Press ganged after avoiding the war for over 2 years, minimally trained, blindfolded in transit to the front lines... The way to survive is to surrender.
No esprit de corps has been created in these groups of hapless men.
what ever happened to that supposed Canadian NATO general who was said to be invovlded in Mariupol and captured. From memory I think he was an early discharge for some kinda kinky conduct?
His alleged presence and capture in Mariupol was fabrication/speculation. The "retired" General returned to Canada from Ukraine in 2022 to face sexual assault accusations from 30 years ago: Charges were eventually stayed.
I recall that Pepe Escobar was the one of the first who reported that at least 6 different languages were reported as intercepted in radio communications out of the Azovstal tunnels. If foreign military leadership was present and captured there, it would have been a huge PR victory for Russia. Escobar (and others) have never done a follow up piece on that, which is odd given his connections in Moscow.
I remember watching a video from last year from somewhere on the Ukr front line & two mercs were dug in in the rear behind obviously there to stop the Ukr conscripts from retreating. An American merc was using a GoPro on his helmet when he recorded two AFU running towards him from a tree line, he shouts "stop, stop guys, what's happening, got to go back" with an obvious US accent as clear as day, but they kept coming so the merc gets up and starts repeating waving his arms, but as they got closer suddenly one of the advancing Ukr just opens up on him and you realise he is falling but at the same time he is also recording his mate who is falling to the ground after being shot. Then it stops. I bet he never thought he would be videoing his murder.
As Ukrainians you should have taken more evident care with your country and with your ruling classes, and their allies, especially, as you say you , are older and better educated
You all bear collective responsibility for the state you find yourselves in as do the citizens of every place- this can not be shrugged off away onto - it was their fault, we are innocent, we are victims
So now you are war - an ugly conclusion perhaps, but one you have to face - if you fight you accept the consequences of your lives choices and actions, if you do not you close your eyes and you are cowards
Good show cliffs are - Putin is totally incompetent as a war fighter - doesn't recognize total war against Russia by West and soft compared to those around him. While Russia is winning war on the ground, it's no thanks to him, he's getting more killed than need be, losing propaganda war, and will beg for any bad deal similar to Istanbul 1.0 capitulation.
I disagree, the media machine is collapsing thanks in part to people getting news from alternative sources, Putin is not "incompetent" you don't rise through the ranks of the KGB when you are "incompetent".
The West is rather more weak than I imagined, and the US has spent its military machine on useless things like the ME wars, the Ukraine war, and simply abandoning billions of military gear into enemy hands.
The UK flies rust buckets still, France is a sitting duck with Macron at the wheel.
Russia gets stronger. the West gets weaker, thanks in part to the parasite infection.
Were you ever able to get Vlad on the phone to tell him what he's getting wrong and how to fix it ? Maybe you accidentally turned your ringer off. It happens to me sometimes.
Why don't you just fly over to Moscow and ask him if he'd mind if you hung out with him for awhile. I'm sure he'd love some advice from a keyboard warrior / arm chair general who has it all figured out. Just pack a pointer for the big maps..
The Helmer piece from Aug 26th on the Information War and inherent bias of both X and ChatGBT is also worth a read. Proof that what they claim is "artificial intelligence" is just programmed gaslighting.
And you should not dismiss that information because it means Ukies are back at it again - throwing expendable meaningless fodder at Russians to buy time while accumulating and training new brigades in the rear.
Pakrovsk front is collapsing. That "center cannot hold".
What is going on with the debts and collateral? They are largely in Novorussia, so forfeited collateral, unpaid debts, and the UK & Japan guarantied the Ukrainian loans from the IMF?
What does it take to defeat the enemy which is "Globo-cap"?
It's indeed collapsing, but we'll get to witness another Bakhmut-tier battle going on for several months in Pokrovsk while in the open steppes to the south of it they'll engage in maneuvering warfare not unlike Kursk. This is a critical point, but not the critical one.
I think it’s ridiculous that Zelinski insists on protecting 18 to 25-year-olds, meanwhile, he expects everyone in the west to pick up tab for their expenditures, everything from pensions to war salaries, when they pay them that is…
- Miners are accustomed to explosions and risky environments. Retired or senior miners have seen a lot a of dangerous situations at work and developed a sense of reacting calm and decisive to danger.
- People who passed the 50s have already lived many experiences and usually had grown-up children or even grandchildren, so they can take risks without too much fear of being killed.
- Miners face extenuating work shifts, almost always "buried" inside too cold or too hot and damp places, precisely the "comfort" environment that soldiers "enjoy". They are accustomed to it. An IT developer working from a cozy office in downtown would find it much more challenging.
S - thanks for the constant updates - this allows less traction to the trolls and doomers who otherwise would be pushing Daily Telegraph style nonsense
Good to have first reports of the otherwise invisible F16's
Ukrainians brainwashed idiots don't yet know that their entire country has been sold to Soros, Blackrock, Vanguard, Monsanto, Cargill etc..country is bankrupted near default. 20 millions left many will never come back. 1 million + kia-wia-mia-pow etc...entire generation destroyed, not enough men left, women will leave 404 to find a better life and a men in the West or Russia. Ukraine is a failed state for at least 50 years or forever. But ''ukraine is winning''. Even EU countries are demilitarized, plunged in billions of debts, no growth, even worse situation in the UK ''we are broken' say both tories + fake left, France industry is now on the same % of gdp as...Greece. They don't even dare to form a new govt, same in Belgium. Germany is deindustrialized for years or forever. High energy costs, inflation etc...what kind of victory is that? Not to mention brics +.
Usd is falling as rates falling, new buble in the making, West is done and broken, without WWIII and great reset they are finished but it is very risky, will they dare?
Ukrainian jews have already recorded a song (from the roof of the Menorah synagogue) that Ukraine is a “jewish land.” Mazel Tov, Banderites, on selling Ukraine to the worst kind of jews.
The homoerotic dancer and “penist” Zelensky -- a Ukrainian jew who has suddenly discovered his jewish “supremacy” and unrestricted sadism – has banned Orthodox Christianity in Ukraine. The X-tians in US congress (veritable satanists) are fine with the jewish attack on Christianity in Ukraine and Palestine.
Ukrainian blood and land were sold by judeo-banderites to zionist banking cabal and corporations (BlackRock, Monsanto/Bayer, et al). The judeo-banderites’s children are safely tacked away from the frontline, similar to Milejkowsky (bibi) progeny currently having good time in Miami, while the brainless Israelis commit war crimes (on bibi's orders) by mass-murdering the Palestinian children and women.
The whole world observes judaic values in action in Ukraine and Palestine!
What they should have done was to arrange a meeting of Soros with Mr. Kinzhal. That would be a huge propaganda score for Russia. There are more than a few zeks here in Clown-World who would cheer, and more - especially younger ones with kids - would be encouraged to take advantage and move to Russia. It would send a message to the rulers of Clown-World that none of them are exempt from retribution for their endless evil. Turning Soros into a crispy-critter would be a considerable morale-boost for the resistance in the Empire of Lies.
Russia was made aware of Soros trip to Kiev and his itinerary before he got on the train so he didn't become a propaganda victory. Recall several months ago when the Banderan Kapo Zelenski and the PM of Greece, Mitsotakis, visited a warehouse in Odessa and the kapo wàs handing out medals. As soon as the pair cleared the area Mr Iskander or Ms Kalibr visited the area. The UK had to move it's sea drone operation after the visit.
Supported by western powers to create chaos, but not meant to succeed the way it did.
The Soviets ended up saving Russia and building a superpower, that wasn't in the plans. It was one of the last times the West tried to use communism to further its own agenda.
You won't see them trying that in Russia despite the communists being a fairly large block. They are too loyal to the state, and too successful when in power.
The Brits are currently working with the Strelkov/Prigozhin Right and some neoconservative oligarchs. That is who they'd like to take over from Putin as they'd immediately sell Russia to the highest bidder.
Britain has been trying for 200 years with declining success. It is not Russia that needs to understand, it is Little wannabe globalist England that needs to come to its senses.
Which England can't do fast enough [ come to its senses ]
Historically, the War of 1812 marked the final notable clash between the U.S. & Britain--which placed Britain in the role of hegemon & the U.S. in the role of today's Russia, as the strengthening rival power
Britain even augured to gain naval control of all 5 Great Lakes plus the Mississippi River--!
Didn't work, as we know
Bloody as hell, though. Sometimes called Tecumseh's War for the high number of indigenous combatants involved in the conflict. Also called the Second War of Independence.
Soon after the war ended, Britain began to reframe its r'ship w/ the U.S., seeing its Atlantic pond-mate as the moving train to which it could hitch its wagon--and the two countries have enjoyed a Special Relationship ever since.
History has not closed the book on what England & Russia might someday realize together--but no one is turning to that particular chapter just yet
Pertinent points. The only point I would modify a bit is the so-called "special relationship": as far as I can tell it has been a 1-way street with the U.S. exploiting the UK's perception of it but giving nothing in return.
"The foundation of all great empires is a great theft"
If "theft" was a "martial art"...the Brits have been black belts in this historical endeavor. One can almost stand in awe of their gall (bucket of balls), cruel imagination and organizing principles to allow this to happen. The march of time and technological advances everywhere have leveled the playing field. The famous bank robber, Willie Sutton, when asked why he robbed banks replied, "because that's where they keep the money." The British have been imperial experts and cruel "bank robbers". Following Cecil Rhodes(1853-1902) and his greedy career demonstrates the classic example. Go unwanted to a distant continent and steal everything that's not nailed down. The greedy criminal West no longer has control of the narrative or the industrial base to continue with this long-in-the-tooth behavior. Hopefully the nukes can sleep well in their silos.
"one way street" and "special relationship" are really a rather bland way of describing what in fact is an incestuous relationship devoid of any moral compass. Remember , it was Churchill's british born and bred daughter in law that annointed Bill Clinton as US President and it is the Clintons and Obama that staged the recent coup d'etat against the people's nominated Biden in favour of their canditae Harris. It's much deeper that just "special".
I agree, but I did not coin the term "special relationship", neither did I want to get into the details of it.
As for the "people's nominated Biden", that is a huge misqualification. I am no fan of Trump, far from it, I hate the guy with a passion, but the truth is that the 2020 election was rigged big time, which means the presidency was stolen from him. This year the Dems will probably try to rig it again, although they'll need much more powerful means.
You have described a very different conception of the war of 1812 than mine. Also, how does the British involvement in encouraging and financing the South Carolinians who fomented secession (first attempting this unsuccessfully during the Jackson Administration and then again under Buchanan and finally Lincoln) fit into your schema?
The British merely met with the representatives of South Carolina's planter ur-oligarchs in London during Andrew Jackson's administration and encouraged their FIRST attempt at breaking up the United states ca. 1838. Andrew Jackson quashed that attempt before the British did more than meet with, entice and verbally encourage the secessionists.
Then, the British met with the representatives of those same South Carolinians & their successors in the run up to the election of 1860 and encouraged the same ideas, that if they seceded, Britain would back their play. THIS TIME they put a good quantity of GOLD at the southern cabal's disposal, which they had not done during the abortive "nullification crisis" of 1838. And they nearly got the balkanization of the USA they desired in return.
Just as with our MIC now, their was good money to be made by the empire's oligarchy on the war, more so if they might sell to BOTH sides. Hence the reluctance of the British to FORMALLY back the South before they demonstrated an ability to win, plus some interesting espionage and industrial warfare hijinks such as allowing a representative of the DuPont family to buy up ALL the Indian produced salt petre in Britain before the southerners could get their hands on it for gunpowder production! THAT was facilitated by the ancestors of some of the same banker clans in City of London who now are enjoying a nice windfall from activities in Ukraine AND Russia.
War has been a profitable business for the financial sector going back to the early Renaissance era, if not longer. Backing both sides and prolonging the conflict as long as possible is the smart move for a banker. Thousands of £s in gold spotted to some insurrectionists earned the British empire's "right sort of people" MILLIONS of £s in sales of munitions, weaponry and supplies. The less industrialized South never could produce the required guns, ammunition or even the cloth for their uniforms, their largest trading partner was Britain, often facilitated through imports from the British islands in the Caribbean/South America (or moved through other neutral countries possessions there). Britain got loads of cotton, tobacco, indigo & other raw materials (and whatever hard currency the South had), the Southerners got Enfield and Witworth rifles, cannon, Curtis & Harvey black powder & all the other things they needed but couldn't make themselves.
"wannabe globalist"? England was the original globalist with tenacles in every corner of the globe for almost 2 centuries. It was a remarkable achievement for a small island nation.
Not by its people. It is the rotten governments previous & current who want to sell out to the EU-rinal but still they are trodden on and insulted by arse holes calling them Little Englanders, a lefty Marxist racist comment.
Another hypothesis is that Britain may be the first domino to fall in the pending global debt Ponzi collapse, at least in part because they are among the significant holders of defaulted Ukrainian debt.
This is a subordinate theory to the one that says WW3 is being orchestrated by TPTB to usher in the "Great Reset" and a new global monetary (exploitation) system. The question then becomes, is Putin/Russia an active participant or a pawn? For me still "too early to say".
So the Germans pulled all this off in a year or so?.
Seems like a long planned event. From the time Marx was funded to come up with his divisive tome. I wouldn't lay responsibility solely with Germany England Russian or any nation. As usual certain powerful actors with their long term projects that sometimes come together.
Makes one wonder if the Kursk incursion was an offering to Russia? Denazifying and demilitarization was greatly accelerated, whilst the Donbas front obviously collapsed.
The Telegraph is just an MI6/CIA mouthpiece. Their reporting along with that of the Kiev Post confirms my suspicion that the entire purpose of the Ukraine war was to try a CIA-style overthrow of Putin and that Prigozhin's hair-brained putsch was the overthrow that the CIA intended. The whole thing is so silly, as though Russia were some former British colony that had gone rogue. Amazing how the Soros clan appears everywhere the West seems to be off the rails: truly the devil's agent that fellow.
Yep, the looks like the CIA is working with rightwingers and neocons like Prigozhin. That explains a lot. Guess they learnt their lesson when they helped the communists to power so long ago. Talk about blowback.
Nah. I don't think that the CIA compromised Prigozhin. I think his intent was genuine - after all he was right about Gerasimov and Shoigu's corruption and incompetence. This is even being corroborated by Belausov now, since he feels like he can speak freely as he is a rising star in Russian politics and has the ear of the President. Belousov has been saying some controversial things lately in the Duma.
""after all he was right about Gerasimov and Shoigu's corruption and incompetence" not only is that statement debatable, it doesn't in any way prove Prigozhin's intent or loyalty.
