Zelensky finally presented his long awaited ‘Victory Plan’ to nation and Rada alike.
Hear the pathological delusion presented as “plan” for yourself in all its demented glory:
Note in point three above, the translated word “restraint” is supposed to be “deterrence”.
Also for those interested an English dubbed version:
The first point is the invitation of Ukraine to NATO immediately.
The second is defense (We need to ramp up our own production and increase aid from Western partners).
The third point states, "Ukraine proposes to deploy on its territory a comprehensive non-nuclear strategic deterrence package, which will be sufficient to protect Ukraine from any military threat from Russia."
The fourth is economic ("Peace will come through economic strength and pressure on Russia: in particular, limiting oil prices and exports").
The fifth point is, "After the war, we will have one of the most experienced military contingents. People with military experience, experience with international weapons. This is a guarantee of security in Europe. This is a worthy mission for our Heroes." "The Victory Plan is a guarantee that the lunatics in the Kremlin will lose the ability to continue the war. Russia must forever lose control over Ukraine."
Most even on the Ukrainian side had either tepid or outright condescending reactions to this ‘plan’.
“What leaves me speechless is not that he is putting forward these points, but that they are all points whose implementation has already been rejected,” writes a befuddled Roepcke.
He’s right most of the “plan” is obnoxious and can be dismissed outright. Number one: joining NATO—won’t happen; number two seems self-evident and redundant; number five is just some kind of ambiguous morale-boosting platitude with no real substance.
But numbers three and four is where it gets interesting.
Three invokes the deployment of some kind of “non-nuclear” but devastating military package that can serve as major deterrence to Russia. It’s vague, but we can only assume this is merely the call for deploying major NATO systems, perhaps even like as done in Poland with the upcoming Aegis Ashore shield which allows the dual-use MK 41 vertical tubes to launch offensive Tomahawk missiles. But given the vague nature of his statement, Zelensky may even be referring to some kind of NATO “defensive” deployment of boots on ground in rear “deterrence” positions with missiles aimed at Russia.
It could also obviously refer to a large-scale build up of Ukraine’s airforce with major long range strike package capability.
The fourth point is the most ominous by far. Here it is again:
In fact, we can go out on a limb and say this point is the whole meat and potatoes—the very reason for the existence not only of all other points, but of the war itself. Isn’t it so interesting Zelensky unveils this key linchpin only a day or two after the announcement of Ukraine’s largest titanium production being sold off for pennies on the dollar?
The most ominous part of it is Zelensky’s emphasis on the fact that the agreement has a guardedly “secret” component to be shared only with the top few allies, which he appears to tie into the allies’ military protection of their resource ‘investments’. What more can one say? This is nothing other than Zelensky’s pimping out of his country’s economic treasures and future in order to desperately tie NATO militarily to Ukraine’s hip. This is just the continuation of the same old plan, except this time via outright bribery: create massive monetary incentive to obligate NATO into sending boots on ground to confront Russia and save Ukraine by virtue or deterrence of WWIII. It’s dangling trillions before their noses to entice their help, with the alluded-to most ‘secret’ component of the deal likely having to do with the sheer preferential nature of the disaster capitalism extraction and economic shock therapy in one.
It’s just more of what we already knew, that the Ukrainian game is all about the Western crony elite positioning themselves to pillage Ukraine’s resources and industries. For instance, most missed this excerpt from ex-CIA chief Pompeo’s recent prank-call with Russian Vovan and Lexus posing as Poroshenko. In the private call he describes how he got his own comfy sinecure on a big Ukrainian enterprise:
Isn’t it interesting how the ex-head of the CIA now runs a bank of all things, and that bank is buying up Ukrainian enterprises? Also interesting it happens to be a telecom, just like Vodafone owned by the Azerbaijani oligarch who just bought up the remainder of Ukraine’s titanium industry. Virtually every deep state elite involved in the Ukraine debacle has got their fingers in the jar.
Getting back: Unfortunately for Zelensky, the latest Politico piece finally unequivocally confirms why the US can shoot down Iranian missiles over Israel but not Russian ones over Ukraine:
Just read the subheadline above. It’s very simple:
“The tough answer that Ukrainians may not like to hear but is unfortunately true is that we can take the risk of shooting down Iranian missiles over Israel without triggering direct war with Tehran that could lead to nuclear war,” a senior U.S. Senate aide who works on Ukraine policy told POLITICO. “There’s a lot more risk in trying that with Russia.”
