On Thursday, President Trump signed an executive order to impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) over its investigations into Israeli war crimes.
Trump sanctioned officials of the Hague-based court during his first term in office over an ICC investigation into war crimes committed by all sides, including the US, in Afghanistan.
The Biden administration reversed Trump’s sanctions in 2021 and cooperated with the court against Russia but opposed the ICC issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for their role in the genocidal war in Gaza.
The ICC also sought warrants for three senior Hamas officials over their role in the October 7 attack on southern Israel, but all three have been killed by Israel.
In his order, Trump accused the ICC of engaging in “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel.” The president referenced previous preliminary investigations into the US and Israel, which didn’t go anywhere, and said the ICC “further abused its power by issuing baseless arrest warrants.”
Trump said the ICC has “no jurisdiction over the United States or Israel” since neither country is a member of the court. However, the State of Palestine, which consists of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza, became a member of the ICC in 2015, and the warrants are related to war crimes that happened in Gaza.
The order said that the US would “impose tangible and significant consequences on those responsible for the ICC’s transgressions, some of which may include the blocking of property and assets, as well as the suspension of entry into the United States of ICC officials, employees, and agents, as well as their immediate family members.”
Trump also referenced the 2002 American Servicemembers’ Protection Act, nicknamed The Hague Invasion Act, which authorizes the US to use “all means necessary” to free any US or allied government officials or military personnel detained on behalf of the ICC.
Since the US has supported Israel’s destruction in Gaza, any legal action against Israeli officials implicates the US, which is why the Biden administration also strongly opposed the ICC’s efforts and the genocide case at the International Court of Justice.
Trump will break any international law if he does not like it, he rules the world without limits.
American people will most likely be made to feel it before the next budget, and full steam ahead after the election.
I never thought Trump could be worse than Biden, boy, was I wrong.
IF Trump/Musk get their way we will have riots in the streets in 2026.
Project 2026 is the battle against the American working middle class.
"In response to questions from Republican lawmakers, Vought did preview potential budget proposals that would target cuts to discretionary social programs."
Not any cuts to the trillion $$$ discretionary defense budget!!!
Trump/Musk hate the American people if they are not billionaires.
The worst thing about D. Trump is that he makes other politicians look better – i.m.o.
Not better. Less bad.
I see you are an ICC supporter. Why not just say so.
My comment didn't have anything to do about whether I support the ICC or not. It was off topic and about politicians in general.
So it sounds like you're one of those people that thinks the ICC should be sanctioned because they dare accuse the US (or Israel) of war crimes. You seem not to care a bit about whether there's any merit to the claims.
OPh sure, supporting corrupt international organizations is good, to you, not to us.
But supporting utterly corrupt psychopathic governments is OK?
and who's "us"?
Yes, and the empire rolls on regardless just with different social issues.
Leftists like you will emit any junk post to attack Trump.
Give us a good laugh, what are we support to "feel". Come on, make something up.
There is no Project 2026. It's another thing you made up. Thanks.
OK now, how about the atual subject here, instead of your whining?
Fascists like you will blindly support Trump's attempt to become a dictator. It is happening right before your eyes and you refuse to see it.
There is “project 2025” social services will be cut to reduce the deficit, SOCIAL SERVICES, not the 0ne trillion $$$ discretionary defense budget. Look it up.
I do respect other peoples opinions. They may not have a good education, or have low reading comprehension not above 5th grade level, and different life experience .
I don’t know you, but I recommend you read Ms. MANNERS, you may learn something.
He is worse but many do not see it because he is also the best con artist adn charmer around and is giving the people stuff they really like and appreciate. No more males in women's sports(weren't too many but never mind). No more later term abortions or abortions after baby is born. No more free housing, food, healthcare adn monthly checks for those crossing the Southern border illegally. And so on.
The Democrats are making the mistake still running on this stuff, pushing it and putting Kamala once again on top of the 2028 ticket.
Once the public is happy they are willing to forgive him on the other stuff until it bites them in the butt by which time it is too late. Saw that scenario once before.
"Saw that scenario once before" I read about it. Best book to read about what is happening is book written in the 50s called "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich",
"abortions after baby is born" That does not happen. First abortions can not happen after the baby is born by definition, because at that point the woman is no longer pregnant. Second killing of a baby is murder. And yet people buy that nonsense. Just like they buy people from Hatti eating their pet dogs.
