Putin held his annual Q&A today, where he made some interesting new statements which I’ll first go over. One of the most notable, to me, was the reiteration of the stated objectives of the SMO. For a long time now Ukrainian sources claimed that Russia was slowly walking back or down-scaling the SMO’s goals as a face-saving measure in light of their putative ‘inability to advance.’
I suspect a primary reason the west might choose to keep the conflict "active" is to mask the possibility President Putin/Russia have no desire to take on the burden of trying to control Europe. As long as the conflict is in play, the narrative of Putin wants to rule the world still sells; at least to the fools among us.
‘Look closer at Mr Putin’s wartime economy, however, and it becomes clear that it is dangerously overheating. Inflation in the services sector, which includes everything from legal advice to restaurant meals, is exceptionally high. The cost of a night’s stay at Moscow’s Ritz-Carlton, now called the Carlton after its Western backers pulled out, has risen from around $225 before the invasion to $500. This suggests that the cause of inflation is home-grown.’
‘Look closer’! The one fact is fact free – impacts westie journalists using dollars but no one else, no wonder the Economist journo is complaining
‘The problem is that the Russian economy cannot take such rapid growth.’ The growth referred to is 3%
“Unemployment, at less than 3%, is at its lowest on record, which is emboldening workers to ask for much higher wages. Nominal pay is growing by about 15% year on year. Companies are then passing on these higher costs to customers.”
Low unemployment and higher wages for workers are bad
Next up - Western economies are so strong they benefit from recession
You've generally had a pretty good handle on the force numbers so you're probably right, but Putin did mention in the 44k sent home some were "health related" which could be a nuanced way of saying casualties and the remainder not mentioned could be dead. Either way, nothing makes me believe they've lost the 350k mentioned by the media earlier this week.
Hot off the Press - FT - EU fails to agree E50B funding package for Ukraine
This means they'll have to work to find the money, because Ukraine will not be let go of, even if they have to send some active ingredients to persuade EU politicians and their families
For what it's worth, I've always assumed that the war is planned to move into the 1984 scenario, of perpetual war, happening far away, where no-one really knows how real the war is; just there to provide the sense of emergency for justifying hardship and dictatorship.
Putin is orchestrating this conflict for maximum pain on the West, and it's working, while minimizing casualties on the regular Russian army and marines, as opposed to the convicts and territorials...Well played!
The reason the ukrop now declares andivka to be so important is that they are all out of excuses for not winning the war...when they lost the town formerly called bakmuht they and the western handlers still convinced themselves they would win. it was a temporary set back and soon the hohols would be retaking mauriupol..now the americans are looking for plausible excuses for the failure of their great gambit and its obvious to everyone ukraine will NEVER regain its territories...in fact it will lose more before the americans allow them to quit. by then there will be a stockpile of rehearsed excuses the yankees can use and all of them will be defamatory of the ukrainians.
as for the "civil war"..maybe...americans are schizoid and anti social and obsessed with the great american homicide-hero fantasy..it might be the only way they can find an opponent they can beat
The movie is an unknown, can’t say until the full story. Could be a warning, fear mongering against Trump, or predictive programming to condition the populace to what’s to come. I’ll say this though, Texas and California being on the same side is ridiculous.
The American Empire won't give up that easily. "Putin plans to invade Europe!" will be given wings by the Baltics and Moldova attacking their respective Russian enclaves - but under the western media radar, so the inevitable response will be screamed as "unprovoked", much like the Hamas assault.
More expendable European bodies will be blown apart "To weaken Russia".
While America runs on "narrative", when the chips are down they don't care - naked power will do as well.
And who can stop them? Certainly not Western "voters" in our sham, State/CIA controlled elections.
As someone said recently, the USA need a "non-Zionist party" to vote for, which sounds impossible. How much more impossible is a party that stands against the Empire itself?
Shouldn't Russia be disrupting the construction of defense lines and bunkers already?
As for the expected American civil war, it's probably already planned by the real rulers of the world. While we thought Hollywood was used for prep-programming by CIA, perhaps it was more the "chosen ones", many of whom are among the invisible rulers dreaming of global domination.
With reference to your previous post, how come Ukrainians are sitting quietly allowing their country's assets to be sold off to big corporations, not to "save" the country but for few elites to stuff their pockets more and further depopulate the country?
RF needs to shoot every nato drone down no more Intel for sneak attacks. There's no politeness left for that. But who am I.
I did note putin referenced the graveyard of children called Gaza and compared Russia's action to what Israel is doing. Everyone can see that , even through the bs western propaganda, no one is as evil as zionazi , even the Azov tornado battalion nazis are somewhat kindergarten to them.
Why does nobody in western press point out the obvious contradiction in "putin has taken 87% casualties, his army is in ruins" and " if we don't stop the Russians they will conquer all of europe"
I mean Russia has 140mn people or so, they are much bigger than Ukraine, but if they've taken 300k casualties the evidence would be impossible to hide, right?
“particularly given Ukraine’s new orientation toward the defensive, where they are now busy building massive fortifications in some areas which will be extremely difficult for Russia to dislodge”
Can you give details – how can Ukr be building concrete fortifications in winter and despite, presumably, RF drone and artillery if not missile attacks?
I suspect a primary reason the west might choose to keep the conflict "active" is to mask the possibility President Putin/Russia have no desire to take on the burden of trying to control Europe. As long as the conflict is in play, the narrative of Putin wants to rule the world still sells; at least to the fools among us.
