Seven minutes from Moscow: “Is it a red line for us or not?

Rick Rozoff

Putin warns of missile threat to Russia as U.S. guided-missile destroyers enter Baltic, Black Seas

In comments that got past editors in the Western news media, President Vladimir Putin in a recent Russian television interview accused the West of abusing what were good relations at the time (1999-2004) to expand NATO up to Russia’s borders. And in doing so, he specified, violated verbal pledges made by American officials to then-Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, adding that the latter is alive and in good health and can confirm what he was told. In a candid assessment of the matter, Putin added:

"I do not want to use harsh words, but they simply spat upon our interests and that’s that.” [Link]

Lengthy excerpts of his comments were published on the English-language site of the government news agency TASS on June 9.

The most significant, and most alarming, aspect of the interview is the Russian president’s warning of Ukraine joining NATO. Contrary to what he acknowledged is a dismissal of that prospect by many experts in Russia and in the West, whom he takes seriously, Putin [is concerned about this], especially in regard to [Ukraine's] membership providing the U.S. and NATO with new missile sites.

Without naming them he mentioned that Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) missile defense (so-called) interceptors in Romania and Poland could strike Moscow in 15 minutes if a warhead was added to them; which, although the West denies its intent to do so, could be easily done. Russia has not been invited to inspect the missiles, for example.


Farcical Ukrainian Parliamentary Elections

Stephen Lendman

So-called Ukrainian democracy is pure fantasy. Tyranny masquerading as rule by the people. Sunday's snap unicameral Verkhovna Rada (parliamentary) elections reflected post-February coup business as usual. Ukraine is a US-installed fascist dictatorship. Its so-called government has no legitimacy whatever.

A previous article discussed whole families contesting for seats. Future deputies were known in advance. They're relatives of currently serving politicians. Including oligarch president Petro Poroshenko's son, Oleksiy. Running for the same Vinnitsa region's seat his father held previously. Assured of winning before voting began. According to Itar-Tass:

"…Ukraine’s political class is built on the foundation of nepotism and cronyism, as all the political forces display the tradition of nominating candidates on the grounds of kinship." "A closely controlled family affair with no legitimacy. Powerful interests control things Ordinary people have no say."

Stop NATO founder/editor Rick Rozoff calls Ukraine "a Nazi-like victory of US/NATO lawlessness." A US-led takeover of formerly sovereign Ukraine. Planned and executed by neocons and Zbigniew Brzezinski acolytes, says Rozoff. The driving force behind US unipolarity and quest for unchallenged global dominance.


Unacceptable Kiev-Sponsored Murder + Kiev Breaks Easter Truce

Stephen Lendman


The gun battle was evidence that Ukraine is not reining in gun-
wielding far right extremists, Russia claimed.
(AFP/Getty Images)

Unacceptable Kiev-Sponsored Murder

Fascist thugs operate this way. Moscow denounced them. Slavyansk Mayor Vladimir Ponomaryov asked Russia to send peacekeepers for protection. More on this below. A companion article [below] said Kiev putschists pledged no Easter weekend Eastern Ukraine attacks.

Straightaway they occurred. Earlier deployed Right Sector neo-Nazis murdered 4 Slavyansk activists. They did so in cold blood. Other gunmen attacked central city residents. Two victims were injured. They remain hospitalized. Expect more Right Sector initiated violence ahead. They bear full responsibility for Maidan killings. Clear evidence proves it. Ousted President Viktor Yanukovych had nothing to do with what happened.

Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet's leaked conversation with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton confirmed it. He visited Kiev. He commented on what he learned. It's polar opposite mainstream propaganda. He explained what's vital to know. Yanukovych was wrongfully blamed, he said.


Washington’s Arrogance, Hubris, and Evil Have Set the Stage for War

Paul Craig Roberts

The stupid Kerry, wallowing in his arrogance, hubris, and evil, has issued direct threats to Russia.
The Russian foreign minister has dismissed Kerry’s threats as “unacceptable.”
The stage is set for war.

In some quarters public awareness is catching up with Stephen Lendman, Michel Chossudovsky, Rick Rozoff, myself and a few others in realizing the grave danger in the crisis that Washington has created in Ukraine.

The puppet politicians who Washington intended to put in charge of Ukraine have lost control to organized and armed neo-nazis, who are attacking Jews, Russians, and intimidating Ukrainian politicians. The government of Crimea, a Russian province that Khrushchev transferred to the Ukraine Soviet Republic in the 1950s, has disavowed the illegitimate government that illegally seized power in Kiev and requested Russian protection. The Ukrainian military forces in Crimea have gone over to Russia. The Russian government has announced that it will also protect the former Russian provinces in eastern Ukraine as well.

As Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn pointed out, it was folly for the Communist Party of the Soviet Union to transfer historic provinces of Russia into Ukraine. At the time it seemed to the Soviet leadership like a good thing to do. Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union and had been ruled by Russia since the 18th century. Adding Russian territory to Ukraine served to water down the nazi elements in western Ukraine that had fought for Hitler during World War 2. Perhaps another factor in the enlargement of Ukraine was the fact of Khrushchev’s Ukrainian heritage.

Regardless, it did not matter until the Soviet Union and then the former Russian empire itself fell apart. Under Washington’s pressure, Ukraine became a separate country retaining the Russian provinces, but Russia retained its Black Sea naval base in Crimea.

Washington tried, but failed, to take Ukraine in 2004 with the Washington-financed “Orange Revolution.” According to Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, since this failure Washington has “invested” $5 billion in Ukraine in order to foment agitation for EU membership for Ukraine. EU membership would open Ukraine to looting by Western bankers and corporations, but Washington’s main goal is to establish US missile bases on Russia’s border with Ukraine and to deprive Russia of its Black Sea naval base and military industries in eastern Ukraine. EU membership for Ukraine means NATO membership.


The Battle for Ukraine

Stephen Lendman

Ukrainian Protests Continue
Orange Revolution 2.0?

Ukraine matters. It's strategically located. It's in Europe's geographic center. It borders seven countries. In alphabetical order, they include Belarus, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Russia. After Western/Central Russia, it's Europe's largest country territorially. It's resource rich.

Zbigniew Brzezinski once said "without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be an empire, but with Ukraine suborned and then subordinated, Russia automatically becomes an empire." Recently he said if Russia ever reunites with Ukraine, it'll be a Eurasian powerhouse. If Ukraine allies with Western Europe, Moscow will be significantly weakened geopolitically.

The battle for Ukraine continues. Its future is up for grabs. A previous article said street protests are manipulated. Washington's dirty hands are involved. Young militants were recruited. They're street thugs. They're up to no good. They're paid to protest. Radical nationalists joined them. Ukraine's future is at stake.

On Tuesday, mixed reports surfaced. President Viktor Yanukovych was quoted saying: "We cannot talk about the future without talking about restoring trade relations with Russia." He stressed a "future treaty on strategic partnership." — Does he or does he not mean a Customs Union? Agreeing to one rules out an EU alliance. It's one or the other, not both. At the same time, he repeated what he said earlier. He favors European integration.


What's Ahead for Syria?

Stephen Lendman


Rubble fills Sharia al-Sweiqa, inside the Old City of Aleppo, Syria.

Syria's being systematically destroyed. Washington planned doing so years ago. Sovereign independence isn't tolerated. It's longstanding US policy. Numerous states learned the hard way. Syria is America's latest victim. It's falsely blamed for Washington's war. The pattern by now is familiar. Ravaging the world one country at a time or in multiples is policy. Terrorism is what they do, not us. Reasons for imperial wars are suppressed. Wealth, power, privileged and unchallenged dominance alone matter. Sacrificing human lives and freedoms are small prices to pay.

Regime change is prioritized. False pretexts facilitate intervention. Media propaganda glorifies war. It's done in the name of peace. Propaganda wars precede hot ones. Managed news misinformation enlists public support. Mind manipulation convinces people to back what demands condemnation. Lawless aggression is called humanitarian intervention. Plunder is called economic development. Occupation, exploitation and imperial control are called democracy. Might justifies right. Nations are destroyed for their own good. Humanity's increasingly threatened. Where things end who knows.


Washington OK's Israeli Aggression on Syria

Stephen Lendman

It shouldn't surprise. Washington and Israel are longstanding imperial partners. Significant regional operations are jointly planned. It's done well in advance. It's for strategic advantage. Operations are part of a greater regional agenda.

On February 1, TIME magazine headlined "The Fallout from the Air Raid on Syria: Why Israel is Concerned," saying:

"Israeli warplanes struck several targets inside Syria overnight Tuesday, including a biological weapons research center that was reportedly flattened out of concern that it might fall into the hands of Islamist extremists fighting to topple the government of Syrian president Bashar Assad, Western intelligence officials tell TIME." "(O)nly two airstrikes" were publicly reported.

