Roadblock 158 164 when India fought to get Bangladesh its independence from Pakistan…Kissinger did not like it and called indra Gandhi and said all indians are bastar.s. yo sound like his clone

Posted by: Hutch | Jan 4 2023 10:41 utc | 204

– Can Germany (Europe) be competitive with China without European trade with Russia?
– If not, how many years of conflict with Russia can the German economy survive?
Posted by: Passerby | Jan 4 2023 10:03 utc | 199
The conflict can end tomorrow, there won’t be any difference. They had almost free energy and ultra cheap resources from Russia. They can’t replace the volume, they can’t be competitive at 10x-20x the old price. BASF is moving to China, many other companies are moving to US. They can’t even manufacture toilet paper like a year ago, it’s much cheaper to import it. What you see now in Germany and other countries is just a delay. US tells them directly, using puppets and MSM, that Ukr is winning so they don’t lift sanctions and escape. Nordstream was exploded for the same reason. First will collapse factories using energy, construction materials, glass, ceramic tiles, any type of foundry. The fake garden is a real toilet. It’s funny that it wasn’t just the Greens, they were on suicide path for many years, as you can see from Merkel and Hollande speeches.

Posted by: rk | Jan 4 2023 10:47 utc | 206

Sunny Runny Burger | Jan 4 2023 10:07 utc | 200
Thanks muchly for the info.
On a slightly different angle, there is an excellent article from 2021, about hypersonic missiles and issues of air defence on this very site at
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2021/08/hypersonic-missiles-are-they-a-gamechanger-by-gordog.html

Posted by: olaf22 | Jan 4 2023 11:04 utc | 208

So I think the better the troll, the more he helps our cause.
Posted by: Teflon | Jan 4 2023 10:12 utc | 201
If only people could change their minds when exposed to true information and rational arguments. Someone once even told he doesn’t believe something simply because it didn’t fit his worldview.
Society is controlled by arguments of authority. People vote the way their favorite celebrity tells them. Trump bombed Syria because he got emotional after MSM showed a picture on TV.
Society is irrational.

Posted by: Vikichka | Jan 4 2023 11:05 utc | 210

@207:
Trolls of a feather flock how?

Posted by: William Gruff | Jan 4 2023 11:14 utc | 212

Reuters… https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/soldiers-widows-group-calls-putin-order-major-mobilisation-ukraine-war-2023-01-03/
A little known patriotic group which supports the widows of Russian soldiers has called on President Vladimir Putin to order a large-scale mobilization of millions of men and to close the borders to ensure victory in Ukraine.
After ordering what he cast as a “partial mobilization” on Sept. 21, Russia’s first since World War Two, around 300,000 additional men were drafted, though several hundred thousand more Russian men fled abroad to avoid being called up. The Kremlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the appeal from the widows’ group. Putin said last month that there was no need for an additional mobilisation. A representative of the widows’ group told Reuters that all fit Russian men should be mobilised to defend the Motherland. “The coming war will require completely different resources: human, psychological, economic,” she told Reuters. “Protecting the Motherland is a duty.”
Putin has for months been casting the war as part of a much wider historical struggle between Russia and the West which the Kremlin chief says wants to carve up and destroy Russia. Western powers deny they aim to destroy Russia. In a grim New Year’s Eve message, Putin said that defending the Motherland was the sacred duty of all Russians and promised victory in Ukraine. Ukraine and the West say Putin has no justification for what they cast as an imperial-style war of occupation. The widows group began work about two months ago to assist the wives of soldiers killed in Ukraine and has contacts with the Kremlin administration, its representative said. “We are in constant contact with the presidential administration, and if necessary, we transmit requests to it in order to receive this or that support,” the representative said.
Invoking Soviet leader Josef Stalin, the group said that now was the time for tough measures to defend against the evil forces coalescing around Russia’s borders. “Today, all the world’s evil has united against Russia – the entire Western world has turned against us,” the group said. “It’s either us or them, there is no other choice.” Stalin in 1942 issued Order No. 227 which became known as the “Not a step back” order. It was an attempt to establish discipline within the Red Army though thousands of Soviet troops were shot by their own side for alleged cowardice. Stalin “did not think about ratings or dissatisfaction among dissidents: he thought only of victory,” the group said. “Now is not the time to be cowardly.”
Yet, the NATO press continues to spout the party line that “just a little more pressure will collapse the Russian house of cards”
Looks to me like the mood in Russia vis a vis NATO/Ukraine is….
“A good NATO/Ukrainian is a dead NATO/Ukrainian”
INDY

