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December 11, 2022
Ukraine Open Thread 2022-222
Comments
Posted by: Outraged | Dec 12 2022 9:51 utc | 196
I suppose empire could always hop on ebay and buy Chinese Ti sponge at £52/Kg
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124681766616
Posted by: Gt Stroller | Dec 12 2022 10:55 utc | 201
@ Arch Bungle | Dec 12 2022 10:26 utc | 197
Er, fixing the facts to fit the predetermined … fabricated analysis ? An MI6 specialty.
Often occurs to me hunkered down in the West, MoA has become ‘our’ 21st century, digital Samizdat vs the ‘Truth’ of Corporate_MSM … an oasis of sanity.
@ Klaatu | Dec 12 2022 10:27 utc | 198
Thank you, far prefer the written word as opposed to more than brief videos.
If you want to discuss BrexShit further gt s-troller, bring it to the open thread, I’ll dance🤨
Posted by: DunGroanin (but still Huffin’ & Puffin’) | Dec 12 2022 8:32 utc | 188
Repost your rambling on the open thread and we’ll take it from there.
Posted by: Gt Stroller | Dec 12 2022 11:18 utc | 203
https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2022/12/12/nato-chief-voices-fear-of-war-with-russia-while-us-greenlights-drone-strikes-on-russian-territory/
maybe he figures that if a hot war breaks out, the EU is more likely to be nuked than either the US or Russia. I don’t think hot wars are that easy to control, though. it must be obvious to him that the US regards Europe as expendable, though, despite all the rhetoric.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Dec 12 2022 11:32 utc | 204
[197]
Ukraine has been using Stingers which US has not manufactured for 18 years.
Britain sends second-hand Belgian howitzers to Ukraine because it lacks its own
Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Dec 12 2022 11:32 utc | 205
Outraged @ 196
Well exactly. Ukie troops are no longer fighting, they are simply dying. At some point, and I think it will be soon, the US/UK troops that work the rockets and artillery are going to say “suicide mission” and call it a day. Anyway the barrels are burnt out, there is no ammunition, and why should they freeze and wait for anything in this clusterfuck to improve.
Ukraine has been through six rounds of mobilization. Any who were remotely fit and barely marginally willing to fight have already been dragooned into service. There are no more. The supply of imbeciles from Poland is limited. Looks more and more like a Monty Pythion Black KNight situation.
Posted by: oldhippie | Dec 12 2022 12:44 utc | 206
Posted by: blues | Dec 12 2022 12:46 utc | 207
Posted by: Klaatu | Dec 12 2022 10:27 utc | 198
Trying to read a transcript in that little narrow box seems to be worse torture than sitting through the videos. Just sayin’… Although I suppose if one is used to reading text on a phone…
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Dec 12 2022 13:00 utc | 208
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Dec 12 2022 13:00 utc | 208
Me too. Especially when Mariupol comes out as Maria Bull.
Not really a transcript, but thanks for the effort klaatu.
Posted by: waynorinorway | Dec 12 2022 13:15 utc | 209
@Neofeudalfuture
Your misunderstandings appear legion. May I suggest that you study some actual history, rather than the unevidenced neofascist propaganda you keep repeating.
A good starting point might be my
Posted by: Hermit | Dec 12 2022 13:15 utc | 210
Slavyangrad reports that Zelensky blew up when told to expect famine next year.
Has anyone provided a hard estimate of how many Ukraine soldier deaths it would take to end the war? At some point, they have to have police, bureaucrats, truck drivers, medical people and so on. I don’t think it’s just a matter of killing off 10 million or so to ‘hit the wall’.
Posted by: Eighthman | Dec 12 2022 13:18 utc | 211
macgregor vlahos interview
wayinorway,bevin, here’s the link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIIM043x_FI
Posted by: migueljose | Dec 12 2022 13:43 utc | 212
Posted by: Eighthman | Dec 12 2022 13:18 utc | 211
I just listened to Douglas MacGregor say by 1943 Germany had lost 55,000 Officers. It still continued to fight for 2 more years !
