While I was gone on a 'Get Away from it All'-trip in Asia, lots of things happened. On 'X' I offered my points of view as 'threads', and as comments below the observations or breaking news of others. I noticed that visitors to this blog kept coming at intervals, although there were no new contributions. But let's go and restart the engine.
By now I've got this creepy feeling that Europe and the US are competing for the 'Gotham-Trophy', trying to resemble the infamous, disorderly, decadent city-state created by DC-Comics. Could be my age, right? And others will be offended as they themselves try to portray the recently reelected Putin as the 'Joker', pointing to gruesome pictures, videos and stories emerging from Russia where arresting four suspects of a horrible shooting and bombing of the 'Crocus' complex left the suspects pretty beaten up, and otherwise exposed to torture.
On 'X' I reminded those who responded with blistering outrage to such inhumane treatment of mere suspects that we've all seen the pictures from Abu Ghraib, read the reports about 'Extraordinary Rendition' and subsequent torture in countries like Libya, Syria, Afghanistan and Egypt, and that we are aware of Guantanamo, and how 'waterboarding' was invented by the American 'experts', and somehow declared legal. Abu Ghraib resulted in some 'grunts' being thrown in jail, while the 'Big Shots' avoided punishment, or got promoted. And then there was 'Collateral Murder' which landed Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange in jail for revealing it.
Though Israel has been more careful to control the news generated by the way they treat suspects, recent videos emerging from Gaza have no difficulty competing with the stuff coming out of Russia. And unlike Russia, Israel nor the US are strong in taking terrorists to court, as they either lock them up without presenting them to a judge, or they kill them. The killings often cause plenty of civilians to perish as well. But before we get all teary-eyed over what those poor terrorists have to go through, we must understand that they themselves top the list when it comes to treating people in inhumane ways.
Inspiring this approach of accepting the 'Law of the Jungle' to trump regular legal protection and precautions was Colonel Kurtz, the fictitious character from Francis Ford Coppola's epic movie 'Apocalypse Now', rendered immortal by Marlon Brando. The above serves to underpin the notion that the West is often doing its utmost to hide their lack of humanity when it comes to dealing with grave danger, so as not to disturb the tranquility of a blissful society where 'democracy' is King. I'm already on record as an advocate for a 'constitutional republic' instead, since a veritable democracy is bound to end in senseless murder and mayhem, and the dictatorial practices of a 'majority', lead by cynical 'people managers' using 'scientific' methods to render them stupid, and create a 'Gotham' reality where everyone can 'vote' on anything.
Those four Tajik nationals are going to have their day in court, but I do understand why the Russian authorities were craving to know some details about their network fast, and that 'by the book' with an attorney present was considered too much of a risk. Note that on March 7 the FSB caught a terrorist cell in Moscow preparing to strike at a synagogue in the city. Immediately after this success the US embassy in Moscow issued a warning to all Americans remaining in Moscow to avoid large groups for the following forty eight hours. The apparent fear was that elements of this group could still be at large, posing an imminent danger. This statement was later promoted as 'advance warning' for the attack on 'Crocus', claiming Russia had been aware through the US 'sharing' this info. ABC and CNN also mentioned that 'anonymous sources' had told the Russians about an upcoming attack on March 19th, but the Russians flat out denied they got anything of any value from the Americans on anything, and that all the US was trying to do, was aimed at crippling the Russian economy, and causing panic.
Hence this suggestion by Putin that 'IS' is merely a 'cutout' for the real perpetrators, Ukraine and their NATO allies, since both are on record of having used Muslim extremists as mercenaries and proxies, both in Russia, China and Iran, as well as in Afghanistan and the 'border states' between Russia and China, to sow discord and destroy fragile bonds in the region. Tajikistan is a very poor independent nation with a Muslim majority, of which some are 'radicalised' and active as 'cells' at the disposal of what used to be called 'IS' in its glory days, or 'Al Qaeda' before that. Multiple stories spread in the Media by the 'Usual Suspects' about Russia luring/forcing Tajik people into the service of their military most certainly didn't hurt the intentions of the West to point their 'IS'-friends in the country in the direction of Moscow as a common enemy. But since the four terrorists were caught fairly close to the border with Ukraine, it was most certainly not without ground that Putin mentioned Ukraine as the most likely mastermind behind that attack on 'Crocus'. The Ukraine supporters are insisting that we need to look no further than 'IS', but where are they located today, outside Idlib? And why are they fighting in Ukraine together with NATO? Let's draw the conclusion that Bush's 'call to duty' after '9/11', telling us that everybody who would not be joining the US in its war on terror, was 'with the terrorists', does require some pretty amazing chicanery today to make that narrative fit inside your head.
Yesterday the Russians used a Zircon hypersonic missile to destroy the SBU-headquarters, which may be seen as an 'intermediate' answer, while Russia waits for more information from the network behind the four culprits in custody. 'Cells' like this need pretty extensive support to avoid getting caught before they become 'active'. Meanwhile Ukraine is claiming its own successes using long range missiles and drones, and we've seen fires at oil refineries and depots. According to Russian claims these were more often not due to direct hits, but caused by the remnants of targets hit by air defense. Whatever. The 'White House' apparently didn't approve of such strikes, fearing that sharply rising oil prices would kill what is left of the European economy, now serving as the 'Bank of Last Resort' for Ukraine, and therefore rendering it suicide, while killing the prospects for Biden to find enough votes to get reelected in November. Moreover, smaller production at elevated prices doesn't hurt Russia.
France meanwhile made some 'moves' which probed the waters to test how Russia would respond to using French soldiers as 'human shields' to protect NATO-interests, predominantly Odessa, and avoid a total collapse of Ukraine as the Russians also broke through the secondary defense belt, with NATO still struggling to find ammo and weapons for Ukraine, even as Ukraine is getting ready to mobilise the women since they ran out of men. Macron got his answer from the French speaking deputy speaker of the Duma, who told a journalist that any French soldier setting foot in Ukraine would return in a body bag. Macron told his own audience that the Russians are 'nervous', but call me names if you must, I do not see them breaking a sweat yet.
My observations are regularly classified as typical for a 'Putin shill', but I do not maintain intimate ties with the Kremlin, any associated party, or Russian state-media, and my predictions and analysis are my own. I do not have to look for sources promoting the NATO-side of the argument, as they are being shoved down my throat in my 'time-line' on 'X' on a daily basis. I do not want one side or the other to 'win conclusively', as I can see only one party in the conflict still capable of 'winning conclusively', and that is Russia. Even the thought of 'Gotham' creating something of a threat seems laughable to me, under the circumstances. These 'Jokers' are good at 'Tricks and Treats' to bring chaos and destruction, and I certainly do not dismiss their formidable arsenal of 'Gadgets', huge carriers presenting themselves as the perfect target for hypersonic missiles, and polished shoes for the parade, but I'm afraid that they lost track of demands placed on men and equipment in a classic 'forbidding' war where you need easy to use, easy to maintain stuff which does not stress your logistics to its breaking point even before the first shot has been fired. David is going to beat Goliath, where this giant is NATO, spending around 75% of the annual total in weapons sales on inflated 'Gadgets' which look good in the folder, but fail to perform as advertised. Limit the number of casualties and uninsured damage by coming to terms with reality now, or regret it.