Posted by: Arioch | Mar 3 2022 13:08 utc | 1
is that tank destroyed? looks recoverable to me (or undamaged).

Posted by: laguerre | Mar 3 2022 13:17 utc | 4

Reports of uncontrolled looting in Kiev, especially by Zelensky’s latest Volkssturm batch of armed convicts. Meanwhile, the Ukranazi coup regime military has officially declared that it will murder Russian artillery crew on capture. Here’s the link:
https://m.facebook.com/usofcom/posts/3212999028931719?__cft__%5B0%5D=AZVpWFPfsZOlsLri1rIrn0MvjdFCq5z4q0jBuaLFTRMqpdTCZAR-AWCmyKBX0QH5FKXwdm1KBepSWS7GUyLu32CpBgnslMGRFGwvlFWQtFkipLGfmPXq5a5R4aIcjf6KouTrhdzxqW7YNarCeEE-_Lke&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Mar 3 2022 13:22 utc | 6

Lamenting Germany’s WW1 defeat at the 1934 Nuremberg Rally, Joseph Goebbels acknowledges a hard lesson learned:
“While the enemy states produced unprecedented atrocity propaganda aimed at Germany throughout the whole world, we did nothing and were completely defenseless against it…Just as we were militarily and economically unprepared for the war, so also with propaganda. We lost the war in this area more than in any other. The cleverest trick used in propaganda against Germany during the war was to accuse Germany of what our enemies themselves were doing.”

Posted by: Boindub | Mar 3 2022 13:31 utc | 8

Something weird with south front 1st of all that tank picture looks too old to be Russian and it’s on what looks like a tank training ground with the slope behind it similar to what is usually used
Maybe the site has been hacked?

Posted by: Paul43 | Mar 3 2022 13:35 utc | 10

I’m reposting this. I originally posted it at the end of the Disarming Ukraine – Day 7 thread, but I figure more people will see it here and I really would like an answer — if there is one.
From The Australian newspaper: ‘Please leave’: Stan Grant ejects audience member in sensational Q&A blow up over Russia:

ABC host Stan Grant has ejected a Q&A audience member in a sensational blow up over the Ukraine conflict.
The extraordinary moment was triggered by widely discredited pro-Russian claims about killings in Ukraine.
After taking an inflammatory question from a Russian-Australian man that appeared to advocate retaliatory violence, the show moved on, but its host could not.
Almost 20 minutes after the question was uncomfortably deflected, Grant decided to take action, booting the questioner in emotional scenes.
ABC host Stan Grant has ejected a Q&A audience member in a sensational blow up over the Ukraine conflict.
“Something has been bothering me … people here have been talking about family who are suffering and people who are dying. Can I just say – I’m just not comfortable with you being here. Could you please leave?,” Grant said.
The questioner tried to argue his case but Grant was having none of it.

Emphasis is mine. I haven’t encountered any article which discredits the Russian (and Donbasian) claims. The only articles I can find pretty much confirm it. And my google skills are failing me.
Can anyone point me to an article that actually discredits these claims? I’m serious; I really can’t find anything and would like to know what the evidence against the claims is.

Posted by: Kukulkan | Mar 3 2022 13:40 utc | 12

What is wrong with RT? Showing their Atlantist true colors or what?
I posted the following two comments on RT RE: https://www.rt.com/news/551092-un-resolution-condemns-russian-ukraine-invasion/
1) Why so much vitriol against Putin & Russia @ RT of all places??? Judging from the comments section employees and volunteers of western lack of intelligence agencies, catholic and protesting (probably still sore from not getting their indulgences granted) churches, and synagogues must be busy at work. Or the Banderite & Zionist corporatists won???
2) I can understand the UN Security Council, but does the Global South and Global East want to commit seppuku like the Global North???
My two comments above did not last two minutes on RT.
No comments apparently on Sputnik now.

