by anthony freda, bless him
The original piece at RT concerning this madness was almost funny, given, well…McCain and Kiev. (briefly): “You really couldn’t make it up, could you? Serial warmonger and unsuccessful US Presidential candidate Senator John McCain has been offered a post as an advisor to Ukraine’s ‘Chocolate King’ President Petro Poroshenko. He was supposed to join other neocon rejects such as Georgia’s fugitive ex-President (and famous tie-eater) Mikhail Saakashvili and the ex-Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt. McCain has declined the offer, having tweeted quite positively about it earlier, but the very fact that the offer was made in the first place puts into question just how committed Kiev is to the Minsk II peace process.” No, I won’t bring the song he’d covered so barbarically, but he’d originally glowed that he’d have to ask about Senate rules “and all that stuff”. But whoa, Nellie; this morning I’d read about this alarming new law that the Rada had just passed; it had been offered by our friend Yats, in favor, out of favor, now: in like Flynn again (perhaps he’s the chameleon-esque Ahmed Chalabi of Ukraine). ‘Kiev to allow foreign armed forces in Ukraine, incl. ‘potential carriers of nukes’
Servicemen of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team of the U.S. Army attend an opening ceremony of joint military exercise “Fearless Guardian 2015″ at the International Peacekeeping Security Center near the village of Starychy western Ukraine, April 20, 2015
“The Ukrainian parliament has adopted amendments to state law allowing “admission of the armed forces of other states on the territory of Ukraine.” The possible hosting of foreign weapons of mass destruction is also mentioned in the documents. Amendments to Ukrainian law were adopted on Thursday by the Verkhovna Rada, receiving a majority of 240 votes (the required minimum being 226). The bill was submitted to the parliament in May by PM Arseny Yatsenyuk. It focuses on the provision of “international peacekeeping and security” assistance to Ukraine at its request.” But wait for it… “Peacekeeping missions are to be deployed “on the basis of decision of the UN and/or the EU,” the bill published on the parliament’s official website says.” FM Lavrov was measured in response: ”There are no madmen in the EU’ to send peacekeepers to Ukraine.’ And who could help but chortle aloud at this comical thinking?: “In a comparative table, published among the accompanying documents to the bill, “potential carriers of nuclear and other types of weapons of mass destruction are permitted under international agreement with Ukraine for short-term accommodation,” with Kiev providing proper control during the period that such forces were stationed there.” It’s good to hear that implementation of the new law won’t ‘require additional expenditures from the State Budget of Ukraine.” (see Michael Hudson for how important that is; because: Operation Vulture.) But holy hell, and hang on to your hats! wsws.org is reporting on an Associated Press piece from June 4: ‘US officials consider nuclear strikes against Russia’, by Niles Williamson “US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter is meeting today at the headquarters of the US European Command in Stuttgart, Germany with two dozen US military commanders and European diplomats to discuss how to escalate their economic and military campaign against Russia. They will assess the impact of current economic sanctions, as well as NATO’s strategy of exploiting the crisis in eastern Ukraine to deploy ever-greater numbers of troops and military equipment to Eastern Europe, threatening Russia with war. A US defense official told Reuters that the main purpose of the meeting was to “assess and strategize on how the United States and key allies should think about heightened tensions with Russia over the past year.” The official also said Carter was open to providing the Ukrainian regime with lethal weapons, a proposal which had been put forward earlier in the year. Most provocatively, a report published by the Associated Press yesterday reports that the Pentagon has been actively considering the use of nuclear missiles against military targets inside Russia, in response to what it alleges are violations of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty. Russia denies US claims that it has violated the INF by flight-testing ground-launched cruise missiles with a prohibited range.’ Major sabre rattling? One might hope so, but consider the horrific dangers: “Nuclear warmongering by US officials immensely heightens the danger of all-out war erupting accidentally, amid escalating military tensions and strategic uncertainty. NATO forces are deploying for military exercises all around Russia, from the Arctic and Baltic Seas to Eastern Europe and the Black and Mediterranean Seas. Regional militaries are all on hair-trigger alerts. US officials threatening Russia cannot know how the Kremlin will react to such threats. With Moscow concerned about the danger of a sudden NATO strike, Russia is ever more likely to respond to perceived signs of NATO military action by launching its missiles, fearing that otherwise the missiles will be destroyed on the ground. The danger of miscalculations and miscommunications leading to all-out war is immensely heightened.” War in the Donbass has increased the past two days, especially in Marinka, west of Donetsk; both ‘sides’’ blame the other. The G-7 is meeting this weekend in Brussels, and the key topic is of course: What to do about…Russia and Crimea. As an added treat du jour, via an interview with the lovely Stephen Harper, the AP is reporting: ‘A Putin-led Russia should not be allowed back in the G7, Harper vows; the G7 suspended Russia last year following the annexation of Crimea, but has not ruled out allowing it back’ Yes, regime change is likely the only answer, Stephen. Speaking of showing how buff and overly-prepared NATO is, and exhibiting belligerence toward the Great Bear: https://twitter.com/NATODepSpox/status/606437083109048320 https://twitter.com/NATOSource/status/604318825211924480 Given that I was unable to find the original AP piece for some time, I’d almost bailed on writing it. But I finally did; hours later, RT posted the link that none of the other websites giving this news had. Odd-bodkins, that. Mind you, there are some who claim to believe that at least ‘they’ can survive ‘a limited nuclear war (whatever that is). But the dirty fuckin’ hippies have always had it right…
There’s just one thing I got to know, Can you tell me please, who won? Say, can I have some of your purple berries? Yes, I’ve been eating them for six or seven weeks now, Haven’t got sick once. Prob’ly keep us both alive…