Posted by: Dr. George W Oprisko | Jan 4 2023 11:18 utc | 214

From Andrei Martinov’s blog….https://smoothiex12.blogspot.com
I am constantly on record that Russian Ministry of Defense is well supplied (due to cannibalizing of washing machines, I guess) with all kinds of microchips, including ASIC and what have you. All this, due to boutique production which is fully localized. Otherwise, one may ask, how did Russians manage to manufacture now their satellites with 100% Russian element base and how come that Russians openly state that their NTSUO main supercomputer is more powerful than anything Pentagon’s NMCC has.
The answer is simple. Read this (in Russian).
Российский литограф 7 нм от ИПФ РАН! Литограф от НЦФМ за 2-3 года! Понеслось!
Translation: Russian lithograph for 7 nm from Institute of Applied Physics of Russian Academy of Sciences. Lithograph from National Center of Physics and Mathematics in 2-3 years. Off we go!
As it turned out, Russia had working prototype for 30 nm in… 2011.
After that, all data following 2011 was… removed. Now a puzzle. Look what newly created National Center of Physics and Mathematics is (in Russian)? Or, rather, who runs the whole show? Yep, it is in Sarov and it is, of course, Rosatom. Now, lets go back to 2011 and ask ourselves a question–WHY Sergei Kirienko who headed Rosatom from 2005 through 2016, and now is the second person, after Vaino, in Putin’s Staff, was awarded in 2018 the highest honor of the Hero of Russian Federation, together with Yuri Borisov, with a vague description “for achievements in developing nuclear industry.” And, naturally, weapons (in Russian).
So, let’s summarize. In 2011 Russia already has a working prototype lithograph for 30 nm structures. Then, in 2014 Russia unveils NTsUO and claims that supercomputer in it is way more powerful than Pentagon’s, then Rosatom effectively builds Russia’s composite materials industry, then we have some new reactors coming on-line, and then, of course, we have hypersonic revolution in 2018. Just this short list tells you that this whole thing, requiring an immense computing power, hasn’t been done on Pentium 4 processors alone. But where did Russia get those hi-end processors and, in the end, stated recently that fully Russian-made lithography is coming very soon. Well, we are now getting some whiff of the proceedings, which a few years ago I named a “revelation mode”.
As I am on record constantly, one has to be able to read news properly and not miss all those important details. But above all, we need to understand how truly high level strategic planning is done and why Russia was able to withstand all Western sanctions and sabotage and, in fact, benefited from that strategically. One has to assume with a very high probability that modelling of technological, industrial, military and, in the end, geopolitical trends has been done on something which we didn’t see yet. What is known now that it is some extremely capable computation on something which is fully domestically made. But the signs and clues have been around for a long time now. How do you think you design something like 3M22 Zircon or Peresvet with Avangard. I guess, we’ve got part of the answer. But I am on record, the nation which produces all that will produce modern chip industry sooner or later. Looks like it is going to be sooner, and don’t tell me I didn’t warn you;)
Interesting…
INDY

Posted by: Dr. George W Oprisko | Jan 4 2023 11:22 utc | 216

All of that hiding under my desk at school during Cold War drills … It’s almost comical now.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jan 3 2023 20:52 utc | 68
Well, you probably don’t read it anymore.
The occupying forces hid the results of the nuclear damage survey from the Japanese people. The Japanese were unaware of what was happening and continued to be exposed to secondary radiation, resulting in massive cancer deaths. Three generations later, leukemia and other genetic diseases continue. What is laughable is that sophistry of yours.

Posted by: sam | Jan 4 2023 11:31 utc | 218

Posted by: shadowbanned | Jan 4 2023 7:34 utc | 180
Agreed. I’ve been saying this for a long time now.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jan 4 2023 12:28 utc | 220