Posted by: William Haught | Mar 3 2022 13:42 utc | 14

Putin’s biggest miscalculation was attemptimg to use military strategy to get an intelligence outcome, this is no suprise since his background is intelligence not military.
Spy’s are like ninjas they like to do a swift-clean job, taking their target by surprise under the “cover of information darknesses”. This is where Putin’s miscalculation might cost him more than he bargained for, there is also an element of “international/national law-abidance” which must be factored into his gameplay.
This is why he failed to utilize the initial momentum of “shock and awe” to swiftly and cleanly (i.e. without civilian fatalities), cut off the enemies’ will to resist. He ought to have cut Ukraine’s electricity which would have given him the “cover of information darkness” to operate without scrutiny, because no electricity means no internet or television more panic more chaos in the enemies’ camp and the less they would be able to assert authority over the narrative and the people, thus the necessity of cutting off the information umblical cord, not even Elon Musk would have been able to keep the information flow necessary for propaganda going.
Next would have been to unleash the full potential of the Russian military-intelligence strategy, there would be deaths, probably in great number but there won’t be anyone (except the Russian forces) around filming and blaming, so the “information pressure” would be absent, then the intelligence side would have used “head hunters” targeting the heads and securing the radio-media complex, this ensures any information the “world” gets would be framed, remember the medium is the message.
His forces near Kyiv look like sitting ducks under the watchful eye of the enemy, so the element of surprise is lost, the momentum of shock and awe is sapped, the fatalies will rise so there is no “swift-clean” way out of this, the mess is just going to get messier, while the medium projects the message into the world.

Posted by: Maximus | Mar 3 2022 13:48 utc | 16

One source: What we are seeing now is the first Russian wave, marked “Z”, and there is a second wave coming, marked “V”.

Posted by: Jonathan W | Mar 3 2022 13:55 utc | 18

Re the mass arrival of NATO weaponry in Ukraine, couldn’t Russia destroy such equipment as soon as it crosses any NATO border onto Ukrainian territory? The Russians are claiming they have full control of Ukrainian airspace, after all.
Southfront have been somewhat critical of Russian tactics, logistics and command in the last few days, but said some of the more useless commanders have now been replaced by experienced ones, especially around Kharkov.
RT is out on both TV and internet in France.

Posted by: B. Wildered | Mar 3 2022 14:00 utc | 20

Maximus: “Putin’s biggest miscalculation?”
Proceeding as planned!
https://time.com/3259699/putin-boast-kiev-2-weeks/?amp=true

Posted by: ThatGuy | Mar 3 2022 14:04 utc | 22

Posted by: Maximus
Sounds like you should email your suggestions to Shoigu. He’ll be happy you’ve caught all his errors. This is not a war and it is almost finished.

Posted by: Macmuir | Mar 3 2022 14:12 utc | 24

I have heard claims by a poster at The Saker blog and a video by Richard Medhurst that speaking out in favor of Putin and Russia will get you 20 years in Slovakia. Also, Medhurst claims Bush signed a law that if anyone from the U.$. is prosecuted in The Hague, the U.$. will invade The Netherlands. Even using Yandex, I find nothing, at least in English. As for Spanish, no recuerdo nada, well, obviously, almost. Real or Smog of War worse than the London Smog?

Posted by: William Haught | Mar 3 2022 14:18 utc | 26

@26 I cannot speak for Slovakia, but Czechia passed a law making it a crime to say anything positive about Russia in any outlet (online or otherwise) punishable by up to 3 years in prison. So it wouldn’t surprise me if the Slovaks are more psychotic.
As for the Bush invading The Hague claim, I do recall reading that many times back during the Bush regime era, but it has probably been memory holed as part of the Democratic Party embrace of Bush.

Posted by: Krungle | Mar 3 2022 14:29 utc | 28

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Mar 3 2022 14:08 utc | 23
No, it is a tank definitely, smoothbore 125mm, dozer blade on belly, and judging by the side ERA panels it is T-72/90 family. Just from a glance.

Posted by: Abe | Mar 3 2022 14:31 utc | 30

Some keep mentioning that Russia has lost the war of information. I don’t think Russia cares much at this point. The Russia-phobia in the west has been always there, but seasonal, like a seasonal flu. The vast majority of the western population is brainwashed towards Russia and towards anything the government decides to brainwash. They are hopeless, it is already in their DNA. You should never expect revelation will come down to them from sky overnight. So forget about who is winning the war information in the west, it does not count.
That leaves us with the rest of the world. Those who left at the UN meeting when the Russian foreign minister was talking were smart enough to do it with or without receiving the orders, but I am sure their governments and some of their people know the story behind Russia’s action. Whatever information has been passed to them in the last week, and the weeks to come, it will eventually be forgotten.
In my opinion, China has lost the war of information in a bigger scale at the beginning of Covid, but seems like ordinary people, fortunately, have the tendency to forget when the information feeding tap is turned off or set at low stream, and even forget faster than we expect!
It all comes down to whether Russia and China were expecting and prepared for all this reaction from the US?
If there is democracy to allow the planet population to vote, Russia already secured 1.4 billon vote, that’s if someone is still wondering where China stands now.
And regarding Israel, I see in one of the comments that they are listed in the non-sanctioning countries. I think they got exempted from the US pressure to sanction Russia in the fear that Russia might retaliate in Syria against Israel.

