(FROM LAST YEAR) The Downing of Malaysian Airlines MH17: A Conspiracy Within a Conspiracy

Since this article is fairly long and in-depth, I've created a video version of it below: 

"History is a capricious creature.
It depends on who writes it."

- Former Soviet Premier, Mikhail Gorbachev
One of the Kremlin's primary strategic objectives is controlling the historical narrative.  In it's competition with Western democracies, Russian "intelligence" long ago realized that shaping popular Western opinion was the effective way to shape the West's foreign policies since democratic states, in contrast to authoritarian states, are ultimately managed by public choice.  Hence, by shaping the historical narrative Westerners believe in, the Kremlin can effectively direct the U.S. and its allies in whatever way Moscow's ruling elite deems most strategic.
Last week Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down by a BUK (SA-11) surface-to-air missile over the Donetsk region of Ukraine where Russian 'separatists' are fighting with Ukrainian military forces.  The narrative the world is supposed to believe is that this occurred because Russian separatists, enabled by Moscow, accidentally shot down the passenger airliner, mistaking it for a Ukrainian military aircraft.   From RussiaToday:

Unnamed US officials are telling Associated Press that their intelligence suggests Malaysia plane shot down by anti-Kiev militia, no link to Russia found. 

Officials believe that the passenger aircraft was intercepted by an SA-11 surface-to-air missile, which was fired by Ukrainian militia members. One official said the likeliest explanation was the aircraft was shot down in error, an assertion that seem to be bolstered by the previous downing of 12 Ukrainian military aircraft by militants in the region. 

Intelligence suggests that, although the US maintains that Russia "created the conditions" that led to the incident, officials were not aware of the presence of any Russians during the missile launch, and would not confirm that the missile crew was trained in Russia.

Is this narrative true?  
U.S. 'intelligence' (an oxymoron if ever there was one) appears to think so. 
Is the only conspiracy here the attempt by Russia's government to cover-up its involvement in shooting down Flight MH17?  Or is there a grander conspiracy at work?
For the truth, let's start at the beginning of the Flight MH17 narrative.
JUMPING THE GUN
Just before the the crash of Flight MH17, Russian stocks dived.  As can been seen, the U.S. traded Russia ETF (RSX) plunged around four percent at the opening in New York:

This opening plunge occurred at 9:30 EDT, almost an hour before Flight MH17 crashed.  A further drop in RSX occurred once news hit that the Malaysian Airlines passenger jet was shot down over eastern Ukraine, but this subsequent fall was smaller than what occurred at the open.    Were some investors in Russian stocks aware ahead of time of what was about to happen?
There's a case to be made of Russian foreknowledge of the downing of MH17.
From The U.K. Telegraph article, "Malaysia Airlines plane crash - July 17 as it happened", we see that the MH17 crash timeline began as follows:

16.15 Interfax news agency are claiming that a Malaysian passenger plane has crashed in Ukraine, near the Russian border. 

"A Boeing Malaysian Airlines that was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur began to descend about 50km before entering Russian airspace, and was subsequently found burning on the ground in kraine," an aviation source told Interfax. 

Interfax said that 295 people were on board at the time.

What's interesting about this is the second event in the Telegraph's timeline:

16.20 The plane is thought to have crashed near Shaktersk.

Is this timing correct?  Let's check the MH17 flight data:

The last time the position of Flight MH17 was reported before it disappeared from radar was 1:20pm UTC which is 16:20 UK time, so the missile struck and plane crashed just after that moment.
But if Flight MH17 crashed after 16:20 UK time, how is it that Russia's Interfax news agency reported the crash at 16:15 UK time?  Surely this must somehow be mistaken.
Is it?
Let's check the UK Mail Online on this point.  From the article, "Did MH17 pilot divert INTO the danger zone? Aviation expert claims captain made last-minute change of course over Ukraine because he 'felt uncomfortable", we read:

It's also suspicious, Dr Sutyagin said, that Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported the crash at 16.13 Moscow time, several minutes before the crash actually happened - at 16.20. 

'The plane is safely in the sky, and RIA Novosti publishes information that it has been shot down,' he said.

How interesting; two separate Russian news agencies, Interfax and RIA Novosti, seem to have literally jumped the gun in reporting the downing of Flight Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17.  It's almost as if Russia's news services had the story ready-to-go and mistakenly released news of the planned tragedy before it happened.
One can dismiss this seeming Russian foreknowledge of the downing of MH17 as Russian investors spooked by news of new sanctions and errors on the part of UK news agencies, but there are other other reasons to be suspicious about the MH17 narrative to-date.
SOME MISTAKE
To believe that Russian separatists accidentally shot down Flight MH17, one has to buy the idea that the militants didn't realize they were firing their newly acquired BUK missile system upon a commercial airliner as opposed to a Ukrainian warplane.  However, this is hard to believe.
From the UK Daily Mail Online article, "Was MH17 flying through warzone to save fuel?":

Prof Shanks said it was 'extremely unusual' for political disputes to spill over and endanger the lives of civilians travelling in commercial flights in the skies above. 

And he suggested those behind the shooting 'deliberately' targeted a passenger plane as it would have been obvious from its appearance that it was a commercial aircraft and posed no military threat. 

He said: 'This is probably the first time this has happened in recent history. The aircraft was flying at such a height that it is unlikely to have been a military aircraft. 

'You would be able to tell it was a civilian aircraft not a military aircraft with the naked eye because of the jet plumes behind it. 

'This would almost certainly have to be a deliberate act, for whatever reason - we can only speculate. 

'It should have been quite visible to people on the ground that it was a civilian aircraft, by the size of it and the shape of it. Anyone who has looked at a civilian aircraft or large military aircraft will know the difference.'

In fact, whoever shot down Flight MH17 could have determined they were targeting a commercial airliner simply by checking with a cell phone: 

Technology available to anyone with a smartphone allows aircraft easily to be tracked - with real-time details of airline, flight number, heading and altitude provided.

