236 Comments
User's avatar
Vasilios's avatar

The Ukraine has been bled dry by the machinations of their 'betters'. Affairs are coming to a head.

abcdefg's avatar

Yes, interesting to see the Ukrainians now getting scapegoated for NATO incompetence.

Simon Robinson's avatar

Indeed abcdefg, in fact things may begin to get much uglier as revenge and retribution kick in against those found responsible for this catastrophic debacle, and the wider realisation about the true size of their human losses, the fact that they're totally bankrupt for the foreseeable future, that they've been cynically used as proxies by foreigners with malign intent etc etc etc. The Mackinder Play is about to upsticks and move to another theatre...the terms; wailing and gnashing of teeth, will barely do justice to the reactions of the remaining 20 odd million Ukrainians remaining with no means of escape.

abcdefg's avatar

Too true. It goes to show how few people need to be bought and paid for to control a country of 44 million and steer them in a direction at odds with their wellbeing. All too likely the culprits of this reprehensible crime against humanity will escape justice. That is until their karma bears fruit.

occamsrazorback22's avatar

"the culprits of this reprehensible crime against humanity will escape justice"

Cookies Nuland is corrupting another generation of youth as she pollutes her sinecure at Columbia Diversity.

Norma Brown's avatar

one would hope that the mostly west Ukrainians who are still in place would recognize the west's duplicity and self-interestedness. But no, I think they will firmly hold Russia responsible and never recognize that by making themselves Russia's enemy they invited a war.

cg's avatar

If there’s a rout and the Hohols are in disarray, I only hope the Russians get a chance to pull out the sidelined BMPT “terminators” for some good times and wild Telegram vids.

Martin's avatar

I've been wondering what happened to those. I saw a few videos of them performing in some Ukrainian forests at the beginning of the SMO, but I haven't seen them since.

GM's avatar
Aug 14Edited

>But clearly the Alaska meeting will bring no such conclusions: even the US State Department spokesman now says the meeting is “not a negotiations”, and seems more an informal feeler for Trump to dangle a few test carrots in front of Putin.

Again, when the enemy is bombing you non-stop and killing a triple digit number of your soldiers and civilians on a daily basis, you cannot be having friendly meetings with him on his own turf.

That can only be qualified as treason.

The optics are just scandalous.

But doubly scandalous is the fact that very few people are as outraged as they should be.

And triply so inside Russia, where you have a lot of idiots (and not just the standard oligarch traitors and Western bootlickers like Kiril Dimitriev, not just the long known to be total bozos like Dugin, but also a lot of otherwise more respectable figures) who think they can be friends with the US and diplomacy has a chance...

They haven't learned from what just happened to Iran either.

Russia is doomed with such thinking.

Vasilios's avatar

Negotiation is merely another tool of conflict.

GM's avatar
Aug 14Edited

There is nothing to negotiate here.

Did Stalin negotiate with Hitler about whether Hitler would keep 90% of what he conquered in 1941 and 1942 or only 89%? Because that is what we are talking about right now.

No, Stalin kept going all the way to Berlin.

But, of course, in this case the West did not conquer anything, it was handed to them on a platter without a fight by traitors in Russia who were glad to destroy the country so that they can loot it. And those people are still in power...

Vasilios's avatar

Stalin negotiated in '39 when it fit his scruples.

GM's avatar

Did Hitler occupy a million square kilometers of Russian land in 1939?

Vasilios's avatar

Did you lick Mansteins dick in 1940?

posa's avatar

Weak. You disgrace yourself with your mental impotence.

Norma Brown's avatar

Stalin knew the USSR was not prepared for major war. Time was needed. He bought it, but as I am sure he anticipated, the Germans marched through Poland to get into Russia, forcing Russia to march through Poland chasing the bastards all the way home to Berlin.

E H's avatar

You don't understand anything, we are in the era where a man is a woman, where he can get pregnant and where the winner of a war is designated the loser.

Kennewick Man's avatar

GM: Is it true that you are Feral Finster’s Grandpa?

Vasilios's avatar

Is it true you get paid to comment?

Denis's avatar

Why bring Feral into this?

Not cool, man.

Norma Brown's avatar

this is the sixth grade schoolyard macho contest, consisting chiefly of slurs and reckless accusations. Whoever the commenter is, he obviously is a disgruntled expat and he expresses his contempt for a Russia that too often is naive at first. But when its eyes are opened, that's a whole different matter.

Feral Finster's avatar

It shows that Kennewick is unable to come up with a substantive response, which is why I don't bother to respond.

sandor's avatar

Tovarish GM! Mr Simp just delivered a very uplifting and positive report, and you are still not happy.

Slava Russia! and you can explode in your anger.

Moscow Mule's avatar

Russia is a nation of traitors. lol

Kennewick Man's avatar

The writer was aiming to describe the American political classes.

Mikey Johnson's avatar

” The optics are just scandalous.”

Optics are made in Western media to derail Trumps efforts (he really wants the War to end), soften up Zelensky on ”not one step backwards-policy” and to ensnare Russia into concessions. That is all that is.

I think Putin is doing right to attend the meeting and have a chance to talk straight with his buddy Trump. What choice has Putin otherwise? He has entrapped himself in the ”good guy” corner for years. Of course the Siloviki in Russia are corrupt and hardened criminals, like the self-righteous globo-liberals in the West (who allows shell companys, trusts and tax-heavens for the elite).

But even criminals has morale. And the Russian morale is better than the rotten flesh of West.

Norma Brown's avatar

I think the Russian government is handing all this crazy Trump is Czar business very deftly. Trump seems to suffer the delusion that he has such vast global power to compel that he can tell Russia "here's what America wants the deal to be, do it or else." Putin wants this meeting so Trump can never say he was not fully informed as to consequences of continued escalation for everybody and to underscore personally that Russia's terms remain unchanged, it will end the war in fairly short order and peace will rule the planet. Trump probably wants to hear it personally, as well, and to deliver whatever threats he feels necessary.

aquadraht's avatar

Shows how naive and incompetent you are. Korean/Chinese negotiators negotiated for years while their soldiers and civilians died in the thousands if not more. Same btw with the Taliban in Doha.

