Fighting Over Syria has Started — in Ukraine

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Not following?  Try to keep up with the class here:Russian-led troops in Donbas attack Ukraine 38 times in last day, says this report.

It’s axiomatic that presidents don’t launch missiles while the market is open.  So we are reasonably confident that as soon as the market (and after hours) ends this week, things will heat up in the area of Syria.  And that means Ukraine.

We also know how those dominoes are set to fall:  After the markets are closed for the weekend, the US will likely launch cruise missiles from fleet in the Med.  This could be responded-to by the Syrians by going after a US guided missile cruiser with torpedoes.  And while Trump revels in that disaster being avoided, Russia would be coming over the border into Ukraine.  So by Monday, we see odds climbing that the whole world will be on a quick slide into global conflict that could escalate nuclear.  Neat, huh?

(Continues below)

 

Any number of readers have asked “Syria’s not worth fighting over…is it?”

No. But Ukraine sure as hell IS and the US corporatized media, which not only can’t ask hard questions of Mueller, Rosenstein, et al. turns out also aren’t very good followers of how chess is played.  Russian grandmaster’s ring a bell?  Think Putsky’s feint.

Here’s the “real deal” near as we can project it.

Russia is now ready to sweep up the rest of Ukraine.  A sampling of headlines reveals just how deep and dangerous this part of the globalist swamp really is. For instance:  Did you know Ukraine has seized a Russian ship?

Ever read Maritime Bulletin?  Russian Belize-flagged freighter arrested in Ukrainian port: here’s why…”

Putin can use this as an excuse for military intervention to go in and “rescue hostages” being held by Ukraine.  And then stay a while….

All this is going on at the Ukrainian port of Yuzhny which is just east of Odessa.

We have found the coverage by UNIAN pretty good.  Try “Ukrainian interest. Chemical Kremlin, Washington’s new sanctions, and Orban’s all-in”

On the Western side, Ukraine is being fast-tracked into NATO, but they aren’t – yet.  And as a result, NATO is not in position to invade Ukraine to keep Russia out. EU doesn’t have a military team…

And since there’s the matter of the Dnieper-Donets petroleum basin, which Russia and the West both lust after,  this is at least as important as Syria, but likely more-so.  You absolutely must read the USGS 2011 Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources of the Dnieper–Donets Basin Province and Pripyat Basin Province, Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus.”

In our in-house economic modeling, we keep waiting for BIG news to “fill-in” and for the markets to come tumbling down.

Toss Trump Trade War – Ukraine hopes to hold talks with US into your thinking.

What better fit than for Trump to get sucker-punched into Syria – which would set up a big distraction over not very valuable lands – while the better chess player (Putin et al.) march in and take the rest of Ukraine before all the military and economic angles close it off to Russian domination – forever.

Could that chess game explain Russia Says the Syrian Government Is Now in Control of Douma, Site of Suspected Chemical Attack, for example?

This being the age of the Manufacturer’s Resource Wars, I can’t think of a better fit.

I’m not wading in on the short side of the market yet, but truth is, this has crossed my mind.  Essentially, it’s a “things don’t work out well by end of next week” bet.  We’ll see how troop movements and Ukraine border region rumbles run in the next 24-hours.  Run-up in the market in the closing hours tomorrow might be a hint, too…

Oh, my:  You also remember the world is supposed to end April 23rd, right?

Daily Data Dose

Import-Export Prices just out from Labor:

“U.S. import prices recorded no change in March, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today, following a 0.3-percent rise in February. Higher nonfuel prices offset declining prices for imported fuel in
March. Prices for U.S. exports advanced 0.3 percent in March, after rising 0.2 percent the previous month.

Imports

All Imports: Import prices recorded no change in March following rises of 0.3 percent in February and 0.8 percent in January. The index has not declined on a monthly basis since decreasing 0.2 percent in July 2017.
Prices for U.S. imports rose 3.6 percent between March 2017 and March 2018. The last 12-month decline in import prices was a 0.2-percent drop for the period ended October 2016.

