I listened to the full Russian Security Council meeting, then to Putin’s address to the nation, then the signing of the the treaties on cooperation and mutual support.

The first thing which I want to point out is that this was a very carefully orchestrated event, and I don’t just mean today’s live meetings and signing.  For those of us who follow Russian politics very closely there can be no doubts that all this was prepared long BEFORE the Russian ultimatum to the West.

This is “the plan” which Putin once openly referred to.

Let me make this clear: this recognition should NOT, repeat, NOT, be seen in isolation.  It is just ONE PHASE in a PROCESS which began at least a year ago, or more, and there is much more to come.

Next, that must be repeated again, this is NOT about the LDNR, the Donbass or even the Ukraine, this is about a new security architecture on Europe and, therefore, on our entire planet.

This means that Russia expected exactly the reaction she eventually got (western politicians are fantastically predictable, being both ignorant, stupid and arrogant) and that gave her a legal basis to take the current action (call it R2P, or moral duty, or genocide prevention or whatever else you wish).

I want to use this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude to President Biden and Chancellor Scholz who both played their role to perfection, especially Scholz with his “laughable genocide talk” comment.  More generally, a lot of the credit for what just happened today goes to the leaders of the Empire who played their hand exactly as the Kremlin hoped they would.

Next, I immediately want to mention sanctions.  Let it be clearly told: whatever sanctions the West now agrees upon will be what they would have done in any case.  I repeat: today’s recognition of the LDNR will have exactly ZERO influence on the West’s maniacal determination to destroy Russia and her people.  In other words, the coming sanctions were unavoidable.  That means that Russia “lost” exactly *nothing* through that move.  In fact, both during the RSC meeting and his speech, Putin hinted that, if anything, western sanctions have been mostly beneficial to the Russian economy (especially the real economy, not just the value of Russian stocks or the Ruble).

Sanctions is a topic which only matters to western politicians (and their 5th and 6th column in Russia). …

We prefer The Saker’s interpretation of events to Zerohedge’s. The Saker is predicting Russia will put up a military umbrella over The Donbass, whose force projection capabilities are likely to deter Ukraine.

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Readers of Paul Craig Roberts may be interested in his latest short post – Breaking News  Feb 21, 4pm US Central time: Today the World Changed:

I listened to Putin’s address to the Russian people, indeed, to the entire world, following his meeting with the Security Council.  He expressed his sadness that negotiating with the West has taught him complete distrust of Washington, and Putin made it clear that Russia would be prepared for the war that Washington is intent to bring to Russia. 

Putin said that for 8 years he had tried to bring peace to the Ukraine situation in a way that would keep the breakaway republics as part of Ukraine, but had been frustrated by Washington. Consequently, he has no alternative but to announce Russia’s recognition of the two republics, something he says should have been done years ago.  He signed mutual aid treaties with both republics. 

…

From this time forward, provocations of Russia will become increasingly dangerous.