Let me tell you a story about how international politics made the Los Angeles Wildfires catastrophic. How over 12,000 homes, businesses and schools burned down in California, because of . . . . UKRAINE.
All of you recall that, in the year 2014, Crimea voted to secede from Ukraine, and to go back to Russia. Many of you might be surprised that I said "go back to Russia" because you may not be aware that, for at least 300 years prior, Crimea WAS part of Russia. -
Throughout most of recorded history it was "the Russian Crimea." But on 19 February 1954, then Soviet Leader, Nikita Kruschev, GAVE Crimea to Ukraine. So Crimea was only part of Ukraine for sixty (60) years.
It was back in 2013-2014 under the Obama Administration that NATO wanted to expand into Ukraine. Their goal was to place American Missile Defenses on Ukraine soil. By having US Missiles on Ukraine soil, those missiles could strike Moscow in about five minutes, and Russia's Strategic Nuclear Missile silos in about ten minutes.
As you may know, Russia flatly refused to accept having such a threat on their borders. They told Ukraine "no." They told both Europe and America "no." But NATO was determined and they continued trying to lure Ukraine.
At the time, Ukraine's Democratically-elected President was Viktor Yanukovich. Both the US and EU approached Yanokovich and told him, among other things, that Ukraine should move away from the Russian sphere of influence and come into the West. It would be a boost for business, would improve the lives of all Ukrainians, and so on.
But Yanukovich could not make such a massive decision on his own. He told the US and EU he needed time to talk to his fellow government representatives, his country's business leaders, and to his people. The US and EU said they understood and asked Yanukovich to set a date-certain for his decision. A date was set.
Yanokovich went about talking to his people, his business leaders, his government people, and when that date came, Yanukovich told Europe and America "Thanks, but no thanks. Ukraine is remaining with Russia."
That was an answer neither the US nor the EU were going to accept.
Shortly thereafter, the United States and Europe fomented, facilitated, and financed violent riots throughout Ukraine. Upwards of one million dollars a day - cash - was coming out of the US Embassy in Kiev, to bankroll the riots!
Things got so bad, so violent, that the Ukraine government collapsed. Yanukovich fled the country. Guess who was right there to bankroll a new government - one that was favorable to the West? Yep, The EU and the USA.
A puppet government was installed in Kiev. It immediately set about banning Russian anything because it was the Russian-speaking Oblasts (states) in eastern Ukraine, which had won the election for Yanukovich. The new government wanted to get rid of the Russian-speaking population in the eastern Oblasts, especially Luhansk and Donetsk.
The Russian speaking population in Crimea saw this and decided they wanted no part of the new puppet regime in Kiev. They voted to secede.
The Public Referendum was held under the watchful eye of United Nations and other election monitors. It was a completely legitimate vote. The People of Crimea voted overwhelmingly to leave Ukraine and return to Russia.
In the evening of 16 March 2014, Mikhail Malyshev, the Crimean election Spokesman, reported that as of 20:00, 1,250,427 people or 81.36% voted in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and 274,136 or 89.50% voted in Sevastopol for a total of 1,524,563 or 82.71% of the electorate. That 82.71% voted overwhelmingly (95.5%) to secede.
The collective West recoiled in horror. They had plans to put a NATO naval base on Crimea, near Sevastopol, and Crimea leaving would foul that up. So the West called the vote illegitimate and refused to recognize it. When the Russian state legislature, the Duma, voted to accept Crimea back into Russia, the West labeled it "an illegal annexation."
There was nothing illegal about it. Under the UN Charter, all people have a right to self-determination and the people of Crimea voted for it. They left for Russia . . . and took their land with them!
Two days later, on 18 March, 2014, Russia accepted Crimea and Sevastopol into the Russian Federation - forever.
This was a huge problem for the US, the EU, and NATO. They whined, moaned, and complained endlessly.
At this point, the puppet regime in Kiev began massing troops at Crimea, and at the borders of the eastern Oblasts of Luhansk and Donetsk. On 12 April 2014 those troops began firing artillery and mortars into the civilian areas of those two states, to drive the (Russian-speaking) people out. This was overt Ethnic Cleansing and it was actually illegal.
But the West only cites the "Rules-Based Order" when it serves their own purposes. That's the "rub" to the whole "International Rules-Based Order" - the West makes the rules and only uses those rules when it suits the West.
