Ukraine Open Thread 2023-33
Only for news & views directly related to the Ukraine conflict.
The current open thread for other issues is here.
Please stick to the topic. Contribute facts. Do not attack other commentators.
Posted by b on February 8, 2023 at 14:38 UTC | Permalink
next page »LOL should have just scrolled down first past the China post i guess...
Posted by: Et Tu | Feb 8 2023 14:56 utc | 2
The Seymour Hersh story on the pipeline destruction indicates that someone in D.C. leaked the details. This means there is definite dissension within the ranks in Washington. There is no way that Hersh would have fabricated all of this information. Norway is now is big trouble with Russia because of the key role it played in this affair. I wonder if some problems may develop with the Norwegian gas pipelines.
Posted by: HH | Feb 8 2023 15:05 utc | 3
The escalator is going up, up, up
Zelenskiy, in London, wins pledge to train pilots on NATO jets
Where will they be based? Obviously some Ukrainian airfields operate, but lack maintenance facilities for western fighters.
Posted by: upstater | Feb 8 2023 15:06 utc | 4
The general public seems pretty lost on what is actually going on in Ukraine but if getting savvy on these issues, that's not hard to see why Kiev couldn't win. That's also not hard to see that Washington created this entire conflict at the end of second world war by supporting banderites in an effort to create or worsen problems for Moscow in the post-war period. Most notably was its sabotaging of collective farms on a massive famine. Stepan Bandera and his friends were known for killing Poles, Russians, Greeks, Tatars and anyone else they wouldn't like. These people's favorite method of clearing villages of life was to round people up and beat them to death with hammers in a big crowd. They completely cleared whole villages in Poland like this.
These were the sort of people that CIA funded an armed. The criminal networks that run United States are products of « Operation Underworld », « Operation Paperclip » and the corruption of J. Edgar Hoover. American officials have no problem working with complete maniacs in the hope of achieving some political gains. These wars mostly serve the purpose of vanishing cash out of the reported money supply, so as to avoid impacting inflation by laundering so much money. That's why they sent pallets of cash to Iraq and told everyone about this. They want people to think that money went to Iraqis, while most of this went to the criminal cabal that is CIA. This is one of many bad ways in which they create slush funds - So, they could avoid asking the congress for permission to do evil.
Now, American officials want people to believe Ukraine isn't a neo-nazi and is fighting Moscow because Vladimir Putin is just some sort of insane imperialist who just has to have more land, even though he already controls one of the most expansive countries on the planet. They're also getting a lot of conscripts slaughtered by lying to them and convincing them to go fight a losing battle by just claiming they aren't losing. German tanks being sent against Russians will just rally the people of Russia around Vladimir Putin even more. Nazis killed the grandmother and maimed the uncle of Vladimir Putin - He wouldn't tolerate them. He built a military cathedral to honor the red army's victory over Nazi Germany. The building literally contains bits of actual nazi weapons in every floor stone - So, Russians could continue to grind their boots on fallen nazis. Even the railings, stairs and art metal works are all made from nazi weapons. Western officials couldn't put nazis on Russia's borders and expect anything other than what is happening.
There have been days in the recent offensives that batteries of types fired upward of one hundred fifty thousand pieces of ordinance combined. Russians are ramping production up. They still have sorts of Soviet arms production infrastructures - Whereas, US has scrapped a large amount of its industrial capacity for trivial things like artillery rounds, bullets and other useless things that wouldn't get as much congressional attention as super high tech next gen fighter jet projects do. On a logistical level, Kiev has left itself as unable to even collectively outpace Moscow.
The only reason Washington's 'defense' budget is so huge is that most of what this does is money laundering and useless procurement projects like the objective individual combat weapons, BFV, F-35 Lightning II or M1 Abrams. The mafia state that is USA has of course squandered all of its resources and failed in epic fashion.
Before anyone disagree with the above statements : Why would the military win battle after battle but lose almost every war since 1945 ?
Understanding the answers to that question will help people see how Kiev was never meant to have anything resembling victory. The main reason of this panic right now is Moscow is handling this situation, economically, militarily and politically, better than was expected. The insane build-up in Ukraine was designed to slow Moscow down for years and ruin this economically and that definitely is not happening.
Posted by: Amish Fighter Pilot | Feb 8 2023 15:11 utc | 5
Posted by: HH | Feb 8 2023 15:05 utc | 3
The table is set for Merkel to come out and explain why she took the stance she did regarding Minsk II, attempting to trick Putin to give time to build up the military of US backed former state of Ukraine. Germany was blackmailed by American troublemakers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nca3Z3-9K4c
Putin was not tricked.
Posted by: chunga | Feb 8 2023 15:14 utc | 6
UPosted by: Resail | Feb 8 2023 15:22 utc | 7
nless someone hacked Wikipedia, Golcuk Naval base is located in the sea of Marmara, not the Black Sea.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6lc%C3%BCk_Naval_Base
Sounds like a routine visit that was scheduled long ago.
Posted by: Chris | Feb 8 2023 15:28 utc | 7
Kievan regime wouldn't hide on its plans to denuclearize and balkanize Russia anymore...
https://kyivindependent.com/national/danilov-ukraines-national-interest-is-russias-disintegration
Posted by: Vie Rose | Feb 8 2023 15:32 utc | 8
Zelensky has been addressing the UK parliament today.
According to the BBC website this afternoon:
"... Zelensky has made an impassioned plea for Britain to give Ukraine fast jets, but it still doesn’t look likely that he’ll get them – at least for now.
Justin Bronk, senior research fellow for air power at the RUSI think-tank, says: “I would be surprised if the UK supplied Ukraine with any of its fast jets”, adding the RAF simply doesn’t have the numbers."
Such optimism !!
Posted by: Engineer-John | Feb 8 2023 15:33 utc | 9
In other news:
"Cokehead visits an ex Empire now turned 3rd world country and poses on Instagram."
Nobody gives a flying f#%#ck
Posted by: Comandante | Feb 8 2023 15:42 utc | 10
From the Hersh thread('Twas OT) re claimed Ukraine AFU CW use Clip ...
@ hankster | Feb 8 2023 13:27 utc | 2
@ cirsium | Feb 8 2023 14:09 utc | 13
Little context, FA background beyond clip.
If you examine the clip closely, he is hors de combat, suffering convulsions, 'prior' to the (second) highly probable Chemical weapon drop. It is not clear from the clip whether this is a consequent result of the first unidentified drop(also CW ?). A Grenade or also ad hoc chemical weapon ? Unlikely & impractical mixed ordnance payload on the drone.
If the film clip duration is not edited/adjusted or accelerated, if he was directly exposed to a nerve agent, the visible extreme effects and loss of bodily functions is clearly apparent at the 30+ seconds mark. If military or near grade nerve agent was used this is within the parameters of loss of function & prompt death, in ~60-120 seconds from direct exposure. If so this is a prohibited War Crime unless via legal riot control agents (deniably) used in mass quantities(not the case here). Other military grade/near ad hoc, lethal CW, similar result.
Ukraine signed & ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1998. They have openly publicly recently proposed requesting a UN General Assembly vote re an exemption vote from the CW Convention. IF this is occurring, & the Russians satisfy themselves re such events, the RF response will not likely be trivial.
@11 Meeting King Charles is supposed to be good optics. Going to London before Brussels maybe not so smart.
Posted by: dh | Feb 8 2023 15:50 utc | 12
His first trip should have been Brussels, not Washington. The fact that his second, well, third if including his brief one in Poland, trip is London and not Brussels is even more telling.
Posted by: Talia | Feb 8 2023 16:00 utc | 13
Charles can give Zelly some organic gardening tips, pointers on remembering what day it is or advise on exercising verbal restraint when using a leaky fountain pen.
Posted by: Opport Knocks | Feb 8 2023 16:02 utc | 14
Talia @14 Basically he's saying 'look how much support I'm getting from London! Come on EU....where are those planes!'
