Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Apr 10 2022 20:02 utc | 97
I have friends who are in that community. They were/are big in Chicago, Milwaukee, New York and from there it goes down fast. But I won’t belabor the point, as I am going by hear say and personal impressions from living in the US.
To show how little sway they have in the US there is this little detail,
“Beginning from November 11, 2019, Polish citizens have been able to travel to the United States without visas, upon obtaining an approval from the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) online. Travelers are encouraged to apply for ESTA at least 72 hours before the planned trip.”
Where was Brzezinsky on that one ???? In his New York Rockefeller Clubs 🙂

Posted by: Tom_12 | Apr 10 2022 20:16 utc | 104

One motivation for US actions from well before the start of the war in Ukraine was the NS2 pipeline and the cutting of gas supplies to the EU, as is well known. BUT a question can be asked whether the replacement of the pipeline would come not (only) from US gas but from Ukraine – under US control. Cutting the EU off from Russian gas, and substituting it with US-ukrainian gas. No need for ships and LNG. The pipes already exist !
The original plan, as has become evident from documents and computers seized, was to encirle the Donbass from the north via Russia, and along the coast from Mariupol. The Russians pre-empted that.
Waddyaknow, the massive Yuzivska shale gas area starts near (underneath?) Donetsk, and extends underneath the “cauldron”, which is now the centre of the concentration Ukrainian armed forces at the moment. The whole basin extends as far as Kiev, but the known gas field goes north-west as far as Iyzium, with Kramatorsk in the middle.
http://shalegas.in.ua/en/karta-zitknen-na-shodi-ukrayiny/
A quote to give you the idea.
“Yuzivska gas field has US$67 trillion dollars worth of natural gas (called “tight gas”) it is not easily recoverable but it can be fracked and that technology is well-developed now. It is the second or third largest natural gas field in Europe and has not been heavily developed as shortly after its desicovery in 2010.
There were Chevron, Shell + anglo-american, ukraininan, israeli oligarchs*
No wonder the US is now in command of the fighting in Ukraine, there is money there! NATO is for the Europeans to supply and play with, but command is almost certainly coming directly from the Pentagon at the moment. (Air/satellite surveillance, vetting of “volunteers for the mercenary armies etc.)
The war in Ukraine is one between two major nuclear powers – even if the US is using Ukrainians as cannon fodder.
******
The US wants the gas field, to be able to embrace the EU warmly to it’s bosom, (always assuming it has one as it might be LGBTet plus si entente). So it’s plain to see the advantage that it would have if it could replace Russia in the hearths and heaters of the EU.
*
Obviously any future area of Donbass bis should include Kramatorsk and surroundings.
“Russian invaders can carry out a major offensive from Izyum to the Dnieper” Unain channel, Ukie source.
***
Late news of a massive explosion in Nikolaev. (Mykolayiv)

Posted by: Stonebird | Apr 10 2022 20:22 utc | 106

Circe@27,
To fight the enemy he must first be dehumanized. In order to do that, all positive characteristics and contributions must be erased.
Posted by: Skiffer | Apr 10 2022 16:44 utc | 43
See US WW2 propaganda imagery demonizing Japanese for example. The rub is the US basically built Japan into a modern military power for it’s own ambitions. Convinced Japan it should be the regional hegemony, and helped it to take over Korea and subjugate Koreans by force. Can’t imagine why North Koreans might remember these things??
“The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interrèd with their bones”

Posted by: bubbles | Apr 10 2022 20:24 utc | 108

Could it be that we see the first application of this strategy in Marynka which is half controlled by VSU where the reports are coming with hundreds of soldiers dead? Also in Nikolaev…
Posted by: Boo | Apr 10 2022 20:32 utc | 110
Imho Russians wanted to give a chance for the enemies to surrender, but as the commanding officers are nazis, these officers will assassinate anyone who tries to surrender. So now no other choice than to go for the destruction of the enemies. The soldiers shall destroy the commanding officers if they want to have a chance to survive.

Posted by: Olivier | Apr 10 2022 20:57 utc | 110

Posted by: Olivier | Apr 10 2022 20:57 utc | 111
The victory parade on May 9th is getting very close.

