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March 3, 2022
Ukraine Open Thread 2022-20
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Posted by: aquadraht | Mar 3 2022 21:43 utc | 281
To be honest, the issue is that you all are just looking at the micro level of the war but the US of Evil couldn’t care less as long as Putin is not winning this war.
I reiterate, the goal is regime change in Moscow.
And everything which is useful for this one goal will be used. And this war is just a tool to put pressure on Moscow. Nothing more, nothing less – they don’t care about Ukraine.
It would be helpful if all those experts would be zooming out and look at the macro level.
Posted by: zet | Mar 3 2022 22:36 utc | 301
@Patroklos | Mar 3 2022 22:14 utc | 293
I am a bit astonished about all those armchair generals. A fucking war is no old ladies’ tea party, and the best plan of operations never survives the first stand.
Given the extent of the theater of operations, and the tasks to solve, the losses reported *) are fairly low, considering that it is not Circe’s and American way of warfare (“let it rain”). The battle of Gostomel airport was apparently fierce, and internecine, but worth the sacrifice for the winner.
And some of the commentators like Eeny are completely fallen to MSM propaganda and Ukrainian fakes. 20 planes lost, my ass, not a single one confirmed in military circles, even in the West. Observers found tons of UA destroyed and abandoned equipment displayed as “Russian losses”, sometimes painting a Z on T64 destroyed by airstrikes.
As an armchair general myself, I do not see the results for the RF so far not bad. Micron | Mar 3 2022 22:16 utc | 294 to some extent came to his senses recognizing that wars are dynamic towards situations where the resistance of the losing side breaks, and they just dissolve or surrender.
To my observations, from scanning telegram and twitter channels of either side, the losses of the UA side are, not surprisingly given that they have close to zero air support, 4 to 5 times higher than those of the attackers. Moreover, since last 2 days, more and more equipment is abandoned undamaged, meaning that the soldiers are going home. Only the fanatics hold out, and don’t win the hearts and minds of the populace that way.
All those predictions about the Ukies hating Russians for the next decades are ridiculous. It is as probable that they will adore their victors as the (west) Germans did after WW2. That is more a matter of what the Russians will make out of their hardly avoidable triumph.
Posted by: aquadraht | Mar 3 2022 22:38 utc | 302
@Eeny #279:
I’ve been watching hundreds of videos from Ukraine, that show hundreds of ground vehicles destroyed (most of which are easily identifiable as Russian thanks to the letter markings…
Yeah, all those white Zs hastily drawn over the characteristic “digital” camouflage pattern of destroyed Ukrainian military vehicles. Very convincing. Not.
By the way, I’ve also been watching hundreds of videos from the Ukraine, both from Russian and Ukrainian sides. It’s clear which side is engaging in delusional, Baghdad Bob–style propaganda.
…but especially helicopters, including types that are not operated by the Ukrainians such as the Ka-52, being shot down on camera.
A downed helicopter filmed from five different angles does not five downed helicopters make.
You can insult me all you want…
I’m not insulting you. I’m simply describing who you are: a moron. I’ll quote your earlier comment #216 again (emphasis mine):
The loss of hundreds of ground vehicles, destroyed or abandoned, as well as dozens of planes and helicopters…
Any person who believes that “dozens” of Russian planes have been destroyed, even though not a single video of Russian plane debris has been posted by Ukrainians, is objectively a moron. That’s not at insult—just a factual statement.
Posted by: S | Mar 3 2022 22:38 utc | 303
I’ve seen a lot of stupid things in my life; hell, I’ve said and done some pretty stupid things myself too!! hahaha…..
But honestly, I have a hard time recalling anything stupider or more ridiculous and more pointless than this by the International Feline Federation (FIFE). do they expect to turn russians, and their cats, against their government? What’s the point?
just another useless form of what they call ‘virtue signalling’, I guess
https://www.rt.com/russia/551104-russian-cats-fife-sanctions-ukraine/
Russian cats slapped with sanctions
Felines owned by Russians have been banned from international competitions as punishment for Moscow’s attack on Ukraine
The International Feline Federation (FIFe) has weighed in on the Ukraine crisis, banning Russian-owned cats from competing in its shows as a sanction for Moscow’s military attack on the former Soviet republic.
“The FIFe executive board is shocked and horrified that the army of the Russian Federation invaded the Republic of Ukraine and started a war,” the Paris-based federation said on Tuesday. The group added that it “cannot just witness these atrocities and do nothing.”…..
AND
https://twitter.com/RWApodcast/status/1499301337552625666
FYI: Russians are taking the cat thing really personally. Russia has the highest share of cat owners in the world, Russians absolutely adore cats.
2:31 AM · Mar 3, 2022
Posted by: michaelj72 | Mar 3 2022 22:43 utc | 304
Something similar to the current US and EU/NATO situation has happened before on a smaller scale in the Mediterranean.
Perhaps many here have seen this before (or read the book):
“1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed (Eric Cline, PhD)” (YouTube, 1:10:18).
That’s my opinion since I haven’t noticed any significant signs of US deescalation or any kind of practical US and EU contingency actions to ensure their basic survival past this summer even under an assumed status quo (ie. no increased warfare or civil unrest, an extremely optimistic scenario).
There are a few people still trying to tell them this and other things but it’s not getting any traction and there doesn’t seem to be any time left now, although for some of this there wasn’t any time to begin with; that’s the nature of JIT (Just In Time). JIT is old now but one can wonder if any politicians including their “economists” have ever understood it.
Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Mar 3 2022 22:46 utc | 305
Anyone who thought this should have already been over is a fool. Yes, I mean you hysterical concern trolls. This is a kind of warfare that has not been seen in decades…since WWII…and even then is unique in scope. These are real battles between real forces armed with heavy weapons. It is taking place over a huge area, the size of England, with many urban pockets that cowardly nazi’s have take up position in. So please, for the love of GOD, stop the false analogies!! This is not Afghanistan! That was a light combat policing mission that lasted long after it mattered. It is not Iraq! That was a turkey shoot from the air of a rusty, demoralized and useless force that turned into a slaughter fest in the civilian centers. Dont fool yourselves. Again, anyone who thought Russia was going to cut of the power, water and gas…then bomb the cities into the stone age like murica does in the Middle East is not a serious thinker. Stop polluting the web with such bs.
Posted by: nook | Mar 3 2022 22:46 utc | 306
I have been informed by a local blogger who comments on local issues very well — and on national or international issues very badly — that there are no nazis in Ukraine. He was very adamant about that, and removed my comments to the contrary.
I then discovered a really extensive wikipedia article (not a source I prefer) all about the Azov Battalion, in great and very damning detail, and sent him the link. So far, I have not seen anything more about the topic on his site.
But it did occur to me that the CIA or other bad actors might remove the article, so I copied it and squirreled it away in my “De-nazifying Ukraine” folder, and I urge others to do the same before it disappears forever, or gets massively “edited.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azov_Battalion
Posted by: AntiSpin | Mar 3 2022 22:47 utc | 307
Leaving on a Jet Plane, don’t know when I’ll be back again.
All my bags are packed
I’m ready to go
I’m standin’ here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breakin’
Voldemort Zelenskiy.
Lighten up a bit will ya? Reading through the posts here is depressing. Would make a reasonably sane person look for a knife to slit their wrists.
You can’t change what’s coming, so take a moment to look at the wonders of the world you are blessed with. Lord only knows if you will be able to stand on a crest and view the beauty of nature much longer as things are going now. It’s like a Star Wars sequel.
Live the best you can, be honourable, laugh when you can and hug a loved one with all your might. And show compassion as much as possible. I know this thing called war, and I know the heartache. Been with me for many decades.
You can ignore me of course, lot of that going around, I’m just another of the millions of voices now blowing in the wind.
Signed Bubbles, now a trailer park boy who isn’t burdened with a gigantic tax bill on a McMansion. Thankfully as it now appears clear the Blob is coming for every last cent a pleb has. Cuz, Freedumb is the Battle Cry and they are much smarter than you and me.
An after thought if you will indulge me a moment more. By times I even surprised myself with wise assessment of humanity, this when I was mid 30’s, long long ago;
Some people grow old and wise, the rest merely grow old.
Posted by: bubbles | Mar 3 2022 22:50 utc | 308
@zet | Mar 3 2022 22:36 utc | 302
Please, you make me yawn. The goal of regime change by the US and the rabid bitch Nuland remains unchanged since 2003. Only she failed in 2003, got a half win by the Kiew coup in 2014, and now stands before the shambles.
Btw., the plans of the Neocons never ended even with regime change in Moscow and filleting Russia, China was the next on the list. Tibet and Xinjiang 2008 failed, Hongkong 2019 failed. Belarus 2021 failed, Kasahhstan failed. Out of luck.
But we know that already. Russia was in a critical situation though. Bein nearly (mind that Belarus coup failed) encircled situation it had to put a stop on NATO expansion. It tried (somewhat) diplomatically, but the alarm was ignored.