So the world is left to believe that Russian separatists, newly equipped with a BUK launcher that can shoot down planes up to 50000 feet in the sky, forewent using their cell phones or even their very eyes in firing off a missile towards a large target 33000 feet high flying where passenger airlines pass with regular frequency.  
That's a pretty far-fetched narrative to buy into IMHO.
INTERCEPT IDIOCY
In the immediate wake of the crash, Ukraine's intelligence agency (SBU) released purported communications intercepts between Russian separatists fighting in the eastern Ukraine that implicated the separatists in shooting down the Malaysian airliner:

Note the conversation between Cossack leader Nikolai Kozitsyn and a militant at the 1:50 mark in the YouTube video above.  Here's what's interesting about this conversation where Kozitsyn suggests the Malaysian passenger flight must have been "bringing spies".  
In early June, Cossack Kozitysn had another conversation intercepted by the SBU that implicated him in terrorism inside Ukraine.  This intercept is highlighted in an online "Ukraine Investigation" posted on a web site dubbed, "RUSSIAN COSSACKS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR TERROR IN UKRAINE (INTERCEPTED CONVERSATION)".

If Cossack Kozitsyn had a conversation intercepted in early June implicating him in Ukraine terrorism, why would he be so foolish as to engage in another communication after the downing of Flight MH17 that would implicate him in an incident for which he could be held accountable by the international community?  
It strikes me that there are two possibilities here.  One is that Kozitsyn used the same means of communication he had used in June knowing that the SBU would likely intercept his conversation.  The second possibility is that these revealing intercepts were created by the SBU in concert with Russian intelligenece to help forge a historical narrative for the world to believe.
While the latter may seem hard to believe, one should bear in mind that less than a year ago the SBU was tightly controlled by Moscow under the Russian-serving Yanukovych Administration. What's more, the SBU was clandestinely instrumental in the seeming revolution by pro-Western forces that most likely was not what it appeared to be, something I highlighted earlier this year.  
Is everyone really so foolish as to believe the SBU suddenly switched to working for a Western-oriented Ukraine government at the flip of a political switch?  Did the Russian KGB changing its name to the FSB really mean a difference?
If you have trouble believing that Ukraine authorities may have had a hand in concocting a historical narrative written ahead of time by the Kremlin, then I suggest you consider another mysterious part of this tale.
MYSTERIOUS OVERSIGHT BY UKRAINE AUTHORITIES
Why were passenger airlines being permitted to fly over the war zone in eastern Ukraine in the first place?
From the Wall Street Journal article, "Ukraine Knew of Separatists' Air-Defense Capabilities, Say Officials":

Ukraine intelligence officials said they knew three days before the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 that rebels in the east of the country possessed sophisticated air-defense systems capable of felling a jetliner at altitudes in excess of where the Boeing 777 was flying. 

The disclosure deepens the mystery of why Ukrainian aviation officials failed to entirely close off the airspace in the Donetsk region, where the jet was flying went it was shot down, killing all 298 people on board. 

Three Buk-M1 medium-range antiaircraft systems, also known as the SA-11 Gadfly under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization designation, were known to be in rebel hands as early as July 14, said Vitaly Nayda, the head of the counterintelligence division of Ukraine's security service. 

Ukraine imposed a partial flight ban in the region on flights below 26,000 feet on July 1, and raised the ceiling of the exclusion area to 32,000 feet on July 14. The Malaysia Airlines plane was flying at 33,000 feet. 

The altitude restrictions on commercial flights were raised after rebel separatists backed by Moscow on July 14 shot down a Ukrainian military Antonov An-26 transport plane with eight people on board over the skies of the Luhansk region. The aircraft was flying at 21,000 feet. 

Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was not the first plane to be shot out of Ukraine's skies. The country's civil unrest between pro-Russian and pro-Ukraine forces has caused many more this month alone. 

"I can't think of any reason why you would increase a restriction to 32,000 feet when the bad boys have just demonstrated a capability to go all the way," said a European aviation safety veteran. The airspace should have been closed, he said.

What if this seeming 'mistake' by Ukrainian aviation officials was no mistake at all?
MH17's FLIGHT PATH DIVERSION
To get an idea of how far down the Rabbit Hole the real Russian MH17 conspiracy goes, let's consider the flight path diversion of the Malaysian airliner.
Many have noted that the July 17th flight path of MH17 deviated significantly from the normal route for the flight.  Normally MH17 would not fly over the Donetsk region of Ukraine where Russian separatists have recently been shooting down Ukrainian war planes.  It did, however, on July 17th:

As can be seen, over Polish air space MH17 jogged northeast for a brief time and then returned to "direct routing" following the "great circle" path to its destination which is the shortest, most fuel-efficient path interconnecting two points on the earth's sphere.  Thus, the diversion over Polish airspace was precisely what it took to get the passenger airliner to cross over the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine presuming that the pilot would thereafter follow direct routing to Kuala Lumpur. 
Did an air traffic controller in Poland intentionally reroute Flight MH17 so that it could be targeted by an SA-11 surface-to-air missile over eastern Ukraine?
Bringing Poland into the conspiratorial equation might seem like a real stretch, except Russia has made a special effort to bring the Polish government under its control.  In fact, in a very similar manner as the new MH17 tragedy, Moscow orchestrated the 2010 crash of Polish Air Force Tu-154 near the city of Smolensk, Russia, killing then president Lech Kaczyński and much of Poland's political and military high command:

The smoking gun evidence of this act of mass assassination is a cell phone video uploaded to the internet shortly after the Smolensk crash that shows Russian soldiers shooting remaining survivors on the ground in cold blood:

