I’m jumping off the Trump Train: Assange arrest was last straw. With Assange arrest Trump is exposed as wholly owned subsidiary of the Swamp he ran against-James George Jatras, 4/13/2019

“With Assange’s arrest Trump is now exposed as the wholly owned subsidiary of the Swamp he ran against. He’s now just a wheel fixed to an axle.”…

4/13/2019, “I’m jumping off the Trump Train: Assange was the last straw,” by James George Jatras, Burning Platform Guest Post by James George Jatras

“On March 6, 2016, this Deplorable issued a statement formally endorsing Donald J. Trump for the presidency of the United State.

I now hereby withdraw that endorsement.

No doubt this declaration from your Working Boy will be greeted with the same deafening indifference as my earlier less than earth-shattering announcement of support.

Keep calm. The planet will continue to spin on its axis at a 23.44 degree tilt.

As I tweeted on April 4, [2019] when it appeared that Ecuadorian President Lenín [sic] Moreno was going to cough up Julian Assange:

“If this comes to pass & #JulianAssange is brought to #US in chains like a Gaulish chieftain in a Roman triumph can we definitively declare that any possible #Trump revolution is over & the #DeepState won?”

A quick perusal of social media since Assange’s arrest shows that

many others have reached a similar conclusion.

But why? To be sure, there have been other betrayals.

The two strikes on Syria on phony chemical warfare accusations come immediately to mind.

Or Trump’s failure to build the Mexican wall,

coupled with repeated humiliating defeats in Congress with the predictability of Charlie Brown’s getting suckered by Lucy into trying to kick the football.

At the same time there were excuses. On Syria, maybe the President was fed false intelligence. Or maybe Ivanka was upset: Daaaddyyy, you have to dooo something! Or maybe Trump knew the CW accusations against Damascus were fake

but felt he had to act (an ominous sign in itself)

to deflect charges of being Putin’s puppet,

hence what could be deemed deliberately pinprick pro forma strikes. On the wall, well you can’t trust lawyers’ advice, he just doesn’t understand his legal authority well enough,

or maybe he…

But the Assange arrest and his upcoming renditi– – oops! – extradition to the United States are different.

There’s no nuance. No excuse.

No false intel report. No poor legal advice.

It’s plain and simple. The same entities (Deep State, permanent government, the oligarchy, the Borg, whatever term you like)

that targeted Trump with the phony Russia collusion narrative

want Assange’s scalp nailed to the wall. It’s one thing for favored outlets like the Washington Post and CNN to disseminate

classified information that favors the Deep State,

quite another to reveal information contrary to its interests.

As the premier dispenser of embarrassing secrets that facilitates online dissidence from the established narrative…

an example must be made of Assange pour encourager les autres.

He can count on being sentenced to rotting for decades in a nasty Office Space federal prison (the US will gladly waive the death penalty to spare the Brits’ prissy Euro-consciences)

but may very well die soon enough of natural causes….

An essential role in Assange’s betrayal by [Ecuador’s] was played by Trump’s Veep Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Former President Rafael Correa says

a direct condition of Moreno’s getting a $4.2 billion IMF loan

was Assange’s head on a platter.”…

[Mint Press News: “Less than two weeks ago, on February 21, [2019] Ecuador signed a deal securing the controversial IMF loan for a total of $4.2 billion, in addition to another $6 billion from other U.S.-dominated financial institutions like the World Bank, for a total of $10.2 billion.“…”In the end, the US sway over the IMF meant that Ecuador was required to placate the US to get that money. Ecuador’s recent attempts to stake out a comparatively independent foreign policy, something of which the Assange asylum move was a product, made them a lot of enemies, particularly in the US. As the government now tries to get on the good side of the US, Assange was the main thing the Americans wanted.”…]

(continuing): “That’s a lot more plausible than establishment media reports that Assange was ejected for transgressing the Ecuadorians’ fastidious hygiene standards, which (whether based in fact or not) are just cynical defamations to justify his upcoming lynching.

It’s irrelevant whether Trump-

who theoretically is the boss of all US agency operatives

working with their Brit colleagues to get their mitts on Assange-

let the nab go forward because

he was unwilling to order his minions to stand down

or was powerless to do so.

In that regard, it’s similar to pointlessly asking

why he has the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad national security team he does. Is it because of “Javanka”?

Is it because he’s beholden to a gaggle of oligarchs?

(Supposedly his being a self-financed billionaire

made him immune from such influences.)

Is it a reflection of a personality disorder?

In the end it doesn’t matter why,

all that matters is what is.

With Assange’s arrest Trump is now exposed as the wholly owned

subsidiary of the Swamp he ran against. He’s now just a wheel fixed

to an axle. All he can do now is it spin.

In my 2016 endorsement I asked the questions – only questions, not predictions – of what Trump might hopefully accomplish:

‘Can we trust Trump? Will he build his wall and secure our borders? Renovate our deteriorating infrastructure? Restore our manufacturing base? Audit the Federal Reserve and defenestrate the banksters? Restore the GOP’s long-lost reputation (now hardly remembered by anyone) as the “Peace Party” that got us out of wars the Democrats started? Sign a bill to defund Planned Parenthood, as long as they continue to perform abortions (which they will)? Exclude actual or potential Islamic terrorists? Dump our freeloading so-called “allies”? Cease the PC trashing of every tradition in which Americans once took pride? Reunite a nation sundered by Barack Obama and the GOP mandarins, with their divide et impera Punch and Judy show of class and racial discord?

‘Can Trump really “Make America Great Again”? Or at least slow our decline and give our country another chance?

‘I don’t know. But I do know that none of the more mannerly politicians served up by the oligarchy will.

‘“Trust not in princes…” (Ps. 146:3) Neither Trump nor any other politician should be accepted on blind faith. Who really can say if Trump can win or if he does how he would govern. Who can say what’s really in his mind and heart or if, in God’s eyes, he’s a good man or a bad one. But given the dire warning from the likes of Mitt Romney, I like the odds with Trump better than with any of the available alternatives. When the character of his enemies is considered – particularly Warfare State neoconservatives (some of whom at least have the honesty to defect openly to Hillary) – my willingness to gamble on him only increases.’

