Russia Ukraine 2014: Ukrainian Military Clash with Russian Troops
Published on Mar 5, 2014

NOTE: This is a rather tendentious report on the clash between a Russian unit and Ukrainian garrison troops in Crimea. It is clearly pro Kiev, but the importance here is in the truth contained in the images themselves. As such it is a good document of a tragedy, engineered by the West, that pits essentially brother against brother. The lie implicit in the coverage (and repeated by the YouTube poster) is that “Russia invaded Ukraine,” which never happened.

http://youtu.be/lbUbuCQvJQ8

Russia can’t invade herself
Furthermore, as far as Crimea is concerned, Russian forces have been there all along as per a longstanding treaty, and the whole Ukraine was a member of the Soviet Union until 1991. The tags also imply that it is Putin and Russia that created the current conflict and subsequent bloodshed. This is false. The ugly but still denied reality is that it was Washington and its NATO allies that engineered the coup that toppled the duly elected president of Ukraine (however corrupt, but when have we bothered to overthrow anyone because he was merely corrupt?), substituting in his place a putschist cabal with numerous rightwing and Neonazi figures. The reaction to the brutality of the Kiev regime in suppressing a legitimate rebellion in the East (advised by the Americans) soon transformed itself into an armed struggle that recently ended with the military victory of the self-proclaimed Novorussian nation, comprising the Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk and other territories. Their fate remains undecided at this point, but the new nation has plenty of friends and supporters in Russia itself and around the world.

The current situation as seen by Col. Cassad, a Russian observer. Note this is a translation, and some constructions may seem odd to English speakers. 

[I]n general, of course, it is not clear why there is so much surprise at the text of the “truce” and its results.

NAF soldier showing captured Ukie flag. (Click to enlarge)

.

1. On the political underpinnings of the replacement of the leadership of the DPR and the LPR I wrote more than once in July and August, especially in the materials related to the attempts to neutralize Strelkov. Eventually, there was an attempt to implement in early September the same plan that was devised in early July. Those who lacked negotiating capacity were pushed aside, the others were suspended on the threat of suspension of shipments. If somebody didn’t get it yet, the shipments of the humanitarian aid to some or other commanders are the indirect element of control over the political processes in Donbass. Those who receive humanitarian aid are the good guys, those who don’t receive it are on the sidelines, in the best for them case.  After a certain point, the valve of shipments of the humanitarian aid is arbitrarily turned on in the interest of some field commanders and shut off for those who are stubborn. This is how the increase of controllability from Moscow actually happens.

 .

2. Moscow, just like in the Spring of 2014, does not have a coherent strategy in Donbass. It operates situationally. This happens because the line towards Large Novorossia, which was planned in early March and required a military intervention for its support, was abandoned. But because the rebellion actually already went full steam ahead by that moment, the Kremlin faced an unpleasant dilemma: the military intervention was ruled out due to a threat of a direct confrontation with the USA. They also had to rule out a complete dump of Novorossia, because the consequences of it for the internal stability of the Russian Federation were considered to be unacceptable. In the end, a half-and-half variant was chosen, when they fed the militia on the one hand and tried to negotiate with the Ukrainian oligarchs (bypassing the USA) about mitigating the process on the other hand.

 .

3. These negotiations continued over July; in the meantime there was a shallow stream of humanitarian aid for the militia. The fighting was in general low-intensity (compared to July and August), the sides swarmed, trying to feel out a compromise, but it couldn’t be achieved. During this time Mariupol was surrendered to the junta with Akhmetov’s help. In Donetsk they engaged in every possible activity (raiding businesses, fighting for power, fighting for humanitarian aid, creating constitutions of varying degrees of sanity) except war.  Strelkov, who appeared in Slavyansk with the expectation of a military intervention (which didn’t happen) and sat on the crucial transport hub in the rear of the junta military group that covered the border from a possible invasion, was frankly “sad”, while the increasingly strong military of the junta continued to encircle Slavyansk, preparing a pocket for Strelkov.

 .