You are pathetic and moralizing. Luckily you have no say in these affairs.

GM's avatar

At that time the US had nukes and they didn't.

A rather major difference

aquadraht's avatar

At the time of the Korean war the USSR had nukes, maybe some less than the US but better rockets. At the time of the Vietnam war, the USSR was certainly at par with the US nuke wise. Lame response.

GM's avatar
Aug 14Edited

That comment shows how much you know, i.e. nothing.

The USSR only did its first successful nuclear test in late August 1949, and for the duration of the Korean war it still had very few bombs and little in terms of reliable means of delivering them to the US.

ICBMs were still a decade away, and even then it took the USSR the 1960s to reach numeric parity.

More generally, the Cold War was lost in large part precisely because of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which provided key early advantage to the US and shaped the global battlefield in its favor. Several of those early Cold War conflicts went the US's way exactly because the Soviets were too afraid to go in hard, as at the time the US had nukes and they either didn't at all or only had them in principle but not really deployed.

The three key ones:

1) The Korean war is not a stalemate, but a US victory. North Korea being communist made very little difference to the US, their goal was to establish a stable presence on the peninsula, they did that and they are still there.

2) The Soviets would have invaded Japan and probably split it in half at the very least, if not taken it outright, had it not been for the nukes being dropped.

3) The Greek civil war Stalin stayed out of altogether

You can add West Berlin to the list too -- it was a major sore for the duration of the Cold War and it would have been very helpful had it been eliminated. But again, that was 1947 and the US had nukes while Stalin didn't.

The result of all that is the total encirclement of the USSR from all sides. Had Greece become communist, Turkey as a key NATO position in the Middle East would have been much more difficult to maintain. And had the US been kicked out of Korea and Japan, there would have been no encirclement from the east.

The 1953 Iran coup was a major factor too, as it indirectly ensured total US control over the Gulf states. Prior to that the USSR had a strong presence there (even if not quite wanted).

P.S. And why is it that Stalin didn't have nukes on time? Because he had been bogged down in the grandest existential struggle in history, skillfully engineered for him by the Anglo-Saxons, had much of his industrial and human potential destroyed, and was playing catch up all the time.

Now guess what is happening now. The difference is that Putin has the power to not play this game under the same strongly stacked against him rules. But he refuses to exercise it...

aquadraht's avatar

This stuff appears to have been redacted if not shadowbanned so I refrain from a detailed response.. In short, you are wrong in all cases. :)

dacoelec's avatar

So you just simply accept ukronazi lies as being truth?

There is no hope for your level of stupidity.

The current attrition rate is somewhere in the area of 20 ukronazis to one Russian.

But expecting facts to penetrate your Putin hating thick skull is futile.

GM's avatar
Aug 14Edited

>So you just simply accept ukronazi lies as being truth?

Which ones?

The triple digit killed daily?

One year of 100 dead a day is 36,500 dead, in case you have forgotten (or never learned) how to do simple math. And Russian sources will tell you their dead are 120,000 or so. In 3.5 years. And 3.5 times 36,000 is quite exactly 120,000.

So yeah, it is a triple digit number of killed daily. The Ukronazi lie is that it is a four-digit. It isn't.

But as it is, it is quite bad already.

Let's do a thought exercise, which I invite people to do every other week, and yet nobody takes it seriously.

Let's take a smallish Russian city of 120,000 people, let's say something like Novomoskovsk in Tula (population 119,697 by the 2021 census). Let's say NATO drops a nuke on it and kills everyone and destroys everything. What should Putin do then? Launch nukes in response or go to Alaska to have a friendly meeting with the US president?

Well, NATO has done the equivalent of dropping a nuke on such a city, in fact quite a bit worse, because those 120,000 dead are all men in their prime, they do not include any elderly and women. Plus most of the dead on the Ukrainian side, and they are 5-10x as many, are ethnic Russians (even if brainwashed into self-hatred). And it has probably done even worse in terms of material destruction on Russian land (there are a lot of areas in the Donbass that got completely leveled). It just did it gradually. Why should that make a difference though?

But what is Putin doing in response? He is going to Alaska and is praising the efforts the US side to end the conflict...

If the Russian population hadn't been so beaten into complete unthinking blind submission to its ruling class (Western propaganda has that part correct, although coming at it from the right angle), there would have been huge crowds with pitchforks in front of the Kremlin a long time ago, demanding the war to be fought seriously, and those crowds would be out for the literal blood of Putin and his cronies.

dacoelec's avatar

Putin this and Putin that. You have always been singularly focused on Putin and nucs.

Putin has managed to eliminate three NATO armies so far with his strategy and the west still hasn't caught on because they are believing ukronazi's lies.

Russia is winning this conflict and weakening the west at the same time but you're just not happy because nucs aren't flying. Get a grip.

GM's avatar

How is the West weakened?

1) Syria was flipped

2) Moldova was taken over

3) Armenia now too, with physical US military presence there too

4) US bases in Finland and Sweden

5) US missiles flew into Russia, fired by the US itself, and there was no response, which clearly sets a power hierarchy.

etc.

dacoelec's avatar

The west has no industrial base and has seriously depleted stocks of weaponry. If the west is ever stupid enough to invade Russia then it will be over quickly. The USSA/NATO is a paper tiger. Russia and China are for real. The USSA/NATO posturing and support of terrorist states is just another indication of how weak they are.

Putin and Zhi are how people act that are in real control of their countries.

GM's avatar

Europe conquered half the world before it industrialized.

And Britain had absolutely no business subjugating India when it did in terms of population, economic, and military potential. But it did, and it did with a very small number of people too.

