KK is so skibidi she sees a tree and thinks it’s The Jungle—!
The new EU foreign policy minister Kaja Kallas assumed office on 1 December and naturally hot-footed her way to Kiev on the 7-hour train for her very first diplomatic duty. She was in a double-quick hurry to hold a press briefing in situ, on Bankova, in order to tell everybody that despite Western efforts to isolate Russia and its leader, VVP’s political influence has nonetheless grown. “We see what Putin is doing in other countries, really increasing his global influence. So, if the United States wants to be the strongest state in the world,” KK elaborated, training her attention on the incoming DJT admin, known to be a flattery-susceptible collective and a vanity-adjacent group whose ego might suffer if the U.S. is not in fact the strongest state in the world, “they will eventually have to deal with the Russian Federation. And the easiest way to deal with this is to support Ukraine so that it wins the war.”
Although KK was seated before the press in Kiev, she was really speaking to her friends Across the Pond: “If America is worried about China, it should be worried about Russia first.” In other words, KK was giving DJT a to-do list.
Turning her attention to another pressing European obsession, the *peaceful* protests in Georgia, which have *organically* arisen from “students exercising their right to free assembly,” KK sided w/ the protesters: “It is clear that using violence against peaceful protesters is not acceptable, and the Georgian government should respect the will of the Georgian people.”
Quick facts: Pro-Western opposition parties, as well as Georgia’s French-born president, Salome Zourabichvili, have refused to recognize the results of the democratic vote of the people in October. U.S. State Department spokesman Matt “Count Chocula” Miller additionally condemned the Georgian government’s violent crackdown on “student” protesters.
While KK was on the 7-hour train to Kiev, she’d had ample time, and a strong enough wifi connection, to present EU member states with a list of “options” for dealing with the situation in Georgia, including economic sanctions—and she’d no doubt cc’d Matt “Count Chocula” Miller too.
Ordinarily, Lady vdL speaks of “tools” by which the EU can strong-arm members & hopefuls into toeing the line. KK, however, staking out some turf for herself, spoke of “options,” an independent-minded distinction of coercion on her part
Zourabichvili’s mandate as president of Georgia ends on 28 December, and the Georgian parliament will vote on her successor on 15 December—but Zourabichvilli has refused to leave office until the parliamentary elections are re-run. Since 2017, her mission has been to effect a regime change in Georgia. At some point someone will have to perform a Zourabichvilli-ectomy, stat.
Until then, KK agitates from afar. Remember: Russia issued an arrest warrant for KK earlier this year due to her efforts to destroy Soviet WWII memorials in Estonia.
zourabichvili - quick fact - "She joined Columbia University in 1972–1973 where Zbigniew Brzezinski, at the time director of the Trilateral Commission, trained her on Soviet politics and Cold War diplomacy." and we know the agenda brzezinski had, don't we?? she is doing all she can to keep up the tradition!
It strikes me that all these warhawks are women... I can remember a time when feminists claimed that if women were to rule the world, there would be peace and kumbaya for ever... (LOL)
I think they feel they have something to prove to all the men, that they can be violent sadists as much as the guys can. "Look guys, I just strangled a baby with a lamp cord and you said we can't be leaders".
Senior female here:- exactly what I said a month ago to younger family.
Also it was said .. that if we could have seen the horror of the concentration camps, etc … it would NEVER have been able to happen…… yet now its being seen all over the world - and yet it’s still business as usual!
I don't think the camps for Japanese during WWII in the U.S. compare to similar efforts anywhere else in the world, ever. Most people involved strongly believed they were an unfortunate preventative measure that most of the people in the camps didn't deserve. That affected how the prisoners were treated.
Illinois Governor Pritzker's family fortune is based on wealth stolen from those people, as are many other Jewish fortunes. There probably wouldn't have been an opioid epidemic otherwise - the Pritzkers wouldn't have had the capital to start their drug trafficking empire.
Hell has no fury like a woman scorned… in general men fight and afterwards drink together. In general women are not capable of doing the same. In general women tend to react emotionally, but unfortunate as a consequence the rational and logical thinking goes out the window. I was always of the opinion that women would create a more peaceful and just world until I came accross Albright, Clinton, Nuland, KK, Gauleiter von der Lügen, Baerbock, Harris and most other women in power (Moldova, Georgia, Denmark, …). I haven’t seen such rabid warmongers in my life. I mean men are a-holes, but women aren’t much better and both are not going to safe the world I am afraid.
For all the talk about women being more empathetic (entirely from women or clueless simps), their solipsism always wins out.
"I mean men are a-holes, but women aren’t much better"
Women aren't ANY better; in some ways they're worse. Just look at Clown World, which has for decades promoted female concerns and sensibilities, and now it is a crumbling, self-delusional hellscape.
Women always escalate a crisis because they're certain they won't take any physical consequences. Men grow up with the knowledge that if they fuck around they're going to find out and get the same treatment right back so they're cautious.
Women are skilled at getting their own way any way they can.
Even a simple man like Al Bundy understood, "Nobody hates women more than other women", and the corollary: think what that means in terms of how they feel about YOU.
I am a guy so I don't experience this except occasionally on the receiving end but apparently women get a thrill out of controlling or having power over men. Certainly that appears to be the case in romance, so I'm not surprised that they also experience a thrill in sending male soldiers to beat each other to death on their command. Many love violent bad guys too, which I never figured out. Must be evolutionary, for protection.
Most, or likely all, of these women are YGL graduates. Their unfortunate blundering presence in politics speaks more of Klaus Schwab's personal tastes than of their abilities. And remember that incompetence was one of the criterions these "leaders" were selected for in the first place, so that they must turn to their handlers for guidance.
What a lot of talk of women, " ...the woman doth protest too much methinks"... (Hamlet).
Perhap foul, cold and cruel women are like Russian/Ukrainian men at their very worst: a great light creates a deep shadow and Russia is called Mother Rusia after all.
She does produce men with a great sense of humour -
"It's very difficult to find a Korean in the dark Kursk forest,"Pavlo noted sarcastically, "especially if he's not here."
In Georgia it is getting cold. Spray water on the protesters and they will go home COLD.
I think Andrei's figures of a million dead Ukies better than Simplicius' estimate, with a million more broken and mangled, but alive. The EU makes up numbers and why rely on them? That's pretty much because it seems like Russia's defense department knows the number of tanks and other weapons they shoot down, so why not their estimate of dead and incapacitated? It's like counting body bags in Vietnam, but if you are fighting a war of attrition it's the most important number, and this is the reason why everyone is deserting and running away.
kk is not a brilliant strategist.. in fact she is a very good example of the exact opposite... for all her warmongering credentials, she is a real loser on all fronts.. the fact ursala von leyen has to work with her, is just great.. that is like a double anchor especially designed to sink the european union much quicker then the germans figuring out who sabotaged nordstream.... these 2 will sink germany and the rest of europe much quicker!
Well look who she represents. If I had to hold up an example of why we in Canada should leave NATO, it would be Estonia. Like they are going to save our asses if we got attacked ?? No, but we have to travel the world away to defend them with permanent troops. Obviously in letting these postamp sized nations with non existent militaries into NATO, the plan has always been to put nukes on their borders with Russia. Obviously nuclear proliferation is Americas foreign policy goal.
Same with Fond of Lying, one would expect her to have been fired after her first fib, but no, she gets a standing ovation and the audiences clamouring for more and more.
Having read his dispatches back in the days when he used the moniker Nightvision, I can affirm that Simplicius has always been a fine writer. That being said, in the last few months he's definitely upped his game a few notches. One of the top authors on Substack, IMHO.
I caught that too. Maybe he was suggesting Scholtz is an amorphous androgenous blob without any apparent gender. Heretics often are. Don't tell me Satan doesn't have a great sense of humor and a kinky dimension.
If memory serves he used to post on the Saker site, which had a fantastic forum. News of the Saker's fate would be appreciated. Simplicius always shined.
Swell of World War 2 Red Herrings was a great piece ... "... Rob Bauer, head of the ‘NATO Military Committee’. ,,,, The irrelevant pipsqueak mewled something along these lines to powder on the phony fear-porn:" That tops the best of Shakespheres insults.
Feel tired over all these ’clowns’ not caring about their own citizens. Germany is going ”kaputt” big time. Scholtz is carrying a aluminium case as he was guarding something important. The open secret is that he let Germany slip into the abyss - screwed by Deep State US. As a Socialdemocrat he should be ashamed of himself.
Bareback is talking about ”peace process”…she who declared that she didnt care of her own citizens concerns about the War.
And how come Stoltenberg acting? He is no longer NATO Overlord.
As for Trump/Kellogg peaceplan…flawed. And we dont know how crazy Trump is. Someone heard his threat against Mid-East? ” We will crush them harder than anything in our glorious history”
Any peaceplan must include the fact that Russianspeaking people living in Ukraine oblasts must have a safe future. It also seems as Putin will withhold his forces to just include the new Oblasts. The others are propably deemed ”anti-russian” so whats the point of taking them?
As for dreaming about Charkov and Odessa or any other big city. Keep dreaming.
Russia is not able to take them by force.
Good write, Simplicius, but your are struggling as much as we others with all these narratives floating. Anything can happen. Suddenly.
Dreaming about Kharkow and Odessa without taking them by force is very realistic.
Just think about the prospect of the Russian held new territories start reviving, as Mariopol
does. While the rest of Ukraine will suffer because the so-called allies won't care about the people of the remaining part of the country. No prospect, just empty stomachs and empty words by the lying elites. That would lead to a popular vote, as to where to belong soon enough. It is just human nature.
How many times have you heard Russia is preparing a new offensive?
Have you seen how little progress they have done in Donbass during last two years despite the ”insufferable” Ukrainian losses and the enormous advantage Russia has in bombs and artillery?
As for your popular vote…did you see what happened in Romania? In Georgia? Whenever the popular vote is against West interests it will be countered.
My only hope, say wishful thinking, is that Zelensky&Yermak are strung up in Kiew by angered citizens and military when they realize that 3 years War led to even less than the Istanbul peace offer.
Just now many people dream of Trump and his masterplan to bring World peace. Good luck. It is going to be beyond our beliefs of how bad things can go.
The fact is that Kharkhow and Odessa is leaning toward Russia, and if it weren't for the repressive Banderites they would be able to speak up. If the Banderitas are discredited as they are heading in that direction, things can change quickly. Especially if, as you wish Zelensky&Yermak are strung up by the angered citizens and military when they realize that 3 years of war led to even less than the Istambul peace offer.
I agree that if Russia continues as present, they are months away. But the Russians aren't hitting the people CAUSING THE WAR. Maybe hazelnut changes the calculus internally in the Ukraine and there is no rear to call back to for reinforcements. What if there was no draft boards to kidnap people? There is enormous technology overhang here that hasn't been used, by both sides. Hazelnut is between here and nuclear war, and that ain't much. I think there is a non-nuclear EMP generator, but I'm not sure. In Ocean's 11 they used a "Pinch." I've seen videos where they shoot down drones using an EMP burst just like in the Matrix.
They have a serious chunk of their navy and marines, pretty much next door and an awesome airforce. Plus I'm sure they already have cells operating there.
Most importantly, once the dominos really start falling and the central government collapses with battle fatigued soldiers exhausted and limping home, what's left of them, Vlad could probably make a few phone calls to get Odessa. There won't be any fight left in Ukraine soon.
For me the Hazelnut is the sort of thing you come up with when you have a good reason to feel threatened.
The go slow approach has many advantages. Since everything in the West is done with credit here, we will slowly, but inevitably, strangle ourselves.
Another advantage comes from minimizing casualties. The cost benefit is obvious, but troop loyalty is not earned by throwing away patriots for leadership ego gratification.
The Western approach to imperial adventure features fascist profit and torturing the middle class patriots with empty promises and valueless equipment.
The Ukraine has proven the Russian approach to arms works. What do we have to show for it? Huge profits for the corrupt few and empty coffers and a whole generation or two of Ukrainians that won't come back.