Posted by: Boo | Apr 10 2022 21:10 utc | 112

In response to Stonebird@107,
Yes, those gas fields are a well known, but seldom discussed, cornerstone of the original conflict. The implementation of the Minsk accords would also have put a stop to their exploitation or, at the very least, deposited any profits into the pockets of the local government, which also contributed to making it untenable. Though, iirc, a fracking operation on this territory would essentially necessitate depopulation — people are basically living smack dab on the perspective area of operation.
Every time Ukrainian politicos voiced their thesis that Russian speakers in Donbass should go to Russia, or that Donbass will be Ukrainian or without people, my thoughts always went to the gas fields. Unfortunately, these mercantile ideas fit hand in glove with those of racist radicals who, incidentally, were the only ones willing to take up arms against the East when the regular army started to desert in 2015.
At the end of the Maidan protests there was brief a glimmer of hope that the nationalist driving force would be suppressed, as the first few days saw the extermination and arrests of Nazi leaders who had brought the regime change to fruition, with many prominent figures going into hiding. They were for a short period of time seen as an undesirable element that had grown too powerful for its own good. As the military suppression of the East devolved into peaceful disarmament of military regulars, a deal was struck with neo-Nazi organizations to take the ATO under their control — they were also put in charge of reforming the military and special services. The result of this work can be seen in every aspect of Ukrainian life today, making it difficult to discern who is driving who — ideologues or merchants?
For Europe and the US, I would be more inclined to think that it’s the latter, but for one thing. I don’t see how they could expect to get their hands on that gas, particularly with the current state of affairs. Over Russia’s dead body? Surely then such a delusion must be ideological?
In response to james@92,
It isn’t clear from the reporting whether this particular hostage crisis has been resolved. Seeing as these ships were kept in the dock with mines, it appears like two unrelated events — unless the Azov militants tried making their escape through, presumably, their own minefields. Maybe they simply weren’t aware of the situation? In any case, none of my sources are talking about this particular situation in any detail. Perhaps we’ll more know about it at a later date.

Posted by: Skiffer | Apr 10 2022 21:15 utc | 114

Quite a blast, whatever that was in Nikolayev. The Russian Defense Ministry mentioned Nikolayev in a 4/10 briefing…

Spokesman for the Ministry, Major General Igor Konashenkov, said in a press briefing today that high-precision air-to-air missiles also destroyed S-300 missile platforms discovered by Russian reconnaissance units in the vicinity of the town of Starobogodanovka in Nikolayev province and at the Chuvoli military airport.

https://newsrnd.com/news/2022-04-10-russian-defense–the-headquarters-of-the-ukrainian-ultra-nationalist-dnepr-battalion-was-destroyed.rJmSlyQeEc.html
My emphasis on that interesting phrase — “air-to-air” missiles used for targeting platforms. Russia is reluctant to flex the extent of the military technology until virtually forced to unveil the last little thing they’ve worked up (while the folks at Lockheed Martin were absorbed in stock buybacks and whatnot).

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Apr 10 2022 21:23 utc | 116

Large demonstrations are taking place at the moment in Islamabad, Karachi, Multan and other cities of the country in favor of the disheartened former prime minister Imran Khan and against what is called an “import government”.
https://t.me/giorgiobianchiphotojournalist/14040

Posted by: FZappa | Apr 10 2022 21:28 utc | 118

@Aleph 117 Apr 10 2022 21:23 utc
“high-precision air-to-air missiles” is nonsense from the translation. The Russian source (https://function.mil.ru/news_page/country/more.htm?id=12416844@egNews) should be translated like “air based high precision missiles”. Happens rather often. Always go back to the original. If you don’t understand Russian check it out at least with different translation programms or just ask … Usually, if it sounds stupid, it is stupid.

Posted by: BG13 | Apr 10 2022 21:37 utc | 120

Sequel to Oliver Stone’s documentary, “Ukraine on Fire”
Ukrainian Agony – The Concealed War (2015)
by team of German journalists, narrated in English.
posted at 21st Century.com

“Ukrainian Agony” is a silent film about the immense volume and violence of war. The western mainstream propaganda has reached new levels of shameless disinformation, concealment, half-truths and outright lies – all are “weapons” of information warfare in the 21st century. There is no greater example of this that the hidden war in Donbass.
Watch on YT: 1:42 mins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkFVNRZv2eM&t=542s

Since mid-July 2014, an independent war correspondent team was situated on the ground in the southeast of Ukraine – in the Donbass. Together they shot countless videos and scored over a thousand photos. The team of “Keep a close eye on by Mark Bartalmai” was the only western and German team of journalists with the highest level of accreditation given access to many critical points in this violent civil war.
It shows the different areas of the war in recounting episodes and individual stories – of civilians, soldiers and journalists. The focus is on the personal perspectives of each of the participants during and after the bombing of cities, depicting peoples’ lives under war conditions in the middle of Europe.
The documentary is not an action movie. Rather, it lives from spoken word, by the voices of the people of the interviews and their impressions, and draws on the personal feelings of the participants – whether civilians, soldiers and journalists. “Ukrainian Agony” is a silent film about the immense volume and violence of war.[.]

