Showing posts with label EU. Show all posts
Showing posts with label EU. Show all posts

Thursday, 2 December 2021

مفاوضات فيينا: يد إيران هي العليا

 الاربعاء 1 ديسمبر 2021

على رغم التفاؤل الذي طغى على اليومَين الأوّلَين من الجولة السابعة من محادثات فيينا، في ما يُعدّ بذاته تطوّراً إيجابياً بعد أشهر من التوتّر والتراشق، إلّا أن الطريق إلى إنجاز اتفاق نهائي وفي فترة معقولة لا يبدو ممهّداً. إذ إن الخلافات الأساسية لا تزال على حالها تقريباً، فيما فجوة الثقة باقية على عُمقها من دون بروز مؤشّر إلى نيّة لردمها قريباً. من جهة واشنطن، فإنه في الوقت الذي يفاوِض فيه الإيرانيون شركاءهم في فيينا، ثمّة في الجمهورية الإسلامية مَن يواصل العمل على الوصول بالتخصيب إلى نسبة 90%، وهو ما سيجعل أيّ اتفاق محتمل لاحقاً غير ذي جدوى جوهرياً. ومن جهة طهران، فإن الغربيين، وبينما يُبدون اهتماماً كبيراً بإحياء «خطّة العمل المشتركة الشاملة»، يواصلون فرْض العقوبات، بل ويساوقون إسرائيل في بعض ما تمارسه من تحريض. أمّا بالنسبة إلى تل أبيب، فإن المصيبة قد تكون الأكبر؛ إذ إنه مهما كان السيناريو الذي ستؤول إليه مفاوضات فيينا، سواءً اتفاقاً تُرفَع بموجبه العقوبات عن إيران أو فشلاً ينغلق عقبه باب الدبلوماسية، فإن «التهديد الإيراني» سيظلّ متعاظماً، فيما البيئة الاستراتيجية تتضاعف خطورةً، وحدود استخدام القوّة الإسرائيلية أو فاعليتها تزداد تراجعاً


إيران تُفاوِض بأيدٍ ملأى: الاتفاق نووي فقط… والضمانات أولوية

الأربعاء 1 كانون الأول 2021

محمد خواجوئي

برز بعض التفاؤل بإمكانية إحياء الاتفاق النووي في مقابل الحديث عن صعوبة الظروف التي تُستأنف فيها المحادثات (أ ف ب )

طهران | استؤنفت، أخيراً، المحادثات النووية الإيرانية في فيينا، بعد انقطاع دام أكثر من خمسة أشهر. وعلى نقيض الكثير من التوقّعات التي اتّسمت بالتشاؤم، فإن انطلاقة الجولة السابعة بدت هادئة، ومُظلَّلةً بمواقف متفائلة، مشوبةٍ في الوقت نفسه بنوعٍ من الحذر. هذا على الأقلّ ما أوحت به تصريحات المنسّقة الأوروبية لمفاوضات فيينا إنريكي مورا، وكبير المفاوضين الإيرانيين علي باقري، في ختام الجلسة الأولى، إذ تحدّثت مورا عن «حرص إيراني جادّ» على إحراز تقدّم، بينما أكد باقري وجود «اتفاق في وجهات النظر» على اعتبار مسألة رفع العقوبات الأميركية أولوية على جدول أعمال المحادثات، معبّراً عن تفاؤله في الوصول إلى نتيجة. وأفضى اجتماعُ ليل الإثنين – الثلاثاء للجنة إحياء «خطّة العمل المشتركة الشاملة» التي يرأسها كلّ من مورا وباقري، إلى تشكيل مجموعتَي عمل: إحداهما حول «رفع العقوبات»، والأخرى حول «الإجراءات النووية».