15 Dec 2023 The Economist joins in: Sanctions are working, or even if they are not an expanding economy is a disaster for Russia
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2023/12/10/vladimir-putin-is-running-russias-economy-dangerously-hot/
Success is failure
‘Look closer at Mr Putin’s wartime economy, however, and it becomes clear that it is dangerously overheating. Inflation in the services sector, which includes everything from legal advice to restaurant meals, is exceptionally high. The cost of a night’s stay at Moscow’s Ritz-Carlton, now called the Carlton after its Western backers pulled out, has risen from around $225 before the invasion to $500. This suggests that the cause of inflation is home-grown.’
‘Look closer’! The one fact is fact free – impacts westie journalists using dollars but no one else, no wonder the Economist journo is complaining
‘The problem is that the Russian economy cannot take such rapid growth.’ The growth referred to is 3%
“Unemployment, at less than 3%, is at its lowest on record, which is emboldening workers to ask for much higher wages. Nominal pay is growing by about 15% year on year. Companies are then passing on these higher costs to customers.”
Low unemployment and higher wages for workers are bad
Next up - Western economies are so strong they benefit from recession
You've generally had a pretty good handle on the force numbers so you're probably right, but Putin did mention in the 44k sent home some were "health related" which could be a nuanced way of saying casualties and the remainder not mentioned could be dead. Either way, nothing makes me believe they've lost the 350k mentioned by the media earlier this week.
Hot off the Press - FT - EU fails to agree E50B funding package for Ukraine
This means they'll have to work to find the money, because Ukraine will not be let go of, even if they have to send some active ingredients to persuade EU politicians and their families
Thanks for this quality collection.
For what it's worth, I've always assumed that the war is planned to move into the 1984 scenario, of perpetual war, happening far away, where no-one really knows how real the war is; just there to provide the sense of emergency for justifying hardship and dictatorship.
Putin is orchestrating this conflict for maximum pain on the West, and it's working, while minimizing casualties on the regular Russian army and marines, as opposed to the convicts and territorials...Well played!
Another spectacular summary from Simplicius with fascinating insights, embedded links and videos and articles. Real on the ground analysis of WW3.
The reason the ukrop now declares andivka to be so important is that they are all out of excuses for not winning the war...when they lost the town formerly called bakmuht they and the western handlers still convinced themselves they would win. it was a temporary set back and soon the hohols would be retaking mauriupol..now the americans are looking for plausible excuses for the failure of their great gambit and its obvious to everyone ukraine will NEVER regain its territories...in fact it will lose more before the americans allow them to quit. by then there will be a stockpile of rehearsed excuses the yankees can use and all of them will be defamatory of the ukrainians.
as for the "civil war"..maybe...americans are schizoid and anti social and obsessed with the great american homicide-hero fantasy..it might be the only way they can find an opponent they can beat
As always, thank you. 🙏
I would have liked more from Putin’s Q&A.
The movie is an unknown, can’t say until the full story. Could be a warning, fear mongering against Trump, or predictive programming to condition the populace to what’s to come. I’ll say this though, Texas and California being on the same side is ridiculous.
Any updates on Gaza?
The American Empire won't give up that easily. "Putin plans to invade Europe!" will be given wings by the Baltics and Moldova attacking their respective Russian enclaves - but under the western media radar, so the inevitable response will be screamed as "unprovoked", much like the Hamas assault.
More expendable European bodies will be blown apart "To weaken Russia".
While America runs on "narrative", when the chips are down they don't care - naked power will do as well.
And who can stop them? Certainly not Western "voters" in our sham, State/CIA controlled elections.
As someone said recently, the USA need a "non-Zionist party" to vote for, which sounds impossible. How much more impossible is a party that stands against the Empire itself?
Shouldn't Russia be disrupting the construction of defense lines and bunkers already?
As for the expected American civil war, it's probably already planned by the real rulers of the world. While we thought Hollywood was used for prep-programming by CIA, perhaps it was more the "chosen ones", many of whom are among the invisible rulers dreaming of global domination.
With reference to your previous post, how come Ukrainians are sitting quietly allowing their country's assets to be sold off to big corporations, not to "save" the country but for few elites to stuff their pockets more and further depopulate the country?
RF needs to shoot every nato drone down no more Intel for sneak attacks. There's no politeness left for that. But who am I.
I did note putin referenced the graveyard of children called Gaza and compared Russia's action to what Israel is doing. Everyone can see that , even through the bs western propaganda, no one is as evil as zionazi , even the Azov tornado battalion nazis are somewhat kindergarten to them.
What is your opinion on Wartears?
Why does nobody in western press point out the obvious contradiction in "putin has taken 87% casualties, his army is in ruins" and " if we don't stop the Russians they will conquer all of europe"
I mean Russia has 140mn people or so, they are much bigger than Ukraine, but if they've taken 300k casualties the evidence would be impossible to hide, right?
Hollywood scripts are good for about one line or so,like a drug prescription, ha ha .
The line seems to have changed, as Alex christoforou notices. From as long as it takes to as long as we can or as long as we feel like it .
Seems like like maybe tonight we have a headache and we'll have to skip out the next few scAmerican warz
“particularly given Ukraine’s new orientation toward the defensive, where they are now busy building massive fortifications in some areas which will be extremely difficult for Russia to dislodge”
Can you give details – how can Ukr be building concrete fortifications in winter and despite, presumably, RF drone and artillery if not missile attacks?