Looks to me that he was a coaine addled, narcissistic traitor ready to sell himself to the highest bidder. Taking down valuable ISR assets on the way to the front, has NATO fingerprints all over it.
Prigozhin's last statements, calling everything about the SMO a lie, including NATO involvement and the willingness for Zelenky to negotiate are unhinged from reality.
Putin got good value out of him and Wagner despite the danger, ultimately executing him in poetic fashion.
He had a valid point or two. The Russian Military as a whole wasn't ready for the war, in fact it needed a long war to weed out corruption and inefficiency. That doesn't make his intent genuine, it shows what an opportunist he was.
Just my thoughts, though, who knows? I'm not privy to the information needed to say anything for certain. I will say the timing, location and targeted assets during the coup attempt couldn't have been more dangerous to the Russian Military effort. That doesn't make him a CIA asset, it may be coincidental he did exactly what NATO would have wanted him to do. It doez make him a traitor, though, and as such he got what he deserved.
What Prigozhin did was very similar to rebellions of the Legions that happened at various times during Rome's tenure.
While it must have been a pleasant surprise to NATO, I can see where he is coming from now. I am a supporter of Russia and have been my whole life and even went to protest against Maidan. I even have similar thoughts as Prigozhin regarding everything about the SMO being a lie - these are unfortunate thoughts that arise when you watch the actions of the Russian MOD in this war. Too many illogical situations and inconsistencies arise for which there are no explanations and that are quite unlike any other war. I am not privy to anything, but I can use my brain and see things that don't make sense.
Big organizations always are inherently slow, incompetent, corrupt, silly, kafkaesk. That's the nature of big organizations, you have to built it up very efficiently and quick, to get it to work for some time. But time inevitably corrupts it with all the problems big organizations have. The more hierarchical layers an organization has, the more the communication is twisted. The more layers you have, the less information will survive at the end. It sound trivial and naive, but that's just how it is.
It is just my suspicion. The CIA became very talkative about Ukraine after the failed Prigozhin putsch, putting out all sorts of stories through their media lackeys like Seymour Hersh that they had nothing to do with any of it... the provocations, Maiden, Nordstream, and blaming all of it on Blinken, Nuland, Biden, et al (as if Nuland and Blinken weren't operating hand in glove with the CIA).
Yet the whole thing follows the blueprint of CIA-style "regime change" perfectly. Have an asset in-country who has some support either via the military or via powerful economic groups. Stir up ethnic minorities via pseudo-nationalist or religious extremism to put pressure on the government. Begin a program of economic isolation (i.e. sanctions) in an effort to impoverish the common folk. Then, when the time is right, tell your asset to start his putsch.
It is really the only blueprint that they have and they run the same textbook moves every time. If it quacks like a duck, looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and flies like a duck, then it is a duck. This whole thing sure looks like a duck to me. Of course, their usual stuff did not work because this is not 1925 or 1955 and Russia is not El Salvador or Iran.
It came from the women at the universities in the U.S., because they knew that they could not compete with men in most academic fields, so they stole a couple of ideas from Foucault, likened themselves to blacks, and starting yelling, "sexism" or "racism" every time someone did not give them a job for which they were hopelessly unqualified. The male saps at the U.S. universities relented after a few, short years of wailing from the women and gave them everything that they wanted. I was there in the U.S. universities as it was happening, so I know what happened.
However, you are correct. Since woke left the universities and Clinton realigned the Democratic Party with Wall Street, the CIA/MI6/Mossad people have used the idiot woke brigades much like they use radical extremists in other coups: as the useful idiots to demonstrate, create chaos, and put their puppets into power. Very astute observation.
Putin is corrupt and incompetent - he doesnt want escalation because this would weaken oligarchs power mobilizing the state for total war, oligarchs who still hold significant sway on Putin, don't want bureaucrats like Medvedev taking over and directing their companies. They may not get companies back. Gerasimov and Shoigu and almost every other military man do what total war. But Prigozhin couldnt attack the man who orders the generals or he be a dead man, so he attacked subordinate generals who were ordered to leech him.
It appears that you really don't have a Clue, and that Shoigu was Not fired or demoted, but is now even closer to Putin than he was as minister of defence.
You cannot take anything Prighozin was saying seriously, he was merely in it for himself, and didn't care about anybody else.
You first have to understand Putin and the overall approach to the SMO and their reasoning before you can criticize, Putin or anybody else in the Russian military.
Even Belousov (new Minister of Defense) said recently that it was a mistake to put Shoigu as Minister of Defense as it led to alot of corruption in the MOD and loss of alot of equipment.
Yes, Shoigu is closer to Putin than ever rather than being punished
You Idiot, Shoigu was Not corrupt, nor was he incompetent, the only reason why Shoigu was moved, was because Putin wants a tight reign and how and were money is spent, given that military spending is now 6% of the national budget, whiich is Belousov's forte, while Shoigu is an Engineer and best left facilitating the development of military hardware and systems.
Please provide the link to the supposed statement you purport to have originated from Belousov.
Just a friendly reminder. Prigozhin’s coup attempt coincided with Ukrainian offensive of summer 2023 and was accompanied by his false claims of broken defenses and unopposed Ukrainian advances. Chances that all of this was coordinated are actually higher than zero.
The GOP senator for South Carolina Lindsay Graham (known as Lady G here in zek central) made a remark about a "big surprise" for Russia and 'Putler' just before Prigozhin's famous march on Moscow. He could have been a double-agent in the employ of the CIA. Alternatively, he could have been a triple-agent who ended up exposing Gerasimov and Shiogu - though this seem less likely as neither of these two are in prison. They've been "promoted" to areas where they have less control instead. That whole mess is a very difficult tangle of conflicting info.
Oh, and Prigozhin has previously 'died' in a plane crash in Africa - only to miraculously resurface later. Layers within layers, wheels within wheels.....
Yes, the Telegraph is part of the Mighty Wurlitzer. There are very few media outlets in the Empire of Lies even among the allegedly 'alternative' media who are not controlled in some way by the rulers of Clown-World. When you have the ability to create legal-tender 'ex nihilo' there are very few things and people you cannot buy since price is irrelevant to those who simply add zeros to their accounts. 100 dollars becomes 1,000,000,000 with a few key clicks. Just think what you could do if your could simply go into your bank account and refund it in this manner.
I have been around for awhile so I heard everything in the old days news was censored slightly. I used to compare stories from two papers they both put a spin on it. Even today I find different takes on the situation in Kurst. Listened to a pod cast on the Duran with John Helmer who basically states that it’s Putin who is keeping the military from moving faster. Apparently Putin is getting pressured by the oligarchs end the war so they can make more money.Just another piece of info.
The elephant in the room is western media is controlled and owned by the CIA.
Soros is one of the people who control the CIA. The CIA, as it now exists, was created by Allen Dulles when Eisenhower appointed him to be its director and his brother, John Foster, to be Secretary of State. Both men came from Sullivan and Cromwell. which was the big Wall Street law firm that handled all the companies trying to become multinationals. Ever hear the term, "banana republic?" That term comes from the way in which Sullivan and Cromwell manipulated Latin American governments for its clients' benefits: specifically The Dole Fruit Company. The purpose of the CIA from the day that Allen took control was to manipulate foreign governments and place leaders in power who were puppets of Wall Street, because both Dulles men were the representatives (literally) of Wall Street. That purpose has not changed. Soros, Blackrock, et al want to control the European energy and food markets. As part of that effort (along with a lot of propaganda about climate change and everyone giving up their cows, farms, and gas-powered cars), they want to control the resources of Ukraine. Nuland, Blinken, et al are just doing their bidding, as is the entire CIA. Same as it has been since Eisenhower put those two devils in charge of U.S. foreign policy.
that there was some scrambling done by ' Putin and his staff ' at the beginning of the Kursk invasion and now his popularity has plummetted....geesh- is a war supposed to be easy ? People inside Russia are as bad as people on fartbook about thinking they know better than Putin and his staff. Makes me mad, even though I'm merely Canadian. During war the population needs to shut the fuck up and be ready. Ludmilla too, is stirring the pot and its not in any of their best interest to do that during times like this. I wish I was in Russia now and not Canada. I'm so ashamed of my government and yet I'm old and poor and have animals I would never abandon, so I stay. But if those foolish Russian complainers and judges could feel what its like to be in a country where your own government wants to depopulate you, they should blush with shame.
Yeah. Right where it (popularity) was a year ago. A real downward trend that will bottom out at .7699 providing evidence to western "experts" on all things Russian that the natives are restive.
Take heart: those Russian complainers are a very small minority of the population. I'm an American living in Russia and the Russians around me all support Putin and his administration and his war strategy by huge margins.
By the way, you could bring your animals to Russia if you moved here. If they're big animals like horses that could be costly and might not be realistic on a pension, but dogs and cats and such, sure, no problem.
I did, but unfortunately I don't have the time to get into private conversations. It's pretty rare to have an American in an eye witness position in Russia who can tell the truth against the 24/7 propaganda for morons that is saturating the West.
I feel terrible dread that the country I love, the US, is headed the wrong way into catastrophe. I feel every one of us who can help save the US by telling the truth has a duty to do that. That has to come first, so I have to prioritize comments in a forum where more than just one other person can read them. I wish I could do more.
"even if there was a nuclear evacuation I wouldn't leave them." You're a good person. God bless you.
There's a fine Russian joke you may enjoy:
An old man dies and his elderly dog is so distraught it dies with him. The two find themselves in a parklike setting up in the clouds where an angel takes them in hand and walks them down a path.
They arrive at a beautiful gate which opens, and beyond they see a glimpse of a wonderful life where people are forever young and enjoy themselves. The old man smiles, pets his dog and says "we've made it!" and the two start to go in the gate. The angel stops them, and says, "Sorry, only you. The dog cannot enter."
The old man stops and looks down at his dog. He frowns and tells the angel, "Then I don't go either." The angel shrugs his shoulders and says, "Your decision" and the beautiful gate closes. The angel points to the path and says, "Move along now... nothing for you here."
The man and his dog move slowly down the path, now alone. He pets his dog and tells him not to worry, he won't abandon him. They continue that way for some time but the man will not turn back. They finally arrive at another gate, this one a simple gate that also opens. Beyond they see people living an ordinary but fine life, a mix of ages, all seeming to be happy. They see people with pets there as well. Another angel walks out the gate to greet them. "Welcome," he says. "Can I bring my dog?" the man asks. "Of course," says the angel, "This is Heaven for dogs too".
The old man asks, "but what was that place back there? It looked like Paradise."
"Ah," the angel replied, "That was for people who abandon their best friends. That was the gate to Hell."
Hell, Simplicus states flatly that the Russian reaction to the Kursk incursion was 'incompetent". It was.
The point is to recognize this and to learn to do better. Not to wring one's hands or point fingers, except as pointing fingers will help identify who didn't do what they were supposed to do and to either instruct them better or move them somewhere else.
The Banderan army "invaded" a strategically insignificant part of Russia for the war porn optics. Russia didn't need to react in a nonthoughtful, rash way.
The purpose of a war of attrition is to ALWAYS minimize your losses while maximizing the other's losses.
Back in March, Biden announced that the US would be willing to be the first to use nuclear weapons in a war. We could be ending the SWAT vs gangster phase of the war and entering the Dr. Strangelove phase.
Just a couple nights ago I watched the Mel Gibson movie WE WERE SOLDIERS and was shocked by the scene showing soldiers burning to death when a surrounded US platoon called in Napalm when they were overrun.
With its history, culture, and pride, Russia will never allow the WEF and the LGBTQ+++ theories of the West destroy Christianity.
Esteemed colleague: I was going to write a comment on your comment – but soon became aware of the complexity of the issue and abandoned ship in favour of savouring the latest AA CC trap to the USEU governing class
I’ll just note few elements
Comments about the Indian Prime Minister’s visit to Kiev have been muted and sparse
The NYT crowd crowed that this was a victory for Ukraine
Some of the India Press welcomed an Indian turn away from Russia
China reacted with criticism, as per quotes and link below
India Punchline was evasive, but emphasised the long and close relationship and the current boom trade between RF and India
Z has been jumping up and down stringing together a thousand moons
“Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's commitment to brokering peace between Russia and Ukraine, as well as New Delhi's ties with Moscow, were put to the test after Kiev hinted that signing the communique of the Switzerland Ukraine peace conference is a precondition for hosting a second summit on peace.
Modi wrapped up a high-stakes visit to Ukraine Friday. This visit witnessed Modi and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky referencing the UN Charter and the need to respect territorial integrity and Modi's mourning of children lost in the conflict.
According to BBC, the Ukrainian leader welcomed Modi in an "awkward" manner and smiles were few and far between.
Zelensky, while expressing support for India to host the second summit on peace as Kiev hopes to find a host among the countries in the Global South, has set a precondition.
"But I want to be frank, and this applies not only to India, but to any state that would be positive about hosting a second summit. We will not be able to hold a peace summit in a country that has not yet joined the peace summit communique," Zelensky emphasized during a Sunday meeting with Indian journalists, according to the Kyiv Independent.
Modi's visit to Ukraine was intended to be a "damage control" trip to assuage criticism from Ukraine and the US over his previous trip to Russia, Qian Feng, director of the research department at the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times.
However, the visit has turned into a challenge to India's commitment to brokering peace and its ties with Russia, Qian said.
Qian predicted that it will be impossible for New Delhi to walk back and sign the joint communique of the Switzerland peace summit, as such a move would wreck the relations between Russia and India.
Qian noted that Modi's trip was held at an awkward time when Russia slammed the doors shut on talks after Ukraine's offensive in Russia's Kursk region.
"India should be careful when trying to maintain a balanced relationship among all countries. Without delicate diplomacy and the strength of proposing a satisfactory peace plan, it may eventually become caught in a situation where pleasing both sides is a mission impossible," Qian told the Global Times.”
In a "now is not the era of war" sort of vein Modi understands that *peace* is not singular, neither is it obtained @ the point of coercion. The desperate *peace* the Usurper of Kiev seeks is hollow--a stunt like his other oh-so-clever acts.
In critical ways the world has changed incontrovertibly since the SMO commenced. Consider how we have enlarged our understanding of these events: nothing can be as it was on 23 February 2022.
You can't make a cat walk backwards.
Modi is too savvy to allow the Usurper of Kiev to ensnare him in the kind of leg-trap, which the communique now represents. The Usurper is giving Modi a chance not only to change his mind about affixing his signature to it but also to give the *right* answer this time.