وعلى الرغم من أن هذا التفاؤل في أعقاب أشهر سادها التوتّر والتراشق الكلامي، يُعدّ تطوّراً ذا أهمّية، إلا أنه لا يعني أن الطريق إلى الاتفاق بات ممهّداً وسالكاً، إذ إن أطراف التفاوض لم تدخل بعد في التفاصيل، حيث تبدو الفجوة كبيرة إلى حدّ يُصعّب التوصّل إلى اتفاق نهائي بشكل سريع. وتطالب إيران برفع جميع العقوبات التي فرضتها عليها الولايات المتحدة في أعقاب انسحاب الرئيس الأميركي السابق دونالد ترامب، من الخطّة (أكانت نووية أم غيرها)، فيما تقول واشنطن إنها جاهزة لرفع العقوبات التي تتعارض مع اتفاق 2015، فحسب. أيضاً، تشدّد إيران على رفضها تخطّي الملفّ النووي في المحادثات، في حين يتحدّث الأميركيون عن «اتفاق أشمل» يغطّي القضايا الأخرى، بما فيها الصاروخية والمتعلّقة بالطائرات المسيّرة. كذلك، تطالب طهران بآلية للتحقّق من رفع العقوبات، وضمانات بألّا تنسحب واشنطن مجدّداً من الاتفاق، وهو ما لا يبدو متوفّراً إلى الآن. لكنّ الطرفين سيظلّان يسعيان، بأدواتهما المتاحة، إلى انتزاع المزيد من التنازلات، في مقابل إعطاء الحدّ الأدنى منها. وفي هذا الإطار، تتمثّل الأداة الأهمّ بيد إيران في الاقتراب من مرحلة «الطرد النووي»، بينما تتسلّح أميركا وحلفاؤها بمواصلة العقوبات والتهديد بالمزيد من الضغوط، بما يشمل التلويح بالخيار العسكري.

لا رهانات إيرانية كبرى


خلّفت انطلاقة محادثات فيينا ردود فعل متباينة في الداخل الإيراني، حيث برز بعض التفاؤل بإمكانية إحياء الاتفاق النووي، في مقابل الحديث عن صعوبة الظروف التي تُستأنف فيها المحادثات، ووجود خلافات عميقة بين أطرافها، مع التأكيد أن «اليد الإيرانية هي العليا» على طاولة التفاوض. وفي هذا الإطار، أشارت صحيفة «إيران»، في تقرير بعنوان «التصميم الإيراني والتسويف الغربي»، إلى أن «طهران اتّخذت قرارها الحاسم بالخروج من المحادثات بالنتيجة المرجوّة، لكن على الجانب الآخر، ثمّة نهج متناقض تتبعه الدول الغربية… يتمّ على أساسه الزعم بالجهوزية للعودة إلى الاتفاق، فيما يستمرّ إيقاع العقوبات على إيران، والتواطؤ مع أعدائها بِمَن فيهم الكيان الصهيوني، واتّهامها بالعمل على إطالة أمد المحادثات». وأضافت الصحيفة أن «طهران لا تطيق هذه المرّة التسامح والتساهل، وقد دخلت ميدان المحادثات مع القوى الكبرى بأيدٍ ملأى».

خلّفت انطلاقة محادثات فيينا ردود فعل متباينة في الداخل الإيراني


وفي السياق نفسه، كتبت صحيفة «كيهان»، القريبة من مكتب المرشد الأعلى علي خامنئي، أن «الجمهورية الإسلامية تملك في هذه الحقبة من حياتها وفي عهد الحكومة الثالثة عشرة، اليد العليا، ولن تتراجع على طاولة المفاوضات عن مواقفها المبدئية التي أكّدها القائمون الجدد على الجهاز الدبلوماسي: رفع جميع العقوبات، والتحقّق من ذلك، وتقديم الضمانات». من جهتها، أشارت صحيفة «وطن امروز» إلى التوقيع على اتفاقية مقايضة الغاز بين إيران وتركمانستان وآذربيجان، قبل يوم واحد من انطلاق الجولة السابعة، عادّةً ذلك مؤشّراً إلى «القبضة المملوءة لإيران في المحادثات». وقالت إن «التوقيع على اتفاقية ثلاثية لنقل الغاز مع دول الجوار، كنموذج موفّق للإفادة القصوى من طاقات المنطقة وتوسيع سلّة الدبلوماسية، يمكن أن يسهم في تطوير أسلوب السياسة الخارجية للبلاد». وتابعت أن «إيران لا تبحث عن الحصول على نتيجة سريعة في المحادثات، وفي الحقيقة فإن تبعية البلاد للمفاوضات آخذة بالانحسار، وهذا يؤدي إلى أن تكون يد إيران هي الطولى».