Posted by: dh | Feb 8 2023 16:05 utc | 15
@11 Meeting King Charles
Posted by: dh | Feb 8 2023 15:50 utc | 13
I'm not all sure that such a thing will be advisable; certainly, in the long run. The piano-playing president is not, I think? on a full-scale state- visit. The reason I say, is because the King is supposed to remain above domestic politics, and this gets perilously close. The British MSM message on the Ukraine is monolithic: dissent is not allowed nor an alternative narrative permitted. But on scratching the surface, there are mixed opinions (see websites like order-order, for example)
It is clear that suggestions like giving away all the RAF's planes are unhinged, and yet accepted as the 'right thing' to do. At that point it becomes (internally) political, hence my reservations about the King's involvement. Charles is not Christian X of Denmark, and President Putin is, emphatically, not Hitler.
Not good optics, at all
Posted by: jamesh | Feb 8 2023 16:14 utc | 16
Posted by: Talia | Feb 8 2023 16:00 utc | 14
It makes sense. U$$anistan and the United Kongo construct the narrative (and actions) that vassals joyfully abide to.
Posted by: Sektion2B | Feb 8 2023 16:18 utc | 17
Olivier Kempf is pessimistic about Kiev's victory... https://twitter.com/RTLFrance/status/1623226518481534977
Posted by: Excelle | Feb 8 2023 16:18 utc | 18
Outraged | Feb 8 2023 15:43 utc | 12
They don't care. It isn't the first time either, Wagner was attacked with chemicals too, if I remember correctly. Last year Ukr was placing explosives in factories with dangerous chemicals or fertilizers. Remember that colored smoke? And they don't care because they can't do anything. On the field there's a tiny army stuck in Bakhmut and no one dares to hit kiev with a missile. All they do is complain a bit at UN where no one listens, like they did today "Kiev's use of chemical weapons must not be ignored. The competent authorities of the Russian Federation are checking information on the use of chemical weapons by the Ukrainian military". Bla bla like the nazi trial.
Posted by: rk | Feb 8 2023 16:23 utc | 19
jamesh @17 Clumsy move IMO. I don't know who sets these things up but somebody asked Charles to meet Zelensky and made it hard for him to refuse. I expect the photo of the occasion will go down well in Kiev.
Posted by: dh | Feb 8 2023 16:26 utc | 20
Note: MOD Clobber List, averaged over the past 349 days of the SMO, so far, per day(24hrs):
22.5 tanks & other armored combat vehicles,
(Equivalent of over 2 AFU Tank/Mech Battalions 'DESTROYED' (100%) every three days)
2.9 multiple rocket launcher combat vehicles,
(Equivalent of over 1 AFU MBRLS Batteries 'DESTROYED' (100%) every two days)
11.6 field artillery, guns and mortars,
(Equivalent of over 2 AFU Artillery Batteries 'DESTROYED' (100%) every day) and
Hence, for example, US/NATO would need to manufacture & promptly supply over ~4,234 Artillery pieces(Up to ~$8M per unit) over next 12 months, at a sustained rated of ~12/day deliverable, merely for AFU to continue in its current derelict state. Or, ~8,213 AFVs over next twelve months, being two full Tank/Mech Battalions delivered every three days ...
So, Germany's, sometime in 2024 '60's era ~88 derelict/refurbished/salvaged Leopard I 'Light Tanks'(Current era) would account for ~4 days AFV losses ... yet the even to be delivered ~22 refurbished/salvaged Leopard II MBTs would account for a single days AFV losses ...
Materiel losses necessary to be supplied to FEBA daily, or every 10, 30, 60, 90, 180, 360 days merely to sustain current AFU status ?
AFU manpower, critically short, is meaningless, near zero combat power, without trained crew-served, combined arms materiel, no Air, no AD, shattered insufficient logistics!
Translated, abbreviated, MOD Clobber list (06.02.2023)
📊 In total, since the beginning of the special military operation destroyed ((+?) over preceding 24hrs):
382 aircraft, (Daily avg 1.1)
206 helicopters, (Daily avg 0.6)
3027(+4) unmanned aerial vehicles, (Daily avg 8.8)
403 surface-to-air missile systems, (Daily avg 1.2)
7759(+9) tanks and other armored combat vehicles, (Daily avg 22.5)
1009(+2) multiple rocket launchers, (Daily avg 2.9)
4012(+9(+8?)) field artillery and mortars, (Daily avg 11.6) and
8276(+4) special military vehicles. (Daily avg 24)
Comment:
Exceptionally brief & terse MOD Summary. Ammunition & fuel stores destroyed.
Sustained very high Op tempo targeting 135 locs.
Two Grad MBLRS, a Nona S self-propelled gun, an Acacia self-propelled howitzer, a Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer, two D-30 howitzers & three D-20 howitzers were destroyed.
A multi-channel radar station of the S-300 anti-aircraft missile system was destroyed.
A warehouse with artillery ammunition, an ammunition depot & an AFU military fuel storage facility were destroyed.
One MBT destroyed. One US counter-battery radar stations destroyed.
MOD Clobber list (7.02.2023)
📊 In total, since the beginning of the special military operation destroyed ((+?) over preceding 24hrs):
382 aircraft, (Daily avg 1.1)
206 helicopters, (Daily avg 0.6)
3036(+9) unmanned aerial vehicles, (Daily avg 8.8)
403 surface-to-air missile systems, (Daily avg 1.2)
7771(+12) tanks and other armored combat vehicles, (Daily avg 22.5)
1010(+1) multiple rocket launchers, (Daily avg 2.9)
4020(+8 (+7?)) field artillery and mortars, (Daily avg 11.6) and
8282(+6) special military vehicles. (Daily avg 24)
Comment:
Extremely brief & terse MOD Summary. Significant ammunition stores destroyed.
Sustained very high Op tempo targeting 139 locs. Heavy flamethrower systems combined with artillery/rocket barrages.
A Grad MBLRS, two D-20 howitzers, two D-30 howitzers, a Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer, an Acacia self-propelled howitzer & a MSTA-B howitzer were destroyed.
A warehouse of artillery ammunition & five ammunition depots destroyed.
One MBT destroyed.
MOD Clobber list (08.02.2023)
📊 In total, since the beginning of the special military operation destroyed ((+?) over preceding 24hrs):
382 aircraft, (Daily avg 1.1)
206 helicopters, (Daily avg 0.6)
3046(+10) unmanned aerial vehicles, (Daily avg 8.8)
403 surface-to-air missile systems, (Daily avg 1.2)
7789(+18) tanks and other armored combat vehicles, (Daily avg 22.5)
1011(+1) multiple rocket launchers, (Daily avg 2.9)
4022(+2) field artillery and mortars, (Daily avg 11.6) and
8291(+9) special military vehicles. (Daily avg 24)
Comment:
Brief & terse MOD Summary. Significant ammunition & fuel stores destroyed.
Sustained intensity Op tempo targeting 123 locs.
Combined strikes by operational & tactical RuAF/Army aviation, missile/artillery barrages & heavy flamethrower systems.
A Grad MBLRS, a Msta-B howitzer & a mortar crew were destroyed.
Three ammunition depots, as well as three ammunition & fuel depots were destroyed.
Workshops of an aviation industry enterprise where unmanned aerial vehicles & barraging ammunition were being modernized were destroyed.
HQ of the 79th Airborne Assault Brigade was hit.
Two MBTs destroyed.
The leader of the Ukrainian neo-Nazi's president Zelensky, receives a standing ovation in the English parliament today as the the MPs clap like seals as he speaks of victory for Ukraine in the future.
"Addressing a huge crowd of MPs and peers in the historic setting of Westminster Hall, President Zelensky said: "Freedom will win - we know Russia will lose," adding the UK was with his country on a march to "the most important victory of our lifetime".
"During his speech, which was met throughout with applause, the Ukrainian leader gave the House of Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle the helmet of a Ukrainian pilot.
The writing on the helmet reads: "We have freedom, give us wings to protect it."
Reflecting on his last visit to the UK, he recalled thanking his hosts "for delicious English tea"."
The neo-Nazi leader calls on the UK to give Ukraine fighter jets.
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Feb 8 2023 16:46 utc | 22
LoL
I dont know whats funnier. The Comedian sayinhe will beat Russia militarily or Brit politicians thinking thwir country is worth more than a bag of turds in todays World.
