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Wednesday 27 December 2017

Are Putin and Trump combining their attacks on the FBI to stop the Mueller investigation?









Hundreds of Russian celebrities, sportspeople and politicians nominated President Vladimir Putin for re-election on Tuesday, hours after the Kremlin said it wanted opposition leader Alexei Navalny investigated for calling for a boycott of the vote." (Andrew Osborn & Polina Nikolskaya: Reuters : 26 December, 2017) (my emphasis)































(to be continued)

Friday 22 December 2017

The scarlet thread of Maidan continues to bind Trump and Putin together even more tightly.

Josh Rogin (left) reports that,

"The Trump administration has approved the first ever U.S. commercial sale of lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine, in a clear break from the de facto U.S. ban on arms sales that dates back to the Obama administration.....

“We have crossed the Rubicon, this is lethal weapons and I predict more will be coming,” said one senior congressional official. It’s likely no mere coincidence that Canada also approved lethal defense sales to Ukraine this week, which would happen only if the Canadian government knew the United States was on board, the official said." (The Washington Post : 20 December, 2017) (my emphasis)

This decision to supply Ukraine with lethal weapons by the Trump Administration and Canada comes as Alessandra Prentice (right) reports that,

"On Monday [18 December, 2017], the Russian foreign ministry [read Putin] said it was recalling officers serving at the Joint Centre for Control and Coordination (JCCC) in Ukraine, accusing the Ukrainian side of obstructing their work and limiting access to the front line.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Stepan Poltorak and security chief Olekshandr Turchynov (left) said the decision, coupled with a recent surge in fighting in the eastern Donbass region, suggested Russia had switched to a more offensive strategy.

“We cannot rule out that they withdrew their officers in order to start stepping up not only military provocations but also military operations,” Turchynov said. “We will strengthen our positions at the front.” (Reuters : 20 December, 2017) (my emphasis)

This recent surge in attacks against Ukrainian forces by Putin's Russian soldiers and rebel proxies is causing alarm amongst members of the EU (cf: Fox NewsEyewitness News, Yahoo News)  as well as in the OSCE.

Even Kurt Volker (left), whom Rex Tillerson appointed as the United States Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations, had to admit that,

Russia withdrew its officers from JCCC - a ceasefire implementation tool - right before a massive escalation in ceasefire violations. Ukraine just suffered some of the worst fighting since February, 2017. Decision for peace lies with Russia,” Volker tweeted on Tuesday. " (ibid Alessandra Prentice) (my emphasis)

Meanwhile, as Putin is ramping up his war with Ukraine, Trump's lieutenants in the US Congress and Senate are ramping up their war against Special Prosecutor Mueller, as well as against the FBI, in the hope that they can end the investigations by the Senate Intelligence Committee, the Congressional Intelligence Committee, and the Mueller investigation, into the collussion between Trump and his 'siloviki', and Putin and his  Kremlin 'siloviki', that led to Trump now occupying the White House.

As reported by Rachel Maddow (MSNBC: 20 December, 2017),


Rachel Maddow further reports (20 December, 2017) that central to Trump's lieutenants attack on the Robert Mueller investigation into the Trump-Putin collusion during the 2016 US presidential elections is their attempt to discredit the Christopher Steele dossier, the dossier that exposes the indelible link between Trump and Putin, and that Putin is holding over the head of Trump as blackmail.


Now it may, indeed, be pure 'coincidence' that
  • Putin is ramping up his war with Ukraine and, simultaneously,
  • Trump's lieutenants are ramping up their war against Special Council Robert Mueller and, in particular, against the Christopher Steele dossier.
It may also be pure 'coincidence' that, as reported by

".... Donald Trump spoke by phone on Sunday [December 17, 2017] from a cabin at Camp David to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, the press release describing their call featured something unusual: an exclamation point.
...
The theatric punctuation seemed designed to underscore the cheery tenor of the conversation, during which Putin thanked Trump for the CIA's help in thwarting a terror plot on St. Petersburg, Russia. " (CNN:  December 19, 2017) (my emphasis)


It may also be pure 'coincidence' that Putin described the Maidan revolution of 2014 as a 'coup' against the then Ukrainian president, Victor Yanukovich, just as some Fox News commentators and Republican Congressmen are now describing Special Prosecutor Mueller's investigation into the Trump-Putin collusion during the 2016 US presidential elections as a 'coup' against US president Donald Trump.