Blissex,
Happy New year. Hope you and Your family had a fab festive. Every other bar fly.
Your description of how currencies/ trade works is quite frankly absurd. Back to front and upside down.
Go to Mike Norman’s economics blog who has supported Moon of Alabama blog for years. To find out where you go wrong.
Tom Hickey on Mike’s blog as posted Moon of Alabama blog posts for at least 10 years.
Or go to Bill Mitchell ‘s Economics blog.
Or the Best MMT blog on the war showing the actual balance sheets is new wayland . com blog
Economics is the weak point of all Russian social media channels. Even though Mike Norman has supported Moon of Alabama blog for at least a decade. Tried to point out the error of your ways.
If anybody tries to help Russian bloggers from the West by using the actual accounting that takes place. Gets labelled a troll and is no longer allowed to post.
– See Orwellian language posts for details who was instantly called a troll and is firmly against US/ EU foreign policy and was only trying to help. Which is really no different to the censorship taking place in the West.
I personally post on Alexander Mecouris you tube channel. Highlighting his mistakes when he talks about economics. Does that make me a troll ?
Well does it ? Am I a troll or is the word troll just a fancy word that allows for western tech giant censorship by Russian blogs ? When Alexander’s views on economics like yours on currencies completely mis represents the actual government balance sheets. Should the MMT community try and help the Russian blog community or simply stay quiet and watch Alexander’s gold standard, fixed exchange rate, tax payer money myth analysis as fact ?
If you have any doubt that I am a troll. Look upon my work it is on you tube under the heading MMT Scotland. Learn how currencies actually work using the actual assets and liabilities of the government balance sheets.What it actually means for trade. Which can also be found on the new wayland blog under the heading of the autonomy of a FX transaction or under the heading it’s the exporters stupid or under the heading the tale of two nations. Or look at my posts on Bill Mitchell economics blog over the last 10 days.
If you think I am a troll you are paranoid and closing ranks because The West has declared war on Russia.
The tale of two nations:
The nation of Importia, so named because it believes itself to be important, had a long and illustrious history. Blessed with natural resources it had developed advanced techniques in production, PR and marketing and, largely due to the latter two rather than the former, had become the centre of turnip production worldwide.
The owners in Importia grew wealthy and, with bribes of extra turnips, were able to transform some of their more mathematical PR specialists into a priesthood they named “Economists”. These Economists praised the efforts of the owners, in particular their daily practice of trickling down on those that did the actual work.
Eventually the natural resources of Importia started to weaken, and the workers became restless — demanding more Alpha (the currency of Importia) so they could buy an extra half-turnip between them. The owners were very displeased and turned to the Economists, demanding they come up with another wheeze to pull the wool over the eyes of the proles.
So the Economists quietly withdrew and drew strange symbols on blackboards in the belief that was slightly more effective than looking for clouds that look like ducks. The operating principle was the same though.
Eventually, after remembering they were marketeers not scientists, they came up with the answer — export-led growth. They would sell more turnips to elsewhere in the world. Just one problem. Nobody else had any Alpha to buy the turnips.
How would they solve this problem?
At this time another nation of the world had arisen in a stunningly convenient manner. The leaders of this nation were keen to join modernity and had heard of the new fashion for export-led growth. They invited the Economists of Importia to speak to them and, like a fox entering a hen coop, they accepted with gusto.
So impressed were the leaders of the new nation with the proposals, that they named their country Exportia in honour, and thereby neatly avoided an even more contrived plot device.
The production of turnips would move to Exportia, exploiting the fresh natural resources and willing Prana fueled workforce. Exportia would then sell the turnips to Importia for Alpha. To avoid the dreaded “ Dutch Disease ” that the Economists warned about in the most serious of tones, Exportia would maintain a sovereign wealth fund by investing in the assets of Importia with their Alpha.
It was very fortunate that the workers of Exportia could exist on praise, pats on the head and Prana, otherwise this mildly amusing parable would rapidly become a rather dull treatise on Calculus.
Which, funnily enough, is precisely the tool the Economists used to give their wheezes an unwarranted air of gravitas.
Epilogue
And so the workers of Importia were dismissed, the turnip fields ploughed up and replaced with shanty towns. The once proud workforce existed on a handout of far less than one turnip, supplied as charity from the owners, when once they had aspired to one and a half.
The owners of Importia continued to have as many turnips as before, and kept the turnip ration of the Economists high so they would continue to espouse the virtues of export led growth.
And growth there was indeed. The owners of Importia, on the advice of the Economists, had securitised their holdings and split them into a 100 million shares. During the first period the price was 100 Alpha per share and the Exportia wealth fund, mindful of the warnings of the Economists to invest, spent their 10,000 Alpha earnings from turnip sales on 100 shares in Importia. Their net worth zoomed from nothing to 10,000 Alpha overnight.
The leaders of Exportia were ecstatic and they nearly gave themselves an injury patting themselves on their back.
The next year Exportia earned another 10,000 Alpha selling their turnips to the owners in Importia — from whom they had bought the shares. This year though there were fewer shares to buy and the owners in Importia were slightly more reluctant to sell. The price crept up to 100.01 per share and the Wealth fund of Exportia dutifully bought 99 more shares in Importia.
The leaders of Exportia were ecstatic again. They now had 199 shares in Importia and due to share price growth they were 4 Alpha better off already than they were when they started the new regime. Export led growth clearly led to very great riches.
And so it went on. After 20 years Exportia had managed to amass 1783 shares in Importia and the wealth fund was up to 178,618 Alpha . The leaders were very pleased with themselves. How much wealth they had created from nothing just by following the Wise Economists sage advice.
A little boy had pointed out that the owners in Importia appeared to be just as wealthy in Alpha as they ever had been, even though they now owned fewer shares, and received all the turnips, even though they did nothing for them other than bestow the odd turnip on the ex-workers of Importia.
But nobody listened to the boy. After all, the previous week he’d said that the leaders had been walking around naked when it was patently obvious they were dressed in the finest clothes.
That story, though, is for another day.

