NoW: UKRAINE UPDATE....WAS ICKE RIGHT?

 

THINGS in the Ukraine may be coming to a head, like a zit ready to pop. The ground is drying up, the Russians are poised to advance to the Dnipro River (and then?...) and the poor people of Ukraine, soldiers, and civilians alike, may come to regret the fact that America’s largess hasn’t dried up as well.

On the weekend, the U.S. congress allocated sixty-one billion dollars for Ukraine to continue its unwinnable war against Russia. It took many months of wrangling and negotiating byzantine party politics,* but the Republican House Speaker (probably soon out of a job) finally caved and brought the contentious bill forward for a vote, which passed on Saturday amid cheers and Ukrainian flag waving (a breech of House etiquette) like they were at a football match or were a herd of trained seals flapping their flippers on cue.

But regardless of how much money the Americans pump into that war-weary nation, along with the EU and other cuck-states subservient to the U.S.—like Canada, on the hook for $3-billion this year—in the end there will be no chest-thumping touchdowns in the final quarter for Ukraine. 

IT SHOULD BE NOTED that ‘only’ around $13 billion will go directly to restocking Ukraine’s armaments store, with $9 billion in forgivable “loans”.😂 [Good luck collecting! Ed.] And the rest, as American Sec of Defense Lloyd Austin recently commented “…approximately $50 billion…will flow directly into our defense industrial base, this bill will create good American jobs in more than 30 states even as it reinforces U.S. long-term security.” So, the weapons manufacturers' money-making carousel keeps spinning round and round in Washington. War is good for business, don't you know. Meanwhile, Zelensky and his band of execrable warmongers are expanding the country’s military enlistment cohort to include males aged 18 to 60, as well as extending the length of service soldiers must serve. Ukraine’s armies are facing a manpower shortage. Hundreds of thousands have died. Russia is stepping up its bombardment of Ukrainian infrastructure, particularly its energy grid: No electricity means no trains to move troops and munitions until diesel locomotives can be brought online. It looks like Russia will soon push back Ukrainian armies to the Dnieper River, then it’s anyone’s guess whether Putin will send his forces south or north. If they move south, Odessa will fall and Russia will probably extend its land bridge to the Russian enclave of Transnistria, situated in the disputed territory along the Ukrainian/Moldavian border. Don't forget that Eastern Ukraine has always been predominately Russian-speaking and most there are ethnically Russian (unlike Western Ukraine which is comprised mostly of ethnic Poles, Hungarians and Romanians).

 

SO, the point of all this is to ask what’s the point for Ukraine continuing this folly? Why? It may yet lose all its Black Sea ports and still more territory the longer the fighting continues. Negotiating now would be in Ukraine's best interest. But warmongering elites in the USA and G7⁺ like Nato chief Stoltenberg, the EU's Ursula von der Leyen, French president Emmanuel Macron, Joe Biden, etc., can’t let go and accept the fact Ukraine has lost. Instead, they remorselessly urge Zelensky to fight Russia to the last Ukrainian.

 

THIS spring disbursement of funds from the United States will only prolong the fighting for a short while. More Ukrainians will die needlessly, and the outcome will be the same. But the danger of escalation is real. Long-range “Storm Shadow” missiles, supplied by America’s pit bull Britain, and American “ATACMS” (“Army Tactical Missile Systems”), systems that can strike deep into Russian territory, may be a step too far for the Russians. We may yet see Russia bring down the hammer and move to roll up the Ukrainian army and stamp out every missile battery and army that threatens its territory. And we may see by the summer Ukraine's armies buckling and breaking in this most preventable of wars.

 

AGAIN: More money will not solve the problem or save Ukraine. Only negotiations and treaties will, though I fear it is too late for bargaining, and it will be Russia, on the battlefield, that will have the final say.

 

Cheers, Jake.______________________________________

 

    Was David Icke right? Do space lizards secretly control us?

* NOT to dwell too long on inside baseball, but for months Speaker Mike Johnson refused to table in the House of Representatives a vote on legislation sending further aid money to Ukraine unless the U.S. southern border issue was first addressed. Then, in early April he met with CIA director Bill Burns and National Security director Avril Haines and shortly thereafter did a 180° turn and brought before the House a military aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. He also presented legislation extending FISA courts' ability to authorize warrant-less surveillance operations on non-U.S. persons (but, in reality, it also would allow domestic spying surveillance of American citizens). The bills passed both House and Senate on 23 April.

