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February 23, 2023
Ukraine Open Thread 2023-45
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I guess Transnistria is a great lure for the nazi forces
Transnistria is actually a huge problem for the Ukronazis, though few realize it because nobody is asking the right questions.
Think about the history.
Transnistria isn’t a case of Russia air dropping half a million Russians into Moldova at one point in 1992.
Not at all. Quite the opposite — in fact it split off from Moldova before Moldova even declared independence. Nationalism in the republics started rearing its ugly head several years before the final USSR collapse.
In Moldova they declared Romanian the official language in the summer of 1989.
Because of this and other such actions, in the summer of 1990 the PMR declared itself a separate republic. At that time only the Baltics had seceded from the USSR. Not only that, Gagauzia (which is in the south of Moldova and is not Russian ethnically, but inhabited by the Gagauz who are Turkic people, but also pro-Russian leaning) seceded around the same time too (though it was later reincorporated with some autonomy, unlike the PMR, which remained de facto independent).
That is a full year before Moldova became independent!
Not only that, but Moscow was against the PMR seceding — Gorbachev declared that null and void in late 1990.
Then there was a war with Moldova until mid-1992, in which the PMR prevailed, and the conflict was frozen.
Again, these people were always there, they weren’t air dropped in 1990 to invade Moldovan land.
Now where is the problem for the Ukronazis?
Look at the map.
How is it that you have half a million Russians (and no Ukrainians, though in fact there were many “Ukrainians” there who promptly forgot about being Ukrainian over time) inhabiting that strip of land but everything from there to the RF border has only Ukrainians? Makes no sense, right?
Of course the answer is that everything from the PMR to Kharkov was Russian land inhabited by Russians (and everything east of the Vinnytsia-Zhytomyr line is also predominantly Russian), and there is no inexplicable discontinuity at all. This isn’t Kaliningrad.
But that is inadmissible under the Western-embraced Ukronazi narrative.
So make no mistake, those people in the PMR are marked for genocide and slaughter — they have to be erased in order for that question to never come up.
Which is why the complacency on the Russian side right now about the issue is extremely worrying.
Also, if they just let the Ukronazis take over and start their usual atrocities, this has huge implications for Kaliningrad…
Posted by: shadowbanned | Feb 23 2023 22:55 utc | 201
Back at the start of the new millennium, the BBC declined to erect a statue to Orwell in its’ reception lobby on the basis that Orwell was “far too left wing”. It’s a strange definition. His political career embraced working with the Spanish Trotskyist POUM during the Spanish Civil War, whose activities have been clearly documented as sabotaging the Republican government and acting as agent provocateurs linked to Spanish fascism. After the Second World War he wrote virulently anti-Communist fiction and invented the term Cold War. In the 1990s MI5 security service documents, released under the 30-year civil service rule, identified Orwell as an MI5 agent spying during the 1940s and up to his death on any journalist, author or writer deemed to be pro-Soviet or Communist. No wonder the BBC felt compromised about having a statue to Orwell in its reception lobby. How would those who lambast the BBC for bias have squared that circle?
Posted by: zeke2u | Feb 23 2023 23:00 utc | 202
The Russian “Offensive”
If the reports on Ukrainian ammunition stocks are true – the reports that say Ukraine will basically run out of ammunition in about 6 months – say end of August 2023 – then surely one can draw only one conclusionary question – Why would there be any sort of “Russian ‘Big Arrows’ Offensive” before then?!?
Judging by the way Russia has conducted this so-called ”SMO” so far – being ultra careful to avoid mass casualty events – why change this modus operandi now to arbitrarily ‘speed things up’ to what end?!?
My conclusion therefore is that there will be no ”Spring Offensive” by the Russians, and probably not a ‘Summer Offensive’ either – but perhaps a ‘Late Summer Offensive’ sometime in September.
Clearly the Russians are in no hurry whatsoever.
Posted by: Julian | Feb 23 2023 23:01 utc | 203
This is also the origin of the “concern troll” name calling, calling for me to get banned from here, etc.
Posted by: shadowbanned | Feb 23 2023 22:48 utc | 200
Well, you do seem to have an unfortunate habit of posting wide-ranging and far-reaching assertions and opinions without any links to sources!
Hope this helps…
Posted by: West of England Andy | Feb 23 2023 23:02 utc | 204
shadowbanned #185
Perhaps the concept of ‘inept’ or ‘novice’ might apply. From what I see through my life of the most aggressive army on earth – USA – inept and even novice seems rife in these forces too. However, the Russian force is clearly sucking in and destroying nazis and Uke soldiers along a narrow band at the front line plus infrastructure around the Ukraine.
This battle will go on for some time and it is certainly confounding at times but the main game is Uke capitulation and transformation. Are there lessons from the German 1945 defeat here that guides Russia?
The problem here is that there are literally no downsides in blowing up a train with tanks in Kharkov, and if you do that, you greatly advance the process of demilitarization and denazification.
While not doing it and allowing the Ukronazis to slaughter Russians Izyum and Kupyansk, from where they will then have to be dislodged once again with a huge expenditure of blood (and the destruction of those cities) hurts those goals.
There is simply zero excuse for what happened, and no way to spin it in a positive way.
The Transnistria defence or loss could be a watershed for the Russian army. Now Transistria is sandwiched and it is almost too late to transform the defence of the garrison but then there is always the Kazakhstan style rushed defence but I would class that as an extremely risky move. All Russia is left with is demolition in the worst case. They just need to be prepared and even then I will believe it when I see it.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Feb 23 2023 22:52 utc | 201
Look at my previous post.
They will blow up Kobasna and dispose of the ammo, no problem.
But it will not stop there — the Russian population there is marked for genocide. Make no mistake. And that problem isn’t solved with blowing up the ammo dump.
This is once again a time for what I have been calling for for a long time — an ultimatum:
“If you dare touch the PMR, Zelensky, Zaluzhny, the whole government and general staff of the AFU, and all governmental buildings in Ukraine will be dust tomorrow”.
Let them try after that.
That sort of ultimatum was the solution to the Donetsk terror bombing, the Kherson dam situation, and many others. But it was never issued, and has not been issued now either…
Posted by: shadowbanned | Feb 23 2023 23:02 utc | 205
Posted by: sln2002 | Feb 23 2023 22:46 utc | 198
correction (my mistake)
Al Jazeera | UN calls for Russia’s withdrawal from Ukraine (23.02.23)
A day after China’s top diplomat visited Moscow and pledged a deeper partnership with Russia, Beijing abstained from the vote – the fourth time it has done so on such action since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 last year.
There were a total of 32 abstentions.
[…]
Of the UN’s 193 member nations, 141 voted to condemn Moscow’s invasion.
