Scholz Begins His Visit To Russia Today.

Sadly, the sewer of Deutsche Welle will accompany German Chancellor. But it is what it is. Scholz is fresh from Kiev and meeting with Mr. Ze and after being utterly humiliated in Washington, so, meeting with ever respectful Putin may be a much needed change of the decorations for him, not to mention the whole of Germany. But then again, it is a great time to blow some shit in Kiev or elsewhere in 404 and blame it on Russians. 

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz heads to Moscow on Tuesday to meet President Vladimir Putin in a high stakes mission to avert war, with Russia's largest trading partner in Europe warning of far-reaching sanctions if it attacks Ukraine. Scholz's one-day trip, after visiting Kyiv on Monday, is part of frantic Western diplomacy to try to stop a potential attack as more than 100,000 Russian troops mass on Ukraine's borders.

He is no figure of a scale required to do anything about Russian-American relations and he is only couple of notches above in standing of Mr. Ze he just visited. Germany's industries are the main lunch for the US, and that is tantamount to killing Germany as such. I am sure Russian President will explain to him the real game, if he didn't get it by now. But don't count on this explanation, Germany, together with Europe, are objects, not subjects, of geopolitics. It was and is their choice.  

China Spoke.

I am not a specialist in China, far from it, but I know that Chinese culture of the statecraft does involve restrain, ambiguities and even ambivalence when articulating own position in the international arena.  Well, looks like Chinese finally are ready to drop those tools of Chinese foreign affairs craft and, finally, went for a jugular. Apart from unfolding trade war between China and USA, which may have played a significant role in Chinese articulating in much sharper language their position, the visit of China's Defense Minister Wei Fenghe to Moscow and his statement is something else altogether. As Fox reports:

China's new defense minister says he is visiting Russia to send the United States a message about the increasingly close ties between Moscow and Beijing. Gen. Wei Fenghe said Tuesday that he chose Russia for his first trip abroad since becoming the international face of China's military last month to "show the world a high level of development of our bilateral relations and firm determination of our armed forces to strengthen strategic cooperation."

In other words, for Chinese highest ranking military official to articulate such stern position and admit de facto emerging Moscow-Beijing military, and political, alliance is a very big deal for all parties involved. This is not to say of articulating China's readiness to start speaking, and acting, in broadsides. So, the brave new world emerges. As I stated a year ago, China is very interested in Russia's top tier military and civil technologies which she desperately needs for both defensive and power projection purposes. Since then things unfolded with a lightning speed. When even vehemently Russophobic Moscow Times has to admit a massive spike in Russian-Chinese trade in less than one year, one has to take a note—China is opening her markets to Russia. By 2020 this trade should reach $200 billion—a rather impressive volume by any standard. A full-fledged alliance is forming and is in advanced stages. It also shows that Russia made her choice. Within the span of 18 days, from Putin's explosive address to Russia's Federation Assembly to Russia's presidential elections on 18^th of March the switch was flipped and red lines drawn. 

Now we all come to this nagging question of the US having, or otherwise, enough geopolitical currency to "buy" Russia. As of today, April 4, 2018 the United States cannot afford to "buy" Russia, the game is over in this respect and the combined West as a geopolitical construct interests overwhelming majority of Russians in only three aspects:

1. Sell Russian energy and products there;

2. Maybe visit as tourists once in a long while.

3. Play in UEFA Champions' and Europa football leagues.

That's all. In fact, huge swaths of Russian public have no problem with not having any relations with the West at all, and, in fact, many wouldn't mind new Iron Curtain to prevent Western "ideas" and what passes today as (largely filthy) Western "culture" from reaching Russia which finally recognized herself as a self-supporting, self-sustained civilization, not just the nation. Sure, the summit with Donald Trump is good and is needed to prevent the conflict, maybe. But, while Russia was never West's to lose to start with—too big and important, there is no doubt that West lost her for itself. As I stated not for once, after the Kiev's bloody coup, the West committed cultural suicide in Russia. Today, the level of condescension, revulsion and outright rejection among Russians towards combined West is unprecedented historically. I simply cannot recall anything which is even remotely comparable in Russia and I am not exactly a spring chicken. It is historically unprecedented. This rejection is not limited to one generation—it is across the board with Russian youth, people no older than 30-35, suddenly revealing something which it seems was lost forever, yet it wasn't—they became staunch patriots and this was accomplished not thanks, but despite Russian education, arts and news scene which for decades was run by people who didn't see Russia as a subject of history. It is radically different today on all levels. It is nothing short of miraculous that this was preserved and grew tremendously once combined West declared war on Russia. As I stated not for once—the West, without learning and understanding Russian/Soviet history of the 20^th Century is simply not equipped to deal with Russia. It simply refused and now cannot grasp what it is dealing with. But then again, Oceania was always at war with Eurasia--nothing new for Russians here. As Repin's famous portrayal of Cossacks Writing a Letter to Turkish Sultan:

Modern iteration of this famous art captured Russians' attitudes today with remake of the classic by Vasily Nesterenko, symptomatically titled Russians' Letter to Enemies. No comments are needed here.