That observers in the West, even with sympathies for Russia and the other powers outside the empire and its vassals, did not preview the Russian step, has also to do with lazyness and condescendence. We did not realize how unbearable the situation was for Russia, and were widely unempathatic with the suffering of the Donbass populace. Russia, not just Putin, felt differently, and reacted.
Posted by: aquadraht | Mar 3 2022 22:52 utc | 309
@S | Mar 3 2022 22:38 utc | 304
Thanks. Could not have said it better.
Posted by: aquadraht | Mar 3 2022 22:53 utc | 310
@283 Circe
I am aware of the typical NPC, however the whole COVID thing has red pilled a lot of people about government and media. This is very apparent at football matches where play keeps having to be stopped for yet another “medical emergency”, people are waking up, TPTB are starting to lose. Banning RT is already having the Streisand effect which is the exact opposite of what was intended. The forces of Good are winning, if only slowly.
Posted by: TJ | Mar 3 2022 22:57 utc | 311
After their negotiations earlier today, both sides of the conflict have indicated that corridors would be established both for allowing the safe passage of refugees and to permit the resupply of the population.
It means that the promoters of the war do not want the Ukies to vie for peace at the present time. By allowing the endangered population to leave the besieged cities, the remnant population could/will be considered as combatants and subject to absolute obliteration.
Do the Ukrainian authorities understand that the US is firmly committed to defending Ukraine to the last Ukrainian? They are setting up for maximum destruction of the important cities of Ukraine.
In 1999 during the destruction of Yugoslavia, NATO used carbon filament bombs to short transmission lines all over Serbia. I would believe that since Russians control the Power Plants, they could resort to shutting down the equipment and deprive the cities of electricity. But maybe they also have these bombs?
Gas can also be shut down making life ultra miserable for the people still in the cities.
However, the Russians are going to permit the importation of food and other supplies via these humanitarian corridors. There is grave danger that these resupply trucks could be loaded with war supplies and equipment. Therefore these vehicles should be thoroughly searched. Maybe the Russians have Xray equipment to scan trucks and containers.
They would be ill advised to allow passage without exacting scrutiny.
Anyway, the Russians will have a field day with the human shield eliminated or supposedly so. Let¡s see how this pans out.
Posted by: CarlD | Mar 3 2022 23:04 utc | 312
something a little more serious than Russian cats…. These warmongers and war-criminals in the US and Nato really are beyond the pale in their hypocrisy, pride and vain exceptionalism, and I am sure most are pathological narcissists severely lacking in human empathy. I know Obama, bush jr., both Clintons, that devil Bolton, the Trumps, and that witch victoria nuland are…..
https://twitter.com/ASBMilitary/status/1499408609482100736
ASB News/MILITARY @ASBMilitary
Major hypocrisy. When are we doing Iraq? Syria? Afghanistan? Libya? .. Yugoslavia?
Oh.. those weren’t “civilized” enough
https://twitter.com/JenGriffinFNC/status/1499408055544557575
Jennifer Griffin @JenGriffinFNC – national security correspondent with Fox News
The UK and allies will refer atrocities in Ukraine to the International Criminal Court.
38 nations have now grouped together to expedite an ICC investigation, through state party referral. The ICC Prosecutor will now proceed straight to an investigation: UK Foreign office
Posted by: michaelj72 | Mar 3 2022 23:09 utc | 313
Russian Intelligence Chief Says Intel Showed Ukraine Was Working on Nukes, US Knew About It
The head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), Sergei Naryshkin, has stated that the SVR had obtained intelligence showing that Ukraine was working on building its own nuclear weapons. Naryshkin stressed that President Volodymyr Zelensky’s threats to abandon the Budapest Agreement were “not an empty promise”.
https://sputniknews.com/20220303/russian-intelligence-chief-says-intel-showed-ukraine-was-working-on-nukes-us-knew-about-it-1093559308.html
Posted by: Ray | Mar 3 2022 23:10 utc | 314
@Posted by: michaelj72 | Mar 3 2022 22:43 utc | 305
I haven’t figured out how to break the news to my cats.
Posted by: librul | Mar 3 2022 23:12 utc | 315
While the west accuses Russia of war-crimes the real criminals in Ukraine are being exposed – if not on mainstream media.
https://johnplatinumgoss.com/2022/03/03/humanitarian-aid-versus-war-crimes/
juliania @197–
Thanks for your very kind reply! Your indignation is well warranted; too bad more people within the Outlaw US Empire don’t know even a little as it doesn’t take much for the carpet to start unravelling to reveal the many buried skeletons that there wasn’t room for in the closet. The Empire’s deception of its own people and the world is an evil marvel surpassing anything attempted/accomplished by either the USSR or Nazi Germany.
One fortunate aspect of the info and sanction wars is there’s only so much you can lie about and sanction; soon the wall will be hit, and the hysteria will likely go ballistic when it’s realized that point’s reached as Saker predicts.
@Posted by: Ray | Mar 3 2022 23:10 utc | 315
They need to present their evidence to the UN.
Real evidence, not Colin Powell evidence.
Posted by: librul | Mar 3 2022 23:15 utc | 318
reante #208
To understand time and especially how it is built up in the mind we need to introduce the notion of metamnesis, i.e. the memory of memory.
Please read this translated from French about IA:
“21 Presentation of the topic 21 The semantic conceptual analyzer It manipulates concepts of a higher level than those handled by the analyzer
conceptual of the brain of memory. It allows the translation of primary concepts into complex ones, which will be stored in semantic memory.
Semantic memory It contains a base of advanced concepts, built in the form of a lattice, allowing the association of concepts. Memory
primary This memory contains a limited number of semantic concepts. It plays the role of a short-term memory that stores everything the
consciousness is manipulating. The primary memory can receive information from the pushed conceptual parser, which sends the concepts to it
being in the environment, or directly through conscious reflection, who chooses to store in it a concept on which reflection is necessary.
Semantic memory management Concepts in primary memory are instantly copied to semantic memory. All the information
which pass into primary memory are transmitted there. However, the accumulated information can be forgotten. The existence of a concept depends on the
activity of the latter in primary memory. The conscious This part brings together the most advanced modules of the model: episodic memory, the
metamorphosis and conscious choice. Episodic memory It is a memory of situations, which allows the recollection events and
emotions experienced in the form of semantic concepts. The stored concepts arise both from the perceptions and from the internal state of the person at the time of the event. It handles persistence in the same way as semantic memory. Metamnesis is the memory of memory. Her role is to store the way the elements have chained in episodic memory. The conscious choice (or conscious reflection) It can be seen as a high-level optimizer, handling advanced concepts, and different natures. Thanks to the metamnesis, it can use series of situations, and even imagine past, present or future situations to make decisions. It is thus able to compare situations and choose the one to which he wants to strive. He also has the ability to reflect on abstract concepts, as on his past reflections.
He is able to analyze his own functioning from the moment he manages to transcribe it in the form of concepts.”
(https://docplayer.fr/9556248-Intelligence-artificielle-une-approche-cognitive.html)
I believe that we need to possess some mirroring function of memory to remember its previous state(s) in order to literally create the impression of flux of time …
Posted by: Greg Galloway | Mar 3 2022 23:16 utc | 319
“Noch ist die Stadt ukrainisch”
Stand: 04.03.2022 00:04 Uhr
Die strategisch wichtige Hafenstadt Mariupol ist von russischen Truppen eingeschlossen, es werden heftige Kämpfe gemeldet. Es fehle an Strom, Wasser und Lebensmitteln, sagt der stellvertretende Bürgermeister Sergej Orlow in den tagesthemen. Aber: Das Militär halte die Stadt.
https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/interview-mariupol-101.html
@CarlD | Mar 3 2022 23:04 utc | 313
You are wrong in two aspects: First, that the Russians are ruthless. They are not. They have learned that the Grosny 1999 tactics are not applicable anymore, nor are they necessary. Grosny was a consequence of the bad shape of the Russian armed forces after the Yeltsin era, troops’ organization bad, morale low, so suppressing the opponent with firepower was the means of choice. The Americans, with similarly poor soldiers, prefer to waive humanitarian corridors, and obliterate the civilians too.
Second, the Russians are not stupid, and moreover, understand a lot about the mentality of their Ukrainian neighbour people, the core of which, apart from Galician and Canada reimported Bandera abominations, is quite close to them. By providing the beleaguared areas with food, infrastructure services (gas, district heat, and electricity), they create interdependencies.
Mind that even IS agreed to repairs of the Assad dam damaged by US airstrikes as all opponents, IS, Kurds, Syrians in Aleppo, needed the electricity, and the irrigation. Even the worst local extremists are not as perverse as Victoria Nuland.
Personally, I neither believe in a long war. Nail me, but I think it will be mainly concluded end of third week at most (of course I can be wrong). And no protracted guerilla warfare. Polls at the climax of UA nationalist power showed less than 3% of Ukrainians in support of Banderism.
Posted by: aquadraht | Mar 3 2022 23:20 utc | 321
@reante #212
I won’t speak for others, but the main reason I ignore pretty much everything you say is that it is either completely whacko or else unhinged from fact.