Posted by: Comandante | Feb 8 2023 16:49 utc | 23
Yawn. Most blogs had posters who’d figured most of it out; Baltops 22, check, Norwegians or Baltic states, check, US operation, check, remote detonation, check. Hersh just sexes up the story with Clanceyesque prose, ‘no one could have guessed from it’s modest exterior that….’ and the near obligatory quotable quotes. The only thing it does confirm is that the West repeatedly lies about any aspect of the Ukrainian conflict.
Posted by: Milites | Feb 8 2023 16:49 utc | 24
jamesh | Feb 8 2023 16:14 utc | 17
"It is clear that suggestions like giving away all the RAF's planes are unhinged, and yet accepted as the 'right thing' to do. At that point it becomes (internally) political, hence my reservations about the King's involvement. Charles is not Christian X of Denmark, and President Putin is, emphatically, not Hitler.
Not good optics, at all"
However much longer the Brits keep the monarchy, they'll use the crowned geek for ever more trivial propaganda purposes.
As for giving away all Britain's planes, it's not yet Britain's turn to have the empire force it to completely demilitarize itself the way it's now forcing Germany. But the UK's turn will come soon enough if things continue like this.
(Surely the British aren't stupid enough to think they are "exceptional", or that the US won't ultimately regard them as Ukrainian-grade cannon fodder when the time comes? Or are they.)
Posted by: Flying Dutchman | Feb 8 2023 16:51 utc | 25
I couldn't stand to watch all that nauseating spectacle in Parliament,a full blown Circus of self indulgent bullshit.
Posted by: Englishman | Feb 8 2023 16:51 utc | 26
Still winning the "Battle of the Headlines" in Europe and North America.
This Virtuality Reality is better than no reality at all.
Posted by: Opport Knocks | Feb 8 2023 16:53 utc | 27
Re Mr. Z's visit to the Bank of Long-done, they are already talking about providing submarines. I guess tactical nukes are next. The fun never ends or rather it ends with ze Big Glow.
Posted by: Sektion2B | Feb 8 2023 16:55 utc | 28
... I expect the photo of the occasion will go down well in Kiev.
Posted by: dh | Feb 8 2023 16:26 utc | 21
Quite possibly the whole gig is just a piece of atavistic rubbish intended to distract public opinion away from the slow motion massacre of Ukraine and to prolong the agony / profit for as long as possible.
The same could be said of all MSM coverage.
Posted by: anon2020 | Feb 8 2023 17:00 utc | 29
hoping to get some views =)
The biggest issue is if Russia escalates this- e.g. taking Odessa and/or more provinces of Ukraine, it gives NATO/US a chance to escalate the conflict, which is no one’s preference.
Europe is disunited – there are peace loving people – escalation now increases the possibility of bringing this war to their lands again… for what?
Yes, there are tanks and jets coming at Russia- but factually, the quantities are wholly inadequate for a NATO offensive in Ukraine. Therefore, it does not qualify as a major threat. Thus, I think it is not enough to justify a Russian offensive into Europe or declaring war.
As opposed to now- continuing the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine by the various meat grinder operations without major escalation. The coalition is crumbling before our eyes.
Given that the government structures in Europe are still comparatively intact- retaining the SMO means that a peaceful transition of government / party is still possible in the countries of Europe. People of Europe can still move around- leave Europe, visit Russia (other means) etc.
On the other hand, if the Russian offensives occur and is viewed as a major escalation (or marketed as so)- it gives the war hawks in NATO to take control of the politics and change the government structures.
This would in turn increase military commitment by NATO and the Russians will be forced to react again – pushing us further into direct conflict.
Not escalating also gives Russia and other countries to work out alternative international solutions to the US-based systems. Most importantly, not escalating preserves lives… peace is maintained for many and peaceful transition of powers is possible.
Of course, if the assessment is such that the Russians do not think NATO will react to the taking of Odessa and/or major offensives, or Ukraine starts having an increased offensive capability, then yes- escalation will happen.
Also, I think the taking of Odessa has a higher signature than the major offensives to take provinces east of the Dnieper. This is because the taking of Odessa by default landlocks Ukraine, links up Transniedstra and puts Russian forces on the border with Moldova- a buffer state with the next NATO state (Romania).
So I don’t think Russia should escalate anything now- just meat grind and allow common sense (alt govts) to prevail in Europe/US + buy time to create alternate international coalitions.
If they have to, local offensives to secure the Donbass and/or provinces east of Dnieper. Don’t take Odessa unless the situation calls for it- e.g. if Moldova starts getting more and more involved and/or Transniedstra starts getting attacked.
(i recall that there was one local incident a few months back in Transniedstra, but havent heard any since then- maybe there are cooler heads)
Posted by: Sakabato | Feb 8 2023 17:03 utc | 30
"Using a crowned geek for propaganda purposes."
That has always been one of the "crown's" purposes.
"It's not yet Britain's turn to have the empire force it to completely demilitarize itself"
Already achieved that a long time ago. The car has been running on "empty" for decades. Apart from the nuclear deterrent (which, incredibly, we cannot use without permission) all we have are some very handsome chocolate soldiers. (I think the spooky side is somewhat better organized.)
"(Surely the British aren't stupid enough to think they are "exceptional", or that the US won't ultimately regard them as Ukrainian-grade cannon fodder."
Yes - we/they absolutely are that stupid, and have fallen for that guff since being bailed out in WW I. Suez, comes to mind, as we.
Bear in mind that the parliamentary fancy-dress party you saw today is only about gilding reputations. The odds are that Sunak, et al, will be toast. And Johnson is doing what he does best - polishing turds.
Flying Dutchman | Feb 8 2023 16:51 utc | 26
Posted by: jamesh | Feb 8 2023 17:08 utc | 31
#3 :
Yup! If members of the Coalition of Good™ start to throw each other under the bus, that means the Ukrainian situation is beyond desperate.
Another possibily is the DAC mafia is sooooo disappointed with the way the war goes that it starts to throw mud at its "allies" poodles in fact.
In Oslo right now there must be some really sweaty armpits...
Posted by: Nanker | Feb 8 2023 17:13 utc | 32
If I wanted a standing ovation from Congress or Parliament badly enough, I’d do it the same way Zelturdsky did: first, I’d have to become a lying murdering swindler, that’s a given, then I’d go to the lawmakers, piss on them all and call it ‘yook’ rain, and that’s when I’d get a standing ovation. Oh, and a flood of money for the laundry.
Posted by: Dalit | Feb 8 2023 17:13 utc | 33
One of the regular panelists on “Sixty Minutes” then faced the cameras directly and said that Russia’s nuclear doctrine is under revision in light of these aggressive plans being aired in the United States, so that Russia is headed towards a policy of ‘preventive’ tactical nuclear strikes, similar to what the United States has. Moreover, if Ukraine targets Crimea and heartland Russia, then Russia will respond according to plans now being laid down. These plans foresee counter strikes against U.S military installations in Europe and in the Continental United States using hypersonic missiles. The panelist calls for this threat of counter strikes in Europe and the US to be made public and explicit, so that no one is in doubt about what to expect from the Kremlin.
So here we are. The Russians are stripping away the fiction of a proxy war and revealing the co-belligerent status of the US and its NATO allies in preparation for a kinetic war with NATO. As our illustrious former President, a man of few words, would say: “Not good!”
Posted by: jgalt | Feb 8 2023 17:16 utc | 34
After following this SMO since its start, I have the feeling that Putin is handicapped by a reluctance (for various reasons) to forcefully pursue this war. His half-hearted approach to this war is encouraging the enemies of Russia.
How many of Russia's "red lines" have been crossed already? The latest is the use of chemical weapons.
The prolonging of this war will result in more casualties (both military & civilian) , not less casualties. Having taken the decision to go to war, it would be self-defeating to indulge in regrets and introspection. Perhaps Putin should take a break and handover to someone who is ruthless enough to get this shit show really going, for the sake of Russia and the rest of the non-NATO world.
I am a member of the Chinese diaspora of South East Asia and my heart is with China & Russia.
Posted by: bluesolent | Feb 8 2023 17:17 utc | 35
@ Posted by: HH | Feb 8 2023 15:05 utc | 3
I agree, it would have to be that somebody leaked the details.