Posted by: Likklemore | Apr 10 2022 21:55 utc | 122

Remaining heads of the Azov Battallion complain from the basements deep over there in the Ukraine that Ukrainian politicians in charge do not answer them by telephone for two weeks in a round…
https://twitter.com/Nishtiblue/status/1513240687965319168
What a pity, isn´t it? Wondering whether this is true or a maneuver to whitewash the nazi regime in Kiev/Lvov/Varsaw/Filming set…
Anyway they deserve each other and as happens with any fanatic, will terminate each other if the Russians do not arrive first..
Can not wait for the moment they engage groomed Arestovich in a body to body fight..or when they drag him to a lampost with his ass nude for all to see as they do with the Ukrianian citizenry they do not like or tolerate or respect…
https://t.me/NewResistance/7083

Posted by: Givi | Apr 10 2022 21:59 utc | 124

Russia Hits Back at Israel Over Ukraine
Posted by: Sundial | Apr 10 2022 16:33 utc | 38
Speaking about the unspeakable?

Posted by: bubbles | Apr 10 2022 22:04 utc | 126

The next false flag. Russia MOD intercepted details:
Kiev is Preparing Mass Murder of Civilians in Lugansk With West’s Support, Russian MoD Says
https://sputniknews.com/20220410/kiev-is-preparing-mass-murder-of-civilians-in-lugansk-with-wests-support-russian-mod-says-1094651040.html

Col.Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev, head of Russia’s National Defence Management Centre, has issued a warning that Ukrainian government, with the help of several Western countries, is preparing to mass murder civilians in order to blame these atrocities on the Russian military and the forces of the Lugansk People’s Republic.
In particular, Mizintsev said, foreign media reporters have already arrived at a local hospital in the city of Kremennaya in Severodonetsk District, in order to film a provocation prepared by Ukrainian troops that would involve ambulances coming under fire from forces presented as Russian troops.
He also said that in Belogorovka in the Popasnaynskiy District, “neo-Nazis have booby-trapped chlorine tanks at a local water treatment plant with the intent to blow them up when LPR People’s Militia forces approach the town”.[.] (emphasis added)

Well, Bellingcat is charged with compiling the evidence for the ICC war crimes investigation.

Posted by: Likklemore | Apr 10 2022 22:10 utc | 128

The US wants the gas field, to be able to embrace the EU warmly to it’s bosom, (always assuming it has one as it might be LGBTet plus si entente). So it’s plain to see the advantage that it would have if it could replace Russia in the hearths and heaters of the EU.
Posted by: Stonebird | Apr 10 2022 20:22 utc | 107
Depressingly or perhaps realistically, it always comes down to oil and gas. Ideology comes second as the means to an end. For all we know both world wars were founght over oil and gas. perhaps the new borders drawn up after both wars might support this idea.
To me there is a more truthful ring to this war being more primarily about gas than about Nazism. Especially now that lend Lease is back in action. Of course the gas has to be fracked, the most polluting and destructive form of extraction, turning Ukraine into a wastelenad eventually. An indebted EU plus a captive gas market, what better outcome for the 1%. Same old playbook.

Posted by: K | Apr 10 2022 22:16 utc | 130

@ Skiffer | Apr 10 2022 21:15 utc | 115
thank you! keep us posted if you find out more specifics..
@ about the postil mentioned by @ karlof1 | Apr 10 2022 21:21 utc | 116 and @ JohninMK | Apr 10 2022 21:56 utc | 124
yes.. it was shared on one of these ukraine threads – 3 days ago? i read it and recommended it back then too… b also mentioned it in the moa week in review with an article on some corrections made to it as well in a link he shared on moa week in review… thanks for encouraging others to read it.. i thought it was quite good..