On 1 July 1916 Britain had 20,000 KIA in one day but still continued to fight 2 more years even though Prime Minister Lloyd George accused General Haig of leaving Britain without manpower postwar at this rate of losses.
Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Dec 12 2022 13:46 utc | 213
RE:”hard estimate of how many Ukraine soldier deaths it would take to end the war”
That’s so easy.
A: it will roughly require as many Ukraine soldier deaths until 500,000 Russian soldiers assume room temperature which is consistent with past events requiring that count before reality sets in.
Posted by: CommiesGOFY | Dec 12 2022 13:47 utc | 214
Perfidiousness has no limits. The statements by Kiselyov are reminiscent of Carla Del Ponte’s statements although in the latter case, the Serbian prisoners were kept alive until their organs could be harvested while here “the meat grinder” will generate organs that would otherwise “go to waste”. One would ask to which lengths doctors will go (or allowed to go) to save the wounded soldiers… .
euroweeklynews.com
A police colonel from the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) claimed that an illegal organ harvester from the Netherlands has arrived in Ukraine’s Bakhmut region.
Vitaly Kiselyov, a colonel in the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) claimed on Saturday, December 10 that an illegal organ harvester had arrived in the Bakhmut region of Ukraine from the Netherlands.
[…]
“Literally three weeks ago, the notorious Elizabeth Debru arrived in the Atremovsk (Bakhmut) area. She arrived with representatives of the so-called Mozart PMC. I will now list their names – these are John Wesley, Andrew Milbourne, and Henry Roselfeld, these are supposedly members of the Mozart PMC”, Kiselev told the news outlet.
Mozart PMC is the military group unofficially believed to have been set up as the Ukrainian version of the Wagner PMC – hence the use of another famous composer’s name in the title. The Andrew Milbourne that Kiselev mentioned is said to be the founder of this organisation.
The colonel added that according to the investigation of the LPR police force, these people came to Donbas in 2014-2015 as black transplantologists. These names, especially the name of Elisabeth Debru, appear in the confession of a former Ukrainian security officer, who spoke about the joint business of Debru and her team with the Kyiv authorities.
[…]
Kiselyov noted that Ukrainian units in Bakhmut are suffering heavy casualties. This is something that even Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently admitted.
Andrei Marochko, an officer of the People’s Militia of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), previously claimed he had proof that so-called ‘black transplantologists’, including those from Western countries, were operating in the Donbas region of Ukraine, as reported by gazeta.ru.
Meanwhile Stoltenberg, Joseph “The Garden” Borell, the US imperial command, … demand that the war drags on.
Posted by: xor | Dec 12 2022 13:52 utc | 215
Repeating?!?!? My good man, I make my own propoganda. My stuff is an original amalgam synthesized from many different sources.
Also your book doesn’t seem to be for sale on Amazon or show up on Google. Tell me more im always on the lookout for new ideas to incorporate into my propoganda. 😉
Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | Dec 12 2022 14:20 utc | 216
Posted by: migueljose | Dec 12 2022 13:43 utc | 212
Thanks miguelhose but we are looking for a transcript.
Good to see your name tho’. Hope you & co. are well.
Posted by: waynorinorway | Dec 12 2022 14:46 utc | 217
“I make my own propoganda. My stuff is an original amalgam synthesized from many different sources.
… im always on the lookout for new ideas to incorporate into my propoganda.”
Neofeudalfuture | Dec 12 2022 14:20 utc | 216
______
Thanks for your first honest admission.
Posted by: Doug Hillman | Dec 12 2022 14:48 utc | 218
Posted by: oldhipie | Dec 12 2022 9:19 utc | 193
Nato went all-in Ukraine, wrecked the EU economy in the process, US took a significant hit to the utility of petrodollar system. Ukraine has a 10:1 disadvantage in artillery barrels and as a consequence their attacks (which seem to be smaller over time) and accumulations for attacks get wrecked.
Sending “3000 M1A1” is not a scenario that’s very realistic, imo. The best they can do is bury them as fixed gun emplacements on a fixed line. Which is kind of not useful, unless Russians do completely reckless attacks without recon, which they won’t.
