Ukraine Open Thread 2022-60
Only news & views related to the Ukraine conflict ...Posted by b on May 7, 2022 at 15:33 UTC | Permalink
next page »This might be good for a concise review from Saker's 'Third Patriotic War" article this morning:
...When Did It All Begin?When did it all begin? Actually, it was not on 24 February 2022. Some, grudgingly, will admit that it was the US-run regime change of 2014 with its $5 billion price-tag for the hapless US taxpayer. Grudgingly, some might admit that it goes back even further to November 1989, the Fall of the Wall. Some might suggest two generations before that, in September 1939, when Stalin took the poison-chalice of the western Ukraine, Galicia, from Poland and had to fight a CIA-supplied war there against Fascist partisans until 1958.
Some might suggest exactly 100 years ago in 1922, when the brain-syphilitic Lenin transferred from Russia the southern and eastern half of the present Ukraine to the Ukraine, as he wanted the pro-Communist industrial proletariat of the south and east to counterbalance the real Ukrainian agricultural north and west. But we could also go back to 1914, the invasion of the Russian Empire by Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey. This is exactly 100 years before the 2014 US-orchestrated colour-revolution in Kiev, with its Lithuanian snipers on the roof of the American Embassy in Kiev murdering Ukrainian policemen and then the US blaming ‘repression’ on the democratically-elected pro-Russian government...
A similar sort of backtracking has been karlof1's approach to the US historical antecedents. Always useful. And I was thinking the huge shock in the US was when at the turn of the century we the people lost the support of the Supreme Court in the argument over counting every vote.
What is happening in Ukraine and the antecedents to this action is a lesson to us all.
Posted by: juliania | May 7 2022 15:47 utc | 2
Scott Ritter does a nice 2 minute piece re. celebration of Victory day on his telegram channel.
Posted by: jared | May 7 2022 15:54 utc | 3
I’ve seen even Moonies reuse the language crafted for us. What are the actual choices though?
“Russia intervened in the 8-year Ukrainian civil war, instigated by NATO.”
vs.
“Russia invaded.”
…
“Russian intervention”
vs.
“Russia invasion”
…
Which phrasing does Oceania use when describing its actions?
Posted by: language, message | May 7 2022 15:59 utc | 4
i did some astro work with a friend... i figure the way that mars-rahu-uranus conjunction hits zelensky and the 557pm ukraine chart indicates a change in leadership... the conjunction happens august 1st... lets see what happens right in that window of time.. it is a long ways away, but many here seemed to think this dynamic would be over quickly and the longer it goes on, the less likely that appears to me...
@ juliania | May 7 2022 15:47 utc | 2... thanks... it seems simple minded to think this dynamic just popped up overnight - as the western msm suggest... i figure the western msm are working for the 1%... why else would they lie like they do?? meanwhile the 99% continue to suffer... someone - probably bevin - said this is a class war... that makes a lot of sense to me... no one benefits from this, except a small few... history gets re-written and presented like stories in the msm today... lots of vital and key info is left out, while other parts are pushed to the front.. it reminds me of something i read on abs military news ( telegram )today to which i will quote.. you can't compete with this.. it is pointless..
"Reuters has heavily censored and distorted testimonies by a woman evacuated from Mariupol in order to adjust her words to its own claims about the city’s shellings by the Russian army, Dmitry Polyansky said at an informal Arria Formula meeting of the UN Security Council, devoted to crimes by the Ukrainian military.
"The Reuters story creates an impression that the woman, Natalya Usmanova, is scared by Russian strikes and apparently hates Russia for what it has done to Ukraine," Polyansky said. He stressed that at the same time Reuters preferred to keep quiet about what the woman said loudly and clearly on Russian television.
Polyansky showed this video of Usmanova saying something Reuters did not dare quote in its story. The woman evacuee literally said:
"I do not wish to return to Ukraine. Honestly. My family’s vote was unanimous. Even if we ever decide to return, we will return only to Mariupol, to the Donetsk People’s Republic. And not to Ukraine," Usmanova said.
Yet, a Reuters spokesperson said the news organization stood by its reporting: "We are still seeking to verify key aspects of Natalia Usmanova's account. We are committed to reporting on the conflict on Ukraine in an impartial and independent way."
"It is deplorable that Western journalists in most cases participate in censorship and conceal undesirable information from their readerships and audiences," Polyansky concluded."
Posted by: james | May 7 2022 16:05 utc | 5
@ language, message | May 7 2022 15:59 utc | 4
messing with the language is one of the main tools used for propaganda purposes... your use of the word Oceania is really confusing...what are you trying to imply? try being more articulate..
Posted by: james | May 7 2022 16:09 utc | 6
"...Some might suggest exactly 100 years ago in 1922, when the brain-syphilitic Lenin transferred from Russia the southern and eastern half of the present Ukraine to the Ukraine, as he wanted the pro-Communist industrial proletariat of the south and east to counterbalance the real Ukrainian agricultural north and west..."
This sort of stuff is self defeating. And so it should be. It may give some moron a sense of power and authority to sum up Lenin as "brain-syphilitic"- perhaps it compensates him for generations of emigre bitterness. But it is neither an accurate nor a useful description. In point of fact while it is true, and not insignificant, that the east of Ukraine was a highly developed industrial area, it was also a major agricultural producer. The main difference between "the real Ukraine...north and west" is historical. The west had been part of the Polish kingdom, taken over by the Hapsburg empire. One of its distinguishing features is that it was riven by Catholic influence, both directly and through the Uniate rites designed to undermine Orthodoxy. And the dominant race there, in race hierarchical Austria Hungary were the Poles, under whom the Ukrainian speakers, their language a reflection in part of their being separated from mother Russia and its culture, were cheap labour-serfs.
The problem with The Saker is that he hates Communists and it is the dead ones, like Lenin and Trotsky, he hates most of all. In terms of Ukrainian history, which really begins with the 1917 revolution, that leads to the blind alley of OUN fascism. It is no coincidence that the politicians that tear down memorials to the millions of Ukrainians who served, with world historical distinction, in the Red Army, invariably fill the spaces left with statues of fascists.
It sickens me to read Lenin described as "brain-syphilitic" because the libel came out of the Goebbels school of propaganda- literally the school in which Ukraine's fascists enrolled in the final years of the last century. There are very few parts of Ukraine, even today, where recollections of Lenin are not preferred to the memories of the horrors that the slav-hating Nazis and their Galician collaborators perpetrated. And, in the east, perpetrate yet.
Posted by: bevin | May 7 2022 16:16 utc | 7
In ref to someone in the now dead thread about cargo planes leaving a US military base near him, it fits exactly what happened yesterday at the UN. Look at the dismaying answer to the French amb to the UN, considering as propaganda the dozens of testimonies taken live from the field (and which he did not even have the politeness to watch, joining the meeting after they were screened). He can be seen at 1'21
https://media.un.org/en/asset/k1p/k1pvngjn8e
Posted by: Pushkin | May 7 2022 16:19 utc | 8
Following on from the economic sanctions on Russia from the West re Ukraine, there was a meeting to discuss a Cuba-Venezuela-Russia economic and security partnership in Cuba the other day according to a Spanish language Twitter post by an ex-Cuban spec ops officer who worked closely with Venezuelan security.
He said that during / just after the meeting there was an assymetrical attack (terrorist bomb explosion) at the venue. Cuban, Russian and Venezuelan delegaters were present, resulting in several wounded, possibly killed.