أمّا صحيفة «شرق» الإصلاحية والناقدة للحكومة، فاعتبرت التطوّرات الجارية في فيينا انعكاساً لتَغيّر رؤية إدارة رئيسي، إذ إنه بعد «النزعة الهجومية لرجال الإدارة الجديدة تجاه الاتفاق النووي، ومواقفهم الناقدة لستّ جولات من محادثات فيينا، تَغيّر اتجاه البوصلة بشكل محسوس صوب التوصّل إلى اتفاق». وهو ما عزته الصحيفة، قبل كلّ شيء، إلى إدراك «الحاجة الماسّة» للخروج من الظروف الحالية. واعتبرت «شرق» أن على إيران الدخول في حوار مباشر مع أميركا، قائلةً: «إن كان مقرّراً أن تتمثّل حصيلة المحادثات في رفع العقوبات، فإن عدم حضور العامل الرئيس خلف العقوبات (أميركا) على طاولة المفاوضات، لا يتناغم مع هذه الاستراتيجية والمحادثات الرامية إلى تحقيق النتيجة والاتفاق الجيّد الذي تحدّث عنه وزير الخارجية، لا بل إن ذلك بحاجة إلى مراجعة».


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River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian   
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!

Tuesday, 30 November 2021

The upcoming Summit for Democracy as a time machine

 November 29, 2021

Introduction:

Biden’s “Summit for Democracy” scheduled for December 9-10, 2021, has posted its final list of invited countries.

Let’s take a look:

Albania
Angola
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Bahamas
Barbados
Belgium
Belize
Botswana
Brazil
Bulgaria
Cabo Verde
Canada
Chile
Colombia
Costa Rica
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Democratic Republic of Congo
Denmark
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Estonia
European Union
Fiji
Finland
France
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Grenada
Guyana
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Kenya
Kiribati
Kosovo
Latvia
Liberia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Malta
Marshall Islands
Mauritius
Mexico
Micronesia
Moldova
Mongolia
Montenegro
Namibia
Nauru
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Niger
Nigeria
North Macedonia
Norway
Pakistan
Palau
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Republic of Korea
Romania
Saint Kitts and Nevis­
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Samoa
Sao Tome and Principe
Senegal
Serbia
Seychelles
Slovakia
Slovenia
Solomon Islands
South Africa
Spain
Suriname
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Timor-Leste
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago
Tuvalu
Ukraine
United Kingdom
Uruguay
Vanuatu
Zambia

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace also published this very helpful map:

Finally, let us also recall the purpose of this summit, as explained by the US Department of State:

  1. Defending against authoritarianism
  2. Addressing and fighting corruption
  3. Promoting respect for human rights

Next, the first thing we need to do is to translate the above into plain English.  Here is how I would translate all this:

  1. Faithfully supporting a single World Hegemony of the (already dead, but nevermind that, they can pretend it is still alive) AngloZionist Empire and obediently participate in any anti-Russian and anti-Chinese operations to prevent the latter from creating a multi-polar world.
  2. Overthrow those government who refuse to participate in the operations mentioned under #1 and/or get rid of some truly useless and too embarrassing “our SOBs” (Zelenskii anybody?)
  3. Participating in strategic PSYOPs to demonize those countries not invited to the Summit while allowing those invited to use any level of repression/suppression of dissent needed to stay in power.

How relevant is this summit in reality?

By itself, such a summit has zero value, if only because it tries to unite around a single (and vapid) agenda countries with totally different circumstances.  It is therefore pretty obvious that all that which come out from this grand show is some insipid declaration “for everything good and against everything bad” (Russian expression).

Results of the regional and municipal elections in Venezuela

One telling example shows how out of touch with reality this entire endeavor will be: the White House has even extended an invitation to uberloser Juan Guaido!  That in spite of the fact that the people of Venezuela have recently massively rejected Guaido and everything he stands for.

This, by the way, also strongly suggest that even though, for example, almost all Latin American countries have been invited to the Summit, this participation is a very good illustration of the comprador nature of the ruling classes in Latin American.  If the people were given the right to decide whether they want to subserviently support the “Yankee/gringo” Empire or not, very few, if any, of the invited countries would send delegates.

In other words, this Summit is first and foremost about APPEARANCES, a PR move destined to strong-arm each government on the planet to make a simple choice, the very same choice Baby Bush offered when he said that “you are either with us or with the terrorists”.  The updated version of this could be “you are either with us, or with the evil Russians and the evil Chinese”.

[BTW – This is the list of countries which have not been invited (for various reasons): Afghanistan, Algeria, Andorra, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cote D’Ivoire, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, China, Comoros, Congo, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, The Holy See, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iran, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Liechtenstein, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Monaco, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nicaragua, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Russia, Rwanda, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.]

The real (people’s) map would look very differently

What would a realistic map look like?

First, almost none of the Latin American countries would be represented.

Second, all of Europe would, but primarily because the EU’s comprador elites are desperate to get from this summit a legitimacy which they are increasingly losing in their own countries due to the truly phenomenal, I would even say, suicidal policies of the EU member states (economy, energy, COVID, crime, immigration, Wokism, etc.).