What matters is resolve and the ability to use other people's weaknesses.

Galendae's avatar

The Benefits of an endless Printing Press. Bribe everyone and anyone.

Look at Armenia, clearly their leader was bought off.

Ultimately the West is battling to save the Dollar.

Brics are battling to end it.

The Dollar's days are coming to an end, thus so are the days of American hegemony. Wars for the DOLLAR's supremacy are what we are witnessing.

Vasilios's avatar

In the grand scheme of things, this percentage of losses incurred merely enhances the gene pool. It's a win-win longterm. The losses Russia suffered in WWI, CW, and WWII are of a whole different level, the nation has never recovered.

Eric Fuleftists's avatar

You're correct. Instead of meeting with Trump, Putin should now be at the stage of demanding unconditional surrender from Ukraine, and implementing a military strategy that makes such an outcome inevitable.

Kennewick Man's avatar

There is no coincidence here; the sudden major acts on the front are timed to show something to Trump at the coming meeting on 8/15/25. Trump already said that territorial swaps will not be discussed with Putin on Friday. He does not want to scare his favorite pet, Zelensky. That will leave only one thing to do; The consumption of a few battles of Stolichnaya vodka.

Vasilios's avatar

Thanks, Harry Mann. Your input is noted.

E H's avatar

Like every day, Taco has rattled off another 3,000 cubic meters of words. He's talking about dire consequences for Russia if it doesn't comply with his orders. What will he do? A five-day ultimatum, a one-day ultimatum? Let them send their troops to the front; the Russians are only too happy to receive a bonus.

Simon Robinson's avatar

He might need one after VVP delivers some facts & figures regarding the real damage and destruction that has been caused, backed up with supporting evidence. Oh and...forget the "Rare Earth" Don, it's gone, and ain't coming back, you've lost big style despite what those posh English blokes tell you.

Martin's avatar

Zelensky is losing everything he promised Trump as part of the deal on underground resources

"Russian troops approached the “Krasnolimanskaya” mine. Less than a kilometre from the company's main administrative and production complex," DNR chief adviser Igor Kimakovsky told TASS news agency.

The mine is located near the town of Rodinske in the Krasnoarmeysk coal basin. Several million tonnes of coal, needed for the metallurgical industry, are mined there every year.

Russian experts note that Kiev is losing critical assets needed for the agreement with the US on Ukraine's subsoil resources. This is also recognised by the American press. As the New York Times wrote, a valuable lithium deposit is already under Russian control, and the Russian army is approaching “deposits of titanium and other raw materials”.

Maybe acquiring the rights to deposits that are at high risk of falling under Russian control are part of the 5-D chess too?

https://t.me/TheIslanderChat/252559

Christopher's avatar

I bet some poor dogs are being kicked and abused by their Blackrock owners right now. We should set up a rescue. It is well known that evil people abuse animals, and Blackrock people are no doubt enraged and dangerous now that they've lost their money grab.

User's avatar
Comment deleted
Aug 15
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Christopher's avatar

But why does evil manifest so strongly in the bankers? That would be a good question for God, if we reach Heaven, Paradise, or whatever version you like.

Feral Finster's avatar

Trump could not care less about facts and figures. He is a bullshitter, not an analyst.

Literally Mussolini's avatar

Trump's under tremendous pressure not to get "played again " by Putin. Any facts and figures Putin brings will just be declared as lies by the many pro-war voices in the US.

Chip Worley's avatar

But Trump doesn't drink...

Kennewick Man's avatar

With Russians around him he will have to get used to it.

Cheryl Shepherd's avatar

Things the RF would like to discuss in Alaska, no particular order

* Return of access to RF diplomatic properties Russia was evicted from under DJT 1.0

* Return of air travel between US and Russia, cancelled under DJT 1.0

* Withdrawal from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, done by DJT 1.0

* US extraterritorial placement of nuclear weapons in Europe, recently done by DJT 2.0

* Labelling the RF as a 'national security threat', recently done by DJT 2.0

* US to place offensive intermediate range missiles in Germany, recently said by DJT 2.0

All of these measures, old and new, are displays of consistent US strategic hostility to the RF.

The decay rate of proxy Ukraine is less than an afterthought compared to the above.

Ismaele's avatar

Exactly! That's why I keep saying in my articles and comments to other posts that this meeting between Trump and Putin is just kabuki theatre from both sides. Heads of state do not meet just to "discuss stuff"; these meetings are usually just for signing agreements that have been widely discussed in previous lower-level meetings. So, either they have agreed on something we know nothing about (yet) or this meeting will be cancelled soon.

User's avatar
Comment deleted
Aug 14
Comment deleted
Rory Bellows's avatar

Maybe do some Whale watching too. It could be a nice visit if they stuck to the fun stuff.

Victor's avatar

My understanding is that this meeting is not about negotiations at all but about Trump dangling some suggestions in front of Putin to see if he will bite at any of them. Meanwhile, Putin is likely to properly inform Trump about the real status of the SMO and that further resistance on the part of the USA and Europe is futile and will lead nowhere but to many more Ukie deaths, and that he and Trump should now decide on the best course of action to allow Russia to finish its job in Ukraine, allow Trump to exit without a loss of face, to begin talks aimed towards a new European security architecture and to propose ideas on mutual economic opportunities for the two countries in the Arctic region which both leaders salivate over.

Ismaele's avatar

Yes, I have read that even the US State Department said that there is no negotiation involved in this meeting of heads of state.

All the things that you mentioned can be safely done with lower-level meetings or directly with a phone call from their offices.

Once again:

- either there have been behind-the-stage negotiations nobody is privy to and they are to going to sign something and/or give the announcement of something important very soon,

- or this meeting will be called off last minute (not much time left) for one reason or another.

Mikey Johnson's avatar

Sure the Lizards at State Dep is issuing the ”no negotation” optics to the public. It is to sabotage and limit Trump. Trump has said he ”wants to meet Putin alone”. Why wish - he is the President?

