Category Archives: War and peace

Policy, Politics, War and peace

Courting Armageddon vs. cultivating peace

A spat at the UN Security Council shows the contrast between two very different approaches to war and to peace

[Originally published on Alex Krainer’s Substack] On 26 October 2023 at the United Nations Security Council an interesting exchange between the representatives of Israel and China followed China’s vetoing of the latest US-sponsored UNSC Israel/Palestine resolution. Israel’s permanent representative to the UN, Gilad Erdan delivered an abrasive, undiplomatic reprimand: 

“To those who voted against this resolution I must say that your decision shocks me to my core. In Israel, we are fighting for our very survival. My elderly parents living in Ashkelon have spent the last 20 days running back and forth to their bomb shelters as rockets rained down on them, deliberately on them, on civilians. And you cannot condemn even these deliberate attacks on civilians perpetrated by terror organizations? If any of your countries endured a similar massacre, I am certain – certain, that you would act with much greater force than Israel. Much greater force!

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There would be no question in your minds that such a barbaric slaughter requires a broad military operation against the terrorists who committed such inhumane atrocities to eradicate their terrorist capabilities in order to make sure that such atrocities can even happen again. How would Moscow react if terrorist death squads wiped out entire neighborhoods in Moscow? How would Beijing respond if a genocidal jihadis beheaded and murdered your babies? I will give you a moment to reflect on that thought. But I believe every person, not only here in this room, across the globe, whoever is watching this discussion, knows exactly how you would respond.”

China’s permanent representative Zhang Jun‘s response was very measured and diplomatic, but I will skip it here. You can see the whole exchange in the 4-min. YouTube clip below:

What I found more interesting was that if Mr. Erdan’s remarks were intended to justify Israel’s actions by suggesting that others would react with “much greater force,” they certainly missed their mark. 

How Russia responded to Ukraine’s “anti-terror operation” in 2014

We can contrast Israel’s rash and impulsive response to Hamas attacks to the way Russia responded to Ukraine’s 2014 “anti-terrorist operation” (ATO) against the Russian-speaking population in the south and in Donbass. Starting in late April that year, Ukraine’s regular troops, seeded with extremist elements from the Right Sector and other far-right paramilitary organizations descended with tanks, armored personnel carriers, heavy artillery, helicopters and aircraft on the Donbass and the cities of Slavyansk, Mariupol, Krasnoarmeisk, Kramatorsk, Donetsk, Lugansk and many smaller towns and villages. 

By saying that Ukraine’s troops were “seeded with extremists,” I mean that when the initial attempts at repression turned out ineffective because Ukraine’s regular troops weren’t keen on unleashing violence on their fellow citizens, the Kiev junta hastily dispatched two or three members of different neo-Nazi gangs to all the mobilized units to enforce the junta’s orders, steel the troops’ resolve, and stir the pot properly to provoke a reaction from Russia.

Kiev’s first “success” was a massacre of Russian speaking protesters in Odessa on 2 May 2014. In addition to the 46 people who were burnt alive in the Trade Unions building that day, another 90 men, women and children were killed. The mass casualty event was planned and orchestrated deliberately. The unofficial casualty count was as high as 200 people. But that was only the beginning: over the ensuing weeks, Kiev’s troops killed more than 2000 Russian speaking Ukrainians (as officially tallied up in mid-July 2014 by Kiev’s government). 

Giving peace every chance

Contrary to what Mr. Erdan suggested, Russia’s leadership did not react with “far greater force.” No Kremlin representative called Ukrainians “human animals” nor flattened any part of Kiev in anger. Instead, Vladimir Putin’s government called for peace. They maintained open lines of communications with Kiev and called for discussions with representatives of western powers. At Russia’s initiative, peace negotiations ensued with Geneva Accords, followed by Minsk I and Minsk II agreements. Russia’s government continued to work the diplomatic tack for 8 long years even as Kiev troops continued with daily shelling of towns and cities in the Donbass, killing a total of 14,000 people.

Before resorting to military means, the Kremlin proposed draft security agreements to the United States and NATO in December 2021. Even after the start of their “Special Military Operation” (SMO) in February 2022, the Russians continued to negotiate with Zelensky’s government in Kiev. Those negotiations very nearly yielded an agreement only a month into the military operation, but for the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson‘s intervention to make sure that peace didn’t break out in Ukraine. 

Selective brutality, no reactions in anger

And while western media have been uniformly hostile to Russia, condemning its operations in Ukraine as barbaric and brutal, Russian brutality has been selective and strictly limited. Russia also did not react in anger against Israel when it caused the downing of its military aircraft over Syria killing 15 Russian officers. It also did not retaliate when Turkish air force downed its aircraft, nor when Azerbaijani forces did the same only hours before the 2020 signing of a peace deal between Azerbaijan and Armenia brokered by Russian diplomats. The peace deal was still signed in spite of someone’s attempt to derail it.