Posted by: unimperator | Dec 12 2022 15:02 utc | 219
Olaf Scholz attacked Merkel sharply for her interview, saying that she is no longer part of the government, therefore should keep her mouth shut. It would seem that Merkel scored a hit.
Posted by: Martina | Dec 12 2022 8:12 utc | 185
Do you have a link for this? I can’t find anything about it.
Posted by: Unnamed | Dec 12 2022 15:03 utc | 220
TASS 07/12/2022 —
“Russian troops wipe out over 230 military targets in Ukraine operation — top brass”
The details? Horrible. At what point will the Ukrainian military leadership and officer ranks be charged with slaughtering their own troops?
Posted by: Elmagnostic | Dec 12 2022 15:07 utc | 221
The level of lying by NATO, unmatched as always:
“NATO strived for decades to develop a better, more constructive relationship with Russia,” [NATO Director-General Jens Stoltenberg] told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble.
Posted by: G77 | Dec 12 2022 15:11 utc | 223
reply to 214
At ten to one, that would be 5 million Ukrainians. The coming tragedy – that no one thinks about – is that, once they are gone, they are GONE. They won’t get replaced. The Ukraine birth rate was one of the world’s lowest before the war, more deaths than births.
It does no good to cite the WWI losses. It doesn’t apply, that was a very different time. Masses of babies aren’t coming back and THAT says something about how fake and enforced Ukrainian fanaticism really is. Fight desperately to the death and hold the line but don’t have kids.
And that’s what amazes me. I have confounded Ukr. apologists on Youtube or elsewhere by repeating that Ukraine is literally a dying nation and has been for many years. Why waste your life for a country with no future? You think you’ll be remembered or honored? By who? They left for Poland or were never born.
It would be wonderful if someone passed a resolution in Congress that the US will not risk its servicepeople or resources in defense of any nation that is dying by demographics. By what right do they demand defense when they won’t birth future soldiers or workers?
Such as Ukraine, the Baltic states, South Korea and much of the EU.
Posted by: Eighthman | Dec 12 2022 15:17 utc | 224
Russian MOD claimed today 2 Ukrainian MiG-29, 2 Mi-8, 1 Smerch and an Uragan MLRS launcher destroyed.
Posted by: unimperator | Dec 12 2022 15:22 utc | 225
@Baerenkopf [109]
You are flat wrong on two important items.
“Fillon who was the designated leader of the center-right party (who was also a specimen of crook).”
Fillon was as honest as the day is long. He was accused by the elite-owned French MSM of putting his wife and daughter on the payroll of his elected office. That is quite true, but it was honest because these two women actually worked for their paycheck. This was a very common practice among parliamentarians because they could trust their relatives to be loyal and hard-working enough, and – something the elite never wants to mention, the legislators need the money for an active political life. When the lying media (How do you say Lügenpresse in French?) came out with this BS in December, 2016, all the other legislators ducked for cover and didn’t defend the practice. Dissidents over at égalité et reconciliation point out what an intelligent observer should see without any prompting: Legislators are not wealthy and are at a great disadvantage in political life, compared to the rich men who run (ruin) France. To not try to understand the choices made by your elected public servants, and to swallow les mensonges of the press, leads to national failure. To nix (bouder) Fillon -especially given the lot of dismal self-serving politicians – is a choice made out of blindness. I didn’t like his politics but compared to Macron, he would have been far better. As ths dissidents point out, he was pro-family, pro-France, not especially pro-EU, and would have been a real, if minor, nuisance to the French bankers and their poodle, Macron.
I beg you, read more widely and realize that Macron’s rise, and Fillon’s fall, was 100% a result of orchestrated lies in the French media. You might not like the dissidents at E&R, which I guess is now renamed Resistance and Reinformation, but they obviously have some information which you seriously need.
The second point is that Islam, the religion of peace, is not a threat to any nation except the one created by Jewish nationalists. Yes, France has too many people from the Maghreb, but when you ask yourself how that came to be, you will identify the villains as the very wealthy French elite who ruined North Africa, and used the migrants as cheap labor to crush the French working class.
