via RT

China’s vice foreign minister blames NATO for stoking the instability that led to the Russia-Ukraine conflict

Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng said that globalization should not be “weaponized” while military bloc politics must be “rejected,” a day after US President Joe Biden warned his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping of “consequences” if Beijing supported Russia’s military action in Ukraine.

Speaking at the Fourth International Forum on Security and Strategy in Beijing on Saturday, the Chinese official agreed with Moscow’s assessment that NATO’s unchecked expansion in Eastern Europe and the failure to address Russia’s national security concerns paved the way to the current crisis, saying that a simple “commitment of no eastward expansion could have easily ended the crisis and stopped the sufferings.”

“Instead, one chose to fan the flames at a safe distance, watching its own arms dealers, bankers and oil tycoons make a fortune out of the war while leaving people of a small country with the wounds of war that would take years to heal,” he said.

NATO’s pursuit of “absolute security” leads to “absolute non-security,” Le added.

The consequences of forcing a major power, especially a nuclear power, into a corner are even more unimaginable.

Moscow has vehemently opposed NATO’s presence close to its borders, and embarked on a mission to obtain written guarantees that would halt the US-led military bloc’s expansion and bar Ukraine from joining its ranks. However, the West ignored Russia’s concerns.

President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” on February 24, with a stated goal to “demilitarize and denazify” the government in Kiev, ensuring that it no longer poses a threat to either Russia or the newly recognized Donbass republics, which have suffered seven years of grueling siege.

The US and its NATO allies have accused Russia of starting an “unprovoked”war to gobble up Ukraine. Moscow has seen thousands of harsh new curbs and sanctions slapped on it, with the US, EU and many other countries seeking to “isolate” and “destroy” the Russian economy.

“History has proven time and again that sanctions cannot solve problems,” Le said. “The sanctions against Russia are getting more and more outrageous… Sanctions will only harm ordinary people, impact the economic and financial system… and worsen the global economy.”

Beijing has come under increased Western pressure to distance itself and sever its trade ties with Moscow, after China abstained from backing the United Nations General Assembly resolution that condemned Russia’s military action in Ukraine, and chose to stay neutral alongside India, Pakistan, South Africa and 30 other countries.

In a video conference call with President Biden on Friday, China’s leader Xi Jinping stressed that Beijing has always stood “for peace and opposes war,”urging all the parties involved in the ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kiev to stick to diplomacy. Biden in response reportedly warned Xi that Beijing would face “consequences” should it provide material support or help Moscow evade Western sanctions.

From my perspective, Russia is in the right on this. We have a family of 5 Ukrainian refugees staying with us and they are more or less pro-Russian. The horrors of the Nazis in Khakov they recount to me just re-affirm my belief. They are angry at Putin for NOT invading in 2014 when everyone in Ukraine was hoping for it. They felt abandoned and then horribly abused by the Nazi regime which got much worse after Zelensky came into power. Now their home was destroyed by the Ukrainians in downtown Kharkiv and they have left Ukraine forever and are heading to Spain. And yes, they are real bold-faced dyed in the wool Nazis. The US leadership’s support just shows who they are and probably always have been thus. Pelosi giving the Ukrainian Nazi salute in Congress is mind-blowing.

This brings into question another end game problem. I believe Russia will be forced to take the whole country and it will be easy once the majority is removed from battle. The way west will be unimpeded until they reach the area of Lviv and then they will systematically wipe out all Nazis. But the refugees, and it looks like a large majority leaving from west Ukraine are in fact non-Ukrainians including Indians, Africans, Middle East, etc. The ethnic Russians all went East which goes unmentioned. The Hungarians went into Hungary or Slovakia and the Nazis’ are heading into Poland. If they can manage a way to cross the border without being shot by the Ukrainian police for cowardice.

