Showing posts with label The Red Horseman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Red Horseman. Show all posts

Apr 29, 2014

Mar 3, 2014

Of Wars and Rumors of Wars - What's next in the Russia-Ukraine-NATO struggle and the China-Japan warnings

I don't know if this could get more confusing, but here it goes.  On the surface it appears the U.S. government consciously overthrew the pro-Russian elected government of the Ukraine.  This despite Russia and Germany (speaking for the European Union) agreeing to a peace deal and changes in the country just two days before the overthrow.  In addition to that, China has made a significant pact and business deal with the Ukraine.  Meanwhile China continues to threaten Japan and their Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, known for his "right-wing nationalist views" and belief that war in defense of the country's honor is always a good choice.  In the midst of all these stories and videos, I must say it appears the Russians and U.S. agreed to tear Ukraine to pieces, with NATO possibly holding the northern parts while Russia maintains it' naval bases in Crimea.  The end result?  Possibly, very possibly World War III.  Remember we are in March, the month named for Mars, the Roman god of war...

US Government Caught Funding The Coup In Ukraine

(Mark Ames)  Just hours after last weekend’s ouster of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, one of Pierre Omidyar’s newest hires at national security blog “The Intercept,” was already digging for the truth.
Marcy Wheeler, who is the new site’s “senior policy analyst,” speculated that the Ukraine revolution was likely a “coup” engineered by “deep” forces on behalf of “Pax Americana”:
“There’s quite a bit of evidence of coup-ness. Q is how many levels deep interference from both sides is.”
These are serious claims. So serious that I decided to investigate them. And what I found was shocking.
Wheeler is partly correct. Pando has confirmed that the American government – in the form of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) – played a major role in funding opposition groups prior to the revolution. Moreover, a large percentage of the rest of the funding to those same groups came from a US billionaire who has previously worked closely with US government agencies to further his own business interests. This was by no means a US-backed “coup,” but clear evidence shows that US investment was a force multiplier for many of the groups involved in overthrowing Yanukovych.

But that’s not the shocking part.

- See more at: http://govtslaves.info/us-government-caught-funding-coup-ukraine/#sthash.qWOSwPMD.dpuf

Ukrainian troops dispatched in Crimea switch sides


© RT
Ukrainian armed forces dispatched to Crimea have switched to the side of local authorities and are expected to take military oath soon, Russian news agencies report.

"Today the majority of the Ukrainian armed forces deployed in Crimea passed to the side of the authorities of the Crimean autonomous region. The transition was absolutely peaceful, without a single shot fired either by the military or by the forces of self-defense," an unnamed source told RIA Novosti news agency.

The source added that some of the servicemen also ran away, while some submitted letters of resignation.

The local military have not been paid for many months, the source also told RIA Novosti.

Earlier, Ukrainian troops in Crimea were said to be resigning on a massive scale. Living quarters, weapons and ammunition have all been left under the protection of the so-called 'self-defense forces.'

Letters of resignation have been coming in since early morning, as the self-defense forces continue to preserve order on the streets of Simferopol, RIA Novosti said citing own reporters on the ground.

Read more of this article at - http://www.sott.net/article/274879-Ukrainian-troops-dispatched-in-Crimea-switch-sides

Ukraine crisis: No wonder Vladimir Putin says Crimea is Russian


Ukraine crisis: No wonder Vladimir Putin says Crimea is Russian

With irresponsible talk of EU and NATO membership, the West has badly mishandled relations with Ukraine – and with Moscow

1 / 1
Silhouetted supporters of the pro-Western opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko wave flags during a rally in central Kiev
 
Much recent comment on Ukraine in the British press has been marked by a barely forgivable ignorance about its history and politics, an overhasty willingness to put the blame for all its troubles on Vladimir Putin, and an almost total inability to suggest practical ways of bringing effective Western influence to bear on a solution.