Seven [7] countries – Belarus, Eritrea, Mali, Nicaragua, North Korea, Russia and Syria – voted against the resolution. Other countries abstained.
What I understood in the “live blog” is, A/ES-11/L.1 is the same draft resolution put to vote February 24, 2022. I posted the wrong board image. But, AJ’s 22 Feb 2023 tally does not add to 193. Soooo ….
Posted by: sln2002 | Feb 23 2023 23:06 utc | 206
and by the way
guys get a hohol already
please support the real cossacks 🙂
Posted by: Macpott | Feb 23 2023 23:09 utc | 207
Warehouses in the Transnistrian village of Kolbasna are the largest arsenal in Europe. They are located just 2 kilometers from the border with Ukraine.
▪️ Created in the 1940s.
▪️ In warehouses there is an arsenal of the 14th Guards Combined Arms Army of the USSR, weapons, and ammunition from the GDR and Czechoslovakia.
▪️ The arsenal today contains more than 20 thousand tons of artillery ammunition, ammunition for infantry, and other military equipment.
▪️ Experts believe that this ammunition will last for decades of hostilities.
▪️ The detonation of the arsenal will be equal to the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
▪️ The warehouses are guarded by a task force of Russian troops and the military of Transnistria.
Article originally published by — Sputnik
https://t.me/Slavyangrad/34725
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Feb 23 2023 23:10 utc | 208
Video on Orwell by a contemporary Iraqi Marxist Hakim
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Gz0I_X_nfo
Posted by: K | Feb 23 2023 23:15 utc | 209
Rybar is pretty much calling for tactical nukes of the PMR situation:
https://t.me/rybar/43918
🇲🇩🇬🇧🇺🇦 On the situation around Pridnestrovie
In recent days, there have been movements of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Odessa region in the direction of the border with Pridnestrovie . More than a dozen Hammer armored combat vehicles with personnel were deployed along the Kirovograd highway from Odessa to the PMR. Several
railway trains from Odessa with armored vehicles and empty wagons were delivered along the railway line to Slobodka . And since the beginning of this year , detachments of mercenaries have been operating in the settlements of Dolzhok , Studenoye and Grabovo .
🔻What’s happening?
According to our data, Western countries are indeed considering the option of artificially escalating tensions in Moldova and then bringing in NATO contingents to “stabilize” the situation in the PMR.
To implement such a plan, a serious provocation is needed, which the West intends to carry out with the help of the threat of bringing the Armed Forces of Ukraine into the territory of the PMR with the permission of the Moldovan parliament and carrying out an operation to seize Transnistria.
Given the transfer to the border villages, it is likely that the Armed Forces of Ukraine, together with mercenaries, will try to pass from two sides to the PMR and rush to seize important military facilities, and then take out all the military equipment to Ukraine.
🔻Perspectives
Many attribute the forthcoming escalation in the PMR to the need for access to warehouses in Kolbasnoye due to the existing shortage of shells in the West.
Yes, there really are reserves there, but they should not be exaggerated. A significant part of them have simply fallen into disrepair, and some were stolen and sold in the 90s. Their number will be enough for two or three months of hostilities .
Shell hunger certainly exists – both our units and the Armed Forces of Ukraine have it. It is unrealistic to establish the production of ammunition on the scale in which they are spent in the shortest possible time.
▪️Specifically, in this case, the danger that threatens the PMR is different: Pridnestrovie remains the only pro-Russian stronghold in the region, and the start of an operation by the Armed Forces of Ukraine is fraught with serious consequences for Russia and the pro-Russian population there.
The introduction of troops into the PMR and the lack of a reaction from Russia will further hit the reputation of the Russian Federation, and there are practically no ways to solve the problem, since attempts at a peaceful settlement are meaningless in the international arena. Russia’s interests are no longer taken into account, and the status of a country to be feared is no more.
🔻How can the PMR be protected from the actions of the West?
➖A ground operation, an all-out bombing of one of the cities, or strikes against important humanitarian facilities in Western Ukraine, such as treatment plants , without which life in any city is impossible.
However, this option is unlikely – a ground operation from Belarus is difficult to implement due to the high resource consumption. At the same time, Kiev is fully prepared for such a scenario: the Volyn fortified area has long been built for defense.
And the total destruction of Lviv or Lutsk is unlikely to stop the collective West from using ordinary Ukrainians as a bargaining chip: the Ukrainian authorities are completely controlled by decisions from across the ocean and will continue to do what they are told.
❗️The only possible option is to use tactical nuclear weapons to intimidate the enemy by striking an uninhabited area in western Ukraine.
Now, not a single NATO country considers the use of tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine a serious threat – they simply ceased to be afraid of a huge deterrent . Even a ostentatious blow will seriously change the attitude towards Russia at the psychological level.
At the same time, for the West, such a scenario is even beneficial for the further “demonization” of Russia, and an artificial escalation in the PMR can be implemented specifically to force the Russian Federation to take such a step.
Now the Russian authorities are at a crossroads in the issue of Transnistria:inaction is likely to destroy the entire region and create huge reputational costs, and a strike of tactical nuclear weapons can make the country a pariah, but at the same time save thousands of Russian citizens
Posted by: shadowbanned | Feb 23 2023 23:17 utc | 210
the russians need to change their tactics in regards to letting these Ukrainian offensives happen. THEY SEE UKRO FORCES ACCUMULATING at the transistria border? Isklander or qt the very least cruise missile them already! this is ridiculous!
And even then, prepare to storm Odessa the moment the ukros cross into transistria! be proactive here !
f it id send in the naval cannons, then the fuel air bombs, and then the marines accompanied by drones, into Odessa tonight! and send in a bunch of boat drones a head of the black sea fleet to clear any mines!
attack Odessa to push open the front.
create a Russian bridge head into transistria, and then open a second front onto western Ukraine, cutting off access to Romanian and nato aid!
and from there, circle and take Odessa!
aka aide skirt Odessa with your landing forces. take them up to secure transistria and the depots, then use them against odessa, and to cut Odessa from the rest of Ukraine! also use your aircraft and helicopters. blow the hell out of em preemptively!
do not wait for their action, to only counter ineffective afterwards!
and i was a boss playing command and conquer generals okay 👌 so as a qualified armchair general; Eye know what I’m taking about!
Posted by: Irish | Feb 23 2023 21:55 utc | 177
i will be happy with a multipolar world…not sure about the process of getting there though.
Posted by: shadowbanned | Feb 23 2023 23:17 utc | 212
Thanks for the translation.
For whatever reason, Russia has refrained from demonstrations of force aimed at deterrance. I do not understand myself why the US embassy (and the British one as well) are still standing in Kiev.