Posted by: Derek Henry | Jan 4 2023 12:34 utc | 222

No , you’re wrong. The US washing machine chips won’t let the washing machine spin if it detects leg wobble. Trump and Biden both have leg wobble. Mission doomed. Just groaning and thinking for hours on end waiting for someone to end the cycle.
Is there really nobody in the Collective West apart from Mummy Merkel and Moped Hollande that is capable of admitting their mistake in under- estimating Russia and negotiating with Vladimir Putin’s security concerns? I find this difficult to understand.

Posted by: Giyane | Jan 4 2023 12:41 utc | 224

https://thesaker.is/where-should-i-study-china-my-uk-professor-actually-said-this/
I highly recommend reading this article, although it’s about China. Much of what it says also applies to analysis of Russia/Ukraine. Corrupt academics run the show and maintain the narratives. Agrre with them or become isolated/unpublished/lose your job.

Posted by: Eighthman | Jan 4 2023 12:54 utc | 226

I watched a debate on moon of Alabama last week that lasted several days. It was a debate about socialism v’s Capitalism.
The socialist was using the tax payer money myth to defend the socialist posistion. The capitalist was using the tax payer money myth to defend the capitalist position. Using the tax payer money myth meant neoliberal, war mongering globalists won that debate.
Both the socialist and capitalist were playing on the same field using myths created by a bunch of psychopaths that says taxes fund governments. The socialist and the capitalist lost the debate and fell into the war mongering neoliberal, globalist trap. The foreign economics student trap who get their heads filled with Greg Mankwi in Western Universities. Who after moving back home are the equivalent of a Trojan horse.
New wayland .com blog under the heading – UK Government Spending – The Gory Details.
Or
You tube under the heading – An Accounting Model of the UK Exchequer.
To see what actually happens in the real world.

Posted by: Derek Henry | Jan 4 2023 13:09 utc | 228

The US is fighting Russia?
v.
Russia is fighting the US?

Posted by: Elmagnostic | Jan 4 2023 13:25 utc | 230

A New Year quiz……
Name a sovereign country in Europe that shells its own citizens for speaking the wrong language. Hint: This country got smaller last year.

Posted by: dh | Jan 4 2023 13:40 utc | 232

@ dh | Jan 4 2023 13:40 utc | 231
Unfair trick question, the ‘country’ is not actually sovereign. And when said country does not recognize ‘them’ as even human, openly publicly calling & actualizing their sterilization/castration, in fact genocide both physical & cultural, they are hardly considered by them as ‘their’ own citizens.
@ Exile | Jan 4 2023 9:01 utc | 194

Collapse ? – At what point in de-dollarization does confidence in the dollar vanish ?

Slowly, then all at once. ’29 stock market crash, as everyone ran for the exits(& windows) followed by the Great Depression ?
@ abrogard | Jan 4 2023 12:29 utc | 220
WHO is ‘they’ ? OUN-B Banderista erzatz Hitlerite Nazis ?
@ Derek Henry | Jan 4 2023 12:34 utc | 221
@ Derek Henry | Jan 4 2023 13:09 utc | 227
New NIC sockpuppet, same SHIT. OT, deliberate BS thread filling nonsensical spam.
TROLL!

Posted by: Outraged | Jan 4 2023 13:52 utc | 234

@Biwaspriya
Literally the other day the British ran a piece praising Surovikin for his competence. Now he’s being sacked?
Well being sacked is better than being terminally ill, as Putin has been for the past decade or so.
I guess if Putin can continue presiding while dead Surovikin can continue working while sacked.

Posted by: Boo | Jan 4 2023 13:58 utc | 236

I’m going to play devils advocate here or probably just silly buggers … so please take it with that in mind.
1. The Cinderella midnight moment of destruction of Russian soldiers – hundreds I’m told – partying next to an ammunition dump just dozens of miles from the front line !
Given away by basic failure of opsec, soldiers using personal phones to call their dearest.. thus revealing the firing positions of the natzos.
2. The assessment by learned community following the daily minutiae of the fronts and likely major moves, seem to favour the North and East. Totally ignoring the most likely natzos chance of any success a southern arrow to the sea and hope of splitting the Russians into a bubble.
Maskrovka rules on both sides I’m sure but natzos are mere ingenues compared to the master chess players of centuries.
Anyhow I don’t think everything is as clear as presented, in this proxy war between two nuclear powers ( according to Lavrov quoting Kissinger).

