Rand Report Prescribed US Provocations Against Russia and Predicted Russia Might Retaliate In Ukraine (by Rick Sterling - March 28, 2022)   

According to a 2019 Rand report titled "Overextending and Unbalancing Russia", the US goal is to undermine Russia just as it did the Soviet Union in the cold war. Rather than "trying to stay ahead" or trying to improve the US domestically or in international relations, the emphasis is on efforts and actions to undermine the designated adversary Russia. Rand is a quasi-US governmental think tank that receives three-quarters of its funding from the US military.

The report lists anti-Russia measures divided into the following areas: economic, geopolitical, ideological/informational, and military. They are assessed according to the perceived risks, benefits and "likelihood of success".

The report notes that Russia has "deep seated" anxieties about western interference and potential military attack. These anxieties are deemed to be a vulnerability to exploit. There is no mention of the cause of the Russian anxieties: they have have been invaded multiple times and had 27 million deaths in WW2.

Significance of Ukraine

Ukraine is important to Russia. The two countries share much common heritage and a long common border. One of the most important leaders of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev, was Ukrainian. During WW2, Ukraine was one of Hitler’s invasion routes and there was a small but active number of Ukrainian collaborators with Nazi Germany. The distance from the capital of Ukraine, Kiev, to Moscow is less than 500 miles.

For these same reasons of geography and history, Ukraine is a major component of a US/NATO effort to undermine Russia. Current Under Secretary for Political Affairs, Victoria Nuland, said that over 20 years the US invested $5 billion in the project to turn Ukraine. The culmination was a violent coup in February 2014. Since 2015, the US has been training ultra nationalist and Neo-Nazi militias. This has been documented in articles such as "U.S. House admits Nazi role in Ukraine" (Robert Parry, 2015), "The US is arming and assisting neo-nazis in Ukraine while the House debates prohibition."(Max Blumenthal, 2018), "Neo Nazis and the far right are on the march in Ukraine" (Lev Golinken in 2019) and "The CIA may be breeding Nazi terror in Ukraine" (Branko Marcetic Jan. 2022).

Rand suggested provocations

Prior to 2018, the US only provided "defensive" military weaponry to Ukraine. The Rand report assesses that providing lethal (offensive) military aid to Ukraine will have a high risk but also a high benefit. Accordingly, US lethal weaponry skyrocketed from near zero to $250M in 2019, to $303M in 2020, to $350M in 2021. Total military aid is much higher. A few weeks ago, "The Hill" reported, "The US has contributed more than $1 billion to help Ukraine’s military over the past year".

The Rand report lists many techniques and "measures" to provoke and threaten Russia. Some of the steps include:

•     Repositioning bombers within easy striking range of key Russian strategic targets
•     Deploying additional tactical nuclear weapons to locations in Europe and Asia
•     Increasing US and allied naval force posture and presence in Russia’s operating areas (Black Sea)
•     Holding NATO war exercises on Russia’s borders
•     Withdrawing from the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty

These and many other provocations suggested by Rand have, in fact, been implemented. For example, NATO conducted massive war exercises dubbed "Defender 2021" right up Russia’s border. NATO has started "patrolling" the Black Sea and engaging in provocative intrusions into Crimean waters. The US has withdrawn from the INF Treaty.

Since 2008, when NATO "welcomed" the membership aspirations of Ukraine and Georgia, Russia has said this would cross a red line and threaten its security. In recent years NATO has provided advisers, training and ever increasing amounts of military hardware. While Ukraine is not a formal member of NATO, it has increasingly been treated like one. The full Rand report says "While NATO’s requirement for unanimity makes it unlikely that Ukraine could gain membership in the foreseeable future, Washington’s pushing this possibility could boost Ukrainian resolve while leading Russia to redouble its efforts to forestall such a development."

The alternative, which could have prevented or at least forestalled the current Russian intervention in Ukraine, would have been to declare Ukraine ineligible for NATO. But this would have been contrary to the US intention of deliberately stressing, provoking and threatening Russia.

Ukraine as US client

In November 2021, the US and Ukraine signed a Charter on Strategic Partnership. This agreement confirmed Ukrainian aspirations to join NATO and rejection of the Crimean peoples decision to re-unify with Russia following the 2014 Kiev coup. The agreement signaled a consolidation of Washington’s economic, political and military influence.

December 2021 Russia red lines followed by military action

In December 2021, Russia proposed a treaty with the US and NATO. The central Russian proposal was a written agreement that Ukraine would not join the NATO military alliance.

