I had a more substantive piece coming, but for now I’ll hold off and give another Sitrep-style update on events to clear the plate since there’s a lot of ongoing things that could boil over in the near future.
The 'coke-head of Kiev' (as the wonderful gentlemen from The Duran have dubbed him) is about to find out & experience (in person) Kissinger's Old Adage of 'To be America's Ally is Fatal.'
He will do whatever it takes to prevent the walls from closing in, but it appears that the 'Palace Intrigue' is proving to be a bit too much & his days are numbered. The 116 billion USD package is DOA, so his last lifeline may not arrive in the nick of time to save him from his cronies seizing Power.
Word should be gotten to Nixon that if Thieu meets the same fate as Diem, the word will go out to the nations of the world that it may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal.
Sources: Kissinger's War, 1957-1975 and United Nations Journal: A Delegate's Odyssey
I think Republicans will be guilt tripped into providing aid eventually. It's counter productive though. More they drag this out more Russia will take. Coulda just lost Crimea. Then only Donbass and Crimea. Now Russia won't settle for anything less than dictating terms.
people in the US are hopping mad now. they don't want any more damned money to Ukraine, the amount we've spent on new arms to replace the junk sent to Kiev (making a few hundred extra jobs in those War Toys industries) is obscene already. We pay for blood and destruction. How's that for an advertising motto? And the other one is, "We always abandon our dear allies in the end." Ukraine -- weeping and pointing the finger at the US for getting it into war and leaving it there. They should be weeping for their own stupidity in buying a fairy tale that has been proven a lie time and again.
The Problem is, the people in Ukraine voted for peace with Russia, Zelensky run on that promise in his election, they were also lied to from the beginning. That's another kind of parallel I see in Western 'democracies', all the core topics the vast majority in the Western countries vote for, are not implemented or even the opposite of it. People want peace, f.ck them, we start wars. People want secure borders, f.ck them, we let in everyone because we can. People want less taxes, f.ck them, we want more for us and our corrupt friends. In contrast to that, the 'dictator' Putin listens to the core topics of his population and even implements them. Imagine that...
Thats because we don't hold liars responsible anymore. At the end of the day it's our fault. When I grew up lying brought not only dishonor to yourself but whole family for raising a lair. Today it's "fake it 'till you make it"
To be fair, Germany has said "enough, no more" on several occasions in the past, but an American snaps his fingers and european knees hit the floor with a resounding thwack.
According to the mainstream media, the money in the subject package is not for weapons and ammunition - there is to be a separate funded program for that. The 50-something billion is supposed to be for stabilizing the Ukrainian social system, paying salaries to civil-service professionals, repairing vital infrastructure and preparing Ukraine for membership in the EU.
That said, those are the priorities European 'leaders' avowed; as of the time the approval of the first tranche of funds was announced - which I believe was Saturday - official Ukraine has not indicated to Europe in any meaningful way how it intends to spend the funds.
I have heard a breakdown of this package by UA analyst called Ruslan Bortnik (look him up) who said it was significantly less than that in reality
- mix of 'grants' (actual aid) and 'credits'
- how is it going to be funded (EU countries have to first agree to destroy property rights by stealing RU assets to fund it). there are no laws for that and they have to be passed first (if EU is insane enough to do it)
- how is it going to be actually applied , on what schedule
- a BUNCH of circuit breakers already built in to be able to stop it any second , i.e. for not having 'multi-party system' (which does not of cause exist in UA) or 'respecting minority rights'.
in short, a bunch of PR noise over nothings. EU promises to pay itself what it already lent out with money it does not have and hopes to steal, assuming it can actually force its members to do it, and all of that with huge MAY BE..
The Ukies have a new plan. Make it a terrorist war and hit bakeries and schools. Really, I think this is going to escalate. The government is doing fine and debating everything, all court drama while the common citizen dies for the US, Russia cooperating. There must be some rule against Russia hitting the source of the problem - the Ukie government. "It will be decided on the battlefield." Lavrov. This is a negotiated war, but what if they start breaking the rules and just turn into terrorists; what if NATO refuses to lose? They think if they lose Ukraine, they lose Europe.
This Kissinger's phrase was known even before him in slightly different form but with similar meaning. Wise Russian military thinker, geopolitician and strategist Alexey Edrikhin who lived in 1867-1933 once said "Worse than war with the Anglo-Saxons can be only friendship with them". But it was more about Britain.
Downwind from the FT is the Daily Mail, publishing a well known first Brit now US ‘historian’ : in reality an ideology PR using history baiting examples to back up an ultra thinktank position
One of the main pushers of the WWIII scenarios now being deployed in brigade + even battalion formation – to cover up impending defeat in Uk, and to try buy time for NATO rearmament
Hence timeline of 3/5/7 years ‘so we are prepared for when Russia can recover rearm and invade’
Hence the cunning brit plan to - in the meantime - divert and amuse with a plan to deploy the 20,000 they mustered just for the NATO ‘exercises’ to deploy to Ukraine – this seems barely more than a rumour, but this is the way the brits work, ‘there’s no smoke without fire’ they like to repeat : it’s ‘hush hush’ they say
The various B bureautrash continue the paso doble routine, out of one mouth complain about lack of funding broken down army ships no this no that no soldiers neither, etc etc, tanks that do not start, while out of the other mouth threaten fire and brimstone on the Russian sinners
It is thought that the brits believe, badly want to believe, that this expeditionary force not only may be mounted, but would scare the skin off of the RF
The B are not alone, they’ve got the miniBalts to up their chirrup, and Pistorius talks more than he can walk, but it is plausible that both France and Germany will stay quietly at home while repairing the odd howitzer barrel
There’s an old yarn – you can be the best, you can lie and cheat, or you can be first to cut and run: guess who is which
Meanwhile, in the real world –
“German opposition to reforming EU [War] fund risks delaying arms to Ukraine”
On NATO re arm, a new EU can’t do it wrinkle sprung by the Germans, which has re insisted that the EU Peace Fund, in fact their War Fund
1-first re imburse agreed previous advance payments
2-then re imburse not yet agreed reimbursements of previous bilateral funding
3-only then to set about funding the EPF, which means no more than drawing up new contracts – certainly not till next year…
4-or the year after because then the small EU countries know this will not benefit them but only France and Germany
5- then there’s always Orban to poke the puppy
“Large contributors to the fund claim that smaller countries such as the Baltic states secured large reimbursements from the EPF for sending outdated Soviet-era weapons to Ukraine, and used the money to upgrade their own kit.”
At last the final solution to the age old Irish problem
“Britain faces a “backdoor” threat to its security from a Russian, Chinese and Iranian presence in the Republic of Ireland, according to a report by an influential thinktank that accuses Dublin of “freeloading” when it comes to European defence.
The UK should also expand its air and naval presence in Northern Ireland, to counter a growing Russian threat on the UK’s western flank, according to the Policy Exchange report, which is backed by two former defence secretaries, Michael Fallon and George Robertson.
The UK and Ireland are at risk from an “acute maritime menace” posed by a Russian doctrine of targeting undersea networks and pipelines and the presence of Russian warships, they say in a foreword to the paper.”
Well, maybe the Bandera army will return to the BEF what's left of their self-propelled guns so it can st least pose with them, cuz it won't be able to fire them. I doubt the BEF is going to set up anywhere in the Bandera territories.
Neil Furguson was the epidemiologist who worked in the SAGE council (good God that acronym!) and let his dick get the better of him during the lockdowns.
Whereas I think NATO, possibly prodded by GB, might be stupid enough to get involved in a shootting war over Ukraine, I think or at least hope wiser heads will prevail. However if you read the British press you might think hordes of veteran shovel wielding maniacs called Ivan are poised to sweep over Western Europe. Nevertheless Western Europe does need to re-arm - it took the so-called peace dividend too far and effectively disarmed itself - and what little stocks it had have now gone. But it will take years, and recuritment is terrible and everyone is out of money. Personally I doubt Russia has any designs on the lunatuc assylum that comprises western nations these days, but in any event I doubt it will give up its military advantage.
