Caitlin Johnstone

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Perhaps The US Should Shut The Fuck Up About Respecting Other Countries’ Sovereignty

Listen to a reading of this article: ❖ So Putin has finally made a move, issuing a decree formally recognizing the sovereignty of the separatist-held Donbas territories in eastern Ukraine known as the DPR and LPR. Russian troops are being deployed to the region in what Putin describes as a “peacekeeping” mission amid a dramatic spike…

Caitlin Johnstone
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Listen to a reading of this article:

❖

So Putin has finally made a move, issuing a decree formally recognizing the sovereignty of the separatist-held Donbas territories in eastern Ukraine known as the DPR and LPR. Russian troops are being deployed to the region in what Putin describes as a “peacekeeping” mission amid a dramatic spike in ceasefire violations.

“The recognition of the DPR and LPR means Russia’s withdrawal from the Minsk agreements, which were signed in 2014 and 2015 to establish the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine,” writes Antiwar’s Dave Decamp. “Under the Minsk agreements, Ukraine agreed to cede some autonomy to the DPR and LPR. Russia has grown increasingly frustrated over the fact that Kyiv hasn’t fulfilled its end of the agreement.”

Needless to say, the US empire has not been happy about this move. President Biden has already imposed strict sanctions on the DPR and LPR, saying Moscow’s recognition of their independence “threatens the peace, stability, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and thereby constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.”

“Tomorrow we will be announcing new sanctions on Russia in response to their breach of international law and attack on Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” White House spokesperson Jen Psaki added.

“This decision represents a complete rejection of Russia’s commitments under the Minsk agreements, directly contradicts Russia’s claimed commitment to diplomacy, and is a clear attack on Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” adds Secretary of State Tony Blinken.

Other member states of the empire were equally upset about this unforgivable violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty.

“Canada strongly condemns Russia’s recognition of so-called ‘independent states’ in Ukraine,” tweeted Justin Trudeau. “This is a blatant violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and international law. Canada stands strong in its support for Ukraine – and we will impose economic sanctions for these actions.”

“Tomorrow we will be announcing new sanctions on Russia in response to their breach of international law and attack on Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” tweeted UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.

“This further undermines Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, erodes efforts towards a resolution of the conflict, and violates the Minsk Agreements, to which Russia is a party,” says NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

There are all kinds of criticisms that one can level against this move by Moscow, if one feels that the entire western political/media class screaming all of these criticisms in unison does not have enough amplification. For myself, I would just like to point out that the US-centralized empire is the very last institution on this planet who has any business babbling about the “sovereignty” of other nations. Absolute dead last.

I say this not out of any kind of fondness for Putin or support for his decisions, but because the absolute worst violator of national sovereignty in the entire world by a truly gargantuan margin complaining about violations of national sovereignty is bat shit insane.

Pointing out things the US empire has done while it shrieks about the actions of a foreign government will get you accused of “whataboutism”, but it’s not a whataboutism. It’s pointing out that the US is the absolute least qualified government on earth to comment on the issue at hand, so it should shut the whole entire fuck up about it. If the US wants to legitimately complain about the transgressions of unaligned governments, then it must cease being the worst transgressor.

Some might say, “Two wrongs don’t make a right.” Okay. But inflicting ten thousand wrongs definitely means you should shut the fuck up about anyone doing one wrong.

This would after all be the same empire that has is currently circling the planet with hundreds of military bases and waging wars which have killed millions and displaced tens of millions just since the turn of this century. Its sanctions and blockades are starving people to death en masse every single day. It works to destroy any nation which disobeys its dictates by toppling their governments via CIA coups, proxy armies, partial and full-scale invasions, and the most egregious number of election interferences in the entire world, while threatening the entire species with nuclear brinkmanship on multiple fronts.

What the US and its proxies are doing in Yemen alone is orders of magnitude worse than anything Russia is doing to Ukraine. Or what the US is doing in Afghanistan. Or in Venezuela. Or in Syria. Hell, the Biden administration has already done worse than what Putin just did in recognizing Israel’s outright annexation of the Golan Heights.

To say nothing of the fact that the US thought so little of Ukrainian sovereignty in 2014 that it was perfectly comfortable staging a coup there with the support of actual neo-Nazi militias, who the liberal media are still running PR segments for to this day even after years of yelling about Donald Trump’s intimacy with the far right. The US thinks so highly of Ukraine’s sovereignty that it’s willing to ramp up cold war brinkmanship with a nuclear superpower to defend it, but not highly enough to refrain from backing literal Nazis to topple its government.

