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Russian Leader Claims New Arms Package Will Likely Result in Nuclear War; Ukraine Defense Ministry Corrupt

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A close ally of President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday that delivering offensive weapons to Kyiv will lead to a world disaster by making arguments against using nuclear weapons untenable.

Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the Duma — Russia’s lower house of parliament — warned that US and NATO support of Ukraine is pushing the world to a “terrible war”.

He singled out the delivery of longer range weapons that could hit Russian territory.

“If Washington and NATO countries supply weapons that will be used to strike civilian cities and attempt to seize our territories, as they threaten, this will lead to retaliatory measures using more powerful weapons,” Volodin said on Telegram. . .

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense denied signing military contracts at inflated prices on Sunday, rejecting accusations of corruption in a country where embezzlement is rife. (Read more from “Russian Leader Claims New Arms Package Will Likely Results in Nuclear War; Ukraine Defense Ministry Corrupt” HERE)

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Milley: ‘Very, Very Difficult’ for Ukraine to Push Russia Out This Year

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Ukraine will have an incredibly difficult time pushing Russia out of its territory this year, Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Friday, and he reiterated his belief that the war will most likely end at the negotiating table.

Milley provided his most recent perspective on the war in Ukraine during a press conference with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Germany following a high-stakes meeting at Ramstein Air Base with defense leaders from roughly 50 countries. The Defense Contact Group convenes monthly to discuss the latest developments in the war, and this was its eighth meeting.

“From a military standpoint, I still maintain that for this year, it would be very, very difficult to militarily eject the Russian forces from every inch of Russian-occupied Ukraine,” he said, noting that future Ukrainian battlefield successes would be contingent upon the delivery and training of the newly allocated security aid to Ukraine from the United States and other Western countries.

“What can happen is a continued defense, stabilizing the front,” Milley added. “I think it’s possible to clearly do that. I think depending on the delivery and training of all of this equipment. I do think it’s very, very possible for the Ukrainians to run a significant tactical or even operational level offensive operation to liberate as much Ukrainian territory as possible.” (Read more from “Milley: ‘Very, Very Difficult’ for Ukraine to Push Russia Out This Year” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

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Top Putin Ally Directly Threatens West With Nuclear Strikes if Russia Loses Ukraine War

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One of Putin’s closest allies has threatened to unleash nuclear war on the West if Russia is defeated in Ukraine.

Ex-Russian president Dmitry Medvedev made the warning to Nato leaders as he appeared to urge them to halt sending weapons to Zelensky’s troops.

He posted on Telegram: “The defeat of a nuclear power in a conventional war may trigger a nuclear war.

“Nuclear powers have never lost major conflicts on which their fate depends.

“And this should be obvious to anyone. Even a Western politician with any trace of intelligence.” (Read more from “Top Putin Ally Directly Threatens West With Nuclear Strikes if Russia Loses Ukraine War” HERE)

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Russia to Hold Mysterious U.N. Security Council Meeting on Ukraine

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A Russian envoy to the United Nations suggested Moscow would deliver a sharp riposte to criticism of its invasion of Ukraine and hold an informal meeting at the body to outline its stance.

The first deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, Dmitry Polyanskiy, took aim at the nature of U.N. discussions about the war in Ukraine in a Telegram post on January 12, the Russian state-run news agency TASS reported.

In it, Polyanskiy criticized how on January 13, “western sponsors of Ukraine” would hold a meeting “the exact topic of which they cannot even formulate.” He said that “once a month” U.N. members would push an “anti-Russian” slant during discussions about the war.

He then issued an ambiguous warning about upcoming U.N. meetings, writing, “I will not expand on what will happen in the Security Council at our suggestion in Ukraine at the beginning of next week.” (Read more from “Russia to Hold Mysterious U.N. Security Council Meeting on Ukraine” HERE)

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Senators Spar Over Training Ukrainian Troops in the State

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The use of Oklahoma’s federal military training grounds to prepare Ukrainian soldiers to use high-tech American weaponry in their war against Russia has state senators bitterly divided.

Sen. Nathan Dahm, R-Broken Arrow, filed a resolution to prevent the Pentagon from sending the 100 Ukrainian troops to the Sooner State.

“This resolution rejects this attempt by the feds to put foreign troops in Oklahoma,” Dahm said in a statement. “It even encourages the governor, county officials, and law enforcement to use their powers to prohibit these foreign troops from being on Oklahoma soil.” . . .