Last time he met Trump 2016/2017, he could have defused the situation but was hamstringed by the Deep Stat administration and the Russia collusion hoax. They even assassinated (of sort) Trumps security adviser Michael Flynn before he could prepare anything with the Russians.

Dhdh's avatar

This is stupid. Zion don IS the deep state.

Mikey Johnson's avatar

No. Never was. A outsider treated with contempt from the real Deep State. Nowadays they ”handle” him. One of them is Lindsey Graham.

John Thomas's avatar

I thought Trump would bring a big beautiful chocolate cake and at some point Zelensky would jump out of it and play a little piano.

I would fly to Alaska to see that.

Penelope Pnortney's avatar

A *little* piano? Oh, my.

Victor's avatar

Yes, it needs to be scaled downward to match his....physique.

Dhdh's avatar

Yes but why would Putin agree to this meeting?

Peter V's avatar

This is a damn good question. He must think he has something to gain. Guess we'll find out tomorrow.

arthur brogard's avatar

I think everything is so much behind the scenes that ALL is kabuki theatre. I think we don't even know the real factors, the real players.

It is, I think, similar to the earnest discussions/debates/wrangles about global economics and the dollar. The fact is that there is one quadrillion dollars 'on the books' of the world. That is the size of the investment of the world on keeping things running smoothly. That is the size of the thing that has to 'fall' or 'be destroyed'.

Do you see what I mean?

I mean all the talk is mere inconsequential babble next to that gigantic immutable fact - which same fact never gets mentioned !!!

So I don't know what the 'gigantic immutable fact' is about this 'war' but I feel strongly there is one and all our talk is just that: inconsequential babble.

But by god it's a damn sight more interesting than soap operas and video movies, FB reels and such.

It is.

And so it's a horror to say it, to admit to it, but this daily dying of a thousand and more men is the best entertainment in town. Now how's that for grisly? For low order? For just plain awful?

Nearly as bad as turning a blind eye to Gaza perhaps.

Mikey Johnson's avatar

I really like your thinking Arthur!

arthur brogard's avatar

corollary of that must be that I like yours, Mikey. :)

Trumpeter's avatar

As to the "one quadrillion dollars", in economics all activity is on the margin. What that means is that it took just a few houses going to foreclosure for your house value to drop precipitously in '08. And the same with dollars. Yes there is no replacement (in the sense of fiat) for the massive investment in US Treasuries but supply and demand still apply. As more countries Central Banks buy gold with sold dollars and use new systems to trade in their own currencies there will be tremendous pressure on the dollar. Money equals a durable and lasting store of value and fiat is just upgraded toilet paper waiting for the 'Naked Emperor' moment.

arthur brogard's avatar

I don't know what you're trying to say if there is any one thing.

It's obvious though that fiat money is not as worthless as you say. We have all the economic activity represented by one quadrillion dollars to vouch for that.

The fact is, I strongly suspect, that there's no problem, just a great many hysterical little girls with their knickers in a twist.

The world is clearly far more sophisticated than it ever has been.

This is the contentious issue in fact, isn't it? I claim, I am with, those who claim the world is now more sophisticated.

The hystericals claim the world is more chaotic, fundamentally less coherently organised and stable and in danger of falling apart at any time.

I think not.

Part of the sophistication, other than your smartphone, is the financial systems of the world and in particular 'money'.

It is not only 'fiat' by way of being disconnected from cowrie shells or lumps of Au but it is now disconnected from even paper and exists merely as a record of transactions and balances in a computer.

It is a medium of trade and it is functioning right well.

However there is a problem apparently with the sound running of the de facto bank of the world: the usa. As a formal bank it would be in liquidation long ago. They have misappropriated funds habitually, it is their modus operandi, that was in fact why they adopted the role.

So they have a public debt of some 34 Trillion I believe which now is so great they cannot even finance the interest.

This is the problem.

And it looks huge.

But the point is that it is only numbers. It can be solved. A way can be found.

And 34 trillion huge as it is in proportion to one quadrillion is miniscule.

The holders of the quadrillion will see to it that the 34 trillion doesn't bring down the whole house.

It is not a 'house of cards'. It is a robust, secure, sophisticated and strong system.

None of us really care how much debt america has and whether it can service it or not. As long as it IS serviced or an avenue is found for interested parties to withdraw. And, of course, the easiest way to service is simply to 'print money' or in these modern times just change the numbers in the computer.

So a few trillion are created and the self imposed burden on the americans is relieved. The debt is serviced and the creditors are relieved.

Not fair you say... why do they get this benefit? Out of necessity, that's why.

Doom, you say: the dollar will fall because now too much money, you can't just print money. Yes you can and no it won't. When there's no money to service debt there's not enough money. Adding that money in doesn't create 'too much' it creates 'just enough'. No one runs around spending recklessly and raising prices and creating inflation - they avoid poverty from being 'robbed' of their investment.

A very large change in fact in the usa would be the lack of need to sell more treasury notes in order to service debt. Not 'selling' notes needed to pay out immediately is no loss, no gain, it simply wipes that balanced transaction off the books.

The world community, I'd say, needs to take control of the de facto 'bank of the world' - that is: the usa's 'banking aspect' - and they could arrange such matters.

This would be to everyone's benefit.

And is a thing you can do in a digitized fiat sophisticated system. It is not something you can do with bags of cowrie shells.

Simon Robinson's avatar

An important factor imho is the massive disparity in the intellectual abilities of VVP & DT. Mr Putin can talk, unscripted for hours on a variety of complex subjects, invoking historical context, supported by facts, figures and other supportive narratives without any notes, not even a scrap of paper in front of him, and certainly not a tele-prompter. He can also take questions from all comers, delivering answers with articulate precision and confidence. I have seen this for myself when viewing his televised deliveries at say the Valdai conference or the St. Petersburg business conference. On the other hand there's Mr Trump. Soundbites & slogans and a sentence or two is about all you'll get. A recently screened piece of Christine Lagarde where she commented on the two men's abilities shared a very similar opinion. In fact when asked about Trump's abilities in this area, her sole response was to politely laugh and shake her head. Therefore, I don't think a "conference" as such is even possible as one of the delegates will find himself completely out of his depth.

