The sanction have been one of the most spectacular backfires especially when on consider the new multi polar world arising and the threat to the dollar.
Confiscating the Russian Oligarchs money was a blessing to the Russians as was the departure of some 300 to 400 thousands anti Russian dissidents.
Take look at this very insightful clip.
https://www.euronews.com/2023/05/24/why-do-disgraced-americans-like-scott-ritter-spout-pro-putin-propaganda-in-russia
Scott Ritter, former chief UN weapons inspector, in front of a courthouse in the US after he was sentanced to 18-66 months for unlawful contact with a minor. 26 October 2011 - Copyright DAVID KIDWELL/AP By Una Hajdari • 25/05/2023Former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter is touring Russian cities and claiming Ukraine will lose the war. Why do he and other disgraced Americans insist on defending Putin's rhetoric?
Russian propaganda outlets have loved quoting Americans they believe are arguing in Moscow's favour ever since the 2014 invasion of Ukraine, and even more so since the full-scale attack launched in February last year.
While the concept of Western intellectuals kowtowing to Soviet leadership – and downplaying their crimes – was relatively common during the Cold War, it has gained new momentum since Russian President Vladimir Putin made clear his plans to either break up or occupy the entirety of Ukraine.
Scott Ritter, a former UN weapons inspector in the 1990s, and a Marine Corps analyst during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan a decade prior, is among the cohort of Americans courted by Russian propaganda sources.
Recently, he launched a tour of his new book, “Disarmament in the time of the Perestroika,” in Russia, and presented it in cities such as Kazan, Irkutsk and Yekaterinburg. The book, he claims, aims to warn the US public about not seeking out escalations with Russia which could lead to a nuclear attack and insists the Western public has forgotten how difficult it was to achieve these agreements in the first place.
For those with any knowledge of the main political talking points that circulate in Russian media – some of which might be based on real fears, such as that of a nuclear-level escalation – Ritter is singing a song the Russians like to hear.
“People like him turn to Russia and to the cold yet very confining embrace of the Russian government because they’re opportunists,” says Natalia Antonova, a longtime Moscow-based reporter and editor, as well as an OSINT researcher with a keen familiarity with Russian disinformation techniques.
“They see a financial and career opportunity by working for and with the Russians. By that I mean bad Russians, the very same bureaucrats who are enabling Russian fascists today and are enabling this attempt at a genocide in Ukraine.”
Antonova is Ukrainian-American, and for someone who straddles both worlds, Ritter is an example of a typical disgraced American – often a man – who discredited himself in the US and now wants to be perceived as a source of “honest analysis” in Russia as a means to achieve renewed or increased glory.
“Desperate men like him have frequently come to Russia to get a fresh start. It’s true that Russians will overlook anything as long as you’re useful to them. They don’t care,” she explained.
Ritter is a convicted sex offender, having been caught exposing himself to minors online on several occasions. He served a year and a half in prison. Despite this, he claims he was being targeted by the US administration for his opposition to the war in Iraq.
“If you follow the local Russian news as it reports on Ritter’s grand tour of Russia, in local outlets such as the Kazan or Izhevsk news, none of them mention his arrest record and conviction,” said Antonova.
“They don’t even say, ‘oh this man was wrongfully imprisoned, it was a conspiracy against him.’ They just don’t mention it at all.”
Not all truth-tellers are welcome in today’s Russia. Last week, 500 Americans, including figures like former President Barack Obama and late-night television hosts Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel, were placed on Moscow's biggest list of sanctioned individuals so far.
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested in Yekaterinburg in March, and Russian officials are continuing to deny the US embassy access to their citizen.
Ritter, unlike the people on the sanctions list, “gets a chance to reinvent himself and feel good about himself again, and the Russians will let him do it,” said Antonova.
The term “tankie” is familiar to anyone with some knowledge of the politics of the former Soviet Union. It emerged during the Soviet invasions of Hungary and Czechoslovakia in the mid-20th century as a reference to those who downplayed the fact that Kremlin tanks were used to suppress protests and opposition in cities like Prague and Budapest.
It is common internet slang nowadays, especially among those seeking to weed out apologists for the Putin regime. You can find tankies of all kinds - from anonymous Twitter trolls waxing poetic about NATO's expansion into Eastern Europe, to renowned journalists and academics.
One of the more distinguished among them is American journalist Seymour Hersh, once a renowned and revered writer, and known for his trailblazing reporting on US crimes such as the My Lai massacre and the torture of Iraqi civilians in Abu Ghraib.
