In 2023 we will reference the Ukraine conflict as
“The proxy war that is no longer a proxy..”
Mr. Lavrov made it clear yesterday: ‘Hundreds of U.S. troops are on the ground in Ukraine.’
We, in this forum, know those troops, likely undercounted, are not there on vacation to admire.
After Ms. Merkel’s and Mr. Francois Hollande’s confessions on their criminal deception, there will be no negotiations.
[said she]
“The 2014 Minsk Agreement was an attempt to buy time for Ukraine. Ukraine used this time to become stronger, as you can see today.” According to the ex-Chancellor, “it was clear for everyone” that the conflict was suspended and the problem was not resolved, “but it was exactly what gave Ukraine the priceless time.” (Tass News Agency)
In the afore-knowledge, the guarantors of the Minsk Accord sat on their hinnies while thousands of civilians died. And without remorse, gave the Ukrainians 7+ years to fortify and arm up.
IMO, there does not exist the required quantities of old piano wires to do the job at hand.
Now the Russian army will do the talking.
Mike Whitney newest at UNZ: Captain Russia quoting Mercouris; Col. Douglas MacGregor, et al.
“Something Big Is On the Way”
Snippets with original emphasis:
LINK
This is a must read. A very long piece and the map of countries where the U.S.government has admitted to launching military interventions with the map of U.S. bases on planet earth is well worth your time. Find a country that’s not.

“The Russians have decided there is no way to negotiate an end to this. No one will negotiate in good faith; therefore we must crush the enemy. And that’s what’s coming.” Colonel Douglas MacGregor (9:35 minute)
[.] why would Putin even consider negotiating with people like that; people who just lied-to-his-face for 7 years while they flooded the country with weapons that would be used to kill Russian servicemen?
And what was the objective that compelled Merkel and her Washington colleagues to lie?
They wanted a war, which is the same reason why Boris Johnson put the kibosh on an agreement that Zelensky had negotiated with Moscow in March. Johnson sabotaged the deal because Washington wanted a war.It’s that simple.
But there is a price to pay for lying, and that price comes in the form of distrust, which is the pernicious erosion of confidence that makes it impossible to resolve issues of mutual concern. Russia’s deputy chair of the national Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, expressed his views on the matter just this week in the bitterest terms.
Bottom line: The prospects for peace in Ukraine are zilch. The US foreign policy establishment has decided that the only way it can reverse America’s accelerating decline is through direct military confrontation. The war in Ukraine is the first manifestation of that decision.
On the other hand, Russia no longer puts any stock in negotiations with the West, because western leaders cannot be trusted to honor their commitments or fulfill their treaty obligations. The irreconcilable differences of the two main parties makes escalation inevitable. Absent a partner that can be trusted, Putin has just one option for resolving the conflict: Overwhelming military force. [.]
“The Russians are not going to roll over and play dead. In fact, what the Russians are going to do is crush the Ukrainians. They are going to bring out the big guns. They are going to turn places like Kiev, and other cities in Ukraine into rubble. They’re going to do Fallujas, they’re going to do Mosuls, they’re going to do Groznys ….
When a great power feels threatened…the Russians are going to pull out all stops in Ukraine to make sure they win. …You want to understand that what we are talking about doing here, is backing a nuclear-armed great power– that sees what’s happening as an existential threat– into a corner. This is really dangerous.” (John Mearsheimer, Twitter)[.]
And here’s more MacGregor:

“It is looking more and more like the Russians would like to complete their task in Donbas first. They want to eliminate all the Ukrainian forces that are in the Donbas… Remember, this was always an economy-of-force measure. It was designed to grind up as many Ukrainians as possible at the lowest possible cost to the Russians. That’s what’s been going on in southern Ukraine (and) it continues. It has worked brilliantly. And Surovikin, the theatre commander, has said that will continue until he’s ready to launch his offensive. When the offensive is launched, it will be a very different battle.
But the interesting thing is, that the Ukrainians have taken so many casualties in the South, we are beginning to hear reports that they are on the verge of collapse. And that’s why we’re hearing about teenage boys age 14 or 15 pressed into service. …and we’re getting videos from Ukrainian soldiers saying,”The people in Kiev had better hope that the Russians get to them before we do… because we’ll kill them.” They are talking about people in the government, because they see no evidence that Zelensky’s government …gives a damn about them. They are running out of food and clothes; they are freezing, they are taking heavy casualties, and they are being driven back.”[.]

AND
[.]

Alexander Mercouris… recently listed the exceptional series of meetings Putin has held over the past couple of weeks with the entire…. military and national security establishment. In Moscow, the Russian leader met with all of his top military commanders and national security officials (including) Sergei Surovikan, the general he put in charge of the Ukrainian operation….
Putin subsequently flew to Minsk with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu for exchanges with the Belarus political and military leadership. Then it was onward to meet with the leaders of the two republics, Donetsk and Lugansk, that were incorporated via referenda into the Russian Federation last autumn.
It is impossible to avoid concluding that these back-to-back meetings, barely covered in the Western press, portend a new, near- or medium-term military initiative in Ukraine. As Mercouris put it, “Something very big is on the way.”[.]

“The liberation of the Donbas….it is not going to end there.”
Onward to the cleansing of Odessa.
May 2014, the burning of the Trade Union building and the souls who perished.

Posted by: Likklemore | Dec 31 2022 17:04 utc | 4

@ Likklemore | Dec 31 2022 17:04 utc | 4
thanks..

