'Western' Media Spread Copium To Prolong The War In Ukraine
The war in Ukraine is clearly progressing in Russia's favor. That is why I am appalled by the incompetent descriptions in 'western' media of past and current operations in that war.
Consider this June 21 map of the Lysichansk cauldron as it was developing. The frontline extended over 125+ kilometers (78 miles).

bigger
Fourteen days later and the map looks like this.

bigger
The frontline has been shortened to 25 kilometer (15 miles). On Sunday the Russia Defense Ministry announced that it troops had 'liberated' 184 square kilometer over the last 24 hours.
When I was in the military my tank battalion was expected to operate on a generally five kilometer (3 miles) wide frontline. That was of course just a rule of thumb depending on the terrain and other circumstances. But we can expect that a Russian Battalion Tactical Group (BTC) has similar abilities of frontline coverage.
Russia needed some 25 BTCs to cover the frontline on June 21. It now needs only 5 BTC to cover the current line. There were and now are of course additional reserve troops and some BTC are rotated out as rested ones come in just as Russia's president has ordered them to do:
Shoigu told Putin that “the operation” was completed Sunday after Russian troops overran the city of Lysychansk, the last stronghold of Ukrainian forces in Luhansk.Putin, in turn, said that the military units “that took part in active hostilities and achieved success, victory” in Luhansk “should rest, increase their combat capabilities.”
In a week or two those BTCs which now rest and resupply will be back. They will create a new cauldron around Siversk and maybe Bakhmut, decimate the Ukrainian forces within it to then capture the whole area.
Despite this obvious path to progress for the Russian side the Associate Press headlines:
High cost of Russia gains in Ukraine could limit new advance
The only purported evidence of high Russian costs are the assertions of a 'military analyst in Ukraine' who claims that some Russian units lost half of their soldiers. I have seen nothing that would support such a claim.
The AP writer then adds this:
The limited manpower has forced the Russian commanders to avoid ambitious attempts to encircle large areas in the Donbas, opting for smaller maneuvers and relying on heavy artillery barrages to slowly force the Ukrainians to retreat.
Please. Look at the above maps. What did Russia just do? It had made an ambitious attempt to encircle a large are in Donbas and succeeded with the effort in just a few days. The Ukrainian army threw everything it had available into the cauldron and lost thousands of men while the Russian army avoided direct men against men fighting to minimize its own casualties.
So while the Ukrainians will also benefit from the now shorter frontline they have lost many soldiers and abandoned lots of equipment during the last weeks and will have difficulties to create any reserves.
There is absolutely no reason to believe that the Russian forces are not able to repeat the process over and over.
Copium pieces like the AP's one have the purpose of claiming that the Ukraine can still win the war and deserves wide support to achieve that.
Battlefield reality speaks against that. There is no chance that the Ukraine can gain superiority over the Russian army. No weapon delivery will help.
Yes, the HIMARS artillery system, directed by U.S. intelligence, can hit badly camouflage Russian weapon depots some kilometers behind the frontline as it did on two occasions so far. But Russia has no lack of ammunition and will take countermeasures to better protect it. Functioning armies always adapt to such challenges.
Any prolonging of the war will only lead to more deaths of Ukrainian soldiers, more wounded who will need care and more destruction. The only sane thing that can be done now is to press the Ukrainian president Zelensky to restart negotiations with Russia and admit the defeat of his troops.
Its much better to capitulate now instead of waiting for the Chechen leader Ramsan Kadyrov to come to Kiev and make him do so.
Posted by b on July 5, 2022 at 12:10 UTC | Permalink
next page »Russia’s capture of the Luhansk region was relatively quick and showed better coordination than in its earlier offensives, the United Kingdom’s defence ministry has said.
(Aljazeera)
Sounds like praise.
Posted by: ThusspakeZarathustra | Jul 5 2022 12:15 utc | 2
When asked about the shelling of Donetsk by the Ukies, Putin said in St. Petersburg, we'll go around those towns and fortified areas...
Posted by: ostro | Jul 5 2022 12:19 utc | 3
Excellent analysis as always b. The madness amongst the cognitively dissonant continues.
Posted by: Patroklos | Jul 5 2022 12:23 utc | 4
Posted by: ostro | Jul 5 2022 12:19 utc
Of course they will go around and leave them to whither, it's called common reasoning. The Zelensky regime gave a huge gift to Russians by throwing thousands of men into the setup cauldron, which means they won't be available anymore for next line of defense.
Posted by: unimperator | Jul 5 2022 12:25 utc | 5
Posted by: unimperator | Jul 5 2022 12:25 utc | 5
------------------------
Oh, it's not Ze running the show, but Nato...the failures are theirs...
Posted by: ostro | Jul 5 2022 12:30 utc | 6
Military Summary on youtube made the same calculation yesterday. Can you put a link to him as a second source?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAxyT1cRJq0
Posted by: Arne Hartmann | Jul 5 2022 12:32 utc | 7
Ostro @1
Cicero:
Abiit, excessit, evasit, erupit
Eric Idle:
When danger reared its ugly head
He bravely turned his tail and fled
Yes Brave Sir Robin turned about
And gallantly he chickened out
Bravely taking to his feet
He beat a very brave retreat
Posted by: Gt Stroller | Jul 5 2022 12:33 utc | 8
NG & Oil Price Increase
Reuters is reporting a strike by Norwegian offshore workers that is expected to reduce NG production by 25% by this Saturday:
OSLO, July 5 (Reuters) - Norwegian offshore oil and gas workers went on strike over pay on Tuesday, the first day of planned industrial action that could cut the country's gas output by almost a quarter and exacerbate supply shortages in the wake of the Ukraine war.
About 15% of Norway's oil output could also be cut by Saturday, according to a Reuters calculation based on the plans of union members to gradually escalate their action over the coming days.
SOURCE:
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/norwegian-oil-gas-workers-start-strike-cutting-output-2022-07-04/
While it is not possible to predict the exact dollar value of any subsequent global rise in the price of oil and gas it can be predicted that in the current market this strike will have significant price effect.
This price effect will have greatest impact of those nations which consume the greatest share of world FF production. The US fills this role and is responsible for 40% of world FF consumption.
Posted by: Sushi | Jul 5 2022 12:41 utc | 9
Rome had "Triumphs". NATO has Biden falling off his bicycle. Afghanistan first year, the Ukraine second year, will they go for the trifecta in Taiwan?
Posted by: par4 | Jul 5 2022 12:42 utc | 10
Yesterday, July 4, the French state radio station France Inter invited three 'specialists' onto its morning news programme to 'analyse' the Ukraine war. I must emphasise that France Inter has aired nothing but Russophobic lies (I am not in the least exaggerating - their reports on allegations of Russian rapes of Ukrainian women were worthy of Goebbels) since the beginning of the SMO, so the three 'specialists' were really there just to reassure listeners that the Russian/LPR victory in Lysichansk did not actually mean that Russia was winning anything. One of the 'specialists' made an outlandish claim which I had not previously heard anywhere, to the effect that the Russian Black Sea fleet had lost 'a third' of its vessels.
Does anyone here have any information about the state of the Black Sea fleet, which I had thought was standing off Odessa or busy escorting merchant ships entering and leaving the liberated ports in the Sea of Azov? And, I assume, helping protect the Kersh Bridge.