Ooops, I didn't read your comment about aborting babies after they are born before making mine.
The Democrats threw their constituents under the bus, many now support Trump. Trump followers do have real grievances, they truly believe that Trump cares about them. They need to learn to be more skeptical and accept the fact that he is a conman, but they hang on to hope. The ruling class has demonized and destroyed any left of center social philosophy denigrating labor unions, socialist and communists. People forget how ugly free market capitalism, aka neoliberal economics, really are. The LEFT HUMANIZED CAPITALISM, NEOLIBERAL ECONOMICS, THE LEFT MADE THE WORKING MIDDLE CLASS POSSIBLE, not greedy people like Trump and Musk, they rob and abuse people to fill their bank accounts. They compete for one more $$$ than the other to win, to be the richest man on earth.
How do you abort a baby after it is born? And why do you repeat bullshit?
Former gov. of Virginia Ralph Northam said it in his own words that a baby born alive it would be up to the mother and the doctor if it should be kept alive or not.
California rejected a bill forbidding babies born alive after abortions to save them.
Post links.
What links. I watched him saying it on TV years ago. I don't record everything I watch. And it has been recorded many time sine then.
Then I'll take that crap as it's just your opinion. No way in hell there isn't any nuance to what you said.
"I never thought Trump could be worse than Biden, boy, was I wrong" I always thought Trump would be very bad for Americans. And as I pointed out many times, trump will be bad for the Palestinians.
~Peter Camejo
He knew what he talked about.
The democrats set the stage for the GOP.
George Carlin: "It is one big club, and we ain't in it"
Blinken says he'll work with US Congress on potential ICC sanctions
Both President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and his political opponents have sharply criticized Khan's announcement, arguing the court does not have jurisdiction over the Gaza conflict and raising concerns over process.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/blinken-says-hell-work-with-us-congress-respond-icc-move-gaza-2024-05-21/
I think what put the brakes on this before was an election cycle and the Democrats pretending that Israel was defending itself and that Biden was a “nice guy” trying to help Palestinians. It was complicated also by the full throated support the US gave ICC when it came to Putin. Back then the administration had a veil of “decency” trying to look objective when it was not.
He delusionally THINKS he rules the world without limits…!
Oligarchs of the world are firmly behind him.
America defies all the economic rules. It is $36 trillion in debt and climbing. Yet it appears to be imposing its arrogance and swagger on the world as if everything is fine. Somehow some day this debt will eventually consume the place. We are waiting for that day
You have to follow the debt to GDP ratio (Proxy for ability to pay back the loans).
This has also gone up but
https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/USA/united-states/debt-to-gdp-ratio#google_vignette
Compare it to other countries with significantly lower future prospects (e.g. UK) and you can see that the US has some room for an even higher debt to GDP ratio before they'll need to pay higher interest to attract money.
Was debt the subject of this article? I need to reread it.
Why would you want that "day" to happen? A lot of people will get hurt and it will not be the rich ones.
know nothing about economics but listen to Richard Wolf, Michael Hudson and Ben Norton.
As long as the $$$ is the leading currency the USA is in the drivers seat. That could change, Gadhafi tried, you know what happened to him and to Sadam Hussein.
But now China and Russia and Brics changed the circumstances. They could make it happen, currency warfare.
They are trading between themselves. New routes are being laid out. I believe there are 22 now.
With his admission of planning to ethnically cleanse Palestine, I think the ICC should indict Trump and then have him declared a war criminal.
Just think US government officials barred from most other nations.
Well something has to be done. As it stands the US with Israel are planning to rule the world and take all its resources for themselves.
Trump always talks about "why did we leave and not take their oil" "We will take all mineral rights from Ukraine" "Greenland has great stuff we can use". The phrases in quotation marks are not the exact worlds of trump but close enough, in case someone will come back and challenge them.
I am sure the enlarged empire will find plenty of really nice beach front properties around the world as well.
As with Hitler, Trump has torn the veneer from the surface of the United States, to expose its ugliness. It was supposed to be hidden covered up with righteous words and occasional acts.
As with Israeli society, owing to the numbers who voted for him, American society has been revealed.
