Well, there’s been a bit of a lull like a post-manic-high comedown after the events of Prigozhin’s Revolt. Partly, it’s owed to what Western press is claiming to be bad weather on the frontlines this week, which has hampered further Ukrainian attempts to make renewed advances. They’ve made them in spurts which have been mostly rebuffed with large losses, as usual.
I know who Pence is, I am questioning the timing of his unannounced visit to the Ukraine. There seems to be a steady flow of "guests" going in and out of that country. None of their visits are accidental.
Pence was there, then 2 days later cia director burns shows up in kiev. It may refect some discord amoung our leadership's plan...the republican senators vs the deep state security apparatus.
Whatever was said in those meetings, the discussion with burns, could have been divergent from the senate politicians, because they are lining their pockets with money from the mic. Eg, lindsey graham has been a senator 20 yrs, makes 350,000$ per year, but has a net worth of 300 million $.
There are no words to describe how much I loathe Mr. Wimsey Graham. Apparently he got boo'd long and hard today in SC at a Trump rally. I am sure he couldn't care less as long Russians are being killed. He is evil.
Most of the worst human beings in the US are in Washington and they have life and death power. Graham is a perfect example of the quality of people who populate it. ZERO redeeming qualities.
All Senators, Reps and State Dept, etc. must sign financial disclosure against criminal penalty that they don't own land/property in Ukraine. Americans are being pushed into WWIII for someone's parcel of land/interests.
Not sure they (Swamp People) want the land or property, they want the MONEY. The so called contractors are the ones that one the land for their various desires.
But yes, I agree, we are being pushed into WWIII for their own special interests of choice and they don't give one damn about the rest of the world. They are sheer unadulterated evil beings. Why they are allowed to roam this earth I do not know.
I remember how well they followed the rule that families couldn't invest in the market while they were serving. Good Ol' Cantor. *Spit* Signatures, contracts, treaties mean nothing to these POS.
If Poland moved into Kaliningrad Russia would retaliate strongly. The port is also the home of the Russian Baltic Fleet. Russia has powerful warships - and submarines - that could cause havoc on any Polish vessel in the Baltic. If NATO was supporting Poland, NATO vessels would also be potential targets - NATO fleets have great faith in surface warships - but perhaps they shouldn't. And if it appeared that Poland was trying to conquer the city, I'm certain Russia would consider the use of tactical nuclear weapons.
Lots of military units use "primus inter pares" as a motto, but the insignia in the photograph does not match any U.S. unit. Soldiers from the 1st Air Defense Regiment wear the shoulder-sleeve patch of the 38th AD Brigade, which is... not like that. Back in February there were photographs of a Ukrainian IRIS-T crew that had a patch with this motto, but again, the design was different.
what's mighty weird about this motto ("first amongst equals") is that it originally was the title of an abbot at a monastery in the middle ages (i.e. he was just one "brother" amongst equal "brothers"). Not quite sure why military groups would use it.
Military units try to cultivate unit pride and competitiveness, while still maintaining cohersion between units. So "first among equals" makes sense as a motto. In the case of the 1st AD it also has a double meaning because it's the "First" Artillery Regiment.
I think the phrase goes back to the Roman Senate, at least.
The showrunners are pulling their punches for now, foreshadowing things that might happen when the "real deal" kicks off. Combining the classic appeal of will they or won't they romances with the drama of a war story, the SMO Show returns to form with the beginning of the Summit Arc.
The next few episodes are a must-watch for those invested in the plot.
Maybe putin will just take out the nato summit. That will quiet things down for a while. Then go for Davis,wef, who. Then find a big cfr meeting and burn those evil bastards to hell.
No need to act like a terrorist and kill the rescue workers with a second strike. The first one did its job of taking out a lot of military personal. My understanding is that at least some of the foreign fighters were big on taking "look at me and my buddies over here fighting in Ukraine" pics and posting them on social media. So the Russians either monitored social media and/or were able to read the uploaded photos' geotags and/or got HUMINT from people in Kramatorsk friendly to the Russians. Troops and troop concentrations are always a valid military target and as such the military forces put the civilians people and buildings at risk by hanging out in civilian hotels and restaurants.
If Putin pulled a page from NATO doctrine the SMO would have ended months ago with an easy million dead Ukrainians and no electrical, water or commo infrastructure surviving to speak of.
My primary complaint is I want the US out of there. If NATO Europe wants to fight Russia for the Ukrainian carcass that's fine by me. I realize that isn't going to happen cuz this is much larger than the US, NATO, NATO's Military Dependency of Ukraine and Russia. The WEF has big plans for the globe by 2030 and Russia, China, Iran and most of Africa and Latin America are in the way. Still uncertain about India.
Probably fewer Ukrainian soldiers would have been killed, but a lot more civilians if Russia did it NATO style. Which would be counter to the stated goal of 'demilitarization'.
Nah, the guy complaining "Look what they are doing with this country" needed to be taken out. Americans are those that enabled the Ukrainian ultranationalism 10,000%. That kind of fire, like an oil well head fire, you take it with well placed explosives.
"It's terrible. Look what these bastards are doing to this country. There's soldiers al under this rubble."
He's looking at his fellow soldiers who were killed or gravely wounded. Yet he survived apparently unscathed. I would take that as a hint that he dodged a bullet - this time - and to leave and go home back to England or the U.S. or whatever.
So soldiers were killed. I'd say the Russians nailed it and hit a proper military target. Got them all together relaxing and eating in a restaurant. They'll probably do it again. Either poor OPSEC social media posts by the soldiers or HUMINT from someone pissed off at someone looking for a way to get back at them and passing the location on to the Russians.
Sucks for the waitstaff and cooks and anyone else who is a civilian in the area though. Maybe best advice for a civilian over there is to avoid places where concentrations of troops are hanging out.
I don't see a problem with any form of nationalism if it is wanting to preserve your own country, people and traditions. I wish my politicians were as nationalist as I am when it comes to my own country (The United States). It is this Western "GlobalHomo" One World Government that is driving these internal and international conflicts that is killing us.
I think this approach by the Russians is what will work best for them as it allows them to work out their problems (of which they had many as was apparent at the start of the war) over time while gradually draining the West of its manpower and munitions. I feel sorry for the Ukrainian people, but their leaders (and those in the U.S. government pushing this ongoing conflict) are corrupt.
I knew the day the war started that Ukr had no chance. More recently I knew that the offensive wouldn't do squat other than get a lot of Ukrs killed. The true purpose is to keep the grift going.
The experts have been predicting a big Russian offensive for a long time now. I say it will never happen. Russia seized all the territory it wanted to seize at the very beginning. Ukraine is both poor and very hostile. Russia doesn't want to occupy it, thus making itself even more vulnerable to endless lavishly funded terror attacks. Besides, Russia can't afford it.
Since Ukr can't make any progress and Russia doesn't want to, the war could go on for a very long time. The only thing I can see stopping it is a Ukr mutiny. A total German mutiny is what ended World War One.
Empty land doesn't commit terror attacks. The Ukies tried to drive Russians off of their own land so I say double for her the cup she filled for us and take the land. The Western Europeans love Ukies so they can have them to add to their ethnic mix grift of the "elites" there. More than France will fall when that happens.
Don't kid yourself. I know the Polish mentality well. Too many Poles would gladly slit their own children's throats if that meant that an American would pat them on the head and call them a good dog.
That goes double if their children's deaths would somehow spite a Russian person.
I don't know anything about Poland nor its people but there is a Polish joke that reflects your view.
A Polish man found a magic lantern and in standard magic lantern fashion, when rubbed a Genie appeared and offered 3 wishes. The man replied, For my first wish I want the Chinese to invade Poland in a massive land war, ravishing the nation starting tomorrow. Then leave. The genie granted his wish, the man's second and third wish was the same as the first, only saying the attacks were to occur one month apart. The genie granted them as well. The genie before going, said, "I'm curious, why did you wish this? The man replied, "Because to get to Poland they will have to go through Russia."
