One of the most interesting updates today was a televised press conference Putin held with the top Russian frontline correspondents, many of them familiar names and faces from whom I and other analysts take daily reports. Guys like Poddubny, Pegov of Wargonzo, Sladkov, Murad Gazdiev, and even popular Youtube analyst Yuri Podolyaka, Alexander Kots, and many more.
Looks like even Russia has it's own troubles, but these are matters of degree. Though we've already been following this for a year, I think we ain't seen nothing yet.
At MoA, Russian commentator S provided some input related to what the meeting covered on the current week in review thread in which I made one reply, and another today:
" Putin's heard similar complaints before in his meetings with SMO participants, their spouses, children, and patriotic support organizations; I know because I've read the transcripts of their conversations. There were problems with the partial mobilization, too. IMO, what must be faced is the fact that Russia's Military and its MIC has never been tested in this manner ever; as a result, its inefficiencies and ineptness in certain quarters was unmasked along with the unfortunate nature of its bureaucratic culture--a disease that plagues all bureaucracies. Thankfully, Russia doesn't have the massive corruption problem that exists within the Outlaw US Empire and its vassals. Nor is the Russian government splintering from the inside as many European governments are, the former being quite credible in comparison. In almost every speech Putin gives, he mentions the need to increase efficiency across the board in every facet of Russia's socio-political-economy. There's no mention of it by the Kremlin, but I'll wager the national debt that Putin barked at more than a few people after his meeting and results will soon appear. Improving the bureaucratic culture will be difficult, but it can be done. That will be yet another facet of Russia to watch going forward."
Now to finish reading your posting.
I really have nothing more to add aside from telling your readers to read or listen to the entire meeting as Putin and the correspondents provide a weeks-worth of news. Oh, and do watch the SPIEF happenings. Putin will attend as usual; hopefully, the day will be announced at Zakharova's briefing tomorrow.
Edit 6/15 @1615 Pacific--
I should note that a citation of Putin's words is making the rounds that Pepe Escobar cited in his SCF article published today that's incorrect as it stands:
“We were forced to try to end the war that the West started in 2014 by force of arms. And Russia will end this war by force of arms, freeing the entire territory of the former Ukraine from the United States and Ukrainian Nazis. There are no other options. The Ukrainian army of the US and NATO will be defeated, no matter what new types of weapons it receives from the West. The more weapons there are, the fewer Ukrainians and what used to be Ukraine will remain. Direct intervention by NATO’s European armies will not change the outcome. But in this case, the fire of war will engulf the whole of Europe. It looks like the US is ready for that too.”
That's a collection of snippets pieced together to look like one entire statement. I combed the two different transcripts--my Yandex generated one and the Official Kremlin--four separate times and that paragraph doesn't exist. The bits, yes, somewhat like the Monroe Doctrine was initially snippets of a speech mashed together as a policy statement. Ultimately, it doesn't mar Escobar's article, but it does raise a credibility issue that I informed him about. When I first read it this morning, I thought it odd that I didn't recollect it although it all seemed correct--and it is but it isn't. It's an excellent example of what can happen when we rely on secondary or tertiary sources without vetting them. Here's the link to Pepe's article, https://strategic-culture.org/news/2023/06/15/putin-and-what-really-matters-in-the-chessboard/
Simplicus, I think you misunderstand what Putin said about number of recruits. It's not 150k plus another 156k. I think it'd 150k contract soldiers plus 6k volunteers for a total of 156k. If I'm right that changes the calculus quite significantly.
Last century, Russia has been infected with the Bolshevick virus and we know what these psychopaths have done to the Russian People.
We ask the Russian people to understand that the American people are under attack by the same virus. The only difference is the virus has mutated from economic Marxism to cultural Marxism or Wokism.
They are destroying all our institutions and now we have the Central Planning Bureau or Blakcrock implementing social scoring by controling capital allocations to corporations to coerce Board of Directores they have influence over to normalize sodomy and pedophilia.
Mr. Putin understands this and so do the American people who continue to wake up to this virus.
When it is all said, the Russian and American people have no reason to dislike each other at all.
Both our peoples face the same enemy. America faces it from within and Russia, being a healthier society at this time, faces it from without.
Perhaps he means that Russia can supply DU to proxy too? Then the question is what proxy would be willing to allow such a poison to be used? Syria seems unlikely.
Every time a terrorist action happens by Ukraine against Russian civilians or Russian infrastructure, it becomes increasingly difficult for Russian politicians to sell the concept of reconciliation, or peace, or anything other than a total surrender of Ukraine to Russian citizens.
"... if the surviving rump state of the Ukraine cannot be remolded into a nation which respects Russia and treats Russia cordially, then Ukraine “should not exist” at all as a state. ..."
So if Russian politicians can no longer sell anything except a total surrender of Ukraine, it makes sense for Russian Generals to follow the wishes of civilian leaders. The least risky military strategy is to create more meat grinders and slowly but systematically annihilate as many Ukrainian citizens as possible.