What is hopefully clear from the 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash is that Russia is more than depraved enough to have plotted the shoot down of Flight MH17.  Furthermore, one can only presume the government of Donald Tusk that replaced the anti-Russian Administration of Lech Kaczyński was placed there by Moscow to serve Kremlin interests.  Hence, Polish secret services, much like Ukrainian intelligence, are not to be trusted and could very well have seen to it that Flight MH17 was rerouted to pass over the war zone in eastern Ukraine to be shot down.
Of course, there's no reason to think Russia meant to target Flight MH17 specifically, although taking down a Malaysian Airliner in the wake of the disappearance of Flight MH370 might have been deemed more newsworthy.  It's possible that MH17 just happened to be the unfortunate flight selected for a target by the Russian-speaking BUK operators out of many passenger airliners that flew over the Donetsk region of Ukraine that day.  Notably, Singapore Airlines SQ351 (B777) and Air India AI113 (B787) were in the vicinity of Malaysia Airlines MH17 when it was hit by a missile.  Thus, the rerouting of Flight MH17 is not a necessary condition for the historical narrative Russia has devised.
RUSSIA'S FAILURE TO COVER-UP
One of the compelling reasons cited for Russian involvement in the downing of Flight MH17 is the apparent efforts of Russian authorities to eliminate incriminating evidence in the wake of the tragedy.  An example of this was how the BUK missile system allegedly used to take down the passenger airliner was hauled back to Russia soon after the crash.  Ukraine's interior ministry released a video which purportedly shows the BUK launcher missing two missiles thus indicating that the unit had been used:

More video of the BUK was reportedly captured soon after it crossed into Russian territory:

There's a notable difference between the two videos above.  In the first one, where you can see missing missiles, there is no tarp cover atop the BUK system.  Why is that?  If the goal was to slip the missile launcher out of Ukraine and back into Russia surreptitiously, why did the militants and/or Russians involved in the operation fail to cover the launcher up with a tarp?
Is it possible the first video showing a BUK with missing missiles reflects an effort to stir Western suspicions that Russia was involved in shooting down Flight MH17?  If so, why?
FORGIVE RUSSIA FOR WHAT?
Probably the most telling example of Moscow's MH17 machinations is that, in the wake of the tragedy, outside the Danish embassy in Moscow, Russians have purportedly left bundles of flowers, stuffed animals, and notes (written in English of course) pleading for the world to 'forgive them':

So even though Russian news media has proffered one implausible conspiracy theory after another in a seeming attempt to distance Moscow from blame in the downing of Flight MH17, the Kremlin stages a scene outside the Danish embassy to demonstrate that the Russian people really care, have a sense of what really happened and want forgiveness?  How heart-warming!  Common Russians see through the Kremlin's conspiracy to obstruct international justice, understand their government's involvement and are sorry.
Unfortunately, the truth of this historical narrative is that Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 was intentionally, not accidentally, shot down by Russia over eastern Ukraine for its own diabolical motives.  The Kremlin's ruling elite aren't sorry in the least and the Russian people are as misled as the rest of the world as to their government's twisted pursuits.
RUSSIA'S MOTIVE
I believe the true conspiracy is that Flight MH17 was shot down over the war zone in eastern Ukraine in order to internationalize the Russia-Ukraine conflict as part of the Kremlin's ultimate historical plan to wage and win a surprise third world war against the West.  The tragedy that unfolded last week was no accident.  The Kremlin wants the world to believe the downing of MH17 was the result of a mistake by Russian separatists fighting in eastern Ukraine.  What's more, Moscow is seeking to inflame Western anger by denying involvement and obstructing international efforts to investigate the crash.  
Why? 
My best guess at this point is that Russia is seeking to pick a fight with the U.S. and its allies over Ukraine in a manner that minimizes the perceived aggressiveness of Moscow.  After all, it would be awful if the war-mongering imperialist West started a world war over a Russian 'accident'!  Moscow is seeking to lure NATO into military involvement to defend Ukraine against Russian military aggression to provide an excuse for launching world war three in manner that seems 'justified':

The Soviets never start a war. By definition, the United States or, more generally speaking, "imperialism is the source of all antagonistic conflicts of the present day world, the source of war danger."[General Major A.S. Milovidov, quoted in Soviet Strategy For Nuclear War, p.98] 

It would be foolhardy, to say the least, for the West to continue to be misled into the fight Russia is itching for as this war will not end in our favor.

BREAKING NEWS: Russia Invades Ukraine

Russia is now openly invading Ukraine with regular military forces.

You can track developments at LIVEUAMAP and The Interpreter.

Notably this comes just after the U.S. stock market reached what I've been warning means the 'peak of Western Civilization' at the 2000 mark on the S&P 500 index:

Over the past two days the S&P 500 index closed at 2000.02 and 2000.12, respectively.  This is eerily similar to when the DJIA closed two days in a row at 2999.75 on July 16th and 17th of 1990 just before Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and the associated Persian Gulf Crisis that year:

As in July 1990, investors and society-as-a-whole are at an apex of manic optimism just before a depressing collapse, except this time around the breakdown will be of Grand Supercycle scale.

Meanwhile...

When will sanity be found?

UKRAINE CRISIS: Russian financial and economic warfare against the West?

"An attempt to announce sanctions would end in a crash for the financial system of the United States, which would cause the end of the domination of the United States in the global financial system." - Sergei Glazyev, Kremlin aide, 3/4/14

(NSA Official) Plunkett told CBS: “Don’t be fooled. There are absolutely nation states who have the capability and the intention to do just that,” ie “literally take down the U.S. economy.” If this revelation is widely discussed tomorrow morning, it could very well have a serious negative effect on stock prices. - Forbes, Some Foreign Nations Have The Cyberwar Capability To Destroy Our Financial System, NSA Admits, 12/15/13

Last Tuesday, the U.S. and E.U. announced new economic sanctions against Russia in response to ongoing Russian military involvement with separatists fighting in eastern Ukraine.  These new stringent sanctions that are geared to impact Moscow's access to Western capital and the Russian oil industry came in the wake of the downing of Flight MH17 over the Donetsk region of Ukraine on July 17th.

Right after this new round of sanctions was announced, a sharp sell-off in stocks began on Wall Street with dramatic reversals from the psychologically important 17000, 11000 and 6000 marks in the DJIA, NYSE and DJ Composite indices, respectively:

The drubbing on Wall Street was spearheaded by a pronounced decline in financial stocks:

The five big American investment banks, J.P. Morgan (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), Goldman Sachs (GS) and Morgan Stanley (MS), all fell sharply.  These key financial institutions "control 95 percent of cash and derivatives trading for U.S. bank holding companies", a $700 trillion (with a "T") market.  Thus, the more they go down, the greater the danger of a collapse in the global financial system.

