Pepe Escobar - Spring Fails in Ukranian Plunderland...

[truth2power]

Cross-posted from GD


http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article37859.htm

Escobar pretty much summarizes the current situation, and with sardonic humor, even.

...snip

Putin's assessment of what happened in Ukraine is factually correct; "an anti-constitutional takeover and armed seizure of power". It's open to endless, mostly nasty debate whether the Kremlin overreacted or not. Considering the record of outright demonization of both Russia and Putin going on for years - and now reaching fever pitch - the Kremlin's swift reaction was quite measured.

Putin applied Sun Tzu to the letter, and now plays the US against the EU. He has made it clear Moscow does not need to "invade" Ukraine. The 1997 Ukraine-Russia partition treaty specifically allows Russian troops in Crimea. And Russia after all is an active proponent of state sovereignty; it's under this principle that Moscow refuses a Western "intervention" in Syria.

What he left the door open for is - oh cosmic irony of ironies - an American invention/intervention (and that, predictably, was undetectable by Western corporate media); the UN's R2P - "responsibility to protect" - in case the Western-aligned fascists and neo-nazis in Ukraine threaten Russians or Russian-speaking civilians with armed conflict. Samantha Power should be proud of herself.

Don't mess with Russian intelligence
The "West" once again has learned you don't mess with Russian intelligence, which in a nutshell preempted in Crimea a replica of the coup in Kiev, largely precipitated by UNA-UNSO - a shady, ultra-rightwing, crack paramilitary NATO-linked force using Ukraine as base, as exposed by William Engdahl.

.....More at link

[KoKo]

1. Interesting read from Pepe...

This was an interesting revelation from Pepe that relates to International Business regarding Currency:

And here is Russian President Vladimir Putin, already last year, talking about how Russia and China decided to trade in roubles and yuan, and stressing how Russia needs to quit the "excessive monopoly" of the US dollar. He had to be aware the Empire would strike back.

Now there's more; Russian presidential adviser Sergey Glazyev told RIA Novosti, "Russia will abandon the US dollar as a reserve currency if the United States initiates sanctions against the Russian Federation."

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Another interesting revelation that I don't hear anyone talking about is Russia's Under Sea Pipelines (one completed and one under construction) which means that it isn't as dependent on it's "above ground" pipelines that go through Ukraine. I wonder how that changes things for Ukraine..? Would this mean Ukraine might want to go for Fracking and that might be another stimulis for aligning with EU and US for the Oligarchs?

He is always a fun and interesting read. And this report did give some new info that we aren't hearing or reading anywhere else.

Thanks for posting here.

[truth2power]

2. Yes, that is interesting about the currency, isn't it?...

I think Putin has Obama by the short hairs. Which would be some sort of karma, I suppose. The US has been bullying everyone on the planet for so long. I think all bullys should eventually get their comeuppance, and the US is no exception.

"He <Putin> had to be aware the Empire would strike back." It's always about money, isn't it? And that applies from Iran/Mossedegh in the 50's to MLK who began to shift from civil rights to economic rights when he aligned himself with the garbage workers. I think that was the last straw for the oligarchs/banksters and he had to be taken out. JMHO.

And Gaddafi was not the monster portrayed, generally, on DU. But it was about economics, again. The Libyan people, under Gaddafi, had the highest human development index of any country on the African continent. Now, after our meddling, by all reports it doesn't even have a functioning government.

We've moved on from Libya to impose the same pattern on other countries, again and again and again. And where is the journalist who can report from 'on the ground' in Libya as to what it's like there now? Well, we're done with it. Move on. Hillary said, "We came, we saw, he died. <cackle, cackle>" I will NEVER forget that. UGH!!

The criminal enterprise, Goldman Sachs, came to Libya and screwed them over. Gaddafi's people sent them packing, to the extent that they <Goldman> had to have security escorts to the airport. I guess if anyone Googles "Goldman Sachs + Gaddafi" They'd find it.

That little incident,and that Gaddafi wanted a pan-African bank probably sealed Gaddafi's fate. Enter the jackals.

Re: Libya, I would recommend a book, "Slouching Toward Sirte: NATO's War on Libya and Africa. I had to order it through inter-library loan from another part of the state. I had to return it after 3 weeks and couldn't finish it. It's not that I couldn't read it in that amount of time, but it was too painful to read in more than small bites. I may be able to get it thru an Amazon secondary seller for an affordable price.

I am so sorry to go on and on, but there is so much that can't be said in GD without being set upon by the harpies. I hope that doesn't happen here. My apologies.