For anyone who has not yet seen it, I would recommend the interview (in English) of Dima, the producer of the Military Summary channel, which was linked by a commenter on the previous open thread. The interviewer asks good questions, and Dima gives interesting answers. Someone might like to repost the link here - I'm afraid I'm useless at that sort of thing. The interview lasts 44 minutes, but is well worth it.
Posted by: B. Wildered | Jul 5 2022 12:47 utc | 11
The day Odessa falls, is the day that this war will be over. Russia will not quit until it freed the Russian population of this land, while securing all future attempts at Transitria by the West, and most importantly to them, avenging the Odessa Massacre of 8 years ago! Once Russia has Secured the entire former Ukrainian Coast Line for NovoRussia, This war will finally Come to end.
How long this will take, is anyone's guess. But the longer this process takes, the stronger Russia becomes, and the weaker the West then becomes.
it's in Russia's interest to take it slow, save as many Russian lives in the process,and drain out as much western Resources and NATO weapons as possible!
Posted by: BurnEye Minds3rdEye | Jul 5 2022 12:48 utc | 12
It is a matter of probabilities until the HIMARS are destroyed, clumped with the attrition rate of other Ukrainian equipment.
Their inflated propaganda value will be just as effective with their destruction. Maybe more so as false hope is made transparent.
Posted by: too scents | Jul 5 2022 12:50 utc | 13
As Bernie Kerik, the former NYC police commissioner under Giuliani said, once the MSM broke a story on something, the FBI was on the case that very minute. That is why MSM is not breaking the story of whatever is happening in Ukraine. If it were, there would be heads on pikes and some serious trials. And that is the power of MSM and ultimately the pleasure principle (à la Freud): it is more pleasurable to believe in illusions (and for MSM to sell crap) than face the reality.
Posted by: Jonathan W | Jul 5 2022 12:52 utc | 14
If he fell of his bike to celebrate his Afghan defeat he’ll have to at least fall off a horse to celebrate the Yooks one.
Posted by: FrancoiseMitterand | Jul 5 2022 12:58 utc | 15
For copium plus delusion see here:
Yes, Pompeo is the former administration. Think a moment of his resumé. Still considered a serious person even if most at this bar disagree.
This is a major speech and a programme. Read it or any part of it you can stomach. China and Russia the enemy. The Lighthouses of Freedom are Ukraine Israel Taiwan. Let's have a war.
Posted by: oldhippie | Jul 5 2022 13:03 utc | 16
Gen Jack Keane on 7/2, in his own twitter account declares that Ukraine will have the opportunity to go on the offensive in the upcoming weeks ...
https://twitter.com/gen_jackkeane/status/1543263183376453634
And he repeated the lies that Russia is blocking cargo ships from shipping grain. The man who singlehandedly convinced Trump to steal Syria's oil fields is accusing Putin of being evil.
Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | Jul 5 2022 13:08 utc | 17
Not that it changes the overall thrust of the article but there could have been a lot more exploding russian ammo depots than just two. I didn't ask for references but I could:
https://twitter.com/antiwar_soldier/status/1541484544548798464
Posted by: Tuyzentfloot | Jul 5 2022 13:12 utc | 18
all Ukrainian defence ideas have failed so far: Trenches, Defence in Depth, natural defence lines (rivers), fortifying cities, maintaining high ground with artillery, superior manpower. The only thing left to try is building an old school defensive line - e.g. strong defensive walls that can withstand long term artillery pounding.
Backseat General time, if i were commanding - Build a huge defensive line in the same vein of the Lines of Torres Vedras modified with steel reinforced concrete fortifications and inbuilt protection for defensive artillery; placed on the west bank of the Dnipro River.
Posted by: Jeff | Jul 5 2022 13:15 utc | 19
I have never read much of Marxism. But I have tried for over 50 years to get a handle on philosophy to understand larger trends and smaller trends with always a focus on practice.
This SMO has been an education in military tactics and a front row seat in the collapse of the US empire.
I have been struck by the intellectual power of the Russian statements both from Putin and others.
I am going to link a video by a young American philosopher and anarchist who is introducing into Western thought the idea of movement. He takes a deep dive into Marx connection to movement. (I am reading his book "Theory of the Earth" which is about movement) A few weeks ago when I first heard that the US has colonized Europe it seemed to me to be a profound insight. Well, it was already here in Marx.
Easy to understand video of an interview of Thomas Nail.
"
Zer0 Books
87.5K subscribers
On this episode, Will and Adam from Acid Horizon speak with Thomas Nail about his book “Marx in Motion: A New Materialist Marxism”. They discuss the origins of Marx’s theory of matter based on his doctoral dissertation on Epicurean philosophy, his critique of rigid atomism, and his dynamic theory of matter in motion that reveals its innate capacity for transformation. Thomas explains the centrality of the notion of movement to notions of labor and valuation in the first volume of Marx’s Capital, as well as his innovative claim that Marx’s theory of value was not one based on labor, but one based on seeing value as a delusion of seeing the products of productive motions as commodities whose qualities were entirely disconnected from those processes—a delusion grounded in the very origins of value itself in primitive accumulation, dispossession, appropriation, and enslavement under Racial Capitalism. Thomas’ work challenges the various revolutions in Marxist interpretation since Engels and boldly asks how we can transform a Marxism based on movement, to a movement based on Marxism."
"Kinetic Marxism: An Interview with Thomas Nail
5,143 views Apr 24, 2022"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It3G-ELD2rU
Posted by: Don Midwest | Jul 5 2022 13:19 utc | 20
As long as a case can be made for the Ukrainians "winning" the war, Western politicians can justify sending materiel to Zelenskyy's regime, thereby meeting the following objectives:
a) Virtue-signal their support for "democracy" and "freedom", two things they are completely uninterested in strengthening in their own countries;
b) Transferring yet more wealth from Western taxpayers to their friends and sponsors in the MIC;
c) Transferring yet more wealth from Western taxpayers to their friends and sponsors in the financial sector, who win bigly from the deficit spending;
d) Weakening Russia by draining its manpower and resources;
e) killing more Ukrainians, making them even more Russophobic and West-leaning than they already are
And of course, as long as the West keeps supplying armaments to Ukraine, the Zelenskyy's regime will be able to dragoon its military-aged men (and women and disabled) into marching off to become cannon-fodder.
It's almost unfathomably wicked.
Posted by: Observer | Jul 5 2022 13:20 utc | 21
Posted by: oldhippie | Jul 5 2022 13:03 utc | 16
Yes Pompeo explains once more the neocon project on behalf of the Straussian entity..the same words that Wolfowitz used in his infamous doctrine.
The pillars of the Us Outlaw Empire ideology,nothing more,just the same stinking shit repeated.
Posted by: LuBa | Jul 5 2022 13:22 utc | 22
Rome had "Triumphs". NATO has Biden falling off his bicycle. Afghanistan first year, the Ukraine second year, will they go for the trifecta in Taiwan?
Posted by: par4 | Jul 5 2022 12:42 utc | 10
The Baltic's western forces build-up must be a leading candidate for a coming NATO fiasco failure...