Even in retrospect it was then [in 2016] a gamble worth taking, indeed the only responsible choice given the horrifying alternative.

More, given what Trump promised that departed from the usual nonsense served up by the GOP, the fact that Trump got the nomination instead of the NPCs on the shelf was itself perhaps a sign of that the historic

American nation

still had a fighting chance.

As for what we hoped he might deliver to “Make America Great Again,”

we can see now that

the answers to all of the above questions are and will remain

an emphatic No.

Sure, we got a marginally better tax bill passed, something that any Republican White House and Congress would have done. He may have made minor progress on trade. If we are really lucky, he’ll get another Supreme Court pick and Roe v. Wade will be overturned – marvelous to be sure, but it won’t save this country.

Trump has utterly failed to control the border, much less

deal with related issues like

remittances, birthright citizenship, and aliens illegally voting.

As retired Army Colonel Douglas Macgregor observes:

“Surely, Trump should have concluded by now that

without an Executive Order that commits the US Army

to the defense of the southern border and limits cross-border traffic to legitimate commercial activity,

mass illegal immigration will not stop…

In a word, Trump refuses to take command and match rhetoric with action...He will join the pantheon of failed presidents that promised the world only, this time, the American Republic’s existence hangs in the balance.”

Unfortunately, Trump’s appointees–

uniformly neoconservatives,

Bush-era warmongers, and

GOP apparatchiki –

have better things for our military to do

than defending our own country,

to which they are at best

indifferent.

We can be thankful that Trump hasn’t started any new wars, yet, but his underlings’

dogged commitment to regime change in Venezuela and Iran 

may change that. His outreach to North Korea hangs by a thread in the face of blatant attempts to sabotage it.

One hopes that at least some animal-level gut instinct will preclude Trump’s crossing that dark river and ruining what’s left of his presidency as George W. Bush did in Iraq. If his lunatics are reckless enough to stumble us into a war with Russia,

Trump’s reelection will be the least of anyone’s concerns. Even without a war

his remaining time in office

will not be the revival of America that he promised.

Let’s keep in mind that for many decades now transformative Democratic presidents have not left this country the same way they found it: FDR, LBJ, Clinton, Obama. By contrast,

Republican presidents’ tenures have been at best

plateaus along our decline (Eisenhower, Reagan)

or positively contributed (Nixon, the two Bushes)

to the march of what the Left regards as “Progress” toward

their abolition of the historic America and birth of a

dystopian Cultural Marxist dictatorship of victims:

a borderless, multiethnic, multilingual, multireligious, multisexual,

ahistorical, fake country.

Perhaps the saddest thing is that even if he survives in office until the 2020 vote (and he might not) Trump still will almost certainly be

the lesser of two evils,

in the manner to which we have become accustomed.

Despite his no longer representing a threat to the Swamp,

the critters will continue to hate him anyway as an avatar of

the America they seek to destroy:

European ethnicity, Christian (culturally if not spiritually or morally), English-speaking, toxically masculine.

He might even win [in 2020], given the Wall Street and Democratic Socialist Democrats’ ripping each others’ guts out and

the solid 35 to 40 percent of the folks

who think from Trump’s tweets and stump speeches

he’s actually delivering on his promises.

Either way, though, the outcome will be the same.

The man who had 

what is almost certainly to have been

the last peaceful, political chance 

to save what’s left of the American republic will thrash around for a few more years, having become little more than a catalyst for our nation’s demise and perhaps its dissolution.

This is not to say that there is no hope. Maybe tomorrow Trump will pardon Assange. Maybe he’ll decide to militarize the Mexican border.

Maybe he’ll fire his whole national security team and, for good measure,

pull us out of Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq–and NATO.

Maybe Barr really will hold the FISA miscreants to account. Maybe…

…maybe there will be an outpouring of miracles that match the one that occurred when Trump improbably was elected in the first place.

But as is the case with miracles, the odds are not good.”

“Reprinted with permission from Strategic Culture Foundation.”

********************************

Added: In return for extradition of Assange, US provided Ecuador with various bailouts including one from IMF:

3/6/19, “With Ecuador’s Cooperation Bought by IMF Loans, Washington Waxes Optimistic on Assange Extradition,” Whitney Webb, Mint Press News…

“Washington’s IMF leverage”

“For those who would argue that the U.S. could not set such conditions on a loan offered by an “independent” international financial institution, it is worth pointing out that the

U.S. is the IMF’s largest shareholder — owning 17.46 percent of the institution –

and also ponies up the largest quota for the institution’s maintenance, paying

$164 billion in IMF financial commitments annually.

In the past, the U.S. has used its privileged position as the institution’s largest funder to control IMF policy

by threatening to withhold its IMF funding if the institution

does not abide by Washington’s demands.

Furthermore a leaked U.S. Army manual on “Unconventional Warfare” published by WikiLeaks in 2008 noted that the

IMF was considered by the U.S. government to be

a “financial weapon” to be used in “unconventional warfare” scenarios. As MintPress News recently noted, the manual states that the

U.S.’ “persuasive influence” over the IMF can be

used by the U.S. military to create

“financial incentives or disincentives

to persuade adversaries, allies and surrogates to modify their behavior at the theater strategic, operational, and tactical levels,” with such unconventional warfare campaigns highly

coordinated with the State Department and the intelligence community.

It is also worth pointing out that Ecuador has been threatened with the financial might of the United States

for much more minor issues than Assange’s status,

despite its return to Washington’s “good graces” under Moreno’s leadership.

For instance, last July [2018],

the U.S. threatened Ecuador with “punishing trade measures”

if it introduced a measure at the UN

that supported breastfeeding over infant formula —

a stunning move that showed the international community the

U.S.’ willingness to use “economic weapons,” even against allies.

Ecuador, of course, immediately acquiesced under the threat of U.S. retribution.

