Joe Biden arrives in Ukraine
rt.com/russia/571765-biden-arrives-ukraine-trip/

Posted by: GoverntheMente | Feb 20 2023 16:03 utc | 3

Krasnopol guided shell destroys AN/TPQ radar.
https://twitter.com/LogKa11/status/1627450470682746882

Posted by: unimperator | Feb 20 2023 16:18 utc | 5

great overview, especially the chapter on war crimes and propaganda: https://swprs.org/the-ukraine-war-in-2023/

Posted by: reader | Feb 20 2023 16:44 utc | 7

“Russian air force dropped bombs on Ukrainian positions in the Avdeevka industrial area
These were not some small FABs judging by the explosions. They likely were also guided bombs, which means a higher overflight, which again is an indication of degraded Ukrainian air defence”
https://twitter.com/RadarFennec/status/1627468721701650432?cxt=HHwWgICwgcCL95UtAAAA
Big if true.

Posted by: catdog | Feb 20 2023 17:10 utc | 9

@catdog / 9
Probably FAB-500 or the guided equivalent KAB-500.

Posted by: Verdant | Feb 20 2023 17:17 utc | 11

4 Corners, a long-running ABC.net.au/4corners investigative journalism program of mixed quality, broadcast a BBC ‘imbedded’ program last night, Feb 20. It followed a Ukie commander of his own gang of civilian troops looking for Russian targets.
It’s called The People’s Fight – The Battle For Kherson and covers a time scale from August to November 11 when Kherson was liberated. It runs for 45 minutes.
What made it interesting for me was the amateurish nature of the volunteers. I’m not convinced that they were capable of distinguishing Friend from Foe. It made me wonder how many Ukie casualties are the result of Friendly Fire.
4 Corners can be Googled.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Feb 20 2023 17:28 utc | 13

Haven’t seen @Outraged post the daily ‘clobber list analysis for a couple of days.
As a partial substitution here’s today’s statement from the Russian Defence Ministry: https://eng.mil.ru/en/special_operation/news/more.htm?id=12455230@egNews

Russian Defence Ministry report on the progress of the special military operation
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation.
In Kupyansk direction, the artillery operations and active action of the ‘Zapad’ Group of Forces have resulted in the neutralisation of the enemy manpower and hardware near Novosyolovskoye (Lugansk People’s Republic), Masyutovka, and Krakhmalnoye (Kharkov region).
Up to 50 Ukrainian personnel, one tank, and three motor vehicles have been eliminated.
In Krasny Liman direction, the aviation attacks, as well as firepower operations, conducted by the artillery and heavy flamethrower systems of the ‘Tsentr’ Group of Forces, have resulted in the elimination of up to 100 Ukrainian personnel, two armoured fighting vehicles, two D-30 howitzers, and one U.S.-manufactured AN/TPQ-37 counterbattery warfare radar near Yampolovka (Donetsk People’s Republic), Stelmakhovka, and Chervonaya Dibrova (Lugansk People’s Republic).
In Donetsk direction, the successful offensive operations, conducted by volunteers from assault detachments in cooperation with Airborne Troops’ units, supported by firepower of the Missile Troops and Artillery of the ‘Yug’ Group of Forces, have resulted in the entire liberation of Paraskoviyevka (Donetsk People’s Republic).
The enemy has lost over 115 personnel, one infantry fighting vehicle, three armoured fighting vehicles, two motor vehicles, two Grad multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS), one D-30 howitzer, one Rapira anti-tank gun, as well as one U.S.-manufactured AN/TPQ-36 counterbattery warfare radar.
In South Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions, Operational-Tactical Aviation and the artillery of the ‘Vostok’ Group of Forces have launched a complex fire attack against the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) near Ugledar, Dobrovolye (Donetsk People’s Republic), Gulyaypole, and Yurkovka (Zaporozhye region).
The enemy has lost up to 60 personnel, one tank, two armoured fighting vehicles, one D-20 howitzer, and two D-30 howitzers in the abovementioned directions.
Three AFU ordnance depots have been destroyed near Malinovka (Zaporozhye region), Ugledar, and Vodyanoye (Donetsk People’s Republic).
In Kherson direction, the firepower operations have resulted in the destruction of one Akatsiya self-propelled howitzer, one Giatsint towed howitzer, one Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer, and three D-30 howitzers.
One AFU ordnance depot has been neutralised near Kherson.
Army Aviation, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have neutralised 98 AFU artillery units at their firing positions, as well as manpower and hardware in 124 areas.
Fighter Aviation of Russian Aerospace Forces have shot down one Su-27 airplane of Ukrainian Air Force near Izyum (Kharkov region).
Air defence facilities have intercepted one rocket-propelled projectile, launched by HIMARS MLRS, and have destroyed 15 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles near Vladimirovka, Kolomyichikha, Zmiyevka, Rubezhnoye, Ploshchanka, Krasnorechenskoye, Kremennaya (Lugansk People’s Republic), Yegorovka, Novoandreyevka, Volnovakha, Yelenovka (Donetsk People’s Republic), and Lesnoye (Zaporozhye region).
In total, 386 airplanes, 210 helicopters, 3,193 unmanned aerial vehicles, 405 air defence missile systems, 7,945 tanks and other armoured combat vehicles, 1,031 fighting vehicles equipped with MLRS, 4,157 field artillery guns and mortars, as well as 8,465 units of special military vehicles have been destroyed during the special military operation.