Posted by: JessDTruth | Dec 12 2022 15:35 utc | 226
Eighthman no. 223
Well said. It’s easy for the likes of boris johnson, joe biden, emmanuel macron et al in the EU/USA living in luxury and spouting platitudes from the comfort of their respective countries.
Posted by: ThusspakeZarathustra | Dec 12 2022 15:40 utc | 227
My 14:46 utc | 217
Good to see your name properly spelled, migueljose.
Posted by: waynorinorway | Dec 12 2022 15:43 utc | 228
Pentagon now more likely to support Ukrainian long-range missile attacks on Russia
Posted by: blues | Dec 12 2022 12:46 utc | 207
—
Why would the US green light expanding the war? Will it have any effect on outcome?
Consider these actions simply force Russia to conclude that a rump Ukraine cannot remain.
Therefore, why does the US want russia to conquer/occupy all of Ukraine?
From my pov it says a few things. First the most obvious is Russia won. So secondly, Nato has determined its best course is to allow all Ukraine to fall and operate from that point.
Iow, a bend not break strategy aka live to fight another day. I’m not certain Nato even has a plan, other than to figure it out afterward once the dmz is the Ukr polish border
Posted by: B9k9 | Dec 12 2022 15:46 utc | 229
The Vatican called Russian, and Chechen soldiers the cruelest on Earth, and in the next breath the Vatican wants to host peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.
No Western bodies of power can be trusted by Russia.
https://tass.com/politics/1549433
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Dec 12 2022 15:46 utc | 230
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Dec 12 2022 15:46 utc | 229
Cannot believe Vatican usurped Nicola Sturgeon’s role !!!
Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Dec 12 2022 15:52 utc | 231
Posted by: unimperator | Dec 12 2022 15:22 utc | 224
Kiev will simply CGI replacements for the BBC video library
Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Dec 12 2022 15:53 utc | 232
Has anyone provided a hard estimate of how many Ukraine soldier deaths it would take to end the war?
Posted by: Eighthman | Dec 12 2022 13:18 utc | 211
Ukr soldier number is not important for the future. The real army and best equipment was disabled in the first 1-2 months (the moment when a real country would surrender), most of the rest killed in the following months and now, in the last maybe 2-3 months it’s just terrorism using foreigners and local cannon fodder.
As long as the Ukr nato proxy government and all the other local puppets continue to manage weapons and mercenaries, terrorists and nato soldiers, the railways and roads work perfectly and civilians feel zero or very little pain nothing will change, with or without Ukr soldiers. It’ll only make them go for bigger targets, like npps, cities like Moscow or military targets like the bombers they hit in Engels.
Posted by: rk | Dec 12 2022 15:57 utc | 233
Posted by: D J G | Dec 11 2022 23:52 utc | 145
Russia+OPEC should implement a price cap of $70 to RoW and a price floor of $100 to G7.
Progressive pricing. what’s not to like?
Posted by: anon2020 | Dec 12 2022 16:01 utc | 234
reply to 231
It is claimed that famine will hit them sometime next year and Zelensky is upset about it. No food, heat, lighting, water does not bode well for them.
https://southfront.org/foreign-mercenaries-ready-to-retire-from-ukrainian-front-lines/
Southfront made a claim that Mozart mercenaries may also leave next year.
Posted by: Eighthman | Dec 12 2022 16:11 utc | 235
231/236 – Zelenski ‘upset’ – is it just me, but surely his appearance during his daily propaganda monologues these last few days, has changed dramatically. His eyes … not really focused … look for vacant than usual, sometimes struggling to deliver his actor’s lines. Something serious is afoot, be it in his gut or brain …
Posted by: Geraint ap Iorwerth | Dec 12 2022 16:24 utc | 236
Putin probably won’t take my advice, but he would profit by doing a “Hillary” — we came, we saw, he died — on Zelenskyy.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Dec 12 2022 16:32 utc | 237
Posted by: Hugo | Dec 11 2022 14:12 utc | 2
….Merkel was in a strange manner, and implicitly giving putin the causus belli for the start of SMO…
Posted by: Baerenkopf | Dec 11 2022 21:46 utc | 120
….Hard to believe that these 2 high level close officials made mistakes ? ….
