Has the United States already decided that the territory of Ukraine is quite suitable for a nuclear war?
US donates radiation sensors to Ukraine to detect nuclear explosions
Sensors will be deployed "throughout the region" and will be able to characterize the size, location and effects of any nuclear explosion.
Kremlin reacts to ‘Putin drone assassination’ claim
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman has dismissed claims that Ukraine had attempted to assassinate the head of state using a suicide drone. Dmitry Peskov dismissed the allegations as “yellow fabrications.”
“No, we are not familiar with these reports,” Peskov told reporters. “There are many such ‘yellow fabrications’ these days. There’s no reason to pay them any mind.”
On Wednesday, German tabloid Bild published a story titled ‘17 kilos of explosives intended to kill Putin’, claiming that a Ukrainian drone that crashed near Moscow on Sunday had targeted the president, and that the Russian authorities were trying to cover it up.
Bild quoted Ukrainian activist Yuri Romanenko, who claimed that Ukrainian intelligence had sent the drone to target Putin during his visit to the Rudnevo industrial park outside Moscow. The UAV reportedly passed through Russian air defenses undetected and crashed “not far” from the target location. The German outlet described Romanenko as someone with close ties to Kiev’s intelligence services.
The crash of the UJ-22 on Sunday was widely reported in Russian media, however. The UAV was found in the Bogorodsky district, about 30km from Moscow’s eastern outskirts and 20km from Rudnevo. It had 30 blocks of C4 explosive, around 17 kilograms, on board. Three more drones, all of the smaller quadcopter variety, were discovered near the Russian capital on Monday.
The same day, Ukrainian propaganda service Euromaidan PR tweeted a video purporting to show footage of Moscow taken by Ukrainian drones, claiming responsibility for the quadcopters and leaving a threatening message: “We are closer than you think.”
The platform’s Community Notes quickly fact-checked the claim, however, revealing that the drone footage actually came from an old YouTube video.
Putin’s planned visit to Rudnevo at some point this week was mentioned by Russian media on Sunday. The president arrived at the industrial park on Thursday, spending over an hour in a meeting with officials and representatives of Russia’s aerospace industry. Putin called drone aviation a field of “critical importance” for economic sovereignty, in which Russia should strive to not merely keep pace with the competition, but be “a step ahead.” He also discussed the importance of mass producing UAVs.
Scott Ritter: 'Ukraine Victory Resolution' Act - a Delusional Suicide Pact
After the presentation of the resolution, it must then be approved by the Foreign Affairs Committee and then put to a vote in Congress, both at the House of Representatives and the Senate level, before becoming law.
While the "Ukraine Victory Resolution" faces an uncertain future in a Congress where enthusiasm for the ongoing conflict in Ukraine is waning, one should not count out the potential for the resolution becoming law, especially given the track record of its sponsors. Wilson, Cohen and McCaul last collaborated on the "Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act", which was signed into law on May 9, 2022, by President Joe Biden. That law enhanced Biden’s authority to simplify bureaucratic barriers with regards to military equipment for Ukraine or other Eastern European countries affected by the Russian Special Military Operation in Ukraine.
Since the start of Russia's Special Military Operation, the Helsinki Commission has worked closely with the Ukrainian government to craft legislation that supports Ukrainian goals and objectives when it comes to its conflict with Russia.
To call the Helsinki Commission a de facto adjunct of the Ukrainian government would not be an exaggeration. Indeed, the Ukrainian Ambassador to the US, Oksana Markarova, was the person chosen to make the official announcement regarding the presentation of the "Ukraine Victory Resolution" to the House of Representatives.
The text of the draft resolution "affirms that it is the policy of the United States to see Ukraine victorious against the invasion and restored to its internationally recognized 1991 borders."
Wilson and Cohen both have stated that the territorial integrity of Ukraine must be preserved, meaning that the conflict in Ukraine could not be ended until the territories of Kherson, Zaporozhye, Donetsk, Lugansk, and Crimea are returned to Ukrainian sovereignty.
While the resolution introduced by Wilson and Cohen accurately reflects both current US policy objectives and Ukrainian government desires, it ignores two critical realities. First, it is Russia that is winning the conflict, not Ukraine, and as such any termination of the current conflict will reflect this hard truth.
