Kevin Gosztola Profile picture
Feb 24 6 tweets 2 min read
What's terrifying is no officials in US govt or any EU govt will give Russian President Vladimir Putin a meaningful incentive to back off his military objectives. In fact, US hasn't allowed for diplomacy for weeks. All they did was keep crying, "Russia is going to invade" (1/5)
The repeated claims that Russia would invade on certain dates which came and went were supposedly to deter Putin. But they didn't deter anything. Instead, those alerts fueled escalation by US, NATO, Ukraine, and Russian military forces. (2/5)
If invasion was inevitable before tonight, it is cause starting in December (at least) foreign policy advisers and military generals in US government went down a road that guaranteed eventual Russian response. And US media played right into it, spreading every intel claim.
(3/5)
Every time Putin or any Russian official raises threat of neo-Nazis in Ukraine, that is downplayed or treated as surreal. We're to believe it's made-up pretext for acts of aggression. But before 2022 media acknowledged Ukraine's Nazi problem. (4/5)
A military offensive by Russia is happening. Not beyond Donbas yet but into breakaway republics in eastern Ukraine and likely deeper into contested territory to fight Ukrainian forces. And Putin may push on to Kiev, especially if world leaders do not reconsider their playbook.
For the record, I do not support Russia's military offensive in Ukraine, including in the Donbas region. I support de-escalation and Russia's troops should stay out of Ukraine.

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More from @kgosztola

Feb 25
US State Department has come out in opposition to Zelenskyy and Putin meeting to discuss potential ceasefire. (!)

"Now we see Moscow suggesting that diplomacy take place at the barrel of a gun, or as Moscow’s rockets, mortars, artillery target the Ukrainian people." Image
Cities, including the Kiev capital, are under assault. US news media are reporting that Zelenskyy may face threat of assassination. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Ukrainians have fled. Talking with Putin could save Zelenskyy's life and stop the destruction in Ukraine.
US/NATO transformed Ukraine into proxy state and target for Russian assault, and yet their forces aren't parachuting in to push back Russian forces either. An insurgency could challenge Russia's troops, but it would take months if not longer for Ukrainians to prevail.
Read 7 tweets
Feb 20
US Secretary of State Blinken says Russia carried out several "false flag operations" over weekend. To my knowledge, and after scanning US media, no false flag operations by either Ukraine or Russian-backed forces have been verified. Zero headlines confirming "false flag."
US officials like Blinken have staked credibility of US intelligence agencies, and their own credibility, on predicting Russia plans accurately. All the explosions, shelling, evacuations, etc, must confirm their theories of the future or else they look unreliable to world.
Russia apparently won't withdraw troops near Ukraine border that were deployed for drills. They see violence in eastern Ukraine as troubling and fear incursions into Russia. And whatever happened last couple nights is hard to discern fully since numerous OSCE observers evacuated
Read 4 tweets
Feb 18
President Joe Biden says Russia President Putin is going to invade Ukraine. Reporter asks, "What reason do you have to believe he's considering that option at all?" Biden replies, "We have significant intelligence capability." Again, no evidence. Just trust us.
Biden says "Russia has falsely asserted" shelling of Ukrainian kindergarten was carried out by Ukraine forces. Russia tried to create "false justification" for invasion. But school was in Ukraine-controlled territory, not Russia-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine.
What Biden is saying would make sense if a school in territory controlled by Russia-backed separatists was shelled by their forces, and then blamed on Ukraine. Then US-NATO could say that's ludicrous and argue Russia was creating a pretext for troubling escalation.
Read 7 tweets
Feb 17
Unnamed State Dept official quoted by @CBSNews: Not "immediately clear whether shelling was actually the false-flag incident the U.S. has worried about, or just more of the low-level, tit-for-tat skirmishes that have plagued Donbas for years." #Russia cbsnews.com/news/russia-uk…
@CBSNews While British officials, especially Prime Minister Boris Johnson claim without verification that false flag event just happened in Ukraine, "Western security officials" told UK media itv.com/news/2022-02-1…
@CBSNews US, UK, and NATO officials won't wait to verify. They're keen to fit it into narrative they've spun for the past week and will react accordingly. But all along—as even pro-war Atlantic Council notes—it's been known Russian military drills would last from February 10-20.
Read 5 tweets
Jan 24
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was granted permission by the British High Court of Justice to appeal to the Supreme Court
In court to cover the proceedings, @MElMaazi reported that the High Court certified the issue of diplomatic assurances was important enough to allow Assange an appeal to the Supreme Court
Assange will remain in Belmarsh prison throughout the duration of this appeal to the UK Supreme Court.
Read 9 tweets
Jan 17
Martin Luther King Jr.'s analysis of "consensus presidents" applies considerably to Joe Biden.

Biden is a technician, not an innovator. His admin works only for what is widely acceptable, which there isn't much consensus on anything.
shadowproof.com/2016/01/18/mar… #MLKDay
Biden delays action constantly. His administration abandons promises and doesn't fight for policy.

MLK Jr. would likely say Biden lacks mass movement that will force him to act and give him an achievement to define his presidency as more than an exercise in mediocrity. #MLKDay
To Martin Luther King Jr., "The overwhelming national consensus followed" the acts of the most lauded US Presidents. "It did not precede them." That was owed to grassroots social movements (i.e. Civil Rights Movement). #MLKDay
Read 4 tweets

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