Posted by: james | Dec 31 2022 17:29 utc | 6

If anyone would know of where to find #Yuri with subtitles in English I would be extremely appreciative. 5 minutes of lucid, calm experienced analysis. I thank whomever pointed out that the originating Telegram site was IntelSlavaZ who seem to do less these days.
I still use only #Slavyangrad, but less analysis lately and tonnes of war porn, announcement that missiles hit in one place 5 minutes age, etc. If others have better english sites that have a Russian origin, I would appreciate. Gleb G’s 3 commments to me were all incisive and clear.
My 7th grade level at best of military analysis is piqued at the possibility of an attack on Sumy, safe and brings in a nice rail line between BYR and RF. Possibly lower casulties.
But my years protesting and getting arrested against nuclear weapons is a forte. And after I paused and turned to working/living with the mentally challenged, in 1994, my 12 step sponsor for my 5th step said, “M., when I sign off a ship to the (US) navy, I am certifying it as a nuclear weapons capable platform (Aegis Ingalls shipyard, Pascagoula MS). Do you still want me for your sponsor. I said yes.
The decision in the Bush W admin and the continued placement of the
Aegis Ashore MK41 nuclear first strike installation in Romania and then Poland has flabbergasted me, It is a linchpin in my viewpoint of the usOfa as wanting the fracture or destruction of RF. I wish the RF Godspeed in the demilitarization of NATO. Go slow and do it right. Suck as many of those Patriot warheads that you can. I wish for NATO to be ashes in the dustbin of history. I do not care

Posted by: paxmark1 | Dec 31 2022 17:40 utc | 8

Great job President Putin.
” “[T]he IMF [and] the World Bank are behind this. There are direct instructions. These are the structures of the global enemy. We are fulfilling the instructions of the enemy,” Tsyganov warned, days before the biometrics bill was rushed through the legislature. ”
” [Under this law], biometric identification systems for Russian citizens can be implemented literally everywhere. They are already being actively installed in transport, at ski resorts, and at strategic enterprises and any facilities with high terrorist risks, based on the wording of the document, the EBS will generally have no alternative in a number of places.
But we still hoped that the guarantor of the Constitution [Putin], despite the whispers of the persons with altered consciousness around him, would … be able to make independent decisions aimed at the benefit of the country.
It didn’t happen. The law has been signed, there will be no veto. And this shows that the chief manager of the Russian Federation today doesn’t understand our concerns about biometrics. ”
– https://edwardslavsquat.substack.com/p/ungrateful-russians-give-friendly –

Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Dec 31 2022 17:51 utc | 10

re Likklemore | Dec 31 2022 17:04 utc | 4
many thanks for that….
Whitney, mercouris, MacGregor et al are well worth reading and listening to.
first take the Donbass, then the big winter/spring offensive which will include taking Odessa and all the south so that Ukraine is a totally landlocked country; then down from Belarus they’ll move to totally isolate Kiev – and Zelensky and the rest of the parasites, snakes and vultures will flee soon after that, or else sign a surrender. Russia will have its hands full cleaning out that cesspool of a neo-nazi Avoz infested country, alas.
then on to their Dec 2021 security concerns

Posted by: michaelj72 | Dec 31 2022 17:57 utc | 12

Ukraine is a symptom, not the cure….

Posted by: vetinLA | Dec 31 2022 18:10 utc | 14

Today, Putin went to the Southern Military District, but there’s really no info by way of the transcript; instead, you must watch the video (the last two minutes certainly) and IMO view photo #17. I’d very much like to know what Putin said to the assembled troops at the video’s end. If anyone can do a translation of that, I’d greatly appreciate that. I was impressed by the diversity of those being awarded.
Otherwise, the Kremlin and MFA’s websites are quiet. Seems the MoD is doing all the talking today.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 31 2022 18:20 utc | 16

@ 5
Eh? How would Russia lose territory in this scenario?
Ukraine isnt going to last until 2028 and the NATO countries aside from perhaps Poland and the Baltic States, arnt intrested in real war-fighting against Russia. As they’re the military-industrial equivalent of welfare scammers.
However Balts dont have the manpower and Poland’s armed forces are quite small, so adding 300’000 troops is a far more daunting task for them, than it was for Russia…

Posted by: Urban Fox | Dec 31 2022 18:29 utc | 18

Aristodemos notions
Perhaps it all dates back to the Minsk Accords. By that time the Russian leadership circles realized that Germany and France were playing a double game, as “suggested” by the U$$A, whose “leaders” had received their particular orders from City of London where the primary command decisions are made. Their intel sources would have indicated that the Minsk promises by the guarantor states were not worth their weight in Hrvnias. They already knew that massive supplies of armaments and “advisers” would build up the Ukie military on the basis of stalling for time until such moment as they could array this massive assault on the Donbass republics.
Crazy like a fox, the Russians. The hyper abundance of artillery rounds and rocketry being produced by the state-run armaments factories, was not ferreted out by U$$A and NATOstani sources. Those foxes got outfoxed by senior foxes ensconced within the Kremlin and in Stavka headquarters.
Thus prepared to deal with the immediacy on the Western front and hopeful that a highly modified “shock and awe” offensive in central and Southern Ukraine, with the focus being on Kiev, would suffice to bring Zelensky to the peace table and to meet the then rather modest Russian requests. Didn’t happen, as Boris Johnson, having gotten the word directly from the horse’s mouth, located in a certain private bank in City of London, let Z. know in no uncertain terms that a peace deal was OFF and that in cooperating, that Ukraine would be overwhelmed by additional armaments and “advisers”…as well as plenty of grease for himself and his cronies. Zelensky was SOLD on the proposals and the war went into its second phase.
At this point the SMO per se, was doomed to failure. The Russian military and administration was not fully prepared for this uptick by the collective West and actuated by the puppet regime in Kiev. Months got frittered away and ultimately some real-estate. over which the Ukies and the West crowed loudly from their perches atop the manure pile. By October, a restructuring of the military command structure resulted in one Sergei Serovikin and a full military reconstruction was initiated.
Knowing the sticktoitive philosophy of their enemies, the Russians simply turned up the heat, first in the Donetsk front and latterly across all the active front-lines. Whenever Ukie units pressed an offensive, it was quickly quelled by newly invigorated and reinforced Russian units. As that was going on to their north, the gradual and careful Russian offensive in the main front kept applying the pressure, destroying such units as Ukraine’s 73rd Brigade (and several more) and necessitating that reserve units were drawn by the Ukies from several other fronts, additional to designated reserve brigades.
To date, the vise has been tightening around the Bakhmut/Artemovsk conglomeration as the grinding policy of the Russian forces have now got between 30,000 and 50K Ukies essentially bottled up into an ever tightening cauldron. It would seem logical that we are about a week away from that cauldron becoming totally surrounded and facing the choices of death or surrender. My hope is that the Russian propaganda machine will suffice to effectuate the latter by the time of Russian Orthodox Christmas on January seventh. Bells would ring all across the RU if the half-starved, half-frozen, PTSD infused Ukrainian private soldiers will overcome their higher officers and the nationalist fanatics and opt for the white flags rather than miserable suffering followed by certain death.