Posted by: Man | Mar 3 2022 14:38 utc | 32

@Kukulkan #12 The “information space” is dominated by the west. Western media is a propaganda megaphone. What they can’t control they censure. History has been rewritten through selective editing and webscrubbing.
Russia released a blistering humanitarian report on Ukrainian atrocities in Donbas. The website that this was released this was immediately attacked and is no longer available.
WMDs in Iraq. Saddam was behind 9/11. Russia hacked the election. Epstein committed suicide. The question is not does media lie, but whether they ever tell the truth. It’s all bullshit, all the time.

Posted by: Black Cloud | Mar 3 2022 14:41 utc | 34

@Arioch, picture is Fake. Easy to spot if you look at the non-matching lighting of tank and background. Always try to find out where the light comes from and check if all objects are lighted accordingly.

Posted by: abroso | Mar 3 2022 14:46 utc | 36

some guy that knew Epstein died recently in a prison, supposedly another “suicide”. no cameras.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Mar 3 2022 14:50 utc | 38

Sputnik: Russia ends cooperation on experiments at the International Space Station (ISS) with Germany.

Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin: “Taking into account the completely unacceptable actions of our German colleagues, primarily the German Centre for Aviation and Cosmonautics, I turned off one of the telescopes of our space observatory ‘Spektr-RG’, which is located at a distance of 1.5 million kilometres from Earth at the La Grange point L2. This is a completely civilian international mission to explore the starry sky”, Rogozin elaborated, saying that Russia has all the essential resources to conduct the experiments by itself.

Posted by: Norwegian | Mar 3 2022 14:50 utc | 40

Apparently the discrediting is widely available, and yet I don’t seem to be able to find it anywhere.
Posted by: Kukulkan | Mar 3 2022 14:50 utc | 39
—
The discrediting is guarded by Azov in Mariupol.

Posted by: too scents | Mar 3 2022 14:54 utc | 42

@William Haught | Mar 3 2022 14:18 utc | 26
“In 2002, then-President George W. Bush signed the American Service-Members’ Protection Act into law, authorizing the use of military force to free its citizens from incarceration in the Hague and trial by the International Criminal Court.”
https://www.wearethemighty.com/popular/us-can-invade-the-hague/

Posted by: Loocust | Mar 3 2022 14:55 utc | 44

Wannabe CFR professor in Singapore university threatens UAE with Arab Spring for not agreeing to US/EU sanctions

As the UAE took over from Russia this month as chairman of the Council, Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a political scientist whose views often reflect thinking in official Emirati circles, said the UAE’s abstention in the UN votes “was consistent with the new UAE foreign policy activism, which stems from being confident of its decisions and its approach to global and regional politics.”
Mr. Abdulla went on to say that “finally we are independent enough, competent enough to take this kind of position, which is consistent with our own way of doing things. Maybe it doesn’t resonate too well in Washington, but that’s the way things are going to be from now on.”
Time will tell. It wouldn’t be the first time that the UAE has made risky geopolitical bets that have backfired, such as its interventions in Yemen alongside Saudi Arabia and Libya. The interventions were part of a broader regional effort to roll back the achievements of the 2011 popular Arab revolts that toppled four autocrats, and to counter Islamists.

Ok, started well, but then

Even if protest in the UAE, one of the region’s wealthiest countries, is unlikely, Middle Eastern autocrats could well discover that like Ukrainians putting their lives on the line to stop the Russians, Middle Easterners can only be intimidated that much.
[Threat #1: “Arab Spring Part 2”]
…
In contrast to the United States, the UAE and Russia may see eye to eye on their perceived need to prevent or roll back popular uprisings like the Arab revolts or colored revolutions in Ukraine and elsewhere in the former communist world. Yet, that will not do much for the UAE’s regional security needs if the Gulf state and the United States increasingly go different ways.
[Threat #2: US won’t help you if you get into trouble with Iran, Yemen, whoever]
…
As the United States and Europe tighten the noose around Moscow’s neck, the UAE may find that diversifying economic relations is one thing, diversifying alliances another.
[Threat #3: Russia/China aren’t good alliance partners]
If Russian armed forces emerged a winner from propping up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, they’ve already wasted that reputation in Ukraine in less than a week of fighting. That is unlikely to change irrespective of the outcome of a battle for the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, particularly if Russia is dragged into fighting a long-drawn-out insurgency.
[How exactly does Russia in Ukraine affect Russia keeping Assad in power and defeating the Syrian Salafi insurgency?]