Moreover, to tie both the US and Ukraine to unrealistic expectations creates obstacles to any possible negotiated end to the conflict, meaning that the conflict will drag on to its inevitable conclusion—a strategic Russian victory—in a manner which will only increase the human, material, and financial cost to Ukraine.
Indeed, as senior Russian officials such as former President Dmitri Medvedev have noted, if the crisis does not reach a negotiated end, Ukraine itself may cease to exist as a sovereign entity. The irony of a piece of US legislation purporting to defend Ukrainian sovereignty serving as the foundation of the death of Ukraine as a nation seems to have escaped the sponsors of the resolution.
But the resolution also lays the groundwork for the possibility—indeed, if the resolution accomplished its goal, probability—of a general nuclear war between the United States and Russia. Former Russian President Medvedev recently noted that, according to Russian policy regarding the use of nuclear weapons, such weapons "can be used in case of aggression against Russia with the use of other types of weapons that threaten the very existence of the state. This is, in essence, the use of nuclear weapons in response to such actions."
Any effort by Ukraine to recover its former territories which have been absorbed by Russia would, by definition, constitute a threat against the "very existence of the Russian State," to quote Medvedev. "If you have a weapon in your hands," Medvedev declared recently, referring to nuclear weapons, "and I, as a former president, know what it is, you must be prepared that your hand will not tremble in a certain situation to use it, no matter how monstrous and cruel it sounds."
"Therefore, all these stories that 'the Russians will never do it,' or vice versa, 'the Russians keep scaring us with the use of nuclear weapons,' are not worth a penny," Medvedev said.
This is something Russia's potential adversaries, including Congressmen Wilson, Cohen, and McCaul—and indeed every member of Congress who will be called upon to vote in support of the "Ukraine Victory Resolution" — should keep first and foremost in their mind.
A vote for the resolution is a vote for nuclear war with Russia. The resolution is a literal suicide pact with Ukraine. Hopefully the American people will wake up to this reality before it is too late, and let their representatives know that they chose life over death.
Ukraine has lost its NATO-driven conflict with Russia. There is no need for the entire world to die as a result.
28th April 2023 21:17
ExomatrixTV
Re: WW3? Ukraine/US vs. Donbass/Russia
Global Military Spending Tops Record $2.2 trillion, Harley Schlanger Tony Gosling:
Tonight we are putting the Spotlight on the continuous rise in global military expenditure in recent years. The 3.7% increase in global military spending in 2022 alone reached an all-time high of $2.24 trillion, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. By any standard this could mean nothing but an "increasingly insecure world." In this edition, we will discuss the reasons behind this sharp increase and its ramifications.
World military spending reaches all-time high of $2.24 trillion
Surge in spending reflects Russia-Ukraine war and ‘increasingly insecure world’, according to leading think tank. Published On 24 Apr 2023
World military spending reached an all-time high of $2.24 trillion in 2022, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine fuelled a sharp jump in military spending across Europe, according to a leading defence think tank.
Global spending rose for the eighth consecutive year, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said on Monday in its annual report on global military expenditure.
There was a 13 percent rise in Europe, the steepest in at least 30 years.
SIPRI said most of that was linked to Russia and Ukraine, but other countries also stepped up military spending in response to perceived Russian threats.
“The continuous rise in global military expenditure in recent years is a sign that we are living in an increasingly insecure world,” Nan Tian, senior researcher with SIPRI’s Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme. “States are bolstering military strength in response to a deteriorating security environment, which they do not foresee improving in the near future.”
Moscow invaded and seized Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in 2014, and backed separatist rebels in the country’s east before it began its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The moves have spread alarm among other countries that neighbour Russia or were once part of the Soviet Union’s sphere of influence, with Finland’s spending up 36 percent and Lithuania’s military spending up by 27 percent, according to SIPRI.
In April, Finland, whose border with Russia stretches some 1,340km (833 miles), became the 31st member of NATO. Sweden, which has avoided military alliances for more than 200 years, also wants to join.
“While the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 certainly affected military spending decisions in 2022, concerns about Russian aggression have been building for much longer,” said Lorenzo Scarazzato, researcher with SIPRI’s Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme. “Many former Eastern bloc states have more than doubled their military spending since 2014, the year when Russia annexed Crimea.”
