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From the beginning of the Russo-Ukraine war – from before the beginning, actually – my media outlet has taken a radically different view of this regional conflict than most publications in the United States.
I have long contended the Russian invasion of Ukraine was provoked, that U.S. president Joe Biden was on the take in Eastern Europe and that all of those headlines implicating Donald Trump as some sort of Russian asset were, as he put it at the time, “fake news.”
Was I correct?
Clearly, the “Trump-Russia” headlines have been proven demonstrably false – exposed as fabrications of the “forever war” crowd which views perpetual military entanglements as their ticket to fame and fortune. Meanwhile, there’s obviously something to the allegations against Biden – which are the focus of an ongoing House impeachment investigation.
But what of the bigger question: The origins of the war itself? Increasingly, it is looking as though the entire conflict is yet another American experiment gone horribly (and expensively) wrong.
The latest evidence in support of this theory is a new report published by The New York Times which revealed the existence of “a C.I.A.-supported network of spy bases constructed in the past eight years,” a networok that includes “twelve secret locations along the Russian border.”
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Described as the “secret nerve center of Ukraine’s military,” this spy network provides – among other capabilities – “intelligence for targeted missile strikes” against Russia. That’s right: America’s Central Intelligence Agency has been actively participating in this “proxy war” that has already cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars – and which is poised to cost them $60 billion more.
“The relationship is so ingrained that C.I.A. officers remained at a remote location in western Ukraine when the Biden administration evacuated U.S. personnel in the weeks before Russia invaded in February 2022,” the report noted. “During the invasion, the officers relayed critical intelligence, including where Russia was planning strikes and which weapons systems they would use.”
Sounds a lot like boots on the ground to us …
Far from decrying this provocative participation in the Ukrainian war effort, the Times report lamented that “Republicans in Congress” could cause its curtailment by refusing to continue subsidizing the “forever war” machine.
“If Republicans in Congress end military funding to Kyiv, the C.I.A. may have to scale back,” reporters Adam Entous and Michael Schwirtz noted.
Perish the thought …
To recap: In 2014, the United States orchestrated the overthrow of Ukraine’s democratically elected government. Yes, you read that right. Our nation – which prides itself on making the world “safe for democracy” – led a coalition of some unseemly allies (including literal Nazis) in overthrowing the administration of pro-Russian Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.
(Click to View)
In Yanukovych’s place, America installed a diplomat fresh out of Hillary Clinton’s state department as Ukraine’s finance minister. Meanwhile, another American diplomat, Victoria Nuland, joined U.S. ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt in hand-picking the country’s next prime minister – Arseniy Yatsenyuk – and frog-marching him directly to the Oval Office to receive his marching orders from then-president Barack Obama.
“(The 2014) coup was not only supported by the United States and European Union governments – much of it was actually planned by them,” former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul wrote at the time.
Marching order No. 1? Getting Ukraine back on track to eventually join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) – which it signaled its intentions to do in 2021.
Yeah … did we really expect Russian president Vladimir Putin to just roll over for that?
As Obama’s vice president, Biden was in charge of American policy in Ukraine in the aftermath of the coup. The result of the free hand he was given? Scandals. And self-interest. Our audience will recall Biden bragged on camera in January 2018 about getting Ukrainian prosecutor general Viktor Shokin fired from his post. Specifically, he discussed his threat to withhold a billion dollars worth of U.S. loan guarantees if Shokin wasn’t removed from office.
“I said ‘I’m telling you, you’re not getting the billion dollars,’” Biden boasted. “I said you’re not getting the billion – I’m gonna be leaving here … in six hours, if the prosecutor is not fired you’re not getting the money.”
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RELATED | THE POVERTY OF UKRAINE’S SOCIALISM
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“Well son of a bitch – got fired,” Biden added, pausing for dramatic effect.
At the time of his ouster, Shokin was investigating Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian natural gas company that was facing global scrutiny for alleged money laundering operations. Bursima had previously appointed Hunter Biden to its board and given him a huge payday – an annual salary of approximately $1 million a year.
How deep in this scandal is the Biden family? Well, we found out during his 2020 White House bid … except no, that story was spiked by the mainstream media and overtly censored by left-leaning social media, wasn’t it? Hell, they are still trying to cover it up – as evidenced by the recent seizure of confidential documents from former CBS investigative reporter Catherine Herridge, who covered the Hunter Biden laptop scandal.