That makes tawdry an event like this war--the regrettable losses, the appalling wholesale forfeit of the Ukrainian population--which is deserving now of the most studied dignity
But the swirling disinformation resulting from his visit to Kiev has left the sense that his visit was not all that productive, or that his motives could be interpreted in many ways
He does seem to be playing to both sides, both BRICS side and US side, and this has been seized on by the USniks and their clan
Modi may feel obliged to play some sort of game like this, but is he up to it?
The "leg-trap" is the notion that one either plays the game as the U.S. & the Usurper want or one doesn't: one is coerced to play appropriately or one demurs & suffers reputational damage
But there's a third way. Modi already chose not to play in June. I trust his ability to seek the Third Way
The U.S. could not tolerate the Bandung Conference & the Non-Aligned Movement back in the day & worked tirelessly to end them, which it did do. BRICS, like Bandung, is an affront the hegemon can't allow. Once it feels one or two weaknesses it will work to fully weaken
Peace be on you and the mercy and blessings of Allah
It is difficult to wait when uncertainty swirls. The agony of waiting is itself a pillar of this process, however--how to sit & be still & find a strange peace in not leaping
Gday there Cheeto, Sukarno could have changed the world but the empire got him along with nigh on a million innocents also, my mother in law was greatly affected and nearly lost her life but thank God they didn't get her.
The claim that HIMARs are hardcoded to not be able to strike Russian territory makes no sense, considering that we know they have been used against targets in Kursk Oblast. That is unless, Ukraine bypassed this hardcoding or the US does not see Kursk as Russian anymore or that the claim that HIMAR's cannot strike Russian territory is a lie (which seems most likely).
And the fact that we even got to the point (as is said by the linked telegram thread) that UA and US are even discussing long range strikes on Russian territory is simply a travesty and an embarassment and proof that Russian political/military leadership needs a shakeup so that it is not afraid to escalate. After all, the escalation game is one of brinksmanship - the guy with the biggest balls wins.
Also, I have no doubt that operations with landings in Crimea and attempts to capture towns (and potentially expand control if possible) within Crimea itself are likely. Currently, I see Odessa having more soldiers than usual. Also, the GUR has promised "suprises" and even Zelensky mentioned that they still have cards to play in his most recent press conference and that they were preparing something. Unlike last time, I don't think this is maskirovka.
With how well Russian leadership has been able to miss obvious attacks in recent days, I wouldn't be surprised if they miss the landing on Kinburn Spit. After all, the only thing that stopped the 2023 Ukrainian "counteroffensive" was Surovikin being head of the "Chief of Staff" not Gerasimov. With Surovikin gone, I don't trust Gerasimov to be able to accomplish anything of note. Just see the inability of Gerasimov to end Ukrainian energy infrastructure. Why do I say "Gerasimov"? If you recall, it was under Surovikin that missile strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure started. But he was replaced with Gerasimov shortly after and that's when the strikes began to be half-hearted. With the number of blunders/errors that have been accumulated under Gerasimov's watch, it is a wonder why he keeps his position? There exist some opinions that him and Shoigu hold too much influence to safely remove them, but then that raises other questions - as to how did Putin even allow for this to happen and why did he even put people like this in power in the first place?
Expect a similar situation to that in Kursk in Crimea soon. And I worry for the coming landings on Kinburn Spit, I am not sure of the quality of Russia's defense in that region, I think troops there have been in too much of a relaxed state there for too long. Lets hope I am wrong about Russian command and they actually get their act together, as does Putin and he stops giving high offices to incompetent people.
Regarding the emerging middle class and satisfaction. It is true - Russian standard of living has never been higher and people are quite satisfied with their lives. This is where Putin's approval rating stems from (and also Russian doomerism). Russian leadership seems to be quite competent at economics but not military matters.
But even this has a limit - Russians have this national trait that when their life improves the quickly become dissatisfied with it and start looking at "greener" pastures and comparing themselves to others. And poor handling of the SMO - particularly Kursk and handling of escalations could have a greater number of people to start asking questions - as more people than ever start entering the middle class. Point I am trying to make is this - we can't confuse satisfaction with what is happening inside the country (improving standard of living) with what is happening outside. It may have unintended negative knock-on effects. After all, my dissatisfaction with the handling of escalations/Kursk/military performance (for what we have been known throughout history) might lead Russians to start distrusting the government as they did in the 90's/late Soviet era. I hope Russian authorities get their act together vis-a-vis this war.
Regarding hunting UAV's - I recall writing in the comments section about how nature can be used as a model for military warfare - in particular about using "predator drones" to hunt down enemy drones and that being the most effective method of combatting them. It is a wonder how the Ukrainians are able to come up with this and the Russians do not innovate with their strength being in mass production of existing designs.
Hitting every hydroelectric station in Ukraine is one thing, destroying them is another. The proper way to target energy infrastructure (and any infrastructure for that matter - we see Ukraine using this tactic) is to apply constant pressure to it - hit it constantly, degrade the capability of repair crews to repair them. Exhaust repair crews, make the enemy spend inordinate amount of resources to keep up repairs and the status quo. Make the population uncomfortable. Degrade medical infrastructure (we have the local hospital hooked up to two generators that are wired to be able to switch on and off to distribute loads) so that it stops functioning as it did during Covid. Not doing it the way Russia is doing it - strike once after an escalation, then wait half a year before striking again giving the enemy time to rebuild. The approach needs to be systematic, cold and comprehensive. This is not happening. And this is annoying.
Final item - it is also bewildering to me why Russia does not have its own sea drone fleet being launched from Crimea to 1) disrupt Ukrainian shipping going to Odessa and 2) to hunt Ukrainian naval drones 3) easier to disrupt Ukrainian Crimean landing attempts. Is this another failure of Gerasimov I wonder?
I think Putin wants people that are not hot-headed around him. Gerasimov and Shoigu are calm people. Belusov another example. Surovikin and RIP Prigosjin are men that you use when needed. But you cant have them around you all the time.
While I can see where you are coming from - Gerasimov and Shoigu are calm perhaps overly so. But an inner fire does not preclude competent and well thought out decisions. It can also mean being energetic and not afraid to act. I think both Gerasimov and Shoigu suffer from indecision or the inability to make decisive decisions. This could have been good at the beginning of the war - but the longer the war drags on the more decisive decisions are needed. And Ukraine has this. Whether Kursk is strategically viable, remains to be seen but it was an audacious and daring operation. And Ukraine keeps trying these audacious and sometimes seemingly stupid plans, until one sticks.
Yes. And I wrote a second piece about just that. People here tend to critisize me whenever I talk about a Russias window of opportunity and that they need a real breaktrough. ”It is all a part in the masterplan” they say, ”just wait until 2025”.
Meantime Ukraine and the western masters is putting up more devilship, deeper and deeper into Russia.
It is time I think to stop with the cope, imo. Lets not be like pro-Ukrainian supporters. There is no master plan, for either side. It is long past that situation. Both sides now improvise and are limited by their resources and their imagination. Russia may have more resources, but Ukraine has more imagination, and the resources of the fully committed West.
After Kursk, I am beginning to think that 2025 may not change anything unless Russia replaces the leadership of the Stavka - and there is currently no indications it is going to do so. It is unclear if the arrests that were recently done were part of a broader campaign to do precisely this or if it was a "one-off" event.
It is risky to change the Stavka in the middle of a cut-throat war. Will not happen. They have plenty of people good at Defense, Surovikin, for example. But they need Zhukov or Rokossovsky, one in Stavka and one at the front.
I agree it can be risky. But if I recall Zhukov was a replacement for someone too and that is when the war started turning to the Soviet advantage.
And I agree. Russia needs a Rokossovsky at the front and a Zhukov for defense and a Stalin to watch over both. I question if it has them. I hope it does.
Imagination only gets you so far. Adaptability in the face of 'imagination' is what wins wars. And no army in the world is better at adaptation than Russia.
My "gut" tells me that after 2-1/2 years of gestation, Rosemary's Baby will be delivered soon. As I tell my wife..."really, really enjoy the day!" And then one day the bully gets punched in the teeth.
Whilst it is true that you should never interrupt an enemy who is making mistakes, it is also true that a wise general does not change horses in the middle of a stream. If your strategy is working, no need to change it. Russia's strategy is working.
Russia changed Shoigu in the middle of a stream. Sometimes changing a lame mare for a stallion, even in the middle of a stream is what is needed to reinvigorate the process.
Perhaps it is time to forgive Surovikin, return him from exile and put him in control again.
Thanks-I agree. Dear fellow Americans, this biz ain't a Netflix episode. Putin, an obvious chess player and martial arts aficionado, is making his case to the broader world..esp the BRICS. It's as if he's communicating:
"See friends...we tried everything and now we've arrived here..."
A wise lawyer makes a waterproof case to the court of world opinion.
Meanwhile, the Yanks (wankers) commit genocide on two continents.
The somewhat lethargic Russian leadership is a little annoying but probably a product of Putin's leadership all these years. He doesn't want quick throws or rash actions that you can regret. Russia is a hugely complex country to govern (if at all possible) and quick patchwork does not suit the Russian soul. Totally agree with the damage that is happening in Kursk and that you can't trust that the population will prove infallibly faithful for any length of time. As they said in one of the TV interviews. Time is a critical factor and I mean Russia doesn't have all the time in the world to complete the war. The longer it takes, the longer everyone is exposed to the West's War of Perception. Russia will never gain support for its view among the majority in the West - they must impose their solution on them. And fast.
That's a good point about being exposed to the War of Western Perception. The West controls perceptions because they control the most used and viewed media and newspaper platforms. They are also masters at propaganda - see how they managed to turn former Russians in Ukraine against Russia and not just Ukraine. It's a similar phenomenon being observed across the entire post-Soviet space. See how they manage to successfully downplay any Russian successes, only to hail their own genius when they implement exactly the same strategies (the infamous example of "cope cages" comes to mind). And that is all because Putin is too concerned about working with his "dear Western partners" and too afraid to escalate and risk Oligarch's profits or shutting the door to rapprochmant with the West.
Even now, many Russians are beginning to feel disillusioned with the lacklustre response to Kursk. The missile strikes did not provide a bloody enough scene to satisfy their desire for retribution. We laugh at Ukraine's PR operations, but they understand one crucial thing about war that the Russians seem to miss - "all of war is theatre". It is through this macabre "theatre" that Ukraine is able to keep up the morale of its population. Ukrainians still mostly firmly believe they will win - even with the defeats in Pokrovsk, it is not enough to break the morale of Ukrainain troops. And that is for a few reasons 1) because they view the war as a "Holy War" and 2) because of Kiev's "theatre" as mentioned before. Putin needs some theatre of his own, that would make the Russians feel that justice has been had, if he wishes to continue to conduct this war in such a lethargic manner. Indeed, if Russians had been doing proper "theatre" all these years rather than relying on stiff boomer Soviet propaganda techniques, they'd be in a better place in Ukraine (one thing the Soviets did suck at was propaganda - it was just too stiff and unimaginative and uninspiring. The Russian Federation continues this tradition it seems).
Russia, like the Soviets before them, see war differently than our Western eyes. They tend to remove the emotion from their decisions and act with fierce determination, patience and overwhelming force. They don't see war like a Hollywood movie. I'm sure there are many in Russia who would like to see Russia strike back hard but in the end, they recognise success when they see it.
For you it's theatre only insofar as NATO MIC tirelessly works behind the curtains to actually pulverize meager opposing force into dust. You simply got used to these theatrical punitive operations, not actual warfare. Theatre exists to provide public support for military force that used to outgun its opponents so much that only the question of its deployment remained, not the outcome of action.
Russians create public support through other means while they remove enemy hardware from the battle faster than its choked MIC can replenish it. In the end there's no need for theatre if your enemy is left with broken economy and no physical means to continue. He can be under any kind of perception while he collects meager scraps in the street to cling to life.
Where you still wish upon a counter-illusion you'll get a counter-theatre. A piece of cold hard unforgiving reality that can't be reasoned or bargained with.
My working assumption is that advanced western weaponry like Patriot, Himars and ATTCMs (wrong acronym?), F16s and the rest are operated by NATO trrops. guided by NATO ISR and used in accordance with NATO plans and objectives. And Russia has said as much as they agree with this assumption. So I think Simplicus is maybe wrong when he says that the UAF has been prevented from using them. And any use of such weapons on targets in Russia will therefore be a NATO attack. At least in Russian eyes. And if so Russia needs to decide whether or not to retaliate and if so how and when. There is a view that NATO is trying to escalate this war and goad Russia into attacking NATO proper in a direct response and so trigger Article 5. In my own mind if that is not sensible for Russia as they are winning the war regardless. I suggest that another option is an asymmetric retaliation - taken cold at a time and place unrelated to events in the war.
It is a matter of perception. Attacking Polish/Romanian warehouses on the border can put NATO in a pickle - will it escalate further or will it back down. Russia has to be prepared for both. But if NATO backs down (anything short of US troops/missiles fighting Russians can be spun as backing down), then this war is over. Its about time Russia stopped mincing words and crossed some NATO redlines as well. Russia exhibiting such restraint is perhaps understood in a gentlemans war, but this is no longer a gentlemans war and the time is nigh to begin treating it as such.
I believe someone wise once said "war is a matter of deception and perception". That is why Russia needs to start doing both.
We are seeing what excess patience is leading to - deaths of Russian citizens on Russian territory. Conversations of strikes deep into Russian territory. Conversation of strikes on Moscow and St Petersburg proper (from Zelensky's own mouth).
The enemy should be too afraid to make such pronouncements. But he is not. And that is concerning.
You think you know how to conduct war so that fewer of both die? You can prevent death?
Please - this is merely propaganda thinking
You should be careful about making such violent projections from a far off place to one where, if you will excuse me, you are almost completely ignorant
And secondly, there is excess patience just as there is rash actions. Either thing can be taken to the extreme. I make pronouncements based on what I see and hear. I hope I am wrong and will change my opinion as I see the facts change, but these are the facts as I understand them now.
One thing Russia does not seem to understand about Murika is that the normies cannot tolerate the sight of flag-draped caskets arriving at Dover AFB. If the warehouses were hit, resulting in the Murikan bodies in a manner such that they couldn't pass them off as another chopper crash, the public outcry to pull out of the bottomless pit of Ukraine would ramp up considerably. This is not the America of 1940. It's on a verge of a civil war here.