Is too important for these to be released, unless it was desired to do so.
Suspect poking the bear - some would like Russia to escalate.
Russia might escalate, when it feels the time is right.
Or they might not - not sure what to think of that.
Posted by: jared | Feb 8 2023 17:20 utc | 36
@ Posted by: bluesolent | Feb 8 2023 17:17 utc | 36
Seems to me the Russian leadership is (excessively ?) analytical - not willing to be forced to re-act emotionally.
May be a sign of weakness and fear or a sign of intelligence and resolve.
I apologize for this, but it is my impression that ignorant people cannot accept that they dont know enough to determine the facts nor to decide best course of action - they just want action.
The western political dialog is being tailored to the psychological assessment of the Russian leadership.
There was an expression to the effect: The wise man can reason away that which the fool can see.
Or maybe there is a plan. Hard to say.
Posted by: jared | Feb 8 2023 17:29 utc | 37
Hints of where the battlefield might be going:
Elbit Systems / LANIUS: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4McPHBQ9pNw
Posted by: anon2020 | Feb 8 2023 17:42 utc | 38
So much news coming in about how corrupt the West is and has been. Yet, the Western peoples think that God is right on their iniquitous side.
It's mind boggling that most of the peoples in the West think nothing could ever take their beloved countries down.
Yet, the threat has never been more real and perhaps more imminent.
Posted by: young | Feb 8 2023 17:42 utc | 39
Not sure whether Johnson is coked up or simply thoroughly on Z's payroll but he is beyond redemption. Sunak is like King Charles - weak and characterless.
This is a parade of vanities in a country riven with strife and seething anger at the state of the country after 13 years of Conservative Rule - in fact since 1945 Conservatives have held power for 45 of those 78 years and destroyed the country.
Now with energy security, cost of living, immigration crisis, health system collapse, de-industrialisation, excessive housing costs, congestion, poverty and hunger.........all the elites obsess about is a rodent-looking Ukrainian cokehead............
Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Feb 8 2023 17:43 utc | 40
Sakabato @31
It is politically and militarily imperative for the RF to liberate the ethnic Russian plurality if not majority city of Odessa. That city was created as the Crown Jewel of Catherine the Great's removal of the Tatars and Turks from that sector of the Black Sea and also holds martyr status for working class Russians in both Mama Bear and amongst her cubs in the former Ukraine SSR.
EU politrix may matter to most Western European political types, but very little to the Russian government and people.
Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 8 2023 17:54 utc | 41
Posted by: anon2020 | Feb 8 2023 17:42 utc | 39
For sure the future of warfare is going towards drones and missiles.
Russia got a BIG help from Iran drone technology. The country that can more rapidly develop effective battlefield missile and drone technology and crank out the most in effectiveness and quantity will have a strong advantage on the battle fields both today and tomorrow.
Russia has a great experimental lab for its new innovations at the vast zero line on the Ukraine/Russian border. If they have allotted the right amount of resources for research and development of their missile and drone technologies, what they develop will become most frightening.
Posted by: young | Feb 8 2023 18:00 utc | 42
jgalt@35
One would hope that MoA posters would have come to the realization that the regime in the Di$trict of Corruption has no true agency. Even the Agency does not fully enjoy that status. Granted that some orders emanate from the Rottenfeller crime clan which controls the N.Y. "Federal" Reserve Bank. Most of the primary shot calling, though, originates in City of London from the Rottenchild bank and its subsidiary, the Bank of England.
There is a problem with essentially all liberals and most formerly genuine leftists...ideology. Ideological perspectives tend to adumbrate and obscure any acute realization of the massive power of BIG money over governments, corporations and most other institutions throughout the Western Imperium. As the MoA tradition emanates from the left, many posters here simply cannot accommodate money power with their ideological predilections.
The Eye of Sauron is located in City of London. All the rest are mere tentacles of the Octopus.
Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 8 2023 18:02 utc | 43
The prolonging of this war will result in more casualties
You know that for a fact, do you ?
Anyway - the object is to drive up Ukrainian casualties - to destroy the manpower - to use artillery to destroy them in the fortified bunkers they built over 8 years in ferro-concrete -
How do YOU expect to displace them from their bunkers ?
No-one in NATO has fought such a war as is fought on Eastern Front.........they have never had such a big front. Gerasimov says the line is 815km long -
Go look at Hürtgenwald 1944 the longest single battle US Army ever faced.........there was no way to wrap that up quickly - and USA took 55,000 casualties v 28,000 German..............30,000 US dead in one battle over 4 months in an area 140km2..........makes Vietnam look cheap at 41,000 KIA in 20 years...
https://www.archives.gov/research/military/vietnam-war/casualty-statistics
So Germany with 80,000 troops at Hürtgenwald pinned down 120,000 US troops and forced US to take 50% casualty rate in a forest...............
That is just how the Russians intend to bleed Ukraine of men and disintegrate the societal structure
Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Feb 8 2023 18:03 utc | 44
anon2020@39
So I$rael unleashes a swarm of killer drones to attack demonstrator and sometimes mere ordinary civilians. Then it becomes imperative for Palestinian freedom-fighters to develop, or for their friends in other locales, to create responder drones which would target the assassins.
Drone War One is immanent.
Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 8 2023 18:07 utc | 45
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-64569598
Boris Johnson has registered an advance payment of nearly £2.5m for speaking events, in his latest declaration of outside earnings.It brings the former prime minister's declared income since leaving office last September to £4.8m.This total includes a £510,000 advance for his political memoirs.
You get paid after you leave, not up front. Even Teresa May has "made" a few million since leaving office IIRC
Posted by: YetAnotherAnon | Feb 8 2023 18:13 utc | 46
Originally published in the Russian daily newspaper Vzglyad, and translated by a Socialist in Canada
"Who is plundering Ukraine’s forests, and how?"
By Nikolay Storozhenko
"..There is a striking differences between Russia and Ukraine in recent years that can be easily seen from space, and it’s not just about city lighting. Satellite images show a denuded Ukraine countryside. Its priceless natural heritage – the forest – has been stripped away. Who is behind the massive deforestation of Ukrainian forests, and why is everything happening exactly the opposite with Russian forests?
"During a recent meeting of Vladimir Putin with representatives of patriotic and youth organizations, a well-known problem was touched upon: the predatory sale of arable land as well as forests by the Kyiv regime. “Raw logs is sold there, although there is not so much of it left, not like in Siberia. There, soon all the Carpathian mountains will be stripped away,” said the president of the Russian Federation...."
https://socialistincanada.ca/who-is-plundering-ukraines-forests-and-how/
Posted by: bevin | Feb 8 2023 18:13 utc | 47
Anyway - the object is to drive up Ukrainian casualties - to destroy the manpower - to use artillery to destroy them in the fortified bunkers they built over 8 years in ferro-concrete -
Problem is, that is also NATO's Plan B. If they can't have Ukraine, they will hand it to Russia in the most ruined condition possible. Ukrainian's tactics with respect to the use of the physical infrastructure of the cities they are "defending" leaves little doubt that this is a consciously pursued objective.
And every dead Ukrainian soldier means first, one less future Russian, and second, another family that now hates Russia and will make reintegration of those territories much more difficult.
How do YOU expect to displace them from their bunkers ?
You don't displace them, you bypass and encircle them. Then they will come out on their own.
Instead of attacking Ugledar head on a year into the war and losing a dozen tanks in the process, as just happened, the lessons should have been learned by now. But no such luck.
Also, bypassing and encirclement is much easier when prepared defenses have not been established along the whole line of contact. You know, like there were no such defenses in Kharkov in September on the Russian side.
There were also no such defenses other than in Donbass early in the war. Now the whole line of contact, from Poland to Zaporozhye, has been heavily mined and prepared for defense. Why? Because they were once again given the time to build those defenses. By who? By those responsible for not committing the necessary forces to finish the job quickly and properly.
That is just how the Russians intend to bleed Ukraine of men and disintegrate the societal structure
There was absolutely no need for that.
Early on, Ukrainians were actually surrendering in large numbers. Obviously very far from all Ukrainians, but many were.