He said, quote, “a number of important International visitors who were meeting at the Saratoga Hotel, Havana, to discuss joint security and Military-Technical arrangements in Cuba in response to the situation in Ukraine were killed or wounded”.
He also stated that, “at the time of the attack the Hotel, which is owned by the Cuban military we must not forget, was closed to official guests”.
It was not said from what nations the visitors killed / wounded were from, but there was speculation that in addition to Cuban nationals there was at least one Russian and one Venezuelan present.
The official “gas leak explosion” narrative was said to be false and is being pushed by Cuban security to cover up an embarrasing lack of security which allowed this act of terrorism / potential act-of-war to occur during this volatile time in east-west relations. It was stated that the Cubans do not wish for a major confrontation with the US (prime suspect) at this time.
The story is developing and is clearly related to the US-Russia situation in Ukraine (and possibly the control of Venezuelan oil by Russia) according to some commenters. I will post links when found as the original Twitter posts are gone, but in the meantime even the MSM are reporting the explosion in Cuba.
00 Reply Edit
Posted by: Cuban Cigar | May 7 2022 16:22 utc | 9
ot - nemesis calling and juliania..... this is an article i just read that you might be interested in...
Reactionary Metaphysics I: Faith vs Knowing
Posted by: james | May 7 2022 16:22 utc | 10
I have found a video of Ukrainian troops or security service arresting elderly people who are Russia friendly. Very educational and apparently produced by AP, which is surprising to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR_E8dvyaOI
Posted by: fanto | May 7 2022 16:23 utc | 11
Intel Slava reporting a white flag at Azovstal.
Please God this be the final haul.
There will be wounded and sick to deal with.
As well as something of an international flavor to the detainees.
Posted by: John Kennard | May 7 2022 16:26 utc | 12
Michael Parenti's book, To Kill A Nation: The Attack On Yugoslavia, provides an outline and much more about the tactics of the CIA, the groundwork, the orchestration of cutouts and NGO's, the fomenting of violence among disparate groups based upon ethnicity, stoking paranoia and fear/hatred of the other. Funding, arming, staging false flag events, and etc.
Same basic formulae are used again and again.
Posted by: Chaka Khagan | May 7 2022 16:32 utc | 13
Posted by: John Kennard | May 7 2022 16:26 utc | 10
I'm very interested in the nationalities of those detainees. I also wonder if the people that surrendered will be on a neonazi hit list, for surrendering.
Posted by: pretzelattack | May 7 2022 16:32 utc | 14
Posted to : jared | Maj 7 2022 15:54 utc | 3
Do you got the link to Scott Ritter?
Posted by: Northern Eve | May 7 2022 16:33 utc | 15
@7 thank you, bevin, for correcting the record and reminding me why i avoid the saker like the plague. wonder what pepe escobar thinks of this blather, since he does recommend saker, if i recall.
Posted by: lindaj | May 7 2022 16:33 utc | 16
General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine urgently asked Zelensky to order the withdrawal of his army from Severodonetsk, something that could repeat the fate of Mariupol. https://t.me/s/Slavyangrad
Posted by: james | May 7 2022 16:41 utc | 17
Posted by: John Kennard | May 7 2022 16:26 utc | 10
According to azmilitary11, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Irina Vereshchuk has reported that all women, children and elderly people from Azovstal have been evacuated. If that's true, there should be only male civilians left.
Other good news is that Popasnaya has been taken. That's a huge step to finally cut off a big part of the cauldron. There are hostages in Severodonetsk though. NATO criminals have also recommended that the Mariupol serves as an example for Kherson and elsewhere, i.e. they're encouraging taking civilian hostages.
Posted by: Sarmat | May 7 2022 16:41 utc | 18
Last Tuesday prime minister Boris Johnson made a speech via viedolink tob the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine parliament) praising the Ukrainian Caesar, glorifying the fascists, and in the process baring his canine teeth like a pit bull terrier (or should that be a British Bulldog?). The speech is a sad reminder that oratory is dead and a woeful attempt to send the English language to the crematorium.
https://johnplatinumgoss.com/2022/05/07/boris-johnsons-dog-of-a-speech/
@ bevin | May 7 2022 16:16 utc | 7
Thank you, bevin. I grew up in Australia in a house with a portrait of Lenin on the living room wall. My father and his father were communists. Our city is quite like Mariupol, a coal and steel and port town. I understand that I have not read enough to engage meaningfully here, but I read and watch and hope. Thank you so much - this is life and love to me.
Posted by: InmateoftheSocialZoo | May 7 2022 16:45 utc | 20
Posted by: bevin | May 7 2022 16:16 utc | 7
i notice the author of that piece goes out of his way to criticise socialism.
Posted by: pretzelattack | May 7 2022 16:45 utc | 21
Either topple the Kiev Nazi leadership or go down in defeat. This has always been the case. Denazification, a woke notion without a verifiable endpoint. . . without decapitation. Which at least isn't Hydra-headed, but does brings one straight back to the "Either topple the current Kiev leadership or lose" prospect.
Unless we see US helicopters rescuing the last of the Neo-Nazi infested leadership from the rooftops, this conflict will do what the neocons have clearly planned, a war of attrition the Ze Team will win. Hardball or no balls. That's what war is.
Posted by: Lars Lansing | May 7 2022 16:45 utc | 22
I'm very interested in the nationalities of those detainees.
Posted by: pretzelattack | May 7 2022 16:32 utc | 12
We all are! The Treasure of Azovstal, eh?
It may just be to arrange for the evacuation of said wounded and sick, but I really really hope this is the end.
Posted by: John Kennard | May 7 2022 16:45 utc | 23
telegram - Slavyangrad - Gleb Bazov
According to Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister, Irina Vereshchuk, all the women, children, and the elderly have been evacuated from the Azovstal industrial complex in Mariupol.
Posted by: james | May 7 2022 16:52 utc | 24
Almost daily there are provocations, in the hope Russia will lash out:
Italy seizes a $700 million superyacht tied to Putin
Posted by: Passerby | May 7 2022 16:54 utc | 25
Posted by: bevin | Maj 7 2022 16:16 utc | 7
Thank you bevin!It sickens me too,to read "Lenin described as "brain-syphilitic".
Posted by: Northern Eve | May 7 2022 17:00 utc | 26
Posted by: bevin | May 7 2022 16:16 utc | 7
You have to remember that the Saker is a devout Russian Orthodox believer, and even patristic theologian, and to such people Lenin and the Old Bolsheviks fill something of the same role as Hitler and the Nazis to the Jews.
It does give his blog an oppressive air.
Posted by: John Kennard | May 7 2022 17:18 utc | 27
@Lars Lansing | May 7 2022 16:45 utc | 20
I'm also tending to the view that this whole Kiev feint, though widely praised, was one of those "too clever" moves which Russia likes so much. Is Russia taking its own messages seriously? If one is indeed of the view that a Nazi regime is ruling in Kiev, with the full power of NATO behind it, then some "limited police action" is not going to cut it, while the junta marshals more and more Western support behind itself.
Posted by: Ma Laoshi | May 7 2022 17:25 utc | 28
I am surprised that official declaration of Polish president went under the radar. There will be large and dangerous implication for Ukraine as a state.
Posted by: Foggy | May 7 2022 17:37 utc | 29
Fanto # 9;
Excellent vid, the propaganda arm of the 3LAs [unkowingly?] provides evidence of what critics have been saying all along. Whether 100% Nazi or, not, the US funded/trained/armed government of Ukraine is, incontrovertibly 100% fascist.