The US empire criticizing Russia for violating another nation’s sovereignty is like Jeffrey Dahmer criticizing someone else’s eating habits.

After watching the insane, erratic, dishonest way the western power alliance has been navigating the Ukraine crisis, it is clear to anyone with open eyes that this is the very last institution we should want negotiating a power struggle that could quite literally end our world. We can only hope that the empire’s demise arrives before it manages to get us all killed.

_______________________________

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75 responses to “Perhaps The US Should Shut The Fuck Up About Respecting Other Countries’ Sovereignty”

  1. brian Avatar
    brian

    …..oceania is complaining about sovereignty…..threatening more war….eurasia defends it’s sovereignty…..threatening more war…..east asia will welcome a eurasian alliance….quashing anymore threats of war…..they both, respectfully, have the financial resources and material resources to not wage war….but to provide wages in development of economies throughout the world……

  2. Steffan Avatar
    Steffan

    Not a single word is wrong in the “to the point” article.

  3. Pascal Avatar
    Pascal

    I love your title! In an ideal world, it would have an outstanding chance in a “title of the year” contest!
    In a totally unrelated matter but talking about “whataboutism” and “respecting other countries’ sovereignty”, what about that American woman who killed a young motorcyclist in England a couple of years ago because she was driving on the wrong side of the road and was promptly repatriated by the US government which has since refused to extradite her to face trial?
    I’m far from being an expert in American law but this looks to me like manslaughter, for which people usually do time…
    This murderess (or do you say manslaughteress?) was married to an American diplomat and so she claimed diplomatic immunity.
    Don’t laugh! This is serious! She actually claimed that! Is this the “new world order” George H. W. Bush promised us in 1991 where the “rule of law” would replace [sneer] “the law of the jungle”?
    Ah but apparently she herself was a former CIA spy! So she had a license to kill, like James Bond with the MI6… However isn’t that license more specifically granted to kill foreign enemies of the government rather than motorcycling teenagers on allied countries’ roads?
    In any case, you’d think this license would be revoked as you leave the service.
    Then again, as we said, she claimed her husband’s diplomatic immunity which, apparently, allows his wife to kill anybody. Lucky she didn’t kill old Lizzy!
    How would that have played out I wonder… Because there’s a good chance she was drunk… Not Lizzy… The US critter… When you train to become a spy, you are taught to be extra careful with everything you do because your life depends on it – if what we see in movies is anything to go by. Driving on the right side of the road is likely part of that training and it can be assumed that you are provided with a list of the countries where people drive on the other side of the road, given there aren’t that many. As an ex-spook, you’d bear that in mind. Even, I dare say, as a diplomat’s wife. Except of course if you were sloshed… Yes, that does happen to diplomats’ wives and ex-spooks too! But it’s hardly an excuse for killing people!
    Of course, the USG might also have feared that if they extradited her, the MI6 would waterboard her to try and learn CIA secrets that Julian Assange had declined to divulge. We’ll never know… What’s for sure though is that this attitude doesn’t exactly qualify for what the USG calls “respecting other countries’ sovereignty”, in this case their right to bring to justice someone who’s killed one of their citizens on their territory, would it be only to help the grieving parents get over their trauma, does it? Had Russia done anything like that, it would have made the headlines for centuries! I’d be curious to hear Blinken’s thoughts on that one…

  4. Guy from US Avatar
    Guy from US

    I don’t understand why you seem to assume that what Russia has done here is “wrong” in the first place.

    After trying desperately to resolve the issues in Ukraine, caused by the US’s overthrow of the government and the arming of neo-Nazis, who refused to implement the Minsk agreements that they agreed to 8 years ago, then threatening to get nuclear weapons, and the endless butchering the people in the separatists areas, and having cut them off from all food/energy supplies, and on and on, you think it was wrong of Russia to finally do something about it? And so far, all without any bloodshed on their part.

    Love you columns, just wondering why you see this as also something to condemn.

    1. Pascal Avatar
      Pascal

      IMHO, she doesn’t. She just doesn’t want to battle on that hill because she’s got bigger fish to fry.

  5. Keith Hayes (K-Dog) Avatar
    Keith Hayes (K-Dog)

    Who expects a leopard to change its spots?
    –
    They took the whole Cherokee nation
    put us on this reservation
    –
    took away our way of life
    –
    Tomahawk and bow and knife
    Took away our native tongue
    –
    taught their English to our young
    –
    and all the beads we made by hand
    are nowadays made by Uyghurs in China

    1. Steve O’ Avatar
      Steve O’

      You got CIB?

