> the “not agreement capable” US/UK
Given NATO’s dishonorable conduct, they’ll have to UNILATERALLY withdraw to their ’91 border or maybe even undergo regime change before Russia does anything more than “temporarily cease fire”.

Posted by: dfg | Feb 12 2023 5:05 utc | 203

@karlof1, §99:
Yes, I also agree with Andy: the West won´t have the choice.
Unfortunately, the fateful 1896 Jamieson Raid led to the West, led by England, subsequently America, opting for gold and diamonds instead of justice, truth and civilization. This developed through banks and corporations into, basically, a Mafiosi with a genteel facade. But it´s plato o plombo that is their “law”, as we´ve seen from Anglo-American history throughout the last century and continuing into this one.
The world is wising up but their vassals, Europe and Japan, have yet to do so. And, of course, England and America have little insight into themselves at all; England I would say has none: it´s gone almost psychotic. There´s some stirrings in America in the wake of the Twitter hearings and the Nordstream saga.
Yes, the West must undergo change but, once the Mafia are in charge, that´s unlikely to be peaceful. It´s going to be a real test of American institutions to see if they can survive the white water. England´s had it. The coronation of King Charles III would provide a chance for the English not to acclaim him. Acclamation is part of the coronation and, if contested (unprecedented), requires a trial by jury. That sounds as though it would be good theatre, but it´s a very, very long shot.
Thanks for your observations.

Posted by: John Marks | Feb 12 2023 5:13 utc | 205

@pretzelattack | Feb 11 2023 22:18 utc | 88

They wanted to get the Germans and Swedes and Norwegians etc on board. that’s the reason, pretend it was a mutual decision; they still claim NATO isn’t the US and a bunch of poodles.

Indeed, and in the process they managed to prove that NATO is nothing but the US and a bunch of poodles.

Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 12 2023 5:20 utc | 207

@Morena | Feb 11 2023 22:50 utc | 102
Shortly before US assets are proportionally struck.

Posted by: Hermit | Feb 12 2023 5:29 utc | 209

@Morena | Feb 11 2023 23:14 utc | 108
Fortunately for humans, Putin understands both proportionality and the fact that no humans will survive even a moderate thermonuclear exchange.
Do you really imagine that human extinction because some people are stupid makes any kind of sense?

Posted by: Hermit | Feb 12 2023 5:37 utc | 211

@Longhorn | Feb 12 2023 0:02 utc | 131

Have you ever considered that you are the target of a psyop or do you just swallow the BS whole?

Have you ever considered that fact finding and listening to what people on all sides are saying is important and is useful in itself? Or are you only interested in psyops and other forms of propaganda? I reserve the right to collect and independently evaluate information from any source.

Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 12 2023 5:53 utc | 213

This thread is a low point for MOA/Ukraine.

Posted by: Unemployed Pundit | Feb 12 2023 5:59 utc | 215

@Golddiggr | Feb 12 2023 0:57 utc | 150
FYI: Subsea piplines are not naked steel in sea water. Look it up.

Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 12 2023 6:00 utc | 217

Does anyone know why Russia went after Ukraine’s electric grid again? Was it in reaction to the Russian POWs being murdered? It seems Russia only does that when it is upset over something or has had some setbacks.
Posted by: MiniMo | Feb 12 2023 6:02 utc | 224
#####################
It has strategic relevance. The trains used to transport equipment for the Ukrainians are electric. Slowing down and funneling which lines can move equipment could have a host of benefits for the Allies.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 12 2023 6:04 utc | 219

@A.Pols, §166:
That´s because the Ukraine (= ´borderland´) only came into existence in 1917 at the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
That treaty knocked Russia out of WW1. As booty, the Germans (Prussians and Austrians) sliced off what is now called the Ukraine. In older maps that region carried the name Black Russia because of the very dark but rich soil. I don´t know the reason for the name White Russia (Belarus) – maybe the silver birch forests?