Then the esteemed professor totally lost it

In addition, Russian military planning in Ukraine miscalculated, and advances were bogged down not only by Ukrainian resistance but also by equipment failures.

This is just idiotic. Military vehicles aren’t like Toyotas – they break down all the time.
WaPo story on Iraqi Freedom experiences

A mechanized infantry company, Bravo 1/41 was 130 men strong and was divided into three combat platoons. Thirteen Bradleys were in the company, each carrying nine or 10 soldiers.
…
Bravo 1/41 began passing burning hulks already destroyed in the battle. Ahead, in the direction the wide-eyed soldiers were headed, the night was lit by ferocious explosions.
One Bradley went dead — mechanical failure. The company commander, Capt. Lee Wilson, took over the Bradley that Dienstag and Skaggs were riding in.

I’ve read that in a single armoed unit, military equipment breaks down every 20-30 miles on average. I don’t know how true that is but mechanical breakdowns are definitely a thing.
The above describes 1 of 13 AFVs in a single company, breaking down in a single advance.

Posted by: c1ue | Mar 3 2022 14:58 utc | 46

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Mar 3 2022 14:08 utc | 23
It is claimed to be T-72 tank mod. Б3
Here is this model photo form Tank Biathlon:
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2-72#/media/%D0%A4%D0%B0%D0%B9%D0%BB:T-72B3_-_TankBiathlon2013-09.jpg
Just consider the angle “from underbelly” so that the turrent is mostly not visible.
~~~~~~~~~~
Posted by: laguerre | Mar 3 2022 13:17 utc | 4
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Mar 3 2022 13:25 utc | 7
I said “blown with” not destroyed. We don’t know how much internal damage about gears it has.
My blind guess – it is probably not immediately functioning, but probably can be put back to service after medium repairs (gear, checking engine, etc).
~~~~~
1st of all that tank picture looks too old to be Russian
Posted by: Paul43 | Mar 3 2022 13:35 utc | 10
1) Ukraine would name LDPR tanks as Russian, they always claimed there is no LDPR army but a Russian one in disguise
2) T-72B3 tanks are used by Russian army, why ditch a good tool? It is not iPhone to through into garbage bin just because it is not more trendy and fashionable.
3) It could be some other older T-72 model too, or even T-80 (my gut feeling suggests T-80 would have a somewhat wider “face” but not sure)
But let’s apply common sense.
1) There is no point for Russian or LDPR army to blow bridges – they are on offensive
2) There is a perfect reason for Ukrainian army to blow bridges – but would be no point to blow THEIR OWN tank on a pre-planned, scheduled bridge destruction.
So i think Ukrainian version makes sense here.
P.S. and anyway, whatever the event there i just find the photo itself be eerily atractive.

Posted by: Arioch | Mar 3 2022 15:04 utc | 48

picture is Fake. Easy to spot if you look at the non-matching lighting of tank and background. Always try to find out where the light comes from and check if all objects are lighted accordingly.
Posted by: abroso | Mar 3 2022 14:46 utc | 36
The days is cloudy, there is not much of a direction “light comes from” – it is diffused.
That said, electric grid macht on the right has something that _might_ be a short shadow down its left leg.
It seems consistent to me to how the upper part of right track (left one for us) looks dark under the “skirt”.
If that photo is made up – then at least they noticeably boosted diligence they put into making ones.
However, it does not mean their modus operandi. They seem to strive for short-term goals relying on sheer number of fakes, and target them at people more emotional then rational. It would, i suppose, just be way too much effort to make a hi-qualtiy fake for Ukraine now. Would be no ROI.

Posted by: Arioch | Mar 3 2022 15:14 utc | 50

too scents @ 49
If true, that is a serious escalation by the West. Sending units in from NATO nations under contractor status could spiral things out control.

Posted by: circumspect | Mar 3 2022 15:21 utc | 52

Posted by: pretzelattack | Mar 3 2022 14:50 utc | 38
high profile criminals will live happy forever after far away under “witness protection” crappy system …

Posted by: Greg Galloway | Mar 3 2022 15:27 utc | 54

What Are Putin’s Next Steps in Ukraine?
Tom Luongo makes an argument for the fragility of the Eurozone banking system in consequence of the Ukraine conflict.

. . . with both the ECB and its national central bank shareholders already having liabilities greater than their assets. In other words, rising interest rates have broken the euro system and an economic and financial catastrophe on its eastern flank will probably trigger its collapse.