The scarlet thread of Maidan continues to bind Trump and Putin together even more tightly.

 
(to be continued)

Friday 15 December 2017

Putin cannot remove the "economic millstone" around his neck, nor can he remove the "noose of impeachment" dandling above the head of Trump.

Agence France Press (AFP) reported that President Vladimir Putin, speaking at his annual press conference in Moscow on December 14, 2017, stated that,

"President Vladimir Putin said Russians “do not want and will not stand for” a Ukraine-style coup as he responded to a question from a rival presidential candidate at his annual press conference on Thursday.
...
“We don’t want a second edition of today’s Ukraine for Russia, do we?” asked Putin, referring to the pro-Western 2014 “Maidan” uprisings that culminated in the ouster of Ukraine’s pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych.
...
“We won’t let it happen.” (AFP : 14 December, 2017) (my emphasis)

This fear of Putin stems from the stagnating Russian economy that continues to impoverish the Russian people.


As reported by Slava Rabinovich (left),

"After 18 years of Putin's rule, Putin will again take Russia with 23 million people living below the poverty line and leave Russia after his death with 100 million people living below the poverty line.. 

[После 18 лет путинского правления Путин снова возьмет Россию с 23 миллионами человек, живущими за чертой бедности, и оставит Россию после своей смерти со 100 миллионами человек, живущими за чертой бедности.] (Gordonua : December 8, 2017) (my emphasis)

Added to which,

"The European Union has extended sanctions against Russia because of the stalled peace process in Ukraine.
...
EU Council President Donald Tusk (right) said at Thursday's summit of the 28 EU leaders that they were "united on the roll-over of economic sanctions on Russia." (Fox News (AP) : 15 December, 2017) (my emphasis)

Now recall that Tom Towers recently reported that at a military conference held in Sochi, Putin stated that,

“The ability of our economy to increase military production and services at a given time is one of the most important aspects of military security.
...
To this end, all strategic, and simply large-scale enterprise should be ready, regardless of ownership.” (Daily Star : 23rd November 2017) (my emphasis)

With this in mind, it should come as no surprise that the Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, Oleksandr Turchynov (right), informed us that,
 
"Russia is building a strong military infrastructure along the border with Ukraine and may launch large-scale hostilities against our state at the order of Kremlin at any moment
...
Moreover, Putin's decision will not depend on Ukraine's actions. On the contrary, a much more important factor for launching Russia's foreign policy and military undertakings is the development of the domestic political situation in Russia," Mr. Turchynov said adding that the threat to the NATO member states is increasing rapidly as well." (UNIAN : Friday 15 December, 2017) (my emphasis)

Like Trump's "noose of impeachment", Putin's "millstone" of EU-US economic sanctions that continues to hang around his neck will not be removed no matter how much he continues to stroke Trump's ego.

Neither Putin nor Trump can disentangle themselves from the scarlet thread of Maidan that continues to bind them together even more tightly. 

(to be continued)

Thursday 7 December 2017

Trump, it would seem, is taking a leaf out of Putin's past actions.


 Finally the scarlet thread of Maidan that has bound Trump and Putin tightly together since the start of the US presidential elections in 2016 has now become the pinnacle of the mountain of evidence that has been accumulated by Special Council Mueller about the Trump-Putin collusion that led Donald Trump into the White House. 

And indelibly etched into this scarlet thread is one word, "Sanctions ... Sanctions ... Sanctions"

In my blog post on 19 July, 2016, I wrote that,

Diana Denman (right), a platform committee member from Texas, had proposed at the Republican National Security Committee platform meeting in Cleveland,

".... a platform amendment that would call for maintaining or increasing sanctions against Russia, increasing aid for Ukraine and “providing lethal defensive weapons” to the Ukrainian military."

I further wrote that,

"And at last week’s Republican National Security Committee platform meeting in Cleveland,

The Trump campaign worked behind the scenes last week to make sure the new Republican platform won’t call for giving weapons to Ukraine to fight Russian and rebel forces, contradicting the view of almost all Republican foreign policy leaders in Washington." (Washington Post :

Manafort, who on May 19, 2016 was promoted to chairman of the Trump presidential campaign, was the primary instigator of the changes that were wrought on the amendment of Diana Denman.



Since then it has always been my contention that getting rid of the US sanctions against Putin and his cronies in the Kremlin because of Putin's illegal annexation of Crimea, and his ongoing war in the Donbas against Ukraine was, and still is, the primary reason for the collusion between Trump and Putin, and that finally got Trump into the White House.