4. Later the well-known events occurred: the junta offensive started on July 1st, Slavyansk fell into an operational encirclement, the work on surrendering the city started in Donetsk, Strelkov, after consultations with Moscow, left Slavyansk and Kramatorsk and arrived into Donetsk with 2000 fighters. Immediately, Pozhidayev, Khodakovsky, Lukyanchenko were thrown out of their positions. Pushilin left a bit later.  After that the war got really serious, without joking: the casualties got really massive, the destruction got really large-scale, every weapon that could be used was used. The failure of the attempts to negotiate naturally led to the attempts by the junta to win the war using only the force. They got close to this in the first half of August, when after a month of bloody fighting its detachments rolled into the streets of Shakhtyorsk and Krasnyi Luch. But as we now know, this didn’t happen and Novorossia stood its ground.

 .

5. Meanwhile, after Strelkov arrived in Donetsk, due to the increase in density of their battle order, the militia managed to free up the forces and set up the first major encirclement for the junta, which terminated in a massive catastrophe with thousands KIAs and MIAs and also with more than a hundred armored vehicles that were destroyed and captured by the militia. At the same time, negotiations with Akhmetov and Poroshenko were continued by the initiators of the negotiations with the junta (the immediate contacts were carried out both by Surkov in person and by his people) and their masters – the Russian oligarchs like Friedman and former members of the so-called The Family, like Voloshin. Kolomoisky, as his conflict with Poroshenko was developing, gradually fell out of the possible partners in these negotiations. Now Russia and Poroshenko hammer him together: Benya is no longer needed, Benya will absorb the responsibility for the civil war.

The main interest of the circles that are represented by Surkov is to prevent a direct confrontation with the USA, which would put their assets in the West and their ability to run business there under threat. The boundary condition was to prevent a complete dump, which would primarily damage Putin. He would have to explain why is it that despite all of the bombastic hurrah-patriotic rhetoric, Russia is getting bent over again and again in Ukraine – one time they put Yuschenko, another time they depose Yanukovich, and now Novorossia getting dumped. So while they were laying into Strelkov to the benefit of the Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs who were trying to negotiate, the valve of the “military surplus store” started to gradually open, but in strictly homeopathic doses.

 .

6. This was quite sufficient for the militia fighters to contain the offensive of the junta forces. The militia suffered losses and slowly retreated to the crucial positions: pretty much  surrendering the Lisichansk protrusion, Debalcevo, and Saur-Mogila. All of this quite reasonably led to the August crisis, when the junta tried to achieve a decisive victory by using the bridgehead in Debalcevo, getting so close to the victory that it could almost touch it. It is quite possible that if the junta wouldn’t plan various stupid moves near Perekop and on the border with Transnistria, but would use the military that were stationed there in Donbass, then they would be sufficient to actually cut the DPR from the LPR. But it didn’t happen. In Moscow it was understood that it is no longer possible to wait any longer.  A swift replacement of the leadership of the DPR and the LPR with more controllable people followed. They were replaced exactly with the focus on the negotiations with the junta. The main mechanism of the replacement was the humanitarian aid. The same Strelkov was given a clear condition: either you will go or your military won’t get the aid. It is quite clear what Strelkov chose. The private contractors were openly told not to send cargo to Strelkov a few days before his resignation. Because the decision to open the “red valve of the military surplus store” to the full was already made back then, the curators of the Ukrainian direction were absolutely not interested in Strelkov taking the credit for this. By this time he already managed to successfully defend Slavyansk for 3 months and then to defend the Donetsk agglomeration for more than a month. Therefore, right before the start of the counter-offensive, following Bolotov (in that case there were both political and a number of non-political reasons), Strelkov was forced to resign. Literally within a few days, the hot stream of water from the “red valve of the military surplus store” started to digest the junta units in rapidly emerging cauldrons. This led to the overall apocalyptic picture of burned bodies, burned tanks, and other materiel. The junta losses increased by the factor of several tens of times in a few days and the front line started to attain increasingly dangerous shape.

 .

7. The junta clearly missed this moment and continued to try to penetrate the defense of the army of Novorossia near Ilovaysk despite the threatening situation, with confidence worthy of a better cause. They pretty much did the same thing that the Germans did in Stalingrad. This culminated in a terrible catastrophe and in the disintegration of the whole South Front. The “red valve of the military surplus store” played its part perfectly and the junta started to openly get massacred in numerous cauldrons. In some places it was done by the forces of the army of Novorossia, in other places it was done by “merchandisers from the military surplus store”. But officially there are and there were no “merchandisers” there. The junta rolled back straight to Mariupol on the south, it surrendered the Lugansk airport and Lutugino, it effectively surrendered Debalcevo and the question of the military of Novorossia entering the operational space was put on the agenda. Meanwhile, Russia was taking advantage of the opportunity due to the unsuccessful provocation with the downed “Boeing”. “Boeing” was shot down by the junta, but it couldn’t properly dump the responsibility for this on the militia and Putin. So, while the junta yelled that the “military surplus store” is turning into an adult film studio where the Ukrainian army is having a very rough time, Russia expectedly pointed to the “Boeing” and the junta. As a result of this, a nicely shaped informational line of the West with respect to Novorossia was temporarily undermined by this unsuccessful provocation, which is now let go, albeit with difficulty.