He also makes a number of other interesting observations / claims:
1) That the UA conflict is not about Ukraine: This isn’t a war for Ukraine, it’s a war for the future of the entire world.
I suggest that what what we are seeing, and what many MoA posters are reacting against, is the “NAZIfication” of the West. Before today who would have believed the “Democratic” West would support an overt NAZI regime complete with Brownshirt armies and an avowed intent to eradicate a specific population? This NAZIfication is also evident in the intolerance shown toward Russian speakers, Russian students studying at Western institutions, or attacks on persons of Russian heritage who left Russia aeons ago. Reports of such attacks and ostracization are contained in personal postings on MoA.
2) Luongo asks the following about the West’s rabid response:

I think Luongo correct in the observation that the Western response is due to a systemic shock to rule by appointed elite’s. The West has been waging internal information warfare for years. Would Macron, Trudeau, Brandon, Boris, have achieved high office without significant information operations? Consider the Democrats destruction of Saunders and the current revelations with respect to the Clinton campaign as the hidden agent behind the Trump/Russia allegations.
I believe Luongo is also correct in linking the present reaction to the authoritarianism demonstrated during the COVID pandemic. The associated degree of repression is such you cannot even present a science based critique of state policy in social or alternate media. Voice an alternate opinion is grounds for immediate cancellation. Science is not about facts; scepticism lies at its heart. Can science operate within a cancel culture?
3) Luongo asks an interesting question: Why has Putin not shut off the gas to a Europe that is rapidly running out of it? His answer:

Because to do so would target civilian populations. If he’s not targeting civilians in Ukraine to minimize their anger at being invaded, then why would he use that weapon now against civilians in Germany who hold the key to getting overthrowing the insane politicians and oligarchs who provoked this war in the first place?

Putin does not need to embargo RF energy supply to the West. The West has embargoed itself. Approximately six RF LNG ships have been refused entry to Western ports. It is now impossible for the RF to charter vessels for loading crude. The TD Bank now forecasts crude to reach $140 a bbl. Other forecasters are suggesting $200 a bbl. Can you operate any form of industrial society when oil is $200 a bbl? I worked for the state during the 1970’s Arab Oil Embargo. To put it bluntly even the state was unable to operate at the associated high prices. Fielding any form of NATO military force will become prohibitively expensive if energy prices spiral into the stratosphere. If this is true for the state then what about the impact on the citizen?
Finally, Luongo introduces a quote from Luke Gromen which I think is prescient:

Russia will soon begin to demonstrate in very stark terms that in the Petrodollar system, it is the “Petro-” portion that is the true value, not the “-dollar” portion, via either price or shortages or both.

SOURCE:
https://tomluongo.me/2022/03/02/opening-salvos-tossed-putin-next-moves-ukraine/

Posted by: Sushi | Mar 3 2022 15:34 utc | 56

https://www.rt.com/business/551151-russia-nationalise-boeing-airbus-jets/

Russia may nationalize Boeing and Airbus jets – media
Officials from Russia’s Transport Ministry, along with top managers from the country’s major air carriers, have reportedly discussed the possibility of nationalizing Airbus and Boeing planes. That’s according to unnamed people close to the matter, as quoted by Russian business daily RBK.
The measure could be used as one way of combating the ban on selling and leasing planes to Russian airlines, which was introduced by the European Union last week.
The issue was reportedly discussed by Deputy Transport Minister Igor Chalik and top officials from the Aeroflot Group, S7 Group, Ural Airlines, and Utair.
Last week, Brussels gave leasing companies until March 28 to wind up current rental contracts in Russia.
“This ban on the sale of all aircraft, spare parts and equipment to Russian airlines will degrade one of the key sectors of Russia’s economy and the country’s connectivity, as three-quarters of Russia’s current commercial air fleet were built in the EU, the US and Canada,” the European Council said in a press release published on February 25.
Moscow warned the West it would retaliate against sanctions targeting its aviation industry. The final decision regarding the nationalization of foreign aircraft hasn’t been made, however an announcement is expected by the end of the week, the sources said.
“The nationalization of the fleet is the most realistic scenario, there are no other options [to maintain efficiency] right now,” one person close to the discussion said, stressing that the carriers have no right to hold onto the jets when lessors demand them back.
The source added that the decision must be taken by the Russian government. If they opt to purchase the liners, the possibility will have to be discussed with the US and the EU.
Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency told the media that the issue is at the stage of evaluation, when asked about the possible nationalization of foreign airliners.
According to the agency, the largest Russian airlines operated 491 aircraft manufactured by Airbus, Boeing and Embraer as of mid-February 2022. At the end of 2021, they carried 80 million people, or 72% of the total passenger traffic of Russian airlines.