Posted by: james | Apr 10 2022 22:38 utc | 132

The US is especially miffed with the new Russian commander General Alexander Dvornikov because he’s the man who was instrumental in denying Syria to the US as they expected and deserved, they thought.
The US announcement of the selection came with: “The general’s appointment was confirmed by a senior U.S. official who was not authorized to be identified and spoke on condition of anonymity.” or, “Don’t use my name when announcing the guy who shamed us.”
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, who was most instrumental in starting this war, said on TV today never mind about the general, Russia has already lost. He nailed it again! Sullivan said: “No appointment of any general can erase the fact that Russia has already faced a strategic failure in Ukraine. . . .This general will just be another author of crimes and brutality against Ukrainian civilians,” Sullivan said. “And the United States, as I said before, is determined to do all that we can to support Ukrainians as they resist him and they resist the forces that he commands.” . .here

Posted by: Don Bacon | Apr 10 2022 22:48 utc | 134

Jerry1, regarding mandatory jabs in Russia at the national level, IMHO, I think their situation may have evolved to create Sputnik V because they were trying to get out in front of what they (and China?) discovered was coming: the deadly mRNA jabs… to protect their own citizens. Wishful thinking? Maybe, but in the 20 years I’ve observed master statesman Putin, he has a proven history to enact policies that keep Russia at least one step ahead of harms way.

Posted by: ERing46Z | Apr 10 2022 23:10 utc | 136

Powerful and passionate denunciation from Max Blumenthal on the Jimmy Dore show. Max begins around 10 mins into the video. HERE
I hope when they pry those trapped NATO shiteaters from the steelworks, they capture them alive to be able to show the fear in their eyes to those of us still asleep in the west.
TPTB do not like us talking with our friends, families, and coworkers about our alliances with thoroughly corrupted human beings and the sanctioning of atrocity. Let us continue to disappoint them!

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Apr 10 2022 23:14 utc | 138

Posted by: Flying Dutchman |
Just a little while ago here in NJ I drove past a street called “Russia Road”. I laughed and said those wingnuts in Europe already would have torn down that sign, all because our imperial media commanded them to.
That’s because most Americans can’t read properly, and never heard of Russia. All they know is Putin Bad Man

Posted by: Anne B | Apr 10 2022 23:30 utc | 140

From https://t.me/polkovnik_hodarenok Telegram channel…
Slovakia may transfer 16 self-propelled guns Zuzana to Ukraine.

Firstly, two self-propelled gun batteries are very few for the Armed Forces. The supply of this minuscule will have almost no effect on the combat capability of the army, but it will take time and resources for its development, which will most likely not be carried out as it should. So these self-propelled guns will be dangerous, first of all, for the APU-shnikov themselves.
Secondly, Zuzana is the last “heavy weapon” possible to be produced by the remnants of the Slovak military-industrial complex. The combat effectiveness of equipment, to put it mildly, leaves much to be desired – tests in the USSR came to disappointing conclusions.
Thirdly, the sale of 16 Zuzana cars to the Ukrainian side promises to become one of the largest export success of the Slovak arms industry over the past 30 years.
So we have before us a typical swindle of Ukraine from the West – it “helps” Ukraine on credit (https://minfin.com.ua/2022/03/30/82922774/), which buys junk from “friends” from NATO, those with the proceeds, are updating their army, buying weapons, primarily from the United States.
The classic “overcome” in Ukrainian.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Apr 10 2022 23:33 utc | 142

@michaelj72 (144)
You are forgetting that the US Intel agencies have now officially added lying to their arsenal (outrage for which, see Scott Ritter on RT’s website); all this to mindf*ck Putin — don’t you know.

Posted by: bjd | Apr 10 2022 23:45 utc | 144

Has anyone seen Bernard-Henri Lévy recently? Hunter Biden?
Posted by: Sushi | Apr 10 2022 21:54 utc | 122
You can forget about botul, he is in France.

Posted by: Olivier | Apr 10 2022 23:51 utc | 146

Putin holding talks with the Austrian Chancellor today.
I personally hope, if said chancellor comes with written pleas from Macron, Johnson, Biden et al. about certain ‘fighters’, that Putin’s mind has now definitively been cleansed of the idea of “our partners in the West”, and that he will send the chancellor –if that is the chancellor’s missive– straight back to where he came from.