Posted by: DunGroanin | Jan 4 2023 14:10 utc | 238

Dear Readers, do note how outed trolls resort to posting what they think of as “pro-Russia” (or pro-China or pro-Iran or whoever it is they are hired to cast FUD at) comments in an effort to salvage their persona for further trolling purposes. Note also that these trolls’ comments offer nothing revelatory and just rehash what everyone already knows. Claims of Russia running out of weapons and western mass media making silly assertions about whatever Russian people they happen to have heard the names of? Old news, so the trolls can regurgitate it without running afoul of their trollmasters.

Posted by: William Gruff | Jan 4 2023 14:36 utc | 240

The past is not prologue, except for the immediate past which always is.
2014. Russian then, for one dominating circumstance, could not change the course and the life (such as it was) of a wretched and illegal coup. Russia was not prepared to fight what it now very closely saw coming. This war of major international forces.
8 years transpired, that area of the immediate past meaning something, not Napoleon in Spain or Saigon cum Ho Chi Minh City. In this time Russia notably completed and produced Mach 9 weapons as well as enlarged its stores of up to the minute weapons of all kinds.
Yet Russia’s other foot is stuck in 2013 when compromise and rationality were at least a part of the zeitgeist. Russia of the more aged past fought fully when it saw the writing on the wall was painted in non-negotiable script.
For all Russia’s wise weapons and war preparations? There’s the old disappointed saying “All dressed up and nowhere to go.”
Hope springs eternal. For a short time.

Posted by: Elmagnostic | Jan 4 2023 14:50 utc | 242

Re comment at 240,
Nobody should believe everything that comes out of the Russian MoD because no MoD is fully trustworthy. But the Russian MoD data on Ukrainian losses isn’t presented the way the US presented body counts in Vietnam. It is always 10 to 50 here and there. But the fact is that we know Ukrainian losses are massive. All one has to do is hang out for a few minutes on Ukrainian Tik Tok channels to see the rows and rows and rows of fresh graves. Even the official ukrainian statements point to huge losses. VdL and Milley have even said 100,000 Ukrainian dead. Exactly how many dead there are is essentially impossible to determine but it’s clear that the numbers are too large for Ukraine or the West to really talk about.
On the other hand, 89 Russian soldiers died in one attack and the entirety of Russian social media, and increasingly media, is up in arms. So the odds that Russia could hide 100,000 dead or anything close to it is laughable. Putin would either be run out of the Kremlin or Russians would demand total war, based on the Russian public reaction to fairly small death tolls and relatively inconsequential tactical/operational setbacks.
If someone is going to claim that Ukrainian losses are small or even essentially equal to Russian losses, they need to provide some proof because every bit of evidence we have access to in the public domain suggests the opposite. And every avenue we have for putting reasonable foundations under assumptions of losses for either/both side suggest that the numbers are nowhere near proportional.

Posted by: Lex | Jan 4 2023 15:13 utc | 244

Klutch Kargo @242: “Are there any photos or propaganda stuff about a Steam engine in the service…”
You could have just done a search as this is pretty much common knowledge among people following the conflict, but here are some links:
A “train buff” should be familiar with this site: The plan B to keep trains running in Ukraine: diesel and … steam locomotives?
And a video of a Ukrainian steam engine doing a revenue run: ANOTHER ONE: UKRAINE MASSIVELY RELIES ON ANCIENT STEAM LOCOMOTIVES NOW

Posted by: William Gruff | Jan 4 2023 15:36 utc | 246

@Hutch 205
Henry Kissinger always was a perfect representative for the USA. He could be said to define American diplomacy. War crimes and all.

Posted by: Hermit | Jan 4 2023 15:52 utc | 248

@245 I believe it has been renamed the Greta Thunberg Express.

Posted by: dh | Jan 4 2023 15:55 utc | 250

olaf22 @ 208
Such an interception would have been a historic demonstration of military technology—on the level of the shock and awe of Hiroshima!
This is from the 2021 post at MoA you cite. Such interceptions have been occurring routinely in Ukraine, all by RF air defence. Thousands of instances. And nobody notices the historic shock and awe because them Rooskies am primitive slavic savages. Instead we notice the missiles that get through which prove the sheer awesomeness of Team America Fuck Yeah.

Posted by: oldhippie | Jan 4 2023 16:14 utc | 252

248
Re Russian soldiers at same point.
The Ukies have also made the same mistake as well as the US in Syria giving their positions away by unnecessary Cellphone chatter.
It is not a mistake to concentrate troops. It is often an absolute necessity to do so.
However, anybody familiar with cellphone operation knows users are easily and promptly located. Even sending a picture will disclose its location.
Ignorance, however, is bliss and makes the flight to walhalla quicker.
So it is not that any number of troops were in close proximity somewhere that is a mistake. The problem is letting people use their mobiles
in war conditions. There are not a zillion frequencies for cellphone use but a token few. So chatter by hundreds will be very intense. Any goniometer set
on the frequency will null at the first turn. a second fix from a different location will surrender an exact location. Bingo
When walkie talkies or other forms of radial communication were used, radio silence was imposed, only to be broken under extenuating circumstances.
But in their case hundreds of frequencies were available that the enemy had to scan actively. so short bursts were not as lethal as todays cellphone
conversation, specially when calling one’s wife.
Cellphones mean death on the battlefield.