I share much of your deep thoughts. I also understand Simplicius gospel about ”the thousand cuts”. Strictly logical in a cynical way it is plausible that it is the best way.
But I despise War and people who instigate, manipulate and force deadly confrontations. I want them killed instantly (or rather scared back to their dungeons).
We have a lot of generations killed in Ukraine, both Russians and Ukrainians. Hundreds of thousands familys are shattered and traumatized for rest of their life.
If there is a possibility to end the War in a favourable matter - why not try it.
The sad truth is that West has applied the right amount of pressure everytime Russia seems to gain to much speed. And if I am wrong and Kremlin by purpose is doing a slow cook of Ukraine and their puppetmasters in the West I feel sorry for the Russian people (and all others) who must endure this War.
Oh we agree more than you might realize. As an ex USN submariner the technical aspects both fascinate and disgust me. The waste of resources and extreme trauma is inexcusable.
The only reason we fight wars is so TPTB can maintain power and control. Given the openly declared goals and abundantly transparent actions of NATO, through it's whole history, what choice did Putin have in Ukraine?
For me the opportunity to carefully analyze Putin's words and actions has been there right along. When he said you will not get a better peace deal than this, he was not bullshitting anyone. Now Minsk 1 or 2 would be a dream come true for Zelenskyy, it was not Russia's fault those deals fell through. All the Western predictions have proven wrong.
"The right amount of pressure" For me those have been mostly escalatory acts of terror, designed to get Putin to raise the stakes and then NATO launches ww3. Had he gone full tilt 3 years ago, the resources and inspiration to deploy Hazelnuts would not be there. All we get from our MIC is hype and broken promises.
Yep I think you're right about what Russia must do
But I don't think it can do it alone.
I think it needs China and NK and whoever else, anyone else, to come on board right now openly and flagrantly on any pretext whatever and pour troops and munitions and whatever into the conflict on the Russian side.
So that it is immediately a done deal. Hand down, finished, fait accompli.
Nothing to do but deal with it, lap it up.
No use rattling nuclear swords now, too late.
If China, home of the 'rights of the People', remember? glorious 'Chinese People's Republic' were to get 'people oriented' and declare loudly that they find it intolerable that after 10 years Kiev and Washington et al are still totally bent on invading, occupying, oppression, ethnic punishing the people of Donbas and now even at the clear cost of the people of Kiev Ukraine and now even at the clear cost of the people of the whole of Europe - find it intolerable.. sickening.. won't stand for it... declare themselves wholly on the side of the People of Donbas, people of Ukraine, people of Europe and will therefore help Russia and Donbas put a stop to it - and started to send in thousands and thousands...
It would all be over.
They would not even have to do it. Just announce the attitude.
They are not doing that.
I suspect them of playing cat and mouse.
I don't trust them. Any more than you can trust Erdogan.
Or any politician most especially in the West.
But what i mean is: if they'd get up and speak for the People.
Because no one else will, does. No one. Not a one.
Not even Putin though he has done in the past of course.
But even he is full of 'The State' and historical imperatives.
So too is China: totally authoritarian State, isn't it?
But hypocrisy reigns supreme.
And we could use some right now.
Let them all start piously pleading what in fact is the only just cause: peace for the people and step up and bring it all to an end.
China isn't an idealist nation though. They are strategically oriented. They are after resources first and foremost and they have to fight some imminent wars over Iran and Taiwan, if Trump makes good on his war threats, which I think he will. He a pathological narcisist. He will never accept a humiliating loss.
well I don't know the ins and outs of it all. but strategically china profits, surely, from the elimination of america from europe and that's what effective subduing of nato would be I think.
Or put it another way: strategically which way is better for china: American hegemony or Brics?
They seem to have made it clear, very clear, with their public humiliations of american envoys to china what they think.
China, unlike Russia, is deathly afraid of sanctions. Their economy is based on exports to the US and EU. If this were pulled out from under them, they would go bankrupt---there would be massive unrest, and the Party would throw Xi under the bus. So he will not dare, and will not be allowed, to make a clean break with the Hegemony.
The US would suffer even worse from a divorce like that, but there would be no upheaval there---the chain there is shorter and stronger than in communism, who would have thunk? And the Deep State already pre-controls their own social subversives.
The Russian government never talked about Odessa or Charkov, they want the four regions and Crimea. It is us talking about this. Maybe the Russians want a strong Russian Speaking minority in the rump state of Ukraine? A Minority which is protected by Moskow and therefore gives the Russians a lot of leverage in Ukraine. A Minority which keeps Ukraine permanent unstable.
Exactly. It is easier to control/govern people who actually has the desire to be Russians. An unfriendly population requires a lot of unpopular measures.
But problem is that Odessa in NATO-hands is a thorn in the side ande deadly threat against Russias Black Sea fleet.
Charkov likewise, filled with Tomahawks, would represent a never ending threat to Russia.
Moldova is just behind Odessa. Maybe 40 to 50 km. Not a big deal for drones. Charkov will be in the rump state of Ukraine, and the Russian government started the war with one big wish: No NATO. Every commend since the start of the SMO is: No NATO. I think Russia will more likely give up some of the Donbass Oblasts, than allowing NATO into whatever is left of Ukraine.
>Exactly. It is easier to control/govern people who actually has the desire to be Russians.
Last week there were messages from Odessa posted on Telegram expressing fear that the Kremlin will sell them out and leave them in the hands of the Ukronazis.
In fact I see such messages even from places like Zhytomyr on occasions.
Most of Ukraine (see Simplicius map) have Russian-speaking/liking citizens to some extent or even majority. Exception is westernmost part of the country. And exactly what your are describing is the tragedy with Ukraine. Population shouldnt have let the Russian-haters take over. But easy to say for me. Living under these conditions and corruption is not light.
Odessa is a historically Russian city and packed with glorious Russian archetecture. Russia won't want to blow it to pieces to take it back, like they did to the other industrial shit holes, up to this point. I'm sure they will want it. It is a threat to their navy in NATO's hands. It gives them absolute control over ukraine and the Black Sea. I'll bet Vlad keeps some paintings of Catherine the Great, in various stages of undress, under his pillow.
I think Odessa is what Russia will be having for dessert myself. Of course they will take it !! That was founded by Russian Empress Catherine The Great in 1794, which isn't that long ago. VP will take whatever he has to to keep the missiles off his doorstep. He may go all the way to Poland. Odessa is too close to their naval fleet at Sovastopol, whose seizure started this war.
It's amazing what loyalties can be bought with food, water and utilities when the people being bought are otherwise, starving and freezing to death. Consider when the Russians raped and slaughterd their way through Germany, all that was soon forgotten when they occupied half of it for 50 years. I was in East Germany 10 years after the wall came down and the people were still fanatically proRussian and despised anyone who came from a Nato country. Ever polite and generous I was, but they still made sure they burnt every meal I ordered in restaurants.
It is amazing how Russia can win the hearts of the people they conquered, unlike any other recent empire I know of. Look at Chechnya, for instance. I guess that is because they are sincere, not the lying bastards in the West.
>Feel tired over all these ’clowns’ not caring about their own citizens
We should start with the clown in the Kremlin when it comes to not caring.
He is the one who has his own citizens being bombed daily while having the power to stop it with a snap of his fingers, and who has effectively implicitly promised them that this is the new normal in perpetuity, like in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria.
I don't see Germany being bombed, regardless of the economic situation.
Putin is the least clownish but it is no wonder there is critiscism of Russias way of handling the War. But who are we to judge? We dont know have difficult it most have been to find themselves against the whole NATO/US/UK-cabal eager to slit their throats. Europe and NATO has nothing to do with Ukraine.
First of all, this "Trump peace attempt" is a complete fraud and scam. Is everyone blind? Trump was the first man to start supplying weapons to Ukraine, and now he claims that in a "peace state" he would continue the supply, and in a "war state," he would escalate it further. He is the President of the USA, not a friend of Russia.
Nearly 1 million Russian men have died in the last three years of this civil war. (For the American readers: Ukrainian people are Russians too—they are not a completely different people. I know this might shock you, given the brainwashing of your mainstream media.)
Meanwhile, nearly all aspects of Russian culture have been systematically erased in Ukraine. Statues honoring those who fell in the Great Patriotic War (1941–1945) have been burned. Priests have been beaten. Now, every Ukrainian is being taught to hate Russia.
The only viable peace option—one that does not involve the total surrender and dissolution of Russia, as well as the disgusting mockery of our fallen soldiers—is clear: Russia should take back all territories except Lviv. Western countries can take Lviv if they wish, but only after it is reduced to the stone age by an endless bombardment of FABs and 152mm shells
Will it believe in Trump's peacemaking efforts or as i would describe them deception or will it put the squeeze on the neo-Nazis and achieve peace from them in the form of their unconditional surrender.
Last 10 years have shown us one truth: Putin is not trustworthy. Again and again, he has made the wrong choices, leading Russia down a path of failure and humiliation. I pray to God that this time he makes the right choice—to fight until the full surrender of the cancer state. But I have no faith in him
Comrade Putin signed the budget for 2025. The new budget is 32.5% defense spending. This is an absolute record I believe. The country is betting on war.
In fact that same thing worries me. It means the revenue is not growing enough so the current proportion is good enough. It is a sign of strain. Of trouble.
Putin is fighting this war on levels and with people, factors, forces we don't even know about. Is the problem. We have a simplistic battlefield view even though we shouldn't - we know damn well the battlefield is fed from outside and subject to economic and political considerations - christ, that's what Kiev Ukraine is all about.
But we ignore that and tend to think entirely in battlefield terms.
Well I know that's not good enough.
But for lack of better knowledge - and they don't tell us much do they? not even the 'best' of our 'analysts', 'observers' etc - I reckon Russia needs to step in big time right now and blitzkreig west to Odessa. Switch the lights off in Ukraine totally and do it.
Because if they're cranking up spending to those levels its getting serious and worrying.
It's not a sign of trouble. It's very doable, especially when you have Belousov working obsessively to dual-purpose the economy. The Russians understand this type of thing better than anyone. The decision to allocate 32.5% indicates an ability to be brave, bold and decisive and to fully commit to what is dear to one's heart. Few can do this. I find it impressive. The leadership will keep a beady eye on how the war is affecting the population and the national stability. They look like they know what they're doing. Moscow is demonstrating calculated courage.
Well said. Respectfully, this bit is completely off: "It means the revenue is not growing enough so the current proportion is good enough. It is a sign of strain. Of trouble."
Fighting a world war with a power the size of the US requires far more investment than routine military expenditures. Russia's military expenditure was being reduced year after year until the US decided to start hot war with Russia by destroying the democratically elected government of Ukraine and installing a nazi junta in Kiev. Russia then responded.
That Russia can fight a military and economic war with the US and be winning, despite the huge expenditure involved is a sign of tremendous strength and a sign of the extreme durability and depth of the Russian economy.
Putin threw the gauntlet down in Munich 2008. Russia began preparing for an inevitable war. In 2022 they took on a coalition of over 50 countries on their own and up until now have shown they can prevail. Many countries have been destroyed by NATO since 1991, but the Russians are not one of them. Did you notice they are now the 4th largest economy on the planet?
Perhaps your priorities are ignored by the Kremlin?
You're missing the main point that Russia didn't start this shitshow. You seem to blame Putin. He turned Russia from a Yeltsin basket case to a resergent superpower thereby triggering a Brzezinskiesque containment strategy. It was always going to end this way in Ukraine.
How many you think will die when this whole thing goes BOOOOOOOOOMMMMM. A million, very sad for those who are left behind, could be ‘peanuts’ compared to the number of casualties
Good point. Btw. according to a Lancet study, the "decade of democracy" in Russia after the end of the USSR has cost the country about 15 million deaths.
And the Russian KIA are 77k according to Mediazona/BBC, not a million. Even adding ukrainian losses you would still end under 1m
"Again and again, he has made the wrong choices, leading Russia down a path of failure and humiliation."