My take is that Brits is noise making trying to remind NATO of the important role Brits might play in the proposed NATO fantasy ‘ help the Russians are invading’
Which is to continue to do what they have already been doing, leading terrorist teams in Uk and planning/participating in terrorist attacks – develop this into insurgency style warfare, giving NATO time to rearm
NATO re armament is tough – the basic US plan involves divesting/co opting EU industry, financial markets, and ensuring dependence on US energy
Same applies double to armaments – in spite of the fact that the US is no longer interested in supplying much of their own to the Uk war, they are interested in monopolising EU sourcing for this war – if it takes threats of WWIII to shake some sense into the Eurotrash, why not
This is to discourage EU arms manufacturers a lot – and EU seems to have no clue of how to go about forming a plan, swatting the US midge, getting manufacturers complicit, and paying for it upfront
The RF are destroying what is left of NATO as it is, what possible reason would they have for ‘invading’ except in a Lord of the Rings fantasy world
The British Army is less than half the size of the one the Russians are currently whipping to foamy peaks. Military rating outlets like Global Firepower rank Great Britain much higher at Number 6, I can't imagine why, than Ukraine, but the thing for both to remember is that it ranks Russia at Number 2. There's a lot of distance between 2 and 6 in the firepower world. As well, Russia is on a wartime-production footing while GB and the other NATO noodniks are cleaning out the basement to see if there is any more artillery ammunition hitherto unnoticed in the corners. Western media sources claim the British military has never been as weak as it is now, and American recruiting has just downgraded its admission standards AGAIN in the hope of capturing people it previously rejected as unsuitable, while thousands of military vacancies remain unfilled.
It's true that that probably only matters to people who can still reason, and the west is run by people who cannot, so it remains perfectly possible that they will try it anyway in hope that everyone will pitch in against Russia. I devoutly hope not, because then China would step in. NATO probably could not beat Russia alone, and it could not in its wildest dreams defeat a Sino-Russian alliance.
The brits and yanks adore terrorism - and love 'expeditionary forces' in hostile but servile lands
To re configure arms armies and infrastructures will take EUUSUK at least.....years, - if they can work out how to
It would involve a general re foundation of industrial policies and especially in the UK the physical re construction of a large part of the industrial base (steel and so on)
This looks to be very unlikely – neither the will nor the skill – nor the energy
So guerilla warfare will have to do – the US will whip up the excitement, they are already pushing out press/pr/thinktanks pleading for an Ukraine ‘insurgency’ - plus the Nordics/Balts eager to commit suicide
However the Russians are skilled at counter terrorism
LOL what a delusional piece. Europe is broke and in various stages of civil wars. It's not 1941 anymore. They can't build a conventional army to defeat Russia - Half Russians, Ukrainians is the best they will ever have. In 10 years Russia China and BRICS partners will be the First world and a couple generations ahead on tech and even if they werent what's with these stupid WW2 comparisons? Nuclear weapons makes them all null and void. Russia or USA and probably China now can destroy life on earth pushed to the brink unlike WW2 combatants. Everytime I hear them I assume author is a moron or more likely a salesman for the military industrial complex. Super powers will not fight and if they do it's game over for everyone. War games show usually in the first hours of such a war because you don't know if the 500 missiles headed towards your country are nuclear or not. Use it or lose it.
Almost half of young men in Sweden are not Swedish. Sweden, to paraphrase Donald Trump, is seeing ongoing shootings and explosions that are abnormal for a European country nominally at peace
Well sure it is – look how fiendishly clever those Brits are, who else would have thought to turn Ireland into a prime ally of Russia, not only, but of China and Iran too
You'd think the dissonance would have caught up by now - Ukr in dire need of mobilization, Ru in NO need of mobilization, Ukr society feeling the weight of casualties, Ru not really, and so on. Yet we still keep hearing the whole "ru sufferring more casualties" nonsense. Tbh I don't know how they are able to make so many advances and suffer such few losses, but it seems the armored vehicles are doing their job
The cynicism in the US is mind boggling. You'd think there would be an inkling of shame, of self awareness that in this massive bill the single largest expenditure is Ukraine, and what is almost a minor consideration is the southern border. The regime doesn't even pretend anymore.
Dima from military summary on YouTube said he heard it was Spetsnaz that spearheaded the breakthrough that got the Russians from southeast of the Heap to the lake. They slipped between a couple fortifications and flanked them why the storm units attacked. He said they're still on the move running point on the group heading east around the top of lake. I have no idea if it's true but he's not normally that detailed.
Also I've noticed that it seems Russian's are way better at urban combat than the Ukrainians. My instincts tell me it's probably because NATO ISR isn't useful in close combat.
Even back in the 80s Soviet military doctrine emphasized mechanized infantry, speed and redundancy of force. We relied upon technological superiority including our nuclear submarines. We even joked about the Fulda gap being a speed bump. Forget Berlin, it was just for show and intelligence gathering.
I was actually going to mention this. But the video I saw where UA captured a few Russians on that spearhead, to be honest the Russians looked fairly top notch. Not necessarily elite/spetsnaz but they weren't the usual DPR or Storm-Z type guys constantly seen pushing in Stepove and the southeast area. So it did seem like Russia put a few of the better units for this spearhead.
Dima said spetsnaz were leading the spearhead around the north of the lake. Basically that they broke open the hole in the line and went east. They weren't spearheading into the city. So where those dudes got picked up probably weren't spetsnaz. Again, just relaying what he said. Makes sense with how quickly things are moving.
I was shocked that Senator Schumer's family is from Galicia, Western Ukraine, known for 1st Galician Waffen Nazi SS and rabid Russophobia. He got personal conflict of interests and should be banned from making any financial decisions on Ukraine.
Just because he served in the IDF and is a fanatical Zionist doesn't mean he's not impartial in negotiating peace between Israel and Hezbollah. And any claims of "dual loyalties" are clear anti-Semitic dog whistles, for which the author should be banned. You can be a citizen of both the U.S. and Israel, and hold a position at the very top of the American government, and not have any conflict of interest.
But you shouldn't hold any dual citizenship if you are in the decision making government positions. You should have nowhere run and hide when you screwed up the country. There is a significant over-representation in the US government of people with dual interests to say the least.
That would make him another Slav hater, probably hating on Ukranians much more than the Russians (same as Nuland) and not caring how many of them it will take to finally defeat Russia. I find Eastern European Jews' attitudes towards Slavs in general (and Russians in particular) quite peculiar. No matter the history, they always liked the Germans more. I understand that the history there was complex, that they were denied many rights, but so were the Slavic peasants who were the feudal serfs at the time when Jews were not allowed to move beyond the Pale of Settlement. The peasants were denied moving outside of their very villages which is much higher level of constraint. To top it of, Jews were usually collecting the feudal rents on behalf of the absentee landlords thus creating class-based hate. In any case, I find their hate towards the Slavs completely reactionary and illogical. However, I doubt they have any nice feelings about Galician Ukranians. From Senator Schumer's own testimony: "In 1941, when the Nazis invaded Ukraine, then part of Galicia, they asked my great-grandmother — the matriarch of the family, and the wife of a locally revered rabbi — to gather her children, her grandchildren, her great-grandchildren on the porch of her home, which was in the town square.
As more than 30 people gathered on the porch, aged 85 years old to 3 months, the Nazis forced the remaining Jewish citizens of the town to gather around and watch.
When the Nazis told my great-grandmother, “You are coming with us,” she refused – and they machine-gunned down every last one of them. The babies, the elderly, and everybody in-between."
don't want to get into the whole history of judaism here, but the short version is that The Enlightenment (aka "rationality over religion") in western Europe tempted a lot of Jews to assimilate (see Mendelssohn, et al) and embrace the mainstream culture whereas Jews had no desire (or ability) to assimilate into the elite classes of non-Enlightened (i.e. religious) Eastern Europe.
Remember, Anne Frank's dad fought in the Germany army. good luck finding many Jews who fought in the imperial Russian or Polish armies. So yah, there's a few centuries of inherited grievances going on. Also explains why Communism was so attractive to Jews in this region (they got to join the ranks of the elites).
Axtually, there were some Jews who fought for the Russian Army, although probably very few were all that enthusiastic about the proposition. I recall Nicholas II giving a medal to a Jewish soldier.
Just before the Russo-Japanese war of 1905 Jewish doctors were formally allowed to serve in the Russian Army. For some reason this upset Jacob Schiff who accelerated his money support to the Japanese Navy by way of bonds to pay for war ship construction in England.
"Remember, Anne Frank's dad fought in the Germany army."
How can I remember something I never heard? Funny too that this little detail is not commonly known.
Just a couple of years ago I read a comment somewhere that pointed out that little Anne died in the camp infirmary. Imagine, a death camp with a hospital....