This specific post is the latter.
The US consumes a bit over 18 mbd – not 20. Furthermore, nobody “consumes” crude oil. They consume what crude oil is processed into – plastics to gasoline to heating oil to asphalt (not much of the last anymore).
Thus “petroleum products” is actually what matters. I’d also note that you actually get a bit more than 1 barrel of “petroleum products” by volume per barrel of crude oil – about 7% more.
And while the US’ present production (as in oil goes into the oil ecosystem) is negative, but it is only negative about 1-2 mbd – which Canada more than makes up for with its 3 mbd export to the US. Given Canada’s economic bitch status under the US, that 3 mbd is rock solid.
So the North American continent overall: US, Mexico and Canada is very much self sufficient.
Posted by: c1ue | Mar 3 2022 23:23 utc | 322
drshivago @201–
I suggest you read this missive published by the EIA regarding oil imports and exports, taking note to see how they fudge to arrive at the political goal of being a net exported when that’s not the truth. And the only reason that occurred is due to demand destruction caused by the pandemic.
Longtime barflies know that I was a member of the US Chapter of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Natural Gas, have remained abreast of that subject, and am thus better informed than most.
@wobblie #232
You clearly don’t understand why central banks keep foreign exchange reserves, period.
The official purpose of these foreign exchange reserves is to smooth financial transactions between home country/home currency companies and the foreign companies they do business with.
So why exactly is it surprising that Russia would keep USD and euro reserves in foreign banks?
Note this is not the same thing as say, a gold reserve or a sovereign wealth fund.
Gold reserves are backing for your own currency; sovereign wealth funds are the nation-state equivalent of the savings account.
Posted by: c1ue | Mar 3 2022 23:27 utc | 324
Must see from Gonzalo Lira in Kharkov – thankfully safe and well (2 hour plus livestream)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz4KhdoVCyw
Posted by: Aslangeo | Mar 3 2022 23:27 utc | 325
aquadraht 322
First, of all, I never implied that the Russians are ruthless. But I believe they will be with the Banderistas and the Ukranazis and deservedly so.
Second, I have not implied that they are stupid. Can you tell me where I say something to that effect?
Posted by: CarlD | Mar 3 2022 23:27 utc | 326
@Ranko #254
Russian missile artillery has a range up to 150+ km.
How wide is the gap at present, do you think?
Hint: it is smaller than Russian artillery range.
Posted by: c1ue | Mar 3 2022 23:29 utc | 327
@Posted by: Greg Galloway | Mar 3 2022 23:16 utc | 320
“Time is changes in states of consciousness.”
Posted by: librul | Mar 3 2022 23:29 utc | 328
Actually President Biden just made an interesting comment on the current situation which you can see here https://youtu.be/VkgxgrWFRDY
Posted by: Oh | Mar 3 2022 23:30 utc | 329
Emergency Anti-War Demonstration
Stop NATO War on Russia! No Sanctions! No War!
Saturday, March 5 – 3pm, Times Square (North End, 7th Ave & 46 St)
The corporate media speaks with one voice against Russia. There is NO mention that the U.S. commanded NATO military alliance has pumped tons of lethal weapons and U.S. advisors into Ukraine for eight years.
Since the 2014 U.S.- backed coup in Kiev, the U.S. has aided fascist forces in relentlessly shelling the 1,200 mile Russian border to target the Peoples’ Republics of Lugansk and Donetsk, killing over 14,000 people in the Russian-speaking Donbass region.
Over a trillion dollars in NATO arms and facilities have been thrust into Eastern European border nations next to Russia. US backed NATO has held war maneuvers near Russia’s borders and coastlines.
This war would end TODAY if the U.S. would commit to STOP aggressive military actions on Russia’s border. The U.S. military is using Ukraine as a pawn to attack Russia.
A destructive war in Ukraine and Russia could be the beginning of a wider world war to assert total U.S. hegemony over the rest of the world. This will not bring peace to the world!
Workers and oppressed people here do not want a new U.S. war. They have nothing to gain. Only the corporations and their politician friends stand to benefit.
We say Money for Jobs, Education, Health care and Human Needs, Not War!
Posted by: Cerena | Mar 3 2022 23:33 utc | 330
@CarlD | Mar 3 2022 23:27 utc | 327
If I was too polemic, I apologize. To the ruthless point: Offering evecuation venues only to opliterate the remaining part would be ruthless, given that a lot of civilians would remain, some of the most vulnerable among them. And avtin that way would be stupid. Ok, the US acted that stupidly, and it did not help their popularity in the ME, Afghanistan, and Latin America. That was my point. The Russian way may be more complicated, and result of more losses of servicemen. In the end, it may be more successful. I hope so.
Posted by: aquadraht | Mar 3 2022 23:37 utc | 331
WTF, the Ukes put out a video showing their forces, launching a barrage of missiles at Russian clusters.
Ukraine defence
Is this for real? Are these the hundreds of missiles they just got shipped from the U.S.?
If so, why didn’t the Russians track and intercept USNATO’s shipments?
They should be tracking and blowing every shipment sky-high from now on and remove every last bragging point the Ukes possess. I can’t believe this shit.
Posted by: Circe | Mar 3 2022 23:38 utc | 332
FYI: Russians are taking the cat thing really personally. Russia has the highest share of cat owners in the world, Russians absolutely adore cats.
2:31 AM · Mar 3, 2022
Posted by: michaelj72 | Mar 3 2022 22:43 utc | 305
Orange tabby cats are especially efficient when it comes to killing rats that get into your house.
Posted by: bubbles | Mar 3 2022 23:39 utc | 333
@aquadraht | Mar 3 2022 23:37 utc | 332
s/avtin/acting . Damn typos. And b’s blog could need an edit function for 1hr or so.
Posted by: aquadraht | Mar 3 2022 23:40 utc | 334
Putin has been clear and consistant that what concerns him is the 5-7 minutes it will take nuclear missiles to reach his capitol from Ukraine. He has explained that that is too short a time in which to make a responsible decision on whether to launch mutually assured destruction, but that Russia would do so if a missile were launched from Ukraine. This endangers everyone, not just Russia. He has been clear on this.
By indicating they will put nuclear weapons in Ukraine, US and NATO have evidenced one goal: to eliminate Mutually Assured Destruction in order to destroy Russia’s command centers and government without receiving retaliation. That is the only reason for placing nukes in Ukraine. 5-7 minutes may be too short a time in which to respond, and NATO and the US are willing to take that risk. Putin has said repeatedly that Russia will launch if missiles are launched from Ukraine, even if there is no time to verify. He is saying MAD deterrence still exits, whereas US/NATO are saying, maybe not.
U.S. Sec. of Defense Ashton Carter announced that the modernization of US nuclear weapons is in order to make them “more useable.” I believe Craig Murray doesn’t understand how psychotic US leadership is if he does not see nuclear missiles in Ukraine as a threat to Russia.
Posted by: Linda Wood | Mar 3 2022 23:42 utc | 335
@Circe | Mar 3 2022 23:38 utc | 333
You are pathetic. It would need at most 2 MLRS to produce such a video. Ever saw a Grad in action? With zero knowledge about military affairs, would it not be less embarrassing just to shut up?
Posted by: aquadraht | Mar 3 2022 23:44 utc | 336
Posted by: aquadraht | Mar 3 2022 22:52 utc | 310
Certainly no disagreement here – and I also think that the west didn’t see that war coming and planned for some regime change further down the road when Ukraine would have been integrated into NATO. But boom, here ya go and the goal is now more reachable than it ever was. Just think about it.
And now they just have to pile pressure onto Russia and wait for its collapse. Drag the war out as long as possible, make it bloody and expensive, pile on more pressure and watch the oligarchs and the general public turn against Putin.
There’s one last chance Putin has: make it a real humanitarian show instead of using excessive force. And then hope that the MSM isn’t twisting all that into a barbaric act (which they are already doing right now).
Posted by: zet | Mar 3 2022 23:44 utc | 337
(Sorry for the double post.)
@331 Cerena
Where did you read about this demonstration? I don’t see it online.
The entire world should rise up against USNATO. Without US weapons and supreme commandeering, NATO would cease to exist.
Posted by: Circe | Mar 3 2022 23:51 utc | 338
@zet | Mar 3 2022 23:44 utc | 339
I fully agree that info war is decisive after the facts on the ground are created. But while western info war was extremely effective over a lot of time, MSM legitimacy is already crumbling even in the West. So the odds are not that bad. The Russians have to act cautiously once the war is won. I am sure that widespread guerilla warfare will remain a pipe dream of Western psychopaths. Problems need to be solved though. But first and foremost a … erm special operation is to be won (I hate euphemisms, it is a damn war, and in the immortal words of William Tecumseh Sherman, war is all hell).
Posted by: aquadraht | Mar 3 2022 23:52 utc | 339
https://twitter.com/navalny
Riddle me this:
In Putin’s Russia, they have taken down radio stations, publications, and Russian people were not informed, but this guy tweets from prison.
The show must go on!