Dahm said the move was part of the “America Last” policies that “should not be tolerated in Oklahoma.”

“We saw how recently the Ukrainian military fired a rocket into Poland killing two innocent civilians,” Dahm said. “We certainly don’t need them practicing here in Oklahoma where our citizens could be under the constant threat of a similar failure. We shouldn’t be allowing the unaccountable spending, corruption, and potential money laundering to now flow through Oklahoma with the presence of foreign troops on our land.” (Read more from “Senators Spar Over Training Ukrainian Troops in the State” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

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We’re Headed Toward Armageddon

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“Ukraine is already a de facto member of NATO.” — Oleksii Reznikov, Defense Minister of Ukraine

If reports are correct that modern Western weapon systems are slated to pour into Ukraine–the latest US and German tanks, Patriot missile systems, and other current weaponry–Minister Reznikov is correct.

These weapons imply that Ukraine has enough soldiers left to use them. It will require months to prepare Ukraine for these weapons. A logistical system is necessary for the delivery, maintenance, and protection of the weaponry from Russian air and missile attack. This will require US/NATO personnel on the ground in Ukraine if the weapons are to be effectively used.

In other words, the “limited military operation” has widened into a war between the US/NATO/Ukraine and Russia.

Apparently, it is going to be a war without a NATO declaration of war. The reason is that if all the weaponry promised is delivered, NATO and the US will be without fighting ability except in Ukraine where the weapons will be located. Russia could, if she had the leadership, simply sweep through weapons-depleted Baltics and Finland around Germany into France and circle back to Serbia, leaving East and West Europe cut off and surrounded. But this would make the war officially one with NATO, and the US would have to use its only means–nuclear weapons.

So it looks as if Russia will continue to pretend that there is only a limited military operation, and US/NATO will continue to pretend that the weapons are just aid to Ukraine.

A Russian military operation that the Kremlin should have completed in a few days eight years ago has now, once belatedly begun, extended another year. The consequence of the Kremlin’s unpreparedness and endless delay is a full-fledged involvement of US/NATO in the war with the aim of retaking Donbass and Crimea from Russia. The increased Ukrainian firepower means far more Russian casualties, and Washington’s involvement has passed the threshold at which Washington can accept a Russian victory.

It short, the Kremlin has blown its opportunity, and we are headed toward Armageddon.

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Paul Craig Roberts, a former Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury and former associate editor of the Wall Street Journal, has been reporting shocking cases of prosecutorial abuse for two decades. A new edition of his book, The Tyranny of Good Intentions, co-authored with Lawrence Stratton, a documented account of how Americans lost the protection of law, has been released by Random House. Visit his website.

Permission to reprint Dr. Roberts’ columns does not imply that Dr. Roberts endorses the websites or media organizations that republish his columns or that he approves of the content of the websites, media outlets or books that republish his columns.

Copyright © Paul Craig Roberts

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Putin Declares a Cease Fire, Zelensky Gets Putin’s Terms for Peace

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. . .The Foreign Policy SmartSet® and Putin’s fellow travelers have been demanding negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. For negotiations to take place, there has to be something approaching good faith by both parties. That doesn’t exist. For instance, Turkish President Erdogan visualizes himself as a peacemaker in this war. The only high-level peace talks between Ukraine and Russia were held under Turkish sponsorship last Spring. . .

Vladimir Putin has ordered a 36-hour unilateral ceasefire in observance of Orthodox Christmas.

The Ukrainians aren’t big on the idea.

I doubt Ukraine will reciprocate because it doesn’t make sense to give the Russians a break. I’m sure I’ll see a lot of commentary like this pretending that Putin gives a rat’s butt about Christmas, peace, or Jesus Christ.

(Read more from “Putin Declares a Cease Fire, Zelensky Gets Putin’s Terms for Peace” HERE)

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Zelensky Signs New Anti-Press Law Allowing Him to Block News Websites

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A new law signed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could give Ukraine’s government powers to block media outlets.

Zelenskyy signed the law on Thursday after Ukraine’s parliament passed it earlier in December, The New York Times reported. Lawmakers have touted the bill as an effort to bring Ukraine’s media laws closer to European Union standards as the country makes a bid to join the 27-member bloc. They have also argued that it will help counter Russian propaganda as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nears its one-year anniversary.

But organizations representing journalists say the law will erode press freedoms in Ukraine. Under the law, Ukraine’s media regulator could block websites that are not registered with the government as news organizations, The Kyiv Independent reported on Friday.

