America Doubling Down With War On Russia
M. K. Bhadrakumar contends that the message from the Johnson/Trump extended funding of the war on Russia is exactly that—that America intends to double down on its war on Russia. But the reality is somewhat different than a true doubledown:
Ukraine: US doubles down, Russia is cool
… the direct military assistance to Ukraine will actually amount to about $13.8 billion till end-2024. The Russian experts estimate that this allocation rules out another Ukrainian “counteroffensive.” Besides, while the increased flow of US weaponry will beef up the Ukrainian military capability to withstand the Russian offensive, it cannot fundamentally change the balance of forces at the front.
From a military angle, the cutting edge of the bill lies in the fact that it opens the gateway for the transfer to Ukraine of tactical missile systems [ATACMS] capable of hitting targets at a distance of up to 300 km, which brings Crimea within its range. President Putin is on record that the ATACMS “are not at all able to change the situation on the line of contact… [but are] “certainly damaging and pose an additional threat.”
Put differently, the aid package aims on the one hand to avoid a catastrophic military situation arising at the front in the coming months, which could be politically damaging for Biden’s re-election bid, while on the other hand, the bulk of funds actually goes to the US arms manufacturers in some key “swing states” and will surely gratify the influential military-industrial complex and the Deep State.
The public Russian response?
On the other hand, the Russian reaction has been rather polemical — The foreign ministry spokesperson said in Moscow, “White House is no longer banking on an ephemeral victory by the Kiev regime under its control. All it wants is for the Ukrainian armed forces to hold out at least until the November voting without damaging Biden’s image… we confirm that Washington’s actions as an active party to the conflict will be rebuffed unconditionally and decisively, and its increasingly deeper plunge into the hybrid war against Russia will end up in a fiasco for the United States as scandalous and humiliating as in Vietnam and Afghanistan.”
My take is that there are two prongs to what’s going on here. First, yes, this is intended as a Hail Mary type election insurance measure. Few knowledgeable military types are buying into that. Doug Macgregor supposes that much of the money that actually gets to Ukraine will be siphoned off to Zelensky and the rest of the ruling circle, as has happened in the past. To illustrate the cynicism, Macgregor notes that CIA Director Burns made a special trip to Kiev to tell Zelensky to stop stealing so much. Presumably the goofballs in Congress waving their little Ukie flags believe that they’ll get a cut. Second, however, I suspect that the Neocons think that they’re putting pressure on Putin to call a halt in place. I say this because of the extraordinary rhetoric we’re seeing. First POS Johnson—but remember, Trump says he’s doing a good job:
JUST IN:
US House Speaker Johnson says that China's president Xi Jinping, Russia's Putin and Iran are truly the axis of evil
Obviously he has no respect for We The People, to think stale retread tropes will be good enough. On the other hand, the rhetoric is backed up with the ATACMS. Those won’t be game changers. The idea seems to be that by taking out a major target (the Crimea bridge) will embarrass Putin, cause his approval to plumment, and force him to embrace defeat. Really, this is the fantasy world Neocons live in.
And then there’s this:
BREAKING:
The President of Poland says the country is ready to have nuclear weapons on its territory
According to Duda, Poland and the Neocons have been in negotiations for quite a while. The real point is that Duda made this statement on the heels of our bought and paid for Congress’ disgraceful display. The timing is the point, to try to convince Putin that we’re serious. And then there’s this:
Wall Street Silver @WallStreetSilv
The way they structured the $60 billion for Ukraine, it continues funding for the war deep into 2025.
Even if Trump wins and becomes President, now he can’t stop the war. They will impeach Trump for NOT sending the money and weapons to Ukraine if he tries to stop the war.
4:09 PM · Apr 20, 2024
Now, another provision that Congress passed gives Zhou the authority to misappropriate the seized Russian forex reserves. Tom Luongo, rightly, feels strongly about this:
Seizing Russia's Forex reserves is BY FAR the biggest mistake of the war by the US. This is literally ritualistic suicide as it implies ...