I see mention of 325 Ukrainian personnel casualties across various locations. 14 howitzers/rocket launchers, 1 tank, 1 Su-27 among other losses. 4 ammunition depots taken out as well.
My overall impression is there is not much of a slackening off in tempo at the front line.

Posted by: West of England Andy | Feb 20 2023 17:42 utc | 15

Here’s Military Chronicle’s brief take on the ‘leader of the free world’ visiting Kiev (via Firefox Translate add-on):

Biden came by train to Kiev, because the Ukrainian air defense could have shot him down. . The old man was led around Khreshchatyk. The military commissars of the Armed Forces of Ukraine tried to hand him a summons, but the nimble old man ran away.
AP reports that shortly before Biden’s visit, there was “communication with the Russians to ensure deconfliction.”

https://voenhronika.ru/publ/vojna_na_ukraine/20_02_2023_poslednie_novosti_s_ukrainy_zhestkie_zaruby_pod_bakhmutom_video_bajden_v_kieve_karta_boevykh_dejstvij_19_video/60-1-0-13663

Posted by: West of England Andy | Feb 20 2023 17:59 utc | 17

I hope nobody is getting their hopes up for Putin’s big speech to mark the start of anything exciting. The slow, boring grind will continue until the country formerly known as The Ukraine has no weapons left to hold the line.

Posted by: catdog | Feb 20 2023 18:05 utc | 19

I awoke to find that President Biden had visited Zelenski in Kiev. Where the Hell is an Iskander missile when we really needed one?

Posted by: Elmer Fudd | Feb 20 2023 18:10 utc | 21

@Elmer Fudd | Feb 20 2023 18:10 utc | 22
That is what Nuland would want by now, but not you and me.

Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 20 2023 18:15 utc | 23

@Orgel
Both are just tools in the greater plan, one with more agency for more difficult work, others with no agency or talent for their supposed work. Others run different parts of the show, anyway this principle you might even get from something like “Sun Tzu for Dummies”.

Posted by: MM | Feb 20 2023 18:23 utc | 25

Posted by: West of England Andy | Feb 20 2023 17:42 utc | 16
You do understand that those “clobber lists” are entirely useless if not complemented by losses suffered and the flow of enemy resupplies?
The same stuff droned on during the Vietnam war. German weapons manufacturing was at maximum in 1944 amid sustained bombing campaigns by the allies.

Posted by: bottle | Feb 20 2023 18:29 utc | 27

The Russian conduct of the war is incomprehensible.

Posted by: bottle | Feb 20 2023 18:04 utc | 19
Depends on what you believe Russia’s goals are. If we keep in mind the publicly-stated twin aims of demilitarisation and deNazification then their approach makes much more sense.
My own theory is that Russia does not (yet) seek to provoke a wholesale collapse of the Ukrainian military, as this will make the twin aims unachievable. Just imagine, for a moment, the utterly chaotic situation of mass surrenders and mass abandoning of posts; Russia would then be faced with thousands of troops, untold amounts of small- and medium-sized arms and, most importantly of all, thousands of Nazis and their acolytes all melting away into the countryside.
We then have the classic set-up for guerilla warfare, with the West, especially the Mighty Wurlitzer, cheering on the “plucky resistance fighters standing up to the big, bad, Bear”. I believe Russia factored this possible outcome into their planning and operation, hence the current approach.
This is the first time I’ve put this theory ‘out there’ so fully expect to be yelled at.

