PITTSBURGH (Newsradio KDKA) - Is the US still under the spell of the same intel crew that sold us weapons of mass destruction and a fake dossier? I ask because one of the Warhawks in DC may be drinking too much vodka. An LA Times Morning Headline caught my inbox attention Friday morning. It blared: ‘The U.S. accused Russia of an elaborate plot to fake an attack by Ukraine’
A click of the link provided a fascinating read. An unbelievable tale. A scary look at a deviant world that is running, regrettably in my opinion, headlong towards world war. The timing of which is perfect. It is set against a backdrop of 136,000 Russian troops idling within 100 miles of Ukraine’s border the same day that Vladimir Putin meets with The Supreme Leader of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping!
The story unfolds the same week that President Biden decided to send 3,000 US troops to the eastern flank of Europe to assist NATO allies if Russia decides, once again, to invade a country that only flirts with membership in the alliance. The dramatic script comes just 10 days after $200 million in lethal aid arrived from the US to Ukraine’s frontline defenders. NOTE: Since 2014, after a Washington-endorsed coup, US taxpayers have sent $2.5 billion worth of military aid to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Russia recently sent 7,000 tons of equipment, fuel, and ammunition to separatists in eastern Ukraine. Also, Russian military officials claim Washington is paying too much attention to its domestic troop movement on Russian soil - even though it includes unprecedented military exercises in Belarus, a former Soviet Republic. Moscow feels NATO expansion eastward into Ukraine, among other countries, and US missiles positioned near Russian borders are national security threats. Some calculate that 50,000 could be killed during an invasion which the White House says “could happen at any time.”
The U.S. has not provided detailed information backing up the intelligence findings of a fake attack. And the Ukrainian president urged calm while criticizing the Biden Administration for pushing the “imminent” Russian invasion theory. However, the Defense Department claims that The Kremlin plotted to create a ‘false flag’ video featuring staged explosions and Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian-speaking people complete with actors playing the role of mourners and corpses. This, they claim, would then be used as a reason Russia could finally invade Ukraine for real. Ukraine, by the way, has an army of 260,000.
I am not saying that the idea is not plausible. And, I certainly do not put it past any government or corporation. Many hawks and oligarchs are itching for a fight. The dangers are substantial. The world is nuts and full of crazy schemes. Street brawlers and special units have often been used by governments to stir up trouble among irritable, uneasy, or frightened citizenry so they can force their will or justify their actions. A fake attack on a radio tower lead to the German invasion of Poland in 1939.
But, wait a minute! The Pentagon is trying to sell us a new world war by telling us that Russia will stage Nazi-era ‘Operation Himmler’ attacks on a Russian territory or Russian-speaking people using Turkish drones just like the Turkish drones that Ukraine is currently using to kill Russian-speaking people in a Russia-aligned territory?
So, again, slow up so I can follow the bouncing ball: The scenario that the Defense department spokesman put forward with no detailed evidence is that Russia is going to stage a fake attack by ‘Ukraine’ in, say, Crimea or the Donbas region, even though similar attacks by Ukraine against Russian-speaking people actually now occur in that very region? But the alleged Russian version of the attack will be fake and carried out by actors so Moscow has an excuse to invade? And this fake attack would take place even while Ukraine is bombing or recently bombed that region or a similar one for real?
OK. Who is buying the next round of Stolichnaya?
I think a more plausible or sellable DC storyline would have been that during President Putin’s meeting with Chairman Xi, amidst the backdrop of the unity of international sport, the two nefarious leaders concoct a deviant plan to expose US weaknesses by simultaneously overwhelming two small independent and economically attractive yet disputed lands, Ukraine and Taiwan. This could all take place as a grand, evil finale following a successful Beijing Olympic games.
How would Washington respond to real war on two fronts with the world’s 2nd & 3rd most powerful militaries? I hope we never find out. I hope the war machines pass on both scripts.
Kevin Battle’s great grandmother fled her homeland alone at age 13 under the threat of invasion. That region is now part of Ukraine. She never returned or saw her family again. With the help of her father who arranged for a former villager living in the Mon Valley to sponsor her she arrived in America after a long journey. She eventually prospered as a farmer and raised a large family. Battle is cohost of the KDKA Radio Morning Show with Larry Richert. It airs M-F 5a-9a on Pittsburgh’s 100.1FM & AM1020 KDKA or on the free Audacy app. Ask your smartspeaker to: ‘Play KDKA.’ Thank you.