Russia's EMP hits Ukraine

 

Nine months into the war between Russia and Ukraine, and to say it has been topsy turvy would be an understatement. Russia began the attack on Ukraine with a five-pronged assault, which was clearly aimed at forcing the Ukrainian government into a quick capitulation on Russian terms. However, Russia picked the wrong time of the year to go on the offensive which, when combined with western anti-armor missiles and satellite intelligence proved to be the impediments to Russia's victory.

Russia's war on Ukraine has been akin to "what not to do" when invading a foreign country. A very crucial mistake by the Russian military was forgoing an air campaign against Ukraine's air force, air defence units and critical infrastructure like the bridges over the Dnieper River. The winter weather in February meant   Russian armor and mechanized infantry, along with truck-borne supply lines, were road-bound and sitting ducks for Ukraine's newly acquired shoulder-fired anti-armor missiles.  

Things quickly bogged down, and in short order Russia was having to conduct fighting withdrawals around Kiev, Sumy, Kharkov and areas. The undermanned gamble turned into the undermanned being exposed. New lines of defence were shortened to give out numbered Russian troops a fighting chance at holding what they had left. Unfortunately, even that was too much ground for them to defend, and subsequent withdrawals were needed in Kherson and Kharkiv. Essentially, this was a military disaster born of political strategy rather than sound military strategy. It has all the hall marks of Russian President Putin's thinking at the time - treat Ukraine nicely as they are brother Slavs and brotherly nations. So much for brotherly love. 

That brings us too today. Having crossed the Dnieper River, and feeling safe there, Russians have dug in to defend their land bridge to Crimea. On the Donetsk/Lugansk fronts the Russians and Ukrainians are trading moistly fruitless attacks all along the front. Ukraine appears to be transferring freed up units from the Kherson front to the Zaporozhye front. It appears they are preparing an assault aimed at taking back Melitopol and Mariupol, thus severing Russia's land bridge to Crimea, and gaining their access back to the Azoz Sea. It is a tall order, especially as winter begins to set in, but being audacious hasn't tied the hands of Ukrainian commanders so far. 

The Russians, for their part, seem to be considering doing what they ought to have done in the first place - an air campaign. The "Coalition of the Willing" bombed Iraq for 30 days before sending a single unit into the fray. Now Russia is doing the same in retrospect - having already suffered the losses which an air campaign is meant to avoid. The interesting part of Russia's strategy has been targeting Ukraine's electrical system. As of this date, the Ukrainian government claims 50% of its electrical systems have been destroyed. Replacement parts to rebuild these systems can take up to ten months to manufacture. It's a recipe for disaster for Ukraine.

Every person that lives in a country with harsh winter understands that without energy you cannot sustain life. It doesn't end there. Ukraine can evacuate its population to Europe, but what it can't do is save its infrastructure. Namely, without heat all the plumbing, water and sewer, will freeze solid over the winter. Homes will be ruined, businesses will be destroyed, water and sewer plants will be left useless, and Ukraine will become a ghost land. What the Russian missile campaign has managed to do is roughly the equivalent of an EMP strike without the nuclear detonation. If Russia continues its campaign to completely destroy Ukraine's power system, and in the process destroys the infrastructure necessary for modern life, then the result is the country of Ukraine is a vast, vacant land with no ability to reconstitute itself without Russia.

Furthermore, the tens of millions of Ukrainians that will have no choice but to evacuate Ukraine will flood Europe, which is already desperately rationing power for its own citizens, resulting in an economic shock to Europe and possibly the world. The effect on the battlefield will be just as devastating. Troops will lack the basics to heat and feed themselves. Supply lines for just the basics will stretch across Ukraine and into Europe - a recipe for disaster. Many people in the general public do not understand just how close to the abyss Ukraine is right now. Not unlike Russia in the early days of the conflict, people see Ukraine as walking over the Russians. However, not unlike Russia in the early days of the war, Ukraine is becoming overstretched given the collapse of its infrastructure and the march of "General Winter".

A number of sources have been suggesting that Russia has given Ukraine an ultimatum: Get to the negotiation table by the end of November or have the last of your electrical infrastructure destroyed. Effectively, get to the negotiation table or have your country sent back to stone ages. A daunting choice indeed. Ukraine has apparently responded to this strategy with a kamikaze-like strategy of its own - missile strikes on the Russian controlled nuclear plant at Zaporozhye which, if the plant is damaged, would have the effect of a nuclear strike with deadly radiation spreading over the region - including Russia. When it gets down to it, both countries are upping the ante to a nuclear war without the nukes. This is where it's at with nine days left in November as Ukraine begins to slowly freeze over.

Russia's failings in Ukraine

 The Russian invasion of Ukraine has three primary goals: geo-strategic; strategic; and tactical. The geo-strategic goal is decouple Russia from the Western economy and integrate heavily with China and other Eurasia leaning nations. The invasion of Ukraine resulted in massive sanctions as promised by Western powers, and as a result Russian President Putin was able to get his population on board with decoupling. Putin's moves to bolster the Ruble by requiring for purchases of oil and gas is a good example of this. On the geo-strategic front it is clear that Russia has won the war.

The picture is a lot less clear on the strategic/tactical front. On the strategic front, Russia's primary goals are clearly to make Crimea sustainable as an unsinkable air craft carrier that dominates the Black Sea. To achieve that goal Russia must, at a minimum, secure Kherson and Zaporizhzia  oblasts (provinces). Unfortunately for Russia, the war in Ukraine has shown that Crimea is very vulnerable if Odessa oblast is not secure. The strikes on Russia's Black Sea Fleet, and air bases located on Crimea make it crystal clear that securing Crimea means securing Odessa oblast. To this end Russia has not put as much as a dent on Odessa, and it must be said that strategically they are failing here. 

The other areas of strategic necessity are the Donetsk and Lugansk Republics, which are collectively known as the Donbass (region). The Donbass gives Russia strategic depth on its southern flank which is critical to protecting its underbelly. Donetsk Republic contains massive gas and oil fields (mostly untapped as yet) which a Eurasian Russia would want in its back pocket rather than the West's. For all the above reasons, the oblasts that are strategically necessary for Russia are: Crimea; Kherson; Zaporizhzia; Donetsk; and Lugansk. Another city that is very important for Russia to capture is Kharkov/Kharkiv.  Kharkov is Ukraine's largest city and it is located right on the Russian border. As such, Kharkov offers a main supply and logistic hub to any forces (Western included) to invade Russian territory. With the notable exception of Kharkov and Odessa oblasts, Russia has secured, or is securing the remainder of the oblasts. It has therefore been roughly 70% successful strategically. 

