Just as I supposed:
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.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 12 2022 18:31 utc | 4

It is always funny to see someone take McGregor seriously. Last time he was reporting about gunbattles between CIA and US SOF in Cologne.

Posted by: Fnord73 | Dec 12 2022 19:11 utc | 6

Col Mcgreggor has been consistent and logical in this matter. Of course we should all listen to wim especially because he calls for peace.
Lets take a look at Western media om the other hand in this matter:
– ghost of kiev is real
– russia will run out of tanks in April
– russia ran out of missiles and is now shooting S300s
– putin has Parkinsons
– putin has advanced cancer and just pooped himself
Blah blah blah
Id takea Mcgreggor interview over Lamestream Western media 7 days a week and twice on Sundays.

Posted by: Comandante | Dec 12 2022 19:21 utc | 8

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….
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 12 2022 18:31 utc | 4

Hmmm… supports my theory that Crooke is using a protégé or assistant to do his research and first drafts and then refining them (or not) for publication. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

Posted by: Opport Knocks | Dec 12 2022 19:33 utc | 10

Hi
Is it me or the telegram channel “Intel Slava Z” has been down for 2 days ?

Posted by: Jordi | Dec 12 2022 19:40 utc | 12

«“Realpolitik Tentacles Seize and Squeeze the Mid-East”, which is actually about the EU, and “The U.S. Cuckoo in the European Nest”»
I think that both Mearsheimer and Cooke minsunderstand the USA strategists: I guess that in their view there are neither two enemy superpowers nor a single fight against both enemy superpowers, but a single enemy superpower, the PRC (the RF being a mere regional power in USA strategist eyes), but two distinct fights, a small and short (6-12 years) one against the RF to surround the PRC and a big and long one (15-30 years) one against the PRC itself.
In terms of GDP and population the RF is not even in the same rank as the EU, never mind the USA or the PRC, even if the resources (land and what’s under it) and the military of the RF mean it can to some extent “punch above its weight” (as once was said, quite delusionally, of England).
And that’s why the USA are using the ukranians fascists, as once they were using the afghan theocrats, to wage a proxy war against the RF with the goal not of defeating it, but of weakening it to achieve regime change.

Posted by: Blissex | Dec 12 2022 20:06 utc | 14

Brother Ma | Dec 12 2022 19:41 utc | 13
McGregor was a soldier. Soldiers kill and destroy. That is their function.
Douglas MacGregor was a good soldier.
Such Is Life

Posted by: Klaatu | Dec 12 2022 20:09 utc | 16

First let’s vote on the most useful military expert: Macgregor or Fnord73 @6?
Regarding Crooke’s latest piece, which is very good and confirms us in what we have already learned…and some. One thing that he doesn’t mention, and is barely worth mentioning, is that US policy tells us what sort of regime change they want in Moscow.
And the answer is that they want a racist, anti-Asian government that will break off contacts with the “inferior” Asians and ‘return’ to that Palace of Culture and decency Europe, where the white people live.
Navalny was a perfect candidate.
The expansion of NATO to Sweden and Finland was a sort of rounding off of NATO into an all-white alliance, a process which not accidentally seems to be designed to force Turkiye out.
People like Biden, even though they rely for election on black party bosses, owe their political careers to racist politics-anti-busing, ‘crime legislation’, anti-welfare measures. They owe everything that they have achieved to the cunning use of race politics- it is no accident that both Arkansas and even Delaware are border southern states.

Posted by: bevin | Dec 12 2022 20:18 utc | 18

Brother Ma | Dec 12 2022 19:41 utc | 13
>… MacGregor, destroyed Yugoslavia.…
Yep. And his role in destruction of Iraq.
The reason any of these guys know what they are talking about…. is their personal experience.
Some of them present as Good Guys now.
But a direct line can be drawn from what they did when in Service to where we are now: Ukrainians being killed at industrial levels daily.
There’s a trail of blood, death and despair across the planet and each of them personally contributed.
MacGregor, Larry Johnson, Scott Ritter….. the rollcall is long and extends across decades and generations.