Posted by: West of England Andy | Feb 20 2023 18:31 utc | 29

Posted by: bottle | Feb 20 2023 18:04 utc | 19
… If that’s the case every modern military sits on a pile of useless junk to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars.
Bingo.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Feb 20 2023 18:43 utc | 31

Germany is finished. Minister of foreign affairs Baerbock, when visiting a bunker in Finland, took a delight in some lines drawn on the floors and spontaneously fell into a game of hopscotch.
Given the context this calls for immediate replacement and a psychiatric examination. However the chancellor cannot bring himself to do this (or much of anything else) and the contemptible FDP party remains in the coalition.
The media continue to inflate Baerbock (“the most admired German politician”) and the hapless minister of the economy Habeck (“the second most admired German politician”). These findings are based on unspecified polls. They do this without irony or any appreciation how insulting this is to the German population.
Some time ago a report by the RAND corporation was published entitled “Weaking Germany” (or similar) pointing to the usefulness of cutting off Germany from Russian gas supplies as this was sure to degrade the economic prospects of the country to a degree to which many enterprising and intelligent Germans will find it necessary to emigrate – the only reasonable destination being the United States of America.
Funnily the report also stated the current German government made such a plan especially feasible particularly because of the Green politicians “whose personal characteristics” made it impossible for them to take appropriate action in a timely manner.
The report was dismissed as a “conspiracy theory”. maybe so, but every word in it is true and I can only warmly recommend to every intelligent and enterprising German to take the advice.
Intelligence is still valued in the US.
Germany is becoming the laughing stock of the entire world.

Posted by: bottle | Feb 20 2023 18:53 utc | 33

Posted by: Eighthman | Feb 20 2023 18:41 utc | 31
Well, regarding “guerrilla” war, the longer the “front war” goes on, and especially the longer front doesn’t move, the less potential there is for “guerrilla” war. There will be a longer time to root out Nato terrorists on the territory already held, and on the other hand, the would-be trained guerrilla fighters will with higher chance end up in the front as trench placeholders.
Will there be terrorist attacks, yes there will, but less compared to situation if more territory would be overrun in a shorter amount of time.

Posted by: unimperator | Feb 20 2023 19:00 utc | 35

On his New Atlas site, Brian Berletic presented the longest episode I have seen to date. Primarily, he pointed at the NeoCons and their Project for a New American Century (PNAC). Most posters here will be well acquainted with those basics. So where did this group of mostly Khazarian Talmudist Imperialists, get the kind of agency which created an American foreign policy of something like seven countries in seven years?
In other words, we must ask ourselves what engine drives this train of proposed events, several of which…Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya eventuated in invasions and destruction by U$$A military forces. The central questions are WHY and to whose advantage…Cui Bono.
Perhaps in order to protect his ability to post his messages, Berletic never draws out the logical conclusions. So I’ll post the probable scenario. Informed individuals well understand that the “Federal” Reserve Bank has been since its 1913 inception, a wholly owned, private control matrix over the U.S. government, economy and mass media. Those who call the shots are not many in number, but as dominant interests in institutions worth literally many trillions of dollars.
Therefore, we must look to the Rottenchild Bank and the Bank of England, one dominating the other and both located in City of London. As fellow Talmudist operatives, the Neocons are totally in accord with their Tribalist brothers, subcutaneously issuing orders from their international stronghold.
It’s all quite obvious if you think about it. There IS an agenda and the U$$A regime has no agency. Those administrative bureaucrats simply follow orders. Top down control matrix.

Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 20 2023 19:03 utc | 37

still wondering what objectives of the SMO are , de-nazification demilitarisation you will say, so far so good, even with the newly mobilized troops russia still not have ressources to achieve this goals imo.
maybe after breaking through the 4th or 5th defense line, russian troops will make it to the Dnepr but then whats next ?
ukrainian troops will retreat behind the Dnepr which is easier to defend,US/NATO will keep pouring weapons into west ukraine and russia has still the same problems as before the start of the SMO, on top what about Kharkov , Odessa ?
@31 of course Ukraine is prepared for a guerilla warfare the strategy is called Resistance Operating Concept, long time implemented and planned by the US.

Posted by: disorder | Feb 20 2023 19:15 utc | 39

Reply to : bottle | Feb 20 2023 18:04 utc | 19

The Russian conduct of the war is incomprehensible. They engage the enemy in every strong point head on turning village after village and town after town to heaps of rubble by fighting house to house in an area they intend to integrate into Russia.

We’re watching an evolution in warfare as great as that of WWII. It’s only incomprehensible if your thinking is stuck in the past. Your second point here is a valid observation, but perhaps you need to step back and look at the larger view.

It is completely impossible to erect a defensive line along the entire width of the Ukraine. Therefore the Ukrainian defenses must have weak points which is where you punch through with tanks supported by infantry in a pincer movement and cut off the enemy in cauldrons. If the Russian armor cannot accomplish this it’s useless since this is the primary purpose of armored columns.

Again, this is a different way of war, changing before our eyes. Just as WWII was a tank war on land and a carrier war at sea, radically different than military planning of the 30s, this is a radically different war than almost everyone envisioned 5 years ago, and radically different than most people can grasp even as it plays out right in front of us.

