Confirmed: The Germans WERE Indeed Planning An Attack on Russia!
I didn't believe it at first!
The Kremlin bugged the Germans and found out about their scheming to target the Crimean bridge with their Taurus rockets.
This is troubling news.
Here:
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised on Saturday (Mar 2) a full investigation after a recording of confidential army talks on the Ukraine war was circulated on Russian social media, in a huge embarrassment for Berlin.
A German Defence Ministry spokeswoman confirmed to AFP that the ministry believed a conversation in the Air Force division was "intercepted".
"We are currently unable to say for certain whether changes were made to the recorded or transcribed version that is circulating on social media," the spokeswoman said.
The head of Russia's state-backed RT channel, Margarita Simonyan, posted on Friday the 38-minute audio recording of what she claimed were German army officers discussing potential strikes on Crimea in a Feb 19 videoconference.
In the recording, discussions can be heard on the possible use by Ukrainian forces of German-made Taurus missiles and their potential impact.
Topics included aiming the missiles at targets such as a key bridge over the Kerch strait linking the Russian mainland to Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.
The discussions also cover the use of missiles provided to Kyiv by France and Britain.
Kyiv has long been calling on Germany to provide it with Taurus missiles, which can reach targets up to 500km away.
"SWORN ENEMIES"
Scholz has so far refused to send the missiles, worried that it would lead to an escalation of the conflict.
"What is being reported is a very serious matter and that is why it is now being investigated very carefully, very intensively and very quickly," Scholz said during a visit to Rome on Saturday.
Germany's ARD broadcaster described the leak as a "catastrophe" for the German secret services.
According to Der Spiegel magazine, the videoconference was held on the WebEx platform, and not on a secret internal army network.
Is this better or worse than Russian officials using Zoom to negotiate with Zelensky?
"If this story turns out to be true, it would be a highly problematic event," Green party politician Konstantin von Notz told the RND broadcaster.
Speaking at a diplomatic forum in Türkiye on Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the recording indicated that Ukraine and its backers "do not want to change their course at all, and want to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia on the battlefield".
I was told by ZAnon that NATO was begging for surrender and sweet release, but that Putin was simply laughing them off while planning his eventual invasion of Berlin? Now we hear that NATO is planning to drive the knife home? No way! Fooled again!
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova demanded that Germany "promptly" provide explanations for the discussion.
"Attempts to avoid answering the questions will be regarded as an admission of guilt," she said.
"Our age-old rivals - the Germans - have again turned into our sworn enemies," former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy head of the Security Council, wrote in a Telegram post.
Another great geopolitical Putin victory.
TAURUS MISSILES
The acquisition of German Taurus missiles would provide a massive boost for Ukraine as Kyiv struggles to fend off Russia's invasion.
France and Britain have supplied Kyiv with SCALP and Storm Shadow missiles, both of which have a range of about 250 kilometres.
But Scholz said last week that Germany could not justify matching British and French moves in sending long-range missiles to Ukraine and supporting the weapon system's deployment.
"This is a very long-range weapon, and what the British and French are doing in terms of targeting and supporting targeting cannot be done in Germany," Scholz said, without specifying exactly what he meant.
Britain denied that it had any direct involvement in operating the missiles.
"Ukraine's use of Storm Shadow and its targeting processes are the business of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," a Ministry of Defence spokesperson said in a statement to AFP.
Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, chair of the defence committee in Germany's parliament, said Moscow's intention was "obvious".
Scholz is being "warned against" supplying Ukraine with Taurus missiles, she said.
"We urgently need to increase our security and counterintelligence, because we are obviously vulnerable in this area," she told the Funke media group.
Roderich Kiesewetter, from Germany's opposition conservatives, warned that further recordings might also be leaked.
"A number of other conversations will certainly have been intercepted and may be leaked at a later date for Russia's benefit," he told broadcaster ZDF.
And Russian media is reeling from the revelations.