Posted by: ERing46Z | Jul 5 2022 13:25 utc | 23
Pompeo bragged that when he headed the CIA they lied, cheated, and stole. Now he wants WWIII against Russia and China. Belongs in a mental hospital.
Posted by: Richard | Jul 5 2022 13:26 utc | 24
e) killing more Ukrainians, making them even more Russophobic and West-leaning than they already are
And of course, as long as the West keeps supplying armaments to Ukraine, the Zelenskyy's regime will be able to dragoon its military-aged men (and women and disabled) into marching off to become cannon-fodder.
It's almost unfathomably wicked.
Posted by: Observer | Jul 5 2022 13:20 utc | 21
Even better: getting rid of surplus Ukrainians without getting blamed for it. When are you considered military-aged in Ukraine now? Starting from age12?
The Ukrainian General Staff confirmed the ban for men of military age to travel outside their hometown/settlement without good reason. It will make it so much simpler to round them up. What will be considered good reasons?
Posted by: Martina | Jul 5 2022 13:30 utc | 25
Posted by: BurnEye Minds3rdEye | Jul 5 2022 12:48 utc | 12
-------------------------------
The SMO (or the war) will end, when Russia makes the US to take out its military bases to the 1997 level, as per the original demand. Russia usually doesn't dilute their demands, so it means until the failure of the US/NATO.
Posted by: ostro | Jul 5 2022 13:31 utc | 26
From IntelSlava
🇺🇦⚡War to the last Ukrainian is now officialThe Ukrainian General Staff confirmed the ban for men of military age to travel outside their hometown/settlement without good reason.
This measure is being taken in order to reduce the number of evaders from the next wave of mobilization in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
https://t.me/intelslava/32573
Posted by: Down South | Jul 5 2022 13:34 utc | 27
What will be considered good reasons?
Posted by: Martina | Jul 5 2022 13:30 utc | 25
---
The Rosh Hashana Kibbutz in Uman?
Posted by: too scents | Jul 5 2022 13:35 utc | 28
Posted by: Down South | Jul 5 2022 13:34 utc | 27
---------------------
By Ze being a Jew, it is understandable...the Ukrainians are Slavs...
Posted by: ostro | Jul 5 2022 13:39 utc | 30
I remember B’s analysis from nearly two months ago. At that point the Ukies had been fixed in place by brilliant Russian strategy and were going to be totally destroyed. As the Russians shorten the front with all the cauldrons surrounding 10’s of thousands. (I thought as many as 100000 were trapped in the Donbas cauldron).
WHERE ARE THE 10’s OF THOUSANDS OF PRISONERS ?
Where is s the rapid movement sweeping up all the demoralized fleeing Ukrainians.
Where is the strategic victory?
A 184 sq kilometers “ liberated over 24 hrs equals an advance along the 25 kilometer front line of 7.5 kilometers. As I have said for 6 weeks, it will be September before Putin gets to the Dnipier. A month to take Kharkov another month to take Odessa. That gives NATO to December to build its defenses west of the Dneiper.
Putin and his generals know the war will “grind” on like WWI. DEFENSE in modern war can only be defeated either through annihilation or through movement. After the destruction their mobile columns suffered in March, Putins generals seem gun shy and are going to stick with artillery annihilation.
Putin know that it will be next year at the earliest that his SMO could conceivably be called successful. By then of course he will have to deal with the insurgence in the occupied zones (the war NATO thought they would be supporting, but Putins failure allowed them to wage a high kinetic war as well—a god-send to NATO since they now know how their weapons and strategies stack up—meanwhile the Russians have learned nothing that will help them in the future.
Posted by: Wobblie | Jul 5 2022 13:43 utc | 31
@Wobblie | Jul 5 2022 13:43 utc | 31
---
What are you doing to prepare for shortages this Winter?
Posted by: too scents | Jul 5 2022 13:46 utc | 32
The Ukie War was precipitated by the US Deep State and NATO Poodles as a last ditch effort to derail the transfer of global power from declining/bankrupt Uni-Polar Hyperpower and their fiat-based reserve currency to the BRICS-based Multi-Polar Global order led by Russia-and China. The latter will be financed by a commodities based monetary basked. The transfer was swift and decisive as noted recently by Putin. The goal of using the Ukie war to instigate Regime Change in Russia looks to have been a dismal fail.
Russia will finish up its operations in a few months in accord with their goals announced at the outset of the SMO. Russia will turn East and South. The BRICS will consolidate; others will join them; the West will shrivel into a Green New Dark Ages, and that will be that... unless the West goes MAD and ends it all for everyone..
Posted by: Posa | Jul 5 2022 13:51 utc | 33
I have come around to thinking that NATO and its ugly sibling the EU are, if not an actual reincarnation of Nazi Germany, then at least an extension of 1920-30's European Fascism under new management.
Posted by: Alex in Oz | Jul 5 2022 13:53 utc | 35
[email protected] was suggested that it's not manpower or weapons that Ukraine troops lack, they just have no Anti Flame Thrower Devices, guess a garden hose is out. He was saying once the Ukrainians know they are facing Russian flame throwers they basically run away. Can't says I blame them.
Cheers M
Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Jul 5 2022 13:54 utc | 36
Only right wing Fascists, the people Putin claims to be fighting, use the term "copium".
Posted by: Inkan1969 | Jul 5 2022 13:58 utc | 37
Thanks for the final link of your thorough and comprehensive military analysis b,
Here it is again for those who need a laugh:
https://twitter.com/AZmilitary1/status/1544122725173760002
Game set and match.
Posted by: Paul | Jul 5 2022 13:59 utc | 38
Some items have disappeared from the presentation/discussion on MoA. My guess is, this change in the focus of the MSM (or is it you, dear barflies?) is another evidence of UA's victories:
(1) Russian atrocities have been successfully suppressed; No mass rapes and these typical heaps of corpses with arms bound in their backs in the streets anymore.
(2) Which food crisis?
(3) In spite of some limited area gains and temporary occupation of a few third-tier settlements by the aggressors, evacuation corridors for civilians are neither needed to be negotiated for weeks in advance, nor are they subject to Russian shelling anymore.
(4) From the occupied territories, little is heard of forceful deportations (of children in the first place) to Siberia and worse (probably organ donor butcheries).
(5) German state TV, however, showed 2 or 3 days ago a 7 y/o girl, dissolved in tears, pressing the obligatory teddy bear. As we were told, she boarded her parent's passenger car to leave Lisichansk. Trough the battle area, I take. I coud'nt sleep that night. - So, they DO HAVE reporters AT SITE, and that's what they come up with?
Posted by: OttoE | Jul 5 2022 14:13 utc | 39
Inkan1969 | Jul 5 2022 13:58 utc | 37
Nobody gives a shit about your taboos. Fuck off into your 46B's crinkly brown starfish.
Posted by: sippy the shot glass | Jul 5 2022 14:14 utc | 40
4th July greetings to the many real US patriots this site. The rest of the world team is relying on you.
Posted by: Paul | Jul 5 2022 14:17 utc | 41
@37 by sippy the shot glass
If you got a problem with the color brown you can't say you care about the people struggling in developing nations...