Why the idiots who rule the US from modern day Olympus [DC] can't understand that their actions in Ukraine seriously [perhaps mortally] undermines the US empire is beyond me. The forced marriage of Russia to China creates a continental empire the world has never seen before. This vast industrial empire, with perhaps the greatest single contiguous source of raw material, food, people and weaponry in history is an enemy of making and choosing. What fools the political/security-state/financial-sector and their media propagandist be. Sad how it only takes one group of internally begotten sociopaths to bring down a great empire...very sad indeed, the blood has only began to bleed from this self-inflicted wound.
Posted by: S Brennan | May 7 2022 17:44 utc | 30
@ John Kennard | May 7 2022 17:18 utc | 25
Most interesting context, thanks. I'm sometimes taken aback at this point in my own dialectic with the Saker.
Careful reading always involves adjusting your chair so that you understand a little better where the writer is coming from. I'm constantly adjusting like that, but most violently regarding Ukraine, lately. Even trusted stalwarts like Noam Chomsky have disturbingly transmogrified into the "New Noam".
But then again, I'm forced to ask myself: Have Amy and Jeffrey and Noam just recently lost all allegiance to truth, or am I amazingly slow-witted? Evidence strongly indicates the latter. Oh dear!
Posted by: Aleph_Null | May 7 2022 17:45 utc | 31
Should have been "is an enemy of [OUR] making and choosing."
Posted by: S Brennan | May 7 2022 17:46 utc | 32
Ukraine is the new Afghanistan... for Us.
Excerpt:
"As for the Ukrainian side, it looks like they are a NATO-quality force rebuilt from the ground up after their serious failures in 2014-15. As individuals and small units, they can hold their own against their Russian and often win, especially with the added advantage of being on the defensive. The problem is that so far they have never demonstrated the ability to push back Russian forces and retake ground. And no, recapturing terrain that the enemy voluntarily abandoned doesn’t count. Ukrainians recapturing suburbs around Kiev was a victory in the same sense as water filling a bowl. Wars are won by shaping the battlefield to your advantage and forcing the enemy to conform to it. Flowing into channels the enemy created for you is the opposite of winning."
https://readingjunkie.com/2022/05/07/ukraine-is-the-new-afghanistan-for-us/
Posted by: Ian Kummer | May 7 2022 17:48 utc | 33
@Lars Lansing #20
You have a view, but clearly the Russian government and military have a different one.
From my perspective: a plan which hopes for sanity/realism on the other side, but plans for insanity/unrealism is a proper one.
The one thing which no Ukrainian is going to be able to say, at the end of this conflict, is that they weren't beaten.
Billions of dollars, unprecedented economic sanctions, hundreds of tons of military equipment, NATO training etc have poured into Ukraine from 2014 to 2021 - and more since 2/24/2022.
The US method of bombing the crap out of a country but never "beating" the fighters on the other side; which Americans think "won" World War 2 in Europe but in which the Russian armies did the actual beating and which has since been utterly discredited in every other engagement, is the contrast.
I would also note that the presence of significant Chechen combat troops as well as the enormous sacrifices by the Donetsk/Lugansk militias shows that this is much more of a civil war than "Russia vs. Ukraine" - and that the notion of widespread, long term pan-Ukrainian resistance is likely far overstated.
The true objective of the military operation is clearly to separate the sheep from the goats: the ones who are the least informed and clear thinking plus the far right and those vested in power as opposed to the Ukrainians who just want to live their lives.
Posted by: c1ue | May 7 2022 17:50 utc | 34
@lindaj (14) I find The Saker valuable for its sitreps on the Ukraine War. I also appreciate certain writers who are published there. What does bother me are some of the strong Russian nationalists who hang out on the site, many of them virulently anti-semitic. Also, I'm not interested in the religious beliefs of the proprietor, but as its his website, he can write what he wants, and I can ignore it.
Posted by: Rob | May 7 2022 18:07 utc | 35
The US method of bombing the crap out of a country but never "beating" the fighters on the other side; which Americans think "won" World War 2 in Europe but in which the Russian armies did the actual beating and which has since been utterly discredited in every other engagement, is the contrast.
Posted by: c1ue | May 7 2022 17:50 utc | 32
The US method has now evidently descended to municipal caches of civilian hostages. Our propaganda machine has been so pleased with their success torturing the citizens of Mariupol, we're now planning similar factory-compounds stuffed with hostages across the Ukrainian landscape. No matter how absurd it is to blame Russia for the suffering of these hapless civilians, it works in our newspapers and in our Russophobic minds, here in USA.
We have descended from Empire to Vampire, sucking lifeblood from the people of Ukraine for the sustenance of an impotent unipolar narrative. I just read Nicholai Berdyaev's Dostoievsky: An Interpretation -- part of a personal quest to understand the dynamic divide between Eastern ("Orthodox") and Western forms of Christianity. From Berdyaev and other sources I've investigated, my investigation hones in on theodicy: why God permits evil.
Questions of theodicy lie at the heart of where East and West fail to understand each other, in my humble, tentative opinion.
Posted by: Aleph_Null | May 7 2022 18:16 utc | 36
Today's NYT is running a story that claims that "Russian forces blew up three bridges over the last 24 hours, Ukrainian officials said, as they were forced back toward the northeast border of Kharkiv." Since I mistrust anything appearing in the Times (other than the crossword puzzle), I wonder what is the true story. Does anyone have information on this?
Posted by: Rob | May 7 2022 18:19 utc | 37
Photos from the liberated city of Popasnoye - a former stronghold of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the southern outskirts of the city. The most fortified area of defense of the Ukronazis.
@7 Precisely. The only way Russia is able to survive at the moment is because it knows, for the first time in its history, that it has a future in the East. And that's only possibly because of Mao and Mao was only possible due to Lenin, and Lenin was only possible because of Marx. Reactionaries may rant and rave all they want: the fact is that the future belongs to China, and China is only where it is because of Marxist communism.
Putin may rant about Lenin, but think about this: if the Communists in the 1980s instead of listening to the traitor Gorbachov had instead, held on for a few more years, they could have taken advantage of China's economic development. The USSR would still exist. There would be no Nazis in the Ukraine. The endless massacres in Yugoslavia would not have happened. Poland and most of the other Eastern European countries would not now be under the control of the extreme right wing. Putin would not now, be having to strike back (very late in the day ) against Nato aggression.
I support the military action in the Ukraine, but not because of Putin, but because the Communist party of Russian supports it. And one has to hope that as a result of the 'cleansing' of Russia of Western influence, the Russian communist party might come to power again, this time, through purely democratic processes (sadly, Western brainwashed elites in Eastern Europe probably have too much power for these countries to ever 'return to the fold').
Posted by: Hidari | May 7 2022 18:27 utc | 39
The Donbas has a friend in Syria.
"Syria is ready to provide assistance to the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR, LPR), Syrian Ambassador to Russia Riad Haddad told TASS during a working trip to the city of Yekaterinburg on Saturday.
"For over eight years, the people of the DPR and LPR have been facing bombings, regular damages and an unfair blockade by Western-backed neo-Nazis. As a result, thousands of people were killed or had to leave their homes. This is why Syria is working to provide comprehensive support to the republics," he said, when asked if Syria was providing humanitarian assistance to the Donbass republics.
According to the envoy, the Syrian people and government are ready to help the countries that have been subjected to Western aggression."
Posted by: Republicofscotland | May 7 2022 18:29 utc | 40
The drone that was used to attack Transnistra, the attempted bombing was thankfully thwarted came from Ukraine.