Luhansk and Donetsk fielded their state militia to fight-off the attacking Ukrainians, but they needed help. They were only a state militia and they were faced with the actual Ukraine army.
ENTER Little Green Men
Shortly after Ukraine began attacking Luhansk and Donetsk, "Little Green Men" began appearing en-masse on the side of Luhansk and Donetsk. These were trained troops, with full army gear, but no flags, patches or insignia. They were Russian troops sent to help Luhansk and Donetsk. They fought Ukraine to a standstill.
By 2016, it was election time in the USA and to the absolute horror of the political class, Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton. Like magic, all the trouble in Ukraine just . . . stopped.
It remained stopped until ONE WEEK after Joe Biden entered the Presidency that he won through massive Ballot Fraud. At the time, the Democrats in the US used "COVID-19" as a reason to send Mail-in Ballots to even dead people, and those Ballots got voted. Trump lost the election to that FRAUD and Joe Biden became the (illegitimate) American President. ONE WEEK into his regime, the trouble in Ukraine started again.
By 2022, the actions of Ukraine, backed by the West, triggered the official entry of the Russian Army into Ukraine. Russia had no choice; if they allowed Ukraine to join NATO, it would mean American missiles on Ukraine soil with a five minute flight time to Moscow.
The West will not stop, so the Russian Army is now stopping them. By force. It is a matter of survival for Russia.
The politics surrounding this has gotten ugly, and it is THAT politics, that caused the Wildfires in Los Angeles to become catastrophic!
RUSSIAN FIRE-FIGHTING PLANES
Russia manufactures a particular fire fighting aircraft called the BE-200. It is made by a company named Beriev, and it is an amazing plane (Pictured above).
Each of the planes can haul 12 TONS of water. 12 tons is 24,000 pounds. Water weighs 8 lbs. per gallon, so that works out to be each plane carrying three-thousand (3,000) gallons per air drop.
CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES
The typical fire engine (in the USA) carries five-hundred (500) gallons of water, so each of these planes is the equivalent of six (6) fire engines, dumping their entire water load in literally seconds.
The planes can refill in . . . . get this . . . . fourteen (14) SECONDS, from a lake, a reservoir even the ocean.
They have a range of 2100 kilometers, so they can make multiple drops of 3,000 gallons of water, before they have to go refuel.
In terms of fire-fighting, these planes are "beasts." They really get the job done fast.
From 2017-2019, the US and Russia negotiated the sale of ten Be-200 firefighting jets to California. They’d have been stationed just 200km from LA’s wildfire hotspots.
During the negotiations, someone on the US side decided to "stick-it" to Russia.
The US side demanded that the jets use Ukrainian-made D-436TP engines for the RUSSIAN fire-fighting planes. But the manufacturer of those engine, Motor Sich, wouldn’t certify them with the Federal Aviation Administration.
No certification = no deal.
That’s how the contract unraveled. No Be-200s for California.
Rostec, the Parent Company of Beriev, who makes the planes, confirmed that had the contract been signed by 2020, all ten planes would have been delivered by the year 2022. Well in advance of the recent - and still burning - California wildfires that have leveled more than 12,000 homes, businesses, and schools, killing at least 24 - so far.
Negotiators insisting on "sticking-it" to Russia, ruined the deal for California to get those Russian fire-fighting planes and as a result, there is now $250 Billion in damage to Los Angeles. All because some nitwit in government wanted to "stick it" to Russia, over Ukraine.
I am investigating who the persons are who demanded the Ukrainian Engines be substituted on those planes. When I find out who the persons were, I will name them in a future story.
It is time they get the attention they deserve.
In the meantime, all of YOU now know: The Los Angeles Wildfires couldn't be put out because, among other things, the US Government wrecked a deal for fire-fighting planes in 2019 because they wanted to "stick-it" to Russia over Ukraine.
They could have had ten planes, equal to 6 fire trucks each plane, the water equivalent of a total of SIXTY fire trucks, flying-in and dumping thousands of gallons, refilling in 14 seconds and flying-in again to dump 3,000 more gallons.
Those fires could possibly have been knocked down in one day.
Yet California homes burned to the ground and people were killed, because some government idiot - likely in in Washington, DC wanted to "stick it" to Russia over Ukraine.