Abject nonsense. The people who led Russia down a path of failure and humiliation were those fools who through brain-dead ideology and war destroyed the Russian economy from 1917 onward.
Failure and humiliation are not being able to feed yourself, and being reduced to handouts from successful economies, like "Bush's legs," the donation of chicken legs from the US. Failure and humiliation are a slobbering, drunken Yeltsin, begging to be a vassal of the US. Failure and humiliation are such a crippled economy and such a miserable existence that your children sell themselves, and sell themselves cheaply at that, to rich Westerners for a pair of jeans. That was Russia before Putin.
There is no success and no dignity in this world of nations if you are poor. Russia has achieved both success and dignity by becoming the world's largest energy exporter, the world's largest food exporter, and the world's largest resource exporter. Half of the world's countries depend on Russian food or other Russian exports (energy and resources) to avoid food insecurity. Russia has blown past Germany and Japan to become the world's fourth largest real economy.
Russian youth today are golden youth, knowing no life other than shopping malls where everything they could possibly want or imagine is at their fingertips, or delivered to them in minutes by couriers. Our cities are modern and full of truly superior infrastructure, a quality of life that in Soviet times existed only in dreams about the fabled West.
Putin achieved all that, and he has achieved a profound rise in Russia's economy even while defeating everything the US and the US's vassals have been able to throw at Russia in the last ten years of the West's war on Russia.
Thank God Russia has a wise and patient leadership that not only is defeating the combined, satanic West on the battlefield but also in a massive economic war. That is the path to success and dignity, not destroying Russia's people and Russia's economy because foolish imbeciles do not have the patience to wage and to win the world war with the US in all of its dimensions, both military and economic.
What are private attitudes among that golden youth, and other civilians, towards "peace" negotiations with the perfidious West? I am asking you, because you're on location :-)
Whether or not the Ставка finds the balls to refuse a disastrous Minsk 3 depends to some extent on these attitudes.
He is referring to the so-called "golden youth," but these are not the patriotic young men from the far-flung suburbs of Russia. Instead, he’s talking about the young liberal crowd who party in the nightclubs of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Naturally, this so-called golden youth (or as I prefer to call them, "club youth") is strongly in favor of ending the war, no matter the cost
Polls in Russia consistently show that this particular demographic overwhelmingly supports peace. In contrast, older generations, particularly men, tend to back the continuation of the war. This divide clearly show who is who
As for John Galtsky, he even wrote to me, praising Russia's practice of selling its natural resources at low prices and glorifying consumer culture. The man is a full-fledged liberal :(
"What are private attitudes among that golden youth, and other civilians, towards "peace" negotiations with the perfidious West?"
Russia's youth today as regards war and peace falls into pretty much the same four classes as the population in general, with slight skewing for age. The largest group supports the administration. People in the West refer to "Putin" but in reality the government is a fairly large and cohesive group, and most people, both youth and other age groups, support that government. Roughly 80% to 85% of the population supports the government.
The second largest group are people who don't give a shit about anything so long as they can continue on cruise control through life. By default, they're fine with the government. They don't vote so their lack of giving a shit doesn't really matter.
A third group are ultra patriots, a term I'll use to cover people who think Russia should immediately use nuclear weapons to make sure darned near 140 million Russians should die along with a billion other people in the West and around the world. They're the kooks who criticize Putin for having common sense and a longer term perspective.
A fourth and final group are crazed liberals. They tend to adore the West and to hate Russia. They also are a very small percentage of the population. It's hard to tell whether crazed liberals or ultra patriots represent larger, but still tiny, minorities. But given the profoundly larger percentage of people who support the government or who don't give a shit, it's irrelevant what either ultra patriots or crazed liberals think.
Russia's youth in my experience tend to have a larger percentage of "don't give a shit" in them than the average, with a slightly smaller percentage of "support the government" in them. They seem to have about the same percentages of ultra patriots and crazed liberals, with perhaps some skewing towards the crazed liberal side. That's hard to tell because out in the regions the youth are more likely to kick the shit out of you if you bark liberal nonsense as compared to urban youth in places like Moscow, but all those region youth don't get coverage by narcissistic liberal journalists in places like Moscow (who seem unaware there's any Russia out beyond Moscow's outer ring road).
There's no way any sort of Minsk 3 will happen. Nobody in the leadership has any interest in such idiocy. That's in keeping with what the very high percentage of the population, the 80% to 85%, that supports the government wants. As mentioned before, nobody cares what the "don't give a shit" segment wants and, of course, nobody cares what the tiny minority ultra patriot and crazed liberal segments want.
If you ask the people there is no war. I mean ask the people 'you want to make war?' and they'll say no.
But no one wants to ask the people. No one even suggests it. This is a bit mystery to me but it is true isn't it?
Yep, I think Russia needs to take everything if it is going to be a world ruled by lunatic 'leaders' instead of the people by 'regimes' not the people who supposedly 'elected' them.
And it looks like it is.going to be for as I say; no one even suggests any kind of turning towards the people. Cripes: even the people don't seem to ask for it.
So okay. It's going to be business as usual. Regimes rule. In which case Russia can never get Odessa back. But neither can Russia ever live without getting Odessa back.
Even if we got the political 'gain' of the place by referendum which would be the most bloodless and sensible the regimes would not let it be a functional reality. They would not allow free traffic to and fro the Russian Federation. They would do everything and anything they could to make it an impossible situation.
Russia must take Mikolaiv, seems to me and, of course, Odessa. Stop messing about. Mikolaiv gives the defence in depth there, then, too. I don't know what the population would think about it. Are they Russian oriented or Banderites?
I think they should go all out and do that, soonest. And pressure their 'allies' NK, China, whatever, to actually put up or shut up... at least voice a commitment or something... and power on all across west from Kherson and take Mikolaiv and Odessa. Don't worry about reclaiming all of Donetsk. When they sue for peace you can make them withdraw from Donetsk. They invaded remember?
Just take Mikolaiv and rejoin Odessa - that would be a happy reunion I think? The people want that? Well then we've got West to East a solid line of Russian States and that'll do.
"Western countries can take Lviv if they wish, but only after it is reduced to the stone age by an endless bombardment of FABs and 152mm shells"
Reasonable comment apart from the above. There's plenty of commenters over time calling for the bombbardment of this or that country's city, peoples and lands in this God forsaken uber-war revved age.
What’s wrong with seeking revenge? The people in Lviv supported the war because the ones being beaten into enlistment and sacrificed as cannon fodder were always the Russian-speaking citizens from eastern Ukraine. They did this knowingly, relishing the twisted pleasure of pitting Russians against each other.
Meanwhile, they stayed in their warm beds or secured the safest, furthest positions away from the frontlines. There isn’t even a trace of mercy in their hearts
The ethnic Banderans now claim they are from stolid Nordic stock.
I am pretty sure Russia is going to stay out of administering Lviv and Ivano-Frank. The two oblasts are reverting back to Poland. Making the Banderans a Polish problem again.
As long as "NATO" and "Ukraine" are mentioned in the same sentence by the elected and appointed divets (sic) running NATO and the EU, Russia is going to continue destroying Lenin's gift to the ethnic Banderans.
Thanks Titus, I agree with everything you wrote. I write this as a 73 y/o retired American who has spent some time reading history. After the horrific losses the Soviets endured in WW2 and to be treated like this. Disgusting. When the English decimated the native North American peoples they referred to the original inhabitants as "savages". When they kidnapped blacks in Africa and stole their labor (and raped their women) they were called n*ggers. Well the US Civil War never really ended and WW2 never ended either. These fascists need a healthy and permanent beat down. We're groomed here to hate on Putin and the Russian people. I for one am having none of it. Trump? New boss is same as the old boss. Bigly sad...
I would guess that most of the American (US) readers here understand that and agree. Trump's proposal is mostly noteworthy as a slight deviation away from what our military state has been offering up so far.
Russia may end up having to solve it all on the ground, but we can at least take hope for diplomacy.
When the shattered remains of Lemburg are annexed by Poland : "UKRAINE FINALLY ENTERS NATO - HUGE VICTORY, PUTIN HUMILIATED" will be all over the mainstream media.
The new EU foreign policy minister Kaja Kallas assumed office on 1 December and naturally hot-footed her way to Kiev on the 7-hour train for her very first diplomatic duty. She was in a double-quick hurry to hold a press briefing in situ, on Bankova, to wax poetic on many topics, not the least of which was one of the most pressing of European obsessions: the *peaceful* protests in Georgia, which have *organically* arisen from “students exercising their right to free assembly.”
In this, KK sided w/ the protesters: “It is clear that using violence against peaceful protesters is not acceptable, and the Georgian government should respect the will of the Georgian people.”
Quick facts: Pro-Western opposition parties, as well as Georgia’s French-born president, Salome Zourabichvili, have refused to recognize the results of the democratic vote of the people in October. U.S. State Department spokesman Matt “Count Chocula” Miller additionally condemned the Georgian government’s violent crackdown on “student” protesters.
"“If the ceasefire line means that Russia continues to control all the territories, this does not mean that Ukraine should give up these territories forever,” Stoltenberg said in an interview with Table."
Actually, it means exactly that - the territories are gone from Ukraine forever.
Once OTAN partners have an Oreshnik, in the distant future, 30 or so years from now, they will coerce Russia to return Crimea & the Donbas territories under threat of atomizing Russian cities w/ their very own Oreshnik—and until that time OTAN partners will burn to occupy western Ukraine.
I doubt it. I suspect OTAN partners will subsist as agricultural states by then, having lost their industries to the US which by then will have been renamed United Jewish States of Israel. Welcome! (IF you are a Jew, of course - otherwise, Fuck Off or Die)
yep. the territories should belong to the people who live there, work there, own the land there. they have right to self determination. the kiev mob and the washington mob and the eu mob and the nato mob and all bigtime bigtalking self styled superior mobs claim this is a big thing. the kiev mob often claim they have this right.
but when it come to the donbas territories suddenly it's all forgotten and it's all about 'if russia controls' and 'if kiev loses' etc. i.e it is all talk about The State or The Regime and not talk about people at all.
If Russia does not *Oreshnik,* then Russia is wimping out & VVP, humiliated in his failure to Oreshnik, is soft. Khinzals—? Weak sauce. Iskandrs—? Not enough. Once you’ve had Oreshnik, nothing less will do.
The launch of the *first* Oreshnik has in fact whetted the appetite of the keyboard warrior-class, the exercised chatteratti, who whinge in front of their laptop screens about Russia’s negligence, militarily, in not delivering another 2000C strike on Ukraine. When you’ve had plasma, you need plasma. A Toss flamethrower will never be enough.
VVP treated us to 14 minutes of flaming Shock & Awe, which we’ve now spent 10 days analyzing—10 days that included a major U.S. holiday filled w/ family, food & football-watching excess, so that it seemed like 20 days really since the original Oreshnik atomized a factory in Dneprpetrovsk. And in that time, 10 days that seemed like 20 days, all the gratitude of the major U.S. holiday had less to do w/ the blessings in our lives than w/ an Oreshnik, silently standing in its silo under the closed airspace of Russia’s cosmodrome, waiting.
We know it’s there. We’re frustrated, because VVP seems to have teased us in launching only one. When you open a can of Pringles, you don’t do so w/ the thought that you will eat just one. You’ll be lucky if one-third of the can is left, once you are done. Licking the powdery monosodium glutamate from your fingers, you’ll feel a decided emptiness. Pringles don’t suffice. Nothing satisfies like an Oreshnik.
Hello Simplicius - interesting as always. I was hoping for a little tidbit about Syria. Maybe its too early to make a commentary - but some reports say they're losing badly and other reports say they're winning magnificently- there were huge celebrations in Lebanon I heard...because in Lebanon they REALLY think they won and Israel ran away with its tail between its legs. What do you think ? Would love to hear.
Agree 100%, the timing of the Syria reboot is very suspicious to say the least.
Suppose the new "The Art of the Steal" President says to Putin (shades of Stalin/Churchill at Yalta); "You get what you want in Ukraine, only if we get what we want in Syria."