Posted by: Inkan1969 | Jul 5 2022 14:18 utc | 42
Any prolonging of the war will only lead to more deaths of Ukrainian soldiers, more wounded who will need care and more destruction. The only sane thing that can be done now is to press the Ukrainian president Zelensky to restart negotiations with Russia and admit the defeat of his troops.
I disagree! The Ukranian army needs to be destroyed or at least neutered, as in surrender as POWs and then re-educated like the Chinese re-education of the radical militants in Xinjiang. Otherwise, they pose a repeating potential threat to Russia once peace is restored.
The Russian objectives should be the liberation of the entire southern and eastern of Ukraine. Since they have paid a very heavy price with these "mother of all sanctions" sanctions, this is compensation of what they lost. This is only fair financially, economically, militarily, and geopolitically.
Posted by: Sam Smith | Jul 5 2022 14:20 utc | 43
A nation that can swiftly forget a 20-year, trillion-dollar disaster in Afghanistan can easily process the defeat of Ukraine through its amnesia machine. What will not be forgotten will be the defeat of U.S. naval forces in the Pacific in a war with China. That debacle will put an end to the Neocon pathology.
Posted by: HH | Jul 5 2022 14:22 utc | 44
If you know Russian, listen to a discussion between a Russian and Ukrainians, and how/why suddenly the Ukrainians go offline...https://youtu.be/HUsqcEcX0zE
Posted by: ostro | Jul 5 2022 14:24 utc | 45
[copium]
Posted by: Wobblie | Jul 5 2022 13:43 utc | 31
Yeah, Putin's failure, Wobblie. Fail fail. The SMO will take MONTHS, what a complete failure. What a failure he is. It was our schemes that made him fail, see? Totally fail. We outplayed him. He failed. Because Russians are so stupid and incompetent.
All the dreams and hare-brained schemes of the blood bath of Russian soldiers head on to the conrete fortifications of Donbass, total annhiliation (we like that word, right?) of Russians and Ukrainians, eternal hate, the victory of Good, what happened? He failed.
Well, on to more copium dreams now, one more shot, lets "insurgence" and "high kinetic war". Are you with me, Dr. Tzu?
Posted by: veto | Jul 5 2022 14:25 utc | 46
In the haze and fog of the propaganda I wonder how those lightly armed territorial defence groupings really think about this disaster. It is truly amazing how weak we all really are against a system bent on our destruction.
Posted by: circumspect | Jul 5 2022 14:28 utc | 47
The last ~5 days have shown a level and scale of mobility of the Russian forces as they took the whole of Luhansk that we haven't seen since March.
Some "fighting retreat" (in the words of Ukraine's apologists) to leave Lysychansk and the Lysychansk-Artemovsk road strewn with abandoned weapons and damaged UAF vehicles.
Posted by: Cesare | Jul 5 2022 14:30 utc | 48
And he repeated the lies that Russia is blocking cargo ships from shipping grain. The man who singlehandedly convinced Trump to steal Syria's oil fields is accusing Putin of being evil.
Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | Jul 5 2022 13:08 utc | 17
Interesting????
History tells that the US military illegal oil theft and occupation of the Syrian oil and gas fields. Actually began in 2015 under the failed promises of 'new hope'. One President Barack Obama. A man who doubled down on the USSA's endless war crimes committed by the USSA military after 2008.........
Posted by: Bad Deal Motors On | Jul 5 2022 14:41 utc | 50
Hopefully the Chechen Yelenskyy video becomes real very soon. Let it be at the time of Russia s choosing.
Posted by: Longtrail | Jul 5 2022 14:42 utc | 51
Next Monday, July 11, Russia will close the important Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline for regular maintenance. The German government is concerned that the work will not be limited to the usual two weeks.
The pipe could remain permanently closed under the pretext of technical problems.
The consequences of a complete cut-off would be catastrophic: all gas importers would be forced to buy fuel as a substitute on the world market, at prices six times higher than before. As the old low prices would still be sold to end consumers, the entire supply industry would go into a state of insolvency. The energy market would collapse.
Even, Die Welt is whining...😋
Posted by: ostro | Jul 5 2022 14:43 utc | 52
The only infrastructure Western leaders are trying to keep propped up is the corrupt back channels that allow this "aid" to flow into offshore bank accounts. That has always been Ukraine's best feature for them.
Posted by: Gs | Jul 5 2022 14:45 utc | 53
@Inkan1969 | Jul 5 2022 13:58 utc | 37
The link you presented refutes your babble. The term "copium", according to it, was first used mainly by Republican leaning netizens (not necessarily Nazis unless you would call half of US electorate fascists) to troll Democrats unable to cope with Hillary's defeat and looking for excuses and self-consolation. That way, "copium" became a popular term, a "meme" as some will call it, all over the internet, and the article describes its usage on game streaming platforms like Twitch.
All these gamers Nazis? Gimme a break. Copium, hopium etc. are expressions of the creativity of English language in wordplays and mockery. Live with it.
Posted by: aquadraht | Jul 5 2022 14:47 utc | 54
@Inkan1969 | Jul 5 2022 14:18 utc | 42
Army Broadcast Officer 46B MOS Job Detail Advises the commander and public affairs officer on all matters pertaining to use of electronic media.
Language policing, in the form "Only [inferior people] say [in-group word that has already been genericized]" is a form rarely used by anyone who is not a professional propagandist on assignment. I already saw that shit deployed once this year.
The Western value system creates the kind of submissive mental cripples that need an imaginary friend or a cadre to tell them what to do. You can keep that trash, both parties, your social Darwinism woo-woo that you stole from the Indians, and all your other childish "contests" and trophies to yourself. Nothing of value was lost.
Posted by: sippy the shot glass | Jul 5 2022 14:49 utc | 55
head of the DPR denis pushilin just signed a decree that no AFU artillery men are to be captured as prisoners, even if surrendered. id say that about sums up how they feel at the moment.
Posted by: hankster | Jul 5 2022 14:50 utc | 56
@Longtrail | Jul 5 2022 14:39 utc | 49
Test
Pro Test (SCNR)
Posted by: aquadraht | Jul 5 2022 14:50 utc | 57
This is a pretty impressive feat of engineering.
Railway workers of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation built a pontoon crossing in the special operation zone in six days. ==> https://tvzvezda.ru/news/202275435-hjOIF.html
Posted by: too scents | Jul 5 2022 14:52 utc | 58
Oh the Modern Wonders of Barrel+Rocket Artillery, Thermobaric Munitions, Drone Targeting, and Close Air Support.
That being said, the Western MSM are Controlled by their States and MIC; and they presently rely only from UKRoNazi, Embedded-Guided Journos, NATO Military, and Intel/SpecOps/Merc Sources.
Also, MICs can't reveal Unpopular Trends, since the Masses are Fickle and NATO+EU Member-Govt Funding are Fueling this Racket and Kiev.
This has been an Epic ClusterFail with Irreparable Economic Damage to the EuroZone - cascading from the Failing Energy Provisions. Yet, the Idiot Schemers (Biden, Blinken, Austin, Nudelman-Khagan, Sullivan, Von der Leyen, Borrel, StoltenTURD, and Kolomoiskyy-Zelenskyy) are seeking to keep this ClusterFrack continue as some sort of Insurgency while keeping Kiev from Collapsing.