Posted by: the_all_lie | Mar 3 2022 23:53 utc | 340
@ Oh | Mar 3 2022 23:30 utc | 330
Dammit! And here I was looking for excuses to cancel YouTube . . .
Posted by: malenkov | Mar 3 2022 23:57 utc | 341
I think Doctorow sometimes is very good
I have wondered myself the last few days what Russia will do, or could do, or will do, in response to these savage sanctions against it, especially the ‘freezing’ of the Central Bank’s assets, which is really a near-nuclear option for the USA, which of course is commanding all of Europe to follow its crazy orders
https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2022/03/02/u-s-has-its-knee-to-the-neck-of-europe-in-the-form-of-nato-an-interview-1-march-with-radio-belarus/
“….I call attention to the fact that until now the Russians have not responded to the latest waves of sanctions apart from their closing their air space to all nations that have shut out Russian airlines, meaning the entire EU. However, the freezing of Bank of Russia assets in the West remains without a response, as does the partial exclusion from SWIFT.
This is not for lack of options on the Russian side to inflict extreme pain on the West. The confiscation of all Western corporate assets in Russia would largely balance the frozen Russian assets in the West. The shut-off of gas and oil supplies, of uranium for French and other European power plants, and of still other essential raw materials that are largely or even exclusively sourced in Russia would be very damaging to the European economies. None of this has been done because the Russians expect to finish up their business in Ukraine rather soon, and then to negotiate a gradual return to normality with the West….”
Posted by: michaelj72 | Mar 3 2022 23:58 utc | 342
reply to 299
I think Iran has the US “over a barrel”. They need oil and can’t afford a war with Iran but Iran will not allow lying,loopholes or foot dragging about a new JCPOA deal. Germany is begging them to compromise. The US will have to humble itself and the Israelis will scream.
Either way, the US is facing a major defeat on Iran. It’s going to be interesting.
Posted by: Eighthman | Mar 4 2022 0:00 utc | 343
“the propaganda saying that the Russian military is having problems will disappear. ” this was stated upstream with an if in front of it… i can’t say i agree..
The head of Gab Andrew Torba has posted about ‘Hundreds of accounts across the same 12 IPs… boosting anti-Russian propaganda.’
“We have just discovered an anti-Russian botnet that was boosting fake news using dozens of accounts across the same IP addresses. Nice try, CIA,” Torba mocked the agency.”
this will not stop.. you can take that to the bank… i am sure the cia has given someone a ”navalny account” too, lol…. this kind of predictable shit is well – very predictable.. it is what the west excels in – bullshit propaganda… i guess they figure most people are too dense to figure it out.
Posted by: james | Mar 4 2022 0:01 utc | 344
Posted by: aquadraht | Mar 3 2022 23:52 utc | 341
But first and foremost a … erm special operation is to be won
Aye, but with western weapons, mercenaries, nazi battalions, civilians turned into combatants and so on this could prove to be not so easy, at least not un-bloody.
Posted by: zet | Mar 4 2022 0:05 utc | 345
Is this for real?
Posted by: Circe | Mar 3 2022 23:38 utc | 333
Are you?
Posted by: bubbles | Mar 4 2022 0:06 utc | 346
@A.L. | Mar 3 2022 22:21 utc | 298
“China is riding on a free option. If things don’t go to plan for Russia it can play the diplomat. If it does it’ll be better for it. Either way it wins economically.”
Well, that is how the USA played the WW2. The British empire played its final Act and limped off stage to become Orwell’s “1984 Airstrip One.” So this larger turn is basically a repeat with the USA now in the UK seat.
They have already been technically bankrupt since 2007 financial crash — if not before when (a) Nixon pulled the gold standard and more recently the criminal Clintons pulled the Glass Steagall Act to raid the people’s savings banks. So this is just reality catching up with the imaginary in a complex arrangement.
Posted by: imo | Mar 4 2022 0:09 utc | 347
“Time is changes in states of consciousness.”
Posted by: librul | Mar 3 2022 23:29 utc | 329
Certainly a good way to put it.
But, as I say, you need some means to remind those changes, in order to get the impression of the flux of time. Hence the notion of metamnesis as a reflection of memory before the consciousness so it can grasp the changes.
Then you could write: “Time is remembrance of changes in states of consciousness.”
Posted by: Greg Galloway | Mar 4 2022 0:10 utc | 348
navalny tweets from prison
Posted by: the_all_lie | Mar 3 2022 23:53 utc | 342
Epstein found hanging in his cell. Gawd love the Free World. The Queen and her lad Andrew too.
Posted by: bubbles | Mar 4 2022 0:13 utc | 349
@338 aquadraht
You can be informative without being nasty and condescending. You’re right. I’m not a military expert, and never pretended to be one. You think I don’t prefer the video be fake and that columns of Russians were killed? Why do you think I posted it? So someone could debunk it here without attacking me. I’m just the messenger; I didn’t create the damn thing!
This video is all over mainstream news. Is it fake? Then why didn’t their armchair expert generals they have on set warn them it’s a fake before they embarrass themselves? So if their experts didn’t see it’s fake, am I so stupid as you claim?
Why don’t you explain in more detail to the lay person why it’s fake, so as to remove all doubt, and that way it can be permanently debunked? Thank you!
Posted by: Circe | Mar 4 2022 0:17 utc | 351
Posted by: Linda Wood | Mar 3 2022 23:42 utc | 336
Talk about psychosis, this is the end game of 500 years of crazy English piracy…
From Francis Drake to the Opium wars …
You bet they are psychos.
Posted by: Greg Galloway | Mar 4 2022 0:18 utc | 352
@zet | Mar 4 2022 0:05 utc | 347
I disagree. The mercenaries may prove as a deadly mistake. The theatre of operations is in the east, and apparently, the army groups in Galicia refuse to go east. That leaves the last stand to Nazis and mercenaries. Do you really believe the local populace won’t get aware of?
It is typical Western .. ecm “thought”. 5k$ per fighter, some nifty weapons, and we will win. Wake up, that is war, not Netflix.
Posted by: aquadraht | Mar 4 2022 0:21 utc | 353
To add that, I am sure that Russian Air Force will take out not few of the praised Western arms deliveries.
Posted by: aquadraht | Mar 4 2022 0:23 utc | 354
@aquadraht
Here’s an excellent text, don’t know who posted it and in which thread but it is by far the best macro level analysis I found to date:
Putin’s Ukraine Pushback: Existential War & The Moment of Rupture
Posted by: zet | Mar 4 2022 0:26 utc | 355
@Arioch (98)
What else to expect. For 8 years The Ukraine has been treated as The Chosen Country (chosen to what exactly, has become evident over the past week).
An enormous sense of entitlement has been fostered and nurtured.
Zelensky personally exudes it.
The concrete quay of Reality is stopping the ship of BS.
It takes a bit of holding hands (in Belarus) for that ship to give, to go with the flow, or to break and sink forever.
Posted by: bjd | Mar 4 2022 0:27 utc | 356
Posted by: aquadraht | Mar 4 2022 0:21 utc | 355
5k$ per fighter, some nifty weapons, and we will win. Wake up, that is war, not Netflix.
Again, IMHO it’s not about winning. It’s about making this an expensive and bloody shitshow.
Posted by: zet | Mar 4 2022 0:28 utc | 357
Linda Wood @336–
Thanks for spelling out what I should have on Day 1 when I said Russia’s use of Article 51 of the UN Charter wasn’t just for its self-defense but for that of the whole world. Too few people understand that when the Outlaw US Empire announced its goal of attaining Full Spectrum Domination in 1996 that by doing so it committed the #1 Innternational Crime of Aggressive War–how else would a nation attain such a goal as Hitler’s? And that was on top of numerous wars of aggression and other Capital Crime violations over the decades that preceded that announcement.
Those backing the Outlaw US Empire are abetting the greatest serial murderer of all time, well beyond what Hitler was able to accomplish, while those thinking that being neutral is staying out are engaging in very wrong thinking that’s easily as bad as being an accomplice.
The Ukies are shelling the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant. So far they have succeeded in starting a fire. Looks to me like a transformer fire but that is a WAG.
These people are truly insane.
Posted by: oldhippie | Mar 4 2022 0:40 utc | 359
Posted by: oldhippie | Mar 4 2022 0:40 utc | 361
German MSM is reporting that the Russian side did attack the plant.
Here is the live feed incl. chat:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgcLfFq7NO0
Posted by: zet | Mar 4 2022 0:49 utc | 360
Why is the Russian Government allowing a USNATO media tool like Nick Robertson to report from Russia? Do they not see the vicious, sensationalist, one-sided reports he’s prepared being screened for global consumption?
Did he confront the Israelis when they butchered all those children in Gaza? Did he go to al-Anbar Iraq to report on the extreme suffering the U.S. military caused there and utter destruction left behind?
Did he report on the civilian atrocities Americans committed with drones in Afghanistan?
Did he report on the war crimes committed against Yemeni children with U.S. weapons, and go to film the skeletal babies that KSA’s barbaric war starved to death?