Posted by: CarlD | Jan 4 2023 16:23 utc | 254

Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Jan 4 2023 11:05 utc | 209
Posted by: rk | Jan 4 2023 10:47 utc | 206
The other side of the coin is: How long can Russia afford to be in conflict with the USA, EU and associates?
Compare the US and the Russian war effort.
Personal opinion is that the Russian war effort is roughly within what the Russian state budget can support, if not “indefinitely”, at least for a very long time.
While the US war effort looks as something the country is not able to afford in the long term; in the short term yes.

Posted by: Passerby | Jan 4 2023 16:30 utc | 256

@ Posted by: Roadblock | Jan 4 2023 0:37 utc | 127
RF army was there in similar capacity of French during American revolution. The Donbass peoples were under no obligation of any sort to accept the coup govt at face value and took up arms to defend their rights. RF didn’t invade so much as support this reaction (no indirect arms, air support etc).
In reality, from the airstrike on Lugansk admin bldg on, RF should have declared R2P at the UN and invaded full bore.

Posted by: MillerJ | Jan 4 2023 16:35 utc | 258

Derek Henry @ 221
OK, I admit that I have a flawed understanding of MSEcomics, MMT, and Marx. Don’t blame M.Hudson or S.Keen really they did their best with me.
But I am sure if some Russian landlord wants to securitize a stream of rents, parse it into a series of bond offering having multiple tranches and then sell the things to pension funds he is going to be happier in NYC than Moscow.
My lawn sign reads: “BlackRockMatters”

Posted by: Kutch Kargo | Jan 4 2023 16:41 utc | 260

Posted by: Outraged | Jan 4 2023 15:58 utc | 250
“due solely to unnaturally under-strength frail skeletal bone structures due 100% sedentary lifestyle compounded by poor diet/health from childhood through to majority. No ability to endure even minor skeletal stress without disabling injuries, reduced muscle mass, uncommonly low fatigue threshold …”
That would be me… 🙂
On the bright side, I’ve lost ten pounds (again, after having lost 45 pounds a couple years ago and then regaining it all) and just ordered some more exercise equipment.
Seriously, though, that recounting of the problems the US military is having is amazing. In addition to its known weapons limitations and poor industrial base, the US military is rapidly becoming a paper tiger. I was in the military during Vietnam, and yes, they were mostly morons. But I’ve never believed the subsequent military was any better. The military mind isn’t one that lends itself to smarts, with some exceptions, of course. Few people with real brains put themselves under the command of idiots who have the power to get them killed. And I say that having done just that. But I learned fast. That applies to every military, including the Russian military – which, depending on what actually went done, probably explains the 89 soldiers getting killed.
OTOH, as I noted earlier, grouping of soldiers is not the real error in this incident. It was someone using a cell phone. Mercouris discussed this yesterday and he speculated that it was not clear cut who used a cell phone or whether there might have been spies involved. The commission being formed appears to be a civilian police investigation, he said, not a military one, which implies the possibility that it was not necessarily a command error.
Those who point to the “New Year’s Eve celebration” theory miss the point. You have to group soldiers somewhere. They can’t always be spread out all over hell in a dispersed formation at all times, if for no other reason than they have to be given orientations in group mode, you don’t do it over radios. Therefore, it was merely the luck of the draw, as Martyanov points out, that they got unlucky and ended up under an targeted artillery attack. Heads don’t necessarily need to roll in this case unless there was a specific command mistake.
I also remind people that this was barely a company’s worth of troops. If they had lost a battalion or a brigade, as the Ukies are doing almost daily, one might complain more.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jan 4 2023 16:47 utc | 262

256 RK
Since Russian soldiers are not allowed to carry cellphones, how do you explain all these vids from various Russian units, Chechens included,
wagners, and other normal LPR, DPR and regular Russian armed Forces?
Of course spies may have purveyed the location.
I do not follow any Ukr channel and any Ukr tidbit that reaches me I dismiss right away as BS.