    2. Inna Avatar
      Inna

      My stomach turns every time I hear even a short story from the time when Western Europeans colonized your lands that they now call America.
      It is really tragic, and I am sorry that it was done to your people.
      Unfortunately, they did it to other people before and after you, and apparently have plans to continue.

      1. Steve O’ Avatar
        Steve O’

        Hold your praise. I suspect it’s Chief Wannabe of the Hokum People. Who’s on the Dawes Rolls for ya, KD?

    3. Steve O' Avatar
      Steve O’

      One indignity the Cherokee faced was when the North won the American Civil War and liberated all of the black slaves held by the Cherokee.
      As recently as 1983, the Cherokee nation expelled “Freedmen” of Black-Cherokee ancestry, an action endorsed by the Cherokee Supreme Court of the tribe. However, Federal judges ruled that the constitution does not negate the Freedmen’s treaty rights granted to their forebears at the end of the Civil War. In other words, Cherokee Freedmen are Cherokee.
      So after took away our way of life, add and stole our slaves.
      We are truly all one people the world around. That’s proven – every human people can be sons-of-bitches, given the opportunity and power.
      See Slavery in Indian Country: The Changing Face of Captivity in Early America Even membership in the Bilagáana Tribe doesn’t absolve you.

    4. Steve O’ Avatar
      Steve O’

      You wanna help, support the settlement of the TTF. Saint Elouise Cobell (Yellow Bird Woman) sued the USA and got the IITF settled for $3.4 billion (probably 10% of what it should have been.) Don’t weep for Native Americans. Settle the TTF!!!

  6. John Day Avatar
    John Day

    Glenn Greenwald: The Neoliberal War on Dissent in the West
    ​ ​When it comes to distant and adversarial countries, we are taught to recognize tyranny through the use of telltale tactics of repression. Dissent from orthodoxies is censored. Protests against the state are outlawed. Dissenters are harshly punished with no due process. Long prison terms are doled out for political transgressions rather than crimes of violence. Journalists are treated as criminals and spies. Opposition to the policies of political leaders are recast as crimes against the state.
    ​ ​When a government that is adverse to the West engages in such conduct, it is not just easy but obligatory to malign it as despotic. Thus can one find, on a virtually daily basis, articles in the Western press citing the government’s use of those tactics in Russia, China, Iran, Venezuela and whatever other countries the West has an interest in disparaging (articles about identical tactics from regimes supported by the West — from Riyadh to Cairo — are much rarer). That the use of these repressive tactics render these countries and their populations subject to autocratic regimes is considered undebatable.
    ​ ​But when these weapons are wielded by Western governments, the precise opposite framework is imposed: describing them as despotic is no longer obligatory but virtually prohibited. That tyranny exists only in Western adversaries but never in the West itself is treated as a permanent axiom of international affairs, as if Western democracies are divinely shielded from the temptations of genuine repression. Indeed, to suggest that a Western democracy has descended to the same level of authoritarian repression as the West’s official enemies is to assert a proposition deemed intrinsically absurd or even vaguely treasonous.
    https://greenwald.substack.com/p/the-neoliberal-war-on-dissent-in?

    ​This was a divided Parliament. Some spoke with conviction of the rights being abolished by decree.
    ​ ​OTTAWA, Feb 21 (Reuters) – Canada’s parliament on Monday backed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to invoke rarely-used emergency powers to end pandemic-related protests that have blocked streets in the capital Ottawa for more than three weeks.
    ​ ​The Emergencies Act was approved in parliament by 185 to 151, with the minority Liberal government getting support from left-leaning New Democrats.
    The special measures, announced by Trudeau a week ago, have been deemed unnecessary and an abuse of power by some opposition politicians.
    https://www.reuters.com/world/canadas-trudeau-calls-national-healing-after-truckers-blockade-over-covid-curbs-2022-02-21/

  7. John Day Avatar
    John Day

    Russia recognized the Donetsk and Luhansk Republics yesterday, after being asked to do so for 8 years. (It is not perfectly clear what borders are recognized, which likely include areas currently held militarily by the Ukrainian army.) Right now, Russia will enforce a cease-fire in the areas.
    What next? NATO/Ukraine/EU moves… https://www.johndayblog.com/2022/02/two-new-countries.html