Posted by: John Marks | Feb 12 2023 6:10 utc | 221

Why didn’t it go after it many months ago? We are coming up to the 1-year anniversary of the SMO.
Posted by: MiniMo | Feb 12 2023 6:06 utc | 226
##########################
What is your rush? You sound like a Westerner, always lacking patience and not understanding that things have to run their course, that history can only be understood in retrospect …

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 12 2023 6:13 utc | 223

Yesterday I had written that Seymour Hersh’ article was a “limited hangout”, carefully erasing the Brits from the narrative. One of the MENSA geniuses that infest the MoA comment forum said it was “bullshit as usual.”
Today, in his latest article, Pepe Escobar writes

So, I assume Escobar, who also says what I did right here on MoA on Day One of the Hersh article, that it was a deliberate leak, in part to find a scapegoat (Bidet) but also
1. Germany would be too slavish to react and
2. It was a warning to the other EUvassals to fall into line
spouting “bullshit” too?

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Feb 12 2023 6:24 utc | 225

@Melaleuca | Feb 12 2023 3:06 utc | 188
I disagree. Explaining how things happened is very important in order to establish non-disputable objective facts. Objective truth cannot be established without factual data. Based on that you can investigate who had the means or not. The motive angle is also important, but in itself insufficient. You can establish hypotheses based on motives, but you have to test them against factual data. If you don’t, all you have is claims.
True for this case, true for 911 even more so.

Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 12 2023 6:33 utc | 227

Meanwhile, John Helmer says here:
http://johnhelmer.org/whats-wrong-with-the-hersh-report-on-the-nord-stream-attacks/
“Also, the two of them (ie Hersh and his putative source) are ignorant of the British government’s role in this history, and in the final destruction, which was revealed publicly by then-Prime Minister Elizabeth Truss to Secretary of State Antony Blinken sixty seconds after the detonation; and by the Russian government when it announced its knowledge of the British involvement.”
More “bullshit”, I assume, MoA MENSA candidates?

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Feb 12 2023 6:46 utc | 229

On observing the obvious in September 1945…that forecast USUK long-range planning…and the “major media” in 1945 hardly noticed:
Stalin’s et al in Soviet Union noticed.
Mao, Chou En Lai et al noticed.
As did the Japanese principals.
Namely, Japan’s murderous Emperor/King/dynasty agreed to be put on-leash by the “Western” power-brokers.
As his victims’ heirs bitterly noticed, Hirohito quietly escaped the gallows and was allowed to continue his reigning Dynasty, without which WW2 in Asia/Pacific and the Axis with Germany’s Hitler could not have happened. By 1945 there were already plans for Japan’s future that could, and did, include atomic/plutonium “capabilities”. [Plutonium is byproduct of uranium -fission reactors, though that was not widely known in 1945. Japan currently has 1.000s of tons of it as ” nuclear waste” and an unknown amount of recovered/refined plutonium.]
In 1945. the Japanese population was deliberately not freed form the mind-bending control of Emperor -worship.
The Dynasty of Hirohito is still Emperor…and worshipped.
It is a certainty that long-range plans in 1945 were forecast for Japan to assist bringing China and Soviet Union under “Western” domination.
Stalin and Mao and Chou En Lai et al saw it clearly and acted accordingly, as do their heirs.
And here we are. Another Turkish Missile Crisis, AKA Cuban Missile Crisis in the West…when USUK insanely put IRBMs right on the border of Russia.

Posted by: chu teh | Feb 12 2023 6:56 utc | 231

Posted by: Down South | Feb 12 2023 4:30 utc | 207
Thanks for update. The point where the “recruitment officer himself can be sent to the front in case of a failed quota” is especially revealing. Not to belittle the other points, as in people with health conditions being forced. These are the last gasps of the volksturm.

Posted by: unimperator | Feb 12 2023 6:58 utc | 233

As far as western weapon shipments go, I’d agree with the earlier mentioned Black Mountain Analysis article ( https://bmanalysis.substack.com/p/prospects-for-world-war-3-dedicated ). Ukrainian human resources drained so far means that anything the West delivers at this stage means little to no difference.