The animosity had not built to the same levels yet either.
This could still have been done quickly and properly, finishing it all off with overwhelming force in a couple months, which would have resulted in an order of magnitude fewer casualties for both sides, much less destruction, and much less mutual animosity.
But someone decided to fight an existential war on the cheap...
Posted by: shadowbanned | Feb 8 2023 18:17 utc | 48
"There is a problem with essentially all liberals and most formerly genuine leftists...ideology. Ideological perspectives tend to adumbrate and obscure any acute realization of the massive power of BIG money over governments, corporations and most other institutions throughout the Western Imperium. As the MoA tradition emanates from the left, many posters here simply cannot accommodate money power with their ideological predilections..." aristodemos@44
Your argument would seem to be that anti-semitic conspiracy theories are not in themselves indications of ideology. Are not in fact ideologies. No doubt they are simple descriptions of reality. You are trolling.
Posted by: bevin | Feb 8 2023 18:18 utc | 49
While Seymour's article came out...the Italian language newspaper Corriere della Sera ran an article from the former Italian president declaring that 911 was an inside job by CIA/Mossad. The Western Media is a propaganda arm of the powers that be...then the narrative is being manipulated to their ends. To destroy the United States...and Europe.....and everything? What sort of Phoenix is about to ride from the ashes I wonder. On side note... Zelensky is just a puppet...an actor just like sleepy Joe...but the indicators of rampant drug abuse is apperent in his actions...speech .. demeanor and dress. I bet if he had a house the lawn would never be cut and the curtains and blinds would always be closed.... probably pure uncut blow flown in by diplomatic pouch....Anyways I suspect some major changes in the wind very soon.
Posted by: Joe | Feb 8 2023 18:22 utc | 50
Republicofscotland no. 23
"The leader of the Ukrainian neo-Nazi's president Zelensky, receives a standing ovation in the English parliament today as the the MPs clap like seals as he speaks of victory for Ukraine in the future."
There was no standing ovation. They were all standing to begin with. But right about the seal handclapping.
Posted by: ThusspakeZarathustra | Feb 8 2023 18:23 utc | 51
Posted by: jared | Feb 8 2023 17:29 utc | 38
My current take on it is this: If the west (US) wants to create a massacre in Ukraine or launch an all out nuclear strike there’s nothing RF can do to stop it, they can only respond as best they can or strike first.
Having pulled the trigger on SMO, perhaps on the assumption that it would have been over and done with by now, RF strategy appears to be to do absolutely the safe minimum.
Financial measures RF could take to restrict western access to Russian exports would really only damage business interests with which Russia has an existing trading relationship, which is exactly what the neocon crazies want. Same goes for Germany. RF shutting the door on German businesses would almost exclusively hit companies with which RF was actively cultivating good relations. Same goes within Ukraine, where RF appears to be leaving oligarch assets untouched, even where they have critical military value, such as Kolomoisky‘s (yes, him) Kremenchuk Oil Refinery.
There’s also the uselessness of the UN and other international agencies, where RF strategy seems to be to let them embarrass themselves and that any support is better than nothing. Again, it is very much the ambition of neocon crazies to exclude Russia from international forums and organisations so RF is actively trying to engage them, regardless of how ridiculous the outcome sometimes appear.
If this strategy works, the west will run out of stream and support for UA will simply melt away (arch necrocon Bolton seemed to confirm this weakness in a recent Vovan & Lexus call), but it’s produced some cringeworthy results along the way: no response to the assassination of Daria Dugina, a bizarre Nothing Burger over Azov captives, not a word on the POW accusation that Arestovich personally ordered POWs to be killed and filmed for media productions. horrific abuse of POWs generally, apparent ongoing use of banned weapons types, plenty of other glaring affronts and incongruities.
Posted by: anon2020 | Feb 8 2023 18:29 utc | 52
There is a problem with essentially all liberals and most formerly genuine leftists...ideology. Ideological perspectives tend to adumbrate and obscure any acute realization of the massive power of BIG money over governments, corporations and most other institutions throughout the Western Imperium. As the MoA tradition emanates from the left, many posters here simply cannot accommodate money power with their ideological predilections.
[...]
Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 8 2023 18:02 utc | 44
"The Eye of Sauron is located in City of London. All the rest are mere tentacles of the Octopus."
Irrelevant, all of them should be dismantled in good conscience.
High-caliber perfidious bullshit unfit to be put black on white - it would be a disgrace on the latin alphabet it is written, in if the bar wasn't so fucking high for that.
Liberals are money fetishists, and the core tenet of the left is precisely what you're accusing it of lacking: correctly pointing out the overwhelming overlap between money and political power.
If somebody doesn't do so, a fortiori they're not "left", they're merely radlibs.
OTOH, if Adam Smith came back from the dead he'd raise the red banner; and current squatters of the "liberal" label are anything but.
Posted by: Arganthonios | Feb 8 2023 18:34 utc | 53
The Hersch Nordstream 2 story was surely an open secret among top echelons of the MSM which was "recruited" to not inquire further until the "right time." Maybe now's the right time, because it makes Biden look decisive. In any case, the MSM, as a collective, is no different than a WWII propaganda reel when it comes to such serious matters of state.
Posted by: Ludovic | Feb 8 2023 18:40 utc | 54
Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 8 2023 18:07 utc | 46
Agreed that the implications are for Palestine are terrible. There could be some affordable countermeasures: nets, paint sprays, shotguns etc. a dose of Palestinian and Persian ingenuity might go a long way.
It looks like World War D is another rolling start and that we’re already in it.
Posted by: anon2020 | Feb 8 2023 18:46 utc | 55
(Surely the British aren't stupid enough to think they are "exceptional", or that the US won't ultimately regard them as Ukrainian-grade cannon fodder when the time comes? Or are they.)
Posted by: Flying Dutchman | Feb 8 2023 16:51 utc | 26
It will sure be entertaining for everybody else, one way or another. Who will start physically sabotaging the other first?
************
Your argument would seem to be that anti-semitic conspiracy theories are not in themselves indications of ideology. Are not in fact ideologies. No doubt they are simple descriptions of reality. You are trolling.
Posted by: bevin | Feb 8 2023 18:18 utc | 50
Don't you know that christian rapists violate you oh so more tenderly, and muslim thieves steal from you oh so more charismatically? Buddhist assassins kill more painlessly, and hindi torturers break your fingers much more cleanly.
Seriously, who the fuck and why in freezing blazes can anybody give a fuck what FALSE GOD crooks feign they pray to, or what rotten hellhole their grandparents crawled out of? They all deserve to be hanged regardless.
Posted by: Arganthonios | Feb 8 2023 18:47 utc | 56
The only thing it does confirm is that the West repeatedly lies about any aspect of the Ukrainian conflict.
Posted by: Milites | Feb 8 2023 16:49 utc | 25
I could be mistaken, but it looked to me like he conflated Russia with USSR at least once or twice when describing how US did a deep dive to intercept Soviet conversations back in 71. Or maybe the Soviets did have a specific "Russian" navy back then.
Posted by: Mary | Feb 8 2023 18:50 utc | 57
To me the conduct of the war suggests that the Russians perceive it as advantageous to keep a grinding going. The so called Ukrainian "defenses" do not explain it.
You cannot build a defensive line of any consequence along entire the width of the Ukraine. In WWII the Germans
through the Maginot line in short order. The Russians could do the same if they so desired, then cut off the Ukrainian front
from supplies. They do not have to engage the Ukrainians at strong points unless that is what they believe to be useful.
In fact in this grinding confrontation NATO is not using its resources efficiently by pouring them in piecemeal into a losing battle. The efficient use of these resources would be a full assault by NATO troops.
Currently NATO is squandering its resources becoming weaker in the process and the same is true of the economy of Europe. In addition the sanctions, confiscation of funds, exclusion from SWIFT etc. are leading to the development of parallel structures in which the major portion of this planet will participate.
Increasingly it becomes obvious to all who is not on board with the West (India, Brazil, much of Africa, Southeast Asia, China).
Combined with infighting such as blowing up each other's pipelines the West is exposing itself as a shrinking entity rottening from the inside out.
I cannot think of a better way to bring down western hegemony than is currently in progress.