Posted by: aristodemos | Dec 31 2022 18:43 utc | 20

A Russian Senator has put into words what many Russians think as RT reports:
“Confessions by Hollande and Merkel are ‘formalization of betrayal’ – top Russian senator: The West has proven it only cares about territory in Ukraine, not people, Konstantin Kosachev says. Here’s what he wrote on his telegram yesterday:

Hollande’s admissions, following Poroshenko and Merkel, that the Minsk agreements were needed only as a gain of time for Kiev to accumulate military power, speak to at least two things.
The first is that for the West, the integrity of Ukraine (as opposed, say, to the integrity of Great Britain with its Scotland and Spain with its Catalonia) is precisely control over the territories, not social harmony. These are lands, not people. This is violence, not negotiation. It is the occupation of part of one’s own country against the will of part of its citizens. And all this is directly opposite to the so-called European values, which were blown up from the inside by geopolitics in Ukrainian.
And the second thing. The only co-author of the Minsk agreements (although Moscow did not sign them), which consistently and honestly tried to act as their guarantor, was our country. It was Russia, unlike Ukraine, Germany and France, that was on the side of the people in this case, leaving aside the issue of territories – as long as (at least in theory) it was still possible to implement the Minsk agreements as it was spelled out there.
And then it became clear that it was impossible. The cat is out of the bag. The sabotage of the Minsk agreements by a rabid Kiev and an irresponsible collective Brussels triggered the development of events according to the only remaining scenario. When Russia, albeit almost alone, albeit by other means, actually continues to protect people in those territories that were thoughtlessly rejected from Ukraine by Kiev on the Maidan and, as it now turns out, betrayed by Berlin and Paris in Minsk.
Quite so. The confessions of Merkel and Hollande are a fixation of betrayal. The south-east of the then Ukraine was initially betrayed by the West, despite the verbal tinsel around. The price of this betrayal was thousands of human lives over the past eight years of the civil war in Ukraine. Which was not initially stopped by the West, which turned the Minsk agreements into a filkin letter. But which Russia is now forced to stop with its special military operation. [My Emphasis]

IMO, the beginning of the combat phase of the war between NATO and Russia began with the 2014 Coup in Ukraine after what many now see as a false start in 2008.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 31 2022 18:48 utc | 22

I don’t recall seeing anyone cite what Medvedev wrote on his telegram on the 28th, which given the existential circumstances Russia’s faced with I agree with:

As you know, history after the tragedy is often repeated as a farce. More than a hundred years ago, our “non-systemic oppositionists” fiercely wished our Motherland defeat in the First World War. The result was the death of the empire, two revolutions and a bloody Civil War, which claimed 17 million people of different political views.
Reading the latest opuses of the state Department henchmen of the XXI century who fell behind the cordon, I cannot escape the feeling that after the great tragedy the time of a disgusting farce has come. Once again, endless curses against the authorities and wishes for the speedy defeat of their Fatherland in the war, and often unpretentious dreams of destroying today’s Russia. It is disgusting to read such a thing, especially given the fact that against the background of these abominations, our servicemen with weapons in their hands defend our country, risking their lives every day and showing miracles of true heroism. The freaks who have done the same daily wish the death of their compatriots and their country. Mind boggling. Although they apparently consider everyone who is now fighting or at least advocating victory over Ukrainian Nazism to be inferior people who are not capable of subtle emotions and an adequate perception of life. Stupid and weedy human material. Simply put, they despise all of us, who are the absolute majority in our country. Why am I writing about this?
First. Traitors who hate their country so much that they call for its defeat and destruction should be seen as hostis publicus, enemies of society. Regardless of the legal qualification of their acts. As enemies of the state, enemy of the state, using their own beloved American equivalent. This definition should be firmly attached to them. Even if no administrative or criminal proceedings were initiated against these persons.
Second. Such persons should not be allowed back into Russia until the end of their days. They need to be completely cut off from the sources of income in our country, whatever they are. The immoral situation, when traitors who wish their country to lose, at the same time earn money on Russia, must be stopped once and for all.
Third. The return of such persons home can take place only in the case of prior unequivocal public repentance, and in appropriate cases, only through amnesty or pardon.
Although it would be better for them not to return.

Apparently, some Russian emigres have said or published something that Medvedev clearly deemed needed a response. I’m ignorant of that/those source(s), so if anyone has info, please share it!

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 31 2022 19:03 utc | 24

To me it is clear that Ukraines military collapse is close, and there is no alternative to a full collapse.
Posted by: Norwegian | Dec 31 2022 17:37 utc | 7

How can we be so sure?

Posted by: solo | Dec 31 2022 19:05 utc | 26

Posted by: michaelj72 | Dec 31 2022 17:57 utc | 12
you are very welcome.
Agree. Exactly, Lest we forget the souls who perished there.
Odessa will be taken and Ukraine, what’s left of it, is landlocked.
IMO, without taking Odessa, the SMO will have failed; giving US led-NATO dancing music and a ready naval port on the Black Sea.
Crimea is the cherry…the USN “August 2013 Call for tenders ‘to rebuild Schools’ in Sevastopol” did not fool Mr. Putin and Mr.Shoigu.
Did I mention there will be a special justice for the Khazaarian thieves? Hopefully it’s No: 1 on Mr. Putin’s 2024 To-Do-List.