The tactical picture, however, has been a nightmare for Russia. Starting with the Russian air force. Recall US heavy bombers carpet bombing the Taliban which paved the way for the Northern Alliance to advance and defeat the Taliban (short term). So, where are the Russian heavy bombers and the carpet bombing of Ukrainian formations? Russia has 125 strategic bombers, but is not carpet bombing Ukrainian forces. That is the number one tactical failure. Why is the Ukrainian air force able to still fly planes and helicopters over Ukrainian air space? Russia has 1533 fighter jets, but is unable to establish air superiority over Ukraine. That is the second tactical failure. Why has Ukraine been able to strike Russian air fields, bases, ammo depots, ships, and important bridges with their missile systems? Russian air defence has at least 410 launchers of the S-400 variety. That doesn't include the S-300, Pantsir, or other systems. It seems here that Russia is reluctant to use the S-400 system in an effort to keep that system cloaked from NATO. However, the failure of Russian air defence systems has been a very serious third tactical failure for Russia.

The failure of the Russian Navy to make much if any impact on the war is notable. The Black Sea Fleet has not been decisive in any way during the conflict, despite the fact Ukraine no longer has a navy. Not to mention the Moskva, the flag ship of the Black Sea fleet, that was destroyed by the failure of the aforementioned Russian air defences in Crimea. A fourth tactical failure for Russia. The list goes on. 

In some ways it is amazing that Russia has been able to make the progress it has. That progress is largely attributable to the arm of the Russian Army that has not failed - the artillery and missile forces. Russian fire power has dominated the battle space. Other units that have distinguished themselves are: airborne forces; Chechen forces; and Spetsnaz forces to name a few.

In a sense, Russia has been the author of its own tactical failures in Ukraine. It's the old "half-pregnant" strategy that dooms every military in history that has tried it. Unfortunately, it looks like political objectives are knee capping military operations. Russia entered this war because, as US President Biden said, "it has no choice". Ukraine was preparing to invade and put down the self-declared independent republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. Either Russia acted or it watched Ukraine take strategic territory back. It's the "how" it reacted militarily that has caused all the issues for the Russian military since. Rather than using an air war, for at least a month as the US did in Iraq, the Russian military attacked with almost no air war first. That can be considered akin to charging trenches without artillery first...

The initial goal was to topple the Ukrainian government in a lightening strike on Kiev. That is what the columns form Belarus and Belgorod areas were meant to do. The massive forces tied up in this operation, political gamble if you like, could and should have been deployed in the south of Ukraine to undermine the rear of the Ukrainian defences in the Donetsk and Lugansk republics. This is only common sense militarily. The soft under belly of Ukraine if you will. All bridges on the Dnieper River should have been destroyed by air and missile forces, in the first hours of the war, to cut Ukraine in half and deny reinforcement and resupply to Ukrainian units trapped in the east. These are military goals and are not based on wishy washy political gambles. 

Whether Putin took advice from others or not, the responsibility for the tactical failures of his military rest on his shoulders. Even to this day all the bridges across the Dnieper River remain intact. NATO is able to funnel heavy weapons and ammo to Ukrainian troops in the east almost unfettered. Without specific intelligence it is hard to determine whether or not the Russian Army argued for a more focused, less political armed intervention in Ukraine. It does, however, have the feel of a political gamble gone bad. It does have the feel of a cat and mouse game, similar to the approach of intelligence forces that Putin once belonged to, than steel fist of a military campaign. In a war of annihilation, which this is becoming, political considerations get thrown to the way side - especially when your geo-strategic goals have already been met. To do less is to show your sworn enemy that you are weak, as evidenced by the massive escalation in Western military support for Ukraine. Weakness, or the perception of it, may lead to all the wolves closing in for the kill.

Ukraine - Master of its own Demise

 Two months into the invasion of Ukraine a few things have become obvious. The first and foremost thing to surface in the Ukraine conflict is the absolutely shameless abuse of propaganda by the Ukrainian government. Whether it was the defiant slaughter of thirteen Ukrainian Marines on Snake Island, which ended up being the surrender of almost 100 Ukrainian paratroopers and no slaughter, in reality, or the shelling of a train station in Donetsk by a Tocha missile, which Ukraine blamed on Russia, but which was subsequently discovered to have a Ukrainian serial number, the Ukrainian government has been shameless and irresponsible in its rhetoric. Before the war started it similarly provoked the super power on its border - as if it has a death wish. When Ukraine points the finger at those responsible for the war, or at those it accuses of not doing enough for it, there are a thousand fingers pointing back at it.

Let's face the obvious: Ukraine has been used by our western governments as a tool to, as they now admit, to weaken Russia. This has been on going for over a decade. It is a matter of fact that the West was involved in the overthrow of Ukraine's President in 2014. A president who was duly elected - primarily from the Russian speaking portions of Ukraine in the east and south of the country. It's a matter of record that the overthrow was caused by the Ukrainian President's refusal to follow a path to join the EU. It is a historical truth the the Ukrainian military shelled, bombed, and otherwise attacked separatists when they declared independence from Ukraine as a result of the overthrow of their president - this despite the UN's declaration of the principle to self-determination for people and regions around the world that seek it. The West refused to criticize Ukraine's military assault on its own citizens, and immediately recognized the new head of Ukraine. 

The Ukrainian government signed two accords (Minsk) in an effort to end the civil war in the Donbass. However, it failed to live up to the requirements of the agreements by refusing to grant the Donbass special status as it had agreed to do. It did not live up to the requirements that foreign troops would not be present in the Donbass or Ukraine. The list goes on. In reality, the Ukrainian government said whatever it needed to say to get itself off the hook at the moment, and this unfortunately has become a trait that has damned the country of Ukraine, and threatens to set off a major world conflict.

In the days leading up to the Russian "special military operation" (in reality an invasion with specific political and territorial goals), Ukraine and the West which backed and trained its military, had a chance to seriously address the concerns of Russia, but instead they brushed Russia off as if it were a third-rate power living in the past. This approach, this view, has been catastrophic for Ukraine and may become catastrophic for the world. It was four years ago, in October of 2018, when Russian President Putin warned the world "Russians will go to heaven as martyrs ... The aggressor (the West) will have to understand that retaliation is inevitable, that it will be destroyed and that we, as victims of aggression, as martyrs, will go to heaven. They will simply die because they won't even have time to repent." Source here He was referring to the then new hypersonic weapons they had developed, and which today have become a reality on the Ukrainian battle field.

