Hi Taichiliberal,
Thank you for the links. The first link says "this site can't be reached", so I can't access it to assess it. The second link is okay, but it leaves things out.
This link is the inspiration regarding the information contained within the "December 2021" section of my post.
This link (paywall) is also relevant to that section as well as the "Early 2022" section of my post. I'll quote the relevant section from the second link since it is paywalled (bolded emphasis in first paragraph is mine):
["
Over three months, senior Biden administration officials held half a dozen urgent meetings with top Chinese officials in which the Americans presented intelligence showing Russia’s troop buildup around Ukraine and beseeched the Chinese to tell Russia not to invade, according to U.S. officials.
Each time, the Chinese officials, including the foreign minister and the ambassador to the United States, rebuffed the Americans, saying they did not think an invasion was in the works. After one diplomatic exchange in December, U.S. officials got intelligence showing Beijing had shared the information with Moscow, telling the Russians that the United States was trying to sow discord — and that China would not try to impede Russian plans and actions, the officials said.
The previously unreported talks between American and Chinese officials show how the Biden administration tried to use intelligence findings and diplomacy to persuade a superpower it views as a growing adversary to stop the invasion of Ukraine, and how that nation, led by President Xi Jinping, persistently sided with Russia even as the evidence of Moscow’s plans for a military offensive grew over the winter.
This account is based on interviews with senior administration officials with knowledge of the conversations who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the diplomacy. The Chinese Embassy spokesman, Liu Pengyu, answered an earlier request for comment a half-day after this article was posted online, saying, “For some time, China has actively promoted the political settlement process of the Ukraine issue.”]
So, this NYT story is the "lead in" to the Reuters story in assessing what was really happening at that time. Apparently our Shadow Government was sharing intelligence info with China during the months leading up to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Why would the Shadow Government think that China wouldn't share the intel with Russia? WRONG QUESTION. It's not incompetence, it's intent. The Shadow Government purposely shared that intel with China KNOWING FULL WELL that it would get back to Russia. Ergo, my "provoking the bear" commentary.
So, the question becomes "what intel was being pushed Russia's way"? That gets into the Reuters story that I linked. Biden and Zelenskyy (via CIA puppeteers pulling the strings over both) were said to have talked (but what about?). According to the Reuters article, it seems like they were talking about a possible Ukraine entry into NATO, which was a clear red line being crossed from Russia's perspective.
IOW, our Shadow Government KNEW FULL WELL that such a move would trigger a military response from Russia. It seems like they WANTED Russia to invade Ukraine, so they purposefully "poked the bear" until Russia finally did it. But WHY? Why would they want this to happen?
Now enters the fact that one needs to remember the bad economic situation that the Shadow Government had been causing (since early 2021) in the name of "Climate Change" and "Green Energy". At this point, they were facing heat about soaring gas prices (and etc) so they needed something to take attention away from it (and needed a scapegoat for it). Ergo, they "poked the bear", provoked Russia into invading Ukraine, and now all of a sudden "soaring gas prices" are "Putin's fault" instead of their own fault.