It's not just historical. Putin's party passed a law which bans people with dual citizenship from holding government jobs or security clearances. Jews take that as being directed at them, because most Russian Jews get Israeli citizenship when they're children (it's much easier to travel on an Israeli passport - you can stay in six months in Europe each calendar year for example, where even getting a Schengen visa is difficult for Russian passport holders). It's also very difficult to give up Israeli citizenship once you have it, even if you want to.
Remember what the original dispute between the Nazis and German Jews was: the first racial laws were simply that Jews who were hired after WWI into German government jobs were fired, unless they had served in the German army during the first world war. Jews who worked in German government jobs before the war were unaffected. The reason for that law was because the Weimar government had placed large number of Jewish people in government jobs over ethnic Germans.
In response, international Jewish groups organized a boycott that starved hundreds of thousands of ethnic Germans to death.
From there, the antagonism and animosity between diaspora Jews and the Nazi party steady went downhill. The diaspora carries the same antagonism against Russia, for the exact same reason it started in Germany.
Hey, bear! I like your comments. They sound reasonable and well articulated. Then I looked you up and you are an American living here in Russia. That is a rare case and a nice surprise. Have a nice day, bro!
Thank you. I married a Russian woman and have raised my children in Russia. When I want to get under my teenage son's skin, I point out to him that he's "Russian-American" and I'm more Russian than he is... since I've been here longer than he has :)
Schumer didn't work a day in a real job all his life. After graduating in 1974 from law school, he decided to go into "politics." There should be laws banning anybody who doesn't have at least 10 years of REAL job experience to be in "politics" and working for own mommy, doesn't county, sorry @neverNikki
There are Palestinians who serve today in the IDF (and are also Israeli citizens). That's harder to comprehend, because Israel is an explicit racial (Jewish) state. I think that in modern liberal democracies, people who serve in the army identify more with that institution and their chain of command than they do with the current party holding political power.
And I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the Jewish people who served in the Wehrmacht under Nazi rule didn't particularly identify as Jewish. That identity is both ethnic and cultural. A lot of people who are technically Jewish (on ethnic grounds or by Jewish law, through their maternal ancestry) don't feel any particular "Jewishness". They didn't grow up in that faith, and might have as little contact with it as visiting synagogue a few times with a grandparent in their childhood.
"No matter the history, they always liked the Germans more."
As an aside: before the rise of the Nazis, German Jews traditionally looked down upon eastern Jews (Galitizianers, Litvaks, etc.) as being poor, superstitious, backward, overly traditional, and generally lacking German Kultur. There actually was a *small* and fringe current of quiet Jewish support for the Nazis before 1932 or so, on the grounds that the Nazis weren't communists, combined with the pathetic rationalization that when the Nazis ranted about "Jews", what they really meant was "Jews from the Shtetl and not Germanized Jews like us."
Of course, those supporters were dead wrong. But Arnold Schoenberg wrote in 1932 without a trace of irony that he had secured the supremacy of German music for the next thousand years. And Freud did not leave Vienna until the very last minute, in part because he wanted to secure his antique collection, but also because he refused to believe that Germans could do such things.
Look into Nulands family history, Blinken is also tied to this emotionally. That's part of the problem they don't think rationally. They're totally emotional when it comes to Russia. Nuland more so, she is psychotic in her hatred for Russia & Russians. These people should be no where near positions of power. Remember America facilitated the escape of many top Nazi's. This lead to some of the most powerful Nazi's in positions right at the top of NATO & the UN. It's actually unbelievable when you see who got the positions they did. The CIA & FBI weren't short of these extremists either.
Schumer's NY bank money is what is driving both wars. All wars are banker wars. They can have a Nazi or Commie face, just so the dollar remains strong.
Mitch is old (and so is Nancy). But the problem with his school is not old age but sustainability. I prefer to base my trust on the consistency and results of people (not schools). By the way, the paradigm of progress is a myth of the Enlightenment. Sometimes it is better not to move forward but to stop and even go back. For example, on the edge of a cliff.
Schumer. Didn't he just threaten to have Americans fighting Russians in Europe if we didn't give everything to the Ukraine, like Austin did. He is threatening us with another false flag strike against us. Impeach the bastard.
There was once a large Jewish population there - largely murdered by the very same groups whose revival he's now carrying water for. Not a conflict of interest, just disgusting cynicism.
That Family Hearth thing is cool. What a contrast with the West. In Montana a 14 year old was kidnapped from her family by the State because the parents objected to her "transitioning".
I am pretty sure the Bandera economic infrastructure has already collapsed. A mass mobilization won't really make a difference as long as foreign sources of cash are still available.
If Vickie chose Budanov as "her guy" then I am sure the Potato-in-Chief's regime will be feting Kyrylo, Il Duce soon.
Why are they sending M1 Abrams to Avdeevka, if it is falling? Didn't the US say that those tanks should be kept very far away from the frontline, to avoid embarrassment?
Also, why sending more elite forces, if it is crystal clear that Avdeevka is doomed? If I were Zelensky or whoever is in charge, I would retreat to more favourable positions rather than sacrificing elite personnel for nothing, really!
Maybe because they are running out of other tanks to send to the front? As for Avdeevka - they appear to be doing the same thing they did in Bahkmut - just keep sending more Troops into the slaughter long after the end state was known. Then the Ukrainians spent all last summer trying to advance to Bahkmut and endured heavy losses. The beach head in Krinky is another example of just mindlessly sending Troops to their death. Hopefully some have managed to surrender and are avoiding jet air travel. :)
Doing the Russians job for them, bleeding the best units white. After fighting to the last at Avdiivka the Ukies may have not much left in the way of reserves, which will be perfect timing for a major assault somewhere else. I get the feeling that the Ukie army collapse is starting to accelerate.
Most of the troops sent into Krynki were elite marine assault units. There was speculation that Zelensky ordered it because those units were very loyal to the AFU general command, and could be used to try and pry their way through the OUN neo-Nazi brigades surrounding and guarding Kiev. That option is now off the table, since they're all dead.
There is a rational logic to feeding troops into Avdeeevka, even when the outcome is inevitable, just like there was with Bakhmut - to buy time. In Zelensky's case, it's obvious he hopes to buy enough time to involve NATO in the war because that's pretty much the only way out for him now. And it looks like the Brits are working hard to oblige, with talk of replacing the Kiev police with Brit special forces (so the Ukrainian LEOs can be deployed to the front - there's thousands of them, they're relatively young and fit, and are proficient with weapons).
NATO needs to get in and up to the defensive positions along right (west) bank of the Dnieper before the RA rolls over the entire AFU front line and drives them back to the river. That frees up ~150k AFU troops in place along the Belorussian border for deployment to the front. Ukraine needs as much time as possible to allow that to come to fruition.
Of course, the fact that Belarus will invade as soon as there's any sign of NATO entering Ukraine with ground troops is something the Brits ain't got time for thinkin' about. There's a mine field there to slow them down, no? Lukashenko has already been completely clear that Belarus becoming a massive salient is a red line he won't let be crossed - but western mentality considers "red lines" as sort of like preferences for red or white champagne at a Beltway cocktail party (in other words, completely meaningless).
There's a reason the Belarussian Army has been training non-stop for a year with Wagner remnants and RA VDV airborne troops, and Putin moved nuclear missiles to the west of the forming salient, even if it is surrounded on three sides by hostile and maniacal entities.
Krynki was an obvious suicide mission from the time it was launched. The AFU had no way to reliably supply their troops on the left bank of the Dnieper, and there was no real strategic reason to be there (especially since there was no possibility of transporting armor across the river for any kind of attack deeper into Russian territory).
There's a letter letter that the commanding general of the AFU (Zaluzhny) wrote to the commander of the AFU ground forces (general Syrsky) around the height of the attempt to reinforce the Krynki position, that was leaked on Telegram this past week. It was almost entirely redacted. Around that time, there were reports that Budanov had intercepted Zaluzhny's phone and comms, so it probably came from Budanov (director of AFU military intelligence and a three-star general).
What wasn't redacted was all of the profanity Zaluzhny hurled at Zelensky - calling him a Mossad agent, a faggot, claiming that Zelensky was high on coke in their last conversation and barely intelligible, etc.
There were consistent reports that Zelensky insisted on the invasion while Zaluzhny opposed it, and Zelensky went around Zaluzhny to continue pressing and reinforcing the hopeless Ukrainian position in Krynki. There was a reason the Russians abandoned Kherson on the other side of the river.