This media outlet staunchly opposed the American-led coup d’état in Ukraine in 2014 – and has staunchly opposed the ongoing subsidization of Biden’s proxy war against Russia.
“This is pure Euro-drama – the sort of continental entanglement our founding fathers explicitly warned us not to engage in,” I wrote back in 2014. “America must resist the urge to intervene militarily in the Ukraine. We cannot afford to get involved – but even if we could, there is simply no compelling national interest to justify such involvement.”
(Click to View)
Keeping America out of this war – and compelling NATO nations to subsidize their own national defense – were key foreign policy triumphs of the Trump administration, unless you think further bankrupting our nation to pay for Eastern European security is a core function of our national government.
Which the GOP “neoconservative” establishment clearly thinks it is …
“Whether it is this flashpoint, the one in the Middle East or the one in Taiwan, America’s neoconservative political leaders continue to advance costly policies aimed at inviting broader conflicts with our top geopolitical rivals, China and Russia,” I noted last spring.
Just as importantly, we have continued to call out the one-sided reporting on this story from mainstream media outlets who – like Ukraine’s new leaders – take their marching orders from the White House.
To be clear: None of this has anything to do with any particular affinity for Trump, whom I regard as having been a failure on the cornerstone issues of taxes and spending during his first term in office (and a decidedly mixed bag on the border security on which he is currently re-campaigning). Nor, clearly, does it have anything to do with any particular affinity for Putin – who seems to me to have been cut from the same cloth as the thugs who bloodied the walls of the Ipatiev House.
What does it have to do with, then? The truth.
“The organizing principle of any society … is for war,” a fictitious CIA operative noted in Oliver Stone’s 1991 hit JFK. “The authority of the state over its people resides in its war powers.”
‘Twas ever thus and ever thus will be … and God Forbid anyone (even a democratically elected American president) try to stand in the way of it.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina and before that he was a bass guitarist and dive bar bouncer. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and seven (soon to be eight) children.
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25 comments
This is really a crackpot take. Short of an impending invasion of *Russia* from Ukraine, there was no action that could reasonably be called a provocation of Russia’s invasion of sovereign Ukraine territory. Not to mention any excuse for its 2014 invasion of Crimea or its occupation of parts of Donbas through Russian-armed local proxies. Russia amassed military units and weaponry all along its border with Ukraine for weeks prior to its actual invasion, and neither Ukraine nor NATO took that bait. Responding to Russia’s military buildup with a corresponding defensive posture would have been reasonable, in any case, but it’s what Russia wanted in order to materially justify its already-planned invasion. Nobody has ever given Russia a good reason to invade Ukraine, and Russia has never even had any justification for a complaint: Ukraine is a sovereign country and has the right to join NATO if it wants to and meets NATO’s requirements. Russia has other NATO members on its borders including Poland and the Baltics; and they have never challenged a peaceful coexistence with Russia. The actual truth is that Russia simply wants to control its neighbors, like it has tried to do since the days of Ivan IV, and threw a tantrum when Ukraine chose a different path. Imagine what a prosperous and influential country Russia would have been by now if Putin had simply decided to continue its democratic development and respect national borders and sovereignty. Testimonials like yours simply service the influence campaign Russia is carrying out through its useful idiots in the Republican Party. If you think aid to Ukraine is expensive, think again: the cost of defending NATO against an empowered Russia after a Ukraine defeat would be *far* more expensive for American taxpayers. And think about how much of the money Congress should allocate to continue assisting Ukraine will go to American manufacturers, which will strengthen the US military with new weapons systems as the older ones go to Ukraine for its use. That money goes straight to US companies and the taxpayers who work for and invest in those companies. For once, *think* man.
The pallet of rubles has arrived at the FitsNews HQ along with Tucker Carlson glamour shots.
So, what happened to that story between January 2017 and January 2021?
And what do you think will happen if Trump gets elected?
Seriously, can you answer?
You dare question the Dear Leader?
Tell the truth – Prioleau helped you write this? It makes almost as little sense as his (satirical) civil war piece…
They must use the same dealer now.
No kidding had same thought..
This is so nuts it would be funny if it weren’t so sad and dangerous. Have you ever asked yourself how you got on the side of Putin–whose political opponents die mysterious deaths–but against Germany, France, England, Sweden, Japan—I can go on. As stated above, Ukraine didn’t invade Russia–the idea that they provoked this war is practically blasphemous. Hey Will—the people of Ukraine don’t want to be Russian. That’s why they have fought so bravely.