Posted by: Melaleuca | Dec 12 2022 20:21 utc | 20

There is a recent Financial Times article on Bakhmut that says this:
<< Rockets and mortars rained down on Ukrainian military positions on the eastern edge of the city of Bakhmut, spraying shrapnel and sending troops diving for cover. Then came the Russian infantry, charging in a first world war-style attack across a no man’s land of shredded trees and artillery craters. The Ukrainians popped up and mowed down many of them with machine guns and grenade launchers. Moments later, the scenes were repeated — although this time the Russian fighters had to navigate their comrades’ bodies. Again many were cut down by Ukrainian bullets. “It’s like a conveyor belt,” Kostyantyn, an exhausted Ukrainian machine-gunner who described the scene to the Financial Times, said of the Russian tactics. “For what? A fucking metre of our land.” >>
Now is it just me that thinks this is very unlikely? I.e., made up for the credulous reporter or even invented by them. It reads like an account of WWII and it flies in the face of all the videos I’ve seen on actual battle footage of RF forces. None even suggest the stupidity of charging WWI-style. Hence, it doesn’t pass the smell test IMHO.
The Scots bloke

Posted by: The Scots bloke | Dec 12 2022 20:29 utc | 22

Posted by: bevin | Dec 12 2022 20:18 utc | 18
They have a full roster besides Navalny, there is Khodor with the added value of a second passport from the promised land. Imagine a citizen of the US arguing that Alaska is not the US but Russia, which in a lot of ways it still is. This is the concluding paragraph of an article in Bezos blog.

“The question of Crimea, which I thought before the war would take decades to resolve, today is unambiguous,” said Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former Russian oil tycoon and longtime Putin critic. “It is difficult to imagine a real end to the war without the return of Crimea to Ukraine.”

I very much appreciate your posts.

Posted by: Paco | Dec 12 2022 20:41 utc | 24

MacGregor, Larry Johnson, Scott Ritter….. The rollcall is long and extends across decades and generations.
Posted by: Melaleuca | Dec 12 2022 20:21 utc | 20
Just like Smedley Butler, a hero to all US Marines.
Experience is a necessary component for understanding facts and realizing the truth. Who wants to listen to someone yammer on and moralize about things that they know nothing about? As an ex- US Marine during the Vietnam conflict, I refuse to condemn peoples just because they have direct and first-hand experience.
I mean this as no offence to you Melaleuca.

Posted by: Ed | Dec 12 2022 20:41 utc | 26

Posted by: The Scots bloke | Dec 12 2022 20:29 utc | 22
It is pure fiction that plays on the imagination and ignorance of those who have NFI what modern warfare looks like. It also draws on a cliched exaggeration of Red Army tactics from ww2. Ultimately most of the western audience of the MSM think it’s a version Hollywood’s ww2 (BofBros, Saving Private Ryan, etc) or ww1 (the timing of Netflix’ All Quiet is notable). But if there is a useless waste of life it is the rotation of young men through the Bakhmut mill, not for territory but simply to keep up the fiction that Ukraine can still go on the offensive or defend. Whatever the western media or leadership says, it is the opposite that’s true—that includes everything it says.

Posted by: Patroklos | Dec 12 2022 20:48 utc | 28

Like I said- I like him and support him now, but he is not a saint, and may have sung from a different hymn-book if he was still in power.
Posted by: Brother Ma | Dec 12 2022 20:17 utc | 17
I certainly did not claim Macgregor is a saint. To my knowledge no one else here has as well. I would argue that no good soldier could ever be called a saint.
As far as I know killing people and destroying infrastructure is not part of the canonical criteria.
Maybe we can agree to disagree ?

Posted by: Klaatu | Dec 12 2022 20:52 utc | 30

“The question of Crimea, which I thought before the war would take decades to resolve, today is unambiguous,” said Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former Russian oil tycoon and longtime Putin critic. “It is difficult to imagine a real end to the war without the return of Crimea to Ukraine.”
Posted by: Paco | Dec 12 2022 20:41 utc | 24

To paraphrase a famous quote: “It is difficult to get a man to imagine something when his salary depends on him not imagining it”. The good news is Khodorkovsky will be long dead before Crimea is resolved to his satisfaction.

Posted by: Opport Knocks | Dec 12 2022 20:54 utc | 32

«a recent Financial Times article on Bakhmut that says this: […] Now is it just me that thinks this is very unlikely? I.e., made up for the credulous reporter or even invented by them. It reads like an account of WWII»
For more of the same, a recent amazing article here:
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htlog/articles/20221211.aspx
I guess that the surging ukrainian armies will soon start the siege of Moscow and it won’t last long :-).
«and it flies in the face of all the videos I’ve seen on actual battle footage of RF forces»
I would not trust these either, even if in general I reckon that most RF propaganda is merely “optimistic”, while most UA/USA/EU propaganda is almost complete fantasy. Also because the career of corporate and government propagandists is safer if they always lie.
I would not trust anything that comes out of either sides because:
* It is all unverifiable hearsay.
* It is quite easy to fake reports/recordings/videos of anecdotes.
* Even if the anecdotes are real, they may unrepresentative, and what matters is the overall situation.
The general rule I follow in these situations is that anything that a vested interest says can only be used against their claims, not to support them.
In older times: “listen to Radio Moscow to learn something about the USA, listen to Radio America to learn about the USSR”. In post-soviet times a common saying is “the communist party lied to us about the wonders of communism, but were right about the flaws of capitalism”.