"Evidence found at the site of terrorist attacks in Transnistria indicates that they were organized from the territory of neighboring Ukraine, as follows from the investigators’ preliminary conclusions the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Investigative Committee of the unrecognized republic presented on Friday.
"Transnistrian investigators, using the memory cards extracted from the drone that was to be used for a terrorist attack at the radio center near the village of Mayak, examined all of its launches. The device’s first flight was in Transcarpathia on April 18. And the last one was over the village of Mayak," the IC’s official said on the local TV channel TSV. According to the official, on May 3 the device took off from a road between the villages of Rymarovka and Sadovoe in Ukraine. It was carrying a payload of explosives, meant for an act of sabotage at the radio center's cooling facility, which would have put it out of order. The drone hit a cable, lost control and was intercepted by Transnistria’s law enforcement officers. Bomb disposal specialists defused the explosive device."
Posted by: Republicofscotland | May 7 2022 18:32 utc | 41
Russian state speaker at Duma says that by helping Ukraine's Nazi's with real time intelligence, the US has aided and abetted in their war crimes. I'd add that by supplying them with weapons that have killed civilians the US and Nato and the EU are also complicit in war crimes as well.
"The United States has in fact admitted that it is involved in coordinating Ukraine’s combat operations and thereby is participating in military actions against Russia, Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said on Saturday.
"The US is taking part in the military operations in Ukraine," he wrote on his Telegram channel. "Today, Washington is basically coordinating and engineering military operations, thus directly participating in the military actions against our country."
The speaker of the lower house of Russia’s parliament pointed out that he was not speaking only about the supply of arms and hardware.
"By demanding that leaks about intelligence exchange with Ukraine be plugged, US President [Joe] Biden admitted that Washington had been declassified," Volodin said. "The US leadership should also be held accountable for the crimes committed by the Kiev Nazi regime in Ukraine, thus expanding the list of war criminals,""
Posted by: Republicofscotland | May 7 2022 18:37 utc | 42
The CIA funded Reuters "news" outlet doctors a civilian woman's words to fit the Wests narrative, the woman came from Mariupol.
"Reuters has heavily censored and distorted testimonies by a woman evacuated from Mariupol in order to adjust her words to its own claims about the city’s shellings by the Russian army, Dmitry Polyansky said at an informal Arria Formula meeting of the UN Security Council, devoted to crimes by the Ukrainian military.
"The Reuters story creates an impression that the woman, Natalya Usmanova, is scared by Russian strikes and apparently hates Russia for what it has done to Ukraine," Polyansky said. He stressed that at the same time Reuters preferred to keep quiet about what the woman said loudly and clearly on Russian television.
Polyansky showed this video of Usmanova saying something Reuters did not dare quote in its story. The woman evacuee literally said:
"I do not wish to return to Ukraine. Honestly. My family’s vote was unanimous. Even if we ever decide to return, we will return only to Mariupol, to the Donetsk People’s Republic. And not to Ukraine," Usmanova said."
Posted by: Republicofscotland | May 7 2022 18:41 utc | 43
This morning Ukraine published a video form a Bayrakter-TP2 drone showing how it hit a Russian landing ship near Snake (Zmeinyi) Island (which the Russian have taken earlier.) There were additional claims of drone hits on Russian equipment on the island.
Later today the Ukrainians tried a kind of commando assault to regain the island. It seems to have ended badly.
The Russian Defense Ministry briefing this evening says
The following have been shot down in the air near Zmeinyi Island: 1 Ukrainian Su-24 bomber, 1 Su-27 fighter jet, 3 Mi-8 helicopters with paratroopers and 2 Bayraktar-TB2 UAV. The Ukrainian amphibious assault boat Stanislav has also been destroyed.
Why the Ukrainians would use their last functioning boat and their last helos and fighters for such an attempt is pretty inexplicable. They probably could have retaken the island but they do not have the means to hold onto it.
Posted by: language, message | May 7 2022 15:59 utc | 4
I'm not sure what you're going for there since you left out the actual "newspeak" terminology and phraseology used by the West to describe what's going on in Ukraine. There's absolutely nothing in the way of narrative management for someone here to use the term "invasion" - that's what it is. A land invasion supported by artillery and air/missile strikes. Nobody in the Russian military would dispute this. The military technical operation is in fact an invasion and an intervention in the NATO-fomented civil war in Ukraine.
However you left out the most egregious examples of what the narrative managers have actually said. Here are some examples.
Russia's illegal invasion
Russia's full-scale invasion
Russia's unprovoked invasion
Putin's egotistical invasion
Putin's ill thought out invasion
Russia is committing atrocities
Russia is committing genocide
Putin's expansionism
etc. Very few of us use those terms because they're cooked up by the aforementioned NATO/FUKUS state-affiliated media.
and Posted by: james | May 7 2022 16:09 utc | 6
Oceania is a reference to George Orwell's "1984" and "newspeak."
Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia. Since the beginning of your life, since the beginning of the Party, since the beginning of history, the war has continued without a break, always the same war.
Where Oceania is the West and Eastasia is Russia and China. Indeed, it's a fitting reference because:
"Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought?"
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 7 2022 18:45 utc | 45
John Kennard@25
I understand. I pick my way through the Saker's site quite a lot nowadays. There is much interesting info there. I followed him for years but stopped for the reasons we all understand. The reality is that his rather idle, thoughtless emigre anti-communism cannot be regarded as an innocent quirk: it was his ticket to ride on the Imperialist Express. Now that he has turned against the Empire he ought to be re-evaluating the history of the USSR as, willy nilly, the history of Russia during the long middle of the C20th. The enemies of the people of Russia took cover behind the idealism of liberal anti-communism but that, pretending that their struggle was for Levi Jeans, Chuck Berry and freedom, washing machines and prosperity.
That nonsense was thoroughly discredited, in practice, by the ruthlessness with which- the evil Bolshies having been pushed aside- the liberals fastened their teeth on every piece of property, every entitlement, the education system, the housing schemes, the holiday camps, the pensions, the dental care- and every scrap of the capital amassed by the peoples of the Union and devoured it.
Any ordinary Russian who doubted the Communist critique of private ownership of the economy got an education under Professor Yeltsin.
And people like The Saker cannot escape some responsibility for enabling the neo-liberal nightmare of the 1990s. The rats gnawing away at the Communist system were gnawing away also at the state which not only protected the population (albeit not always very well) but stood alone against the aggressions of world capitalism.
So whose side were the anti-bolsheviks on in Vietnam, for example? That of the USA. And in Africa where the anti-colonial movements fought not only the imperialists but their many proxies, the Bantustani types, the various poseurs on the CIA's payroll in Angola and Mozambique, for example. And where were the anti-communists? Firmly on the side of white supremacy and neo-colonialism.
But these are not simply historical points- it matters little what they thought then, if they have allowed experience to educate them so that they can change their ways, admit their mistakes. But they haven't which is why they still tend to re-cycle the fascists' criticisms not only of the Soviet Union but of socialists and the ideas of justice and equality on which all popular movements are founded.