This is how the Russians won against the Germans in WWII. Some commentators (elsewhere) have made the case that this is no longer possible due to weapons developments. If that’s the case every modern military sits on a pile of useless junk to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars.
Posted by: bottle | Feb 20 2023 18:04 utc | 19

Different strategic goals, different world circumstances. Tanks can’t be fully armored everywhere .. they all have weak points .. in Russia’s case, their weak point is apparently from above … a critical weakness in a war of precision attacks from above … so they must either eliminate the US/NATO eyes in the sky or eliminate the Ukrainian capacity for precision strikes from above.
Right or wrong, Russia has chosen NOT to escalate the conflict by expanding the conflict beyond Ukraine’s borders, thus limiting the use of those armored columns. There is probably another reason, as well … ask why most of Russia’s military capability is apparently sitting quietly in reserve, while the mercenaries and militias do most of the blood and guts fighting.
Their strategy, thus far, seems effective, even if it doesn’t meet action movie expectations of massive armies on the move, conquering large swaths of territory, with amazing pyrotechnics and war porn for your entertainment.

Posted by: The Owl | Feb 20 2023 19:25 utc | 41

@ grunzt | Feb 20 2023 18:31 utc | 29
who can replace olaf scholz??

Posted by: james | Feb 20 2023 19:34 utc | 43

reply to 43
There are a number of ‘experts’ who bristle at the thought of the US losing reserve status, as if it’s simply unthinkable. I question that.
I think the yuan could emerge as a reserve currency in regard to currency swaps. A nation sells them minerals and gets yuan in return. It sits in an account until that nation decides to spend it on Chinese goods. The advantage is that China produces so many manufactured goods that the yuan is easily spent on things actually needed. Perhaps this does not include holding Chinese bonds ( by analogy with the US) but it still involves a currency held in reserve.
I also wonder what might happen if the dollar gets pushed well below 50% in global trade or as a reserve. At that point, I would think nations would have lots of leverage over the US because they can freely choose dollars or not, with little inconvenience to themselves. So, the dollar wouldn’t have to be eliminated as in reserves, just forced into competition ‘to behave’.

Posted by: Eighthman | Feb 20 2023 19:56 utc | 45

Germany is finished. Minister of foreign affairs Baerbock, when visiting a bunker in Finland, took a delight in some lines drawn on the floors and spontaneously fell into a game of hopscotch.
Posted by: bottle | Feb 20 2023 18:53 utc | 34
Unbelievable…. her dumbness is absolutely mindboggling.
I had seen an article about her visit to a Finnish bunker and I wondered about the picture, on which she seemed to jump.
But I soon dismissed the strange picture as unimportant.
I hadn’t heard that she played hopscotch in the bunker, until now!
What makes it doubly tasteless to do that in a bunker, is the German name of that game: Himmel und Hölle, or in English: Heaven and Hell.

Posted by: Helmuth von Moltke | Feb 20 2023 20:00 utc | 47

Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 20 2023 19:03 utc | 38
The history of Jewish bankers influencing Western politics goes back at least to Elizabethan England, Robert Cecil and the Jews of Amsterdam.
The Khazarian control of Western banking and Khazarian control of US foreign policy are both well established facts. Although I am convinced the link exists, it is establishing the link between them that seems to be elusive.
The most recent evidence of such a link of which I am aware is through the Warburgs, Max and Paul, both bankers and both of whom had significant influence on the the Treaty of Versailles, Max from the German side and Paul from the American.

Posted by: Ciaran | Feb 20 2023 20:07 utc | 49

Helmuth @ 48. Actually that kind of behavior is considered cool by younger voters. The Finnish prime minister is something of a party girl herself.

Posted by: dh | Feb 20 2023 20:15 utc | 51

An apparantly official chinese report about “U.S. Hegemony and Its Perils” was published today, with these promising headlines:
I. Political Hegemony – Throwing Its Weight Around
II. Military Hegemony – Wanton Use of Force
III. Economic Hegemony – Looting and Exploitation
IV. Technological Hegemony – Monopoly and Suppression
V. Cultural Hegemony – Spreading False Narratives
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2023-02-20/U-S-Hegemony-and-Its-Perils-1hzPTDFI8KI/index.html

According to the book America Invades: How We’ve Invaded or been Militarily Involved with almost Every Country on Earth, the United States has fought or been militarily involved with almost all the 190-odd countries recognized by the United Nations with only three exceptions. The three countries were “spared” because the United States did not find them on the map.

And so on, and so on. Plain text, throughout!

Posted by: Udkanten | Feb 20 2023 20:18 utc | 53

@49:grunzt
Scholz is doing a pretty good job.
Breaking all the time without appearing to act from forcefull opposition.
Baerbock and Habeck he is saddled with.
Having that lady oaff as Defence minister was another gambit at dragging feet.
Pistorius is a lot more competent but afaics in character with Scholz.
Imagine the pressure applied from all sides ( press, opposition, .. )
they have to work with.
Back in Vietnam war times pressure from the US to “militarily help” was morphed into sending that hospital ship Helgoland to Vietnames coast.

