\u201cWe are currently witnessing an epic and historic event. The Ukrainian regular army and the punitive battalions are suffering a catastrophic defeat to the south of Donetsk\u2026..It still is not quite clear how the Junta intends to avoid a complete defeat here\u2026. By squandering the most combat-capable brigades in systematic offensive operations, the Junta sustained enormous losses and at the same time suffered a crushing, purely military defeat. The southern front has collapsed.\u201d<\/p>\n
– The Southern Front Catastrophe<\/a> \u2013 August 27, 2014\u2033, Colonel Cassad, Military Briefing, Novorossiya, Ukraine<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThe reports out of Novorussia (New Russia) are nothing short of incredible\u2026 sources are reporting that Novorussian forces have bypassed Mariupol from the north and have entered the Zaporozhie region!\u201d<\/p>\n – News from the Front<\/a>, Vineyard of the Saker<\/em><\/p>\n Barack Obama has pushed Ukraine to the brink of political, economic and social collapse. Now he wants to blame Russia for the damage he\u2019s done. It\u2019s absurd. Moscow is in no way responsible for Ukraine\u2019s descent into anarchy. That\u2019s all Washington\u2019s doing, just as Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and now Syria were Washington\u2019s doing. If you want to blame someone, blame Obama.<\/p>\n Ukraine\u2019s troubles began when the US State Department toppled the elected president in February and replaced him with a compliant stooge who agreed to follow Washington\u2019s directives. The new \u201cjunta\u201d government quickly launched a full-blown war against Russian-speaking Ukrainians in the east which split the civilian population and drove the country to ruin. The plan \u201cpacify\u201d the East was concocted in Washington, not Kiev and certainly not Moscow.<\/p>\n Moscow has repeatedly called for an end to the violence and a resumption of negotiations, but each request has been rebuffed by Obama\u2019s puppet in Kiev leading to another round of hostilities. Washington doesn\u2019t want peace. Washington wants the same solution it imposed on Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria, that is, a chaotic failed state where ethnic and sectarian animosities are kept at a boiling point so forward-operating bases can be established without resistance, so resources can be extracted at will, and so a formally-independent nation can be reduced to a \u201cpermanent state of colonial dependency.\u201d (Chomsky) That\u2019s the basic gameplan wherever Washington goes. The same rule applies to Ukraine. The only choice the people have is to arm themselves and fight back. Which is what they\u2019ve done.<\/p>\n Donetsk and Lugansk have formed militias and taken the war to the enemy. They\u2019ve engaged Obama\u2019s proxy-army on the battlefield and pounded it into mincemeat. That\u2019s why Obama deployed his propagandists to lie about the fictitious \u201cRussian invasion\u201d. The administration needs a diversion because the Novorussia forces (aka-the \u201cpro Russia separatists\u201d) are kicking the holy crap out of Obama\u2019s legions. That\u2019s why Washington and Kiev are in full panic-mode, because none of this was supposed to happen. Obama figured the army would put down the insurrection, crush the resistance, and move him one step closer to his goal of establishing NATO bases and missile defense systems on Russia\u2019s western flank.<\/p>\n Well, guess what? It\u2019s not playing out that way and it probably never will. The Novorussia fighters are too tough, too smart and too motivated to be one-upped by Obama\u2019s feckless troopers. (Check out this short video<\/a> and you\u2019ll see why the rebels are winning: Vineyard of the Saker)<\/p>\n Putin hasn\u2019t sent tanks and artillery into Ukraine. He doesn\u2019t need to. The militias are loaded with battle-hardened veterans who know how to fight and who are quite good at it. Just ask Poroshenko whose army has been taking it in the shorts for the last couple of weeks. Check out this blurb in Thursday\u2019s Itar Tass:<\/p>\n \u201cOver the week of August 16-23, the self-defense fighters of the Donetsk and Luhansk People\u2019s Republics seized 14 T-64 tanks, 25 infantry fighting vehicles, 18 armored personnel carriers, one armored reconnaissance and patrol vehicle, one Uragan multiple launch rocket system, two Gvozdika self-propelled artillery guns, four D-30 howitzers, four mortars, one ZU-23-2 air defense system and 33 vehicles.\u201d (East Ukraine militias seize large amount of Ukrainian armor<\/a>, Itar Tass)<\/p>\n Get the picture? The Ukrainian army is getting beaten to a pulp, which means that Obama\u2019s glorious \u201cpivot strategy\u201d just slammed into a brick wall.