Seventy-seven million voters cannot be wrong when they pulled the lever for him. They must believe in supremacy, dominance, that the oligarchs, Christian Nationalists and Messianic Zionists know what is good and right for society.
Truth, Justice, the American way.
Beware…………
No ,they voted for Trump because of the elite's instigation of the Ukraine war, inflation ,and open borders that allow foreign criminals to cavort about our streets. Trump is a descent showman ,his opponent was incoherent. Just because you disagree with someone,does not make THEM evil.
And Biden. Since Trump told the world that no one can live there, that it is inhabitable, he points to war crimes and genocide from his predecessors and Netanyahu. Now he advocates forcefully moving all members of the group, but calls it “voluntary”:
At least three of the five conditions have been met:
Article II
In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
South Africa complained about Israel; now they are speaking of evicting famers of European decent; without recompense,because they are of European descent.
Trump is good to take US to the ruins…! Another effort that isolates US at world stage particularly in Global South…!
Hey globalist propagandist, explain to us how sanctioning the corrupt ICC brings the USA to ruins. This will be fun.
I thought you’ve figured it by now Prisoner…! ISOLATION…!
Which troll are you replacing? We have lost some lately including short lived replacements.
The so called global south is quite evil and wretched on its own. I employed a woman from Zambia-Zambia has valuable copper producing mines ,yet children everywhere starve. I asked why-"poor governance". The Sudan genocides, Chinese buying up food production in Africa,ect,ect.
I'll wait for this move to be interpreted before commenting. There must be something I'm missing that one of the cult members can point out to me that will convince me that Trump will be different when it comes to Israel THIS term.
They have already done so. Saw video yesterday abut this, not to worry about Trump taking Gaza, he is playing 5D chess against checkers of the kiddies.
What's 5 D chess anyway? I know – google it I will later.
Go to sonar21 and read comments.
Where?
https://sonar21.com/what-is-trump-really-thinking-about-gaza/
Wow!
Now, if any of this “10 dimensional chess” is true, I’ll happily eat crow.
But for now, it looks like a Kübler-Ross stage of grief. Bargaining, denial?
I’ll happily eat crow.
Same. I WANT to be wrong.
1. the killing continues
2. the "resurrected" Abraham Accords excluded the Palestinians
3. he is part of the deep state, fully aligned with the oligarchs (who won the election over the capitalists)
Yeah. I had no high hopes.
The deep state just spent 4 years forking him ,because they could not control him.
They paid him and the megalomaniac is happy to take it.
I look at Trump's pics for State Dept, I look at his first term where he gave S. Adelson everything he bought, I look at his ratcheting up aggression toward Iran, and nothing tells me he's abandoned his unfettered loyalty to the Tribe. If this diabolical plan of his to cleanse Gaza comes to fruition, there's not a chance in hell that the majority population there will be anything but Israeli Jews. I also would love to be proven wrong on this. I have a small hope that if it DID come to fruition and the US was "keeping the peace" in Gaza, so to speak, that the Israelis would attack the US (just like the Stern and Irgun attacked the British as the Mandate was ending), except this time, the US would fight back and end those fuckers.
You and I disagree on the Gaza war, but we both agree that trump is no friend of the Palestinians. His plan to purge Gaza of the Palestinians will be followed up by the same act in the West Bank. As I have said, once Israel get their hostages back Israel should leave Gaza, seal the border between Gaza and Israel and allow Gaza to interact with the world via the sea and Egypt. They should even build an airport. The Palestinians in Gaza can do what they want as long as they don't attack Israel.
What trump is saying is the best way to end the 76 years long conflict between the two is to get rid of the Palestinians. That will only encourage the radicals on both sides to continue the fighting.
You and I disagree on the Gaza war
That is one gross understatement. You cheerlead the slaughter of innocents. I oppose it.
What about simple human decency, you ignore any moral guideline. The Israelis are legally and morally wrong from top to bottom, they are the real terrorists.
The Israeli-Zionist terrorists were legally and morally wrong from day one.
They expelled some 700 000 Palestinians and destroyed some 400 Palestinian villages in 1948.
The Palestinians in Gaza, Jordan and Lebanon are the descendants of those expelled people, their Nakba aka holocaust, for the Palestinian people.
What Israel did in the last 16 months doesn't even need a backstory. It speaks for itself.
Numbers.