Fuel Imports: Fuel prices fell for the second consecutive month, declining 1.6 percent in March following a 1.0-percent drop in February. The March decrease was the largest monthly decline since the index dropped 3.6 percent in June 2017. Lower prices for both petroleum and natural gas drove the decline in fuel prices. Prices for imported petroleum declined 1.3 percent and natural gas fell 9.5 percent. Despite the decrease in March, fuel import prices advanced 18.7 percent between March 2017 and March 2018. The price index for petroleum imports rose 19.4 percent over the past 12 months. Prices for imported natural gas increased 20.0
percent over the same period.”

Dow futures are up almost 150 at 45-minutes before the open.  So you go, markets.  Mr. Bear is watching.

Trade wars are not over.  See China says it will fight back if U.S. escalates trade spat if you doubt me.

A Class in Fake News

Let’s be serious about what we think “news” is, in the modern digital age.  Just because something appears on a “news” site doesn’t mean it’s really news.

One of the attributes of “fake news” is that it can’t be traced back to a source.  It’s just named as “sources” and such.

When such claims are made (often spectacularly) real news outfits (like the Associated Press, New York Times, Reuters, et al.) use multiple unnamed sources and a senior editor puts his name, reputation, and career on the line when they represent a “fact” as alleged in the story.

There’s no analog to this in “web news.”

We have a marvelous example to trace through this morning for those who are interested in sorting out the wheat from the chaff in the mediastream’s modern-day gibberish.

We begin with a headline on the www.drudgereport.com site: Republican Congressman Rips Trump: ‘Evil, F****** Stupid Forrest Gump’…

Hmmm… doesn’t reveal which congressman, though, does it?

If you hit the link, it flips you over to Mediaite.com:  “GOP Congressman Rips Trump in Insane Tirade to Journo: ‘Evil, Really F*cking Stupid Forrest Gump’.”

Problem for Ure’s truly?  We still don’t know the name of the congressman. Just an asserting that they regularly appear on Fox News.  Well, that’s no help.

We do learn that the story originated with Erik Erickson who has a post “A Congressman’s Profanity Laced Tirade in a Safeway Grocery Store.”

I read the story pretty carefully.

Still no name of the specific congressman.

And that, dear reader, circles us back to why we ponder slotting this as “fake news.”

You see, I’m a pretty serious journo.  Brought up doing real reporting –  cop shop overnights, mass shootings (look up Wah Mee sometime, that was on my watch), plane crashes, grand juries…all the reporting that follows the principles in the Associated Press Stylebook on serious points of reporting like, oh, you know….ATTRIBUTION!

What attribution does is give the reader a way to go back to the source of the (in this case purported) comments and ask “Did you say that…really?”

But in this case, I couldn’t figure out how to do it.  So I can’t pick up the and run a similar story myself.  No follow up because it’s a dead-end.

Because the congressman is not named.  Without a specific NAME OF THE DAMN CONGRESSMAN, or any other newsmaker, please don’t believe everything you read.

Especially on the internet where “shock value” and “page views” are what’s monetized.  Not the quality of the reporting.

I would recommend to anyone who reads news – even just in passing – take the time  somewhere in life to sort out issues like “attribution.” Easiest way to do this is to read the AP Style book.  $10-bucks for Kindle and devices.  See The Associated Press Stylebook 2017: and Briefing on Media Law (Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law).

Attribution is meaningful.  It’s why we have so damn many, time-consuming – links on this site.  Attribution!

Another simple question to ask of those writing spectacular claims:  Over your career as a writer, how much did you make on AP stringer fees?  Those who don’t may be more opinion that news.  Just saying.

Thank you for attending today’s class which we hope will help in spotting fake news.  This class was presented by a very old and very cynical but still active member of the National Association of Newspaper Columnists.

