Our Friday News Analysis | In Search of a Nation's Soul (Part 9)

Here They Go Again! Where? Why?

It's official. The Russian Federation accuses the United Kingdom (U.K.) of sabotage. According to Russian Intelligence, specialists from the British Royal Navy helped the Ukrainian military blow up the Nord Stream gas pipelines. The article also reports that the Brits advise Ukraine on the Black Sea, strongly suggesting that NATO has actively entered the theater of war.

In the United States, this would be BREAKING NEWS. But mum is the word on these shores. I’ve been scouring the local newspapers and, to date, not one comment on Russia’s allegations as though the United Kingdom isn’t inside Russia’s space.

British long-winded response:

               "To detract from their disastrous handling of the illegal invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Ministry of Defence is peddling false claims of an epic scale.

               This invented story says more about arguments inside the Russian government than it does about the West," the U.K. Ministry of Defense said.

Why couldn’t we (I’m a British national) have said, “We categorically deny that we blew up the pipelines, and we are not fighting Ukraine’s war inside Russia.”

Most of us living under the EU-US/NATO umbrella blindly accept the words of His Majesty’s government as the living gospel. But sadly, the U.K. has lost its credibility with the rest of humanity. Whether true or false, the Russian narrative resonates more with the other 6.8 billion inhabitants on earth. They trust Russia more than de EU-US/NATO Axis.

One cannot expect the U.K. to admit guilt sheepishly. It's not done, especially in times of war. Russia must prove its case against the United Kingdom and wants to present its "incontrovertible evidence" to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

Good luck!

The permanent ruling members of the UNSC are the U.S., the U.K., France, China, and the Russian Federation.

Will the UNSC even hear Russia's arguments?

The Security Council might also cover it up as it has buried Russia's allegations of biological war crimes in Ukraine. Read: U.N. Security Council votes against the probe into U.S. Biolabs - The US, France, and Britain shut down Russia's call to investigate 'military-biological' activities in Ukraine. It's the talk of the nation in Russia. More than 81 percent (118,260,00) of Russians now support Mr. Vladimir Putin. Some are still undecided. Approximately 10 percent (14 million) of Russians are dead set against the Kremlin's activities. Many Europeans, especially those in Central and Eastern Europe, question, if not denunciate, the UNSC's integrity.

In war, does the truth matter? Not really! What matters most is who wins. Get ready for tit-for-tats.

What is the Side of the Story that is Not Yet Decisive?

By Abraham A. van Kempen, featuring: 

1. In an interview with Germany’s Der Spiegel, Star Economist Nouriel Roubini on the Global Crises says, ‘World War III Has Already Effectively Begun.’
2. The Eurasian Times Report: ‘Russia Blames U.K. Navy For ‘Terror Attack’ On Nord Stream Pipelines; British Ministry of Defence Calls It ‘Russian Distraction.’
3. ‘How the Left Became Cheerleaders for US Imperialism,’ by British Journalist Jonathan Cook based in Bethlehem.

Cape Canaveral, 4 November 2022 | If you know of any story that is decisive, tell the world. We're still searching.

Tit-for-Tats Anyone?

Unless an authentic world leader steps up to the plate to pull the clowns in Brussels, the Dummies in Strasbourg, and their Stooges in Washington out of the quagmire, the de-facto World War III between the East and West will remain a prayer without end. The war didn’t have to happen.

Building the Bridge – The Road Toward Coexistence

The EU-US/NATO Axis could have averted war with the Russian Federation. The EU-US/NATO could have and STILL CAN NOW: 

1. Guarantee Russian access to the Black Sea to facilitate Russian trade – Russia exports and imports products worldwide.
2. Guarantee the safety of Ukrainians of Russian descent.
3. Secure the flow of Russian oil and gas.
4. Mitigate the conflicts between the Ukrainian Nationalists in the West and the Ukrainian Separatists in the East.
5. Protect and now fix the broken pipelines, the lifelines of Europe! That's what matters most.

As the largest economy on earth, an economy more extensive than the United States and China combined, the E.U. could have moderated and softened the blows between the warring factions. Instead, the E.U. bet on the wrong horse. NATO! And NATO continues to arm Ukraine to kill and get killed, which clashes with the E.U.’s principle of ‘live, let live.’ By pointing NATO’s weaponry against Russian targets, Ukraine incites Russian retaliation with 10:1 lethal retribution.

Ukraine commits national suicide each time it uses NATO artillery against Russia. And the E.U. has forfeited the rich abundance and unlimited supply of Russian gas and oil. The clowns in Brussels and their stooges in Washington, DC, are scrambling to find alternate energy sources to meet its insatiable demands. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia even rebuffed the President of the United States when he begged the Crown Prince to reduce the price of oil.

