The SMO is dead; long live the war

I intended to send out part two of my special article for coffee buyers today but the horrific attack in Moscow has scuttled that plan. It’s 5 PM in Tokyo now. So by the time I get the list together to send, it will probably be tomorrow.

The Attack

As you know, there was a terrorist attack on a concert in Moscow with machine gunning and bombing—coordinated and professional. At the time of writing, 70 people are dead, with more than 100 wounded. The death toll is likely to rise.

ISIS has claimed responsibility. Rather – ISIS-K—which is an anti-Taliban offshoot of ISIS, which like ISIS itself has its origins in CIA machinations.

Just an hour or two after the attack, the State Department assured the world that the Ukraine had nothing to do with the attack. In conversation with the Judge Napolitano and Ray McGovern, Larry Johnson points out that the Americans couldn't possibly have information to make that assessment.

He points out that Russians have not released any real information released as to the details of this attack – and that won't happen until the FSB concludes its investigations – which are likely to be thorough.

Nobody actually knows.

Lies, damn lies, and the State Department.

Larry’s webcast is a much watch!

However, the haste of the US attempt to exonerate Ukraine, as Johnson says, implies the likely guilt of Ukraine-- and, by extension, US culpability —not that they were directly involved but certainly complicit— training and equipping Ukrainians for a wide variety of terrorist activities—which have been going on for at least the last year.

Zelensky of course said that the Ukraine does not do terrorist attacks. The dead say otherwise.

Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Nazi Oleksiy Danilov indirectly confirmed involvement in the terrorist attack in Crocus on Ukrainian television:

We will give them this kind of fun more often. Is it fun in Moscow today? I think it’s a lot of fun. I would like to believe that we will arrange such fun for them more often. After all, they are “brotherly” people, and we need to please our relatives more often, go to visit them more often. So, we will go.

Let us keep in mind that ISIS and ISIS K terrorists are fighting with the Ukrainians.

The US has been using ISIS to fight against the Russians in Syria— and now in Ukraine.

Johnson points out there are indications from places like OSINT —Open Source Intelligence— a CIA front, that the US is disturbed by the Ukraine going “rogue”, no longer following orders, initiating attacks on its own on oil refineries and nuclear facilities and so on. And, worst of all. generating bad press.

You've heard of money laundering, right?

OSINT should be OSIL — Open Source Information Laundering.

The US says they warned the Russian authorities—but this is, well, “laundered” information – since it is very clear they did not do any such thing—except insofar as they knew the Russians were privy to the vague warnings issued by the Russians and Americans to their citizens in Moscow to stay away from public events.

The Americans clearly knew something was going to happen – just not when and where. But obviously they knew who and maybe even how.

So, what are the results of this attack going to be?

This is not the first terrorist attack in the history of modern Russia. There were cases when the authorities negotiated with terrorists, as in Budyonnovsk and Kizlyar. Ultimately, this did not lead to anything positive. Later, the state, having learned from bitter experience, adopted a much tougher stance, and society supported it. And soon, it bore fruit.

Yes, there were explosions of residential buildings, there was Nord-Ost, there was Beslan. Many tragic events occurred, but in the end, those who attempted to intimidate and manipulate us achieved the opposite. Ultimately, both the perpetrators of the terrorist attacks and their instigators were eliminated, and the terrorist underground was defeated.

Those who are now attempting to intimidate the Russians with terrorist attacks do not seem to fully understand who they are dealing with. Bloody shelling of Belgorod and Donetsk, attempts to breach the Russian border, the sabotage of the Kerch Bridge, the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall - all of these will not cause panic among Russian citizens. It was evident when, despite the risk of terrorist attacks, millions of Russians in new regions and border areas went to the polls. External pressure only strengthens us, making us resilient, like a diamond.

At this moment, all Russians are experiencing only cold and resolute determination, only the desire to identify everyone involved and seek justice.

This is something that neither Washington, nor Kiev, nor London will ever comprehend. And this is why we will emerge victorious. Slavyangrad

This attack comes on the heels of Putin's PR guy Peskov saying that the SMO has become a "war".