Despite all of these terrible consequences, Ukraine, and our western governments, have simply sought to further antagonize, and by doing so increased the severity of the conflict. Ukrainian President Zelensky, in particularly, has acted so recklessly with his country's existence that it begs the question: does he want to seek Ukraine as a country taken off the map? In the days before the invasion he refused to agree to live up to Ukraine's signature on the Minsk Agreement. His Western partners, namely France, Germany and the UK, who were all guarantors of the agreement along with Russia, did absolutely nothing to force Ukraine and Zelensky to live up to their agreement. Zelensky not only refused to implement the Minsk Agreement, but went further stating Ukraine was going to join NATO. These are not actions of a person or government seeking to avoid conflict and tragedy for their country and people. These are actions of a minor power recklessly punching over its weight, undoubtably reassured by other governments of support should Russia act.

It is of course noble to state that a sovereign country can do as it wishes, but everyone understands the reality is different. For example, if Canada were to enter a military alliance with China, and have Chinese military personnel training and arming the Canadian army, does anyone seriously believe the US would simply stand by and say if Canada wants to be in alliance that is their sovereign right and we support it? No, that would never happen. Simply look at the diplomatic roar over tiny Solomon Islands entering a security pact with China as an example. Funny enough, the US intervened in the Freedom Convoy protests in Canada simply because their car manufacturers could not receive parts and had to close a few plants temporarily. The position that Ukraine, or any other country, can do whatever it likes as a sovereign nation has never been true throughout history, and it makes a mockery of the intelligence of those who suggest it can. 

Nevertheless, Zelensky lectured the world that Ukraine was the victim of an unprovoked attack. Not just that, but it was a victim of  NATO lacking courage, the EU lacking courage, and pretty much everyone who disagreed with its position was a Russian sympathizer. There was no room for intelligent, level headed people to have a different opinion. Much like Prime Minister Trudeau's public statements that people protesting for freedom in Canada held "unacceptable views". 

The problem with Zelensky, and the Ukrainian government in general, is that it has become like the "boy who called wolf". It has made so many false claims that one simply can not believe what it says anymore. Take for example its constant claims that Russia has suffered massive casualties thus far. Perhaps it has, but Ukraine has never released any of its own casualty numbers. It claims to have defeated Russia and destroyed much of Russia's equipment, yet it is the one screaming for tanks, artillery and anti-aircraft systems. Ukraine had plenty of these arms before the war, so the natural conclusion is Russia has destroyed much of it and they need theirs replaced. Ukraine has condemned Russia in every other day UN Security Council meetings for attacking civilians and civilian buildings, yet it armed its own civilians and its troops took up positions in civilian buildings as matter of course. 

All of this leads to one unmistakable conclusion - the Ukrainian government cannot be trusted. Not that Russia is an angel. Nor is the US or any other Western power, and if you believe they are you are very naive. They all have "interest" that reign well above their principles. Ukraine is no different in that regard. It is not the innocent victim it portrays itself. Its government has been willing to sacrifice its own people unnecessarily. That shouldn't be surprise to anyone that has followed the conflict since 2014. A government that is willing to fire artillery and bomb its own citizens for wanting a different future is not a government that minds wasting the lives and dreams of its population.     

 

Why Russia is winning the War in Ukraine

 

In order to know whether or not Russia is winning its war in Ukraine one has to figure out what the goal of the war is. Afterall, regardless of casualties and loss of equipment and resources, the primary objective of any conflict is its original mission. The best way to think of Russian strategy in Ukraine is to view it as one of those famous Russian egg dolls that have successively smaller dolls within it. 

Russia's stated goal in Ukraine is to de-nazify, de-militarize, and annex territory from Ukraine. The word annex in this case means the formal recognition by Ukraine of Russia's annexation of Crimea, and the recognition of the Donbass as an independent republic - which would presumably vote to join Russia. Those are the stated goals. The next obvious goal, which is not stated, is the annexation of the Kherson region to protect Crimea's water supply and form a land bridge to Crimea. The next much less obvious goal would be the Russian occupation and annexation of all Eastern Ukraine - including Odessa. This would make what's left of Ukraine an impoverished, landlocked no-mans land between Europe and Russia. All of these stated and non-stated goals are either obvious or can be logically deducted from Russia's military movements.

The smallest, and least visible goal,  the smallest of the dolls, is the most important of them all - kicking off the "newest world order". To understand this one must focus on the thought and strategy of Vladimir Putin. Putin is a judo master, and as such the philosophy of Judo rules his strategic thought. The primary principle of Judo is to use the opponents own force or weight to defeat him. Putin's use of this strategy is evident on the domestic and international stages. In this case, Putin has used NATO's (US) strategy to contain Russia (and China), with its push to Russia's borders, as momentum to "Judo throw it" if you will. The encroachment on Russia's traditional buffer zones, being those states on Russia's borders, has given Putin the reasoning needed to convince the Russian people that he must act. Remember the "we have no where to retreat" speech. 

At this point, Putin has grabbed the proverbial collar of the West - being the starting of the Ukrainian war. The US and Europe continued to push Putin with large weapon shipments to Ukraine, and massive sanction packages aimed at destroying the Russian economy. The force of these sanctions was meant to throw Russia to the ground, but instead Putin used that very force against his opponent. He began with steps to stop bank runs in Russia, shut down the Russian stock exchange to avoid a similar run, and essentially planted his feat firmly on the ground. Then, with European countries threatening to ban all Russian exports, including oil and natural gas, Putin completed his throw and threw the US and Europe to the proverbial ground - rubble only payment for natural gas and all other exports from Russia. That was the point of the war in Ukraine - the death of the US hegemony and by necessity the US dollar. 

Previous to the war in Ukraine Russia had made agreements with the Chinese to use yuan and rubbles for internal trade. Since the war, Russia has been making agreements with India, Pakistan, Iran and others to conduct trade in national currencies - not the US dollar. From hereon in the largest markets in the world, China and India, will not need US dollars for trade in natural resources, and that means the US dollar has lost at least half its worth in real terms. Even Saudi Arabia, with a staggering 70% of its oil exported to Asia, is realizing that it must pick a side in this global divide. It has now begun negotiating with China to sell the oil in Yuan - not US dollars. This breaks an agreement it has has since the 1970s with the US to sell its oil in US dollars exclusively. The need for US dollars has propelled the dollar to the most sought after and valuable currency in the world, and that in turn has propelled the US economy. All that is about to change in a very radical way. 