The think tank said military spending in Ukraine surged more than six times to $44bn in 2022, the highest single-year increase in a country’s military expenditure ever recorded in SIPRI data.
As a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP), military spending surged to 34 percent in 2022, compared with 3.2 percent the year before.
Russian military spending grew by an estimated 9.2 per cent in 2022, to about $86.4bn, according to SIPRI. That was equivalent to 4.1 per cent of Russia’s 2022 GDP, up from 3.7 percent in 2021.
The United States remained the world’s largest military spender — up 0.7 percent to $877bn in 2022 — which was 39 percent of total global military spending. The increase was largely driven by “the unprecedented level of financial military aid it provided to Ukraine,” SIPRI’s Nan Tian said.
US financial military aid to Ukraine totalled $19.9bn in 2022, according to the think tank.
China remained the world’s second-largest military spender, allocating an estimated $292bn in 2022. This was 4.2 percent more than in 2021 and represents the 28th consecutive annual increase.
Meanwhile, Japan spent $46bn on the military in 2022, a rise of 5.9 percent from the previous year. SIPRI said it was the highest level of Japanese military spending since 1960.
Japan and China led military spending in Asia and Oceania, which amounted to $575bn. SIPRI said military expenditure in the region had been rising since at least 1989.
Tensions in East Asia have risen over the self-ruled island of Taiwan, which Beijing considers part of its territory. China also lays claim to almost all of the South China Sea, a major maritime trading route, parts of which are also claimed by countries including the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia.
Japan and China are also embroiled in a dispute over the Senkaku or Diaoyu Islands, which lie northeast of Taiwan.
Tokyo also has a long-running dispute with Moscow over the Northern Territories, which lie northeast of Hokkaido and were seized by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II. Russia calls them the Kuril Islands.
Antiwar activist Jose Vega is well on his way to becoming a legendary disruptor of the war machine. His latest target: an event at Columbia Journalism School featuring some of the news media’s top editors talking about anything BUT the Nord Stream pipeline bombing and the ongoing perilous dance with World War III.
Guest host Aaron Maté and Americans’ Comedian Kurt Metzger talk to special guest Jimmy Dore about the sad state of journalism in America and why disruptors like Vega are so important to holding the powerful accountable.
Exposing The Ny Times/Wash Post. Enough Already With The Establishment Media:
The Bild publication, citing its sources, writes that when crossing the Dnieper , the Armed Forces of Ukraine intend to use small operational special forces on kayaks.
“They are silent and small in size, difficult to see at night. A special coating is applied on board so that they cannot be detected by a night vision device, ” says BILD.
I had to share this. :) I'm a fairly experienced kayaker (and I expect some other members here are as well), and I can tell you definitively from the photo that these guys are complete novices who have little idea what they're doing.
The Dneipr river is wide and with considerable flow (especially since it's been raining so hard), and it's very hard even with experience to control a kayak crossing the flow of a big river if it's heavily laden, e.g. with military hardware.
If they can cross the river undetected at night and without mishap, they'll be really really lucky. Do please post any updates on the outcome of this dangerous stunt if you happen to catch them. :)
Do you think they may use British special forces for this operation ?
28th April 2023 23:12
Bill Ryan
Re: WW3? Ukraine/US vs. Donbass/Russia
Quote:
Posted by Applesprig
Do you think they may use British special forces for this operation ?
The former British Special Forces guys that I've known personally, all as good friends (2 in the SAS and 1 in the SBS) would already be skilled kayakers. (And the same for US Navy Seals.) These Ukrainians in the photo were apparently "trained" for this mission — but (OMG!) definitely not very well. :)
28th April 2023 23:42
Ravenlocke
Re: WW3? Ukraine/US vs. Donbass/Russia
Putin warns NATO "We haven't even started yet." | Redacted with Clayton Morris
Ukraine launched massive attacks in the Donbass region this weekend. The mainstream media doesn't seem to care. Meanwhile Ukraine has changed its goals from "survival" to "victory." What does victory mean? More money and weapons from the west. President Putin says that if Ukraine wants to escalate on the battlefield, Russia is ready. Peace talks now.
Ukraine looking to grab more of Russia’s oil revenues – Kommersant
Kiev is preparing to significantly increase tariffs for transporting Russian crude oil to the EU through its territory via the Druzhba pipeline, business daily Kommersant reported on Friday.