Without young citizens (40 and younger) Ukraine cannot wage a longer-term terrorism operation.
1. Putin 2007: "I believe the U.S. already understands and will understand more and more that only a strong Russia will respond to the genuine interests of the United States." That has possibly altered, in respect to Ukraine, into deAmericanisation, though deNATOism would apply too.
2. It is logical that you wait until the enemy's forces are depleted so that you can overrun or chase them. There is a surge after victory.
3. The biggest factor in the war may not be the number of troops or hawks, but the internal politics of the USA. The general Public don't give a damn about Ukraine with the Biden and Trump scandals taking centre stage. Trump's "end war" argument is softer than the shit he's in so it may come down to how much Biden will need Ukraine as distraction from his son's. Almost all presidents want to come out of the closet as Margaret Thatcher.
Thank you Simplicius for summarizing Putin's salient points to the so called voenkors.
This NATO infrastructure/logistics build up doesn't bode well for peace. Appears these neocons are locked in on WW3. I suppose the only thing that will roll back NATO is the real war, the economic one taking place on world stage.
Putin was speaking about the Dnepr as it stood when it was carrying large masses of water immediately after the dam was blown up. Right now, it's a very different story. The amount of water flowing down the Dnepr has become a trickle. Ukrainians will soon attempt to strike across the river.
Concerning the second mobilization in August. How many troops do you think Russia would need to occupy all of Ukraine? I've seen from 50-100 occupied civilians per occupying soldier to 20-200 civilians per soldier. Depending on how how hostile the natives are.
Also, I suspect that you are right about Russia holding back reserves incase NATO intervenes. I simply can't imagine the neocons in DC accepting a Russian victory when they have any cards left to play.
Man, a mercenary army of 200k men isn't really a pleasant thought in any country. I mean capitalism and all. Putin and his government should put checks in place because when this thing ends 200k dudes whose main career skill is blowing things up and shooting people looking for a paycheck can't find steady work, it won't end well. Seriously at any given time since WWI, have there ever been 200,000 professional mercenaries in the *entire world*?
I think it likely that historically literate and wily Ulysses-like Putin - - a man who has already built his version of Diocletian's retirement palace in Split (D) on the Black Sea Coast (P) has thought through the whole Praetorians/Mamluks/Jannisaries thing.
Looks like even Russia has it's own troubles, but these are matters of degree. Though we've already been following this for a year, I think we ain't seen nothing yet.
I translated the meeting into English and broke it into two parts: https://vk.com/@580896205-putin-meets-with-war-correspondents-part-one and https://vk.com/@580896205-part-two-of-putins-meeting-with-war-correspondents
At MoA, Russian commentator S provided some input related to what the meeting covered on the current week in review thread in which I made one reply, and another today:
" Putin's heard similar complaints before in his meetings with SMO participants, their spouses, children, and patriotic support organizations; I know because I've read the transcripts of their conversations. There were problems with the partial mobilization, too. IMO, what must be faced is the fact that Russia's Military and its MIC has never been tested in this manner ever; as a result, its inefficiencies and ineptness in certain quarters was unmasked along with the unfortunate nature of its bureaucratic culture--a disease that plagues all bureaucracies. Thankfully, Russia doesn't have the massive corruption problem that exists within the Outlaw US Empire and its vassals. Nor is the Russian government splintering from the inside as many European governments are, the former being quite credible in comparison. In almost every speech Putin gives, he mentions the need to increase efficiency across the board in every facet of Russia's socio-political-economy. There's no mention of it by the Kremlin, but I'll wager the national debt that Putin barked at more than a few people after his meeting and results will soon appear. Improving the bureaucratic culture will be difficult, but it can be done. That will be yet another facet of Russia to watch going forward."
Now to finish reading your posting.
I really have nothing more to add aside from telling your readers to read or listen to the entire meeting as Putin and the correspondents provide a weeks-worth of news. Oh, and do watch the SPIEF happenings. Putin will attend as usual; hopefully, the day will be announced at Zakharova's briefing tomorrow.
Edit 6/15 @1615 Pacific--
I should note that a citation of Putin's words is making the rounds that Pepe Escobar cited in his SCF article published today that's incorrect as it stands:
“We were forced to try to end the war that the West started in 2014 by force of arms. And Russia will end this war by force of arms, freeing the entire territory of the former Ukraine from the United States and Ukrainian Nazis. There are no other options. The Ukrainian army of the US and NATO will be defeated, no matter what new types of weapons it receives from the West. The more weapons there are, the fewer Ukrainians and what used to be Ukraine will remain. Direct intervention by NATO’s European armies will not change the outcome. But in this case, the fire of war will engulf the whole of Europe. It looks like the US is ready for that too.”