Posted by: IronForge | Jul 5 2022 14:53 utc | 59
Two cents at 32
Growing as many vegetables as I can. Going to on-line auctions and buying useful tools. Got me two sledges, a pick axe, and some very old specialized tools that I need to investigate in a lot I got for 6.00 US. Looking for more Mason and Ball jars. Trying to convince the wife to let me get a goat and some chickens.
Spending some time everyday agitating against the war—kinda like wading into the sociopathic warmongers here, I visit US Pro-Democratic party sites and agitate against the war.
Ruling Classes of all types and nationalities are working folks enemy.
Posted by: Wobblie | Jul 5 2022 14:55 utc | 60
@ ostro | Jul 5 2022 13:39 utc | 30
By Ze being a Jew, it is understandable...the Ukrainians are Slavs...
So is Ze. So are most Jews.
Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Jul 5 2022 14:59 utc | 61
Posted by: Observer | Jul 5 2022 13:20 utc | 21
f) using the conflict as cover and explanation for the ongoing managed collapsed of Western polities.
Posted by: Scorpion | Jul 5 2022 15:08 utc | 62
Must _ not _ feed _ the _ trolls! Wow that's hard sometimes lol :D
Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Jul 5 2022 15:10 utc | 63
Small typing error:
Functioning armies always adopt to such challenges.
I believe you meant:
Functioning armies always adapt to such challenges.
Thanks for the article.
@51
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramzan_Kadyrov
Kadyrov has adopted a macho image where he frequently poses with guns and military garb, as well as displaying his opulent wealth.
Kadyrov has been personally implicated in several instances of torture and murder. A number of Chechens opposed to Kadyrov have been assassinated abroad, and several witnesses (including Artur Kurmakaev and Ruslan Khalidov) report the existence of a 300 name "Murder List". Chechens who have been murdered, where Kadyrov's involvement is suspected, include Movladi Baisarov and Ruslan Yamadayev (both Moscow); Sulim Yamadayev (Dubai); Gazhi Edilsutanov, Islam Dzahnibekov, Ali Osaev (Istanbul); and Umar Israilov (Vienna).
Kadyrov has previously encouraged extrajudicial killings of homosexual men by family members as an alternative to law enforcement – in some cases, gay men in prison have been released early specifically to enable their murder by relatives.
The video comes off as thuggish bullying that you'd expect from a small-penis man.
Posted by: Inkan1969 | Jul 5 2022 15:22 utc | 65
Posted by: aquadraht | Jul 5 2022 14:47 utc | 54
"Copium, hopium etc. are expressions of the creativity of English language in wordplays and mockery. Live with it."
I missed copium, not being a partisan or living in US, but I first encountered hopium a right-leaning comment section and thought it brilliant. I gather it was a term coined (or borrowed?) by disillusioned QAnoners who decided that they had been played and who were using it to chide those of their old fellow followers who were unable to move on.
I suspect quite a few of them are no longer avid Trump fans. But hard core political junkies are probably less than 3% of the movement so....
Posted by: Scorpion | Jul 5 2022 15:23 utc | 66
@43
I think the mistake Russians did is not targeting the nazi leadership, military or civilian. It seems, after months, they've finally started to strike generals with missiles but far from enough.
Because fighting the regular army is one thing, the nazis and mercenaries another and the leadership including nato advisors a third thing. Since 2014 this was a terrorist state, killing civilians for fun as they did even today. As long as the government, all nazi leaders and military leadership is perfectly fine, like they are now, it won't be any major improvement in the former Ukr. They don't even need an army to explode each week something or to shoot civilian airplanes or ships.
Posted by: rk | Jul 5 2022 15:27 utc | 67
@ OttoE | Jul 5 2022 14:13 utc | 39
Some items have disappeared from the presentation/discussion on MoA.
No, not "disappeared." We simply choose to deal in facts, rather than unsubstantiated rumors generated by a propaganda machine that is notorious for lying about any and everything it can build a deceit on.
(1) Russian atrocities have been successfully suppressed; No mass rapes and these typical heaps of corpses with arms bound in their backs in the streets anymore.
Where's the evidence for any of that? The "heaps of corpses with arms bound in [sic] their backs" have been in virtually every case conclusively proven to be murdered by the Ukronazis. In contrast, Russia has opened its prison camps to the Red Cross and all reports so far are that all prisoners--including the Nazi ones--are being treated humanely.
(2) Which food crisis?
There's no food crisis in Russia or the rest of Asia.
The food crisis you're talking about is the one created by NATO, the West, and their idiotic sanctions regime. That's got nothing to do with Russia or Russian actions.
(3) In spite of some limited area gains and temporary occupation of a few third-tier settlements by the aggressors, evacuation corridors for civilians are neither needed to be negotiated for weeks in advance, nor are they subject to Russian shelling anymore.
Your geography is shit, mate. Donetsk, Luhansk, Mariupol, Kherson, Sievierodonetsk, and Lisichansk are literally the largest cities in Eastern Ukraine and form most of the commercial and industrial backbone of the entire Ukraine. Russia is now moving on Kharkiv (IIRC it's the 2nd most important city in Ukraine after Kiev?) and has advanced to the outskirts of Siversk and has already taken two key villages in its advance on Bakhmut--again, towards which it is rapidly advancing. After taking the Siversk-Soledar-Bakhmut line, an advance towards . Izyum is taken, and Russia is preparing there for an advance on Sloviansk and Kramatorsk--again, both major industrial centers. Finally, all reports are that Russia is in advanced preparations for a move that will ultimate target Odessa.
(4) From the occupied territories, little is heard of forceful deportations (of children in the first place) to Siberia and worse (probably organ donor butcheries).
"Little is heard" of it because these are totally unsubstantiated rumors without any facts to back them up and clearly originating in Ukronazi and US "intelligence" agencies, both of which are notorious for simply making any old nonsense up to try and make it look like they reperesent the "good guys" and the "other guys" are the "bad guys."
It's called "propaganda." You need to look that word up, especially since it seems you're a paid propagandist working out of some US military rumor-mill.
(5) German state TV, however, showed 2 or 3 days ago a 7 y/o girl, dissolved in tears, pressing the obligatory teddy bear. As we were told, she boarded her parent's passenger car to leave Lisichansk. Trough the battle area, I take. I coud'nt sleep that night.
Nonsense. You slept like a baby in your GI bed, cooled down by GI air-conditioning in your GI barracks. You probably got drunk on GI beer, I'm guessing, and had a big laugh with your GI friends about how stupid all those people on Twitter are.
So, they DO HAVE reporters AT SITE, and that's what they come up with?
If you saw this on German corporate-sponsored television then what you saw wasn't a "report" by a "journalist" but a bit of corporate-sponsored propaganda by a paid liar who was sent to try and convince you that the Russians are the "bad guys."
Yes, there have been lots of people leaving the newly liberated areas of the Donbass for Belorussia and Russia. The reason is simple: after Russia liberates a city, the Ukronazis bomb the shit out of it in a bid to murder as many civilians and destroy as many of their homes and infrastructure as they possibly can. Thus, busloads and planeloads of those people go elsewhere in order to keep themselves safe.