Just to fire up a few hundred depleted uranium shells ammunition , that have a long term negative effect on the population around . Just ask the people of Irak , how they cope with that for over twenty years . The Russians dealing with an exceptionally low down mean enemy .
It's PR thing first and foremost. Losing territory is far worse PR for Zelensky both in the eyes of the Ukrainian population as well as Western supporters than any amount of casualties. AFU soldiers are just "meat" that practically no one cares about, while "victory" is extremely important. Thus, in this logic, throwing worthless meat to hold territory is better, than losing important territory to save worthless meat.
Zelensky's masters have always told him 'kill as many Russians as you can'. That regime is not so much a death cult as a double death cult. If lots of Ukrainians have to die to kill lots of Russians, all the better. Spill all the blood; clear the land. There is a less crazy reason for wanting to kill lots of Russians of course which is to weaken Putin at home and precipitate his downfall.
Considering the hatred the likes of Vicki hold for Slavs, she must see dead Rooskis and dead Ukes as a win-win all around.
Putin gets a lot of criticism for not speeding up the Russian push back, but he is too savvy to take the bait.
The other day someone said The biggest thing Putin fears is Russian mothers.
His priority pretty soon after the war started was clearly to let as much of the attrition as possible take place on the Ukie side. And this must drive Vicki crazy.
I still think Ukraine as a country will collapse before the AFU. When the Russians start to break through, and the proverbial water line starts to rise, the rats will become desperate, and that Rada bill will most certainly pass. They can keep plugging holes with mobiks and maybe some foreign mercs, but having no economy, no money, mass population uprisings will upend the rear before the frontline breaks. There are still hundreds of kilometers of high-rise buildings, and other fortified or fortifiable positions. Sure, not as strong, but they can still keep up a fighting withdrawal, laying mines (or IEDs) ambushes, for a long time. Ukraine is a large country, and Russia has a lot of ground left to cover even on the East of the Dnyeper. The "major gains" we've seen are a few kilometers at the most (more like a few hundred meters), and not just on the Avdiivka front, but everywhere else, too. Mostly it's just a few building blocks every couple of days. Even if Ukraine stops fighting for every inch of land, they have hundreds of kilometers to play with.
Sooner or later a major gap will open up which will allow for the cutting off of a major Ukie formation, that will be the end. With dwindling ammo and other supplies, and predominantly untrained and unmotivated soldiers, the AFU can crumble very rapidly. The terrain opens up a lot once the current line of battlements has been breached.
That's my point. Russian progress is not very fast. Avdiivka is loking like it's collapsing, but the complete capture of avdiivka and the AKHZ still looks weeks away. They can plan the defence weeks or even months ahead. If things get desperate, and Ukraine knows they are just weeks away from a Russian breakthrough of that sort, they will gear up for full mobilisation. Sure, their fighters are fresh mobiks, but that's been the case for a long time now.
My point is that if the Zelensly crew was fearing a breakthrough more than societal uprising, they would be mobilising every man, woman and child they see. They fear the backlash more than the lack of soldiers, so their actions communicate that a breakthrough is not imminent.
Russia has about eight times to population of Ukr. Sooner or later they will win a war of attrition. Besides, Ukr fighting a defensive war makes no sense. They have nothing to gain and a great deal to lose. The only thing keeping the war going is the corrupt oligarchs' love of all that loose money and salable equipment pouring in.
Either the Ukrs will rebel or the army will collapse.
I like how they say in that bill - Ukraine is fight back against Putin's bloody invasion and war of aggression; and then say they'll support aid to Gaza but no mention of why Gaza needs aid.
It seems MISTER Vindman is some sort of tough guy.
Chuck Schumer is one creepy dude.
Re - the video with the Bradley - it's interesting that only 2 soldiers ran away. I wonder if maybe the driver was hurt and couldn't run away or that they only had 2 crew to begin with. I noticed on the famous video of the 2 Bradleys engaging the T-90 that there was only the driver and a gunner/commander. I wonder if most of the Bradleys are only crewed by 2? Due to shortages of trained crew replacement? On another video of that time frame mechanic's were taking an idler wheel assembly off a Bradley and they said they will have to go to another Bradley and get the idler assembly off it. I wonder how much spare parts were sent with the Bradleys?
Would a Trump presidency actually block any and all further funding to the Ukros and _elenskyy or his personal oligarchs/natzo threateners?
-or-
Would a Trump presidency look the other way and let the Dimothugs and Republicraps in Congress and the Senate just keep sending more money and pressuring the lapdog EU to do the same?
Trump started overtly sending lethal weapons to Ukies.....coz, tough on Rashka. He is already talking about peace through power and "weak president" Biden. How can you be more tough than when you are tough on Rashka. Also, Dems will reignite rus collusion again and press his buttons.
But keep in mind, the whole "RUSSSIA stole the 2016 elllechcshun for TRUMP" is a dead letter now. And that "he plans" to gut the deep state. So what actually happens?
Where? I haven't seen anything about it since just after Mueller's report and then the counter-investigation or whatever that was. Definitely not the MSM anyway. If they start up with it again, only true morons will believe it.
When Matt Taibbi appeared before Congress in 2023 to testify about social media censorship he was harassed by Congressmen for not supporting Russiagate. They were implying that censorship was vital to prevent Russia from interfering in US elections again.
I saw that whole testimony. But he wasn't asked to support Russiagate. He was being asked about the generic all-encompassing Russia Is Evil and They Interfere in Our Elections with Propaganda bullshit. Russiagate was specific to the 2016 election. These clowns think Russia is always trying to "interfere."
Just saw that Forbes is talking about the Pro-Rashka Republicans.
I am an expat and am meeting all sorts of people and many are passionate about the rus collusion, people that are not even Americnas. So I wonder to what extent it is not possible to sell it to the American voters again?
Always Excellent Content!
The 'coke-head of Kiev' (as the wonderful gentlemen from The Duran have dubbed him) is about to find out & experience (in person) Kissinger's Old Adage of 'To be America's Ally is Fatal.'
He will do whatever it takes to prevent the walls from closing in, but it appears that the 'Palace Intrigue' is proving to be a bit too much & his days are numbered. The 116 billion USD package is DOA, so his last lifeline may not arrive in the nick of time to save him from his cronies seizing Power.
Word should be gotten to Nixon that if Thieu meets the same fate as Diem, the word will go out to the nations of the world that it may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal.
Sources: Kissinger's War, 1957-1975 and United Nations Journal: A Delegate's Odyssey
(For those interested)
If you wish to read (& listen!) to more of My commentary, here is my Main Stack:
https://thefallofthewest.substack.com
Thank You Kindly to everyone!
I think Republicans will be guilt tripped into providing aid eventually. It's counter productive though. More they drag this out more Russia will take. Coulda just lost Crimea. Then only Donbass and Crimea. Now Russia won't settle for anything less than dictating terms.
people in the US are hopping mad now. they don't want any more damned money to Ukraine, the amount we've spent on new arms to replace the junk sent to Kiev (making a few hundred extra jobs in those War Toys industries) is obscene already. We pay for blood and destruction. How's that for an advertising motto? And the other one is, "We always abandon our dear allies in the end." Ukraine -- weeping and pointing the finger at the US for getting it into war and leaving it there. They should be weeping for their own stupidity in buying a fairy tale that has been proven a lie time and again.
The Problem is, the people in Ukraine voted for peace with Russia, Zelensky run on that promise in his election, they were also lied to from the beginning. That's another kind of parallel I see in Western 'democracies', all the core topics the vast majority in the Western countries vote for, are not implemented or even the opposite of it. People want peace, f.ck them, we start wars. People want secure borders, f.ck them, we let in everyone because we can. People want less taxes, f.ck them, we want more for us and our corrupt friends. In contrast to that, the 'dictator' Putin listens to the core topics of his population and even implements them. Imagine that...
On elections:
“We will hold elections when we win this war”
Oleksiy Danilov
Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine
Feb 7, 2024
So wait and see…
Thats because we don't hold liars responsible anymore. At the end of the day it's our fault. When I grew up lying brought not only dishonor to yourself but whole family for raising a lair. Today it's "fake it 'till you make it"
Since when did public opinion start to matter?
it matters to the public. nothing but money and power is of interest to the elite.
The public won't be asked. Goering's words on the subject never grow old.
Very possible. But as long as the Dims keep linking Ukrainian aid to open borders, it's not going to happen.
They have 50 Billion Euros to play with
Over 5 years that is
maybe. seems the Germans think they've given enough. I guess now it's Moldova's turn!