Posted by: bottle | Feb 8 2023 18:50 utc | 58
@Sakabato, §31:
Well, here´s my view, Sakabato: there´s no way the Russians will not take Odessa, a primarily Russian city and chief port on the Black Sea. If they don´t, the Americans will only use it as a naval base to attack the Crimea - and bring in tanks and heavy weapons by ship, which is much easier than transporting them over rickety bridges overland to the Ukraine.
And no, it doesn´t follow NATO will escalate, even if it could. Europeans know that Odessa is an ethnically Russian city against whom the Banderites have committed many atrocities even before this war began.
The Dniester will be the border, not the Dnieper. Up North it´ll probably be the 1939 Russo-Polish border because no-one wants Galicia.
Posted by: John Marks | Feb 8 2023 18:56 utc | 59
Russia's authorities have prepared new support measures for volunteers. Now they will be able to receive two pensions for wounds, disability and other compensation.
- A bill giving monthly payments to widows of servicemen passed first reading in the Duma.
- Russia's Cabinet allocated additional funding for additional payments to medical workers in the Russian Armed Forces and other servicemen who provide care to the wounded.
The government will subsidize investment projects to modernize enterprises working for the Russian Armed Forces. Significant funds are allocated for the production of new equipment.
- Production of machinery and equipment for the Russian Armed Forces will increase.
" HoW ArE THeY GoInG To pAy FoR It ?
Simple the Russian Treasury will simply instruct the Russian central bank to start crediting bank accounts. All the digits will be created from thin air. They will simply mark up.The numbers using a computer keyboard and index finger. Russian Central bank will credit Russian commercial banks reserve accounts at the Bank Russia. Commercial banks will then credit the bank accounts of those receiving the payments.
Job done not a tax payer or grandchildren in sight.
Those who receive the payments have 4 choices.
Spend it
Save it
Swap it for a Russian bond
Exchange it into another currency with somebody who wants Roubles.
As soon as those receiving the payments start spending the money the tax collection starts. Money doesn’t stop at its first use. Your spending is my income and vice versa. And everybody's income is taxed.Taxation quantity is a geometric series, not a simple sum. It behaves like a stone skipping across a pond.
where "a" is the initial spend, "t" is the tax rate, "n" is the number of transactions, and "s" is the total induced spend across the economy by that sequence. Since the ‘common ratio’ (1-t) is less than 1, we can use the sum to infinity formula of a geometric progression to get the size of the maximum spend induced in the economy by that injection.
Which Ultimately means that the amount of tax collected must (eventually) match the initial spending injection and Unsurprisingly if you are using percentages against a bigger number, you get a bigger number out the end. The amount of tax collected increases as spending increases because that’s how percentages work.
The Russian government will simply collect back the Roubles it instructed the Russian central bank to issue in the first place. Destroy what was collected to help control inflation.
Job done money issued - money collected and destroyed with economic activity inbetween. Goals reached in procuring both the skills and real resources for the war effort.
Posted by: Derek Henry | Feb 8 2023 18:57 utc | 60
@ shadowbanned | Feb 8 2023 18:17 utc | 49
Agree, time is a two edged sword that can slice you if you are too fast or too slow.
Perhaps, the integrity of the social order in Ukraine will collapse as expected before long and fighting in the western areas will not be as intense or necessary. However unless Odessa and the Black Sea Coast is captured, the entire SMO effort may be for naught, especially in the long-run. The question is what price will have to be incurred now to achieve this, and when.
Posted by: Jerr | Feb 8 2023 19:01 utc | 61
Some compare the conflict in Ukraine with trench warfare in WWI ... for one party to the conflict, certainly not the other ...
Well, there were no ISR Sats, one sided Theater Air Dominance with modern fast movers & attack helos engaging an enemy with no battlefield AD, myriad drones & drone dominance by one side including semi-permanent tethered drones at altitude, secure inter-networked near real-time C2 & C4ISR, nor comprehensive EW or accurate timely passive counter-battery detection systems, nor nullification of age old tactical & Operational doctrine/practices re Cover, Concealment, Camouflage & ground based LOS re terrain Defilade, one side has armor en mass & the ability to deploy/sustain & protect those assets ... hm ?
The British Army fired a million shells in World War One, from 28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918(1,566 Days(4 yrs + 106 Days)), an average of ~639/day ...
How many shells(Rockets & Mortar Rounds) has RF fired in toto the last 349 days, on average per day ?
Is there any indication Russia is ever going to run out ?
Posted by: young | Feb 8 2023 18:00 utc | 43
Agreed, It’s all moving very fast. Interesting, unexpected but also sickening and horrible.
The advent of the flying, homing anti personnel mine is a sleazy new low.
On a purely technical note, networking and automation look to be for drones what metal cartridges and automatic loading were to guns.
Posted by: anon2020 | Feb 8 2023 19:05 utc | 63
Option 4: Exchange it into another currency with somebody who wants Roubles.
If somebody who holds roubles wants to swap them for $
Rouble --------> $
Then in a floating Exchange rate system you need somebody Or a group of people who wants to do this.
Rouble <------- $
Or the exchange won't take place.
So what actually happens is the amount of Roubles does not change that is held at the Russian central bank. All that changes is who know holds them in an account. The name on the account.
What options do this person or group of people now have.
Spend it on Russian goods and services sold in Roubles.
Save it as Roubles
Swap it for a Russian bond
Exchange it into another currency with somebody who wants Roubles.
Rinse and Repeat, Rinse and Repeat.
Posted by: Derek Henry | Feb 8 2023 19:11 utc | 64
So, yeah. The US carried out a no-shit act of war against Russia last year when they blew-up Nordstream (with the help of the Norwegians).
Posted by: Monos | Feb 8 2023 19:11 utc | 65
The question is what price will have to be incurred now to achieve this, and when.Posted by: Jerr | Feb 8 2023 19:01 utc | 62
What you are watching right now is what a hypothetical US invasion of Japan in 1945 would have looked like. But with the additional restriction that the air force can't be used.
Imagine how that would have gone...
We discussed the other day how it makes no sense for Ukraine to be out of manpower even with 200-250K KIA. There has to be a lot more mobilization potential left.
Meanwhile every day of slow grind in Donbass is another day of some of the most severe brainwashing ever carried out in the rest of Ukraine. Which means that even after the AFU is destroyed in the Donbass, it may not be a safe walk all the way to Lvov, there will still be local resistance and it will be yet more slog, village by village and town by town.
Speaking of which, notice how it is now almost a month since Soledar fell, and what are the advances in that month? Some villages in the surrounding area, and that's it. The Zaporozhye offensive fizzled out quickly, and so did the Ugledar one.
So a whole month for less than a dozen villages with a combined pre-war population of less than 5,000.
This is much worse that last time the front stalled while AFU was preparing reserves and was being handed lots of Western equipment. Back then Severodonetsk and Lysichansk fell. Meanwhile while it was just artillery and armored vehicles last year, now the AFU will be given tanks, long-range missiles and jets.
And unless the rumors about ongoing stealth mobilization are true, the Kremlin and its online cheerleaders will be caught with their pants down once again...
Posted by: shadowbanned | Feb 8 2023 19:15 utc | 66
So, yeah. The US carried out a no-shit act of war against Russia last year when they blew-up Nordstream (with the help of the Norwegians).Posted by: Monos | Feb 8 2023 19:11 utc | 66
The US and the UK carried out multiple no-shit acts of war last year:
1) Moscow cruiser sinking
2) pretty much every single HIMARS strike, as targeting is done by them
3) North Stream bombing
4) the Sevastopol UUV attack in October
5) Three separate attacks on Engels airbase and also on the airbase in Ryazan in December (the drones might have been Ukrainian, but the targeting was not)
6) Multiple acts of sabotage inside Russia, though no particular case can be definitely linked to their activities, it is just known that in general they are responsible for quite a few.
7) Yesterday's drone attack on Moscow (again, Ukrainian-launched drone, NATO-plotted path through the eye of the needle in between AD coverage zones)
And this is by no means an exhaustive list.
The Engels airbase attacks were the worst -- never before in history had the nuclear triad of any country been directly attacked. Now it was. And the Kremlin mostly pretended it didn't happen...