Another Soapbox

Yee gads…more?  ‘Fraid so…

Then  we have the new James Comey book. A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership on Amazon.

Bounced as FBI Director, he’s doing what high name recognition people do  – he has written a book.

“ABC: Comey compares Trump to mob boss,” says this report at Axios.

Would I watch?  No..  Why?  The “reporter” involved is George Stephanopoulos.

And if that seems biased on my part, you bet! Read a bit about George  S. from Wikipedia.  Like this part:

“George Robert Stephanopoulos (born February 10, 1961) is an American journalist, political commentator and former Democratic political operative and advisor.[1][2] Stephanopoulos is currently the chief anchor and the chief political correspondent for ABC News, a co-anchor of Good Morning America, and the host of ABC’s Sunday morning This Week.[3][4] Stephanopoulos is a regular substitute anchor for ABC World News Tonight.

Prior to his career as a journalist, Stephanopoulos was an advisor to the Democratic Party. He rose to early prominence as a communications director for the 1992 presidential campaign of Bill Clinton and subsequently became White House communications director. He was later senior advisor for policy and strategy, before departing in December 1996.[5] Stephanopoulos is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.”

So, let’s see:  ABC offers a former Democrat operative, who’s a Bill Clinton protégé is interviewing an anti-Trump (and we presume sour-grapes) FBI director who is monetizing his version of a den of senior officials leaking to the press, pursuing their own inside Justice Deep State agenda which is distinctly anti-Trump agenda that continues to this day.

Can’t see how Comey’s going to out the love-birds…if you’ve been following.  So with the operative and the out, what’s the point?

Hmmm…snap judgement: not worth my time watching.  Your time may not be as valuable or context so clear.

36 thoughts on “Fighting Over Syria has Started — in Ukraine”

  1. Technology has basically created a situation where humans in society cannot trust anything they are told thru newspapers, tv media, magazines, govt , law enforcement nor can we trust anything we see because of photos shop CGI effects , holograph technology ,etc. Our [redacted[ media assures us that Syrias president gases his own people and young children….does anyone trust our media anymore ?

    This results in the question of ” how do sane people in society , who only want the truth , but are forced into a world of lies, go about finding truth about world events ? Since it now seems impossible for any of us to find complete truth on world events, it may be best to try and stay sane and neutral by admitting none of us know the truth on world events and all of us are victims to the epidemic of lies and technology being used to make those lies look like truths. VERY DANGEROUS WORLD. If God exists, he shoulda known that it as important to create all humans with the instinctual skill to always be able to differentiate between LIES and TRUTHS. When we cannot be assured we are being told lies, and we embrace those lies as truths because we are naïve to the lies, then we cannot be held accountable for the negative repercussions of embracing those lies, if we truly thought those lies were truths. Because of the epidemic of lies taking hold, its almost as if the safest angle to embrace, is to not have any opinions on these events, because all of our opinions will be skewed , inaccurate position based up endless deceptions/ lies.

    • @ A

      Given your parameters…the only way to tell if what you are hearing/reading is a truth or lie…is to SEE who is saying /writing the comments /articles…there is a WORLD of background on each INDIVIDUAL, and their agendas…..footnotes if reading are a MUST….imho

    • Bravo! well said. I have been on a national news fast for about six months and the benefits to health and sanity are significant. Now, I need to add state and local news to this. It is clear that both insanity and deception among humans are growing at the expense of us all so it behooves me as a survival tool to ignore it all. I have nil power to affect any of this and paying attention to it harms me. I can handle George’s delivery of news because of his method of delivering it. But other sources are now gone for me.

    • Excellent observation, and it applies to all aspects of this 3D experience. I call it The Land of the Not Knowing, for we do not even know who we truly are.

    • Actually, distrust of print media dates back to at least the 1800s. Look at Mark Twains comments regarding(paraphrasing from memory) the virtues of not reading the newspapers and being ignorant versus reading the newspapers and being misinformed.