'retaliation' is the wrong word - even assymetric retaliation
The word expresses a reaction or consequence, eminently visible as such
The RF reactions will not be in this tit for tat way to play the western game of cat and mouse, for the RF is the cat and watches the mouse's feeble...;etc etc you get the picture
The reaction is hidden, assessment of damege how to prevent such in the future what to anticipate
What in general such and such actions imply for the RF plans previsions provisions, and so on, what do they say about the strength or weakness of the enemy
The nonsense about red lines is a westie propoganda ploy to cut up action into sound bites
As for the nuclear bots, the RF does make noises, but there is very little chance they will be baited
I believe I have provided a bunch of Russian links, and even Putins statements red lines previously. While some "red lines" may be westoid inventions, most aren't.
And I think we have come to the point that Russia keeping its reponse "hidden" is actually becoming a detriment in my armchair general opinion of course.
Precisely - armchair general opinion. It is good that you recognise that, which of course implies that you are not a general on the scene and therefore short of the knowledge that comes with it.
We all are in the same boat, we can only comment on events from our own limited information and do the best we can with what we have and change our opinions as new information becomes available. But I think it is evident to everyone though that something is not right.
Red lines is western word attitude and meaning - VVP even talks nuclear bots on occasion
He does not fail, from time to time, to address the west in language they can understand
He does not talk about what, actually the RF does - which is as you know rather different from western practice and propaganda
He cannot fight the war he does while contaminated with western principles or practices of war
While we are there - the nonsense about 'perception' is also westie propaganda : the ruling class like to think they are this or that and model 'perception' accordingly
This is merely to evade stating that the people in the west are submissive to their ruling class oppressions in thought word and deed
Perception is actually a Soviet concept. It was heavily used in WW2 and during the Cold War to influence the "Third World". The 5th Directorate understood it well.
Putin himself is contaminated with Western principles unfortunately, as he is a devout Capitalist and talks of the West as "dear partners" even when they have an avowed interest in destroying him and Russia. When I heard this the first time, I was dumbfounded - how can anyone be "partners" with someone who wants to destroy you? There can be no partnership as that implies mutual benefit. There can only be a fight to the death.
Perception is not a Soviet concept, for the love of..
Perception is a philosophical concept as old as the hills, the hills of Ancient Greece, in fact, if not older
VVP 'contaminated ....nonsense - he can use western idioms as he wishes, as can you, but you are the one contaminated, poisoned, cancered by western supremacist racisms
Read up on Russia before talking from ignorance - read the May 7 Executive Order to catch a glimpse of reality
It may please you to live in a bubble, but it will shed no light on the world for you to tell us what life in the bubble is like
If NATO wants to trigger article 5, a pretext will be found to do so. This has nothing to do with anything other than a perception of Russian weakness and indecision.
Indeed, if there is an appetite for war it is a simple matter to arrange. It can be done by a false-flag, having Ukraine fire "missiles" onto their territory/hitting a warehouse or two and then blaming the Russians, etc. I can think about 10 different ways of arranging it while maintaing plausible deniability.
Point is, you're right, if they want to trigger Article 5, they'll find an excuse to do it. And if none exists, manufacter it.
But the more Russia acts indecisively the weaker it seems. And the weaker it seems the more likely there will be those who would want to bite a piece of it and will be undeterred.
Being viewed as slightly "insane" and therefore unpredictable may be a benefit in these situations - one does not provoke an "insane" man, you do not know what response to expect from him. Better to not bother him for your own safety.
Since before 2014 and going through the prsent day, the Russian leadership has consistently underestimated just how power-hungry and sociopathic the West is. They want to believe otherwise, even as the evidence should be staring them in the face.
For that matter, how many times has the United States betrayed its Kurdish simpletons in recent decades? Five? Six? More? But the Kurds keep coming back for more.
With the number of times the US has betrayed its proxies or left them out to dry, it is a wonder anyone signs up to be a US proxy. Perhaps US money is nice or perhaps they think "this time it won't be us" or perhaps its just being beholden and not having a choice.
In 2014, Russian leadership had a promising start with the bold and daring operation in Crimea. After that things slowly fizzled out and they started impotent "negotiations" and trying to be diplomatic with "western partners" (I am still astounded by this phrase) and even despite everything since 2022 they keep up this position. It took almost 3 years for Putin to threaten to hurt US through proxies, though this should have happened about 12 years ago. It's simply aggravating.
Humans are very good at deluding themselves. Fact is, the Russian leadership does not want to destroy the West. They still want to join it.
This is also why Ukraine fights. Sure, there are blocking units and threats against those who don't obey. But the reasont here has been no real revolt is that Ukrainian society by and large thinks that if they adopt the nationalist ideology, they will be allowed to join The West, The Club, The Golden Billion, The Magical Land Where Institutions Basically Work.
The Russian elites also do not want to admit that, nobody cares how "cultured" they are, that no matter how reasonable they are, no matter how patient they are, they will never be allowed to join that club.
The West isn't all it's cracked up to be, but good luck telling Ukrainians (or Russians) that. It's like telling a little kid that the toy they screamed for for New Years isn't going to be nearly as much fun as the ads would have it and in fact, they'll just want some other shiny brightly colored object.
Whilst I respect your point of view, I must say that you (nor any of us) really know what is going on at the level of the General Staff and Putin's office. We might think this should be done, or that, or that the generals are incompetent because they don't follow our advice, but the fact is that rises above all other facts and opinions, is that Russia is decisively winning this war and accomplishing all that they said they would do - demilitarise and de-nazify Ukraine and protect the Donbass whilst at the same time protecting their own economy. The incursion into Kursk was a tactical failing (this is war, mistakes happen) but has been turned into a significant blow to Ukraine's plans and a strategic strike against their forces and means as they destroy elite Ukrainian forces and equipment that could have been a barrier to Russian efforts in the Donbass.
Russia's unwavering patience and determination not to veer from their primary goals nor to be tempted into dangerous responses to provocations has brought them to this point with total victory in sight (no matter how long it might take for that victory to materialise).
I agree. We know nothing and none of us (as far as I know) is privy to any internal plans. The best we can do is draw conclusions from events. And even the events we see can be fake, as part of deception by one or the other side.
But a few things are obvious:
1. The front is still everywhere but Pokrovsk
2. Russia seems to attack directly into the most fortified regions and doesn't show much imagination in terms of how it has carried out its operations that we know about (compared to say how it conducted Bagration)
3. There is some sort of fuckery going on with the way Russia is conducting its war, when compared to how other countries did it previously (no constant pressure on infrastructure, its attacked in a piecemeal manner and giving Ukraine too much time to recover)
4. Russian leadership keeps making the same mistakes over and over - Ukraine tricking Russia on Minsk 1 and 2, Russia continuing to believe Ukraine would be a good faith negotiator in Kiev, gestures of "goodwill", leaving the border in Sumy region open to invasion. The latter is the exact same mistake they made in Kharkov region in 2022. Then there was Kherson and the withdrawal from there.
There's just too many questions that have no obvious answers and seem illogical the more you think about them.
I do not trust the statements much we see in the newspaper, telegram, or elsewhere since they are all probably lies but they can be also observed and tracked and intent gleaned.
What success do you speak of? The front moves only in the Pokrovsk direction. The rest of the front is stable and hasn't significantly moved. Some may claim that Ukrainian army is being destroyed. But are we sure of that? We aren't. As far as I can tell, Ukraine is able to hold the front everywhere except Pokrovsk. Ukraine hasn't run out of ammo, shells or drones.
I am not saying Ukraine is winning, all I am saying is we cannot say that Russia is winning. It's ambiguous and hard to measure without any objective measure of success.
What you fail to understand is that war can only be won via achieving strategic political objectives. In Ukraine Russia's goal is demilitarisation and removal of the US sponsored ultra-nationalist-nazis who seized control of power after 2014. Afterwards Ukraine will be either fully reintegrated back into the russian federation or a rump state that remains will have a russia friendly government.
Hence why they have not gone scorched earth on Ukraine as that would work against the ultimate political outcome they have to achieve.
US failed in all its latest wars because they didn't understand that the purpose of military action is to achieve a political outcome, and for that you need legitimacy in the eyes of the people.
The CIA's Deputy Director David Cohen demurred when asked @ the Intel & National Security Summit in D.C. if the Agency knew of the Kursk incursion beforehand, only saying that he & his colleagues @ Langley view it now as something with “the potential to change the dynamic of the conflict going forward."
Seems inadvertently prophetic, though in a twisted way...
Americans prefer poker to chess
Fighting off the incursion, Russia has chewed through 7000 troops, hundreds of tanks and vehicles, not to mention 18 MLRS's and 5 Air Defense systems.
The Ukrainians seize full control of Malaya Lotnaya & photograph themselves waving the blue & yellow flag, then the Russians drive them out. A day later the Ukrainians seize full control of Malaya Lotnaya, and here they come w/ their flag again, before the Russians drive them out.
Rinse, repeat. This is Robotino ping-pong
In winning, Russia's leadership has the operational flexibility, the luxury if you will, of choosing when to retaliate to provocations & escalations—or not to retaliate also. They are prosecuting a war against the grain of expectations. It's confounding. It throws one for a loop. But they don’t have to dance to the tune the U.S.-led OTAN+ wants to play.
If you think the Kursk stunt is having any major affect on the Russian war machine you need to stop listening to tabloid nonsense. All it's doing is chewing up ukr combat power.
G'day Victor your comment led me to thinking one in the hand is worth two in the bush and yes I agree we are not fully informed of the where and why of it all,yet each day this smo continues is one more day of unknown threat or provocation by the hegemon and its proxy and as you said mistakes happen in
Seymour is a product of his time. Also, I expect that as he can't be obviously murdered & his name is still enough to cause people to seek out whatever platform he may present on, a good deal of effort may be used to steer him towards "compromised" sources, misinformation and incorrect conclusions. Stuff that didn't happen back when he was a nobody. I still check out his free stuff, can't afford to subsidize EVERY voice.
Would a slow moving jet with a high degree of visibility and attention be used in active combat zones? Would the ukrops be so puzzled if they could attribute the activity to known source?
First!
The average age of Ukrainian POWs captured by Russian military in the Donbass is now 55, and unmotivated to fight, of course.
...of course....? why of course.....there is no age limit for those threatened to perform, a bullet in the back is motivation enough
Unmotivated due to being pressed into service, as well as having seen enough of life to understand their role in the war, to be ground up.
It was different last year when Ukrainian conscripts tried to retreat and the Azovs shot them.
Now they surrender to Russians.
A few surrender - most are shot
No general revolt yet
Soldiers have always been press ganged - motivation is collective and individual survival, not some kind of patriotic hero ism
Press ganged after avoiding the war for over 2 years, minimally trained, blindfolded in transit to the front lines... The way to survive is to surrender.
No esprit de corps has been created in these groups of hapless men.
This press ganging has always happened throughout history and indeed a lot worse
Once in battle other motivations impose themselves
This is not a question of deducing from civilian life and attitudes what happens to men in war
As every one 'knows' but few experience, being/surviving in war is very very different from civil life, everything changes
The way to survive is to adapt to war, which very nearly all do
Esprit de corps is a french peacock fantasy, dreamed up by generals for generals
what ever happened to that supposed Canadian NATO general who was said to be invovlded in Mariupol and captured. From memory I think he was an early discharge for some kinda kinky conduct?
His alleged presence and capture in Mariupol was fabrication/speculation. The "retired" General returned to Canada from Ukraine in 2022 to face sexual assault accusations from 30 years ago: Charges were eventually stayed.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/sexual-assault-charges-stayed-against-former-army-commander-over-court-delay-1.6596432
I recall that Pepe Escobar was the one of the first who reported that at least 6 different languages were reported as intercepted in radio communications out of the Azovstal tunnels. If foreign military leadership was present and captured there, it would have been a huge PR victory for Russia. Escobar (and others) have never done a follow up piece on that, which is odd given his connections in Moscow.
I remember watching a video from last year from somewhere on the Ukr front line & two mercs were dug in in the rear behind obviously there to stop the Ukr conscripts from retreating. An American merc was using a GoPro on his helmet when he recorded two AFU running towards him from a tree line, he shouts "stop, stop guys, what's happening, got to go back" with an obvious US accent as clear as day, but they kept coming so the merc gets up and starts repeating waving his arms, but as they got closer suddenly one of the advancing Ukr just opens up on him and you realise he is falling but at the same time he is also recording his mate who is falling to the ground after being shot. Then it stops. I bet he never thought he would be videoing his murder.
Fuck any American that signed up for that crap.
Of course Is because a 55 year old values his remaining days far more.
Furthermore, We as Ukrainians, as older better educated, don't want to die for Washington and that War Criminal Zelensky.
As Ukrainians you should have taken more evident care with your country and with your ruling classes, and their allies, especially, as you say you , are older and better educated
You all bear collective responsibility for the state you find yourselves in as do the citizens of every place- this can not be shrugged off away onto - it was their fault, we are innocent, we are victims
So now you are war - an ugly conclusion perhaps, but one you have to face - if you fight you accept the consequences of your lives choices and actions, if you do not you close your eyes and you are cowards
Then kick out the Jew. Juden raus is your only solution my friend.
John Helmer's always got something interesting to say......https://johnhelmer.net/
Good show cliffs are - Putin is totally incompetent as a war fighter - doesn't recognize total war against Russia by West and soft compared to those around him. While Russia is winning war on the ground, it's no thanks to him, he's getting more killed than need be, losing propaganda war, and will beg for any bad deal similar to Istanbul 1.0 capitulation.
He understands "who the enemy is", global-finance.
BOE Needs World War Three https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/boe-needs-world-war-three
The Jew
I disagree, the media machine is collapsing thanks in part to people getting news from alternative sources, Putin is not "incompetent" you don't rise through the ranks of the KGB when you are "incompetent".
The West is rather more weak than I imagined, and the US has spent its military machine on useless things like the ME wars, the Ukraine war, and simply abandoning billions of military gear into enemy hands.
The UK flies rust buckets still, France is a sitting duck with Macron at the wheel.
Russia gets stronger. the West gets weaker, thanks in part to the parasite infection.
The entire jewSA has atrophied due to DEI (diversity equity and isreal)
Were you ever able to get Vlad on the phone to tell him what he's getting wrong and how to fix it ? Maybe you accidentally turned your ringer off. It happens to me sometimes.
Why don't you just fly over to Moscow and ask him if he'd mind if you hung out with him for awhile. I'm sure he'd love some advice from a keyboard warrior / arm chair general who has it all figured out. Just pack a pointer for the big maps..