Dhdh's avatar

Yes. Because Zion don is just a Jew puppet.

Scarlett's avatar

As any respectable women aren't we all in the business of lists and no regrets?

Such as Burevestnik military exercise just in case your list would not be taken into consideration?

Other than that, it is a Christmas in August, free comments and such.

Russia's breach was not a one day affair, rather in weeks in making.

To be fair during 2023 Zaporozhye contra-nastup Zaluzhny was missing due to the alleged precision strike by Kinzhal or something.

He is still a dushbag, but now he is a very English/Vogue piece of shit in Armani lecturing brunettes (not his type from what I 've heard) on the art of war.

If the merc comes for safari in Donbass, he eventually dies rather horrible and graphic death.

Back to lists 👊

- Return of stolen money - most of frozen assets are in EU

- Return of postal services between US and Russia, maybe someone who decided to have a Russian friend in order to survive a pending apocalypse wants to send a postcard.

- cancel the cancel culture. The Met doesn't have to change the Kuindzhi painting tag every time ukro activists are up and running with paper airplanes in Guggenheim Museum.

-ballet and Tchaikovsky is back

- opera singers are back

- wtf going on with Olympics - summer and winter

- no orange agent has any moral authority on Morher Russia, particularly, once his co employs Azov elements in security services for his tower constructions in Eastern Europe.

VHMan's avatar

Most important reason for Putin to go to Alaska: defuse the threat of secondary tariffs on BRICS members. Carrot? More meetings with Putin. [From Dialogue Works (UTube). Unable to give attribution ;-(…sorry]

Marko Radulovic's avatar

Secondary tarrifs on Brics members will only hasten the demise of the dollar as reserve currentcy

Feral Finster's avatar

If news reports are to be believed, Trump is claiming that the war will end Friday or Russia will face "very severe consequences".

Rory Bellows's avatar

It continues to baffle me how tens of millions of Americans are still just oh so sure Trump and Putin are in cahoots together. Even with the MSM generally backing off in pushing that it’s basically gospel now for any “respectable” white-collar person.

I even saw an acquaintance post on Facebook that Lindsay Graham was a Putin stooge after he criticized Zelensky after the disastrous White House meeting. Lindsay Graham…insanity.

GM's avatar
Aug 14Edited

>US generals actually micro-managed the entire planning and operations aspects of the disaster from the earliest stages, and with a heavy hand, as it later came to be known

This is a misunderstanding of US strategy here.

Does anyone seriously think that the generals in the Pentagon thought that sending the Ukrainians against prepared Russian defenses without an air force would work somehow? They might be very corrupt there, but they are not such idiots.

Of course they were well aware the offensive would fail. But it was never intended to succeed.

The US has been maintaining a fine balance of not causing too much pain at any given moment for Russia, carefully avoiding the switch finally be flipped and Russia starting fighting for real, while gradually moving the boundaries of what is considered normal further and further into the realm of the previously unthinkable, while exhausting Russian material and manpower resources.

Boiling the frog in short.

A successful large-scale invasion in 2023 might have been a trigger for the frog to jump out of the pot. It failing was part of the cost of doing business and in the grand scheme of things it was successful. Russia was conditioned to accept large amounts of Western armor being launched at it without striking at the source of that armor.

Them the following year Russia proper was invaded by what was essentially a NATO force under the fig leaf of AFU uniforms and insignia (and often not even that), and Russia did not strike the source of that invasion.

Further down the line it will be an outright NATO invasion towards Kaliningrad, Murmansk, or St. Petersburg, and by that point Russia will be conditioned to accept that too without launching nukes at Europe.

The US has an endless supply of human meat to throw at the fire in Europe, and also in the form of mercenaries from all around the world. Russia doesn't.

Also, remember that the Russian army is a volunteer one. Which has an important corollary that most people here are clearly missing on. Which is that the people killed on the front lines on the Russian side are the conscious patriotic elements. The liberal traitors are not at the front. So the war will thin the ranks of the patriots and shift the balance further in favor of the liberal traitors. Which, for all we know, might be something the Kremlin approves of too. But keep it going and that will break the country eventually.

That is exactly what happened in WWII. Stalin purged the suspect elements in the 1930s and raised a whole new generation of Soviet people, i.e. those born in the 1910s and 1920s and raised with the spirit of communism, in its most justifiably optimistic phase, when big things were being built rapidly all over and improvements in people's lives were happening at breakneck speed. And then the war started and 80% of that generation were killed off. A few decades later they were simply not present to prevent the collapse of the USSR, and they were also not there to raise the next generations in the same spirit.

Same situation here in many ways, though on a smaller (for now, at least) scale.

User's avatar
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Aug 14
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Herman's avatar

You are right. In my modest opinion, the "Time of Heroes" program proves that Putin really cares about Russia, because this program goes right to the heart of the matter. I.e. that a country must be ruled by people who loved it and are ready to shed their blood for it, and not by individuals who just want to become powerful and rich.

GM's avatar

Why is Strelkov in jail then?

Herman's avatar

What would your eternal source of inspiration, Stalin, have done with Strelkov?

GM's avatar
Aug 15Edited

Nothing, because Strelkov would not be saying the same things under Stalin. There would be no need for him to be saying them

Stalin instigated wars to recover former Russian land on some occasions through flase flags.

How long do you think Ukraine would have lasted as an independent state if Stalin was in the Kremlin?

Would have Strelkov had to solo it in Slavyansk (or with the help of the GRU behind the Kremlin's back in Crimea) under Stalin? And would he have had to pull out of Slavyansk because the Kremlin refused to help him and did Minsk instead?