You're 100% right. Poland was completely betrayed by Britain in WW2, and yet the first thing Poles did when Communism fell was to emigrate to the UK en masse.
Agreed Russia doesn't want to occupy Ukraine however they have no choice but to remove DC's puppets in Kiev otherwise they face an endless conflict and threats from DC/NATO. Or perhaps the Ukrainian military will terminate the problem in Kiev when their suffering becomes unbearable.
Missing throughout all this from beginning to now is an aware population. On the western side and on Kiev side.
Total ignorance and false belief is what they have.
And that's the wild card. Let the Kiev Ukrainians begin to understand what cannon fodder they are for the sake of American profiteers and with an ultimate goal of merely ethnic cleansing their own Ukrainian brothers and they will want Americans out and their own people deciding their own fates.
Let the western masses understand the same truth: that it is Kiev attempting to ethnic cleanse Donbas and all for the sake of profiteers and they will not be happy.
There is a deep semantic confusion at the heart of all this.
What is ' a nation ' ?
Is 'Ukraine' a lump of dirt?
Is 'Ukraine' a bunch of crooked greedy power crazy monsters?
Is 'Ukraine' a political philosophy?
Or is 'Ukraine' a bunch of people?
Well: it is a bunch of people. That's what nations are. First and last: bunches of people.
Now the Ukrainian people largely STILL have everything they ever had.
They still own their own land and have their own governments. From one end to the other.
EXCEPT where Kiev has invaded Donbas.
So the only despoilation of 'Ukraine' is that which the USA and KIEV have done.
Get the USA out and the lunatics in Kiev out and all will be well.
Let the people once realise that simple truth and all these conjectures and complicated twisted fancies can be put aside.
Like what is the big, big, big thing in the west today as regards this? To HELP Ukrainians isn't it?
Isn't it?
Well if Kiev Ukrainians have their land and property and government.
And Donbas Ukrainians have their land and property and government.
The THE PEOPLE are alright basically.
And ANYONE that promotes continued bloodshed between them in any way at all is NOT 'helping Ukrainians'.
That is as starkly simple and obvious as the nose on your face.
One day the penny will drop and the Ukrainian PEOPLE will realise what fools the USA and the lunatics in Kiev are making of them. And will refuse to let it continue.
On that day a REAL Ukrainian 'nation' will be born.
And THAT is the ONLY way a real Ukrainian nation can be born.
Ukrainians (and Russians) see the West as The Land Where Institutions Basically Work. Whether there is any truth to that is beside the point. That is the perception.
This is why Russia is so loathe to make war on the West. This is what they want to belong to in their heart of hearts. On the Ukrainian side, if hating their brethren was the price of admission to that club, that was a price that too many Ukrainians were willing to pay.
Too many Ukrainians (and a lot of Russians) still have that image in their heads. They *want* to believe.
Well that's simply the same as we in the west. We want to believe, too.
And there is much we can believe for we have institutions that do work, clearly.
But they don't all work and they certainly don't all work perfectly and it's certain that rot grows.
Not being frivolous but read Parkinson's Law and the Profits etc. It's truth.
To my mind we have a basic deep misunderstanding in the west that becomes our Achilles heel and is destroying us.
And it concerns Democracy.
We believe ourselves to be Democracies but have a fatal misunderstanding of how Democracies work.
Even poor 'imitation' Democracies such as 'representative' Democracies.
We think ours are working.
And we think we are doing our part.
But in fact they are not working as they should and we are not doing our part.
For a Democracy is a deliberately sophisticated social organisation that requires the people to participate in government and we simply do not.
We think we do. We think we play our part. Because every few years we 'elect' (?) one side of a two sided option given us.
And then we go away and concern ourselves with our own lives, turning our back on the whole political drama.
We don't talk to them and they don't talk to us.
The relationship is much the same as the relationship we have with our plumbers or electricians when something at home makes us call for them.
We farm out the job to someone and let them at it and leave them to it.
Nope. Works with plumbers and electricians because they are trained for their jobs and they know and understand their jobs well and they are usually committed to doing those jobs well and we have immediate recourse should they not do them well.
None of those things apply to politicians.
We let them in the control room of the ship, hand the bridge over to them, and then we leave the room.
That's the basic problem.
Within the bridge, in that control room, theoretically Democratic government is practiced. But there can be no Democratic government in the absence of the people.
I agree with the basic premise of your thoughts however the kakistocracy has restricted representative democracy to the electoral system (federal and State) and then it deliberately "goes dark" until the next election cycle.
The answer to this question paints the picture on the canvass of political incompetence and corruption.
When was the last time a congressional or State legislature representative met with their electorate face to face to ask for their ideas on a variety of topics (e.g., employment, education, healthcare, transportation infrastructure, the environment, income taxes, foreign policy, etc.)?
The answer is: never, which is not how representation is supposed to work.
Attorneys-at-law, financial advisors, medical doctors, accountants and other experts in their respective disciplines present options based upon your need but ultimately ASK YOU want you want. Only in government does a representative TELL YOU want they will do, which often benefits their campaign donors, not the citizen.
The political leaders have gone so far as to scheme against the people so as to violate the trust of the electoral system by electronically counting illegal ballots as well as paper ballots to rig elections in their favor.
There is no public oversight of government (e.g. Citizens Tribunal) that can remove a representative prior to the end of his or her term of office. We have to "wait" until the next election or hope their colleagues impeach them, which rarely happens. The interpretation of what you so succinctly wrote stands on firm ground, "We give them the scepter of power and then walk away."
The Founding Fathers believed the U.S. Constitutional design of the Separation of Powers doctrine between the federal branches and between the central government, the States and the people would suffice as a "check" on unbridled abuse of authority.
But they did not envision the collective federal and State legislatures abdicating their constitutional duty to enforce the doctrine. They chose to willingly embrace their own self-interests to the point that every act of law enabled is measured in political capital to further their careers in government.
The U.S. Congress makes federal statutes, the president as Chief Executive carries them out and the federal judiciary adjudicates the legality of laws enacted. That is the Separation of Powers inside the federal government.
However we have witnessed over the years the use of executive orders by the Chief Executive to nullify his constitutional duty for political purposes, ". . . he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, . . ." (see Article II, Section 3, Clause 4, U.S. Constitution).
Example: Joe Biden ordered the U.S. Border Patrol to not enforce U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Law and allow illegal immigrants to cross the southern borders of America. The federal judiciary should have struck down his executive order as being unconstitutional. The Congress should have impeached him as well. None of that happened.
The central government has descended into a lawless body politic and only the people can resurrect the Republic. How that happens (if ever) is unknown at this time.
That may have been true, but I think it is now a belief pretty much only held by some oligarchs. Could be wrong. But this war must have opened a lot of eyes, not to mention the insane results the EU is seeing from its idiotic open immigration policies. See France for details :)
If you don’t speak Russian you need to consider that all the people you know come from a particular subset of population, the subset that speak English.
Take into consideration that such subset is a minority, and are the people most likely to be interested in western institutions.
If you know Russian immigrants in the west think that they are an even smaller subset.
Any extrapolation from your experience with such people is likely to be very biased.
I speak russian, my wife is Belarusian and I definitely notice a very big difference in opinion between the relatives of people who immigrate west, and other people that you may meet in random places. For example traveling in the train or in a gymnasium.
People who don’t speak English are indeed pretty convinced of the supremacy of their system , language and culture. And they blame the adopt of western institutions (rightly) of their issues in the 90s
Sometimes I think the Western and Ukrainian leaders grew up in the generation of participation trophies and studied at the Derek Zoolander School for Kids Who Can't Negotiate Good.
They're hopelessly deluded. There won't be a negotiated end to this war anytime soon that favors the West. When they do actually sit down at the negotiating table, the US is going to choke on Russia's terms. The war will continue until the West cuts and runs, leaving Ukraine dangling in the wind, or until Russia has accomplished all of its objectives. Either way, Ukraine is toast.