When the proposed treaty was rebuffed by Washington, it seems the die was cast. On February 21, Putin delivered a speech detailing their grievances. On February 24, Putin delivered another speech announcing the justification and objectives of the military intervention to "demilitarize" and "denazify" Ukraine.

As Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov later said, "This is not about Ukraine. This is the end result of a policy that the West has carried out since the early 1990’s."

Afghanistan again?

As earlier indicated, the Rand report assesses the costs and benefits of various US actions. It is considered a "benefit" if increased US assistance to Ukraine results in the loss of Russian blood and resources. Speculating on the possibility of Russian troop presence in Ukraine, the report suggests that it could become "quite controversial at home, as it did when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan." (p 99 of full report)

That historical reference is significant. Beginning in 1979, the US and Saudi Arabia funded and trained sectarian foreign fighters to invade and destabilize the Afghan government. The goals were to overthrow the socialist inclined government and lure the Soviet Union into supporting the destabilized government. It achieved these Machiavellian goals at the cost of millions of Afghan citizens whose country has never been the same.

It appears that Ukrainian citizens are similarly being manipulated to serve US goals.

A "disadvantageous peace settlement"

The Rand report says, "Increasing US military aid would certainly drive up the Russian costs, but doing so could also increase the loss of Ukrainian lives and territory or result in a disadvantageous peace settlement."

But who would a peace settlement be "disadvantageous" for? Ukrainian lives and territory are currently being lost. Over fourteen thousand Ukrainian lives have been lost in the eastern Donbass region since the 2014 coup.

A peace settlement that guaranteed basic rights for all Ukrainians and state neutrality in the rivalry of big powers, would be advantageous to most Ukrainians. It is only the US foreign policy establishment including the US military media industrial complex and Ukrainian ultra-nationalists who would be "disadvantaged".

Since Ukraine is a multi-ethnic state, it would seem best to accept that reality and find a compromise national solution which facilitates all Ukrainians. Being a client of a distant foreign power is not in Ukraine’s national best interest.

The Rand report shows how US policy focuses on actions to hurt Russia and manipulates third party countries (Ukraine) toward that task.

Two very different videos and subjects. Downing Street had their parties whilst you kept calm but couldn't carry on. Nancy & her ilk were and continue to display their incoherent ramblings and the pharmaceutical industry (well Pfizer & a few others) are raking in billions of dollars/pounds/euros in profit, way above their usual disgusting greedy norms.

So how do you feel about your beloved leaders? If your a cretin Biding Your Time & hoping this will all just blow over (just like Pfizer) then good luck with that. Ukraine's terrible war might seem like a good time to bury bad news however these days not everyone is asleep or dumbed down enough not to think for themselves. Laugh or cry this is the modern world & keep in mind there were not enough lifeboats on the Titanic, and these leaders, companies and shareholders have already booked their seats. Maybe torpedo's do have a positive application, good hunting friends.

Two videos that I would urge you to watch if you interested in what is happening in Europe right now. The gentleman in the first video lives in Ukraine with his family and has been reporting from there independently since this sad war began. It's short and concise and helps build the jigsaw that is Ukraine's recent history.

The second is a shortish documentary filmed in 2018 about a secret Bio Lab in Georgia not far from the border with Russia & again confirms the Bio Labs in Ukraine. Now why are the BBC ignoring all of this? Welcome to the propaganda & censorship wars along with so many crocodile tears from these overpaid, compliant reporters from the MSM.

The first casualty of war is the truth. Sometimes however it has the nasty habit of resurfacing as people dig a little deeper, regardless of their political bent.

,The real reasons why Ukraine is so important To Biden, Clinton and their ‘global crime cabal’: Ukraine is their ‘little crime playground’ where their devastating secrets are hidden

Ukraine is nothing less than the ‘Playground‘ of the ‘global elite crime cabal‘ that ‘runs the world‘, with huge amounts of drugs and human trafficking being run out of the country, along with their ‘world disinfo/control‘ operation, and Ukraine also gives them a ‘front doorstep‘ into Russia, not a word of any of this reported by their ‘controlled‘ mainstream media.

And while Joe Biden, Democrats, the mainstream media and the ‘globalist cabal‘ attempt to paint Ukraine as a ‘democracy‘ and a ‘free country‘ which ‘freely elected‘ their President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, anybody paying attention to ‘real history‘ remembers that Ukraine’s government consists of very real neo-Nazi’s, many who were ‘installed‘ as ‘puppets‘ by the globalists cabal.

And while this story is certainly no attempt to paint Vladimir Putin as a ‘hero‘, Ukraine is one of the most corrupt, globalist-owned countries in the entire world, quite literally the ‘headquarters‘ of the globalist crime cabal.