My guess is your "reporter" showed you a video of a crying little girl who was leaving without the accompaniment of one or both of her parents. There could be any number of reasons for that:
A) Mother/Father got murdered by a Ukronazi shell coming down on him/her so the surviving parent is staying behind to look after what's left of their home;
B) Mother is already established in Russia, and Father is staying behind while little girl gets sent along to Mama;
C) Ma & Pa are sending the little girl to live with relatives while they both stay to look after their home/business/possessions
D) Little girl's parents got killed and she's being sent to relatives in Russia.
Lots of different reasons why she's being sent away, and "to the Gulag" is just the dumbest choice anyone could possibly choose to believe among them.
Go crawl back under a rock you paid liar, you.
Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Jul 5 2022 15:32 utc | 68
Posted by: Wobblie | Jul 5 2022 14:55 utc | 60
- self-righteous landowner speaking for proles: check
- of the anti-war persuasion that will argue with Yemeni and Palestinians that they're wrong to take up arms to defend their civilians: check
- coaching warring countries from the biggest warmongering country of the last century: check
- knows Putin's mind (a classic): check
- believes however in sound strategy, not the Putin kind, like Shock and Awe (if you're not razing towns you're doing something wrong): check
Posted by: Lemming | Jul 5 2022 15:34 utc | 69
I really should remember to hit "Edit" before "Post"....
* After taking the Siversk-Soledar-Bakhmut line, an advance towards . Izyum is taken, and Russia is preparing there for an advance on Sloviansk and Kramatorsk
==> Izyum is taken, and after taking the Siversk-Soledar-Bakhmut line (which looks like will be completed quite soon) Russia will advance towards Sloviansk and Kramatorsk....
Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Jul 5 2022 15:35 utc | 70
The west and the current state of capitalism operates on the principle of “yes, but what have you done for me lately.” All else in the past disappears into a fog. Of human potential, it doesn’t exist unless it gets a paycheck or produces. And such “great men” are motivated by greed and ambition, and are made.
Posted by: Geoff | Jul 5 2022 15:37 utc | 71
Posted by: Inkan1969 | Jul 5 2022 15:22 utc | 66
-----------------------------------------------
Wikipedia is a US organisation...it is the same shit as in other MSM...
Posted by: pppp | Jul 5 2022 15:38 utc | 72
"Putin and his generals know the war will “grind” on like WWI. DEFENSE in modern war can only be defeated either through annihilation or through movement. After the destruction their mobile columns suffered in March, Putins generals seem gun shy and are going to stick with artillery annihilation.
Putin know that it will be next year at the earliest that his SMO could conceivably be called successful. By then of course he will have to deal with the insurgence in the occupied zones (the war NATO thought they would be supporting, but Putins failure allowed them to wage a high kinetic war as well—a god-send to NATO since they now know how their weapons and strategies stack up—meanwhile the Russians have learned nothing that will help them in the future."
Posted by: Wobblie | Jul 5 2022 13:43 utc | 31
------------------------------------------------------
If only those "multiple Russian columns" had a defense for the UKIE Unicorns that fired "rainbow energy beams" from the arses!
ODDD, I only remember one 40-mile long Russian column and it was able to easily withdraw, after serving it's purpose as a "decoy" fixing 100K UKIE forces in Kiev!
Posted by: QTTO | Jul 5 2022 15:41 utc | 73
@74
And Pentagon was asked about that column and they said they don't know where it went. It was so funny
Posted by: rk | Jul 5 2022 15:43 utc | 74
Transferring yet more wealth from Western taxpayers to their friends and sponsors in the financial sector, who win bigly from the deficit spending;Posted by: Observer | Jul 5 2022 13:20 utc | 21
The biggest holders of government debt are other government departments/agencies, foreign governments and banks, public and private pension funds. True, the domestic finance industry makes some money on the processing (buy/sell/management) of these debt instruments, but it is measured in fractions of pennies.
https://www.thebalance.com/who-owns-the-u-s-national-debt-3306124
Also note that all the annual profits of the Federal Reserve, after dividends to Member Banks, are paid to the US Treasury. That was $86.9 billion in 2020 and 2021 is projected to be over $100 billion.
https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-a25e9ec2b6ebdb055e52f6eb37f12212
Posted by: Opport Knocks | Jul 5 2022 15:44 utc | 75
Thomas explains the centrality of the notion of movement to notions of labor and valuation in the first volume of Marx’s Capital, as well as his innovative claim that Marx’s theory of value was not one based on labor, but one based on seeing value as a delusion of seeing the products of productive motions as commodities whose qualities were entirely disconnected from those processes—a delusion grounded in the very origins of value itself in primitive accumulation, dispossession, appropriation, and enslavement under Racial Capitalism. Thomas’ work challenges the various revolutions in Marxist interpretation since Engels and boldly asks how we can transform a Marxism based on movement, to a movement based on Marxism."
"Kinetic Marxism: An Interview with Thomas Nail
5,143 views Apr 24, 2022"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It3G-ELD2rU
Posted by: Don Midwest | Jul 5 2022 13:19 utc | 20
Sounds interesting. The connection between a man and his tools is indeed a deep one. An old tool is an old friend. And yes, accumulation is a fundamentally stupid idea. Less is more. There must be some boundaries, some limits, some notion of just measure.
Posted by: Bemildred | Jul 5 2022 15:47 utc | 76
Meanwhile, away from the goose-noises of Western hegemonists, China is on its way to being the global energy superpower. Here's a small item:
Construction of 270GW of pumped storage is to begin by 2025. This will follow the 62GW that was planned for the 14th 5-year-plan, covering 2021-2025.
China already has the majority of the world's renewable electric generation, as well as supplying much of what is deployed elsewhere globally. Looking at what's in the pipeline, China leads across the board in deployment rate of pretty much everything to do with modern energy systems that I can think of. Vital supplies of hydrocarbons and mineral resources are secured via Russia and Central Asia, thanks to the self-destruct policies inexplicably forced on the EU by Washington.
Posted by: ptb | Jul 5 2022 15:49 utc | 77
@ B. Wildered | Jul 5 2022 12:47 utc | 11
Here is the original post message with links:
Interesting interview with Dima of military summary you tube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k_KfSJWF8I This channel provides excellent objective analysis of the military situation - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUnc496-PPmFZVKlYxUnToA
Posted by: suzan | Jul 5 2022 15:49 utc | 78
Apparently much of the new speed and efficiency of the Russian assault is down to a new type of flame-thrower the tanks are armed with. I'm guessing this is gas-powered, capable of a much longer range than old fashioned flame-throwers, and very, very much hotter - we're talking about virtually vaporising troops directly in its path - even troops off to the side are pretty much toast - witnessed the very charred corpses in troops phone- images/videos. Faced with this, Ukrainian forces are just running.
Posted by: Gerry Bell | Jul 5 2022 15:51 utc | 79
Pacifica Advocate | Jul 5 2022 15:32 utc | 69
____
Thank you for a devastating point by point rebuttal. An aspiring presstitute, Ottoe is likely slink off with his ill-gotten paycheck.