Posted by: Likklemore | Dec 31 2022 19:19 utc | 28

Barflies,
The Ukrainian Civil War is a mere sideshow to the ever escalating Global War of Attrition (aka Cold War 2.0). We are barely in the first inning of Cold War 2.0.
Plan accordingly –

Posted by: Exile | Dec 31 2022 19:33 utc | 30

Bottom line: The prospects for peace in Ukraine are zilch. The US foreign policy establishment has decided that the only way it can reverse America’s accelerating decline is through direct military confrontation. The war in Ukraine is the first manifestation of that decision.

I can agree with the first sentence, without nodding onto the second/third as much as the writer would want me to. I see the US-FPE as one component of an analysis, not necessarily overly constitutive in any instance. Also, for the recyclees of the Obama era empowered currently, it’s not necessarily IMO a decision to reverse an accelerating decline in perception, but perhaps something closer to M. Albright’s sentiment regarding using the military, when you have it.

Posted by: Hidden Declination | Dec 31 2022 19:43 utc | 32

@25
I’m sure Russia needs people like edwardknowsquat but his comments are counter-productive to the message Putin and the leadership are trying to portray. There have been many stories written how Putin is a “WEF global leader” even though he was too old for Schwab and came to power just when this insidious program came into being. The vaccine mandates regulations, Putin’s “love” for Chabbad organizations and this recent biometrics fiasco may be targeting hapless citizens and cause many to doubt Putin’s sincerity but I feel there is a different scenario afoot.
Henry Makow stated many months ago that he believes Putin is playing a game here. He is pretending to follow scripts laid out for Russia making his “friends” relax and feel secure that Russia is playing ball until that day when they find out that they aren’t. Israel is a little nervous these days, they are afraid to send Iron Dome tech to Ukraine as it will be a matter of time before Russia gets it’s hands on it and finds a defense against it. In Syria, Russia is changing the power landscape as they try to rearrange the proxy rebels fighting against Turkey and Syrian Forces and are helping Turkey and Syria rebuild ties while Russian forces are now sending fighter jets to Iran.
Another big eye-opener was this tidbit of info I read yesterday-
When Mao’s Great Leap Forward was gaining traction, the USSR came to their aid with money, materials, food and engineering expertise that completely transformed and built up infrastructure in the country and put them on the path to where they are today. China will not and cannot forget the debt they owe Russia/USSR and they will be there for any help Putin may need.

Posted by: safe | Dec 31 2022 19:54 utc | 34

@solo | Dec 31 2022 19:05 utc | 26

How can we be so sure?

When you lose hundreds of soldiers every day and at an increasing rate, likewise with equipment, what is the alternative? Add to that the ‘west’ have no more to offer.
Then add the corruption. Again, what are the alternatives?

Posted by: Norwegian | Dec 31 2022 19:57 utc | 36

safe | Dec 31 2022 19:54 utc | 34
I prefer that second script, as there are visibly several odd parts of Putin’s actions that do not fit together. You can even say that the keeping on of a BIS owned central Banker is counter-productive. (It “cost billions”) But even there, losing so much money woke the world up to the danger of having reserves in the US.
Israel with it’s new ultra Government, (and I can see that there will be an outbreak of fighting in Israel, as the Palestians will have no room to live or move in), is as extremist as the Azov. Why he “warmly congratulated” Netanyahoo is an open question, except that Putin is a deal organiser. He is willing to play a part to get what he wants. Obviously the Syrian problem has to be solved somehow, (Turkeys recent statements about withdrawing) and the changing official attitudes in the Gulf States, Incl Saudi Arabia, could be used as a way of finding a solution.
This might avoid the US using Syria as a staging base to upset Russian assets in the Med. The E. Syrian enclave is now getting real missile attacks. Idlib is getting worried – and one wonders if the ISIS and Al-Quaida who are there, won’t be sent (pushed towards) the EU to get rid of them.
The Med and Tartus as area assets outside the straights of the Dardanelles, have not really played any large part in the Ukrainian war, but would in any extension of it.
The new arragements with Iran, might actually start to put Israel in it’s place. (The Russians are to supply 24 aircraft)
****
The obvious use of Multiple bases by the US to surround Russia may turn out to be the bubble that bursts as it gets thinner and thinner.
****
PS. The latest titbit of news I found by accident is the influence Blair had on Putin, even helping him “get elected” and allowing arms sales for the Chechen war. Putin will use any means to get his way, which is why it is better to be on his side and not against him.

Posted by: Stonebird | Dec 31 2022 20:43 utc | 38

reply to 26
I’ve wondered about this too. It appears Ukr. has run out of tanks and aircraft – almost completely. Russia is working on wrecking their air defenses which mean bombers come next. Also, the reports of Ukr. artillery losses are surprising. Losses of 177’s and HIMARS daily.
Still surprising to see Ukr. troops willing to waste their lives -given that holding Bakhmut is hopeless. Taken all together, you do wonder if suddenly Russia just runs free and rolls over whatever is left.

Posted by: Eighthman | Dec 31 2022 20:54 utc | 40

I’m wondering at what point do Ukrainian regulars turn on their masters? It hasn’t happened in Armenia and Georgia so there is little chance of that happening.
Posted by: Johnycomelately | Dec 31 2022 20:55 utc | 41

Such thing happened almost never in history in spite of tremendous KIA numbers.