The Russians now know DC isn't worthy of trust and successful negotiations can only be accomplished with a trustworthy counterparty. The Russians must complete the mission, unless the Ukrainian military's suffering becomes so great that they terminate DC's puppets in Kiev first.
Ukraine is being used by DC for its own selfish purposes (power to control the world). However as Russia's action is now evidencing DC is not only megalomania ridden it is delusional. Ukrainians sealed their fate when they allowed DC to inject itself into their country...a real-world deal with the devil.
Nailed it. Funny how putin was willing to let Ukraine be Ukraine last April, just no nato. And who in his infinite wisdom shot that down with prejudice? Why Joey, of course. Nat that Joey had a say, but you know what I mean. And putin is still willing to talk. These fuckers controlling our government need to be killed. Like dead.
No NATO countries have been part of a real war since 1953 when the US Marine Corps retreated against the People's Liberation Army.
Vietnam, Grenada, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, The Falklands, Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo.
All against wildly weaker opponents that still somehow made effective showings against NATO forces.
Now NATO, who's only experience is bungling against 3rd world opponents, is coming up against an enemy that can match them in technology, industry, and which has an actual, real military.
By the time that defoliant works, the caravan will have moved on. Better to use flame throwers and such to cause a conflagration. Some of the Ukie lines I've seen invaded by Russian troops have signs of such treatment. I would not want to be underneath a TOR-1 bombardment, even in a deep dugout.
As the summer moves along its definitely less likely Russia mounts their own offensive. They definitely need to keep some pressure on even if it's a slow grind like Bakhmut. They have to keep the ticking clock moving forward because otherwise NATO will just stall for time and wait for another opening. Without active pressure there really isn't any need or urgency for Ukraine to make a deal. All of these sub plots and rumors have time to take hold if there is no urgency. Russia is the only one that can really generate that urgency.
Putin and his leadership are well aware they are fighting IN Ukraine, but are fighting WITH NATO. Such a war must be managed carefully, with luck as the war continues the EU will collapse under the war burden and its member govts change. The US is heading off a cliff of its own making, no idea how it will ultimately play out. I would keep the brakes on, knives at the ready, and historians at my side if I were Putin.
The U.S. is already looking for an escape hatch, there are elections in just over a year. The rest of the west will just follow along as usual.
If I was advising and if Russia is capable I would pull on 'big arrow' initiative out within the next 3 months. This would demonstrate Russia's ability on an offensive posture and put many of the whispers to sleep. Of course the sooner the better before Ukraine 'turtles'.
So much internal strife in the majority of NATO members countries right now. The E.U. is under a lot of pressure on many fronts as well.
Yes many of the Russian commanders want to be more aggressive and a major blow to the puppets in Kiev would be a good thing. Putin though never wanted a war and would like it to stop. Will there be some sanity in the West in the next couple of weeks? Give it 14 days because the West right now is not doing so good.
Never count on sanity from NATO. That ain't how we operate. US, Canada and UK can continue creating problems in Ukraine through Poland and Romania for some length of time after the rest of NATO Europe has tapped out.
So what should the Ukrainian people have done when Russian forces attempted to march on Kyviv ? Do we respect a desire for Ukrainians not to be re absorbed into Russia once again ? Or do we support a Russian military takeover whatever 44 million Ukrainians themselves want ?
Should we support the propaganda which makes us believe that Russia actually wants to absorb Ukraine? Should we support an Ukrainian elite willing to sacrifice a whole generation of Ukrainian men so they can sit next to the robber barons of the West? Should we actually support war and not a peace negotiation as the American and their NATO servants are doing?
The problem is anything.peoplle don’t want to hear becomes propaganda .. on both sides
You have to explain why invading a country and a military convoy heading for Kyiv is not Russia wanting to absorb Ukraine
There’s no point endlessly banging on about proxy wars & the benefit to the West & NATO .,We know that by now & Putins incompetence is just the gift that keeps in giving to them
But this simplistic whitewashing of Russian motives is so naive & your total disregard for the right of Ukrainians to choose what THEY want not what YOU want is offensive
There were never 44 million Ukrainians who all wanted the same thing. If in 2014 the Galicians had declared independence and started negotiating for entry into the EU and NATO then I would have supported that, particularly if the central government attacked them in a similiar fashion as they did the Donbass. I have a lot of sympathy for the "good Germans" - the Ukrainians who just fight for an independent Ukraine - but when all is said and done it's the Banderite leadership who over and over have categorically rejected any compromise solutions not the Russians.
You're just forgetting all the background to the invasion, as if one morning Russians decided they had nothing better to do than invading a neighbour. You're assuming the convoy was going to take Kiev. I can't explain what has been explained a hundred times elsewhere. If Putin's incompetence is the gift that keeps giving, I don't know what to say about Biden, Sunak, Macron, Zelensky... I can't figure how come you read these articles when your heart already belongs to mainstream media.
Russia tried for years to avoid this conflict while Kiev targeted, terrorized and slaughtered ethnic Russians in the Donbass region with artillery and air strikes. Take a look at the Minsk Agreements, which Western "leaders" recently admitted were just a delaying tactic used to buy time while they militarized Ukraine for their own selfish reasons. Ukraine is being used by DC. DC and their puppets in Kiev, installed during the 2014 coup, are the fundamental problem. Now Russia must remove them at great cost to all involved.
Ukrainians don't get to choose. That's the point of being a proxy. Zelenski receives ultimatums, not advice. Any "assistance" given to Ukraine is to keep then in the fight, not necessarily to win, but to harm Russia.
Russia has a 30 month plan. NATO's Military Dependency of Ukraine is one missed paycheck away from collapse.
So far Putin's incompetence has destroyed two NATO armies and is off to a good start destroying the third. And if NATO decides to escalate Putins incompetence has already handed the military decisions to the RU. That means much less restraint for what Russia decides to destroy in Ukraine and how it is done.
Those people sat back and cheered their government shelling civilians for 8 years. I don't much care what happens to them after they did that. Ukrainians are free to get out of Russia when the land is reabsorbed into Russia exactly as they told Russians living in the Ukraine to get out and the people in Kiev cheered that on as well. The Ukrainians sided with evil and so they are in the process of losing everything and that is a very good thing.
Very chilling : I don’t much care what happens to them … The level of naivety here is very worrying : the Ukrainians sided with evil so they must all die
Do you think looking at the state of Russian internal democracy and freedoms & the fact he’s levered himself into despotic power for 23 years now
He is somehow a good man ? A socialist liberator
The Wests perfidious role is undisputed but of you stick your heads in buckets of simplicity in your desperation for a simpletons good guy / bad guy view of the world then you’ll remain an impotent bedsit keyboard warrior telling a whole nation what they deserve . Obscene
I never said they must all die. I said they must all get out. You are arguing against your own evil thoughts. Putin has saved Russia, ....... and the West. You are the simpleton that refuses to face that reality was never as you thought it was. The only obsenity here is your naivety and your willingness to show it to the world. You should hang your head in shame.
You sound like the Nazis who killed 3 million Ukrainians : the same number as Stalin killed with his Great Terror famine
To say “they must get out “.. is jaw dropping .. all 44 million ?
I can see you pushing them into the cattle wagons
I’ve have spent the last 30 years visiting and working in Russia . I have studied the history of Ukraine in depth over its tortuous history sometime Russian sometime Polish etc. with a range of ever revolving Presidential leaders either in the pocket of Moscow or Washington
I have seen Russia degenerate into a dark Police state with zero free press or speech . Putin is the gangster capitalist supreme running a private army stuffed with supremacist Nazis , like the horrific Rusish in Donetsk
Putin has saved Russia ?? Oh yes from what exactly ? A Ukrainian invasion ?? He’s now genuinely surrounded by NATO on every border ,, he’s killing his own people in their tens of thousands as canon fodder . He imprisons people for texting ! He’s now lost his mercenary army . What’s your take on that ?