That's a collection of snippets pieced together to look like one entire statement. I combed the two different transcripts--my Yandex generated one and the Official Kremlin--four separate times and that paragraph doesn't exist. The bits, yes, somewhat like the Monroe Doctrine was initially snippets of a speech mashed together as a policy statement. Ultimately, it doesn't mar Escobar's article, but it does raise a credibility issue that I informed him about. When I first read it this morning, I thought it odd that I didn't recollect it although it all seemed correct--and it is but it isn't. It's an excellent example of what can happen when we rely on secondary or tertiary sources without vetting them. Here's the link to Pepe's article, https://strategic-culture.org/news/2023/06/15/putin-and-what-really-matters-in-the-chessboard/
Simplicus, I think you misunderstand what Putin said about number of recruits. It's not 150k plus another 156k. I think it'd 150k contract soldiers plus 6k volunteers for a total of 156k. If I'm right that changes the calculus quite significantly.
Last century, Russia has been infected with the Bolshevick virus and we know what these psychopaths have done to the Russian People.
We ask the Russian people to understand that the American people are under attack by the same virus. The only difference is the virus has mutated from economic Marxism to cultural Marxism or Wokism.
They are destroying all our institutions and now we have the Central Planning Bureau or Blakcrock implementing social scoring by controling capital allocations to corporations to coerce Board of Directores they have influence over to normalize sodomy and pedophilia.
Mr. Putin understands this and so do the American people who continue to wake up to this virus.
When it is all said, the Russian and American people have no reason to dislike each other at all.
Both our peoples face the same enemy. America faces it from within and Russia, being a healthier society at this time, faces it from without.
God help us all against the satanists.
Perhaps he means that Russia can supply DU to proxy too? Then the question is what proxy would be willing to allow such a poison to be used? Syria seems unlikely.
The only logic I can make of Putin's statement about reciprocating DU is that he doesn't mean to do that in former UKraine, necessarily....
Happy Russia day.
Great and extensive write up as usual much appreciated
Every time a terrorist action happens by Ukraine against Russian civilians or Russian infrastructure, it becomes increasingly difficult for Russian politicians to sell the concept of reconciliation, or peace, or anything other than a total surrender of Ukraine to Russian citizens.
"... if the surviving rump state of the Ukraine cannot be remolded into a nation which respects Russia and treats Russia cordially, then Ukraine “should not exist” at all as a state. ..."
So if Russian politicians can no longer sell anything except a total surrender of Ukraine, it makes sense for Russian Generals to follow the wishes of civilian leaders. The least risky military strategy is to create more meat grinders and slowly but systematically annihilate as many Ukrainian citizens as possible.
Without young citizens (40 and younger) Ukraine cannot wage a longer-term terrorism operation.
1. Putin 2007: "I believe the U.S. already understands and will understand more and more that only a strong Russia will respond to the genuine interests of the United States." That has possibly altered, in respect to Ukraine, into deAmericanisation, though deNATOism would apply too.
2. It is logical that you wait until the enemy's forces are depleted so that you can overrun or chase them. There is a surge after victory.
3. The biggest factor in the war may not be the number of troops or hawks, but the internal politics of the USA. The general Public don't give a damn about Ukraine with the Biden and Trump scandals taking centre stage. Trump's "end war" argument is softer than the shit he's in so it may come down to how much Biden will need Ukraine as distraction from his son's. Almost all presidents want to come out of the closet as Margaret Thatcher.
Thank you Simplicius for summarizing Putin's salient points to the so called voenkors.
This NATO infrastructure/logistics build up doesn't bode well for peace. Appears these neocons are locked in on WW3. I suppose the only thing that will roll back NATO is the real war, the economic one taking place on world stage.
Disguising yourself as the enemy is a war crime and usually leads to being killed on the spot when captured.
Putin was speaking about the Dnepr as it stood when it was carrying large masses of water immediately after the dam was blown up. Right now, it's a very different story. The amount of water flowing down the Dnepr has become a trickle. Ukrainians will soon attempt to strike across the river.
Concerning the second mobilization in August. How many troops do you think Russia would need to occupy all of Ukraine? I've seen from 50-100 occupied civilians per occupying soldier to 20-200 civilians per soldier. Depending on how how hostile the natives are.
Also, I suspect that you are right about Russia holding back reserves incase NATO intervenes. I simply can't imagine the neocons in DC accepting a Russian victory when they have any cards left to play.
Man, a mercenary army of 200k men isn't really a pleasant thought in any country. I mean capitalism and all. Putin and his government should put checks in place because when this thing ends 200k dudes whose main career skill is blowing things up and shooting people looking for a paycheck can't find steady work, it won't end well. Seriously at any given time since WWI, have there ever been 200,000 professional mercenaries in the *entire world*?
I think it likely that historically literate and wily Ulysses-like Putin - - a man who has already built his version of Diocletian's retirement palace in Split (D) on the Black Sea Coast (P) has thought through the whole Praetorians/Mamluks/Jannisaries thing.