SEEDS OF WAR: LIKE POLAND, LIKE UKRAINE…

“Bumbling amateurs” run WESTERN COUNTRIES today

1991 Like 1919: Breakup of Soviet Union Laid Seeds for New Global War, Just like the Breakup of Germany and Austria Did in 1919

Right after returning home from the meetings with the G20 leaders in Brisbane, Australia, Russian president Vladimir Putin fired off a warning to Washington and its western puppets

The United States wants to subdue Moscow, but will never succeed, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday (Nov 18).

“They do not want to humiliate us, they want to subdue us, solve their problems at our expense,” Putin said at the end of a four-hour meeting with his core support group, the People’s Front.

“No one in history ever managed to achieve this with Russia, and no one ever will,” he said, triggering a wave of applause (for more, click here).

The same day, NATO’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, stoked the fires of war. He accused the Russian leadership of “destabilizing” Ukraine and breaking a two-month-old truce by continuing to support separatist forces fighting in the country’s southeast.

And in Washington, U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel struck an even harsher tone — labeling Russia’s alleged incursions into Ukraine as “dangerous and irresponsible.”

“The violations of sovereignty and international law that the Russians have perpetuated continue to require responses,” said Hagel, adding that the U.S. has begun working with NATO “in shifting our entire rotational rapid deployment focus.”

Meanwhile, the US puppet Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko, threatened “total war” in a statement made on Nov 13, in advance of the G20 summit in Brisbane.

“Such statements make no sense, they are irresponsible and they are political bluffing that would never be used by an accountable and independent political leader,” said the chairwoman of Russia’s upper house of parliament, senator Valentina Matviyenko.

Seeds of War: Like Poland, Like Ukraine…

Guess neither Washington nor its European puppets have learned anything from the similar tough talk that Hitler and Chamberlain had engaged in 75 years ago. They are trying to move the NATO boundaries farther east, deeper into Russia’s sphere on interest. Which is the equivalent of poking the bear in the eye. Not very smart.

Similarities between 1939 and 2014 are unmistakable. Look at the map of Europe and the size of Germany 100 years ago – before WW I. You can see that there was no country called Ukraine. There was no country called Poland.

 

Ukraine was a part of the Russian empire. Three empires – German, Austrian and Russian – each owned and controlled the land we call Poland today (left map).

After WW I, the victorious western allies broke up Germany and Austria into pieces in, what is known, as the Treaty of Versailles. They minted a whole bunch of new countries.  One of those countries was Poland (right map above).

But not Ukraine. No one ever questioned that Ukraine was a part of Russia. Not at Versailles in 1919, nor any time after that. Until 1991, that is. That’s when Washington seized an opportunity to break up the Soviet Union and mint a whole bunch of new countries on its fringes. Just like the western allies did at Versailles in 1919.

Bad mistake. Both times.

1919 and 1991 Mistakes

The new borders meant new grievances and new aspirations of the newly minted countries.  Just as with ordinary people, the more fences, the more grievances between neighbors. And not just neighbors, as both Poland and Ukraine showed.

Which means that the “victors” of both WW I and the Cold War had laid the seeds for yet another war. In 1939, pushed by Britain and France to refuse Germany’s request for a corridor between its two unnaturally split northern territories, Poland became the first battleground of WW II.

Within weeks, Poland was once again extinguished as a country. Germany occupied the western part, the Soviet Union took the eastern (see the map-right).

More troubling, the German and the Russian “empires” were bordering each other. And once again, the British and the French were meddling and hoping to set them against each other.

We all know what followed: The most devastating war in the history of this planet. Over 60 million people died in it. How many more will die over Ukraine?

“Those who do not learn the lessons from history are DOOMED repeat them”

Which is why it was inexcusable for anyone professing a zeal for peace to make the same mistake in 1991. Unlike the heads of state who concocted the Treaty of Versailles, the victors of the Cold War had a precedent, expensive lessons of history from which to learn. Yet they paid no heed to them. And thus laid the seeds for a new era of global confrontation.

Over the last quarter century, Washington has pushed the NATO boundaries farther and farther to the east, closer and closer to Russia. Until now the Russian and the western “empires” once again share a common border. Just like in 1939. Only this time, it is across Ukraine (see the map above left).

So the current western leaders have learned nothing from history. Like Napoleon and Hitler before them, they are trying to subdue Russia. It won’t work. That is why it was important for the Russian president to remind them of it.

No one in history ever managed to achieve this with Russia, and no one ever will,” [Putin, 11-18-14]

Of course, our leaders could have also learned something from a Chinese military leader, strategist and philosopher who lived over 2,500 years ago. Here’s what Sun Tzu said about the art of war.

The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” ― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Compared to Tzu, Napoleon, Hitler, and now the recent US presidents and their advisors, have shown themselves to be mere bumbling amateurs.

The more things change, the more they stay the same (Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, French journalist and novelist, 1808-1890)

Now the question is, how many more tens of millions of human lives will this failure of the West to learn from history cost?

UPDATE NOV 20, 2014

DJURDJEVIC’S COMMENT IN “HUFFINGTON POST” RE: TODAY’S ARTICLE ON BRITISH EMBASSY TWEET IN UKRAINE

Re. Article: British Embassy In Ukraine Trolls Putin With Guide For Spotting Russian Tanks

The latest foreign office to engage in the increasingly popular sport of Twitter-trolling the Kremlin is Britain’s embassy in Ukraine, which on Wednesday released a handy guide to help Russians spot their own tanks.