According to the report from the Russian outlet, which cites the consultancy Argus and market sources, Ukrainian pipeline operator Ukrtransnafta has applied for a two-step increase in transit prices, by 25% from the current $14.90 per ton to $18.70 on June 1, and by an additional 23.5% to $23 on August 1.
Transneft, Russia’s state pipeline transport company, confirmed to Kommersant having received notification from Ukrtransnafta of the tariff hike but said that it was not conducting negotiations with Kiev on the matter.
According to Kommersant’s sources, Ukraine is currently negotiating the hike directly with buyers in Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. However, any arrangements with them will have to be formalized with the Russian Energy Ministry and Transneft, experts say. The latter traditionally pays in advance for the transit of Russian oil through Ukrainian territory. The transit cost is included in the price of oil deliveries, and Russian oil companies, having received payment from buyers, reimburse Transneft for the transit.
The planned hike in transit costs will be the second this year, after Kiev raised the tariff by €2.10 per ton (18.3%) on January 1. Prior to that, the tariff was hiked twice last year.
Experts warn that overly frequent tariff hikes may bring oil transport via Druzhba to a halt, as buyers, despite not having many alternatives to Russian oil, may find the costs too high. According to Igor Yushkov, a professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, this scenario would hurt Ukraine, which relies on the transit fees.
READ MORE: Hungary to pay Ukraine for transit of Russian oil – Reuters
Druzhba carries crude some 4,000km from Russia to refineries in the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. Supplies via the route were not targeted by the EU embargo on Russian crude that was introduced late last year.
Antiwar activist Jose Vega is well on his way to becoming a legendary disruptor of the war machine. His latest target: an event at Columbia Journalism School featuring some of the news media’s top editors talking about anything BUT the Nord Stream pipeline bombing and the ongoing perilous dance with World War III.
Guest host Aaron Maté and Americans’ Comedian Kurt Metzger talk to special guest Jimmy Dore about the sad state of journalism in America and why disruptors like Vega are so important to holding the powerful accountable.
Exposing The Ny Times/Wash Post. Enough Already With The Establishment Media:
They THREW him to the ground for asking the NYTimes a tough question | Redacted with Clayton Morris
Jose Vega stood up and asked editors at the NYTimes, Washington Post, and others why are they shilling for the deep state military industrial complex. Before being wrestled to the ground Vega asked why these "papers of record" ignored the biggest story of the last 100 years, the bombing of the Nord Stream pipeline by President Biden. Redacted Correspondent Dan Cohen joins us to look deeper into the cozy relationship between the corporate media and the federal government.
As the war in Ukraine drags on, the government is selling off state assets in a big privatization spree.
US fossil fuel corporations like ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Halliburton are participating in discussions to take over the Eastern European nation’s oil and gas industry, as Kiev pushes to increase production to replace Russian energy exports.
This comes soon after Ukraine’s Western-backed leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, sent a friendly video message to a US corporate lobby group, thanking companies like BlackRock, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, and Starlink, and promising “big business” for others.
In September, Zelensky also symbolically opened the New York Stock Exchange, announcing that his country is “open for business”, offering more than $400 billion in “public-private partnerships, privatization, and private ventures” for US companies.
The Ukrainian government has used the war as an excuse to ram through some of the most aggressive anti-worker laws on Earth.
The director of the Kiev-based workers’ rights NGO Labor Initiatives warned of a “full-scale attack on Ukraine’s labour rights”, writing in a German government-funded journal that the “war cannot be used to justify stripping workers of their rights”.
In an attempt to bring an end to this war, China has taken the lead in advocating peace talks. Brazil’s President Lula da Silva has backed Beijing’s efforts.
The West, on the other hand, has vociferously opposed all attempts at diplomatic negotiations and instead pushed to escalate the NATO proxy war on Russia, sending fighter jets and tanks to Kiev.
Ukrainian officials, meanwhile, are treating their country as a for-profit company, frequently travelling to the United States in search of lucrative business opportunities.
Ukraine’s state energy company Naftogaz woos US corporations, like Iraq War profiteer Halliburton
The CEO of Ukraine’s state-owned energy company Naftogaz, Oleksiy Chernyshov, flew to Washington, DC this April to meet with US political and corporate officials.