Posted by: bevin | May 7 2022 18:48 utc | 46
Two Azov leaders, Andriv Biletsky and Ihor Mosiychuk were also elected to Ukraine Parliament in 2014 and served until 2019. Both had been released from prison in Feb. 2014 as part of release of all alleged political prisoners. In Nov. 2014 Azov Battalion was formally integrated into Ukraine National Guard...."Azov Battalion: The Azov Battalion is an extreme-right nationalist paramilitary organization based in Ukraine." stanford.edu, cisac.fsi.stanford.edu
Posted by: susan mullen | May 7 2022 18:49 utc | 47
Posted by: b | May 7 2022 18:45 utc | 42
I saw someone somewhere go into the strategic importance of Snake Island; maybe here at MoA (and maybe b himself) but I've forgotten. Although it's pretty small and Ukraine has no chance of holding onto it if recaptured, would this maybe have been an attempt to generate and 'justify' some more headlines in the Western media such as was the case with the sinking of Moskva? I suppose that may be too simple minded of me, but who knows?
Can anyone remind me why Snake Island is so important, if that's even really the case?
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 7 2022 18:50 utc | 48
adding to my post at @42
An Mi-8 can carry 24 soldiers. To lose three of those carrying somewhat elite paratroopers is a pretty hefty toll.
New briefing from MoD just out. Note that these briefings typically come twice a day. So if the numbers are correct then around 3000 enemy fighters have been eliminated the last 5 days. That's one 9/11. Pity the KIAs aren't Americans.
07.05.2022 (20:15)
Briefing by Russian Defence Ministry
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation in Ukraine.
High-precision, long-range air-based and sea-based weapons at military airfields near Artsys, Odessa and Voznesensk have destroyed Ukrainian Air Force aviation equipment, including unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as air defence equipment.
Iskander operational and tactical missile systems have destroyed large concentration of weapons and military equipment delivered from the USA and Western countries, as well as personnel of units of the 58th AFU Motorized Infantry Brigade near Krasnograd and Karlovka railway stations in Kharkov Region.
High-precision air-based missiles of the Russian Aerospace Forces have hit 42 areas of concentration of Ukrainian manpower and military equipment near Volcheyarovka, Lugansk People's Republic, as well as 2 ammunition depots near Seversk, Donetsk People's Republic.
Operational-tactical and army aviation have hit 26 military assets of Ukraine during the day. Among them: 2 command posts, 21 areas of manpower and military equipment concentration, 2 ammunition depots and 1 artillery battery at firing positions.
The attacks have resulted in the elimination of more than 210 nationalists and up to 39 armoured and motor vehicles.
The following have been shot down in the air near Zmeinyi Island: 1 Ukrainian Su-24 bomber, 1 Su-27 fighter jet, 3 Mi-8 helicopters with paratroopers and 2 Bayraktar-TB2 UAV. The Ukrainian amphibious assault boat Stanislav has also been destroyed.
Missile troops and artillery have hit 31 command posts and 245 strongholds of Ukrainian troops, areas of AFU manpower and military equipment concentration.
In total, 154 aircraft and 115 helicopters, 764 unmanned aerial vehicles, 296 anti-aircraft missile systems, 2,902 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 333 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,378 field artillery and mortars, as well as 2,728 units of special military vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were destroyed during the operation.
Posted by: Sarmat | May 7 2022 18:54 utc | 50
"..Why the Ukrainians would use their last functioning boat and their last helos and fighters for such an attempt is pretty inexplicable..." b@42
Isn't it because the entire point of Ukraine's military efforts is to provide headlines for the western media. Not even their own media- few Ukrainians will trust that- but for the Europeans and north Americans.
And the only benefit from such an exercise accrues to NATO governments in their barrage against the critical faculties of the people over whom they rule, and whose taxes they consume.
And that isn't much benefit because the only reason why people in the west go along with the Zelenskiy as Abraham Lincoln rolled into Winston Churchill is because they sactually do not give a damn. They don't care. They have, and more all the time, real problems to face- declining living standards, galloping inflation, mounting household debt, fuel bills, social services being privatised, roads being tolled.
The next shoe to drop will be popular uprisings- Yellow Shirts and red rebellion.
Posted by: bevin | May 7 2022 19:00 utc | 51
Posted by: bevin | May 7 2022 19:00 utc | 49
Interestingly that was my guess @ #46. They were probably goaded into this attempt to retake Snake Island by their NATO managers to generate some headlines and - on the cynical (but likely accurate) side - to have as much Ukrainian materiel and personnel be lost so as to justify further highly profitable "lethal aid" packages and more NATO involvement i.e.; "advisors" and possibly troops and/or mercs.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 7 2022 19:06 utc | 53
S Brennan @28 said;
"Sad how it only takes one group of internally begotten sociopaths to bring down a great empire...very sad indeed, the blood has only began to bleed from this self-inflicted wound."
True Indeed, but, that fact should read; Bring down a "potentially great empire"
If it, like most, could only live up to it's rhetoric.
Posted by: vetinLA | May 7 2022 19:11 utc | 54
Tom_Q_Collins | May 7 2022 18:50 utc | 46
"Can anyone remind me why Snake Island is so important, if that's even really the case?"
I have the uncomfortable feeling that they know it and that the main aim is to produce daily signals of desparation. Not aiming at the people in Ukraine but at the European populace to convince them that NATO should go all-in. To create a pubic atmosphere like in early summer 1914.
Because with the upcoming defeat of the Ukrainian NATO-substitute army the only left alternative for the US and its vaslls is procrastination of bankruptcy.
Posted by: Hausmeister | May 7 2022 19:12 utc | 55
Posted by: language, message | May 7 2022 15:59 utc | 4
“Russia intervened in the 8-year Ukrainian civil war, instigated by NATO.” Narrations withth an actual context albeit not complete. Should sounds as
"Russia intervened to protect Russian speaking Ukrainian from US controlled Nazi ideologically aligned regime in Kiev raised from regime change operations in 2014 against Yanukovych"
“Russia invaded.”
“Russian intervention”
“Russia invasion”
The other three provide narrative with no context whatsoever.
You can dispel both sides narratives by picking mutually accepted facts over the context provided.
That the illegal regime raised in 2014 through a coup were financed and controlled by US Is fact.
That the new regime hold Nazi and fascism aligned ideology is fact.
That the new regime committing violence against peoples that do not recognize its legitimacy and enacted discriminatory laws against Russian speaking citizens is fact.
Posted by: Lucci | May 7 2022 19:14 utc | 56
A Null @ 29 opined:"But then again, I'm forced to ask myself: Have Amy and Jeffrey and Noam just recently lost all allegiance to truth, or am I amazingly slow-witted? Evidence strongly indicates the latter. Oh dear!
You're not slow-witted. The three named aren't the first, nor will they be the last, to be influenced by the organized, big money liars.
Nowadays, if you don't cater to their message, you're unemployed...
Posted by: vetinLA | May 7 2022 19:20 utc | 57
Posted by: John Kennard | May 7 2022 17:18 utc | 25
You have to remember that the Saker is a devout Russian Orthodox believer, and even patristic theologian, and to such people Lenin and the Old Bolsheviks fill something of the same role as Hitler and the Nazis to the Jews.It does give his blog an oppressive air.
Saker is a gatekeeper, October Revolution was a Color Revolution executed by Zionist Jews and it is funny watching you guys play the j game here at MoA.
Posted by: Vajezatha | May 7 2022 19:24 utc | 58
Posted by: Aleph_Null | May 7 2022 17:45 utc | 29
I saw an interview between Scahill and Chomsky near the beginning of this situation and, while they definitely couched everything in the notion that Russia's invasion was "illegal", that's not any different than how either of them have characterized every American military action abroad since 2001 at least.
Have I missed something more recent from Chomsky where he's fully on board with the NATO/FUKUS narrative platform?