    The Saker had this:
    ​ ​The first thing which I want to point out is that this was a very carefully orchestrated event, and I don’t just mean today’s live meetings and signing. For those of us who follow Russian politics very closely there can be no doubts that all this was prepared long BEFORE the Russian ultimatum to the West.
    ​ ​This is “the plan” which Putin once openly referred to.
    ​ ​Let me make this clear: this recognition should NOT, repeat, NOT, be seen in isolation. It is just ONE PHASE in a PROCESS which began at least a year ago, or more, and there is much more to come.
    ​ ​Next, that must be repeated again, this is NOT about the LDNR, the Donbass or even the Ukraine, this is about a new security architecture on Europe and, therefore, on our entire planet.
    ​ ​This means that Russia expected exactly the reaction she eventually got (western politicians are fantastically predictable, being both ignorant, stupid and arrogant) and that gave her a legal basis to take the current action (call it R2P, or moral duty, or genocide prevention or whatever else you wish).​..
    ​.​..Let it be clearly told: whatever sanctions the West now agrees upon will be what they would have done in any case.​..
    …I want to mention four specific threats made by Putin today​…​
    Those responsible for the massacre in Odessa will be punished by Russia.
    Putin is demanding an immediate cessation of the shelling and shooting along the LOC.
    Russia will physically prevent the Ukraine from US/NATO deploying offensive weapons to threaten Russia.
    Russia will show Banderastan how to organize a *real* “decommunization” (after indicating that the Ukraine was created by the CPSU).
    http://thesaker.is/russia-recognition-of-the-ldnr-a-few-initial-thoughts/

    ​Moon of Alabama has more insights/updates and perspective:
    The German chancellor Olaf Scholz has halted the certification of the Nordstream II pipeline that is supposed to bring natural gas from Russia to Germany. That means higher energy prices for Germany and higher inflation… It is political harakiri and will therefore most likely be reversed.
    I find it likely that the sudden increase of artillery explosions from 80 per day to over 1,200 per day over the last week had an effect on the timing of Putin’s decision.
    https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/02/some-bits-on-ukraine.html#more

    1. BB Benderhaus Avatar
      BB Benderhaus

      However slowly over the next 10 years Europe will begin migrating away from the US towards Russia. It will begin with Germany.

    2. Douglas Wayne Avatar
      Douglas Wayne

      Olaf Scholz’s lap-dog bravery is rather amusing when you think about. He said NS2 is “paused”. Ouch! So how much gas is currently flowing thru the pipeline? What? None? It still hasn’t been certified? I’ll bet Scholz’s courageous stand against Russian aggression is causing considerable mirth in Russia. Cue up Sergeant Schultz from Hogan’s Heroes.

  8. liz Avatar
    liz

    This is just one example of what has happened to the judiciary in the US, theirs no legal way to confront crime in America. There are many others even worse.
    https://www.whatreallyhappened.com/?q=content/defending-1st-and-2nd-amendments

    1. BB Benderhaus Avatar
      BB Benderhaus

      When judges ate chosen for their political views and start legislating politically from the bench they become tools of the system instead of defenders of law and order.

  9. Republicofscotland Avatar
    Republicofscotland

    The US created or helped push through the creation of South Sudan which is now a war torn state.

    “South Sudan is immediately recognized by the international community and the United Nations. A status acquired thanks to the help of the United States.”

    https://lejournaldelafrique.com/en/Africa-today/south-sudan-how-the-united-states-created-a-monster/

    Meanwhile according to this the recognising of the two republics sovereignty is just the beginning.

    http://thesaker.is/russia-recognition-of-the-ldnr-a-few-initial-thoughts/

    Putin said, and I found it very telling, that when Clinton was POTUS, that he asked if Russia could join Nato, and found himself and his country rebuked. Nato continued to move eastwards, and Putin had to say enough is enough.

  10. thorsjackhammer Avatar
    thorsjackhammer

    Selective Hypocrisy, they’re wheeling out that old chestnut yet again. Surprise, surprise, surprise!

  11. edward kramer Avatar
    edward kramer

    Its all about control of electricity for the EU. The Anglo bankers charge twice the price for nat gas. which is fuel for electricity. Ukraine was the gathering site of russian nat gas till the Russians built Nordstream 2 directly into Germany which bypassed the Marxist “tariff” system controlled by Davos bankers using US reserve fiat currency as threat. The US reserve currency is under attack and the prestitudes are waging war which isnt working out to good. Note Crackhead H Biden was a 1 million dollar board of director of some Ukraine energy-right as he is qualified as a wise businessman! The whole lot of London/washington/ottowa needs the culling. not patriots who follow Platos credo.