The take away here is that, while on the face of it the war in Ukraine is being described and thought of as a proxy war between Russia and NATO, in reality it is meant to be the catalyst for a bi-polar world - one on the rise (Eurasia) and one on the decline (Atlantia). A massive shift propelled by the elites of the world - in all nations. A deliberate move to consolidate the world's many countries into two camps. One often hears the phrase "divide and conquer". You can properly think of this as the age of "consolidate and conquer". It's the phase before the move to one world government. As US President recently said: "There will be a New World Order, and America must lead it". This is what we are truly witnessing today. Not Russia bad Ukraine good. Not China and India must pick a side. Not any of the rhetoric designed to baffle and indoctrinate the ordinary person. So, if you consider that Putin, and by extension Russia, are playing their roles in the creation of this "New World Order", then you know that Russia is winning the war in Ukraine.

Russia's Battle Plan in Ukraine

Three weeks ago to the day Russia launched a multi-force, multi-direction, and multi-purpose invasion of Ukraine. The Russian government called it a "Special Military Operation", much like the Ukrainian government called their military crackdown on Donbass separatists an "Anti-Terrorist Operation". One can't help wonder if the Russians weren't having a bit of fun with that one. Bottom line is, as was predicted here, the Russians did invade Ukraine on multi-fronts to: isolate the Ukraine army positioned against Donbass separatist forces, encircle Kiev, and occupy the Russian "L" stretching from Cherniv to Odessa on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River. 

The question at the moment is this: what happened to the plan? Any person with any military experience knows the old saying: "a plan only survives until first contact with the enemy". That is clearly the Russian experience in Ukraine. The problems with the Ukrainian campaign began at the top. Russian President Putin was using his military as a tool of politics, and that was and remains his major mistake. Much like the US government's political objectives in the Vietnam war, which in many ways tied the hands of its forces and caused many unnecessary casualties, Putin started this war with clear political objectives in mind. It is clear that these political objectives included: non-use of serious weapons in civilian areas; non-use of strategic bombers for carpet bombing; non-use of naval borne cruise missiles of guns for shelling; the list goes on. Essentially, Putin was trying to present the Ukrainian government with a fait a compli so that sober minds would realize resistance was futile and they would capitulate.

That was the best case scenario. Instead of conducting an air campaign like the US did in Iraq (for a month and a half), the Russian military moved in after mere hours of missile and air strikes. The result was that Russia did not destroy Ukraine's air defences and air force completely before entering ground forces, and perhaps more importantly did not cripple Ukrainian's will to fight. There may have been  geo-political/strategic reasons for this, or there may have been political calculations, but the bottom line is that Russian planes and helicopters were vulnerable, and remain so. That means, necessarily, Russian ground troops suffered unnecessary casualties from Ukrainian artillery and tanks. So the Russian command gave up prudent military doctrine to satisfy the political goal of not alienating eastern Ukrainian civilians for a post conflict order. In other words, it got too cute.

The Russian Navy has also been conspicuous by its absence in the campaign. It has complete dominance in that area of the Black Sea, yet has only fired six cruise missiles at an air base. You can also throw in the Russian strategic resources like heavy bombers and massive electronic warfare assets which have basically remain unused. All these forces would have made a massive difference in the three weeks of battle thus far. While not using the navy or strategic bombers may be incorporated under the strategy of not alienating the population, or political reasons  in other words, the very limited use of electronic warfare is more likely strategic in nature. Russian strategic thought is to keep its capabilities close to its chest until the big war happens, ie: World War III (hopefully that never happens). A good example of this is the recent discovery that Russia has decoy missiles in its barrages of missiles that fool the enemy's anti-missile systems, which was unknown until then. 

The primary difference between an American war and a Russian war today seems to be the Russians are trying to placate a population before they occupy them, while the Americans level the place and face uprisings thereafter (ie: Iraq, Afghanistan; etc). That doesn't mean the Russians won't face the same in any case. Certainly the main stream media, and social media, have portrayed the Russians as leveling Ukraine. However, from a military perspective, this is far from the truth. From a strictly military perspective Russia would be guilty of not using all its strategic and heavy forces to ensure its troops didn't take unnecessary casualties, and objectives wouldn't be impeded. Certainly the US or NATO would never be accused of that.

The US has a strategy of  "battle space dominance". The idea is that its forces must dominate every aspect of the battle space on air, land and sea. That strategy has been woefully lacking in the Russian's Ukraine campaign. Ukrainian tanks, and especially artillery have been relatively unbothered moving around Ukraine. NATO has managed to transfer anti-tank, and anti-air man-held portable missile systems to Ukraine without any issue. The systems have found their way to the individual fronts. Here there are collective failures in intelligence, and forces designed to restrict battle space. That may have been the reason two senior Russian intelligence officials were detained by their government. It may also point to a lack of precision weapons and/or drones that can interdict these supplies en route, or it maybe a case of sacrificing soldiers and tanks on the ground to keep military capabilities hidden from NATO forces. Don't forget the Russians sacrifice in WWII, like one rifle for two men. That dedication to "Mother Russia" is still there. Whatever the case, Russian troops and Russian objectives are paying the price on the ground. Unfortunately for the Russian military, troops morale may well suffer when they realize weapons that could be employed to limit their chances of being killed are not being used.

The last week of the campaign has changed somewhat. It appears now that Putin's grand gesture to the Ukraine has been replaced with some military imperative. Strategic missiles were used to destroy a Ukrainian base on the Polish border housing foreign volunteers, and more than likely NATO arms. Russian ships fired off a few more cruise missiles near Odessa. The cities of Mariupol and Kharkiv/Kharkov have been facing methodical military bombardment. This is the way of war. Ask the people of Mosul, Bagdad, Tripoli, Benghazi, Aleppo, the list goes on and on. If your military chooses to put its positions in a city, don't be surprised when the city is levelled to defeat you. My own father fought in the city of Ortona, Italy in WWII, and the place was levelled. He was at Monte Casino too, which was a beautiful historical monument that German paratroopers decided to make a defensive position. The US air force bombed it into oblivion - no questions asked. This is the ugly truth of war, no matter how many "Karens" scream about it. The self-righteous, hypocritical posturing of the US and some other countries is frankly upchuck worthy - especially amongst military people who know the truth of war.  

 It is now the beginning of the third week of the war in Ukraine, and news is "leaking" out that Russia and Ukraine are close to signing a peace agreement which pretty much includes all the demands Putin put on Ukraine before the war started. That being said, it seems inconceivable that Russia would sacrifice so much for so little. Even if Ukraine agreed to formally cede the Donbass and Crimea to Russia, it still leaves Russia without a land bridge to Crimea, and Russia already effectively controlled both anyway. Therefore, given the Russians already fully occupy the Kherson region we may see a referendum there on Kherson as an independent republic or a part of a Donbass/Kherson republic, or a part of Russia. If Russia is preparing to sign a deal, then an attack on Odessa would be out, Odessa would remain as Ukraine's only sea port. It also seems counterintuitive that Russia would miss the chance to take all of eastern Ukraine, making the Dnipro River the new "Iron Curtain". Afterall, once you have gone all in you may look very weak to leave with nothing of much strategic or even tactical consequence. Such a face to your enemy will likely embolden them to come for your throat. That, after all, kind of defeats Russia's stated objective of deterring NATO aggression against it. 