Posted by: Blissex | Dec 12 2022 21:02 utc | 34

Euronews headline 12/12/2022:
‘Vladimir Putin has ruined the future of Russia’ says Bill Browder
And who is Bill Browder? Well, according to Wikipedia:
“William Felix Browder is an American-born British financier and political activist. He is the CEO and co-founder of Hermitage Capital Management, the investment advisor to the Hermitage Fund, which at one time was the largest foreign portfolio investor in Russia.
“In December 2017, Browder and Cherkasov were sentenced in absentia to 9 years and 8 years of imprisonment respectively by a Russian court for tax evasion by Hermitage Capital Management and causing $58 million of damage to the Russian federal budget.”

Posted by: krypton | Dec 12 2022 21:09 utc | 36

@Posted by: Blissex | Dec 12 2022 20:06 utc | 14
You need to stop utilizing the standard “GDP at US$ exchange rate” comparisons and start with the “GDP purchasing power parity” levels. Using PPP, the Russian and German economies are about the same size. But then we need to make a few adjustments:
– Add the Belarus at PPP to Russia.
– Deduct from EU GDP for financialized profiteering that is not value added, rather ruling class theft and laundering activities (still exists in Russia, but Putin limited it and was limited again by sanctions)
– Deduct from EU GDP and add to Russian GDP for access to the cheap energy upon which manufacturing industry is based (German and EU manufacturing is in the process of taking a huge hit), as well as a large part of the service sector.
You will find that Russia is much closer to EU overall economic size than the usual statistics would tell you. How big will the EU economy be next winter when they run out of natural gas? The next year after their car industry has completely lost the Chinese market and energy intensive industries have moved abroad?
The British economy is running on fumes ….

Posted by: Roger | Dec 12 2022 21:12 utc | 38

K | Dec 12 2022 20:53 utc | 31
Sometimes a lionshead is just a lions head.
Lions are brave perhaps ?

Posted by: Klaatu | Dec 12 2022 21:12 utc | 40

Posted by: Melaleuca | Dec 12 2022 20:21 utc | 20
Posted by: Patroklos | Dec 12 2022 20:21 utc | 19
Yes, indeed and there lies the rub ; to comport yourself in war so as to be a good effective soldier , and still remain an honourable person who can sleep at night , and be respected by all and sundry .
Posted by: Brother Ma | Dec 12 2022 20:28 utc | 21
Winston Churchill was a murderous cold-blooded killer for the Crown and imperial England his entire adult life. Still, that did not stop the people from making him Prime Minister during its time of troubles with Germany. In fact, it was the reason for Churchill’s rise in politics during WWII.
Tell me who your military heroes are, and I will tell you what monsters you worship.

Posted by: Ed | Dec 12 2022 21:20 utc | 42

Today’s notable headlines:
Russia gas exports to China hit a new record and Shanghai is being hooked up as we speak.
Kosovo looks like its been set to boiling, itll be interesting to see how many other places perk up now that nato resources are being strained.
Next up: the Kurds vs Iran and Turkey. Will the us be able to bail them out against the two regional powers?
Stay tuned!

Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | Dec 12 2022 21:24 utc | 44

Paco@24 Thank you for putting my post into better perspective. We are all-well, most of us- learning here. Any merit in my posts reflects the collective wisdom.
A Socialist in Canada translates and publishes “How the U.S. is planning a full-scale war with Russia” by Victoria Nikiforova.
“…No matter how much money is poured into it, no matter how many weapons are shipped, the Armed Forces of Ukraine cannot fulfill the combat missions that Washington is setting before it. This means that the operational plan for the NATO war against Russia is not some old trump card that Milley puts on the table every year, seeking an increase in defense spending from Congress. It’s a completely real plan for a very real, big war….
“…Meanwhile, more and more new units of the American army are being transferred to Europe, and large-scale deliveries of weapons and equipment are being carried out there. The idea of ​​sending representatives of the U.S. Army to Ukraine is being openly discussed. Officially, military advisers will have to train the Ukrainian troops in handling valuable imported equipment. In reality, that is also to ensure that the equipment is not plundered on an industrial scale.
“The American military has been fighting in Ukraine for a long time and with might and main. It’s just that it is being done unofficially, as though it were soldiers of fortune from Texas and Oklahoma involved. All the frank escalation of the conflict, inexorably leading the world to a larger war, is accompanied by lulling speeches saying that Washington wants to avoid an open confrontation with Moscow. To be frank, it is simply not believable. The fig leaf called ‘Ukraine’ which was supposed to cover up Washington’s plans for war with Russia slipped a long time ago and is now gone…”
https://socialistincanada.ca/how-the-u-s-is-planning-a-full-scale-war-with-russia/

