Operation Canned Meat II

(Stickied from 1/14/22)

U.S. intelligence officials have determined a Russian effort is underway to create a pretext for its troops to further invade Ukraine, and Moscow has already prepositioned operatives to conduct “a false-flag operation” in eastern Ukraine, according to the White House.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Friday the intelligence findings show Russia is also laying the groundwork through a social media disinformation campaign that frames Ukraine as an aggressor that has been preparing an imminent attack against Russian-backed forces in eastern Ukraine.

Psaki charged that Russia has already dispatched operatives trained in urban warfare who could use explosives to carry out acts of sabotage against Russia’s own proxy forces — blaming the acts on Ukraine — if Russian President Vladimir Putin decides he wants to move forward with an invasion.

It is hard to look at this guy:

And not see a modern reflection of this guy:

• Mass overwhelming forces on the border of a far less-powerful neighbor -- check. 
•  Stage a pretext for an invasion -- check. 
• Claim that they are only acting in self-defense -- check. 
•  Claim that they are only protecting the rights of their own ethnic people -- check.
• Right wing groups in the United States parroting the lies of the invaders -- check.
• An Asian dictatorship using the distraction of a war in Europe to carry out their own war -- check. 

Other nations are paying attention and taking their own steps. Russia's aggressive posturing has made it clear to the Nordic neutrals that they will have to choose a side. And they seem to be.