Maybe it is Putin’s legalism – bombing them would be technically attacking British and American “soil.” But remember how NATO bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, and nothing happened?
Posted by: Chris | Feb 23 2023 23:29 utc | 213
and i was a boss playing command and conquer generals okay 👌 so as a qualified armchair general; Eye know what I’m taking about!
Posted by: BurnEye | Feb 23 2023 23:24 utc | 213
Actually you are clueless…but entertaining! Thanks for the chuckle!
Posted by: Haassaan | Feb 23 2023 23:54 utc | 214
Posted by: shadowbanned | Feb 23 2023 22:48 utc | 200
No,, the origin of your being called a concern troll is because you are a concern troll who is completely and totally full of bullshit with zero connection to reality.
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Feb 23 2023 23:54 utc | 215
@212
Rybar has to be an idiot, calling for tactical nukes. NO first use of nukes at any time!!! Period. Hypersonic missiles purely of the kinetic type, are quite capable of creating chaos in any mass formation or base of operations.
Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 23 2023 23:56 utc | 216
Posted by: shadowbanned | Feb 23 2023 23:17 utc | 212
If you honestly think Russia using tactical nukes is a good idea, slap yourself in the face continuously until the stupid is removed. You would do well to read more and type a lot less, as you are obviously completely ignorant in military matters.
Or, you might not be that dumb, but a troll instead, take your pick.
Posted by: Haassaan | Feb 23 2023 23:58 utc | 217
How exactly do you propose to defend the PMR?
It’s a tiny strip of land cut off from any support and supply
Posted by: shadowbanned | Feb 24 2023 0:02 utc | 218
Roger @171–
Thanks for your reply. I asked Dr. Hudson if we (his patreons) could attempt to ascertain the USA’s Real Net GDP, to which he replied that some of the numbers require guesswork because of government obfuscation, so arriving at a true net would be very difficult, although we could probably get within several hundred billion of the actual figure. He didn’t object to my hypothetical $15 Trillion which continues to decline. In his latest interview, he shied away from his Obama Depression term, while saying there really hasn’t been any real recovery since then as it’s just been bubble blowing. His teaming with Desai for their bi-monthly Geopolitical Economic Hour program is excellent, and I eagerly await their next dedollarization episode.
Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Feb 23 2023 16:51 utc | 58:
Nice post! Actually what you accounted for was the basic mechanism behind most of so-called foreign aids of the United State since the 50’s.
Posted by: Oriental Voice | Feb 24 2023 0:05 utc | 220
@Haassaan 216
lmfao? clearly you don’t understand sarcasm, yet you still got the joke? over sense of ego much maybe.
only eye can laugh at the joke, because I deem you to be a joke!
get real bud.
as for the actual comment, clearly they need to take action now, ir all thats left is the option of tactical nuke! Very sad state of affairs!
and I’m pro Ruskie
Scorpion | Feb 23 2023 20:51 utc | 146
“…describing the family life of typical miners ..
…”Orwell has everyone meeting everyone at the same eye and heart level. Or something.”…
That would likely be “Road To Wigan Pier”. It and ‘Down and Out in Paris and London” impinged on my bewildered state as my own experiences confirmed the veracity of his. Thanks for sharing your views.
Today I read this headline
“Judge John Dorsey Has Effectively Privatized Justice in the FTX Bankruptcy Case”… and realized that is the definition of “privilege”…private law!
Orwellian. indeed.
Posted by: chu teh | Feb 24 2023 0:07 utc | 222
Lots of churn on TG over PRM. There’s always a lot of this when Russia sets a date over some false flag, remember Zaporizhzhia NPP and before that the dirty bomb? We will know soon enough.
My guess is Russia can’t do all shit about it, not even destroy the ammo dump without hurting their own people there. I think the depot is secondary, this is more Nuland than Pentagon, it’s about the political defeat of losing the PRM, not being able to defend the Russians living there and the probable pogrom coming. My guess is any invasion will be a Ukronazi media event, like Odessa 2014 to embarrass the Russian government back home. They want the regime change, a disconsolate and discouraged populace, even more than the probably old junky ammo.
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Feb 24 2023 0:07 utc | 223
People need to take a step back.
Transnistria is not a priority for Russia. The ammo warehouse isn’t either. That’s all bullshit. A few months more ammo for the Ukrainians isn’t going to change squat in the war.
Russia can take Transnistria back any time they want. Look at the map and remember that Russia controls the Black Sea. Transnistria may be land-locked but it’s not far from the Black Sea. All Russia has to do is load up the Black Sea Fleet with a bunch of landing ships supported by paratroopers and the Russian air and missile force and it’s game over for Moldova.
Christ, Poland did a war game and lost its entire army in seven days. Who the hell thinks Moldova is going to last against a concerted Russian effort?
It may take the Russians a few months to put together an operational plan, or they more probably will wait until the Ukraine war is finished and they can use the land bridge from Crimea to Transnistria to take it back.
It’s a fucking side show circus engineered by the US to distract the Russians. The Russians will not be distracted. If they want to stop it, they will.
Get serious with this stupid concern trolling.
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Feb 24 2023 0:08 utc | 224
zeke2u 2 204.
I have no idea what kind of mental acrobatics happened in 2912 at the BBC but the Orwell statue stands.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_George_Orwell
Posted by: dh | Feb 24 2023 0:11 utc | 225
Re: shadowbanned | Feb 24 2023 0:02 utc | 220
you ask:
“How exactly do you propose to defend the PMR?”
Air Force and Airborne? Russia has plenty.
Posted by: Perimetr | Feb 24 2023 0:19 utc | 228
People need to take a step back.
Transnistria is not a priority for Russia. The ammo warehouse isn’t either. That’s all bullshit. A few months more ammo for the Ukrainians isn’t going to change squat in the war.
Russia can take Transnistria back any time they want. Look at the map and remember that Russia controls the Black Sea. Transnistria may be land-locked but it’s not far from the Black Sea. All Russia has to do is load up the Black Sea Fleet with a bunch of landing ships supported by paratroopers and the Russian air and missile force and it’s game over for Moldova.
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Feb 24 2023 0:08 utc | 226
You need to take a step back, review recent and not so recent history, and wake up.
Is there going to be anything to take back by the time Russia is in a position to take it back?
Didn’t we already watch that movie around Kiev, in Kharkov and in Kherson?
There is not even the superficial constraint that existed in those cases that the people living there were Ukrainian citizens.
The Ukronazis can do another Volyn and nobody in the West will report it, or they will even cheer it on.
And Volyn was a very successful operation in case it has been forgotten.
Posted by: shadowbanned | Feb 24 2023 0:22 utc | 229
@200 shithead
There is NO way that you know intimately much of the Russia comments you’re throwing out there, it’s ridiculous!