      Most MSM sources should be viewed as “what do the Elites wnat me to believe today?” I would say all MSM but occasionally a little reality breaks thru.

  2. If Putin wants to bankrupt mother Russia, then he’ll order an all-out invasion of the Ukraine. IF he does invade, the Russian economy will become isolated via crippling embargoes and sanctions. Russian oligarchs would not prop up Putin for long when confronted with such economic nastiness. Instead, Putin need merely orchestrate a boastful show of military readiness in the Crimea and along already occupied areas of the Ukraine, combined with metering down gas flow to Europe for a spell, sending all of Europe into a tizzy in the process. Remember – it is [always] best to win without fighting (Sun Tzu). Now, if Russian’s are killed in any reprisal by Western powers against Syria, Putin will surely bang the war drums hard while ordering a response-in-kind. Then things could escalate and get quite interesting, as Putin’s image will have suffered at home if he does not seek revenge for lost Russian lives.

    • All Putin and Xi have to do is announce they are backing their currencies with a basket of precious metals – reset the price to whatever – $10,000,$25,000,$100,000 and then say we’ll show you ours if you show us yours – by the way if any foreign entity thinks they can get their gold back from the US good luck – Now go an perform your audit…..War over….

    • Warhammer,
      What is the end game for Russia when they merely orchestrate a boastful show of military Readiness? How do they benefit? What’s the point of Sabre rattling? Putin isn’t a showman. He wants results and benefits attached to his efforts. Right? If he totally controls Ukraine and it’s gas…it seems he holds the cards. Embargoes and sanctions won’t last long if it cripples Europe’s has flow.

      • IMHO, if Putin and Russia can hang tight without real “warre” for a couple more years, the west’s economic problems should hamstring militant action on the West’s part.

        I suspect the Eastern European countries might voluntarily join a new Warsaw Pact as the fight for supremacy with Islam heats up in the pre-1991 NATO countries.

    • Why would Putin want to invade Ukraine when he can take it politically? Although Kiev is supposed to be Ukraine’s Capital, working language is Russian, most delegates are Russians, most residents in the area are Russians. What does one need more to take over?

    • I don’t trust the UNIAN article to which George linked, because its owner, Igor (or Ihor) Kolomoyskyi, is one of Victoria Nuland’s lackeys, and a man who hates Russia and Russians to the point of calling for the entire country’s annihilation by nuclear eradication. It was Kolomoyskyi’s thugs who were responsible for the Odessa Massacre.

      I cannot imagine Russian tank, mortar, and small-arms fire, and an active sniper, yielding ZERO Ukrainian casualties…

      To be fair, I like UNIAN too, and believe most of their journalism is less-biased than ours. However, the “No Ukrainian soldiers were killed or wounded in action” thing really trips my internal truth-detector, and makes me seriously question the motivation behind the “38 attacks” writeup.

  4. My 11th grader is taking a history class that is pretty traditional for the 11th grade and the first two weeks was how to spot fake news and where to look to track down if its truth or not. Said 11th grader was really angry and kept arguing with his teacher that this is not history. He now can spot fake news pretty quickly.

  5. Yes, this planet is now a land of lies and deceptions. Media, religions, govt, law enforcement, etc are all venues that have realized the advantages and profits of deceiving us peons in society. Islam, Catholicism, Talmudism, and yes even Christianity have all become infected with the tactics of deceptions for reasons of spreading their individual religions, or tax free tithing or political influences, etc.

    Peons in society have reached a new terrifying level of being earths lab rats, specifically used for social programming techniques based upon deceptions and agendas and empire building under false pretenses. Maybe the Amish people knew it would end up this badly ? Did the Syrian president really gas his own people/ children ? None of us in society can ever know for sure because we get our information on world events, from sociopaths that have a proven track record of lies. WMDS IN IRAQ , ring a bell ? We are all enslaved and at the mercy of these endless lies.

