Academic Agent always tells us to go to the original source. Well, Vladimir Putin is not difficult to understand (in translation). In fact you might find it surprising to hear a politician that explains his thinking so clearly.

Thanks to Skeptical Waves, here is his speech from earlier this week translated into English.

https://youtu.be/Ts4oytcG-80

“Of course there is going to be a bad reaction from Russia, and then [the NATO expanders] will say that we always told you that is how the Russians are — but this is just wrong.”

George Kennan, 1998!!

See more in this great roundup from @caitoz:

https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/experts-warned-for-years-that-nato

“Today we face an avoidable crisis that was predictable, actually predicted, willfully precipitated, but easily resolved by the application of common sense.”

11 days ago from the last US ambassador to the USSR Jack Matlock.

“So, if experts have been warning for many years that NATO expansion would provoke an attack, and the guy launching the attack is explicitly citing NATO expansion as a driving motive for his actions, it seems like maybe it's sorta kinda got something to do with NATO expansion.”

– Caitlin Johnstone

https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/experts-warned-for-years-that-nato

Cued to the time spot, The Distributist makes a point about being in winter. (I didn't catch this live so I'm just now catching up) And he makes the point about winter. How winter was previously always talked about like a presidency or a specific time period that will soon pass. He's right to say that there will be many more moments like this, and probably that it will be worse than before. I think if there was something that the event showed, which I'll expand on, was the convergence that we all had on what was coming. Whether it was ways to strategize and work effectively, or the seriousness of what it means to be a dissident. To be a winter animal is be built for the winter, and knowing that at least for us, this winter might last a lot longer than we initially expected.

https://youtu.be/T1yGFzIitNs?t=3917

A little taste of the context that MSM is stripping out. (Which they always do.)

"If you have never expressed concern over Kiev government shelling civilians in Donetsk and Lugansk regions for 8 years straight, please refrain from virtue signaling about what's happening in Ukraine at the moment." Denis Churilov

Photoshop for your nation!

The pro war propaganda on the American/Ukraine side is pretty fucking crazy right now

I wondered what other news would be slipping through under cover of the Russia/Ukraine conflict

https://t.me/disclosetv/7101

Sam Hyde can’t keep getting away with killing this guy.

I am assembling a timestamped progression of outright fakery regarding the war in the Ukraine. If you have any fake news (ghost of kiev) and debunking info, please post it in this thread. DO NOT just spam random stuff in this thread without explanation. If you want to contribute, please post the content, a brief title to explain what it is, and a timestamp. Thanks.

Miriam, 6yo.

She was born our smallest at 4 pounds 5 ounces. (Her twin was 5 pounds 4 ounces.)

She looked so tiny I thought, “How can she live?”

But she’s coming along just fine.

The SWIFT play is not as amazing as people think. US needs everyone trading in dollars and not, say, GOLD or some other currency. This is why Iran was quietly let back onto SWIFT. My old Austrian friends will understand.

A good rule of thumb is to assume MSM lie about every single issue. This has stood the test of the past 7 years, and every lie has been later found out.

Reminder that you can be anti-GAE, care about normal Ukrainian civilians, believe this is entirely West’s fault, believe that Putin has made objectively better arguments than Western leaders, point out the absurdity of pro-Ukrainian propaganda while still not being explicitly “on Russia’s side”.

From the office of Stephen W. Carson, Radical Liberation, Rex Lunae, et cetera.

Some of my friends have argued for taking a neutral stance in regards to the present conflict.

But when I consider the geopolitical context of the post-Soviet period, the role of the US empire and NATO, the intertwined history of Russia and Ukraine... One question rises to prominence:

Which side do I, Stephen Carson of St. Louis, take?

"Today every citizen is not so much a soldier but a state propagandist baying for blood..."

The Distributist on democratic war + social media.

https://youtu.be/6ac1CblHTD0

Always happy to see "glass half full" takes.

This one on what was gained with the Canadian trucker convoy.