Next, all of Africa would participate, in a desperate attempt to get as much aid as possible (military, economic, political, etc.) and to show how abjectly subservient to their colonial masters all the African governments still are.  This is hardly their fault, true, but that does not change the abject reality of African politics…

Next, the wider Middle-East, India and Pakistan would also participate, but for very different reasons: these governments have all read the writing on the wall, albeit with some differences, and they know that the US is on the way out, but they want that “out” to be played on terms advantageous to them.  Nobody wants to be the “next Erdogan” and be overthrown by CENTCOM.  I would also add that while CENTCOM ain’t much of a military force anymore, there are numerous multi-billion dollar contracts still linking the USA to these countries and that is reason enough to show up at the Summit, and say all the right things, and then come home and return to business as usual.

Which leaves the entire Asian continent, including Russia, China, Central and Far East Asia.  Here the map is simple: countries near Russia and China are not invited, countries near(er) Australia are.  Asia currently is the continent with the most agency, by far, and the one with the brightest future due not only to its immense resources (human and natural) but also due to the fact that the two Asian giants (Russia and China) are moving together as one to begin to build the multi-polar world they eventually want to see worldwide on the continent they share.  Russia and China also happen to have the most powerful militaries on the planet (especially if counted together, which they increasingly should).

If Malcolm X was still alive today he would probably say that “all the house Negroes have been invited and all the field Negroes have not” (see here🙂

The Summit for Democracy as a time machine?

I would argue that the upcoming Summit is like a time machine, not one which allows us to actually travel in time, but one which shows us who will be part of shaping the future of our planet and who will not.  The folks invited by the (already dead) AngloZionist Empire are either comprador elites, or regimes with no real agency (and, therefore, no real legitimacy), and a few desperately poor countries which are literally willing to do anything, anything at all, to please their current masters.  They have no real future to speak of.

As for the future, it is pretty evident that Asia will be, by far, the most important continent to set the agenda for the foreseeable future.  I personally believe that Latin America will be next, all that is needed their is for a few well chosen “dominoes” to fall and the entire continent will be flipped very quickly.  True, right now, if we ONLY look at the official map, Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Bolivia look rather isolated.  But let’s look at this differently, the fact that these countries can survive while being surrounded by pro-USA regimes is a very telling sign by itself.  Furthermore, there are also two giants in Latin America: Argentina and Brazil, especially the latter.  Should Brazil be “flipped”, then that would have a huge impact on the rest of the continent.

Next, the two regions which will “fall” next would be the Middle-East, first, and eventually, Europe, second.

There is very little, if anything, the Empire or the USA can do about the Middle-East: the truth is that the future of the region will be set by Iran (the regional superpower) and Russia.  Yes, the Axis of Kindness countries (US+KSA+Israel) can still trigger a major regional war.  But they can’t win it.  That ship has now sailed.

With the EU, however, things are much more complicated and all the Kabuki theatre we currently see about the “imminent” Russian invasion is all about two things: first, “elegantly” get rid of the Ukraine (to a Russian invasion would be best) and about reasserting the Anglo dominance over the European continent.  That plan might still succeed, especially when we consider the very real political power the UK+3B+PU gang has ever EU decision (yes, even the UK still has a lot of influence over the EU ruling classes via its still very real financial power!).

As for Oceania and Africa, they simply don’t matter very much, the former a nicely isolated by distance, the latter has no agency and is totally dependent on some kind of foreign masters.

In the meantime, the brain-dead EU politicians, which should have been placed on suicide watch years ago, are still at it: NATO threatens Russia with “consequences” while the US declares that “all options are on the table“.  We can be sure that Putin personally and everybody else in Russia are absolutely *terrified* by such language, and that is why when the “imminent” Russian invasion does not materialize, the leaders of the (long dead) Empire will proclaim themselves “victorious” against the “Putin regime”!  Bravo!

And even if the Ukies succeed in forcing Russia to intervene, then NATO will proudly declared that its invincible might is what forced the Russians to stop (doesn’t really matter where exactly). Again, bravo!

All this craziness actually makes perfect sense, as an imaginary war is the only one these losers can “win”.

Andrei


River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian   
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!