Posted by: MAKK | Feb 20 2023 20:22 utc | 55

If the point of the SMO was to kill tens of thousands of Russians & Ukrainians while producing no visible military gains all at great economic and political cost, then it has been nothing but a smashing success!!!
Posted by: Noam A. Larkey | Feb 20 2023 19:19 utc | 41
—————————————
Noam, you should put your ideas into print and get them to Putin and the MoA ASAP. I am sure they sing your praise throughout Russia if you could just show them the way. I wonder what you recommend: WW3 and full nuclear Armageddon? Whatever, it must be something really brilliant since no one in Russia has thought of it.
Truly Noam, you must be the next Sun Tzu or Carl Von Clausewitz.

Posted by: Ed | Feb 20 2023 20:30 utc | 57

(reply to #47)
Exactly, Andy. But to the armchair quarterbacks here, if you didn’t quickly burn the entire house to the ground, you would have no visible results.

Posted by: JT | Feb 20 2023 20:58 utc | 59

time to update the Slogan “Slava Ukraini!” to a newer, more modern and anglisized version, for modern audiences, to represent the world we live in today, which also mentions the role of NATO?
Posted by: MM | Feb 20 2023 18:13 utc | 23
ICYMI, Advantage Ukraine, 6 Sep 2022
• Bloomberg | President H.E. Volodymyr Zelenskyy rings bell at NYSE to signify Ukraine is open for business
• Ukraine PFTS Index, 1Y-10Y trend (404)
• NYSE listed non-US issuers (404)
• List of Ukraine ADRs Trading on Major US Stock Exchanges & the Over-the-Counter (OTC) Exchange (404)
• Largest Ukrainian (PFTS) Stocks by Market Cap (404)
• NYSE listed non-US issuers (404)

Posted by: sln2002 | Feb 20 2023 21:01 utc | 61

@ Hoarsewhisperer | Feb 20 2023 17:28 utc | 14
Reminds me, I have just recently watched Fadeev and Belous’ documentary Ghosts, about the Lugansk front prior to the Biden “up-tick,” several times, and like others recommend it highly.
Absorbing, inspiring, and sad.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JOhu_3Bipog

Posted by: John Kennard | Feb 20 2023 21:05 utc | 63

Therefore, we must look to the Rottenchild Bank and the Bank of England, one dominating the other and both located in City of London. As fellow Talmudist operatives, the Neocons are totally in accord with their Tribalist brothers, subcutaneously issuing orders from their international stronghold.
Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 20 2023 19:03 utc | 38

Perhaps you can strengthen your case by identifying the Talmudists among this motley crew for us, since I can’t spot one. Nor any affiliations with the the Rothschild Bank, who are not in the 100 largest in the world, nor among the top 15 in the UK.
https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/about/people/governors
https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/about/people/court-of-directors

Posted by: Opport Knocks | Feb 20 2023 21:07 utc | 65

@Eighthman | 46
Loosing reserve status would ultimately be a blessing for most Americans. Neither China nor Russia wish to suffer the consequences of becoming the Reserve Currency.
The privilege reserve status gives us is the ability to borrow almost unlimited amounts at relatively low cost. The price of that privilege is that we have to supply increasing amounts of USD to our overseas clients. Inevitably this means we have to run larger and larger trade deficits. The only way our overseas clients can get USD is by our buying their production and paying them USD. Over time this means the accounting pressure is for the US to produce less and less of what it consumes and all that production moves offshore.
The consequence is that we tend to live on increasing amounts of credit with less and less ability to produce the stuff we consume.
Having Reserve status, like a great credit score is a great privilege that only the virtuous can afford otherwise it will destroy you.

Posted by: Dan Farrand | Feb 20 2023 21:16 utc | 67

Air raid sirens sound each time a foreign politician – Scholz, Von der Leyen, Biden – visits Kiev.
Now, when Biden goes to Kiev, Ukraine, the White House talks to the Russians first.
“We did notify the Russians that President Biden will be travelling to Kyiv,” Sullivan said. “We did so some hours before his departure”
Why are the air raid sirens blaring, when the Russians are not bombing Kiev?

Posted by: Passerby | Feb 20 2023 21:23 utc | 69

Ciaran@17
Thanks..
In addition, loss of the dam would have threatened the water supply to the canal (upstream of the dam) that provides water to the Kherson region and Crimea. Google maps show extensive agriculture in Kherson East of the Dnieper river.

Posted by: Krollchem | Feb 20 2023 21:27 utc | 71

Absorbing, inspiring, and sad.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JOhu_3Bipog
Posted by: John Kennard | Feb 20 2023 21:05 utc | 63
The video you linked to doesn’t match your description. Honest mistake? NAFOBRO propaganda?