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 7 2022 19:26 utc | 59
Another one bites the dust, this time Rev. William Barber and the Poor People's Campaign, according to Margaret Kimberley at (another) BAR:
It is sad to see the name Poor People’s Campaign, which was launched by Martin Luther King, being used to support the war machine. It is even sadder to see a man like Rev. Barber succumb to the very worst narratives of American exceptionalism and demonization of another nation.
https://www.blackagendareport.com/poor-peoples-campaign-dishonors-martin-luther-king
Posted by: Aleph_Null | May 7 2022 19:27 utc | 60
October Revolution was a Color Revolution executed by Zionist Jews and it is funny watching you guys play the j game here at MoA.
Posted by: Vajezatha | May 7 2022 19:24 utc | 56
Hmm...which historically is a thesis further borne out by the USSR's subsequent dedication to state Judaism?
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 7 2022 19:30 utc | 61
Have I missed something more recent from Chomsky where he's fully on board with the NATO/FUKUS narrative platform?
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 7 2022 19:26 utc | 57
I had growing discomfort with unfounded bothsides-ism in everything Chomsky has written on Ukraine lately. He's unwilling to examine or consider extremely serious issues, such as the bioweapons labs, and what something like that might mean to Russia. I totally lost patience when he said the media has done a "creditable job" of reporting on Russian war crimes in Ukraine. Profoundly dishonest or deluded at this point, beyond the pale, and I don't care why. I don't even want to reread any of his old books, I'm so disgusted.
Posted by: Aleph_Null | May 7 2022 19:34 utc | 62
@ Tom_Q_Collins | May 7 2022 18:45 utc | 43
thanks.. it was quite the word salad that i had a hard time appreciating... the post was suspect immediately!!
@ Tom_Q_Collins | May 7 2022 18:50 utc | 46
in answer to your question from telegram channel - lord of war
"The ship's air defense systems and fighters worked on the air: two Bayraktar TB2 UAVs and one aircraft were shot down. The rest got away.
Why Serpentine?
The island is strategically important not only because of its location near the southern borders of Odessa. Without control over Serpentine, it will be much more difficult to conduct a potentially naval amphibious operation on the Ukrainian coast.
And for Ukraine and the allies, the restoration of control over the island is an opportunity to deploy stationary radar stations, control the air and sea space around Odessa and begin an operation to unblock it. This is important for the supply of armaments and military equipment from the West by sea.
No matter how much we make fun of the "mosquito fleet", but it exists. And it is stupid to underestimate it - especially when all the target designation and intelligence is provided by allies from the NATO bloc.
And also Serpentine is a symbol. Remember about the “dead defenders” of the island, who later turned out to be alive? Now imagine that the Ukrainians will recapture the island and begin to inflate the story of a heroic deed, recaptured lines and revenge for the fallen and prisoners?
Therefore, one should not assume that the grouping of the Russian Navy in the Black Sea "does nothing" near Odessa. This is a very important sector of the front. And the intensity of the fighting there will only increase."
Posted by: james | May 7 2022 19:36 utc | 63
Posted by: Aleph_Null | May 7 2022 19:34 utc
Isn't he the guy Pat Tillman about to speak to before he's killed?
Posted by: Lucci | May 7 2022 19:37 utc | 64
@ Tom_Q_Collins | May 7 2022 19:26 utc | 57
while i don't disagree with most of what @ Aleph_Null | May 7 2022 19:34 utc | 60 says, you can listen to the interview yourself if you are interested.. 1 hour long and from 3 weeks ago... Noam Chomsky and Jeremy Scahill on the Russia-Ukraine War, the Media, Propaganda, and Accountability
Posted by: james | May 7 2022 19:41 utc | 65
Castellio | May 7 2022 15:41 utc | 1
recommends: Red Star Radio's Alexander Mckay talks to investigative journalist Kit Klarenberg on the Milosevic government, the role that Western intelligence services played in bringing it down, and how this has been replicated in Ukraine since 2014."
- If you want to take it from someone who is a born Yugoslav, lived there most of their life, was professionaly tied to following and studying in depth the war that destroyed the country - then be told that that Klarenberg doesn't know what he is talking about when he is talking about Slobodan Milošević. There is generally very little knowledge and a lot of fact-free talk about Yugoslavia and what happened there. There is, for starters, no distinction made between the big country - SFRY - and the FRY, which consisted only of Serbia and Montenegro. There is also a LOT of propaganda and misinformation.There is much inertia and mental laziness from "western intellectuals" and journalists whose world view is based on - whatever it is, the US did it. Well, guess what, sometimes it didn't. All that is too bad because the SFRY was a great country with many lessons to be learned. But who cares for learning, or the facts, in the capitalist casino we are living in.
- Regarding comments about The Saker - similarly, I find the site informative, but the strong bias distasteful, to put it mildly. More so his ideological affiliations, of which I shall say no more. Still, there is good stuff there.
Posted by: JB | May 7 2022 19:42 utc | 66
Yeah looks like he is. Pat Tillman about to disclose something to Noam Chomsky before he's murdered and subsequently have the murder covered by US military.
Did Noam Chomsky's the one coming hard against US cover story or was it actually just Pat Tillman's family?
Posted by: Lucci | May 7 2022 19:44 utc | 67
telegram - "The pumping of Ukraine with Western weapons is intensifying. Only on May 5, 23 boards arrived at the Polish airport of Rzeszów."
i wouldn't want to live near the border crossing headed into lviv... only a matter of time before the road and rail line get bombed.. poland is the willing accomplice to natos actions here... i can't see it working out well for anyone.. distance from rzescow to lviv - 105 miles..
Posted by: james | May 7 2022 19:47 utc | 68
Posted by: Vajezatha | May 7 2022 19:24 utc | 56
Saker is a gatekeeper,
He is a Russian nationalist and anticommunist, which makes him about 3 pubic hairs separated from a fascist.
October Revolution was a Color Revolution executed by Zionist Jews and it is funny watching you guys play the j game here at MoA.
And you are separated one hair tops, if any...
You have no idea how easy is to recognize your bunch.
Posted by: hopehely | May 7 2022 19:48 utc | 69
@ Lucci | May 7 2022 19:37 utc | 62
You mean Chomsky? I haven't heard the Tillman angle. Jon Krakauer wrote up the Tillman story ("Where Men Win Glory"). I might have to check that out -- I've been impressed with everything I've read from Krakauer.
Posted by: Aleph_Null | May 7 2022 19:50 utc | 70
@ Foggy
I'm not fully sure if he meant to imply Ukrainian membership in the EU and Schengen zone and or perhaps a separate bilateral customs union with Ukraine ala the one between Ireland and the UK. (One which has become an issue despite Ireland not being in the Schengen zone). It does feel a bit like somebody who crashed your party inviting their own guests.
But it's incredible how fast things that were 'Russian disinformation' keep eventually happening vis-a-vis escalation. Who knows, the current Polish leadership and mood in the country is totally insane so I'm sure they'll try knowing that there will be no consequences brought them by the US or EU.
Posted by: Altai | May 7 2022 19:55 utc | 71
Posted by: james | May 7 2022 19:36 utc | 61 and 63
Thanks and thanks. Good info. I knew I'd seen that or something like it before.