“That is not at all the case in Russia — there is a very large sector of society there that watches absurd actions/non-actions such the ones we are discussing here, and sees another betrayal coming, from the very top. Because they have seen many such betrayals in the past, and their instincts are sharpened from the experience.”
This is impossible to know accurately unless you tour many Russian media sites and know their real thoughts and comments. Absurd! Give it up and give it a rest. You’re spouting mostly half-truths and brushing it off as matter of fact knowledge.
Posted by: safe | Feb 24 2023 0:22 utc | 230
Re: shadowbanned | Feb 24 2023 0:02 utc | 220
you ask:
“How exactly do you propose to defend the PMR?”
Air Force and Airborne? Russia has plenty.
Posted by: Perimetr | Feb 24 2023 0:19 utc | 230
Planes and helicopters will be seen by NATO long before they reach the Budzhak and shot down by UA AD.
But let’s say they manage to air drop some forces there, how are they going to supply them? There is no physical connection. And barely any heavy equipment there.
Long-range standoff weapons are the only available means. But conventionally those can’t do much.
Posted by: shadowbanned | Feb 24 2023 0:25 utc | 231
This is impossible to know accurately unless you tour many Russian media sites and know their real thoughts and comments. Absurd! Give it up and give it a rest. You’re spouting mostly half-truths and brushing it off as matter of fact knowledge.
Posted by: safe | Feb 24 2023 0:22 utc | 232
But I do in fact have that direct knowledge.
Posted by: shadowbanned | Feb 24 2023 0:28 utc | 232
From Putin’s speech on Wed.
“On a special note, let me say that today, career service personnel, mobilised conscripts, and volunteers all share frontline hardships, including in terms of provisions, supplies and equipment, remuneration, and insurance payments to the wounded, as well as healthcare services. However, there are complaints that make it all the way to my office, as well as to the governors, as they have been telling me, and to the military prosecutor’s office and the Human Rights Commissioner, showing that some of these issues have yet to be resolved. We need to get to the bottom of each complaint on a case-by-case basis.”
And now the train is rolling with ammo for the Wagner soldiers. I think it might be connected.
Posted by: wagelaborer | Feb 24 2023 0:31 utc | 233
Let me clear, I’m not wasting any more time on this moron troll “shadowbanned”.
Anyone who does isn’t much smarter.
Transnistria has a population of 470.000, of which around 29% are Russians. Russia has 1,500 troops (although apparently they are locally recruited, not regular Russian army, but they are commanded by Russian officers) and PMR has another 5,500 available to defend the warehouse. As of 2006, according to Wikipedia, the Russian force consisted of:
82nd and 113th Separate Peacekeeping Motor-Rifle battalions
Independent security and support battalion
A helicopter detachment
Several small administrative detachments
In September, 2022, Lavrov warned Moldova against threatening Russia forces in PMR:
Russia warns Moldova over Transnistria troops
https://www.dw.com/en/russia-warns-moldova-over-transnistria-troops/a-63013005
In a television interview with a Russian station this Thursday, Lavrov said “any action that would threaten the security of our troops would be considered under international law as an attack on Russia.”…
In the television interview, Lavrov also said Russia would defend Russian speakers in Moldova, reminding viewers that apart from Transnistria, the region of Gagauzia was also seeking special recognition in the country.
So go ahead, Moldova, bring it on. See how long you last against the Russian military. Poland would last a week, I suspect Moldova will last 24 hours.
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Feb 24 2023 0:42 utc | 234
Drop a nuclear bomb on western Ukraine to scare the US into leaving Transnistria alone?
You can’t be serious. The US would be thrilled to have Russia drop a nuclear bomb in western Ukraine.
Threatening to harm Ukrainians in order to save Russians is not a viable plan.
It may have worked for the black guy in Blazing Saddles, but it won’t work for Russia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7Q4fM5y_1I
Posted by: wagelaborer | Feb 24 2023 0:46 utc | 235
Question:
How does one ‘tactically’ nuke the Dollar?
… and then game over.
Posted by: Don Firineach | Feb 24 2023 0:47 utc | 236
On Transnistria, I commented at Simplicius76’s that Russia ought to launch an Air-Mobile assault as it has the best equipped forces on the planet for such an operation. Yes, that creates a logistics issue resupplying the airhead as well as requiring a land offensive to relive it–a very different Market-Garden. Such an operation might spark revolt within Moldova to oust the pro-NATO pukes currently running the government. Would Romania risk intervention and war with Russia? If yes, then the missile installations in Romania would be taken out ASAP along with who knows what else.
Recall Putin’s speech and his nod to the complete liberation of Novorossiya, which includes Odessa and the lands bordering Moldova. IMO, NATO has no ability to defend against an airmobile assault aiding Transnistria or a logistical airtrain, and Russia has a total of five airmobile divisions it can employ. Something’s going to happen.
Posted by: Dingo | Feb 23 2023 19:37 utc | 122:
Freedom &democracy was not their cup of tea
You should’ve put Freedom & Democracy in quotes, like “Freedom & Democracy”. Was the Empire pushing freedom & democracy in Vietnam? Or was it pushing hegemony and recruiting future vassals and slaves?
Posted by: Oriental Voice | Feb 24 2023 1:14 utc | 238
K @ 211
If there were bandwidth or time I could dispute about 90% of the Hakim vid. On particulars. There is no doubt Orwell was a horrible person. Criticism on the Hakim level is valuable. Wish there was more of that and less fanboy talk.
On Burma – His assigned territory as a colonial police officer was the land his mother’s family owned or had timber leases on. Of course sahib was a racist. Every member of his class was.
Orwell snitched on Kate Hepburn and Orson Welles and Charlie Chaplin and Nancy Cunard. Do you believe they did not get together over drinks and laugh about it? Do you think anyone was harmed by this charade?
No one ever gets promoted unless they are a member of the club. Writers who are not members of the club are writers you have never heard of. The number of those who break through on sheer talent is close to zero. Or it is zero. From there you can go to cancelling all work by dead white men. Which amongst other things would deprive us of Orwell’s vivid testimony to his own racism.
I can’t help it if someone is so gullible as to believe he ever tramped or washed dishes or was a socialist.
Posted by: oldhippie | Feb 24 2023 1:24 utc | 239
karlof1 | Feb 24 2023 0:55 utc | 239
Those transport planes are big and slow, plus they would be flying too close to Ukraine’s AD. Not a good idea. Any other support (e.g. by sea) would be a logistical nightmare and too risky to perform.