So, if Ukraine becomes split and I think this is the best solution with the Polish area hoping back to Poland, the Hungarian to Hungary, and the Romanian back to Romania which doesn’t leave too much if the country is divided down highway 95. Odessa and Mariupol will go the whatever is formed in the east but it won’t be called Ukraine. Kyiv is a big question and is a serious tar baby. So, what will be left to call Ukraine will be a tiny part west of highway 95 and east of the Polish, Hungarian, and Romanian (not to mention Moldova and Transnistria). They will have no big cities (unless Kyiv goes to them which would be a mistake) so can rule the countryside. Citizenship will be a big issue for everyone who left and from where they left from and what country that area becomes. Of course, the US will maintain the Zelensky regime as a government in exile and will try and block entry into the UN of the countries formed from the remains of Ukraine. It could end with the dissolution of the UN which is basically impotent anyway. The US breaking UN rules by denying visas for UN personnel is a symptom of why the US cannot host the UN any longer. So, maybe it is easier to form something new and leave the western nations out of it.

Russia and China both need to leave the IMF and World bank both conveniently located in Washington and very firmly under US control. They need to stop all trading in dollars everywhere that recognizes that the US crossed a line that cannot ever be redeemed by seizing Central Bank assets. No one will trust the US ever again permanently. Credibility like virginity once lost cannot ever be regained. The US is now definitely agreement incapable and absolutely untrustworthy.

One thing I have noticed is the US has slowly moved 100,000 soldiers into Europe. Most people are unaware that US forces are really quite small and even then have support to combat forces of 20:1. Meaning for everyone 20,000 soldiers there are only 1,000 gunfighters. The US depends on force multipliers like aviation to make it viable. Russia has effective anti-aircraft and aerospace forces near-peer enough to take on the NATO (US) and can easily negate their effect. Precision weapons to take out all runways and supply dumps negates the NATO ability to fight. They still organize as in WWII so easily defeated. Another thing is Russian weapons systems are designed for real combat by real men in harsh conditions. They are far simpler, more robust, repairable in the field, and can be managed by relatively unspecialized soldiers. Western stuff is delicate and requires a lot of training and specialization. Russian aircraft, as an example, all have screens to keep debris out of the engine intakes so can take off and land on damaged runways. If you look at USAF runways they must do a walk down the runway every day usually with 50 or so men to remove pebbles and small items which if ingested into the engines will destroy them. Russia doesn’t bother as it isn’t a factor at all. This is why a single cruise missile can take out a runway for days. It is like that for everything. MiA2 tanks use turbine engines and have zero user maintenance. They must be returned to depot maintenance for air filter changes etc. every 100 hours. They also consume massive amounts of JP4 which is more needed for aviation assets (and command HQ which runs turbine generators and requires 10,000 liters a day to operate) than tanks. My point is Russia designs and trains to fight actual peer adversaries. Additionally, without aviation dominance, the US cannot re-supply at all. If you examine where the S-500 batteries are located they cover all of Europe. This doesn’t even get into Russian jamming and EMP weapons which we haven’t seen much of yet.

Posted by: Old Microbiologist

An observation from reading the Russian intelligence reports on the 2003 Iraq invasion. (Stolzuntermensch’a site) All the things western analysts are saying the Russian army is going through reads like a recap of what the US/UK experienced in Iraq. It was a comedy of errors replete with running out of fuel, not having enough reserves because they just thought it would be a pleasant trip to Baghdad. The tanks didn’t work because it was sandy, the fancy imaging gear didn’t work because it was sandy, the air support they depended on couldn’t fly when it was sandy.

There were command demands that objectives be captured in a set time because of the schedule and perception. The whole thing almost failed miserably because it was poorly planned and poorly executed. The mighty US army was nearly beaten by Iraq after a decade of sanctions. The US finally “gave up” securing actual military victories, raced to the government buildings of Baghdad, took them and declared victory. While settling in for a long insurgency it is still losing.

It becomes clear that the US expectation was that Russia would act the same as the US and obviously suffer the same setbacks. That does not appear to be happening beyond the scale of all military operations not happening just as planned. NATO isn’t coming to save the day, it’s scared. It’s been 20 years since it almost got whipped by a force nothing like Russia and in an environment that should have given the US a massive advantage. In fact if not for limited Iraqi mobility on open ground against US air power, the US may well have lost.

Of particular note is an editorial that to fight the US, Russia would have to invest in air defenses and combining air defense with the Air Force was a terrible mistake. It does, however, look the Russian military took the advice to heart and concentrated on air defense systems over fighters.