One alleged Israeli warplanes targeted a weapons and munitions convoy heading for Lebanon. Previous articles discussed what happened. They asked why would Assad send vitally needed weapons and munitions to Lebanon? He needs all he can get. If reports were accurate, evidence would have corroborated them. None was forthcoming. What's Israel up to? Is something else going on? Is it trying to provoke Syria to retaliate? Does it want to entrap it in all-out war?

Doing so would mean Syria's demise. Attacking Iran might follow. So could regional and global war potentially.


A brief history of Superpowers

William Blum


The "Big Three" at the Yalta Conference: Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin

From the Congress of Vienna of 1815 to the Congress of Berlin in 1878 to the "Allies" invasion of Russia in 1918 to the formation of what became the European Union in the 1950s, the great powers of Europe and the world have gotten together in grand meeting halls and on the field of battle to set the ground rules for imperialist exploitation of Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Australasia, to Christianize and 'civilize', to remake the maps, and to suppress revolutions and other threats to great-power hegemony. They have been deadly serious. In 1918, for example, some 13 nations, including France, Great Britain, Rumania, Italy, Serbia, Greece, Japan, and the United States, combined in a military invasion of Russia to "strangle at its birth" the nascent Bolshevik state, as Winston Churchill so charmingly put it.

And following World War 2, without any concern about who had fought and died to win that war, the Western powers, sans the Soviet Union, moved to create the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. NATO, along with the European Union, then joined the United States in carrying out the Cold War and preventing the Communists and their allies from coming to power legally through elections in France and Italy. That partnership continued after the formal end of the Cold War. The United States, the European Union, and NATO are each superpowers, with extensive military, as well as foreign policy integration — almost all EU members are also members of NATO; almost all NATO members in Europe are in the EU; almost all NATO members have had a military contingent serving under NATO and/or the US in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans and elsewhere.


Full-Scale War in Syria

Stephen Lendman

Washington has no business being involved in Syria

Former Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov calls it "full-scale civil war." It's full-scale but not civil. Syria's been invaded. Civil war implies two internal warring sides. That's very much not the case. Primakov said, "Mercenaries and volunteers from other states are fighting (Assad) jointly with violent internal forces."

Most Syria opponents are nonviolent. They want peaceful conflict resolution. Washington has other ideas.

"President Obama has given a direct order to the CIA to support the Syrian opposition." "That is flagrant interference in internal affairs of a sovereign state, which does not endanger the United States or anyone else." "Saudi Arabia and Qatar are funding militants. Turkey is giving them active support." [So are other regional countries.] "Russia holds the only correct position," he added. "We have a moral position: we care for life and security of millions of people and for stability of the huge and important region."

Syria is strategically important for Moscow. Tartus is its only Mediterranean base. Protecting it is key. Assad is a valued regional ally. It's in Russia's interest to support him. Moscow backed Annan's peace plan dependent on keeping him in power and having Syrian sovereignty be respected. Its strategy also lets other global allies know it's committed to back them if needed. Some have their own internal problems and need reassurance.


Libya: NATO Acquires Military Outpost In Third Continent

Rick Rozoff

Interview conducted by John Robles on August 27 with Rick Rozoff, the manager of the Stop NATO website and a contributing writer to the Center for Global Research and Voltaire Network.

Libya may be yet another country for NATO to take root in, suspects Rick Rozoff, who sees the repetition of an all-too-familiar modus operandi.

First, NATO carpet bombs the whole country from top to bottom, then sets up military bases and finally doesn’t leave. In Kosovo, Camp Bondsteel is still going strong, and there are no signs that military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan will ever be left behind, despite persistent pledges of troop withdrawal.

Can you shed a little light on the situation in Libya, in particular with NATO?

As you know, I’m in Chicago, not in Tripoli, so I’m observing events from afar. Yet there is an old Roman expression which says the game is best viewed by the spectator. So, what I have to say I think is trying to situate developments in Libya, whatever they are on the ground, within both a regional and an international context.

And, within that framework, we know that the African Union has refused recognition to the so-called Transitional National Council, consisting of what by all accounts is a fairly motley, heterogeneous grouping of anti-government forces in Libya, aided and abetted by major NATO powers like France, Britain, the U.S. and Italy and by Persian Gulf monarchies like Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

So, the fact that the African continent, on which Libya is located, has collectively refused recognition to the new rebel regime is significant, as is the fact that the Russian Foreign Ministry has voiced its concerns and its opposition to any plans that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization may entertain for placing troops on the ground in Libya, ostensibly under the guise of a peacekeeping or stabilization force, but also more prominently voiced some concerns about the prospect of NATO military facilities being authorized by the forces opposed to Gaddafi.


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