Posted by: unimperator | Feb 12 2023 7:02 utc | 235

@Tom Q Collins
Are you insulted by the insinuation that you have an IQ worthy of MENSA?
Sad!

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Feb 12 2023 7:04 utc | 237

⚡️ Armed Forces of Ukraine close Artyomovsk for journalists: the city repeats the fate of Soledar
In order to somehow stop the panic wave associated with the inevitable fall of the city, the Ukrainian command, as in Soledar before its surrender, closes the entrance to the media, mainly to the western one.
⛔️ Donetsk gauleiters said that from Monday, entry into the city will be carried out only with special passes issued by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
But there is an inner confidence that soon entry into the city will be carried out only with a single special pass – with a red crust, on which a double-headed eagle will flaunt.

https://t.me/Slavyangrad/33058

Posted by: Down South | Feb 12 2023 7:11 utc | 239

Posted by: JohnF | Feb 11 2023 18:53 utc | 26
Russia as an instrument of punishment on the Anglosphere and vassals? Like the Huns?
Nostradamus, contemporary Orthodox prophets/saints and even some traditional Islamic “end of times “ traditions, all state that the end of world will come via a resurrected Byzantium -like Eastern Christian power. Given Russia legally became the government -in -exile of Byzantium ( via Czars having Greek blood) , and has taken on the “leader of the Orthodox and /or family values mantle “, it appears Russia is looking more and more as a likely candidate for God’s Whip.

Posted by: Brother Ma | Feb 12 2023 7:14 utc | 241

@grunzt | Feb 11 2023 20:18 utc | 46
>> They (i.e. the Germans) do not know it yet
But then that is because they do not want to know. We probably both have the experience that one can explain stuff to MSM bots–but that it changes nothing. It’s nice to believe “in the end, the truth will prevail” but unfortunately, it seems things no longer work that way in our post-modern world. At a minimum, Europeans’ comfortable lives should be upset a bit for them to seek out a 2nd opinion, but even that hasn’t worked with the Ukrainians so far.
————————————
@neofeudalfuture | Feb 11 2023 21:59 utc | 82
>> The whole area should be fine powder by now
>> […]Thermobaric the whole towns
Hm. Is that what you wish on the Donbass civilians, who have often informed Russia about Ukie military positions at mortal risk to themselves? As it is, it will be hard enough to put Humpty Dumpty back together after the war is over.
But in a larger sense, I agree that Moscow is still doing this thing halfheartedly. The ongoing missile strikes seem to be some kind of “message”: See? We could shut down Ukraine’s power and logistics if we really wanted. But what point does that make the 10th time? Then it risks becoming just a sign of indecision. Similarly, as long as you leave the junta in power in Kiev and in control of the population, they’ll just mobilize more and more people. After all, Ukraine’s ethnic Russians are more expendable to Kiev than to Moscow.

Posted by: Ma Laoshi | Feb 12 2023 7:20 utc | 243

Looks like the Russians managed to destroy the Zatoka bridge south of Odessa.

Consequences of undermining the bridge in Zatoka.
https://t.me/c/1299018745/9316925

Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 12 2023 7:32 utc | 245

🇳🇴Jens Stoltenberg wants to leave the post of NATO Secretary General on September 30, 2023, when his term of office expires.
“He has no intention of seeking an extension of the mandate,” German news agency DPA quoted his representative Oana Lungescu as saying.
https://t.me/azmilitary11/37281

Then put him on trial.

Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 12 2023 7:40 utc | 247

In 1945. the Japanese population was deliberately not freed form the mind-bending control of Emperor -worship.
The Dynasty of Hirohito is still Emperor…and worshipped.
Posted by: chu teh | Feb 12 2023 6:56 utc | 237
I’ve been well-connected with the Japanese diaspora since 1994, and I’m Hungarian-American, whose history & mentality is very similar to the Japanese one. You could even call Hungary “a white version of Japan”, but Hungarians just more politically intelligent on average than Japanese.
I’ll say that Hirohito is not “worshipped”, he’s simply seen as an old man politician since the post-war years. A good 95%+ don’t think about him everyday, maybe only a fraction of senior citizens “worship” him,
but most I remember dying in the 1990s left and right (life expectancy was in the age 70s). While Japan is patriotic like Hungary is, they don’t think about WW2 everyday either.
My Japanese girlfriend’s family & other Japanese people I knew, only knew a small handful who were super-obsessed with Hirohito, but even then they were seen as weirdos when all the cool anime/cartoons & wrestling was out in the 1960s and 1970s. By the 1980s, of course you had the video games. Rikidozan was comparable to Dwayne Johnson & a known ethnic Korean by his later years (everyone still loved him), Chibi Maruko-Chan (Japan’s “Peanuts”) was anti-war, and some of Fuji Fujiko’s work had Chinese characters. This is basically Japan’s “Generation X”.
The war crimes (some don’t know how bad it was though like how some Hungarian’s don’t know everything) were blamed on Hideki Tojo and Iwane Matsui in the average Japanese’s mind, but still WW2 to the eyes of most Japanese made Hirohito look like a mortal man & flawed politician. On some occasions, I’ve heard some Japanese wonder “how much of a hand did he have with the bad stuff?” Most just simply call things like Nanking and Unit 371 that, “the bad stuff”, like how Hungarians think of Hungary when it was in the Axis Powers.
Japan’s relationship with Hirohito is very similar to the relationship Hungarians have with Miklos Horthy. Nobody thinks about Horthy much really, and if they do, the subject sometimes is self-asked “was he more of the good guy or the bad guy?” In my case, I think Horthy was an inept imbecile who secretly had racist views, and didn’t care if he played to the Nazi’s tune letting them do anything they wanted, before joining the Allies (dangerous political prostitute). I see Hirohito in the same way.
Personal experience. Most Japanese I knew back in the mid/late 1990s, even middle-age guys who were sons/grandsons of the WW2 era, cared more for Mitsuharu Misawa (Attitude Era wrestler) than Hirohito by that point.
Hirohito today is mainly seen as that “old guy’s name on my driver’s license” and “the name measuring years”, or that “old guy with that suit & gray hair”. Just a guy really where they don’t know why.
My girlfriend said once “how can you think about the future if you keep thinking about the past?” She noticed that’s a big problem with Balkan countries in particular, and her thoughts about Ukraine vs. Russia she noticed a similar pattern (obsession with WW2 on both sides), but like me, supports the Donbass people (LDNR).
She made a rather off-colour joke to me saying, “Serbia and Kosovo talk about WW2 so much, and who was in what seat at what time, no wonder they can’t make anime, cool cars, or video games”, lol.
I think you can see the mentality. Japanese and Hungarians don’t really think about the past or care on dwelling on it, or “worship” ancient politicians, but I admit Victor Orban is the exception 😉

Posted by: Al Balog | Feb 12 2023 7:58 utc | 249

# 255 Japanese anime, cartoon soft-porn. Thank you Japan.

Posted by: Dingo | Feb 12 2023 8:16 utc | 251

All the enthusiasm around HIMARS hides the fact that most other NATO weapons do not perform under battlefield conditions

It has been pointed out many times, but HIMARS isn’t actually all that as an MLRS.
The Russian Tornado-S is better in all parameters, and so is the Chinese PHL-03 (which is comparable to Tornado-S).
And then there are the Chinese 8x370mm PHL-16 and the Belarussian 8x300mm Polonez-M (as a side note, why has that not been adopted by the Russians remains a mystery) with range of nearly 300 km, which is what the HIMARS only gets in the single ATACMS TBM configuration.
HIMARS was effective in the summer because the Russians allowed it to be under the even more absurdly asymmetric back then rules of engagement and because they were totally asleep at the wheel at the time.