Russia also kept its cool when a passenger jet carrying 224 Russian tourists was shot down over Sinai desert in 2015 and when 9 of its diplomats were assassinated (or died suddenly and unexpectedly) around the world in quick succession, including its Ambassador in Ankara and its UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin. For the record, these unexpected deaths occurred before the pandemic.

Statesmen with nuclear weapons shouldn’t indulge in juvenile tantrums

In all, Mr. Erdan’s remarks at the UNSC yesterday reflect an emotionally charged moment and perhaps justifiable outrage. But at high levels in diplomacy and government, officials have a responsibility to guard against rash, reckless reactions that jeopardize peace and risk escalating hostilities. It is understandable that many people at such times thirst for vengeance and disregard risks and consequences. But statesmen should not succumb to the emotion of the moment.

This should have double weight on Israeli leadership today, since their actions risk precipitating a regional war that could easily escalate to an uncontrollable global conflict with unpredictable consequences. Indulging an emotional, impulsive pursuit of revenge by a government whose arsenal includes as many as 400 nuclear bombs is reckless and irresponsible in the extreme. It is high time for Israeli leadership to sober up and finally seek a constructive path to peace and stability in its region.

Alex Krainer – @NakedHedgie is the creator of I-System Trend Following and publisher of daily TrendCompass investor reports which cover over 200 financial and commodities markets. One-month test drive is always free of charge, no jumping through hoops to cancel. To start your trial subscription, drop us an email at TrendCompass@ISystem-TF.com

For US investors, we propose a trend-driven inflation/recession resilient portfolio covering a basket of 30+ financial and commodities markets. For more information, you can drop me a comment or an email to xela.reniark@gmail.com

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History, Politics, Truth, War and peace

A history of conspiracies

In his address to the National Press Club yesterday (14 March), Sy Hersh shared a few important insights.

Yesterday evening, Seymour Hersh addressed the National Press Club in New York. The event was organized by the Committee for the Republic which kindly invited me to attend via Zoom. As expected, much of what Mr. Hersh covered was related to his latest story about the Nord Stream 2 attack including much minutia about the actual physical challenges in setting up the explosive charges to the pipelines. What Hersh laid out made the recent New York Times story about six pro-Ukrainian individuals with boxcutters a sailing yacht beyond ridiculous. The video, courtesy of the Committee for the Republic is below:

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Liberty, Policy, Psychology, Tyranny, War and peace

The balloon hysteria is about war preparations

A MAJOR war escalation may be imminent.

For the past ten days, the American media has been almost saturated with nonstop news coverage about the mysterious balloons and unidentified flying objects crossing into U.S. airspace. The intensity of coverage escalated during the last five days with leading politicians, commentators, military analysts and media figures pitching in to stoke the alarm.

A distraction or something more than that?

It all reeks of a psyop intended either as a distraction, another case of mass-formation psychosis in the making, or both. If it’s a distraction, the powers-that-be would clearly like to divert our attention away from a whole range of embarrassing developments:

  • The empire’s imminent defeat in Ukraine,
  • Revelation that the Biden Administration orchestrated the Nord Stream pipelines terror attack,
  • The environmental disasters unfolding in Ohio and Texas (in both cases cargo train derailments),
  • Yet another pandemic emergency that’s in the works or,
  • Something entirely different that we are yet to find out about.

More likely however, the hysteria is being created to psychologically prepare the nation for war, this time a full on military engagement against China.

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History, Politics, War and peace

Escalation to World War III and the British establishment

UK’s leading establishment figures are gung-ho promoting World War III. What’s behind the agenda?

Last October I published an article titled “Britain’s secret diplomacy and European wars,” exploring the role of Britain in bringing about both of last century’s World Wars and contributing to the current escalation in Ukraine.

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Politics, War and peace

It’s done: realities of the hyper-transparent spy world

On Monday, 26 September 2022 someone blew up the Nord Stream pipeline system, built at Germany’s request, to deliver Natural Gas from Russia to Germany. For a number of reasons, some of which I articulated in the article, “Britain’s Secret Diplomacy and the European Wars,” I thought that Great Britain was probably the mastermind and one of the perpetrators behind the attacks. Again, not any legitimate British government organization, but some deep state networks within the British military and structures. I expressed this view in the podcast with Tom Luongo, published five days after the attacks.

This week, Russia’s Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Defence revealed that Britain’s (then) PM Liz Truss sent a message to the US State Secretary Antony Blinken, saying “It’s done.”