Syria has not yet stabilized but everything has not completely fallen apart either. The Militant offensive has ended for now as they seemingly consolidate their positions.
The only good thing to come out of the debacle has been the success of the Russian air force.
Reading the west's delusional aspirations is a continuing tedium. The west's imbecilic leadership class believe they can stave off dealing with reality with reckless escalation, and they seem immune to the signals of pain in their economies, who cares about real resources and capabilities when the airbag of psyops can be deployed. In the meantime the combined west's share of PPP will continue to decline, as will their relevance.
and its unclear but I sure like Simplicius's x comment that was shared and reposted by Kevork Almassian - that the Syrian Army withdrew in Aleppo becuae they were not ready. Like Kursk.
And I've been hearing there are many militias coming into Syria now - but unfortunately 50 or more men were lost from Iran shortly after they crossed the Syrian Iraqi border by an ambush which sounded like the enemy had star link and big American weapons.
yeah - but if its certain death - even if you can't take the giant machine with you - its better to depart. Even Simplicious on his X thread - said as much - they needed to regroup - it was a huge invasion with tanks even I've heard....better guns than the Syrians had. And many more men that the Syrians. I don't think people should defend for no good reason except a machine might bet kidnapped.
These were urban areas, towns and large cities. These are hard to assault, even with tanks, without days of prior bombing. And very easy to defend, even with just infantry weapons. Hamas in Gaza is still fighting, with much less resources than the Syrian Apprehensive Army had. Your excuses are unconvincing.
More European weirdness in the multi-nodal sphere: Lithuania, not to be marginalized in the who-can-insult-China-hardest sweepstakes, is getting salty.
The Foreign Ministry of Lithuania, without explanation, demanded that China's diplomats leave the country. Beijing's response? "China strongly condemns and firmly rejects the wanton and provocative action that Lithuania's Foreign Ministry, declaring relevant diplomatic personnel of the Office of the Chargé d'Affaires of China in Lithuania *persona non grata* and expelling them from the country within the time required."
Lithuania has been acting "in serious violation of the Taiwan issue,"according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry--throwing continual obstacles in the path of bilateral ties between the two countries.
Lithuania has a caretaker government currently, so serious steps forward have to hang fire for a while. Naturally, China expects a political commitment from Lithuania to uphold the One-China principle and bring bilateral ties back on the right track.
Wang Yiwei, a professor at China's Renmin University in Beijing, noted that there are political forces within Lithuania, influenced by certain foreign forces [hello, Joe's admin] that are trying to prevent Lithuania from getting closer with China. Under these circumstances, the caretaker government, acting like Joe's admin during this interregnum before DJT returns to the White House, has created troubles to obstruct the improvement of relations between China and Lithuania.
Looks like the situation in Austria. We had elections, the strongest party is pro peace, against sanctions, against NATO membership, so they try to form a coalition without this party. We have a caretaker government, but they are steering all the pro EU, pro war, pro sanctions course that leads streight into NATO. To make things worse, we see a big economic decline, a massive hole in the national budget, a collapsing school system, the mass migration leads to a housing crisis, massive problems with paying the pensions and so on. But the discussions around forming a working government are with no hurry.
The peace plans put forward by the western press and political class are all futile, because they treat Russia as though it was about to lose the war, its economy was about to collapse and it was isolated. All if which has not materialized.
Why, for example would Russia accept rearming Ukraine by NATO? That's a no-go. Why would Russia accept the Donbass and Krim issues to be frozen until a later day? And why would it accept Ukraine NATO membership at a later date? Even in, say 50 years?
A Russian journalist analysed Cornflakes' article "America First, Russia and Ukraine", which contradicts any and all conditions set by Russia and the fact that Russia is winning this war -no matter what arms NATO may pump into Ukraine. He concluded:
"The best guarantee for lasting peace and prosperity is a heavy stone on the grave of the enemy."
I really hope that Putin won't fall for the deception of The Empire of Lies again. This war was far too costly for its result to be empty promises and worthless accords.
Putin has been wrong and soft with the West too often, with disastrous consequences. If he is again, he should step aside.
There are many comments here and elsewhere to the effect that Z is a prisoner of circumstances but I wonder if Putin is too. I am not sure now that he could decide to accept peace on the sort of terms proposed by Kellogg. The West might very well achieve its regime change in Russia, but installing one who would take a much harder line. Not being a Kremlinologist I am guessing here, but suggest that peace terms accceptable in 2022 are not now to the wider Russian regime and people.
100% agree! The shortest way to a regime change in Russia would be for Putin to accept a bad (in the eyes of the Russian public & military) peace deal. Only, this wouldn’t be the regime change the Evil Gringo Empire is dreaming of.
Putin made the mistake of "going easy" on Ukraine and the West at the very opening of the SMO. The USA is definitely looking for a regime change in Russia, just NOT the one they will get if Putin takes another misstep and relents again, particularly where victory is concerned. The Russian people have made huge sacrifices in regard to the SMO and they will not be kind to anyone who sells out Mother Russia. Concessions by Putin will cost him whatever begrudging support that he has among the hard line anti-NAZIS and with the Russian people at large as well. These are not two groups that any Russian leader wants to piss off. Any regime change in Russia will not be one that the USA or NATO will find palatable. Biden and NATO made this into a war with Russia and the Russian people are not going to accept concessions to the West, they demand victory in return for their sacrifices.
"Putin made the mistake of "going easy" on Ukraine and the West at the very opening of the SMO. "
Respectfully disagree. "Going easy" was overwhelmingly the right move. The last thing either the Russian people or the leaders they elected, including Putin, wanted was to destroy their family in Ukraine by "going hard."
Fifteen million people in Ukraine have close relatives, like parents, children, siblings, etc., in Russia and vice versa. They're family, not to be treated the way the US treats what Americans consider to be lesser classes of humans in the US's foreign wars and genocides.
Russia has always had the choice to wipe out Ukraine by killing millions of people. That Russia chose a more patient, albeit more difficult path, is a testimony to wisdom and patience. The US's strategy has always been based on a strong component of using the captive, ethnic Russian majority in Ukraine as human shields and hostages while a hard-core, minority, Nazi and foaming-at-the-mouth Western Ukrainian minority sought a permanent war with Russia. Russia has always had the problem of defeating that vicious minority without killing the majority who are hostages.
It's that way with every terrorist action where terrorists take hostages. It's not a mistake to "go easy" in such hostage situations. You can always give up on that and storm the hostage situation, killing both the terrorists and the hostages, but that's not the first thing to try.
If you read John Helmer's notes, then yes, Putin is caught between his own, dovish impulses, and several much harder factions that have become infinitely tired of the West's tomfoolery (and resulting murder and impoverishment of innocents). The absolute worst result would be for Putin to leave power while a crisis remains, because there is a 100% chance of someone with less patience, wisdom and vision taking his place. At which point we'll all eventually enjoy starving without electricity while popping iodine tablets.
The Luciferian ghouls behind the West's power structure would like to forever tar Russia as Enemy of Mankind, not just for resource grabbing but also, it seems, to obliterate its people, culture and spiritual legacy.
The modern rapidity of information has conditioned all of us, self included, to a certain impatience with the course of events. We can see, imagine we know enough, analyze, and prescribe. But past world conflicts of such civilizational sort worked out on the scale of decades; and even WW2 is said to have ended with the reunification of Germany, in the '90s... or 60 years later.
"Putin has been wrong and soft with the West too often, with disastrous consequences. If he is again, he should step aside."
No. Putin and the rest of the leadership have always known what the West is about. What you're missing is that knowing what the West is about doesn't magically give Russia the ability to do anything about it. The ability to deal with what the West is about has to be built up, painfully and slowly, before you get the muscle to deal with the West through force. Russia had to eat crow, working through diplomatic maneuvers, for eight long years before it gained the strength to fight the US and win.
For eight years since the US started the war in Ukraine Russia wasn't able to defeat the US in a simultaneous economic and military conflict. The moment Russia had the strength to do that, Russia issued an ultimatum and then when the West blew that ultimatum off, Russia acted to switch from diplomatic confrontation to using "military technical" means. Even then, Russia was very weak, acting at the earliest possible time it had a fair chance of winning.
Russia today is in far better shape after three years of massive mobilization for war. Now it can defeat the US not only in a proxy war in Ukraine but also in a conventional world war. What holds the US and US vassals back is that they're not really ready for war. They've become too used to beating up third world Muslims in sandals in the desert who don't have the military resources to take the war back to the US and to the US's vassals. But that's not Russia.
As General Apti Alaudinov put it, "We are used to war. We can do war. We know how to fight."
But the West found a way out of this situation. They decided to ignore Russia for now and go beat up third world Muslims in sandals in the desert in Syria. Bet they can't succeed even at that.
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Be kind and take your message to an appropriate forum.
Be kind and courteous and fuck off now.
KK is so skibidi she sees a tree and thinks it’s The Jungle—!
The new EU foreign policy minister Kaja Kallas assumed office on 1 December and naturally hot-footed her way to Kiev on the 7-hour train for her very first diplomatic duty. She was in a double-quick hurry to hold a press briefing in situ, on Bankova, in order to tell everybody that despite Western efforts to isolate Russia and its leader, VVP’s political influence has nonetheless grown. “We see what Putin is doing in other countries, really increasing his global influence. So, if the United States wants to be the strongest state in the world,” KK elaborated, training her attention on the incoming DJT admin, known to be a flattery-susceptible collective and a vanity-adjacent group whose ego might suffer if the U.S. is not in fact the strongest state in the world, “they will eventually have to deal with the Russian Federation. And the easiest way to deal with this is to support Ukraine so that it wins the war.”
Although KK was seated before the press in Kiev, she was really speaking to her friends Across the Pond: “If America is worried about China, it should be worried about Russia first.” In other words, KK was giving DJT a to-do list.
Turning her attention to another pressing European obsession, the *peaceful* protests in Georgia, which have *organically* arisen from “students exercising their right to free assembly,” KK sided w/ the protesters: “It is clear that using violence against peaceful protesters is not acceptable, and the Georgian government should respect the will of the Georgian people.”
Quick facts: Pro-Western opposition parties, as well as Georgia’s French-born president, Salome Zourabichvili, have refused to recognize the results of the democratic vote of the people in October. U.S. State Department spokesman Matt “Count Chocula” Miller additionally condemned the Georgian government’s violent crackdown on “student” protesters.
While KK was on the 7-hour train to Kiev, she’d had ample time, and a strong enough wifi connection, to present EU member states with a list of “options” for dealing with the situation in Georgia, including economic sanctions—and she’d no doubt cc’d Matt “Count Chocula” Miller too.
Ordinarily, Lady vdL speaks of “tools” by which the EU can strong-arm members & hopefuls into toeing the line. KK, however, staking out some turf for herself, spoke of “options,” an independent-minded distinction of coercion on her part
Zourabichvili’s mandate as president of Georgia ends on 28 December, and the Georgian parliament will vote on her successor on 15 December—but Zourabichvilli has refused to leave office until the parliamentary elections are re-run. Since 2017, her mission has been to effect a regime change in Georgia. At some point someone will have to perform a Zourabichvilli-ectomy, stat.
Until then, KK agitates from afar. Remember: Russia issued an arrest warrant for KK earlier this year due to her efforts to destroy Soviet WWII memorials in Estonia.
zourabichvili - quick fact - "She joined Columbia University in 1972–1973 where Zbigniew Brzezinski, at the time director of the Trilateral Commission, trained her on Soviet politics and Cold War diplomacy." and we know the agenda brzezinski had, don't we?? she is doing all she can to keep up the tradition!
It strikes me that all these warhawks are women... I can remember a time when feminists claimed that if women were to rule the world, there would be peace and kumbaya for ever... (LOL)
Yep, and that’s what some “feminists” still say. But like the idea of “the west” all concepts can mutate.
I think they feel they have something to prove to all the men, that they can be violent sadists as much as the guys can. "Look guys, I just strangled a baby with a lamp cord and you said we can't be leaders".
Senior female here:- exactly what I said a month ago to younger family.