“Have you ever asked yourself how you got on the side of Putin”
I’m $ure there’$ a rea$onable explanation a$ to how Will got to thi$ point.
I thought you stopped drinking. This is crazy talk and when I signed for Fits for the 3rd time I thought you had moved on from craziness. I guess not.
Russian propaganda. You will not get Tucker’s job no matter how hard you try.
No one has ever debunked the pro-Trump Russian involvement in our 2016 election. There is no other reason all those Trump people were so involved with Russian Oligarchs, but you can believe what you want.
The Joe Biden impeachment investigation is a total joke. It was all generated by a report from a wait for it. . . a Russian intelligence asset and a Chinese intelligence asset. They have zero evidence of a crime by Joe Biden. Which is it? Is Biden a brilliant criminal mastermind who tricked Congressional Republicans into using fake information from a Russian spy or is he a demented old fool?
Look the US Defense Budget last year was 850 billion give or take. Why do we spend so much money on defense? Because we want a military that with our allies could defend us against a combined Russian/Chinese attack. With 60 billion of that last year, we have crushed the military and economy of one of our two enemies. This war has cost the Russians 300,000 men, thousands of tanks, tens of thousands of rockets, missiles, and drones; hundreds of aircraft (including 2 of their five multibillion-dollar Russian AWACs counterparts; that they can’t replace), and has decimated their black sea fleet. All at the cost of not one single American soldier. In addition, the Rubble is in free fall; the Russian alliance with the Chinese has been weakened; CSTO (Russia’s NATO style alliance with its vassal countries) is beginning to splinter, NATO is stronger than ever, gaining two new members with solid military capability; we have shored up our alliances with the Japanese, the South Koreans, and the Philippines; all of whom are dramatically increasing their defense spending; and China is now hesitant to attack Taiwan because they aren’t sure they would win (remember those rockets filled with water). How is all that not great for America? Wow, now that I think of it, maybe Biden is a mastermind.
I fully embrace the right wing narrative that Sleepy Joe is just a doddering, tired dementia patient crapping himself and falling down stairs all the time because that’s who beat them in 2020 and is likely to beat them now. I swear, 2028 is going to have some confused, drug-addled rando wander on stage at a random DNC event to make a few fart noises into the microphone and suddenly find himself nominated and beating Trump Jr in the general election.
“No one has ever debunked the pro-Trump Russian involvement in our 2016 election.” Dear God man, have you not read a single thing in the Mueller report, which concluded after about 2 years of desperate searching by about 50-some FBI agents and contractors, at the expense of over 32 million bucks, that there was no credible evidence of collusion between the Trump, his campaign, and the Russians? Not a single person was charged with a crime of treason, espionage, or anything of that nature – just “process” crimes – and most of them spurious at that.
Furthermore, I read with great interest every prior post made by readers on this article, looking for any specific assertion that any of the material FACTS that the article set forth was wrong – i.e. FACTUALLY debunking some aspect of the article regarding the actions taken by our government and the west that led up to this war….and I saw not one post that could do so – only people name-calling and innuendo- the calling cards of those who can’t or won’t roll up their sleeves and critically examine the facts and debate them if there is debate to be had.
“at the expense of over 32 million bucks”
Hey, that’s almost half a term’s worth of golf right there!
Actually, the Mueller report did not exonerate Trump. The Mueller report said the investigation did not find a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, but that due to Trump campaign officials refusal to testify or their false and/or incomplete testimony, they did not have sufficient evidence to ascertain the full extent of the campaign’s involvement with Putin or Russians acting on his behalf. Trusting Russia is a grave mistake, but boy howdy the GOP is fully invested, probably because the Russians are fully invested in the GOP.
Obviously you are the one who did not read the Muller report. From May 29, 2019
“WASHINGTON (AP) — Special counsel Robert Mueller said Wednesday that charging President Donald Trump with a crime was “not an option” because of federal rules, but he used his first public remarks on the Russia investigation to emphasize that he did not exonerate the president.
“If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so,” Mueller declared.
What grade is this author in? I taught middle school for 32 years. I’m guessing 7 th grade.
I hope not, 7th graders should at least be able to reason their way out of a wet paper bag.