Interesting move if it happens, but maybe spare parts will be an issue. But for sure it will hurt the leasing companies in the west.

Posted by: Norwegian | Mar 3 2022 15:36 utc | 58

Posted by: too scents | Mar 3 2022 15:10 utc | 49

The best thing that awaits foreign mercenaries upon arrest is criminal prosecution .

What’s the chances of seeing a face off between Academi and the Wagner group? Mercenary vs. Mercenary …

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Mar 3 2022 15:38 utc | 60

Posted by: Norwegian | Mar 3 2022 15:36 utc | 58

Interesting move if it happens, but maybe spare parts will be an issue.

I think they plan to use the same strategy Iran used for some years: Use half the planes as spare parts for the remainder.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Mar 3 2022 15:40 utc | 62

Posted by: Robert Macaire | Mar 3 2022 15:31 utc | 55

I’m disappointed with Putin. Granted, I can offer no alternative.

This is why War is called the last resort.
This is how to tell there’s no other option.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Mar 3 2022 15:43 utc | 64

@Robert Macaire | 55

Have the psy-ops got to me?

Got it in one! Stop watching and reading the BS.
If you’re ‘disappointed with Putin’ then that’s clearly Russia’s fault, right?

Posted by: Idiocrates | Mar 3 2022 15:44 utc | 66

Posted by: Kukulkan | Mar 3 2022 14:50 utc | 39
Posted by: Black Cloud | Mar 3 2022 14:41 utc | 34
Are you referring to this?
https://geneva.mid.ru/en_US/web/geneva_en/donbasstragedy

Posted by: Blue Dotterel | Mar 3 2022 15:45 utc | 68

More on the biolabs:
https://journal-neo.org/2022/03/03/russia-prevents-washington-from-unleashing-biological-warfare/

Posted by: bevin | Mar 3 2022 15:48 utc | 70

Steve Bannon: you’re now a combatant in the Third World War.

Posted by: Jomathan W | Mar 3 2022 15:48 utc | 72

@16 Maximus
Alas, hindsight is 20/20. I think Putin started off with the mindset of inflicting the least collateral damage, mostly regarding civilian casualties.
However, my life experience has taught me this: Life is a bitch; the enemy is a bitch and you have to be the biggest, most unrelenting bitch of all with a cunning ten steps ahead to survive.
Unfortunately, when the lines between good and evil are so blurred, and those who pretend to be good guys like USNATO arbitrarily break and corrupt the law for advantage, or allow allies like Israel and KSA to do same; today what it takes is bitch survival mentality.
So now that the front-loaded sanctions and propaganda war are scorching the earth beneath Russia, and the Ukrainians are so vicious in their tactics and deception; together they stupidly opened the gates of Hell, so I ask, what’s left to lose from now on? Give them what they want!
LET IT RAIN-ALL’S FAIR IN WAR.

Posted by: Circe | Mar 3 2022 15:50 utc | 74

@Maximus | 73

Putin tried, or is trying to use the mindset of a spy to deal with a military operation

Wow, you have insight into Putin’s head! Bravo
You have had too much MSM…me thinks.

Posted by: Idiocrates | Mar 3 2022 15:54 utc | 76

Z Ctrl+Z undo
V Ctrl+V insert

Posted by: Network Admin | Mar 3 2022 15:57 utc | 78

A good article from Paul Craig Roberts on why Russia needs to win this war fairly quickly before the Nato/Wests supply lines to Ukraine are cemented, if that happens we could be in for the long haul, and a wider conflict.
https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2022/03/03/ukraine-update-4/

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Mar 3 2022 16:00 utc | 80

it seems highly unlikely that they could be anywhere as well as finely tuned for reliability as civilian vehicles.
Posted by: c1ue | Mar 3 2022 15:37 utc | 59
Tanks do not live long in battles, they either destory enemies – or are destroyed.
And you might expect cargo tractors would be hauling tanks to and from battle, kind of.
However i heard that late-WW2 Soviet tanks could run about 100km before repairs. Of course – that runnign through clear steppes if there is no enemy. Acocrding to other unsourced data – https://military.wikireading.ru/63211 – even those WW2 time tanks if produced and mantaine properly had ranges like 1-2 thousand km between repairs. Granted, in real total war both production quality and mantainance were very poor initially, T-34 test in USA Aberdine range was full of quality complains.
Late Soviet tanks in use today, according to http://www.compancommand.com/index/mezhremontnyj_resurs/0-2062 , are designed to have thousands of km and hundreds of motor-hours between repairs.
Afteral lthat is what blitzkrieg and Soviet “Deep Operation” are about. You can not idly wait for hawlers after breakign through defense lines – you have to immediately rush as deep as you can and destroy enemy’s structure. Tank should be reliable enough to run at maximum speed at least until out of fuel.