That sort of thing.

Vasilios's avatar

Meh, Russia has fire overwatch in superiority. At best your fantasies result in a Boom Boom. Poof.

Haywood Jablome's avatar

It would not surprise me in the least if the Generals in the Pentagon are idiots. Just look at this knob Donahue. The architect of the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan and then promoted, just like the vast majority of the Flag officers in the US Military. Ass kissing yes men.

E H's avatar

Donahue? Are you talking about the generalissimo who ran ahead of the boys at Kabul airport fleeing the Taliban cavalry on a moped? Tomorrow a Donut will be US Chief of Staff.

Simon Robinson's avatar

Thanks guys...didn't know that about Donahue. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear what an effin mess ! This really is a FUBAR moment.

Givenroom's avatar

Are you mentioning an endless army of mercenaries or Mercedeses? Mercenaries too handy uniform, their hair brushed and always ready to shoot rabbits, but badly trained Ruskies, the former learned from the German Army during their Russian invasion WWII that putting your pants down they froze to death standing, but hey learned their lessons all now wear napkins. Tell me the USSR collapsing, but meanwhile the EU survival raft in the Nord Sea and the Atlantic is going down at a speed the Titanic cannot compete.

John Osman's avatar

Sorry Givenroom. I have no idea what point you are making.

Givenroom's avatar

It’s not obvious at all, for the German Army at the Russian Front in WWII besides the Russian enemy there were unexpected enemies as the snow, the mud, temperatures below 30…40, there was also a Dysentery epidemic, those who lowered their pants got frozen to death and remained in that position forever. Also not obvious looking now in particular at France, Italy and the whole south of Europe they are invaded every year by a complete paralysing heat wave, the expansion of the Sahara and Sahel….think of armies fighting in those temperatures, even with a clear mind it causes new and unexpected problems, if the train rails don’t permit regular connection because they expand and get off the hook, what about jets, canons, drones, and of course soldiers permanently dehydrated and immobilised.

Simon Robinson's avatar

I hear they've Mercenaries from Colombia and wondered if they know what they're letting themselves in for. I guess they've brought plenty of warm clothes and thermal Base layers with them, they'll come in handy in a few weeks, if they survive that long.

Givenroom's avatar

Mercenaires and Legionnaires are everywhere, Al countries have long history of them, also Russian prisoners can be counted in. France has many Legionair contractors and battalion in Marseille, Corsica, Guyana, New Caledonia, Tahiti, Odessa? Kiev? GB had their SAS perhaps now in a more adapted version, Germany you bet they have them, the US I even remember a Taliban born in the US speaking Pashtun and advising the rebels, beard and outlook no suspicion possible, same happened in Iran Mossad disguised as an authentic Iran scientist or civilian, passing all locations and movements to take their top generals out. Remember the barefoot black pajamas in Vietnam dropped behind enemy lines and killing people as an example, even knowing they were US minded.

All had their time and contributed to secret wars, wars in the dark. Now what’s next for Gaza and Ukraine will be continued as a war out of the box, rules are already shifting.

Eyjafjallajökull the volcano in Iceland and it’s dust paralysing any air traffic for weeks; the Tsunami starting near Kamchatka rolling over the whole Pacific; The floods in Texas within an hour the waterline rising 25-30 feet, protection as good as impossible; What about Laihaina Maui, natural or manmade? The wildfires never seen before in Texas, California, Marseille, Southern Europe; Half a mountain mudflows coming down and swallowing whole villages in the Alpes! Now ask yourself can all these and a lot more we haven’t thought about, sound and heat weapons,….can they be caused by some nuclear catastrophes even hundreds or thousand miles away from the target, at the bottom of the ocean, deep in the earth and why not from the moon?

E H's avatar

"They may be very corrupt over there, but they're not such idiots." The only difference with you is they're even more corrupt.

Herman's avatar

"Which is that the people killed on the front lines on the Russian side are the conscious patriotic elements."

Thought-provoking remark. Just think about it: in wars, the strongest and healthiest young men, the most motivated and the most courageous, the most willing to sacrifice themselves are send to the front. They are the most likely to die, without having had the chance to reproduce. In contrast, the ones who survive and can have children are the deserters and the sick.

In the course of human history, with its many bloody conflicts, this scenario has been repeated time and again. The best genes get lost in every war. The result is that in the long term, the people literally degenerates. The results of this scenario we can observe every day in what has become of Europe and all her once so strong nations. So sad!

Mikey Johnson's avatar

Exactly. And therefore civilizations are going under…

grr's avatar

For Russia the best sign up and maybe die.

But in the "west" (US,UK, Australia) only the brain dead unemployable losers join the employer of last resort, the military. When they die it's no loss.

I have never met anyone who was in the military that wasn't a moron, a Rambo wannabe, or intelligent.

Herman's avatar

The situation is different in countries where there is or was a compulsory military service.

grr's avatar

True. I was referring to volunteers as I thought you were too.

Squeeth's avatar

In Britain the volunteer army (i.e. mercenaries) has always been a mass of soldiers recruited by Lieutenant-General unemployment, adventurers, people trying to start again with a clean slate-learn a trade and ne'er-do-wells looking for opportunities to exploit people.

Herman's avatar

But during WWI there was a compulsory military service in the UK, I believe?

Squeeth's avatar

It began in January 1916 but lots of people who wanted to join when they were old enough didn't bother after that, they waited for the call-up so not all of them were reluctant soldiers. Conscription was introduced in 1939 so most people again waited to be called up. Compulsory service ended in 1963 and the forces reverted to their pre-1914 structures (except for the Raff of course). A heavy army in Germany to pretend that the Soviets were a threat and a smaller Gendarmerie for colonial repression. The US-Ukronazi war has caught them wrong-footed, with inadequate production of weapons and ammunition, weapons that are full of expensive bells and whistles, not suited to intense usage and inferior to Russian equivalents. The biter bit. ;O)

Feral Finster's avatar

A dude who was career Army enlisted said that there were three types of enlisted in the Army - drunks, Bible thumpers, and gym rats. (He was a drunk.) There is some overlap between the latter two categories.