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 20 2023 21:38 utc | 73

Your entire argument rests upon your certainty that the Kakhovka dam could not have been sufficiently damaged to cause deadly flooding of Kherson.
Are you a structural engineer with knowledge of the exploaive power of specific munitions? I somehow doubt that.
Has it occurred to you that the RF MoD not only wanted to save civilians and troops from a flood and a forced withdrawal in the face of a flood, but also wanted to remove the incentive for NATO to destroy the dam, thus leaving it in place for the benefit of the people after the war?
Many commenters seem not to understand that this conflict has, so far, been primarily fought to reduce/destroy Ukrainian military capacity, not to gain/control territory.
Posted by: Ciaran | Feb 20 2023 17:43 utc | 17

The dam situation was very straightforward to deal with — you give them an ultimatum that if they do something so stupid, then Bankova street will be immediately leveled and the whole leadership, no matter what bunkers it sits in, will be taken out by missile strikes.
Was that even attempted? No, instead Zelensky is free to visit the frontline any time he wishes even though the Ukronazis are now using chemical weapons on top of all the countless atrocities they have committed, i.e. if Zelensky was ever to face the equivalent of a Nuremberg trial, it would be an automatic death sentence without any hesitation. Zaluzhny too, together with several hundred others.
But the life of the dear partners is apparently more valuable than that of the Russian soldier…

Posted by: shadowbanned | Feb 20 2023 21:40 utc | 75

Posted by: TG | Feb 20 2023 21:39 utc | 74
It was noted in one of the articles by “Simplicus”, the way to counter US satellites is just destroy the artillery and radar systems. If that can be achieved, the superior of satellites becomes much less relevant and useful. Sure, USA might still know of some likelihood of an attack in one place, but can’t do anything to prevent it.

Posted by: unimperator | Feb 20 2023 21:50 utc | 77

@T.D. | Feb 20 2023 19:00 utc | 35
Intelligence has never been admired in the USA, and education is regarded with the deepest suspicion. The only reason the USA has not yet fallen apart is the floods of educated immigrants fooled by Hollywood into imagining that a failing 3rd world country with a collapsing economy, failed infrastructure and falling life expectancy is a good place to which to move.
They will learn better. For some it may not be too late.
“I came to America because of the great, great freedom which I heard existed in this country. I made a mistake in selecting America as a land of freedom, a mistake I cannot repair in the balance of my lifetime.” Albert Einstein

Posted by: Hermit | Feb 20 2023 21:53 utc | 79

It is clear from the trolls’ signals today, that the immediate and desperate aim of the imperialists is to sow dissent among ordinary Russians by suggesting that the Kremlin is callous in its disregard of the lives of the soldiery.
For a long time the strategy has been to cultivate the liberal, urban middle class to rebuild them into a Fifth Column sabotaging Russian aims. Now the imperialists realise that their identification with this Fifth Column of Westernisers has been self defeating-the more the intellectuals criticise Putin the more popular he becomes among the working people.
It is that popularity that our trolls are aiming at- the old refrains that Putin is incompetent, that the government is insufficiently ruthless have diminished in intensity. Now the message is that the Kremlin, the MoD and the Generals have aims of their own and are careless with the lives of conscripted cannon fodder, Chechens and Wagner forces alike.
The aim being the very opposite of what is called for-the trolls don’t want a more ruthless strategy, they want the fall of the government and the empowering of those ready to sell out their country for dollars and euros, not to mention the dubious privilege of being patronised by the friends of Navalny, the sponsors of Zelensky and the likes of Biden and Nuland.

Posted by: bevin | Feb 20 2023 21:58 utc | 81

@ shadowbanned 80
I agree. Strelkov was right: it was in 2014 that the banderists had to be demolished, not now.
Instead, Putin wanted, as usual, to spare everyone hoping for some act of goodwill from the West and respect for the word given to the Minsk Accords. He left Mariupol in the hands of these savages and millions of Russians and Ukrainians delivered to the genocidaires and waited eight years (EIGHT YEARS DAMN IT!!!) to finally recognize the suffering endured, all because he eventually realized that there was no goodwill to be expected from those scumbags and that his precious Crimean Bridge and Sevastopol base were threatened. Western leaders are ideologues and rotten people, MSM are pure instruments of propaganda, western populations are zombified. Why try to justify yourself? Why treat them as equals? Why spare them?
Sorry Putinists gentlemen : I have seen your arguments and they hardly convince me. I remind you that Dombass children are still dying under the missiles of the banderistes. How can we claim we are winning if we are not able to avoid at least that after a year?? Why waiting more ? So yes, I am saying that if Russia is unable to win, at least lose with dignity by make fly nuclear missiles.
Well, Putin is a jurist and a Christian, not a politician. He arrived in Yeltsin’s suitcases (really not a good business card) and took advantage of good oil and gas prices to give himself a reputation as a (false) tough guy. However the world is not made by jurists and Christians. It is made by sharks, ideologues and communicators. Putin has none of his characteristics and he or whatever you call the Power That Be in Russia won’t even be able to have that basic dignity to destroy the West since it let Russia be destroyed.

