‘Poking the Bear’ † US Red Alert or Red Herring?

KREMLIN, a straight line can be drawn from Pushkinskaya ploschad going NorthWest on Tverskaya St connecting at Moscow Oblast to the Crocus City Hall.

My words last May: Follow not the straight line of ‘bread’ crumbs placed by the West. First, remember WHERE to start…Pushkinskaya Square…?

Russia, in alerting you, did the Americans use ‘reverse psychology’? Need I remind you of “Memo X” or “The Sources of Soviet Conduct” by X or George Kennan: 

“The Russian leaders are keen judges of human psychology, and as such they are highly conscious that loss of temper and of self-control is never a source of strength in political affairs. They are quick to exploit such evidences of weaknesses.”

U.S. Warning, ‘Red Alert’ or Red Herring?  CIA, by ‘poking the Bear’ or ‘US Misconduct’ have you too risked falling in Kremlin’s Trap?

Muscovites, our thoughts and prayers are with you. May your beloved Rest in Peace.

Brothers and Sisters, as I noted two years ago in “Ukraine & Russia, A Toast to Mikhail Bulgakov!” judge not harshly that which you know little of. What do you know as a Citizen that you know not as a Leader?  

President Vladimir Putin, best you not be coy or project pretense. Lest you too fall to the fate of Iraq’s Leader. Or what Steve Coll sees as “The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A., and the Origins of America’s Invasion of Iraq.” Regime change is still the preferred method of the US.

Speaking of ‘smoke and mirrors,’ the Global Threats & National Security hearing last Tuesday did little to inspire confidence of their true actions and failures. BTW, it was nice to meet at the Capital the INTEL ‘gang of five’ – CIA, FBI, NSA, Defense and National Intelligence 🙂 

INTEL, take a listen, theNew York Times reports that Russian state news media showed ‘footage of interrogations of at least two of the suspects, including…another who said he carried out the killings for money after being recruited over the messaging app Telegram.”

Interesting, in the same article, “Responding to the Kremlin’s accusations, Ukrainian president,” is quoted saying, ‘They came to Ukraine and are burning our cities and they try to blame Ukraine,’ Mr. Zelensky said in a video posted to Telegram on Saturday evening.”

President Zelensky, so you did not pay to burn their cities? Coincidence you and the suspect refer to the same app, Telegram, on same day. Surprising odds!

Russia, as Israel, you are soon to find there are no coincidences or surprises, but orchestrated strikes. In the game of symphonic musical chairs, key is to find the Maestro before the music starts.

US, Boogeymen of your own making or what you call ISIS-K? Recall the Kurds were left stranded ‘high and dry.’ How long before they come back with a vengeance?

Cheaper to contract out than send loads of cash to Ukraine?  Or, are your Arab partners playing you against the Ruskies?

Bloody Red Lines

President Vladimir Putin, recall my May 2021 paper, “Russia, Guard “Red Lines” Where Sword is Mightier than the Pen.”  Russia, in combat we say, “Watch your six o’clock” but in your case watch the big hands of the West at three and nine o’clock.

Red lines drawn by the U.S or was Kennan correct in his assessment? Were the Americans ‘cool and collected’ in their warning?

“For these reasons, it is a sine qua non of successful dealing with Russia that the foreign government in question should remain at all times cool and collected and that its demands on Russian policy should be put forward in such a manner as to leave the way open for a compliance not too detrimental to Russian prestige.”

President Putin, “Twelve Red Herrings” as told by British writer and politician Jeffrey Archer come to mind. More to the point, the story of “One Man’s Meat…” As Archer, I too propose to the reader a choice of four endings to US warning – “Rare”, “Burnt”, “Overdone” and “À Point.”

“Red lines” have been drawn, again. Stand Guard. Not the first time the sword is mightier than the pen. But not my Pen. Recall my paper,

“Kremlin, Riddle Me This…”

If Alexander learned from Aristotle and Borgia inspired Machiavelli, then how was Cleopatra motivated to tell Caesar WHERE to go and WHAT to do?