A woman I knew who was also career Army enlisted (pre-9/11) said that there were four types of enlisted in the Army - white men, white women, black men and black women.

The white men, she said, were undatable, because they were losers. They joined the Army because they had no prospects and they liked being told what to do. (The few white men who were not full-on losers, however, had their pick of the pickings, so to speak.)

The black women also were undatable, because they were hard cases. They saw the Army as their ticket out of whatever hellhole they came from and they were going to make the most of their opportunity and not going to go back there.

That left white women and black men.

The guy I mentioned above said that this also was an accurate description.

Penelope Pnortney's avatar

As a military brat, I beg to differ. My father was career Air Force and one of the smartest people I ever knew. He also had integrity and common sense and was a responsible family man who's dearly missed.

CC's avatar

That puts the genetic factor of human development on a pedestal it doesn’t merit. People develop all kinds of ideas and go into wars for all kinds of reasons. Many fools die in trenches. Many cowards too.

By your simplified, childish, war glorifying, half cooked Darwinian philosophy the Germans that jumped to attention when the Austrian corporal went on his first podium are the salt of the earth, people with qualities so excellent they'd have solved all the problems of humanity. Ditto the Japanese kamikazes. How’s that for a thought?

Squeeth's avatar

I think you do Darwin a disservice, it was later people who distorted his thinking to excuse European racist imperialism. I can't help but notice that Russian recruitment is based on sentiment, loadsa money and short service commitments that are honoured. Materialism with a patriotic veneer.

CC's avatar

Re: Darwin. Totally agree with you. It may have not come across clearly in my comment but that’s exactly my thinking, that people use Darwin to justify human behaviour in ways that may be misguided.

As regards the management of Russian army human requirements, it’s interesting what you say and if true it comes to show the intelligence of the political leadership as regards Russian society. Of course GM would disagree.

VHMan's avatar

Well said! Thank you.

Squeeth's avatar

There's a part of me that wants the US-lackey forces to try it on but I'd rather the Septics fucked off home. ;O)

Chip Worley's avatar

"while exhausting Russian material and manpower resources." They've done a really shity job of that. Russian military is much stronger since the start of the SMO.

"The US has an endless supply of human meat to throw at the fire in Europe, and also in the form of mercenaries from all around the world. Russia doesn't."

Absolute horseshit... Chip

TMTO's avatar

IIRC the chinese laser defenses were trialed in Iran and worked really well against an Israeli rocket barrage, to the point where the follow-up airstrikes were mothballed because there was practically no degradation of AD and thus sending planes in would be suicide. Glad to hear they're doing well in Ukraine too.

Jullianne's avatar

The rubbish about Ukraine'a defeat being all about its failure to truly adopt western NATO systems, is the start of how the defeat is going to be spun. Hell, just one soviet army defeating another- nothing to do with us westerners, Gov. We tried to help- god knows we gave them arms etc- but they just wouldn't listen.

You can hear the unspoken 'good riddance'. I assume Zelenskiiy can hear it too.

Little local war of not much concern to anyone. After all, all Ukraine belonged to Russia not that long ago. So not much of a victory eh? (deft sliding into claims that borders were never really changed, just sorted out eventually. 'We in the west should live with this in the interests of stability on the west Asian-European continent. Now, let's move on.'

Watch it unfold.

Moscow Mule's avatar

Maybe. Still, the pig is going to require massive amounts of lipstick.

CC's avatar

“Still, the pig is going to require massive amounts of lipstick.“

Not really, not for the benefit of the western masses. The way Jullianne describes it is the way it’s felt in the street, at least in the UK. Most people don’t have any idea of the significance of this war for European countries, it’s just another Eastern European fight. Westerners, the only truly happy people in this world, hehehe. No connection between the state of the country and Starmer’s foreign policy is made in people’s minds.

Squeeth's avatar

I've hardly met anyone since 2014 that has an interest in the putsch regime or the SMO. Take Neighbours off the telly (First Gulf War) and there would be uproar.

Yoni Reinón's avatar

The WP and the NYT as just the official propaganda for the rest of MSM to repeat. They are supposed to shape the public opinion, but most of the western plebs just dont care. They feel disempowered and out of touch with politics,.and rightly so. These thought guidelines are only useful for the middle management who keep the system standing in the administration and business decision takers. For us informed people, is toilet paper, mind rubbish.

VHMan's avatar

You got the “moving on” script dead on!

posa's avatar

From Zero Hedge:

"Russia's Fuel Exports Plummeted in July...Going forward, Russia’s refined product shipments could fall further in August, while crude oil exports could rise, as several refineries sustained damages during Ukrainian drone strikes earlier this month."

Though Russian forces are galloping through Donetsk... there are still perils in allowing key Ukrainian transport and manufacturing infrastructure to remain standing.

Jullianne's avatar

Stop it, fuel exports always fall in the summer.

posa's avatar

I guess you missed the part about the steady stream of refineries being taken out of action because of drone strikes.

Jullianne's avatar

No, I ignored that propaganda.

dacoelec's avatar

Another GM idiot.

Marko Radulovic's avatar

Have you seen the size of the Russian Federation? Those strikes are pin pricks

E H's avatar

"Russia's fuel exports fell in July." The ban on Russian fuel exports does not explain the drop in foreign sales.

posa's avatar

No one claimed exports fell because of declining demand; rather

"..several refineries sustained damages during Ukrainian drone strikes earlier this month...The Saratov Refinery in the Volga region has the capacity to process 140,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude, but it has now been forced offline due to Ukrainian drone strikes.