Less than two weeks ago, on February 21, [2019] Ecuador signed a deal securing the controversial IMF loan

for a total of $4.2 billion, in addition to another $6 billion from

other U.S.-dominated financial institutions like the World Bank,

for a total of $10.2 billion.

If WikiLeaks’ early January [2019] warning is to be believed, it can be assumed that deal was secured by Ecuador offering the U.S. assurances

that it would soon “hand over” Assange.

Moreno, since he signed on the IMF’s dotted line, has wasted no time in putting into practice the “structural adjustments” and other

conditions required by the IMF for Ecuador’s receipt of the loan,

including job cuts.

In just three days, from February 28 to March 1,

Moreno’s government fired nearly 10,000 public officials, according to Ecuadorian media.

This is remarkable considering that the deal has not even been granted final approval by the IMF, demonstrating that Moreno is eager to show his willingness to enact the demands of the loan package.

Public ire over the mass firing has grown steadily in recent days, aggravated by the fact that Moreno was implicated in a major corruption scandal just two days before the IMF agreement was signed.

Furthermore, there are indications that Moreno’s government is

preparing to drop charges against Chevron —

one of the two U.S. government demands made to Ecuador in exchange for the IMF deal, with

the other being Assange’s extradition.

According to a report published on Wednesday by UPI, Moreno’s government is moving forward with

a clean-up of the area that Chevron polluted. As UPI noted:

“After 26 years of legal actions in Ecuador, the United States, Canada and Europe that failed to result in any significant cleanup effort of areas affected by crude oil spills,

Ecuadorian authorities will start to clean up polluted areas to try to stop the damage.””

This is notable because, as UPI writes, “previously, authorities could not interfere with the spills because

the pollution was used as evidence in lawsuits against Chevron.”

Thus, the Moreno-led government’s move to clean up the area that had served as key evidence in past Chevron lawsuits suggests that they are preparing to drop their claims against Chevron.

Ecuador ready to deliver

Moreno’s willingness to quickly enact these requirements of the IMF loan begs the question of how quickly he will seek to enact the alleged U.S. government demands that have also been linked to the loan, namely Assange’s asylum and Ecuadorian citizenship. With both now under review since early January, there is reason to believe that the results of this politically-motivated audit could soon be revealed and are likely to be Washington’s liking.

Further evidence that the U.S. is convinced that Ecuador is set to move

to strip Assange of his legal protections granted by his asylum

and his status as a citizen of Ecuador

has come from the progress made by the sealed U.S. charges against the WikiLeaks founder. The existence of the case, which had long been suspected, was inadvertently yet officially confirmed last November [2018] when a “clerical error” revealed that the

U.S. has criminal charges waiting for Assange

should he be extradited to the United States.

A subsequent lawsuit to unseal those charges was unsuccessful.

Chelsea Manning revealed on February 28 to the New York Times that she has been ordered to appear before a grand jury regarding the U.S. case against Assange.

The subpoena was first issued on January 22 [2019],

just a few weeks after Ecuador announced it was “auditing” Assange’s asylum and citizenship.

Manning had originally been ordered to appear on February 5, but for still unknown reasons the date was postponed to March 5. Manning had announced she would fight the subpoena, but it was upheld by the court despite the efforts of Manning and her legal team.

Manning’s subpoena notably revealed that

the case against Assange is related to WikiLeaks’ publications and

his actions well prior to the 2016 publication of emails

from the Democratic National Committee and former Hillary Clinton campaign chair John Podesta by the transparency group. This was confirmed by U.S. officials who spoke to the Washington Post. Many of the documents published by WikiLeaks during this time, including the information given by Manning to the group, exposed

horrific war crimes that took place under the Bush administration.

“Washington Post confirms: “U.S. officials speaking on the condition of anonymity because of grand jury secrecy say

the case is based on [Assange’s] pre-2016 conduct,

not the [alleged] election hacks that drew the attention of special counsel Robert S. Mueller” https://t.co/ok8QG2ngD2— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) March 5, 2019″

Yet another troubling but often overlooked implication of the Manning subpoena is the fact that its issuance shows that

the Trump administration is actively moving forward in its pursuit of the case,

which was first initiated in 2010 by the Obama administration.

Though the Obama administration eventually shelved the case, which seeks to prosecute Assange under the Espionage Act,

the Trump administration has revived it —

despite Trump’s self-professed “love” for WikiLeaks

during the 2016 campaign.

According to a report published last November [2018] by the Wall Street Journal, the Department of Justice announced that it was “preparing to prosecute” Assange and was

“increasingly optimistic it will be able

to get him into a U.S. courtroom.”

The report also stated that the [Trump] DOJ planned to indict Assange in such a way that it

would trigger his extradition to the United States to stand trial,

following sensitive negotiations with foreign governments, namely Ecuador.

With Ecuador now having signed off on the IMF deal — and with it, demonstrated its willingness to submit to the demands underpinning that deal — the U.S.’ optimism seems to have only grown since last year, a sign that does not bode well for Julian Assange

or for anyone who values the public’s right to know and press freedom in the United States and beyond.”

********************************

Added: Trump quickly beefed up NATO, added Colombia in May 2017: “The 29-nation NATO alliance reached a partnership agreement with Colombia back in May 2017, just after peace was signed with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, an agreement that earned Santos a Nobel Peace Prize.”…Reuters, 3/26/2018

4/11/2019, “Ecuador’s president has invited Venezuela’s self-proclaimed interim president [Guaido] to his country on Thursday to receive a public show of support.”…Image below, 2/5/2020, Trump with Venezuela “interim President” Guaido in Oval Office

4/11/19, “IMF Deal for Ecuador Paved Way for Assange’s Arrest,” Antiwar.com, Jason Ditz

“Embassy ouster was a long-reported condition for pact”

“WikiLeaks has long reported that the $10 billion IMF bailout for Ecuador was closely related to complying with US demands, in particular on revoking the asylum of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. On Thursday, that appeared to come to pass.

………

“Ecuador’s president has invited Venezuela’s self-proclaimed

interim president [Guaido] to his country on Thursday to receive a public show of support.