He’s destroying and weakening Russia
immeasurably
Russians don’t deserve this KGB clown
You sound like Ben Givr in Tel Aviv talking about Palestinians “Those people shouldn’t be in our land .. “ They must all get out &!give it to us or I kill them all “
Well piss off to the Azov HQ and tell them to get out of Ukraine .. that should be funny !! … stepping over the woodland graves of massacred civilians and telling any mourners you see “I dont much care about you lot “
David Roger - Got a scale to weigh a man for good or evil? Putin is good for Russia, a patriot, he is a lawyer and was not above driving a cab in the tough economic times in the 1990s, vs mugging people with his judo skills.
And who exactly is the paragon of "socialist liberties" to you - Ursula? Her hubby's family exploited working class for centuries so horribly, Karl Marx used this enterprise as an example of brutal capitalism in his books. Are we here in the USA now reeking of capitalism and liberty with silencing any voice against be it Covid vaccine or the war in Ukraine? Americans are forced to bankroll the current Ukraine Nazi regime, unaware that it was Ukrainian Nazis killing American Marines landing in Normandy on D-Day in Jun 1944. Scroll to 8 min 20 sec of this podcast by Victor D. Hanson, a prominent American military historian about D-Day. My Ukrainian grandfather fought German Nazis in WWII. What your grandfather was doing in WWII, that you got no problem with the surge of Nazism now?
So you do admit NATO is trying to expand its borders then. Which means that Putin is justified in invading Ukraine. Congratulations, you demolished your own argument.
I hear what you're saying. But, it's not as if one fine Ukrainian morning the Ukrainians decided they had nothing better to do than hate Russia, their co-ethnic Russian countrymen, and all things Russian. Au contraire. They were subjected to a generation or more of unrelenting, cradle to grave "hate Russia and all things Russian" propaganda. That's not really "siding with evil."
The bloodshed is being driven by DC fundamentally. DC is using Ukraine in an attempt to harm Russians, which isn't working. DC doesn't actually care one whit about the Ukrainian people or their country. Ukrainians made a deal with the devil when they allowed DC to inject itself into their country via the 2014 coup. Russia has no choice but to remove DC's puppets in Kiev if they want an enduring end to the conflict, unless the Ukrainian military does so first when their suffering becomes too great.
Ukraine is technically and legally under international law still a part of the Russian Federation.
After Glasnost Ukraine was allowed to declare independence on the condition that it would not militarise and would remain a neutral buffer zone between Russia and expansionist Yankee controlled NATO.
IF you are unaware it was NATO's move to admit Ukraine plus the non-stop attempted genocide of Russia's defence pact treaty partners in the Donbass and Luhansk Peoples Republics who asked for help that initiated the SMO.
Yankeeland started this war very deliberately for many reasons, one of which is possibly the rebirth of Khazaria now the Greater Israel Project has failed in the Middle East.
Russia DID NOT invade Ukraine. It was asked to help its defence treaty partners end of story.
Russia didn't send not even close to the troop level needed to take metropolitan Kiev so you can toss that one. Russia has no interest in taking all of Ukraine and doesn't need to. Romania, Hungary and Poland are more than willing to commit "peace-keeping" forces in western Ukraine sooner or later.
They could have abided by the Minsk accords that they signed. Then there would have been no need for Russia to intervene to end the slaughter of the Donbas Ukrainians.
This is strange. The bridge strike seems to put to rest the notion that Russia does not have the means to destroy Dnepr bridges. Most of these bridges are out of range for Iskanders but Kinzhals can certainly reach them. It would be worth a detailed analysis of every single bridge to get a bearing on how many Kinzhals would be required to render it unusable. Some of these bridges are not really bridges but dams like the Karkhova dam; So that would have to enter the equation too - How much damage to the Dnepr water management system could be acceptable in an attempt to hamper the logistics routes? Probably not all bridges need be destroyed to have an effect. On the flip side, it has also been pointed out that pontoon bridges are easy to repair even if striked repeatedly. They can also be vacated if an approaching missile strike is detected. But would cutting the railway links across the Dnepr perhaps be doable? And what effect would the added inconvenience have on Ukrainian logistics? Russia has repeatedly attacked the railway bridge on the Black Sea coast south of Odessa - So what's the status of this particular one? Apparently, they didn't use Iskanders. Are pure railway bridges perhaps less susceptible to this kind of attack? A railway bridge usually consists of welded-together steel beams with lots of open space in between them. Is that the reason, perhaps? This kind of structure lets blast waves pass through to some extent.
It's the Soviet method of building. That's why the Bandera forces prefer to hole up in Soviet built industrial areas when events are turning against them.
„ With Russia’s victory will come the eventual collapse of the entire Western order, which means the hundreds of years old banking cabal that has ruled the globe with an iron fist. Those ancient families at the top cannot allow Russia to win.“
But aren’t those families controlling the digital money system?
That is one of the major drivers in this shitshow. The Yankee dollar is worth nothing and the Petrodollar exist only at the mercy of BRICS+.
Yankeeland does not have a big hammer any more as the commodities based international trade system that Mr. Putin has been working on and promoting for 25+ years is now being used/implemented.
I can remember when Mr, Putin first mentioned a better trade system. Russia was still the U.S.S.R. and he was a person to watch. It did not go down well in Yankeeland.
Which one; the BIS/WEF system of orwellian control, or the BRICS system? The world seems to be splitting into two camps. I don't see how these families have a hold on both.
2 Simplicius: One should be very careful when citing something that came out of Igor Korotchenko's mouth. There was a big enough scandal about his deeds in 2011 i believe. I don't remember all of the details, but he was caught lying his ass off about his military accomplishments/rank and his military expertise while being kicked out of army because of "compromising circumstances"
I thought all was fair in love and war? Guess not. That is some embarrassing whine.
Pence was over there at the same time as the CIA Director?
So, let's kill more people even though we will force talks here soon, in a few months....
pence is the former vice president of the usa who presided over the us senate certifying the fraudulent election in 2020
I know who Pence is, I am questioning the timing of his unannounced visit to the Ukraine. There seems to be a steady flow of "guests" going in and out of that country. None of their visits are accidental.
They have to personally collect their commissions
Pence is the power elite’s candidate for 2024.
Pence, along with Sessions, were 2, of the many, Agency plants inside the Trump Administration.
The USSA, long ago stopped being a Democratic Republic.
Imagine China or Russia, where the President and his family were shaking down other countries for bribe money.
AHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Snortin' funny.
The power elite must be crushed by Trump.
Pence was there, then 2 days later cia director burns shows up in kiev. It may refect some discord amoung our leadership's plan...the republican senators vs the deep state security apparatus.
Whatever was said in those meetings, the discussion with burns, could have been divergent from the senate politicians, because they are lining their pockets with money from the mic. Eg, lindsey graham has been a senator 20 yrs, makes 350,000$ per year, but has a net worth of 300 million $.
There are no words to describe how much I loathe Mr. Wimsey Graham. Apparently he got boo'd long and hard today in SC at a Trump rally. I am sure he couldn't care less as long Russians are being killed. He is evil.
I'm with you 100% on that!
Most of the worst human beings in the US are in Washington and they have life and death power. Graham is a perfect example of the quality of people who populate it. ZERO redeeming qualities.
All Senators, Reps and State Dept, etc. must sign financial disclosure against criminal penalty that they don't own land/property in Ukraine. Americans are being pushed into WWIII for someone's parcel of land/interests.
Not sure they (Swamp People) want the land or property, they want the MONEY. The so called contractors are the ones that one the land for their various desires.
But yes, I agree, we are being pushed into WWIII for their own special interests of choice and they don't give one damn about the rest of the world. They are sheer unadulterated evil beings. Why they are allowed to roam this earth I do not know.
I remember how well they followed the rule that families couldn't invest in the market while they were serving. Good Ol' Cantor. *Spit* Signatures, contracts, treaties mean nothing to these POS.