Posted by: bjd | Apr 11 2022 0:05 utc | 148

Another MoD briefing…
Briefing by Russian Defence Ministry

The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation in Ukraine.
During the night, high-precision sea-based missiles destroyed the headquarters and base of Dnepr nationalist battalion in Zvonetskoe, Dnepropetrovsk Region, where foreign mercenaries had recently arrived.
High-precision air-based missiles near Starobogdanovka in Nikolaev Region and at Chuhuev military airfield destroyed launchers of the Ukrainian S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems discovered by reconnaissance.
Russian air defence means shot down 8 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in the air near Olkhovatovka, Novaya Astrakhan, Avdeevka, Shakhterskoe, Kurakhovo, Novoselovka Vtoraya and Vyseloye.
Operational-tactical aviation hit 86 military assets of Ukraine. Among them: 2 command posts, 2 ammunition depots, 3 fuel depots, 3 multiple launch rocket systems, and 49 strong points and areas of Ukrainian military equipment concentration.
In total, 127 aircraft and 98 helicopters, 234 anti-aircraft missile systems(S-300, Buk-M1, Osa AKM), 436 unmanned aerial vehicles, 2,052 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 232 multiple launch rocket systems, 894 field artillery and mortars, as well as 1,975 units of special military vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were destroyed during the operation.
#MoD #Russia #Ukraine #Briefing
@mod_russia_en

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Apr 11 2022 0:19 utc | 150

Is it helpful to copy-paste entire MoD briefings when a simple URL would have sufficed?
I am sure most of us here have Telegram, and most of those have joined mod_russia_en on it.

Posted by: bjd | Apr 11 2022 0:22 utc | 152

From the Rybar Telegram channel..

At about 23:20 (Moscow time) in the area of ​​the Cathedral of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Kharkov, the Grad MLRS worked.
When the ammunition ran out, the car was taken under the cover of the cathedral for reloading.
This once again confirms the use of places of worship and religious buildings by the Ukrainian side in order to deliberately create provocations and accuse the Russian side of destroying religious sites.
#Ukraine #Kharkiv
@rybar

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Apr 11 2022 0:37 utc | 154

MOSCOW is the heart of Europe.
It supplies the energy to keep it warm, sustains the people to work in the industries powered by RUSSIAN gas.
The European daily bread comes from Russian wheat farmed in Russia and Novo Russia.
Moscow, the heart of Europe, get used to it.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 11 2022 0:45 utc | 156

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Apr 11 2022 0:39 utc | 156
I don’t.
So thank you.

Posted by: Bearish Panda | Apr 11 2022 0:53 utc | 158

Posted by: bjd | Apr 11 2022 0:22 utc | 153
OK, I ask for consensus. Does everyone have the MoD and MoFA Telegram channels? If so, I’ll stop. Up to the bar.
I do NOT have any telegram channels.
I appreciate your posting long stories, and/or links.
I seldom comment, but i frequently read this blog.