Following recent days of Ecuador’s leadership saying Assange’s asylum would not last forever,

he was arrested by British police within the London Embassy.

Ecuador has tried to present this as related to continuing WikiLeaks operations, and in particular a January leak of Vatican documents.

Ecuador’s economy has been struggling mightily in recent years, and

the government has bet much

on their ability to secure a bailout.

In the end, the US sway over the IMF meant that

Ecuador was required to placate the US to get that money.

Ecuador’s recent attempts to stake out a comparatively independent foreign policy, something of which the Assange asylum move was a product, made them a lot of enemies, particularly in the US. As the government now tries to get on the good side of the US,

Assange was the main thing the Americans wanted, and Ecuador seems more than willing to try to facilitate that.

While official IMF statements make no specific mentions of Assange, the clear link between the two is likely to continue to loom large,

particularly in any US attempts to secure extradition for Assange

after having bought his expulsion and ultimate arrest by Britain.”

*****************************

Added: During Mr. Jatra’s extensive experience in US government, he learned that US presidents have no power in foreign policy matters:

“In foreign policy and national security,

forget elections:

the permanent bureaucracy rules.“…(paragraph 8)

 

 

...............................

Lucky Italy gets to “host” US nuclear weapons and be on front lines of unprovoked US Fat Cat ordered nuclear annihilation of Russia-Manlio Dinucci

“Speaking at the European Union Council, he [Stoltenberg] declared: According to international law, [US colony of] Ukraine has the right to self-defence. And the right to self-defence also includes striking legitimate military targets inside Russia.”…

6/3/24, “Major War Maneuvers in Europe Under US Command,“ Manlio Dinucci

“Western countries ares turning up the pressure a notch. They have just given Ukraine the green light to use their weapons to attack Russia. In principle, it is the manufacturers who are accountable for the use of their weapons, but they obscure their responsibility by

invoking [US colony of] Ukraine’s right to defend itself.

In addition, they are thinking of allowing Kiev to use long-range missiles while pretending to ignore that they cannot be deployed without their satellite systems. Finally, they are considering authorizing the use of atomic weapons, in violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.”

“President Biden has authorized Ukraine to conduct limited attacks inside Russia with American-made weapons, US officials said. Some US allies have already gone further. Britain weeks ago, allowed Ukraine to use its long-range Storm Shadow missile systems for strikes anywhere in Russia, and France and Germany have recently taken the same stance. The decision announced by President Biden is due in particular to the pressure exerted by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to eliminate restrictions on the use of US weapons by Ukraine. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg was tasked with announcing Washington’s decision to the European Allies. Speaking at the European Union Council, he declared: According to international law, [US colony of] Ukraine has the right to self-defence. And the right to self-defence also includes striking legitimate military targets inside Russia.

At the same time, Poland announced its purchase of long-range missiles from the United States and declared that it was

ready to host NATO nuclear weapons.

Sweden did the same: as soon as it joined NATO, it stated that it was

available to host US nuclear weapons

in the event of war.

France has tested a new air-launched nuclear missile and has allocated 13% of its military budget to upgrading its nuclear weapons. Against which targets in Russia the long-range missiles supplied by the United States and other NATO countries to Ukraine are directed, is demonstrated by the news released by Kiev that a Ukrainian drone targeted a second Russian long-range military radar. It is an early warning radar, designed to detect ballistic missiles, including hypersonic ones, and aircraft up to 10,000 km away.

The Ukrainian army can’t be able to carry out such an attack deep into Russian territory on its own. The Ukrainian military is in growing difficulty, so much so that

Kiev has passed a law that

allows recruiting common prisoners, including criminals,

from prisons willing to go to the front in exchange for freedom.

Furthermore, an attack of this type requires a military satellite network which Ukraine does not have.

The ones carrying out attacks of this type against Russia

are US forces and NATO forces under US command.

Countries like

Italy, which “host” US nuclear weapons,

violating the Non-Proliferation Treaty,

are therefore transformed into the front line

of a nuclear confrontation with Russia,

more dangerous than that of the Cold War.”

 

………………………….

Ukraine soldiers and citizens shrug off US-Zelenski piece of fluff at Swiss resort-Moon of Alabama

“No BRICS country signed the Bürgenstock Forum communiqué”...“If actually a sovereign state, Ukraine would have refused to receive Biden. But it seems that for the Kiev regime friendly backslappings by the U.S. boss are more important than their country’s national interests.”…1/17/2017, “Farewell tour of “old Joe”: Biden’s last visit to Ukraine,” eadaily.com

6/17/24, “[Puppet] Zelenski’s Summit Has Failed,“ Moon of Alabama

“The reviews of [Puppet] Zelenski’s latest show ain’t positive:

• Russia’s ghost loomed over Ukraine peace summit – Politico.eu
• In Ukraine, soldiers and civilians shrug off Zelensky’s summit – AFP
• Ukraine’s Global Diplomatic Flurry Fails to Outflank Russia (archived) – WSJ
• Significant support for Ukraine at peace summit – but key nations hesitate – Sky News
• India opts out of Ukraine declaration at Swiss peace summit as Russia stays away [not invited]- India Today
• Major Ukraine summit ends with fresh plea for peace but key powers spurn final agreement – CNN
• Disappointing end to Ukraine summit as allies agree to watered-down peace declaration – Telegraph

The summit served warmed up bullshit without any significant nutritional value. The most important points weren’t even discussed:

Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand – 8:48 UTC · Jun 17, 2024…Genuinely astonishing how the final communiqué of Swiss “Summit on Peace in Ukraine” (link) is basically 6 out of the 12 points of China’s February 2023 “Peace plan” (link), and only that.