The assault on Mariupol, a complete sweep of Debalcevo, capturing Schastye, the strikes on Lisichansk and Severodonetsk, and also the offensive on Konstantinovka were on the agenda. A threat of utter military catastrophe started to loom before the junta, on the background of a lamentable situation in the rear.

 .

8. By the late August – early September it became clear to everybody that it won’t be possible to destroy Novorossia militarily. The junta was clearly spewing blood and at the same time the USA and their satellites started to toughen their policy in the relations with the Russian Federation. Just like in April, the attempts to mitigate the process by going around the USA began, recording some acceptable result on the ground (they are trying to cover up these attempts with media phantoms like the “united pro-Russian Ukraine” and various rotten talks of “federalization”).  If you look carefully, the USA weren’t actually represented during the Minsk talks. And the behavior of the junta depends exactly on them. By September, Akhmetov already managed to fully reinforce his positions in the structures of the DPR (he will do just fine in Novorossia, no matter what it will become) and to set up a certain dialog with Moscow. All people who lacked negotiating capacity were removed from crucial positions. Thus, the negotiations were launched in Minsk, which were supposed to not only determine the future of Novorossia but also to help Russia avoid a direct confrontation with the USA, gradually letting go of the war and also avoid sanctions that touch “our precious Gazprom”, oil, and bank sector, and also some of the oligarchs. Little depends on Zakharchenko and Plotnitsky here, both of them are suspended on the humanitarian shipments and if it is necessary, then they will be replaced with even more flexible people. The junta of course jumped at such an opportunity, because the offensive by the army of Novorossia was developing successfully and the junta had no military way of stopping it. The offensive itself didn’t run out of steam yet and could continue successfully for another 5-7 days at least, liberating significant territories and major cities in the process. In the military respect the junta certainly benefits from this respite. Currently it is urgently plugging holes in the front and sending the reserves there, performing local offensives at the same time, akin to the offensive on Telmanovo with the goal of cutting the Novoazov group of the army of Novorossia from the main forces to the north of Telmanovo. Russia also got what it wanted in the form of softening the rhetoric of the USA and their satellites and the delay of sanctions. Ordinary militia fighters and fascist punitive troops, who didn’t understand what is the truce for… of course, they weren’t asked.  Within the framework of the so-called “big politics” these are just consumable pieces on the “chessboard”. Some of them may bleed in defense for a month, waiting for the valve of the “military surplus store” to be opened up for them. Others may perish by hundreds in the cauldrons, cursing Poroshenko and the AFU.

 .

9. Nevertheless, despite the political truce, the war as such continued, because the logic of the conflict demands its resolution by exactly military means. The inertia of war triggered new firefights, shelling, and combat. At the same time the junta openly and publicly demonstrates that it uses this “cease-fire” for accumulating forces and for preparing a new offensive. The USA look at this approvingly, because the military solution of the problem of Novorossia and the final defeat of Russia in the fight for Ukraine is among its national interests. It is absolutely irrelevant what will be state of the junta – while it remains in power, it will be used against the Russian Federation. The suffering of the population, victims among soldiers, destroying the infrastructure – from the point of view of the USA all of this is just insignificant collateral damage. So, from the military point of view, only a complete destruction of the fascist junta is a best guarantee for ending the war.

The leadership of Novorossia understands this, but cannot do anything – they are dependent on the political line of the curators of the Ukrainian policy and on the humanitarian shipments.

.