The second phase of the military operation has begun. Russia first used hypersonic missile “Daggers” and began to destroy entire brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, now the fighting will be tougher

At today’s briefing of the Ministry of Defense, information was announced about the use of the Bastion and Dagger complexes as part of a special military operation. This is the first officially confirmed use of these types of weapons in a real conflict.

This fact, as well as the emerging information about the successful use of cruise missiles against the mercenary base near Lvov and the location of the 79th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Nikolaev, suggests that Russia, with a high degree of probability, has begun the second phase of the NMD. And now, unlike the first stage, the conduct of hostilities is built not on the classical concept of a large-scale offensive, but on the principles of “new generation” armed conflicts, when, instead of a ground offensive, priority is given to the use of long-range precision weapons and mobile special-purpose sabotage groups. Such an approach, although it will require more time for the complete demilitarization of Ukraine, will significantly reduce the possible losses of regular ground formations of the RF Armed Forces.

Thus, the military operation is increasingly beginning to look like a tough modern war by all the rules, which greatly frightens the Ukrainian leadership, which is increasingly turning to NATO with a request to create a no-fly zone. However, predictably, there is no talk of any no-fly zone.

*

More and more details on the results of the strike on a military base near Lviv

According to radio interception, losses among foreign mercenaries and special forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine as a result of a strike on a base near Lvov have already amounted to at least 267

According to 50-year-old Peter from Austria, who was a member of the “International Legion of Ukraine”, on the basis of the Yavoriv training ground, at the time of the strike of the Russian Aerospace Forces there were from 800 to a thousand foreigners.

The wounded are still being taken out – about 450/300 have been evacuated to Poland.

Many have burns to their faces and bodies, and some have their limbs torn off.

The number of missing people, who are under the rubble of the corps, in which there were American, Romanian and Polish mercenaries, is not yet completely known.

Arms deliveries worth $400 million have been completely destroyed.

Among the dead are a large number of officers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and former NATO officers.

The authorities of Ukraine and the United States carefully hide the real scale of the losses, secretly raking up the consequences of a successful attack by the Russian Armed Forces.

After the incident, the enthusiasm of mercenaries from all over the world noticeably faded.

An Austrian mercenary said this about the strike on the Yavorovsky training ground: “These people will all die, no one will get out of here alive!”

Numerousprotests are taking place in Bulgaria in support of the Russian special operation, as well as for the withdrawal of Bulgaria from NATO and the withdrawal of NATO from Bulgaria :

*

In my German city people hoard sunflower oil at the moment, whether to use it as alternative fuel or for food prepairing is unknown to me, but either is obviously stupid. Furthermore, about the “solidarity with Ukraine”: in the last 30 neoliberal years, the concept of solidarity was at least suspicious of socialism and therefore barely mentioned – after all it doesn’t fit the neoliberal and social-darwinistic narrative of a society of competition. It got revived for covid, ridiculously, all the no-vaxxers were accused of being unsolidary. And now all of Germany “stands together with Ukraine in solidarity”. The last time I heard those words as often was back pre- 1989 in East Germany. Of course back then we stood together with the Soviet Union in Solidarity. Or Cuba. Or Nicaragua. How time changes…or maybe doesn’t.

Also, I’m pretty sure the situation in Germany is at least partly caused by “vorauseilendem Gehorsam” – which translates into anticipatory obedience. I don’t know if it’s a specific German trait, but it surely is quite prevalent here. Any small business knows about virtue signalling nowadays and wants to be first to show they belong to the right side. Bakeries selling cake in blue and yellow. It’s beyond ridiculous, it’s disgusting, but the absolut majority of them really don’t know any better. And as if the last century wasn’t enough – every day now I feel more ashamed for my country and people.

Propaganda in the West has created false expectations of Ukrainian success, retired US officer says

Russia has largely achieved its objective of neutralizing the Ukrainian military, but Western governments mistakenly believe the deliberate progress designed to avoid civilian casualties reflects weakness and are funneling weapons to prolong the fighting, a former top Pentagon adviser has said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has given strict orders from the outset to avoid civilian casualties and extensive property damage, retired US Army Colonel Douglas Macgregor told the Grayzone in an extensive interview on Tuesday.