and others
—
i have triad to provide a timetable for the merkel-statemant at Posted by: ghiwen | Dec 9 2022 11:42 utc | 276
here a lightly revised version
1. November 18, 2021
“About the publication of the diplomatic exchange of letters between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Foreign Ministers of Germany and France Heiko Maas and Jean-Yves Le Drian”
shows that the “West” will not adhere to the the Minsk Package of Measures from 2015; in a lawrow letter
“..For this reason, your statement that direct dialogue between Kiev, Donetsk and Lugansk would not “find acceptance” serves to discredit the co-authorship of the leaders of Germany and France under the February 12, 2015 document.”
2. November 25, 2022
the SPIEGEL-issue is a Cover story at spiegel 48/2022
in this Edition the author only summarized a conversation in june 2022 in berlin
“.. Sie glaubt, damals und auch später bei den Verhandlungen von Minsk die Zeit gekauft zu haben, die die Ukraine nutzen konnte, um sich einem russischen Angriff besser widersetzen zu können. Sie sei ein stärkeres, wehrhafteres Land jetzt. Damals, da ist sie sicher, wäre sie von Putins Truppen überrollt worden…”
3. Dezember 07, 2022
an interview in the magazine “ZEIT”
“…Und das Minsker Abkommen 2014 war der Versuch, der Ukraine Zeit zu geben. Sie hat diese Zeit hat auch genutzt, um stärker zu werden, wie man heute sieht. Die Ukraine von 2014/15 ist nicht die Ukraine von heute. Wie man am Kampf um Debalzewe (Eisenbahnerstadt im Donbass, Oblast Donezk, d. Red.) Anfang 2015 gesehen hat, hätte Putin sie damals leicht überrennen können. Und ich bezweifle sehr, dass die Nato-Staaten damals so viel hätten tun können wie heute, um der Ukraine zu helfen. ….”
next point
i doubt the common sense of all who take vdl’s statement (about ukrainin losses ) as truth
we have the numbers from:
– ukraine
– russia
– several “chairborne” commenters
you can mix them in every way you want BUT why are the numbers from vdl right?
and on tip of the iceberg we have a discusion about the word “officer” in vdl’s statement
if you all think that ALL others are wrong and only ursula is right ….
out of the blue something is the thruth and nothing but the truth from such creatures …. ( for me its unbelivable )
at this point
i want introduce another moniker for her
“wanderhure des Kabinets” (sic); credit to Volker Pispers ( a german cabaretist )
this include all her “postitive” characteristics 🙂
Posted by: ghiwen | Dec 12 2022 16:36 utc | 238
@Neofeudalfuture 214
It had a link before WordPress squeezed it.
You may believe that your propaganda is “original”, but the evidence that it is not, is overwhelming, repeating as it does, tired tropes and a hundred years of sad propaganda and overused lies.
The USSR in a Nutshell: A Brief History of the Rise and Destruction of the Soviet Union and What Happens Next
Posted by: Hermit | Dec 12 2022 16:44 utc | 239
doing a “Hillary” — we came, we saw, he died — on Zelenskyy.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Dec 12 2022 16:32 utc | 238
—
Zelensky makes a more remarkable pariah than he does a martyr. It is better than he live in shame.
Posted by: too scents | Dec 12 2022 16:51 utc | 240
Maybe this had been posted before. This is a Link(Twitter with vid) of Zelensky saying something in 2014. I thought only NATO officebearers could be so vacuous, I did not think Zelensky could be so vacuous. This Zel person is now only Zelen-‘sacrifice ordinary ukrainian folk’-sky.
Posted by: gingling | Dec 12 2022 17:00 utc | 241
“Putin probably won’t take my advice, but he would profit by doing a “Hillary” — we came, we saw, he died — on Zelenskyy”
No I think he’ll let the little jackal be eaten alive by members of his herd.
There are 3 main reasons for which he’ll be “removed” from the chessboard :
– he’ll be the perfect scapegoat
– he’s mils hidden in the Bahamas
– he’s got a lovely wife.
