna tear that down. We're gonna reduce our nuclear warhead stockpile just to show the world that we're good guys, nice people and so forth, and that we don't intend anybody any harm, admitting in the process that we have been the problem all along. The United States is the destabilizing agent."

That's what Obama believes. The US and its military has always been that.
That's what the left believes, what the Democrat Party today believes. The US is the destabilizing agent of the world, so we gotta show the world we no longer want to destabilize it. So, "Hey, Vlad? You want Crimea? Take it!" Stephanopoulos and Kerry continue to talk, and I just want to listen to this 'cause I want to hear what other inanities come out of Lurch's mouth.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you have any indication at all that President Putin is taking heed of what President Obama's saying?
KERRY: Well, they just had the conversation yesterday, and the president invited him to engage with the government. The most important thing to remember here is this is not -- or should not be -- East-West, Russia-United States, Russia versus Europe. This is about the people of Ukraine. We ought to be able to work this out through the diplomatic process. If Russia chooses not to, there will be serious repercussions.
RUSH: Yeah, like what? Sanctions?
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: You want to know how tough we're getting on this? Breaking news here from Reuters. Ready for this? Dadelut dadelut dadelut dadelut dadelut! Breaking news from the Obama Regime: "The White House says the United States will no longer..." We're not gonna do it. We're not gonna "send a presidential delegation to the upcoming Paralympic Games in Sochi to protest the Ukraine situation." So the gloves are off, folks. No presidential delegation to the Paralympic Games in Sochi.
Well, did you hear that the White House put out a photo of Obama talking on the phone with Vlad, and Obama's sleeves were rolled up? That was done to make it look like Obama was really working hard -- I mean, really taking it seriously. His sleeves were rolled up while on the phone with Putin! Putin probably had his shirt off practicing Tai-Chi while he was talking to Obama.



Here's more Lurch. Try this, folks. This is David Gregory on Meet the Press. "Is 'the reset' with Russia dead?"
KERRY: Well, I -- I -- I -- I don't know what you mean by "the reset." Long ago --
GREGORY: The "reset" in relations that --
KERRY: No, no, no, no.
GREGORY: -- this administration called for.
KERRY: I know, but long ago we've entered into a different phase with Russia. Uh, I don't think this is a moment to be proclaiming one thing or the other.
RUSH: (laughing) You know what that was about? You know, Hillary went over there when she became secretary of state with this giant plastic red "reset" button. Reset relations with the Russians. Kerry said, "I don't know anything about that. What do you mean, 'reset'? No, no, that was long ago. We've entered a different phase now!" Kerry totally caught off guard. He had no clue what he was answering.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I need to ask all of you a question. It's an important point. Let me review this. As I went back, I don't know why, something just struck me. Leonid Brezhnev ("the eyebrows guy," for those of you low-information people) was an old Soviet boss in the seventies. He's the guy that ran rings around Jimmy Carter. Anyway, Brezhnev, when they invaded Afghanistan in 1980 -- which didn't end well, but that's another story.
When they did it, they did it at Christmas thinking that nobody would be paying attention, and that nobody would care even if they did all of a sudden pay attention. "It's Christmas. It's Afghanistan. Who cares? It's the Soviets." But not long after people did care, and Putin then used the Olympics and the Oscars as a distraction, not of Obama and Kerry, but of the American people.
Now, that tells me that Putin still thinks, or at least is taking into consideration that public opinion still impacts American leadership. I think if you're an old KGB boss, that would constitute your formative thinking of the seventies and eighties. In the height of the Cold War, public opinion was always anti-Soviet, and that public opinion elected Ronald Reagan, who brought about the end of Soviet communism and the Berlin Wall.
So somebody like Putin, because of formative experiences when he was rising to power, would be very much aware of the power of American public opinion. So he times his invasion of Ukraine to correspond with the Olympics, and he took another big step last night, yesterday, while everybody here is focused on the Oscars and the Academy Awards. The Russian invasion of Afghanistan was also in response to a pro-Russian puppet government having been toppled.
Now, I don't know that American public opinion has anywhere near as powerful an impact on American leadership. In fact, American public opinion is opposed to every Obama policy, and yet every Obama policy is being implemented and is growing, despite American public opinion. You and I are probably of the belief that American public opinion, when it comes to anything to do with foreign policy, is asleep.
What do you think the odds are that -- I don't know -- half or more of the people that watched the Olympic last night don't care about what's going on in Ukraine anyway? And especially in terms of how it might affect them or the United States? How many Americans do you really think care? How many Americans do you think have any consideration for what this means for us? And let me go further.
How many Americans -- 'cause I can assure you that back in the seventies and eighties, the American public was at fever pitch. The American public was highly tuned in to Soviet-sponsored communism. You know, all through the eighties with what went on in Nicaragua and the Contra revolution and the Boland Amendment, it was vicious, and the American public was on board with Reagan throughout much of this (other than, you know, the Iran-Contra thing hit later the second term).