Posted by: America is defeated | Feb 20 2023 22:32 utc | 83

Russia finds continued success around Bakhmut. Operational encirclement.
However, Ukraine drives back Russia army south of Vuhledar. I wonder how Russia will adapt to Ukraine successful Vuhledar counter attack? Is it a Russian trap? Or, did West satellites spot Russian weak spot and order Ukraine to exploit?

Posted by: Ramsey Glissadevil | Feb 20 2023 22:35 utc | 85

It is that popularity that our trolls are aiming at- the old refrains that Putin is incompetent, that the government is insufficiently ruthless have diminished in intensity. Now the message is that the Kremlin, the MoD and the Generals have aims of their own and are careless with the lives of conscripted cannon fodder, Chechens and Wagner forces alike.
The aim being the very opposite of what is called for-the trolls don’t want a more ruthless strategy, they want the fall of the government and the empowering of those ready to sell out their country for dollars and euros, not to mention the dubious privilege of being patronised by the friends of Navalny, the sponsors of Zelensky and the likes of Biden and Nuland.
Posted by: bevin | Feb 20 2023 21:58 utc | 81

No, the “trolls” see an endless sequence of baffling unforced errors by people who are proven to be way too smart to make such errors, leaving deliberate sabotage (for whatever reason) as the only explanation for why all of this is happening.
Which is precisely what has lead to needless loss of life and destruction. It has not prevented it, exactly the opposite. And it is not going to prevent it in the future. Again, exactly the opposite is true. We are much closer to nuclear war now that we have ever been in the last 75 years, and it is increasingly looking like it will be either that, or the Russian elites will betray the country again in the name of preserving their mansions and yachts
Let’s once again, for the umpteenth time, review the history. The war became a stalemated bloodbath because:
1) Back in 2014 the Russian army could have just walked all the way to Lvov without much resistance. And the population was much more friendly back then too. What did Putin do? He took Crimea because he had no other choice, didn’t support the Donbass rebels much beyond taking the Donetsk and Lugansk city, and outright ordered them not take Mariupol (ensuring the city’s later destruction) and other towns when they had the momentum and the AFU was on the run.
2) Then he recognized the illegitimate post-coup Ukrainian government and signed Minsk I and Minsk II even though it was obvious to everyone the West is just playing for time so that Ukraine can rearm.
3) In the following 8 years there was zero preparation of Russian society for war, while in Ukraine a vicious campaign of Russophobia and nazification was carried out. Putin didn’t lift a finger to stop it. Even though given the history behind it, even drastic measures such as Iskanders on the annual January 1st Bandera torch marches were fully warranted.
4) Then he was painted into another corner by the West arming Ukraine to the teeth and threatening to give it nukes (to this day the suspicion remains that it wasn’t just a threat and this was the final straw that forced the SMO). But, because there was no proper preparation, and no real commitment to fully and properly solving the problem, what we got is an SMO with a pathetically insufficient force, that was naturally quickly bogged down and missed its opportunity to deliver a decisive blow.
5) Then we got a year of totally uninterrupted weapon supplies to Ukraine, goodwill gestures, genius retreats, grain deals, refusal to disable critical infrastructure, boneheaded frontal assaults against impenetrable fortifications, etc. Again giving Ukraine time to arm and prepare for war on an even grander scale. Which ensured orders of magnitude more bloodshed and destruction.
6) As a result, the West got so emboldened that it started striking deep into Russia itself. Including at the strategic nuclear forces. Those attacks received no response, the consequence of which is that now in the West public opinion is being prepared for an open attack against Russia.
This is the point to which the genius 15-D chess grand-masters in the Kremlin (that only exist in the wild imagination of most of the inhabitants of western pro-RU forums) have taken us.
What is one supposed to think when looking at those facts?