Posted by: Doug Hillman | Jul 5 2022 15:52 utc | 80
Interesting thread on the measures Russia is taking to defend the Kerch Strait Bridge.
https://twitter.com/CovertShores/status/1544060460290478084
Posted by: too scents | Jul 5 2022 15:57 utc | 81
A 184 sq kilometers “ liberated over 24 hrs equals an advance along the 25 kilometer front line of 7.5 kilometers. As I have said for 6 weeks, it will be September before Putin gets to the Dnipier. A month to take Kharkov another month to take Odessa. That gives NATO to December to build its defenses west of the Dneiper.
Posted by: Wobblie | Jul 5 2022 13:43 utc | 31
Dude, the new front line is 25 km long, not the old one. There's a river running through the middle of that 184 sq km and two decent sized cities. But your complaint that B's predictive analysis in late February was incorrect is just stupid. For one, Russia approached this in a way that nobody predicted. Literally nobody, including all the people in NATO paid handsomely to predict what Russia might do. It has also attempted to go about this with minimal impact on civilian infrastructure and populations. Maybe you secretly long for the US way of making war? And all of this has been at a roughly 1:1 ration of frontline troops. That's not how any of this is supposed to work, according to military professionals. Not to mention that the bulk of the front line fighters on the Russian side are not actual Russian troops at all.
Also, why in the world would you hang around Democrats trying to convince them that war is bad? You're going to come here and complain about B's ability to predict things but you manage to hold a belief that US Democrats can be turned against war, especially a war that they've been provoking for 8+ years. Do you believe in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy too? Or maybe just perpetual motion machines. US Democrats are exactly why there's a war and precisely why so many Ukrainians are being fed into a meat grinder. Their rank and file voters don't care, never have and haven't been anything one might call "antiwar" since 1992 at the latest.
Posted by: Lex | Jul 5 2022 15:58 utc | 82
thanks b.... thanks posters here too...
@ sean the leprechaun | Jul 5 2022 13:54 utc | 36
that is how i understand it too... the flame thrower thing is devastating on the ukraine troops and morale... i also got that from the same video you reference...
@ Paul | Jul 5 2022 13:59 utc | 38
thanks paul! some humour is a relief...
@ veto | Jul 5 2022 14:25 utc | 46
thanks - ditto with the humour.....
@ Pacifica Advocate | Jul 5 2022 15:32 utc | 69
thanks for your posts..
---------------------- interesting data below..
Data from the Russian defense ministry shows that 6,956 foreign citizens from 64 countries arrived in Ukraine to become pro-Kiev combatants between February 24 and June 17. Some 1,956 of those have been killed, while 1,779 have left the country, the ministry said.
Posted by: james | Jul 5 2022 16:00 utc | 83
@ Lex | Jul 5 2022 15:58 utc | 83
i take it wobblie is maybe in his early 30's and very naive - hasn't lived life for that long... and he's a part of the WOKE crowd... really, it ain't worth the effort...
Posted by: james | Jul 5 2022 16:03 utc | 84
IMO, the major factor causing the Ukie rout is the lack of mobility, not just because they've lost their vehicles and fuel but the fact that the sky has a great many eyes and when you move you announce your presence as a target. With its air and artillery superiority, Russia can just sit back and treat the combat zone as a shooting gallery. We've seen the amazing artillery marksmanship and pinpoint missile strikes. And as we've seen the problem is two-fold--if you move, you get targeted; if you stay in your entrenchments, you get targeted. But you have a better chance of surviving if you stay in your fortified positions versus being out in the open, although neither is good--surrendering is best.
On the targeting of Ukie general officers, we don't know the compositions of the many command posts attacked by Russia, so there's no way to know the level of attrition suffered by Ukie officers. Given what we see on the battlefield, I'd imagine that casualty rate is high. But then, that sort of info doesn't really matter in this case since the war on the Ukie side is being run by NATO, and NATO's policy is to fight Russia to the last Ukrainian. Do recall that when I write NATO I mean Outlaw US Empire. And as we've seen too many times before since 1990, the Empire cares not a whit for the millions it kills. I think it wise to heed the concluding words from this Global Times article:
"Biden administration has accelerated the decline of the US. More and more people believe that the country that deserves the most of the world's vigilance is the US. US elites tend to deal with internal crises by creating larger external crises. Problems that erupt in the US often could turn into global problems in an instant. It must be said that the US is now the biggest security risk in the world." [My Emphasis]
Posted by: Ian Kummer | Jul 5 2022 15:00 utc | 62
That said, there are costs of war that Russia will be on the hook for decades from now, and I’m not talking destroyed equipment. Disability and survivor benefits will have to be paid. All territory captured will have to be rebuilt as well.
All territory liberated is the richest territory in former Ukraine, sure it'll take time and resources to put industry back , but with its resources Novorossiya will be self sufficient.
Posted by: Paco | Jul 5 2022 16:08 utc | 86
Copium pieces like the AP's one have the purpose of claiming that the Ukraine can still win the war and deserves wide support to achieve that.
B look right across Europe.
Are there any journalists Worth the title reporting from the RF side?
One German girl who's been threatened with jail and her finances stopped!
I think there are a few French journalists as well.
When dealing with western MSM it's a constant regurgitating of press releases as bonfide facts.
Trusted sources!!! No less!!!
You have vaccous inane emotionally incontinent newsreaders breathlessly spewing out the above to people who are just now copping onto the enormous damage being done to western economic viability.
When you look at the idiots running any European country bar Orban.
The constantly failing upwards Vander Leyden.
You have a cabal that cannot deal with the fact that their approach towards Russia has been woefully wrong, insulting and frankly of the most ludicrously incompetence for some time.
And the US.
Nuff said.
Russian haters
China haters.
Because that's all that is left to the hollow empire.
Posted by: Jpc | Jul 5 2022 16:15 utc | 87
Norwegian NG supply to EU
Posted by: Sushi | Jul 5 2022 12:41 utc | 9
A prior post (Sushi | Jul 5 2022 12:41 utc | 9 ) included Reuters reporting of a 25% cut in Norwegian NG supplies due to an offshore workers strike.
Sputnik is now reporting: On Tuesday night, Norwegian oil and gas workers went on strike demanding higher wages. According to the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association, it might lose up to 56% of its gas exports due to the strike.
Sputnik is also reporting Entire Branches of German Industry in Danger of Collapsing’ Due to Loss of Russian Gas, Union Warns.
“We have a real emergency. Entire branches of industry are in danger of collapsing permanently because of the gas bottlenecks: aluminium, glass, the chemical industry,” Fahimi said in an interview with Bild.
Add in the shut down of RF NG supply due planned annual maintenance and the EU is likely to be in a world of hurt. As the price of NG in the EU rises to reflect the demand crisis it can be expected an increased amount of US LNG will be diverted to the EU to capture the higher prices available in that market.
This will reduce US domestic NG availability or result in price parity with the EU.
The outcome is an acceleration in the economic collapse of the industrial hart of the EU coupled with increased inflationary pressures in the US.
No amount of wunderwaffen shipped to 404 will correct these issues.
Posted by: Sushi | Jul 5 2022 16:15 utc | 88
Parade witness says son asked if a shooter will be at every July 4 parade - CNN
Welcome to the Empire of Lies...and murders!
