The U.S. and allies on Saturday attempted to slam the brakes on Russia’s economy and banking systems by expelling selected Russian banks from the global bank-to-bank payment system known as SWIFT, the next step in a series of increasing sanctions punishing President Vladimir Putin for his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
Russian nuclear deterrent forces are on high alert ahead of an emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly on Monday called to increase diplomatic pressure on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
The Western nations and especially the United States awoke today to a new world today.
After decades of hearing US politicians boastingly describe the US as the “exceptional nation,” justifying its repeated violation of international law with invasions of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Panama, Grenada, Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, El Salvador, and “regime change interventions in a host of other countries, because it could, all the while telling the rest of the nations of the world that they had to strictly obey the “rules-based order” of international relations, that countries do not invade or violate the borders of other countries, suddenly there is another nation that has decided it is “exceptional.”
With Russia launching a military invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the corporate press has grown shrill in its calls for punishing Russia with draconian sanctions, supplying Ukraine with increased military aid, and diplomatically isolating the Eurasian power as much as possible. The Two Minutes Hate against Russia has been cranked up to eleven, making any nuanced analysis of why the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has reached such a point almost impossible.
That the ruling mullahs are asking the Biden administration for guarantees that the US will never be able to leave the new nuclear deal, even after President Joe Biden leaves office, should signal that the mullahs want this deal badly and set off all sorts of alarms.
Vladimir Putin has professed many justifications for Russia’s assault on Ukraine, from wild claims about “de-Nazifying” the country to anger at Kyiv’s desire to join NATO, the Western treaty alliance.
It may also be a way for him to highlight the weakness of democratic systems – while ridding Moscow of an inconvenient neighbor.
Blaming the West and what he sees as its Kyiv proxies, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday announced what amounts to a war of regime change, aimed at destroying Ukraine’s military potential and changing its geopolitical alignment. But he claimed his goal is not to permanently occupy the country.
The economic fallout from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine will hit citizens in the wallet as prices and borrowing costs rise, curtailing growth and creating an uncertain future, economists said.
It may be only a matter of time before Russian troops control the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and topple President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
However, that may not be the end of the story. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s troops could find themselves in Ukraine for the long haul depending on whether Ukrainians have the stomach to launch an insurgency.
Mainstream US media continues to celebrate the supposed strength of the US economy. Almost daily, headlines speak of hopeful numbers, sustainable growth, positive trends and constant gains. The reality on the ground, however, tells of something entirely different, which raises the questions: Are Americans being lied to? And for what purpose?