Also it was said .. that if we could have seen the horror of the concentration camps, etc … it would NEVER have been able to happen…… yet now its being seen all over the world - and yet it’s still business as usual!
It is heartbreaking.
concentration camps like the ones the japanease were put in in the USA?
I don't think the camps for Japanese during WWII in the U.S. compare to similar efforts anywhere else in the world, ever. Most people involved strongly believed they were an unfortunate preventative measure that most of the people in the camps didn't deserve. That affected how the prisoners were treated.
Illinois Governor Pritzker's family fortune is based on wealth stolen from those people, as are many other Jewish fortunes. There probably wouldn't have been an opioid epidemic otherwise - the Pritzkers wouldn't have had the capital to start their drug trafficking empire.
Hell has no fury like a woman scorned… in general men fight and afterwards drink together. In general women are not capable of doing the same. In general women tend to react emotionally, but unfortunate as a consequence the rational and logical thinking goes out the window. I was always of the opinion that women would create a more peaceful and just world until I came accross Albright, Clinton, Nuland, KK, Gauleiter von der Lügen, Baerbock, Harris and most other women in power (Moldova, Georgia, Denmark, …). I haven’t seen such rabid warmongers in my life. I mean men are a-holes, but women aren’t much better and both are not going to safe the world I am afraid.
For all the talk about women being more empathetic (entirely from women or clueless simps), their solipsism always wins out.
"I mean men are a-holes, but women aren’t much better"
Women aren't ANY better; in some ways they're worse. Just look at Clown World, which has for decades promoted female concerns and sensibilities, and now it is a crumbling, self-delusional hellscape.
Women always escalate a crisis because they're certain they won't take any physical consequences. Men grow up with the knowledge that if they fuck around they're going to find out and get the same treatment right back so they're cautious.
Women are skilled at getting their own way any way they can.
Even a simple man like Al Bundy understood, "Nobody hates women more than other women", and the corollary: think what that means in terms of how they feel about YOU.
Yeah 👍, I believed that too but I've had a rude awakening.
Then there was Hillary the imperialist who changed all that. What an ugly person she is, and how ugly are her followers inside.
I am a guy so I don't experience this except occasionally on the receiving end but apparently women get a thrill out of controlling or having power over men. Certainly that appears to be the case in romance, so I'm not surprised that they also experience a thrill in sending male soldiers to beat each other to death on their command. Many love violent bad guys too, which I never figured out. Must be evolutionary, for protection.
Not for protection, for the tingles.
Most, or likely all, of these women are YGL graduates. Their unfortunate blundering presence in politics speaks more of Klaus Schwab's personal tastes than of their abilities. And remember that incompetence was one of the criterions these "leaders" were selected for in the first place, so that they must turn to their handlers for guidance.
What a lot of talk of women, " ...the woman doth protest too much methinks"... (Hamlet).
Perhap foul, cold and cruel women are like Russian/Ukrainian men at their very worst: a great light creates a deep shadow and Russia is called Mother Rusia after all.
She does produce men with a great sense of humour -
"It's very difficult to find a Korean in the dark Kursk forest,"Pavlo noted sarcastically, "especially if he's not here."
In Georgia it is getting cold. Spray water on the protesters and they will go home COLD.
I think Andrei's figures of a million dead Ukies better than Simplicius' estimate, with a million more broken and mangled, but alive. The EU makes up numbers and why rely on them? That's pretty much because it seems like Russia's defense department knows the number of tanks and other weapons they shoot down, so why not their estimate of dead and incapacitated? It's like counting body bags in Vietnam, but if you are fighting a war of attrition it's the most important number, and this is the reason why everyone is deserting and running away.
Lock her up!
kk is not a brilliant strategist.. in fact she is a very good example of the exact opposite... for all her warmongering credentials, she is a real loser on all fronts.. the fact ursala von leyen has to work with her, is just great.. that is like a double anchor especially designed to sink the european union much quicker then the germans figuring out who sabotaged nordstream.... these 2 will sink germany and the rest of europe much quicker!
Dream Team.
Good one
Well look who she represents. If I had to hold up an example of why we in Canada should leave NATO, it would be Estonia. Like they are going to save our asses if we got attacked ?? No, but we have to travel the world away to defend them with permanent troops. Obviously in letting these postamp sized nations with non existent militaries into NATO, the plan has always been to put nukes on their borders with Russia. Obviously nuclear proliferation is Americas foreign policy goal.
Yes, and Romanin election also ”went wrong”. So the solution is to recount the votes so it gets right.
It’s almost unbelievable that a nut job like KK could be in the position she is in. But that’s Europe for you.
Same with Fond of Lying, one would expect her to have been fired after her first fib, but no, she gets a standing ovation and the audiences clamouring for more and more.
This is my favorite site. Simplicius rules!
Great writer too for studying English literature and gaining word power. I wish I knew who he was and where he learned to write so well.
Having read his dispatches back in the days when he used the moniker Nightvision, I can affirm that Simplicius has always been a fine writer. That being said, in the last few months he's definitely upped his game a few notches. One of the top authors on Substack, IMHO.
This has been one of his better writings of late.
Was his reference to Scholz as "herself" an error or a dig?
I caught that too. Maybe he was suggesting Scholtz is an amorphous androgenous blob without any apparent gender. Heretics often are. Don't tell me Satan doesn't have a great sense of humor and a kinky dimension.
If memory serves he used to post on the Saker site, which had a fantastic forum. News of the Saker's fate would be appreciated. Simplicius always shined.
I thought it was just me. He used two words here in ways I'd never seen before.
Swell of World War 2 Red Herrings was a great piece ... "... Rob Bauer, head of the ‘NATO Military Committee’. ,,,, The irrelevant pipsqueak mewled something along these lines to powder on the phony fear-porn:" That tops the best of Shakespheres insults.
Feel tired over all these ’clowns’ not caring about their own citizens. Germany is going ”kaputt” big time. Scholtz is carrying a aluminium case as he was guarding something important. The open secret is that he let Germany slip into the abyss - screwed by Deep State US. As a Socialdemocrat he should be ashamed of himself.
Bareback is talking about ”peace process”…she who declared that she didnt care of her own citizens concerns about the War.
And how come Stoltenberg acting? He is no longer NATO Overlord.
As for Trump/Kellogg peaceplan…flawed. And we dont know how crazy Trump is. Someone heard his threat against Mid-East? ” We will crush them harder than anything in our glorious history”
Any peaceplan must include the fact that Russianspeaking people living in Ukraine oblasts must have a safe future. It also seems as Putin will withhold his forces to just include the new Oblasts. The others are propably deemed ”anti-russian” so whats the point of taking them?
As for dreaming about Charkov and Odessa or any other big city. Keep dreaming.
Russia is not able to take them by force.
Good write, Simplicius, but your are struggling as much as we others with all these narratives floating. Anything can happen. Suddenly.
I hope Putin will behave steadfast and wise.
Dreaming about Kharkow and Odessa without taking them by force is very realistic.
Just think about the prospect of the Russian held new territories start reviving, as Mariopol
does. While the rest of Ukraine will suffer because the so-called allies won't care about the people of the remaining part of the country. No prospect, just empty stomachs and empty words by the lying elites. That would lead to a popular vote, as to where to belong soon enough. It is just human nature.
Dreaming is ok. Realistic it is not.
How many times have you heard Russia is preparing a new offensive?
Have you seen how little progress they have done in Donbass during last two years despite the ”insufferable” Ukrainian losses and the enormous advantage Russia has in bombs and artillery?
As for your popular vote…did you see what happened in Romania? In Georgia? Whenever the popular vote is against West interests it will be countered.
My only hope, say wishful thinking, is that Zelensky&Yermak are strung up in Kiew by angered citizens and military when they realize that 3 years War led to even less than the Istanbul peace offer.
Just now many people dream of Trump and his masterplan to bring World peace. Good luck. It is going to be beyond our beliefs of how bad things can go.
The fact is that Kharkhow and Odessa is leaning toward Russia, and if it weren't for the repressive Banderites they would be able to speak up. If the Banderitas are discredited as they are heading in that direction, things can change quickly. Especially if, as you wish Zelensky&Yermak are strung up by the angered citizens and military when they realize that 3 years of war led to even less than the Istambul peace offer.
Personally believe Russia will have Odesa, at the very least under siege, by the end of 2025.
It is 200km from where Russian is standing now. On the wrong side of Dniepr…
Then they have to take Cherson, overcome Mykolaiev, cross Bug, take Berovka. Eventually they could storm Lisky and then besiege Odessa.
Good luck.
You seem to be a bit of a pessimist, not really an unfamiliar emotion for me:-)
But I guess being realistic sounds better😀
I agree that if Russia continues as present, they are months away. But the Russians aren't hitting the people CAUSING THE WAR. Maybe hazelnut changes the calculus internally in the Ukraine and there is no rear to call back to for reinforcements. What if there was no draft boards to kidnap people? There is enormous technology overhang here that hasn't been used, by both sides. Hazelnut is between here and nuclear war, and that ain't much. I think there is a non-nuclear EMP generator, but I'm not sure. In Ocean's 11 they used a "Pinch." I've seen videos where they shoot down drones using an EMP burst just like in the Matrix.
They have a serious chunk of their navy and marines, pretty much next door and an awesome airforce. Plus I'm sure they already have cells operating there.
Most importantly, once the dominos really start falling and the central government collapses with battle fatigued soldiers exhausted and limping home, what's left of them, Vlad could probably make a few phone calls to get Odessa. There won't be any fight left in Ukraine soon.
For me the Hazelnut is the sort of thing you come up with when you have a good reason to feel threatened.
The go slow approach has many advantages. Since everything in the West is done with credit here, we will slowly, but inevitably, strangle ourselves.
Another advantage comes from minimizing casualties. The cost benefit is obvious, but troop loyalty is not earned by throwing away patriots for leadership ego gratification.
The Western approach to imperial adventure features fascist profit and torturing the middle class patriots with empty promises and valueless equipment.
The Ukraine has proven the Russian approach to arms works. What do we have to show for it? Huge profits for the corrupt few and empty coffers and a whole generation or two of Ukrainians that won't come back.
I share much of your deep thoughts. I also understand Simplicius gospel about ”the thousand cuts”. Strictly logical in a cynical way it is plausible that it is the best way.
But I despise War and people who instigate, manipulate and force deadly confrontations. I want them killed instantly (or rather scared back to their dungeons).
We have a lot of generations killed in Ukraine, both Russians and Ukrainians. Hundreds of thousands familys are shattered and traumatized for rest of their life.
If there is a possibility to end the War in a favourable matter - why not try it.
The sad truth is that West has applied the right amount of pressure everytime Russia seems to gain to much speed. And if I am wrong and Kremlin by purpose is doing a slow cook of Ukraine and their puppetmasters in the West I feel sorry for the Russian people (and all others) who must endure this War.
Oh we agree more than you might realize. As an ex USN submariner the technical aspects both fascinate and disgust me. The waste of resources and extreme trauma is inexcusable.
The only reason we fight wars is so TPTB can maintain power and control. Given the openly declared goals and abundantly transparent actions of NATO, through it's whole history, what choice did Putin have in Ukraine?
For me the opportunity to carefully analyze Putin's words and actions has been there right along. When he said you will not get a better peace deal than this, he was not bullshitting anyone. Now Minsk 1 or 2 would be a dream come true for Zelenskyy, it was not Russia's fault those deals fell through. All the Western predictions have proven wrong.
"The right amount of pressure" For me those have been mostly escalatory acts of terror, designed to get Putin to raise the stakes and then NATO launches ww3. Had he gone full tilt 3 years ago, the resources and inspiration to deploy Hazelnuts would not be there. All we get from our MIC is hype and broken promises.
Well spoken! Yes , all the actions from US/UK/NATO points directly to WW3.
Putin has done what is possible with these types of adversaries.
And of course his enemies is doing all they can to distort his words and even flatly deny us the possibility to hear or read it for ourselves.