It's only fair when it's your side doing it
Welcome to the "Nuremberg standard"
If Poland moved into Kaliningrad Russia would retaliate strongly. The port is also the home of the Russian Baltic Fleet. Russia has powerful warships - and submarines - that could cause havoc on any Polish vessel in the Baltic. If NATO was supporting Poland, NATO vessels would also be potential targets - NATO fleets have great faith in surface warships - but perhaps they shouldn't. And if it appeared that Poland was trying to conquer the city, I'm certain Russia would consider the use of tactical nuclear weapons.
If Poland attacks Kaliningrad Posen will be incinerated.
Kaliningrad, in a sense, the greatest tripwire in history so far
Lots of military units use "primus inter pares" as a motto, but the insignia in the photograph does not match any U.S. unit. Soldiers from the 1st Air Defense Regiment wear the shoulder-sleeve patch of the 38th AD Brigade, which is... not like that. Back in February there were photographs of a Ukrainian IRIS-T crew that had a patch with this motto, but again, the design was different.
what's mighty weird about this motto ("first amongst equals") is that it originally was the title of an abbot at a monastery in the middle ages (i.e. he was just one "brother" amongst equal "brothers"). Not quite sure why military groups would use it.
Military units try to cultivate unit pride and competitiveness, while still maintaining cohersion between units. So "first among equals" makes sense as a motto. In the case of the 1st AD it also has a double meaning because it's the "First" Artillery Regiment.
I think the phrase goes back to the Roman Senate, at least.
The showrunners are pulling their punches for now, foreshadowing things that might happen when the "real deal" kicks off. Combining the classic appeal of will they or won't they romances with the drama of a war story, the SMO Show returns to form with the beginning of the Summit Arc.
The next few episodes are a must-watch for those invested in the plot.
Maybe putin will just take out the nato summit. That will quiet things down for a while. Then go for Davis,wef, who. Then find a big cfr meeting and burn those evil bastards to hell.
About Kramatorsk. It seems that a second Iskander, an hour or so after the first would have been quite useful.
No need to act like a terrorist and kill the rescue workers with a second strike. The first one did its job of taking out a lot of military personal. My understanding is that at least some of the foreign fighters were big on taking "look at me and my buddies over here fighting in Ukraine" pics and posting them on social media. So the Russians either monitored social media and/or were able to read the uploaded photos' geotags and/or got HUMINT from people in Kramatorsk friendly to the Russians. Troops and troop concentrations are always a valid military target and as such the military forces put the civilians people and buildings at risk by hanging out in civilian hotels and restaurants.
The decisionmakers in the West view scruples, not as humanity or reasonableness, but as contemptible weakness.
Rest assured that they would not hesitate for so much as an instant.
If Putin pulled a page from NATO doctrine the SMO would have ended months ago with an easy million dead Ukrainians and no electrical, water or commo infrastructure surviving to speak of.
My primary complaint is I want the US out of there. If NATO Europe wants to fight Russia for the Ukrainian carcass that's fine by me. I realize that isn't going to happen cuz this is much larger than the US, NATO, NATO's Military Dependency of Ukraine and Russia. The WEF has big plans for the globe by 2030 and Russia, China, Iran and most of Africa and Latin America are in the way. Still uncertain about India.
I suspect that a lot fewer Ukrainians would have been killed, has Russia used more force from the outset.
In the long run you are correct I think. All wars should be brutal and decisive to end them quicker.
Probably fewer Ukrainian soldiers would have been killed, but a lot more civilians if Russia did it NATO style. Which would be counter to the stated goal of 'demilitarization'.
I am not even sure about that.
Well said.
Nah, the guy complaining "Look what they are doing with this country" needed to be taken out. Americans are those that enabled the Ukrainian ultranationalism 10,000%. That kind of fire, like an oil well head fire, you take it with well placed explosives.
"It's terrible. Look what these bastards are doing to this country. There's soldiers al under this rubble."
He's looking at his fellow soldiers who were killed or gravely wounded. Yet he survived apparently unscathed. I would take that as a hint that he dodged a bullet - this time - and to leave and go home back to England or the U.S. or whatever.
So soldiers were killed. I'd say the Russians nailed it and hit a proper military target. Got them all together relaxing and eating in a restaurant. They'll probably do it again. Either poor OPSEC social media posts by the soldiers or HUMINT from someone pissed off at someone looking for a way to get back at them and passing the location on to the Russians.
Sucks for the waitstaff and cooks and anyone else who is a civilian in the area though. Maybe best advice for a civilian over there is to avoid places where concentrations of troops are hanging out.
I don't see a problem with any form of nationalism if it is wanting to preserve your own country, people and traditions. I wish my politicians were as nationalist as I am when it comes to my own country (The United States). It is this Western "GlobalHomo" One World Government that is driving these internal and international conflicts that is killing us.
I think this approach by the Russians is what will work best for them as it allows them to work out their problems (of which they had many as was apparent at the start of the war) over time while gradually draining the West of its manpower and munitions. I feel sorry for the Ukrainian people, but their leaders (and those in the U.S. government pushing this ongoing conflict) are corrupt.
It's terrible. Look what these bastards are doing to this country.
Couldn't agree more you fucking Slimy British Banderite backing scumbag. You and your side have been destroying Ukraine since 2014.
Exactly. Go home, otherwise you’ll be next.
South African, not British.
There were both in the longer video. American too.
I knew the day the war started that Ukr had no chance. More recently I knew that the offensive wouldn't do squat other than get a lot of Ukrs killed. The true purpose is to keep the grift going.
The experts have been predicting a big Russian offensive for a long time now. I say it will never happen. Russia seized all the territory it wanted to seize at the very beginning. Ukraine is both poor and very hostile. Russia doesn't want to occupy it, thus making itself even more vulnerable to endless lavishly funded terror attacks. Besides, Russia can't afford it.
https://science1arts2and3politics.substack.com/p/why-russia-doesnt-want-to-conquer
Since Ukr can't make any progress and Russia doesn't want to, the war could go on for a very long time. The only thing I can see stopping it is a Ukr mutiny. A total German mutiny is what ended World War One.
"Russia seized all the territory it wanted to seize at the very beginning"
I dunno, I'd say they took all of the territory that was possible. Russia still want Odessa and all of the Ukie Black Sea coast. And rightly so.
Empty land doesn't commit terror attacks. The Ukies tried to drive Russians off of their own land so I say double for her the cup she filled for us and take the land. The Western Europeans love Ukies so they can have them to add to their ethnic mix grift of the "elites" there. More than France will fall when that happens.
Many Western countries, even the Poles next door are sick of the whinging grifting Western Ukies.
Don't kid yourself. I know the Polish mentality well. Too many Poles would gladly slit their own children's throats if that meant that an American would pat them on the head and call them a good dog.
That goes double if their children's deaths would somehow spite a Russian person.
I don't know anything about Poland nor its people but there is a Polish joke that reflects your view.
A Polish man found a magic lantern and in standard magic lantern fashion, when rubbed a Genie appeared and offered 3 wishes. The man replied, For my first wish I want the Chinese to invade Poland in a massive land war, ravishing the nation starting tomorrow. Then leave. The genie granted his wish, the man's second and third wish was the same as the first, only saying the attacks were to occur one month apart. The genie granted them as well. The genie before going, said, "I'm curious, why did you wish this? The man replied, "Because to get to Poland they will have to go through Russia."
I believe you meant "ravage" lol
Thank you, I would like to blame spell check but it could be I am at fault :)
You're 100% right. Poland was completely betrayed by Britain in WW2, and yet the first thing Poles did when Communism fell was to emigrate to the UK en masse.
Agreed Russia doesn't want to occupy Ukraine however they have no choice but to remove DC's puppets in Kiev otherwise they face an endless conflict and threats from DC/NATO. Or perhaps the Ukrainian military will terminate the problem in Kiev when their suffering becomes unbearable.