I listened to the Chomsky Scahill interview around the time it first came out and didn't remember either fully adopting the NATO/FUKUS narrative, but I may re-listen with the benefit of knowledge acquired since that day.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 7 2022 19:55 utc | 72
Pat Tillman's story is just a notable highlight of official disrespect for military troops and veterans in USA. Numerous army bases and one infamous navy ship are noted for outbreaks of suicides and unexplained disappearances today. We treat soldiers like experimental subjects. My mentor was a Navy medic attached to Marine Corps Test Unit One, assigned to observe a nuclear blast, then to march over the fused sand. They haven't yet scrubbed all details of this historic domestic atrocity from Wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_Corps_Test_Unit
Posted by: Aleph_Null | May 7 2022 19:59 utc | 73
In a few weeks/months the Ukrainian Army will cease to exist as a coherent fighting force. Unless US and/or NATO intervene, the Russian Army will be able to operate anywhere they like in Ukraine without any real opposition. If the Russian Army needs to take Kiev or Odessa then it'll be easier that it would be now. Occupying hostile parts of Ukraine could be painful in the long run but for residents of western Ukraine, living in an independent Galicia would be preferable to living under the Russians. Ukraine will most likely never return to it's pre-2014 borders.
Posted by: Ghost Ship | May 7 2022 20:01 utc | 74
In response to Tom_Q_Collins@46,
Snake Island is in a strategic location in relation to Odessa and, as far as I know, still has powerful radar installations. For Russia, it's likely serving as a radar coverage replacement for the Moskva. Russian presence on the island is a complementary element in maintaining the naval blockade on Odessa, which in turn prevents naval reinforcements and resupply to that region from Bulgaria and makes any counter-offensive by Ukraine in that theater unfeasible. This, of course, carries a ripple effect on the defense of surrounding territories and cities -- in particular, Nikolaev.
Any potential naval invasion of Odessa by Russia would likely be disrupted by Ukrainian recapture of Snake Island. It's also reasonable to assume that it would make Russia blind to hostile air operations in certain areas of the Black sea -- from the available information, there's no analogous replacement for the Moskva to provide sea-based radar coverage in that area and the strait is closed. There are however land-based systems that, supposing that the original installations on Snake Island are unsuitable, could utilize the territory to provide sufficient coverage.
Having said all that, I would still say that this is mostly speculation, but it's the sort of speculation that I expect would appeal to Ukrainian high command and foreign advisors in trying to find a militarily significant target within reach of their weapons systems. As I've previously written, I believe Ukraine has a problem in finding targets that have a strategic value, which nullifies the potential of any pin-prick strikes that they are still capable of carrying out.
Ukrainian MLRS strikes on civilian infrastructure, villages and border posts don't change the military situation. Russian soldiers withdraw at the first hint of resistance, take out opposing artillery and rocket systems from range, take out positions reoccupied by Ukrainians from range and then go back in -- Ukraine wins nothing playing that game either.
With Snake Island they may actually have found something that the Russians, in military terms, do or at least should care about, and that is within the scope of their ability and in range of their weapon systems. It's possible that retaking Snake Island would buy Ukraine enough time to resupply Odessa from Bulgaria and shore up defenses in Nikolaev, and make it difficult for Russia to control the waters and skies in that area, subsequently making it difficult to recapture that plot of land in any meaningful fashion or conducting any potential naval landings. But, never dismiss the possibility that it could just be a fat, juicy trap and the Russians are just using Snake Island as bait.
Posted by: Skiffer | May 7 2022 20:12 utc | 75
Those influential mediators aren't worried about the Ukrainians, just their own foreign citizens.
Posted by: Kaiama | May 7 2022 20:18 utc | 76
Ok, so the famous Vali is back home.
But his assistant is still hanging there, amazingly.
After what happened to them in Izyum and in that trench, dodging death twice is more than enough...
Posted by: hopehely | May 7 2022 20:20 utc | 77
Posted by: Skiffer | May 7 2022 20:12 utc | 73
All of that sounds reasonable and likely. I still think there is a bit of narrative pushing going on, both from NATO to the Ukrainian gov't and military command (probably NATO really in charge of the latter) and from NATO/FUKUS to the Western media looking for a "win" that can be trumpeted to Western domestic news propaganda consumption via the front page headlines.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 7 2022 20:20 utc | 78
I am looking forward to Putin's speech on May 9th.
I expect it to be used as the contextualization of the Ukraine military activity against nazi's, just like WWII; only this time NATO is behind the nazis.
Putin already has one captured NATO type general in Ukraine to prove that point and maybe more by Monday. I expect Putin also to lay out the biolab facts that Russia has to date and maybe even throw in Biden and his son's connection to them.
Will Putin's speech be covered in the West?
How will it be spun?
What will it do to the propaganda war?
The shit show continues until it doesn't.....
Posted by: psychohistorian | May 7 2022 20:24 utc | 79
bevin @7 and other commentators--
The Saker, Andrei Raevsky, it must be noted, did NOT write that essay; someone going by Batiushka is the one where the ire ought to be directed. We condemn MSM for its lies and misinformation; it would be hypocritical for us to NOT do the same when something similar is done on this site, for when we don't our credibility suffers. And above all else, we must maintain our credibility for it sets us and this site apart from most others, globally.
Posted by: hopehely | May 7 2022 19:48 utc | 67
You have no idea how easy is to recognize your bunch.
Oh, another Anti-Semite !!!
Are you gonna report me to ADL?
Posted by: Vajezatha | May 7 2022 20:31 utc | 81
Oh, another Anti-Semite !!!
Are you gonna report me to ADL?
Posted by: Vajezatha | May 7 2022 20:31 utc | 79
I'm pretty sure hopehely was referring to fascism or even Nazism, not garden variety tired anti-Semitism.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 7 2022 20:35 utc | 82
Lest we forget, Noam Chomsky is 93 years old. He was already an old man quite a few years ago. I think we can probably cut him some slack.
Posted by: Rob | May 7 2022 20:37 utc | 83
In response to Tom_Q_Collins@76,
That's always the case. But when it comes to liquidating 89 Russian generals every day and retaking some the same village 10 times in the same week, at least retaking Snake Island might actually have some potential utility to operations conducted by Ukraine and NATO. But, I agree that one shouldn't read too much into it or dismiss the propaganda driven nature of Ukie operations. Since Snake Island was prominent in the myth of Ukrainian bravery, as evidenced by T-shirts and mugs with the "Fuck off, Russian warship" slogan, it's certainly possible that someone wanted to recapture the first truly "significant" loss in the conflict just to turn it into a media spectacle. Maybe they'd even find mass-graves containing those very same border guards that Russian misinformation would have us believe all surrendered without a fight.
Posted by: Skiffer | May 7 2022 20:38 utc | 84
psychohistorian @77--
I doubt the West will allow anything spoken by Putin to be heard; and if so, only in Russian. On the other hand, if a terrorist attack is made against the parade or the Immortal Battalion March, I expect it to be given Glory status--What a wonderful happening: Look at all the dead and maimed!! The only good Russian is a dead Russian!
Yes, I expect the tightest of security, but the terrorists don't expect to live, and their sponsors will make certain they have all the tools they might require.
From Russians With Attitude Telegram channel about the Snake Island operation:
A popular Ukrainian Telegram channel. Translation:#rumors
Our source reports that our General Staff is being urged by our "partners" to create a big information victory before May 9.
Everyone understands that soon Azov will fall in Mariupol and the Russians will have a lot of prisoners, which will launch a big informational shitstorm against the government, so that this does not happen, we need to create a counterbalance.
That is why there were attempts to storm Snake Island. There is no result yet, the casualties aren't reported.