The sell-off in stocks last week was attributed to a bond default by Argentina and the newest round of economic sanctions on Russia, and this is the most likely and plausible explanation.

However, the lack of really pertinent news to cause such a sharp drop, including a 300+ point plunge in the DJIA on Thursday, prompted me to wonder about how Russia might retaliate against the West for new economic sanctions.  Beyond banning the import of some European fruit, Moscow has done little.

Such an impotent response from the Kremlin thus far seems a little odd to me given my supposition that Russia's emergent war on Ukraine is part of a large-scale plan to draw the West into World War Three.  Surely more aggressive retaliation must be in the works.

Indeed, keep in mind here my Global Bipolar Hypothesis.  According to this hypothesis, Western beliefs and expectations have been misled to irrational heights, represented by the DJIA peaking above the 17000 benchmark in July, for the sole purpose of a strategic upset by the powers of the East in the form of a surprise third world war.

While I've long emphasized that the form of that war will ultimately involve a thermonuclear attack on the U.S. and its allies, what I've failed to highlight is how the Kremlin's war plan involves using all fronts to overtake "world capitalism" including psychological, ideological, diplomatic, economic and political forms of struggle.

Nuclear war is a complex and many-sided process, which in addition to the operation of the armed forces will involve economic, diplomatic and ideological forms of struggle.  They will all serve the political aims of the war and be guided by them. [Soviet Strategy for Nuclear War (1979)]

In this regard, Russia has already been achieving great successes such as global misinformation campaigns to vilify America using media outlets like RT and al Jazeera and the election of Barack Obama as U.S. president.

But what of economic warfare?  After all, if I'm right, the worldwide struggle between the forces of Communism and Capitalism never ended but rather took a dangerously deceptive new form with the purported 'end of the Cold War'.

It would make sense that part of the Kremlin's strategy is to effect the failure of the capitalist system to prove the need for a authoritarian 'socialist' new world order in place of Capitalism before nuking America to assuredly gain global dominance.

How might this be achieved?

As made clear in my "Manic-Depressive Man" thesis, I'm aware of the inherently cyclical, self-destructive dynamics of market economies. The question here is whether or not these tendencies might be strategically manipulated by Moscow to achieve the end of world Capitalism.  Certainly the last major cyclical downturn into 2009 was a close call and little has been done to correct the failings within the system since then to prevent a far graver collapse:

But what if the Kremlin plans to give the global capitalist system a 'little push'?

In this light, please read TheBlaze.com article, ‘Jaw-Dropping’: Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Makes Bombshell Claim About Russia and 2008 Financial Crisis (and Why It May Sound Familiar).

Also see the Washington Times article, Financial terrorism suspected in 2008 economic crash. Here's an excerpt:

Mr. Freeman wrote the report (“Economic Warfare: Risks and Responses”) for the Pentagon’s Irregular Warfare Support Program, part of the Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office, which examines unconventional warfare scenarios. 

“The preponderance of evidence that cannot be easily dismissed demands a thorough and immediate study be commenced,” the report says. “Ignoring the likelihood of this very real threat ensures a catastrophic event.” 

The report concluded that the evidence of an attack is strong enough that “financial terrorism may have cost the global economy as much as $50 trillion.” 

Because of secrecy surrounding global banking and finance, finding the exact identities of the attackers will be difficult. 

But U.S. opponents in Russia who could wage economic warfare include elements of the former KGB intelligence and political police who regard the economy as a “logical extension of the Cold War,” the report says.

Finally, check out Kevin Freeman's web site, GlobalEconomicWarfare.com.

This is a little something to think about as the stock market reverses, along with misled global beliefs and expectations, from the "peak of Western Civilization" most likely reached last month...

"These financial wars are inevitable, and they’re coming sooner than we think. We can hear their rumblings already. This is the beginning of World War III, and—God help us—we are not ready." - Kevin Freeman, World War III: The Coming Cyber-Financial Attack that will Shock America, 2/20/14

"In 2014, we face the imminent danger of a cyber-economic market crash that could wipe out $8 trillion or more of American wealth with a keystroke. It will make 1987’s Black Monday look like a picnic." - Kevin Freeman, THE STOCK MARKET WILL CRASH AND IT WILL HAPPEN IN MINUTES, 1/20/14 

Video of Malaysian airliner MH17 shot down near Ukraine

Looks like Russians fighting in or near the Ukrainian-Russian border near Donetsk shot down a Malaysian passenger airliner with nearly 300 souls on board using one of the upgraded surface-to-air (SAM) missiles that have recently been introduced in the fighting there by Russia.

The YouTube video below of a plane shot down in East Ukraine was posted just before news of this story broke. This is footage of the plume of smoke from the airliner crashing into the ground:





MORE: The Interpreter Ukraine Liveblog

Russia Readies For Nuclear War

ABC News reports today:

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday oversaw a military exercise involving Russia's nuclear forces amid escalating tensions over Ukraine.

While Putin said the exercise had been planned back in November, it comes as relations between Russia and the West have plunged to their lowest point since the Cold War over Ukraine.

Putin, speaking from the Defense Ministry's headquarters where he oversaw the exercise along with leaders of several ex-Soviet nations which are members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, said that the maneuvers involved the military across the entire Russian territory, including the nation's nuclear forces.

Russian news wires said that the exercises simulated dealing a massive retaliatory nuclear strike in response to an enemy attack. The description of the exercise is unusually blunt, reflecting tensions with the West running high over Ukraine.

As part of the maneuvers, a Topol intercontinental ballistic missile launched from the Plesetsk launch pad in northwestern Russia successfully hit a designated target on the Kura testing range on the far eastern Kamchatka peninsula, the military said.

Two nuclear submarines of the Northern and Pacific Fleets, the Tula and the Podolsk, also fired intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Everyone will dismiss this news as Russian posturing due to the East-West crisis over the Ukraine. However, I believe the Ukraine crisis and the potential for a larger war there is being used by Russia as cover for what is an underlying plan to take down America and the Western powers via an effectively surprise all-out nuclear attack, as has been the plan all along.