Missing throughout all this from beginning to now is an aware population. On the western side and on Kiev side.
Total ignorance and false belief is what they have.
And that's the wild card. Let the Kiev Ukrainians begin to understand what cannon fodder they are for the sake of American profiteers and with an ultimate goal of merely ethnic cleansing their own Ukrainian brothers and they will want Americans out and their own people deciding their own fates.
Let the western masses understand the same truth: that it is Kiev attempting to ethnic cleanse Donbas and all for the sake of profiteers and they will not be happy.
There is a deep semantic confusion at the heart of all this.
What is ' a nation ' ?
Is 'Ukraine' a lump of dirt?
Is 'Ukraine' a bunch of crooked greedy power crazy monsters?
Is 'Ukraine' a political philosophy?
Or is 'Ukraine' a bunch of people?
Well: it is a bunch of people. That's what nations are. First and last: bunches of people.
Now the Ukrainian people largely STILL have everything they ever had.
They still own their own land and have their own governments. From one end to the other.
EXCEPT where Kiev has invaded Donbas.
So the only despoilation of 'Ukraine' is that which the USA and KIEV have done.
Get the USA out and the lunatics in Kiev out and all will be well.
Let the people once realise that simple truth and all these conjectures and complicated twisted fancies can be put aside.
Like what is the big, big, big thing in the west today as regards this? To HELP Ukrainians isn't it?
Isn't it?
Well if Kiev Ukrainians have their land and property and government.
And Donbas Ukrainians have their land and property and government.
The THE PEOPLE are alright basically.
And ANYONE that promotes continued bloodshed between them in any way at all is NOT 'helping Ukrainians'.
That is as starkly simple and obvious as the nose on your face.
One day the penny will drop and the Ukrainian PEOPLE will realise what fools the USA and the lunatics in Kiev are making of them. And will refuse to let it continue.
On that day a REAL Ukrainian 'nation' will be born.
And THAT is the ONLY way a real Ukrainian nation can be born.
That is beautiful. Sums the situation up very well.
Ukrainians (and Russians) see the West as The Land Where Institutions Basically Work. Whether there is any truth to that is beside the point. That is the perception.
This is why Russia is so loathe to make war on the West. This is what they want to belong to in their heart of hearts. On the Ukrainian side, if hating their brethren was the price of admission to that club, that was a price that too many Ukrainians were willing to pay.
Too many Ukrainians (and a lot of Russians) still have that image in their heads. They *want* to believe.
Russia as a nation is much older than most of Europe by centuries. For good and bad, Russian institutions have lasted.
This may be true, but it doesn't mean that this is not how the West is viewed.
Well that's simply the same as we in the west. We want to believe, too.
And there is much we can believe for we have institutions that do work, clearly.
But they don't all work and they certainly don't all work perfectly and it's certain that rot grows.
Not being frivolous but read Parkinson's Law and the Profits etc. It's truth.
To my mind we have a basic deep misunderstanding in the west that becomes our Achilles heel and is destroying us.
And it concerns Democracy.
We believe ourselves to be Democracies but have a fatal misunderstanding of how Democracies work.
Even poor 'imitation' Democracies such as 'representative' Democracies.
We think ours are working.
And we think we are doing our part.
But in fact they are not working as they should and we are not doing our part.
For a Democracy is a deliberately sophisticated social organisation that requires the people to participate in government and we simply do not.
We think we do. We think we play our part. Because every few years we 'elect' (?) one side of a two sided option given us.
And then we go away and concern ourselves with our own lives, turning our back on the whole political drama.
We don't talk to them and they don't talk to us.
The relationship is much the same as the relationship we have with our plumbers or electricians when something at home makes us call for them.
We farm out the job to someone and let them at it and leave them to it.
Nope. Works with plumbers and electricians because they are trained for their jobs and they know and understand their jobs well and they are usually committed to doing those jobs well and we have immediate recourse should they not do them well.
None of those things apply to politicians.
We let them in the control room of the ship, hand the bridge over to them, and then we leave the room.
That's the basic problem.
Within the bridge, in that control room, theoretically Democratic government is practiced. But there can be no Democratic government in the absence of the people.
And there isn't.
I agree with the basic premise of your thoughts however the kakistocracy has restricted representative democracy to the electoral system (federal and State) and then it deliberately "goes dark" until the next election cycle.
The answer to this question paints the picture on the canvass of political incompetence and corruption.
When was the last time a congressional or State legislature representative met with their electorate face to face to ask for their ideas on a variety of topics (e.g., employment, education, healthcare, transportation infrastructure, the environment, income taxes, foreign policy, etc.)?
The answer is: never, which is not how representation is supposed to work.
Attorneys-at-law, financial advisors, medical doctors, accountants and other experts in their respective disciplines present options based upon your need but ultimately ASK YOU want you want. Only in government does a representative TELL YOU want they will do, which often benefits their campaign donors, not the citizen.
The political leaders have gone so far as to scheme against the people so as to violate the trust of the electoral system by electronically counting illegal ballots as well as paper ballots to rig elections in their favor.
There is no public oversight of government (e.g. Citizens Tribunal) that can remove a representative prior to the end of his or her term of office. We have to "wait" until the next election or hope their colleagues impeach them, which rarely happens. The interpretation of what you so succinctly wrote stands on firm ground, "We give them the scepter of power and then walk away."
The Founding Fathers believed the U.S. Constitutional design of the Separation of Powers doctrine between the federal branches and between the central government, the States and the people would suffice as a "check" on unbridled abuse of authority.
But they did not envision the collective federal and State legislatures abdicating their constitutional duty to enforce the doctrine. They chose to willingly embrace their own self-interests to the point that every act of law enabled is measured in political capital to further their careers in government.
The U.S. Congress makes federal statutes, the president as Chief Executive carries them out and the federal judiciary adjudicates the legality of laws enacted. That is the Separation of Powers inside the federal government.
However we have witnessed over the years the use of executive orders by the Chief Executive to nullify his constitutional duty for political purposes, ". . . he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, . . ." (see Article II, Section 3, Clause 4, U.S. Constitution).
Example: Joe Biden ordered the U.S. Border Patrol to not enforce U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Law and allow illegal immigrants to cross the southern borders of America. The federal judiciary should have struck down his executive order as being unconstitutional. The Congress should have impeached him as well. None of that happened.
The central government has descended into a lawless body politic and only the people can resurrect the Republic. How that happens (if ever) is unknown at this time.
Bullets. Well aimed bullets.
That may have been true, but I think it is now a belief pretty much only held by some oligarchs. Could be wrong. But this war must have opened a lot of eyes, not to mention the insane results the EU is seeing from its idiotic open immigration policies. See France for details :)
I probably know more actual Russian and Ukrainian people than most.
If you don’t speak Russian you need to consider that all the people you know come from a particular subset of population, the subset that speak English.
Take into consideration that such subset is a minority, and are the people most likely to be interested in western institutions.
If you know Russian immigrants in the west think that they are an even smaller subset.
Any extrapolation from your experience with such people is likely to be very biased.
I speak russian, my wife is Belarusian and I definitely notice a very big difference in opinion between the relatives of people who immigrate west, and other people that you may meet in random places. For example traveling in the train or in a gymnasium.
People who don’t speak English are indeed pretty convinced of the supremacy of their system , language and culture. And they blame the adopt of western institutions (rightly) of their issues in the 90s
I speak Russian.
Sometimes I think the Western and Ukrainian leaders grew up in the generation of participation trophies and studied at the Derek Zoolander School for Kids Who Can't Negotiate Good.
They're hopelessly deluded. There won't be a negotiated end to this war anytime soon that favors the West. When they do actually sit down at the negotiating table, the US is going to choke on Russia's terms. The war will continue until the West cuts and runs, leaving Ukraine dangling in the wind, or until Russia has accomplished all of its objectives. Either way, Ukraine is toast.