In short it’s the Chinese peace plan, without:

• A call for a cessation of hostilities
• A call to resume peace talks.
• A call to “abandon the Cold War mentality”
• A call to resolve the humanitarian crisis.
• An agreement to remove “unilateral sanctions”
• An agreement to support post-conflict reconstruction

The only points it keeps from the Chinese peace plan are:

• Point 1: To base the resolution of the conflict on the UN Charter
• Point 6: Asking that all prisoners of war and detainees should be released
• Points 7 & 8: Calling for nuclear plants to be safe and stating that nuclear weapons shouldn’t be used
• Points 9 & 11: Asking that food security and supply chains be maintained and be weaponized

And that’s almost 1 year and a half AFTER the Chinese Peace Plan, which the West rejected immediately out of hand and ironically criticized as being “vague” even though the outcome of this Swiss summit is now far vaguer, in fact it’s so vague it removed all the aspects of the Chinese plan that actually proposed a path to a sustainable peace …

Just goes to show how far away we are from peace, almost 2 years and a half into the war… And also goes to show that maybe, just maybe, China’s proposal wasn’t so bad after all 😏

As Strana summarizes (machine translation):

The final declaration included a clause on the need to involve “all parties” in the negotiations, which can be interpreted as a desire to involve the Russian Federation in future summits. This was stated by many participants of the summit (primarily from the countries of the “global South”). Zelensky also said about his desire to see Russia at the second summit, saying that Russia’s presence there would mean that it “wants peace.” But given the complete discrepancy in the positions of the parties regarding how they see the end of the war, it is still very early to talk about any negotiations. These positions may become closer under the influence of two factors-the situation on the battlefield and / or coordinated pressure on both belligerents by their key international partners. And only in the case of such a convergence of positions will real negotiations become possible.

The war will continue until the complete destruction of the Ukrainian forces can no longer be ignored.”

Posted by b on June 17, 2024 at 13:06 UTC | Permalink

[Above photo AFP via Zero Hedge, 6/17/2024]

“And something went wrong at

this supposedly global conference from the very beginning.

The date of the event was postponed five times

because the countries of Asia and the Global South were not prepared to sign the so-called “Zelensky Peace Formula”.

As a result,

seven of the ten points were deleted.”

………………………………………………………..

Among comments to above: Comment #22

“The collective West (US and NATO) do not have the capacity to fight a land war with Russia.

They “keep saying that somehow the West doesn’t understand the situation and so acts foolishly.

I suggest that the West understands the situation very well. The West knows it cannot fight a conventional war as it will lose and lose badly.

That’s why the West is planning a nuclear attack.

A face flag event will probably be staged before the American election in November. That’s why the recent probe to disable Russia’s nuclear early warning radar.

It’s worth noting what Goering once mentioned:

“Naturally, the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along,

whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship.

The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and

denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and

exposing the country to danger.

It works the same way in any country.”

Posted by: DenisSaintDenis | Jun 17 2024 15:36 utc | 22″

****************************

Comment #56

team10tim | Jun 17 2024 15:23 utc | 19

“Which countries didn’t sign? I‘ve seen some mentioned, India, South Africa, Mexico, etc. But I’ve not seen the list of all twelve anywhere.”

According to this, the [8] countries that were at the summit but didn’t sign are:
– Armenia (3,000,000 people)
– Bahrain (1,500,000 people)
– Brazil (205,000,000 people)
– United Arab Emirates (9,300,000 people)
– India (1,428,000,000 people)
– Indonesia (279,000,000 people)
– Saudi Arabia (32,000,000 people)
– South Africa (62,000,000 people)

That’s 8. Don’t know, but are you sure Mexico was even there? [If it was it didn’t sign.]
Cheers!

[Iraq and Jordan also said to have been present but didn’t sign, per #60]

Posted by: Scotch Bingeington | Jun 17 2024 19:05 utc | 56″

…………………………………………………….

Comment #60

“james | Jun 17 2024 19:18 utc | 58

Thanks James!

So with Iraq (46,000,000 people) and Jordan (11,000,000 people) that’s 10 countries who thought better of it. What a huge success for Zelensky!

Posted by: Scotch Bingeington | Jun 17 2024 19:38 utc | 60″

……………………………………………

Above photo AFP via Zero Hedge, 6/17/2024

Added: “The idea behind the action was to display a forest of flags, a joint photo in the center of which Zelensky and the head of his office Ermak, through whom the West controls Ukraine, were positioned on either side of the Swiss President….And something went wrong at this supposedly global conference from the very beginning. The date of the event was postponed five times because the countries of Asia and the Global South were not prepared to sign the so-called “Zelensky Peace Formula.” As a result, seven of the ten points were deleted.”

6/17/24, “The political week in Europe: “You can’t sit out your own voters”,” anti-spiegel, Thomas Roper

“The last political week in Europe consisted of a sobering European election, a G7 summit that Politico wrote was the meeting of perhaps the weakest politicians in years,

and the failed conference in Switzerland. But not of the question of what the voters want.

Despite all the economic and social problems in Europe,

the European elites

are completely focused on Ukraine and not on their own voters,

which was clearly evident in the result of the European elections, in which the “evil” right-wingers won despite all efforts and smear campaigns by the media.

For the German correspondent of Russian television, who has a completely different view of the past political week in Germany and Europe than the German media in the weekly news review on Russian television every Sunday, this was material for a fairly long report from Europe, which I translated as I do every week.

Start of translation:

“The meeting on the Bürgenstock [Swiss resort] ended in a flop.

Switzerland, the Bürgenstock Resort Hotel on the high shore of Lake Lucerne. A great holiday destination for the wealthy, but not very suitable for global political decisions. Not because of the conditions of the event, but because of the concept.

What was thought to be a “peace summit” in the West

turned out to be a meeting of US allies

with a few spectators.

Switzerland has given up its political neutrality.

Viola Amherd, the Swiss President, said unexpectedly: “Undermining respect for international law is not only damaging to Russia, but to everyone in the long run. If we want to initiate a peace process, Russia must also be included at some point. That is clear to everyone.”

However, Russia’s absence was the main condition for organizing the conference, as the Swiss Foreign Minister admitted.

The idea behind the action was

to display a forest of flags,

a joint photo in the center

[Above photo AFP via Zero Hedge, 6/17/2024]

of which Zelensky and the head of his office Ermak, through whom the West controls Ukraine, were

positioned on either side of the Swiss President.