Posted by: solo | Dec 31 2022 21:02 utc | 42

Finally! Putin’s New Year Address:

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Citizens Russia! Dear friends!
The year 2022 is coming to an end. It’s been a year. difficult, necessary decisions, the most important steps towards full sovereignty Russia and the powerful consolidation of our society.
It was a year that put a lot in its place, clearly separated courage and heroism from betrayal and cowardice, showed, that there is no higher strength than love for one’s relatives and friends, loyalty to friends and comrades-in-arms, devotion to one’s Fatherland.
It was a year of truly pivotal, fateful events. They have become the frontier that lays the foundation for our a common future, our true independence.
That’s what we’re fighting for today, defending. of our people in our own historical territories in the new subjects of the Russian Federation Federation. Together we build and create.
The main thing is the fate of Russia. Defense of the Motherland – it is our sacred duty to our ancestors and descendants. Moral, historical rightness is on our side.
The outgoing year brought great, cardinal change for our country and for the world. It was filled with excitement, anxieties and experiences.
But our multi-ethnic people like this was in all difficult eras of Russian history, showed courage and dignity, in word and deed he supported the defenders of the Fatherland, our soldiers and officers, all participants in a special military operation.
We have always known, and today again We are convinced that Russia’s sovereign, independent and secure future depends only from us, from our strength and will.
Western elites have hypocritically assured for years. all of us in our peaceful intentions, including the resolution of the most difficult conflict in Donbas. In fact, they did their best to encourage neo-Nazis who continued to conduct military, openly terrorist actions against civilians citizens of the people’s republics of Donbass.
The West lied about peace, and was preparing for aggression and today admits this no longer hesitates, openly, and they cynically use Ukraine and its people. to weaken and split Russia. We have never allowed anyone and will not allow anyone do it.
Russian military personnel, militiamen, volunteers are now fighting for their native land, for truth and justice, for the guarantees of peace and security for Russia to be reliably ensured. All they are our heroes. Them it’s the hardest thing right now.
I cordially wish you a Happy New Year all participants in the special military operation, those who are now here, next to me, who are on the front lines and on the frontline lines, who are trained in training centers in order to then join the battle, who are in hospitals or, having fulfilled their duty, already returned home, all those who are on combat duty in the strategic units, all personnel of the Armed Forces!
Dear comrades, thank you for your valiant service! All our a huge country is proud of your fortitude, resilience and courage. Millions of people heart and soul with you, and at the New Year’s table there will definitely be toasts in your honor.
Many thanks to everyone who provides military operations: drivers and railway workers who supply the front, doctors, paramedics, nurses and nurses who are fighting for the lives of soldiers, nurse wounded civilians. I thank the employees and engineers of our military and other factories that work today with full dedication, builders who erect civilian objects and defensive fortifications, help to restore the destroyed cities and villages of Donbass and Novorossiya.
Dear friends!
Since 2014, after the Crimean events, Russia lives under sanctions, but this year we were declared a real sanctions war. Those who started it expected the complete destruction of our industry, finance, transport.
That didn’t happen because we’re all together we created a reliable margin of safety. What we have done and are doing in this area is aimed at strengthening our sovereignty in the most important area – the economy. And our struggle for yourself, for your interests and for your future, of course, serves as an inspiration. an example for other states in their quest for a just multipolar world order.
I consider it very important that in the outgoing year such qualities as mercy have acquired special significance in our people. solidarity and active responsiveness. More and more citizens feel the need to help others. They unite themselves, without any formal Indications.
I want to thank you for your sensitivity and responsibility. and kind-heartedness, for the fact that you, people of different ages and incomes, are actively get involved in the common cause, organize warehouses and transport to deliver sending parcels to our fighters in the combat zone, to the affected residents of cities and towns, you send children from the new regions of the Federation to rest.
Great support to you, my dear, provide to the families of the dead fighters. They gave their lives defending their lives. other people.
I understand how difficult it is now, in the New Year’s night, to their wives, sons, daughters, their parents who raised the real Heroes. We will do our best to help the families of our fallen comrades raise children, give them a decent education, get a profession.
With all my heart I share your pain and ask to accept sincere words of encouragement.
Dear friends!
At any time, even very difficult ones, our country celebrated the onset of the New Year. It was and remains for everyone. a favorite holiday and has a magical gift to reveal the best in people traits, multiply the importance of traditional, family values, energy generosity, generosity and trust.
Celebrating the New Year, everyone strives to please loved ones, to warm them with attention and warmth, to give what is about they dreamed, to see the delight in the eyes of children, to feel how touching parents and the older generation are grateful for our attention – they know how to appreciate these dawn of happiness.
Friends, now is the right moment, to leave in the past all personal grievances and misunderstandings, to say the most dear people about their tender feelings, about love, about how important it is to take care of about each other – always, at any time.
Let these heartfelt words and noble ones feelings will give all of us as much mental strength as possible, confidence that together we will overcome all difficulties and keep our country great and independent.
We will only go forward, win for the sake of for the sake of their families and for the sake of Russia, for the sake of the future of our only, beloved Motherland!
Happy New Year, dear friends! With the New, 2023!
I’ve also posted this at my VK. As with the photo I noted @16 above, the screen shot from the video sends its own message and is the cover photo seen at my VK link.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 31 2022 21:30 utc | 44

Political analyst Timur Fomenko writes in his op/ed at RT:
“[T]he year 2022 will stand as a definitive moment of change. The post-1991 world, although long fluttering, is finally gone. The new world is an increasingly uncertain arena of geopolitical conflict, making it less stable, less certain, and more divided than at any point since the end of the Second World War. This isn’t a new Cold War as such, it’s a new great game.”
His entire essay is terse yet concise and is one a several I’ve read with similar themes and projections. The key to them all is Ukraine isn’t at the center–yes, the conflict exists but the main action is the Outlaw US Empire’s retreat from the type of Globalization it championed for decades as it finds itself no longer in control.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 31 2022 21:59 utc | 46

@ 5
Eh? How would Russia lose territory in this scenario?
Ukraine isnt going to last until 2028

Ukraine has already been defeated for months. It’s NATO in Ukraine uniform who’s currently getting clobbered on Ukraine soil at Bakhmut.
While, I’ll be happy if I’m wrong and the conflict gets wrapped up by March with decisive Russian victory, I don’t think that’s the case. Putin obviously likes such a result, but he’s still (rightfully) preparing for a prolonged conflict.
You underestimate the persistence of the neocons in Washington and the degree of vassalhood of Europe.
If Germany/EU didn’t declare sanctions and reparations against the US/UK for bombing nordstream, then it means they’re a vassal enough to agree to sign for becoming cannon fodder too.