To be fair, Germany has said "enough, no more" on several occasions in the past, but an American snaps his fingers and european knees hit the floor with a resounding thwack.
Quite a few tractor driving farmers seem to have a different view.
Last I checked, those protests weren't directed at American overlordship.
As Ayn Rand almost said "You can ignore American overlordship, but you can't ignore the consequences of ignoring American overlordship."
But with the degree of thought control in Germany, they may never get it.
This is for 4 years. But Ukraine needs 30-50 billion/year only to maintain social functions of state.
According to the mainstream media, the money in the subject package is not for weapons and ammunition - there is to be a separate funded program for that. The 50-something billion is supposed to be for stabilizing the Ukrainian social system, paying salaries to civil-service professionals, repairing vital infrastructure and preparing Ukraine for membership in the EU.
That said, those are the priorities European 'leaders' avowed; as of the time the approval of the first tranche of funds was announced - which I believe was Saturday - official Ukraine has not indicated to Europe in any meaningful way how it intends to spend the funds.
I have heard a breakdown of this package by UA analyst called Ruslan Bortnik (look him up) who said it was significantly less than that in reality
- mix of 'grants' (actual aid) and 'credits'
- how is it going to be funded (EU countries have to first agree to destroy property rights by stealing RU assets to fund it). there are no laws for that and they have to be passed first (if EU is insane enough to do it)
- how is it going to be actually applied , on what schedule
- a BUNCH of circuit breakers already built in to be able to stop it any second , i.e. for not having 'multi-party system' (which does not of cause exist in UA) or 'respecting minority rights'.
in short, a bunch of PR noise over nothings. EU promises to pay itself what it already lent out with money it does not have and hopes to steal, assuming it can actually force its members to do it, and all of that with huge MAY BE..
The Ukies have a new plan. Make it a terrorist war and hit bakeries and schools. Really, I think this is going to escalate. The government is doing fine and debating everything, all court drama while the common citizen dies for the US, Russia cooperating. There must be some rule against Russia hitting the source of the problem - the Ukie government. "It will be decided on the battlefield." Lavrov. This is a negotiated war, but what if they start breaking the rules and just turn into terrorists; what if NATO refuses to lose? They think if they lose Ukraine, they lose Europe.
Nothinig new about shelling Russian civilians. The Nazis have been doing it since 2014. To help spread their democracy.
I dunno, Ghani is alive and well and Saakashvili would be, if he had stayed home instead of drinking his own KoolAid.
This Kissinger's phrase was known even before him in slightly different form but with similar meaning. Wise Russian military thinker, geopolitician and strategist Alexey Edrikhin who lived in 1867-1933 once said "Worse than war with the Anglo-Saxons can be only friendship with them". But it was more about Britain.
6 Febuary 2024 WWIII Brit wet dreams come true/Demolition Derby Russian style
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13039073/NIALL-FERGUSON-Bidens-fear-Putin-appeasement-World-War-III-likely.html
Downwind from the FT is the Daily Mail, publishing a well known first Brit now US ‘historian’ : in reality an ideology PR using history baiting examples to back up an ultra thinktank position
One of the main pushers of the WWIII scenarios now being deployed in brigade + even battalion formation – to cover up impending defeat in Uk, and to try buy time for NATO rearmament
Hence timeline of 3/5/7 years ‘so we are prepared for when Russia can recover rearm and invade’
Hence the cunning brit plan to - in the meantime - divert and amuse with a plan to deploy the 20,000 they mustered just for the NATO ‘exercises’ to deploy to Ukraine – this seems barely more than a rumour, but this is the way the brits work, ‘there’s no smoke without fire’ they like to repeat : it’s ‘hush hush’ they say
The various B bureautrash continue the paso doble routine, out of one mouth complain about lack of funding broken down army ships no this no that no soldiers neither, etc etc, tanks that do not start, while out of the other mouth threaten fire and brimstone on the Russian sinners
It is thought that the brits believe, badly want to believe, that this expeditionary force not only may be mounted, but would scare the skin off of the RF
The B are not alone, they’ve got the miniBalts to up their chirrup, and Pistorius talks more than he can walk, but it is plausible that both France and Germany will stay quietly at home while repairing the odd howitzer barrel
There’s an old yarn – you can be the best, you can lie and cheat, or you can be first to cut and run: guess who is which
Meanwhile, in the real world –
“German opposition to reforming EU [War] fund risks delaying arms to Ukraine”
https://www.ft.com/content/9b7202e8-efc7-41ec-bbf9-7f44c42ec9e1
On NATO re arm, a new EU can’t do it wrinkle sprung by the Germans, which has re insisted that the EU Peace Fund, in fact their War Fund
1-first re imburse agreed previous advance payments
2-then re imburse not yet agreed reimbursements of previous bilateral funding
3-only then to set about funding the EPF, which means no more than drawing up new contracts – certainly not till next year…
4-or the year after because then the small EU countries know this will not benefit them but only France and Germany
5- then there’s always Orban to poke the puppy
“Large contributors to the fund claim that smaller countries such as the Baltic states secured large reimbursements from the EPF for sending outdated Soviet-era weapons to Ukraine, and used the money to upgrade their own kit.”
The icing on the cake
7- https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/feb/04/russia-china-iran-could-target-uk-irish-backdoor-thinktank-warns
At last the final solution to the age old Irish problem
“Britain faces a “backdoor” threat to its security from a Russian, Chinese and Iranian presence in the Republic of Ireland, according to a report by an influential thinktank that accuses Dublin of “freeloading” when it comes to European defence.
The UK should also expand its air and naval presence in Northern Ireland, to counter a growing Russian threat on the UK’s western flank, according to the Policy Exchange report, which is backed by two former defence secretaries, Michael Fallon and George Robertson.
The UK and Ireland are at risk from an “acute maritime menace” posed by a Russian doctrine of targeting undersea networks and pipelines and the presence of Russian warships, they say in a foreword to the paper.”
Well, maybe the Bandera army will return to the BEF what's left of their self-propelled guns so it can st least pose with them, cuz it won't be able to fire them. I doubt the BEF is going to set up anywhere in the Bandera territories.
They are already there, terrorists sleep with terrorists
Niall fucking Ferguson? The corrupt virus modeller that stated millions would die from SARS, Swine flu, Avian flu, and the 'rona. Wrong each time.
FFS he's now the go to muppet for war?
Yes the one and only---- WWWIII is this year's virus panick
No, two different guys a Neil and a Niall.
Neil Furguson was the epidemiologist who worked in the SAGE council (good God that acronym!) and let his dick get the better of him during the lockdowns.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8292249/Scientist-Neil-Fergusons-lover-said-lockdown-strained-marriage.html
Niall Furguson is a historian who explains to us why the West is Best, and everything needs to be run by the Illuminati headquartered in Washington.
Now that I spell it all out, maybe they are clones dropped into slightly different academic departments.
I remember he was Imperial College scammer -
but still same difference
One was going to kill you with the bug the other is going to kill you with WWWIII
cookie cutter frauds the pair of them
Whereas I think NATO, possibly prodded by GB, might be stupid enough to get involved in a shootting war over Ukraine, I think or at least hope wiser heads will prevail. However if you read the British press you might think hordes of veteran shovel wielding maniacs called Ivan are poised to sweep over Western Europe. Nevertheless Western Europe does need to re-arm - it took the so-called peace dividend too far and effectively disarmed itself - and what little stocks it had have now gone. But it will take years, and recuritment is terrible and everyone is out of money. Personally I doubt Russia has any designs on the lunatuc assylum that comprises western nations these days, but in any event I doubt it will give up its military advantage.
My take is that Brits is noise making trying to remind NATO of the important role Brits might play in the proposed NATO fantasy ‘ help the Russians are invading’
Which is to continue to do what they have already been doing, leading terrorist teams in Uk and planning/participating in terrorist attacks – develop this into insurgency style warfare, giving NATO time to rearm
NATO re armament is tough – the basic US plan involves divesting/co opting EU industry, financial markets, and ensuring dependence on US energy
Same applies double to armaments – in spite of the fact that the US is no longer interested in supplying much of their own to the Uk war, they are interested in monopolising EU sourcing for this war – if it takes threats of WWIII to shake some sense into the Eurotrash, why not
This is to discourage EU arms manufacturers a lot – and EU seems to have no clue of how to go about forming a plan, swatting the US midge, getting manufacturers complicit, and paying for it upfront
The RF are destroying what is left of NATO as it is, what possible reason would they have for ‘invading’ except in a Lord of the Rings fantasy world
The British Army is less than half the size of the one the Russians are currently whipping to foamy peaks. Military rating outlets like Global Firepower rank Great Britain much higher at Number 6, I can't imagine why, than Ukraine, but the thing for both to remember is that it ranks Russia at Number 2. There's a lot of distance between 2 and 6 in the firepower world. As well, Russia is on a wartime-production footing while GB and the other NATO noodniks are cleaning out the basement to see if there is any more artillery ammunition hitherto unnoticed in the corners. Western media sources claim the British military has never been as weak as it is now, and American recruiting has just downgraded its admission standards AGAIN in the hope of capturing people it previously rejected as unsuitable, while thousands of military vacancies remain unfilled.