The Russians now know DC isn't worthy of trust and successful negotiations can only be accomplished with a trustworthy counterparty. The Russians must complete the mission, unless the Ukrainian military's suffering becomes so great that they terminate DC's puppets in Kiev first.
Western education is DIEing.
Exactly! No matter which side "wins", Ukraine loses.
Ukraine is being used by DC for its own selfish purposes (power to control the world). However as Russia's action is now evidencing DC is not only megalomania ridden it is delusional. Ukrainians sealed their fate when they allowed DC to inject itself into their country...a real-world deal with the devil.
As Kissinger said, "“To be an enemy of America can be dangerous, but to be a friend is fatal.” And I might add, to be a lackey is painfully fatal.
Nailed it. Funny how putin was willing to let Ukraine be Ukraine last April, just no nato. And who in his infinite wisdom shot that down with prejudice? Why Joey, of course. Nat that Joey had a say, but you know what I mean. And putin is still willing to talk. These fuckers controlling our government need to be killed. Like dead.
No NATO countries have been part of a real war since 1953 when the US Marine Corps retreated against the People's Liberation Army.
Vietnam, Grenada, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, The Falklands, Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo.
All against wildly weaker opponents that still somehow made effective showings against NATO forces.
Now NATO, who's only experience is bungling against 3rd world opponents, is coming up against an enemy that can match them in technology, industry, and which has an actual, real military.
"Unfair use of trees"--What a howler!!!!!!!!
The "nogotiations" are just that--No! Lavrov explained that very well during his The Great Game interview. And then there was his unusual briefing/news conference which I've translated and can be read here, https://vk.com/@580896205-lavrovs-general-press-conference-30-june-2023
The Great Game interview I also translated and is here, https://vk.com/@580896205-lavrov-interviewed-by-the-great-game-again
Thank you very much for taking the time to do such a wonderful job of translation, it is greatly appreciated.
Trees? Oh no, deploy the Agent Orange!
By the time that defoliant works, the caravan will have moved on. Better to use flame throwers and such to cause a conflagration. Some of the Ukie lines I've seen invaded by Russian troops have signs of such treatment. I would not want to be underneath a TOR-1 bombardment, even in a deep dugout.
Dmitri Medvedev's very important essay, The Era of Confrontation," is translated and can be read here, https://vk.com/@580896205-dmitri-medvedev-the-era-of-confrontation-rossiyskaya-gazeta
As the summer moves along its definitely less likely Russia mounts their own offensive. They definitely need to keep some pressure on even if it's a slow grind like Bakhmut. They have to keep the ticking clock moving forward because otherwise NATO will just stall for time and wait for another opening. Without active pressure there really isn't any need or urgency for Ukraine to make a deal. All of these sub plots and rumors have time to take hold if there is no urgency. Russia is the only one that can really generate that urgency.
And Putin, again, seems to be putting the brakes on. He really needs to go.
"needs to go"? Or needs to let go ?
Putin and his leadership are well aware they are fighting IN Ukraine, but are fighting WITH NATO. Such a war must be managed carefully, with luck as the war continues the EU will collapse under the war burden and its member govts change. The US is heading off a cliff of its own making, no idea how it will ultimately play out. I would keep the brakes on, knives at the ready, and historians at my side if I were Putin.
The U.S. is already looking for an escape hatch, there are elections in just over a year. The rest of the west will just follow along as usual.
If I was advising and if Russia is capable I would pull on 'big arrow' initiative out within the next 3 months. This would demonstrate Russia's ability on an offensive posture and put many of the whispers to sleep. Of course the sooner the better before Ukraine 'turtles'.
So much internal strife in the majority of NATO members countries right now. The E.U. is under a lot of pressure on many fronts as well.
Yes many of the Russian commanders want to be more aggressive and a major blow to the puppets in Kiev would be a good thing. Putin though never wanted a war and would like it to stop. Will there be some sanity in the West in the next couple of weeks? Give it 14 days because the West right now is not doing so good.
Never count on sanity from NATO. That ain't how we operate. US, Canada and UK can continue creating problems in Ukraine through Poland and Romania for some length of time after the rest of NATO Europe has tapped out.
If Ukraine does decide to turtle up Russia will need to commit to several offensives to maintain the tension and destruction of the UA.
Great write up. Your articles are always filled with interesting information. Thank you.
So what should the Ukrainian people have done when Russian forces attempted to march on Kyviv ? Do we respect a desire for Ukrainians not to be re absorbed into Russia once again ? Or do we support a Russian military takeover whatever 44 million Ukrainians themselves want ?
Should we support the propaganda which makes us believe that Russia actually wants to absorb Ukraine? Should we support an Ukrainian elite willing to sacrifice a whole generation of Ukrainian men so they can sit next to the robber barons of the West? Should we actually support war and not a peace negotiation as the American and their NATO servants are doing?
The problem is anything.peoplle don’t want to hear becomes propaganda .. on both sides
You have to explain why invading a country and a military convoy heading for Kyiv is not Russia wanting to absorb Ukraine
There’s no point endlessly banging on about proxy wars & the benefit to the West & NATO .,We know that by now & Putins incompetence is just the gift that keeps in giving to them
But this simplistic whitewashing of Russian motives is so naive & your total disregard for the right of Ukrainians to choose what THEY want not what YOU want is offensive
There were never 44 million Ukrainians who all wanted the same thing. If in 2014 the Galicians had declared independence and started negotiating for entry into the EU and NATO then I would have supported that, particularly if the central government attacked them in a similiar fashion as they did the Donbass. I have a lot of sympathy for the "good Germans" - the Ukrainians who just fight for an independent Ukraine - but when all is said and done it's the Banderite leadership who over and over have categorically rejected any compromise solutions not the Russians.
You're just forgetting all the background to the invasion, as if one morning Russians decided they had nothing better to do than invading a neighbour. You're assuming the convoy was going to take Kiev. I can't explain what has been explained a hundred times elsewhere. If Putin's incompetence is the gift that keeps giving, I don't know what to say about Biden, Sunak, Macron, Zelensky... I can't figure how come you read these articles when your heart already belongs to mainstream media.
Roger forgets nothing, and knows nothing. He is just a troll and should be ignored, deplatformed, cancelled, taken out and shot.
I find Roger to be entertaining. The NAFO types always are.
Russia tried for years to avoid this conflict while Kiev targeted, terrorized and slaughtered ethnic Russians in the Donbass region with artillery and air strikes. Take a look at the Minsk Agreements, which Western "leaders" recently admitted were just a delaying tactic used to buy time while they militarized Ukraine for their own selfish reasons. Ukraine is being used by DC. DC and their puppets in Kiev, installed during the 2014 coup, are the fundamental problem. Now Russia must remove them at great cost to all involved.
Ukrainians don't get to choose. That's the point of being a proxy. Zelenski receives ultimatums, not advice. Any "assistance" given to Ukraine is to keep then in the fight, not necessarily to win, but to harm Russia.
Russia has a 30 month plan. NATO's Military Dependency of Ukraine is one missed paycheck away from collapse.
So far Putin's incompetence has destroyed two NATO armies and is off to a good start destroying the third. And if NATO decides to escalate Putins incompetence has already handed the military decisions to the RU. That means much less restraint for what Russia decides to destroy in Ukraine and how it is done.
Those people sat back and cheered their government shelling civilians for 8 years. I don't much care what happens to them after they did that. Ukrainians are free to get out of Russia when the land is reabsorbed into Russia exactly as they told Russians living in the Ukraine to get out and the people in Kiev cheered that on as well. The Ukrainians sided with evil and so they are in the process of losing everything and that is a very good thing.
