The Devil succeeds when good men do nowt

On this day, the 7th of September, 2014, as the ceasefire in Ukraine breaks down and Putin's Russian army and his proxies in Luhansk and  Donetsk begin to break out the champagne, whilst those who attended the NATO summit in Wales 3 days ago have gone back to their respective countries; Obama took off some time before heading for the White House to visit the pagan site of Stonehenge. Apparently, a visit to Stonhenge was on his "bucket" list.

 

Obama at Stonehenge

Is this Stonehenge visit of Obama yet another indication that "...the foreign policy of the United States is in a state of unprecedented disarray", as Bret Stephens so eloquently outlines in his article?  His summing up is a rather fitting title for the above picture.

"Since I am writing these words on the centenary of the First World War, it seems appropriate to close with a line from the era. At the battle of the Marne, with Germany advancing on Paris, General Ferdinand Foch sent the message that would rally the French army to hold its ground. “My center is yielding. My right is retreating. Situation excellent. I am attacking.” Words to remember and live by in this new era of headlong American retreat."

Meanwhile, the EU has drawn up a list of "new" sanctions against Russia, but these may be scaled up or down according to the development of the situation. What, exactly, does this tell us. Indeed, what message does this "up or down" convey to Putin, his kleptocratic inner circle and cronies, and his siloviki?

Even more important, how does Putin's army generals view this against the backdrop of them making their war games actually come to life? Is it any wonder that Putin has recently boasted that he can take over Kiev in 2 weeks? Is this an empty threat? No!

Now their determination to take over Mariupol, thus land-linking Crimea with Russia, is blatantly evident by their disregard for the ceasfire that Poroshenko and Putin's army and proxies are supposed to have put in place but 2 days ago, on the 5th September. And today, the 7th September, this ceasefire has also been broken in Donetsk.

These decisions of Putin, the Commander in Chief, the Russian KGB/FSB Godfather, are not simply directed towards his goal of dismembering Ukraine. Rather, the Lithuanian President, Dalia Grybauskaite, has perceptively concluded that Putin is really at war with the EU.

Russia 'practically' at war with Europe, says Lithuanian president as Ukraine accuses Putin’s tanks of flattening border town

And fully behind Putin's attacks on the EU are all those EU right-wing organizations, from Romania to Hungary to Paris to Rome to London, as exposed by Anton Shekhovtsov. What does this indicate, especially in light of of the rabid Russian nationalism that Putin has unleashed? Nothing more nor less than the rapid move of Putin's Russia towards galloping fascism, as Paul A. Goble points out. 

The New Russia: Fascism on the move

More telling than these EU right-wing organizations which support Putin is the support of Patriarch Kirill, leader of the Russian Orthodox Church. Putin has been blessed by Kirill, who sees him as the new St. George of Russia. 

 

Putin as St. George

Perhaps the most telling action of Kirill in clothing Putin with the cloak of St. George is his allowing the Trojan Horse aid convoy of August to be blessed by a Russian Orthodox priest.

 

Priest blesses Putin's "aid" trucks entering Ukraine

This simply could NOT have happened without the blessing of Patriarch Kirill. Yet Western political pundits are deafeningly silent over the extremely close relationship between Patriarch Kirill and Putin, and the critical support that Putin is receiving for his pathological actions against the Ukrainian people from the pulpits of the Russian Orthodox Church inside Russia. Even the food ban announced by a somber Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, on August 7th, 2014, and which covers meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, and milk products from the U.S., the European Union, and a handful of other Western nations, and which has limited the Russian people's access to food, did not get a peep out of Patriarch Kirill. 

Putin and Patriarch Kirill

Regarding witholding food from the Russian people; Putin has been here before. In 1992, he arranged to barter $100m worth of raw materials for food for the starving citizens of St. Petersburg from German banks and businessmen.

 ‘The raw materials were shipped abroad but the food didn’t materialise. There’s 100% proof that in this Putin was to blame. As a result in 1992 – when there was no food at all – the city was left with nothing.’
Marine Salye, former [St. Petersburg] city council investigator

The critical question here is, "What happened to the money?".

(to be continued)