From this come stupid announcements like “we thought that the junta may possibly observe the cease-fire, but it doesn’t observe it – bad, bad fascist junta”. Of course, such kindergarten talk/play/stuff seriously discredits both the military and political leadership of the DPR and the Russian policy in Novorossia. The junta figured out this moment and clearly uses it, but it has one problem: it cannot solve the problem of Novorossia by force if the star-and-striped hand of sanctions won’t be placed on the “red valve of military surplus store” and carefully shut it off, giving the necessary time for the junta. Otherwise, it is certainly possible to start another offensive, but the risk is very high of not getting the junta flags over Donetsk and Gorlovka as a result, but rather getting new thousands of corpses and hundreds of destroyed tanks and APCs with yet another temper tantrum by the patriots of Ukraine that Poroshenko and generals betrayed everybody.

.

Because the parties cannot determine the parameters of resolving the crisis, the war continues on its own. The resumption of full-scale military action appears unavoidable, because the USA will push the junta towards forceful destruction of Novorossia. Russia, on the other hand, will fall into the very same fork of decisions: between a forceful scenario (military intervention or “impolite merchandisers” is not all that important – this is just a method of implementing a decision that was taken) and dumping Novorossia (stopping military support, agreeing to “united Ukraine”, and arm-twisting for those commanders of the army of Novorossia who will start to ask “unpleasant questions). The main difficulty of the negotiators is that the standard reaction of the militia to the proposal of “united pro-Russian Ukraine” is “Which fucking Ukraine?!” Only the political technologists in Moscow and Surkov’s servants, who broadcast this BS into the masses, may fight for the “united Ukraine” on the Russian side. The militia fights for other things.

 .

Some still cannot understand that the war of the junta against Novorossia is just one dimension of the conflict. Without resolving the tensions between the USA and the Russian Federation there won’t be a full-fledged peace there. So, the Minsk negotiations and the obscene piece of paper that was signed there is just another attempt to jump out of the same unpleasant dilemma. One of these decisions will have to be made in the end.

 .

Actually, this is why I am not in a hurry to join the crowd with the cries of “Novorossia was dumped” or to deliver mantras about “Putin’s Clever Plan”. The final choice is yet to be made. The current attempts to avoid this choice only make the conditions for making it worse.

Novorossia in one shape or another will definitely happen. In the nearest weeks it will be decided what exactly will it be, once the final choice of Russia in the Ukrainian question becomes clear.

Original article: http://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/1773476.html (in Russian)

SELECT COMMENTS

CAPITALIST RUSSIA CANNOT WIN
Marcus N

The Big Lie machinery of the American state never stops, amplified by the complicit Western European media

An east-Ukrainian rebel inspects a gun at a destroyed war memorial at Savur-Mohyla, a hill east of the city of Donetsk, August 28, 2014. (Reuters / Maxim Shemetov)  / Click to enlarge. 

[T]he US President says it is now “provable” that “Russian combat forces and tanks” moved into Ukraine. But Kremlin says Obama’s words are in conflict with the State Department that said it has no proof of Russian troops in the area.

A DISPATCH FROM RT.COM

A statement from the Russian president’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov came in response to Barack Obama’s address to the Baltic States’ leader. Speaking ahead of NATO summit, President Obama said that the US has no doubt that Russian troops are involved in the fighting in eastern Ukraine.

What we have in Ukraine is not a Russian invasion but the participation of brave Russian volunteers interested in protecting their brothers and cousins and stopping the advance of US-sponsored fascism. Deal with that.

“The Russian forces that have now moved into Ukraine aren’t on a ‘humanitarian’ or ‘peacekeeping mission.’ They are Russian combat forces with Russian weapons in Russian tanks. There are Russian warheads with Russian weapons and Russian tanks. Now, these are the facts. They are provable. They’re not subject to dispute,” Obama said at a press-conference in Tallinn.

However, this information comes into conflict with the recent statement of the US State Department, Peskov said.

“We have repeatedly said there are no Russian troops on the territory of Ukraine. While Obama says there can be no doubts about that, US Department of State officials say simultaneously with their president that the United States has no proof of Russian military presence in Ukraine. This situation underscores their reluctance to use facts,” the Russian president’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Russian News Service radio station.

“It’s an obsession with attributing a negative role in the development of the Ukrainian crisis to Russia, and we strongly object to this,” Kremlin’s spokesman added.

ridiculed by Russia’s Defense Ministry, while an alliance of seven former US intelligence officers – the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) – said the evidence produced by NATO from the Ukrainian-Russian border was on a par with the “same dubious, politically ‘fixed’ kind used 12 years ago to ‘justify’ the US-led attack on Iraq.”

