The Ukrainian De-Nazification Operation - Day Six

European Unity 1943. European Unity 2022. Some of the flags have changed.

I was invited into a pro-Ukrainian Facebook page last night by someone who obviously does not know my position. That's not really a surprise. To be even slightly pro-Russian in any respect in public will result in an avalanche of opprobrium. Best to remain quiet, neutral in public. It was an interesting experience to scroll through the posts, news and commentary. It was a complete world of fantasy and a lack of even rudimentary self-awareness. Some of the highlights -

1. The anonymous "Ghost of Kiev" continues to fly sorties over the capital, shooting Russian jets and helicopters at will. He is now the world's most successful fighter ace, having achieved 15 'confirmed' kills inside a week.

2. Europe will supply Ukraine 70 fighter jets to take on the Russian aggressor.

3. Entire Russian tank columns have been destroyed by Ukrainian anti-tank missile battalions.

4. The Russian army has suffered over 5,600 casualties and is on the verge of collapse.

5. Russian units are defecting to Ukraine and bringing with them tanks and artillery to help the defense.

6. A foreign legion of anti-Russian crusaders is being formed to take the battle to the aggressor (this is actually true).

7. Russia is indiscriminately bombing civilians and residential areas with cluster munitions (maybe they learned this from the Americans?).

8. Domestically, the Russian population is turning against Putin and will be overthrown.
9. Western sanctions have broken the Russian economy, which now on the verge of collapse.
10. The Russian Central Bank has lifted spot interest rates to 20% (this is true).

11. Fierce resistance from the Ukrainian army and civilians has stopped the Russian advance.

Virtually all of this is presented in BOLD text only posts without any photographic or supporting evidence. Woe to anyone who asks "is there evidence?" They are instantly set upon and accused of being a Kremlin stooge or Putin-lover and banned. Now, I have no doubt that there are pro-Russian pages equally bereft of facts, evidence and reasoned discourse - this is after all a propaganda war for the economic future of the world, albeit with some kinetic activity. As Clausewitz says, "War is politics by other means." Pages such as this do no one any favors. These posts (and similar on the other side) are so disconnected from the harsh reality, that when the facts come crashing to the ground - as facts always do - the fanboys can only be disappointed, feel cheated. But that's social media isn't it? It's a corrosive poison that feeds on negative emotions.

The west dominates the propaganda space. Facebook, Twitter, the entire western mass media, even the smaller platforms are able to trumpet the "narrative" into every corner of the public space. Russia's official government websites are blocked by western cyber forces (this is very dangerous as it will play into the hands of those pushing for internet regulation and centralized digital currencies) and Russian public media does not have deep penetration among western audiences. Even here, very conventional Russian media channels like RT Russia Today is subject to bans in many western countries. Consequently it is easy for triumphant but false Ukrainian victory narratives to prevail. In a world of deep-fakes, CGI and digital editing, photographic evidence is not as reliable as it once was. Seeing is no longer believing. To add to the confusion, both Russia and Ukraine share a long military heritage. They use the same tanks, jets, helicopters, APCs, trucks and missile systems. Unit markings can be altered to transform burnt out Ukrainian tanks from 2014 into burnt out Russian tanks in 2022.

All of this make-believe generates real world dangers. One may question their sincerity, but the Ukrainian delegation that finally attended the ceasefire negotiations yesterday (the meeting was moved to a new location) appear to be operating entirely within the western / Ukrainian propaganda bubble. The Ukrainian delegation's opening position was for a ceasefire to allow the withdrawal of Russian military forces and the surrender of the Crimea, Donestk and Lugansk. This reveals the utterly delusional mindset of the Ukrainian regime and its western backers. You should never believe your own propaganda.

The Russian side noted that the Ukrainian delegation were armed with iPhones, which they placed on the table so that their US paymasters could listen into the negotiations (assume the Russians were monitoring and geo-locating the recipients too).

Ukraine's American and European sponsors are actively pushing for both a long insurgency war in Ukraine and a civilizational war against Russia. Britain came out and indicated that it is aiming to financially destroy Russia. Russia will be cut off from SWIFT. While restrictions are currently imposed on a number of small Russian banks, it is inevitable that this will be extended. Again, this 'nuclear' option is another own goal for the west. Russia and China already have a financial interchange to perform international trade in domestic currencies. Locking Russia out of SWIFT will only destabilize the western financial system further, leading other countries to move to the alternative mechanism in order to avoid arbitrary western sanctions, because if we can be sure of one thing, restrictions will only increase.

Western trade with Russia will not be able to stop on a dime. Long-term contracts exist for the supply of oil, gas, wheat, foodstuff, minerals, metals and much else besides and, with Russia shut out of the financial system, customers are going to have to find another way to pay or else.... no supply. How will Russia seek payment - I won't say, but I think it's safe to say that this scenario has occurred before in Russia's past. I foresee a huge investment opportunity. The US dreams of filling the export gap, but will it honestly be able to meet the demand in the short-term. Will there be any customers available in a bankrupted Europe in three months?

Germany and the EU have announced massive increases in military spending budgets - another key goal of the United States achieved! Germany alone is intending to spend more than 450 billion euro. Having lost its supply of cheap Russian gas and oil, how will Germany pay this useless expense?

The war has inevitably resulted in a drop in the value of the Ruble. Russia however has massive foreign reserves in safe foreign markets. Reserves in western banks will be seized, but Russia will respond in kind. Russia also has huge stockpiles of gold and precious metals. To counter the immediate threat of inflation, the Russian Central Bank has increased the lending rate to 20%. Western commentators have leapt on this step to predict the complete collapse of the Russian economy. They have completely missed the point. Russia can increase its internal lending and deposit rates because it has a substantial real economy, an economy of things. High deposit rates will attract depositors driven out of western markets, boosting Russian capital further. Some highly geared businesses will suffer, but undoubtedly the Russian government has considered this scenario and will take appropriate steps for appropriate industries.

That western commentators misunderstand the impact of this decision is very telling. The US and Europe have been running on credit and record low interest rates for a decade now. The US especially has been pumping fiat currency into its economy at an unsustainable rate. The National Debt is following an uncontrollable logarithmic curve https://usdebtclock.org/. The result of this process can only be hyper-inflation Consequently, the US and Europe (and many other economies around the world) are stuck in a debt spiral. They need to pull their economies back and cut debt. If official interest rates in the west were to increase only a percentage or two, both public and private debt would implode in a wave of bankruptcies. For this reason, the worthless western economists look at the Russian interest rate rises and see only instant collapse, because a rise of 2 or 3% in the west would have that effect. What do you think Russia's response to this weakness would be? https://stolzuntermenschen.blogspot.com/2022/02/writing-cheques-your-government-and.html

And in case anyone was in doubt about what the western goal is - the Russian's can read too.