My Crystal Ball 

1. Whether the U.K. admits to the sabotage or Russia’s allegation is false, Russia will retaliate against the U.K. Which country will come to the U.K.’s rescue? None! Not one government wants a nuclear crater in its backyard. NATO’s Article 5 is impotent. Each of the 30 NATO member countries is on its own. Frankly, though NATO membership is more trouble than it’s worth — a worthless and superfluous pretext. NATO membership is a condition imposed upon prospective EU member candidates to become a full EU Member State with all the privileges.
2. The EU-US/NATO will continue to pester the Russian Federation only to elicit more deadly Russian Tit-for-Tats and vice-versa.
3. A growing number of Ukrainians are already plotting to rebel against the regime of Volodymyr Zelensky. The Junta in Ukraine is losing ground, despite its imposition of Martial Law. Ukrainians don’t want to sacrifice their lives by serving as cannon fodder and human shields to satisfy Zelensky’s EU-US/NATO masters. My friends in Ukraine tell me that now that Ukraine serves under the EU-US/NATO umbrella, they feel more oppressed than ever before.
4. Picketers will join other demonstrators on the streets of Europe to protest en masse against sanctions meant to harm the Russian people that have boomeranged into Europe’s own pocketbooks.
5. Gradually, the people in North America will wake up and need to decide whether it is better to remain King of the Hill or share global hegemony to enjoy peaceful coexistence.

To save face, the Russian Federation must retaliate against the U.K. It would not surprise me that Russia will threaten to decimate the oil refineries in Aberdeen as a signal to say in unambiguous terms: “Get out of my backyard.” If Aberdeen becomes Russia’s Hiroshima, Kyiv could become Russia’s Nagasaki. From Russia’s perspective, if Kyiv is razed to the ground, there won’t be a Ukraine to receive the gifts of NATO that keep giving the gifts of death and destruction. Hopefully, neither will happen. The best thing that could happen to the European Union: drop Zelensky as a hot potato. Most Europeans want to understand: “Why are we cutting our fingers supporting a hoodlum like Zelensky? He’s hurting, not helping, Ukraine.”

Zurich, Switzerland, 4 November 2022 | “President Vladimir Putin shows a willingness to negotiate, reports the Neue Zurcher Zeitung.

Despite attacks and threats, President Putin shows a willingness to negotiate.

The Russian attackers went on the defensive in Ukraine. A threatening backdrop is set up to show the potential for escalation, including using tactical nuclear weapons. At the same time, however, Putin and other officials are increasingly speaking of a willingness to negotiate. This message is aimed at least as much at Western supporters of Ukraine as it is at the Ukrainians themselves. Putin deliberately leaves open what exactly is to be negotiated.

That's why it's crucial. Putin seems increasingly indignant at the unwillingness of Kyiv and the West to respond to his advances. Russia would like a breather on the battlefield. For the time being, Putin can neither win nor – given his nuclear capabilities – lose there. Freezing of the front line at least secured the already conquered land bridge to Crimea. In addition, one could either gather new military forces over the winter or negotiate a political solution favorable to the Kremlin.

This is the current situation. Because the Russians are targeting the energy supply with drones and cruise missiles, there are more power outages in Ukraine. According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, more than 4.5 million Ukrainians were without electricity on Thursday. Both Kyiv and ten other regions were affected. The Russian army cannot achieve success on the battlefield and is now trying to "break" the Ukrainians on this path, Zelensky explained.”

"WORLD WAR III HAS ALREADY EFFECTIVELY BEGUN"

November 03, 2022
Source: Spiegel
https://www.spiegel.de/international/business/star-economist-roubini-on-the-global-crises-world-war-iii-has-already-effectively-begun-a-fd3126eb-4dd4-42fc-889e-27e4165f6702

Star Economist Nouriel Roubini on the Global Crises
Interview Conducted By Tim Bartz und David Böcking
Published October 28, 2022

Global warming, war, and inflation: The world seems to be in a perpetual crisis. In an interview, crash prophet Nouriel Roubini identifies 10 ‘mega threats’ we are facing and how he is dealing with them.

Nouriel Roubini in New York: "We have to face the world as it is." Photo: Emmy Park / The Mega Agency

DER SPIEGEL: Professor Roubini, you don't like your nickname, "Dr. Doom." Instead, you would like to be called "Dr. Realist." But in your new book, you describe ‘ten mega threats’ that endanger our future. It doesn’t get much gloomier than that.

Roubini: The threats I write about are genuine – no one would deny that. I grew up in Italy in the 1960s and 1970s. Back then, I never worried about a war between great powers or a nuclear winter, as we had a détente between the Soviet Union and the West. I had never heard the words climate change or global pandemic. And no one worried about robots taking over most jobs. We had freer trade and globalization and lived in stable democracies, even if they were not perfect. Debt was very low. The population wasn’t over-aged. There were no unfunded liabilities from the pension and healthcare systems. That's the world I grew up in. And now I have to worry about all these things – and so does everyone else.

DER SPIEGEL: But do they? Or do you feel like a voice crying in the wilderness?