‘Many of our comrades can’t look quietly’

On Wednesday, Russian veterans have called to end speculations around those Russian men who voluntarily joined east-Ukrainian rebels in the fight against Kiev.

“These are not adventurers, not criminals, not mercenaries, these are Russian people, who have it already laid down in their genes: to help our friendly nations in a difficult situation. We understand that this internal conflict or civil war in Ukraine is not Russia’s business. But this way Russia [through volunteers] has a right to help,” said Colonel-General Valery Vostrotin, the chairman of the Council of the Moscow Department “Battle Brotherhood”.

Shevchuk (Still from RT video)

A retired Russian officer Vladimir Melnik is one of those men. He is now undergoing treatment in Moscow after being injured in a leg in Ukraine.

He does not call himself a hero. For him, born and raised in the Donetsk region, when it still was part of the USSR, supporting rebels in his native land is a duty. His relatives and friends still live there. Melnik says he could not leave them in a time of trouble.

“If somebody intrudes into you house, starts killing your brothers, your sisters, raping your women, killing your children and rob elders —how would you react to this? I understand that this is, primarily, a spiritual struggle; looking at what is happening in the world today, I would not like to stand and watch as our Orthodox people are being killed in their own homes,” he says.

A retired Russian officer Vladimir Melnik (Still from RT video)

Melnik says there are many volunteers – former military personnel like him – fighting along with self-defense forces in the south-east of Ukraine.

“There are many of us and more people were ready to come. For now, Thank God, we are coping [with the situation] with the tools we have,” Melnik says.

When asked if he was paid or offered anything for coming to Ukraine, he says: “If I came to my father and said: Dad, I’m here to protect you from fascists for money, he would not understand me, neither would others. I wouldn’t have any respect for myself as well.”

Melnik says it was tough for eastern Ukrainian men “to leave their mines” and take arms, but now, thanks to the experience which people with military background shared, they “understand more.”

Asked about military equipment, Melnik confesses that everything rebels have is old, “from the Soviet time”, but this is enough to hold the fort.

“It is not difficult to find arms in Ukraine,” he says. “There are many ammunition depots left after the Soviet Union. It is old, from Soviet times. Yes, guys had to repair some of it or replace some of the details, but it works.”

Members of Russian veterans organizations fighting in Ukraine.  We should all salute them.  (Image from oficery.ru)

OSCE: No armed men crossing Ukraine border

OSCE’s observer mission has indicated in its latest report that it has not witnessed any Russian troops or tanks crossing the border into Ukraine.

What it did record, however, was an increased presence of unmanned aerial vehicles and young men and women crossing from Russia into Ukraine unarmed.

There has been “increased military activity principally of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the vicinity of the Border Crossing Points,” OSCE said in the weekly update from August 28 to September 3.

“Throughout the week, the OTs [Observer Teams] noticed a net increase of young people (both men and women) wearing military-style dress crossing the border in both directions but did not observe any weapons among these groups.”

OSCE noted that supporters of self-defense forces said they are not allowed to cross the border with weapons. But once they cross into Ukraine, weapons can be obtained from self-defense forces.

The observer mission added that situation in Lugansk remains “dire.” OSCE cites accounts of “severe destruction caused by artillery fire which resulted in the interruption of water, gas and electricity supplies, the latter apparently unavailable for more than five weeks in some areas including Lugansk city itself.”

ON THE NEXT PAGE

(Excerpt)
Dolores Ibárruri, La Pasionaria
Barcelona, November 1, 1938 

“YIt is very difficult to say a few words in farewell to the heroes of the International Brigades, because of what they are and what they represent. A feeling of sorrow, an infinite grief catches our throat – sorrow for those who are going away, for the soldiers of the highest ideal of human redemption, exiles from their countries, persecuted by the tyrants of all peoples – grief for  those who will stay here forever mingled with the Spanish soil, in the very depth of our heart, hallowed by our feeling of eternal gratitude.

From all peoples, from all races, you came to us like brothers, like sons of immortal Spain; and in the hardest days of the war, when the capital of the Spanish Republic was threatened, it was you, gallant comrades of the International Brigades, who helped save the city with your fighting enthusiasm, your heroism and your spirit of sacrifice. – And Jarama and Guadalajara, Brunete and Belchite, Levante and the Ebro, in immortal verses sing of the courage, the sacrifice, the daring, the discipline of the men of the International Brigades. 