This has slowed the Russians’ advance “to the point where it has given false hope both to the Ukrainians … but seized on by people in the West, to try and convince the world that a defeat is in progress, when in fact the opposite is the case,” Macgregor said.

“The war, for all intents and purposes, has been decided,” the retired colonel said. “The entire operation from day one was focused on the destruction of Ukrainian forces. That’s largely complete.”

The Ukrainian units still active “are completely surrounded, cut off and isolated in various towns and cities,” said Macgregor, including as many as 60,000 on the border with Donetsk, whose supplies are likely running out by now.

Media coverage of the fighting, however, ignores this reality and paints a picture of the Russian military being “inept” – in the words of some US senators – because it didn’t defeat Kiev in mere days. This is then used as an argument by advocates of NATO intervention and a “no-fly zone,” but also those who wish to send more weapons to Kiev.

“It’s very obvious Washington wants this to continue as long as possible, in hopes Russia would be desperately harmed. I just don’t see that happening,”Macgregor told Grayzone on Tuesday.

The biggest problem right now is that “in the West, there is no truth. There is wishful thinking and there is this impression of success by the Ukrainians that doesn’t stack up,” the colonel added. “The biggest lie I’ve heard repeated on television is, Russian troops have been told to deliberately murder Ukrainian civilians. That’s absurd, it’s nonsense.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked the US Congress on Wednesday to send fighter jets, air defense missiles and other weapons to Kiev, as well as establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine, so his army could defeat Russia. He made the same argument to Canadian lawmakers on Tuesday.

Macgregor, however, believes that such shipments will have no effect and that Zelensky’s refusal to negotiate an armistice is only going to get more Ukrainians killed.

via RT

Beijing said that the US defense department controls 336 laboratories around the world

China’s foreign ministry has called on the US to disclose information on the Pentagon’s alleged biological laboratories in Ukraine “as soon as possible”.

On Monday, the Russian military said Ukrainian authorities had been destroying pathogens studied at its laboratories. Moscow claimed that 30 US-financed Ukrainian biolabs have been actively cooperating with the American military.

Kiev has denied developing bioweapons. According to the website of the US embassy in Kiev, the US Department of Defense’s Biological Threat Reduction Program only “collaborates with partner countries to counter the threat of outbreaks” of infectious diseases. In 2020, the embassy called such theories about US-funded biolabs in Ukraine “disinformation.”

Speaking at a press briefing on Tuesday, however, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian claimed that, according to his country’s information, the laboratories in Ukraine are just “a tip of an iceberg” and that the US Department of Defense “controls 336 biological laboratories in 30 countries around the world.” This is done under the pretext of “cooperating to reduce biosecurity risks” and “strengthening global public health,” Zhao said.

It is the first time that Beijing has disclosed the alleged figure. Zhao said that according to data “released by the United States itself,” there are 26 US laboratories in Ukraine. In light of Russia’s military offensive in the country, he urged “all parties concerned” to ensure the safety of the labs.

“In particular, the United States, as the party which knows these laboratories best, should publish the relevant details as soon as possible, including which viruses are stored and which research has been carried out,” he said.

He claimed the US “has been exclusively obstructing” the establishment of an independent verification mechanism. Such behavior, Zhao said, “further aggravates the concerns of the international community.”

According to a report in The Rio Times, the US embassy in Ukraine deleted all information about Pentagon-financed bio-labs in the country from its website on February 26. However, journalist Dilyana Gaytandzhieva claimed embassy staff forgot to remove a document showing that the Pentagon is funding two new biolabs in Kiev and Odessa.

“Ukraine has no control over the military biolabs. The Ukrainian government is not allowed to release sensitive information about the program,” the Brazilian news outlet claimed.

Over the past 20 years, the Science and Technology Center in Ukraine, jointly established with the United States, invested over $285 million in about 1,850 projects carried out by scientists who, according to Gaytandzhieva, previously worked on the development of weapons of mass destruction.

US authorities are yet to comment on the latest claims.