It's true that that probably only matters to people who can still reason, and the west is run by people who cannot, so it remains perfectly possible that they will try it anyway in hope that everyone will pitch in against Russia. I devoutly hope not, because then China would step in. NATO probably could not beat Russia alone, and it could not in its wildest dreams defeat a Sino-Russian alliance.
The brits and yanks adore terrorism - and love 'expeditionary forces' in hostile but servile lands
To re configure arms armies and infrastructures will take EUUSUK at least.....years, - if they can work out how to
It would involve a general re foundation of industrial policies and especially in the UK the physical re construction of a large part of the industrial base (steel and so on)
This looks to be very unlikely – neither the will nor the skill – nor the energy
So guerilla warfare will have to do – the US will whip up the excitement, they are already pushing out press/pr/thinktanks pleading for an Ukraine ‘insurgency’ - plus the Nordics/Balts eager to commit suicide
However the Russians are skilled at counter terrorism
GB has a vested interest in stirring up trouble so that it can show its American Master what a faithful little lackey GB is.
if it looks like vicky
LOL what a delusional piece. Europe is broke and in various stages of civil wars. It's not 1941 anymore. They can't build a conventional army to defeat Russia - Half Russians, Ukrainians is the best they will ever have. In 10 years Russia China and BRICS partners will be the First world and a couple generations ahead on tech and even if they werent what's with these stupid WW2 comparisons? Nuclear weapons makes them all null and void. Russia or USA and probably China now can destroy life on earth pushed to the brink unlike WW2 combatants. Everytime I hear them I assume author is a moron or more likely a salesman for the military industrial complex. Super powers will not fight and if they do it's game over for everyone. War games show usually in the first hours of such a war because you don't know if the 500 missiles headed towards your country are nuclear or not. Use it or lose it.
"Europe is broke and in various stages of civil wars."
Not even close. When the police and army no longer shoot when ordered to do so, then we'll talk.
Almost half of young men in Sweden are not Swedish. Sweden, to paraphrase Donald Trump, is seeing ongoing shootings and explosions that are abnormal for a European country nominally at peace
The police and army still shoot when ordered. Stop kidding yourself.
In Ireland it is sometimes referred to as “the English problem “
Well sure it is – look how fiendishly clever those Brits are, who else would have thought to turn Ireland into a prime ally of Russia, not only, but of China and Iran too
You have to admire the cunning
You'd think the dissonance would have caught up by now - Ukr in dire need of mobilization, Ru in NO need of mobilization, Ukr society feeling the weight of casualties, Ru not really, and so on. Yet we still keep hearing the whole "ru sufferring more casualties" nonsense. Tbh I don't know how they are able to make so many advances and suffer such few losses, but it seems the armored vehicles are doing their job
The cynicism in the US is mind boggling. You'd think there would be an inkling of shame, of self awareness that in this massive bill the single largest expenditure is Ukraine, and what is almost a minor consideration is the southern border. The regime doesn't even pretend anymore.
Dima from military summary on YouTube said he heard it was Spetsnaz that spearheaded the breakthrough that got the Russians from southeast of the Heap to the lake. They slipped between a couple fortifications and flanked them why the storm units attacked. He said they're still on the move running point on the group heading east around the top of lake. I have no idea if it's true but he's not normally that detailed.
Also I've noticed that it seems Russian's are way better at urban combat than the Ukrainians. My instincts tell me it's probably because NATO ISR isn't useful in close combat.
Even back in the 80s Soviet military doctrine emphasized mechanized infantry, speed and redundancy of force. We relied upon technological superiority including our nuclear submarines. We even joked about the Fulda gap being a speed bump. Forget Berlin, it was just for show and intelligence gathering.
I was actually going to mention this. But the video I saw where UA captured a few Russians on that spearhead, to be honest the Russians looked fairly top notch. Not necessarily elite/spetsnaz but they weren't the usual DPR or Storm-Z type guys constantly seen pushing in Stepove and the southeast area. So it did seem like Russia put a few of the better units for this spearhead.
Dima said spetsnaz were leading the spearhead around the north of the lake. Basically that they broke open the hole in the line and went east. They weren't spearheading into the city. So where those dudes got picked up probably weren't spetsnaz. Again, just relaying what he said. Makes sense with how quickly things are moving.
I was shocked that Senator Schumer's family is from Galicia, Western Ukraine, known for 1st Galician Waffen Nazi SS and rabid Russophobia. He got personal conflict of interests and should be banned from making any financial decisions on Ukraine.
Your comment assumes a law-abiding, ethical government.
So another amriqan politician with ancestral hatred mental disease, liek Nuland, Blinken, Zbig...Nice. Rashka sth, sth 100+ years ago, boo hoo hoo.
check out the "special envoy" that Biden sent to negotiate a deal betwen lebanon and israel this week LOL
Just because he served in the IDF and is a fanatical Zionist doesn't mean he's not impartial in negotiating peace between Israel and Hezbollah. And any claims of "dual loyalties" are clear anti-Semitic dog whistles, for which the author should be banned. You can be a citizen of both the U.S. and Israel, and hold a position at the very top of the American government, and not have any conflict of interest.
(/s)
Just in case… Bear is employing sarcasm. Even if it is obvious to some, it makes me feel better to have said it when the misguided ripostes arrive
I wasn’t being sar-cas-tic! This is a speech impediment! I always sound like this!
It’s very isolating….
But you shouldn't hold any dual citizenship if you are in the decision making government positions. You should have nowhere run and hide when you screwed up the country. There is a significant over-representation in the US government of people with dual interests to say the least.
That would make him another Slav hater, probably hating on Ukranians much more than the Russians (same as Nuland) and not caring how many of them it will take to finally defeat Russia. I find Eastern European Jews' attitudes towards Slavs in general (and Russians in particular) quite peculiar. No matter the history, they always liked the Germans more. I understand that the history there was complex, that they were denied many rights, but so were the Slavic peasants who were the feudal serfs at the time when Jews were not allowed to move beyond the Pale of Settlement. The peasants were denied moving outside of their very villages which is much higher level of constraint. To top it of, Jews were usually collecting the feudal rents on behalf of the absentee landlords thus creating class-based hate. In any case, I find their hate towards the Slavs completely reactionary and illogical. However, I doubt they have any nice feelings about Galician Ukranians. From Senator Schumer's own testimony: "In 1941, when the Nazis invaded Ukraine, then part of Galicia, they asked my great-grandmother — the matriarch of the family, and the wife of a locally revered rabbi — to gather her children, her grandchildren, her great-grandchildren on the porch of her home, which was in the town square.
As more than 30 people gathered on the porch, aged 85 years old to 3 months, the Nazis forced the remaining Jewish citizens of the town to gather around and watch.
When the Nazis told my great-grandmother, “You are coming with us,” she refused – and they machine-gunned down every last one of them. The babies, the elderly, and everybody in-between."
Schumer's tale sounds like a typical bullshit hollowhoax story.
Yeah it’s a bit too on point. Maybe it happened but not quite like that
It sounds like something the serial liar Simon Wiesenthal would have said.
https://www.thejc.com/life-and-culture/simon-wiesenthal-lied-ofjlzntj
I love his statement on war: “On and on and on and on…”
don't want to get into the whole history of judaism here, but the short version is that The Enlightenment (aka "rationality over religion") in western Europe tempted a lot of Jews to assimilate (see Mendelssohn, et al) and embrace the mainstream culture whereas Jews had no desire (or ability) to assimilate into the elite classes of non-Enlightened (i.e. religious) Eastern Europe.
Remember, Anne Frank's dad fought in the Germany army. good luck finding many Jews who fought in the imperial Russian or Polish armies. So yah, there's a few centuries of inherited grievances going on. Also explains why Communism was so attractive to Jews in this region (they got to join the ranks of the elites).