Before 7Oct it was generally agreed that 2.3 million Palestinians resided in the Gaza Strip, 25 miles long, 5 miles wide.
The other day Herr Trump said that there were 1.7 million Palestinians that had to "voluntarily" move.
So, did 600,000 Palestinians disappear?
Where did he come up with the 1.7 million figure? I have read it elsewhere as well.
What about the 750,000 Jews expelled from the Arab countries? Are they not human?
?????
It’s Trumps last term, and he don’t give a damn what he promised to his movement.
He may refuse to make this his last term, maybe he moves over to make room for Musk to replace him. Strange things can happen.
The USA and Israel do not participate as partner states of the ICC, the Rome Statute, nor do India, China, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Indonesia, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Yemen, Oman, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, etc.
https://asp.icc-cpi.int/states-parties
https://asp.icc-cpi.int/sites/asp/files/NR/rdonlyres/553F5F08-2A84-43E9-8197-6211B5636FEA/281882/QuigleyPalestinedeclarationandtheICC1.pdf
https://www.aba-icc.org/about-the-icc/states-parties-to-the-icc/
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/role-icc
US sanctions only have an effect if they drag the EU behind, which I believe will not be the case in this instance.
The EU is in trouble as it is, the USA is in control, they don't really count anyway.
The USA is less in control under Trump. European elites strongly dislike him, and the masses are not sympathetic either. Europe is not Argentina.
But the Biden pipeline sabotage destroyed the leading European economy and the EU with it and most NATO members are also members of the EU. Leaving laws and morals aside , Biden was a stupid incompetent president, even after decades in politics and before his dementia he was as stupid and ignorant as Trump is.
But do you remember any German politician, left, right or far right ever denouncing the perpetrator (the USA primarily) for that? Demanding reparations? Doing even a serious investigation? Spanish saying: “sarna con gusto no pica”, i.e. “liked scabies don’t itch”.
Biden was senile but shadow-president Blinken was not “stupid”: the looting of Europe especially and its chaining to the USA as quasi-colony proceeded much more efficiently than under Trump. Why? Because even if both are doing pretty much the same to Europe, Trump is nasty and aggressive, while the Dems are polite and backstab you with a friendly smile.
You do know Germany is still occupied. All of it was hidden under a vail of propaganda for decades to make the US look good and not look like the occupier it was. Any costs of the occupation forces were covered up. To fight a fight you know you can’t win is stupid. The conflict of Capitalism and Communism/Socialists was what saved Germany, they needed Germany and insisted Germany provides military support UNDER THE NATO UMBRELLA and American nuclear weapons to be stationed in Germany. The US did control elections supporting the center right CDU and shrinking the big SPD, the socialists.
The current coalition would not exist without the CIA influencing the elections, that is also why Scholz was silent when Biden blew up the pipeline and why the controlled press kept silence. Now the AfD center right does not need a Musk to interfere in the elections, but he does, and in France if I am not mistaken. Trump is going around wanting more money from the Europeans, he is always passing his hat around with a gun in hand to collect DONATIONS. The left wing SPD the oldest and once biggest party, the Socialists, is in shreds.
That’s an excuse: formal occupation of Germany ended in 1990 (or 91, unsure). Britain and France pulled out for good, as did the USSR/Russia. The USA remained on NATO alliance grounds, mostly because Germany wants it. This was confirmed when Trump tried to pull out (to Poland or back to the USA) and Merkel begged him not to.
Of course you could say that every single country in NATOplus is “occupied” by the US Military and secret services, including the USA itself, and that would be true-ish… but only relatively true. Fico survived the assassination attempt and, if tiny Slovakia can break free, anybody can, it’s a matter of political willpower.
This is particularly true for Germany: suppossedly the natural leader of the EU but totally not exerting that role, totally failing to lead Europe to independence and relevance, at least since Merkel (and her Vicechancellor Scholz, I guess) took over. If Germany can’t lead Europe, Russia and Italy are trapped by the far right (which can’t lead Europe by definition, as they are state-nationalist and oppossed to European Humanist values), France is a total Weimar-like mess and Britain wants to be the US 51st state (and definitely not a constructive part of Europe), then Europe is doomed to be “Balcanized” and become prey of foreign powers.