The Helmer piece from Aug 26th on the Information War and inherent bias of both X and ChatGBT is also worth a read. Proof that what they claim is "artificial intelligence" is just programmed gaslighting.
https://johnhelmer.net/the-war-of-the-robots-twitter-and-chatgbt-are-both-russia-warfighters
And you should not dismiss that information because it means Ukies are back at it again - throwing expendable meaningless fodder at Russians to buy time while accumulating and training new brigades in the rear.
Pakrovsk front is collapsing. That "center cannot hold".
What is going on with the debts and collateral? They are largely in Novorussia, so forfeited collateral, unpaid debts, and the UK & Japan guarantied the Ukrainian loans from the IMF?
What does it take to defeat the enemy which is "Globo-cap"?
It's indeed collapsing, but we'll get to witness another Bakhmut-tier battle going on for several months in Pokrovsk while in the open steppes to the south of it they'll engage in maneuvering warfare not unlike Kursk. This is a critical point, but not the critical one.
I think it’s ridiculous that Zelinski insists on protecting 18 to 25-year-olds, meanwhile, he expects everyone in the west to pick up tab for their expenditures, everything from pensions to war salaries, when they pay them that is…
The Jew wants to expend the 18 yr old goyim too.
Congratulations, man.
Yeah, nice to take the cherry
How many wasted lives to never have declared a "first"? It's akin to dying a virgin. lol
….first with what?
First means everything, man.
Wow, how deep, amazing analysis.
Yo mamma
do you realise how moronic you appear in writing such a comment?
Jealous?
do you realise how moronic you appear in responding?
Plz, Simplicius. Delete this sorts of threads. They are destroying the good discussions going on in other threads.
Eh, let it stay. It gives the idiots an opportunity to identify themselves early on in the discussion.
Note for the record: Mikey Johnson identified.
Russian frontline commanders report the perfect soldier is a miner or laborer worker in the ripe age group of 50-60 ???? explain please Simp...
Nonsense... 40s at the latest. Body doesn't recover as fast in 50s.
I'm not Simp but here's my 2 cents:
- Miners are accustomed to explosions and risky environments. Retired or senior miners have seen a lot a of dangerous situations at work and developed a sense of reacting calm and decisive to danger.
- People who passed the 50s have already lived many experiences and usually had grown-up children or even grandchildren, so they can take risks without too much fear of being killed.
- Miners face extenuating work shifts, almost always "buried" inside too cold or too hot and damp places, precisely the "comfort" environment that soldiers "enjoy". They are accustomed to it. An IT developer working from a cozy office in downtown would find it much more challenging.
You know... once you're first you keep that slot, so you could edit it and post something useful, or at least amusing.
Instead you leave "first".
Is there even anything left of Ugledar?
San Francisco
Not much, some gutted highrise apartments. That old Soviet architecture can really take a beating
Ugly&dire
These towns and cities are completely wiped off the map. Blame Ukraine and it's masters, not Russia.
S - thanks for the constant updates - this allows less traction to the trolls and doomers who otherwise would be pushing Daily Telegraph style nonsense
Good to have first reports of the otherwise invisible F16's
Russia should drop photos of Soros and drag queens into Ukraine trenches. This is what you are fighting for. War would be over in a few weeks.
Ukrainians brainwashed idiots don't yet know that their entire country has been sold to Soros, Blackrock, Vanguard, Monsanto, Cargill etc..country is bankrupted near default. 20 millions left many will never come back. 1 million + kia-wia-mia-pow etc...entire generation destroyed, not enough men left, women will leave 404 to find a better life and a men in the West or Russia. Ukraine is a failed state for at least 50 years or forever. But ''ukraine is winning''. Even EU countries are demilitarized, plunged in billions of debts, no growth, even worse situation in the UK ''we are broken' say both tories + fake left, France industry is now on the same % of gdp as...Greece. They don't even dare to form a new govt, same in Belgium. Germany is deindustrialized for years or forever. High energy costs, inflation etc...what kind of victory is that? Not to mention brics +.
Usd is falling as rates falling, new buble in the making, West is done and broken, without WWIII and great reset they are finished but it is very risky, will they dare?
The WEF defines victory differently than the people it subjugates.
Ukrainian jews have already recorded a song (from the roof of the Menorah synagogue) that Ukraine is a “jewish land.” Mazel Tov, Banderites, on selling Ukraine to the worst kind of jews.
The homoerotic dancer and “penist” Zelensky -- a Ukrainian jew who has suddenly discovered his jewish “supremacy” and unrestricted sadism – has banned Orthodox Christianity in Ukraine. The X-tians in US congress (veritable satanists) are fine with the jewish attack on Christianity in Ukraine and Palestine.
Ukrainian blood and land were sold by judeo-banderites to zionist banking cabal and corporations (BlackRock, Monsanto/Bayer, et al). The judeo-banderites’s children are safely tacked away from the frontline, similar to Milejkowsky (bibi) progeny currently having good time in Miami, while the brainless Israelis commit war crimes (on bibi's orders) by mass-murdering the Palestinian children and women.
The whole world observes judaic values in action in Ukraine and Palestine!
And both of them are charnel houses. Hell on earth.
What they should have done was to arrange a meeting of Soros with Mr. Kinzhal. That would be a huge propaganda score for Russia. There are more than a few zeks here in Clown-World who would cheer, and more - especially younger ones with kids - would be encouraged to take advantage and move to Russia. It would send a message to the rulers of Clown-World that none of them are exempt from retribution for their endless evil. Turning Soros into a crispy-critter would be a considerable morale-boost for the resistance in the Empire of Lies.
Russia was made aware of Soros trip to Kiev and his itinerary before he got on the train so he didn't become a propaganda victory. Recall several months ago when the Banderan Kapo Zelenski and the PM of Greece, Mitsotakis, visited a warehouse in Odessa and the kapo wàs handing out medals. As soon as the pair cleared the area Mr Iskander or Ms Kalibr visited the area. The UK had to move it's sea drone operation after the visit.
Funny the British admitting that Lenin was a front controlled funded by outside forces.
We did it once we can do it again.
Supported by western powers to create chaos, but not meant to succeed the way it did.
The Soviets ended up saving Russia and building a superpower, that wasn't in the plans. It was one of the last times the West tried to use communism to further its own agenda.
You won't see them trying that in Russia despite the communists being a fairly large block. They are too loyal to the state, and too successful when in power.
The Brits are currently working with the Strelkov/Prigozhin Right and some neoconservative oligarchs. That is who they'd like to take over from Putin as they'd immediately sell Russia to the highest bidder.
Maybe, some day, far in the future, somebody in Russia will understand that Britain wont stop until Russia's total destruction.
Tsk Tsk - Britain is on the way down and out, is not in a position to do anything but feeble terrorist style pin pricks
Please - a sense of the reality of power is needed, not a submission to propoganda
Britain has been trying for 200 years with declining success. It is not Russia that needs to understand, it is Little wannabe globalist England that needs to come to its senses.
Which England can't do fast enough [ come to its senses ]
Historically, the War of 1812 marked the final notable clash between the U.S. & Britain--which placed Britain in the role of hegemon & the U.S. in the role of today's Russia, as the strengthening rival power
Britain even augured to gain naval control of all 5 Great Lakes plus the Mississippi River--!
Didn't work, as we know
Bloody as hell, though. Sometimes called Tecumseh's War for the high number of indigenous combatants involved in the conflict. Also called the Second War of Independence.
Soon after the war ended, Britain began to reframe its r'ship w/ the U.S., seeing its Atlantic pond-mate as the moving train to which it could hitch its wagon--and the two countries have enjoyed a Special Relationship ever since.
History has not closed the book on what England & Russia might someday realize together--but no one is turning to that particular chapter just yet
Pertinent points. The only point I would modify a bit is the so-called "special relationship": as far as I can tell it has been a 1-way street with the U.S. exploiting the UK's perception of it but giving nothing in return.
You forget the massive transfer of industrial and financial techniques in the 19th Century
Most US practices of both were imported from England, usually for free by the method known as theft
The foundation of all great empires is a great theft
"The foundation of all great empires is a great theft"
If "theft" was a "martial art"...the Brits have been black belts in this historical endeavor. One can almost stand in awe of their gall (bucket of balls), cruel imagination and organizing principles to allow this to happen. The march of time and technological advances everywhere have leveled the playing field. The famous bank robber, Willie Sutton, when asked why he robbed banks replied, "because that's where they keep the money." The British have been imperial experts and cruel "bank robbers". Following Cecil Rhodes(1853-1902) and his greedy career demonstrates the classic example. Go unwanted to a distant continent and steal everything that's not nailed down. The greedy criminal West no longer has control of the narrative or the industrial base to continue with this long-in-the-tooth behavior. Hopefully the nukes can sleep well in their silos.
My comment does not relate to the 19th C. but to post-WW2, which is when the term "special relationship" was coined.
"one way street" and "special relationship" are really a rather bland way of describing what in fact is an incestuous relationship devoid of any moral compass. Remember , it was Churchill's british born and bred daughter in law that annointed Bill Clinton as US President and it is the Clintons and Obama that staged the recent coup d'etat against the people's nominated Biden in favour of their canditae Harris. It's much deeper that just "special".
I agree, but I did not coin the term "special relationship", neither did I want to get into the details of it.
As for the "people's nominated Biden", that is a huge misqualification. I am no fan of Trump, far from it, I hate the guy with a passion, but the truth is that the 2020 election was rigged big time, which means the presidency was stolen from him. This year the Dems will probably try to rig it again, although they'll need much more powerful means.
Ernesto: Don't forget the little Englander mentality, the mentality that knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing.
@Ernesto Che
The US involvement in WWI strikes me as a counter example to your one way street?
I am talking about the period post-WW2.
@cheetosSpring
You have described a very different conception of the war of 1812 than mine. Also, how does the British involvement in encouraging and financing the South Carolinians who fomented secession (first attempting this unsuccessfully during the Jackson Administration and then again under Buchanan and finally Lincoln) fit into your schema?
How many divisions did the British commit to the Confederacy--?
Can you direct us to the material which lists the British as co-belligerents against the U.S. in the American Civil War--?
@cheetosSpring
The British merely met with the representatives of South Carolina's planter ur-oligarchs in London during Andrew Jackson's administration and encouraged their FIRST attempt at breaking up the United states ca. 1838. Andrew Jackson quashed that attempt before the British did more than meet with, entice and verbally encourage the secessionists.
Then, the British met with the representatives of those same South Carolinians & their successors in the run up to the election of 1860 and encouraged the same ideas, that if they seceded, Britain would back their play. THIS TIME they put a good quantity of GOLD at the southern cabal's disposal, which they had not done during the abortive "nullification crisis" of 1838. And they nearly got the balkanization of the USA they desired in return.
Just as with our MIC now, their was good money to be made by the empire's oligarchy on the war, more so if they might sell to BOTH sides. Hence the reluctance of the British to FORMALLY back the South before they demonstrated an ability to win, plus some interesting espionage and industrial warfare hijinks such as allowing a representative of the DuPont family to buy up ALL the Indian produced salt petre in Britain before the southerners could get their hands on it for gunpowder production! THAT was facilitated by the ancestors of some of the same banker clans in City of London who now are enjoying a nice windfall from activities in Ukraine AND Russia.
War has been a profitable business for the financial sector going back to the early Renaissance era, if not longer. Backing both sides and prolonging the conflict as long as possible is the smart move for a banker. Thousands of £s in gold spotted to some insurrectionists earned the British empire's "right sort of people" MILLIONS of £s in sales of munitions, weaponry and supplies. The less industrialized South never could produce the required guns, ammunition or even the cloth for their uniforms, their largest trading partner was Britain, often facilitated through imports from the British islands in the Caribbean/South America (or moved through other neutral countries possessions there). Britain got loads of cotton, tobacco, indigo & other raw materials (and whatever hard currency the South had), the Southerners got Enfield and Witworth rifles, cannon, Curtis & Harvey black powder & all the other things they needed but couldn't make themselves.
"wannabe globalist"? England was the original globalist with tenacles in every corner of the globe for almost 2 centuries. It was a remarkable achievement for a small island nation.
Yes, but it lost that status after WW2, and in the 21st C. has become a wannabe globalist.
Not by its people. It is the rotten governments previous & current who want to sell out to the EU-rinal but still they are trodden on and insulted by arse holes calling them Little Englanders, a lefty Marxist racist comment.
Apparently Cuck Island was the primary force behind the recent invasion of Kursk oblast.
See here:
https://www.kitklarenberg.com/p/britains-kursk-invasion-backfires
The Starmer regime should be made to pay.
Another hypothesis is that Britain may be the first domino to fall in the pending global debt Ponzi collapse, at least in part because they are among the significant holders of defaulted Ukrainian debt.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2024-08-27/imminent-collapse-great-britain
This is a subordinate theory to the one that says WW3 is being orchestrated by TPTB to usher in the "Great Reset" and a new global monetary (exploitation) system. The question then becomes, is Putin/Russia an active participant or a pawn? For me still "too early to say".
The Bolsheviks were funded by Germany in WW1 to get Russia out of the war. It worked.
So the Germans pulled all this off in a year or so?.
Seems like a long planned event. From the time Marx was funded to come up with his divisive tome. I wouldn't lay responsibility solely with Germany England Russian or any nation. As usual certain powerful actors with their long term projects that sometimes come together.
Makes one wonder if the Kursk incursion was an offering to Russia? Denazifying and demilitarization was greatly accelerated, whilst the Donbas front obviously collapsed.
But, but, but The BOE Needs World War Three https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/boe-needs-world-war-three
Not the BOE, Rothschild does.
The Telegraph is just an MI6/CIA mouthpiece. Their reporting along with that of the Kiev Post confirms my suspicion that the entire purpose of the Ukraine war was to try a CIA-style overthrow of Putin and that Prigozhin's hair-brained putsch was the overthrow that the CIA intended. The whole thing is so silly, as though Russia were some former British colony that had gone rogue. Amazing how the Soros clan appears everywhere the West seems to be off the rails: truly the devil's agent that fellow.
Yep, the looks like the CIA is working with rightwingers and neocons like Prigozhin. That explains a lot. Guess they learnt their lesson when they helped the communists to power so long ago. Talk about blowback.
Nah. I don't think that the CIA compromised Prigozhin. I think his intent was genuine - after all he was right about Gerasimov and Shoigu's corruption and incompetence. This is even being corroborated by Belausov now, since he feels like he can speak freely as he is a rising star in Russian politics and has the ear of the President. Belousov has been saying some controversial things lately in the Duma.
""after all he was right about Gerasimov and Shoigu's corruption and incompetence" not only is that statement debatable, it doesn't in any way prove Prigozhin's intent or loyalty.