Russian nuclear war strategists have long recognized the strategic value of using a smaller conventional conflict as cover to mobilize for and then surpisingly unleash a strategic nuclear attack on America and its military allies:

Speaking of the surprise unleashing of a nuclear war, the following should be noted. Recently the command element of the U.S. army, evidently, does not exclude the possibility of opening military operations even in the main theaters with the use of just conventional means of destruction. Such a beginning of war can create favorable conditions for the movement of all nuclear forces to the regions of combat operations, bringing them into the highest level of combat readiness, and subsequently inflicting the first nuclear strike with the employment in it of the maximum number of missile launch sites, submarines and aircraft at the most favorable moment.

One of the advantages the Soviets see of the conventional phase is the possibility that it provides cover to operations to initiate a nuclear attack, preparations that might otherwise be detected and provide warning. The notion of striking at "the most favorable moment" included in this quote is often encountered in Soviet military literature, especially in regard to surprise attack. [From Soviet Strategy For Nuclear War, p.103]

America's Survival TV: Jeff Nyquist at his best!

Spot on!

Russia's 'casus belli' for war on Ukraine: Blowing up gas pipelines?

Yesterday's "invasion" of Ukraine beyond Crimea was a false alarm.

Russia is claiming that "Crimean self-defence personnel" carried out a limited incursion in Kherson, just outside of Crimea, to prevent "an act of sabotage on a gas pipeline":

Crimean self-defence units prevented an act of sabotage on a gas pipeline on Saturday, March 15. Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov said the saboteurs had identified themselves as Ukrainian Border Guard Service officials.

“Crimean self-defence personnel prevented an attempt to block the gas pipeline to Crimea at the Arbatsky Spit. To prevent such attempts [in the future], the gas distribution station was put under protection. The persons who tried to damage the equipment – up to 40 people, according to preliminary information – and who identified themselves as Ukrainian Border Guard Service officials left the station in a hurry,” Aksyonov said.

He asked Russian Black Sea Fleet Commander Alexander Vitko to take the gas transportation system in this area under protection “in order to ensure energy security of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and uninterrupted operation of crucial facilities.”

This whole notion of Ukrainians blowing up gas pipelines may be what Moscow is planning to use for a 'casus belli', i.e., a cause for a full-scale invasion of Ukraine beyond Crimea. The Ukrainian "Right Sector", which looks to be some sort of controlled opposition the Kremlin is using, is threatening to blow-up oil pipelines carrying Russian gas to Europe:

The head of the Ukrainian nationalist movement Dmitry Yarosh has threatened to explode the gas pipeline through which the Russian gas is supplied to Europe, aiming to deprive it of its financing source.

Yarosh voiced his threats as part of his "address to the Ukrainian government and his compatriots" in which he is accusing Moscow of having plans to seize Ukraine . The text of his address was cited by the UNN news agency.

"We are well aware of the fact that Russia is earning money by transporting its oil and gas to the West through our pipe. Therefore, we'll destroy this pipe in order to deprive Russia of its financing source."

Of course, it makes no sense for Ukrainians to sabotage the gas pipelines traversing their nation since:

1. More than half of their own gas supply comes from Russia.

2. Europeans would be upset with the Ukraine for disrupting their gas supplies.

Nevertheless, this is the nonsensical tale that Russia appears ready to tell, and my guess it's because Russia wants a pretext for invading the rest of Ukraine since:

The Soviets never start a war. By definition, the United States or, more generally speaking, "imperialism is the source of all antagonistic conflicts of the present day world, the source of war danger." [General Major A.S. Milovidov, quoted in Soviet Strategy For Nuclear War, p.98]

Reports: Russia now invading southern Ukraine (beyond Crimea)

3/16 UPDATE: Russia's 'casus belli' for war on Ukraine: Blowing up gas pipelines?

Російський виправданням для війни з Україною: саботувати газопроводів?

Best coverage I've found thus far is here (Alexander Yanov related site!):

http://www.interpretermag.com/ukraine-liveblog-day-26-has-the-war-already-started

More here:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/ukraine

Ukrainian report: http://dpsu.gov.ua/ua/about/news/news_3579.htm

На Арабатській стрілці висадився російський десант
15 Березня 2014

Прес-служба Державної прикордонної служби України повідомляє, що 15 березня близько 13 години прикордонний наряд, що виконував завдання з контролю режиму на адміністративному кордоні Херсонської області та АР Крим в районі населеного пункту Стрілкове спостерігав висадку з 4 вертольотів 60 військовослужбовців Російської Федерації. Прикордонники спільно з військовослужбовцями ЗС України (близько 20 осіб) змушені були відійти до перехрестя, що веде у напрямку Генічеська та зайняти оборону. Російські війська, на допомогу яким підійшло 3 БТР, розпочали інженерне облаштування позиції. Близько 15.30 у цьому ж районі з 6 вертольотів висадилися ще 60 військовослужбовців РФ. Крім цьому відомо про колону БТРів, що рухається в район села Стрілкове вздовж Арабатської стрілки з населенного пункту Камянське.

Водночас в ході переговорів командування Бердянського прикордонного загону з військовослужбовцями РФ встановлено, що метою їх висадки є, нібито, «охорона від можливих терактів» газонасосної станції «Чорноморнафтогазу», що розташована у цьому районі. Наразі силове протистояння відсутнє. Деталі уточнюються.

Statement from the Ukraine foreign office on the Russian incursion:

Statement of the MFA of Ukraine with respect to assault landing of the Russian Armed Forces in the Kherson region on March 15

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine expresses its strong and categorical protest against the landing on March 15, 2014 near the village Strilkove, Kherson region of troops of the Russian Federation Armed Forces in a number of 80 military personnel, and seizure of the village Strilkove with the support of 4 helicopter gunships and 3 armored combat machines.

Ukraine Foreign Ministry declares the military invasion by Russia and demands the Russian side immediately withdraw its military forces from the territory of Ukraine.