What I meant with ”pressure” was that Russias enemies want to prolong the War as long as is possible.
is odessa primarily russia aligned?
50/50
I think it's more than that, but most are justifiably afraid to let it show.
Yep I think you're right about what Russia must do
But I don't think it can do it alone.
I think it needs China and NK and whoever else, anyone else, to come on board right now openly and flagrantly on any pretext whatever and pour troops and munitions and whatever into the conflict on the Russian side.
So that it is immediately a done deal. Hand down, finished, fait accompli.
Nothing to do but deal with it, lap it up.
No use rattling nuclear swords now, too late.
If China, home of the 'rights of the People', remember? glorious 'Chinese People's Republic' were to get 'people oriented' and declare loudly that they find it intolerable that after 10 years Kiev and Washington et al are still totally bent on invading, occupying, oppression, ethnic punishing the people of Donbas and now even at the clear cost of the people of Kiev Ukraine and now even at the clear cost of the people of the whole of Europe - find it intolerable.. sickening.. won't stand for it... declare themselves wholly on the side of the People of Donbas, people of Ukraine, people of Europe and will therefore help Russia and Donbas put a stop to it - and started to send in thousands and thousands...
It would all be over.
They would not even have to do it. Just announce the attitude.
They are not doing that.
I suspect them of playing cat and mouse.
I don't trust them. Any more than you can trust Erdogan.
Or any politician most especially in the West.
But what i mean is: if they'd get up and speak for the People.
Because no one else will, does. No one. Not a one.
Not even Putin though he has done in the past of course.
But even he is full of 'The State' and historical imperatives.
So too is China: totally authoritarian State, isn't it?
But hypocrisy reigns supreme.
And we could use some right now.
Let them all start piously pleading what in fact is the only just cause: peace for the people and step up and bring it all to an end.
You are King, Arthur!
I feel like a demented loon in a desert, Mikey... :)
You are never alone.
China isn't an idealist nation though. They are strategically oriented. They are after resources first and foremost and they have to fight some imminent wars over Iran and Taiwan, if Trump makes good on his war threats, which I think he will. He a pathological narcisist. He will never accept a humiliating loss.
well I don't know the ins and outs of it all. but strategically china profits, surely, from the elimination of america from europe and that's what effective subduing of nato would be I think.
Or put it another way: strategically which way is better for china: American hegemony or Brics?
They seem to have made it clear, very clear, with their public humiliations of american envoys to china what they think.
So let them tip the scales now.
China, unlike Russia, is deathly afraid of sanctions. Their economy is based on exports to the US and EU. If this were pulled out from under them, they would go bankrupt---there would be massive unrest, and the Party would throw Xi under the bus. So he will not dare, and will not be allowed, to make a clean break with the Hegemony.
The US would suffer even worse from a divorce like that, but there would be no upheaval there---the chain there is shorter and stronger than in communism, who would have thunk? And the Deep State already pre-controls their own social subversives.
The Russian government never talked about Odessa or Charkov, they want the four regions and Crimea. It is us talking about this. Maybe the Russians want a strong Russian Speaking minority in the rump state of Ukraine? A Minority which is protected by Moskow and therefore gives the Russians a lot of leverage in Ukraine. A Minority which keeps Ukraine permanent unstable.
Exactly. It is easier to control/govern people who actually has the desire to be Russians. An unfriendly population requires a lot of unpopular measures.
But problem is that Odessa in NATO-hands is a thorn in the side ande deadly threat against Russias Black Sea fleet.
Charkov likewise, filled with Tomahawks, would represent a never ending threat to Russia.
Moldova is just behind Odessa. Maybe 40 to 50 km. Not a big deal for drones. Charkov will be in the rump state of Ukraine, and the Russian government started the war with one big wish: No NATO. Every commend since the start of the SMO is: No NATO. I think Russia will more likely give up some of the Donbass Oblasts, than allowing NATO into whatever is left of Ukraine.
>Exactly. It is easier to control/govern people who actually has the desire to be Russians.
Last week there were messages from Odessa posted on Telegram expressing fear that the Kremlin will sell them out and leave them in the hands of the Ukronazis.
In fact I see such messages even from places like Zhytomyr on occasions.
Most of Ukraine (see Simplicius map) have Russian-speaking/liking citizens to some extent or even majority. Exception is westernmost part of the country. And exactly what your are describing is the tragedy with Ukraine. Population shouldnt have let the Russian-haters take over. But easy to say for me. Living under these conditions and corruption is not light.
Odessa is a historically Russian city and packed with glorious Russian archetecture. Russia won't want to blow it to pieces to take it back, like they did to the other industrial shit holes, up to this point. I'm sure they will want it. It is a threat to their navy in NATO's hands. It gives them absolute control over ukraine and the Black Sea. I'll bet Vlad keeps some paintings of Catherine the Great, in various stages of undress, under his pillow.
"No time to grieve for roses when the forests are burning."
Fuck the glorious architecture. C'est la guerre. They will build back better.
I think Odessa is what Russia will be having for dessert myself. Of course they will take it !! That was founded by Russian Empress Catherine The Great in 1794, which isn't that long ago. VP will take whatever he has to to keep the missiles off his doorstep. He may go all the way to Poland. Odessa is too close to their naval fleet at Sovastopol, whose seizure started this war.
Then you also know whats is needed from Russias armed forces?
It's amazing what loyalties can be bought with food, water and utilities when the people being bought are otherwise, starving and freezing to death. Consider when the Russians raped and slaughterd their way through Germany, all that was soon forgotten when they occupied half of it for 50 years. I was in East Germany 10 years after the wall came down and the people were still fanatically proRussian and despised anyone who came from a Nato country. Ever polite and generous I was, but they still made sure they burnt every meal I ordered in restaurants.
Haha, yes I know what you mean and experienced it myself.
It is amazing how Russia can win the hearts of the people they conquered, unlike any other recent empire I know of. Look at Chechnya, for instance. I guess that is because they are sincere, not the lying bastards in the West.
More time spent on the basics and less time spent on making sure little johnny can become little mary by cutting his peepee off.
>Feel tired over all these ’clowns’ not caring about their own citizens
We should start with the clown in the Kremlin when it comes to not caring.
He is the one who has his own citizens being bombed daily while having the power to stop it with a snap of his fingers, and who has effectively implicitly promised them that this is the new normal in perpetuity, like in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria.
I don't see Germany being bombed, regardless of the economic situation.
Putin is the least clownish but it is no wonder there is critiscism of Russias way of handling the War. But who are we to judge? We dont know have difficult it most have been to find themselves against the whole NATO/US/UK-cabal eager to slit their throats. Europe and NATO has nothing to do with Ukraine.
First of all, this "Trump peace attempt" is a complete fraud and scam. Is everyone blind? Trump was the first man to start supplying weapons to Ukraine, and now he claims that in a "peace state" he would continue the supply, and in a "war state," he would escalate it further. He is the President of the USA, not a friend of Russia.
Nearly 1 million Russian men have died in the last three years of this civil war. (For the American readers: Ukrainian people are Russians too—they are not a completely different people. I know this might shock you, given the brainwashing of your mainstream media.)
Meanwhile, nearly all aspects of Russian culture have been systematically erased in Ukraine. Statues honoring those who fell in the Great Patriotic War (1941–1945) have been burned. Priests have been beaten. Now, every Ukrainian is being taught to hate Russia.
The only viable peace option—one that does not involve the total surrender and dissolution of Russia, as well as the disgusting mockery of our fallen soldiers—is clear: Russia should take back all territories except Lviv. Western countries can take Lviv if they wish, but only after it is reduced to the stone age by an endless bombardment of FABs and 152mm shells
Agree!
Seems reasonable.
You misspelled Lemberg 😅
LOL
Russia has a choice:
Will it believe in Trump's peacemaking efforts or as i would describe them deception or will it put the squeeze on the neo-Nazis and achieve peace from them in the form of their unconditional surrender.
I think Putin has made his decision?
Last 10 years have shown us one truth: Putin is not trustworthy. Again and again, he has made the wrong choices, leading Russia down a path of failure and humiliation. I pray to God that this time he makes the right choice—to fight until the full surrender of the cancer state. But I have no faith in him
Comrade Putin signed the budget for 2025. The new budget is 32.5% defense spending. This is an absolute record I believe. The country is betting on war.
Finally one good news in this dark years. I will pray for victory
In fact that same thing worries me. It means the revenue is not growing enough so the current proportion is good enough. It is a sign of strain. Of trouble.
Putin is fighting this war on levels and with people, factors, forces we don't even know about. Is the problem. We have a simplistic battlefield view even though we shouldn't - we know damn well the battlefield is fed from outside and subject to economic and political considerations - christ, that's what Kiev Ukraine is all about.
But we ignore that and tend to think entirely in battlefield terms.
Well I know that's not good enough.
But for lack of better knowledge - and they don't tell us much do they? not even the 'best' of our 'analysts', 'observers' etc - I reckon Russia needs to step in big time right now and blitzkreig west to Odessa. Switch the lights off in Ukraine totally and do it.
Because if they're cranking up spending to those levels its getting serious and worrying.
It's not a sign of trouble. It's very doable, especially when you have Belousov working obsessively to dual-purpose the economy. The Russians understand this type of thing better than anyone. The decision to allocate 32.5% indicates an ability to be brave, bold and decisive and to fully commit to what is dear to one's heart. Few can do this. I find it impressive. The leadership will keep a beady eye on how the war is affecting the population and the national stability. They look like they know what they're doing. Moscow is demonstrating calculated courage.
Well said. Respectfully, this bit is completely off: "It means the revenue is not growing enough so the current proportion is good enough. It is a sign of strain. Of trouble."
Fighting a world war with a power the size of the US requires far more investment than routine military expenditures. Russia's military expenditure was being reduced year after year until the US decided to start hot war with Russia by destroying the democratically elected government of Ukraine and installing a nazi junta in Kiev. Russia then responded.
That Russia can fight a military and economic war with the US and be winning, despite the huge expenditure involved is a sign of tremendous strength and a sign of the extreme durability and depth of the Russian economy.
Agree. Spending over 30% on arms is not good for any country. They should use Oreshnik on GCHQ in little britain and the NATO HQ in Bryssel.
Very good write from Aurelien:
https://aurelien2022.substack.com/p/the-missile-will-always-get-through
Foolish not to, in the circumstances
Putin threw the gauntlet down in Munich 2008. Russia began preparing for an inevitable war. In 2022 they took on a coalition of over 50 countries on their own and up until now have shown they can prevail. Many countries have been destroyed by NATO since 1991, but the Russians are not one of them. Did you notice they are now the 4th largest economy on the planet?
Perhaps your priorities are ignored by the Kremlin?
Zero american death
Zero Turkish death
Zero German death
Zero British death
One million Russian death
Yeah definitely i notice it
You're missing the main point that Russia didn't start this shitshow. You seem to blame Putin. He turned Russia from a Yeltsin basket case to a resergent superpower thereby triggering a Brzezinskiesque containment strategy. It was always going to end this way in Ukraine.
It doesn't matter who starts it.
Putin’s “wrong choices” may have avoided a nuclear war.
For one million death Russian boy
How many you think will die when this whole thing goes BOOOOOOOOOMMMMM. A million, very sad for those who are left behind, could be ‘peanuts’ compared to the number of casualties
Good point. Btw. according to a Lancet study, the "decade of democracy" in Russia after the end of the USSR has cost the country about 15 million deaths.
And the Russian KIA are 77k according to Mediazona/BBC, not a million. Even adding ukrainian losses you would still end under 1m
easy to sit at home running a war however President Putin has to do it for real.
Seems he's not doing so bad. Let's leave this to the grown ups and simmer down a bit
The same logic could be just as easily applied to Biden or the US State Department.
"easy to sit at home running a war however President Biden has to do it for real.
Seems he's not doing so bad. Let's leave this to the grown ups and simmer down a bit"
Somehow, I doubt many here would do that, myself included.
"Again and again, he has made the wrong choices, leading Russia down a path of failure and humiliation."