Is there any way NATO could win a war against Russia – and it’s allies?

Nuclear first strike, but there is no “win” in that case.
Other than that, if you go back to WWI and WWII and do a material analysis of the balance of actual forces, it was immediately obvious who would have won from the start. Germany and whoever it was allied with simply never had a chance — they were completely outmatched in terms of manpower and industrial capacity. And indeed, they were attrited and defeated both times. The only reason Germany lasted that long in WWII was that it took over most of Europe (and that most of Europe was in fact quite enthusiastically collaborative, but even that was nowhere enough).
Same thing now — the West is completely outmatched in manpower and industrial capacity by the combination of Russia + Belarus + China + Iran + North Korea (if we assume that these are the countries that would be forming an alliance to defend themselves against the West).
But that is true if the war is conventional. And that is the scary part…
P.S. Whole West vs. Russia alone is very much doable if Japan + South Korea + Taiwan are fully mobilized (while China sits on the sidelines). Then Russia is outmatched in terms of industrial capacity. It unfortunately isn’t the USSR anymore. Again, this is conventionally.

Posted by: shadowbanned | Feb 12 2023 8:18 utc | 253

Confirmation from russian side, Prigozhin with video, not that it was in much doubt.
Posted by: knighthawk | Feb 12 2023 8:17 utc | 258

That is great and all, but it just can’t continue at this rate.
It’s been a month since Soledar fell and all that has been accomplished since then is less than a dozen villages around Bakhmut and near Kupyansk.
One town of 10,000 in 8 months while losing a lot of territory…
Meanwhile the next iteration of the Ukrainian army is being prepared in the rear, and once again, despite the missiles strikes, that is not really being prevented.

Posted by: shadowbanned | Feb 12 2023 8:23 utc | 255

@ shadowbanned | Feb 12 2023 8:18 utc | 259
John Ellis goes into the literally devastating asymmetry of industrial power against the Axis and allies in his book _Brute Force_ (highly recommended).

Posted by: John Kennard | Feb 12 2023 8:44 utc | 257

Leaving the UK/MI6 out of it might’ve been at Hersh’s informant’s desire and even a condition of using his information.

Posted by: John Kennard | Feb 12 2023 8:50 utc | 259

Posted by: Konrad | Feb 12 2023 8:51 utc | 266
—————————————————–
interview:
https://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/annalena-baerbock-im-grossen-interview-wer-keine-fehler-macht-der-lebt-nicht-9326681.html
consequences:
https://www.anti-spiegel.ru/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Bild_2023-02-11_012227804.png

Posted by: Konrad | Feb 12 2023 8:58 utc | 261

but I foresee industrial shortages causing unprecedented inflation across Europe this Summer.
Posted by: too scents | Feb 12 2023 8:59 utc | 268
—
Edit adding: It is not as if the Central Banks can reduce the money supply to correspond to reduced production.

Posted by: too scents | Feb 12 2023 9:04 utc | 263

When Russia withdraws, they leave the city, for Ukrainians to walk in and plant their flags. When Ukraine leave, they hide in and shoot from every building in the city, forcing Russia to reduce everything to rubble.
Posted by: Marvin | Feb 12 2023 7:02 utc | 242
That is only because they’re stupid and don’t attack from the top -> down. They’re fighting at the low level of soldiers but this was from the first day a hostage situation. Killing the nato puppets, government, military leadership, all energy down in kiev, etc. is the only way and a great example for the rest of the puppets in other countries. Let nato come with their soldiers if they want. I bet they won’t. It’ll take years to get out of Donbass but there’s no war in Kiev. Smart, isn’t it? Keeping this retarded slow operation with 5 soldiers and a missile strike once a month only kills their own soldiers and civilians, leaves all regions with thousands of mines that will take decades to find, a destroyed infrastructure and more attacks on Donbass, Belgorod, Kursk or Crimea for the next 10+ years. The option is simple, turn Kiev/Lvov in a war zone and buffer for as long as you like it (and mine it with twice the mines nato used) or keep Donbass and Crimea a war zone for as long as nato likes it.