But my point is, the American public was much concerned, they were very informed, and they had definite awareness of what Soviet expansionism meant -- and they knew that it wasn't good. They knew it had to be stopped. They supported it every time a president wanted it to be stopped, including in Vietnam at the outset. Now, contrast it to today. I'm just asking because of the open that I did in the previous half hour of this program. I wonder how many people heard it who might not have been looking at this in any way.
Not you, folks. When I say, "People heard it," I always separate you from the low-information crowd. I always know that people listen to this program who are not fans, people listen to this program who don't like me, people listen to this program who don't like me and want reasons every day to keep disliking me -- and it's to those people I'm talking. How many of those people, how many people in general think this is no big deal?
How many Americans really are not aware that we have almost total incompetence at the highest levels of our foreign policy establishment now within the Regime? There might be some bright people at DOD. There might be some bright people State Department. I'm talking about Obama Regime personnel and leaders. The answer to the question scares me. Do you realize, folks, how absolutely literally idiotic it is for the American Secretary of State to start whining about, "They can't do that!
"You can't fight a Twenty-First Century war with a Nineteenth Century tactic! You can't do that! You can't violate pieces of paper!" Do you understand the absolute childish naivete that must exist for that worldview? This is our secretary of state, and this one is no better than the previous one, Mrs. Clinton. She was totally unqualified for that job, and Kerry is totally unqualified. He's got the gig because he wanted it, it's payback time, and he's always fashioned himself as somebody who ought to run the State Department.
'Cause he can speak French, he thinks he's a man of the world. He's clueless. All of these people are clueless! I don't think they're willing to even admit to themselves that what Putin is really trying to do is reconstitute the Soviet Union. How many of these people are living in their delusional fantasy world that Obama is still The Messiah of 2008, loved, adored, and respected by the people of the world and world leaders who used to be our enemies when these dangerous, reckless, cowboy Republicans were in office?
These are scary, scary times -- and one of these days, Putin is gonna figure out that American public opinion does not have the same impact today that it had back in the seventies and eighties. He's gonna figure out, if he doesn't already know, that American public opinion has been dumbed down and refocused. America's now focused on, "Should we be penalizing players 15 yards or kick 'em out of the game for using the N-word in the NFL?" The American people are focused on, "Can gay couples buy a cake from a non-gay baker or not?"
In fact, you probably have heard this by now. Sarah Palin, back in 2008, predicted and warned that Russia was gonna take Ukraine. She was laughed at. She was mocked and made fun of because, of course, that was the narrative. Sarah Palin never said was she an expert on the Soviet Union 'cause she could see it from her backyard. Tina Fey said that in a comedy sketch. Palin never said it, yet it was attributed to her.
Romney, I remember this in a presidential debate like it was yesterday. Probably the second debate, Romney is warning of Russia as our number one geopolitical enemy, and Obama is sitting there and mocking him and laughing at him and making fun of him like he can't believe what he just heard and everybody knows it's Al-Qaeda. And look at what's happening here. All the people who've been insulted as dumb and stupid and idiotic and don't know what they're talking about are being borne out. There were people -- I'll leave myself out of this -- there were people eight years ago warning that Putin existed to rebuild the Soviet Union. The Washington establishment hemmed and hawed and huffed and puffed and laughed, said nothing could be further from the truth. The best and the brightest had no clue.
Now, by the way, Russia and the ChiComs are aligning. They have discovered geopolitical interests that meld together and one of those geopolitical interests is opposition to us. Then you've got the ChiComs and the Japanese on the verge of a major conflict. I don't think too many people are aware of that. So these are heavyweight times, and we've got a lot of people dazed and confused and just, in addition to dazed and confused, entirely misinformed. They happen to be our leaders at the moment.
END TRANSCRIPT

Related Links

• AP: Ukraine Says Russia Issues Ultimatum For Surrender Of 2 Ukrainian Warships In Crimea
• SkyNews: Russia And China 'In Agreement' Over Ukraine
• Politico: Kerry: Russia Behaving Like It's The 19th Century
• Washington Free Beacon: Kerry: ‘I Don’t Know What You Mean By The Reset’
• FOXNews: Ukraine's Leaders Call On Western Powers To Rally Against Russian Invasion, As Moscow Remains Defiant
• RushLimbaugh.com: Bam to Russians: Give Me Time - 02.26.13

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