    • I think this whole Syria thing is staged.. play the idiots to get their sentimental backing goad a president that was planning on drawing people out of Syria because it’s a non issue also Putin is being played as well figuring to get them both to act irrationally. whoever it is that is behind this is playing both putting everyone in our countries in jeopardy of destruction. Someone that will go to that length is truly evil. Putin is not a fool but will stand his ground cares for his people and will do what has to be done for his country and people. Trump is a businessman with a big heart he could be goaded into acting starting a path of mutual calamity.
      The only ones that would benefit are the very ones that want the violence there for their gain. If I was trump and Putin I would be trying to figure out who would benefit and go after them to stop them from putting the planet in jeopardy . Since there isn’t anyone in any of our government agencies that isn’t playing to the puppet masters wishes he would have to get worse his own loyal to him to find out just who would benefit by playing him as a fool to get him to do something rash.

    • You seemed to nailed everything except the pharmamafia follow the money allopathic medicine connection hiding in the bottom of the swamp.Good way to avoid assassination.

      • oh my.. yes and they are a pet peeve of mine.. let the citizens pay the whole ticket..

  6. There will be no war in Syria for a number of reasons, and of course the number one reason is that Russia can kick some serious a*s,and its already dis-appeared from the MSN.

    As far as the Ukraine Russia won’t attack them for its already starting to implode, with pensions cut in half and wages not much better off, making it little more than any third world country or sh*t hole country as Trump calls them

  7. https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/04/09/ron_paul_syrian_chemical_attack_makes_no_sense_another_false_flag.html

    https://www.globalresearch.ca/united-nations-confirmed-that-us-supported-rebels-were-using-chemical-weapons/5583988

    The chemical attack.. if there was one doesn’t make any sense at all. Questions that run through my mind is. Why aren’t there any other countries involved. You don’t see the saudi’s interested ..nothing from either side. Even if he did should we be the only police force in the world. We can’t fix our own problems why should we be so concerned over their problems as horrific as it is.
    So I am curious is this whole incident a false flag event goading president trump to act dragging us into a situation that weannot win. The way I see it The only ones that would even remotely benefit are the puppet masters that have been pushing all the buttons trying to end the trump presidency.
    If we acted it would be totally us..
    the only thing to look at is.. who would benefit. Would Assad benefit over it drawing attention to Syria again. Syria and the gas fields hasn’t been mainstream news for what a year.. so the gas attack it totally not logical.

  8. Marlowe..yes, distrust of newspapers goes back to the 1800s….BUT…it is no longer just newspapers. Tv, magazines, video , audio , media ,govt…EVERYTHING of power and influence is now untrustworthy. TPTB can now , EASILY use CGI EFFECTS and create a video that looks 100% real, showing anyone they wish to blacklist/destroy, engaging in some type of illegal or immoral action/s. This type of power/technology is only gonna continue to be used for very evil purposes. WE CANNOT TRUST ANYTHING WE SEE, HEAR ON THE VENUES WE TRUST TO KEEP US INFORMED. Even if we see a video and hear a audio that seems to prove something is true, it no longer means it is true. Do people truly understand the consequences of this ? These lies have gotten so bad, that it may be better to not even view any news whatsoever or listen to any news whatsoever. In this planet of lies, none of us can find a dependable way to separate the lies from the truths.

  10. ”how do sane people in society, who only want the truth, but are forced into a world of lies, go about finding truth about world events?”

    You seek it…

    …and you do a lot of work.

    If “news” contains any editorializing whatsoever, I discount it.

    I define “editorializing” as any injection of: Social or political opinion, race, creed, color, religion, sex or sexual preference, sexual identity or proclivities, or a person’s physical features, unless they are essential to the story.

    When something catches your eye, trace it back to the source. Investigate the source to determine the source-writer’s or writer’s employer’s biases, then use common sense to weight the news, read between the lines, and determine the actual facts surrounding the news piece.