Posted by: rk | Feb 12 2023 9:16 utc | 265

@shadowbanned | Feb 11 2023 23:44 utc | 121
Legitimate points, even if not everybody agrees with them. It’s certainly relevant that this is how the US sees it playing out. American officials are openly bragging that they’ve been successful “slow-boiling the frog”, i.e., that they are hitting Russia in ways they hadn’t dreamed of at the start of the SMO, since it turns out that Russia doesn’t retaliate against them. Russia still has a problem in how it communicates. It does no good to warn of “serious consequences” for the tenth time, when there is no intention to follow through; better then to stay silent.
I’m by no means clamoring for the ultimate escalation. But if NATO officers still run unmolested operations rooms in Kramatorsk, Odessa, Lvov or wherever they are these days, they must be feeling that this escalation/provocation game is going their way.
———————————————
@karlof1 | Feb 11 2023 23:50 utc | 125
>> RT reports Vucic is losing his resolve regarding obeying the
>> illegal sanctions on Russia.
It’s not always about what you want. Serbia is completely surrounded by NATOstan; do they have any real choice? I’m reminded of how Varoufakis complained that the Eurocrats just couldn’t be argued with. Tell them anything you want, and they’d just sit there stone-faced “Very well, but at the end of the day we have power and you don’t.”
———————————————
@Julian | Feb 12 2023 2:43 utc | 184
>>Your logic is incomprehensible.
>>How is someone who tells you accurately what is going to happen
>>a so-called “troll”?!?
I probably should be more specific. The comment about RuAF getting stalled in South Zaporizhiya was made by a certain “Berndt” IIRC. He then got called a troll for it, as happens far too quickly at this bar when someone goes against the grain. But it’s now been weeks since we last heard about progress around Orekhov etc.

Posted by: Ma Laoshi | Feb 12 2023 9:22 utc | 267

Re: Posted by: CharlesLutherThanos | Feb 11 2023 23:46 utc | 122

tl;dr Poland’s military is obliterated in five days by Russian forces.
Most importantly is this fact:
The fulfilment of a new modernization program for the Polish Army was modeled into the wargame. It means that the new F-35 jet fighters, HIMARS artillery system, long-range A2/AD batteries equipped with Patriot system, modernized Leopard 2A4 brigade, and new Badger IFVs, were at the disposal of the defending side.
Wargame Study Shows Polish Armed Forces Obliterated in Just 5 Days
https://www.overtdefense.com/2021/03/31/wargame-study-shows-polish-armed-forces-obliterated-just-5-days/
– RSH

This may be interesting but it is clearly FALSE
Why would the Ukrainian Armed Forces by SO MUCH STRONGER than the Polish Armed Forces?
They aren’t.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces were nowhere near obliterated in 5 Days or even 5 Months – or even today – a year after this conflict started.
Haven’t you ever heard of the strategy to talk up your opponent’s military strength and prowess to secure more funding for your own?
If you haven’t, you have little understanding how the MIC works.
The more money there is sloshing around, the more money is likely to end up in your pocket if you’re connected into the whole process and come up with excellent reasons (such as national self-defence) to increase the funding!

Posted by: Julian | Feb 12 2023 9:28 utc | 269

Posted by: Marvin | Feb 12 2023 7:02 utc | 242
“For the latter, bombing cities to rubble makes a lot of military sense if cities with their schools, kindergartens and hospitals is where the enemy is setting up artillery, sniper nests and barracks.”
Yes, you want to hit wherever the enemy is, but that is different than indiscriminately bombing a city to rubble. Russia is hitting wherever they find the enemy. You can see some wear and tear on a town after Russia takes it.