Very chilling : I don’t much care what happens to them … The level of naivety here is very worrying : the Ukrainians sided with evil so they must all die
Do you think looking at the state of Russian internal democracy and freedoms & the fact he’s levered himself into despotic power for 23 years now
He is somehow a good man ? A socialist liberator
The Wests perfidious role is undisputed but of you stick your heads in buckets of simplicity in your desperation for a simpletons good guy / bad guy view of the world then you’ll remain an impotent bedsit keyboard warrior telling a whole nation what they deserve . Obscene
I never said they must all die. I said they must all get out. You are arguing against your own evil thoughts. Putin has saved Russia, ....... and the West. You are the simpleton that refuses to face that reality was never as you thought it was. The only obsenity here is your naivety and your willingness to show it to the world. You should hang your head in shame.
You sound like the Nazis who killed 3 million Ukrainians : the same number as Stalin killed with his Great Terror famine
To say “they must get out “.. is jaw dropping .. all 44 million ?
I can see you pushing them into the cattle wagons
I’ve have spent the last 30 years visiting and working in Russia . I have studied the history of Ukraine in depth over its tortuous history sometime Russian sometime Polish etc. with a range of ever revolving Presidential leaders either in the pocket of Moscow or Washington
I have seen Russia degenerate into a dark Police state with zero free press or speech . Putin is the gangster capitalist supreme running a private army stuffed with supremacist Nazis , like the horrific Rusish in Donetsk
Putin has saved Russia ?? Oh yes from what exactly ? A Ukrainian invasion ?? He’s now genuinely surrounded by NATO on every border ,, he’s killing his own people in their tens of thousands as canon fodder . He imprisons people for texting ! He’s now lost his mercenary army . What’s your take on that ?
He’s destroying and weakening Russia
immeasurably
Russians don’t deserve this KGB clown
You sound like Ben Givr in Tel Aviv talking about Palestinians “Those people shouldn’t be in our land .. “ They must all get out &!give it to us or I kill them all “
Well piss off to the Azov HQ and tell them to get out of Ukraine .. that should be funny !! … stepping over the woodland graves of massacred civilians and telling any mourners you see “I dont much care about you lot “
You are either a troll or the most ignorant person here. Gobsmackingly wrong on every count.
David Roger - Got a scale to weigh a man for good or evil? Putin is good for Russia, a patriot, he is a lawyer and was not above driving a cab in the tough economic times in the 1990s, vs mugging people with his judo skills.
And who exactly is the paragon of "socialist liberties" to you - Ursula? Her hubby's family exploited working class for centuries so horribly, Karl Marx used this enterprise as an example of brutal capitalism in his books. Are we here in the USA now reeking of capitalism and liberty with silencing any voice against be it Covid vaccine or the war in Ukraine? Americans are forced to bankroll the current Ukraine Nazi regime, unaware that it was Ukrainian Nazis killing American Marines landing in Normandy on D-Day in Jun 1944. Scroll to 8 min 20 sec of this podcast by Victor D. Hanson, a prominent American military historian about D-Day. My Ukrainian grandfather fought German Nazis in WWII. What your grandfather was doing in WWII, that you got no problem with the surge of Nazism now?
https://www.audible.com/webplayer?asin=B09WXX887Q&contentDeliveryType=PodcastEpisode&ref_=a_minerva_cloudplayer_B09WXX887Q&overrideLph=false&initialCPLaunch=true
"Surrounded by NATO on every border"
So you do admit NATO is trying to expand its borders then. Which means that Putin is justified in invading Ukraine. Congratulations, you demolished your own argument.
Despotic power? Stop with the CNN drivel. Russia is more democratic than the US and the UK. Biden coup....
I hear what you're saying. But, it's not as if one fine Ukrainian morning the Ukrainians decided they had nothing better to do than hate Russia, their co-ethnic Russian countrymen, and all things Russian. Au contraire. They were subjected to a generation or more of unrelenting, cradle to grave "hate Russia and all things Russian" propaganda. That's not really "siding with evil."
The bloodshed is being driven by DC fundamentally. DC is using Ukraine in an attempt to harm Russians, which isn't working. DC doesn't actually care one whit about the Ukrainian people or their country. Ukrainians made a deal with the devil when they allowed DC to inject itself into their country via the 2014 coup. Russia has no choice but to remove DC's puppets in Kiev if they want an enduring end to the conflict, unless the Ukrainian military does so first when their suffering becomes too great.
Ukraine is technically and legally under international law still a part of the Russian Federation.
After Glasnost Ukraine was allowed to declare independence on the condition that it would not militarise and would remain a neutral buffer zone between Russia and expansionist Yankee controlled NATO.
IF you are unaware it was NATO's move to admit Ukraine plus the non-stop attempted genocide of Russia's defence pact treaty partners in the Donbass and Luhansk Peoples Republics who asked for help that initiated the SMO.
Yankeeland started this war very deliberately for many reasons, one of which is possibly the rebirth of Khazaria now the Greater Israel Project has failed in the Middle East.
Russia DID NOT invade Ukraine. It was asked to help its defence treaty partners end of story.
I thought the Khazaria project was now toast? No?
Russia didn't send not even close to the troop level needed to take metropolitan Kiev so you can toss that one. Russia has no interest in taking all of Ukraine and doesn't need to. Romania, Hungary and Poland are more than willing to commit "peace-keeping" forces in western Ukraine sooner or later.
They could have abided by the Minsk accords that they signed. Then there would have been no need for Russia to intervene to end the slaughter of the Donbas Ukrainians.
This is strange. The bridge strike seems to put to rest the notion that Russia does not have the means to destroy Dnepr bridges. Most of these bridges are out of range for Iskanders but Kinzhals can certainly reach them. It would be worth a detailed analysis of every single bridge to get a bearing on how many Kinzhals would be required to render it unusable. Some of these bridges are not really bridges but dams like the Karkhova dam; So that would have to enter the equation too - How much damage to the Dnepr water management system could be acceptable in an attempt to hamper the logistics routes? Probably not all bridges need be destroyed to have an effect. On the flip side, it has also been pointed out that pontoon bridges are easy to repair even if striked repeatedly. They can also be vacated if an approaching missile strike is detected. But would cutting the railway links across the Dnepr perhaps be doable? And what effect would the added inconvenience have on Ukrainian logistics? Russia has repeatedly attacked the railway bridge on the Black Sea coast south of Odessa - So what's the status of this particular one? Apparently, they didn't use Iskanders. Are pure railway bridges perhaps less susceptible to this kind of attack? A railway bridge usually consists of welded-together steel beams with lots of open space in between them. Is that the reason, perhaps? This kind of structure lets blast waves pass through to some extent.
It's the Soviet method of building. That's why the Bandera forces prefer to hole up in Soviet built industrial areas when events are turning against them.
Iskander will reach ALL bridges on the Dnieper River from the territory of Russia. 500 km. Range.
„ With Russia’s victory will come the eventual collapse of the entire Western order, which means the hundreds of years old banking cabal that has ruled the globe with an iron fist. Those ancient families at the top cannot allow Russia to win.“
But aren’t those families controlling the digital money system?
That is one of the major drivers in this shitshow. The Yankee dollar is worth nothing and the Petrodollar exist only at the mercy of BRICS+.
Yankeeland does not have a big hammer any more as the commodities based international trade system that Mr. Putin has been working on and promoting for 25+ years is now being used/implemented.
I can remember when Mr, Putin first mentioned a better trade system. Russia was still the U.S.S.R. and he was a person to watch. It did not go down well in Yankeeland.
Which one; the BIS/WEF system of orwellian control, or the BRICS system? The world seems to be splitting into two camps. I don't see how these families have a hold on both.
Thanks for your reply.
Aren’t the central banks of Russia, China, India etc all united under the roof of the BIS?
Who are the people that have set up the Shanghai goldmarket?
Who has control over the Chinese banks?
Just asking…
2 Simplicius: One should be very careful when citing something that came out of Igor Korotchenko's mouth. There was a big enough scandal about his deeds in 2011 i believe. I don't remember all of the details, but he was caught lying his ass off about his military accomplishments/rank and his military expertise while being kicked out of army because of "compromising circumstances"