The downing of a US spy drone off the coast of Crimea over the Black Sea has marked a serious incident between the United States and Russian Federation. Different interpretations of the incident seem immediate and very much depending on the source, according to US writer and analyst Daniel Patrick Welch.
From the outset, Welch says, it is important to place the events in a historical context. “The US is completely unashamed by the depth and audacity of the evil plans it is revealed to have organized. No matter what you catch them doing, there is zero chance they will take the high road, admit responsibility, and adjust their course.”
What are some relevant and recent examples? “Backing Right Sector heroes they agreed were terrorists a short while ago? Never happened. Nordstream bombers? Naaaaah,” he says.
This incident, he claims, is not much different. But he sees an almost comedic repetition in how the US expects responses to be different. “Now, getting its drones as close to Crimea as they can without getting caught [oops!] is just another setup for a sketch on the mock news of Saturday Night Live. The US-sponsored headline is that “Russia is warned to operate military aircraft with caution.” [Non-western audience LAUGHTER/APPLAUSE, please]. Now switch to Russia’s real-world response, namely, that after the recent drone incident (where a US drone 60 miles from Crimea was taken out by a Russian plane), Russia vows to retaliate against ‘all US provocations.’”
Russia denied that its forces had made any effort to down the drone, and instead suggested that the US aircraft had possibly crashed due to "sharp maneuvering."
According to Moscow, the incident happened as the UAV was flying "over the waters of the Black Sea in the area of the Crimean peninsula...towards the Russian state border."
Crimea declared independence from Ukraine on March 17, 2014 and formally became a part of Russia later on.
The US military released footage of what it described as an “unsafe” and “unprofessional” intercept by the Russian warplane.
The short video footage purportedly shows a Russian Su-27 approaching the back of the US MQ-9 drone on Tuesday and dumping fuel as it passes.
The European Command said the warplane made a second pass at the unpiloted drone, again dumping fuel, before colliding with the drone.
“Obviously!” Welch observes. “But of course, this is missing from the newsreel here. The real story is that those ‘evil’ Russians might get some intelligence from a drone taken out 60 miles from a war zone.”
At the same time, the analyst notes that the US ignores its own insistence on a much larger defense zone for Taiwan. “Meanwhile, Taiwan's "ADIZ" [Arial Defense Identification Zone] (with US support, of course) is beyond ridiculous. Not only is Taiwan a part of China already, but flights over almost all of one of its own coastal provinces constitute "violations" by China’s planes.”
Now various spokesmen have come out in the media to speak on the issue. “Rubio [Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee] has spouted his own warhawk rhetoric, which of course is only slightly different from the rest of the gaggle of ‘supporters’ and ‘opponents’ in the sad democracy façade that is the US permanent warrior culture.”
Welch doesn’t see much difference in the US’ political roster: “He thinks it’s a ‘test’ to see if the US will respond, and Biden’s real ‘response’ should be to monger a little more war. Always the brilliant solution of America’s Braintrust.”
The analyst reacts in vigorous agreement, but notes it is only if you can flip it around. “Of course. It is absolutely a test. It's interesting how the brainless mouthpieces of US policy can be correctly interpreted if one assumes the exact opposite of what they are saying,” Welch says.
“What happened here is that the US was using its usual, saber-rattling macho warswagger to see how close they can get.”
The status of Crimea has continued to be a point of contention since 2014, when it was annexed by Russia with a plebiscite in which the move received overwhelming popular support. “Many levels of the US war machine have been outspoken on how one of the Ukrainian neo-Nazi goals should be to ‘take back’ Crimea. It has also become no secret that the US and its NATO attack dogs have been heavily involved in a war on Russia, using the proxy armies of Bandera and whoever they can kidnap from the grocery store.”
Still, no matter the view of its detractors, the US doesn’t recognize opposing views. “Apparently they still have no awareness of the image they present from outside their own press release minions,” Welch says. “It is so obvious to those outside the bubble that it draws nonchalant amused asides. One South African friend says simply ‘Growing up, all US war games we played had the Russians ALWAYS as villains and themselves (US) as heroes. I still have the latest ones in that fashion.’” My wife, also African, still laughs at the morning headlines but uses an old Seinfeld reference in Jerry’s warning voice: “This is gonna get ugly…”
Welch fears that pushing its own truth and refusing to see that others do not accept it is unsustainable. “The truth is that no one in the real world ignores the reality: all that data scooped up by the US grim Reaper is already on its way to Ukraine's General Staff with its American officers,” He believes. “At least the part of it that was not vaporized by last week's Kinzhal surprise. Actually, the rest of the world--literally like 80% of it (not counting internal dissent) responds by saying "Duh!" What in the name of gods of war, logic and common sense would you think would happen if a cheeky US drone tries to cozy up? Like a toddler touching the stove.”
“That kid is gonna get spanked. Are we all clearer now?”