Damn you Nick Robertson. Someone show that that USNATO tool the door already!
Posted by: Circe | Mar 4 2022 0:56 utc | 361
Russia has had control of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant since Monday. It doesn’t make sense (for any reason) that Russia would attack an asset which it already controlled. Zelensky asked for at least a ‘no-fly’ over power plants and now this. Agree with oldhippie – this is the false flag.
Posted by: gottlieb | Mar 4 2022 1:18 utc | 363
oldhippie @ 364
Aye, one of the many false flags… a friend of mine just got in touch, he’s 20km south-west of Odessa right now and is packing up for tomorrows drive back home to Germany.
Posted by: zet | Mar 4 2022 1:20 utc | 364
Posted by: gottlieb | Mar 4 2022 1:18 utc | 365
Tell that the MSM – facts or logic doesn’t count there, it’s just lies all over.
Posted by: zet | Mar 4 2022 1:22 utc | 365
I am not willing to pay higher prices because of 30 years of awful decisions made by America’s foreign policy establishment with respect to Ukraine and Russia.
Posted by: Offshoreguy | Mar 4 2022 1:24 utc | 366
When Biden said we are not going to war for Ukraine, he meant we will go to war if Russia brings the war to us.
Well, a nice sabotage of a nuclear facility would be a fine casus belli, don’t you think.
So it IS true: they are so trapped between Russia pushing them abroad and us domestic terrorists at home, that they WILL turn the card table over in a last effort in raging against their collective fate that we must all share.
I have defended my countrymen for far too long. We are too far gone to be rationally convinced of our error. We must suffer for this. Barring Divine Intervention, we will.
It has been very nice of b to host this place. Even though he didn’t see the Covid narrative for what it was, I thank him sincerely foe his tireless effort in exposing the truth to us western schlubs. I also want to thank the posters here who are in good faith in their willigness to engage with the alternative to the lie.
God bless and keep you!
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Mar 4 2022 1:32 utc | 367
WARNING: LONG, LONG POST!
Here is my “catch-up” post for the day. Has taken me at least three hours to get caught up. Are you guys seriously arguing over a tank in a ditch?
Posted by: Maracatu | Mar 3 2022 13:22 utc | 5
SouthFront is being pessimistic. The weapons deliveries are insignificant to the overall outcome of a large combined arms military operation. Man portable weapons do not decide the outcome of such conflicts. The same applies to a small number of mercenaries.
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Mar 3 2022 13:22 utc | 6
Good. Now the Russian surrender offers to surrounded Ukrainian units will be shortened by some hours. Any response such as Bastogne’s “Nuts!” in WWII will be responded to by a TOS-1 thermobaric bombardment.
Posted by: Oisin | Mar 3 2022 13:34 utc | 9
Russia will do what it did in Syria: encircle the city, cut off resupply of food and water, conduct probing attacks to locate resistance, then conduct weakening attacks against that resistance, and otherwise wait for the food and water to run out and the populace forces the enemy to surrender. Then go in and mop up any die-hards.
“Does passing Russian troops through Belarus automatically authorize Poland to do the same with equipment and troops?”
No.
Posted by: William Haught | Mar 3 2022 13:42 utc | 14
RT apparently has become rather unreliable now, according to some people like Andrei Martyanov. Probably in response to all the efforts to get it kicked off most Western platforms.
Posted by: Maximus | Mar 3 2022 13:48 utc | 16
No. Russia wants to do this operation with as little impact on the civilian population as possible. Russia has an ultimate political objective and needs to reduce Ukrainian hatred of Russia as much as is feasible.
“His forces near Kyiv look like sitting ducks under the watchful eye of the enemy”
Sitting ducks for whom? Ukraine? The US and NATO? Are you that militarily naive?
Trust me, the idiots on Western MSM who think any Russian column is a “sitting duck” are morons. Go over to Andrei Martyanov’s site and make the suggestion – see how well you are received.
Posted by: Jonathan W | Mar 3 2022 13:55 utc | 18
No. Those letters stand for Russian military districts. Z is Zapad and I forget what the other one is.
Posted by: Norwegian | Mar 3 2022 14:02 utc | 21
Ah, thanks, you already answered that.
Posted by: B. Wildered | Mar 3 2022 14:00 utc | 20
At this point, Russia doesn’t need to interdict the flow of weapons, as those weapons won’t change the outcome. If they become a problem due to increasing Russian casualties, Russia will interdict them. Russian ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) will handle that.
Posted by: Justin | Mar 3 2022 14:39 utc | 33
I doubt there is any logistics slowdown. But if there is, it wouldn’t be surprising as the Russian advance has been so fast that it could be outrunning its resupply. This military advance has been the fastest or next to the fastest advance in military history, according to some observers, some of whom call it “stunning.”
Posted by: too scents | Mar 3 2022 15:10 utc | 49
“All mercenaries sent by the West to help the Kiev nationalist regime are not combatants . They are not entitled to prisoner of war status.”\
Heh, can’t wait until they run into the Chechens. They will show them what “mercenary” means.
Posted by: circumspect | Mar 3 2022 15:21 utc | 52
There are people in the US and NATO who do want a war between NATO and Russia, despite the thirty NATO war games that prove that NATO will lose – badly.
Posted by: Robert Macaire | Mar 3 2022 15:31 utc | 55
Your speculations are groundless. All that is going to happen is that Russia will “re-orient” Ukraine, install strategic weapons there and in Belarus, and deploy subs with hypersonic missiles and Poseidon drones off the coasts of the US. MAD will be restored. Yes, it will be Cold War 2.0. As Andrei Martyanov likes to say, “It is what it is.” Russia didn’t ask for this, the US and NATO did. Deal with it. As you say, no one offered an alternative outcome for Russia.
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Mar 3 2022 15:38 utc | 60
Better – Academi vs the Chechens. Grab your popcorn.
Posted by: Maximus | Mar 3 2022 15:48 utc | 73
“Putin tried, or is trying to use the mindset of a spy to deal with a military operation”
This is entirely speculative on your part. Do you think Putin personally designed this whole operation? That Shoigu and Gerasimov had no input? It’s ridiculous.
“Information dominance” is of no importance. Russia isn’t trying to win a “popularity contest” with the West. Russian penetration into the Western media platform is miniscule and will always be so and they know it. Everyong else outside the Western sphere knows what is going on.
Posted by: Network Admin | Mar 3 2022 15:57 utc | 78
LOL Good one.
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Mar 3 2022 16:00 utc | 80
Roberts is not a military man. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. There will be no “supply lines cemented”. There is nothing the US and NATO can do to alter the outcome of this conflict.
Posted by: comandante | Mar 3 2022 16:15 utc | 93
You’re clueless. No amount of “NATO mercenaries” are going to change the outcome of this conflict. If they become an issue of increasing Russian casualties beyond what is acceptable, Russia will interdict them.
Posted by: wobblie | Mar 3 2022 16:27 utc | 106
Counterpunch has become unreliable. Putin will most likely survive his remaining term handily. Alexander Mercouris has debunked all this “sanctions from hell” nonsense in his recent Youtube videos. Go watch them.
Posted by: malenkov | Mar 3 2022 16:29 utc | 108
No. The Donbass cauldron is critical. As Mercouris points out, everyone is focused on Kiev and the South when it is that cauldron that matters. 30-50% of the Ukrainian military is there, and most of the armor and heavy artillery. If it surrenders or is destroyed, which it will be, Ukrainian forces will be demoralized. Kiev is going to fall eventually. The influx of weapons and mercenaries are not going to change the outcome of this conflict.
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Mar 3 2022 16:47 utc | 124
OTOH, maybe they were hit by Ukrainian missiles aimed at what they thought were Russian ships. 🙂 But you’re probably right.
Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 3 2022 17:25 utc | 152
Good points. Thanks for the link.
Posted by: Arioch | Mar 3 2022 17:26 utc | 153
She’s still on Twitter at https://twitter.com/al_bonnel Last post March 2. All in French so useless to me. Seems to post a lot of pictures of dead bodies in Donestk. https://twitter.com/al_bonnel/status/1499048729059414020 [Warning: Graphic images.]
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Mar 3 2022 17:28 utc | 155
“The Russian army is big, rusty, clumsy and lethal.” Good one – although not so rusty any more. Last I heard from Shoigu’s report to Putin, Russia’s modernation was maybe 70% done.
Posted by: Sid Victor Cattoni | Mar 3 2022 17:35 utc | 162
Your summary sounds probably correct.
Posted by: wobblie | Mar 3 2022 17:50 utc | 173
None of that is likely. You forget: Russia has already been there, done that. They’re not going to do it again. You’re living in the past. Or, far more likely, you’re a troll.
Posted by: Jörgen Hassler | Mar 3 2022 18:51 utc | 192
LOL Good one. These landing ships can carry only maybe 10 tanks, IIRC. I wonder if some of these Ukrainian idiots are actually trying to sabotage their own propaganda. That would be good, except US idiots believe it.
Posted by: Roger | Mar 3 2022 19:03 utc | 199
Thanks for the book list.
