Here are a couple of articles fitting additional puzzle pieces into the picture.
First, although I'm sure they originally hoped for the best, Russia was certainly aware of the smuggling abuses of the grain deal. They suckered Ukraine into recalcitrance on the issue, giving them the pretext to let it expire. Once this political goal was accomplished, they obliterated the physical facilities. A crucial item of intel is that the strikes on Odessa had nothing to do with "revenge" for the Kerch Strait attack:
“Regarding the strikes on Odessa and elsewhere: It bears mentioning that these are not yet the ‘strikes of retribution’. All these—admittedly massive—strikes were planned in advance. Nothing of this magnitude happens as a knee-jerk reaction to a terrorist act. As always, targets must be ascertained, verified, confirmed. The amount of planning that goes into these types of combined strikes is not done in a day.”
“The destruction of the Ukrainian ports is an inevitable consequence of Russia’s decision to leave the ‘grain deal’ behind. Rather than try to police any ships with crews foolish enough to attempt docking in Ukraine, it’s best to simply make it impossible to dock in Ukraine.”
Second, the economic destruction of Europe and in particular Germany was part of an explicit and deliberate plan recommended by RAND and exposed back in January 2022. It's nothing short of an Orwellian miracle that virtually no one is aware of this, Europeans in particular.
This article includes some context and developments, along with a link to the original Substack article that exposed the secret report:
An objection would be that the report is not authentic. It seems clear, though, that the strategy chosen by the Establishment is to ignore it completely rather than claim it to be phony, thus avoiding the Streisand Effect. Also, well, in the year and a half since it was exposed, everything has pretty much gone according to it's plan.
Here are a couple of articles fitting additional puzzle pieces into the picture.
First, although I'm sure they originally hoped for the best, Russia was certainly aware of the smuggling abuses of the grain deal. They suckered Ukraine into recalcitrance on the issue, giving them the pretext to let it expire. Once this political goal was accomplished, they obliterated the physical facilities. A crucial item of intel is that the strikes on Odessa had nothing to do with "revenge" for the Kerch Strait attack:
Odessa Port Heavily Bombarded by Drones and Missiles in Worst Attack of the War – Russia Obliterates Ukrainian Infrastructure on the Black Sea (GP 7/19/2023)
Second, the economic destruction of Europe and in particular Germany was part of an explicit and deliberate plan recommended by RAND and exposed back in January 2022. It's nothing short of an Orwellian miracle that virtually no one is aware of this, Europeans in particular.
This article includes some context and developments, along with a link to the original Substack article that exposed the secret report:
Is the War in Ukraine Part of a U.S. Strategy to Weaken Germany? RAND Says, “YES”! (GP 9/13/2022)
An objection would be that the report is not authentic. It seems clear, though, that the strategy chosen by the Establishment is to ignore it completely rather than claim it to be phony, thus avoiding the Streisand Effect. Also, well, in the year and a half since it was exposed, everything has pretty much gone according to it's plan.