If you don’t know, Russia was pursuing better relations with Germany since forever, with Putin especially going out of his way to court the German leadership. The Russian chattering classes were deeply disappointed when the German elite, almost unanimously, sided with Washington over the Ukraine thing. And the blowing up of Nordstream 2 was treated with a hiccup within Germany as well. So much for offering cheaper gas and pipelines to Germany to win them over from Washington. Another geopolitical failure of Putin’s foreign policy. You could argue that he had no chance, really, but then why spend all that time and money on it?
But whatever.
I am sure that this is actually a big “W” and that Yahwehists are the only ones that can see it thanks to divine revelation from their god.
Good on the Kremlin for bugging the Germans though.
I wonder though if the fact that the Kremlin published these bugged conversations is a desperation move. Like, if they still believed that negotiations were possible, they would presumably not embarrass their German colleagues and also reveal that they have been spying on them. So, this must be further proof that Russia no longer has any friends in Europe. Macron coming out and suggesting moving NATO troops to Ukraine is further proof of this. In the early days of the conflict, Macron showed an eagerness to negotiate with Putin.
That is gone now. Here:
At the Ukraine summit in Paris on Monday, President Emmanuel Macron made a startling announcement.
"We will do whatever it takes to ensure that Russia cannot win this war," he told reporters.
"Everything is possible," he said, including sending Western troops to Ukraine.
It seemed a clear escalation in the West's support for Kyiv. It has also signalled a decisive shift by President Macron.
In late 2021 he was the holdout leader exhausting every diplomatic initiative to get Vladimir Putin to change course, even warning against the west "humiliating" Russia.
Now he was presenting himself as the standard bearer of a more robust European response as the war enters its third year.
I mean, am I just “dooming” again or is this all not proof that the West smells blood in the water and isn’t interested in peace with an opponent that is already reeling? What is the alternative explanation? I haven’t checked in on what ZAnon has been saying, so I genuinely don’t know what the new spin is yet.
Feel free to fill me in.
Clearly, the conflict will continue and more pressure will be put on Russia.
Crowing about the number of Ukrainian dead to deflect from the geopolitical noose tightening around Russia is both ghoulish and stupid. No one cares about the dead slavs in Kiev or in the West (or Moscow). So, why is it such a big “W” for Jesus that tens of thousands of conscripted men are being killed off on both sides? Why is Russia “winning” when NATO feels emboldened to send in troops, start giving even longer range missiles, and targeting targets in Russia proper?
I know that this is supposed to be yet another brilliant Putin 5D maneuver.
But, honestly, I just don’t get it.
What's most upsetting and insulting about the modern-era is the sloppiness on all sides. German military leadership using unprotected channels, etc., it all shows a ruling class that not only selects purposefully for the unqualified, but it shows a fundamental lack of fear.
That's really what it is. They have won, and because they have won they feel safe and don't care. They are completely justified in not obeying what a civilian imagines proper military protocol because no one will kill them, and no one who matters will die because of their choices.
Even the "Russian" leadership didn't really miscalculated in using Zoom, because who is going to assassinate them?
The World will get sloppier. It will get more third world and casual Friday until everywhere is Brazil and South Africa and Florida in Summer, and we will be told it is progress and Democracy.
For all of Russia's problems (and I'm not Zanon guy), I do not see under any circumstances forces being brought to bare directly against Russia. No draft will ever get people motivated to fight for anything in Western Europe. No, this doesn't mean I think that Russia is therefore all powerful, far from it. I just see more dithering and wasteful attrition on both sides until there is nothing left worth fighting for and enough slavs have been killed and people stop caring.
It should be also noted there is simply nothing left to give to the Ukraine, or at least it's dwinding rapidly. This will turn into another cold war with lines drawn.
Whatever, this is all tragic, gay, and tiresome all at once.
When bitcoin moons I'm just going to move to Latin America and stop following all this.