As European (and Europeanist) myself, I can’t see how this can be fixed: we should be like India but we’re rather like the Middle East… with a lawn (Borrell’s “garden”, which is every day more illusory).
…
Yes, West Germany was “favored” as “frontline state” vs the USSR bloc (and the USSR failed to promote socialist Germany properly). And yes, the CIA-Gladio is no doubt an important foreign force in Europe, especially in countries that never purged Gladio such as Germany or Spain. But to my eyes the greatest tool of control is the total entanglement of the European bourgeoisie with that of the USA, always in a subordinated status. BlackRock (and the like) own our arses… and crucially our media.
…
AfD and probably also the National Rally (Le Pen) will remain out of government, no matter what Musk says. They are a no-no option for the vast majority.
I am European too and I agree with you.
"But to my eyes the greatest tool of control is the total entanglement of the European bourgeoisie with that of the USA, always in a subordinated status. BlackRock (and the like) own our arses… and crucially our media."
INMO they are the reasons why we have people like Scholz and Baerbock in government. I am convinced they were put there with the help of the CIA and the same people who gave us Trump/Biden/Musk and the controlled media. The are the Deep State they talk about.
The US is Europe's biggest enemy. Europe and Germany in particular should work together with Russia. That will save Europe. Geopolitical money brought us to where the planet is today.
Russia must win, Putin is the hope of Europe's hope.
The AFD, MO is a right of center party, just because they have Germany in the name does not make them NAZIS, and that is demonizing propaganda against an opposition party, the way socialists and unions are being demonized in the USA. Alice and Sarah on the left are great candidates, call it my bias, it is how I see it.
I don’t trust Putin: he’s too authoritarian and reactionary and his apparent diplomatic naivety has caused much avoidable trouble from Minsk to Astana (i.e. from Ukraine to Syria). I would like Russia better if it were under communist control TBH, even if their politics were social-reformist and China-like but at least less essentialist-nationalist (which is just an empty shell to hide the shame of the capitalist mafia).
Also Putin doesn’t want to unite Europe but keep it weak and divided and in that sense he’s not fundamentally different from the Anglo elites. The only hope Europe has is for something from within to emerge, maybe in the line of LFI/NFP in France or the “culturally conservative” but quite serious in terms of class struggle forces like the Wagenknecht List in Germany or the socialists of Robert Fico in Slovakia. I also sympathize with Diem23 (Varoufakis’ socialist-Europeanist party) but outside of Greece they are very small intellectual force only. The (willingly extraparlamentarian) Basque and other Iberian socialist movements, which are some sort of neo-Leninist also have my sympathies. There can be other forces too, I’m not sectarian, I even sympathize with Greta Thurnberg, especially since she adopted communism (and was cancelled right away).
Anyway, I was just reading a Spanish translation of this article, which I’m sure you’ll find very relevant to our discussion on the media and its control by the US secret services, in this case USAID: https://www.zerohedge.com/political/usaid-funded-massive-global-state-propaganda-news-matrix-nearly-billion-people-reach .
“[Internews Network] is headed up by Jeanne Bourgault, who pays herself $451k a year”.
I judge Putin by his public appearances, main stream media has no credibility, his speeches and press conferences help. I am sure he is not perfect, but the Russian people like him, he put food on the table and he made Russians proud to be Russian again. That is public domain knowledge.
MSM has no credibility and is demonizing Putin. Outside government retired American professionals do not agree with that. There are assertions demonizing Putin out there but no credible evidence to back it up. Russian friends I have like him, 80% of Russians like him based on polls published even in our press. When he speaks he has something to say, he is able to face international journalists for hours, he has competent people in his government, I know of no personal scandals. I have yet to hear a coherent policy speech from Trump or Biden, a word of wisdom from either one, intelligent diplomacy.
Putin wants healthy relations with Europeans. He is a European. Hist. Prof. Mearsheimer and others tell us that there is no evidence to be found about Putin wanting to return to the old UDSSR or create conflict in Europe. Putin was a KGB COL stationed in Germany and he speaks fluent German. Sarah Wagenknecht is married to Oscar LaFontaine a famous Social Democrat of the Schmidt and Brand SPD era. I don’t know if Putin is authoritarian and reactionary, I know they say it but there is no credible evidence. And whatever one can say about Putin, NAIVE he is not. People with expertise say he will go down in history as a great statesman. Compare Biden and Blinken, Putin and Lavrove, Scholz and Baerbock, and now Trump and Rubio, who is the most competent? I go with Putin/Lavrove anytime. Putin never said about President Biden he is a killer, but Biden said it about Putin on TV. So much stupidity after 8 years as VP and decades in politics, what a failure. Putin is a statesman until there is credible evidence to prove me wrong that is what I think he is. After all the years in power, the people still support Putin by some 80%.