Posted by: bevin | Dec 12 2022 21:25 utc | 46

Serbia is in big trouble.
https://youtu.be/voL3aJqSagg
It’s just getting worse. 2035 is becoming likely. Are the no sane people left in the E.U. ?
As for the US…sanity left the building long ago.
https://youtu.be/k6oRCpL1S9w
Give the Hinkle video a proper look. I like Jackson because he is young and he has no filter at all. Refreshing to watch for those reasons alone but I don’t watch much of him to be truthful. I prefer sober analysis but sometimes a bit of unfiltered ranting acts as catharsis.
Cheers

Posted by: Klaatu | Dec 12 2022 21:26 utc | 48

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 12 2022 18:31 utc | 4
Thank you, karlof1. I like the 3 part video B linked to ‘s description of ‘vassal states’ — vassals being only such as long as they get minimal support from those they serve. Which brings basic realities into play, financial ones. Getting my second cup of coffee to help digest your readings – we’re getting a slice of winter this week, may it travel onward! (Last week was sunny; my rosemaries are blooming.)

Posted by: juliania | Dec 12 2022 21:28 utc | 50

In Melitopol a bridge was seriously damaged tonight. Not by missiles, just many explosives. Donetsk had its daily dose of destruction too. Germany opened a weapons repair factory near Ukr border and Czech rep. will hire thousands of workers from Ukr for weapons manufacture.
Posted by: rk | Dec 12 2022 20:55 utc | 33
rk; somehow, I detect your glee when you report such things. I wonder if you are as big of a weasel as you sound.

Posted by: Ed | Dec 12 2022 21:31 utc | 52

No, not at all, he would still be insane. That whole Jade Helm-style fantasy he ran during the US elections was genuinely batshit crazy.
Posted by: Fnord73 | Dec 12 2022 21:27 utc | 48
The whole of the USA is batshit crazy.
Macgregor is good at killing and wrecking stuff. You are not. I will listen to the experts, when they are firmly in their own lane, over amateur analysis any day of the week.
Cheers

Posted by: Klaatu | Dec 12 2022 21:35 utc | 54

Aleph_Null | Dec 12 2022 21:25 utc | 44
Point 1. Anyone can be called a NAZI at any moment for any reason.
Point 2. We (U$) don’t like Wagner, ergo, Wagner are NAZIs
Point 3. If we can convince= state Wagner are NAZI then and images of nazism in Ukraine now are Wagner. In fact, Azov now = Wagner.
Point 4. Most of the blueandyellow flags on twitter have no clue. If Azov are NAZI and Wagner are NAZI. All Russians are NAZIs.
Point 5. The U$ fought the NAZIs in WW2, and won. Russians are NAZIs. Therefore the U$ fought Russia in WW2 and won.
Point 6. The U$ defeated Russia in WW2, so the U$ will kick Russia’s ass again for a second time. This time with nukes.
Point 7. You are a NAZI; a Putin puppet Nazi, if you question or challenge any of what I say.

Posted by: Melaleuca | Dec 12 2022 21:37 utc | 56

«[_]elensky. […] is responsible for the death of over a 100,000 Ukies and civilians as well.»
That argument is based on usual propaganda from “the west” that the war started on 24 February 2022 with the invasion of Ukraine by the RF…
But actually the person responsible for the death of over 120,000 ukrainians is Poroshenko, who started the ukrainian war of aggression against the Donbas on 9 May 2014 with the Mariupol Massacre; the war by the ukrainian fascist government against the Donbas the current “SMO” this year is just the latest counter-attack by the Donbas.
https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/least-among-us-war-donbas-terrorizing-ukraines-most-vulnerable-citizens/
«The deep anger toward both Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (I was told by one young woman, a native of Donetsk, that “this is Poroshenko’s war”) and an equally deep sense of alienation from the Ukrainian state in Kiev are equally unmistakable. One young mother told us “there is no ‘back’ to Ukraine for Donbas.” If Poroshenko and his cheerleaders in the Obama administration and the US Congress believe that an economic blockade, Kiev’s deployment of snipers, the shelling of Donbas’s civilians and a proposal to send American weapons with which to facilitate the shelling is the recipe for winning eastern Ukrainian “hearts and minds” they couldn’t be more wrong.»
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Donbas
«3,393 civilians killed (349 in 2016–2021)
13,100–13,300 killed; 29,500–33,500 wounded overall
414,798 Ukrainians internally displaced; 925,500 fled abroad»
Something that few in “the west” mention is that during Poroshenko’s War the largest number of ukrainian refugees have gone not to “the west” but to the safety of the RF, because they were fleeing the war against them by the ukrainian government.