A motivated dude might want to “bump” him to lay his hands on items #2 and #3.
Posted by: Nanker | Dec 12 2022 17:12 utc | 242
…I wonder if she (Merkel) is trying to send a -strong- message to her protege Ursula von der Leyen.
Ursula von der Leyen wants to start war crime trials against Russia – maybe Merkel intends to remind her that war crimes trials cut in several directions, and that Germany’s government is implicated in war crimes of the past 8 years. For which Russia collected evidence. Ursula was Merkel’S minsiter of defence before she became commission president. Maybe Merkel reminded her that any real war crimes trials will include her as one of the defendants – not as one of the judges. …
Posted by: Martina | Dec 12 2022 8:12 utc | 185
I never see any mention now of official German participation in the US DoD’s Ukrainian biowarfare laboratories, with attendant claims that unwilling human participants were harvested from Ukrainian psychiatric wards.
As this was a nominally DoD project, it is possible that it required defense minister approval on the German end too. It is therefore possible that vdL’s very own signature is on the authorising paperwork of German participation in that Josef Mengele re-enactment society
It certainly appears worthwhile investigating the legal basis of German participation and vdL’s relation to the underlying authorisation.
Posted by: anon2020 | Dec 12 2022 17:19 utc | 243
Re Don Bacon #238.
Does this mean that Zelenski should be executed by sodomizing him with a bayonet?
Posted by: Elmer Fudd | Dec 12 2022 17:26 utc | 244
European “rules based moral values”…religious prosecution in Europe under NATO, US and EU promotion…UN, UNESCO and UNHRC silent….
Nazi Ukrainians assault believers during mass celebration into an Orthodox Church asking them to sing Ukrainain anthem, as if that was ever part of Orthodox liturgy….Thyen, they invite them to take their luggage to the station and leave for Russia…
https://t.me/Dugin_Aleksandr/6483
Can you imagine such a thing in a synagogue in the middle of Paris?
The pairing of church and military is a characteristic of fascist regimes….
Posted by: Ghost of Mozgovoy | Dec 12 2022 17:31 utc | 245
@ Elmer Fudd | Dec 12 2022 17:26 utc | 245
sodomizing him with a bayonet
No, we only do that to allies, as with Gaddafi. I’d say a cruise missile impacting on Z’s desk.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Dec 12 2022 17:42 utc | 246
Does this mean that Zelenski should be executed by sodomizing him with a bayonet?
Posted by: Elmer Fudd | Dec 12 2022 17:26 utc | 245
No because he didn’t try to undermine the USD with a regional currency. You only get special treatment for that sin.
Posted by: One Too Many | Dec 12 2022 18:03 utc | 247
I was waiting for b to open a new Ukraine thread before writing this comment. As happens every week, Alastair Crooke has a “warm-up” column published at al-Mayadeen which is then followed by a more polished effort that’s published by Strategic Culture Foundation. The same is true this week, “Realpolitik Tentacles Seize and Squeeze the Mid-East”, which is actually about the EU, and “The U.S. Cuckoo in the European Nest”, which is quite apt. I do suggest reading them in order of publication to see the shift in Crooke’s thinking about the overall issue(s). I’ll not post any excerpts and thus deprive readers of the pleasure of reading Crooke’s elegant prose and structure clearly visible in the longer essay. I will say that Crooke’s main point is Europe is hostage to the Outlaw US Empire’s policy and as he says it has “no agency”, thus the picture at the column’s header. I’m reminded of the fable about the Pied Piper, although this version’s twist sees the Empire leading Europeans off a cliff like so many lemmings as EU “leaders” shoo them of into the abyss.
nanker said.. “Putin probably won’t take my advice, but he would profit by doing a “Hillary” — .. Put has alwady, un another ashion taken Hilary’s advice. We have Hillary2.
Also Prez.2-8, MbS2, etc.