Posted by: Eeny | Mar 3 2022 19:51 utc | 216
Clueless troll. Nothing he said is true.
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Mar 3 2022 19:52 utc | 218
Thanks for the update. Like Russia wasn’t already creating humanitarian corridors, just like they did in Syria. It was the Ukrainians who were preventing citizens from leaving the cities. More proof that these negotiations are just going to drag on until Russia establishes new facts on the ground. that might change if China comes in as a mediator, but that hasn’t happened yet. But frankly these aren’t “negotiations”. Russia has presented surrender terms and Ukraine has no choice but to accept them or Russia will create them on the ground.
Posted by: donnie | Mar 3 2022 20:49 utc | 237
Russian death toll is reasonable given the size of the operation and the speed of advance, according to Martyanov who knows a lot more about this stuff than you do. Also, this is not an insurgency as in Afghanistan and Iraq – which also proves you know nothing about military matters.
As for the Ukies still shelling Donbass, they have been dug in there for eight years. The cauldron will take care of that in a short while. If the Ukies don’t surrender, they get to meet Mr. TOS-1. Dying by thermobaric fire and asphyxiation is not pleasant.
Russian 220mm TOS-1 Buratino Thermobaric Multiple Rocket Launcher Heavy Flamethrower System
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buvL1SHixL0
Posted by: Kadath | Mar 3 2022 20:56 utc | 243
Spot on.
Posted by: Ranko | Mar 3 2022 21:11 utc | 254
They can’t pull back. If they try, they end up in open country and will get slaughtered by Russian bombers, missile and heavy artillery. Plus they get attacked by the LDR forces behind them. This was a textbook case of using the LDR forces to “pin” the Ukries in place and take advantage of the fact that the only safe place for them was in their trenches while at the same time encircling them with the Russian forces. 30-50% of the Ukrainian military is now doomed to surrender or die.
Posted by: Norwegian | Mar 3 2022 21:18 utc | 261
I’m seeing this on Antiwar.com, too. Paid trolls.
Posted by: Norwegian | Mar 3 2022 21:36 utc | 273
Downloaded it, will watch later. Watched his video last night about his trip from Kiev to Kharkov. He lays it out pretty much correct.
Posted by: they_all_lie | Mar 3 2022 21:39 utc | 275
“if Russia is humiliated in this ‘adventure’ of his?”
As Black Widow told Ant-Man when he said he didn’t want to hurt her, “I wouldn’t stress about it” – before kicking him in the balls. In other words, as I like to say, “That ain’t gonna happen.”
Posted by: aquadraht | Mar 3 2022 21:43 utc | 281
The simplest reason the commanders refused is because they don’t want to die. If they start moving east, Russia will concentrate its air power on them. It would be a disaster. The only way Ukrainian forces can survive in this campaign is to stay put and hunker down, preferably inside a city. Unfortunately for them, this means absolutely no ability to maneuver. If you can’t maneuver in war, you’re doomed.
Posted by: the pair | Mar 3 2022 21:50 utc | 284
Agreed. And then there are the “concern trolls” rolling out to demonstrate their virtue by proclaiming that even if Putin was right to oppose NATO expansion, “he shouldn’t have started a war.” But they have no alternative as to what he might have done instead.
I’m an anarchist and I support no state and no state’s actions. But even I see that Putin had no choice given the situation vis-a-vis the US and NATO.
Posted by: Micron | Mar 3 2022 21:59 utc | 287
“Pierre-André “Até” Chuet, who is a well-known French youtuber an ex-Mirage and Rafale pilot, thinks that the fact the Russian pilotes fly very low shows that they’re not confident operating at mid- or high-altitude.”
I suspect he’s an idiot. While I have no specific knowledge of air force combat tactics, perhaps the Russians fly low simply because they have little fear of Ukrainian AD. Not to mention it’s easier to see what you’re doing against ground forces?
“For me personally the credibility or Saker, Martyanov, and some other experts is at stake here. If until this weekend, or until end of next week, a decisive strategic advantage or major city hasn’t been gained, then I will consider they have been off the mark which will be quite disappointing.”
Again, “I wouldn’t stress about it.” The encirclement of Kiev, the encirclement of the Donbass brigades, and the taking of Mariupol, and then Odessa, should eliminate your concerns – if your concerns are legitimate and not just anti-Russian posturing. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt since you claim to be following Saker and Martyanov. If you are, then you should know by now that your concerns are misplaced.
Posted by: Patroklos | Mar 3 2022 22:14 utc | 293
Again, a bunch of mercenaries aren’t going to change the outcome of this conflict. If they become a problem, Russia will interdict them. Or send the Chechens to deal with them. Chechens are specialists in hunting down terrorists.
Posted by: Micron | Mar 3 2022 22:16 utc | 294
I expect Russia will allow Mariupol and all cities to stew a bit. Tactics in Syria are encircle the city, cut off food and water, probing attacks to locate resistance, weakening attacks to weaken resistance, then the defenders surrender. Go in and mop up the die-hards. The Nazis will face the Chechens.
Posted by: Eighthman | Mar 3 2022 22:17 utc | 295
I think China will not initate anything at the moment. It doesn’t want to connect the Ukraine secession to the Taiwan secession. That’s why they’ve offered to mediate the Ukraine conflict.
Posted by: Oui | Mar 3 2022 22:20 utc | 297
Russia will not allow NATO troops. US will not allow CSTO troops. Any UNSC Resolutions on this will be vetoed by one side or the other. Pointless.
As for “division” of Ukraine, I now believe Russia intends to “re-orient” the Ukraine government to a favorable position to itself. As for the far Western Ukraine, Russia may or may not let the Galicia district separate. I’m not certain on that point. But I do believe Russia will “capture” (as Gonzalo Lira puts it) all of Ukraine up to the Galicia area and in the south up to Moldova. Russia will then install a new government, with or without new elections, and a new Constitution. The Donbass will either be granted autonomous status within the new Ukraine or remain independent. The new government will be technically “neutral (not “neural”, LOL) or “pro-Russian”, at least to the degree that it will allow Russia to install strategic weapons on its territory.
There will be no “occupation” except in the sense that the US “occupies” Germany, that is, Ukraine will be a compliant partnet with Russia – regardless of what the Ukrainian electorate thinks. If the new government makes the economy better, and the Galicia district is no longer a part of Ukraine, then the new government should be able to survive any anti-Russia sentiment.
Posted by: zet | Mar 3 2022 22:36 utc | 302
Yes. But Putin is winning this war – or at least bringing bad the MAD stalemate.
Posted by: S | Mar 3 2022 22:38 utc | 304
“I’m not insulting you. I’m simply describing who you are: a moron.”
LOL Excellent. Please allow me to use that one from now on, as I like the term moron and have used it here often in the past.
Posted by: CarlD | Mar 3 2022 23:04 utc | 313
Trust me, the Russians are not morons. They know all that.
Posted by: Circe | Mar 3 2022 23:38 utc | 333
Dear Circe, this is just a salvo from a multiple-barrel rocket launcher. This happens all the time. This is what the Ukies are using against the Donbass right now. This is what modern warfare looks like here. Here, check this out:
Blyatiful Russian Artillery Firepower! Massive Simultaneous Russian Artillery Line Up & Live Fire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr3V2sXAkEk
You need to stop watching Western media coverage of this stuff, especially when it cites Ukrainian sources. For all we know, that video on the Independent was Russian artillery firing.
Also, the missiles the US and NATO are sending are MANPADs – man-portable air defense systems, like this:
FIM-92 Stinger – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIM-92_Stinger
And anti-tank weapons like this:
FGM-148 Javelin – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FGM-148_Javelin
That’s my point – the US missiles are mostly used for defense against planes and tanks. The video you watched is artillery that are more decisive in a conflict than the infantry defense weapons.
If they become a problem for Russia, they will be interdicted as they enter Ukraine.
Posted by: Circe | Mar 4 2022 0:17 utc | 353
“Then why didn’t their armchair expert generals they have on set warn them it’s a fake before they embarrass themselves?”
What part of “propaganda” don’t you get?
It’s Not “fake”. It just isn’t unusual and has nothing to do with the missiles you were concerned about.
“Thank you!” You’re welcome.
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Mar 4 2022 1:34 utc | 368
America has slaughtered more civilians and aided and abetted the slaughter of more civilians with weapons, money and intelligence than any country on the planet since WWII.
Vietnam, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan and aiding Saddam to slaughter hundreds of thousands of Iranians, aiding and abetting Israel to slaughter tens of thousands in Palestine and Lebanon, leaving stone age destruction behind and aiding and abetting the destruction of Yemen.
And that’s only what I can think of in this moment of rage. What gives America the right to parade its hypocrisy on screen 24/7 lamenting with crocodile tears the plight of Ukrainians? America wrote the script that led to this war and Ukrainians were given the role of sacrificial pawns!
What gives America the f#cking moral high ground and right to own the white hat?
Nothing! No…no…no! Not God Bless America…God damn America! God damn the real evil Empire that orchestrated this crescendo to war!