Posted by: Blissex | Dec 12 2022 21:46 utc | 58

Rob | Dec 12 2022 21:30 utc | 50
🙂
Stay away from Schoppenhauer then. The World as Will and Representation is the most difficult read ever. Taken me a year to read the first book. Not helped by the fact it was written in German and translated into English.
It was so difficult it has put me off the other two parts of The World as Will and Representation. The way things are going it looks like I won’t be able to finish them. Ah well shit happens.

Posted by: Klaatu | Dec 12 2022 21:48 utc | 60

Sometimes a lionshead is just a lions head.
Lions are brave perhaps ?
Posted by: Klaatu | Dec 12 2022 21:12 utc | 39
Yes it might just be free artwork.
My question was really about whether this browser is trustable, I wasn’t very clear.
its also off topic I apologise.

Posted by: K | Dec 12 2022 21:57 utc | 62

GDP-per-head
@ Blissex | Dec 12 2022 21:37 utc | 54
—
Please remember that economics is philosophy and not science.

Posted by: too scents | Dec 12 2022 22:04 utc | 64

@ Melaleuca | Dec 12 2022 21:37 utc | 55
@ Ed | Dec 12 2022 21:53 utc | 60
Strange that Melaleuca’s 7-point discourse on Naziism should inspire someone to proudly “miss the point” — or doubt the authenticity of the author.
Authentic or not, I got the point (all seven): That general discourse (or perhaps our lazy US American mindset) has degraded to the point where the adjective Nazi is totally arbitrary, its usage consistently, conveniently inconsistent, no?

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Dec 12 2022 22:12 utc | 66

«[Z]elensky. […] is responsible for the death of over a 100,000 Ukies and civilians as well.»
Posted by: Blissex | Dec 12 2022 21:46 utc | 57
If you are going to reply to my comment, then please have the courtesy to identify me: Ed @#41. There is no reason to be Chicken Shit, troll or otherwise.
No this is not Poroshenko’s war. He was just a pawn of the Obama/Biden administration in 2014. In that respect, this is an Obama / Biden war from the beginning, as the Maiden Coup belonged to the US. Now it is Bidens baby and Zelensky is Biden’s pawn. Zelensky could have refused to be Biden’s pawn, and instead follow through with his campaign promise to the people of Ukraine. I suspect that if he had done so, he would have been dead a long time ago.

Posted by: Ed | Dec 12 2022 22:16 utc | 68

Ed | Dec 12 2022 21:53 utc | 60
I guess you missed the point.
The @bar once indulged a side serve of irony/sarc.
I guess times are now too fraught, and trolls too overwhelming and persistent.
Sardonic humour is also a bit tricky online…
Re your point re Macgregor. I am following him ATM as he’s talking “sense”.
But the reason he knows so well of what he speaks… is his handiwork in Yugoslavia and Iraq.
He’s come to prominence more recently as numerous yt content creators need to fill their quota. MacGregor speaks well, intelligently, and authoritatively.
I gave the Vlahos-Macgregor dialogue the 3hrs over this weekend… and I don’t have 3hrs to waste….
Hinkle. I was giving him a go, and think he’s an admirable young man.
IMO among the very best, most professional interviewers.
He asks intelligent, informed questions….and doesn’t needlessly interrupt his guest.
Exactly as Klaatu | Dec 12 2022 21:26 utc | 47 states:
“”I don’t watch much of him to be truthful. I prefer sober analysis but sometimes a bit of unfiltered ranting acts as catharsis.”” [yep]
Just found this, and chuckled (moderately)…
Klaatu | Dec 12 2022 21:35 utc | 53

Macgregor is good at killing and wrecking stuff. ….I will listen to the experts, when they are firmly in their own lane, over amateur analysis

watcher | Dec 12 2022 21:32 utc | 52
Browder is just evil personified.

Posted by: Melaleuca | Dec 12 2022 22:18 utc | 70

So. As UK can claim contravention at any time… does this mean UK is prepping to send long range weapons, ?
Posted by: Melaleuca | Dec 12 2022 21:26 utc | 46
UK has been behind most if not all escalation provocation to date. Weapon flows into Ukraine have slowed to a trickle, Russian forces have built up again, but 150 thousand mobilized still in training and the war is not going good for UK. UK needs to try and break Russia’s systematic approach to maximizing Ukraine attrition rate. Try and make Russia act rashly or in a way that will draw the US in deeper.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Dec 12 2022 22:22 utc | 72

Peter AU1 | Dec 12 2022 22:22 utc | 71
If UKGov was smart they would be trying to work to prevent the economy from heading into depression territory, not throwing money at an unwinnable war.
UKGov is demonstrably stupid. Up to the brits what they do with those clowns in Parliament. My suggestion is find a rifle and a nice wall.