<\/p>\n Bottom line: Russia has not invaded Ukraine. The propagandists in the media are just trying to hide the fact that the Novorussia Army Forces (NAF; aka-the pro Russia separatists) are kicking ass and taking names. That\u2019s what\u2019s really going on. That\u2019s why Obama and his gaggle of miscreant neocons are in a furor. It\u2019s because they don\u2019t know what to do next, so they\u2019ve returned to their default position on every issue; lie like hell until they settle on a plan.<\/p>\n Naturally, they\u2019re going to blame Putin for the mess they\u2019re in. What else can they do? They\u2019re getting their heads handed to them by a superior army. How do you explain that to the folks at home? Check out this excerpt from the New York Times Number One fiction writer, Michael \u201caluminum tubes\u201d Gordon (who, not surprisingly, co-authored pieces with infamous Judy Miller in the lead up to the Iraq War):<\/p>\n \u201cDetermined to preserve the pro-Russian revolt in eastern Ukraine, Russia reinforced what Western and Ukrainian officials described as a stealth invasion on Wednesday, sending armored troops across the border as it expanded the conflict to a new section of Ukrainian territory.<\/p>\n The latest incursion, which Ukraine\u2019s military said included five armored personnel carriers, was at least the third movement of troops and weapons from Russia across the southeast part of the border this week, further blunting the momentum Ukrainian forces have made in weakening the insurgents in their redoubts of Donetsk and Luhansk farther north. Evidence of a possible turn was seen in the panicky retreat of Ukrainian soldiers on Tuesday from a force they said had come over the Russian border.\u201d (Ukraine Reports Russian Invasion on a New Front<\/a>, New York Times)<\/p>\n \u201cStealth invasion\u201d? In other words, Gordon has settled on a substitute for WMD. What a surprise.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t even good fiction; it\u2019s more like Grimm\u2019s Fairy Tales. And where are the photos? If you have evidence, Gordon, let\u2019s see it. But, please, make sure it\u2019s better than the last time, you know, those fake photos of Russian soldiers that were supposedly operating in Ukraine. That was another deceit, wasn\u2019t it? (See: Another NYT-Michael Gordon Special?<\/a>, Robert Parry, Consortium News)<\/p>\n This is like the Malaysia airlines crash, isn\u2019t it? Remember how Kerry went on a five-TV-talk-show blitz the day after the crash, making all kinds of spurious accusations, about surface-to-air missiles and phantom Russian convoys, without a shred of evidence, and then\u2014 the very next day\u2013 Russian military experts calmly produced hard evidence, from radar and satellite data, that a Ukrainian fighter plane was seen closing in on MH17 just moments before it was downed. (BBC also interviewed eyewitnesses who saw the SU 25 approaching the passenger plane.)<\/p>\n So, who do you believe; Kerry or the facts? And who are you going to believe this time; \u201cAluminum tubes\u201d Gordie or Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) monitor Andrey Kelin who said yesterday:<\/p>\n \u201cWe have said that no Russian involvement has been spotted, there are no soldiers or equipment present.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAccusations relating to convoys of armored personnel carriers have been heard during the past week and the week before that. All of them were proven false back then, and are being proven false again now.\u201d (RT<\/a>)<\/p>\n Repeat: \u201cNo Russian involvement\u201d. All the accusations \u201cwere proven false.\u201d \u201cFalse\u201d as in fake, phony, propaganda, bunkum, lies which, by the way, appears to be Gordon\u2019s area of expertise.<\/p>\n Anyone who has been following the conflict knows that the Washington-backed junta in Kiev has waged a war against its own people in the East, and that they\u2019ve been bombing hospitals, schools, libraries, apartments, public buildings, residential areas, etc, all in an effort to drag Putin into a war that will sabotage EU-Moscow economic integration and further US interests in the area. It\u2019s all geopolitics, every bit of it. Remember the pivot to Asia? This is what it looks like in real time. A lot of people get butchered so the big money guys in Washington can maintain their grip on global power for another century or so.<\/p>\n Well, you can put that pipedream to rest now, mainly because a group of scrappy ex-military types in east Ukraine gathered themselves into an effective and lethal militia which has turned things around pronto. If you follow developments on blogs that chronicle the daily events, you\u2019ll know that what I\u2019m saying is true. The disorganized and demoralized rabble they call the Ukrainian Army has been routed in nearly every dust up they have with the Novorussia militia. Here\u2019s how blogger Moon of Alabama summed it up on a post on Thursday:<\/p>\n \u201cTheir moral is bad, their equipment old, ammunition is low and the entire aim of their campaign is dubious. Now even a few weak counterattacks, the \u201ccounteroffensive\u201d, have them on the run.