To see Putin and die

 November 29, 2021

by Rostislav Ischenko for Ukraina.ru
source: https://ukraina.ru/opinion/20211128/1032755065.html
Note: this machine translated text

Joseph Biden, the 46th president of the United States, has asked Russian President Vladimir Putin for a meeting for the second time in six months. This would not be surprising: in the end, international tensions have reached a limit, and not only the most alarmist of experts, but also the most cautious of politicians have already started talking about the high probability of war

In such circumstances, responsible leaders of great powers are simply obliged to meet and seek compromises.

But this is the same Biden, whose team cried all the tears over Russian interference in the American elections and twice tried to organize the impeachment of the 45th US President Donald Trump, accusing the latter of surrendering American interests to Russia and working for Putin. Meanwhile, Putin and Trump had only one full-format meeting (in Helsinki, July 16, 2018, a year and a half before the expiration of Trump’s powers), and the rest — about five short conversations “on the sidelines” of various summits.

Relations between Russia and the United States had sunk to the freezing point even before Trump. At the same time, the 45th American president, although he negotiated more harshly, was still much more constructive than the 46th. Trump was inclined to seek a compromise, despite all the contradictions, because only a mutually acceptable compromise can ensure a long and lasting peace.

Biden, in a typical American manner, is trying to deceive a partner in the negotiation process, seeking only a truce – a postponement of confrontation for some time, during which the United States will try to solve its problems in order to take up the old with renewed vigor later.

That is why Biden’s team is begging for meetings with Putin, as if their ancient boss is afraid to die without telling Vladimir Vladimirovich something important. Pay attention to the diplomatic activity of the American president who does not always adequately perceive reality during the first year of his term:

* spring – activation of the US-European Union, an attempt to force the EU to go to a sharp deterioration in relations with Russia and abandon the SP-2;
* summer – a sudden request for a meeting with Putin, insistence on its early organization, declared readiness to resolve the entire spectrum of controversial issues. In fact, absolutely empty and unacceptable hints for Russia about the readiness of the United States not to interfere if the Kremlin decides to restore its exclusive sphere of influence in the post-Soviet space by force, so that, as a reciprocal courtesy, Russia refuses an informal (but very problematic for the United States) alliance with China. The rest of the summer is devoted to spreading disinformation that Moscow is ready to negotiate with the United States at the expense of Beijing;
* autumn — the formation of an anti-Chinese alliance of US vassals in the Asia-Pacific region and part of the European powers, followed by a sharp and persistent desire to organize a personal meeting between Xi Jinping and Biden (the meeting took place, was in vain, after which the United States began spreading disinformation that Beijing is ready to negotiate with Washington at the expense of Moscow);
* winter — against the background of the sharp aggravation of the situation on the borders of Russia and Belarus that began in the autumn and an undisguised attempt to draw Russia into a war with the participation of Eastern European members of NATO and the EU, a new insistence on a personal meeting with Putin.

In my opinion, there is no need to have an outstanding intellect to see the “swing” on which the United States is trying to “rock” Russia and China in order to break their partnership (absolutely nullifying all attempts by the United States to regain the status of a global hegemon) and suppress Moscow and Beijing one by one and one by one. The United States offers everyone something unnecessary, but seriously binding their hands and requiring large resource costs, they try to link everyone with a regional war with their allies (who, however, are not in a hurry to drag chestnuts out of the fire for Washington), they inspire everyone that the partner has almost agreed to the American proposal and we must hurry to negotiate ourselves so as not to be made fools of.

The method is simple, has been used since ancient times and quite often led to success. The United States understands that neither Russia nor China want to win right now and annex the post-Soviet territories in Europe and Taiwan (respectively).

Moscow and Beijing would prefer to solve these problems peacefully and later. At this stage, the too clearly expressed intention to return the fallen imperial territories may not only limit the possibilities of cooperation between Russia and China to resist the military-political and financial-economic pressure of the United States, but also undermine the entire system of Eurasian unions built by them.

Therefore, the United States, in order to persuade Russia and China to make concessions in the negotiations, frighten both of them with an unnecessary regional war, while at the same time offering to negotiate and solve this problem. If someone gives up and starts at least discussing options, Washington will immediately provide a proof leak of information in order to persuade the second partner to make a concession, and then bargain with both from a favorable position to bring down the price.

Realizing all this, the Russian leadership is in no hurry to talk with Biden. Peskov, on behalf of the Kremlin, said that the exact date has not yet been determined. However, the Kremlin has agreed in principle to organize a videoconference before the end of the year. Why did they do that?