Looks to me that he was a coaine addled, narcissistic traitor ready to sell himself to the highest bidder. Taking down valuable ISR assets on the way to the front, has NATO fingerprints all over it.
Prigozhin's last statements, calling everything about the SMO a lie, including NATO involvement and the willingness for Zelenky to negotiate are unhinged from reality.
Putin got good value out of him and Wagner despite the danger, ultimately executing him in poetic fashion.
He had a valid point or two. The Russian Military as a whole wasn't ready for the war, in fact it needed a long war to weed out corruption and inefficiency. That doesn't make his intent genuine, it shows what an opportunist he was.
Just my thoughts, though, who knows? I'm not privy to the information needed to say anything for certain. I will say the timing, location and targeted assets during the coup attempt couldn't have been more dangerous to the Russian Military effort. That doesn't make him a CIA asset, it may be coincidental he did exactly what NATO would have wanted him to do. It doez make him a traitor, though, and as such he got what he deserved.
What Prigozhin did was very similar to rebellions of the Legions that happened at various times during Rome's tenure.
While it must have been a pleasant surprise to NATO, I can see where he is coming from now. I am a supporter of Russia and have been my whole life and even went to protest against Maidan. I even have similar thoughts as Prigozhin regarding everything about the SMO being a lie - these are unfortunate thoughts that arise when you watch the actions of the Russian MOD in this war. Too many illogical situations and inconsistencies arise for which there are no explanations and that are quite unlike any other war. I am not privy to anything, but I can use my brain and see things that don't make sense.
Big organizations always are inherently slow, incompetent, corrupt, silly, kafkaesk. That's the nature of big organizations, you have to built it up very efficiently and quick, to get it to work for some time. But time inevitably corrupts it with all the problems big organizations have. The more hierarchical layers an organization has, the more the communication is twisted. The more layers you have, the less information will survive at the end. It sound trivial and naive, but that's just how it is.
It is just my suspicion. The CIA became very talkative about Ukraine after the failed Prigozhin putsch, putting out all sorts of stories through their media lackeys like Seymour Hersh that they had nothing to do with any of it... the provocations, Maiden, Nordstream, and blaming all of it on Blinken, Nuland, Biden, et al (as if Nuland and Blinken weren't operating hand in glove with the CIA).
Yet the whole thing follows the blueprint of CIA-style "regime change" perfectly. Have an asset in-country who has some support either via the military or via powerful economic groups. Stir up ethnic minorities via pseudo-nationalist or religious extremism to put pressure on the government. Begin a program of economic isolation (i.e. sanctions) in an effort to impoverish the common folk. Then, when the time is right, tell your asset to start his putsch.
It is really the only blueprint that they have and they run the same textbook moves every time. If it quacks like a duck, looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and flies like a duck, then it is a duck. This whole thing sure looks like a duck to me. Of course, their usual stuff did not work because this is not 1925 or 1955 and Russia is not El Salvador or Iran.
Just to add that wokeism is the tool used to generate the new 'ethnic minority'.
It came from the women at the universities in the U.S., because they knew that they could not compete with men in most academic fields, so they stole a couple of ideas from Foucault, likened themselves to blacks, and starting yelling, "sexism" or "racism" every time someone did not give them a job for which they were hopelessly unqualified. The male saps at the U.S. universities relented after a few, short years of wailing from the women and gave them everything that they wanted. I was there in the U.S. universities as it was happening, so I know what happened.
However, you are correct. Since woke left the universities and Clinton realigned the Democratic Party with Wall Street, the CIA/MI6/Mossad people have used the idiot woke brigades much like they use radical extremists in other coups: as the useful idiots to demonstrate, create chaos, and put their puppets into power. Very astute observation.
It's a full on funded cult.
Putin is corrupt and incompetent - he doesnt want escalation because this would weaken oligarchs power mobilizing the state for total war, oligarchs who still hold significant sway on Putin, don't want bureaucrats like Medvedev taking over and directing their companies. They may not get companies back. Gerasimov and Shoigu and almost every other military man do what total war. But Prigozhin couldnt attack the man who orders the generals or he be a dead man, so he attacked subordinate generals who were ordered to leech him.
Lol.
What utter Fucking Bullshit from another Yankee Moron.
Controversial things such as???
It appears that you really don't have a Clue, and that Shoigu was Not fired or demoted, but is now even closer to Putin than he was as minister of defence.
You cannot take anything Prighozin was saying seriously, he was merely in it for himself, and didn't care about anybody else.
You first have to understand Putin and the overall approach to the SMO and their reasoning before you can criticize, Putin or anybody else in the Russian military.
Even Belousov (new Minister of Defense) said recently that it was a mistake to put Shoigu as Minister of Defense as it led to alot of corruption in the MOD and loss of alot of equipment.
Yes, Shoigu is closer to Putin than ever rather than being punished
You Idiot, Shoigu was Not corrupt, nor was he incompetent, the only reason why Shoigu was moved, was because Putin wants a tight reign and how and were money is spent, given that military spending is now 6% of the national budget, whiich is Belousov's forte, while Shoigu is an Engineer and best left facilitating the development of military hardware and systems.
Please provide the link to the supposed statement you purport to have originated from Belousov.
Here you go:
https://youtube.com/shorts/ybPp3JWyWc8?si=2d3ejz035LvoImyX
I'd be careful about calling people idiots, when it is you who might end up being one
Just a friendly reminder. Prigozhin’s coup attempt coincided with Ukrainian offensive of summer 2023 and was accompanied by his false claims of broken defenses and unopposed Ukrainian advances. Chances that all of this was coordinated are actually higher than zero.
The GOP senator for South Carolina Lindsay Graham (known as Lady G here in zek central) made a remark about a "big surprise" for Russia and 'Putler' just before Prigozhin's famous march on Moscow. He could have been a double-agent in the employ of the CIA. Alternatively, he could have been a triple-agent who ended up exposing Gerasimov and Shiogu - though this seem less likely as neither of these two are in prison. They've been "promoted" to areas where they have less control instead. That whole mess is a very difficult tangle of conflicting info.
Oh, and Prigozhin has previously 'died' in a plane crash in Africa - only to miraculously resurface later. Layers within layers, wheels within wheels.....
The Telegraph is owned by the Lloyds Banking Group. That alone should tell us everything.
Yes, the Telegraph is part of the Mighty Wurlitzer. There are very few media outlets in the Empire of Lies even among the allegedly 'alternative' media who are not controlled in some way by the rulers of Clown-World. When you have the ability to create legal-tender 'ex nihilo' there are very few things and people you cannot buy since price is irrelevant to those who simply add zeros to their accounts. 100 dollars becomes 1,000,000,000 with a few key clicks. Just think what you could do if your could simply go into your bank account and refund it in this manner.
I have been around for awhile so I heard everything in the old days news was censored slightly. I used to compare stories from two papers they both put a spin on it. Even today I find different takes on the situation in Kurst. Listened to a pod cast on the Duran with John Helmer who basically states that it’s Putin who is keeping the military from moving faster. Apparently Putin is getting pressured by the oligarchs end the war so they can make more money.Just another piece of info.
The elephant in the room is western media is controlled and owned by the CIA.
The Soros' and Finks have billions of dollars tied up in the Bandera territories. Those billions are being devalued and their dreams of plundering
The CIA doesn't do coups anymore. That's the NED's job since the mid 80s.
Soros is one of the people who control the CIA. The CIA, as it now exists, was created by Allen Dulles when Eisenhower appointed him to be its director and his brother, John Foster, to be Secretary of State. Both men came from Sullivan and Cromwell. which was the big Wall Street law firm that handled all the companies trying to become multinationals. Ever hear the term, "banana republic?" That term comes from the way in which Sullivan and Cromwell manipulated Latin American governments for its clients' benefits: specifically The Dole Fruit Company. The purpose of the CIA from the day that Allen took control was to manipulate foreign governments and place leaders in power who were puppets of Wall Street, because both Dulles men were the representatives (literally) of Wall Street. That purpose has not changed. Soros, Blackrock, et al want to control the European energy and food markets. As part of that effort (along with a lot of propaganda about climate change and everyone giving up their cows, farms, and gas-powered cars), they want to control the resources of Ukraine. Nuland, Blinken, et al are just doing their bidding, as is the entire CIA. Same as it has been since Eisenhower put those two devils in charge of U.S. foreign policy.
that there was some scrambling done by ' Putin and his staff ' at the beginning of the Kursk invasion and now his popularity has plummetted....geesh- is a war supposed to be easy ? People inside Russia are as bad as people on fartbook about thinking they know better than Putin and his staff. Makes me mad, even though I'm merely Canadian. During war the population needs to shut the fuck up and be ready. Ludmilla too, is stirring the pot and its not in any of their best interest to do that during times like this. I wish I was in Russia now and not Canada. I'm so ashamed of my government and yet I'm old and poor and have animals I would never abandon, so I stay. But if those foolish Russian complainers and judges could feel what its like to be in a country where your own government wants to depopulate you, they should blush with shame.
Putin is going to commit suicide like AH because levada (US owned) says he lost ..2 points lol
Not a single Western politico even reaching 25 % at best.
thanks for the laugh. yeah.
Change Canada to US & you've described me...old, poor, critters I won't abandon -- & ashamed of my government.
and Putin and his staff even know about us that THAT'S why this hasn't yet exploded.
It's a sad thing when your so-called "enemy" values your life more than your own so-called government!
His popularity "plummeted" to 77%. Anyone in the West would kill for numbers that "bad".
The scale on the Y axis was highly amusing :)
What was the dynamic range? 10% or less?
Yeah. Right where it (popularity) was a year ago. A real downward trend that will bottom out at .7699 providing evidence to western "experts" on all things Russian that the natives are restive.
“…taking care of animals”: nothing to be ashamed of there.
Take heart: those Russian complainers are a very small minority of the population. I'm an American living in Russia and the Russians around me all support Putin and his administration and his war strategy by huge margins.
By the way, you could bring your animals to Russia if you moved here. If they're big animals like horses that could be costly and might not be realistic on a pension, but dogs and cats and such, sure, no problem.
About "moving" I have PM'd you. Maybe you didn't notice that ?
I did, but unfortunately I don't have the time to get into private conversations. It's pretty rare to have an American in an eye witness position in Russia who can tell the truth against the 24/7 propaganda for morons that is saturating the West.
I feel terrible dread that the country I love, the US, is headed the wrong way into catastrophe. I feel every one of us who can help save the US by telling the truth has a duty to do that. That has to come first, so I have to prioritize comments in a forum where more than just one other person can read them. I wish I could do more.
Maybe you could comment on this issue here, publicly. It would be interesting, not just for me but for everyone who would be interested.
I know others (CheetoSpring ?) have also asked you before for some more specific info.
Which issue?
Moving to Russia. Where to start, practical issues, things required or advantageous (beyond the obvious language knowledge), traps to avoid, etc.
they are horses...two elderlies....I can't move again. Its okay - even if there was a nuclear evacuation I wouldn't leave them.
"even if there was a nuclear evacuation I wouldn't leave them." You're a good person. God bless you.
There's a fine Russian joke you may enjoy:
An old man dies and his elderly dog is so distraught it dies with him. The two find themselves in a parklike setting up in the clouds where an angel takes them in hand and walks them down a path.
They arrive at a beautiful gate which opens, and beyond they see a glimpse of a wonderful life where people are forever young and enjoy themselves. The old man smiles, pets his dog and says "we've made it!" and the two start to go in the gate. The angel stops them, and says, "Sorry, only you. The dog cannot enter."
The old man stops and looks down at his dog. He frowns and tells the angel, "Then I don't go either." The angel shrugs his shoulders and says, "Your decision" and the beautiful gate closes. The angel points to the path and says, "Move along now... nothing for you here."
The man and his dog move slowly down the path, now alone. He pets his dog and tells him not to worry, he won't abandon him. They continue that way for some time but the man will not turn back. They finally arrive at another gate, this one a simple gate that also opens. Beyond they see people living an ordinary but fine life, a mix of ages, all seeming to be happy. They see people with pets there as well. Another angel walks out the gate to greet them. "Welcome," he says. "Can I bring my dog?" the man asks. "Of course," says the angel, "This is Heaven for dogs too".
The old man asks, "but what was that place back there? It looked like Paradise."
"Ah," the angel replied, "That was for people who abandon their best friends. That was the gate to Hell."
Hell, Simplicus states flatly that the Russian reaction to the Kursk incursion was 'incompetent". It was.
The point is to recognize this and to learn to do better. Not to wring one's hands or point fingers, except as pointing fingers will help identify who didn't do what they were supposed to do and to either instruct them better or move them somewhere else.
The Banderan army "invaded" a strategically insignificant part of Russia for the war porn optics. Russia didn't need to react in a nonthoughtful, rash way.
The purpose of a war of attrition is to ALWAYS minimize your losses while maximizing the other's losses.
The incursion already accomplished exactly what it was intended to do, which is to shift the narrative from Ukrainian defeat to Russian incompetence.
Had Russia acted decisively from the outset, the point would be moot.
Back in March, Biden announced that the US would be willing to be the first to use nuclear weapons in a war. We could be ending the SWAT vs gangster phase of the war and entering the Dr. Strangelove phase.
Just a couple nights ago I watched the Mel Gibson movie WE WERE SOLDIERS and was shocked by the scene showing soldiers burning to death when a surrounded US platoon called in Napalm when they were overrun.
With its history, culture, and pride, Russia will never allow the WEF and the LGBTQ+++ theories of the West destroy Christianity.
Re Indian Peace Plan and PM visit to Kiev
Esteemed colleague: I was going to write a comment on your comment – but soon became aware of the complexity of the issue and abandoned ship in favour of savouring the latest AA CC trap to the USEU governing class
I’ll just note few elements
Comments about the Indian Prime Minister’s visit to Kiev have been muted and sparse
The NYT crowd crowed that this was a victory for Ukraine
Some of the India Press welcomed an Indian turn away from Russia
China reacted with criticism, as per quotes and link below
India Punchline was evasive, but emphasised the long and close relationship and the current boom trade between RF and India
Z has been jumping up and down stringing together a thousand moons
Annexe Links and Quotes
https://www.indianpunchline.com/ukraines-complicated-history-with-neighbours/
https://www.pressreader.com/india/the-indian-express/20240821/281968908014104
https://www.indianpunchline.com/ukraines-complicated-history-with-neighbours/
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202408/1318764.shtml
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202408/1318690.shtml
“Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's commitment to brokering peace between Russia and Ukraine, as well as New Delhi's ties with Moscow, were put to the test after Kiev hinted that signing the communique of the Switzerland Ukraine peace conference is a precondition for hosting a second summit on peace.