\u201d<\/p>\n The only thing he could\u2019ve added to the litany is the fact that they are led by the biggest moron to ever hold high office, Petro Poroshenko, the overstuffed buffoon who thinks he\u2019s Heinz Guderian deploying his Panzers through the Ardennes and on to Paris. What a joke!<\/p>\n The Times even admits that the Ukrainian army is badly demoralized. Take a look at this:<\/p>\n \u201cSome of the Ukrainian soldiers appeared unwilling to fight. The commander of their unit, part of the Ninth Brigade from Vinnytsia, in western Ukraine, barked at the men to turn around, to no effect. \u201cAll right,\u201d the commander said. \u201cAnybody who refuses to fight, sit apart from the others.\u201d Eleven men did, while the others returned to the city.<\/p>\n Some troops were in full retreat: A city busload of them careened past on the highway headed west, and purple curtains flapped through windows shot out by gunfire.\u201d (New York Times<\/a>)<\/p>\n Have you ever heard of a commanding officer asking his men whether they want to fight or not? It\u2019s ludicrous. This is a defeated army, that much is clear. And it\u2019s easy to understand how the average grunt feels, too. The average working guy doesn\u2019t have the stomach for killing his own people. That\u2019s not something he\u2019s going to feel good about. He just wants to see the war end and go home, which is why they\u2019re getting whooped so bad. It\u2019s because their hearts aren\u2019t in it. In contrast, the farmers, shopkeepers and miners who make up the militia are highly-motivated, after all, this isn\u2019t some geopolitical game for them. Most of these people have lived in these cities their entire lives. Now they\u2019re watching neighbors get gunned down in the streets or pulling friends out of the wreckage of bombed out buildings. For these people, the war is real and it\u2019s personal. They\u2019re defending their towns, their families, and their way of life. That tends to build resolve and focus the mind. Here\u2019s more from the NY Times:<\/p>\n \u201cThe United States has photographs that show the Russian artillery moved into Ukraine, American officials say. One photo dated last Thursday, shown to a New York Times reporter, shows Russian military units moving self-propelled artillery into Ukraine. Another photo, dated Saturday, shows the artillery in firing positions in Ukraine.<\/p>\n Advanced air defenses, including systems not known to be in the Ukrainian arsenal, have also been used to blunt the Ukrainian military\u2019s air power, American officials say. In addition, they said, the Russian military routinely flies drones over Ukraine and shares the intelligence with the separatists.\u201d\u00a0(Ukraine Reports Russian Invasion on a New Front<\/a>, New York Times)<\/p>\n Photos? What photos? Gordon doesn\u2019t have any photos. Ah, but he has heard about a New York Times reporter who saw a photo.<\/p>\n This is ridiculous, but, then again, isn\u2019t that what you\u2019d expect from a journalist who helped craft the pretext for invading Iraq?<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov responded to the claims of a Russian invasion. He said:<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not the first time we\u2019ve heard wild guesses, though, so far, the facts have never been presented\u2026<\/p>\n There have been reports about satellite imagery exposing Russian troop movements. They turned out to be images from videogames. The latest accusations happen to be much the same quality\u2026<\/p>\n We\u2019ll react by persisting in our effort to reduce the bloodshed and to support negotiations about the future of Ukraine, with participation of all Ukrainian regions and political forces, something that was agreed upon back in April in Geneva, but which is now being deliberately avoided by our Western partners.\u201d (RT)<\/p>\n There you have it; there is no Russian invasion anymore than there were WMD, mobile weapons labs, aluminum tubes, Sarin gas etc, etc, etc. It\u2019s all BS concocted by a servile media pursuing the agenda of a warmongering political establishment that wants to escalate the conflagration in east Ukraine at all cost. Even if it leads to a Third World War.<\/p>\n _________________________<\/p>\n Mike Whitney<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>lives in Washington state. He is a contributor to\u00a0<\/em>Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion<\/a>\u00a0(AK Press).\u00a0Hopeless is also available in a\u00a0Kindle edition<\/a>.\u00a0He can be reached at\u00a0fergiewhitney@msn.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n