H1 long gone. 22 is 20 years younger, sprightly, diff. ear lobes and nostrils, no deep wrinkles.. even with the unusual forced laughing, and now without that balding, stout Afro Murikan Neurologist, ALWAYS at her side. Much slimmer waist and hips too. No neuro-surgeon can repair a dying brain.. with its 2 quadrillion axon terminal connections falling to bits.. Search, ‘Real Clear Politics. RAW: Clinton Stumbles And Falls, Escorted Into Van After Abruptly Leaving 9/11 Memorial’ And see the photos of HC2 vs HC1 here. ”Indian Express. Does Hillary Clinton have a lookalike? Conspiracy theories rule social media”.
Putin1 is ong gone. Putin1 went to Geneva a few years ago for the alleged birth of a daughter. 2 weeks later Putin2 appeared. with a new round face, no more a prominent chin, diff eyes and earlobes, a new non-Judo belly, with more hair and the loss of his old German & Judo skills.. & his wife. Old video of Putin1 with late Fr. Prez. Chirac, or any old photos show a different guy to Putin2. Putin’s Ghost locals call him. IMO, maybe after the failure of Put1 to follow through after the Donbass victory in 2014, and allowing the nutto to build up, was the last straw for the Russ MIC/top dogs.
Posted by: Thomas Turk | Dec 12 2022 18:32 utc | 249
The British tend to be underestimated here. They have been active in distant wars for a very long time (hundreds of years). As they are today, their intelligence services may employ more persons than their army, navy or air force. In all of their chicanery only the Americans have bested them and bested them badly. Think of FDR bankrupting them and the Eisenhower stripping them of their role as a global player at Suez. Those things left a mark.
If you look around you will find opinions that British intelligence somewhat controls different elements of the US government. The State Department is said to be very anglicized. Who know what is going on with the different US intelligence agencies. We do know from public information that all the strands of the plot to unseat Trump had a British connection. Every escalatory action in The Ukraine against the Russians seems to have British finger prints on it.
Could this entire Ukraine episode be the British doing a reverse Suez on the Americans? Just today I saw (on Zerohedge) Boris urging the Americans to give the Ukrainians long range missiles and fighter planes. “Dismisses risk of stumbling into nuclear conflict as “total nonsense”…”. Sounds a lot like urging a drunk person to pick a fight with the biggest bruiser in the place.
Posted by: Leander Starr | Dec 12 2022 10:47 utc | 199
.
.
.
So…. how do the neocons fit into all that?
Posted by: tucenz | Dec 12 2022 21:00 utc | 250
Posted by: HERMIUS | Dec 12 2022 0:29 utc | 152
You left out Scott Ritter and Doug McGregor and the only two channels that really matter: DPA (defence politics Asia) and Military Summary.
They are the only ones that ‘matter’ because they are the only ones who tell truth, for sure. They do it by comparing the press releases of the both sides and producing maps of the location of the current front line from them. And THAT is all that we ‘know’ for sure.
All the rest is conjecture. And ALL the conjecture – even that of DPA and military summary – has proved to be wrong in the past.
Much vaunted and very nice Brian Berletic for instance has one fatal flaw in his polished, urbane and pleasant videos: he takes the published figures for truth. In particular he’s always been big on the question of materiel supplies to Ukraine and has put out video after video itemising and discussing.
But, of course, there’s no reason whatever to assume those figures are accurate or comprehensive.
The Redacted is distinctly alarmist and clickbaity.
The Duran, especially Alexander, spouts thousands of words all adding up to nothing. I suggest downloading the transcripts and scanning them. You’ll find little real meat in them and what there is of it refers to political areas beyond the on ground military scene. In short they have no access to better information. Alexander always goes to great lengths to reiterate to us that he’s no military expert before delivering long military expert type analysis and prediction. Not really worth listening to. Better to listen to your own thoughts and analyse them.
iEarGrey is another pleasant lad with really nothing to add. Yes, again, nice to hear him talk but as with the others he ‘adds’ nothing.
Patrick Lancaster provides small windows into the authentic on the ground scene which are valuable in the midst of an almost complete dearth of such. But with little depth or detail. And his delivery is not the best. The best I’ve seen from him was a long interview with an old fellow which brought out much of interest. Or the demo firing of a gun which showed how tediously long it takes to set up and fire.