    1. Inna Avatar
      Inna

      Yes they were using russian gas to extract their own profit from it
      Burisma is a cover for a whole bunch of other energy co
      They had money to pay H Biden bcs of reselling cheap russian gas
      I would like to see what they will do with LNG from the US
      Probably the same just pass the extra cost to the consumers
      Thats what the do in the US

    2. Inna Avatar
      Inna

      Curiously, the EU recently passed a law allowing its countries to resell gas, and banning long term gas contracts. It is as if they wanted the energy prices to go up.
      Classic American move, claiming that deregulation will reduce the prices due to competition. While some monopoly takes over the market and ratchets up the prices, and passed completely made up increases to consumers.
      I know because I have been living in this capitalist paradise for tens of years. Consumer prices in US do not go down even during an economic downturn, and actually go up during their almost regular economic crises.

  12. Technocracy is Unsustainable Avatar
    Technocracy is Unsustainable

    Meanwhile, top US foreign policy advisor:

    “The nation-state as a fundamental unit of man’s organized life has ceased to be the principal creative force: International banks and multinational corporations are acting and planning in terms that are far in advance of the political concepts of the nation-state.”

    ~ Zbigniew Brzezinski, Between Two Ages: America’s Role in the Technetronic Era, 1970

    Neoliberalism was created by libertarians, who want to privatize the world. That policy began in full force in the 1980’s.

    “In a libertarian society, there is no commons or public space. There are property lines, not borders. When it comes to real property and physical movement across such real property, there are owners, guests, licensees, business invitees, and trespassers — not legal and illegal immigrants.”
    ~ Jeff Deist, president of the Mises Institute

    Remove government financial power and you remove any return of FDR-style public policy solutions, which is exactly what MMT advocates. Central banks want sole control of public finance.

    1. L8917 Avatar
      L8917

      “Kelton’s MMT is a political and fiscal program, not a macroeconomic theory. It argues deficits don’t matter because money issued by a sovereign government is never constrained (unlike resources, as Kelton admits). Thus governments don’t “pay” for things the way individuals or businesses do, and furthermore, public debt is actually a private benefit to someone.”

      -JeffDiest 16FEB22, TheNewAntieconomics

      https://mises.org/wire/new-antieconomics

      1. Inna Avatar
        Inna

        MMT worked until that same government started giving money to people instead of making people work to pay off govt incurred debt
        Thats why we have high inflation now

        1. Douglas Wayne Avatar
          Douglas Wayne

          Yes MMT was working just fine until some “stimulus” trickled down the the unwashed proletariat. New rule: “MMT for me; austerity for thee”.

    2. Douglas Wayne Avatar
      Douglas Wayne

      The nation-state is sacred for me but not for thee.

  13. John V. Doe Avatar
    John V. Doe

    About double standard, I think of one (1) word : “Kosovo”

  14. Jack Oliver Avatar
    Jack Oliver

    Donbas is extremely fertile and China will develop it into an ORGANIC food Mecca !

    China will buy everything the Donbas produces !

    Russia has already overtaken the US as the largest agriculture market in the world and it is ALL organic !

    I mean – where would humanities future be without RUSSIA !

    Thank you
    https://sputniknews.com/20160207/russia-overtakes-america-position-world-agricultural-market-1034379322.htmlVlad !!

  15. Jack Oliver Avatar
    Jack Oliver

    Ukraine has joined the BRI and so has Poland !

    ZIO/US just threatens them with economic Armageddon if they don’t bow to their wishes !

    If they REALLY wanted to be ZIO/US ‘ vassals ‘ they would NOT have joined the BRI – now would they ???

  16. Helen B Avatar
    Helen B

    Of course Russia will send peacekeepers into the Donbass and Lugansk to protect their brothers, many of whom are Russian citizens.
    The amount of weaponry that has been shipped to Ukraine by the US/EU cabal in order to kill the civillians living in these two breakaway republics has been appalling.
    Zelensky won his presidency by promising to relate more closely to Russia. He didn’t.
    This is the right decision by Russia. It could not go on, and was escalating, encouraged by the craven curs in the West.

    1. Dianne Foster Avatar
      Dianne Foster

      Exactly.

    2. Anarcissie Avatar
      Anarcissie

      It looks like standard-issue Realpolitik to me; all the moralization has been long since superfluous. The difference between what is happening now and the recent past is that the Russian leadership is now shifting from (chess metaphor) playing white instead of black. The former routine was: US makes a move; Russia counters it minimally, to return things approximately to their former state or its equivalent; repeat. Recognizing Luhansk and Donetsk commits Russia to forward movement. Russia has advantages: supportive population and proximity in nearby territory. Russia can certainly supply their friends with ample weaponry. US will now have to support their bluff with real resources. My guess is that Putin and Co. will prove to have something further up their sleeves. Provoking Russia was probably an extremely stupid move on the part of the US since they gained no strategic advantage by doing so. It was also stupid in the larger, ‘moral’ sense, but as one of the Good Books says, “Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him.” We seem to be stuck with fools.