Posted by: FieryButMostPeaceful | Dec 31 2022 22:10 utc | 48

Finally! Putin’s New Year Address:
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 31 2022 21:30 utc | 44
Frankly, the speed at which Kremlin.ru produced and publushed an official tranlation feels unusual too…
Though, obviously, i tpyically did not monitor english content on Kremlin.ru, so maybe just deluding myself and it was like that every new year.
P.S. https://imgur.com/a/MmGbtW7

Posted by: Arioch | Dec 31 2022 22:23 utc | 50

New Russian missile barrage occurring as I type this. Air raid sirens going off in every Ukrainian oblast, according to Big Serge and Russians With Attitude.
As one of them said, “Happy New Year from General Surovikin”. 🙂

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Dec 31 2022 22:54 utc | 52

Dr K> I doubt very much that Brother Putin and his cohort were deceived, rather the “west” deceived itself into imagining they’d conned the Russian. It’s the old army game, after all…
Best!
Posted by: Walter | Dec 31 2022 18:56 utc | 23
That are my thoughts as well. But I wonder.
Wasn’t it Putin who suggested to build Nord Stream II, after the Minsk Accords had been signed? I wonder if Nord Stream II was Putin’s price for playing along. Merkel couldn’t refuse… not without admitting she didn’t intend to honor her commitments. The Minsk Accords were not her first act of deception after all. The first was the Maidan coup which she facilitated by having Steinmeier extend assurances to Yanukovich – to forget about them a day or two later.
Happy new year!

Posted by: Martina | Dec 31 2022 23:17 utc | 54

@56.
You need faith brother to ward against the lies and hypocrisy.
But, what, to put your faith into?

Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | Dec 31 2022 23:31 utc | 56

Putin has to (or had to) play along. The rest of the world had to see clearly what the west was doing, and without at least tacit support from the rest of the world the sanctions work. Westerners make the western mistake of believing this is all about them. It isn’t. It wasn’t just military prep since 2014, it was the Russian foreign service working its ass off everywhere.
Russia has to be the anti-America in this scenario. It’s why there isn’t shock and awe, why there hasn’t been angry counter sanctions, why there’s been a proclaimed willingness to negotiate all along. It’s not an enviable position because it’s limiting, but it is what it is.
Putin wasn’t fooled. Exasperated maybe, because Minsk was a Ukraine and western friendly agreement. If the Kremlin had been fooled there would have been no military or diplomatic preparation. But to say “we believed them” is good diplomacy because it also says “we tried”. Clearly the majority of the world believes Russia and that’s what is really infuriating DC, London and Brussels.

Posted by: Lex | Dec 31 2022 23:47 utc | 58

@karlof1 | Dec 31 2022 21:30 utc | 44
Thank you for Putin’s New Year Address. Notably absent are the martial belligerence of Zelensky’s wide-cast address to our US Knesset and the hollow platitudes we’re used to hearing from our own politicians. I’m happy the Russian have such inspiring leaders—so many— and also envious.
What an eye-opening, mind-blowing year it’s been. Thanks to b and to all here for a tremendous education—even from the detractors whose attempts to infuse FUD brought out such passionate conviction from a brilliant commentariat. Happy New Year to all!

Posted by: Doug Hillman | Dec 31 2022 23:56 utc | 60

Something in Kiev is being hit again, apparently. Geran-2 at least and even rumors of Iskader’s. “Searchlights” going on to the sky looking to find the drones and shoot them down with machine guns. Again, NASAMS missiles falling on top of Kiev buildings with shoddy attempts of cover-up (picture of missile blurred, but forgot to remove the “LIFT” part from the picture).
https://t.me/azmilitary11/32371
https://t.me/azmilitary11/32364
https://t.me/azmilitary11/32356
https://t.me/azmilitary11/32373

Posted by: unimperator | Jan 1 2023 0:08 utc | 62

This @Lex | Dec 31 2022 23:47 utc | 58
Thank you for this reply to cevapcici, whose drivels got finally flushed. If I may alter your first sentence: Putin has to (or had to) play long. The emphasis being on the time frame. There is a time for harsh statements, and there is a time for taking your enemy (i.e., partner) along (for the ride). It seems to me that the folks demanding quick, harsh, resolute actions don’t think on a strategic level. Yes, playing long also comes with a lot of losses, but at least ideally they are not for nothing.