Posted by: Haassaan | Feb 12 2023 9:32 utc | 271

Posted by: Al Balog | Feb 12 2023 7:58 utc | 255
Wonder which plant you live on, coming up with mixture of hallucination and illumination! Hungarian are one the parasite that arrived and change their mix by raping and taking lot of slav women, to find who really the Majars are, you may take a trip to Tyuman Olblast in Russia and meet your cousins, the Khanty Tatars, Hungary is mixture of few thing despite the language it has very Turkic mix, the name Hungary is from German Uganrish , when they first came into contact with the marauding hordes which called themselves ON OG LARI, ten arrows, there is sheep dog know as Komondor, Kumans are Turkic people, Jasz people are Iranian and the language has lot of input old Persian( the version, still in use by the Ossets, who call themselves Ironi) , Hungary is mixture of Majars Avars, Khazars , Turks, and Gypsies and God knows what, on the other hand Japan is a Homogeneous country with and uninterrupted imperial dynasty, an industrial super power, a disciplined society with taste for tradition, Hungary is just a junk yard in comparison, with exceptionally rude and lousy people, always screaming and shouting at one another, given the atrocity that Hungarian Army had committed in Russia, Stalin should have deported you people to Tuyman Oblast, like the Crimean Tatars! Hirohito’s actual name is Yamato Hirohito!

Posted by: Grishka | Feb 12 2023 9:38 utc | 273

natokraine | Feb 12 2023 9:23 utc | 274
“Give the western publics more time to understand the futility and push back on their rulers…”
If anyone’s waiting for that extreme unlikelihood, Russia might as well surrender now.

Posted by: Flying Dutchman | Feb 12 2023 9:53 utc | 275

@ Julian | Feb 12 2023 9:28 utc | 275
There is the little matter of the RF only allotting a very limited force to Ukraine.

Posted by: John Kennard | Feb 12 2023 10:23 utc | 277

The Ukrainian Armed Forces were nowhere near obliterated in 5 Days
Posted by: Julian | Feb 12 2023 9:28 utc | 275
It was more like 3 days. Then the “west” poured like 200 billions in an year to keep up.

Posted by: Vikichka | Feb 12 2023 10:29 utc | 279

# 282. Nice style. Straight to the point, clean. Easy to understand stating grievances disagreements on a higher thought level. No matter the content, it had a tight construction. Are you an AI bot?

Posted by: Dingo | Feb 12 2023 10:36 utc | 281

That is only because they’re stupid and don’t attack from the top -> down. They’re fighting at the low level of soldiers but this was from the first day a hostage situation. Killing the nato puppets, government, military leadership, all energy down in kiev, etc. is the only way and a great example for the rest of the puppets in other countries. Let nato come with their soldiers if they want. I bet they won’t. It’ll take years to get out of Donbass but there’s no war in Kiev. Smart, isn’t it? Keeping this retarded slow operation with 5 soldiers and a missile strike once a month only kills their own soldiers and civilians, leaves all regions with thousands of mines that will take decades to find, a destroyed infrastructure and more attacks on Donbass, Belgorod, Kursk or Crimea for the next 10+ years. The option is simple, turn Kiev/Lvov in a war zone and buffer for as long as you like it (and mine it with twice the mines nato used) or keep Donbass and Crimea a war zone for as long as nato likes it.
Posted by: rk | Feb 12 2023 9:16 utc | 271

Even the slow operation isn’t being done properly.
Why not at least start taking villages along the front line in Chernigov, Sumy and Kharkov, even if it is the same slow grind? There aren’t a lot of defenses there, it will have to be taken sooner or later anyway, and the line of contact has to be moved as far away from the border as possible to stop the constant shelling of Russian **pre-war** territory, so why not start doing it and force the Ukrainians to weaken their defense lines in the Donbass and Zaporozhye by diverting soldiers to the other three regions?
No war in history has been fought in a more self-defeating way than this one…

