Well, So Much For "Unity".

VSU used good ol' "Tochka U" against Nazi (Azov) forces in Mariupol. Killed a shitload of those. This was VSU's the revenge for attempt of Azov thugs against VSU's general. Mariupol is on the verge of the humanitarian catastrophe and Nazis openly use civilians as human shield. The operations by LDNR forces are already within the city limits (at the outskirts) and mopping up will be tough.

Some numbers of mercenaries are reported both within Mariupol and elsewhere and the videos and photos with those "soldiers of fortune" in the different stages of the decomposition after meeting Russian and LDNR forces are coming. As you all know, they are outside the framework of Geneva Convention, so make your own conclusions. 

Herr Scholz lost it completely and demanded, in his phone talk with Putin, to immediately "stop all hostilities" and allow "humanitarian aid" into Ukraine (in Russian). In related news, Scholz is a puppet with zero geopolitical weight and is a servant of the Empire. Putin, being a nice guy, spoke to him for an hour. I totally understand Bernhard's (of MoA) depressed mood. Europe willingly committed suicide and reduced itself to a lunch for the US.

Tony Wood asks:

The question remains, why did all those who for so long foretold this war do so little to stop it, and so much to hasten the disaster Russia has now set in motion?

Indeed. Why didn't the government of Germany guarantee in writing that it would veto any additional NATO membership? It would have solved at least half of the problem. Why didn't any other NATO government do so? And what are they doing now? Where are their initiatives for peace? It is over. The Ukraine is gone. Russia has won. Energy and wheat prices have doubled. With inciting a longer fight Europe only increases its own loses.

Not only Germany didn't try to stop the insanity of Ukraine's descent into the quagmire of the neo-Nazism and economic catastrophe. Germany and its long-time leader Merkel were one of the main driving forces behind this catastrophe despite Russia warning Germany (and the rest of Europe) about what was coming since 2014. They didn't listen, now EU is beginning to pay the price. And it is just the start. Bernhard is correct when summarizing:

Together with the economic devastation that U.S. and European sanctions on Russia are causing in their own economies this will end in regime-changes in several European countries. The U.S. is of course again protecting itself from as much as it can at the cost of others.

The desperation on the US part manifested itself in Lindsey Graham calling for assassination of Putin. 

Sen. Lindsey Graham has called for the Julius Caesar-style assassination of Russian President Vladimir Putin. "Is there a Brutus in Russia? Is there a more successful Colonel Stauffenberg in the Russian military?" Graham tweeted on March 4. Graham was referring to Brutus, a historical figure who assassinated Julius Caesar, and Claus von Stauffenberg, an army officer who tried and failed to kill Adolf Hitler.

This is everything one needs to know about American political "elites" because these views are shared by many of them.  Kremlin reacted coolly and pretty proforma:

US Senator Lindsey Graham has been driven crazy by the ongoing tensions between Moscow and the West, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov implied, following calls from the politician for the assassination of Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Not everyone can remain cool-headed these days, some [people] lose their senses,” Peskov told a press conference, commenting on Graham’s statements made on Thursday during an appearance on Fox News. Graham suggested during the show that “somebody in Russia” should kill Putin. Peskov pointed to the “hysterical stirring-up” of anti-Russian sentiment in the US, calling it a “Russophobic meltdown” of sorts. 

This is the right kind of reaction because Graham is a war criminal and coward and his desperation is understandable. Here is how they phrase it in a BS "market lingo".

The number of traders with bullish positions on oil options is growing fast amid soaring international benchmarks.

Translated into normal human language it means that oil and gas continue to rise and that means, as you we all know, not just eradication of EU's manufacturing industries but the push of the US towards "recession". Yes, let's call this thing a "recession", for now. As a result look at the wheat prices' dynamics. 

And you may have guessed it already--Russia is the largest wheat exporter in the world. I will omit here data on strategic resources such as rare-earth metals and fertilizers, of which Russia and Belarus account for almost 40% of world supply and you can draw the picture yourself. Europe, meanwhile, lost more than 160 million people market (Russia and Belarus) and with upcoming addition of another 20-25 millions in Ukraine, we are looking at 180-185 million. This is serious, folks, especially considering the fact that modern Russia is not poor on average and is able to pay. Good job, Europe.  Good luck in your new life, whatever is left of it. Make no mistake, I have no schadenfreude, I do empathize with Europeans, but each nation deserves government it elects. Frau Merkel and Euro "elites" did all they could to bring Europe down. Somebody has to pay and it surely is not Russia. 