Posted by: Klaatu | Dec 12 2022 22:30 utc | 74

@64;
Because the RF is unable to engage in accurate counter battery fire.
In a nutshell, RF forces are using WW2 level technology but UA is 21st C level.
In Putins “United Russia” 70% of “modernisation” efforts were a scam. Money siphoned off by criminals and and “beautiful reports” sent to Shoigu (a grade A ass kisser). Criminal Oligarchy has systematically destroyed the infrastructure and human capital required for Russia to wage war. Putin did not realise this, and in fact believed in a quick “regime change” operation, now he is f*****. Stick a fork in him.
As soon as Western imported machine tools start to wear out RF industry will collapse altogether if China cannot supply replacements.
The West knows this and they aim to win (RF out of UA except for Crimea), thus their cockiness. My opinion is now that they will win unless some radical change happens.
This recent article from Topwar.ru on the disastrous state of Russian artillery is very instructive:
https://en.topwar.ru/206569-bol-i-nischeta-rossijskoj-artillerii.html
Note how real Russians who know better do not subscribe to the idea promoted by Western bloggers that RF artillery is 10x superior etc.
People see Putin as a crypto communist and real anti imperialist resistance figure. False. The machinations of his oligarch backers and his personal machine disenfranchised the Communist Party in the late 90s, just like Yeltsin did in the early 90s.
Putin neoliberalised Russia, integrating totally into Weatern supply chains, as he wanted to be a respected equal member in the Western gang, too foolish to realise that if you are not Americas bitch you are the enemy. Now it is all coming down around him.
Neoliberalisation = destruction of state capability and autonomy for the enrichment of the imperial centre.
Delusional people here will say otherwise. Let’s see in 3 months what has happened. (“Winter offensive” – LOL)
US is winning, fascism is winning, imperialism is winning. On every level. Which happens when people engage in wishful thinking and cultish psychosis.

Posted by: Moaobserver | Dec 12 2022 22:38 utc | 76

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Dec 12 2022 22:22 utc | 71

… UK needs to try and break Russia’s systematic approach to maximizing Ukraine attrition rate. Try and make Russia act rashly or in a way that will draw the US in deeper.

Who will “Try and make act rashly” .. to go US in a deeper state – that now?
No one can today. You know.
But what’s may be the today’s “meaning of an UKR-Soldier” trying of standing-up in a mud trenches waiting for support, beside nearby dying comrades caused of no medical help?
Those UKR-Polish “friend” guys fired the HIMARS towards Donetzk to kill only civis.
Go hell, all the mercs from everywhere!

Posted by: spare_truth | Dec 12 2022 22:39 utc | 78

@ Kalof1 Post 4
You continue to share. Many thanks.
from Alastair Crooke – The U.S. Cuckoo in the European Nest

[.]
As a logical consequence, the indeterminate and undefined ‘as long as it takes’ policy, simply binds the EU to ‘forever Russia sanctions’ – leading Europe deeper into economic crisis, with no plan ‘B’. Nor, even a hint of one.
Yet, at another level, almost completely absent from European analysis, (because of its embrace of the flawed analysis that views ‘Russia as a friable military power’) – lies the unaddressed reality: The contention is not between Kiev vs Moscow – it was always between the U.S. vs Russia.[.]

Yesterday Ms. Yellen, with her wallet of mouse-click dollars, said US Aid to Ukraine Can Go on ‘As Long as It Takes’
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen signaled the Biden administration is prepared to continue seeking billions of dollars in aid for Ukraine as long as it takes…
Bloomberg
in other words, with mouse-click dollars “we can mouse this win for Ukraine.”
Suggestion for Ms. Yellen: read Prof. Michael Hudson’s The American Empire Self-Destructs

Posted by: Likklemore | Dec 12 2022 22:43 utc | 80

Aleph_Null | Dec 12 2022 21:25 utc | 44 + 65
To answer your question more soberly…
Re Wagner = nazis.
I saw a telegram (which made it to corporate media, electric fast) about Wagner recruiting from Russian prisons.
Some of the “hard men” types who find themselves incarcerated (in any country) often (or mostly) have “hard man” tattoos…. Said tattoos are often of an antisocial genre… and there’s nothing more antisocial and oppositional to mainstream than SS and BlackSun and similar images… so. “Highly likely” some of the Wagner crew have Nazi tatts… which suddenly become pulsating neon visible to the corporate media …. Who are simultaneously dead-eye blind to the Ukrainian adulation of Bandera and the meaning of “Glory to the Heros” (Bandera and the Nazi collaborators)