All this was intended to push Russia to the emotional wall:

supposedly this is what the whole world is demanding.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian propaganda resorted to the cheapest manipulations to keep its own population on board.

Italian Prime Minister Meloni said: “If Ukraine could not count on our support and therefore had to capitulate, we would not be here today.”

And here is what Ukrainian viewers of the live broadcast heard from their simultaneous interpreter:

“If Russia does not accept the conditions,

we [at the “peace” summit] will force it to surrender!”

This is happening quite deliberately,

the entire Bandera regime is based on lies and distortions of the facts.

There is no other way.

And something went wrong at

this supposedly global conference from the very beginning.

The date of the event was postponed five times

because the countries of Asia and the Global South were not prepared to sign the so-called “Zelensky Peace Formula”.

As a result,

seven of the ten points were deleted,

leaving only food security, nuclear security and prisoner exchange.

For the sake of attractiveness, they even accepted having to listen to something that in no way fits into their current coordinate system: “In order for us to be able to determine that the summit is effective,

it would be very important that we can ensure that the second party, Russia, is present in this room,” said Hakan Fidan, the Turkish foreign minister.

And Faisal Ibn Farah Al Saud, the Saudi foreign minister, added: “It is very important that the international community supports all possible steps to resolve the conflict. Even if this requires some compromises, this is why Russia’s participation is also necessary.”

Of the 92 national delegations, only 57 – the USA and its henchmen – were represented at the level of heads of government or their deputies. And they tried their best to compensate for the effect of the calls to listen to Russia too. French President Macron and Spanish Prime Minister Sanchez were convinced that Russia was the aggressor and the Ukrainian people were the victims. The international community must stand by Ukraine, demanded von der Leyen. During World War II, Russia attacked Finland and took away ten percent of its territory as well as his grandfather’s land, Finnish President Stubb revealed the roots of his own Russophobia. Before the war in Ukraine, there was the war in Georgia, recalled Georgian President and French citizen Zurabishvili, without going into detail about how this war started.

The problem is

that Russia has not gone through the process of decolonization and is unable to cope with the demons of the past,

said Polish President Duda, summarizing the historical and philosophical basis

for the strategy of dismembering Russia.

Here, even doubters should have recognized

that this was a “purely peaceful conference.”

Russia simply had to capitulate. And dissolve. But how could one persuade it to do so?

Chancellor Scholz said: “It is true that peace in Ukraine cannot be achieved without Russia’s involvement. But let us not forget that at the moment Russia is still relentlessly waging its brutal war. We all know that Russia can end this war today or at any other time as soon as it stops its offensive and withdraws its troops from Ukraine. To date, Russia has refused to heed our joint call for peace on the basis of international law and the UN Charter.”

If it is useful to them, they remember the UN Charter,

if not, they forget its existence.

A part of the audience was particularly irritated by the conditions set by Vladimir Putin under which Russia is ready to cease hostilities: withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the four Russian regions and a neutral status for Ukraine. The collective West found this unacceptable.

Kamala Harris, the US Vice President, said: “And nothing about ending this war should be decided without Ukraine. But yesterday Putin made a proposal to the contrary. But we must tell the truth. He is not calling for negotiations. He is calling for surrender.

America is standing with Ukraine not out of mercy,

but because it is in our strategic interest.”

America [in 2014 violently] drove Ukraine into war

because it was in its strategic interest.

A refreshing openness.

Putin’s peace proposal was aimed primarily at the hesitant participants in the Swiss event, those who had come because they had bowed to pressure but were banking on diplomacy. Everyone, big and small, must accept reality as it is: without taking Russia’s position into account, any talk of peace becomes talk of war.

Hence the result, about which Bloomberg writes: “Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky

failed to win over a number of key countries in the global south

after the two-day summit in Switzerland,

casting a shadow over his attempt to win broader support.”

The conference’s final declaration

was not signed by

Armenia, Bahrain, Brazil, the United Arab Emirates,

India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and South Africa –

which have populations twice as large as the signatory states.

However, [US puppet] Zelensky for some reason assumes that Russia is interested in the piece of paper. “When the action plan is on the table, everyone agrees and it is transparent for the peoples,

it will be presented to the Russian representatives so that

at the second peace summit we can determine the real end of the war,”

Zelensky fantasized.

Until the last moment, the Ukrainian delegation tried to push through the clause on the 1991 border, but the leaders of the Kiev regime considered it too risky for the Swiss venture. This does not mean that they have given up on the scenario. Perhaps one day the West will put all this nonsense out of its head, but it is unlikely that these politicians will do so.

Many of them simply have no time left.

From Thursday to Friday of this week, the G7 summit took place in Puglia, on the heel of the Italian boot. As Meloni explained, to be closer to the global south. The host of the summit received her guests in an oversized pink outfit that the press compared to curtains. In terms of political sustainability, however,

Meloni was the one who deserved the least ridicule in this society.

Politico wrote: “Six lame ducks and Meloni: These are the 2024 G7 leaders. This G7 summit is more of a secret dinner than a demonstration of Western power. The G7 summit will be a meeting of perhaps the weakest politicians in years. With the exception of Meloni, all the politicians at the G7 summit are pretty weak. Trudeau is unlikely to win the next election. Biden faces a tough election race. Scholz is weakened.

Macron is weakened. Sunak is ‘dead man walking’ and Kishida also has serious domestic problems.”

Politico forgot to mention Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen, the EU’s top officials who are also in limbo after the European Parliament elections.

But they also genuinely hate each other.

Meanwhile, Zelensky was hanging around somewhere backstage. He was dealing with Biden because

he and the US president wanted to conclude a 10-year agreement on security guarantees [on the backs of US taxpayers].

Earlier this week, NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg said that

in order for Ukraine to join NATO, it would have to at least defeat Russia.

And since that is impossible, Western power brokers are

signing all sorts of papers with Kyiv that, firstly,

commit no one to anything and, secondly,

depend on the political longevity of those who provide these guarantees:

in this case, the Biden administration.