Recently, he launched a ferocious debate after publishing an article alleging the US had bombed the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The controversial gas route through the Baltic Sea was supposed to circumvent countries like Ukraine and Poland – Russia’s main political opponents even before the invasion -- in delivering gas to the western part of the continent.
“Some people, like Hersh, also really got their spirits crushed. He reported on truly horrifying things that the US military did, like My Lai and Abu Ghraib. These are terrifying events in US history that are shameful,” explains Antonova.
Oliver Stone, the US director famous for films about US presidents such as “JFK” and “W”, has also become part of the formerly illustrious set of Western figures now whitewashing the crimes being committed in Ukraine. He produced “Ukraine on Fire,” which came out in 2014, a movie downplaying the Euromaidan protests that led to the ouster of corrupt pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych in 2014 and presenting them as a US-led coup d'état.
“That can really break a person to the point that they kind of turn to the proverbial dark side – and they don’t even realise it. They’re so caught up in the bad things the United States have done that they completely demonise the US,” she said.
Antonova says that while it is patriotic to criticise your country, these figures have gone as far as to “lose some of their objectivity and ability to think critically about some countries,” to the point that they now “start embracing foreign dictators”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is interviewed by American director Oliver Stone for a documentary in Moscow. 19 June 2019Alexei Druzhinin/SputnikDuring the Cold War, the Soviet Union put a lot of time and effort into convincing its citizens that they are, in fact, living better lives than their Western counterparts.
This was coupled with the firm claim that the Soviet Union was on the right side of history – it had played a crucial part in defeating Nazism in Europe -- and the idea that it was the first country with an expansive socialist system that would provide equal opportunities to all its citizens.
Your average Russian citizen today still wants the West to recognise that they have something special to offer – and that countries like the US should treat them as equals.
“Russians really want Americans to like them. There is a kind of aggrieved revanchism at play there. They might hate Americans on one hand, but they want Americans to care about them and like them,” Antonova explains.
This is why the Scott Ritters, Steven Seagals and Oliver Stones of the world are welcomed with open arms in Russia – especially if they can point to ways the US is perhaps worse than their own country.
“[With Scott Ritter] we have this American who's not afraid to speak the truth and he tells us what we want to hear. When an American does that, on a fundamental psychological level, it feels fantastic and it also reinforces the goals of the officials that obviously helped him plan his trip,” she continued.
Putin has invested a significant amount of time in undermining Western societies, and trying to fight the inferiority complex many Russians feel.
“So when Americans repeat Putinist talking points it means something,” she conclu
SponsoredStronger than ever? The war in Ukraine says otherwise.
Russia is weak, look no further than the drones that made it to Moscow's richest elite residential area just a few days ago. Apparently, these drones were not armed, so it was a warning shot to show the oligarchs and government officials that they are not out of range.
Civil war is starting to break out in Russia, which will make Putin's only remaining tactic of dragging the war out forever more difficult
LOL stronger than ever.
Such delusions.
There is one aspect about this war that can no longer be ignored or denied..... the number of Russian people against this war is growing every day, and the unrest in Russia is escalating.... even from previous staunch Putin supporters
It's refreshing to know that there are still some honest, brave young true Englishmen like Mike Jones.
Well done Mike.
https://www.youtube.com/live/PYj2eQs6VUQ?feature=share
The warmonger took yet another "DIVE" in front of the folks who are going to defend the USA.
They must love their "Leader and war lord"
Priceless.
Ou Blobbrain getting taken in by smear campaigns the poor dope never learns. But he can comfort himself he is not the only gullible twit.
Russias biggest weakness is Putin. He thought he would roll into town with his tanks and take over the show. By the end of this war, Putin will have no tanks
Any Westerner that supports Putin is religious - although not all religious people support Putin. It seems to be more about logical thinking ability and emotional intelligence than ideology.
Sies Beansht4Brns, you're an unabashed supporter of this dirty ole paedophile. S hame on you.
All atheists talk rubbish.
..
He sounds just like another atheist.
More like yet another man of the cloth, your religion sure seems to love the old pedo's as you seem to have cornered the market in that field.
Former British Ambassador on
How Europe sees the Ukraine War Now - Alastair Crooke fmr Brit Ambassador
I am interested to see Turkey, who has the most F16 fighter in Europe sees the USA more as interested in their own western dominance than merely protecting Ukraine.