Some commentators wonder what made the Speaker change his mind about money for Ukraine and green lighting a two-year extension on FISA's warrant-less surveillance protocols, yet without one whisper of attention being given to the mass influx of illegal immigrants along the U.S./Mexico border. One wonders what was said to Speaker Johnson in those early April security briefings to make him reverse his months-long refusal to allow a House vote on Ukrainian aid. Was he bribed or blackmailed? Was it a case of Epsteinitis? Was it the lizard people? Who knows?

House Republicans, for the most part, are enraged with Johnson's about-face, and may soon vote to remove him from his speakership. On the other hand, most House democrats are pleased with Johnson’s volte-face, and may move to thwart his dismissal, just to piss-off the Republican legislators. Now children, play nice! 

AS AN ASIDE: Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate (providing he's not in jail, and even then....) has endorsed Johnson's stance on Ukraine aid while ignoring the southern border crisis leaving Trump supporters shaking their heads in disbelief. According to polls, most Americans are more concerned about illegal immigrants coming through Mexico than wars thousands of miles away. Are American oligarchs jerking Trump's chain? It's funny season again in America, AKA the Presidential elections.😭

 

+ CANADA, as a member in good standing at the G7 economic club (United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, U.S., Canada), has pledged $3-billion in military aid for Ukraine in 2024, as well as inking a bi-lateral security agreement with the kleptocracy. This agreement is a consolation prize for Ukraine not being fast-tracked (or any tracked!) into NATO, and it is full of “assurances”, but light on “guarantees”. It’s the: we’ll-send-you-what-we-can-when-we-can-maybe schtick. The carefully-worded agreement was inked with little fanfare, a further indication Canada really does not want to be obligated to send military aid to Ukraine in the future, with the current deal being a sop to Zelensky and his familiars,  and to pro-Ukrainian groups in Canada. Other G7 countries are devising similar bilateral security agreements with Ukraine. 

ONE WONDERS what will happen to all those agreements when Russia dictates Ukraine's terms of surrender later this fall. They won't be worth the paper they're written on in a de-militarized and neutral Ukrainian rump state. 

 

Hey, here's a thought:  What if Poland or France, or even Britain, sends troops into Ukraine? Does that mean the NATO contingent of 2,000 Canadian troops stationed in Lithuania will doff their NATO kit and jump into the fray? Do Canadians really want to see our troops fighting Russian troops? Is that a good thing with WWIII just around the corner? Note that Russia's nuclear protocols call for the use of nuclear weapons to defend its territory if the Russian state is confronted with an existential crisis, say by invasion or imminent downfall. China has a "no first use" policy for its nuclear arsenal, while the United States "...has refused to adopt a no first use policy and says that it reserves the right to use nuclear weapons first in the case of conflict." (Wikipedia)   Stay tuned.  

AS IF nuclear annihilation weren't enough to worry about, CANADA has, for some reason, just concluded a “free trade” deal with Ukraine. 😟 Talk about going down with the ship! I’m sure by this time next year [Provided we're not fried to a nuclear crisp. Ed.] that the trade deal will feel more like an albatross around our effervescent PM’s neck rather than a feather in his cap. 

 

WE SHOULD NOTE there are 1.2 million Ukrainian Canadians in our country, most living out west or in B.C. That’s a lot of voters to keep happy with policies that may please them but do little for Canada’s overall security or for its pocketbook.

We should be looking for ways and venues (like the Arctic Council) where we can have dialogue and areas of cooperation with Russia (like the International Space Station). Instead, we follow in lockstep the Americans on things like ineffectual sanctions regimes (now into its 16th round).

👉Russia is a nuclear power. It's not going away. It has a rich history and culture. It also has legitimate security concerns that should have been listened to before now. We seem hell-bent on imposing a NATO encirclement of Russia (now that Sweden and Finland have been accepted into the Western military alliance). Why? The Russia of today is not the USSR of yesteryear. NATO has long-outlived its usefulness and a new European security architecture needs to be put in its place which requires Russian input at the very least. We need to stop the bear-baiting before it's too late.  

 

 

 

   Geisha

 

 

FREE JULIAN ASSANGE! FREE JULIAN ASSANGE! FREE JULIAN ASSANGE!

 

NoW UPDATE: GAZA AGAIN

 

ACCORDING to the World Happiness Report, the top five happiest countries in 2024 are, in order: Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, and Israel. Israel comes in at number five, just a tad down from its fourth-place position in 2023. Not surprisingly, Palestine ranks a bit lower this year at 103, with an understandable drop from last year's 99^th position. Afghanistan takes the cake as the least happy country on the globe three years running with 2024's score bottoming out at 143. [There are a number of countries where data is unavailable or incomplete. Ed.] To tabulate happiness scores, the survey measures six categories: “GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make your own life choices, generosity of the general population, and perceptions of internal and external corruption levels.”