Re Transnistria’s cache, the evacuation of ammo was interrupted I believe around 2017 due to the “Crimea crisis”. I wonder how much of the ammo still in storage is useable. Some long-expired ammo would pose a risk to handle. And if they detonate the depo it would oblitorate the nearby town and environs. Not many choices left, I’m afraid.
Posted by: Sektion2B | Feb 24 2023 1:26 utc | 240
Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 24 2023 0:55 utc | 239
I’ve just been looking at maps and calculating the distance between Crimea and Transistria. I figure it would be easy for a flight of Russian fighters and long-range bombers to fly from Crimea, dog-leg over the Black Sea to be mostly out of range of any Ukrainian S-300 in the vicinity of Odessa, then come around along the coast of Moldova and let fly long-range precision missiles at any Ukrainian or Moldovan forces in the area. Some of the longer-range missiles can probably be fired from Crimea itself with no problem, the distances aren’t particular long, a couple hundred miles.
The Russian Black Sea Fleet can sail off into the Black Sea, do the same dog-leg around to avoid Ukrainian missile systems near Odessa, come up on the Moldovan coast and let fly with their missiles. Not to mention the Russian submarine fleet in the Black Sea which would be mostly invulnerable to Ukrainian missiles.
The 76th Guards Air Assault Division alone has 6-8,000 troop.
There is also naval infantry, described by Wikipedia as:
A Naval Infantry Regiment consists of roughly 2,000 personnel and is equipped with the PT-76 and BRDM-2, consists of 1 Tank Battalion and 3 naval infantry battalions, one motorised with BTR-60-series amphibious vehicles. brigades are somewhat larger. Although, sizes vary depending on mission and specializations.[31]
Naval Infantry Battalions comprise the backbone of the naval infantry fighting force. The battalion is made up of three naval infantry companies, a mortar platoon, an antitank platoon, and supporting supply and maintenance, medical, and communications units. In all, the battalion numbers about 400 men. This unit, reinforced, constitutes the basic amphibious attack force in the assault landing-the battalion assault force (BAF).[31]
At least one infantry battalion of each regiment or brigade is parachute trained, while all of the remaining infantry battalions are trained to be able to carry out air assault missions.
So a naval infantry brigade go could in first, followed shortly by some air mobile brigades, supported by missile fire from Russian Black Sea ships and submarines, and air force flights from Crimea. 10,000 Russian troops probably would be sufficient to repel the Ukrainians and scare the Moldovans into backing down. Failing that, additional air mobile brigades could be sent in – total number of troops in Russian air mobile divisions is 45,000.
It would be a risky operation, of course, depending on Romanian and NATO responses. Moldova is not part of NATO, so can’t call on them. Any action taken outside of Moldova would be unilateral. The Moldovan military is 6,500 Professional Personnel + 2,000 Annual Conscripts (2022) – which is pipsqueak. Without the Ukrainians, the Moldovans are nothing, one Russian air mobile or naval infantry brigade will annihilate them.
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Feb 24 2023 1:34 utc | 241
Posted by: Sektion2B | Feb 24 2023 1:26 utc | 242
“Those transport planes are big and slow, plus they would be flying too close to Ukraine’s AD.”
No. They can dog-leg around the Black Sea and come up on Moldova from the southwest. The Black Sea Fleet can support with their air defense and shoot down any Ukrainian AD.
“Any other support (e.g. by sea) would be a logistical nightmare and too risky to perform.”
Not at all. Russia owns the Black Sea. See my post above. Russian naval infantry would make short work of the Moldovan army. As for the Ukrainians, that depends on how many forces they send in. Russia could eventually deliver several brigades of both naval infantry and air-mobile up to the 45,000 they have in air-mobile divisions. Logistical support by air and sea would be easy once the Moldovan army and Ukrainian invades are eliminated. Or the Russians could simply leave again, which is more likely since one the Moldovans are trashed, the threat from Ukraine will be minimized as well Russia could leave a brigade or two, perhaps, as a tripwire.
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Feb 24 2023 1:39 utc | 242
@oldhippie #241
The Old Etonian term for snitch is to “peach on one’s chums” …
… and then one is “sent to Coventry’ or maybe even to Burma!
Great writers do not necessarily have to be “saints”
Posted by: Don Firineach | Feb 24 2023 1:47 utc | 243
Just trying to think out loud … we know Zelensky is a drama queen and is desperate for some sort of publicity “win.” But on the other hand, if the UkroNazis have not been willing or able to make a move on Transnistria after all this time, why would they now?
It’s not like they are in great shape, militarily. A second front is not going to help, plus it will concentrate some of their dwindling military assets, making them easy targets.
I guess we’ll find out soon.
Posted by: Chris | Feb 24 2023 1:48 utc | 244
Chu Teh @224
You are right “The Road to Wigan Pier.” I haven’t read it since 1959 when it was highly recommended and I thought it a work of genius.
Five years later I met a man from Wigan, a Communist, who had very different opinions. He told me that “Blair” was detested as a snob who had betrayed the very people who had assisted him in researching the book and had been extremely unpopular among the people who he patronised.
As to the Information research Department it had initially two related objectives. The first was to fight the widespread of popularity if the Soviet Union in British Trade Unions, among the general public and, most of all, in the Labour Party which ruled the country for six years from 1945.
The second was to undermine the anti-colonial movements which were threatening to break up the Empire and which were aligned, as were the European Resistance movements, with communists and the Soviet Union.
The famous dictum to the effect that NATO was there “to keep the Germans down, the Americans in and the Russians out’ was not aimed at preventing a Red Army invasion -that was an entirely bogus threat put together by, inter alia, the IRD- but at preventing the working class parties and Unions of Europe and the UK from inviting the Soviet government to cooperation and coexistence in order to reconstruct the broken continent, from the Urals to Scotland, and inviting the Americans to go home.
To understand the Cold War it is necessary to begin by seeing the popularity of the Red Army, Stalin and the soviet people. The IRD had a hard job to wrench public opinion into a 180 degree turn. Even in the USA, where the population had been marinated on anti-communist propaganda all their lives, the Soviet Union was very popular, particularly among blacks and the industrial working class.
This video on Orwell by a contemporary Iraqi Marxist Hakim linked by K@211 is not very generous but it is pretty accurate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Gz0I_X_nfo
There is a book, probably authorised by the IRD’s executors, by one Andrew Defty, “Britain, America and anti-communist propaganda 1945-53.” I also have a copy of the original in-house edition of “The Theory and Practice of Communism” by RN Carew Hunt which was one of the IRD’s earliest works.
Posted by: bevin | Feb 24 2023 2:00 utc | 245
I can’t help it if someone is so gullible as to believe he ever tramped or washed dishes or was a socialist.