Every month (not to mention a year) without war, Russia and China strengthen and weaken the United States. If we hold out for two or three years, the war will become meaningless for the United States, because, by their own admission, after 2024 they do not see the possibility of defeating China militarily. Consequently, in two years, the opportunities for American blackmail will decrease sharply, and America’s allies, who are already unwilling to risk themselves because of the Washington games, will become even more thoughtful, it will be even more difficult to persuade them to demonstrative aggressive actions against Moscow and Beijing. A certain US deadline is approaching, we need to act already. Under these conditions, Washington, having lost hope of achieving its goal by peace, can really bet on provocation of war.

Any negotiations are a way to delay time. While they are preparing and while they are going, it is unprofitable for the United States to be unconstructive, which means they will try to keep their allies on a short leash. But vassal states are not trained dogs that can be set on an object or calmed down in one second, rocking the situation takes time (albeit a little). The solution suggests itself: as long as possible to delay the time in determining the date of negotiations, postponing them for later. As soon as it becomes impossible to pull further – to hold negotiations and try, without giving a single opportunity to interpret their outcome as a willingness to take seriously American proposals for the surrender of an ally, to involve the United States in the preparation of the next meeting by creating permanent expert groups in the areas.

Any diplomatic department is a complex bureaucratic machine that is extremely difficult to force to move simultaneously in two directions. If you give the task to begin diplomatic preparations for war, this apparatus will move in one direction, if you set the task of finding a compromise, then in another. At the same time, it will have a serious informational impact on both the international and domestic agenda. That is, even meaningless, but regular meetings of experts reduce (though not completely remove) the risk of fatal confrontation.

Russia’s actions indicate that the Kremlin clearly sees the threat and has chosen the right tactics. The agreement on the creation of expert groups was reached during the first meeting with Biden, with the organization of which they stretched out as much as they could. However, America countered this agreement by saying that the expert groups did not work. So, now Russian diplomats will point this out and demand more constructive.

The current meeting is also being delayed as much as they can, having already postponed it until the end of December. If it works out, then under the pretext of New Year’s holidays they will postpone it until the middle-end of January (however, this is unlikely, the United States is in a hurry). The current meeting will be held online: the coronavirus. Although he does not interfere with Putin and Biden’s meetings with other politicians, but in this case only online. And not because I don’t want to waste time on flights, knowing in advance that the negotiations will be in vain. The online mode does not allow the organization of fake leaks about the content of negotiations. This is not a face-to-face conversation (in the presence of only unknown and controlled translators, in an office protected from wiretapping) – everything is recorded, and by both sides.

Thus, Russia is trying to win one and a half to two months out of the 48 required. Will it be possible to win the world completely?

This question has no definite answer. On the one hand, time is running out, and with the approach of 2024, the United States has nothing to lose, and in the vassal countries designated by them for slaughter, there are their own war parties that (for personal gain) are ready to start even a losing war that destroys their states. On the other hand, the current authorities, who are now in charge of American consumables, are doing everything possible to get rid of the honorable mission of pointlessly dying for the interests of the United States. How strong will they have enough strength to continue maneuvering on the verge of a foul? How ready are Americans to increase pressure on the dependent elites of limitrophs? Where is the weak link ready to break: in Europe or in Asia and who is it (Ukraine, Taiwan, someone else)? We can only assume with more or less certainty.

Often the expected danger comes at all from where it is not expected or when they stopped waiting and relaxed.


River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian   
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!

Monday, 29 November 2021

Iran Seeks Full, Verifiable Removal of All Sanctions through Vienna Talks – Top Negotiator

Nov 29, 2021


By Staff, Agencies

Iran’s top negotiator in the forthcoming talks in the Austrian capital on the removal of illegal sanctions imposed on the country Ali Baqeri-Kani said Tehran’s main goal is to secure a full and verifiable removal of all sanctions through the Vienna negotiations.

Baqeri-Kani’s remarks were made in an article published by the Financial Times on Sunday in which he slammed Western countries, especially the United States, for using talks as a tool to restrict Iran’s peaceful nuclear program.

“Western countries, in particular the US, work tirelessly to portray ‘negotiations’ as merely a process to restrict Iran’s legitimate and peaceful nuclear program, which is enshrined in international treaties and watched by oversight organizations,” he said.

The Iranian negotiator then emphasized that the Islamic Republic, however, seeks to achieve two goals through engaging in Vienna talks.

“In this vein, we have two goals: the first is to gain a full, guaranteed and verifiable removal of the sanctions that have been imposed on the Iranian people. Without this, the process will continue indefinitely,” Baqeri-Kani said.