Posted by: CarlD | Jan 4 2023 16:50 utc | 264

A Mach 25 ICBM is not traveling that speed at impact. A Mach 9 Zircon or Mach 12 Kinzhal is not traveling that speed at impact. Does anyone know the impact speed of any of this?
Posted by: oldhippie | Jan 4 2023 16:30 utc | 254
You confuse final stage of a warhead with the speed of its carrier on path.
Hypersonic missiles are hypersonic all the time and some are maneuverable the entire path. A single missile can sink an aircraft carrier by force.
One destroyed a Soviet nuclear bunker in Ukr completely. If you want Mach 27 like Avangard, you must use a carrier to put it into orbit and initial speed. If you want Mach 12 you can do it directly

Posted by: rk | Jan 4 2023 16:53 utc | 266

I do know the difference. Which is why I ask.
Posted by: oldhippie | Jan 4 2023 16:56 utc | 266
I keep wondering what these missiles use for fuel. They have to use huge amounts of energy. With an ICBM its no mystery, they are huge,

Posted by: Bemildred | Jan 4 2023 17:02 utc | 268

Roadblock | Jan 4 2023 5:23 utc | 158
pass the Nuland cookies, lol……………..
Posted by: james | Jan 4 2023 5:29 utc |
So I little 2 minute conversation is all it took to start the ball rolling to kill thousands and thousands of innocent Ukraine and Russian people?? Unreal!!
Do you have any idea how weak and pathetic that makes the ultimate puppet PUTIN look?? Good god man!! Is he that easily manipulated?? No wonder Russia has seen better days.
Posted by: Roadblock | Jan 4 2023 5:43 utc | 164
——————–
So the death of about 14,000 thousand people in the Donbass, and the push by the US/NATO to bring Ukraine into NATO to place nuclear capable weapons in the Donbass, just minutes from Moscow, is no big thing to you. Is that your point? How pathetic you are.
The US must have been “weak and pathetic” when it threatened a nuclear conflict against the USSR during the Cuban Missile Crisis’s. Is that your perspective as well?
I wonder if the US would site ideally by if China was to support a coup in Mexico in order to place nuclear weapons on the US/Mexico border. Only a fool would allow such things to happen, and President Putin and the collective people of Russia are no fools.
But here at the MoA we know the fools by their comments.

Posted by: Ed | Jan 4 2023 17:26 utc | 270

Posted by: oldhippie | Jan 4 2023 16:56 utc | 266
The Zircon is actually traveling at that speed at impact (mach 9). Kinzhal “can” reach Mach 12, but as it is a semi-ballistic, it is almost certainly not going that fast on impact unless fired from well within (e.g. 30%) of its maximum range. Avangard is a ‘glider’ so it hits mach 25 in the orbital/reentry phase, but is most certainly going slower at impact. I have read sources that say Minuteman III warheads are still doing 4000-5000 m/s at detonation (mach 11-13) and I would imagine the Avangard would be similar, slower if it maneuvers.
Posted by: Bemildred | Jan 4 2023 17:02 utc | 267
The Zircon can be smaller because it is air breathing. A huge amount of mass in rockets is actually the oxidizer. If you can get it from the atmosphere, your fuel goes a lot further.

Posted by: dask | Jan 4 2023 17:28 utc | 272

We can engage with endless palaver about how Ukraine learned about a big fat target within HIMARS range. Ukraine had many ways to get that information. So the problem was creating the target in the first place; that’s why they make tents. Putting large numbers of troops in flimsy civilian buildings is a new feature for a war zone which has proven to be a mistake. Hopefully the stupid generals will learn something.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Jan 4 2023 17:34 utc | 274

The US Navy has now suspended the policy of discharging ‘dead-wood’, service members who continually fail to qualify for promotion given time in rank, year-after-year.
Posted by: Outraged | Jan 4 2023 15:58 utc | 250

I don’t mean to detract from your overall point regarding lack of readiness of the US armed forces. But from what I’ve read and heard from former military personnel, promotion often hinges on “getting one’s ticket punched” and on promoting oneself. As in most hierarchical organizations, being productive in a way that’s not readily visible to one’s superiors hinders getting promoted.

Posted by: David Levin | Jan 4 2023 17:41 utc | 276

US climbs escalation ladder in Ukraine
indian punchline from today… i don’t agree with his analysis and think the target of nato folks from a day or two before was successful.. this was the wests response to it.. i could be wrong too of course.. either way the escalation ladder is being climbed by both sides as i see it..

Posted by: james | Jan 4 2023 17:47 utc | 278

106, 123, 173 Steam Locomotives
We know the electrified railway system, which Ukraine relies upon, has been seriously degraded. Because almost all mainlines are electrified, there are few diesel locomotives available. These are most likely lower powered units that are used for switching (shunting) cars in yards, low density branch lines and industrial plants.
It should not be surprising that Ukraine fired up preserved steam locomotives around Kiev to redeploy diesels. Historical engines are usually maintained and operated by railfan clubs. These people are highly skilled, many active or former railroaders and tend to skew older. Given the circumstances, the Ukrainian railway and the steam buffs both would naturally jump at the chance to free up a few diesels and run a few steam engines everyday. This would also allow the railway to redeploy workers and use volunteers.
This site gives a rundown of Ukrainian steam Ukrainian Steam Locomotives
Apparently there were dozens held in reserve in Donbas and elsewhere. But anything not used for excursions would not be operational. Note that as a result of sanctions, Zimbabwe put steam back in service in the 2000s and 2010s.
Only the Baltics or Finns could send 1520mm gauge diesels, but there would not be many.