The Financial Times reported that Chernyshov sat down with representatives from ExxonMobil and Halliburton, following a similar meeting with Chevron in January.
“The negotiations with big US fossil fuel players are part of a strategic push to increase natural gas production that Ukrainian officials believe could help replace Russian supply to Europe in the years ahead”, the newspaper wrote.
Halliburton is notorious for its involvement in corruption schemes, involving fat government contracts. In 2017, it was fined $29.2 million by the US Securities and Exchange Commission for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act with highly profitable oilfield services contracts in Angola.
Halliburton is also the world’s biggest provider of fracking services, or hydraulic fracturing, a controversial form of gas extraction that is so environmentally destructive it was banned in the United Kingdom.
Responding to the Financial Times report, economist Yanis Varoufakis, who previously served as Greece’s minister of finance, tweeted: “And there you have it. EXXON, HALLIBURTON & CHEVRON, after Iraq, are now taking over the Ukrainian oil and gas fields. Planning to introduce large scale fracking – a clear and present threat to poison U’s agriculture”.
Chernyshov, the CEO of Ukraine’s state energy company Naftogaz, told the newspaper, “We want them [Halliburton] to expand [their presence] dramatically. We want them there seriously — boots on the ground”.
“We will welcome them”, he added. “We can do joint production on gas together, PSA agreement — production sharing agreement — they can have a licence and produce by themselves, we will welcome it”.
In November, the president of Halliburton in the eastern hemisphere, Joe Rainey, travelled to Ukraine to meet with Chernyshov.
Naftogaz published a press release on its website boasting that it “is strengthening its strategic cooperation with American’s Halliburton, one of the world’s largest oilfield services providers, to unlock the new potential of Ukraine’s fields”.
“Your support and visit to Kyiv is a powerful signal for the entire market and the world”, Chernyshov said. “I am grateful to the US government, the American people and you personally for your comprehensive support of Ukraine. We really appreciate it. Our cooperation is extremely important and we are doing our best to improve and expand it”.
Halliburton was a household name in the United States in the 2000s, and was practically synonymous with corruption.
Vice President Dick Cheney, who served under former President George W. Bush, had worked for years as chairman and CEO of Halliburton.
Cheney, a hardline neoconservative, was a key architect of the illegal US invasion of Iraq in 2003. That same year, Halliburton was given what NPR described as a “‘sweetheart’ deal in Iraq”.
NPR wrote:
Oil services company Halliburton has come under intense scrutiny over its multi-billion-dollar contracts with the U.S. military in Iraq. Congressional critics want to know if the company is engaging in gold-plating contracts — inflating costs and pocketing the difference. Other critics charge that Halliburton has seemingly become another branch of the U.S. military, while the company’s former chief executive officer, Dick Cheney, is now the vice president.
In the first of a three-part series looking at the complex relationship between the defense contractor and the federal government, NPR’s John Burnett examines the scope of contracts in Iraq held by Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root, better known as KBR.
America’s war on terrorism has created a windfall for KBR. Since Sept. 11, 2001, the company has constructed base camps at more than 60 locations throughout the Middle East and South Asia. Under its deal with the Pentagon — known as a “Logcap” contract — KBR is the go-to company to provide troops in Iraq with everything from portable toilets to Internet cafes.
A decade later, the International Business Times reported that Halliburton subsidiary KBR had received more Iraq-related contracts than any other private firm in the 10 years of the war.
The media outlet reported:
The company [KBR] was given $39.5 billion in Iraq-related contracts over the past decade, with many of the deals given without any bidding from competing firms, such as a $568-million contract renewal in 2010 to provide housing, meals, water and bathroom services to soldiers, a deal that led to a Justice Department lawsuit over alleged kickbacks.
Ukraine eyes natural gas deposits off Crimea
The Financial Times reported that the Ukrainian government specifically hopes to drill for offshore natural gas in the Black Sea, off of Crimea. Kiev is unable to access that gas, however.
Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014, following a referendum with 83% turnout in which 97% of participants said they wanted to join the Russian Federation. Western governments cast doubt on the vote, but polling by mainstream US firm Pew Research found that 91% of Crimeans said the referendum was free and fair and 88% wanted Ukraine to recognize the results.
