theDrahos

With the ceasefire agreement reached yesterday between Putin, Hollande, Poroshenko, and Merkel, the real question remains: Will Europe and the world plunge into general war, or will a genuine alternative be achieved?

What drove this extremely fragile agreement was the recognition by some in Europe that the world was on the cusp of a world war. The issue is war or no war. Clearly, the French are breaking out of the war momentum, and some in Germany are shaky, but aligning with the French. One way or the other, the outcome of war or no war will shape a whole new process globally.

What is far too often ignored is the fact that the entire drive for war is because London and Wall Street are in a panic over the bankruptcy of their entire system. There is nothing that can be done to save that Empire system, but we are at the point where that system is either replaced altogether, or we plunge into general war or general chaos. That is the nature of the moment. The bankruptcy of the London/Wall Street system is the key to everything.

The Saudis are an extension of that British Empire System, and the chaos and dark age genocide we are seeing in the Middle East is just an extension of what the British and Wall Street have in store for the entire planet, unless they are stopped. As we can see in the stonewalling against debt forgiveness for the Greek people, who have been subjected to horrible suffering, these people would rather destroy the planet than lose their system and lose their power.

The Minsk agreement is in jeopardy of being sabotaged and turned into a trigger for general war, so long as Nuland and her Nazi legions remain on the scene and in power in Kiev. Obama is a just a patsy for the British, but under these circumstances, the patsy factor is significant. Obama, under the influence of people like Nazi Nuland, can be the trigger for a total war. There is strong evidence that Nuland is a Nazi, and she must be thrown out as part of any sane war-prevention effort. This is no time to evade the obvious truth.

So far, within the United States, the voices of opposition to war have been largely suppressed or confined to the edges. This pattern was breached significantly Wednesday with a speech to 200 dignitaries at the National Press Club by former U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union Jack Matlock attacking the policy of the West, and specifically Obama, toward Russia over Ukraine. Matlock, and the moderator of the event, Ambassador Chas Freeman, also broached the overriding reality—the danger of nuclear war.

The fight in Europe over the future of the British Empire, ostensibly centered on Greece and the demands for a continuation of the Troika austerity genocide, is going to blow back big into the United States, because of Wall Street’s ties to the entire London bankrupt system. The Republican Party is going to be hit very hard because of their undying loyalty to Wall Street. Anyone believing that the British System will survive on the basis of either kicking Greece out of the euro, or forcing Greece to bend to the Troika, is insane. It is the entire system that is bankrupt beyond repair. Either there is a total orderly shutdown of Wall Street and London, or we have war or chaos. Wall Street is in jeopardy and that extends to the GOP.

The Empire System is collapsing, and the danger is a plunge into chaos, as we saw in Europe during the Dark Age.

A complete change is needed, on the model of how Europe changed with the actions of Joan of Arc and the emergence of the Cusa Council of Florence. Cusa created the basis for Kepler and Leibniz. If you take up Vernadsky’s concept of the Noösphere and the absolute distinction between mankind and animals, and work your way back to Kepler, you have the foundations for the kinds of changes in thinking that are required to survive this onrushing crisis for mankind.

The “Normandy Four” — Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia, Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine, Francois Hollande of France, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel — who first met on the Ukraine crisis in Normandy last June, worked in Minsk last night for 17 hours, accompanied by their foreign ministers and other negotiators, to reach an interim agreement on stopping the escalation of bloodshed and a strategic showdown in eastern Ukraine.

A ten-point agreement titled “A Set of Measures for Implementation of the Minsk Accords,” referring to the Contact Group agreement reached last September, but only partially implemented, was signed not by the four, but by the members of the Contact Group: Donetsk and Lugansk Peoples Republics leaders Alexander Zakharchenko and Leonid Plotnitsky, Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov, Ukrainian ex-President Leonid Kuchma, and OSCE Special Representative Heidi Tagliavini. This group simultaneously met through the night at another location in Minsk, with Tagliavini, as well as Kremlin aide Vladislav Surkov, shuttling between the two meetings. Putin told the press in the morning that the length of the talks had been caused by Poroshenko’s refusal to negotiate directly with the DPR/LPR leaders, while Merkel said to journalists that Putin’s pressure on the latter had been crucial in reaching any agreement at all.

The accord provides for a ceasefire in the Donetsk and Lugansk Regions, starting at midnight, Feb. 14-15. Artillery and other heavy weaponry are to be pulled back sufficiently to create a minimum 50-km safe zone; the Kiev forces are to pull back from the current line of engagement and the DPR/LPR militias from the demarcation line of Sept. 2014. The OSCE assumes “monitoring” functions. There is a commitment to “dialogue on modalities of conducting local elections in accordance with Ukrainian legislation and the Law of Ukraine ‘On temporary Order of Local Self-Governance in Particular Districts of Donetsk and Lugansk Regions’,” followed by talks on the future of these regions.

There are provisions for amnesties and prisoner exchanges, as well as humanitarian aid to the Donbass. Kiev commits to restoring wages, pensions, and banking system function in these areas, while it is supposed to gain “full control over the state border,” including between the DPR/LPR and Russia, after the elections and after constitutional reform in Ukraine, “the key element of which is decentralization” and a “special status” for the Donetsk and Lugansk Regoins — all by the end of this year. All foreign fighters, “mercenaries,” and their weapons are to be pulled out of Ukraine.

After the talks, the four heads of state spoke to the press separately, raising concerns that they had differing interpretations of the accord from the very start. Later in the day Thursday, however, the declaration by the four titled “Declaration in Support of the Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements Approved in Minsk on February 12, 2015” was published. They state “full respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine” (with no mention of Crimea), and express their commitment “to undertake all possible individual and joint measures to this end.”

The declaration specifies that Germany and France will provide technical expertise for restoring the banking system, and states that the four leaders “share the conviction that improved cooperation between the EU, Ukraine and Russia will be conducive to settlement of the crisis settlement,” for which there are to be continued three-way talks between the EU, Ukraine and Russia on energy issues, as well as concerns related to Ukraine’s Association Agreement with the EU. The Declaration also includes a formulation on commitment to “a joint humanitarian and economic space from the Atlantic to the Pacific, based upon full respect for international law and the principles of the OSCE.”

Putin’s remarks indicated uncertainty about the situation around Debaltsevo, the railway junction between Donetsk and Lugansk where up to eight thousand Kiev troops may have been trapped. He said that Ukraine refused to recognize that this was the case, leading to unclarity about the ceasefire and the lines of demarcation. According to reports from both sides, the Russian and Ukrainian Armed Forces chiefs of staff were to be in contact Thursday on making a professional determination of the situation there. For his part, DPR leader Zakharchenko said that if Kiev violates this accord, there will be no further talks.