One of the only countries in the world that they can fully control that has had the stability and infrastructure to be used for money laundering, bioweapons research and fully controlled by the ‘puppets‘ of the ‘cabal‘ itself,

https://www.naturalnews.com/2022-03-04-reasons-ukraine-important-biden-clinton-crime-cabal.html

It’s not just Biden who’s participating in the corruption in Ukraine. The swamp runs deep on both sides of the aisle. “The truth can go un-rescued for a long time… but, not forever” Who is Joseph Cofer Black? Connections: Bush, Obama, Biden, Kerry, Bulger, Brennan, Romney, 9/11, Blackwater, Burisma / Ukraine.

“…and it’s shocking. Romney’s National Security Advisor, Joseph Cofer Black, sits on the Board of the same Burisma Holdings that was being investigated for corruption back in 2014, and the Vice President and Obama Administration demanded be shut down. Why? Because Burisma was/is their vehicle for corrupt practices in Eastern Europe.

And CIA Director, John Brennan’s 9/11 Deep State partner, Cofer Black, is still the link to all that goes on there. In fact, I can state unequivocally that Burisma is the centre of Ukraine corruption and the Democrats’ shadow organisation for corrupt activities…

https://www.redstate.com/stu-in-sd/2019/10/23/mittens-deep-state-ongoing-coup-potus/

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/09/26/former-mitt-romney-adviser-sits-on-burisma-board-of-directors/

“Mr. Black brought to this role his extensive background at the CIA, which he joined in 1974 and where he trained for covert operations. He rose rapidly through the ranks, becoming director of the National Counterterrorism Center from 1999 to 2002. Coincidentally, this was the time in which al-Qaeda planned and carried out the 911 attack without hindrance from the counterintelligence apparatus of the Intelligence Community. But Black was not penalized; he failed upward, being appointed ambassador at large and coordinator for counter-terrorism by President George W. Bush in December 2002.

And in yet another amazing coincidence, Black was succeeded in his job as director of the National Counterterrorism Center by John Brennan.”

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/09/mitt_romney_adviser_sits_on_burisma_board_of_directors.html

Also connects to Eric Prince… (Who knows where the bodies are buried?)

“From there, Black began working in the private sector, serving as Vice Chairman for Blackwater (now Acedmi). Black resigned from his position following controversy surrounding Blackwater’s ASSASSINATION PROGRAM. The company has since rebranded. Black also served on Mitt Romney’s campaign for president in 2012. From the Federalist: He later worked at Blackwater as a vice chairman before joining Romney’s campaign as a “special adviser” on Romney’s Foreign Policy and National Security Advisory Team in October of 2011.”

https://thefederalist.com/2019/09/26/top-romney-adviser-worked-with-hunter-biden-on-board-of-ukrainian-energy-company/

Erik Prince is the wealthy scandal-plagued mercenary who seems never go away from the headlines. The founder of the notorious Blackwater private security company has since been involved in shady schemes and arms dealing everywhere from China to UAE to Syria to Venezuela. He currently heads the Hong Kong-listed Frontier Services Group, providing 'security services' across the globe. And now it's been revealed that he's deeply involved in the still-raging war in Libya. ~Zerohedge

“Obama took lying to new heights with the Iran deal” “When it comes to the Iran nuclear deal, the Obama administration increasingly appears to have been a bottomless pit of deception.
First, President Barack Obama failed to disclose to Congress the existence of secret side deals …” “…the Obama administration secretly tried to help Iran use U.S. banks to convert $5.7 billion in Iranian assets, after promising Congress that Iran would not get access to the U.S. financial system — and then lied to Congress about what it had done.” “…The naked collusion to commit treason, espionage, sedition, etc. against a POTUS and the American Republic is now apparent… and with hard evidence to boot.

The Obama administration recklessly conspired with the U.S. Intelligence Community, various British Intelligence agencies and other foreign agents to sabotage the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Then they fabricated a fake “Russian collusion” story to cover up their unparalleled crime spree."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obama-took-lying-to-new-heights-with-the-iran-deal/2018/06/07/b75f72d2-6a7c-11e8-9e38-24e693b38637_story.html

http://stateofthenation2012.com/?p=100267#more-100267

https://theamericanreport.org/2018/02/05/exclusive-real-russia-story-port-canaveral-project-pelican-uranium-one-deals-connected-jafars/

https://mediaequalizer.com/josh-bernstein/2018/07/project-pelican-the-secret-obama-era-scandal-that-makes-uranium-one-look-like-a-parking-ticket