At the same time, the US has “covered” Ukraine with a network of biolaboratories linked to the Pentagon, the Russian Defense Ministry says

The Ukrainian authorities have been urgently destroying pathogens studied at its laboratories linked to the US Department of Defense, the Russian military claimed on Monday, adding that such activities hint at the military purposes of these studies.

As many as 30 biological laboratories have been established in Ukraine that are actively cooperating with the US military, the commander of the Russian radiological, chemical and biological defense force, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, said at a news briefing on Monday.

The list of these laboratories’ partners includes the Pentagon’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) – the largest biomedical research facility administered by the US military; the general added.

Many of these laboratories have been active since the 2014 coup d’état in Ukraine and their emergence in the country has coincided with a spike in infectious diseases in the region, including German measles, diphtheria and tuberculosis, the Russian military said.

After the Russian forces launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24, these laboratories started hastily destroying the materials they had been working on, including the highly pathogenic bacterial and viral agents, Kirillov has said, adding that Moscow has obtained documents related to that process.

Analysis of the documents shows that the laboratories had been working with dangerous infections such as anthrax and the plague. “Assortment and the excessive quantity of the biological agents suggest that the work done in these laboratories had been part of some military biological programs,” the general has said, adding that just one such laboratory in the western Ukrainian city of Lvov had destroyed as many as 320 containers with pathogens causing plague, swamp fever and Malta fever among others.

“If these collections fall into the hands of the Russian experts, they will highly likely prove Ukraine and the US have been in violation of the Biological Weapons Convention,” Kirillov has said, adding that “this is the only reason that can explain the hasty destruction” of those materials.

The general has also expressed his concerns that all the biological materials needed for the alleged military biological program to continue had been already transported to the US.

Kiev has denied developing bioweapons, and Washington has not commented on the Russian military statements so far.

Moscow has been raising alarm about the activities of the US-financed biological laboratories located in the former Soviet states for quite some time. Earlier, it pointed to the Lugar Research Center – a US-funded laboratory in Georgia – as a place where some dangerous experiments are being conducted.

The Pentagon brushed off such accusations as a “Russian disinformation campaign” at that time.

Authored by Zachary Steiber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

US soldiers walk in Poland near the border with Ukraine on March 3, 2022. (Wojtek Radwanski/AFP via Getty Images)

Most Americans don’t support the idea of sending U.S. troops to Ukraine to help Ukrainian forces fight against Russian personnel, according to surveys.

Just 19 percent of respondents to an Economist/YouGov poll said sending U.S. soldiers to Ukraine is a good idea, compared to 54 percent who thought it was a bad idea. The rest weren’t sure.

More respondents, 33 percent, said it was a good idea to send soldiers to Ukraine “to provide help,” but not to fight Russian soldiers.

Sixty-three percent of respondents to a Reuters/Ipsos poll (pdf) said the United States should not send troops to Ukraine to help defend Ukraine from the Russians. The rest said troops should be sent.

The same division was seen when asked if the United States should conduct airstrikes against Russian forces, and a plurality of respondents to the YouGov survey opposed the United States conducting drone strikes against the Russians.

A majority of respondents to a poll (pdf) from SSRS for CNN also opposed the United States taking military action to stop Russia.

President Joe Biden has vowed not to send U.S. troops to Ukraine in the wake of the Feb. 24 Russian invasion.

“Let me be clear: Our forces are not engaged and will not engage in the conflict with Russian forces in Ukraine,” the Democrat said during his State of the Union speech.

Biden’s administration has sent troops to Europe and the president has committed to joining the fight if Russia attacks any North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies.

The administration has also shipped weapons and other military aid to Ukraine to help Ukrainian troops fight back against the invasion.

According to the surveys, most Americans support helping Ukraine.

A plurality of respondents told YouGov that it would be a good idea to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine, even though many experts have warned that would mean the United States had joined the war on the Ukrainian side.

Many respondents to the polls support providing weapons to Ukraine and imposing additional sanctions against Russia. Nearly half of respondents to YouGov said Ukraine should be allowed to join NATO; about a third were unsure.

A minority of U.S. lawmakers say the United States should impose a no-fly zone or otherwise get more directly involved in the war, but most have said the current level of involvement is appropriate.

