You haven't been at war on your soil, which is what my broad point was. Its a completely different dynamic. There is no amount of watching TV or listening to dad's or grandpa's stories about WW2 and Vietnam - terrible as they are - its not what those people in the photos above are going through. Not by a mile.
If people can be traumatized that slavery existed over 150 years ago, I can be traumatized by the Battle of Bull Run.
Do you know what the Ukraine is? It's a sitting duck. A road apple. The Ukraine is weak. It's feeble. I think it's time to put the hurt on the Ukraine.
(CNN)The US is alleging that Russia has been preparing to "fabricate a pretext for an invasion" of Ukraine, this time using a "graphic" video that would depict a fake attack against Russia.
A senior administration official told CNN that the US has intelligence suggesting that the Russian government, with the help of Russia's intelligence services, has been planning to produce a propaganda video depicting graphic scenes of a "staged false explosion with corpses, actors depicting mourners, and images of destroyed locations and military equipment," the official said. The US believes Russia has already recruited actors to be involved in the fake attack.
The US believes that the military equipment used in the video of the fabricated attack would be made to look like it is Ukrainian or from an allied nation. The official said the video could include images of Bayraktar drones, which NATO ally Turkey has provided to Ukraine, "as a means to implicate NATO in the attack."
The fake attack in the video would be aimed against Russian sovereign territory or against Russian-speaking people, the official said, and would "be released to underscore a threat to Russia's security and to underpin military operations," the official said. "This video, if released, could provide Putin the spark he needs to initiate and justify military operations against Ukraine."'
Russian President Vladimir Putin said China and Russia would resist Western sanctions pressure at “every opportunity”, on the eve of his arrival in Beijing for the Winter Games.
In remarks given to Chinese state media ahead of his arrival, Putin also said the two nations “concur or are really close” on most international issues, and their ties are “not influenced” by ideology.
“We are consistently expanding settlements in national currencies and creating mechanisms to offset the negative impact of unilateral sanctions,” he said, in an article carrying his byline which was published by state news agency Xinhua on Thursday.
"If Russia thinks that it will be in a position to make up some of those consequences … by a closer relationship with the PRC [People’s Republic of China], that is not the case," State Department press secretary Ned Price said.
"It will actually make the Russian economy in many ways more brittle," he continued. "If you deny yourself the ability to transact with the West … you are going to significantly degrade your productive capacity and your innovative potential.
"Putin knows that this would be a massive consequence to his country and to his economy," he added.
Russia and China are friends until they are friends no longer. They both hate the West in general and USA in particular and they trade a lot between themselves. Neither of them worry much about human rights or the well-being of their own people. They have each other’s’ backs only so far.
Putin is working on a casus belli to attack somewhere. Possibly Ukraine, but that could be a maskirovka, a game that Russia is very good at playing. Belarus could be another target unless its president Lukashenko suddenly announces that they have “willingly chosen” (yeah, right) to become a part of the Russian Federation. We’ll never know until it happens.
Associated Press journalist Matt Lee pressed a State Department spokesman Ned Price for evidence.
Quote:
Price said: "We told you a few weeks ago that we have information indicating Russia has also already prepositioned a group of operatives to conduct a false flag operation in eastern Ukraine. So that, Matt, to your question, is an action that Russia has already taken."
Lee responded: "Well, it's an action that you say that they have taken, but you have shown no evidence to confirm that."
"And I'm going to get to the next question here, which is, what is the evidence that — I mean, this is like, crisis actors?Really? This is like Alex Jones territory you're getting into now. What evidence do you have to support the idea that there is some propaganda film in the making?"
Jones is a far-right figure known for promoting conspiracy theories, including that the Sandy Hook school shooting was staged with crisis actors.
Price responded that the US had the intelligence but had to share it in a way so that it protects sources.
"We are trying to deter the Russians from moving forward with this type of activity. That is why we're making it public today," he said. "If the Russians don't go forward with this that is not ipso facto an indication that they never had plans to do so ..."
Lee then interrupted, saying: "But then it's unprovable! My god, what is the evidence that you have that suggests that the Russians are even planning this?"
"I mean, I'm not saying that they're not, but you just come out and say this andexpect us just to believe it without you showing a shred of evidence that it's actually true, other than when I ask or when anyone else asks, 'What's the information?' You said, 'Well I just gave it to you,' which was just you making a statement."
Price said: "Matt, you said yourself you've been in this business for quite a long time. You know that when we make information, intelligence information public, we do so in a way that protects sensitive sources and methods. You also know that we do so, we declassify information only when we're confident in that information."
Ukrainian president Zelensky claimed that the US is trying to undermine the Ukrainian economy by stoking inaccurate fears about a possible Russian invasion.
Biden yelled at him during a phonecall. LISTEN, JACK.
Zelensky is going to be out soon.
Psaki walked back on the warmongering too today or yesterday I think? One of these days.
This is what they get for Yellow Cake. May the US governnment pay the price for that lie - and others, a 1000 times. Shame on us for the last 20 years. Our leadership is so poor we can't tell what's real and don't believe them, and it's their fault.