02–03–2022, CTDI-NL, The Netherlands.
SILOVIKI: There Is No Such Thing As a Former KGB Man
One week after Putin’s launch of a 'special military operation' against Ukraine, the media responded with his apparent lack of progress to recapture the Ukrainian region. The might of the Russian military was humbled and bogged down by a fierce Ukrainian army that rightly takes no argument from other world leaders.
There are a few questions that raise eyebrows, at the start of the Russian invasion several demands were made by the Ukrainians.
Foremost, was the request for the rapid ascension of Ukraine to be accepted as a member of the European Union with Ursula von der Leyen, the current President of the European Commission, making emotionally the comment that Ukraine was “one of us and we want them in the EU”.
However, in 2008, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, blocked the reference of Ukraine to consider the necessary paperwork of EU membership. The reason: Ukraine today is still considered the second most corrupt country in Europe, well ahead of Russia.
The next part was to disable and cut off Russia from the SWIFT international payment network. Here, as on cue, President Zelensky made his public pledge, with indeed the swift disconnect of Russia. Within that same time-space, he called the World to donate funds and send weapons to stop the Russian invasion.
Furthermore, Germany’s reluctance to meddle in non-EU and non-NATO affairs is notorious known but was pushed by the U.S. to such a level never seen after the fall of Berlin. Federal Chancellor Scholz made inroads to disengage Russia from the NORD STREAM 2 project, supported sanctions against Russia, and acted as the NATO distribution hub of weapon deliveries to Ukraine.
Meanwhile for all the apparent failed plans to liberate fellow Russians in Ukraine, the heavy sanctions, the economical disruptions to isolate Russia, Vladimir Putin remained unfazed.
In ’Putin: The Empire Strikes Back’, I wrote about an utmost devious scheming former KGB officer surrounding the new Russia with a world power image. Meticulously planning, with numerous layers of misdirection is the work of Siloviki, or in Putin’s own words: There is no such thing as a former KGB man.
While the West was pulled over the ears by President Zelensky, a hero indeed, the call to support Ukraine prevented a sober assessment.
A large and well-trained Russian military, not able to seize the capital city of Ukraine Kyiv within 5 days? Motorized infantry, the pinnacle of Russian military doctrine, daily trained, not to overrun targets, and even bogged down?
Siloviki: Putin’s style is all about presenting misdirection, to let others, the West and friends, guess till the last moment what his true intentions are.
In creating a hostile environment against Russia, with devastating economical implications, and to be treated as a pariah, Putin still shrugs off the barrage of foreign news reporting.
Putin’s ulterior motives, all along, hang neatly together with the capture of the four nuclear reactors in Ukraine. Why bother with the capture of the first three main cities?
By taking over the four nuclear power plants spread across Ukraine, Russia gains worldwide leverage. I wouldn’t be surprised that President Putin will convey a venomous message, that the Russian nation had liberated his fellow Russians, his military had prevented a nuclear world disaster because of a dangerous and corrupt Ukrainian government.
Hence his consistent wording of a ‘special military operation’.
The EU will have to be prepared to bail out this nightmare of misdirections from Vladimir Putin: a very hefty bailout in the order of 8 trillion EURO.
Needless to say that Vladimir Putin will remind the rest of the world for a very long time about the trap we created ourselves.