Posted by: upstater | Jan 4 2023 17:56 utc | 280

james @ 268 / Ed @ 276

But it wasn’t the phones. It was a large group sitting there for a long time, seen by spies or satellites.

Yes, exactly. There was an interview on TG of a local woman who said everyone in town knew the troops were housed there, there was nothing special about it, no high security. Given Ukrainian saboteurs throughout eastern Ukraine it is inexplicable. There were also side by side satellite images of the compound before and after, so there you go, no cell phones needed, though if they were in use I’m sure the Pentagon found it an added bonus. Idiocracy doesn’t need cell phones but they help.

Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Jan 4 2023 18:00 utc | 282

I’ve often wondered if a ton (maybe literally) of the used video cards that hit the market, hard, when crypto mining with them became not worth it, have ended up in the hands of Russia’s defense forces. Long story short, afaik they can be used to make neural nets that can do vast amounts of AI work.
So all the video from satellites, drones, and aircraft, that comes in could get compiled by it, in near real time, and it could pop up advisories like, “Say, looks a bit like camouflaged mobile rocket launchers are getting moved from here to … probably here. ETA fifteen minutes.”
Yeah, that’s one way to get Skynet, but if you allowed for it to call for artillery work in response to its calculations, oh my, that could be quick. Granted, Russia’s newest method of using sound and vibration to detect launches might be the fastest way to take out artillery, mortars, and rocket launchers, when they’re used. But the AI could still be useful for identifying targets before they fire.

Posted by: Babel-17 | Jan 4 2023 18:02 utc | 284

dask @ 271
Thanks for answering. Sounds about right.

Posted by: oldhippie | Jan 4 2023 18:17 utc | 286

Oh crap, I am getting kicked out of my mums basement!
Can someone tell me where I can find a cheap free WiFi hotspot?

Posted by: Zanon | Jan 4 2023 18:29 utc | 288

So, it seems to me that a stalemate has been achieved on the ground. Both sides are evenly matched and large movements on the front seem to be a thing of the past.
Russia needs to modernize and adapt vs. NATO while NATO needs to solve production and ammo issues.
After that happens, a year of so maybe, we may see movement. In the meantime, my crystal ball tell me tha5 long range attacks will continue on both sides.

Posted by: alek_a | Jan 4 2023 18:32 utc | 290

So the problem was creating the target in the first place; that’s why they make tents. Putting large numbers of troops in flimsy civilian buildings is a new feature for a war zone which has proven to be a mistake.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Jan 4 2023 17:34 utc | 273
This makes zero sense. Are tents invisible? Are they less flimsy that wooden buildings? Do they offer protection from missiles?

Posted by: David F | Jan 4 2023 18:43 utc | 292

There are cell phone super geniuses out there, here’s one, supposedly. Glad I’m too old to get called up for modern war.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad/27296

Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Jan 4 2023 18:46 utc | 294

Posted by: Boo | Jan 4 2023 13:58 utc | 235 “Literally the other day the British ran a piece praising Surovikin”
“the British” There are lots of British with a lot of different opinions. It’s not like there are two guys in a pizza shop directing it all.

Posted by: Bill Smith | Jan 4 2023 18:52 utc | 296

PeterAU1 @ 293
RF says Zircon and Kinzhal and even Iskander do travel in plasma. Avanguard AFAIK travels on top of a Sarmat and is basically visible until the Avanguard vehicle enters atmosphere.

Posted by: oldhippie | Jan 4 2023 18:54 utc | 298

Don Bacon @ 273 / David F @ 292
Lawn Chair General talking here, but seems to me the problem is pretty simple, don’t crowd companies into institutional buildings that can be seen from space, seeing we are near the front line in towns that are half empty and smashed up tell individual squads to split up and bivouac in whatever abandoned building they feel like and make due. I’m sure crowding them up makes it easier to feed and provide warmth, toilets, showers for troops but at what cost?
The high death toll at Makiivka was in large part due to the nearby ammo and fuel blowing up. The wounded must be in ugly shape. I have no idea what to make of men, ammo, fuel all crowded together.
There are clips on TG of memorials in Samara and Togliatti where most of the men were from. Very sad. Very soon Russia will fully mobilize for WW3.

Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Jan 4 2023 19:03 utc | 300