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Welcome back to Political Misfits on Radio Sputnik, where we bring you news, politics and culture - without the red and blue treatment. I am John Kiriakou here with Michelle Witte.
US the big holdout in allowing Ukraine to hit Russia with Western weapons
Brussels talks about selling Russian state assets to give Ukraine
More reporting on sanctions failures
How America Inadvertently Created an ‘Axis of Evasion’ Led by China - WSJ
Mark Sleboda is an international affairs and security analyst.
Wouldn’t you know it, the US is the big spoiler when it comes to letting Ukraine hit Russian territory with foreign-supplied weapons. I suppose when we talk about this we have to say we’re talking about pre-2014 Russian territory, because at least according to Russia and many of the people in those territories, they’re Russian and they’re being attacked. So - inside pre-2014 Russia is I guess what we’re talking about. And over the past couple of weeks, the U.K., Sweden, Finland, the Baltic countries, the Netherlands, Poland, the Czech Republic, Canada and others have said they have no problem with Ukraine's using their weapons to hit Russia. France and Germany agreed with some caveats – France says Ukraine can hit sites Russian missiles are fired from and that’s it, Germany says Ukraine can use weapons “within the framework of international law.” Now eyes are on the US. On Tuesday, the National Security Council reiterated that the US does not “encourage or enable the use of U.S. weapons to strike inside Russia.” Yesterday in Moldova, the US secretary of state said, hey, you know, we’ve been adapting and adjusting to battlefield conditions this whole time and we’re continuing to do that. Biden officials have said they’re considering a change, but haven’t made up their minds. What do you think we’ll see from the US, and how quickly, if at all, will we see changes in Ukraine’s tactics?
What has Russia said in response, and what would you expect Russia to do if Western supplied missiles start hitting targets deep within its borders? I”m wondering what more incremental escalation can occur over Ukraine before we get to something difficult to imagine, like Russia targeting military bases in France?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/05/29/us-ukraine-nuclear-warning-strikes/
NATO ‘lying’ about strikes on Russia – Moscow — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union
Before we move on to talk about money, what is Kiev doing in attacking Russian nuclear early-warning systems? The Washington Post is reporting that it’s been told by anonymous US officials that “The United States is concerned about Ukraine’s recent strikes against Russian ballistic missile early-warning sites.” Washington has conveyed its concerns to Kyiv about two attempted attacks over the last week against radar stations that provide conventional air defense as well as warning of nuclear launches by the West. The US says “These sites have not been involved in supporting Russia’s war against Ukraine. But they are sensitive locations because Russia could perceive that its strategic deterrent capabilities are being targeted, which could undermine Russia’s ability to maintain nuclear deterrence against the United States.” Ukraine says, no, Russia’s using these sites to track our drones and missiles. If that’s the case, I’d be a little surprised that the US is telling Ukraine not to take them out. What’s going on here?
US may have secretly approved attack on Russian nuclear radar – Austrian military — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union
Let me read you a very droll lede from the WSJ for it’s story on how “How America Inadvertently Created an ‘Axis of Evasion’ Led by China.” We are told “Western sanctions and export controls were meant to subdue America’s enemies, leveraging the power of the dollar to strong-arm governments into submission without the bloodshed of military force. They have inadvertently birthed a global shadow economy tying together democracy’s chief foes, with Washington’s primary adversary, China, at the center.”
One, I didn’t know we were openly calling China America’s “enemy.” We get all mad when China acts like we’re enemies, after all. And it’s insulting to be force fed this lie that these sanctions are all about defending democracy. But that’s not what’s new here - I’m interested more in how the WSJ reckons with the failure of sanctions. There are a couple of things happening here that are funny - one, they call this a “shadow economy,” when actually it seems to be open, legal trade, just conducted in Chinese and other currencies, and through Chinese and other payment systems. It’s also funny that the WSJ and the west in general often forget that the rest of the world exists. This story focuses on trade among these countries, but it acts like they’re just in a little club themselves, instead of also trading extensively with, you know, the entire continent of Africa, with Latin America, with Asia. So … what has the WSJ uncovered here?
https://news.yahoo.com/news/china-wants-turn-yuan-global-064530408.html
Business Insider also has a story today about how “China's quest to turn the yuan into a global currency isn't actually driven by domination. It's about sanctions.” This is kind of emblematic of so much regarding US policy and propaganda. We’re always accusing China and Russia of trying to take over the world, when in reality, they are trying mostly to protect their economies from the whims of the United States, and it is the US who is in this way inflicting damage on itself by being so punitive and capricious with its sanctions policy. What is the US reaping now, in terms of the global dominance of the dollar and the dominance of Western payment systems?
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/05/30/world/israel-gaza-war-hamas-rafah
In Israel, the IDF has announced that it has “tactical control” of the entire land border between Gazah and Egypt. Israel was already in control of the Rafah crossing, but now it says it has control over this nine-mile buffer zone called the Philadelphi Corridor. Israel says it has to “neutralize” Hamas tunnels in the area. The NYT notes that earlier this year, “Egypt warned that if Israeli forces occupied the Philadelphi Corridor, it would pose a “serious threat” to relations between the two countries. But Egyptian officials have yet to publicly comment in the wake of the Israeli announcement.” Egypt is just saying that there aren’t any tunnels going under the border. And of course, no more details, from what I can see, about Israel killing an Egyptian soldier on the border earlier this week. Certainly there might be Hamas supply lines in this area. Is there anything else going on here? Any reason for Israel to want to control this area?
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