(Both Were Hosted on The Critical Hour, March 18)
By Ray McGovern
Yesterday’s colloquy between Scott and me began with strong endorsement of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin clear “NO” to proposals for a “No-Fly-Zone-Light” over Ukraine. Scott spells out in some detail what all that would mean.
To hear the podcast go to the URL above.
What are the chances of a false-flag chemical weapon attack blaming Russia? Was Blinken into a smoke-and-mirrors routine Wednesday, when he warned:
“We believe that Moscow may be setting the stage to use a chemical weapon and then falsely blame Ukraine to justify escalating its attacks.”
Worthy of note here, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu issued an extraordinarily specific warning of what may be in store — and who Moscow might believe responsible — in a major speech on Dec. 21:
The presence of over 120 members of US private military companies in Avdeyevka and Priazovskoye, Donetsk Region, has been proved reliably. They are setting up firing positions in residential houses and social facilities and are preparing the Ukrainian special operations forces and far-right armed groups for active hostilities. Unidentified chemical warfare agents have been delivered to Avdeyevka and Krasny Liman for the purpose of provocations. … [Emphasis in bold added.]
Scott puts in context the revelations regarding what Victoria Nuland (who herself shares a lot of the responsibility for the crisis in Ukraine) called “Biological Research Facilities”. “This stinks to high heaven”, says Scott — and it surely does.
Last, but hardly least, China was discussed while the Chinese were giving their official readout from the telephone call yesterday that Biden had requested. Was Biden told he could use personal diplomacy to drive a wedge between China and Russia?! Or was this simply a cynical attempt by Blinken and fellow geniuses to tar China with the brush used for Russian invaders? Or both?
Sorry, Tony; that horse galloped out of the barn a year ago. Remember? The arrogantly naive “exceptional” attitude you and Jake Sullivan showed your Chinese counterparts in Anchorage a year ago could not have better designed to put them off? Whether this was intentional or just dumb doesn’t matter at this point. The Chinese still consider you “not qualified” to talk to them that way — or to prod President Biden to do the same.
While Scott and I were talking, the NY Times swallowed hard and issued this initial report of the Chinese readout:
- According to a readout of the phone call between Mr. Biden and Mr. Xi released by Chinese state media, the Chinese leader expressed opposition to the broad sanctions imposed on Russia, warning they could trigger crises in the global economy. He referenced a Chinese saying, “Let he who tied the bell on the tiger take it off,” an idiom that he has used before to convey that the responsibility for solving a problem should fall on the person who created it. In the call, Mr. Xi did not suggest that China could play a role in ending the war.
Finally, Scott expressed the view that, although the Russians have faced unexpectedly strong opposition from a Ukrainian army now trained and led by NATO standards, Russian victory on the ground is inevitable.