Abject nonsense. The people who led Russia down a path of failure and humiliation were those fools who through brain-dead ideology and war destroyed the Russian economy from 1917 onward.
Failure and humiliation are not being able to feed yourself, and being reduced to handouts from successful economies, like "Bush's legs," the donation of chicken legs from the US. Failure and humiliation are a slobbering, drunken Yeltsin, begging to be a vassal of the US. Failure and humiliation are such a crippled economy and such a miserable existence that your children sell themselves, and sell themselves cheaply at that, to rich Westerners for a pair of jeans. That was Russia before Putin.
There is no success and no dignity in this world of nations if you are poor. Russia has achieved both success and dignity by becoming the world's largest energy exporter, the world's largest food exporter, and the world's largest resource exporter. Half of the world's countries depend on Russian food or other Russian exports (energy and resources) to avoid food insecurity. Russia has blown past Germany and Japan to become the world's fourth largest real economy.
Russian youth today are golden youth, knowing no life other than shopping malls where everything they could possibly want or imagine is at their fingertips, or delivered to them in minutes by couriers. Our cities are modern and full of truly superior infrastructure, a quality of life that in Soviet times existed only in dreams about the fabled West.
Putin achieved all that, and he has achieved a profound rise in Russia's economy even while defeating everything the US and the US's vassals have been able to throw at Russia in the last ten years of the West's war on Russia.
Thank God Russia has a wise and patient leadership that not only is defeating the combined, satanic West on the battlefield but also in a massive economic war. That is the path to success and dignity, not destroying Russia's people and Russia's economy because foolish imbeciles do not have the patience to wage and to win the world war with the US in all of its dimensions, both military and economic.
What are private attitudes among that golden youth, and other civilians, towards "peace" negotiations with the perfidious West? I am asking you, because you're on location :-)
Whether or not the Ставка finds the balls to refuse a disastrous Minsk 3 depends to some extent on these attitudes.
He is referring to the so-called "golden youth," but these are not the patriotic young men from the far-flung suburbs of Russia. Instead, he’s talking about the young liberal crowd who party in the nightclubs of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Naturally, this so-called golden youth (or as I prefer to call them, "club youth") is strongly in favor of ending the war, no matter the cost
Polls in Russia consistently show that this particular demographic overwhelmingly supports peace. In contrast, older generations, particularly men, tend to back the continuation of the war. This divide clearly show who is who
As for John Galtsky, he even wrote to me, praising Russia's practice of selling its natural resources at low prices and glorifying consumer culture. The man is a full-fledged liberal :(
"What are private attitudes among that golden youth, and other civilians, towards "peace" negotiations with the perfidious West?"
Russia's youth today as regards war and peace falls into pretty much the same four classes as the population in general, with slight skewing for age. The largest group supports the administration. People in the West refer to "Putin" but in reality the government is a fairly large and cohesive group, and most people, both youth and other age groups, support that government. Roughly 80% to 85% of the population supports the government.
The second largest group are people who don't give a shit about anything so long as they can continue on cruise control through life. By default, they're fine with the government. They don't vote so their lack of giving a shit doesn't really matter.
A third group are ultra patriots, a term I'll use to cover people who think Russia should immediately use nuclear weapons to make sure darned near 140 million Russians should die along with a billion other people in the West and around the world. They're the kooks who criticize Putin for having common sense and a longer term perspective.
A fourth and final group are crazed liberals. They tend to adore the West and to hate Russia. They also are a very small percentage of the population. It's hard to tell whether crazed liberals or ultra patriots represent larger, but still tiny, minorities. But given the profoundly larger percentage of people who support the government or who don't give a shit, it's irrelevant what either ultra patriots or crazed liberals think.
Russia's youth in my experience tend to have a larger percentage of "don't give a shit" in them than the average, with a slightly smaller percentage of "support the government" in them. They seem to have about the same percentages of ultra patriots and crazed liberals, with perhaps some skewing towards the crazed liberal side. That's hard to tell because out in the regions the youth are more likely to kick the shit out of you if you bark liberal nonsense as compared to urban youth in places like Moscow, but all those region youth don't get coverage by narcissistic liberal journalists in places like Moscow (who seem unaware there's any Russia out beyond Moscow's outer ring road).
There's no way any sort of Minsk 3 will happen. Nobody in the leadership has any interest in such idiocy. That's in keeping with what the very high percentage of the population, the 80% to 85%, that supports the government wants. As mentioned before, nobody cares what the "don't give a shit" segment wants and, of course, nobody cares what the tiny minority ultra patriot and crazed liberal segments want.
Agree
If you ask the people there is no war. I mean ask the people 'you want to make war?' and they'll say no.
But no one wants to ask the people. No one even suggests it. This is a bit mystery to me but it is true isn't it?
Yep, I think Russia needs to take everything if it is going to be a world ruled by lunatic 'leaders' instead of the people by 'regimes' not the people who supposedly 'elected' them.
And it looks like it is.going to be for as I say; no one even suggests any kind of turning towards the people. Cripes: even the people don't seem to ask for it.
So okay. It's going to be business as usual. Regimes rule. In which case Russia can never get Odessa back. But neither can Russia ever live without getting Odessa back.
Even if we got the political 'gain' of the place by referendum which would be the most bloodless and sensible the regimes would not let it be a functional reality. They would not allow free traffic to and fro the Russian Federation. They would do everything and anything they could to make it an impossible situation.
Russia must take Mikolaiv, seems to me and, of course, Odessa. Stop messing about. Mikolaiv gives the defence in depth there, then, too. I don't know what the population would think about it. Are they Russian oriented or Banderites?
I think they should go all out and do that, soonest. And pressure their 'allies' NK, China, whatever, to actually put up or shut up... at least voice a commitment or something... and power on all across west from Kherson and take Mikolaiv and Odessa. Don't worry about reclaiming all of Donetsk. When they sue for peace you can make them withdraw from Donetsk. They invaded remember?
Just take Mikolaiv and rejoin Odessa - that would be a happy reunion I think? The people want that? Well then we've got West to East a solid line of Russian States and that'll do.
I've been saying this for 2 years, take Odesa and the war ends.
"Western countries can take Lviv if they wish, but only after it is reduced to the stone age by an endless bombardment of FABs and 152mm shells"
Reasonable comment apart from the above. There's plenty of commenters over time calling for the bombbardment of this or that country's city, peoples and lands in this God forsaken uber-war revved age.
What’s wrong with seeking revenge? The people in Lviv supported the war because the ones being beaten into enlistment and sacrificed as cannon fodder were always the Russian-speaking citizens from eastern Ukraine. They did this knowingly, relishing the twisted pleasure of pitting Russians against each other.
Meanwhile, they stayed in their warm beds or secured the safest, furthest positions away from the frontlines. There isn’t even a trace of mercy in their hearts
There's many ways of frying a fish, perhaps best served cold like revenge.
Re bombings back to stone ages: no era can match ours.
Yo be fair, I have friends from Lvov who hate the junta in Kiev even more than I do.
You know what there are people in Oklahoma who hate your junta even more tha.....
The ethnic Banderans now claim they are from stolid Nordic stock.
I am pretty sure Russia is going to stay out of administering Lviv and Ivano-Frank. The two oblasts are reverting back to Poland. Making the Banderans a Polish problem again.
As long as "NATO" and "Ukraine" are mentioned in the same sentence by the elected and appointed divets (sic) running NATO and the EU, Russia is going to continue destroying Lenin's gift to the ethnic Banderans.
He didn’t realize how dirty politics is first time around. He knows he has to get out of Ukraine …
Thanks Titus, I agree with everything you wrote. I write this as a 73 y/o retired American who has spent some time reading history. After the horrific losses the Soviets endured in WW2 and to be treated like this. Disgusting. When the English decimated the native North American peoples they referred to the original inhabitants as "savages". When they kidnapped blacks in Africa and stole their labor (and raped their women) they were called n*ggers. Well the US Civil War never really ended and WW2 never ended either. These fascists need a healthy and permanent beat down. We're groomed here to hate on Putin and the Russian people. I for one am having none of it. Trump? New boss is same as the old boss. Bigly sad...
I would guess that most of the American (US) readers here understand that and agree. Trump's proposal is mostly noteworthy as a slight deviation away from what our military state has been offering up so far.
Russia may end up having to solve it all on the ground, but we can at least take hope for diplomacy.
When the shattered remains of Lemburg are annexed by Poland : "UKRAINE FINALLY ENTERS NATO - HUGE VICTORY, PUTIN HUMILIATED" will be all over the mainstream media.
For fun only: Russian steamroller: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brpMytaqxYE
I have just gone through it very quickly. Not a mention of Georgia, where a Maidan-style coup attempt is going on? If any of your readers is interested, here is my latest article on it: https://geopolitiq.substack.com/p/atlanticist-coup-against-the-georgian?r=25fc37
The new EU foreign policy minister Kaja Kallas assumed office on 1 December and naturally hot-footed her way to Kiev on the 7-hour train for her very first diplomatic duty. She was in a double-quick hurry to hold a press briefing in situ, on Bankova, to wax poetic on many topics, not the least of which was one of the most pressing of European obsessions: the *peaceful* protests in Georgia, which have *organically* arisen from “students exercising their right to free assembly.”
In this, KK sided w/ the protesters: “It is clear that using violence against peaceful protesters is not acceptable, and the Georgian government should respect the will of the Georgian people.”
Quick facts: Pro-Western opposition parties, as well as Georgia’s French-born president, Salome Zourabichvili, have refused to recognize the results of the democratic vote of the people in October. U.S. State Department spokesman Matt “Count Chocula” Miller additionally condemned the Georgian government’s violent crackdown on “student” protesters.
"“If the ceasefire line means that Russia continues to control all the territories, this does not mean that Ukraine should give up these territories forever,” Stoltenberg said in an interview with Table."
Actually, it means exactly that - the territories are gone from Ukraine forever.
Once OTAN partners have an Oreshnik, in the distant future, 30 or so years from now, they will coerce Russia to return Crimea & the Donbas territories under threat of atomizing Russian cities w/ their very own Oreshnik—and until that time OTAN partners will burn to occupy western Ukraine.
Are you Ukrainian? You write such nonsense. OTAN now has missiles with nuclear warheads. And whats next?? Do they somehow affect Russia? No way.
The thing is, Oreshnik is a demonstrated technology. Nukes, on the other hand…
I doubt it. I suspect OTAN partners will subsist as agricultural states by then, having lost their industries to the US which by then will have been renamed United Jewish States of Israel. Welcome! (IF you are a Jew, of course - otherwise, Fuck Off or Die)
"...because it worked in 2014."
Add the Istanbul preamble that BoJo insists he didn't stomp on; I don't think that they will fall for it a 3rd time.
"Peace Agreement. You keep using that word and I don't think that it means what you think it means."
yep. the territories should belong to the people who live there, work there, own the land there. they have right to self determination. the kiev mob and the washington mob and the eu mob and the nato mob and all bigtime bigtalking self styled superior mobs claim this is a big thing. the kiev mob often claim they have this right.
but when it come to the donbas territories suddenly it's all forgotten and it's all about 'if russia controls' and 'if kiev loses' etc. i.e it is all talk about The State or The Regime and not talk about people at all.
Which is wrong.
If Russia does not *Oreshnik,* then Russia is wimping out & VVP, humiliated in his failure to Oreshnik, is soft. Khinzals—? Weak sauce. Iskandrs—? Not enough. Once you’ve had Oreshnik, nothing less will do.
The launch of the *first* Oreshnik has in fact whetted the appetite of the keyboard warrior-class, the exercised chatteratti, who whinge in front of their laptop screens about Russia’s negligence, militarily, in not delivering another 2000C strike on Ukraine. When you’ve had plasma, you need plasma. A Toss flamethrower will never be enough.
