Kermit Heartsong - Ukraine - ZBIG's Grand Chess Board & How The West Was Checkmated

While its combat system is:

…an integrated naval weapons systems which can link together the missile defense systems of all vessels embedded within the same network, so as to ensure the detection, tracking and destruction of hundreds of targets at the same time. In addition, the USS Donald Cook is equipped with 4 large radars, whose power is comparable to that of several stations. For protection, it carries more than fifty anti-aircraft missiles of various types. (Voltaire 2014)

However, on April 12, 2014, a Russian Su-24 tactical bomber, armed only with an electronic warfare device called Khibiny (Rossiyskaya Gazeta 2014) mounted under its fuselage, buzzed the USS Donald Cook, which led to the following chain of events:

As the Russian jet approached the US vessel, the electronic device disabled all radars, control circuits, systems, information transmission, etc. on board the US destroyer. In other words, the all-powerful Aegis system, now hooked up — or about to be — with the defense systems installed on NATO’s most modern ships was shut down, as turning off the TV set with the remote control. (Voltaire 2014)

Thereafter, the Russian Su-24:

…then simulated a missile attack against the USS Donald Cook, which was left literally deaf and blind. As if carrying out a training exercise, the Russian aircraft — unarmed — repeated the same maneuver 12 times before flying away. (Voltaire 2014)

After the incident:

The 4th generation destroyer immediately set sail towards a port in Romania. No US ship has ever approached Russian territorial waters again. (Voltaire 2014)

The Pentagon would also launch a formal complaint. The Russian research director at the Center on Electronic Warfare, Vladimir Balybine, had the following to say:

The more a radio-electronic system is complex, the easier it is to disable it through the use of electronic warfare. (Voltaire 2014)

Additionally, the military alliance between Russia and China has moved forward at pace. Game-changing weapons systems are now being shared by Moscow with Beijing, and Beijing, more technologically savvy than ever, has embarked on an ambitious program of its own. As touched upon in the article, “The American Century Is Over. The Eurasian Century Has Begun,” by Pepe Escobar (Escobar 2014):

The Russia-China symbiosis/strategic partnership visibly expands on energy, finance and, also inevitably, on the military technology front. That includes, crucially, Moscow selling Beijing the S-400 air defense system and, in the future, the S-500.

The S-500 travels at the speed of 15,480 miles an hour, with a range of 2,174 miles — and is capable of shooting down any ICBM Washington can throw at Russia. Translation: Russian airspace sealed to any incoming US nuclear ICBM…The Russian ICBMs deployed at Mach 17, equipped with MIRVs, are simply unbeatable. Beijing, for its part, is already developing its own surface-to-ship missiles that can take out everything the US Navy can muster — from aircraft carriers to submarines and mobile air defense systems. (Escobar 2014)

Perhaps the Russian Bear and the Chinese Dragon have more up their sleeves than anyone at the Pentagon and NATO can contemplate. Perhaps balance, realpolitik, and common sense will once again enter the scene, as the “unknown unknowns” are potentially game changing on a level far above the Church of the Grand Chessboard.

Thank you,

Natylie Baldwin & Kermit E. Heartsong

appendix I

Phone Transcript Nuland and Pyatt

Full transcript of the February 6, 2014 telephone talk between US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey R. Pyatt (Oriental Review 2014):

Victoria Nuland(V.N.): What do you think?

Geoffrey R. Pyatt (G.P.): I think we are in play. The Klitchko piece is obviously the most complicated electron here, especially the announcement of him as Deputy Prime Minister. You have seen my notes on trouble in the marriage right now, so we are trying to get a read really fast where he is on the staff. But I think your argument to him which you’ll need to make, I think that’s the next phone call that you want to set up is exactly the one you made to Yats [Yatsenuk’s nickname]. I’m glad you put him on the spot. <���…> He fits in this scenario. And I am very glad he said what he said.

V.N.: Good. I don’t think Klitsch [Klitschko’s nickname] should be in the government. I don’t think it’s necessary, I don’t think it’s a good idea.

G.P.: Yeah, I mean, I guess… In terms of him not going into the government… I’d just let him stay out and do his political homework. I’m just thinking, in terms of sort of the process moving ahead, we want to keep the moderate democrats together. The problem is gonna be with Tyahnibok and his guys. And, you know, I am sure that is part of what Yanukovych is calculating on all this.

V.N.: I think Yats is the guy. He has economic experience and governing experience. He is the guy. You know, what he needs is Klitsch and Tyahnibok on the outside. He needs to be talking to them four times a week. You know, I just think if Klitchko gets in, he’s going to be at that level working for Yatsenuk, it’s just not gonna work…

G.P.: Yeah, yeah, I think that’s right. Ok, good. Would you like us to set up a call with him as the next step?

V.N.: My understanding from that call that you tell me was that the big three were going into their own meeting and that Yats was gonna offer in this context, you know, a «three plus one» conversation or a «three plus two» conversation with you. Is that not how you understood it?

G.P.: No. I think that was what he proposed but I think that knowing the dynamic that’s been with them where Klitchko has been the top dog, he’ll show up for whatever meetings they’ve got and he’s probably talking to his guys at this point. So, I think you reaching out directly to him, helps with the personality management among the three. And it also gives you a chance to move fast on all this stuff and put us behind it, before they all sit down and he explains why he doesn’t like it.

V.N.: Ok. Good. I am happy. Why don’t you reach out to him and see if he wants to talk before or after.

G.P.: Ok, I will do it. Thanks.

V.N.: I can’t remember if I told you this or if I only told Washington this: when I talked to Jeff Feltman this morning he had a new name for the UN guy — Robert Serry. I wrote you about it this morning.

G.P.: Yeah, I saw that.

V.N.: Ok. He’s gotten now both Serry and Ban Ki-moon to agree that Serry will come on Monday or Tuesday. That would be great I think to help glue this thing and to have the UN help glue it and, if you like, fuck the EU.

G.P.: No, exactly. And I think we’ve got to do something to make it stick together because you can be pretty sure that if it does start to gain altitude that the Russians will be working behind the scenes to try to torpedo it. And again the fact that this is out there right now, I am still trying to figure out in my mind why Yanukovych <���…> that. In the meantime there is a Party of Regions faction meeting going on right now and I am sure there is a lively argument going on in that group at this point. But anyway, we could land jelly side up on this one if we move fast. So let me work on Klitschko and if you can just keep… I think we just want to try to get somebody with an international personality to come out here and help to midwife this thing. The other issue is some kind of outreach to Yanukovych but we probably regroup on that tomorrow as we see how things start to fall into place.