Modi wrapped up a high-stakes visit to Ukraine Friday. This visit witnessed Modi and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky referencing the UN Charter and the need to respect territorial integrity and Modi's mourning of children lost in the conflict.
According to BBC, the Ukrainian leader welcomed Modi in an "awkward" manner and smiles were few and far between.
Zelensky, while expressing support for India to host the second summit on peace as Kiev hopes to find a host among the countries in the Global South, has set a precondition.
"But I want to be frank, and this applies not only to India, but to any state that would be positive about hosting a second summit. We will not be able to hold a peace summit in a country that has not yet joined the peace summit communique," Zelensky emphasized during a Sunday meeting with Indian journalists, according to the Kyiv Independent.
Modi's visit to Ukraine was intended to be a "damage control" trip to assuage criticism from Ukraine and the US over his previous trip to Russia, Qian Feng, director of the research department at the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times.
However, the visit has turned into a challenge to India's commitment to brokering peace and its ties with Russia, Qian said.
Qian predicted that it will be impossible for New Delhi to walk back and sign the joint communique of the Switzerland peace summit, as such a move would wreck the relations between Russia and India.
Qian noted that Modi's trip was held at an awkward time when Russia slammed the doors shut on talks after Ukraine's offensive in Russia's Kursk region.
"India should be careful when trying to maintain a balanced relationship among all countries. Without delicate diplomacy and the strength of proposing a satisfactory peace plan, it may eventually become caught in a situation where pleasing both sides is a mission impossible," Qian told the Global Times.”
Thx for these, G
In a "now is not the era of war" sort of vein Modi understands that *peace* is not singular, neither is it obtained @ the point of coercion. The desperate *peace* the Usurper of Kiev seeks is hollow--a stunt like his other oh-so-clever acts.
In critical ways the world has changed incontrovertibly since the SMO commenced. Consider how we have enlarged our understanding of these events: nothing can be as it was on 23 February 2022.
You can't make a cat walk backwards.
Modi is too savvy to allow the Usurper of Kiev to ensnare him in the kind of leg-trap, which the communique now represents. The Usurper is giving Modi a chance not only to change his mind about affixing his signature to it but also to give the *right* answer this time.
That makes tawdry an event like this war--the regrettable losses, the appalling wholesale forfeit of the Ukrainian population--which is deserving now of the most studied dignity
The Modi quote is valid and valuable
But the swirling disinformation resulting from his visit to Kiev has left the sense that his visit was not all that productive, or that his motives could be interpreted in many ways
He does seem to be playing to both sides, both BRICS side and US side, and this has been seized on by the USniks and their clan
Modi may feel obliged to play some sort of game like this, but is he up to it?
The "leg-trap" is the notion that one either plays the game as the U.S. & the Usurper want or one doesn't: one is coerced to play appropriately or one demurs & suffers reputational damage
But there's a third way. Modi already chose not to play in June. I trust his ability to seek the Third Way
The U.S. could not tolerate the Bandung Conference & the Non-Aligned Movement back in the day & worked tirelessly to end them, which it did do. BRICS, like Bandung, is an affront the hegemon can't allow. Once it feels one or two weaknesses it will work to fully weaken
Honoured correspondant!
Allah has indeed blessed your hands and heart with wisdom hope and patience
May time prove India right, as well as all those, like you, who promote visions of peace in the teeth of the treacherous enemy
Peace be on you and the mercy and blessings of Allah
It is difficult to wait when uncertainty swirls. The agony of waiting is itself a pillar of this process, however--how to sit & be still & find a strange peace in not leaping
Jazakallahu khairan Gerrard, keep up the good dakwah.
Gday there Cheeto, Sukarno could have changed the world but the empire got him along with nigh on a million innocents also, my mother in law was greatly affected and nearly lost her life but thank God they didn't get her.
Mein Gotts, Simp is on fire these days. Of course, how could he not, with how things are spiraling into a death spiral.
The claim that HIMARs are hardcoded to not be able to strike Russian territory makes no sense, considering that we know they have been used against targets in Kursk Oblast. That is unless, Ukraine bypassed this hardcoding or the US does not see Kursk as Russian anymore or that the claim that HIMAR's cannot strike Russian territory is a lie (which seems most likely).
And the fact that we even got to the point (as is said by the linked telegram thread) that UA and US are even discussing long range strikes on Russian territory is simply a travesty and an embarassment and proof that Russian political/military leadership needs a shakeup so that it is not afraid to escalate. After all, the escalation game is one of brinksmanship - the guy with the biggest balls wins.
Also, I have no doubt that operations with landings in Crimea and attempts to capture towns (and potentially expand control if possible) within Crimea itself are likely. Currently, I see Odessa having more soldiers than usual. Also, the GUR has promised "suprises" and even Zelensky mentioned that they still have cards to play in his most recent press conference and that they were preparing something. Unlike last time, I don't think this is maskirovka.
With how well Russian leadership has been able to miss obvious attacks in recent days, I wouldn't be surprised if they miss the landing on Kinburn Spit. After all, the only thing that stopped the 2023 Ukrainian "counteroffensive" was Surovikin being head of the "Chief of Staff" not Gerasimov. With Surovikin gone, I don't trust Gerasimov to be able to accomplish anything of note. Just see the inability of Gerasimov to end Ukrainian energy infrastructure. Why do I say "Gerasimov"? If you recall, it was under Surovikin that missile strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure started. But he was replaced with Gerasimov shortly after and that's when the strikes began to be half-hearted. With the number of blunders/errors that have been accumulated under Gerasimov's watch, it is a wonder why he keeps his position? There exist some opinions that him and Shoigu hold too much influence to safely remove them, but then that raises other questions - as to how did Putin even allow for this to happen and why did he even put people like this in power in the first place?
Expect a similar situation to that in Kursk in Crimea soon. And I worry for the coming landings on Kinburn Spit, I am not sure of the quality of Russia's defense in that region, I think troops there have been in too much of a relaxed state there for too long. Lets hope I am wrong about Russian command and they actually get their act together, as does Putin and he stops giving high offices to incompetent people.
Regarding the emerging middle class and satisfaction. It is true - Russian standard of living has never been higher and people are quite satisfied with their lives. This is where Putin's approval rating stems from (and also Russian doomerism). Russian leadership seems to be quite competent at economics but not military matters.
But even this has a limit - Russians have this national trait that when their life improves the quickly become dissatisfied with it and start looking at "greener" pastures and comparing themselves to others. And poor handling of the SMO - particularly Kursk and handling of escalations could have a greater number of people to start asking questions - as more people than ever start entering the middle class. Point I am trying to make is this - we can't confuse satisfaction with what is happening inside the country (improving standard of living) with what is happening outside. It may have unintended negative knock-on effects. After all, my dissatisfaction with the handling of escalations/Kursk/military performance (for what we have been known throughout history) might lead Russians to start distrusting the government as they did in the 90's/late Soviet era. I hope Russian authorities get their act together vis-a-vis this war.
Regarding hunting UAV's - I recall writing in the comments section about how nature can be used as a model for military warfare - in particular about using "predator drones" to hunt down enemy drones and that being the most effective method of combatting them. It is a wonder how the Ukrainians are able to come up with this and the Russians do not innovate with their strength being in mass production of existing designs.
Hitting every hydroelectric station in Ukraine is one thing, destroying them is another. The proper way to target energy infrastructure (and any infrastructure for that matter - we see Ukraine using this tactic) is to apply constant pressure to it - hit it constantly, degrade the capability of repair crews to repair them. Exhaust repair crews, make the enemy spend inordinate amount of resources to keep up repairs and the status quo. Make the population uncomfortable. Degrade medical infrastructure (we have the local hospital hooked up to two generators that are wired to be able to switch on and off to distribute loads) so that it stops functioning as it did during Covid. Not doing it the way Russia is doing it - strike once after an escalation, then wait half a year before striking again giving the enemy time to rebuild. The approach needs to be systematic, cold and comprehensive. This is not happening. And this is annoying.
Final item - it is also bewildering to me why Russia does not have its own sea drone fleet being launched from Crimea to 1) disrupt Ukrainian shipping going to Odessa and 2) to hunt Ukrainian naval drones 3) easier to disrupt Ukrainian Crimean landing attempts. Is this another failure of Gerasimov I wonder?
I think Putin wants people that are not hot-headed around him. Gerasimov and Shoigu are calm people. Belusov another example. Surovikin and RIP Prigosjin are men that you use when needed. But you cant have them around you all the time.
While I can see where you are coming from - Gerasimov and Shoigu are calm perhaps overly so. But an inner fire does not preclude competent and well thought out decisions. It can also mean being energetic and not afraid to act. I think both Gerasimov and Shoigu suffer from indecision or the inability to make decisive decisions. This could have been good at the beginning of the war - but the longer the war drags on the more decisive decisions are needed. And Ukraine has this. Whether Kursk is strategically viable, remains to be seen but it was an audacious and daring operation. And Ukraine keeps trying these audacious and sometimes seemingly stupid plans, until one sticks.
Yes. And I wrote a second piece about just that. People here tend to critisize me whenever I talk about a Russias window of opportunity and that they need a real breaktrough. ”It is all a part in the masterplan” they say, ”just wait until 2025”.
Meantime Ukraine and the western masters is putting up more devilship, deeper and deeper into Russia.
It is time I think to stop with the cope, imo. Lets not be like pro-Ukrainian supporters. There is no master plan, for either side. It is long past that situation. Both sides now improvise and are limited by their resources and their imagination. Russia may have more resources, but Ukraine has more imagination, and the resources of the fully committed West.
After Kursk, I am beginning to think that 2025 may not change anything unless Russia replaces the leadership of the Stavka - and there is currently no indications it is going to do so. It is unclear if the arrests that were recently done were part of a broader campaign to do precisely this or if it was a "one-off" event.
It is risky to change the Stavka in the middle of a cut-throat war. Will not happen. They have plenty of people good at Defense, Surovikin, for example. But they need Zhukov or Rokossovsky, one in Stavka and one at the front.
I agree it can be risky. But if I recall Zhukov was a replacement for someone too and that is when the war started turning to the Soviet advantage.
And I agree. Russia needs a Rokossovsky at the front and a Zhukov for defense and a Stalin to watch over both. I question if it has them. I hope it does.
Imagination only gets you so far. Adaptability in the face of 'imagination' is what wins wars. And no army in the world is better at adaptation than Russia.
Adaptibility and imagination go hand in hand.
You need imagination and adaptability to be an effective army. One without the other makes the army lacking, imo of course
My "gut" tells me that after 2-1/2 years of gestation, Rosemary's Baby will be delivered soon. As I tell my wife..."really, really enjoy the day!" And then one day the bully gets punched in the teeth.
Could be. She is on CNN soon.
Whilst it is true that you should never interrupt an enemy who is making mistakes, it is also true that a wise general does not change horses in the middle of a stream. If your strategy is working, no need to change it. Russia's strategy is working.
Russia changed Shoigu in the middle of a stream. Sometimes changing a lame mare for a stallion, even in the middle of a stream is what is needed to reinvigorate the process.
Perhaps it is time to forgive Surovikin, return him from exile and put him in control again.
"Russia's strategy is working"
Thanks-I agree. Dear fellow Americans, this biz ain't a Netflix episode. Putin, an obvious chess player and martial arts aficionado, is making his case to the broader world..esp the BRICS. It's as if he's communicating:
"See friends...we tried everything and now we've arrived here..."
A wise lawyer makes a waterproof case to the court of world opinion.
Meanwhile, the Yanks (wankers) commit genocide on two continents.
The somewhat lethargic Russian leadership is a little annoying but probably a product of Putin's leadership all these years. He doesn't want quick throws or rash actions that you can regret. Russia is a hugely complex country to govern (if at all possible) and quick patchwork does not suit the Russian soul. Totally agree with the damage that is happening in Kursk and that you can't trust that the population will prove infallibly faithful for any length of time. As they said in one of the TV interviews. Time is a critical factor and I mean Russia doesn't have all the time in the world to complete the war. The longer it takes, the longer everyone is exposed to the West's War of Perception. Russia will never gain support for its view among the majority in the West - they must impose their solution on them. And fast.
That's a good point about being exposed to the War of Western Perception. The West controls perceptions because they control the most used and viewed media and newspaper platforms. They are also masters at propaganda - see how they managed to turn former Russians in Ukraine against Russia and not just Ukraine. It's a similar phenomenon being observed across the entire post-Soviet space. See how they manage to successfully downplay any Russian successes, only to hail their own genius when they implement exactly the same strategies (the infamous example of "cope cages" comes to mind). And that is all because Putin is too concerned about working with his "dear Western partners" and too afraid to escalate and risk Oligarch's profits or shutting the door to rapprochmant with the West.
Even now, many Russians are beginning to feel disillusioned with the lacklustre response to Kursk. The missile strikes did not provide a bloody enough scene to satisfy their desire for retribution. We laugh at Ukraine's PR operations, but they understand one crucial thing about war that the Russians seem to miss - "all of war is theatre". It is through this macabre "theatre" that Ukraine is able to keep up the morale of its population. Ukrainians still mostly firmly believe they will win - even with the defeats in Pokrovsk, it is not enough to break the morale of Ukrainain troops. And that is for a few reasons 1) because they view the war as a "Holy War" and 2) because of Kiev's "theatre" as mentioned before. Putin needs some theatre of his own, that would make the Russians feel that justice has been had, if he wishes to continue to conduct this war in such a lethargic manner. Indeed, if Russians had been doing proper "theatre" all these years rather than relying on stiff boomer Soviet propaganda techniques, they'd be in a better place in Ukraine (one thing the Soviets did suck at was propaganda - it was just too stiff and unimaginative and uninspiring. The Russian Federation continues this tradition it seems).
Exactly! Nothing to add.
Russia, like the Soviets before them, see war differently than our Western eyes. They tend to remove the emotion from their decisions and act with fierce determination, patience and overwhelming force. They don't see war like a Hollywood movie. I'm sure there are many in Russia who would like to see Russia strike back hard but in the end, they recognise success when they see it.
For you it's theatre only insofar as NATO MIC tirelessly works behind the curtains to actually pulverize meager opposing force into dust. You simply got used to these theatrical punitive operations, not actual warfare. Theatre exists to provide public support for military force that used to outgun its opponents so much that only the question of its deployment remained, not the outcome of action.
Russians create public support through other means while they remove enemy hardware from the battle faster than its choked MIC can replenish it. In the end there's no need for theatre if your enemy is left with broken economy and no physical means to continue. He can be under any kind of perception while he collects meager scraps in the street to cling to life.