Posted by: shadowbanned | Feb 20 2023 22:41 utc | 87

For those of us who live in the techno-gulag formerly known as the United States, it has become apparent that the Biden administration’s goal is to destroy the economic and social fabric of America, in order to allow the “Great Reset.” Why else would one appoint the most incompetent, reprehensible and frankly criminally stupid cabinet in US history? Buttigieg as Transportation Secretary, Blinken at State, Granholm in Energy, the list goes on.
Frankly, Biden’s “secret” visit to Kiev this morning was a relief to some of us. I was frankly thinking it within the realm of possibilities for whoever is actually running the US government to run the biggest false flag of all times: having Biden meet with the eastern European leaders (patsies) and get taken out in Warsaw by a “Russian” missile attack. Nothing is beyond the scope of possibilities of the psychopaths running the US now. However, now that Biden went to Kiev and came back intact, the worst option is off the table. The possible false flag would have been staggering: Article 5 invoked, Biden removed from running in 2024 (allowing parties behind the throne to put Kamala “Wheels on the Bus” Harris in place to do their bidding), eastern European leaders taken out, all to totally inflame NATO into attacking. I admit this is a sick line of thinking, but nothing is beyond the realm of possibilities for the group(s) actually calling the shots in the G7 and NATO countries. Kamala Harris would have no problem implementing the “Great Reset,” etc.

Posted by: Rolando | Feb 20 2023 22:41 utc | 89

Well, Putin is a jurist and a Christian, not a politician. He arrived in Yeltsin’s suitcases (really not a good business card) and took advantage of good oil and gas prices to give himself a reputation as a (false) tough guy. However the world is not made by jurists and Christians. It is made by sharks, ideologues and communicators. Putin has none of his characteristics and he or whatever you call the Power That Be in Russia won’t even be able to have that basic dignity to destroy the West since it let Russia be destroyed.
Posted by: America is defeated | Feb 20 2023 22:32 utc | 83

Note that when I say “Putin” I don’t even mean the person, but more the collective.
We have no idea how much actual power he has personally. Presumably he has to balance between various contradictory interests.
The problem is that the collective leadership very clearly has not cleaned house in proper preparation for an existential war even though that one was coming has been obvious for 25 years now.
The fifth columnists are quite clear still in control of way too much of what is happening.
But they should be completely taken out if the war is to be won.
Remember that Stalin did the purges precisely for that reason — he knew the war is coming and he could not afford to have anyone around whose loyalties were under even the slightest suspicion. And those were massive and extremely violent purges. Would they have survived without them? Quite possibly not.
But there have been no purges at all in the lead up to the current war. Russia is full of traitors, foreign agents, people in key positions ready to sell out, and just plain oligarch who want their yachts and mansions back and are ready to sell out the country for them.
And all that assumes Putin and those immediately around him are actually separate from the fifth columnists and are actively fighting them. Which is not at all a warranted assumption given the available evidence.

Posted by: shadowbanned | Feb 20 2023 22:49 utc | 91

Posted by: Rolando | Feb 20 2023 22:41 utc | 89
The whole world might save some blood and pain if the Davos/WEF/ziocon elites are directly targeted. They run the media, MIC, control national policies covertly. They will continue what they are doing because they feel safe, not having to answer any time, to anyone. They can manipulate zombie nations to commit suicide for them.
Why not show them what real polonium is (since they love to talk about it so much), or next time they get together at Davos one misguided kinzhal missile might give world a peace for a few years, until the next crop of crazy lunatics show up.

Posted by: unimperator | Feb 20 2023 22:51 utc | 93

@ Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 20 2023 21:38 utc | 73
Link works for me.
Description too.
No idea what “NAFOBRO” means.

Posted by: John Kennard | Feb 20 2023 22:56 utc | 95

Posted by: John Kennard | Feb 20 2023 22:56 utc | 95
“No idea what “NAFOBRO” means.”
Assuming you’re not one, then, NAFO is an organization of pro-Ukrainian trolls, and of course “bro” means being one of them.
Most of them deserve a bullet to the head.
Helpful RSH.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Feb 20 2023 23:00 utc | 97

If you ask “Can you head the ministry?”, then any fool will instantly say “Yes! Of course! I’m his one left.” Because he doesn’t understand the complexity of these processes.

What exactly “complexity” is to be understood in facts such as those that the Kremenchug refinery is apparently running (certainly Ukraine doesn’t seem to have any issues with fuel) and has not been blown up, and not just that, but that oil ultimately comes from Russia?
That oil, gas, ammonia, etc. are flowing through Ukraine from Russia?
That no transport links between Poland and Ukraine have been disabled?
That AFU is free to assemble and move personnel and equipment around with little fear of missile strikes?
That Ukrainian railways are running normally with almost no disruptions, and military logistics have been barely affected?
That four months were spent hitting transformers, and not even the 750-kV ones, but no generators, and as a result there was a negligible effect on the grid?
That Zaluzhny, Syrsky, etc. are alive?
Etc. etc. etc.
The list is endless.
What exactly is the “complexity” about Rules of Warfare 101? Block your enemy’s logistics, isolate the battlefield, take out command and control structures to create chaos in the ranks, and so on.
None of that has been done, despite abundant technical means to do it.
What does that point to?

Posted by: shadowbanned | Feb 20 2023 23:06 utc | 99