The embassy’s official account tweeted an infographic detailing some of the features of Russia’s T-72 BM tanks, along with photos suggesting that those tanks have been seen in eastern Ukraine.

[…]

DJURDJEVIC’S COMMENT:

In turn, here’s a guide for the British embassy staff for how to recognize an American “Beast” on the road (click on the link below): 🙂

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1389825/Obamas-Beast-Cadillac-flown-US-London-drive-Mall.html

When last seen near the Buckingham Palace in London in 2011, I understand it made even the royal hosts livid with its extravagant and lavish demands. Here’s an excerpt from that Daily Mail story:

“The team of at least 500 will include White House aides, a six-doctor medical team and a squad of personal chefs. There will be more than 200 secret service agents, many of them armed.

The President will travel in ‘The Beast’, his gigantic bomb-proof General Motors Cadillac with eight-inch thick armour-plating on its doors. The limousine will be accompanied by a motorcade of at least 20 vehicles plus a dozen police motorcycle outriders.”

Link to the HP article on British Embassy tweet in Ukraine: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/19/_n_6185368.html

Also…

OBAMA WANTED BRISBANE ROUNDABOUT DEMOLISHED SO HIS “BEAST” WOULD NOT HAVE TO SLOW DOWN

The US president’s and White House’s arrogance seems to have reached a new high last weekend’s at the G20 summit in Brisbane, Australia. His “imperial highness’” Secret Service requested that a roundabout be demolished so his “Beast” would not have to slow down.

Fortunately, Obama’s Australian hosts had a good sense to reject his demand.

Here’s a story in London’s Daily Mail:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2832824/Is-Obama-s-Beast-fast-Brisbane-President-s-delegation-requested-demolition-city-roundabout-beefed-Cadillac-doesn-t-slow-G20.html

DEAFENING US MEDIA SILENCE

Perhaps the most worrisome aspect of this story is its absence from any major US media headlines. I could only find a reference to it in the British and Australian papers.

So much for “freedom of the press” in our country.

EVOLUTION OF OBAMA

From the British press (Daily Mail)

OBAMA, THE LITTLE PIRATE

Why don’t we see stuff like this in the American media?

OBAMA EVOLUTION: From a “Little Pirate” to a “Terminator”… 🙂

   

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WESTERN VOTER EVOLUTION: FROM OSTRICHES TO SHEEPLE in NEW WORLD ORDER SHEERING SHEDS

AS PREDICTED 15 YEARS AGO…

…by the Truth in Media… http://www.truthinmedia.org/Bulletins99/tim99-11-2.html

 

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ANOTHER COMMENT IN “HUFFINGTON POST”

WHERE HAS ALL UKRAINE’S GOLD GONE?

Wonder what the British and American diplomats have to say in answer to this question: “Where has all Ukraine’s gold gone?” (see http://on.rt.com/cniueq).

Here’s an excerpt from this story, just published:

“Ukraine’s Central Bank chief has divulged some shocking intel: its gold stockpile has reached a new nadir – almost zero. Since the beginning of the year, gold reserves have dropped nearly 16-fold, which begs the question, where did all of it go?”

[…]

“The IMF, which has denied Ukraine loans before due to corruption, in April pledged $17 billion over two years to help the country trying to closer align itself with Europe, and not Russia.

The bank stopped supporting the currency in mid-November when it fell into complete free fall. The hryvnia has lost 50 percent of its value against the dollar since the beginning of the year.

“The devaluation of the hryvnia is now 100 percent. At the last minute, businesses began to panic. Even after the devaluation of 50 percent, which began in July, we were able to stabilize the situation, but then the war started,” Gontareva said.

Ukraine’s economy has spun out of control since revolution and war gripped the country. The new government is facing rock-bottom reserves, sky-high inflation, contracting growth, natural gas shortages, and a looming default on debts.”

How about Tweeting that news, dear Kiev Brits?

UPDATE NOV 21, 2014

UKRAINE SELLS GOLD, RUSSIA BUYS IT

Friday November 21, 2014 7:48 AM

Ukraine cut its gold holdings by 14 metric tons in October, according to the International Monetary Fund, MKS (Switzerland) says.

“This selling would have gone through most likely during gold’s descent from $1,180-1,130, no doubt intensifying the drop, in order to fund gas bills or IMF quarterly payments,” they say. Commerzbank says the Ukrainian sale amounts to about 35% of its gold reserves, corresponding to a $3.8 billion decline in its overall currency reserves.

“Evidently, the central bank drew on its reserves to subsidize among other things the state energy company Naftogaz, to finance natural gas imports from the EU and to shore up its domestic currency,” Commerzbank says. (By Debbie Carlson of Kitco News; dcarlson@kitco.com)

Russia Buys More Gold – Commerzbank

Friday November 21, 2014 7:48 AM

International Monetary Fund data show Russia purchased around 19 tons of gold in October, Commerzbank says. This is roughly in line with data published by the Russian central bank Thursday showing the country’s gold purchases totaled 19.7 tons last month, they say.

As of the end of October, Russia’s gold holdings amounted to nearly 1,170 tons and the central bank has bought around 150 tons of gold so far this year. “In other words, a further 16 tons have been acquired so far in November,” they say. “According to the IMF, gold was also purchased in October by Azerbaijan (a good 3 tons), Belarus and Kazakhstan (around 2 tons each) and Mauritius (1 ton),” says Commerzbank. (By Debbie Carlson of Kitco News; dcarlson@kitco.com)

http://www.kitco.com/news/2014-11-21/KitcoNewsMarketNuggets-November-21.html

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