Roubini: I was in Washington at the IMF meeting. The economic historian Niall Ferguson said in a speech there that we would be lucky if we got a financial crisis like in the 1970s – and not a war like in the 1940s. National security advisers were worried about NATO getting involved in the war between Russia and Ukraine and Iran and Israel being on a collision course. And just this morning, I read that the Biden administration expects China to attack Taiwan sooner rather than later. Honestly, World War III has already effectively begun in Ukraine and cyberspace.

DER SPIEGEL: Politicians seem overwhelmed by the simultaneity of many major crises. What priorities should they set?

Read more: Star Economist Nouriel Roubini on the Global Crises says, ‘World War III Has Already Effectively Begun.’

RUSSIA BLAMES U.K. NAVY FOR ‘TERROR ATTACK’ ON NORD STREAM PIPELINES; BRITISH MOD CALLS IT ‘RUSSIAN DISTRACTION’

November 03, 2022
Source: Eurasian Times
https://eurasiantimes.com/russia-blames-uk-navy-for-terror-attack-on-nord-stream-pipelines-british/

By Tanmay Kadam
Published October 30, 2022

Russia has accused the U.K. of Nord Stream explosions in September this year, claiming the specialists from the British Royal Navy helped the Ukrainian military blow up the Nord Stream gas pipelines.

“According to available information, representatives of this unit of the British Navy took part in the planning, provision, and implementation of a terrorist attack in the Baltic Sea on September 26 this year – blowing up the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines,” the Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement on October 29.

Russia and the US-led Western countries have been pointing fingers at each other over the explosions of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in the Baltic Sea that carry gas from Russia to Europe.

As EurAsian Times reported earlier, NATO countries led by the U.S. claim that Russia could have been behind the explosions, but they have refrained from making any official remark.

The cause was “apparent sabotage,” said Jake Sullivan, America’s national security adviser. It was “deliberate, reckless, and irresponsible,” declared NATO.

Even Sweden, under whose economic zone the explosions took place, after concluding its investigations of the incident, only stated its “suspicions of gross sabotage” without naming any country for sabotage.

Now Moscow has squarely accused the U.K. of blowing up the gas pipelines by alleging the involvement of British Navy Specialists in the “planning, provision and implementation” of the attack.

The U.K., on its part, denied the accusations leveled by Russia, saying they were designed as a distraction from Russia’s military failures in Ukraine.

Read more: Russia Blames U.K. Navy For ‘Terror Attack’ On Nord Stream Pipelines; British MoD Calls It ‘Russian Distraction.’

HOW THE LEFT BECAME CHEERLEADERS FOR US IMPERIALISM

November 03, 2022
Source: MintPress News
https://www.mintpressnews.com/how-george-monbiot-left-became-cheerleaders-imperialism/282308/

By JONATHAN COOK
Published October 27, 2022


Illustration by MintPress News

One of the biggest problems for the left, as it confronts what seems like humanity’s ever-more precarious relationship with the planet – from the climate emergency to a potential nuclear exchange – is that siren voices keep luring it towards the rocks of political confusion and self-harm.

And one of the loudest sirens on the British left is the environmental activist George Monbiot.

Monbiot has carved out a figurehead role on the mainstream British left because he is the only big-picture thinker allowed a stable platform in the establishment media: in his case, the liberal Guardian newspaper. It is a spot he covets and one that seems to have come with a hefty price tag: he is allowed to criticize the corporate elite’s capture of British domestic politics – he occasionally concedes that our political life has been stripped of all democratic content – but only, it seems, because he has become ever less willing to extend that same critique to British foreign policy.

As a result, Monbiot holds as cherished piety what should be two entirely inconsistent positions: that British and Western elites are pillaging the planet for corporate gain, immune to the catastrophe they are wreaking on the environment and oblivious to the lives they are destroying at home and abroad; and that these same elites are fighting good, humanitarian wars to protect the interests of poor and oppressed peoples overseas, from Syria and Libya to Ukraine, peoples who coincidentally happen to live in areas of geostrategic significance.

Because of the vice-like corporate hold on Britain’s political priorities, Monbiot avers, nothing the corporate media tells us should be believed – except when those priorities relate to protecting people facing down ruthless foreign dictators, from Syria’s Bashar al-Assad to Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Then the media should be believed absolutely.

Read more: HOW THE LEFT BECAME CHEERLEADERS FOR U.S. IMPERIALISM

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Related Articles Recently Posted on www.buildingthebridgefoundation.com:

Our Friday News Analysis | 'In Search of a Nation's Soul (Part 8),' 28 October 2022.

Our Wednesday News Analysis | 'How Ties Between Mizrahi Jews and Arabs Were Ruined – With Help From Ashkenazi Israelis,' 2 November 2022.

The Evangelical Pope| The True Centers of History, 31 October 2022.

The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of the Building the Bridge Foundation, The Hague.