    This is laborious, to say the least, so save your sanity and only investigate stuff which is either actionable by you, or stuff which can screw up your, or your social circle’s lives.

    As you do this, both your ability to investigate, and your personal common sense will improve greatly. You will begin to see the fabrications and subtle attempts at influencing the audience at a glance, and your brain will float right over them when you read or hear MSM blather.

    Marlowe, I don’t believe the powers that be EVER allow reality into the mainstream unless it serves their greater purpose. The real PTB have had many hundreds of years to learn their craft. They don’t make mistakes, save an outlier or an occasional miscalculation…

    • People want to believe.. Like global warming.. as an example. the vast majority don’t want to believe that it is going on.. happening at a very slow speed till it tips then wham like a tree going over or a building being taken down. the thought that humans could have any influence on it would bother them deep. so they would rather not believe it and listen to those that will take the other side of the issue. even though the proof is in the very examples they use to say it doesn’t exist. My thought is with over a hundred different scientific organizations whose reputation is based on their having the most thorough research.
      the same thing goes here.. we have been bombarded from before our president took office. we voted president trump in because we see the need for a change and he could give it to us. He has his faults but he does love our country. He didn’t become president for fame. he was already famous, He didn’t get the job for money he is working for free which makes it even harder.. by strengthening the dollar and our work force actually strengthens his money to..I believe he seen the situation seen how we need to put our people back in the work force and thought he could help our country achieve that goal.. where he made his mistake is he didn’t realize just how corrupt the whole system was and just how deep the roots of the evil controllers have on those in office to the point that even the good going into office are quickly swayed. after doing a little research on his companies it sure didn’t take long to see a pattern.. sure he is ruthless as a negotiator and gets the job done but he is an old softie that has a heart and thinks about those he represents as his employer. That is his downfall now.. the puppet masters I think see this and are playing him with the violin of sorrow misery please help me. our whole political system is so bound to the puppet masters that they cannot operate without their ok. we on the other hand for decades have let them slowly erode our government officials. the new members going into office have good intentions.. well unless they are already tied to the puppet masters.. it is like the story of the devil tempting eve to take a bite of the apple.. it is the same thing here. our officials didn’t see the evil neither did the people they let the devil slowly tempt them the people were easy they want to survive and give the best to their families.. then there are those that want more.. there is never enough more and they let them sway their opinion by saying here is more it is in your grasp.. the cost toss this group or that group under the wheels.. a good example of this is a book that I think explores why we let ourselves be played .. Plato the allegory of the cave.
      Once your in the seat its easier to see the shadows of what they want you to see.. Of course I could be wrong.. but at this point that is what I think from what I have read and observed..

      https://web.stanford.edu/class/ihum40/cave.pdf

  11. BTW, in response to “faked” news via Photoshop or CGI, I was cleaning a neglected corner of my abode two days ago and found a case of Ilford PANF-50 I didn’t know I had. While it’s not impossible to cook film negatives, it’s damn’ difficult, and probably half the people who knew how to do so cleanly have passed-on from old age, since the industry went digital.

    Just sayin’…

  12. Interesting article. I gave Trump the benefit of the doubt…but recent events make this piece a bit more believable. This is what I heard about Trump from former colleagues of mine in the ad biz in New York. He is ineffectual and lazy…a fan of the shortcut. Thoughts?

    https://apple.news/A5NGixPPvTs6gxaK21YtvgQ

  13. IMO Trump is more like Wilson. Once TPTB get him to do what they want, no matter how illicit or immoral, they’ll drop him like a hot rock and laugh at him to his face. He will be impotent. Can you guess what TPTB want from him??? He’s tap dancing now and back stepping on the promises he ran on.

  14. Thank you for bringing up the “sources” issue on news reporting. Been complaining myself about this forever. For me, if it’s not verifiable it ain’t true. Period.

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