     

In Plain Words.

Tillerson, that is US, or, rather, a cabal of lunatics that runs US foreign "policy" issues an ultimatum to Russia: Side with the U.S. and likeminded countries on Syria, or embrace Iran, militant group Hezbollah and embattled Syrian leader Bashar Assad. 

Putin thought about this generous offer for about 10 minutes and then replied: Russia has data that new provocations are planned in Syria with the goal of putting the blame on Damascus for allegedly using chemical weapons, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters after talks with his Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella on Tuesday."We have information from different sources that these provocations - I cannot call them otherwise - are being prepared in other regions of Syria, including in the southern suburbs of Damascus where there are plans to throw some substance and accuse the official Syrian authorities," Putin said.

It looks like a pretty clear, black and white answer to me. Russia always fights jihadists and terrorists, not uses them. This is apart from the fact that one has to be a lunatic to side with lunatics. Putin, for all my very restrained attitude towards him, does not produce an impression of being a lunatic. Far from it, he seems to be a very thoughtful and calm man, who knows well why he was elected by his people, unlike it is the case with his American counterpart who turned out to be a conman and a wussy who didn't last even 90 days against the swamp he promised to drain and now tries to show how macho he is. As I stated not for once, Moscow is not a good place for issuing ultimatums. This is apart from the fact which is being ignored by all those "likeminded" countries--the West has  committed a cultural and geopolitical suicide in Russia when spilled Russian blood in Ukraine. It seems like Russia has no illusions about that. 

If to discount a highly improbable, yet still possible, version that this whole situation is a political theater to cover up something more substantial and logical happening behind the stage, a very serious military alliance between Russia and Iran may begin to emerge very soon. At this stage, it seems to be a very logical and sensible step. Russia and Iran (through Azerbaijan and Caspian Sea) are tightly connected both by geography and now by common security objectives. Russia will not allow any kind of hostilities, much less regime change in her Caspian underbelly. Iran knows it and she has to make her moves in economic field to accommodate Russia's efforts. Iran may start with buying Sukhoi Super Jets 100s and signing the contract for deliveries of MC-21 passenger jets after their trials are over by 2019. This will be a very good step, while Russia makes sure that Iran's armed forces are properly armed. Iran's Air Force is in dire need of upgrade since the core of it, F-14 Tomcats, are long past their service life, not to mention those planes being obsolete. There is a lot Russia and Iran need to talk about and it looks like this discussion is ongoing as I type this. It's about time.

  

More:
http://tass.com/politics/940714ia has data that new provocations are planned in Syria with the goal of putting the blame on Damascus for allegedly using chemical weapons, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters after talks with his Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella on Tuesday.

"We have information from different sources that these provocations - I cannot call them otherwise - are being prepared in other regions of Syria, including in the southern suburbs of Damascus where there are plans to throw some substance and accuse the official Syrian authorities," Putin said.


More:
http://tass.com/politics/940714

It Is Kinda Too Late, Isn't It?

This should have been done 9 months ago and it could have been a very serious message to Islamic terrorism. Russia and US fighting jihadists together. But it wasn't meant to be, in fact--opposite, driven by US hubris and paranoia, was implemented. Now, Kerry brings to Russia some "plan" which IS NOT designed to fight ISIS.

Obama’s Syria plan teams up American and Russian forces 

The only reason for Kerry's top level meeting with Putin, and Lavrov, is to ensure that lame-duck Obama can get at least some face-saving something from the US-engineered "Assad-Must-Go" catastrophe in Syria. It is understandable entirely against the background of Obama Administration's utter disaster in foreign policy. We all may, of course, do the "what if" thing and imagine what if Obama was a competent and courageous national leader, what if US foreign policy establishment wasn't run by insane neocon war-mongering Russophobes, what if US media had at least some professional integrity--yes, then things would have been different. Far fewer people would have been dead and the only militarily sensible conclusion would have been made--that it is in US interest to cooperate in good faith with Russia in fighting such a scourge as ISIS, Al Qaeda and affiliates, not to support them. Now, obviously, no one in their own mind in Moscow (or in Russia) believes in US "good intentions" for the sake of defeating jihadists in Syria. 

I will expound on Kerry's visit and the "plan" later but for now--all attention on Putin and Lavrov, while Russia's Air-Space forces continue to do their job.

   

To be continued......