Posted by: Melaleuca | Dec 12 2022 22:51 utc | 82

Posted by: Klaatu | Dec 12 2022 20:52 utc | 30
Agree to disagree when we don’t agree?
Of course ,as always. 🙂
Posted by: Paco | Dec 12 2022 20:41 utc | 24
Make up your mind, Khodo. What are you ? An anti -Russian patrimony Russian, a Zionist Jew or just a piece of money-grubbing shite? I would have already put him against a wall for what he did to Russia, and I am not Russian , and live in a Western country. I just call it shamelessly looting your own country. In fact, on thinking further , I’d call it treason , and now with the Crimea response it cements my opinion.

Posted by: Brother Ma | Dec 12 2022 22:57 utc | 84

To those of you intellectually substandard, characterless bumpkins criticising MacGregor, I suggest you lose 150 pounds, get off your basement bed, and do something with your life. Maybe, if you don’t wind up a homeless dreg, you might be entitled to an opinion, but not much of one.

Posted by: HOGGY | Dec 12 2022 23:03 utc | 86

“ Re your point re Macgregor. I am following him ATM as he’s talking “sense”.
But the reason he knows so well of what he speaks… is his handiwork in Yugoslavia and Iraq.
He’s come to prominence more recently as numerous yt content creators need to fill their quota. MacGregor speaks well, intelligently, and authoritatively.”
Posted by: Melaleuca | Dec 12 2022 22:18 utc | 69
Appreciate that background info which I did not know and will look into. I think you may agree people can be wrong at a certain times in their lives and be right at other times. I can admit to being wrong numerous times. I think what matters is how a person changes their thinking in regards to a changing understanding of the world/situation/people. Any completely static position will at some point appear “wrong” bc the universe is always changing as we are also changing as humans.. Apologies way too long of a rant…

Posted by: dust | Dec 12 2022 23:06 utc | 88

Why? Hubris? Pleonexia? Because they have nothing better to do? Stupidity? Or is the irrationality of Racism and related belief in one’s own Exceptionalism driving those who say they’re in charge?
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 12 2022 23:00 utc | 84
Because the MIC has to be maintained by enemies. A big bullying empire has to have a big military. A big military has to have regular use. Freshen up the inventory. Sharpen up the cadre. Picking a fight is just doing routine maintenance. They’ve really screwed the pooch this time though.

Posted by: Gt Stroller | Dec 12 2022 23:15 utc | 90

@Posted by: Blissex | Dec 12 2022 21:37 utc | 54
Russia GDP per head at PPP is US$32,000 and population 143 million = 4,576,000 million
Belarus GDP per head at PPP is US$22,000 and population 10 million = 220,000 million
= 4.8 trillion (industry 26.6%)
EU GDP per head at PPP is US$54,000 and population 447 million = 24,138,000 million
= 24.1 trillion (industry 24.5%)
So yes, EU is 5 times the size of Russia+Belarus at PPP, industry to industry ratio is slightly less (services don’t fight wars).
The second question is how much of that industry will be viable at energy prices multiples of those available to Russia, China, US etc? UK has 19% industry, US 18.9%, will Europe end up there or lower? Third concern is that this is an existential crisis for Russia, but it is not for Europe (perhaps Poland sees it as such, but not the other nations) – that will greatly affect how much resources and human costs will be acceptable to be allocated to the war, especially with living standards falling and public services being cut.
And yes of course, in the bigger picture EU (24)+US (25)+Japan (6.1) +UK (3.8) + Canada (2.2) +Australia (1.6) vs. Russia (4.6) + Belarus (0.2) + China (30) + Iran (1.6) things are a lot closer: 62.7 vs 36.4 (1.71 to 1), the ratio is probably lower when we consider actual productive industrial capacity. Does show how important the US control of Europe is to the US, especially Germany, France and Italy.

Posted by: Roger | Dec 12 2022 23:22 utc | 92

My wife has convinced me that Putin is really sick after all. It actually explains a lot, including what’s going on in Kosovo now. I think this augers well for a peace agreement.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Dec 12 2022 23:25 utc | 94

People see Putin as a crypto communist and real anti imperialist resistance figure. ” I see him as Putin2.. an inert insert, as are MbS2, JB2-8, HC2 etc.
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.
 