The Ukraine War - It's not what you think

 The world is a stage and we are but mere actors. Never has this saying been more true than today.  We are witnessing the making of "heroes" and "villains" in Ukraine and Russia right now. The Ukrainian President has been pumped by western media as some kind of modern day Churchill as he, with no military experience, "personally directs the defence of Kiev" from within the city. A hero, and potentially a martyr all in one. We have the Ukrainian military being hailed for putting up a "heroic" defence against the Russians. And, of course, we have Russian President Putin painted variously as the bad guy, evil guy, insane guy, ... you get the idea. Good guys vs bad guys, black vs white, demonize vs canonize - such is the evil pit that the world has evolved into.

We see this very painting of people here in Canada as well. Far from the flames of the Ukrainian war. Truckers are heroes. Truckers are terrorists. One Liberal cabinet member just referred to truckers in the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa as, wait for it, "terrorists".  We have just come through two years of what can only be described as the worst violation of civil rights in Canadian history - mass vaccination requirements, lockdowns and mandates - all designed to get Canadians used to the suspension of their constitutional rights as some sort of natural right the federal government, and provincial governments can exercise at will. The Canadian government even invoked the Emergency Measures Act, renamed by Mulroney but then known as the War Measures Act, to suppress an act of defiance and civil disobedience via protests on Parliament Hill. Rights you thought were sacred two years ago evaporated in a woke moment. It has been the same throughout most of the world.

So how does Ukraine fit into this? Well, three words: World Economic Forum. The WEF is a multi-national private organization born in Germany, now with its headquarters in Davos, Switzerland. It's primary purpose, like other German fathers of the same vision (Marx and Engels most recently), is to turn the world into a one government utopia where humans have no rights to property, religion, beliefs other than the WEF's, etc. In the words of the nominal head of the organization, the "Fourth Industrial Revolution". If that sounds a lot like another German phrase, the Third Reich, you can be forgiven. Both have their origins in Germany, both seek world dominance, both sought to conquer/control Europe (ie EU), both sought to conquer Russia/Soviet Union after gaining control of Europe, both believe in genetic manipulation of the human species, you get the idea. They don't call themselves Nazis anymore. The new term they love to use is "Globalists". 

The Globalists aim to conquer states from within, that is to say they mentor and put in place leaders and politicians that they control. (don't believe me? watch the video here. Interestingly, Schwab even refers to Putin as one of his guys. This takes us to the "we are all actors" part. What is really happening in the Russo/Ukraine war, and more importantly, what is the purpose of it.

The primary point woman from Europe is Ursula Von Der Leyen, a German (again) physician and politician (first woman to serve as Minister of Defence in Germany). Some of her mentors shown below:

In case you aren't familiar, the top picture is her with Henry Kissinger, and the lower picture is her with Schwab. Her job in all of this is to direct European states, and people, to prepare them for war against Russia. As you may have noticed from the emergency session to grant Ukraine EU membership, the European Parliament was decked out like some kind of Ukrainian birthday party. The new Chancellor of  Germany is newly elected Olaf Scholz - pictured below (with Schwab):

For the WEF, and its backers, the most important aspect of their plans is what can loosely be called the "schedule". The schedule is used to determine the length of time politicians stay in office, the bringing up of "young politicians" as Schwab refers to them in the video link above, the stacking of governments to implement its policies, and finally the beginning of the "Fourth Industrial Revolution". That is commonly referred to as Agenda 2030, which means eight years remain. In those eight years they have to destroy our current beliefs in bodily autonomy, freedom of thought and speech, ownership of private property, privacy, and nation states. They list as some of the primary goals of Agenda 2030 as people will own nothing; all commerce will be conducted by drones; a "handful of countries" will dominate all others; the amalgamation of people's physical/digital/economic identities, and others.  Here is the link to the WEF's own video on the matter here.

The war in Ukraine should thus be thought of as the initiating event that forces the world onto the WEF's schedule for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Putin's role, if you will, is to destroy the patsy state of Ukraine in order to occupy it and create a new iron curtain. Likely to follow in very short order are Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. You can view it as the WEF fixing the mistakes of Hitler's invasion of the USSR by having the Russians use up their men killing Ukrainian men - which is after all what bled the German Army white in WW II. Then, because Germany under Merkel (another of the politicians Schwab listed) agreed to tie Germany's energy needs so tightly to Russia, the sanctioning of Russia will "force" Putin to turn the tap off to Europe and create a massive economic shock to the world economy. It will also sour people toward the dependence on fossil fuels for energy. As a result, Russia will be at war with NATO, but not a nuclear war. Instead it is likely to be a war of conventional destruction previously unknown to mankind. Perhaps that is why the WEF includes travel to Mars as one of its goals - Dark Fleet anyone? 

China will join Russia in a war against NATO and its allies. The world will be carved into two blocks Eurasia and Atlantia. China will bury the hatchet with India, and India will join Eurasia. This will be a war of, in a sense, extermination. The Globalists (WEF) aim to reduce the human population of earth to around 500 million people - that's 7 billion deaths required. The Globalists refer to this as "creative destruction".  In a sense, their strategy mimics the Russian/Soviet war of 1941-45 - which they referred to as a "war of annihilation". 

The end result of the collapse of the financial system, the war of annihilation, and the collapse of the human value system will create a need to "build back better". This is where the WEF's agenda gets implemented. Make no mistake, nothing less than this can achieve their stated aims. For example, private property rights are guaranteed in the US constitution and have formed the basis for western life since the beginning. That means the US constitution must be destroyed in order to implement the "you will own nothing" aim. How do you destroy the US constitution without invading the US and conquering it? You destroy it from within. That means firstly you denigrate what it means to be American and have rights. Have we seen that happening in the US?  How about some examples of many: burning US flags; removing patriotic statutes (like Abraham Lincoln); labelling half the populations as deplorables; suspending rights during Covid; invalidating the US electoral system; politicizing the police and courts; moving to disarm civilian populations; etc. All of this is already happening in the US. 