1) That there is no rule of law in the US
2) Capital will now no longer feel safe being held here.
3) Profit from trade with the US will no longer be held in US banks for ease of deployment. That money will go home to prevent seizure.
…
Russia is showing that turnabout is fair play, and that its sanctions can bite hard:
Apr 21
🇷🇺‼️Chinese media: Putin's "big step" caused anxiety in the US and Europe‼️
Russian President Vladimir Putin presented the West with an unpleasant surprise. Journalists of the popular Chinese publication NetEase came to this conclusion. 
The US and other Western countries are currently preparing to introduce further restrictive measures against Russia. They are also actively developing mechanisms to confiscate frozen Russian assets. 
However, according to Chinese journalists, they hoped in vain that Moscow would indifferently observe what was happening.
The head of the Russian state immediately made a decision that was a worthy response to these provocations and discouraged the West. 
Moreover, Putin's "big step" caused concern in the US and Europe.
It is about decree number 248, which was signed by the President of Russia a few days ago. According to this document, the property of the Terra Agro holding, which is one of the twenty largest landowners in Russia, was transferred to state control. It has about one million hectares of agricultural land.
Let us remind you that the founder of the holding, which grows wheat, beets, sunflowers and other crops, is an American entrepreneur, and until recently its actual owner was a company from the Netherlands.
Chinese analysts felt it necessary to note that today this is not the only company that came under the control of Rosimushchestvo by the decision of the Russian president. 
With this, Vladimir Putin shows the United States and Western countries that Russia is not in the mood for a joke. The confiscation of Russian property will have extremely serious consequences for them.
Surely now the initiators of the confiscation of Russian property have no doubt that their provocation has led to sad consequences for them. But the situation could get even worse.
There is still a lot of property owned by foreign companies on Russian territory, and if relations with the West worsen, they will all be transferred under Russian control.
Judge Nap today had a series of terrific interviews: Alastair Crooke, Doug Macgregor, Scott Ritter. Alastair Crooke, in particular, while speaking about the Middle East, briefly tied that war in with the war on Russia. Crooke maintained that the Middle East is secondary for the American Empire. Russia is primary. Netanyahu’s insane attempt to stage a war that would draw the US into a crusade against Iran is a dangerous distraction. It has, as Macgregor asserts, been a total failure for Israel, but it presents a special danger for the US because the US is being required by the Israel Lobby to expend vast amounts of air defence resources on Israel’s behalf, stripping its own reserves. The Great Awakening in this regard was the Iranian strike on Israel. Crooke is hearing that the value of the defense effort actually exceeded $3 billion—yet was unable to stop Iran’s strike. That strike was a message, but the US military shudders at what might happen if Netanyahu lashes out at Lebanon. US resources are simply being used up at a far faster pace than they can be replenished, placing the US in an increasingly tenuous position. A reality lost on our elected representatives.
In the meantime, while the US attempts to pivot back to Russia there actors that are not going to matters rest. They want the American Empire out of the Middle East:
5 drones attacked a US base in Syria last night The Islamic Resistance in Iraq announces it will resume attacks against U.S. bases in the region, after a lack of progress regarding negotiations about a U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq.
And yet, with all this going on, Blinken will visit Beijing for three days of trying to threaten China into ending its support for Russia. I very much doubt that will do any more than further enrage both Russia and China.
Interesting times between now and November.
“Blinken going to threaten China” that’s rich.
I wonder if the guy has any self awareness at all, thinking he can threaten China to stop siding with the Russians? He needs to get out more if he believes that any country in the world is still intimidated by the US, especially after the Ukraine and ME fiascos.
ATACMS missiles are already in Ukraine and were used in an attack on a Russian Airfield. Supposed 10 out of 13 were shot down, and the Russians had advance notice of the attack and moved their aircraft per the Duran.
The major use of this Ukraine fluffing seems to be paying for Weapons already sent to Ukraine, either from U.S. stockpiles, or directly from the manufacturer.