      1. Roger Nowosielski Avatar
        Roger Nowosielski

        I plan to write a comprehensive article about this crisis. Meanwhile, I’m collecting documentation.

  17. Klaus von Berlin Avatar
    Klaus von Berlin

    Remember those famous words ” Ask not what your country can do for you ; ask what you can do for your country” They are the words of totalitarianism pure.—Kennedy -spoke those words.Neither capitalist nor communists should be tolerated .Period.All the leaders should be put into reeducation camps until they reach a better understanding of each other.

    1. Helen B Avatar
      Helen B

      They’re the words of a man encouraging patriotism and service. I can’t see where it indicated totalitarianism at all. Off to the re-education camp with you.

      1. Klaus von Berlin Avatar
        Klaus von Berlin

        Nazis follow the same mantra Helen for the glory of the king or now the oligarch .The purpose of education is not a job the purpose of education is human freedom.You not a tool for the rulers.

      2. Eddy Avatar
        Eddy

        There’s no such thing as patriotism or service, that’s crap the politicians and corporate entities hold over us to do their bidding. When exactly was the last time you ever saw one of these people actually practicing what they preach to us ?

        1. Helen B Avatar
          Helen B

          Well, Kennedy died for his altruism.
          He wanted to take on the CIA, they took him out.
          The lesson has not been lost on most politicians.
          Oppose the DS at your peril.

  18. mijj Avatar
    mijj

    whataboutism is perfectly valid.

    Eg.
    Assertion: All swans are white.
    Whataboutism: What about black swans?

    whataboutism is sneered at because it invalidates an invalid argument beloved by the sneerer.

    1. Helen B Avatar
      Helen B

      That’s not whataboutism.

      1. Helen B Avatar
        Helen B

        Whataboutism:
        You shouldn’t have gone home with that man after the party. You looked like a tart.
        Whatabout when you went home with Fred?

        Is raising a SIMILAR accusation when you have been accused of something.

        1. Johnny Conspiranoid Avatar
          Johnny Conspiranoid

          Raising the question of similar behaviour by the accuser helps us judge the honesty of the accuser, their reliability as wittnesses and their true intentions when it comes to any further action they suggest in response to a situation.

  19. brad Avatar
    brad

    “Needless to say, the US empire has not been happy about this move.”
    I’d bet champagne corks are are endangering hundreds of lobbyists in Washington tonight.

    1. Zukhov Avatar
      Zukhov

      I was in Aleppo when the US-coalition (UK, US, France, Australia, Israel and many others) decided for “fun” to put on test the Russian defense systems protecting the Syrian territory during the hottest warfare time there. Hundreds of tomahawks and others bombs where launched from the Mediterranean Sea and soil. Russia intercepted a lot and they were not using the s-400 there). No one outside Syria understood why the coalition gradually left Syria to Russia. Putin said – “We learned our lesson and we will fix it. everyone will notice it”. Russia and China are not big mouths like US-UK-Israel about that. They just stay quiet and if the necessity to show up what they can do is about, they will use only when strictly necessary. Responsibility. I wonder if US-Uk did pay attention to what Putin said before signing the Donbass annexation.

      1. Helen B Avatar
        Helen B

        No, of course they didn’t.
        The politicians in the US and UK are truly inferior.
        However had they known history, from even such a short time ago, they would have realised that Putin was doing just what NATO did in Yugoslavia, slaughtering hundreds of thousands in the process. Putin, however, doesn’t want to kill the citizens, he wants to clean up the sewer that is Ukraine.

  20. Thomas Golden, Ph.D. Avatar
    Thomas Golden, Ph.D.

    excellent commentary. Our morality and ethics have long gone south. An aside, and not related to the Ukraine disaster. Last evening CNN boasted to give voice to Black speech makers over decades. Once again, the media intentionally discounts a significant voice, and offers sincere but traditional voices of Black Americans. Malcom X was not referenced at all. Why? Because he offered no apology – no need for a helping hand – no need for good natured CARE packaging. He knew that power lay in economic health, and he stood tall. My regards, tom

  21. liz Avatar
    liz

    “Maybe they should shut the f***up” maybe, but that type never does. In fact there are many websites on the internet apparently geared toward sociopaths to teach them how to become psychopaths. No doubt evil can be more powerful than good.