I’D HAZARD a guess and say that Palestine took a hit on the “life expectancy” and “freedom” quotients, though I’d thought it would be lower on the scale. (It must be true that misery always seeks its own level.) Next year's score will, no doubt, give Afghanistan a run for its money when they're tabulated. I’m also a little surprised that Israel is so high up the happiness ladder, though a sunny Mediterranean coastline and ample resort facilities must help boost levels significantly. It almost makes me want to buy a condo in the occupied West Bank, but I think I’ll wait for real estate developments to break ground in the Gaza Strip after the Palestinians are gone. I’m sure deals there will be ones you could just die for!

 

My beach house will be 2nd from the end. What a view!

TO BE HONEST, I almost forgot about the genocide happening in Gaza. [Over 34,000 Palestinians killed, 65% women and children; almost 77,000 injured, and 8,000 missing. In the occupied West Bank: 468 murdered; 4800 injured since 8 October 2023.] Last week's media reports about a flare up between Israel and Iran dominated the news cycle and distracted from events in Gaza. What with Israel bombing the Iranian consulate in Damascus on 1 April and Iran’s April 13 retaliatory missile and drone barrage on Israel, and Israel’s (fortunately) tepid 19 April tit-for-tat drone attack on Iran, things seem a bit on tenterhooks in the Middle East. Israel’s attack on the consulate is a most egregious breech of international law—there’s a reason why embassy grounds are considered off-limits. They are legally seen as the soil of the countries they represent. To attack an embassy is the same as attacking the country. That’s why state actors' attacks on foreign embassies is such a rare occurrence. During NATO’s intervention in the former Yugoslavia, China’s embassy in Belgrade, was ‘accidentally’ bombed. Twenty-five years later, China has not forgotten. For centuries, embassies have been considered inviolable and for good reason: conflicts large and small, at the end of the day, require diplomacy to negotiate a peace and mark hostilities “case closed”. Combatants need to speak with each other in negotiating agreements. By its rash actions, Israel may have further weakened the already battered system of international law and diplomacy. It is noted just days after Israel’s “April Fools” attack in Damascus, Ecuadorian police raided the Mexican embassy in Quito where an opposition politician had claimed asylum. That slippery slope is getting slipperier. [We recall that Julian Assange was evicted by police from the Ecuadorian embassy in London, in 2019, only after Ecuador revoked his political asylum. The Americans and their pit bull, Britain, were desperate, for years, to get their hands on Assange but even they did not invade the Ecuadorian embassy's 'territory' until the South American government gave them the go-ahead. Ed. ]

 

😆 Mainstream media (MSM), for the most part, calls Iran’s response to Israel’s attack on its embassy a “failure”, in that most of the drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles were shot down by Israel’s “Iron Dome” defense system (along with American, British, and French air support). At first blush, this seems like an accurate assessment. But some commentators disagree. They argue that Iran’s air barrage was not meant to elicit Israeli casualties or destroy civilian infrastructure. A handful of Iranian missiles did hit two military airfields in Israel (from which Israelis had launched their earlier attack on Iran’s embassy in Damascus).

THE PURPOSE of Iran’s 19 April retaliatory attack was multifold: 

👉Firstly, Iran publicly stated their late night air strike was in response to Israel’s attack on their embassy. 

👉Secondly, the attack was launched to send a message to Israeli leadership that Iran was fully capable of inflicting catastrophic injury upon the Israeli state.

👉Thirdly, it collected data on Israel’s defense capabilities as well as what the American, British, and French are capable of doing in their defense of Israel, such as their response times and targeting patterns. 

👉Fourthly, and perhaps most importantly, Iran expected most of their drones and missiles would be shot down because they had warned the Israelis ahead of time about their intentions using Saudi Arabia as their messenger (who, in turn, informed Israel and the Americans).

 

THIS WAS a carefully calibrated show of force to underscore Iran’s displeasure over Israel’s embassy attack that killed several high-ranking military personnel and diplomats, but it was just that—a show. The fact that Iran successfully attacked the Israeli air bases and did not kill any Israelis (except for seriously injuring a Bedouin girl who was hit by falling debris near one of the bases), proves what the Iranians can do, if provoked. Iran’s response was a message saying: ‘we didn’t like what you did, attacking our embassy, and here is our response. We consider the matter closed.’ Tit-for-Tat.