Posted by: Circe | Mar 4 2022 1:36 utc | 369
America has slaughtered more civilians and aided and abetted the slaughter of more civilians with weapons, money and intelligence than any country on the planet since WWII.
Vietnam, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan and aiding Saddam to slaughter hundreds of thousands of Iranians, aiding and abetting Israel to slaughter tens of thousands in Palestine and Lebanon, leaving stone age destruction behind and aiding and abetting the destruction of Yemen.
And that’s only what I can think of in this moment of rage. What gives America the right to parade its hypocrisy on screen 24/7 lamenting with crocodile tears the plight of Ukrainians? America wrote the script that led to this war and Ukrainians were given the role of sacrificial pawns!
What gives America the f#cking moral high ground and right to own the white hat?
Nothing! No…no…no! Not God Bless America…God damn America! God damn the real evil Empire that orchestrated this crescendo to war!
Posted by: Circe | Mar 4 2022 1:36 utc | 370
Posted by: gottlieb | Mar 4 2022 1:18 utc | 365
Just looked up that article on Antiwar.com. This alleged shelling is from back on Friday – they’re “post-dating” false flags now. 🙂
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Mar 4 2022 1:41 utc | 371
Well they have arrived, in a burnt out scrapyard ITV found them, the gang is now all here.
https://twitter.com/chrisshipitv/status/1499483453900873733
Posted by: deal | Mar 4 2022 1:44 utc | 372
Correction: Apparently they’re referring to tomorrow. OK, so the false flag is just that, properly dated. 🙂
If it’s even true, of course. Note the following:
“Plant spokesman Andriy Tuz told Ukrainian television”
“A government official told The Associated Press that elevated levels of radiation were detected near the plant, which provides about 25% of Ukraine’s power generation. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the information has not yet been publicly released.”
Note that this is the exact same bullcrap they said about the Chernobyl plant earlier from the exact same Ukrainian sources. They are just re-cycling the same propaganda! And everyone in the US will believe it.
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Mar 4 2022 1:46 utc | 373
isn’t time like distance? and we just interpret it weird because we can’t handle a fourth dimension?
and the rest of the “what is time” stuff is interesting but mostly just arguing semantics that depend on your particular definition of past, present and future…
(if you want a weird rabbit hole on ‘the present moment’, try decifering some rene schwaller)
Posted by: Rae | Mar 4 2022 2:02 utc | 374
The McGovern Mearsheimer discussion as pointed out by IMO is now available
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppD_bhWODDc
Posted by: awaiting approval | Mar 4 2022 2:03 utc | 375
Andrei Martyanov with a howler… LOL
Wednesday, March 2, 2022
Russia Is Crushed Completely By Sanctions.
Sad news for Russian ego. Public gatherings of mourners are reported all over Russia, candle vigils are held, all because Russia was banned from… Eurovision. But combined West is relentless in its efforts to completely crush Russian culture and in atrocity not seen since like ever the combined West did this:
The International Feline Federation (FIFe) has weighed in on the Ukraine crisis, banning Russian-owned cats from competing in its shows as a sanction for Moscow’s military attack on the former Soviet republic. “The FIFe executive board is shocked and horrified that the army of the Russian Federation invaded the Republic of Ukraine and started a war,” the Paris-based federation said on Tuesday. The group added that it “cannot just witness these atrocities and do nothing.” As a result, cats belonging to Russian residents will be banned from entry at FIFe shows. In addition, no cats bred in Russia can be imported and registered in a FIFe pedigree book, the group said.
The shock-waves of this decision still resonate across desperate Russia and in the last attempt to save his nation Vladimir Putin, after consulting with Russia’s Security Council, ordered Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin to develop urgently the strategy of import substitution with feline competitions being substituted with bear competitions and the establishment of the International Bear Society (IBS) is also planned. These are the most damaging sanctions imposed on Russia so far and their impact is already felt all across the nation. In fact, there are reports of rich Russian feline owners committing suicides or going as far as switching to ownership of turtles in order to be a part of competitions under the auspices of Societe’ Honneur Internationale Tortues (aka SHIT) just to satisfy their dopamine addiction which comes with participating in this kind of competitions. And, of course, a thirst for shopping in Paris. Putin didn’t expect such a severe blow. Eat this GRU and SVR, not so cocky now with your forecasts, eh?
Posted by smoothiex12 at 10:00 PM 172 Comments
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Mar 4 2022 2:04 utc | 376
Posted by: awaiting approval | Mar 4 2022 2:03 utc | 377
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Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Mar 4 2022 2:05 utc | 377
FWIW –
“As of 2:26 a.m. [00:26 GMT] the third unit of the Zaporizhzhia NPP in the city of Enerhodar has been switched off. The fire condition at the nuclear power plant is normal. Outside the territory of the nuclear power plant, a fire broke out in the training building,” the service wrote on its Telegram channel. A spokesperson for the NPP said that the radiation level at the site had not changed. (Sputnik)
Posted by: gottlieb | Mar 4 2022 2:05 utc | 378
Rae at @376
We can handle a fourth dimension. It’s just that we relate time to the other three dimensions this way:
c dt^2 – dx^2 – dy^2 – dz^2 = 0
Because the speed of light c has to be the same value no matter what. This is a metric, which is the equivalent to a distance squared in three dimensional space.
And this is only if space-time is flat (no gravity). If there is gravity, space time is curved, and you have to put a bunch of equations in front of these four differentials to account for that.
Posted by: Inkan1969 | Mar 4 2022 2:07 utc | 379
Russia Today is no longer accessible for me. Can anybody confirm?
Posted by: WJ | Mar 4 2022 2:18 utc | 380
Posted by: CarlD | Mar 3 2022 23:04 utc | 313
Ukraine was a designated cannon fodder at least from Maidan “dignity revolution”, but now “screw EU” is in full swing. The chaos spawned by the maniacal sanctions will grow for several months at least, EU being hit hardest in my opinion, but the victims will be all around. There is a brave talk of independence from Russian hydrocarbons, without damaging industry, presumably by unleashing the creative power of free markets — which work best when Eurocrats are improvising new rules.
For example, 500 jets are leased to Russian companies, and being under sanctions, they will be confiscated. So they will go bankrupt, unless some relief will be found — 50 billions?
What can be enormously significant is the outcome of Iran negotiations, still unresolved. If Russia and Iran will be in the same maximum sanctions boat, together they can cobble a very dramatic response.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Mar 4 2022 2:19 utc | 381
If you want a real hoot go to Consortium News and read all of Robert Parry’s excellent articles covering the 2014 coup and its aftermath. They point uncannily directly to our present moment. RIP Robert Parry one of the last of his breed.
Posted by: WJ | Mar 4 2022 2:24 utc | 382
There’s a lot available on the Internet on the infiltration of the Canadian government by Ukrainian neo-Nazis. This is just a sample, noted by a commentator over at Martyanov’s blog. Freeland’s grandfather was a Nazi and it’s clear the apple does not fall far from the tree.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland Stands with the Nazi Ukrainian Insurgent Army
https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/02/28/deputy-prime-minister-chrystia-freeland-stands-with-the-nazi-ukrainian-insurgent-army/
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Mar 4 2022 2:19 utc | 383
Martyanov believes that not only is the US sacrificing Ukraine, but it is also sacrificing the EU economy in order to benefit its own and slow its decline. I tend to think he’s right.
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Mar 4 2022 2:24 utc | 383
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.
Guess it is time to convert the fleet to the domestically produced MC-21, SJ100, IL-96, & IL-114-300.
Now…. Russia has the same problem Iran has…. seems the solution(s) are identical….
Domestic production….
High transit tax on AirBus/Boeing airframes…
Mandatory over flight rights…
INDY
Posted by: Dr. George W Oprisko | Mar 4 2022 2:31 utc | 384
More on Freeland… Some people are starting to notice. Don’t know whether this Web site is significant in coverage, however.
Canada’s Deputy PM Posed With A Ukrainian Fascist Symbol
https://readpassage.com/canadas-deputy-pm-posed-with-a-ukrainian-fascist-symbol/
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Mar 4 2022 2:32 utc | 385
gotlieb at @380
But is the fire actually out? We can’t really say things are under control until the fire has been put out, can we?
Posted by: Inkan1969 | Mar 4 2022 2:33 utc | 386
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Mar 4 2022 1:32 utc | 369
Hey Nemesis! Long time no see. Hope you’re ok. I missed your wise posts.
I too want to thank b for what is agreat forum for sane discussion outside the infowar bubble. Shit is getting weird in there. You have to keep your mouth shut around normies.
Never thought I’d say it but ‘Alice Weidel die Wahrheit sagt’. When AfD are the only sensible people in the room then the ‘Right-Left’ distinction has become completely obsolete and meaningless.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhx3X6ENA-o&t=245s
Posted by: Patroklos | Mar 4 2022 2:33 utc | 387
I suggest you read this missive published by the EIA regarding oil imports and exports, taking note to see how they fudge to arrive at the political goal of being a net exported when that’s not the truth. And the only reason that occurred is due to demand destruction caused by the pandemic.