  22. WillD Avatar
    WillD

    How many Western countries have never violated another country’s sovereignty? Very few. The USA is the worst offender in recent times, doing it at the drop of a hat for the flimsiest of reasons, often artificially created to justify invasion.

    Biden: “……threatens the peace, stability, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and thereby constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.”

    This illogical statement by Biden shows how the USA twists everything to be about it. It’s the behaviour of a narcistic personality, and in this case one with a very fragile ego that threatens to burst and splatter egg all over its face.
    How exactly does it threaten the USA, Mr Biden – please explain, if you can?

    1. brad Avatar
      brad

      They can’t tell you because it would give away their sources and methods of writing fairy tales.

  23. Inna Avatar
    Inna

    Some of the things that were published on gazeta.ru, is that Putin said that between 1991 and 2013 Ukraine received $250 bln aid from Moscow.
    He also said that all the political changes that took place in Ukraine since 1991 were aimed at keeping the money stolen from the Ukrainian people and hidden in the offshore accounts.
    Looks like Ukraine got their own “elite” (my condolences).

    1. brad Avatar
      brad

      I think even my HOA has its own “elite”. They’re more ubiquitous than Omicron.

  24. liz Avatar
    liz

    The people who ran Nazi Germany are the same people who run the US now; their descents, 1st and 2nd generation, no doubt a lot of them in Canada and Australia as well. And, many in the Middle East as well.

    1. James Avatar
      James

      Yikes, how has nobody made this connection before? Please list the names of Nazis or their descendants and their positions in the US government. I’m just guessing you can’t do that.

      1. Allan Howard Avatar
        Allan Howard

        James, perhaps you should read the following:

        https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/10/16/the-u-s-did-not-defeat-fascism-in-wwii-it-discretely-internationalized-it/

    2. Helen B Avatar
      Helen B

      Wrong. The folk who are running the US now are the ones that Nazi Germany wanted out. They’re the same ones who took over Russia in 1917 and slaughtered 60m Russians.

      1. Douglas Wayne Avatar
        Douglas Wayne

        Are you referring to the Ashke-Nazis, the Neocons who run both parties, regime media, and the Judiciary?

        1. Helen B Avatar
          Helen B

          Yes.

  25. John Knox Avatar
    John Knox

    The empire didn’t care about Ukraine’s sovereignty when they put a bunch of fascists in charge of that poor country.

  26. Frederick Avatar
    Frederick

    Putin’s move hopefully heads off serious military action at the pass.
    Another colossal blunder…while putting the whole world in danger of a nuclear holocaust.
    The Europeans are sure to resent American’s heavy-handedness.
    Brinkmanship has been part of US foreign policy since the fifties. Lavrov and Putin have practiced real diplomacy to stymie US sowing war and strife.
    If there is any karma, things will not end well for the USA.

  27. Zukhov Avatar
    Zukhov

    Hey, the US-UK empire order was officially challenged. The world changed in 02/21/2022. It will not be the same anymore. History is happening at fast pace.

    1. BB Benderhaus Avatar
      BB Benderhaus

      The US will do what it always does against a true advesary….nothing.

      1. WillD Avatar
        WillD

        No, it postures, shouts, stamps its foot, throws tantrums, sulks, whimpers, cries, and complains. Bluff and bluster. Hot air. Nothing else.

      2. Zukhov Avatar
        Zukhov

        Better don’t do nothing at all.
        Look what Kamala Harris said in Munich: “”I mean, listen guys, we are talking about the potential for war in Europe,” Harris said. “I mean, let’s really take a moment to understand the significance of what we’re talking about.”
        Is she for real? After promising unconditional support to Ukraine and EU in case of war she just said that without knowing what it really means such statement in the verge of a war scenario in Europe where Russia is ready and they are not. “I mean, you know”

  28. L8917 Avatar
    L8917

    If uncleG&theProfligateSpenders [their new album sounds SO much like the others, IMO] couldn’t prop up sales with the trite lyrics, simplistic melodies, terrible harmonies and downright shitty performances, no one would go to the shows, wear the t-shirts and buy the bumper stickers. The music reminds me of a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman-the product sucks so poorly it’s not worth trying, it’s too outdated to be useful but not old enough to be quaint, and the witless mouth-breather humping it around inspires sadness.

    1 star out of 5.