Posted by: downtownhaiku | Apr 11 2022 0:54 utc | 160

The Bear Blew First
Posted by: Stonebird | Apr 10 2022 20:22 utc | 107
Burisma is believed to have been active in promoting the development of the Yuzivska gas field. Hinter Biden was paid hansomely to sit on the Burisma board. Not sure what talents Hunter brought to the table /sarc.
Yuzivska is tight gas. There is a second tight gas prospect that runs from Poland into western Ukraine. Shell and Exxon were reported to be investigating development potential. They did some geophysical work and then abandoned the prospect. To the best of my knowledge no geophysical work has yet been performed in Ukraine but coal seam gas is basically methane and the Donbass is anchored by its coal industry.
These facts make for interesting conjecture with respect to the Suicide of Europe. The line of conjecture is the following:
1) US demands Germany cancel NS2.
2) US assuages German fears re NG supply via the assertion that abundant NG is readily available for exploitation in the Donbass.
3) US communicates to Schloz the US is working closely with the Z regime on a military operation to recapture the breakaway Donbass republics. US advises that together with the UK, Canada, and others, the US has been training Ukraine military to NATO standards for the past 8 years. All parties have been delivering advanced weapons systems to Ukraine. Success in battle is assured.
4) US further commits to supply Germany with substitute US LNG until such time the Yuzivska field comes on stream.
5) Scholz and his wanker cabinet agree to cancel NS2 based on US assertions. Macron, who does not need NG due to French nuke industry, seeks to maintain the peace in Europe.
6) Putin is aware of these plans and understands the US support for Ukraine as an attempt to deprive RF of a major NG market. Putin is also aware of the fact that a loss of market share is not a valid reason in international law for defensive military action. He rattles the sword with major military exercises.
7) Putin is also aware of US bio-labs in Ukraine and the Lugar Centre bio-lab in Georgia. I learned of these facilities through the work of Bulgarian journalist Dilyana Gaytandzhieva and was aware of this US activity a few years prior to the COVID pandemic. I presume Putin also had equal, or better, knowledge of this potential violation of the BWC.
8) Putin would also have been greatly concerned over the Z regime seeking nuke warheads at the Munich Conference. He responded by recognition of the breakaway states in the Donbass. With the increased artillery bombardment (standard pre-attack preparation) these new states requested RF assistance.
9) It was not until February 23 when two Turkish A-400 air freight flights travelled Turkey to Lvov to discharge cargos of TB-2 drones fitted with devices necessary to perform the aerial dispersion of pathogens that Putin decided to act. He then ordered the Special Operation to commence.
This conjecture explains several things.
First, it explains the high remuneration paid to Hunter Biden. Burisma need the “big man” to be on side. If the resource was successfully exploited the paycheque to HB would be pennies compared to the realized market value of the resource.
Second, it explains why Washington continued to report an incipient RF invasion. They continued with these reports despite the Z regime being dismissive of these invasion warnings. The warnings were backed by the involved NATO members- US, UK and Canada – ordering their military and citizens out of Ukraine. Other EU states were also dismissive of these warnings of RF invasion. These states would have had access to NATO intelligence on RF dispositions and intent. This intelligence failed to support the assertions of Washington.
The reason is found in the hypothesis that the Washington warnings were intended not to warn of RF actions but to deliver a casus belli legitimizing the planned Ukraine attack on the Donbass. If the world accepted Washington’s claims then the Ukraine had valid grounds in international law to initiate a defensive war against the rumoured RF attack. My belief is that there was no RF plan to attack until the delivery of the modified TB-2 drones to Lyov.
Third, it explains the capture of a NATO laptop containing a card hard wired to gain access to NATO intelligence. It also explains the presence of significant numbers of foreign personnel reported to be deep in the bowels of Azovstal. These were not only trainers. I suspect they also actively advised the Ukraine military and acted to provide Ukraine with NATO intelligence assets and information. The public release of this knowledge would be extremely damaging hence the multiple maniac attempts to evacuate these personnel.
Fourth, the firing of the French intelligence chief makes little sense unless it is understood as Macron making the belated discovery of what the US, UK and Canada had been up to and his anger that his chief intelligence officer had failed to uncover the plan and / or warn Macron of the NATO partners intent to initiate a conflict.
I think these events may best be summed up in a Churchill quote. In a warning to General Auchinleck, commanding British forces in North Africa, Churchill said:

I have often tried to set down the strategic truths I have comprehended in the form of simple anecdotes, and they rank this way in my mind. One of them is the celebrated tale of the man who gave the powder to the bear. He mixed the powder with the greatest care, making sure that not only the ingredients but ​the proportions were absolutely correct. He rolled it up in a large paper spill, and was about to blow it down the bear’s throat. But the bear blew first.

Biden and his minions had a plan. They were about to launch their military action against the Donbass but the “bear blew first.”

Posted by: Sushi | Apr 11 2022 0:55 utc | 162

Vintage Red 56 and the other guy around 90, you are both correct.
Vintage Red, thanks for being polite and not trying to impugn that a misspelling/mispronunciation is to be construed as ignorance writ large. I was off to the office to work, I definitely should have spent the the time to check the spellchecker correction. Thanks.

Posted by: S Brennan | Apr 11 2022 1:03 utc | 164

@ Richard Steven Hack | Apr 11 2022 0:39 utc | 156
thanks richard… i also appreciate those posts and updates from you, and i especially like your commentary!! i share your puzzlement at the end of your post @ 150..

Posted by: james | Apr 11 2022 1:12 utc | 166

From the t.me/RVvoenkor Telegram channel… The western insanity continues. Someone has to be making money from this…

Kyiv requested 100 Panzerhaubitze 2000 howitzers from Germany – the first batch is expected in… 30 months.
The Zelensky administration sent a request to Germany for the supply of 100 Panzerhaubitze 2000 self-propelled howitzers. They want to allocate as much as 1.7 billion euros for the adventure, writes the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
The thing is that, under the agreement, the first batch of equipment can be sent to Ukraine only 30 months after the signing of the contract, .e. not earlier than the second half of 2024. The full supply can be completed in 2027. The question of Ukrainians is “Where do hundreds of millions of dollars of aid from foreign donors go?” can be closed.
This is a very risky investment, given that Ukraine may not exist in a year. It seems that Arestovich’s sedatives have too much effect on Zelensky, even interrupting his favorite invigorating coke.
t.me/RVvoenkor

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Apr 11 2022 1:20 utc | 168

I also appreciate Richards work in posting Telegram updates. I am tired of looking at dead bodies.

