You will have to forgive me for being sceptical about the whole of the international melee going on in The Ukraine. From the start, I have not seen any serious motivation or reason for Russian aggression. There is no possible gain I can see for the Russians no matter how this ends up. But it does seem to have given Biden an opportunity to find himself on the good side of some issue of the moment, in siding with The Ukraine and against Russia. I don’t deny that real people are going to die, and there will be real damage done, and that in the end The Ukraine will be governed from Moscow. I just find it all too staged for my liking, and until I understand whatever motivations drove the Russians into the Ukraine, I will watch from a distance without taking sides.

Some of the bits that make me think this is a Russian-American joint operation:

Russians Announce US-Iran Deal as Tanks Roll Across Europe.

A senior Russian official announced on Thursday that a new nuclear deal with Iran will be announced within 24 to 48 hours, signaling the Biden administration’s continued reliance on and cooperation with Moscow even as it wages a full-scale war in Ukraine.

Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s ambassador for Iran negotiations, made the announcement in a video now circulating on social media. Ulyanov also said that he does not see the deal falling apart as a result of Russia’s war, and that the two issues remain separate.

Ukraine nuclear reactors being safely shut down – U.S. energy official.

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said on Thursday the reactors at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station “are protected by robust containment structures and reactors are being safely shut down”.

Granholm said on Twitter she had just spoken with Ukraine’s energy minister about the situation at the plant, where a fire broke out during fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces.

Sanctioning Russian Oil Would Hurt Unity That’s Made ‘the Sanctions Work’.

White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain argued that sanctioning Russia’s oil and gas would make it difficult to keep the coalition the U.S. has assembled to sanction Russia together, and “The unity is what makes the sanctions work.”…

“I think we start from the premise that the goal is to cripple the Russian economy, not cripple the American economy. And I think we need to be very careful about how these sanctions work. Why are they so successful? Look, this is the largest set of sanctions that have ever been applied against a large country. It’s hard to sanction a very large country that’s interconnected with the world economy. They’ve been successful at doing catastrophic damage to the Russian economy. Because we’ve built this coalition of countries that have participated and all agreed to apply these sanctions. That includes our European allies, it includes the United Kingdom, it includes Japan and Australia, Canada, of course, a wide array of countries. And so, as we go forward, we need to keep that unity. The unity is what makes the sanctions work. And I think that’s the first principle. … We’ve got to keep everyone together. Once you get to these sanctions on oil and natural gas, it gets more complicated on keeping everyone together.”

This is literally the most unbelievable war scenario I have ever come across. If there is any evidence that the US is genuinely trying to harm the Russians, I have yet to see it.

And now I have just come across this: Former Top Trump Official Argues Biden’s Russia Sanctions Are ‘Half Measures,’ Contain Loopholes. Not to mention this from Zerohedge: So Many Holes In SWIFT Sanctions On Russia, They Are Useless.