The war in Ukraine is simply a manifestation of a controlled establishment that fully intends to extinguish the rights, and in many cases the lives, of  people all around the world. It is only a first step, and the remaining steps will be much worse than what we are currently seeing. This is by design and with purpose. This may sound like a "conspiracy theory" to you, but don't forget who made the term "conspiracy theory" a term for mocking - the establishment via the media. People lie but the evidence does not. Look about you. Look at your country and see what has happened to your values, rights, and nations over the last three decades. Ask yourself why it was the the most right wing, patriotic people like Reagan, Thatcher, and Mulroney who instigated and implemented free trade agreements between nations, which resulted in the unnecessary transfer of wealth from wealthier countries to less fortunate. The very definition of such a transfer of wealth from the fortunate to the unfortunate is socialism in its purest form. Yes, the world is but a stage and we are mere actors. We don't have to be slaves to it though.

Is Canada heading to Revolt?

 

The words. How to put into words the sacrilegious assault on freedom and democracy that we witnessed in Ottawa over this past weekend. The one word that comes to mind in the heart and the head is this - betrayal. 

The government, the media, the police, the courts, in other words the Canadian establishment, have shown themselves to be who they really are - the dictatorship of the few.  The last four weeks, if not the last two years, have shown it without any doubt. The establishment has asserted itself upon the rights and will of a significant portion of Canada's population - millions of people - and has done so with arrogance that would shame any other monarchy in resent history. 

The tone was set by the prime minister of Canada, Trudeau. He, and his ministers, particularly Freeland, slandered the millions of Canadians who participated and supported the movement to end vaccine mandates in Canada. They are personally responsible for poisoning the waters of democracy in Canada. Trudeau claimed he was the champion of democracy in that he won the last federal election. That is the most empty, and contemptible claim of all. The truth is Trudeau won less popular vote than the Conservatives by a margin of  33.74 to 32.62, but due to the archaic electoral system in Canada Trudeau was awarded 160 seats while the Conservatives received only 119. The same system Trudeau promised to reform after his win in 2016, but conveniently failed to do so. Furthermore, the turn out for the election was only 62.5 % of the eligible population, meaning the Liberals received 5.5 million votes compared to 5.8 million for the Conservatives. So, of a country of 36 million people, Trudeau took power with 5.5 million votes, and claims the ground of moral supremacy. This is the back drop and the the future.

With this "moral high ground" Trudeau demonized millions of people, created division and hatred in the population, and even in families. He, and his colleges  are guilty of inciting hatred among the very people they are sworn to serve. He has poisoned the name of the Liberal Party from one that has historically advocated for minority rights, including the creation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, to one that is now legitimately and apolitically viewed as an enemy of freedom and individual rights. He has aligned himself and his party with the hysterical "Karens" of the US, and the despotic US left wings' doctrine of domination rather than accommodation.  In other words, Trudeau and his ilk, including the state-run media of Canada, have created a massive chasm in this country that may never be heeled. Indeed, it could get much worse. 

Having poisoned the culture of freedom on which Canada was founded, and upon which Canada has lived all these generations, the establishment in Canada is seeking retribution upon those Canadians that dare to make their voices heard. They did so peacefully, even festively, which seemed to invite even further vitriol from the Canadian government. The final act of betrayal, the grotesque abuse of power, was the enacting of the Emergency Measures Act making protesting illegal in Canada. The police, RCMP  and provincial/local police forces, showed to Canada and the world that they are not much more than goons for the state. The footage of their actions at the protests showed a seeming delight in beating and intimidating peaceful protesters. The disgraceful act of riding massive police horses through peaceful, and completely vulnerable protesters was an act of such cowardice and brutality that the RCMP name is now in the mud with other such forces in Latin America. The removal of peaceful veterans from the National War Memorial was a disgrace without equal, and an act that will destroy the relationships previously enjoyed by the veteran and police communities.

What we are left with is a country deeply, and I mean deeply divided. Afterall, when people have been assaulted over a peaceful expression of protest what is left to them? That remains the question now. The government and courts have chosen to make examples of people like Tamara Lich by leaving her in prison without bail until trial, and seizing her accounts - the very same actions  they condemn Russia for in its treatment of  protest organizer Alexei Navalny. Yes, that is where we are in Canada on this day. The seizing of people's bank accounts for the charge of, wait for it, mischief, is beyond anything that can be reasoned. Yet, the judge who denied Lich bail railed on about her offence of inconveniencing Ottawa citizens, and her prospects of long jail term. Such is the massive abuse of power currently being committed in Canada.

All of this begs the question: where do Canadians go from here? Hence the title of this article. Are we heading to a real rebellion in Canada? Nobody has a crystal ball, and as such nobody really knows the unintended (we presume) consequences of coldly stamping out the flames of freedom in Canada. Will the population cower at the sight of people being demonized, jailed, fined, and financially ruined for protesting for their freedom? Certainly, given Canadians' long history of self-destructing passiveness,  a population cowering in the corner is definitely a possibility. Another possibility is massive political fault. Support or condemnation of the protests has loosely followed political lines - with some exceptions. It resulted in the Western caucus of the Conservative party throwing a luke warm O'Toole from the leadership of the party. Today stories are surfacing in state-controlled media of the "drafting" of Jean Charest as a new leader for the Conservatives. The signal there is the establishment want to retake control of the Conservative Party, and the very likely result of that is the loss of the entire western portion of the party - perhaps to the People's Party of Canada. Then there remains the NDP, who have suffered a massive 10% drop in their polling numbers, and recently lost a provincial seat in Saskatchewan as a result of their consummate ties to the Liberals. Here again we can expect major political costs for the BC dominated federal party. 

Another course that could manifest itself in Canada is an open rebellion against the establishment in Canada. How that might look is debatable. It really is going to depend on the level of alienation and anger towards the establishment that comes from this gross abuse of power. It could result in further blockades. It could result in mass protests by foot that have been witnessed in almost every Canadian city in the last three weeks. We simply don't know how Canadians will chooses to express their outrage. While the term Canadians in this post refers to those who oppose the trampling of their personal freedoms, there does remain an approximately equal group that cheers on the establishment's crack down. Perhaps this is one of the saddest parts of this entirely disgraceful time, and that is the willingness of people to walk over the rights of others because they believe they have the moral high ground and that entitles them to do so. It is a poison that is now flowing through the veins of many Canadians, and a real tragedy.  For a people who inherited so much, to a people who may no longer deserve the free country they once thought they enjoyed.

In Support of Truckers

 Anyone, at any time, who has taken a stand against our governments in Canada lately has found themselves vilified by those very same institutions which purport to defend their individual rights and freedoms. In this way our truckers and their supporters are no different than those that have come before them. Unlike those that have come before them, the Freedom Convoy 2022 has inspired millions of Canadians, and people around the world, by their collective dogged stand. For that they win a special place in history.