In other words, the SMO is dead: long live the war. It is officially no longer a conflict between brothers – but a war between nations – Russia against those who would do it harm – the US, the UK, and NATO countries.

The statement was probably designed to deter NATO countries from sending in troops to try to take advantage of the collapse of the neo-Nazi regime. The Russians learned something when the US sent in troops into Syria and set up bases when the Syrians in Russia seemed victorious over Al Qaeda and ISIS. Half of the mercenaries said to Ukraine are already dead. If NATO sends in troops even as advisors, the death count will surely be higher.

The Russians are just not going to allow any kind of foreign presence in Ukraine. Ukraine is not Idlib.

In fact, to be safe they must dissolve Ukraine as an independent state.

To deal with a “rogue state” you have to get rid of the rogues that run it, and also the state itself, who society and culture may take half a century to recover.

Putin has been going slow as NATO exhausts itself and as Russia's military power grows.

I rather think he will continue this incrementalist approach— but now with a very clear redline, based on this attack on Moscow. Not just a redline--a hard line.

With the destruction of Ukrainian air defenses, which will allow Russian bombers to range more freely. those FAB 3000 bombs I mentioned earlier are game changers.

These weapons are now being mass-produced at a plant whose overall production capability has been increased fivefold. FAB1500 production has doubled. FAB 3000 production started in February and the bombs are now being produced in three shifts.

The intention is clearly to use them in April when Ukrainians run out of interceptor missiles.

The Ukrainians have been fortifications and command centers outside Chernigov to protect Kiev and north of Odessa both manned by reserves kept back from battle for this purpose. They will likely get some targeted “shock and awe”. A lot of foreign “advisors” will die. That's where these high-power bombs will be used.

But the Russians will not attack the cities themselves.

You break it— you gotta fix it.

And Odessa, for example, is a Russian city!

Special Article

And now I can go back to finishing off the special article for coffee buyers and mailing it! You can buy me a coffee and support my work by clicking here. That will also put you on the list for the special article if you're not there.

Excerpts from the Special Article

How does this stuff (below) tie together? You have to read the article!

Words no longer need to have objective meanings in this market. Everything is about ‘attention’, however achieved. True or false. That’s what the advertisers wanted. Words could mean what those in power say they mean. The ‘truth’ behind the narrative became irrelevant.

What mattered was the force of a narrative, now divorced from meaning, to compel a singularity of messaging, and to demand that belief in the new order be reflected, not just in compliance, but in assimilation of the messaging into personal conduct in life. Critical thinking was disallowed as denoting an enemy; a threat to be crushed.

Alistair Crooke. The Fabric of Reality (Thanks to Kark Sanchez)

History (and statistics) teach us all you need to effect social change is a committed minority of 9 to 10 percent, --given 90 percent don't really care -- and one percent are too busy counting pennies.

This 9 percent, however, have to be ordinary people radicalized to become zealots, rejecting compromise and consensus and getting angrier with the day.

The radicalization part is important because if you were born a zealot, you are probably psychotic or religious (almost the same) -- which tends to result in things turning out badly.

What we need are Grannies with guns. The Oracle (aka Julian Macfarlane!) . The Asian Intelligence Review (2017)

Under Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Presidency until his death on 12 April 1945 just before WW2 ended, there was no Cold War, despite some U.S. officials, such as J. Edgar Hoover, who wanted it. President Roosevelt had no qualms about accepting the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin as an ally so long as both countries would be committed to defeating Hitler: for FDR, no country has any right to interfere in any other country’s domestic affairs; and, so, the Soviet Union’s domestic affairs were irrelevant to U.S.-Soviet relations. U.S. Senator Harry Truman disagreed with FDR about that; and In 1944, the Democratic Party’s megadonors required President Roosevelt to accept Truman as his running-mate for Vice President. Eric Zuesse. The Duran

Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror. Franklin Delano Roosevelt 1933 Inaugural Address