IT'S CLEAR that Israel wanted Iran to retaliate with a much greater show of force to draw the Americans into the fray and to fight Iran in a larger, regional war. But Iran is no push-over. It has thousands of drones and missiles that could blanket Israel in wave of destruction, and it showed remarkable restraint and a careful orchestration up on the “escalation ladder”, that didn’t provoke Israel or the Americans into an all-out war. Iran made its point. It demonstrated its power. And it diplomatically deemed the matter “closed”. Israel did respond with a mild, face-saving gesture, when it sent a few drones to attack an Iranian air base, all of which were easily shot down. For the moment, both fighters have returned to their respective corners and tensions between them has ratcheted down a notch or two.

 

ONE POSSIBLE reason for Israel’s mild response to the Iranian 19 April attacks is disturbing: Did Israel curb its response because of American pressure? Did the Americans tamp down on Israel starting a larger regional war with Iran by giving it the green light to invade Rafah? With nearly one million refugees in the southern Gazan city, any military actions there will in all probability cause a major up tick in civilian casualties. Thus far, Israel has held fire on major incursions into the densely packed city. We’ll find out soon.

 

FUN FACT # 1—On 5 March this year, consumer advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader made the claim that “in my appraisal…at least 200,000 Palestinians must have perished by now and the toll is accelerating by the hour.” (“Stop”, Nader) It’s a startling number, but Nader suggests that both the Hamas-run Ministry of Health and the Israeli government deliberately downplay the Palestinian casualty numbers: Hamas, in order to hide from its population the true death rate to curb dissent and dissatisfaction among its people, and the low ball death tallies made by Israel are done to mute growing international opprobrium over its slaughter military campaign in the Gaza Strip. In the fog of war, it is difficult to know where the truth lies, and it may be years before we know for certain who did what when, how much, and why. Meanwhile, famine, disease and death are a daily occurrence in Gaza, with the assault on Rafah imminent. Perhaps Nader's numbers are more realistic, after all.

 

FUN FACT #2—Here’s another WTF! fact that sounds too "far out" to be real but, these days, looking at how psychologically ill Israeli society has become, I have to wonder. A few nights ago, an armed Israeli Defense Force (IDF) “quadcopter” drone, was spotted over the Nuseirat refugee camp. It was emitting prerecorded sounds of babies crying and women screaming with the presumed goal of drawing Palestinians out from their shelters and shooting them. If this proves true, I’m going to put my drone in the oven and melt it down to a plastic puddle!

 

FUN FACT #3—On 18 April, at a United Nations Security Council (UNSC), a meeting was held to vote on a draft proposal to grant Palestine full membership in UN. The vote was 12 in favour, two abstentions (Britain, Switzerland), and one "No" vote, with the United States vetoing the proposal. Nice.... Caitlin Johnstone puts it so much better than I can:

  

“The US doesn’t support a two-state solution, [in Palestine] the US only supports saying the US supports a two-state solution. We know this because the US just vetoed Palestine’s bid to become a full UN member state, after lobbying other countries to vote against the resolution — despite continually saying it supports the foundation of a Palestinian state. Washington’s words say one thing, but its actions say the opposite.” 

 

Cheers, Jake.___________________________________________

             

 

 

 

FREE JULIAN ASSANGE! 

FREE JULIAN ASSANGE! 

FREE JULIAN ASSANGE!

 

CRINGE PIC, APRIL 2024: SOMEONE IS WORRIED

 

MAD MAGAZINE’S Alfred E. Newman doesn’t have much to worry about, but judging by this pic, taken during a video conference entitled “Ukraine. Year 2024”, President Zee looks very worried, indeed. As he should be, because the way things are going Ukraine 2025 is looking a little problematic. Or at least Zelensky’s presidency of the battle-weary nation, which may not last to bring in the New Year. One thing he may be worried about (and there are so many things!) is the looming possibility of a Russian offensive this spring once the ground has dried sufficiently.

HE MAY also be worrying whether there will be any blowback should Russian investigators cite Ukraine as one of the state actors in the Crocus City Hall massacre last month. In the meanwhile, Russia has stepped up its bombing of Ukrainian energy infrastructure but it wouldn't take much for one of those "glide bombs" to go off course and land on the presidential palace while President Zee is at breakfast. Just sayin'.

  

WITH funding held up in the American Congress, and European leaders scrambling to find cash and arms to send his way, Zelensky may be feeling the winds of change wafting in that will either lift him over mountains growing menacingly before him or else drop him with a splat! among the stony foothills. Time will tell, but he’d better keep his bags packed, just in case.