Longtime barflies know that I was a member of the US Chapter of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Natural Gas, have remained abreast of that subject, and am thus better informed than most.
Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 3 2022 23:24 utc | 324
I am in complete agreement the US of A is not oil independent at time. I also agree US of A fudges all numbers, not just oil export numbers . What I had written is that they could be if they really wanted to be, between their known oil reserves and Canada.s known oils reserves ( Canada is basically US at this point). They choose not to be due to reasons not having to do with lack of capability or raw product. Which is really stupid and crazy because they already were lowering their consumption quite a bit relative to economic output before C19 lockdowns.
Posted by: drshivago | Mar 4 2022 2:35 utc | 388
Patroklos at @389
What’s the point of “fighting neo Nazis” in Ukraine if you’re going to rally behind neo Nazis like AfD in Germany?
Posted by: Inkan1969 | Mar 4 2022 2:38 utc | 389
Inkan @ 388
I live in fire country. Fires are brought under control before they are extinguished.
Don’t know the truth of this situation other than Russia has no motive to cause this fire, as the power plant is under Russian control. If you scan the ‘news’ one can see how this event is being spun against Russia – and might be a ploy to get a modified ‘no fly’ zone in Ukraine.
Cheers!
Posted by: gottlieb | Mar 4 2022 2:38 utc | 390
Friends of mine have come to believe in the idea that if Ukraine wants NATO, it should have it, with present events being even more proof of that.
Of course it’s well known support for NATO in Ukraine was a mere 28% in 2012. I don’t know when polling was done next, but the first pro-NATO government was initially installed in a US-backed coup. Since then it polled 67%, but I’m not sure if that included DPR and LPR and it certainly didn’t include Crimea.
Even then, what if some regions of the country are strongly in favor of NATO, and other regions strongly opposed?
I remain opposed to the very existence of NATO, and point to all the evil deeds it has done. Anyone signing up for NATO is signing up to participate in more of the same, at minimum.
I thing the notion of a “right to choose NATO” is silly idealism. But other than arguments above, I don’t have a good rejoinder.
It’s funny that I should end up in the same “realist” camp as Kennan, but of course he’s not alive today possibly revising his views. I’ve always opposed the Cold War, so I’m kind of ideological that way.
Posted by: Charles Peterson | Mar 4 2022 2:39 utc | 391
If you want a real hoot go to Consortium News and read all of Robert Parry’s excellent articles covering the 2014 coup and its aftermath. They point uncannily directly to our present moment. RIP Robert Parry one of the last of his breed.
Posted by: WJ | Mar 4 2022 2:24 utc | 384
Robert Parry’s resistance to the Russiagate nonsense — he couldn’t believe his colleagues were falling for such obvious bullshit — contributed to his premature death. He wrote about the stress of being scorned by credulous peers. He had no peer.
Posted by: Emily Dickinson | Mar 4 2022 2:40 utc | 392
Found something.
From People magazine: ‘Just Total Fiction’: How Putin Is Using Nazi Propaganda to Defend Invasion of Ukraine:
Neo-Nazism is one of the central claims behind President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine, despite evidence that the assertion is false.
“In terms of all of the sort of constituent parts of Nazism, none of that is in play in Ukraine,” Jonathan Dekel-Chen, a history professor at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, told the Associated Press.
“Territorial ambitions. State-sponsored terrorism. Rampant antisemitism. Bigotry. A dictatorship. None of those are in play,” he added. “So this is just total fiction.”
Contrast Dekel-Chen’s list of Nazi characteristics with the following (taken from my old university notes:
National Socialist Program
* Racism
– Especially anti-Semitism, which eventually culminated in the Holocaust.
– The creation of a Herrenrasse (Master Race by the Lebensborn (Fountain of Life; A department in the Third Reich)
– Anti-Slavism
– Belief in the superiority of the White, Germanic, Aryan or Nordic races.
* Euthanasia and Eugenics with respect to “Racial Hygiene”
* Anti-Marxism, Anti-Communism, Anti-Bolshevism
* The rejection of democracy, with as a consequence the ending the existence of political parties, labour unions, and free press.
* Führerprinzip (Leader Principle) /belief in the leader (Responsibility up the ranks, and authority down the ranks.)
* Strong show of local culture.
* Social Darwinism
* Defense of Blood and Soil (German: “Blut und Boden” – represented by the red and black colors in the Nazi flag)
* “Lebensraumpolitik”, “Lebensraum im Osten” (The creation of more living space for Germans)
* Related to Fascism
While there’s some overlap with Dekel-Chen’s list, I would say he’s deliberately picking those elements he thinks don’t apply to the Ukraine situation.
But, even there I don’t think it works.
* Territorial ambitions — the Ukrainians have been trying to conquer the Donbas for the past eight years. Certainly seems like a territorial ambition.
* State-sponsored terrorism — the burning of the House of Trade Unions building in Odessa with 39 protestors inside by a mob led by Right Sector for a start. Various incidents since then, including the treatment of civilians trying to leave various cites n the current conflict.
* Rampant antisemitism — I can give him this one. But I notice he ignores the anti-Slavism, because that’s rampant.
* Bigotry — Seriously?! Just look at the treatment of Blacks in Indians trying to leave Ukraine. Not to mention the media coverage about how the conflict in Ukraine is different because the inhabitants are “European people with blue eyes and blonde hair” who are “relatively civilized, relatively European.” The bigotry isn’t just confined to the Ukraine.
* A dictatorship — What do you call a state where opposition media is closed down, the opposition is denied a vote, and political opponents have their property confiscated with any legal proceedings?
If this is the discrediting of the Russian claims, I must say it’s not very impressive.
Posted by: Kukulkan | Mar 4 2022 2:41 utc | 393
Posted by: gottlieb | Mar 4 2022 2:38 utc | 392
There is not going to be any no-fly zone. If the US tried anything of the sort, we would see the most advance Russian military technology available to counter it and a full on war would start leading inevitably to nuclear weapons. Maybe some in the US want a nuclear war. They must trust those underground bunkers in the DC corridor a lot.
Posted by: WJ | Mar 4 2022 2:43 utc | 394
Michael McFaul, former Ambassador to Russia and major asshole, tweeted “there are no innocent Russians”, then supposedly deleted it after he got called on it.
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Mar 4 2022 2:44 utc | 395
Posted by: Inkan1969 | Mar 4 2022 2:38 utc | 391
You clearly didn’t read my post or watch the video.
* I didn’t say I supported AfD nor am I ‘rallying behind neo nazis’, which is an egregious and slanderous misrepresentation of what I did say.
* What I did say—to assist those who cannot read closely—is that you know shit is weird when you listen to the far right and they’re the ones making a reasonable argument. That is far from saying that one supports neo-nazis. Barflies here know me as a Marxist and deeply opposed to fascism.
* If you listen to what she says you will see that it almost completely maps onto what b says in his posts, as well as what Mearsheimer, Mercouris and many posters here have been saying.
* There is no neo-nazi content in her speech and in fact she is saying that Russia has every right to be de-nazifying (that is, rooting out Western nests of destabilization).
So please: read carefully, watch carefully, and do not resort to knee-jerk accusations that are potentially very insulting.
Posted by: Patroklos | Mar 4 2022 2:46 utc | 396
What am I writing? Have the psy-ops got to me? I’m losing faith.
Posted by: Robert Macaire | Mar 3 2022 15:31 utc | 55
Stay tuned to CNN/Drudge/MSNBC/Fox/AP/NYT/Reuters/BBC/NPR/PBS as I’m pretty sure things are going to be ramping up tomorrow or the next day.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Mar 4 2022 2:47 utc | 397
Fallout from sanctioning Russia.
From todays OilPrice:
Energy Aspects’ chief oil analyst Amrita Sen was even more aggressive with her prediction, telling CNBC that “We’re going to go to $150, even higher than that because the only solver right now in this market is demand destruction,”. She estimated that ~70% of Russian crude oil exports “can’t be touched” for now because of banking sanctions.
Indeed, there are fears that the U.S. economy could even slip into a recession.
Diane Swonk, chief economist at Grant Thornton, estimates that the U.S. economy can weather six months of oil prices averaging around $100, although it could worsen the inflation problem, but a sustained period of $125-a-barrel oil would almost certainly stall growth and lead to rising unemployment.”
Posted by: Douglas Houck | Mar 4 2022 2:48 utc | 398
Next stage in the nuclear plant fire false-flag/pretext:
United Kingdom calls for emergency UN Security Council (UNSC) meeting following clashes at Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant
Posted by: WJ | Mar 4 2022 2:51 utc | 399
Ukrainian ambassador to Israel confirms Israeli ‘recruits’ joined fight against Russian army
https://thecradle.co/Article/news/7478
Israeli Jews, meet Chechens.
Chechen leader, a Putin ally, says his forces deployed to Ukraine
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/26/putins-chechen-ally-says-forces-deployed-ukraine-to-back-russia
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Mar 4 2022 2:54 utc | 400