Axtually, there were some Jews who fought for the Russian Army, although probably very few were all that enthusiastic about the proposition. I recall Nicholas II giving a medal to a Jewish soldier.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Osnas
Just before the Russo-Japanese war of 1905 Jewish doctors were formally allowed to serve in the Russian Army. For some reason this upset Jacob Schiff who accelerated his money support to the Japanese Navy by way of bonds to pay for war ship construction in England.
There were also Jews who served in Hitler's army.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Jewish_military_personnel_of_World_War_I
"Remember, Anne Frank's dad fought in the Germany army."
How can I remember something I never heard? Funny too that this little detail is not commonly known.
Just a couple of years ago I read a comment somewhere that pointed out that little Anne died in the camp infirmary. Imagine, a death camp with a hospital....
Did she die there before or after writing her memoirs with a ball point pen while hiding in a closet?
It's not just historical. Putin's party passed a law which bans people with dual citizenship from holding government jobs or security clearances. Jews take that as being directed at them, because most Russian Jews get Israeli citizenship when they're children (it's much easier to travel on an Israeli passport - you can stay in six months in Europe each calendar year for example, where even getting a Schengen visa is difficult for Russian passport holders). It's also very difficult to give up Israeli citizenship once you have it, even if you want to.
Remember what the original dispute between the Nazis and German Jews was: the first racial laws were simply that Jews who were hired after WWI into German government jobs were fired, unless they had served in the German army during the first world war. Jews who worked in German government jobs before the war were unaffected. The reason for that law was because the Weimar government had placed large number of Jewish people in government jobs over ethnic Germans.
In response, international Jewish groups organized a boycott that starved hundreds of thousands of ethnic Germans to death.
From there, the antagonism and animosity between diaspora Jews and the Nazi party steady went downhill. The diaspora carries the same antagonism against Russia, for the exact same reason it started in Germany.
That actually explains a lot. Thanks.
Hey, bear! I like your comments. They sound reasonable and well articulated. Then I looked you up and you are an American living here in Russia. That is a rare case and a nice surprise. Have a nice day, bro!
Thank you. I married a Russian woman and have raised my children in Russia. When I want to get under my teenage son's skin, I point out to him that he's "Russian-American" and I'm more Russian than he is... since I've been here longer than he has :)
There were Jews who served in Hitler's army.
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/ellen-feldman-nazi-germany
Schumer didn't work a day in a real job all his life. After graduating in 1974 from law school, he decided to go into "politics." There should be laws banning anybody who doesn't have at least 10 years of REAL job experience to be in "politics" and working for own mommy, doesn't county, sorry @neverNikki
There are Palestinians who serve today in the IDF (and are also Israeli citizens). That's harder to comprehend, because Israel is an explicit racial (Jewish) state. I think that in modern liberal democracies, people who serve in the army identify more with that institution and their chain of command than they do with the current party holding political power.
And I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the Jewish people who served in the Wehrmacht under Nazi rule didn't particularly identify as Jewish. That identity is both ethnic and cultural. A lot of people who are technically Jewish (on ethnic grounds or by Jewish law, through their maternal ancestry) don't feel any particular "Jewishness". They didn't grow up in that faith, and might have as little contact with it as visiting synagogue a few times with a grandparent in their childhood.
"No matter the history, they always liked the Germans more."
As an aside: before the rise of the Nazis, German Jews traditionally looked down upon eastern Jews (Galitizianers, Litvaks, etc.) as being poor, superstitious, backward, overly traditional, and generally lacking German Kultur. There actually was a *small* and fringe current of quiet Jewish support for the Nazis before 1932 or so, on the grounds that the Nazis weren't communists, combined with the pathetic rationalization that when the Nazis ranted about "Jews", what they really meant was "Jews from the Shtetl and not Germanized Jews like us."
Of course, those supporters were dead wrong. But Arnold Schoenberg wrote in 1932 without a trace of irony that he had secured the supremacy of German music for the next thousand years. And Freud did not leave Vienna until the very last minute, in part because he wanted to secure his antique collection, but also because he refused to believe that Germans could do such things.
https://groups.jewishgen.org/g/main/message/90850
Look into Nulands family history, Blinken is also tied to this emotionally. That's part of the problem they don't think rationally. They're totally emotional when it comes to Russia. Nuland more so, she is psychotic in her hatred for Russia & Russians. These people should be no where near positions of power. Remember America facilitated the escape of many top Nazi's. This lead to some of the most powerful Nazi's in positions right at the top of NATO & the UN. It's actually unbelievable when you see who got the positions they did. The CIA & FBI weren't short of these extremists either.
Schumer's NY bank money is what is driving both wars. All wars are banker wars. They can have a Nazi or Commie face, just so the dollar remains strong.
Wait until Schumer's face freezes (Mitch McConnell's style…)
You trust Mitch? He is old school Pelosi.
Mitch is old (and so is Nancy). But the problem with his school is not old age but sustainability. I prefer to base my trust on the consistency and results of people (not schools). By the way, the paradigm of progress is a myth of the Enlightenment. Sometimes it is better not to move forward but to stop and even go back. For example, on the edge of a cliff.
I hope I have clarified my comment.
Schumer. Didn't he just threaten to have Americans fighting Russians in Europe if we didn't give everything to the Ukraine, like Austin did. He is threatening us with another false flag strike against us. Impeach the bastard.
There was once a large Jewish population there - largely murdered by the very same groups whose revival he's now carrying water for. Not a conflict of interest, just disgusting cynicism.
“Conflict of interests?
C'mon man!”
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (aka 10% for The Big Guy)
Senator Schumer's family is Jewish. Not known for their membership in the SS.
The irony being that, in Jewish folk memory, the Galicians were the stupidest and most ogrish antisemites of them all.
*not shocked
Shocked?
Schumer is world class Khazerian Mafia.
That Family Hearth thing is cool. What a contrast with the West. In Montana a 14 year old was kidnapped from her family by the State because the parents objected to her "transitioning".
And there was me thinking Montana was probably one of the more traditional states in the U.S.A. Obviously not.
I am pretty sure the Bandera economic infrastructure has already collapsed. A mass mobilization won't really make a difference as long as foreign sources of cash are still available.
If Vickie chose Budanov as "her guy" then I am sure the Potato-in-Chief's regime will be feting Kyrylo, Il Duce soon.
Please meet; Il Duce
Why are they sending M1 Abrams to Avdeevka, if it is falling? Didn't the US say that those tanks should be kept very far away from the frontline, to avoid embarrassment?
Also, why sending more elite forces, if it is crystal clear that Avdeevka is doomed? If I were Zelensky or whoever is in charge, I would retreat to more favourable positions rather than sacrificing elite personnel for nothing, really!
Maybe because they are running out of other tanks to send to the front? As for Avdeevka - they appear to be doing the same thing they did in Bahkmut - just keep sending more Troops into the slaughter long after the end state was known. Then the Ukrainians spent all last summer trying to advance to Bahkmut and endured heavy losses. The beach head in Krinky is another example of just mindlessly sending Troops to their death. Hopefully some have managed to surrender and are avoiding jet air travel. :)
Doing the Russians job for them, bleeding the best units white. After fighting to the last at Avdiivka the Ukies may have not much left in the way of reserves, which will be perfect timing for a major assault somewhere else. I get the feeling that the Ukie army collapse is starting to accelerate.
Most of the troops sent into Krynki were elite marine assault units. There was speculation that Zelensky ordered it because those units were very loyal to the AFU general command, and could be used to try and pry their way through the OUN neo-Nazi brigades surrounding and guarding Kiev. That option is now off the table, since they're all dead.
There is a rational logic to feeding troops into Avdeeevka, even when the outcome is inevitable, just like there was with Bakhmut - to buy time. In Zelensky's case, it's obvious he hopes to buy enough time to involve NATO in the war because that's pretty much the only way out for him now. And it looks like the Brits are working hard to oblige, with talk of replacing the Kiev police with Brit special forces (so the Ukrainian LEOs can be deployed to the front - there's thousands of them, they're relatively young and fit, and are proficient with weapons).
NATO needs to get in and up to the defensive positions along right (west) bank of the Dnieper before the RA rolls over the entire AFU front line and drives them back to the river. That frees up ~150k AFU troops in place along the Belorussian border for deployment to the front. Ukraine needs as much time as possible to allow that to come to fruition.