I have yet to read the article you linked to, I’ll do it now.
Not sure where exactly you're from but here in the Southern Basque Country we learned to "read between lines" under Francoism and I do that all the time. I read RT every day… mostly to be sure nuclear armaggedon hasn't begun in the last hours without me noticing (curiosity of course: I wouldn't be able to do much about it) and every day I notice the RW bias that you mentioned re. Zero Hedge in the other comment. Since long ago Russia has clearly favored the "populist" far right in Europe and that means that they favor European atomization and weakness. It makes total sense: I'd do the same if I'd be a conservative-capitalist "lucky man" mafioso sitting on the Tsar's throne… but not if I'd be a communist revolutionary in the same position however, communism is internationalism and not nationalist selfishness (and that's why I hate Stalin, really: he did almost everything wrong).
Of course Putin rides a wave of popularity and his position is very legitimate… unlike that of his party, which is founded on rigging the elections, at least the last ones (would they have been fair, Putin would be in the weak political position of Macron, minus Le Pen, because the only real opposition in Russia is the Communist Party). Said that he's clearly very authoritarian, especially towards ethnic minorities (which do not enjoy effective democracy nor self-rule), and is riding in a very patriarchal platform, which just arrested a woman for having a social network history of defending her own childless choice of lifestyle (an opinion illegal under the new law, which seems to apply retroactively even). Worse: they beat chest about it (I know of that because I read at RT).
So politically I can't like Putin: I disliked him at first, then my opinion improved but then I realized that, regardless of internal policies, he was also comitting major errors in international politics. This became very clear when he signed the Minsk Accords, mostly because he didn't trust the (too socialist?, too antifascist?) leadership of the Donbass republics (and he trusted Merkel and Hollande instead, apparently). Wouldn't he have done that, hundreds of thousands would not have needed to die in the war seven years later, because Donbass was clearly winning the war at that point and the Ukrainian Army was literally imploding as he signed the truce (and imposed it on Donbass).
He did almost exactly the same later with the Astana accords, freezing the Syrian "civil war" when it could have been easily won, in this case because of his extremely dubious dealings with Erdogan. And that resulted later in catastrophe for Syria.
I've followed his deeds for decades, very especially the last one, and IMO he's a statesman (what we definitely lack in Europe) but he maneuvers too much and could have done much better if he'd acted more decisively, on one hand, and would be less concerned about Russia annexing things that could easily be kept as separate statelets for a long "transitional" period, as semi-independent actors. He just doesn't like independent actors at all, especially not if they're ethnic Russian.
I have a German education, and like you we learned to read, analyze and and learned to think logical. Then there is history and of course the different geography. I know Napoleon went all across Europe from the West all the way east across the continent all the way to Moscow, he and his army were beaten, that was before modern transportation, I don’t know why Napoleon did it, maybe just because he could. At no time did Russia invade W. Europe.
The Minsk agreements, Merkel, Holland and Putin, all three knew the US did not support the Minsk agreements, all three were aware of the de facto NATO type training and weapons and NATO military exercises in Ukraine. President Putin knew it as well as the others did, he did what they did, he considered the US negative aspect too and he tested to see if Merkel and Holland could be trusted, if not the Russians prepared for plane B, for possible conflict if the Ukrainians would cross the red line. The arrogant Americans knew Russia was only a filling station. They could have avoided the war by trading no NATO membership for Ukrainian neutrality. But the arrogant ignorant Biden people and Ukraine neo-Nazis were sure they would win the war. It was their stupidity and arrogance that created the disaster, now they don’t know when to quit a lost cause and blame Putin for their own stupidity. The US did the regime change in Kiev, not Putin, their stupidity, Russians don’t break agreements, Americans do, they can’t blame Putin for their very own stupidity to trust Americans, the Germans too found that out the hard way when Biden blew up their pipeline. Russia had delivered the gas all the Germans had to do was to open the faucets.