Posted by: Semyony | Jan 1 2023 0:15 utc | 64

Is there an alternative to Military Summary Channel?
Posted by: solo | Dec 31 2022 20:51 utc | 39
perhaps you’ve been answered. I jumped straight from your post. It is cumbersome, tedious, time consuming to read all through the posts to the end before posting ones own reaction. So: sorry if so but I didn’t/don’t know. One of the problems of the format here.
I don’t think there is any better alternative and I would like to know, too.
I use DPA. Both Military summary and DPA give us the result of their compilations of the two DoD releases. They simply plot the information and as a result we get a front line plot that would seem to be accurate.
To my knowledge that is the ONLY accuracy we have.
Mercouris etc. simply give opinion pieces with no military reliable predictive accuracy at all. Their main interest to the observer being the revelations about the political background and such: he’s a politics observer and theorist. Not strictly Ukraine military stuff at all but what you do when you’re hungry for more info and can’t get it so you ‘read around the subject’ as you can’t read it.
Brian Berletic and ‘New Atlas’ is very pleasant to watch/listen to but predicated entirely (last time I looked) on the published lists of donations from USA to Ukraine, taken as being accurate and truthful. There is, of course, no real provable basis for that assumption. I think it would be remarkable indeed if there was any accuracy in them. The US and Kiev would be losing an excellent opportunity for misdirecting the enemy if they were accurate.
My best source is Telegram via Unigram for the sake of translation. Hopping from Ukraine side to ‘Russia’ side one gets opinions and complaints and claims from each side which provide presumably accurate insights as to what is really happening. It is tedious and painstaking but has an authenticity nothing else seems to have.
Patrick Lancaster’s videos are clumsy inasmuch as Patrick is not a good spieler, doesn’t work from a script, often seems to be at a loss as to what to make of the situation, where to go, what to do next. But he does provide very authentic and illuminating views into the reality of the hearts and minds and perceptions of the real people on the ground in the very heart of these war zones.
There is no doubt that the DPR and LPR had a legitimate grievance, felt it deeply, feel it deeply and did and do fight for their own rights against an invader that is Kiev, is the USA.
Patrick’s clumsy videos above all else are what convince me of the ground level truths of all this. Overlooked and ignored by the global narrative, shall we call it? the MSM etc. ? And ignored and overlooked entirely by our armchair coterie pontificating and salivating in sites such as this. As what shall we refer to them – the armchair colonel blimps ? The ACB’s ?
That, him and his videos, and the kinda ‘stepping stone’ messages one gets by flipping through the Unigram posts. What i mean is the take from seeing the idioms, the catch phrases, the popular mantras you see that each side uses most generally in their posts.
Repeated phrases that become characteristic of their posts. Standing ‘above’ the mains grey stream of their text. That’s why I say ‘stepping stones’: one ‘crosses’ the stream of endless text posts by skipping from one of these ‘stones’ to the next.
From this a sense of their respective realities can be gleaned.
And I glean a hysterical misguided hatred leading to pointless sacrifice on the side of Kiev. They really feel they are protecting their own land against invaders where clearly they are in trenches facing fellow Ukrainians in the opposing trenches who are in fact literally protecting THEIR own land against aggressive Kiev as they have done for the preceding eight years.
And on the Allied side we repeatedly hear wry observations on the languages they hear on the radios from the other side where apparently Ukrainian grows more and more rare and English, Canadian, Polish, French etc. grow more prominent.
And the same wry sad comment on evidences of atrocious behaviour from the Kiev side.
I feel beyond this there is no truth to be gleaned about the conduct of the war.
It is all puffery, conjecture.
Putin and Lavrov have spoken. They are there to protect Russians and Russia. To me this simply means they will go to the borders of DPR and LPR etc. and that’s all, in the main.
Anything more intended simply to support only that.
I find nothing, nowhere that authoritatively says more than that. Gives more information than can be gleaned from those sources, that methodology.
Ritter pontificates on public information we already have. Garland too. iEarlGrey the same. None of them know any more than we. None of them forecast reliably, all missed Kharkiv and Kherson. None of them elaborate on the drone phenomenon and the evident significance and supremacy of ECM.
Our Russian friend with the cigar and whisky glass polemicises well and entertainingly once you get used to his English but reveals nothing new except historical facts and interpretations which are interesting and informative but subordinate and tangential to what we want to know. The conflict on the ground.
The same can be said of those less frequented ‘orbital’, shall we say, sites such as ‘Dances with Bears’.
There really is nothing of exceptional value that I’ve been able to find anywhere and I know of nothing linked to, pointed to by any of the ‘normal’ or usual sources we visit.
Please let us all know if you come up with some.

Posted by: abrogard | Jan 1 2023 0:16 utc | 66

Please let us all know if you come up with some.
Posted by: abrogard | Jan 1 2023 0:16 utc | 66

Thanks for such a comprehensive answer.

Posted by: solo | Jan 1 2023 0:31 utc | 68

@ 56 asked; “But, what, to put your faith into?”
Your individual awareness, and the will to express it to anyone…
That’s all we, as peons, have. Now, if I was wealthy, maybe that answer would be different.

Posted by: vetinLA | Jan 1 2023 0:49 utc | 70

Ukraine has always been a part of Russia, just like Tibet has always belonged to China! The people must submit to their natural masters! These silly religious and superstitious people, they will soon submit to PRC materialism and serve the highest morality, obedience to the party. Happy New Year.

Posted by: Ahole | Jan 1 2023 0:56 utc | 72

I wonder if Nord Stream II was Putin’s price for playing along.
Posted by: Martina | Dec 31 2022 23:17 utc | 54

Nord Stream 2 was a partnership and 50% of the financing was from 5 major European Corporations:
> Uniper
> Wintershall Dea
> OMV
> Engie
> Shell
The other 50% was Gazprom. So the pain will be spread around if it never reopens.

Posted by: Opport Knocks | Jan 1 2023 1:24 utc | 74

‘The hardcore Putin supporters – a cult at this time.’
The Great Game is played by both sides as a game. Even the affectation of being tricked by the West over Minsk agreements is a game. Of course Russia was not deceived.
There’s more politics in one day in one bum-filled office than my small mind can cope with. It’s a stupid game of sucking up to the superiors because people are bored out of their tiny minds.
It’s still a game now standing on the brink of Ukraine’s capitulation. All the people who are so-called duped by Western MSM are all playing a game of unity and standing up for democracy. Humans are so easily bored that over-turning the school bus looks like a good idea.
Nato can not win in Ukraine, so it will inevitably capitulate as soon as it realises that it cannot enrage the Bear.
Anger destroys intellect Breaking the rules makes people make mistakes and lose.
President Putin doesn’t lose his cool and he has my full admiration for his defeat of Islamism in Syria. It is the Western side that is a cult of Mammon which deprives its members of any other function than profitability – mostly for others.
Lastly and boringly I spend most of my life playing a stupid game of religious competitiveness with the mosque. Their rule is that English people are incapable of being Muslim. Am I going to waste my entire life arguing with their delusions? No.
Nor is Putin spending his entire energy on arguing with Western delusions.
Life’s too short.

Posted by: Giyane | Jan 1 2023 1:36 utc | 76

Holly shit as I’m about to sleep.
Putins new years address WITH subtitles!
At least two SMO’s not war yet, multipolar, sanctions, the lies of Europe over Minsk. The suffering of the poor Ukrainian Russians. wow.
Just Wow!
Got a smile on my face.
what a monumental statesman. Thank goodness for Vlad the best in Europe. And all his multi ethnic Russians. They are the BEST Europeans.