Posted by: shadowbanned | Feb 12 2023 10:45 utc | 283

Posted by: shadowbanned | Feb 12 2023 10:53 utc | 290
“In that scenario there would have been no”…
Total fucking bullshit.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Feb 12 2023 10:55 utc | 285

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 12 2023 6:52 utc | 236
“Now you’re just being a prick.”
He always was. Even compared to me.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Feb 12 2023 11:00 utc | 287

Paul McGrory | Feb 12 2023 10:25 utc | 284
So many’s hours later, checking in on the thread. And again you are making excellent points……
Allowances for style aside, as many as two dozen barflies could have written the Hersh piece. In fact b pretty much did the week it happened.
In fact, Hersh would have done well to have gainfully loitered here to refine a few points.
Most, if not all, of the points in his piece have been in the public domain within hours and up to a week from the starter’s gun of the explosion.
So why was it written
Why now
Why Hersh.
As you suggest, some faction wants Biden gone and the war in Ukraine given the good ole Afghanistan/Vietnam style retreat.
Hersh was used because he is Hersh. Only someone with his gravitas could write this and have the impact within the U$ power centres necessary to change course.
IMVHO more than one faction wants Joe gone. 2024 is already looming. Biden needs to be destroyed now so that the next candidate can get clean air and an unencumbered run for 24.
The UK involvement was not included by Hersh because the target is Joe + (Nuland and the rest). The US intel node that dropped this little hit piece didn’t want their conjoined twin, the UK, to be collateral damage.
We are the secondary audience for the piece.
The primary target will know what’s been included, and why; and what’s been excluded, and why.

Posted by: Melaleuca | Feb 12 2023 11:14 utc | 289

Inserito da: shadowbanned | 12 febbraio 2023 10:53 utc | 290
“In quello scenario non ci sarebbe stato”…
Totale stronzata del cazzo.
Inserito da: Richard Steven Hack | 12 febbraio 2023 10:55 utc | 291
it will be as you claim, but the impression is that the Russian government is dominated by a fifth column who conspicuously slow down the army to preserve their personal interests with the West

Posted by: A.cagliostro | Feb 12 2023 11:22 utc | 291

@ Melaleuca | Feb 12 2023 11:14 utc | 295
—
Given that the principle actors in the Hersh story are the thoroughly repugnant Nuland, Sullivan and Blinken do not underestimate simple human factors could have motivated the leaker. Factors like personal hatred.

Posted by: too scents | Feb 12 2023 11:30 utc | 293

Does anyone know what “happened” to the clarification of the 2015 find?
https://www.pipeline-journal.net/news/explosive-laden-drone-found-near-nord-stream-pipeline
Posted by: 600w | Feb 11 2023 19:33 utc | 32
Reuters (Oktober 2022) had some news that Gazprom said that it was a NATO mine destroyer placed there,
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/gazprom-nato-mine-destroyer-was-found-nord-stream-1-2015-2022-10-10/
… “lost” according NATO in days gone by.
BTW, a 15 sec google search would have yielded these answers 😉

Posted by: CM of Berlin | Feb 12 2023 11:34 utc | 295

Start low go slow, its the way to treat elderly patients.
Why the Russian chose this winning strategy for not winning the war in Ukraine will be the main theme of books in the future.
Of course I understand that Putin made his own Stalin speech about partying in the streets.
Operation Uran may be days away. We’ll see.

Posted by: Greg Galloway | Feb 12 2023 11:47 utc | 297

Gonzalo Lira speculated recently in his piece about “coming race riots in USA” that the neoliberal clique wants to weaken Joe Biden enough to still throw him out of office this year, and replace with Kamala Harris. They would in this way have a shot of winning the next presidential election.

Harris lost voters as the Democratic primaries went on. She would get a boost as a candidate who was the president, but I still see her as a weaker candidate than Biden. For all his flubs reading a teleprompter and lack of energy in campaigning, when it came time to debate Trump and Sanders one on one – he passed. And I think he would still pass.

Posted by: Simon | Feb 12 2023 12:16 utc | 299