P

Posted by: Thomas Turk | Dec 12 2022 23:29 utc | 96

Likklemore @79–
Thanks for your reply. I refrained from posting any excerpts because I didn’t want to influence anyone’s first reads, particularly the segment you cited. Now that you’ve provided a key citation, I will now provide two more, the first one dealing with the Cuckoo reference, which is likely lost on most readers:

Larry Johnson – a long veteran of both the CIA and the State Department – pinpoints the ‘cuckoo’ nestling at the bottom of the ‘nest’ of western thinking about Ukraine. The bird has two closely related parts: the upper layer is the conceptual framework positing that the U.S. faces two distinct spheres of contention: first, U.S. vs Russia, and secondly, U.S. vs China.
The essential mental framework behind this ‘cuckoo’ – just to be plain – is wholly U.S.-centric: It is the view of the world from someone peering out from Washington, tinted by wishful thinking.
It is truly a ‘cuckoo’ (i.e. the malicious insertion of an interloper amongst the legitimate chicks), because these battlescapes are not two, as claimed, but one. How so?
These two conflicts are not distinct, but interconnect through the western refusal to acknowledge that it is Western cultural pretensions of superiority that are the crux to the unfolding process of today’s geopolitical restructuring.
The purpose of the cuckoo is to erase this pivotal aspect from the conceptual framing, and then to reduce the whole to abstract power politics where Russia and China can be played off – one against the other.
Plainly put, the bifurcation U.S. vs China separate to U.S. vs Russia serves principally to ‘bed-down’ the growing cuckoo.

And the second grows from the first and clearly went well over poor Rob’s tiny brain:

As Larry Johnson notes, there are not just two putative outcomes, but rather, there is a missing third. It is that Russia ultimately, will dictate the terms of the Ukraine outcome. This missing third alternative paradoxically, is also the most likely.
Yes, the U.S. and EU narrative is that Ukraine is winning, but as Colonel Douglas Macgregor, an earlier candidate for U.S. National Security Adviser, notes:

The Biden administration repeatedly commits the unpardonable sin in a democratic society of refusing to tell the American people the truth: Contrary to the Western media’s popular “Ukrainian victory” narrative, which blocks any information that contradicts it, Ukraine is not winning and will not win this war … The coming offensive phase of the conflict will provide a glimpse of the new Russian force that is emerging and its future capabilities … The numbers continue to grow, but the numbers already include 1,000 rocket artillery systems, thousands of tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones, plus 5,000 armoured fighting vehicles, including at least 1,500 tanks, hundreds of manned fixed-wing attack aircraft, helicopters and bombers. This new force has little in common with the Russian army that intervened nine months ago on Feb. 24, 2022.

For Europe, its unreflective taking of this American ‘cuckoo’ thinking into its own European nest is nothing short of catastrophic. Brussels – by extension – has absorbed the false contention that China is distinct from the Russian project. This mental device intentionally forecloses on the necessary understanding that Europe faces a burgeoning resistance from the Russia-China axis, and much of the world, who scorn its pretensions to some higher order superiority.
Secondly, the buy-in to the DC-smart ‘only two alternatives’ framework – ‘because the U.S. is a military behemoth and Russia would never dare anything beyond a proxy war’ – shows up the fat cuckoo in the nest: NATO escalation is relatively risk-free: we have Putin pinned down in Ukraine; HE dare not trigger a full NATO response.
Russia, nonetheless, is preparing to launch an outcome-setting offensive. Then, what of Europe? Did you think that through? No, because that ‘alternative’ did not even appear ‘amongst the framework parameters’.

And that brings us to the attempt to escalate in Kosovo, which I’ve commented upon at the open thread. The mindset being utilized by those Biden fronts for we’ve seen previously–those of Hitler’s 1942 Germany just before the loss of the Battle for Moscow. NATO has lost, the European component at least, but has yet to admit that truism to itself. The 5-Eyes could try to continue, but their defeat is there for anyone with an open mind to see. Those deeply steeped in Empire propaganda will have to deal with conniption fits as reality crashes their party. The Rest of World will celebrate as Dollar and US Hegemony dies and the Age of Plunder officially ends.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 12 2022 23:32 utc | 98

The West’s biggest nightmare is that Russia drags this out for many years. Doing so will destroy the EU’s and NATO’s reputation for peace and economic prosperity.
Moreover, the West wanted Russia to occupy all of Ukraine and get bogged down in an insurgency. But that will not happen, since Russia will not take all of Ukraine. Instead, it looks like they will take the east and the south.
And they will bomb the rest of the country, leave it with no infrastructure, turn it into a wasteland. Who will rebuild the wasteland ? Nobody. Every time the West tries to rebuild it, it will get destroyed.
Meanwhile, the Arab and Muslim world, India, China, the rest of Asia and Latin America will move onwards. They will de-dollarize, grow their economies and industrialize further.
Ukraine has become a trap for the West.

Posted by: Augustus Caesar | Dec 12 2022 23:36 utc | 100