Posted by: shadowbanned | Feb 8 2023 19:22 utc | 67
So, yeah. The US carried out a no-shit act of war against Russia last year when they blew-up Nordstream (with the help of the Norwegians).Posted by: Monos | Feb 8 2023 19:11 utc | 66
The US and the UK carried out multiple no-shit acts of war last year:
1) Moscow cruiser sinking
2) pretty much every single HIMARS strike, as targeting is done by them
3) North Stream bombing
4) the Sevastopol UUV attack in October
5) Three separate attacks on Engels airbase and also on the airbase in Ryazan in December (the drones might have been Ukrainian, but the targeting was not)
6) Multiple acts of sabotage inside Russia, though no particular case can be definitely linked to their activities, it is just known that in general they are responsible for quite a few.
7) Yesterday's drone attack on Moscow (again, Ukrainian-launched drone, NATO-plotted path through the eye of the needle in between AD coverage zones)
And this is by no means an exhaustive list.
The Engels airbase attacks were the worst -- never before in history had the nuclear triad of any country been directly attacked. Now it was. And the Kremlin mostly pretended it didn't happen...
Posted by: shadowbanned | Feb 8 2023 19:22 utc | 68
What hilarious and so, so, funny. Is the West brain boxes think they can stop Russia's new support measures for volunteers. Now they will be able to receive two pensions for wounds, disability and other compensation. Stop monthly payments to widows of servicemen. Stop additional funding for additional payments to medical workers in the Russian Armed Forces and other servicemen who provide care to the wounded. Stop investment projects to modernize enterprises working for the Russian Armed Forces.
By depriving Some Russian exporters the ability to earn roubles for the exports. They think Russian exports fund the war effort lol. It's hilarious!
Posted by: Derek Henry | Feb 8 2023 19:24 utc | 69
The West think when you walk up to the turnstile of a music concert you walk through take your seat then they issue you the ticket.
Instead of what really happens. They issue you the concert ticket take it off you at the turnstile then rip it in half and destroy it. It has served its purpose.
Posted by: Derek Henry | Feb 8 2023 19:34 utc | 71
@11 Meeting King Charles is supposed to be good optics[...]Posted by: dh | Feb 8 2023 15:50 utc | 13
This king identifies as (and transitioned to) a Tampax since long time ago.
We should be mindful and respect his decision to change his birthname, hence, please refer to his majesty as King Tampax.
Posted by: Ricardo Ramirez | Feb 8 2023 19:41 utc | 72
Washington wants Kiev to return lost territories, as range of military supplies to Ukraine is changing - US Secretary of State Blinken.
Posted by: rk | Feb 8 2023 19:51 utc | 73
The escalator is going up, up, up
Zelenskiy, in London, wins pledge to train pilots on NATO jets
Where will they be based? Obviously some Ukrainian airfields operate, but lack maintenance facilities for western fighters.
Posted by: upstater | Feb 8 2023 15:06 utc | 4
They won‘t be Ukrainian pilots, and 2 years from now; there will be beaucoup maintenance facilities in theater. This war will last many years my friends.
Posted by: Exile | Feb 8 2023 19:56 utc | 74
Posted by: bluesolent | Feb 8 2023 17:17 utc | 36
Putin is Biden's analogue in Russia, and he will only reluctantly do what he is being pushed to do.
It is interesting that Putin, Xi and Erdogan are described by the West as Trump's kindred spirits, even though they are not anti-establishment in any sense of the word.
Posted by: Colin | Feb 8 2023 20:08 utc | 75
Colin | Feb 8 2023 20:08 utc | 75
"It is interesting that Putin, Xi and Erdogan are described by the West as Trump's kindred spirits, even though they are not anti-establishment in any sense of the word."
Neither is Trump.
Posted by: Flying Dutchman | Feb 8 2023 20:10 utc | 76
MSM meets magical realism:
LIMA, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Peace between Russia and Ukraine is on the horizon in the new year - or so predicted a group of shaman and healers in Peru's capital Lima on Wednesday ...
Posted by: Sektion2B | Feb 8 2023 20:10 utc | 77
Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 8 2023 18:07 utc | 46
Hopefully, Israel will be the target of de-Nazification, which will mean a full-scale trial of Zionists, because Zionism is a form of Nazism.
Posted by: Colin | Feb 8 2023 20:12 utc | 78
Posted by: shadowbanned | Feb 8 2023 19:15 utc | 67
I also start to get the feeling that Russia does not seem to have the capacity to achieve its goals in this way. Aside from internet cheerleaders, the situation on the ground looks to me like the Russians will run out of steam and motivation before the Ukrainians. I forsee another change in strategy.
Btw, what is that attack on Moscow?
Posted by: alek_a | Feb 8 2023 20:15 utc | 79
Posted by: rk | Feb 8 2023 19:51 utc | 73
I am of the opinion that Russia’s strategy will soon change to a defensive one. The offensive fizzled out, intentionally or not, and they will be digging in soon.
Western weapons deliveries are escalating a notch again. It will be like the mid/end of summer when HIMARS entered the scene.
Posted by: alek_a | Feb 8 2023 20:19 utc | 80
@Posted by: Joe | Feb 8 2023 18:22 utc | 51
I just went through the entire site.
Could you please share a link to the article, i found nothing, would love to read it.
Posted by: Et Tu | Feb 8 2023 20:20 utc | 81
A flag to the U.S. congress. A helmet to the King. This joker has no optical commercial value left. When he visits the rarified self appointed aristocracy at the EU, he should bring a couple of planes filled with the bodies of the young men exterminated due to lunacy. Does this actor ever change sweater?
Posted by: Dingo | Feb 8 2023 20:26 utc | 82
For me the pivotal question has always been “who started the war “ ?? If the Ukraine’s were indeed committing “ genocide” then Russia had a right to try and protect their people. The problem is that there was no genocide!!!
On January 27, 2022, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights released its most recent estimate of the victims of the Donbass conflict from 2014 to December 31, 2021. The famous figure of 14,000 casualties, often quoted by pro-Russian comments, comes from this document. In fact, the U.N. estimate is between 14,200 and 14,400 victims.
By no means were these victims a Killed by the Ukrainians." According to the UN, 10,900 victims were soldiers, of whom 4,400 were Ukrainians and 6,500 pro-Russian combatants of or on behalf of the separatist pseudo-republics. Civilian victims were between 3,400 and 3,500. The latter were in turn not all victims of attacks and of drones and rockets
launched by Ukraine against the pseudo-republics. In fact, a part died in the portions of the oblasts of Luhansk and Donetsk that remained under Ukrainian control during attacks by separatists.
The UN report also notes that 8.8 percent of all civilian victims come from a single incident, which happened on July 17, 2014, when Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot by a missile, and all the 298 who were aboard (283 passengers and 15 crew members) died. While Russian and pro-Russian propaganda has tried to spread several conspiracy theories about the incident, two Dutch investigations concluded that the plane was shot by a surface-to-air missile supplied by Russia to the People's Republic of Donetsk and fired by the latter's militias.
This info was provided by the UNITED NATIONS of which Russia is a member.
Sorry but no genocide just Russian propaganda!!
Posted by: Roadblock | Feb 8 2023 20:30 utc | 83
Feb 8 2023 19:15 utc | 67
sun tzu said: tactics w/o strategy is noise of defeat.
what do you think grabbing villages is for?
repeating us' 'strategic' hamlet tactic w/o strategy of the vietnam debacles!
the tactic is casualties, and russia suspects ukronazis are not so willing to die as viet cong....
Posted by: paddy | Feb 8 2023 20:30 utc | 84
"That is just how the Russians intend to bleed Ukraine of men and disintegrate the societal structure"
Indeed! Putin is 71 this year so one might consider this war as his legacy to his beloved nation. Translation : he'll make SURE Ukraine won't be a threat to Russia for the next 30 years.
Logical conclusion : Ukraine will be annihilated demographically (400K dead as a tactical target?) and politically (the nation will be up for grabs scattered and divided between Russia Poland Hungary Romania... and Cargill, BlackRock etc).