Throughout the world governments have been casting aside individual freedoms in the name of collective security (health this time) as if they were acceptable losses for the greater good. The governments of the world have walked over their citizens with impunity, and purpose. Now they have met the resistance to those actions. For every action their is a reaction, and in Canada and other countries in the world that means populist rebellion against those that deem themselves able to create two classes of citizens - those that submit and those that do not. It has played out very deliberately and very obviously over the last two years - step by step by step.

Many of the media types are asking how Canada became so divided, now on a parallel with the US, when they quote a vaccination rate of 85% of Canadians. The answer is quite simple: most of those people did not want to vaccinated but felt they had no choice. That bread resentment, and resentment gave birth to anger, and when anger grew up it became rebellion - as is today. When mandates were put in place just barely half the population was vaccinated, despite being urged to by the Premiers and Trudeau. When the urging didn't produce enough results they created timelines for people to get vaccinated or they couldn't get a vax passport to participate in society, including travel, which is a constitutionally protected right in this country. Essentially they imprisoned the Canadian people with one alternative to get out of jail. When they were done with that, they set out to demonize, shame and degrade those that still refused to be vaccinated - as if they had the right to do so.

It shouldn't be a surprise that a slim majority of Canadians want the mandates removed, because that same group of people either didn't want it or didn't get it in the first place. Now they are fed up with the ultimatums, the demonizing, the dividing. There is also a significant percentage of the population that agrees that individual rights are nothing in the face of collective rights, and that those who did not submit should somehow be excluded from living a normal life in their own country.  Those same people forget that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms was created to protect individual rights and freedoms - not collective rights and freedoms. For example, it protects homosexual people from discrimination. Following the current logic, and given that AIDS was initially a disease affecting the gay population, gay men would be forced into isolation and be unable to interact with normal society. That did not happen, nor was it even suggested to happen, yet those that are willing to chance Covid rather than a vaccine are not so lucky. The examples could go on and on. 

One of my favorite examples is former Prime Minister Mulroney. When he was Prime Minister the War Measures Act was struck from Canadian law to stop another atrocity like the placing of Japanese-Canadians in prison camps during the Second World War. Most of us thought it was more aimed at his Quebec base given the use by then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau of the Act to send troops into Quebec. Whatever the case, Mulroney scrapped the act to protect a group of citizens from being targeted by the state with discrimination. Fast forward to today, and where does Mulroney stand? Well, this was part of a news report released on October 31, 2021 regarding then leader O'Toole's failure in the election:

      "They were doing very well...for the first couple of weeks, and then they lost momentum simply             because... Mr. Trudeau quite brilliantly poked holes in the Conservative positions on exactly what         you and I are talking about: Vaccines, and health care and the problems that were going on in                 Alberta at the time."  

This is the master of division whose policies of demonizing others created the Reform Party and almost saw the West succeed from Canada. That is why he used the term "brilliantly" for stoking the fires of division over vaccines. To them our rights and freedoms are merely some sort of talking point when seeking favour, but not to be taken seriously. This is the truth, and you can see it being played out every day in the media and by the political "elite" who think the ends justify the means. 

Congratulations elite. You have really done it this time. A very dedicated, very patriotic, very principled core of Canadians have stood up in defiance of your arbitrary and unconstitutional actions. The truckers of Canada, and now the world, have taken it upon themselves to lead the defence of freedom, but make no mistake, they are not alone. When you attack them you attack us. When you demonize them you demonize us. When you mock them you mock us. They are not alone. They were never alone. You tried to tae their fuel so they would freeze or leave. That did not work. Now the word is you want to tare children away from their parents who participate in the protest. Have you no shame? Have you no comprehension that what you do to them you do to us? 

To all of you that have dug in your heels at the borders and in Ottawa, thank-you for taking the fight for freedom to those that so willingly seek to deny it to us. Thank-you for your courage of conviction, which they can not meet because they have no courage. Thank-you for remaining calm in the face of provocation after provocation. As was the case with Ghandi, who peacefully brought down British rule over India, and more importantly the example of Christ who told us to turn the other cheek, your example of peaceful protest extinguishes their flames of hate. Finally, when you are sitting in your cab, or gathering on the frozen streets of Ottawa or on the borders, remember we are with you and we support you with our hearts and souls. 

Canada's Popular Revolt

 

It is not everyday that a writer gets to contemplate a momentous event in his own country. In Canada, the land of the laid back, that is even more true. BUT, times have changed.

The Freedom Convoy 2022, which started as one man's vision to fight back against vaccine mandates for truckers to cross into the US has blossomed into an all out revolution of ideals. Two years of suffocating "lockdowns" (normally used in the sense of locking rowdy prisoners in their cells, but used against the entire population), "mandated" (read "forced") vaccinations, and demonization have led to a popular uprising in Canada. It is not an understatement to say that: a popular uprising. 

The tens of thousands of people who line the overpasses and roads of the country as the convoy made its way to Ottawa were the real sign of this movement. They braved, in many cases, -30 Celsius or worse temperatures for hours to show their support, and encouragement for what the truckers and their supporters were doing. As did the people who stood shoulder to shoulder last weekend - again to support the convoy's message that mandates are unconstitutional, violate Canadian's civil rights, and are destroying their quality of life. Mothers, fathers, children, in fact vastly more younger families than any other demographic, waved their flags in defiance of the actions of provincial and especially federal governments, and of course its chief cheerleader Mr. Trudeau.

Like Mary Antoinette of French infamy who arrogantly stated "Let them eat cake", Trudeau referred to these patriots, and all those young families lining the nation's highways, as a "fringe minority espousing unacceptable views". The convoy, and the majority of Canadian supporters, who were already angry at their freedoms being discarded like unnecessary trash,  now were seeing red - Antoinette-style. Trudeau quickly left the capital just before the convoy arrived, and was moved to a "safe place" (likely somewhere out of truck horn distance from Ottawa). 

His government, and to their extreme discredit the national media, attempted to demonize the protesters as everything from nazi or KKK supporters, to a violent mob spitting at old people and stealing food from the homeless shelters. The federal Liberal government has done everything in its power to label these Canadians, who represent average Canadians completely, as something akin to a "mob of the vile".  Or as one establishment lady once said to me: "the great unwashed". It is enough to turn your stomach thinking that people look at others in this way, and believe it to their core. With Trudeau hiding, Freelend, the grand daughter of a nazi sympathizer and publisher in Ukraine during World War 2, has been doing a lot of spinning herself in the Parliament of Canada. Again, portraying these Canadians as viler and unworthy. 