Posted by: DunGroanin | Jan 1 2023 2:00 utc | 78

My New Year wish for 2023 is that Russia successfully wind up the Ukraine & NATO regimes (maybe a tad ambitious) and help set the world on its promising new path to a multipolar world.
This will no doubt take decades but I sincerely hope the BRICS/SCO/BRI Eurasian project establishes a firm foundation in trade, finance (non petrodollar), tolerance and good will.
Of course we can expect the ‘West’ (aka UKUSA), being the incredibly bad losers that they are, to throw a constant stream of lethal obstacles onto the playing field.
Best wishes to all sincere MoA contributors and here’s to an eventful 2023.

Posted by: digital dinosaur | Jan 1 2023 2:06 utc | 80

twitter –
M. K. Bhadrakumar
@BhadraPunchline
·
2h
Significant… Russian MOD [Dec. 31]: “As a result of surgical strikes by Russian Aerospace Forces, three temporary deployment centers of foreign mercenaries were hit in the vicinity of the populated localities of Krasny Liman and Chervonaya Dibrova in Donetsk Republic.”

Posted by: james | Jan 1 2023 2:41 utc | 82

In Putin’s speech he refers to both the Fatherland and the Motherland.
Surely it cannot be both. Perhaps Parent-One-Two-land 😉
Happy New Year from Canada!!!

Posted by: Opport Knocks | Jan 1 2023 3:10 utc | 84

In response to
”
In Putin’s speech he refers to both the Fatherland and the Motherland.
Surely it cannot be both. Perhaps Parent-One-Two-land 😉
Happy New Year from Canada!!!
Posted by: Opport Knocks | Jan 1 2023 3:10 utc | 84
”
My vote is that it is both and humanity lost its way when it went down the Might-Makes-Right patriarchy path………you know, and then into MONOtheism to sacralize the dominance.
It is time that humanity stopped being run by a bunch of asshole men led by the likes of Pope Frank and King Chuck…doing God’s work…..GACK!
End the delusions in 2023

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jan 1 2023 3:28 utc | 86

piff paff
absolute ruin and absolute glance
zhank you B!!!!
we get it on 🙂

Posted by: Macpott | Jan 1 2023 3:42 utc | 88

Sorry, this is the better, unedited thread by Kim Dotcom:
https://twitter.com/KimDotcom/status/1588970941333504001?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Posted by: lunarlaundromat | Jan 1 2023 4:04 utc | 90

Lots of people looking for good sites for information (including myself).
I just remembered Graham Seibert. He posts on Substack, has his own Substack.
The thing about him is he lives in Ukraine, the Kiev part. I think he’s mainly anti-Russian and blames Russia for everything but maybe not. i don’t know.
But this I think I do know: he is a very authentic and good man. He has a family and cares about them mainly.
He is well worth reading, subscribe to his substack. He has a ring of authenticity, human authenticity..
Here’s his latest, just arrived in my inbox, brought him to mind:
https://grahamseibert.substack.com/p/what-a-relief-vaxes-are-merely-slipshod?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=87151&post_id=93912751&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email

Posted by: abrogard | Jan 1 2023 4:40 utc | 92

Posted by: abrogard | Jan 1 2023 4:40 utc | 92
I knew it would take five minutes for a Covid related link to arrive… The guy linked spends all his time ranting about covid and spends a paragraph on hearing Russian missiles. Fucking bullshit.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jan 1 2023 5:07 utc | 94

Macgregor over last few days. The first one is noticeable because he says anyone who thinks there won’t be a large Russian offensive at some point, if not immediately, is delusional as that’s the only way to finally destroy the Ukraine military.
Putin readies MASSIVE offensive with 3 goals | Redacted with Clayton Morris
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNX6hQVgyWQ
From his own Youotube channel, apparently a clip from one of his recent interviews, not sure which one.
Douglas Macgregor – The Winter Offensive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK7WSw-tsKA
Douglas Macgregor – What’s the Advantage to Russia to Take out kiev?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLJkrS8rd58

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jan 1 2023 5:40 utc | 96

A new shipment of arms that will turn the tide of the conflict … Captagon included ?
15 x ZPU-2 (14.5mm AD MGs) armed pick up trucks (Short clip) are being prepared for delivery to Ukraine from the Czech Republic.
Tingly ISIS headchopper vibes …
Clearly, OUN-Nazi victory on the battlefield is imminent.
@ abrogard | Jan 1 2023 4:40 utc | 92 – et al
You ‘Fellas’ having a wonderful discussion amongst yourselves, heh ? Good for you.
Your ‘recommended’ ?:
Daily updates section on events in RF is headed ‘MORDOR‘. Hates & desires the genocidal extermination of all ‘Orcs’ perhaps ?
Sounds like a Nazi, talks likes a Nazi, propagandizes like a OUN-Nazi and regurgitates verbatim his ‘reporting’ from the OUN-Nazi ‘leaders’ & officials & highly objective, fact-based, reputable sources such as:
http://www.pravda.com.ua/eng
euromaidanpress.com
cutt.ly/Blyskavka
http://www.ubn.news

He is well worth reading, subscribe to his substack. He has a ring of authenticity, human authenticity :- abrogard.

So do you & your ‘Fellas’. 🙂
No Wonder you & your ‘Fellas’ promote Dima’s so called ‘Analysis’ yet unequivocally shit on a veritable smorgasbord of demonstrably objective, credible sources & professional analysts.
Oh dear me, you again forgot to republish your previously recommended link to the Kyiv ‘Independent’, including the biweekly video broadcasts of psychopath Arestovich … maybe next time ?

Posted by: Outraged | Jan 1 2023 6:09 utc | 98

Posted by: Opport Knocks | Jan 1 2023 3:10 utc | 84
>In Putin’s speech he refers to both the Fatherland and the Motherland.
>Surely it cannot be both. Perhaps Parent-One-Two-land 😉
Motherland is a slight mistranslation of the Russian word ‘rodina’. It is actually more like ‘native land’.
So sure it can be both the ‘fatherland’ and the ‘native land’, just like in Canadian anthem ‘Oh Canada, my home and native land’.

Posted by: hopehely | Jan 1 2023 7:02 utc | 100