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Central banking, Eurasia, Great Reset, Monetary reform, Politics, Social development, War and peace

The real war: People vs. the Banks

Recessions, debt, energy crisis, inflation and wars… somehow it is all related, and it is related at a global level, impacting nearly all economies and markets. It all seems to be going rather badly for the “rules based global order,” or as some prefer to call it, “the empire of lies.”

Shock, after shock, after shock…

Last week, on Oct. 6, Kristalina Georgieva, IMF’s Managing Director gave a speech at the Georgetown University in Washington where she explained that the global economy, which was expected to recover strongly after the Covid 19 pandemic, experienced a “shock, after shock, after shock” instead, that it is now experiencing a “fundamental shift,” and that this shift could create a “dangerous new normal.” Georgieva thinks this can only be mitigated by “countries working together.”

We’re winning in Ukraine! Or maybe we’re not.

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Eurasia, History, Politics, War and peace

Britain’s secret diplomacy and the European wars

On Monday this week, Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau signed a diplomatic note and delivered it to the German Federal Foreign Office, formally demanding $1.3 trillion in war reparations for damages suffered by Poland during WW2. The sum – indubitably calculated by experts – represents a cool $15,500 per man, woman and child living in Germany today and over $34,000 per man, woman, and child living in Poland.

What’s going on? If you ever read E. D. Morel’s 1912 book, “Ten Years of Secret Diplomacy,” or more recent titles like Carroll Quigley‘s “Tragedy and Hope,” “The Secret Origins of the First World War” by Gerry Docherty and Jim Macgregor, or “Conjuring Hitler” by Guido Giacomo Preparata (in fact, many such titles have emerged over the last two decades), you may be familiar with the shockingly perfidious scheming of British secret diplomacy, perpetrated by a covert cabal within the ruling establishment. That secret diplomacy – kept secret primarily from the British people – has led to the last two world wars on the European continent. This was done deliberately and with premeditated intention to bring about both great wars.

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Liberty, Policy, Politics, Tyranny, War and peace

War on China: the real target are the American people

As I write these lines, the US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi is apparently en route to Taiwan in what can only be described as a calculated, gratuitous provocation of China. The “normies” will surely protest that Pelosi has the right to visit other democratical nations, bla, bla, bla. For the record, Taiwan is part of China, not an independent nation – even according to the official US government position. But that nonsense is the same kind that was applied to Ukraine: she had the right to join any military alliance she wanted, it’s about freedom, democracy, our values, etc…

Western think tanks have been predicting a war with China war for many years now as though it were an inevitable outcome, a future set in stone. In September 2016, the Atlantic Council published a report predicting a world “marked by the breakdown of order, violent extremism and an era of perpetual war.” The designated enemies of course are Russia and China. Two years later, a bipartisan Congressional panel published a lengthy report “Providing for the Common Defense,” which argued that the USA needs to prepare for devastating wars against the two resurgent powers. Nowhere in this document is there any suggestion that such a war ought to be avoided, and apart for the brief four years of the Trump administration, the US leadership has consistently worked to build up tensions rather than diffuse them. Then, in February 2021 Admiral Charles Richard who heads US Strategic Command called on the nation’s military and civilian leaders to seek new ways to face threats by Russia and China, including the “real possibility” of nuclear conflict. Why? Because Moscow and Beijing have “begun to aggressively challenge international norms.”

One nation started 80% of all wars since 1946

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Energy crisis, Eurasia, Politics, War and peace

Russia strikes back against the Empire (1/2)

This article is first of two parts about Russia’s radical new gambit in its relationship with Western powers. We’ll examine the recent history of the conflict, its broader historical context as well as its economic underpinnings before venturing to analyze, in part 2 where this conflict could lead in the coming months and years. The video version, published on the “Markets, Trends and Profits” channel is below:

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History, Politics, Truth, Tyranny, War and peace

Appeasement: the betrayal in Munich (part 2 of 3)

This is part 2 of a 3-part series shedding light on the role of British secret diplomacy in the run-up to World War 2. Here’s the link to Part 1. The 46 min. video report on YouTube covers all three parts.

The sacrifice of Czechoslovakia

The treacherous sacrifice of Czechoslovakia to Germany is one of the least well understood episodes leading to the tragedy of World War lI. Conventional history associates the Czech crisis with Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement at Munich. The story we were taught in school was that the British government agreed to partition Czechoslovakia only as a desperate measure to avoid a greater European war. This view is based on the idea that Germany was already an overwhelming military power that could easily crush Czechoslovakia’s weak defenses. However, this idea is patently false. In late 1938 Czechoslovakia did in fact capitulate without resistance, but this was not because her defenses were weak. Rather, Czechoslovakia’s government was paralyzed and sedated as a result of the treacherous scheming of Britain’s secret diplomacy.

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