Two Biden administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter candidly, made the same point.
Is that not the greatest advertisement for nuclear weapons ever? What better reason does Iran need to finish up its nuclear program?
Additionally Polish FM Sikorski served to even further deflate Ukraine’s hopes by downplaying Russian strikes near Poland as mere ‘mistakes’, which clearly implies Poland refuses to help Ukraine by taking an aggressive stance against these near-misses:
“The NATO border is in a sort of in-between state, between peacetime rules and crisis,” he said, adding that the Kremlin’s intent is unclear. “Some of these things pose a danger to our citizens [and] some people speculate that the Russians are testing our procedures, [but] I suspect that with these numbers of drones and missiles, they just lose control of them.”
Translation: Russia is not striking us intentionally so we will not respond in any way, particularly not with any Article 5 silliness.
Further bad news was Pentagon spokesman Sabrina Singh’s new admission that the US military simply doesn’t have the infinite supplies to keep pumping Ukraine carte blanche:
Also:
The U.S. approach to limiting Ukraine's use of long-range weapons to attack deep into Russia "has not changed and will not change," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
This rising issue amongst the ‘allies’ has been highlighted by several recent articles:
Journalist Leonid Ragozin reached a similar conclusion to my own, that Zelensky’s hollow plan was likely just the ground laying for the inevitable selling of ceasefire to the masses:
We’ll keep this one short and just highlight a few of the most poignant and noteworthy videos of the day, which connect tangentially to the broader issue of Z’s ‘Victory Plan’.
Firstly in a Bundestag session that was full of symbolic flourishes, Chancellor Olaf Scholz outrageously declared that Germany’s economic woes were caused by Russia cutting Germany off from energy—imagine that!
Related:
Germany’s economy is continuing to decline. In southern Germany, where the automotive industry was once the primary driver of growth, the situation has become alarming. Over the past two months, the supplier industry has experienced a drop in order intake by about 10 to 15%, signaling significant challenges for the sector.
Boris Palmer is a German politician who became well-known over many years as the mayor of the city of Tübingen (Baden-Württemberg). He recently said: “This is a decline like I have never seen before, the heart of Baden-Württemberg as an industrial region. The situation is truly alarming. Tübingen, once a thriving city, is now a case for redevelopment.”
Scholz’ performance was followed by a tirade from the leader of Germany’s second largest party who proposed to give Putin an ultimatum:
Friedrich Merz, leader of the CDU (Germany's largest opposition party), proposed issuing an ultimatum to Russia, after which they would begin to strike deep into its territory.
"I call for giving Russia a 24-hour ultimatum to end hostilities. If the demand is not met, lift the limitation on the range of weapons for Ukraine and hand over the Taurus missiles.”
But to save the day came Sahra Wagenknecht with her own fiery rebuttal of Scholz’ superfluous sophistry:
For his part, Russian Duma committee chief Andrey Kartapolov responded to Germany’s panicked agonies in the best way possible:
"The problem of [German Chancellor Olaf] Scholz... They are increasingly aware that with their incompetent, irresponsible actions they have practically led the planet into a dead end. And now they are trying to spin like eels in a frying pan," Andrei Kartapolov, head of the State Duma Defense Committee, told reporters.
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Meanwhile, US Army Europe and Africa Commander General Darryl Williams says another quiet part out loud. But most interesting is his seeming confirmation of rumors about how US intends to pass over management of the Ukraine theater to Europe—in other words, dump it on Europe:
'All of NATO is helping Ukrainians fight Russia' - U.S. Army Europe and Africa Commander General Darryl A. Williams
At the same time Speaker of the Ukrainian Rada says another quiet part aloud:
'We are NATO's army' - Verkhovna Rada Speaker Stefanchuk openly admits NATO is using Ukraine to fight Russia
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As a final note, amidst all the swirling debate around how the conflict will end, given that things feel like they’re reaching an apogee of sorts, veteran rapporteur John Helmer has written an interesting new article which puts forth his opinion on an ideological clash between the Kremlin and General Staff on this account: https://johnhelmer.net/dmitry-rogozin-for-president/
As I said, it’s his opinion and there is no real evidence for such a major disagreement per se, however it provides interesting food for thought, particularly given that I’ve long espoused the notion that it would be difficult to imagine Putin choosing a premature negotiated end to the war for these very reasons: that the General Staff would not allow it. Putin is hardly a Tsar and doesn’t quite have all the say on such matters, a fact recently highlighted in leaks about how the Russian General Staff reportedly made nuke ultimatums to the US long before ‘dovish’ Putin caved to expanding the nuclear threshold; Helmer touches on this as well.