Posted by: Arioch | Mar 3 2022 16:04 utc | 82

@Robert Macaire #55
Let’s examine your points:
1) You said

1) It dont matter how gently the war is conducted. The Ukies wont be more grateful to the Russians. They might not even notice it. In the end, they’ll still hate the Russians.

The issue I have with this statement is the assumption that Putin needs Ukrainians to be grateful for being invaded. This is invalid on its face.
The real questions are:
a) Do Ukrainians have faith in their existing government?
I would posit that the answer to this is no. None of Ukraine’s governments, since independence, have led that country to a better tomorrow. Ukrainian standards of living have severely lagged literally every other European or Eastern European nation.
If Ukrainians don’t have faith in their existing government, they’ll hardly be angry if it gets changed. In this context, the next question becomes relevant.
b) Are Ukrainians suffering enormously and inordinately because of the invasion? In the cities, this is likely true due to supply chain disruption. If this persists for many months, it will likely harden into something memorable, but let’s not forget that Ukraine has seen massive disruptions, multiple times, in recent memory starting with the collapse of the USSR, to the 1990s independence and associated economic changes vis a vis the rest of the former USSR, to the post 2014 Maidan coup and its “shock” separations of what remaining Russian and Donetsk/Luhask economic ties.
Net net: I am not the least bit convinced by your argument. Actual non-Atlanticist Ukrainians that I know, mostly believe their government is bad and corrupt but that is only anecdote. Atlanticist Ukrainians have mostly either migrated to the US or EU or are in government 🙂
2) You said

I had high hopes Putin would find a way to give Europe the chance to stay neutral in cold war 2.0. Now the full industrial power of Europe is firmly behind the US. Cold war 2.0 can drag on for decades.

One way to look at it is that the EU was “neutral” and Putin’s “invasion” changed that.
The other way to look at it was the EU was never really neutral – the existence of sanctions on Russia for over a decade is a counter-proof of neutrality. In this context, all Putin did was break the facade of neutrality.
A third way to look at it is that Putin believes that his talk since 2007 up until January 2022 was ignored, and that there were no prospects for success. I firmly believe this is what Putin and Russia is operating under.
I am unconvinced that your assertion that “Putin would find a way” is possible outside of abject surrender.
3)

A wedge can be driven in the Sino-Russian alliance. The Chinese would probably have preferred some less disruptive solution. They would’ve liked to bask longer in the glow of their Olympics. So far their support for Russia has been tepid at best: abstention at the UN vote, some insipid blather about diplomacy. So, Russia can blame China for tepid support and China can blame Russia for reckless adventurism.

As I’ve noted before, there are 2 ways to look at China’s part of the Sino-Russian alliance:
a) China just wants to be able to sell to everyone as long as possible, so will “support” Russia only from the far back.
b) China is focused on breaking the economic part of US hegemony even as Russia focuses on the military part (NATO and the myth of US military superiority). BRI counteracts World Bank and IMF; China consumer goods and intermediate manufacturing input dominance offsets US dollar trade reserve; China’s being the largest oil importer offsets some part of the petrodollar.
Most likely, it is part of both.
Put another way: would China inserting itself into EU/US sanctions help Russia in any way, other than truly starting on the path to World War 3? I say no.
4)

The incompetent Western leaders will get away with the economic depression. After inflation is done with us, standards of living will have plummeted everywhere across the West. Now, that can be blamed on war or war + covid rather than on gross mismanagement.

Maybe.
I can’t speak for Europe, but in the US – Americans don’t give a crap about anything outside their borders, and these borders tend to be city or state not even the US national borders.
This myopia means real or perceived suffering is directed at their own leaders unless America is attacked.
Biden is certainly trying to blame rising inflation and gasoline prices on Russia, but they were rising before February 25 and are continuing to rise. World average gasoline price jumped from ~$2.60/gallon on roughly 2/24 to $3.31 now. This increase will only be relatively small in Europe due to the massive gas taxes in most EU nations, but is an enormous jump in the US. We’ll see in a couple weeks if Biden’s approval rating ceases its relentless fall into sub-Trumpian territory.
I think not.
The EU, in turn, has enormous natural gas price jumps. Natural gas cost in the Netherland index hit a new all time high – well over 12x past average price – just yesterday. I have heard many direct reports from people in Europe of their winter gas bills being 2x, 3x or more of past pyears, and it is not at all clear this will get better (See Sushi’s Luongo post about self-sanctioning). And note that the majority of these bills have already been received and paid.
So let’s just say that it is far from clear that Western leaders are going to get away with it.
What I can say is to stop listening to MSM. The only thing useful about MSM is understanding what the US and EU oligarchy want you to believe; the actual factual and/or intellectual content is negative – i.e. makes you angrier and stupider.

