The Transcript is here.
Hudson’s new column is here: ‘Ukraine denouement: The Russian loan and the IMF’s One-Two Punch’, including:
“International finance as war
The Ukraine-IMF debt negotiation shows is why finance has become the preferred mode of geopolitical warfare. Its objectives are the same as war: appropriation of land, raw materials (Ukraine’s gas rights in the Black Sea) and infrastructure (for rent-extracting opportunities) as well as the purchase of banks.
The IMF has begun to look like an office situated in the Pentagon, renting a branch office on Wall Street from Democratic Party headquarters, with the rent paid by Soros. His funds are drawing up a list of assets that he and his colleagues would like to buy from Ukrainian oligarchs and the government they control. The buyout payments for partnership with the oligarchs will not stay in Ukraine, but will be moved quickly to London, Switzerland and New York. The Ukrainian economy will lose the national patrimony with which it emerged from the Soviet Union in 1991, still deeply in debt (mainly to its own oligarchs operating out of offshore banking centers).
Where does this leave European relations with the United States and NATO?”
And these chilling words at the end:
“The silence from Hillary
Having appointed Valery Nuland as a holdover from the Cheney administration, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined the hawks by likening Putin to Hitler. Meanwhile, Soros’s $10 million on donations to the Democratic Party makes him one of its largest donors. The party thus seems set to throw down the gauntlet with Europe over the shape of future geopolitical diplomacy, pressing for a New Cold War.
Hillary’s silence suggests that she knows how unpopular her neocon policy is with voters – but how popular it is with her donors. The question is, will the Republicans agree to avoid discussing this during the 2016 presidential campaign? If so, what alternative will voters have next year?
This prospect should send shivers down Europe’s back. There are reports that Putin told Merkel and Holland in Minsk last week that Western Europe has two choices. On the one hand, it and Russia can create a prosperous economic zone based on Russia’s raw materials and European technology. Or, Europe can back NATO’s expansion and draw Russia into war that will wipe it out.
German officials have discussed bringing sanctions against Ukraine, not Russia, if it renews the ethnic warfare in its evident attempt to draw Russia in. Could Obama’s neocon strategy backfire, and lose Europe? Will future American historians talk of who lost Europe rather than who lost Russia?”
davidly
Greyson Smythe
LeMoyne
juliania2
ohiobarbarian
stephenadavis1
wendyedavis
café babylon 
I think Eurasian historians will record who lost America:
http://stateofthenation2012.com/?p=11550
IF ‘Murikans Wise UP!
same link? sorry, bruce, it looks like all that site is entails calling out false flags. too bad he doesn’t show the pravda article in english. person named ‘public’ always says that without signing on to the theory, one has no write to even write against the empire.. pffffft.
i won’t sign on on to it until i see incontrovertible evidence. to me, that link fails, even though i can imagine it t be so. yep, i watched the ‘9/11 widows’ video, ecahn’s ‘9/11 in three minutes’, perhaps, perhaps.
The contrast between what is happening in Ukraine and what is happening in Greece – both austerity/IMF distortions – is hard to assimilate. Actual war between fellow-Ukrainians is, as Prof. Hudson points out, contrary to IMF’s peaceful ‘assistance’ rules; and yet in Greece we see that ‘assistance’ has devastated the economy by ‘peaceful’ means. And Germany is in the thick of both catastrophes.
Not too much mentioned outside of the Saker site is why Merkel and Hollande rushed to talk to Putin and got the Minsk 2 agreement hastily signed. The word is ‘Debaltsevo’ a crucial rail link town for the eastern opposing mini-states wherein the Kiev forces, a huge number of them, had found themselves entrapped, much as they had been at that Donbass airport. There was no way to extract them except through a truce.
I’m not much of a one for praising military exploits, but Novorussia (for want of a better name for the eastern Ukrainians) is winning their defensive battles, and they, unlike the opposition, usually defer to acceptable rules of
‘gentlemanly’ warfare in the release of prisoners. (I say ‘usually’ because there are exceptions among them; war is horrible that way.) And that threat seems to be the only one that reaches our stupid neoliberals and changes their tune, which is a very sad state of affairs indeed.
Not so hopeful for Greece last I looked, as the monetary EU sinks in its claws. nakedcapitalism.com is following this in depth with a wide ranging discussion in comments.
believe it or not, ds wright got with the program after the front page commentariat railed against his early MSM takes on ukraine, and he reported that news as well yesterday. ;)
i’d tried for a time to keep up with yves’ news on negotiations (or not) on greece and eu, but it got too time-costly. and there are so many divergent opinions, a well (mike whitney’s at counterpunch that mr. wd read yesterday, for one), but others as well.
some had posited that russia might be able to help greece, but the news that putin has signed of on a $100 billion BRICS development bank, ready for action ‘by the end of the year’ would likely be too little, too late, and not earmarked for a member state of the eu, it seems.
but, oh, i wish syriza well! the guardian has had a live blog going today; i’ll go fetch the link; it must still be there. (it just wrapped up)
http://www.theguardian.com/business/blog/live/2015/feb/20/eurozone-ministers-gather-for-crucial-greece-talks-live-updates
From yves smith: ‘Greece Capitulates On Bailout, Reaches Four Month Deal’
oh, dear, oh, crap.
Yes on the Greek thing, though some of the comments were hopeful.
I was up late to watch cricket, went over to moonofalabama and this is priceless:
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2015/02/biden-donates-counter-mortar-radar-to-russian-weapon-exhibition.html#more
G’night!
oy, i hate to be a thick-wit, but i’m not getting it.
when yves first put it up, there were only two comments. if can make the time, i’ll read more.
g’mornin’!
Not getting the upside on the Greek thing?
Well, my take is that Syriza has bought time and got rid of the confrontation with the German minister – still there but not in the front row of discussions. Germans were even starting to insist on the removal of Younafakis (don’t think I have that right, sorry.) Now, the troika is referred to by another name – Yves insists they are still there and generally pours cold water on the hopefuls.
My thought is that Greeks won’t immediately jump ship for Golden Dawn or Horde or whatever it is, because they did see Syriza putting up a fight, so they will be willing to accept some hardship and wait out the four months, if indeed it goes that far. Sort of like Russians with the sanctions, still Putin mighty popular if not more so. And the hope would be buying time to get finances in order for Grexit, though of course EU wouldn’t stomach that, better have them out quickly to menace other countries maybe – so yes, a mess. Might only have a couple of days when it comes right down to it.
But in any case, say the positives, Greece has shone a light on nefarious doings of the financiers overruling sovereignty issues, so when other nations of EU face elections (Spain, Italy, France – don’t know about the latter given Hebdo stuff) they can better judge the options. And I threw in a couple of classical comparisons just to make it interesting.
;~}
Ctuttle’s piece on monsanto shenanigans in Ukraine at fdl is very good. I wanted to ask him how things are going with GM in Hawaii – I think it’s Synergia there? Can’t log in, anyway.
bless your heart for all of that, but no: id meant the moonofalabama piece. the short range artillery radar? was it just that it was essentially useless, given the situation, not so much a great gift?
varafoukis, i believe. and schauble (iirc); dayum, i had a great twitter pic of him as a ghost hanging above greece, but i couldn’t find it, so i used the other one.