The New York Times article was fascinating but how you managed to twist it into your own paranoid view of reality was incredible. I maintain that the article actually debunks most of your wide-eyed hand wringing theories. But thanks for the link. It was a good read.
You are right so far as the history but you neglect all the Ukes who were willing to die for their independence.
Very thought provoking article Will – thanks for publishing for those of us smart enough to listen to both sides of an issue and search for the TRUTH thru research!
For some perspective on the whole US-Ukraine-Russia debacle, let’s think for a moment how we might view things with the shoe on the other foot in the arc of history. I shudder to think this, but imagine that the US had not won the cold war- that the USSR was able to successfully expand the grip of communism across the globe to the point that we could not outspend and outproduce the Commies in the arms race, and instead of the USSR collapsing, we did. And rather than the Warsaw Pact collapsing, it was instead NATO that disbanded. And we turned from capitalism and became a communist country. And in the ensuing years, the the USSR and the Warsaw Pact kept expanding, bringing in new nations across Europe, despite repeatedly promising us that they were not going to keep expanding. The USSR continued to arrange its military assets and strategy with the view that America was still an enemy, instead of merely a competitor who sometimes plays dirty (like Russia). One by one, the nations of Europe keep joining Warsaw Pact, setting up bases and ports, and intelligence collecting centers all directed at us. Finally, after about 30 years, they figure out how to cause a soft coup of Canada, or at least a substantial part of it. Now they are going to have air bases and missile sites directly across the boarder, with a ground force strike defense response time of about 30 minutes, instead of a 12 to 24 hours. After all those years of protestation, what do you think we would do? Do you think at some point we would just say – “screw it! you guys just keep pushing and pushing, and lying and lying and now you are on our doorstep! It’s time to fight, because nothing else seems to work.” I don’t think our response would be miles off from what Russia is doing. Yes, they are dirty and corrupt. Yes they are run by a despot with a constellation of likewise corrupt oligarchs that he has made rich. But in the larger picture, every nation who possesses a means to do something about it, has a limit to what they will put up with. And probably a million men are going to die, and their families irretrievably destroyed over something that probably could have been averted had the unchecked neocons and liberal globalists been put in check. And I say that as a former bright-eyed, young erstwhile neocon who thought after the first Gulf War that the US and its western allies could eventually overthrow and destroy all of its enemies, one by one, with the might or our military, economy, and intelligence assets, and create that “new world order” that everyone was salivating over up until about two years into the Iraqi occupation. The neocon globalist experiment was tried – in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Egypt, and now Ukraine, and in every instance, it cost far more blood and treasure that it was worth, and ultimately yielded little to nothing in terms of lasting accomplishments for our nation.
First of all, if you think Russia is not our enemy, you are crazy. They actively want to destroy the US so that we cannot prevent them from attacking their European neighbors at will. Putin wants to reestablish the Russian Empire, including eastern Europe and Alaska. Through lies, deceit, and cyber warfare they interfere in our elections and sow division among our population. And yes they want Trump as President because they think they can manipulate him or bribe him to get what they want.
But I do not need to consider your hypothetical, because it’s absurd. All the countries trying to join NATO are doing so because they are afraid of the Russians, not because there is some conspiracy to surround Russia. They know the Russians want to take over their countries and make them part of a greater Russian Empire ruled by Russian Oligarchs. Canada is not worried about the US invading and taking over Canada, so they would have no reason to ally with an evil empire. But to put this into perspective. If Canada announced tomorrow that their people felt it was in their best interest to enter into a defense alliance with Russia and China, I am certain we would not invade. That would be their decision. We would not bomb their cities, kill tens of thousands of Canadian citizens, and seize control of Montreal, Quebec, and Vancouver. NATO is a defense alliance, not an aggression alliance. If the Russians were not a threat, NATO would likely not exist.
Seriously? Did you know the Warsaw Pact countries you mentioned were the first to request NATO membership? And maybe it is not just a detail of history that they were occupied by Russia for over 40 years that caused that? That Finland and Sweden just joined, was that a U.S. plot? Could it bc something about Russia? Nah!
Will, I am sure you relied on “deeply knowledgeable and reliable” sources for all the unsubstantiated claims in this short blurt of truth to power reporting & I know you must protect them due to journalistic honor. But could you please assure us all that highly placed Russian intelligence officers reached out to you on this?