The refinery has become the third Russian crude processing facility to have been damaged by Ukrainian drone strikes so far in August.

The halt to three major refineries would mean that Russia will see lower domestic gasoline and diesel supply while it will have more crude available for export as it doesn’t have too much storage for the unprocessed crude. "

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/russias-fuel-exports-plummeted-july

E H's avatar

If you followed Russian news, you would know that export sales have been banned. A few cubic meters of burning aren't going to drain Russia of fuel.

Danf's avatar

The same article also says that a number of production facilities are down for scheduled maintenance and domestic demand in Russia for fuel has increased. Increased domestic demands suggests stronger growth in the domestic economy (although it could also mean stronger demand for fuel at the front ?)

Scipio's avatar

I pity the Ukrainians/NATO.

Unfortunately for them, they have the successor of General Zhukov against them - General Mordvichev.

The guy is a military genius. They are totally SCREWED.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrey_Mordvichev

E H's avatar

It doesn't take much to defeat NATO. Mordichev probably has Afghan peasant roots.

Scipio's avatar

Mordvichev is a military genius. A genuine one.

HBI's avatar

Saying he's a successful commander is one thing. I'll wait until he publishes a memoir, or at least to some postwar historical analysis, to call him a genius.

The perceptions of Zhukov have varied over the years based on the state of publications. Knowing now a lot more than in the past, it's easier to give him credit for a lot of things. For that matter, pretty much any commanders. Ney looked way more talented before Jomini defected, for instance.

Jullianne's avatar

The simplest way to move forward is to turn Ukraine into a non issue and then proceed with negotiations for stable relations with the Russian super power.

Failing that, the west has a ground hog day when Odessa has gone and all those other weak points are under immediate threat- Moldova et al. But the west does not want to be on this sort of back foot, so expect a settlement now on Russian terms, despite the noise.

Many in Russia would love Russia to have the excuse and so obligation to go much further than Putin's current modest demands. This is not Putin's weakness in agreeing to this meet with Trump. He is giving the west one last chance to stop what is a defeat turning into something so much worse for western europe. Trump is inclined to leave the euro-nutters to it if they decide to go down in a blur of fantasy words and silly posturing. Despite this being his own natural habitat, he has a fine sense of self preservation. But he has nutters of his own leaning on him. What will be will be.

Ahenobarbus's avatar

"US and NATO’s top generals were in fact utilizing the ‘Soviet’ system at every step, while Russia actually utilizes true “mission command”

In my humble opinion, to refer to a military as "Soviet" style is only an insult to an Imperialist imbecile. Once again, a very light reading of history would reveal the marvels produced by the Soviet military system. In fact, Putin is very much a product of that same vilified and ignorantly insulted system.

abcdefg's avatar

If you can't beat them you can at least call them names. That will really sting

JC's avatar

When someone derides a military as "Soviet" they are either historically illiterate, subjected to Wehrmacht propaganda, or thinking of the decay of the late '80s/90's. Or all of the above.

Alex B's avatar

It's rhetoric meant to control the masses. They are retards AND feel the need to fit in and laugh at others when told to. So I'm sure it works. Just call it Soviet crap and many people who lived under cold war will buy the slander.

People did after all take the vax and give it to their 5 year olds. It doesn't get much more insane than that.

E H's avatar

I ask myself the question; how can American and English press personnel, whose only title is journalists, be called a press card, improvise as military strategists when they would be incapable of saving their skin when faced with a 12-year-old child in the street? Let's not talk about the European press; the profession of journalist disappeared 20 years ago.

Jullianne's avatar

The western strategy in the early days was on the one hand to avoid giving Russia the excuse of turning the SMO into a full war with NATO (bye bye Poland et al) and instead to fight this as a psi-op. After all, the whole covid thingee had gone so well. All you had to do was tell Russia it was going to be be flattened in the Ukrainian wonder-advance, and ill-equipped poorly trained Russian troops and local militia would just turn tail.

Western planners really believed this, and the Pentagon thought it was worth a punt (after all, only 'not-real' people were at risk here). It was going to be the most easily won non-war ever fought. You need to understand this to understand just how far the entire western hegemon has floated from the real world on its sea of made up money. And how the real world is inevitably reasserting itself over a fantasy, all over the globe- as reality tends to do.

Yoni Reinón's avatar

The plan failed miserably

Victor's avatar

The fact that Ukraine is suffering a marked manpower shortage along the front and that Russia has been taking full advantage of that by heavily pressing them along the entire front, causing them to continually reposition their best remaining troops to weakened areas has resulted in immense pressures on the Ukie defensive line all along the front. However, it seems to me, certainly not a military genius like some on this site, that the Russian breakthrough of the Ukie's last line of defense near Pokrovsk is a major event signifying that we are now in the end stages of the ultimate collapse of the Ukie's ability to fight. I suspect the SMO will materially increase exponentially from this point adding fuel to the truth of the concept of "slowly, then suddenly".

Perhaps this is what Russia's General Staff had in mind when they told Putin that the SMO would last only 2-3 more months (I think I have that right).

And to think - they are not having to resort to nukes!

abcdefg's avatar

Haha yes, GM won't be happy.

Squeeth's avatar

I should think that Ukronazi generals must be wondering how much longer that they can go on. Shadenphaser set to 'gloat'. ;O)

HBI's avatar

Just remember that they are going to have to run away. We won't find out the real story until later, but it's not going to be pretty. The Ceausescu moment is ahead of us.

abcdefg's avatar

Well today is the last chance for a massive Ukrainian (aka British) provocation to derail the Alaska meetup. Failing that Ukraine is looking to slip into anarchy if the US really does back out.

What are the chances Trump actually pulls the plug? My guess is 25%. Any higher bids?

Squeeth's avatar

I think it would be better to write 'slip out of anarchy'. Anarchism starts with, you can't have the rule of law and rule by the state. If you want the rule of law, get rid of the state.