The Russian Navy ship wasn't sunk and safely departed to its home port.Also the AFU is stepping up the offensive in the Kharkov direction, but the victories are too small, it looks more like the AFU is being lured into the depths of the Russian defense.
The situation at the Office of the President is difficult, they are being rushed.
There are options for creating a "tragedy", but the effectiveness must be several times higher than it was from the tragedy in Kramatorsk.
We're observing. https://t.me/legitimniy/12025
Posted by: Ricardo Ramirez | May 7 2022 20:39 utc | 86
This is footage of the attack by two Ukrainian S-27's on snake island. (From Ukie drones). It was serious and there must have been quite some damage to the Russian installations.
Why? The Ukrainians have claimed that they are sending wheat by small ships along the coast to Romania. Clearly these could be bringing arms in on their return. Snake/Serpentine island is well placed to control or impede their movements.
So the big explosion at the end would probably have been ammunition, missiles and/or an anti-aircraft setup. (S-300 etc.?)
https://twitter.com/UAWeapons/status/1523027490230444035?cxt=HHwWhoC5pdvb8KIqAAAA
Posted by: Stonebird | May 7 2022 20:41 utc | 87
Posted by: Skiffer | May 7 2022 20:12 utc | 73
Ukrainian do not have numbers and equipment that can let them keep and defend the island. The attack meant to inflict Russian casualties which it did.
Installation there seems to be rudimentary and Russia did not place enough air defense in the island to protect Russian soldiers stationed there.
Posted by: Lucci | May 7 2022 20:53 utc | 88
"There are options for creating a "tragedy", but the effectiveness must be several times higher than it was from the tragedy in Kramatorsk."
If the Ukrainians plan a false flag to take away some of the Russian thunder on Victory Day, it should probably take place tomorrow, to give Western media the time to fire up the wailing sirens.
The ultimate false flag would be the assassination of Zelensky, of course, but that won't happen any time soon.
Posted by: Palindroman | May 7 2022 20:56 utc | 89
We have descended from Empire to Vampire, sucking lifeblood from the people of Ukraine for the sustenance of an impotent unipolar narrative.
Posted by: Aleph_Null | May 7 2022 18:16 utc | 34
Actually, I think we were Vampire all along. The Russians refuse now to invite us into their home, which is exposing the limits of the Vampire Empire's power. The question is: When and where will the stake in the heart be delivered so that the Global Village can be free of the vampire's terror?
Posted by: Activist Potato | May 7 2022 20:57 utc | 90
#---Posted by: Chaka Khagan | May 7 2022 16:32 utc | 11
Michael Parentis lectures on the fall of Rome, was one of the first gems I found on the internet.
Maybe it's time to revisit them?
Posted by: Anne B | May 7 2022 21:01 utc | 91
In response to Lucci@86,
The lack of defenses certainly undermines the theory that the island is important to the Russians or that it's acting as a crucial radar station. If Russian MOD is to be believed, there were 3 helicopters and 1 landing craft worth of soldiers expended on this operation -- were these meant to be used as mop-up crews in your opinion? But then, why would you mop up territory you have no intention of controlling? Doesn't make much sense.
Also, where are you getting your figures on Russian casualties?
Posted by: Skiffer | May 7 2022 21:06 utc | 92
Posted by: Skiffer | May 7 2022 21:06 utc | 90
The lack of defenses certainly undermines the theory that the island is important to the Russians or that it's acting as a crucial radar station.
Lest we 'forget' - The Russians are losing this war and have suffered extreme losses compounded by military ineptitude and weakness. Of course they had inadequate defense of the island. /sarc
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 7 2022 21:09 utc | 93
Rob @35
"Since I mistrust anything appearing in the Times (other than the crossword puzzle) I wonder what is the true story."
I mistrust anything appearing in the Times also and now I'm even suspicious of the crossword puzzle. I subscribe to the Times online to keep up to date on what is permissible thought for the American public. My wife and I work the puzzle every day and two or three weeks ago something funny happened. I was denied access to the puzzle. No explanation. Investigating further I found the Times wanted me to pay an extra $4 per month for the puzzle. No way would we do that. Then, a week or so later I tried to access the puzzle and it came up and has been up since. Again, no explanation. I wish I lived closer to a news stand because the print newspaper is much more substantial and it's harder for management to play tricks with the print edition.
Posted by: Chas | May 7 2022 21:14 utc | 94
Duma Speaker: Outlaw US Empire should be at top of War Criminals List. Outlaw US Empire's National Security Council confesses guilt:
"'[We're] regularly providing detailed, timely intelligence to the Ukrainians on the battlefield to help them defend their country against Russian aggression and will continue to do so.'"
Nice twisting of words. The Outlaw US Empire ensured its Kiev patsy would never implement what was mandated by International Law that the Empire itself approved--UNSCR-2022, Minsk-2; so, it's guilty of abetting the genocidal violence aimed at the people of Donbass. Biden, Obama, Clinton, Trump, Pompeo, Blinken, Sullivan, Nuland, and perhaps a dozen or so more from the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations all out to be in the dock for at minimum abetting Capital Crimes and for the crime of waging aggressive war, which is what was being done to the people of Donbass prior to 24 February 2022. International Arrest Warrants must be issued for them and executed.
It's well past time those criminals were removed from the streets, tried, have all their wealth confiscated when found guilty, and imprisoned.
In response to Tom_Q_Collins@91,
I don't know if I would buy that even if I believed it to be the case. As I wrote previously, the Russians aren't shy about giving up territory that they can't control, which even those immersed in Ukrainian propaganda know all too well since it gives them plenty of cause to celebrate. If the Russians could be bravely beaten back without a fight from their main target, which every expert in the world knows is and remains Kiev, then holding on to a tiny island with nothing seems uncharacteristic of them. Not like those brave Ukrainians who fought to the death using foul language.
Maybe the main culprit here is the incompetence.
Posted by: Skiffer | May 7 2022 21:21 utc | 96
#--Posted by: hopehely | May 7 2022 19:48 utc | 67
My hair's are united in suspecting you to be a crazy bald-head banging it against wind-mill. Or something similar.
Posted by: Anne B | May 7 2022 21:24 utc | 97
Sputnik item on "Snake" Island atack:
"Russia's Defence Ministry has stated that its forces shot down a number of Ukrainian military vehicles in the vicinity of the Zmeiniy island, which was taken under control by the Russian troops at the onset of the special operation.
"Namely, a Ukrainian Su-24 bomber, a Su-27 fighter jet and three Mil Mi-8 helicopters carrying assault groups had been downed, the ministry said. Additionally, two Turkish-made Bayraktar drones operated by Kiev's forces were shot down by air defences.
"The Defence Ministry's spokesman, Igor Konashenkov, further commented that Ukrainian landing craft Stanislav was destroyed at sea."
That's it.
Posted by: Activist Potato | May 7 2022 20:57 utc | 88
When and where will the stake in the heart be delivered so that the Global Village can be free of the vampire's terror?
July 4th would be a nice day for Elensky to sign the final unconditional surrender.
Posted by: Sarmat | May 7 2022 21:45 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
From the Workers Party of Britain: "What does the bombing of Serbia in the early 90s have to teach us about what's going on in Ukraine today? Red Star Radio's Alexander Mckay talks to investigative journalist Kit Klarenberg on the Milosevic government, the role that Western intelligence services played in bringing it down, and how this has been replicated in Ukraine since 2014."
Some might find this of interest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cElEYCCas1o&t=1s&ab_channel=WorkersPartyofBritain
Posted by: Castellio | May 7 2022 15:41 utc | 1