And yesterday Rachel Maddow, of MSNBC, also concluded that getting rid of the US sanctions against Putin and his 'siloviki' is the key to the Trump-Putin collusion during the 2016 US presidential elections, including the ongoing collusion between Trump's 'siloviki' at the White House and Putin and his Kremlin 'siloviki'.






Scott Anderson



(to be continued)

Tuesday 5 December 2017

Are Trump and his lawyers taking a leaf out of Putin's past?


The scarlet thread of Maidan is once more emerging as a critical factor as the Trump-Putin collusion during the 2016 US presidential elections continues to emerge into the light of day.
 



And as much as members of the Republican Party in both the US Senate and the US Congress continue to bury their heads in the sand over the Trump-Putin collusion issue, and of Trump obstructing justice, in the hope that this will protect their re-election chances during the 2018 November elections Trump, in his infinite wisdom, continues to incriminate himself.


As McDonnell of MSNBC reports in the above video, even Trump's lawyers are 'digging his impeachment grave'.

As also reported by  Jack Holmes,

"The "President cannot obstruct justice because he is the chief law enforcement officer under [the Constitution's Article II] and has every right to express his view of any case,"Dowd (left) [Trump's lawyer] claims." ( Esquire : 4 December, 2017) (my emphasis)

The ludicrousness of Trump's lawyers' statement really signifies that they are beginning to invent 'legal fictions' to mollify Trump.

But it is not only Trump who is now banging his head against a wall.

Even as Putin continues to command his Russian soldiers and proxies in the Donbas to increase their attacks against Ukrainian forces, serious cracks are beginning to appear between Putin's proxy security forces in the Donbas and his Russian FSB.

As reported by UNIAN,

"Russia's hybrid military forces attacked Ukrainian army positions in Donbas 21 times in the past 24 hours, with three Ukrainian soldiers reported as wounded in action (WIA), according to the press center of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) Headquarters." (UNIAN : 5.12.2017) (my emphasis)

At the same time,

"Under the pretext of searching for and termination of the so-called members of a 'Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group' in Luhansk, Russia’s FSB operatives together with representatives of the so-called 'minister of state security of the LPR' are identifying and arresting people from the entourage of the “LPR”'s former leadership. Such arrests are also carried out among representatives of the 'LPR law enforcement bodies' and the leaders of the so-called '2nd Army Corps'," he told a Kyiv briefing November 29." (UNIAN : 5.12.2017) (my emphasis)

Does this conflict also signify a growing rift between Putin's Kremlin 'siloviki' and his FSB? (cf also: UK Business Insider)

112 UA now also reports that,

"The probability of the fail[ure] of the mission of Kurt Volker, the US Special Envoy to Ukraine is pretty high. (right: Surkov and Volker)

Aleksey Chesnakov, the Director of Russia Center for Political Environment that is close to Vladislav Surkov, the affiliate of Vladimir Putin reported to TASS.

The expert commented on the contradictions between Volker and Surkov. According to Chesnakov, they lie in the conditions of the deployment of the UN peacekeepers in Donbas." (112 UA : 4 December 2017) (my emphasis)

Putin was never going to allow UN forces to patrol throughout the Russian-occupied Donbas and, even more significantly, to allow UN forces to patrol the border between Ukraine and Russia that Putin's Russian soldiers and proxy forces now control.

We therefore have to ask,

"Of what real value would a fourth round of talks between Volker and Putin-surrogate Surkov really be?"

As reported by UNIAN,

"Noting that the parties will meet next week, [Ambassador to Russia, Jon] Huntsman (left) recalled that the previous three rounds of negotiations had been unproductive. 

However, according to the U.S. envoy [Volker], the very fact that the negotiation process is underway inspires confidence. Huntsman expressed hope that the fourth round of talks would yield some progress and that the U.S. and Russia would be moving away from the lowest point in their relations. 

The two countries still need to overcome the existing contradictions to this end, Huntsman believes." (UNIAN : 05.12.2017) (my emphasis)

The fact that Trump is now simply lashing out with his tweets as evidence of the collusion between himself and Putin during the 2016 US presidential elections rather undermines anything that either Volker or Huntsman may hope for in Volker's meeting next week with Putin-surrogate Surkov.


There is also a rather interesting $64 question. 

Are Trump and his lawyers taking a leaf out of Putin's past?


(to be continued)