Posted by: oldhippie | Feb 24 2023 1:24 utc | 241
LOL thanks for the reply Old Hippie. So true.
I have not read Orwell beyond 1984 and AF, so I’m not qualified to comment on his whole body of work. I think the notoriety of those two books well and truly bypassed any need to asses the actual quality of writing. As you say a club member. I don’t think dead white men are a problem nor would I cancel Orwell, but his most famous books need desperately to be de-mythologised. As I said in my naivety I always thought Orwell was writing predictively about the west, this was before I had any idea of the geopolitical realities. And if you see how dumbed down and propagandised our own working class is it appears I wasn’t entirely wrong.
Posted by: K | Feb 24 2023 2:01 utc | 246
Re: Posted by: shadowbanned | Feb 23 2023 22:07 utc | 183
The Anglo-Saxons eventually got what they wanted out of it — they pitted the Germans against the Soviets in order to destroy and subjugate both, and although it took a few decades, eventually both objectives were achieved.
It sounds like right here that you are saying the Anglo-Saxons are in fact very patient with achieving their objectives – even working on them consistently and persistently over decades.
Could you really be saying that?!?!? (I happen to agree btw).
Some around here claim the US/UK/West is so impatient that they can never stick to something for longer than very short time periods.
I would suggest these people are delusional and projecting.
Posted by: Julian | Feb 24 2023 2:07 utc | 247
“Yes, the workings of psychohistory are quite amazing in how revolutions seem to rapidly devolve into devolutions.”–Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 23 2023 21:28 utc | 158
If it is accepted that, “Power refers to the ability to have one’s will carried out despite the resistance of others.’ and it is also accepted that state power and authority has various means at its disposal for both establishing, maintaining, and exercising that same power and authority in the interest of a dominant ideological/political/economic class, then the ‘amazing’ becomes somewhat of an historically normal occurrence in nation state dynamics. It could be assumed that such ‘normal occurrences’ represent the basis, or foundation for the adoption and widespread use of counter insurgency tactics specifically and intelligence gathering more generally, as those disciplines are applied directly in controlling domestic populations. That insight is hardly novel as the following example illustrates,
“The Cointelpro operations of the 1960s were modeled on the successful programs of earlier years undertaken to disrupt the American Communist Party. Though details are unknown, these programs were no secret, and were generally regarded as legitimate. The programs directed against the Communist party continued through the 1960s, with such interesting innovations as Operation Hoodwink from 1966 through mid-1968, designed to incite organized crime against the Communist party through documents fabricated by the FBI, evidently in the hope that criminal elements would carry on the work of repression and disruption in their own manner, by means that may be left to the imagination. . . . During these years, FBI provocateurs repeatedly urged and initiated violent acts, including forceful disruption of meetings and demonstrations on and off university campuses, attacks on police, bombings, and so on. Meanwhile, government agencies financed, helped organize, and supplied arms to right-wing terrorist groups that carried out fire-bombings, burglaries, and shootings, all with the knowledge of the government agencies responsible — in most cases the FBI, although one right-wing terrorist in Chicago claims that his group was financed and directed in part by the CIA.” Ect., ect.
And where, “The narrow “elites” that control the economy, political life, and the system of conventional doctrine must be immune to the means of harassment that are restricted, in the normal course of events, to those who raise a serious challenge to ruling ideology or state policy or established privilege.”
“Domestic Terrorism: Notes on the State System of Oppression”–https://chomsky.info/199909__/
It might also be noted that as a general observation, “. . . this historical variable of invisible power . . . does not hesitate to use terrorism, both that of the opposition which it allows to develop, indeed manipulates, and that of the state so often disguised in order for it to be attributed to the subversive forces of opposition. . . . It is often also the case that the actors of the different forms of invisible power penetrate each other. Subversive movements get tangled up with the state secret services and the circles of politico-military power and in corruption or organised criminal mafia groups.”
“Preface to « The Dirty War » by Habib Souaidïa”–https://algeria-watch.org/?p=61551
As a human endeavor, the maintenance and continuation of the status quo appears to be a very serious business, even as it was long ago noted that, “all conditioned things are impermanent”.
Posted by: deliriumtremens | Feb 24 2023 2:08 utc | 248
Posted by: oldhippie | Feb 24 2023 1:24 utc | 241
So why read anything?
Posted by: Patroklos | Feb 24 2023 2:10 utc | 249
when NATO tweets on their official site this garbage you know they are sliding into nothingness
We are Harry Potter and William Wallace, the Na’vi and Han Solo. We’re escaping from Shawshank and blowing up the Death Star. We are fighting with the Harkonnens and challenging Thanos.”
might work for some young hipster soy latte types but that isnt the words of a military power.
Posted by: hankster | Feb 24 2023 2:12 utc | 250
I was looking to buy some sweatshirts online, did the google and up came zelensky brand sweats that have, so the patter goes, taken the free world by storm, he even met the king wearing one which seems to be good branding.
Posted by: Oh | Feb 24 2023 2:15 utc | 251
Russia had an obligation to protect those people, but it betrayed them instead.
Posted by: shadowbanned | Feb 23 2023 19:45 utc | 126
Don’t look now, but Russia is currently shelling its own territory (Kherson). Isn’t that the logic Putin used to invade Ukraine?
Posted by: Longhorn | Feb 24 2023 2:18 utc | 252
@252
My Gen Z “zoomers” were not impressed.
In fact, they took issue with the associations.
Posted by: Irish | Feb 24 2023 2:24 utc | 253
RE: karlof1 | Feb 24 2023 0:55 utc | 239, Richard Steven Hack | Feb 24 2023 1:34 utc | 243, Richard Steven Hack | Feb 24 2023 1:39 utc | 244
thanks for the much more eloquent and detailed explanations, so much better than my “Air Force and Airborne”!
Posted by: Perimetr | Feb 24 2023 2:28 utc | 254
China’s Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis. Chinese Foreign Ministry released a 12-point position document on the political settlement.
Posted by: Konrad | Feb 24 2023 2:30 utc | 255
Posted by: Konrad | Feb 24 2023 2:30 utc | 257
..another try:
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202302/1286152.shtml
Posted by: Konrad | Feb 24 2023 2:32 utc | 256
It sounds like right here that you are saying the Anglo-Saxons are in fact very patient with achieving their objectives – even working on them consistently and persistently over decades.
Could you really be saying that?!?!? (I happen to agree btw).
Some around here claim the US/UK/West is so impatient that they can never stick to something for longer than very short time periods.
I would suggest these people are delusional and projecting.
Posted by: Julian | Feb 24 2023 2:07 utc | 249
They are indeed patient.
They also are always on the attack. Constantly creating various problems for others, stirring trouble, sowing chaos and division, and putting them in tight spots. Something that Russia, and previously the USSR, generally did not reciprocate.