The law is at odds with freedoms given to the press in other parts of Europe, the European Federation of Journalists said in a statement on Friday, according to the Times.

Ukrainian lawmakers have been considering a new law regulating the media since 2019, when Zelenskyy directed parliament to draft it. The version that Zelenskyy signed on Thursday is not as sweeping as a previous draft, which the Federation called “worthy of the worst authoritarian regimes.” (Read more from “Zelensky Signs New Anti-Press Law Allowing Him to Block News Websites” HERE)

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Danish Reporter Says Ukrainian Intelligence Tried to Coerce Her Into Working as a Propagandist

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By The Intercept. Denmark’s leading chronicler of the war in Ukraine, Matilde Kimer, who has reported for Danish television from the front lines of the conflict since the Russian aggression began in 2014, revealed last week that Ukraine’s intelligence service had canceled her work permit and would only return it if she agreed to let the spy agency direct her reporting.

According to Kimer, an award-winning Moscow correspondent for Denmark’s public service broadcaster, DR, the proposal was presented to her by an officer from the Security Service of Ukraine, the intelligence agency known as the SBU, during a meeting this month in Kyiv that was also attended by two diplomats from the Danish Embassy.

The diplomats had brokered the meeting as part of an effort to help Kimer find out why Ukraine had suddenly canceled her accreditation in August, shortly after she made a reporting trip to the front lines around Mykolaiv, a strategically important Black Sea port where a Ukrainian counteroffensive had been playing out. (Read more from “Danish Reporter Says Ukrainian Intelligence Tried to Coerce Her Into Working as a Propagandist” HERE)

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Russia rejects Zelensky’s ‘peace formula’: Lavrov

By Aljazeera. Russia has rejected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s “peace formula” as a basis for negotiations and believes Kyiv is still not ready for real peace talks, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told state-run RIA news agency.

Lavrov also said Kyiv’s hopes of driving Russia out of eastern Ukraine and Crimea with Western help were “an illusion”, the agency reported on Thursday. The veteran Russian diplomat’s comments represent the latest evidence of the gulf in positions between Moscow and Kyiv, and how far the two governments are from any realistic chance of talks aimed at ending the war, now in its eleventh month.

Hours after Lavrov’s rejection of Zelenskyy’s proposal, Ukrainian officials said the country came under heavy Russian missile attack, with explosions in big cities, including capital Kyiv and Kharkiv.

Zelenskyy has been vigorously pushing a 10-point peace plan that envisages Russia respecting and restoring Ukraine’s territorial integrity and pulling out all its troops.

But Moscow has insisted Kyiv must first accept Russia’s annexation of Luhansk and Donetsk in the east, and Kherson and Zaporizhia in the south. There can be no peace plan “that does not take into account today’s realities regarding Russian territory, with the entry of four regions into Russia”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. (Read more from “Russia rejects Zelensky’s ‘peace formula’: Lavrov” HERE)

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Zelensky’s Groveling PR Offensive Hits the DC Uniparty’s Sweet Spot

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been repeatedly compared to Winston Churchill. The comedian-turned-politician is not the avatar of democracy that his legion of American admirers think he is, let alone this generation’s savior of Western civilization. But it’s doubtful that Churchill’s star addresses to joint sessions of Congress during the Second World War were received with any less adulation than Zelensky’s speech in the week before Christmas.

The question of whether it was appropriate for Zelensky to appear on the podium of the House in a variant of the GI Joe costume he’s been sporting on Zoom appearances throughout the year misses the point. He may have been the first foreign leader to behave this way since Palestinian Liberation Organization terrorist Yasser Arafat showed up in 1993 at the White House in a military uniform to sign a peace deal with Israel that he never intended to keep. But it was par for the course for a man who knows that his role is to play the hero at any and all times.

What was fascinating about the orgy of praise and support for the massive amount of U.S. aid heading to Kyiv is the way most of the Republican congressional leadership seemed just as eager to fawn at the Ukrainian leader as the Democrats.

Most Americans sympathize with opposing a blatantly illegal and brutal invasion of Ukraine by Russian President Vladimir Putin. But the notion that “Providing assistance for Ukrainians to defeat the Russians is the number one priority for the United States,” as Minority Leader Mitch McConnell put it, is quite another thing. The same can be said for doubling the amount of money the United States was spending on Afghanistan in its last years for this war’s first year. (Read more from “Zelensky’s Groveling PR Offensive Hits the DC Uniparty’s Sweet Spot” HERE)

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