Of course, the fact that Belarus will invade as soon as there's any sign of NATO entering Ukraine with ground troops is something the Brits ain't got time for thinkin' about. There's a mine field there to slow them down, no? Lukashenko has already been completely clear that Belarus becoming a massive salient is a red line he won't let be crossed - but western mentality considers "red lines" as sort of like preferences for red or white champagne at a Beltway cocktail party (in other words, completely meaningless).
There's a reason the Belarussian Army has been training non-stop for a year with Wagner remnants and RA VDV airborne troops, and Putin moved nuclear missiles to the west of the forming salient, even if it is surrounded on three sides by hostile and maniacal entities.
I have heard about the killing off of Marine units so they couldn't attack Kyiv.
One hopes it isn't true but chilling just to think of.
Never heard this about the marines. Chilling indeed.
I could not understand why they were being sacrificed. The most popular explanation was that it allowed Z to claim "progress" on that front.
Note to self: start reading the comments on this stack regularly.
Krynki was an obvious suicide mission from the time it was launched. The AFU had no way to reliably supply their troops on the left bank of the Dnieper, and there was no real strategic reason to be there (especially since there was no possibility of transporting armor across the river for any kind of attack deeper into Russian territory).
There's a letter letter that the commanding general of the AFU (Zaluzhny) wrote to the commander of the AFU ground forces (general Syrsky) around the height of the attempt to reinforce the Krynki position, that was leaked on Telegram this past week. It was almost entirely redacted. Around that time, there were reports that Budanov had intercepted Zaluzhny's phone and comms, so it probably came from Budanov (director of AFU military intelligence and a three-star general).
What wasn't redacted was all of the profanity Zaluzhny hurled at Zelensky - calling him a Mossad agent, a faggot, claiming that Zelensky was high on coke in their last conversation and barely intelligible, etc.
There were consistent reports that Zelensky insisted on the invasion while Zaluzhny opposed it, and Zelensky went around Zaluzhny to continue pressing and reinforcing the hopeless Ukrainian position in Krynki. There was a reason the Russians abandoned Kherson on the other side of the river.
Just to fire up a few hundred depleted uranium shells ammunition , that have a long term negative effect on the population around . Just ask the people of Irak , how they cope with that for over twenty years . The Russians dealing with an exceptionally low down mean enemy .
It's PR thing first and foremost. Losing territory is far worse PR for Zelensky both in the eyes of the Ukrainian population as well as Western supporters than any amount of casualties. AFU soldiers are just "meat" that practically no one cares about, while "victory" is extremely important. Thus, in this logic, throwing worthless meat to hold territory is better, than losing important territory to save worthless meat.
It's a lot easier to deflate casualty statistics or to inflate kill ratios than it is to explain away territorial losses.
Is like Adolf Hitler after loosing the Caucasus.
The whole goal is to have the goose lay more of those golden eggs.
Zelensky's masters have always told him 'kill as many Russians as you can'. That regime is not so much a death cult as a double death cult. If lots of Ukrainians have to die to kill lots of Russians, all the better. Spill all the blood; clear the land. There is a less crazy reason for wanting to kill lots of Russians of course which is to weaken Putin at home and precipitate his downfall.
Considering the hatred the likes of Vicki hold for Slavs, she must see dead Rooskis and dead Ukes as a win-win all around.
Putin gets a lot of criticism for not speeding up the Russian push back, but he is too savvy to take the bait.
The other day someone said The biggest thing Putin fears is Russian mothers.
His priority pretty soon after the war started was clearly to let as much of the attrition as possible take place on the Ukie side. And this must drive Vicki crazy.
I still think Ukraine as a country will collapse before the AFU. When the Russians start to break through, and the proverbial water line starts to rise, the rats will become desperate, and that Rada bill will most certainly pass. They can keep plugging holes with mobiks and maybe some foreign mercs, but having no economy, no money, mass population uprisings will upend the rear before the frontline breaks. There are still hundreds of kilometers of high-rise buildings, and other fortified or fortifiable positions. Sure, not as strong, but they can still keep up a fighting withdrawal, laying mines (or IEDs) ambushes, for a long time. Ukraine is a large country, and Russia has a lot of ground left to cover even on the East of the Dnyeper. The "major gains" we've seen are a few kilometers at the most (more like a few hundred meters), and not just on the Avdiivka front, but everywhere else, too. Mostly it's just a few building blocks every couple of days. Even if Ukraine stops fighting for every inch of land, they have hundreds of kilometers to play with.
Sooner or later a major gap will open up which will allow for the cutting off of a major Ukie formation, that will be the end. With dwindling ammo and other supplies, and predominantly untrained and unmotivated soldiers, the AFU can crumble very rapidly. The terrain opens up a lot once the current line of battlements has been breached.
That's my point. Russian progress is not very fast. Avdiivka is loking like it's collapsing, but the complete capture of avdiivka and the AKHZ still looks weeks away. They can plan the defence weeks or even months ahead. If things get desperate, and Ukraine knows they are just weeks away from a Russian breakthrough of that sort, they will gear up for full mobilisation. Sure, their fighters are fresh mobiks, but that's been the case for a long time now.
My point is that if the Zelensly crew was fearing a breakthrough more than societal uprising, they would be mobilising every man, woman and child they see. They fear the backlash more than the lack of soldiers, so their actions communicate that a breakthrough is not imminent.
Russia has about eight times to population of Ukr. Sooner or later they will win a war of attrition. Besides, Ukr fighting a defensive war makes no sense. They have nothing to gain and a great deal to lose. The only thing keeping the war going is the corrupt oligarchs' love of all that loose money and salable equipment pouring in.
Either the Ukrs will rebel or the army will collapse.
No one said Ukraine can win the war, except the most dedicated delusional NAFO crowd.
Another great post!
I like how they say in that bill - Ukraine is fight back against Putin's bloody invasion and war of aggression; and then say they'll support aid to Gaza but no mention of why Gaza needs aid.
It seems MISTER Vindman is some sort of tough guy.
Chuck Schumer is one creepy dude.
Re - the video with the Bradley - it's interesting that only 2 soldiers ran away. I wonder if maybe the driver was hurt and couldn't run away or that they only had 2 crew to begin with. I noticed on the famous video of the 2 Bradleys engaging the T-90 that there was only the driver and a gunner/commander. I wonder if most of the Bradleys are only crewed by 2? Due to shortages of trained crew replacement? On another video of that time frame mechanic's were taking an idler wheel assembly off a Bradley and they said they will have to go to another Bradley and get the idler assembly off it. I wonder how much spare parts were sent with the Bradleys?
Cheers,
Chris,
PEI
'=^>
The third member of the team was updating his Facebook profile.
"Poll" -
Would a Trump presidency actually block any and all further funding to the Ukros and _elenskyy or his personal oligarchs/natzo threateners?
-or-
Would a Trump presidency look the other way and let the Dimothugs and Republicraps in Congress and the Senate just keep sending more money and pressuring the lapdog EU to do the same?
Genuinely curious on the sentiments.
Trump started overtly sending lethal weapons to Ukies.....coz, tough on Rashka. He is already talking about peace through power and "weak president" Biden. How can you be more tough than when you are tough on Rashka. Also, Dems will reignite rus collusion again and press his buttons.
But keep in mind, the whole "RUSSSIA stole the 2016 elllechcshun for TRUMP" is a dead letter now. And that "he plans" to gut the deep state. So what actually happens?
Oh yeah? The Ds are still selling Russiagate.
Where? I haven't seen anything about it since just after Mueller's report and then the counter-investigation or whatever that was. Definitely not the MSM anyway. If they start up with it again, only true morons will believe it.
When Matt Taibbi appeared before Congress in 2023 to testify about social media censorship he was harassed by Congressmen for not supporting Russiagate. They were implying that censorship was vital to prevent Russia from interfering in US elections again.
I saw that whole testimony. But he wasn't asked to support Russiagate. He was being asked about the generic all-encompassing Russia Is Evil and They Interfere in Our Elections with Propaganda bullshit. Russiagate was specific to the 2016 election. These clowns think Russia is always trying to "interfere."
Just saw that Forbes is talking about the Pro-Rashka Republicans.
I am an expat and am meeting all sorts of people and many are passionate about the rus collusion, people that are not even Americnas. So I wonder to what extent it is not possible to sell it to the American voters again?
Why would you call Russia "Rashka"? It is always used in negative context towards Russia.
Just can't understand if you're joking or merely do not know about it.