So perhaps we should start with a short history lesson. A thousand years ago Kiev was the capital of an Orthodox Christian state called Rus with links reaching as far west as England. But Rus was swept away by the Tatars in the 13th century, leaving only a few principalities in the north, including an obscure town deep in the forests, called Moscow.

What became known as Ukraine – a Slav phrase meaning “borderlands” – was regularly fought over by Tatars, Poles, Lithuanians, Russians, Turks, Swedes and Cossacks. One large chunk, including Kiev itself, joined Russia in the 17th century. Galicia in the west fell to the Austrians in the following century, but was taken by Poland after the First World War, when the rest of Ukraine joined the Soviet Federation. Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin handed Galicia and its capital Lviv to Ukraine in 1945. All these changes were accompanied by much bloody fighting.

Read more of this article at - http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/ukraine-crisis-no-wonder-vladimir-putin-says-crimea-is-russian-9162734.html

China and Japan on the brink of Third World War

WHILE vast swathes of the Middle East are embroiled in conflict and Ukraine teeters on the brink, many believe the real flashpoint for war is between China and Japan.

By: Hilary Douglas               
Japanese patrols drive off foreign fi shing boats near the disputed Senkaku islands Japanese patrols drive off foreign fi shing boats near the disputed Senkaku islands [GETTY]
As China flexes its military might, with huge increases in defence spending and increasingly assertive patrols in disputed territories, Japan has compared the tensions to those between England and Germany before the First World War.
 
So far it has been a war of words.
 
However, historian Niall Ferguson has warned that US President Barack Obama’s policy of non-intervention, or, as he puts it, his being “resolved only to avoid being George W Bush”, also resembles the incoherent foreign policies of British Liberals a century ago before the First World War.
 
Against this background, a dispute over five uninhabited islands and three barren rocks looks increasingly dangerous.
 
China views the “nationalisation” of what it calls the Diaoyu Islands by the Japanese in 2012 as a serious provocation and will do whatever is necessary to assert its sovereignty.
Japan, meanwhile, which calls the territory the Senkaku Islands, is using an ever increasing number of naval ships and warplanes to guard them and is trying to involve the US.
If war were to break out, the US is bound by treaty to come to the aid of Japan.
 
 
Newly sworn in head of Ukrainian Navy defects one day later, forms new Navy for Crimea
 
RT        
© RT
Denis Berezovsky
Rear admiral Denis Berezovsky, appointed as head of Ukraine's Navy forces just two days ago, has sworn allegiance to the people of Crimea. Taking his oath, regional Prime Minister Sergey Aksyonov announced creating Crimea's Navy.

"I, Berezovsky Denis, swear allegiance to the Crimean people and pledge to protect it, as required by the [army] regulations. I swear to take orders of Crimea and Sevastopol's Supreme Commander," Berezovsky said as seen in video footage.

The region's Prime Minister Sergey Aksyonov announced the creation of Crimea's Navy forces and appointed Berezovsky its head.

"The Republic will have its own navy, which will be commanded by rear admiral Berezovsky," Aksyonov told the journalists Sunday.

"Subsequently, this day will be considered the birthday of the naval forces of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea," he added.

"All Navy troops dislocated in Sevastopol are ordered to disregard any commands coming from Ukraine's new self-proclaimed authorities," the PM also declared. "Do not take any orders of using arms till my personal instructions."

Aksyonov promised that "all soldiers, who'll swear allegiance to the Crimean people, will retain their allowance, health and social benefits, military rank and position."

As for those, who wouldn't want to join the Crimean navy, they have the full right "to retire" and "won't be prosecuted" afterwards, the PM stressed.
 
Read more of this article at - http://www.sott.net/article/274895-Newly-sworn-in-head-of-Ukrainian-Navy-defects-one-day-later-forms-new-Navy-for-Crimea
 
There's so much going on here, with rising tensions between Israel, the U.S. and Iran, China and Japan, Russia, China and Germany (repping the E.U.) against the U.S./NATO factions....apparently this is the time the Red Horseman rides....