Hegemonic Hubris of course they do...that has been the problem (and sin) all along since the Cold War days. The false pride factor in all of us is that we deceive ourselves when we believe we are superior as a nation, group or tribe than our fellowman. We do it in harmless stage at first, ie sport which really is light and ridiculing humour but when it comes to life...to treat others with understanding and respect we neglect.
Just remember, it is easy to deceive others but you cannot deceive yourself and God.
To be taught honesty at all costs is a great priviledge and if peers taught you that you can go on your knees and thank the Almighty. It's one of the greatest values that anyone can achieve.
Something that is very rare today...politicians, governments, media and peer groups lie through their teeth to get selfish gains...hubris rules supreme until pride before a fall. God is in control and no respecter of persons.
USA and West is going down big time.
It's so funny to see our resident pervs getting outraged by Ritter apparently being in loved with a minor.
Where has this outrage been with one leftists perv AFTER ANOTHER being unmasked, with Pedo Joe Biden, Hunter Biden , Bill Gate's etc etc etc. Never mind the support of leftists for LGBT. you are dead silent.
Your hypocrisy stinks.
As for Ritter being involved with a minor it's the first I have heard about it. I have not seen this and given the repeated smears and lies of the left I will keep my eyes open for any evidence of this.
Regardless Ritter on the Ukraine war makes a lot of sense.
Russia will win this war and gullible dupes of the Globalist media will once again have mountains of EGG landing. It's getting monotonous. BWAHAHAHAHA.
Scott Ritters charges with a minor were a trap set by the CIA because like Julian Assange he exposed the Bush/Blair govts to the most terrible war crimes in history...he came against "Big Brother".
What happened was the CIA set him up with a young girl on internet sex, she was underage 17 and you cannot distinguish a 17 year old from a young girl at this age from 18 to perhaps even a lot older today. Like all young men we can fall into temptation especially when we are randy warm blooded men been in the forces for a few years with temptation. I'm not condoning it but "he who is without sin cast the first stone! " he was tempted and caught out, remember King David with Bathsheba.
Like all men and women, we are sinners, that's why we need a Saviour. The unbelievers think that's just an excuse but as they don't believe and think not seeing is safe to continue to hide behind the most ugliest thoughts and acts behind closed doors. Christ said we are judged even by our thoughts and that any man lusts after another mans wife in his heart, it's as guilty as adultery.
Hypocrites in judgement and more devious and evil abusing power to destroy. Incidentally Scott came clean but refused to accept that he was a criminal, he rather like a man, chose to go to prison..."they" offered him freedom if he admitted a crime...he refused and spent 1 and a half years years in a tough prison, incidentally he confessed this to his wife and was forgiven and they have a good marriage. She actually is a Georgian/Russian...their marriage is strong...he has 2 beautiful daughters who love him dearly. He is certainly no pervert...and I'm not sure if there is one or more on this forum here, judging by the way they talk.
Hypocrisy is the worst sin in God's eyes than most.
The bottom line is this: The USSA is a third world nation, Western Europe is not a power in any capacity, and Russia has made the USSA and it' s wagging tails look like dopey, primitive apes. I seem to recall an encounter between Obiden and a Conservative shortly after being "elected", Obiden said, "I don't work for you, let that sink in". Well, who does he work for? The Western leaders are Marxists who are working to destroy the West. I for one don't mind. I'm very pleased with how everything has unveiled, but those who hate the East, those of mental ability above that more than a clinically braindead specimen, should be concerned. If they eat up MSM lies, well, it's no skin off my back. I don't care how the reality is interpreted, it's going the way I like and that's all that matters.
Excellent post Seb
I have found Scott Ritter to be a truth teller of note. The FBI is guilty of many an entrapment. It's catching up with them now
Deus always remember that many people in the West don't at all agree with what their Marxist Globalist Governments are doing.
Hopefully in the next few years we shall see these Globalist scumbags thrown out
Where are they? The entire culture has collapsed because not enough people wanted what was right. Decades in the making. One thing that unites the left and right whingers: a hatred of truth, and HaShem. Good riddance to all of them. Ende.
I have seen on Twitter, Gab, Parker and Gettr the anguish of the American people as to what is going on in their country.
Americans voted for Trump in record numbers but the elections were rigged.
Go and look at my post regarding the polls on trans support Deus. The American people very clearly don't want al l this woke perversion.