The Europeans as well as the Americans have no free press, main stream media has lost all credibility. The US and NATO invaded and destroyed Iraq, a war crime and all based on lies about WMD destroying Iraq and killing the Iraqis. That is without credible evidence what Western authorities tell us. The US fights only the little guys using proxies like the Ukraine and even then they lose. They will do the same to the Taiwanese and Chinese.
Napoleon attacked Portugal (and then got bogged in Spain, which rose up against his brother and the French Army, which acted as de-facto occupation force) and then Russia because he was trying to impose a “continental blockade” against Britain after decades of barely intermitent wars after the French Revolution. He did so because the French Navy had been sunk in Egypt (and later again, along the Spanish one, at Trafalgar), so he was outcompeted in the seas by his enemy and tried to compensate by denying them the European trade.
I concur that Russia has never invaded Europe (unless in defensive terms or as allied to other reactionary forces in the days of the Holy Alliance, which kept Europe peaceful but reactionary for most of the 19th century). However NATO propaganda equates the Eastern Baltic countries to “Europe” and those have been indeed invaded by Russia now and then, Poland too. So it’s indeed true that for some parts of Eastern europe Russia is a potential danger, not for core Europe however.
As for Minsk Accords:
1. Both Merkel and Hollande publicly admitted in 2022 that it was a trap to rearm Ukraine, so it’s not just Biden and his “neocons”: it was always a long-term NATO expansionist plan. That’s one of the reasons why ending the current war in Ukraine is so difficult: Russia has strong reasons not to trust the West after that. Fool me once…
2. Donbass was clearly winning the war with key decisive victories against a very demoralized Ukrainian Army that was then way too much aware of the fascist NATO-sponsored coup they had been subjected to. If Putin would have been half as smart as Lenin was in 1918, he could then have “taken” all Ukraine back quite possibly. But he chose to stop the antifascist victory, smear the legitimate President Viktor Yanukovich and try to make deals with the Nazis and NATO. Major errors all of them: a decade later, Ukrainians (especially the younger generations) were too brainwashed to betray their fascist regime anymore, a golden opportunity was lost.
3. Unlike Lenin, who understood the Russian imperial national problem much better and decided to be overly generous towards a friendly (red) Ukraine and turn them into one of the founders of the USSR (along Russia and Belarus), ceding them areas which were partly ethnic Russian such as Kharkov (first capital of Red Ukraine) or Donbass (which some wanted to turn into a separate multiethnic republic), which also helped to keep Ukraine pro-Russian, Putin is all about essentialist nationalism and wants to ANNEX. His approach is not too constructive towards legitimate Ukrainian nationalism but rather he imagines he can turn Ukrainians in general into Russians by conquest. That’s a very bad idea: Donbass, Crimea and maybe some other areas like Kharkov or Odessa may have ethnic Russian majorities or sufficiently large minorities but Russia needs all Ukraine or most of it on their side and this kind of irredentist/imperialist approach is not helpful.
Bottom-line, nothing has changed, it is all about power and wealth.
Minsk, yes they knew, and I am sure Putin knew the USA DID NOT SIT AT THE TABLE IN MINSK, AND ALL OF THEM KNEW WHO DID THE REGIME CHANGE IN 2014, and the Russians needed time to prepare for the worst. NATO had expanded as far East as they could tolerate, Ukraine was the red line, that was no secret, Putin told Biden in clear English were the red line was. But US hubris (ignorance) and greed got the better of the US people, both parties.
One more thing, in MHO, NATO was always USA controlled, US generals are always at the head of NATO. Every US embassy has CIA undercover agents posing as diplomats with all the benefits that come with it.
BTW , the USA annexed the whole SW including California and Texas from MEXICO.
JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT
The annexation of the Republic of Texas in 1845 led directly to the Mexican–American War, after which the victorious United States obtained the northern half of Mexico’s territory, including what was quickly made the state of California.[3]
It’s never “for the fun of it”, it’s always for the wealth in it… and/or geostrategic reasons.
Texas “independence” was the only historical case in which a “revolution” happened to restore slavery and racism abolished many decades earlier in all Mexico (and in all Spanish America, as well as closely related Haiti).