Ukraine reserves the right to use all necessary measures to stop the military invasion by Russia.

Meanwhile CNN is busy covering the missing Malaysian airliner. That bubble is about to burst IMHO...

WAR ALERT! - Armed forces massing for Ukraine-Russia conflict?

YouTube videos have been uploaded in recent days and hours showing a massive buildup of military forces throughout the Ukraine, Crimea and Russia indicating the possibility of an imminent major war.

Here's what I've found thus far:

Massive Russian military convoy passing through Novorossiysk Russia:



Cell phone footage of a massive column of Russian forces spotted on the side of a highway in Novorossiysk Russia on March 7th - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hIr2L5l2tM

On 8 March at 14:40 on the Feodosia highway (to Bilohirsk) in Simferopol more than 50 Russian military vehicles were spotted - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=023YV8Ets28

Multiple rocket launchers seen on the side of the road in Sumy on 3/6 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu4Z2Km64U8

95th Airmobile Brigade of Ukraine armed forces leaving their base in Zhytomyr - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDKT6ah9_Q4

26th Artillery Brigade Self-propelled artillery moving through Berdychiv - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daEfGbgEHTA

Column of marines moving out from a base in Lviv - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRpw9S9vZLA

55th Artillery Brigade Heavy artillery moving through Zaporizhia - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRvdE3yxJr8

20 T-64 tanks on trains in Bila Tserkva (1st Mechanized Battalion of the 72nd Brigade) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEFMEaXulcI


Likewise, videos showing Russian readiness for a war with Ukraine have been hitting YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGejolytsFI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC1kpGyBFQc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkA5H-AW0eg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ewljq0EL2U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x5uG_q7Fh0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AhiMKwnj4Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unggiwJ29WI


What do these massive military deployments in and around Ukraine mean?

There's a very dangerous possibility with the Ukraine crisis. Keep in mind that not even a month ago Ukraine was under the executive leadership of Russian puppet Viktor Yanukovich. I believe the Ukrainian military command and control structure, which has not changed much, remains effectively under the control of Moscow regardless of who's now "president" in Kiev. Indeed, should we even trust the new political leaders in Kiev for that matter? Yet, all of the sudden Ukraine's military is perceived to be directed by "Western" forces! This creates a possibility for Moscow to wage a "managed war"....one in which Russia is seemingly battling against "the West" over vital national interests.

Is it possible that Kiev is going to order military action to take Crimea back from Russia? Remarkably, there's little discussion of this possibility in the press. Yet, comments from the "new leadership" in Kiev suggests this could be the plan:

While conceding that his nation can't come close to the military power of Russia, the interim prime minister of Ukraine said Thursday that "we are ready to protect our country" if Russia does not stop its "military aggression" in Crimea.

Arseniy Yatsenyuk told reporters in Brussels, Belgium, that the presence of Russian forces in that autonomous region of his nation "is unacceptable in the 21st century."

In a news conference about the situation in Ukraine, President Obama said Thursday that the world is "well beyond the days when borders can be withdrawn over the heads of democratic leaders."

The Ukrainian military, Yatsenyuk said, has refrained from taking action so far because it does not wish to play into a "scenario designated by Russia." But he added that Ukraine has "the spirit" to defend itself if necessary.

Yatsenyuk spoke just after 9 a.m. ET. His comments followed the news from earlier in the day that lawmakers in Crimea have taken steps toward what they hope would be an eventual split from Ukraine to join the Russian Federation.

Yatsenyuk called the Crimean parliamentarians' action "an illegitimate decision" and said that "Crimea was, is and will be an integral part of Ukraine." [NPR]

If the idea of a 'staged war' seems far-fetched, then I suggest you consider Russia's conflict with Georgia in 2008 which I believe is an example. Note that it was Georgia, not Russia, that struck first in that conflict. (Since, after all, "imperialism is the source of all antagonistic conflicts of the present day world" - see below.)

Why would the Kremlin concoct a Ukraine-Russia conflict?

Moscow's strategic focus has never deviated from the primary objective of total victory over the West IMHO. In this context, how to fight and win a global nuclear war is of the utmost relevance. Examine the quotes below of key Soviet nuclear war-fighting strategists from yesteryear. I think you'll get the idea...

The Soviets never start a war. By definition, the United States or, more generally speaking, "imperialism is the source of all antagonistic conflicts of the present day world, the source of war danger." [General Major A.S. Milovidov, quoted in Soviet Strategy For Nuclear War, p.98]


Speaking of the surprise unleashing of a nuclear war, the following should be noted. Recently the command element of the U.S. army, evidently, does not exclude the possibility of opening military operations even in the main theaters with the use of just conventional means of destruction. Such a beginning of war can create favorable conditions for the movement of all nuclear forces to the regions of combat operations, bringing them into the highest level of combat readiness, and subsequently inflicting the first nuclear strike with the employment in it of the maximum number of missile launch sites, submarines and aircraft at the most favorable moment.

One of the advantages the Soviets see of the conventional phase is the possibility that it provides cover to operations to initiate a nuclear attack, preparations that might otherwise be detected and provide warning. The notion of striking at "the most favorable moment" included in this quote is often encountered in Soviet military literature, especially in regard to surprise attack. [From Soviet Strategy For Nuclear War, p.103]


"We believe that the main determinant in the attack is the most decisive operation possible, having for its purpose the total destruction of the enemy's armed forces, and particularly the destruction of his nuclear weapons; that is, the achievement of results such that he would no longer be capable of offering further resistance within the limits of missions being carried out, or which would be needed for general capitulation. In the past this aim was possible of achievement only with the successive forward movement of land forces (or the enemy) to close with the enemy and to destroy his firepower. In the modern attack, when the mission of destruction can be accomplished by nuclear strikes, made at any depth, practically speaking, forward movement becomes a secondary item. It is not even necessary in certain cases. The situation can arise, for example, when the enemy, as a result of the massive nuclear strikes inflicted upon him, such strikes being the main part of the attack, capitulates and peace-loving forces accede to political power in his country..." [Lt. Gen. G. Lobov, as quoted in Soviet Strategy For Nuclear War, p.26]