The YouGov poll was conducted from Feb. 26 to March 1 and had 1,500 respondents and a margin of error of about 3 percent. The Ipsos survey was conducted from Feb. 28 through March 1, had a sample of 1,005 adults, and had a margin of sampling error of 3.8 percent. The SSRS survey was conducted on Feb. 25 and Feb. 26, with a sample of 1,001 respondents. It had a margin of sampling error of about 4 percent.

Other countries have also opposed so far sending their troops to Ukraine, including 40 percent of British respondents to a poll by Redfield and Winton.

by Andrew Anglin via Daily Stormer

A Ukrainian people’s resistance movement in Kiev prepares for the Russian attack.

Photos emerging from the conflict zone in the Ukraine show Ukrainian civilian resistance fighters looking joyful as they prepare to defend their homeland, while Russians are seen looking depressed and downtrodden as they forgot to bring gas for their tanks.

Russia invaded the Ukraine last week because Vladimir Putin is a dictator who insists he will rebuild the Soviet Union.

Josef Konisky owned a pastry shop in Kiev before the invasion began, and he decided to take up arms against the brutal Russian invasion. He now leads a band of rebels who he says are “ready to fight to the last man” to defend democracy and freedom.

Josef Konisky, Ukrainian pastry shop owner turned militia leader

The Times spoke to Konisky, who said that “desperate times call for desperate measures, and I will do everything to protect my homeland and defend the freedom of our democracy.”

Konisky laughed when shown pictures of Russian fighters on their way to Kiev who had to stop the movement of their military convoy because they forgot to bring gas.

Russian soldiers seen looking irritated as they realize that their convoy cannot move forward because they forgot to bring gas for their trucks and tanks.

Konisky was not surprised that the Russians would make a mistake like this, referring to the enemy as “dumb animals.”

“Russians think they are good at war, but they know nothing about the strength and heart of the Ukrainian people. They forget to bring gas, but soon they will forget everything, when we blow their brains out of their skulls,” Konisky explained.

Russians soldiers seen piled on a truck, headed back to Russia to pick up the gas they forgot.

“I never want a war,” Konisky told the Times. “I am happy with my life, with my freedom. I make cherry pies, pretzel buns, and fish cakes. But Russians bring the war to us, and we will not bow down.”

“My men are ready for anything. We have already killed over 4,000 Russian soldiers attempting to enter the city,” he said.

One of Konisky’s men, Volo Krensky, who is only 11 years old, has already had 160 confirmed kills, and was able to shoot down two Russian helicopters with his AK-47.

Volo Krensky is only 11, but has killed over 150 Russian soldiers while defending Kiev.

“The key is to aim at the rotors,” Volo told the Times when explaining how he was able to shoot down helicopters. “When the rotors have holes in them, air gets through, and it causes the helicopter to crash.”

Koninsky also explained his anti-tank strategy.

“We fill balloons with paint, and throw them at the tanks, and it disables them,” he said. “Often, we send young children on these anti-tank missions, as they are smaller and harder to hit.”

Konisky said that he did not know that you could take out a tank with a balloon, but he read it from an American journalist on Twitter, and has found the technique extremely efficient. He says his team has taken out more than 200 tanks using balloons.

He says that his team spends hours each day scanning Twitter for tactical advice from American journalists.

Konisky’s squad is so effective that Vladimir Putin has personally addressed him, putting a bounty on his head. He passed out pamphlets to his soldiers reading “Get Konisky.”

The brutal Russian dictator, who been using cluster bombs in Kiev to kill children, gave a special address calling out Koninsky as the chief threat to his aggressive war effort.

Konisky’s deadly band has gotten so famous in the Ukraine and across the world that Joe Biden addressed him personally at his State of the Union address, ending his address with “Koninsky – go get him.”

Note: There might be traces of humor in this piece.

📨Message from China to the U.S

“Your military will be reduced into scrap iron”

In short:
“Stop causing and hyping unnecessary tensions between us (China) and Taiwan because you’re provoking us and putting our security at risk, we shall respond”

Zikhala everywhere now 🤧🔥 pic.twitter.com/1cWJfHWwbU

— Sphithiphithi Evaluator (@_AfricanSoil) March 2, 2022