Despite Crimeans’ overwhelming support for integration with Russia, Ukraine and its NATO sponsors have insisted that they will retake the region – not only because of its valuable offshore gas reserves, but also due its deep geostrategic importance for Russia.
Russia only has one warm water naval base, the Sevastopol base in Crimea. This is the main base used by Russia’s Black Sea Fleet – and, without it, the sea would effectively become controlled by NATO.
For Moscow, this is genuinely a security concern, not one motivated by ulterior economic interests.
Even the US military-backed think tank the RAND Corporation conceded this, publishing a report in April 2022 titled “Russia Does Not Seem to Be After Ukraine’s Gas Reserves”.
RAND wrote:
Ukraine does indeed control Europe’s second-largest known reserves of natural gas, almost 80 percent of which are located east of the Dnipro River. However, these reserves amount to less than 3 percent of Russia’s total natural gas reserves.
And though Ukraine theoretically might have considerable shale gas reserves, they remain largely unproven, and Russia currently has no experience or technology for shale gas production.
Naftogaz CEO meets with US ambassador involved in 2014 coup
During his trip to Washington this April, Naftogaz CEO Chernyshov not only met with corporate executives; he also sat down with senior government officials, like former US ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt.
Pyatt represented Washington in Kiev during a violent US-backed coup in 2014, which overthrew Ukraine’s democratically elected, geopolitically neutral government and installed a pro-Western regime.
A notorious leaked phone call from top State Department official Victoria Nuland showed US officials deciding who would run the Ukrainian government after the coup. Joining Nuland on the call was none other than Pyatt.
Today, Pyatt serves as US assistant secretary of state for energy resources, and he also coordinates cooperation between the G7 and Ukraine.
In a press release on Chernyshov’s meeting with Pyatt, Naftogaz wrote with pride that it “is working to attract American companies – their technologies, expertise and investments – to increase production in Ukraine”.
“We discussed a number of issues. From Ukraine’s new role in Europe’s energy security system to the implementation of corporate governance reform”, Chernyshov said.
Naftogaz participates in IMF structural adjustment program
On his trip to Washington, Naftogaz CEO Chernyshov also met with representatives from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the US-dominated financial institution that is infamous for imposing neoliberal economic policies on indebted nations.
This March, the IMF made the unprecedented decision of approving a $15.6 billion loan for Ukraine.
The IMF had never before provided financing to a country that is at war. A reporter at US state media outlet NPR admitted that the IMF had to implement a “rule change”, which “was obviously, you know, politically motivated”.
Since it was created in 1944, the IMF refused to give loans to countries at war
But it is now giving $15.6 billion to Ukraine
US state media NPR admits the "rule change was obviously politically motivated"
This is the US "rules-based order": change the rules when it suits you
Naftogaz declared in a press release that “successful and consistent cooperation with the IMF is crucial for Ukraine’s resilience during the war”.
Using racist rhetoric that implied that Russia is “uncivilized”, Chernyshov stated:
Cooperation with the IMF is crucial for the stability of our country in times of war. The fact that we have a program is a signal to the civilized world that the country is moving in the right direction. Ukraine has made its civilizational choice. Naftogaz has fulfilled its part of the conditions for our country to receive the IMF program. This demonstrates that we are a reliable partner. Naftogaz will not let the country down.
The Naftogaz statement did not clarify what these “conditions” were, but a February press release from the IMF made it clear that it includes neoliberal reforms.
The IMF reported that its discussions with Ukrainian authorities “covered the medium-term macroeconomic framework, fiscal policy, the financing mix, financial sector policies, and governance”.
The IMF’s conditions included, “In particular, reform initiatives to enhance productivity and competitiveness of the private sector need to be advanced to help lay the foundation for a robust post-war growth against a backdrop of progress toward EU accession”.
Reforms to “enhance productivity and competitiveness of the private sector” is a euphemistic way of saying that Ukraine must further privatize state-owned industries and sell off public assets.
In its statement, the IMF stressed, “The private sector is also expected to contribute to the reconstruction efforts”.
The Fund also wrote favorably of “draft tax laws aimed to increase revenues”, calling for “shoring up tax revenues” and “creating fiscal space for war-related repairs”.
“Efforts to expand issuance in the domestic bond market should continue to help ensure a stable financing mix and eliminate reliance on monetary financing”, it added.