 

P.S. Chinese TV broadcasters cancelled the showing of current tour of English Premiere League in China due to showing support for Ukraine by EPL clubs planned for this game day.

Excellent Piece By Phil Giraldi.

Who I respect profoundly despite not always agreeing with him. But here is his piece from Strategic Culture Foundation which is very much worth reading and gets many things right, except one. This is where I disagree with him. 

One has to conclude that the United States has now become the ultimate angry imperial power, lashing out with the only thing that seems to work – its ability to interfere in and control financial markets – to punish nations that do not play by its rules. Given Washington’s diminishing clout worldwide, it is a situation that is unsustainable and which will ultimately only really punish the American people as the United States becomes more isolated and its imperial overreach bankrupts the nation. As America weakens, Russia, Turkey, Iran and all the other countries that have been steamrolled by Washington will likely seek revenge. To avoid that, a dramatic course correction by the US is needed, but, unfortunately, is unlikely to take place. 

Russia will not seek revenge on Americans, absolutely not. Not being vengeful is one of the features of Russians as people. Unless, of course, one seriously takes Anthony Beavor's Solzhenitsyn-scale, in terms of BS, claims of millions of German women raped by the Red Army. This British so called "historian" never heard of a brutal punishment including executions (IIRC, 800 soldier and officers were executed, around 4000 were court martialed for rape and sent to "GULAG") of Red Army personnel who did actually rape German women in 1945, one has to remember, paradoxically, Stalin's famous: Hitlers come and go but Germany and German people remain. Russian people have no beef with Americans (guess who were the largest contingent of tourists at the WC 2018 in Russia), they also do not hate the United States, but Russian nation DOES have issue with what today passes as an American power "elite" which is both dangerous and treasonous primarily to own people. 

But the end of US "power" is near, in fact we are in the initial stages of collapse of the edifice of what became known as Pax Americana. It is only accelerating and, I am sure, there are number of people in the whatever you want to call it--"establishment", Borg, Deep State, etc.--who may begin to fill a slight pinch from the unfolding situation. Somebody has to answer for the rise and support of ISIS, somebody has to answer for war crimes against too many nations to be listed here. After all, people like this:

have to understand that old Soviet/Russian post-Great Patriotic War slogan Nobody Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Forgotten, is not just about those fallen who fought for the motherland, but also about atrocities and those who committed them. Somebody, somewhere always keeps the score and somebody always has to answer. 

As per American state and government themselves--it is American people's task to save them and make them work, because, among those really important things about Russia's attitudes towards the United States one thing remains constant--Russia is keenly interested in the United States as peaceful, stable and prosperous nation. Why so--is a separate huge issue. Can the US become such? Some people think that the nature of current US political and economic systems completely precludes that, and these people may have a point, but at least today I personally still have to give some benefit of a doubt regarding Phil Giraldi's "unlikely" verdict, which automatically implies at least non-zero probability of positive outcome, since some healthy forces in the US do exist. If they lose (and I don't mean DJT) then, yes, the United States will be done not only as a locomotive of global "liberalism" but as a nation. There will be no coming back from the catastrophic implosion of a system. And here is my point: as I stated not for once in the last 4-5 years--Russia is not interested, neither is China, in America's catastrophic collapse, so instead of "revenge", most likely some arrangements are already being made for some sort of a "soft landing". Russia is run by the adults who are extremely well informed and aware of the world outside and they are too busy to be engaged into any kind of revenge on the US--they have a bigger fish to fry. As per this: 

Though Russian President Vladimir Putin has responded with restraint, avoiding a tit-for-tat, he is reported to be angry about the new move by the US government and now believes it to be an unreliable negotiating partner. Considering the friendly recent exchanges between Putin and Trump, the punishment of Russia has to be viewed as something of a surprise, suggesting that the president of the United States may not be in control of his own foreign policy.

I can only reiterate: current American political class is not treaty worthy, or non-agreement-capable, party and that is why this class is already doomed by the history.