Vanessa Beeley has the interview An intelligent analysis of Putin, WEF and the Ukraine NATO alliance.

An illuminating conversation with Alex Thomson, former GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters), Russian speaker and regional expert, a regular guest on UK Column News.We cover the Russian incursion into Ukraine and the preceding history that will put the Russian initiative into context. We also cover the Putin-WEF connections that many analysts are highlighting – Alex brings a little more nuance, history and insight to the overall global parasite class composition.

The Analysis has the video Matt Taibbi on Putin the Apostate.

And as I said Matt’s done a great piece about the rise of Putin, and here he is. Now joining us is Matt Taibbi. He’s an award-winning investigative reporter, was a contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine and writes a top written column on Substack. Thanks very much for joining me, Matt.

Of course I don’t agree with everything that has been said here, but it is food for a lot of thought.

I had no idea of Matt Taibbi’s history with and in Russia.

I think part of the explanation of Putin’s adventure in the Ukraine is understood by referring to Greenberg’s Law of Idle Threats.

Never make a threat you don’t intend to carry out. If you have any doubts about your ability to carry out the threat, do not make it.

Corollary:

If you never test the opposition about whether they make idle threats, then you enable them to ignore this law.

There are people speaking in defense of West Ukrain who have never heard of the Donbass in Eastern Ukraine. On Youtube, you can watch Donbass – 2016. Documentary Anne-Laure Bonnel (subtitles EN FR SPA ITA).

I notice that many of the things the USA is accusing Russia of doing in the Ukarain is the type of things the Western Ukrainians did to the Eastern Ukrainians. How much about Eastern Ukraine do you see on USA news media? Surely the reporters and producers of USA news shows know this untold story of Eastern Ukraine, but they choose not to tell you about it.

Breakthrough News has the video How Ukraine War Affects the World Order & the Global Power Balance, w/ Vijay Prashad & Rania Khalek.

The impacts of Russia’s war in Ukraine isn’t isolated to Europe. As the US and NATO pour weapons into a Ukrainian insurgency, the risk for confrontation between nuclear armed power is rising. Does this mark the end of unipolarity and the beginning of a multipolar world? If so, what does that mean? How will support for a Ukrainian insurgency feed into the rise of the global far right? What will be the impact of the war and sanctions on Russia, which are already causing wheat, fertilizer and gas prices to skyrocket? And what should be the anti-imperialist left’s position on these major developments?

To help us frame these events in a global context, Vijay Prashad, Executive Director of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and author of “Washington Bullets: A History of the CIA, Coups, and Assassinations,” joines Dispatches with Rania Khalek.

This is an excellent opportunity to expand your knowledge and your thinking. You also get to watch Rania Khalek throughout the interview (Don’t forget to listen to her questions and the answers from Vijay Prashad.)

Jimmy Dore has the episode Ukraine Neo-Nazis Infiltrate EVERY LEVEL Of Military & Government.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the resulting cries of “We are all Ukraine,” many have been eager to downplay the proliferation of neo-Nazis in Ukrainian paramilitary groups, the Ukrainian armed forces and even parts of the government.

As Jimmy and The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal discuss, reports of neo-Nazis in Ukraine are not at all exaggerated, and the Zelensky government is, in fact, largely beholden to these racist, xenophobic, anti-gay groups that brag of the “fun” they get from fighting and killing.

Lee Camp who has been taken off almost every medium in the USA has the video Former UN Inspector Scott Ritter on What The Hell Is Happening.

The embed does not seem to work, but the link above does work.

If you want to expand you ability to think about the Ukraine situation, listen to this interview. Perhaps Scott Ritter is totally wrong, but consider the possibility that he may be right as he was about WMD in Iraq.

If you think you know everything you need to know, then don’t bother with this video. If you are comfortable taking your cues from the USA Corporate Media and the CIA, then don’t watch this video. It may damage your comfort level.

Let’s see if John Lennon can explain this.

Is it better to talk or to refuse to talk with an adversary?

The Grayzone has the video Forever War in Ukraine or End of Unipolar World? I think the headline shoud have used “and” instead of “or”.

Red Lines host Anya Parampil speaks with Moscow-based international affairs analyst, Mark Sleboda. Sleboda assesses Russia’s military maneuvers in the early days of the conflict in Ukraine and evaluates the possibility of a Syria-style dirty war erupting in the country. Sleboda also explains how the war has ushered in a “great decoupling” between Russia and the West and why he believes it represents the “end of the unipolar world.”

Mark Sleboda reveals that he has a Ukrainian heritage, East Ukrainian that is.

The Grayzone has the article How Ukraine’s Jewish president Zelensky made peace with neo-Nazi paramilitaries on front lines of war with Russia.

While Western media deploys Volodymyr Zelensky’s Jewish heritage to refute accusations of Nazi influence in Ukraine, the president has ceded to neo-Nazi forces and now depends on them as front line fighters.

I just don’t know what to make of this article. I need someone to explain to me why this could happen. I suppose I could also use someone to tell me if this happened.

The question of who was Stepan Banderas is popping up in regard to the Ukraine/Russia war. This Facebook post rekindled my interest.

I took up the challenge to look him up. First I tried the Wikipedia article Stepan Bandera. This introductory paragraph confused me.

Bandera cultivated German military circles favorable to Ukrainian independence, and organized OUN expeditionary groups. When Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union, he prepared the 30 June 1941 Proclamation of Ukrainian statehood in Lviv, pledging to work with Nazi Germany. For his refusal to rescind the decree, Bandera was arrested by the Gestapo, which put him under house arrest on 5 July 1941,…

Without reading farther I found the History News Network article Who Was Stepan Bandera?. This is the paragraph that cleared up my confusion about the Wikipedia paragraph.

The Germans intended to keep Ukraine for themselves. They arrested Bandera for his intransigence on the issue of independence, but released him in 1944 when it appeared that his popularity with Ukrainians might help stem the Soviet advance. But whatever their disappointment with the Germans, the Banderists never disagreed with their Jewish policy in Ukraine, which eventually killed over 1.5 million Ukrainian Jews.

The story of Bandera has many complexities. If you are interested, you might want to read more of the articles in the links above.