In short, the IMF’s conditions for Ukraine are a typical reflection of the Washington Consensus: neoliberal austerity measures, which increase the burden on Ukrainian workers, whose living standards are declining and who have fewer and fewer rights, while US corporations are offered profitable opportunities to buy up public assets.
30th April 2023 16:34
ExomatrixTV
Re: WW3? Ukraine/US vs. Donbass/Russia
Ukraine CAN’T Win & The Leaked Pentagon Docs Prove It!:
While publicly declaring that Ukraine is poised to make great gains from a military offensive this spring, in private the Pentagon’s top brass is admitting that Russia’s advances will be very difficult to dislodge, and the tide has decidedly turned against the NATO ally. That’s according to the leaked Pentagon documents, which spokesman John Kirby is very angry the public has had the opportunity to see. Guest host Aaron Maté and Jimmy Dore Show producer Malcolm Fleschner discuss the reality of the Ukraine War possibly settling in on the war’s cheerleaders in the west.
Zlatti71
@djuric_zlatko
‼️Russian Aerospace Forces "smart bombs" destroy bases and clusters of equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the south before the counteroffensive
An accurate blow destroyed hangars with equipment in the Kherson region.
Reconnaissance reveals, and aviation continues to destroy enemy targets with gliding bombs. http://t.me/RVvoenkor
Text:
‼️🇺🇦🏴☠️The situation at the front that impedes the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
The fighter with the British flag again shows servility to the owners.
According to the Hydrometeorological Center, it is now raining on the front line in the Zaporozhye region.
Also, precipitation will continue throughout the southeast (including the Donetsk direction) until May 1. http://t.me/RVvoenkor
Europe Is Buying Record Amounts Of Refined Russian Fuels Through India, And Paying A Huge Markup
Last August, we were the first to show how Russia was bypassing Europe's so-called commodities embargo: it was selling LNG to China which was then re-selling it to Europe at a substantial mark up. And while we also frequently reported that Russia was using a similar sanctions bypass for oil, this time using India instead of China, few were willing to confirm as much: after all, it would seem very shortsighted if European consumers were paying an extra surcharge to India, while Russia was not suffering any adverse consequences from Europe's laughable "sanctions."
Not any more: on Friday, Bloomberg reported that for all of Europe's fire and brimstone about an embargo (which has gotten decidedly quieter in recent months), "Russian oil is still powering Europe just with the help of India."
As we reported at the time, last December the EU barred almost any seaborne crude oil imports from Russia. It extended the prohibition to refined fuels two months later. However, the rules didn’t stop countries like India from snapping up cheap Russian crude, turning it into fuels like diesel, and shipping it back to Europe at a big markup: as shown in the chart below, just the Brent to Urals price differential, a byproduct of the Russian sanctions, is about $25/bbl, almost a third of the price of a barrel of crude. The markups on Russian product are even greater when dealing with refined products such as gasoline or diesel.
In fact, India has become so good at reselling Russian oil to the same Europeans who refuse to buy it directly from Moscow for a much lower price, that the Asian country is on track to become Europe’s largest supplier of refined fuels this month while simultaneously buying record amounts of Russian crude, according to data from analytics firm Kpler.
In other words, Europe is still buying Russian oil, keeping Putin's military machine well-funded, but because of the virtue signaling exercise of buying Russian oil though a mediator, the transaction ends up costing Europeans billions more than if they simply had purchased the oil directly.
“Russian oil is finding its way back into Europe despite all the sanctioning and India ramping up fuel exports to the west is a good example of it,” said Viktor Katona, lead crude analyst at the firm. “With India taking in so much Russian barrels, it’s inevitable.”
As Bloomberg notes, "the development is double-edged for the EU. On the one hand, the bloc needs alternative sources of diesel now that it has cut off direct flows from Russia, previously its top supplier. However, it ultimately boosts demand for Moscow’s barrels, and means extra freight costs." In other words, Europe achieves none of its embargo goals (i.e., keeping Russian oil out of the market, preventing Putin from using oil to finance the war in Ukraine), while being hit with far higher energy prices.
It also means more competition for Europe’s oil refiners who can’t access cheap Russian crude, and comes amid wider market scrutiny about where the region’s diesel imports are coming from.