For the first time in the history of the peoples’ struggles, there was the spectacle, breath­taking in its grandeur, of the formation of International Brigades to help save a threatened country’s freedom and independence – the freedom and independence of our Spanish land. 

Communists, Socialists, Anarchists, Republicans – men of different colors, differing ideology, antagonistic religions — yet all profoundly loving liberty and justice, they came and offered themselves to us unconditionally. 

They gave us everything — their youth or their maturity; their science or their experience; their blood and their lives; their hopes and aspirations — and they asked us for nothing. But yes, it must be said, they did want a post in battle, they aspired to the honor of dying for us.

Banners of Spain! Salute these many heroes! Be lowered to honor so many martyrs!

Mothers! Women! When the years pass by and the wounds of war are stanched; when the memory of the sad and bloody days dissipates in a present of liberty, of peace and of well­being; when the rancors have died out and pride in a free country is felt equally by all Spaniards, speak to your children. Tell them of these men of the International Brigades.

Recount for them how, coming over seas and mountains, crossing frontiers bristling with bayonets, sought by raving dogs thirsting to tear their flesh, these men reached our country as crusaders for freedom, to fight and die for Spain’s liberty and independence threatened by German and Italian fascism. They gave up everything — their loves, their countries, home and fortune, fathers, mothers, wives, brothers, sisters and children — and they came and said to us: “We are here. Your cause, Spain’s cause, is ours. It is the cause of all advanced and progressive mankind.”

Today many are departing. Thousands remain, shrouded in Spanish earth, profoundly remembered by all Spaniards. Comrades of the International Brigades: Political reasons, reasons of state, the welfare of that very cause for which you offered your blood with boundless generosity, are sending you back, some to your own countries and others to forced exile. You can go proudly. You are history. You are legend. You are the heroic example of democracy’s solidarity and universality in the face of the vile and accommodating spirit of those who interpret democratic principles with their eyes on hoards of wealth or corporate shares which they want to safeguard from all risk.

We shall not forget you; and, when the olive tree of peace is in flower, entwined with the victory laurels of the Republic of Spain — return! 

The Editors say: Putin’s flaccid support for Ukrainian separatists has been a tactical and strategic mistake of major proportions.
The US elites will read (and exploit) such posture as “blinking”.

Paul Craig Roberts
SOURCE: Author’s site

[T]he Cold War made a lot of money for the military/security complex for four decades dating from Churchill’s March 5, 1946 speech in Fulton, Missouri declaring a Soviet “Iron Curtain” until Reagan and Gorbachev ended the Cold War in the late 1980s. During the Cold War Americans heard endlessly about “the Captive Nations.” The Captive Nations were the Baltics and the Soviet bloc, usually summarized as “Eastern Europe.”

Cold War Renewed With A Vengeance While Washington Again Lies

These nations were captive because their foreign policies were dictated by Moscow, just as these same Captive Nations, plus the UK, Western Europe, Canada, Mexico, Columbia, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Georgia, and Ukraine, have their foreign policies dictated today by Washington. Washington intends to expand the Captive Nations to include Azerbaijan, former constituent parts of Soviet Central Asia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia.

During the Cold War Americans thought of Western Europe and Great Britain as independent sovereign countries. Whether they were or not, they most certainly are not today. We are now almost seven decades after WWII, and US troops still occupy Germany. No European government dares to take a stance different from that of the US Department of State.

Not long ago there was talk both in the UK and Germany about departing the European Union, and Washington told both countries that talk of that kind must stop as it was not in Washington’s interest for any country to exit the EU. The talk stopped. Great Britain and Germany are such complete vassals of Washington that neither country can publicly discuss its own future.

When Baltasar Garzon, a Spanish judge with prosecuting authority, attempted to indict members of the George W. Bush regime for violating international law by torturing detainees, he was slapped down.

In Modern Britain, Stephane Aderca writes that the UK is so proud of being Washington’s “junior partner” that the British government agreed to a one-sided extradition treaty under which Washington merely has to declare “reasonable suspicion” in order to obtain extradition from the UK, but the UK must prove “probable cause.” Being Washington’s “junior partner,” Aderca reports, is an ego-boost for British elites, giving them a feeling of self-importance.