This is emerging as the most important issue as we edge toward the crux point of the war where a major decision will face the Russian leadership over caving to demands for ceasefire or continuing kinetic action until total surrender. But thus far, there have been no signs of Russia choosing the settlement option and in fact we continue to see signals of the opposite: a self-fortifying toward maximalist goals.
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"Pimping economic treasures," as S coins it, has always been what Project Ukraine is about.
When Crimea held its March 2014 referendum & voted overwhelmingly to *return* to Russia, the r’ship between the U.S. Treasury, Congress & the International Monetary Fund intensified. Jack Lew, Obama’s Treasury Secretary, said, “The Ukraine crisis captures the importance of the IMF as an economic tool for American foreign policy when military options are not really viable."
Note that last description: an economic tool for American foreign policy *when military options are not really viable*
Moreover, the IMF is “the first responder,” Lew said, “It is the foundation of the Ukraine aid package.” As early as 2010’s G-20 in Seoul, IMF cheerleaders Bigged Up the prospects of allying more tightly w/ the U.S. Treasury, but Obama’s White House @ the time balked.
“In a very important sense, linking the two is quite logical,” said a former Treasury official and senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “The fact that the United States wants to use the IMF to help Ukraine is linked to helping the IMF help itself.”
The selling point before Congress back in 2014 was the fact that “the cost to U.S. taxpayers will be relatively small when compared to the larger defense and foreign aid budgets.”
During a livestream this week w// the Duran gents, Alex Krainer [Naked Hedgie] reported that Christine Lagarde, then-IMF chief, and Jack Lew agreed @ the Fed’s Jackson Hole summit to green-light & support the militias that were seeking to liquidate the LPR & DPR in Donbas & the Russian-ethnic populations in Odessa.
Per Krainer: “Jack Lew spoke to Christine Lagarde & Lagarde gave the orders to the Ukrainian junta to take control of the Odessa area & the Donbas region, by force, in May 2014 or the IMF would no longer fund the government in Kiev.”
When Yemen rejected IMF funding in 2015, a coup ensued. Ditto in Bolivia in 2017. Next up was Bangladesh last August, who also spurned the IMF in favor of a NDB loan from the BRICS+ funding entity.
The IMF is the global banking cartel’s tip-of-the-spear—and the pact between Lew & Lagarde in 2014 cemented this. The foundational architecture of Project Ukraine was as much financial as it was militaristic. It is hard to say where Jack Lew is today, but we know where Christine Lagarde is: the former synchronized swimmer heads the European Commission’s Bank.
Once upon a time the west understood the nutty Baltics et al, and their relentless vicious hatred of Russia and craving for a war- a war prosecuted by the all powerful west, natch. They retain this quaint belief in western invincibility that is a hang-over from cold war propaganda. The rest of us, of course, know differently.
Then came an empty cupboard moment for the west and the realisation that the bulk of the valuable resources going forward, especially those required to actually run a 21st century economy including making top notch weapons and shed loads of bog standard ones, resided in territories the west did not control. There was also the small problem of vast, escalating debt that was floating free of any underpinning in real resources value, and the fear of what would happen when the resource rich rest of the world finally twigged to just what was not behind the emerald curtain. Time for urgent action.
So we got a grand push for all that resource rich territory in the nutty east of europe ideally extending this grab all the way to the Chinese border. All the immediate problems swept away in one fell swoop! What not to like?
It seems that the smaller the minds in control in the west, the bigger the potty ambitions. I used to find this phenomenon with students. It was the brighter ones who questioned their reality, doubted their own abilities and foresaw a richer problematic reality to interfere with their goals. The dimmer bulbs were as gung ho as can be, wrapped up in their 'passion'. They lacked the imagination (a disciplined projection of ideas as distinct from fantasy that anyone can do), and this was their superpower.
It is a superpower that could easy propel us into armageddon except that those who are merrily exercising it are no more than a bacterial film on an underlying hard nosed push for a new money tree by people who for their many failings, are not so intellectually impoverished. Nor are their timelines determined by media hype which they manage. The current push east has failed. Time to asset strip the disputed territories of whatever value can be hauled out, and go back to the drawing board. It has been a learning curve, right? Always of value.