Posted by: c1ue | Mar 3 2022 16:05 utc | 84

quickly before the Nato/Wests
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Mar 3 2022 16:00 utc | 80
—
Russia has yet to escalate up to the point of shutting off the gas.

Posted by: too scents | Mar 3 2022 16:06 utc | 86

@Sushi #56
Interesting, but the amount of self sanctioning is relatively small.
The hundreds of bcm in natural gas and the millions of barrels per day of oil, as well as kilotons of coal which Russia supplies to Europe right now is 2 orders of magnitude higher than the “self sanctioning” described above.
I posted in the new OT about the UK not actually sanctioning cargoes going to Russia from the UK if they are on non-Russian cargo ships, and that is corroborated by a direct firsthand experience that is ongoing.

Posted by: c1ue | Mar 3 2022 16:08 utc | 88

@Arioch #82
What you wrote may be true, but it also may be “theoretical” or “design” specifications.
Certainly American equipment rarely, if ever, meets its “theoretical” or “design” capabilities these days.
I would suspect there is also a big difference between driving tanks on base or during exercises vs. during actual times of war.
Peacetime performance is with regular scheduled maintenance along with pre- and post- movement inspections.
I very much doubt the same regime is being followed as Russian armored formations advance in Ukraine.

Posted by: c1ue | Mar 3 2022 16:13 utc | 90

Lavrov’s Speech Today
hard to find
watch now before it is gone
sorry for the repost if it has already been posted
https://odysee.com/@Unspin:f/2022-03-03—Russia's-Foreign-Minister-Sergey-Lavrov-holds-press-conference-in-Moscow:5

Posted by: ld | Mar 3 2022 16:14 utc | 92

vetinLA (83)
If you notice only African or unfavourable Eastern European warlords end up in the dock at the Hague, no Blair or Bush or minion European PM’s presidents are held accountable for their bloody actions abroad.
The decks stacked in their favour.

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Mar 3 2022 16:15 utc | 94

Unnamed 13,
Regarding House of Saud ‘investing in China and divesting in the US.
As I said yesterday in the Ukraine thread, the House of Saud is slated to be toppled by the US so that the US can control Saudi production during collapse.
The elites are a consortium of mafias. Remember how in The Sopranos if, for whatever reason, a municipal garbage collection contract switched hands from one mafia to another, there would have to be a transfer payment of some kind, for the rights. And if the mafias in question had their hooks deep enough into the municipality’s bureaucracy, they would make the woebegone municipality itself pay the transfer fee, with its slush fund!
MbS is similarly on the hook for paying the transfer fee that China requires in order to release future claims to oil contracts. (Because MbS knows what’s good for him.) Even though the US handed Iraq over to China already, each horsetrade still requires transfer fees, because that’s how mafioso roll.
The Kashoggi incident was just laying the groundwork of public opinion, ahead of ‘the fall’ of the House of Saud.

Posted by: reante | Mar 3 2022 16:17 utc | 96

https://t.me/dvesti22/1721
Reportedly Ukrainian refugees to the west (Moldova, Baltic states, etc) show the similarly arrogant behavior as sadly many ukrainian refugees to Russia years ago. They demand top-class housing and being serviced in Ukrainian while many of them do not know foreign languages, which creates communication problem. When western entities (Moldova government, Microsoft, etc) scramble to find any volunteers t o aid Ukrainians – they can scarcely find Russian-speakign ones, and almost no Ukrainian-speakers. However, reportedly, when being aided by such volunteers Ukrainians became aggressive and consider themselves not only entitled but insulted too.
—-
https://t.me/dvesti22/1740
Russian Paralympics sportsmen were banned (they already were 4 years ago, but now the ban is allregedly watertight).
They now sing the anthem and re-decorate the dresses with national symbol, because “nothing to loose any more”
Targetting disabled ones and children – the moral high-ground a la West…

Posted by: Arioch | Mar 3 2022 16:19 utc | 98

@gottlieb | 95
Its not *yet* WWIII. The Empire of Lies would like you to think that it is.

Posted by: Idiocrates | Mar 3 2022 16:22 utc | 100