He then noted that Iran’s second goal is “to facilitate the legal rights of the Iranian nation to benefit from peaceful nuclear knowledge, especially the all-important enrichment technology for industrial purposes, according to the terms of the international Non-Proliferation Treaty [NPT].”

Baqeri-Kani left Tehran for Vienna on Saturday to attend the seventh round of talks that are intended to bring the US back to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA], commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal.

A return to the JCPOA would mean Washington needs to remove its unlawful sanctions on Tehran, three years after the US left the 2015 accord and unleashed a “maximum pressure” campaign on the Islamic Republic.

The US withdrawal came while the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] had issued 15 consecutive reports certifying Iran’s full compliance with its nuclear obligations under the JCPOA.

The Islamic Republic’s unwavering position on the verifiable removal of US sanctions, observers say, stems from the fact that the US started to impose new rounds of sanctions on Iran merely a day after the JCPOA’s implementation date.

It also took the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control [OFAC] seven months to grant Airbus and Boeing partial permission to sell planes to Iran. Even then, Iran received only three out of 117 Airbus passenger aircraft it ordered and none from Boeing.

The significant noncompliance of the other parties, in particular the US, prompted Iran to invoke the “dispute resolution mechanism” several times both before and after the US withdrawal from the nuclear pact.

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Friday, 26 November 2021

The Russian Foreign Intelligence office (SVR) issues an unprecedented warning about US operations in eastern Ukraine

 November 23, 2021

The Saker

This is a machine translated text whose source is here: http://svr.gov.ru/smi/2021/11/ssha-provotsiruyut-obostrenie-na-vostoke-ukrainy.htm
(Emphasis and color added by me, Andrei)
——-

THE UNITED STATES PROVOKES AN ESCALATION IN THE EAST OF UKRAINE

The press Bureau of the SVR of Russia reports that recently Washington officials have been actively intimidating the world community by allegedly preparing Russia for “aggression” against Ukraine. According to incoming data, the US State Department through diplomatic channels brings to its allies and partners absolutely false information about the concentration of forces on the territory of our country for a military invasion of Ukraine. The Americans paint a terrible picture of how hordes of Russian tanks will begin to crush Ukrainian cities, convince them that they have some “reliable information” about such intentions of Russia.

It is surprising with what speed a previously quite respectable foreign ministry turns into a mouthpiece of false propaganda.

These fabrications, however, are not as harmless as it may seem. The quote attributed to the Minister of Propaganda of Hitler’s Germany, Joseph Goebbels, reads: “The more monstrous the lie, the more willing the crowd is to believe in it.” Of course, this line fits into the anti-Russian course of the West. We are much more concerned about the fact that such aggressive propaganda encourages the Kiev regime to build up its military grouping in the Donbas and resume shelling of civilian objects. There is data on the creeping advance of Ukrainian positions deep into the so-called gray zone along the demarcation line, as well as the concentration of forces and means of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the border areas with Russia and Belarus. The United States and its allies continue to pump Ukraine with weapons, encourage the use of delivered means of destruction, including strike unmanned aerial systems, in order to carry out military provocations.

The provocative policy of the United States and the European Union, which deliberately strengthens Kiev’s sense of permissiveness and impunity, causes extreme concern. We observed a similar situation in Georgia on the eve of the events of 2008. Then M. Saakashvili “broke loose” and tried to destroy Russian peacekeepers and the civilian population of South Ossetia. It cost him dearly.

Head of the Press Bureau

SVR of Russia S.N. Ivanov

22.11.2021


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Why did Russia deploy so many forces against NATO?

 November 23, 2021

The Saker

So those evil vodka-soaked Russians are deploying their forces right near the Ukrainian border and are about to attack.  Right?

Well, today I want to begin by sharing a few very basic maps with you.  First, here is a map of Russia with her military districts:

The most important thing to understand is that the city of Moscow is located in the middle of the Western Military District which, in other words, means that Moscow is located on in frontier/border/boundary (приграничный) MD.

During the Cold War, the Ukraine used to be considered a 2nd strategic echelon territory (see here for a detailed discussion of how the Soviet forces were structured) and Moscow was far away from any conceivable frontline.

Nowadays, the entire Ukraine is de facto NATO controlled territory.  In other words, the capital of Russia is located less than 300 miles from the Russian border with the Ukraine (see map)

Here is another very revealing factoid: during the 90s, Russia did not have a single division-size fully manned unit deployed west of Moscow.  Now Russia has fully reactivated her famous 1st Guards Tank Army as the strategic reserve for the Western Military District.

