Kremlinology WL.0

A Stockholm Conspiracy - The Underbelly of Ukrainian Gas Dealings

There can be no other conclusion: Viktor Yanukovich, the president of Ukraine, served the commercial interests of an oligarch with whom he has close ties -- at the expense of his own country. And, in doing so, he also did Moscow a favor.


And we learn from WikiL that V. Putin "the richest man in Europe" probably has billions stashed in CH.


Other classified cables referred repeatedly to the "secretive Swiss-based oil trading firm Gunvor" as an alleged source of Putin's undisclosed wealth. The US ambassador in Moscow, John Beyrle, described the company as being closely connected to the Kremlin, and said its "secretive ownership is rumoured to include prime minister Putin".

Seal that Year w/ POMOnanigans & Hubris

Late to the party here.  I knew that you had been calling BS on McFizzle and saying that there is serious AQ over there (from your connections), but I just discovered that you (we) nailed the specific plot.

See M1 tweet of 2:07 AM Dec 13th.

It was out there for anybody to see, yet nobody but us called it.

There is nothing better than the SMC-op.  Others may compete, but nobody does what we do.  Really.

They love us.  (Ho, ho, ho).

Syndication in Afghan border area

Interesting spin (positive) being put on these developments by US military.

Kinda funny. When groups of adversaries band together to combat a common enemy, that is pretty much the textbook definition of the shit hitting the fan for somebody.

In the US military's reckoning then, it was a measure of desperation when the Western allies joined with the USSR to fight Hitler. Musta heralded sure victory for the Nazis.

From tomorrow's print NYT:

Rival militant organizations on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border have increasingly been teaming up in deadly raids, in what military and intelligence officials say is the insurgents’ latest attempt to regain the initiative after months of withering attacks from American and allied forces.

and

The Punjabi groups, many of which were created by Pakistani intelligence to fight India’s interests in Kashmir, now appear to be teaming up with Pashtun groups like the Afghan and Pakistan Taliban to fight their creators, the Pakistani intelligence and security services.

Ding-a-ling? You be the judge

During the morning portion of the trial, Lakin said he had gone to a chapel and done some soul-searching about whether to disobey orders.

I think the preponderance of the evidence would strongly lead in only one direction.

Worst kept secret in town

But the real strategy appears to be for the United States to do most of the work itself — at least until the Pakistanis step up.

The admin goes to great effort to paint Afghanistan as manageable.

The CIA has definitely been saying that the shit is not going well in Afghanistan.

Not to mention what they must be saying about our slow-motion nightmare (not WikiL silly), Pakistan.

PS: I forgot to mention that WaPo had a whole series of pieces starting a week or so ago saying that things in Afghanistan can be handled.  The narrative was carefully handled in Washington.