Posted by: Sushi | Apr 11 2022 1:22 utc | 170

OK, until b tells me to stop or an overwhelming number of complaints are received, I will continue the MoD reports as feasible. I may not do Telegram every day, so I can’t guarantee a report every day. Sometimes I can go to the MoD direct, but often not. So Telegram is more reliable.
I myself never had Telegram until it was apparent that the only way to get war news is from there. I’m not what you call the “communicative type”. 🙂
Most of them aren’t that long anyway. That’s why I don’t post the Humanitarian Center reports as they are much longer and not as important for understanding the war progress. The MoD briefings aren’t that interesting to me in general, because they consist mostly of “we blew this up here, we blew that up there, and here’s the total we blew up”. No context at all. But occasionally they address specific incidents and also some of the stuff they say they blew up tells us where the current war effort is, e.g., blowing up rail stations, fuel dumps, mercenaries, etc. or using specific weapons systems.
Anyway, anyone who has Telegram ought to be subscribed to the MoD and MoFA already so they can just skip my posts.
I scan a bunch of other Telegram channels, most of which are in Russian, so I have to translate the stuff laboriously with Google Translate. So I try to limit those posts to stuff which might be of interest.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Apr 11 2022 1:28 utc | 172

I have no proof of the numbers mentioned but in Israel there are rumors going around that over 50K IT professionals who are jewish or related to Jewish have left Russia and relocated to Israel (where jobs presumably await). This was presented to me as a huge blow to Russia, something with which I naturally disagreed.
Anyone has any links to other evidence re the number of computer/IT departures from either Russia or the Ukraine (of course we know about the celebrities but those don’t matter much in the larger scheme of things).
In general, I have seen very few comments or articles anywhere that’d detail the enormity of the task Russia faces in rebuilding an entirely new internet architecture, sites and securtity walls. The reason i say that is that a cursory look at the companies that cut ties with Russia is literally a who’s who list of all the dominant players in the technology field, be they software, web or even hardware (what’s the deal with Cisco routers for example). Sure, some can be replaced by Chinese tech fairly quickly but others need to be built up from scratch. To my own mind, I think it’s high time this was done anyways and frankly, I see plenty of opportunity there for enterprising young (and not so young) talent.

Posted by: Merlin 2 | Apr 11 2022 1:40 utc | 174

@ Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Apr 11 2022 0:39 utc | 156
I don’t have direct access to those sites so I very much appreciate your postings. Thanks so much for your work here.

Posted by: suzan | Apr 11 2022 1:42 utc | 176

RSH; Many thanks, please continue..

Posted by: vetinLA | Apr 11 2022 1:51 utc | 178

Saw a video of these things firing at the Azovstahl steel plant… a 122 mm 2A18 self-propelled howitzer. Smaller than the ones I mentioned earlier.
2S1 Gvozdika
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2S1_Gvozdika
Caption said: “An artillery battery of four 2S1 self-propelled vehicles is working eight kilometers from the Azovstal plant, destroying militants coming out of hiding towards the city. For 10 minutes of shooting in the direction of the neo-Nazis, the artillerymen sent 100 high-explosive fragmentation shells.”
God luck with that, neo-Nazis. 🙂

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Apr 11 2022 1:59 utc | 180

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Apr 11 2022 0:39 utc | 156
“OK, I ask for consensus. Does everyone have the MoD and MoFA Telegram channels? If so, I’ll stop. Up to the bar.”
Thanks for posting this information RSH. Knowledge is no burden. I can’t get this stuff online. I can’t do the digital gymnastics.

Posted by: Paul | Apr 11 2022 2:31 utc | 182

Mr. Hack, please continue posting as you have been doing – much appreciated.