VVP treated us to 14 minutes of flaming Shock & Awe, which we’ve now spent 10 days analyzing—10 days that included a major U.S. holiday filled w/ family, food & football-watching excess, so that it seemed like 20 days really since the original Oreshnik atomized a factory in Dneprpetrovsk. And in that time, 10 days that seemed like 20 days, all the gratitude of the major U.S. holiday had less to do w/ the blessings in our lives than w/ an Oreshnik, silently standing in its silo under the closed airspace of Russia’s cosmodrome, waiting.
We know it’s there. We’re frustrated, because VVP seems to have teased us in launching only one. When you open a can of Pringles, you don’t do so w/ the thought that you will eat just one. You’ll be lucky if one-third of the can is left, once you are done. Licking the powdery monosodium glutamate from your fingers, you’ll feel a decided emptiness. Pringles don’t suffice. Nothing satisfies like an Oreshnik.
You have nailed Pringles.
Oreshnik is mobile launched not silo based.
You tell nice stories, you should become a writer. Will buy your book😀
Cheetos talking about Pringles! "I'm loving it..."
Hello Simplicius - interesting as always. I was hoping for a little tidbit about Syria. Maybe its too early to make a commentary - but some reports say they're losing badly and other reports say they're winning magnificently- there were huge celebrations in Lebanon I heard...because in Lebanon they REALLY think they won and Israel ran away with its tail between its legs. What do you think ? Would love to hear.
I think it is to much to write in these short articles. Half the WORLD is now in chaos. Syria is another restarted proxy war.
Agree 100%, the timing of the Syria reboot is very suspicious to say the least.
Suppose the new "The Art of the Steal" President says to Putin (shades of Stalin/Churchill at Yalta); "You get what you want in Ukraine, only if we get what we want in Syria."
What will Putin do?
He will take the offer. But the Military brass in Russia would not leave Khmeimim Airbase and the Port of Tartus. 50/50
Here you are (Desperate Escalations in Middle East & Ukraine - Alastair Crooke, Alexander Mercouris & Glenn Diesen): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD9ZD0DLUHQ
Syria has not yet stabilized but everything has not completely fallen apart either. The Militant offensive has ended for now as they seemingly consolidate their positions.
The only good thing to come out of the debacle has been the success of the Russian air force.
Another good thing: The Russian general of the Syrian theatre was removed and the general responsible for the Allepo battles in 2016 is back.
Yes would like more on Syria please
Germany to China : If you do not stop your trade with Russia we will sanction you.
China : And if we stop?
Germany : We will still sanction you, but using different excuses.
That about sums up their whole trip to China.
They say this as their industries are melting and all their automotive engineers are moving to the PRC lawl.
Even Siemens is moving production to China. The terrible energy policies that Germany made will be it's downfall.
Downfall II
They are putting the MRNA covid vax in your food you need to
do this right now visit.......... https://t.co/K2mXQiCZiT
Some to China, some to the USA. BMW is already the biggest car exporter in the USA!
German sanctions = “We will piss on your parade.”
French sanctions, "we fart in your general direction".
Reading the west's delusional aspirations is a continuing tedium. The west's imbecilic leadership class believe they can stave off dealing with reality with reckless escalation, and they seem immune to the signals of pain in their economies, who cares about real resources and capabilities when the airbag of psyops can be deployed. In the meantime the combined west's share of PPP will continue to decline, as will their relevance.
remember they are not imbeciles per se but simply jew tools doing as the jew wants...
Yes, of course---but imbeciles as well. Imbeciles make less troublesome tools. They don't criticize their instructions, and don't ask why.
Negotiations, blah, blah, blah.
The awful truth is that the only way out for Russia is on the battlefield.
They must fight their way to the Dnieper and then across to Odessa. That's a long way to go.
The only good news is that if they get there, they can leave what remains of Ukraine to NATO and let them choke on it.
and its unclear but I sure like Simplicius's x comment that was shared and reposted by Kevork Almassian - that the Syrian Army withdrew in Aleppo becuae they were not ready. Like Kursk.
And I've been hearing there are many militias coming into Syria now - but unfortunately 50 or more men were lost from Iran shortly after they crossed the Syrian Iraqi border by an ambush which sounded like the enemy had star link and big American weapons.
"Syrian Army withdrew in Aleppo because they were not ready. Like Kursk".
The idea that the Syrian's were playing 5d chess is appealing but sadly wrong. They fled even leaving behind a Pantsir-S1 system.
yeah - but if its certain death - even if you can't take the giant machine with you - its better to depart. Even Simplicious on his X thread - said as much - they needed to regroup - it was a huge invasion with tanks even I've heard....better guns than the Syrians had. And many more men that the Syrians. I don't think people should defend for no good reason except a machine might bet kidnapped.
These were urban areas, towns and large cities. These are hard to assault, even with tanks, without days of prior bombing. And very easy to defend, even with just infantry weapons. Hamas in Gaza is still fighting, with much less resources than the Syrian Apprehensive Army had. Your excuses are unconvincing.
More European weirdness in the multi-nodal sphere: Lithuania, not to be marginalized in the who-can-insult-China-hardest sweepstakes, is getting salty.
The Foreign Ministry of Lithuania, without explanation, demanded that China's diplomats leave the country. Beijing's response? "China strongly condemns and firmly rejects the wanton and provocative action that Lithuania's Foreign Ministry, declaring relevant diplomatic personnel of the Office of the Chargé d'Affaires of China in Lithuania *persona non grata* and expelling them from the country within the time required."
Lithuania has been acting "in serious violation of the Taiwan issue,"according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry--throwing continual obstacles in the path of bilateral ties between the two countries.
Lithuania has a caretaker government currently, so serious steps forward have to hang fire for a while. Naturally, China expects a political commitment from Lithuania to uphold the One-China principle and bring bilateral ties back on the right track.
Wang Yiwei, a professor at China's Renmin University in Beijing, noted that there are political forces within Lithuania, influenced by certain foreign forces [hello, Joe's admin] that are trying to prevent Lithuania from getting closer with China. Under these circumstances, the caretaker government, acting like Joe's admin during this interregnum before DJT returns to the White House, has created troubles to obstruct the improvement of relations between China and Lithuania.
Looks like the situation in Austria. We had elections, the strongest party is pro peace, against sanctions, against NATO membership, so they try to form a coalition without this party. We have a caretaker government, but they are steering all the pro EU, pro war, pro sanctions course that leads streight into NATO. To make things worse, we see a big economic decline, a massive hole in the national budget, a collapsing school system, the mass migration leads to a housing crisis, massive problems with paying the pensions and so on. But the discussions around forming a working government are with no hurry.
Nobody of influence and authority cares what european voters want.
The peace plans put forward by the western press and political class are all futile, because they treat Russia as though it was about to lose the war, its economy was about to collapse and it was isolated. All if which has not materialized.
Why, for example would Russia accept rearming Ukraine by NATO? That's a no-go. Why would Russia accept the Donbass and Krim issues to be frozen until a later day? And why would it accept Ukraine NATO membership at a later date? Even in, say 50 years?
A Russian journalist analysed Cornflakes' article "America First, Russia and Ukraine", which contradicts any and all conditions set by Russia and the fact that Russia is winning this war -no matter what arms NATO may pump into Ukraine. He concluded:
"The best guarantee for lasting peace and prosperity is a heavy stone on the grave of the enemy."
I really hope that Putin won't fall for the deception of The Empire of Lies again. This war was far too costly for its result to be empty promises and worthless accords.
Putin has been wrong and soft with the West too often, with disastrous consequences. If he is again, he should step aside.
There are many comments here and elsewhere to the effect that Z is a prisoner of circumstances but I wonder if Putin is too. I am not sure now that he could decide to accept peace on the sort of terms proposed by Kellogg. The West might very well achieve its regime change in Russia, but installing one who would take a much harder line. Not being a Kremlinologist I am guessing here, but suggest that peace terms accceptable in 2022 are not now to the wider Russian regime and people.
100% agree! The shortest way to a regime change in Russia would be for Putin to accept a bad (in the eyes of the Russian public & military) peace deal. Only, this wouldn’t be the regime change the Evil Gringo Empire is dreaming of.
Putin made the mistake of "going easy" on Ukraine and the West at the very opening of the SMO. The USA is definitely looking for a regime change in Russia, just NOT the one they will get if Putin takes another misstep and relents again, particularly where victory is concerned. The Russian people have made huge sacrifices in regard to the SMO and they will not be kind to anyone who sells out Mother Russia. Concessions by Putin will cost him whatever begrudging support that he has among the hard line anti-NAZIS and with the Russian people at large as well. These are not two groups that any Russian leader wants to piss off. Any regime change in Russia will not be one that the USA or NATO will find palatable. Biden and NATO made this into a war with Russia and the Russian people are not going to accept concessions to the West, they demand victory in return for their sacrifices.
"Putin made the mistake of "going easy" on Ukraine and the West at the very opening of the SMO. "
Respectfully disagree. "Going easy" was overwhelmingly the right move. The last thing either the Russian people or the leaders they elected, including Putin, wanted was to destroy their family in Ukraine by "going hard."
Fifteen million people in Ukraine have close relatives, like parents, children, siblings, etc., in Russia and vice versa. They're family, not to be treated the way the US treats what Americans consider to be lesser classes of humans in the US's foreign wars and genocides.
Russia has always had the choice to wipe out Ukraine by killing millions of people. That Russia chose a more patient, albeit more difficult path, is a testimony to wisdom and patience. The US's strategy has always been based on a strong component of using the captive, ethnic Russian majority in Ukraine as human shields and hostages while a hard-core, minority, Nazi and foaming-at-the-mouth Western Ukrainian minority sought a permanent war with Russia. Russia has always had the problem of defeating that vicious minority without killing the majority who are hostages.
It's that way with every terrorist action where terrorists take hostages. It's not a mistake to "go easy" in such hostage situations. You can always give up on that and storm the hostage situation, killing both the terrorists and the hostages, but that's not the first thing to try.
If you read John Helmer's notes, then yes, Putin is caught between his own, dovish impulses, and several much harder factions that have become infinitely tired of the West's tomfoolery (and resulting murder and impoverishment of innocents). The absolute worst result would be for Putin to leave power while a crisis remains, because there is a 100% chance of someone with less patience, wisdom and vision taking his place. At which point we'll all eventually enjoy starving without electricity while popping iodine tablets.
The Luciferian ghouls behind the West's power structure would like to forever tar Russia as Enemy of Mankind, not just for resource grabbing but also, it seems, to obliterate its people, culture and spiritual legacy.
The modern rapidity of information has conditioned all of us, self included, to a certain impatience with the course of events. We can see, imagine we know enough, analyze, and prescribe. But past world conflicts of such civilizational sort worked out on the scale of decades; and even WW2 is said to have ended with the reunification of Germany, in the '90s... or 60 years later.
"Putin has been wrong and soft with the West too often, with disastrous consequences. If he is again, he should step aside."
No. Putin and the rest of the leadership have always known what the West is about. What you're missing is that knowing what the West is about doesn't magically give Russia the ability to do anything about it. The ability to deal with what the West is about has to be built up, painfully and slowly, before you get the muscle to deal with the West through force. Russia had to eat crow, working through diplomatic maneuvers, for eight long years before it gained the strength to fight the US and win.
For eight years since the US started the war in Ukraine Russia wasn't able to defeat the US in a simultaneous economic and military conflict. The moment Russia had the strength to do that, Russia issued an ultimatum and then when the West blew that ultimatum off, Russia acted to switch from diplomatic confrontation to using "military technical" means. Even then, Russia was very weak, acting at the earliest possible time it had a fair chance of winning.
Russia today is in far better shape after three years of massive mobilization for war. Now it can defeat the US not only in a proxy war in Ukraine but also in a conventional world war. What holds the US and US vassals back is that they're not really ready for war. They've become too used to beating up third world Muslims in sandals in the desert who don't have the military resources to take the war back to the US and to the US's vassals. But that's not Russia.
As General Apti Alaudinov put it, "We are used to war. We can do war. We know how to fight."
But the West found a way out of this situation. They decided to ignore Russia for now and go beat up third world Muslims in sandals in the desert in Syria. Bet they can't succeed even at that.