Repsol SA’s CEO Josu Jon Imaz said on Thursday that Russian diesel is entering Europe illegally and called on authorities to clamp down on the activity. He wasn’t talking about the trade via India but flows of diesel that originated in Russia... which of course is the same thing.
Hilariously, a preliminary inquiry into the matter by Spanish authorities didn’t find evidence that Russian diesel was entering the country, a government official said Friday, adding that a probe is ongoing. Of course, nobody in Europe wants to admit that they are indirectly funding Putin, so expect many more such "discoveries" as all other countries try to find if they are importing Russian oil only to find that everyone but them is using it.
Meanwhile, Europe’s refined fuel imports from India are set to surge above 360,000 barrels a day, edging just ahead of those of oil exporting titan Saudi Arabia, Kpler’s data show.
And the cherry on top: Russian crude oil arrivals to India are expected to surpass 2 million barrels a day in April, representing almost 44% of the nation’s overall oil imports, according to Kpler data. India then quickly re-exports the oil or processes it first into diesel and gasoline, and then sells it to European customers.
More than half of Russia’s seaborne oil shipments were to the European Union and Group of Seven nations before the bloc began to cut purchases in response to the nation’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.
Finally, the question of what the point is of continued Russian "sanctions" remains, as the IIF's Robin Brooks explains in the following twitter thread, which once again makes clear that western sanctions against Russia have been a catastrophic failure... perhaps as was intended all along.
Evaluation of our sanctions policy
1. Only 2 questions matter. First, have our sanctions meaningfully curtailed Russia's ability to wage war? Second, are our sanctions a deterrent to countries that may wage war in the future? Unfortunately, the answer to both questions is: "No!"
2. Root problem is an infatuation with financial sanctions. These can be effective when used on current account deficit countries - Turkey in 2018 is an example - but they don't work on current account surplus countries. This is a key point that cannot be emphasized enough.
3. Russia shows how our financial sanctions failed. We sanctioned some banks, including the central bank (red), but not all. This meant that all the cash from Russia's current account surplus got routed through non-sanctioned Russian banks (blue). Putin still got all his cash...
4. So our financial sanctions did not prevent Putin getting all his cash in return for energy exports. All this cash just got routed through different banks than before. As a result, financial conditions in Russia eased back to pre-war levels, a big plus for Russia's war economy.
5. We could have avoided this, but it would have required sanctioning ALL Russian banks. That's the same as a trade embargo, since Putin no longer gets paid and stops exporting. This shows what's needed to hurt c/a surplus countries: a trade embargo! Not financial sanctions...
6. Number one lesson from Russia is that our infatuation with financial sanctions must end. They don't work on c/a surplus countries, unless we sanction all banks, in which case we're just doing a trade embargo. We need to be doing trade embargos instead of financial sanctions...
7. Had we done a hard energy embargo on Russia, this would have come at a cost to the West, but Russia would have gone into financial crisis, making the war harder for Putin to fight. An embargo would have also scared other potentially hostile current account surplus countries.
8. It's not too late. First, the West needs to end its focus on financial sanctions. Second, we need to start talking about hard trade-offs that are needed to confront c/a surplus countries. We need to stop giving them cash, which means we need to stop buying their stuff...
9. A footnote on the G7 oil price cap. The cap is recognition of the fact that Russia's current account surplus needs to be cut. But - thanks to Greek shipping oligarchs - the cap was set at $60 and wasn't binding. A mistake that can be fixed now by lowering the cap...
Text:
21 strategic bombers over Ukraine - the biggest strike since the start of the cruise missiles mission - is ongoing.
Gerans have done the pre-work to attract the air defense and pave the way for the Kalibrs.
The Russian Navy has launched 2 submarine missile launchers into the Black Sea.
11 Ships are on the way in addition.
Unprecedented strike on enemy air defence - multiple S-300 launchers destroyed in Pavlograd
According to Readovka's source, after the Russian Armed Forces carried out a night strike on the Pavlograd railway junction, eyewitnesses have reported a mass detonation of anti-aircraft missiles for the S-300 complex. According to our information, two divisions (up to 16 units) of S-300P were destroyed. In addition, supply vehicles with reserve ammunition were hit.
A huge fire volcano has erupted over the city and the detonation of rockets has continued for almost an hour.
The enemy's air defences are severely damaged.