Biden read from a piece of paper:

“A lasting peace for Ukraine must be underpinned by Ukraine’s ability to defend itself now and to deter future aggression at any time. The United States will help ensure that Ukraine can do both. Not by sending American troops to Ukraine, but by providing weapons and ammunition, by expanding intelligence sharing,

and by continuing to train brave Ukrainian soldiers

at bases in Europe and the United States.”

As a result of the summit, the G7 is trying to increase pressure on the Russian economy by tightening controls on the sanctions regime and

imposing secondary sanctions on countries that dare to cooperate with Russia.

The US has brought Europe to its knees: since July 1, the EU has imposed tariffs on Chinese electric cars amounting to up to 38 percent of their value. Brussels has tried to avoid a direct link to China’s Russia policy. But of course the anti-Russian sanctions and the trade war with China are phenomena of the same kind – they are attempts to maintain the economic dominance that is slipping away from them.

But the dollar’s monopoly is coming to an end, because it is becoming increasingly difficult to turn on the printing press to cover one’s own military expenditures,

to wage wars and

to finance color revolutions around the world.

And so

robbery

is becoming an increasingly attractive solution.

Biden threatened: “We took three important steps at the G7 summit that, taken together, showed Putin that he cannot out-sit us. The first is the bilateral security agreement that we just signed.

Second, the

historic agreement to provide Ukraine with $50 billion in [stolen] Russian state funds.

And third, the agreement that our sanctions will impact third countries that supply Russian forces.”

The plan is as follows: the

Americans provide Kiev with a [so-called] loan of $50 billion,

and the Russian assets

frozen in Europe,

about $260 billion,

are transferred to the status of financial collateral.

The interest on the loan is repaid from the proceeds of their reinvestment. In this scheme,

the Americans get the money because

it goes into their military-industrial complex,

while Europe assumes all the risks and suffers reputational losses.

Somewhere, Belgian Prime Minister De Croo is crying, because it is

a Belgian depot where Russian billions are stored.

Before the G7 summit, Politico quoted a European diplomat, without naming names, as saying that the Americans thought they were stupid, but they were not. No, they are stupid, as it turns out.

Olaf Scholz warned: “This is a clear signal to the Russian president

that he cannot just sit back

and hope that he can win this war at some point

because some of the countries in the world that are now supporting Ukraine

are having financial problems.”

Rishi Sunak, the British Prime Minister, encouraged open theft: “We

have agreed a new $50 billion loan for Ukraine,

which will be repaid

not at the expense of our taxpayers but

from extraordinary revenues

generated from frozen Russian assets

in Europe and around the world. That is fair and right.”

Sunak is nicknamed “old bread” because nobody needs him anymore.

Macron, disconnected from international politics, can’t talk about anything other than the early parliamentary elections.

Biden is frankly not doing well, suffering from spinal arthritis and progressive dementia. Meloni kept an eye on the US president at the summit to make sure he didn’t run off somewhere, perhaps to another meeting with Chancellor Adenauer.

What was he talking about when he pressed his forehead against the Pope’s? Did he confess? Quickly, without remorse? In the background, the camera caught the face of Argentine President Miley,

Zelensky’s rival in the fight for Western loans.

He had an expression on his face as if he was seeing something indecent. Did Francis absolve Joe of his sins or not? He probably did. But we don’t know for sure.

Scholz’s 66th birthday was not very funny. One could even say sad. His country is fed up with the Chancellor. And when something like that happens, electoral defeats follow.

The German Social Democrats received less than 15 percent in the European Parliament elections, and the other two coalition parties, the Greens and the Free Democrats, received even less.

Markus Söder said: “Basically, this government is at its end. And now the same thing should happen as in France. There were calls for early elections and Macron has announced them. Our country needs a new beginning. The traffic light coalition no longer has a mandate, no longer has the trust of the population.”

“We have achieved a great result! We are the second strongest force in Germany and the first in the east of our country,” rejoiced Alice Weidel, co-chair of the AfD.

In the east, the AfD even has a total advantage over the Christian Democrats. The border of voting preferences

clearly divides the country into two parts.

Without Berlin, the capital has always had a special history, there is

the old Federal Republic of Germany, which voted for the Christian Democrats,

and the GDR, the AfD’s fiefdom.

The map looks like it did before German reunification.

The right-wing AfD and the left-wing Sarah Wagenknecht movement are

the two political forces that have seen the greatest growth compared to the last election.

The latter [left wing] is only five months old, and if elections were held now, it would be elected to the Bundestag. The AfD and the “movement”

have one thing in common:

they do not agree with the official policy towards Russia

and with the arms deliveries to Ukraine.

A German government would probably have agreed to this demand in the past,

but the current one can no longer do so.

Scholz came up with a way to keep Zelensky busy this week so that he would not have to return to Kyiv between the end of the anniversary celebrations in Normandy and the start of the G7 summit in Italy. The break was bridged with a conference on the reconstruction of Ukraine.

But as Scholz himself said,

you have to end the war before you can talk about reconstruction,

and so it all turned out to be just another round of promises that are impossible to fulfill from the start.

“When we talk about rebuilding Ukraine, we are talking about rebuilding a new future member of the EU,”

Scholz again waved

the carrot in front of Zelensky’s nose.

The head of the EU Commission, who was present for the sake of solidity, immediately promised that negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU would begin this month, i.e. before the Hungarian EU Council Presidency, which will certainly try to block any attempts in this direction.

The topic of rebuilding Ukraine has been reduced to the promise of regular supplies of

weapons and ammunition,

but the German side has slowed down on the Patriot anti-aircraft systems. Zelensky demanded seven batteries, Germany has already allocated two and the third is on the way, but that is all for now. They do not have enough themselves.

The [German] Ministry of Defense is preparing the country for war. Minister Pistorius confirmed this week that Russia will be able to attack one of the NATO countries in 2029. The Bundeswehr urgently needs to be expanded.

The First German Television has started a special news program for people with perception difficulties, which make up almost a fifth of the population in Germany, but there could also be recruits among them. The new version of the Tagesschau said:

“The Bundeswehr is looking for young people to become soldiers.