"In view of the immense destructive force of nuclear weapons and the extremely limited time available to take effective counter-measures after an enemy launches its missiles, the launching of the first massed nuclear attack acquires decisive importance for achieving the objectives of war." [K. Moskalenko, Marshal of the Soviet Union, as quoted in Soviet Strategy For Nuclear War, p.36]


"Today's weapons make it possible to achieve strategic objectives very quickly. The very first nuclear attack on the enemy may inflict such immense casualties and produce such vast destruction that his economic, moral-political and military capabilities will collapse, making it impossible for him to continue to struggle, and presenting him with the fact of defeat." [Colonel M.P. Skirdo, as quoted in Soviet Strategy For Nuclear War, p.17]


"There is profound error and harm in the disoriented claims of bourgeois ideologues that there will be no victor in a thermonuclear war." [A.S. Milovidov, Russian Military Theorist, as quoted in Soviet Strategy For Nuclear War, p.10]

Ukraine: Russian intelligence is outsmarting the West

In recent news, private diplomatic phone conversations between key officials dealing with the Ukraine crisis have been released on YouTube.

The first instance was a "secure" phone call between US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and the US ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt in which Nuland infamously said, "F**k the EU!":



Yesterday another phone conversation was released via YouTube, this time between Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Urmas Paet and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton. This conversation features the Estonian Foreign Minister referring to the possibility that the snipers who fired on EuroMaidan protesters might have been instigated by EuroMaidan leaders (so he was 'told by someone in Kiev' during a recent visit there):



While the masses will be obsessed by the salacious details and potential implications of these released high quality intercepts of private phone conversations, the real questions that should come to mind most likely won't be popularly contemplated.

First off, how did Russian/Ukrainian intelligence acquire these intercepts?

The intercepts were clearly cherry-picked to serve Moscow's 'conspiratorial worldview' from what is presumably an ocean of communications surveillance available to the Kremlin. This worldview holds that the EuroMaidan uprising and government takeover in Ukraine was covertly backed and facilitated by the EU and US to further isolate Russia, and Western secret services are so evil they had assassins murder EuroMaidan protesters to foment the public outrage that seemingly caused Russian-backed President Viktor Yanukovich to flee office on February 21st (of course, such brutality is characteristic of the Russian secret services rather than U.S. intelligence agencies worried about violating human rights).

Here's the problem with all this.

If Ukrainian and Russian intelligence services are able to gather sensitive communications like the ones leaked, how did the EuroMaidan "plot" ever succeed in taking control in Kiev? Every EuroMaidan move and plan should have been easily tracked and countered.

Yet, President Yanukovich and the secret police never even bothered to pull the plug to the giant, well-lit stage - big screen, professional sound system and all - in the middle of Independence Square in Kiev around which the EuroMaidan demonstrators rallied themselves:

What's more, police were never ordered to protect key public buildings from being "taken over" by EuroMaidaners such as Kiev's city hall and, more importantly, the Regional State Administrative (RSA) buildings throughout Ukraine.



After all, it was the takeover of the RSA's that was used to symbolize how the EU-backed EuroMaidan movement took over Ukraine from the elected government of Viktor Yanukovich:

Yet, the RSA building "takeovers" seemed to be facilitated rather than countered by authorities in the Ukraine. Why is that?

What's most troubling about the release of the two phone conversation intercepts recently is, at this point Russian intelligence apparently believes it's OK to show their hidden hand:

Still, the Nuland–Pyatt leak doesn’t just tell us about U.S.-EU relations. It affords us a deep insight into the intelligence modus operandi of the Russian government.

....Where Western intelligence services like to remain in the shadows — away from the public gaze (mostly) — the Russians use intelligence operations to build their reputation and in doing so assert Russian strategic interests. The Russians are aware that by leaking this phone call, they’re broadcasting their success in intercepting sensitive communications. They’re also teasing the State Department with a more subtle message — “You don’t know how long we’ve been listening, or where else we’re doing so.” Of course, it’s possible that the U.S. recently discovered the Russian operation and stopped it and that the Russians therefore felt they had nothing to lose by going public. However, assuming that wasn’t the case, by showing their hand, the Russians indicate that they are aware the U.S. will now move to harden its communications. In essence, by advertising their theft from this intelligence gold mine, they’ve knowingly allowed the U.S. to better protect it.

Presumably Western intelligence has been shocked to discover that Moscow's surveillance capabilities are what they are. That Western intelligence is far behind the curve versus Moscow is well reflected by how Russia's move on the Crimea came as a surprise:



The truth is that Western intelligence has been out-to-lunch regarding the Russian threat since soon after the 'Cold War ended (really?)':



The concern here is that, if Moscow is now willing to compromise its surveillance capabilities, it suggests the Kremlin believes this particular strategic advantage won't be needed for much longer. Why would that be?! You'd think Russian intelligence would want to keep listening in undetected as long as possible.

Consider this:

Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany told Mr. Obama by telephone on Sunday that after speaking with Mr. Putin she was not sure he was in touch with reality, people briefed on the call said. "In another world," she said. [New York Times, 3/2/14]

Here's a clue.

Have you noticed the Orthodox Christian priests that keep showing up in scenes from the Ukraine?

This is telltale.

Vladimir Putin is in another world alright....he and his Kremlin cohorts have been for decades....it's the world of Russian nationalism (what I call "theo-fascism") centered around the "Russian Idea". He revealed as much late last year in his Message of the President of the Russian Federation to the Federal Assembly, Moscow's equivalent of the American State of the Union address, when Putin quoted Nikolai Berdyaev, a Russian ideologue famed for his 1946 treatise on "The Russian Idea":

"And we know that there are more and more people in the world, who support our stance on the protection of traditional values, which over thousands of years have been the spiritual and moral foundations of our civilization, of all peoples: traditional family values, genuine human life, including religious life—not only material, but also spiritual life, values of humanism and diversity of the world.