The pain dial is about to be turned to 11...
Posted by: Nanker | Feb 8 2023 20:45 utc | 86
Colin | Feb 8 2023 20:08 utc | 75
lol. ruling class members fighting (or is it "fighting"?) with each other is "anti-establishment"?
no one is anti-establishment who is successful within the establishment. Unless a bigger stock market, a bigger defense budget, privatized education, etc., etc., more casinos everywhere, = anti-establishment.
where was that conversation about base 6 vs base 10 vs using an abacus vs counting on one's fingers vs using computers? always exciting to read the learned gibberish, the glossalalia, of those who don't know the different between something and nothing.
something, a position or person, being anti-establishment is being against the for profit war economy, i.e., being anti-capitalist. anything else is a big fat zero. trump loved the for profit prison industry, incl ICE. it would be a shame if President QAnon spent the rest of his life in the for profit prison because of his close ties w/the world's most famous pederast (accused, died in prison, but still).
Epstein's best friend's opinions on Pizzagate were lots of fun to hear. though i never bought that Trump read Mein Kampf, not unless it was the baby "pop up book" version of Mein Kampf. A is for Adolf, B is for Bolshevik, K is for Khazar, N & Z are for the good Jews, Netanyahoo and Zelensky. though i'm not sure, 26 pages of Aryan alphabetic adventure might have been beyond that Wharton grad's capacities.
Posted by: rjb1.5 | Feb 8 2023 20:50 utc | 87
Real wars are a really strange thing in these days
nobody dares to declare it .) think about that
Posted by: Macpott | Feb 8 2023 20:52 utc | 88
@bottle | Feb 8 2023 18:50 utc | 59
The Maginot line was designed to force any German attack to the West, to involve the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg bringing multiple mutual defense agreements which depended on who attacked first, as well as who was attacked into operation. It worked exactly as intended, resulting in a World War rather than a local disagreement.
Posted by: Hermit | Feb 8 2023 20:52 utc | 89
rjb1.5 | Feb 8 2023 20:50 utc | 87
but Trump was targeted by russiagate!!!
can't think of a worthier scapegoat through which the ruling class can manufacture war hysteria. too bad the Azazel wasn't banished. to the desert waste of not being a media personality. he is truly history's greatest martyr. just ask him. he'll tell you.
trump mouthing off about china and immigrants did nothing to alter US policy. but some busy bees are drawn to that honeycomb hideout, to sip deeply of sweet resentment. from a billionaire.
Posted by: rjb1.5 | Feb 8 2023 21:04 utc | 90
Remember when "Ukranazistan can't be given planes because it'll take too long to gain the pilots" etc? Anyone with half a brain knows that this "announcement" was made after said pilots have already been trained.
As to where they'll be based, for the nth time, it is absolutely certain that they'll be flying from Polandistani airports where they'll be serviced by NATOstani ground crew and, if Ukranazistan can't field enough pilots, they'll be flown by NATOstanis as well.
Next, Ukranazistan will be given tactical nukes. You think that's impossible? Hah.
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Feb 8 2023 21:04 utc | 91
Posted by: Roadblock | Feb 8 2023 20:30 utc | 83
Psssst.
The Donbass Popular Republics were never separatist.
Minsk 1 and 2 detailed the specifics for their peaceful reintegration into Ukraine.
It's the god-forsaken ukronazis and their lawless western masters who decided to piss on those agreements.
What do you get when you piss on a peace agreement and wipe your ass with the other?
Yeah.
So cut the bullshit.
Posted by: Arganthonios | Feb 8 2023 21:06 utc | 92
The UK has given Zelinsky Euro Typhoon fighters with long range Strom Shadow missiles which I think will reach Moscow.
I hope Russia uses thier most powerful nuke missiles on London and perhaps their nuclear hypersonic torpedo which will give a 500ft radioactive wave over the island.
Then nukes for Ottawa, Quebec City, Brussels, Paris, Antwerp, Berlin, all the California coastal cities, DC, NYC etc.
Posted by: jgalt | Feb 8 2023 21:12 utc | 93
Gilbert Doctorow:
Russia is allegedly changing its nuclear weapons use policy to a more aggressive one.
About time too.
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Feb 8 2023 21:13 utc | 94
@jgalt 93
Anyone who imagines that Ukranazi planes based in Polandistan and flown by NATOstanis won't be a problem for Russia is delusional.
See now why a crushing Russian victory will all available non NBC weapons last February would have been the right course of action?
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Feb 8 2023 21:16 utc | 95
7) Yesterday's drone attack on Moscow (again, Ukrainian-launched drone, NATO-plotted path through the eye of the needle in between AD coverage zones)
Let me ask again, what is this? Havent heard about it.
They start doing this, there is no going back. WW3.
Posted by: alek_a | Feb 8 2023 21:18 utc | 96
I had the misfortune to catch a glimpse of the MSM coverage of the piano-playing prick performing in the House of Charlatans and I couldn’t help it, I found myself looking to see if I could spot the puppet strings attached to all of them.
Utter circus to distract the plebs from the lack of bread (and eggs!).
Posted by: West of England Andy | Feb 8 2023 21:19 utc | 97
@3 HH | Feb 8 2023 15:05 utc | 3
just think of the damages which Germany and Russia could claim from Norway and the US. Not just the eceonmic damages, what about all the private persons in Germany who are now sitting around in cold flats, some older people who will probs die sooner etc.
Germany should refuse any cooperation with the US and Norway going forward, instead of buying their LNG and gas at inflated prices.
Posted by: xeen | Feb 8 2023 21:19 utc | 98
@6 Posted by: chunga | Feb 8 2023 15:14 utc | 6
Merkel was a stasi asset, so it was always easy to blackmail her.
Posted by: xeen | Feb 8 2023 21:21 utc | 99
In an interview with the Economist December 03 2022, AFU General Zaluzhny stated to help his forces push back the RF (Not win the War!), he needed:
300 Tanks, 600-700 Infantry Fighting Vehicles (~950 total AFVs) and 500 howitzers.
So, just for the lolz ... given accrued losses since Dec03'22 to Feb08'23 US/NATO would need to supply ~1769 AFVs & ~973 MBLRS/Artillery/Mortars.
Approximate breakdown is 569 MBTs & 1200 IFVs, as well as 200 MBLRS & 773 Artillery pieces/Mortars ...
~950 + 819(losses) = therefore ~1769 AFVs, and
500 + 103 + 370(473 losses) = therefore ~973 MBLRS/Artillery/Mortars.
Hm ... do not think so ...
(Dec03'22 to Feb08'23)
AFU losses for period in total:
46 Aircraft,
28 Helicopters,
437 UAVs,
12 AD Systems,
819 Tanks & other Armored Vehicles,
103 MBRLS,
370 Artillery & Mortars, and
841 special military vehicles.
(03.12.23)
📊 In total, since the beginning of the special military operation destroyed ((+?) over preceding 24hrs):
336 aircraft, (Daily avg 1.1)
178 helicopters, (Daily avg 0.6)
2,609 unmanned aerial vehicles, (Daily avg 8.8)
391 surface-to-air missile systems, (Daily avg 1.2)
6,970 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, (Daily avg 22.5)
908 multiple rocket launchers, (Daily avg 2.9)
3,652 field artillery and mortars, (Daily avg 11.6) and
7,450 special military vehicles. (Daily avg 24)
(08.02.23)
📊 In total, since the beginning of the special military operation destroyed ((+?) over preceding 24hrs):
382 aircraft, (Daily avg 1.1)
206 helicopters, (Daily avg 0.6)
3,046 unmanned aerial vehicles, (Daily avg 8.8)
403 surface-to-air missile systems, (Daily avg 1.2)
7,789 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, (Daily avg 22.5)
1,011 multiple rocket launchers, (Daily avg 2.9)
4,022 field artillery and mortars, (Daily avg 11.6) and
8,291 special military vehicles. (Daily avg 24)
@ Derek Henry
Why are you yet again OT troll spamming the thread ?
The comments to this entry are closed.
Hot off the press. Enjoy:
https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/how-america-took-out-the-nord-stream
Posted by: Et Tu | Feb 8 2023 14:49 utc | 1