But, well, Napoleon also restored slavery in the French colonies… and that caused the Haitian Revolution, precursor in very black tones of the Spanish American ones… which were also derived from Napoleon’s occupation of Spain and exploited (ironically) by Britain, which was suppossedly allied to (legitimist) Spain against Napoleon.
I’m just wishing Trump honored his pledge to ultra-isolate the USA from the world and pull out from Europe and the Middle East altogether. Whatever the Europeans and Arabs may do, it will never be a fraction of the EVIL of his “real state development” genocidal plan for Palestine.
I said for fun because it was not part of the debatable point. But you are right, the USA held on to slavery longer than anyone else.
Trump wants to hold on and get more. Lets hope the ME and Europe will show Trump/Musk where the door is and kick them out making them land on the Moon or Mars and never come back.
Brazil and Spain (colonial Cuba) and also most Muslim countries held to slavery even longer. That’s why I said Spanish American independent nations and not “Latin American”, Brazilian and Cuban slavery were infamously persistent in the Western World.
You are correct. It is knowledge outside of my historic domain, as little as it is.
I did check the link. I hate to say it, but I do not trust the source, it has a heavy RW bias. I do not trust Musk. He had government subsidies to keep Teslar going and to get that rich in a short time is a red light for me. Trump had 6 bankruptcies and he too became a billionaire. He has never been vetted either and has no legal authority to work for Trump. But laws don’t mean anything to them, so why trust them? The CIA has undercover agents all over the place including NGOS which are cover for work on regime changes as happened in Kiev, Ukraine. There is no public accountability about the funding which is handled at the state department. That is billions of $$$ unaccounted for and of course USAID is part of it. Public exposure is needed not unaccountable unproven Musk accusations. Musk is like the fox in the chicken coop.
Austrian Police Detain Richard Medhurst; Accuse Him of Being Hamas Member; UK Extends Probe Against Him
https://consortiumnews.com/2025/02/07/medhurst-detained-by-austrian-police-accused-of-being-hamas-member-uk-investigation-against-him-extended/
19 pages of materials were confisgated between his home and studio & what they couldn;t crack they'd send onto other countries to break.
It;s not as if we havent seen Christian terrorists before but its been a long time since we've seen abortion clinics bombed.
I’m not getting the abortion clinic relationship to Medhurst?
This is empire controlling speech against Zionism and Israel.
they've accused him of being a Hamas terrorist, Medhurst is Christian.
It looks like they have been after RM for some time. Lawless governments have replaced democracies, even Switzerland detained the editor of electronic intifada. Disgusting to put it mildly. And Austria is a neutral country too, as is Switzerland. Democratic killers are worse than any dictator they claim to be brutal. Democratic killers are so evil comparing them to dictators is insulting so-called dictators.
The terrible Kim of NK shows more decency and integrity than the democratic killers in DC and Tel Aviv do.
KN starves its own people to build nukes-yeah,really great people.
The US does the same, it is all for deterrent, so the people have to sacrifice a little, so says the Donald and he is never wrong.
The USA ruling regimes know only sanctions, extortions, threats and military aggressions and accusations of terrorism to justify regime changes of democratically elected sovereign nations. The USA is nothing but a wildly insane criminal cartel. The government is controlled by insane criminals, killers on the lose.
Trump gets his marching orders from Israel?….
Only the US and its vassal oligarchs…!
DD Geopolitics ~ @DD_Geopolitics
Feb 7
Massive backlash from basically the entire world after Trump sanctioned the International Criminal Court, with 79 countries issuing a joint statement
The statement reads that the U.S. is 'eroding the international rule of law', and it strongly condemns the U.S. financial sanctions and visa restrictions against ICC staff.
The statement was signed by: Afghanistan, Albania, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Austria, Bangladesh Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cabo Verde, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Comoros, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Honduras, Iceland, Ireland, Jordan, Latvia, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Maldives, Malta, Mexico, Mongolia, Montenegro, Namibia, Netherlands, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Norway, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, State of Palestine, Sweden, Switzerland, Timor-Leste, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Uganda, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Vanuatu.
https://x.com/DD_Geopolitics/status/1888002444308922672
Trump's appointments tell us whos child he really is. He talks peace while he is a confrontational bully.
Biden/Blinken also talked about sanctioning the ICC. Zionism is bipartisan.
As is bullying.