 
 

 

Dec 18, 2012

'Did we just kill a kid?': The moment drone operator who assassinated Afghans with the push of a button on a computer in the U.S. realized he had vaporized a child... and could not go on

By Helen Pow

A former U.S. drone operator has opened up about the toll of killing scores of innocent people by pressing a button from a control room in New Mexico.
Brandon Bryant, 27, from Missoula, Montana, spent six years in the Air Force operating Predator drones from inside a dark container.

But, after following orders to shoot and kill a child in Afghanistan, he knew he couldn't keep doing what he was doing and quit the military.

Too much: Brandon Bryant, 27, pictured, from Missoula, Montana, spent six years in the Air Force operating Predator drones from inside a dark container
Too much: Brandon Bryant, 27, pictured, from Missoula, Montana, spent six years in the Air Force operating Predator drones from inside a dark container
 
'I saw men, women and children die during that time,' he told Spiegel Online. 'I never thought I would kill that many people. In fact, I thought I couldn't kill anyone at all.'


Bryant joined the military by accident when he accompanied a friend who was enlisting in the army and heard that he could go to university for free if he signed up to the Air Force.

He excelled in his course and was assigned to an intelligence collection unit where he soon learned how to control the cameras and lasers on a drone, to analyse ground images, maps and weather data.

He was made a sensor operator, the equivalent of co-pilot, and at just 20 flew his first mission over Iraq - seated in the safety of a control room in Nevada.

Drone operators: A drone pilot, left, and a drone sensor operator practice on a simulator at Holloman Air Force base in New Mexico
Drone operators: A drone pilot, left, and a drone sensor operator practice on a simulator at Holloman Air Force base in New Mexico
 
But it began to take its toll immediately.
The first time he fired a missile, he killed two men instantly and cried on his way home.

'I felt disconnected from humanity for almost a week,' he said.

But it was an incident when a Predator drone was circling above a flat-roofed house made of mud in Afghanistan, more than 6,250 miles away, that really sticks in his mind.

Horrific: 'I saw men, women and children die,' said Brandon Bryant, pictured
Horrific: 'I saw men, women and children die,' said Brandon Bryant, pictured
The hut had a shed used to hold goats and when he received the order to fire, he pressed a button with his left hand and marked the roof with a laser.
The pilot sitting next to him pressed the trigger on a joystick, causing the drone to launch a Hellfire missile. There were 16 seconds left until impact.

'These moments are like in slow motion,' he told the website.

As the countdown reached seven seconds, there was no sign of anyone on the ground.

Bryant could still have diverted the missile at that point.

But when it was down to three seconds, a child suddenly walked around the corner.

The next thing he saw was a flash on the screen - the explosion. The building collapsed, and the child disappeared.

Bryant had a sick feeling in his stomach, he told the website.

'Did we just kill a kid?' he asked the pilot next to him.

'Yeah, I guess that was a kid,' the man replied.

Thoughts jotted in his diary on uneventful days clearly show the heavy burden his job was placing on him.

'On the battlefield there are no sides, just bloodshed. Total war. Every horror witnessed. I wish my eyes would rot,' he wrote on one occasion.

He began to shut himself off from his friends, and his girlfriend complained about his bad moods.

'I can't just switch and go back to normal life,' he said to her. He stopped sleeping and began to exercise instead.

Drones: Bryant worked as a sensor operator, the equivalent of a drone co-pilot (stock photo)
Drones: Bryant worked as a sensor operator, the equivalent of a drone co-pilot (stock photo)
 
One day he collapsed at work, doubling over and spitting blood. The doctor ordered him to stay home, and not to return to work until he could sleep more than four hours a night for two weeks in a row.
'Half a year later, I was back in the cockpit, flying drones,' Bryant told Spiegel Online.

But he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Now Bryant has left the military and is living back at home in Montana where he feels he is slowly recuperating.
'I haven't been dreaming in infrared for four months,' he said with a smile.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2249252/Brandon-Bryant-Drone-operator-followed-orders-shoot-child--decided-quit.html#ixzz2FNXrvnBg