Meanwhile in Ukraine

[SuburbanFarmer]

there is a whole nother element which is not considered by the uninitiated

even if you invoke Article V

you still have to go from there to get an United Nations Security Council Resolution Chapter 7

which Russia & China will veto

at which point, anybody in NATO who is not so keen on fighting Russia & China

like everybody except the US, UK, Canada & Poland

then has an out to say that Article V is not binding

Never heard of that part..

[C-Mag]

Forced Conscription now in Ukraine

UA soldiers were stopping cars and busses and yanking out any man aged 18-60 to conscript in the Ukrainian Army. In one place, a commissar was shouting “say goodbye to your daughters, mothers, and girlfriends; you must turn back and fight the Russian invader!”

We made friends with a 24-year-old named Max who was pulled out of the caravan as he talked with us. I had time to get his number before his conscription and he left with a grin of utter disbelief. I will never forget that face.
A woman screamed for the army to spare her husband from conscription. A soldier slapped her and took her husband.

Things seem really desperate.
There were old women carrying rucksacks hobbling along the shoulder. I asked one where she was going and she said “Poland!” She was going to walk the 80km on her own.
Toddlers took the journey hard. Many were forced to walk the distance despite not knowing what was going on.
“Forget your wife, forget your daughter, fight for Ukraine.”
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1497 ... 84896.html

72 hours ago Ukraine was living the life of a Proto-Western Democracy and enjoying the fruits of Globalism. A couple days later their government is forcing them to fight a Russian invasion.

Wild Shit.

[C-Mag]

Sitrep from Russian anti Ukraine Donetsk

[Smitty-48]

there is a whole nother element which is not considered by the uninitiated

even if you invoke Article V

you still have to go from there to get an United Nations Security Council Resolution Chapter 7

which Russia & China will veto

at which point, anybody in NATO who is not so keen on fighting Russia & China

like everybody except the US, UK, Canada & Poland

then has an out to say that Article V is not binding

Never heard of that part..

according to international law & the laws of armed conflict

you can't launch any military operations against a foreign power

without the consent of the Security Council

America asserts that NATO can do whatever it pleases, without the UN, as Washington always does

and the UK generally goes along with America

but critically, within the ranks of NATO, France asserts that their must be Security Council authorization

knowing full well that Russia & China will veto

so France is holding that card in its pocket, as an out clause

if you lose France, most of the alliance will balk with them

really there is no NATO

this is the US & UK operating on their own, backed up by only Canada reliably

everybody else is in question

[Smitty-48]

now bear in mind

back in the Cold War ?

it wasn't going to matter

because the Balloon would only go up if the Inner German Border was breached

the Soviets, by crossing the trace, would be the aggressors by default

we would have been fighting on West German soil, so no UNSC required

but with this expanded NATO now on the offensive against Russia ?

suddenly the Washington Treaty starts to break down

[Smitty-48]

just like every other hollowed out rotted to the core institution of the west now

NATO is a house of cards

Putin knows

[Smitty-48]

let's just look at Turkey for example

not only the second largest army in NATO after the US Army

but actually the most critical NATO member of them all

why so critical ?

Turkey has absolute control of the Bosporus Strait and maritime access to the Black Sea

and what have they been doing, aside from becoming a fascist dictatorship ?

buying weapons from Russia & China

a Trojan Horse inside the NATO wire, with NATO B61 tactical nuclear weapons on their soul

NATO is a basket case

[Smitty-48]

don't forget, when they expanded NATO back in the 90's ?

that was The End of History

what we are seeing now, was never going to happen

the Soviet Union was gone

NATO would now just be a World Police Force led by Washington

so this is now a house of cards, in the face of The Return of History

this expanded NATO structure is simply incapable of doing what NATO was originally designed to do

it won't bear the weight, it will collapse under the weight of its own contradictions

[Smitty-48]

furthermore

Russia is in a real defensive alliance with China

the Collective Security Treaty Organization ( CSTO )

therefore, in the event of any hostile action against Russia

China is bound to come to their aid

that's China, which is propping the debt of the western world up

so wouldn't even have to use military force

Chinese debt leverage gives them the power to push any NATO member around, nary a shot fired

but if China were to add military threat on top of that ?

do you really think any of these NATO members want to go there

for Joe Biden ?

[Smitty-48]

ramifications to consider therein ?

this is not just Russia challenging NATO

this is Russia & China challenging NATO

Putin would do all this without checking with Xi Jinping first ?

probably not

so the other shoe hasn't even fallen yet

this is why the EU members are running away already

this is why they can't push this too far, forcing China's hand if they did