Posted by: ostro | Jul 5 2022 16:15 utc | 89
@ OttoE | Jul 5 2022 14:13 utc | 39
Oh, yeah--one more thing:
UN reports consistently confirm that all the illegal organ harvesting being done around the world is being done by US-sponsored "militias" and other terrorist groups. ISIS, ISIL, the Albanians (in Kosovo/Serbia), Central American Death Squads, etc.
10 years since the report came out exposing Albanian organ harvesting--and the perpetrators have been steadfastly protected from prosecution by the US/NATO:
Timeline showing the "progress" made on this as-yet unprosecuted war crime:
UN reports on ISIS (a US client) trafficking in organs harvested from captive civilians:
Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Jul 5 2022 16:15 utc | 90
UK Prime Minister Johnson tells Zelensky that Ukraine can retake territory captured by Russia - CNN
One clown to another...😋
Posted by: ostro | Jul 5 2022 16:20 utc | 92
The purpose of western mainstream media and punditry is not to present coherent analysis or a semblance of truth, it is prolong the war.
Posted by: Rodrigo | Jul 5 2022 16:25 utc | 93
Yesterday, Lavrov held a presser with his Veneuelan counterpart, Carlos Faria, after the two held long, productive talks aimed at circumventing illegal sanctions. One Q&A has some relevance to this thread:
"Question: Is Russia planning to expand cooperation with Latin American countries, including Venezuela, considering it cannot rely on its Western partners as recent events have shown?
"Sergey Lavrov: We have long reach[ed] our conclusions on our Western 'colleagues' policies. The West has actually cut off all ties with our country, while 'having graciously allowed' us to retain just certain economic relations that they themselves are interested in. We will not artificially harm our own interests but we have long concluded that the West is unreliable and intractable. We will develop economic, political and military-technical ties with any country that agrees to do this on an equitable and mutually beneficial basis. The West is not ready for this. The overwhelming majority of Latin American and Caribbean countries, and probably all of them, are interested in developing ties with Russia. We will reciprocate." [My Emphasis]
Given the great antipathy to El Norte by the vast majority of those living within the non-English speaking Western Hemisphere, I'm sure we'll see many more openly align with Russia and China, some even daring the Empire to intervene as it always has in the past. But the times are now rather different as globally wherever a terrorist attack occurs or antigovernment riot erupts, it's now the Outlaw US Empire that's suspected first and foremost as this article implies given the attacker's goals.
Committing and abetting atrocities doesn't gain you allies; rather, those actions create more enemies. This political aspect of its actions has long been ignored by the Outlaw US Empire, but it has now reached a point where it can no longer as it no longer has any allies aside from the Queen of England as all others are mere vassals whose allegiance grows more tenuous daily. That's why the Info War is so important as lying is the only way to keep its vassals on board.
Russia's goal is not to gain territory but to "attrit" the enemy hence its success or otherwise should not be measured in those terms.
Posted by: Jonathan W | Jul 5 2022 16:34 utc | 96
@94
It's a good plan. If all Western politicians and generals tell the same lie it serves two purposes: the soldiers see it on the highly censored starlink internet and since a very large part of them seem to be using at least weed daily, it creates an army of idiots not knowing they're already dead. Their only purpose is to kill Russians, military and civilian.
Second, the Western public only sees that fake story, not the terrorism they actualy sponsor, so they support the war and the sanctions that destroy them. It's a movie designed to take advantage of idiots and there are so many of them.
And everything else is deleted and censored. Like what that imbecile Melnik said, that bandera is a robin hood hero and the nazi part is only a Russian fake story. His words were deleted from twitter and other platforms.
Posted by: rk | Jul 5 2022 16:35 utc | 97
@ Rodrigo | Jul 5 2022 16:25 utc | 94
that is it exactly and said in as fewest words as possible.. thanks...
Posted by: james | Jul 5 2022 16:36 utc | 98
@ Wobblie | Jul 5 2022 13:43 utc | 31:
As I have said for 6 weeks, it will be September before Putin gets to the Dnipier. A month to take Kharkov another month to take Odessa. That gives NATO to December to build its defenses west of the Dneiper.
I agree with you that it will likely take until September before Russia gets to the Dnieper. However, I expect by that time Kharkov and Odessa will already be liberated, as well.
Also, once Russia makes it to the Dnieper the Ukrainian Armed Forces will no longer have anyone left to man whatever "defenses" NATO might put up. Unless Poland and the US want to risk a full-on Russian vs. NATO war, then I reckon by September most of this will be wrapped up and--facing continued Russian action that will only snowball in speed and effect--Ukraine and Zelensky will come to their collective senses and sue for peace.
Zelensky has just today once again put out word to Russia that he's willing to restart negotiations; however, my guess is that his "offer" will be as ludicrously unhinged as all of his last ones have been and whatever he comes up with will go nowhere. His advisor, Arestovich, seems to be just as wacky and drug-addled as Elensky is.
So perhaps we'll get a few laughs out of whatever Elensky comes up with, this time, but by September I'm sure we'll be seeing a far more cowed man than we've yet seen.
As for your "where are the tens of thousands?" question: Russia already has admitted to having "thousands" of Ukrainian prisoners. I have seen several reports, recently, hundreds of Ukrainians surrendering en masse, these last couple of weeks. I reckon that the "tens of thousands" you're looking for can be found among the dead and severely wounded Ukrainians who certainly won't be going back into the fight any time soon.
Yes, the SMO has been going slowly, up until this point. But it is definitely picking up steam: the Ukrainians appear to have retreated to Bakhmut, Slavionask, and Krasmatorsk. Those will be where the next big battles take place, and it will be interesting to see how long these take in comparison to the last two weeks of urban warfare. Also, you appear to have missed the recent advances made around Kharkov and Izyum--Izyum, in particular, will be a critical component of this next advance into Slavionask and Kramatorsk. Meanwhile, while Kharkov continues to hold out, the Allied forces' recent advances in the region indicate that the defenders there are weakening.
These things start out slow and then build, build, build until--as I've mentioned before--the defenders just go "Pop!" and break. Then it's either surrender or watch everyone get slaughtered in the same way the Wehrmacht suffered during WWII.
Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Jul 5 2022 16:36 utc | 99
Thank you, b! I like how the Russian officials are visiting schools in various locales so that they can patiently spell out again and again the recent historical events that have caused this special military operation.
I myself visited the Daily Blog site in New Zealand this morning - to see a firstup article claiming a 'withdrawal' for Ukraine troops, no cauldron mentioned. My thought was that if they had 'withdrawn' sooner a lot of lives would have been saved. And as b suggests, such a 'withdrawal' should rapidly extend all the way to Kiev, where perhaps minds would finally realize what is happening before too late. (Enter a bear, stage right, as Shakespeare has it - or has Shakespeare been cancelled as well?)
Yves at nakedcapitalism thinks Odessa will be sooner rather than later, and it was heartening to see at the New Zealand blog site a large proportion of comments in disagreement with the article's foolish claims (which I have to admit I didn't read past the initial paragraphs; there's only so much blarney one can take mornings before the second cuppa coffee).
Posted by: juliania | Jul 5 2022 16:39 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
On 4th of July
On 5th of July
- Dmitry MedvedevThe unfriendlies should thank heaven that Putin is in power, not Medvedev...😃
Posted by: ostro | Jul 5 2022 12:12 utc | 1