Where you still wish upon a counter-illusion you'll get a counter-theatre. A piece of cold hard unforgiving reality that can't be reasoned or bargained with.
Believe me, neither Russians nor Ukrainians view the war as a theater. This is some kind of Western fantasy
Sigh. Nobody is talking about civilians but about the elites.
And giving a "picture" (aka good PR) is important for the dumb plebians for the reasons i listed
Вздыхай в другом месте. И поменьше фантазий
My working assumption is that advanced western weaponry like Patriot, Himars and ATTCMs (wrong acronym?), F16s and the rest are operated by NATO trrops. guided by NATO ISR and used in accordance with NATO plans and objectives. And Russia has said as much as they agree with this assumption. So I think Simplicus is maybe wrong when he says that the UAF has been prevented from using them. And any use of such weapons on targets in Russia will therefore be a NATO attack. At least in Russian eyes. And if so Russia needs to decide whether or not to retaliate and if so how and when. There is a view that NATO is trying to escalate this war and goad Russia into attacking NATO proper in a direct response and so trigger Article 5. In my own mind if that is not sensible for Russia as they are winning the war regardless. I suggest that another option is an asymmetric retaliation - taken cold at a time and place unrelated to events in the war.
It is a matter of perception. Attacking Polish/Romanian warehouses on the border can put NATO in a pickle - will it escalate further or will it back down. Russia has to be prepared for both. But if NATO backs down (anything short of US troops/missiles fighting Russians can be spun as backing down), then this war is over. Its about time Russia stopped mincing words and crossed some NATO redlines as well. Russia exhibiting such restraint is perhaps understood in a gentlemans war, but this is no longer a gentlemans war and the time is nigh to begin treating it as such.
I believe someone wise once said "war is a matter of deception and perception". That is why Russia needs to start doing both.
Calm down, patience
You want to cut to the chase like all the ynkas do
Itchy trigger finger, so far from the war, is contemptuous
We are seeing what excess patience is leading to - deaths of Russian citizens on Russian territory. Conversations of strikes deep into Russian territory. Conversation of strikes on Moscow and St Petersburg proper (from Zelensky's own mouth).
The enemy should be too afraid to make such pronouncements. But he is not. And that is concerning.
There is no such thing as 'excess' patience
In war soldiers, and civilians die
You think you know how to conduct war so that fewer of both die? You can prevent death?
Please - this is merely propaganda thinking
You should be careful about making such violent projections from a far off place to one where, if you will excuse me, you are almost completely ignorant
I live in Ukraine first of all.
And secondly, there is excess patience just as there is rash actions. Either thing can be taken to the extreme. I make pronouncements based on what I see and hear. I hope I am wrong and will change my opinion as I see the facts change, but these are the facts as I understand them now.
One thing Russia does not seem to understand about Murika is that the normies cannot tolerate the sight of flag-draped caskets arriving at Dover AFB. If the warehouses were hit, resulting in the Murikan bodies in a manner such that they couldn't pass them off as another chopper crash, the public outcry to pull out of the bottomless pit of Ukraine would ramp up considerably. This is not the America of 1940. It's on a verge of a civil war here.
'retaliation' is the wrong word - even assymetric retaliation
The word expresses a reaction or consequence, eminently visible as such
The RF reactions will not be in this tit for tat way to play the western game of cat and mouse, for the RF is the cat and watches the mouse's feeble...;etc etc you get the picture
The reaction is hidden, assessment of damege how to prevent such in the future what to anticipate
What in general such and such actions imply for the RF plans previsions provisions, and so on, what do they say about the strength or weakness of the enemy
The nonsense about red lines is a westie propoganda ploy to cut up action into sound bites
As for the nuclear bots, the RF does make noises, but there is very little chance they will be baited
I believe I have provided a bunch of Russian links, and even Putins statements red lines previously. While some "red lines" may be westoid inventions, most aren't.
And I think we have come to the point that Russia keeping its reponse "hidden" is actually becoming a detriment in my armchair general opinion of course.
Precisely - armchair general opinion. It is good that you recognise that, which of course implies that you are not a general on the scene and therefore short of the knowledge that comes with it.
We all are in the same boat, we can only comment on events from our own limited information and do the best we can with what we have and change our opinions as new information becomes available. But I think it is evident to everyone though that something is not right.
Red lines is western word attitude and meaning - VVP even talks nuclear bots on occasion
He does not fail, from time to time, to address the west in language they can understand
He does not talk about what, actually the RF does - which is as you know rather different from western practice and propaganda
He cannot fight the war he does while contaminated with western principles or practices of war
While we are there - the nonsense about 'perception' is also westie propaganda : the ruling class like to think they are this or that and model 'perception' accordingly
This is merely to evade stating that the people in the west are submissive to their ruling class oppressions in thought word and deed
Perception is actually a Soviet concept. It was heavily used in WW2 and during the Cold War to influence the "Third World". The 5th Directorate understood it well.
Putin himself is contaminated with Western principles unfortunately, as he is a devout Capitalist and talks of the West as "dear partners" even when they have an avowed interest in destroying him and Russia. When I heard this the first time, I was dumbfounded - how can anyone be "partners" with someone who wants to destroy you? There can be no partnership as that implies mutual benefit. There can only be a fight to the death.
Perception is not a Soviet concept, for the love of..
Perception is a philosophical concept as old as the hills, the hills of Ancient Greece, in fact, if not older
VVP 'contaminated ....nonsense - he can use western idioms as he wishes, as can you, but you are the one contaminated, poisoned, cancered by western supremacist racisms
Read up on Russia before talking from ignorance - read the May 7 Executive Order to catch a glimpse of reality
It may please you to live in a bubble, but it will shed no light on the world for you to tell us what life in the bubble is like
Hell, even Simplicus has referred to "Russian red lines".
If NATO wants to trigger article 5, a pretext will be found to do so. This has nothing to do with anything other than a perception of Russian weakness and indecision.
Indeed, if there is an appetite for war it is a simple matter to arrange. It can be done by a false-flag, having Ukraine fire "missiles" onto their territory/hitting a warehouse or two and then blaming the Russians, etc. I can think about 10 different ways of arranging it while maintaing plausible deniability.
Point is, you're right, if they want to trigger Article 5, they'll find an excuse to do it. And if none exists, manufacter it.
But the more Russia acts indecisively the weaker it seems. And the weaker it seems the more likely there will be those who would want to bite a piece of it and will be undeterred.
Being viewed as slightly "insane" and therefore unpredictable may be a benefit in these situations - one does not provoke an "insane" man, you do not know what response to expect from him. Better to not bother him for your own safety.
Since before 2014 and going through the prsent day, the Russian leadership has consistently underestimated just how power-hungry and sociopathic the West is. They want to believe otherwise, even as the evidence should be staring them in the face.
For that matter, how many times has the United States betrayed its Kurdish simpletons in recent decades? Five? Six? More? But the Kurds keep coming back for more.
With the number of times the US has betrayed its proxies or left them out to dry, it is a wonder anyone signs up to be a US proxy. Perhaps US money is nice or perhaps they think "this time it won't be us" or perhaps its just being beholden and not having a choice.
In 2014, Russian leadership had a promising start with the bold and daring operation in Crimea. After that things slowly fizzled out and they started impotent "negotiations" and trying to be diplomatic with "western partners" (I am still astounded by this phrase) and even despite everything since 2022 they keep up this position. It took almost 3 years for Putin to threaten to hurt US through proxies, though this should have happened about 12 years ago. It's simply aggravating.
Humans are very good at deluding themselves. Fact is, the Russian leadership does not want to destroy the West. They still want to join it.
This is also why Ukraine fights. Sure, there are blocking units and threats against those who don't obey. But the reasont here has been no real revolt is that Ukrainian society by and large thinks that if they adopt the nationalist ideology, they will be allowed to join The West, The Club, The Golden Billion, The Magical Land Where Institutions Basically Work.
The Russian elites also do not want to admit that, nobody cares how "cultured" they are, that no matter how reasonable they are, no matter how patient they are, they will never be allowed to join that club.
The West isn't all it's cracked up to be, but good luck telling Ukrainians (or Russians) that. It's like telling a little kid that the toy they screamed for for New Years isn't going to be nearly as much fun as the ads would have it and in fact, they'll just want some other shiny brightly colored object.
Whilst I respect your point of view, I must say that you (nor any of us) really know what is going on at the level of the General Staff and Putin's office. We might think this should be done, or that, or that the generals are incompetent because they don't follow our advice, but the fact is that rises above all other facts and opinions, is that Russia is decisively winning this war and accomplishing all that they said they would do - demilitarise and de-nazify Ukraine and protect the Donbass whilst at the same time protecting their own economy. The incursion into Kursk was a tactical failing (this is war, mistakes happen) but has been turned into a significant blow to Ukraine's plans and a strategic strike against their forces and means as they destroy elite Ukrainian forces and equipment that could have been a barrier to Russian efforts in the Donbass.
Russia's unwavering patience and determination not to veer from their primary goals nor to be tempted into dangerous responses to provocations has brought them to this point with total victory in sight (no matter how long it might take for that victory to materialise).
We should learn from Russia's patience.
I agree. We know nothing and none of us (as far as I know) is privy to any internal plans. The best we can do is draw conclusions from events. And even the events we see can be fake, as part of deception by one or the other side.
But a few things are obvious:
1. The front is still everywhere but Pokrovsk
2. Russia seems to attack directly into the most fortified regions and doesn't show much imagination in terms of how it has carried out its operations that we know about (compared to say how it conducted Bagration)
3. There is some sort of fuckery going on with the way Russia is conducting its war, when compared to how other countries did it previously (no constant pressure on infrastructure, its attacked in a piecemeal manner and giving Ukraine too much time to recover)
4. Russian leadership keeps making the same mistakes over and over - Ukraine tricking Russia on Minsk 1 and 2, Russia continuing to believe Ukraine would be a good faith negotiator in Kiev, gestures of "goodwill", leaving the border in Sumy region open to invasion. The latter is the exact same mistake they made in Kharkov region in 2022. Then there was Kherson and the withdrawal from there.
There's just too many questions that have no obvious answers and seem illogical the more you think about them.
I do not trust the statements much we see in the newspaper, telegram, or elsewhere since they are all probably lies but they can be also observed and tracked and intent gleaned.
Again, you are seeing this war with Western eyes, which naturally is no fault of your own as this is how you were raised.
They say you can't argue with success - but we do anyway.... ;-)
What success do you speak of? The front moves only in the Pokrovsk direction. The rest of the front is stable and hasn't significantly moved. Some may claim that Ukrainian army is being destroyed. But are we sure of that? We aren't. As far as I can tell, Ukraine is able to hold the front everywhere except Pokrovsk. Ukraine hasn't run out of ammo, shells or drones.
I am not saying Ukraine is winning, all I am saying is we cannot say that Russia is winning. It's ambiguous and hard to measure without any objective measure of success.
What you fail to understand is that war can only be won via achieving strategic political objectives. In Ukraine Russia's goal is demilitarisation and removal of the US sponsored ultra-nationalist-nazis who seized control of power after 2014. Afterwards Ukraine will be either fully reintegrated back into the russian federation or a rump state that remains will have a russia friendly government.
Hence why they have not gone scorched earth on Ukraine as that would work against the ultimate political outcome they have to achieve.
US failed in all its latest wars because they didn't understand that the purpose of military action is to achieve a political outcome, and for that you need legitimacy in the eyes of the people.
The CIA's Deputy Director David Cohen demurred when asked @ the Intel & National Security Summit in D.C. if the Agency knew of the Kursk incursion beforehand, only saying that he & his colleagues @ Langley view it now as something with “the potential to change the dynamic of the conflict going forward."
Seems inadvertently prophetic, though in a twisted way...
Americans prefer poker to chess
Fighting off the incursion, Russia has chewed through 7000 troops, hundreds of tanks and vehicles, not to mention 18 MLRS's and 5 Air Defense systems.
The Ukrainians seize full control of Malaya Lotnaya & photograph themselves waving the blue & yellow flag, then the Russians drive them out. A day later the Ukrainians seize full control of Malaya Lotnaya, and here they come w/ their flag again, before the Russians drive them out.
Rinse, repeat. This is Robotino ping-pong
In winning, Russia's leadership has the operational flexibility, the luxury if you will, of choosing when to retaliate to provocations & escalations—or not to retaliate also. They are prosecuting a war against the grain of expectations. It's confounding. It throws one for a loop. But they don’t have to dance to the tune the U.S.-led OTAN+ wants to play.
If you think the Kursk stunt is having any major affect on the Russian war machine you need to stop listening to tabloid nonsense. All it's doing is chewing up ukr combat power.
Erm, actually, actually, you read my comment exactly opposite as intended, erm
This sounds like blind faith.
NOTHING sounds like Blind Faith, more's the pitty...
https://youtu.be/PJJnA6zEcGk?si=Bnw7UVC5j7xo0-nm
G'day Victor your comment led me to thinking one in the hand is worth two in the bush and yes I agree we are not fully informed of the where and why of it all,yet each day this smo continues is one more day of unknown threat or provocation by the hegemon and its proxy and as you said mistakes happen in
war.
Ex haust repair crews? Double-tap them and the survivors will constantly be hearing incoming missiles.
Thanks Simplicious, more great stuff! The best media investment I have ever made.
I agree! Want to know my worst media investment? Seymour Hersh! He has lost it in his old age. Can't wait for my subscription to run out!
@Tauph
Seymour is a product of his time. Also, I expect that as he can't be obviously murdered & his name is still enough to cause people to seek out whatever platform he may present on, a good deal of effort may be used to steer him towards "compromised" sources, misinformation and incorrect conclusions. Stuff that didn't happen back when he was a nobody. I still check out his free stuff, can't afford to subsidize EVERY voice.
Zaporozhye suicide attack.
I think the green light is LIDAR mapping of the territory (drone?). Seen it in our neighborhood.
Some example vids of green laser bathymetric LIDAR scans from aircraft here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQLywOUi_8I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcPKu75Tz9U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DInpJ4rOyE4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDhDqTHeA68
Would a slow moving jet with a high degree of visibility and attention be used in active combat zones? Would the ukrops be so puzzled if they could attribute the activity to known source?
A drone, not a jet. Ideal platform for the task. LIDAR scans can show subsurface details (bunkers, tunnels etc) in the area of interest
The scans may be part of a system to identify mines and booby traps; especially if there are prior scans to compare with.
A GIS / automated / robotic system for demining could be very powerful.