Posted by: Northern Night Owl | Apr 11 2022 2:35 utc | 184

Richard Steven Hack | Apr 11 2022 1:31 utc | 174
I guess war would be boring if Russian mod didn’t leave room for speculation 🙂
MoD said there were beacon fires on the shore and as mod didn’t give the location of the beacons I had assumed they were in Azov held territory.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 11 2022 2:46 utc | 186

@ Lysias 186
Donald K.’s lectures on Thucydides are on youtube. He was indeed quite an astute, dispassioned scholar. Thucydides himself might have nodded in agreement with Kagan’s assessments.
But it is as if Kagan himself could not extrapolate the writing of Thucydides into its meaning “for all time,” as Thucydides wanted.
Kagan read the Melian Dialogue and saw only the side of the Athenians, of raw power.
The fruit of his life’s work reflects the first part of Thucydides and omits the second. How could calamity therefore not follow?

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Apr 11 2022 3:21 utc | 188

Lysias | Apr 11 2022 2:35 utc | 186
pretty sure that the Kagan fils didn’t fall far from the tree at all. Kagan pere was pretty rabid about “US=Periclean Athens” and “USSR=Sparta” and sold “classical studies” as a means to bolster Western triumphalism, though this time, thanks to Kaganite leadership, the ‘good guys’ win.

Posted by: rjb1.5 | Apr 11 2022 3:23 utc | 190

Lysias | Apr 11 2022 2:35 utc | 186
While America Sleeps
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
While America Sleeps is a book by historians Donald Kagan and Frederick Kagan, published September 2000. Their thesis was that the United States at the end of the Cold War resembled the United Kingdom following World War I.They argue for a policy of strengthening U.S. defense and a willingness to use force. Michael Lind has argued that the book contributed to neoconservative thought in U.S. foreign policy…
—-
Victor Davis Hanson is another. and others (Josiah Ober?), paid by the likes of Stanford’s Hoover Institute to say US=Athens, Russia=Sparta, or other bullshit analogies.

Posted by: rjb1.5 | Apr 11 2022 3:30 utc | 192

Gonzalo Lira’s Telegram channel posted a shot of a Ukrainian propaganda video doing the rounds. I found the video on another channel, with English subtitles. It shows a young Ukrainian woman in folk dress standing in a field talking about how bad the Russians are, etc. Then she takes a farmer’s scythe and cuts the throat of a Russian soldier (presumably staged.) From another channel, it appears the Ukrainian actress participating in this video has been identified and is under some pressure to close to her social media accounts. If I were here, I’d be really interested in getting out of the country as soon as possible before the Russians find her.
Gonzalo pointed out, and others have, too, that this reminds one of the ISIS beheading videos in Syria during that civil war. Clearly the point is that Ukrainian nationalists and neo-Nazis are the equivalent of ISIS in Europe.
So it’s no surprise that the CIA supports these “Ukrainian ISIS”, since the CIA supported them in Syria, until it was politically expedient not to when the US entered the war. More proof, if any was needed (and it wasn’t), that the CIA exists to create terrorism and chaos for the US geopolitical agenda.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Apr 11 2022 3:33 utc | 194

Posted by: bjd | Apr 11 2022 0:22 utc | 153
I am not on Telegram and appreciate those updates. They’re not always posted on TASS, RT or Sputnik. They help because they counteract the barrage of discouraging disinformation I’m getting from mainstream sources when I dare to turn on the tv.
Please let RSH do his thing.

Posted by: Circe | Apr 11 2022 3:52 utc | 196

Trump won
(Go ahead, call me crazy)
I doubt there would be a full on war in Ukraine right now
If the true votes were tallied correctly.
One of the good things about Trump, is he plays well with other
Big boys. Trump didn’t GAF about the established rules.
He broke them, and made new ones, when he saw fit.
It was a very brief, and wide open version of international law.
With a shit ton of risk (Iran, EU)
But, oh well. That shit is over.
And we can settle back into a decade of guaranteed war with President smhdftredfajl

Posted by: Cadence Calls | Apr 11 2022 4:06 utc | 198

…there are rumors going around that over 50K IT professionals who are jewish or related to Jewish have left Russia and relocated to Israel…
Posted by: Merlin 2 | Apr 11 2022 1:40 utc | 175
Didn’t I write a while back that these turncoats would be the first to stab Putin in the back? Yes I did.
So a whole lot of Jews are flocking to Israel? Pastor Hagee is rubbing his hands together and counting down the days to Armageddon.
Some Patriots! I hope Hamas welcomes them with a rocket in each hand.

Posted by: Circe | Apr 11 2022 4:22 utc | 200