As a Canadian, a veteran, the son of a WW 2 veteran, and a person that has defended freedom in Canada at all times, I do not recognize my country right now. I see the memory of my country in this movement to retake our constitutional rights back from those who so duplicitously absconded with them. A veteran who lost his way, who lost sight of what he defended as an officer in the air force, the Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition, has fallen - removed by the western Canadian caucus of his own party for failing to defend the Charter of Rights and Freedoms strongly enough in support of the convoy. It seems that western Canada is the true bastion of freedom in Canada. The convoy started here. The voices against mandates were the strongest here. The remembrance of Canada as a free nation are most sacred here. The rest of Canada has been inspired by the West that it is only that freedom that makes us who we are, and without it we are nothing. I think that is fair to say.

While nobody aspires to violence in this uprising, one deliberate act of suppression of the protesters by the use of force could send it off the charts. This is not an exaggeration, but a warning of sorts. Trudeau and his like have been tossing the idea of a military action to end the demonstration - yet the demonstrations are happening all over the second largest country in the world. A country that is solely dependent on three or four primary crossing points into the US for its economy - one of which was shut down by trucks for several days - and may be again. The ugly truth is that our very own Prime Minister considers his own country the "first post-national country" - in other words Canada has outlived its usefulness. It is only in a country as laid back as Canada that he could get away with a statement like that. In other countries that would be legitimately considered a treacherous statement - high treason. 

This weekend there will be massive demonstrations across major cities throughout Canada. In Alberta today I witnessed kilometers long convoys of large farm machinery, adorned with new Canadian flags, and hand made signs calling for a return to freedom - an end to mandates. That was Thursday. The real event doesn't start until Saturday. Word is that massive convoys are converging on Quebec City, Toronto, and other major Canadian cities. 

What will be the result of all this? It is hard to say. I suppose it depends on how it ends. What is clear is that either the constitutional rights of Canadians will be returned or their will likely not be a Canada as we know it now. The liberals (small L and big L) have gone too far this time. They have arrogantly told the people of Canada to "eat cake". The only question is whether Canadians are cake eaters or the descendants of those that stormed Vimy Ridge with the resolute bravery that fills the heart of a free man and woman. 

The Eurasia War - Wizard's Chess

 "We have nowhere left to retreat" - Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation. These words were meant for the Russian people, and not as a plea to the rest of the world. Putin is invoking the patriotic spirit of Russians, and framing the coming war as an act of self-defence (which it might be) so that he has those same people behind him for the big move. The move he has dreamed of since he witnessed the fall of the Soviet Union. This is not just about Donetsk or Lugansk Republics, or even Ukraine. This is about recreating the Russia of old. 

Putin has named several factors as strategic imperatives for Russia. A key one is having NATO nations on his borders. He points to Ukraine as a possible NATO member, but there are three countries on his eastern flank, within hours of Moscow, that are NATO members already: Estonia (population 1.3 million); Latvia (population 1.9 million); and Lithuania (population 2.7 million). Collectively known as the Baltic States, they give NATO a staging ground in behind Russia's western border, and are therefore problematic for Moscow. Those countries have, respectively, the following NATO troops stationed in them: 800; 1200; and 1200. Currently they represent an irritant at most, but their potential to become much more for NATO is the danger for Russia.

Most analysts are looking at Russia's position as solely focused on Ukraine, but this would be a foolish miscalculation. Firstly, Russia needs to send a very strong message to countries like Finland, Sweden, Georgia and others that it is prepared to destroy countries that imperil its strategic stability. A minor shuffle into eastern Ukraine would have no such affect, and might in fact do the opposite. Russia knows, like anyone knows, that if there is going to be a big cost then you might as well go for the gusto. The "gusto" in this case is not just eastern Ukraine, not just Ukraine, but the Baltic states and likely Moldova - or at least parts of it. The following map shows that such a move gives Russia the smallest western border to defend amongst all the options. (blue line)

Essentially the new western border of Russia will extend from Kaliningrad in the north to the Pro-Russian Transnistria in the south. It will reduce the number of countries accessing the Black Sea to Russia, Turkey, Romania and Hungary. Romania and Hungary are NATO countries, but now they will have Russian divisions stationed at their border, and they do remember when they were occupied, so their inclination to poke the bear will likely be zero. That leaves Turkey, also a NATO member, but a member whose western based economy is in freefall and whose currency is devaluating on a daily basis - leaving it vulnerable to China and Russia. 

Russia has also been moving large forces from the far east, near China, to their western border. Those troops have not yet arrived. This indicates that Russia intends on taking very serious military action, decisive military action, and it also indicates Russia is very comfortable leaving China with a less guarded border. 

That brings us to Eurasia. Russia and China have been planning a separate economic system from the West for decades. They have been stockpiling gold as their system will be a gold-backed trade/currency system. They have signed strategic economic and arms agreements. They are in a sense creating anew world order that intends to completely sideline the West economically, and if necessary militarily. The United States has fed this ambition by sanctioning Russia to the point where Russia, and importantly its citizens, have gotten used to being apart from Western goods and services. It is, therefore, almost amusing that the United States is threating Russia with expulsion from the SWIFT economic settlement system. Intentionally, or unintentionally, the US is playing right into Russia hands, and therefore China's. The West's reaction to a Russian invasion of the Baltic States, Ukraine, and Moldova will be the moment both China and Russia have been waiting for to initiate their Eurasian project, and they can say they had no choice, because the US threw them out of SWIFT. Things to come.

In the mean time look for a one fell swoop Russian assault, due to an Ukrainian assault in the Donbass, likely during the Beijing Olympics. Ukraine has been banging the pot internationally that Russia has 100,000 troops near its border, but what Ukraine has been reticent to say is that half the Ukrainian military is now on the the borders of the Donbass region. The danger for Ukraine is that half its army is in very real danger of being enveloped by Russian forces almost as soon as hostilities start. The following map shows the general area that one half of Ukraine's troops are concentrated in (blue circle), and the likely approaches of Russian, and possibly Belorussian troops. It's quite easy to see how quickly they will be isolated, or as the Russians like to call it: "a caldron". A second flanking will be to isolate Kiev from the West and place the entire country in a free fall within days of an invasion. 

 It should not be forgotten that Russia stated, just months ago, that a Ukrainian military intervention in the Donbass would be the end of Ukraine as a state.

We should find out if this is the big Eurasian move or not within the next month or so, but all signs point to it. Keep in mind that both China, Russia, and even North Korea are ahead of the West in developing strategically decisive hyper-sonic missiles. Russia and China have also now had the time to modernize their militaries. In a sense they are ready to go, and their hypersonic advantage may be short lived. It will be in that calculus that the fate of the world as we know it will rest.