What do you think brought about this rather dramatic change?

Might that not have something to do with the fact that NATO forces are now within the driving distance (on a tank, nor car) to Moscow’s suburbs?

And I won’t even go into the distances between the NATO forces in the 3B and Saint Petersburg (less than 100 miles).

And, in the light of the maps above, what do you think the Russians, any Russian, would make of the NATO verbiage: “we will never move (politically) NATO to the east, but now we had to, we will never deploy NATO forces to the east, but now we had to, we will not deliver lethal weapons to the Ukraine, but now we had to, we will not accept (de jure and de facto) the Ukraine in NATO, but now had to, etc. etc. etc.“.

The truth is that the Empire has been preparing a war against Russia since at least the mid 90s and that these preparations dramatically accelerated in the past seven years.

Which makes me wonder, what did the leaders of the Empire expect the Russians to do? Move all their forces back into the Central Military District so as to not frighten the 3B+PU?  Seriously?

The truth of the matter is much simpler: in case of war, the three western military districts (Northern, Western and Southern) would all three find themselves in the first strategic echelon.

BTW – the Northern Military District has now been augmented with the Northern Fleet Joint Strategic Command (Объединённое стратегическое командование Северный флот) with a status equal to a military district which could haev been called “Arctic Military District”). Its official designation now is “joint strategic territorial formation of the Russian Armed Forces performing the task of a military district“.  Its forces would also play a key role in northern Europe and the northern Atlantic.

In case of war, Russian military districts become “fronts”, that is “unified commands of operational and strategic troops (forces) of the armed forces in the continental theater of operations” which is militaryspeak for an independent military force capable of waging a full-scale combined arms war.  Please keep in mind that these fronts would also have, when needed, the support of rear military districts and units/forces of the strategic reserve.

So what does all this mean?

It means that while western politicians spent the past 30 years or so slowly encircling Russia, Russian force planners successfully reformed the Soviet/Russian armed forces (which were in a terrible shape in the 90s and in a very uneven shape during most of the 80s) into a military capable of taking on all of NATO at once and quickly and very painfully defeat it.

Remember all those super-dooper weapons Putin mentioned in 2018 which were initially dismissed as “bad cartoons” by western “specialists” and which are now mostly deployed?  You cannot understand their real role and significance unless you also take into account the reform (I would even say redesign) of the Russian armed forces in the last decade or so.  If you want a quick refresher on this topic, please see this analysis I wrote in 2016, that is two years BEFORE Putin unveiled the new Russian weapons systems!

Here is the key element to remember when considering what could happen next: should it come to a real, full-scale, shooting war between Russia and the West, ALL of these weapons systems and forces will be available to the Kremlin and most of them probably will be used in the very early phases of this war.  And I am not only taking about Iskander missiles or Bastion/Bal coastal defenses, I am also talking about the First Guards Tank Army which is such a powerful formation that there is literally no western equivalent to it.  Such heavy armored formation  have such the forces and means of destruction which would make it possible to carry out an operational breakthrough of the enemy’s front and while the same time reliably overcoming of the entire operational depth of enemy defense.  During WWII and the Cold War such formation were called “Shock Armies” (ударная армия).  If you look at the entire order of battle of NATO forces they simply don’t have anything even comparable to such a force.

And so, yes, of course, NATO commanders are frightened by what they see, this is true, and quite understandable.  What is not understandable is why these delusional idiots created the condition which left Russia no other choice than to be ready to fight a full scale war in Europe, including a nuclear one.

And what do they want the Kremlin to do now?  To dismantle these forces or send them back behind the Urals maybe?

I will simply end here with a few questions which don’t seem to bother the western “specialists” (LOL!) very much:

  • How completely out of touch with reality can western leaders be?
  • Last time around, Russia lost about 27 million people, including a full 3rd of the population of Bielorussia. Does anybody in Europe seriously expect the Russians to forget that?
  • Does anybody in Europe seriously expect the Russians to trust a single word western leaders say?
  • Does anybody in Europe seriously doubt the determination of the Russians not to allow yet another European surprise attack?
  • And, finally, does anybody in Europe seriously doubt the outcome of a war against Russia?

Andrei

PS: Russian Defense Minister Shoigu just reported that in November the USAF used 10 strategic bombers coming in from both the east and the west to rehearse nuclear strikes on Russia and that they changed course only 20km from the Russian airspace.

PPS: also please make sure to check Andrei Martyanov’s analysis today (and check him on a daily basis!)


River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian   
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!