As a classic example, the Prague Spring did tremendous damage to the USSR’s reputation in 1968, but few realize that the USSR had a way to create the same problem for the West, e.g. in Paris. But it didn’t do it (probably because by that time the long-term betrayal was at least partially a done deal). And we know the consequences.
Ukraine is even worse. What was being cooked there was known since before the USSR collapse, the Kremlin didn’t do anything to stop it.
And in the end it was maneuvered into a war that it didn’t want to fight, and as a result once again core Russian territories are being devastated by war and Russians are being killed. But this time by other Russians. Double win for the Anglo-Saxons…
Posted by: shadowbanned | Feb 24 2023 2:38 utc | 257
There was a total of 32 abstentions.
[…]
Of the UN’s 193 member nations, 141 voted to condemn Moscow’s invasion.
Seven [7] countries – Belarus, Eritrea, Mali, Nicaragua, North Korea, Russia and Syria – voted against the resolution. Other countries abstained.
Posted by: sln2002 | Feb 23 2023 23:06 utc | 208
———————————–
I am just working from memory right now, but I think that a tally of the population of those countries which voted NO and those who ABSTAINED was far greater than those nations that voted to condemn Russia’s rescue of the people of the Donbass.
There are three points to be made concerning the UN vote, aside from the actual population of the nations,
1.) All of the NATO Bloc nations must be subsumed one vote under the US vote, because the NATO vote as a bloc according to the desires of the US (or should I say demands of the US). This has not always been the case, but it is today. When the US can destroy a vital energy infostructure of the most powerful member of the NATO Bloc, such as the Nord Stram pipelines without a peep from the owners of the pipeline, then the bloc is surely not independent, but rather a mere puppet for the US, and all their votes should count as one vote only.
2.) Many smaller and financially weaker nations who are dependent on US AID from US controlled agencies like USAID, the IMF, and the World Bank have very little choice but to vote as the US demands that they vote. I can’t put a number on those nations but a search of the nations that are dependent on these US controlled Agencies might produce at least a general number. A vote by such nations is not fair because they could be, and surely many are, coursed and manipulated by the US and the EU.
3.) Because the US, is the world’s Hegemonic dictator, due in large part because the US dollar is still the international currency, and because the US and it’s cultish EU members hold such a firm and a corrupted control of the UNITED NATIONS membership and leadership, the UN is NOT a fair arbitrator for such issues at the present time and under the present political circumstances. Otherwise, the issued to be voted on would not have been about Russia and Ukraine, but about the legitimacy of a US proxy war waged against Russia, and Russia’s right to demand that the US and NATO bloc nations respect Russia’s security concerns.
Posted by: Ed | Feb 24 2023 2:38 utc | 258
Not at all. Russia owns the Black Sea. See my post above.
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Feb 24 2023 1:39 utc | 244
That’s delusional.
How much time has the BSF spent west of Sevastopol after the sinking of Moskva?
Despite all the missile strikes that achieve who knows what, the Odessa coast is densely covered with ASM because some genius thought that merely stating “don’t cross our red lines” and then doing nothing when they were crossed repeatedly is a very good idea, as was doing nothing to stop weapons transfers. So NATO filled that area with ASMs.
It is also densely covered by NATO ISR because again, some genius decided that the dear partners’ E-3As, RQ-4s, and satellites are more valuable than the lives of Russian soldiers and did absolutely nothing to disable them.
Any IL-76s and helicopters will be detected by NATO’s ISR before they even take off. Doesn’t matter how they fly, they will be shot down. It’s a suicide mission.
There will be no airborne or amphibious invasion against the Odessa coast before NATO ISR is disabled, but see above about dear partners.
Posted by: shadowbanned | Feb 24 2023 2:39 utc | 259
Russia had an obligation to protect those people, but it betrayed them instead.
Posted by: shadowbanned | Feb 23 2023 19:45 utc | 126
Don’t look now, but Russia is currently shelling its own territory (Kherson). Isn’t that the logic Putin used to invade Ukraine?
Posted by: Longhorn | Feb 24 2023 2:18 utc | 254
————————————-
What a lovely couple, and they work so well together.
Posted by: Ed | Feb 24 2023 2:41 utc | 260
@ Konrad | Feb 24 2023 2:32 utc | 258 with the link to China’s position on Ukraine…thanks
Lots to like about the China position
I especially like
10. Stopping unilateral sanctions. Unilateral sanctions and maximum pressure cannot solve the issue; they only create new problems. China opposes unilateral sanctions unauthorized by the UN Security Council. Relevant countries should stop abusing unilateral sanctions and “long-arm jurisdiction” against other countries, so as to do their share in deescalating the Ukraine crisis and create conditions for developing countries to grow their economies and better the lives of their people.
In the world of Good Cop/China and Bad Cop/Russia in our civilization war this looks like China is now being assertive about the Good Cop role…..I like to see that
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 24 2023 2:43 utc | 261
The Kobasna depot is said to have 20,000 tons of munitions which I would expect to be equivalent to 20k tons of TNT or 20 kilotons… the Hiroshima and Nagasaki blasts were IIRC about 11-14 kilotons.
Simplicius
Like I said, detonating the depot would destroy a very large area. Something like 8 Halifaxes (1917),
Posted by: Sektion2B | Feb 24 2023 2:45 utc | 262
On the perennial topic of various “red lines crossed” – methinks that cancelling of the START treatie by Russia in response to NATO attacking their strategic airfields is as tough as it gets. Consider that Russia is about to field a fleet of TU-160M armed with intra-atmospheric hypersonics.
Trolls’ recurrent complaint was always a non-starter anyway, as concern about meek responsing from Moscow is basically the logic of 1D chess.
Can we have had it now?
Posted by: persiflo | Feb 24 2023 2:48 utc | 263
” China’s Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis. Chinese Foreign Ministry released a 12-point position document on the political settlement.
Posted by: Konrad | Feb 24 2023 2:30 utc | 257 ”
I would be more impressed if Chicken shit China would release weapons, troops, and the billions it holds in US debt. These are just words on paper and talk is cheap.
Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Feb 24 2023 2:52 utc | 264
@260 Ed
The Russians asked for an anonymous vote (again), that request was immediately shot down (by the US) because I suspect the numbers would be very different if many of the countries that voted yes were not frightened of unfair US repercussions, coercion and outright threats.
It doesn’t really matter as it didn’t pass and the UN might as well just be called the US at this point, because it is a laughable institution and the furthest thing from a fair, measured and objective decision making body that exists on this planet.