Under the rule of the Soviet Union, a larger entity than present day Russia, the captive nations had poor economic performance. Under Washington’s rule, these same captives have poor economic performance due to their looting by Wall Street and the IMF.

As Giuseppe di Lampedusa said, “Things have to change in order to remain the same.”

The looting of Europe by Wall Street has gone beyond Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Ukraine, and is now focused on France and Great Britain. The American authorities are demanding $10 billion from France’s largest bank on a trumped-up charge of financing trade with Iran, as if it is any business whatsoever of Washington’s who French banks choose to finance. And despite Great Britain’s total subservience to Washington, Barclays bank has a civil fraud suit filed against it by the NY State Attorney General.

The charges against Barclays PLC are likely correct. But as no US banks were charged, most of which are similarly guilty, the US charge against Barclays means that big pension funds and mutual funds must flee Barclays as customers, because the pension funds and mutual funds would be subject to lawsuits for negligence if they stayed with a bank under charges.

The result, of course, of the US charges against foreign banks is that US banks like Morgan Stanley and Citigroup are given a competitive advantage and gain market share in their own dark pools.

So, what are we witnessing? Clearly and unequivocally, we are witnessing the use of US law to create financial hegemony for US financial institutions. The US Department of Justice (sic) has had evidence for five years of Citigroup’s participation in the fixing of the LIBOR interest rate, but no indictment has been forthcoming.

The bought and paid for governments of Washington’s European puppet states are so corrupt that the leaders permit Washington control over their countries in order to advance American financial, political, and economic hegemony.

Washington is organizing the world against Russia and China for Washington’s benefit. On June 27 Washington’s puppet states that comprise the EU issued an ultimatum to Russia.The absurdity of this ultimatum is obvious. Militarily, Washington’s EU puppets are harmless. Russia could wipe out Europe in a few minutes. Here we have the weak issuing an ultimatum to the strong.

The EU, ordered by Washington, told Russia to suppress the opposition in southern and eastern Ukraine to Washington’s stooge government in Kiev. But, as every educated person knows, including the White House, 10 Downing Street, Merkel, and Holland, Russia is not responsible for the separatist unrest in eastern and southern Ukraine. These territories are former constituent parts of Russia that were added to the Ukrainian Soviet Republic by Soviet Communist Party leaders when Ukraine and Russia were two parts of the same country.

These Russians want to return to Russia because they are threatened by the stooge government in Kiev that Washington has installed. Washington, determined to force Putin into military action that can be used to justify more sanctions, is intent on forcing the issue, not on resolving the issue.

What is Putin to do? He has been given 72 hours to submit to an ultimatum from a collection of puppet states that he can wipe out at a moment’s notice or seriously inconvenience by turning off the flow of Russian natural gas to Europe.

Historically, such a stupid challenge to power would result in consequences. But Putin is a humanist who favors peace. He will not willingly give up his strategy of demonstrating to Europe that the provocations are coming from Washington, not from Russia. Putin’s hope, and Russia’s, is that Europe will eventually realize that Europe is being badly used by Washington.

Washington has hundreds of Washington-financed NGOs in Russia hiding behind various guises such as “human rights,” and Washington can unleash these NGOs on Putin at will, as Washington did with the protests against Putin’s election. Washington’s fifth columns claimed that Putin stole the election even though polls showed that Putin was the clear and undisputed winner.

In 1991 Russians were, for the most part, delighted to be released from communism and looked to the West as an ally in the construction of a civil society based on good will. This was Russia’s mistake. As the Brzezinski and Wolfowitz doctrines make clear, Russia is the enemy whose rise to influence must be prevented at all cost.

Putin’s dilemma is that he is caught between his heart-felt desire to reach an accommodation with Europe and Washington’s desire to demonize and isolate Russia.

The risk for Putin is that his desire for accommodation is being exploited by Washington and explained to the EU as Putin’s weakness and lack of courage. Washington is telling its European vassals that Putin’s retreat under Europe’s pressure will undermine his status in Russia, and at the right time Washington will unleash its many hundreds of NGOs to bring Putin to ruin.

This was the Ukraine scenario. With Putin replaced with a compliant Russian, richly rewarded by Washington, only China would remain as an obstacle to American world hegemony.

About Dr. Paul Craig RobertsPaul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts’ latest books are The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West and How America Was Lost.