    1. L8917 Avatar
      L8917

      Also, the captive audience member in the picture is wearing what’s commonly known as a ‘date-rape dress’ which seems to be common at all their shows.

      1. Helen B Avatar
        Helen B

        What are you talking about? Sounds clever, but I’m lost.

        1. L8917 Avatar
          L8917

          You’re not alone in your conclusion, although I lean toward solitude myself.

  29. Hass Avatar
    Hass

    “The recognition of the DPR and LPR means Russia’s withdrawal from the Minsk agreements, which were signed in 2014 and 2015 to establish the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine.”

    That there is an out right lie, Russia has nothing to do with the “Minsk Agreement”, it was signed by The Ukraine, a promise they made to abide by the Agreement that the EU and Russia wanted The Ukraine to implement. Which of course they’ve been dodging since they signed, thanks to the US.

    1. Frederick Avatar
      Frederick

      You are correct. But to call it a ‘lie’?
      I noticed the mistake as well but I ascribed it to listening the media which has made this mistake over and over again. I can forgive such mistakes.
      Still, it is significant that Russia was not party to the Minsk agreement yet they had insisted it be abided by. It was Ukraine puppet regimes that wouldn’t abide by the treaty.

      1. Helen B Avatar
        Helen B

        It is a lie because it indicates that Russia has broken an agreement, which they have not done.
        Western media has continually called Russia a party to the Minsk Agreement, indicating their complete lack of understanding, or their outright dishonesty.

        1. Eddy Avatar
          Eddy

          There’s a very valid reason, Putin has refused every time, to speak with the Ukrainian leader whenever he asks. He reiterates the fact that Russia is NOT part of the agreement thus has no part to play within it. That’s the responsibility of the signatories within the agreement. Go back a bit and check out the history of the agreement for yourselves.

    2. Douglas Wayne Avatar
      Douglas Wayne

      Surprised by that quote, I was also poised to make a similar comment (with less righteous indignation). It’s from Anti-War, a reputable source and a bit more research shows it’s not really a lie. Russia did sign the Minsk Agreements as part of the Trilateral Contact Group.

      “Representatives of Russia, Ukraine, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the leaders of two pro-Russian separatist regions signed a 13-point agreement in February 2015.”

      https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/what-are-minsk-agreements-ukraine-conflict-2022-02-21/

      “It also has a gaping hole: although signed by Russia’s ambassador to Ukraine, Mikhail Zurabov, the agreement does not mention Russia – an omission that Russia has used to shirk responsibility for implementation and maintain the fiction that it is a disinterested arbiter.”

      https://www.chathamhouse.org/2020/05/minsk-conundrum-western-policy-and-russias-war-eastern-ukraine-0/minsk-2-agreement

      Can’t blame Russia for declaring it dead, however, since US/Ukraine flouted the agreement by continuing to pour weapons into the line of conflict and violated the ceasefire:

      https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/02/ukraine-who-is-firing-at-whom-and-who-is-lying-about-it.html#more

  30. Inna Avatar
    Inna

    The US does not recognize international law, and has replaced it with its own “rule-based order” – I have no idea what that means – probably should ask Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos.
    I apologize for Jen Psaki, she cannot help herself, just keeps babbling.
    Biden was elected precisely because he can be manipulated.
    And Blinken is a career warmonger.
    We should never again listen to what they say, all we have to do is watch a ticker for Raytheon and LMT.
    This is why they did not want a demilitarized zone or Minsk agreement, because they wanted to ship more weapons to Ukraine (and any other place they can destabilize).
    All of this is done in the name of stealing more of American taxpayers’ money for their own sake.
    Since that trick can last only a little longer, they would have to make the whole world their market for weapons, which I guess means World War 3.

  31. Zukhov Avatar
    Zukhov

    It’s not just US-EU-NATO-UK who still don’t understand what Putin just did. The MSM is lost and still not realizing the magnitude of what just happened in Ukraine. They were expecting the opposite. They were not prepared for that. Economic sanctions in Lugansk and Donetsk, really Biden?

    Al Jazeera was the most honest about lecturing US-UK even being one tool working for them.
    “Kyiv, Ukraine – The White House’s increasingly worrying warnings about an imminent Russian invasion in Ukraine are nothing but a political game designed to help Democrats win Senate seats in the autumn.”

    The middle term elections were already lost just with Biden-Fauci covid policies. Now Biden lost all elections. EU and NATO are gone. I refuse to believe they thought they just could win a standoff against Russia using bluffs and MSM narratives. Drago is ready to fight and Rocky is out of shape.

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