Of course, this is a conservative stand. But, according to Nikolai Berdyaev, the meaning of conservatism is not that it impedes movement forward and upward, but that it impedes movement backwards and downwards—to chaotic darkness and the return to a primitive state.

Over recent years we have seen that attempts to impose a supposedly more progressive model of development on other countries have in fact turned into regression, barbarity, and great bloodshed."

What is the "Russian Idea"?:

Russia's Mission

The Russian Idea proceeded....from the belief that the contemporary world was suffering from a global spiritual crisis 'carrying humankind headlong toward catastrophe' (in the words of a present day prophet). It pointed to the inability of the secularized, materialistic and cosmopolitan West to come to grips with this crisis, whose historical source lay in the secular Enlightenment: in the West's rejection of religion as the spiritual basis of politics and in its inability to realize that not the individual but the nation is the foundation of the world order conceived by God; that 'humankind is quantified by nations'.

The Russian Idea pointed to the providential role of Orthodoxy, as uniquely capable of pulling back the world from the brink of the abyss, and to Russia as the instrument of this great mission. While the Russian Idea rejected the 'government's interference in the moral life of the people' (the police state), it also denounced the 'people's interference in state power' (democracy). To both of these it opposed the 'principle of AUTHORITARIAN power'. The state, it taught, must be unlimited because 'only under unlimited monarchial power can the people separate the government from themselves and free themselves to concentrate on moral-social life, on the drive for spiritual freedom'.

The Russian idea did not acknowledge the central postulate of Western political thought concerning the separation of powers (as the institutional embodiment of the neutralization of vice by vice). Instead, it advocated the principle of separation of functions between temporal and spiritual powers: the state guards the country against external foes and the Orthodox church settles the nation's internal conflicts....It cherished the ideal of the nation cum family, requiring neither parliaments, political parties, nor separation of powers. Like the family, the nation would have no need of legal guarnatees or institutional limitations on state's power and its focus should not be the rights, but rather the obligations of its members. The nation's conflicts, according to the Russian Idea, must be reconciled by spiritual, rather than constitutional, authority.

The ideal of the nation as family presupposed the need for salvation from the sinful influences of the 'street' (the West) and, consequently, from a spiritual rebirth and a moral revolution. In the course of this Russia would return 'home' to its pure rural roots, to the tsarist Rus'...

(Excerpt from Yanov's The Russian Challenge, pp.24-25)

You see....the Kremlin (which is a fortress for Russia's executive church and state buildings) has in mind establishing a "kingdom of god" on earth or, more so, a totalitarian, Stalinist "tsardom" where the "czar" (Caesar) is god's holy, annointed king - the holy Muscovite emperor of the "Third Rome" - i.e., christ incarnate.

To further understand what the "Russian Idea" is about, please read the articles on the right side of this blog under my profile with the heading, "The Psychotic 'Russian Idea'".

Thus, there truly is a diabolical logic to Putin's seeming madness, and it's well represented in THIS VIDEO.

And the world's concern is focused on the mullahs in Iran?!

"If we presume the coming transformation of the Communist Party into the Russian Orthodox Party of the Soviet Union, we would obtain truly the ideal state, one which would fulfill the historical destiny of the Russian people. It is a question of the Orthodoxization of the entire world." - Gennadii Shimanov, as quoted on the opening page of Alexander Yanov's "The Russian Challenge and the Year 2000" (1987)

Shimanov did not emphasize the mystical aspects of Christianity; for him, as is typical in a fundamentalist outlook, religion was but an instrument of proper social organization and a code of behavior. In Shimanov’s view, religion was designed to be a substitute for the Marxist ideology as a method of better organizing of the society. Like other fundamentalists, Shimanov believed that God had a decisive influence on politics and that the Soviet state had been predetermined to accomplish some universal mission; it was nothing less than “the instrument for making the millenary kingdom on the earth.” On the one hand, Soviet communism revealed the fallacy of “old Christianity,” unable to realize its principles in practical life and therefore consigned to oblivion. On the other hand, the USSR brought a principally new type of the “ideocratic state” to the world; this was the state that perfectly met—at least in theory—the requirements of a society of true believers. The core of the Soviet system was the omnipotent Communist Party, permeating every single cell of the society, and therefore capable of carrying out an independent policy, free of selfinterests and the “rabble’s whims.” In principle, this provided an opportunity to transform the Communist Party into the “Orthodox Party of the Soviet Union,” and, consequently, to create a “truly Christian community.” In this way, Shimanov actually tried to justify the Soviet regime, claiming that it was “God’s instrument.” - Mikhail D. Suslov in "The Fundamentalist Utopia of Gennady Shimanov from the 1960s–1980s"

"An empire of the Orthodox Balkan peoples together with the empire of Holy Russia - not the present marxist, un-Russian Russia, but Holy Orthodox Russia - can bring happiness to all mankind and realize that mystical millennial kingdom of peace on earth, which appeared in a vision on the island of Patmos to that glorious apostle and visionary, St John the Evangelist. For that Millennium has never yet been made a reality in the history of the world, and what has been destined by God, must become a reality. Who will make it a reality if not those who up to the present day have been the most martyred and reviled, carved up and downtrodden, i.e., the Slavs and the other Orthodox Peoples?" - Serbian Bishop Nikolai Velimirovich (1880-1956) in "A Treasury of Serbian Orthodox Spirituality"

"My feelings tell me that someday a Slavic Orthodox tsar shall take the socialist movement in hand and, with the blessing of the Church, set up a socialist form of life in place of the bourgeois one. And this Socialism will be a new and severe....form of slavery..." - Konstantin Leont'ev

Note that Vladimir Putin became Russia's "president", in effect the new "annointed czar" (read: Caesar) of a resurgent "Holy Russian Empire", with the start of the third millenium (i.e., he became acting president on New Year's Eve in 1999)

. This is symbolic in that Putin "rose to power" and the Russian empire began to rise again on the prophetic "third day" just as Christ rose again 2000 years earlier:

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. [2 Peter 3:8]

Oh...


And then the lawless one will be revealed,
whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.
[2 Thessalonians 2:8]