That is why the Bundeswehr is advertising in Germany. The Bundeswehr says

we are looking for girls and boys.

The Minister of Defense is this man here. The minister is called Pistorius. Pistorius says young men should join the Bundeswehr voluntarily.

He does not want to force the young people.”

Not yet. So far, the Defense Ministry plans to send questionnaires to 400,000 young men and women

to determine their attitudes toward military service.

Those who respond positively will be drafted into the army for up to 12 months. Germany needs a trained reserve

so that it has someone to fight Russia

when it runs out of Ukrainians by 2029.

In the Bundestag, Zelensky received a standing ovation that he has not heard in his home country for a long time and will not hear again.

The government factions applauded,

the opposition CDU, Germany’s largest party, applauded,

confirming suspicions that the new CDU-led government will not change its policy towards Russia in early elections.

The AfD and the “movement” were not in the hall.

Meanwhile, AfD’s Steffen Kotre said: “The moment when President Zelensky is speaking in the Bundestag is definitely a sophisticated event,

a circus performance to get German money.

We Germans have been ripped off once again.

This whole pleasure, together with the sanctions, is currently costing us 250 billion euros.”

Germans can count. Especially when it comes to money. Especially their own.

It is annoying that the Scholz government has stopped counting it,

but despite the defeat the Chancellor is expecting to sit out the rest of his term. Apparently to save face, not power. But that is a challenge, because

in September [2024] there will be elections in the east, in Brandenburg, Thuringia and Saxony, where the Social Democrats have little chance. This coalition will hardly survive another defeat.

The political storm that began after the European Parliament elections is far from over. And so far two things have become clear:

first, the European elite has failed to portray Russia as the source of all problems, and

second, to achieve public consolidation in this area,

Scholz, Sunak, Macron and others hope to sit out Russia.

But you can’t sit out your own voters.”

………………………………

“End of translation”

******************************

“No BRICS country signed the Bürgenstock Forum communiqué.”

Added: Iraq, Jordan, and Rwanda remove signatures from Swiss/Ukraine agreement:

6/17/24, “Iraq and Jordan withdraw their signatures from the communiqué after the summit in Switzerland,” anti-spiegel.com

BÜRGENSTOCK /Switzerland/, June 16./ “The number of countries supporting the final communiqué of the Bürgenstock conference on Ukraine has fallen from 80 to 78. The organizers of the forum have removed Jordan and Iraq from the list of supporters of the document adopted at the forum, which they had originally published and which does not take into account Russia’s opinion.

The organizers have not yet explained the reasons for these changes to the list.

This brings to 15 the number of countries that have refused to support the final document calling for the transfer of sovereignty over the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant to Ukraine: Armenia, Bahrain, Brazil, Colombia, Iraq, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Libya, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, South Africa and the Vatican.”

***************************

Added:

6/18/24, “Rwanda has withdrawn its signature from the Bürgenstock Communiqué,” anti-spiegel

 

“The document states that Ukrainian nuclear power plants and facilities, including the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, should operate “under the full sovereign control of Ukraine.” According to the communiqué, access to the seaports on the Black Sea and the Sea of ​​Azov is “extremely important” for ensuring food security….

No BRICS country signed the Bürgenstock Forum communiqué.…

Delegations from less than half of the UN members were present at the forum. Among others,

Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Venezuela were absent.”…

*****************************

Added: 6/17/24, “Stoltenberg: Two thirds of European military spending goes to the USA for arms contracts,” anti-spiegel

“Over the past two years, their volume has amounted to 140 billion dollars, said NATO Secretary General.

WASHINGTON, June 17./ Two-thirds of European countries’ defense spending on new orders in the United States, their volume has reached 140 billion dollars in the last two years, said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg

in a speech at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington.

“Today, more than 20 NATO countries spend more than 2 percent on defense.

And most of this money goes to the United States.

In the last two years, two-thirds of this money has been used for defense contracts in the United States, about $140 billion,” Stoltenberg told the audience,

pointing out the importance of NATO for the United States.”

**************************

Added: “The Pentagon had previously confirmed that the administration of US President Joe Biden had accepted the possibility of attacks with US weapons on Russian territory as part of a defensive war.”

6/13/24, “Cameron names condition for stopping attacks with Western weapons on Russia,” anti-spiegel

“Western weapons will not be used against Russia if Moscow withdraws its forces from the territories Ukraine considers its own,

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said at

a press conference for a group of foreign journalists in London….

The Pentagon had previously confirmed that the administration of US President Joe Biden had accepted the

possibility of attacks with US weapons on Russian territory as part of a defensive war.

According to the New York Times, the decision came into force on May 30.

As Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, wrote in his Telegram channel on May 31, Moscow believes that all long-range weapons supplied to Ukraine “will be directly operated by soldiers of NATO countries.” According to him,

this is “in no way military support,” but rather

“participation in the war” against the Russian Federation.”

“Translation from the Russian news agency TASS”

************************

*************************

Susan’s comment: US has normalized genocide. Thus, US  voters have no “peace” or “neutrality” candidate with a platform of ending all US taxpayer funded military, ancillary military “support,” including US military construction outside US border. “Their blood, our bullets” is considered normal. A lawsuit must immediately be filed to stop US taxpayer funding of “independent” militias such as Azov Battalion. Defund NED--instead of increasing funding as Trump did in Dec. 2019. 

A “neutral US candidate” would travel to all so-called “summits”

that assume US taxpayer funded military

or shipment of US war weapons outside US border.

End all taxpayer funded construction outside US including “solar” and “green” projects. If “treaties” or “agreements” such that above–whether for 5 years, 10 years, or forever–aren’t cancelled immediately, this affirms that US taxpayers are indeed enslaved and have grounds for declaring emancipation. 

If US elites wish to continue foreign activity with their “allies,” they’re free to do so without a penny of US taxpayer money.

The above may be reconsidered if two conditions are met: One, if US stops all immigration to the US for 10 years, and two, builds a solid cement wall 300 feet high and 6 feet deep across the entire US southern border.

 

 

……………………………….