In short I think none of them are much good.
I use MS and DPA to see where the front line currently is. Usually I don’t even need to see their vids to see that. The first screen on YT shows it. That immediately tells me if anything has happened.
Then I use MoA to see what the latest developments around the thing are for they’ll be talking about them in the comments.
Then I browse Telegram in English looking for ‘latest’ again.
Then I browse Telegram Russian and Ukraine channels looking for ‘latest’ Using Unigram, of course, for the translation feature.
That latter, Telegram (Unigram) I find to be the best of all (after the front line thing).
It is there I discovered the authentic declarations of the systemic problems within the Russian military which none of our analylists and commentators were or have talked about.
THAT, I think, is the ‘horse’s mouth’
Scott Ritter and the Judge are very pleasant to listen to but again add nothing. Scott has a lot of background knowledge and you can get some interesting stuff there from him but apart from that his sole contribution really is to constantly iterate that any minute the Russians are going to obliterate Ukraine.
There’s lots more and they are all the same. I reckon check the front line, check MoA, check Unigram including Russian language and that’s all you’re going to learn today. Fill in time if you like watching your favourite talking head but you won’t learn anything more.
It goes without saying: listen to Lavrov and Putin and that wonderful woman whoever she is, sorry, forgot the name…
And if you don’t want to feel sick avoid even glimpsing anything that comes from Western governments and media.
Posted by: waynorinorway | Dec 12 2022 8:08 utc | 184
do you mean for instance this:
Dr. Michael Vlahos & Col. Douglas Macgregor: Is the war in Ukraine entering its decisive phase? Pt.1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhA1yofpkMg
?
Because the normal YT transcript is availabe under the ellipsis (far right of menu bar under the screen)
If new to it observe you can toggle the timestamps.
Wagner seem to advance wherever/whenever they wish. Within reason.
I’ve heard it is something to do with their ability to make decisions and implement unhampered by a slow chain of ‘bureaucratic’ command demanding comms up and down the chain before anything can be done.
Very pertinent. Anyone know anything about this?
And I’ve asked a number of times but no one seems to know: just what aspect of the ‘8 years’ fortifications makes them to insuperable by overwhelming artillery superiority and command of the air?
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Dec 12 2022 13:00 utc | 209
excuse me if I misunderstand but if you’re referring to YT transcripts the thing is to cut and paste them, I find.
then there’s the tedium of proof reading and editing into shape.
I cut and paste them into notepad for speed and convenience. move them from there to libre office if worthy the trouble.
just saying, lest some think they cannot be cut and pasted.
It would be wonderful if someone passed a resolution in Congress that the US will not risk its servicepeople or resources in defense of any nation that is dying by demographics. By what right do they demand defense when they won’t birth future soldiers or workers?
Such as Ukraine, the Baltic states, South Korea and much of the EU.
Posted by: Eighthman | Dec 12 2022 15:17 utc | 225
or the USA ?
https://www.investmentoffice.com/Observations/Beyond_Finance/Birth_Rate_Needed_to_Maintain_Current_Population.html
@B9k9 143
The oligarchs (the wealthy and powerful), who have controlled the USA from before there was a USA*, love people to imagine that if their favorite party were in power, or their favorite problems were removed, that everything would be amazing.
The reality is that all representative systems are snares, delusions and not even slightly democratic in intention or outcome. Only a weighted direct democracy with direct public control of institutions prevents the subversion of government and commerce to exclusively serve the interests of the wealthy and powerful.
*See e.g. my article at the GreanvillePost, The USA is an oligarchy.
Posted by: Hermit | Dec 13 2022 5:31 utc | 258
Opport knocks 81. Feel same. Wonder what Canadians would think if power in Canada shifted and its centre was now French. Imagine how we would feel if all of a sudden English was not to be used. Then the anti English pogroms began, followed by being outlawed altogether. We have exactly what one would expect when 2IC here is a rabid russaphobe ukraine firster and granddaughter of a Nutzi.
Posted by: Tannenhouser | Dec 14 2022 1:48 utc | 259