Posted by: Bob Jenkins | Feb 24 2023 2:55 utc | 265
: Not at all. Russia owns the Black Sea. See my post above. Russian naval infantry would make short work of the Moldovan army.
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Feb 24 2023 1:39 utc | 244 ”
Curiously, similar things were said about the Russian military one year ago today. Yet here we are.
Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Feb 24 2023 2:55 utc | 266
RSH @243–
Thanks for your reply. Yes, dogleg. And there’re other possibilities. My idea is to bolster the garrison, not to launch an attack.
Posted by: bored | Feb 23 2023 18:29 utc | 100
“the G7 nations continue to pour BILLIONS upon BILLIONS of dollars into Ukraine.”
We know that most of it is simply funding the MIC, either directly or indirectly, so it’s another scheme to transfer cash from the taxpayer economy to vested private interests. What little cash makes it to a Ukrainian government bank account will go largely to buy services and equipment. Let’s not forget that US support always has a price tag – Lend Lease to Britain wasn’t fully paid off until 2006. Interestingly, most of that was actually post-war reconstruction, not wartime support. If Ukraine succeeds in evicting Russia, it may take it until 2080 to repay all that US largesse.
Posted by: TPaine | Feb 24 2023 3:01 utc | 268
” It doesn’t really matter as it didn’t pass and the UN might as well just be called the US at this point, because it is a laughable institution and the furthest thing from a fair, measured and objective decision making body that exists on this planet.
Posted by: Bob Jenkins | Feb 24 2023 2:55 utc | 267 ”
Actually, the UN is working just like designed. Its not a democratic institution and never had the intention to be, just by the mere fact that the ” security council ” countries control the final vote ob everything. The only way the UN could be saved is if each nation got one, equivalent vote on all matters.
Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Feb 24 2023 3:01 utc | 269
But remember how NATO bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, and nothing happened?
Posted by: Chris | Feb 23 2023 23:29 utc | 215
Heh, the Chinese have long memories.
Posted by: Drinky Crow | Feb 24 2023 3:04 utc | 270
” shadowbanned: You really don’t understand how wars are fought?
Read this article about the second world war battle of Kursk.
Posted by: 2shadowbanned | Feb 24 2023 3:00 utc | 270 ”
Thats cute. You actually think WW2 style warfare has relevance in the currently developing style of futuristic combat. Whats next , A link to a treatise on Napoleonic tactics ?
Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Feb 24 2023 3:05 utc | 271
” Heh, the Chinese have long memories.
Posted by: Drinky Crow | Feb 24 2023 3:04 utc | 273 ”
But no spines it seems.
Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Feb 24 2023 3:06 utc | 272
Posted by: Bob Jenkins | Feb 24 2023 2:55 utc | 267
—————————————–
Yes, sir Bob, I totally agree and of course that was my point. The Trolls think that a UN vote means something. But a skewed justice is in their DNA.
Posted by: Ed | Feb 24 2023 3:08 utc | 273
Actually, the UN is working just like designed. Its not a democratic institution and never had the intention to be, just by the mere fact that the ” security council ” countries control the final vote ob everything. The only way the UN could be saved is if each nation got one, equivalent vote on all matters.
Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Feb 24 2023 3:01 utc | 272
—————————————
I don’t disagree with you Mr. Deplorable in principle, although you conveniently sidestepped the role of the US in destroying the UN as a “democratic” international voice for humanity. Nevertheless, why do Trolls try to use a UN vote that works for the benefit of the US Dictatorship, as if it had some kind of important meaning?
Posted by: Ed | Feb 24 2023 3:20 utc | 274
A televised meeting of burn eye and Rybar would liven up the bar.
Not that it needs more heat.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Feb 24 2023 3:31 utc | 275
Flip Transnistria and expel the Russian troops from the region would be a blow to Russian prestige, but it would also save Moscow money and quite possibly impose additional costs on the United States and its allies.
Likelihood of Success in Extending Russia: LOW
Benefits: LOW
Costs and Risks: MODERATE
RAND report on Transnistria.
Posted by: Sektion2B | Feb 24 2023 3:34 utc | 276
Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 24 2023 2:59 utc | 269
“My idea is to bolster the garrison, not to launch an attack.”
Yeah, that would be best, of course, but it all depends on the timing. It also depends on whether the Russians really believe the idiots in Moldova are going to do it. The Russians won’t go in without a plan which could take a little time to develop. Plus if they want to move the Black Sea Fleet into position to assist, all that will have be organized and the ships pre-positioned.
OTOH, depending on how fast they could drop an air-mobile brigade in there, maybe that could be done by Tuesday before lunch. 🙂 But they still need a plan. I assume they have a contingency plan they can dust off and make operational. But they have to decide what units they can spare for such an operation based on who’s currently in use in Ukraine and who isn’t and what the readiness is of the ones who aren’t.
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Feb 24 2023 3:37 utc | 277
@185, that’s easy Putin, Gerasimov, Shoigu and the central bank lady owe their loyalty to the globalists and are delivering their country as per orders.
Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | Feb 24 2023 3:41 utc | 278
@206 nobody owes anyone links to sources. You should know the background were here for ideas not book reports.
Research is on you.
Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | Feb 24 2023 3:48 utc | 279
@226 Steven. Russia can’t sail across the black sea, nato missles will kill every ship, fired from the Ukrainian coast. Remember the moskva?
Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | Feb 24 2023 3:51 utc | 280
Yeah, the rules are that trolls can just blow in, make any assertions they want, and can’t be called on any of it.
NOT.
Fuck these Ukrainian-American (or -Canadian) turds. With luck, after this war is over, the only language spoken in the country formerly known as Ukraine will be Russian, because all the Ukrainians will be elsewhere in Europe – or in the ground.
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Feb 24 2023 3:53 utc | 281
@254. I’ve suspected ukraine likes to shell kherson occasionally because they’re pro russian.
Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | Feb 24 2023 3:53 utc | 282
@264 if the Russians were smart those would’ve been planted as ieds ready to arm in all the roads. Sadly they aren’t much for thinking ahead, like chess players.
Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | Feb 24 2023 3:56 utc | 283
I have a question for the NAFO trolls in here…
If Ukraine invades Moldova/transnistria, will you scream for Ukraine to stop their war of aggression and remove all troops from Moldovan soil, and demand sanctions and nuclear strike on Kiev??
Posted by: Oldcutlas | Feb 24 2023 4:23 utc | 284
” Heh, the Chinese have long memories.
Posted by: Drinky Crow | Feb 24 2023 3:04 utc | 273 ”
But no spines it seems.
Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Feb 24 2023 3:06 utc | 275
You must channel Sun Tzu, grasshopper…..
Posted by: Drinky Crow | Feb 24 2023 4:33 utc | 285
Konrad @258–
Thanks for providing that link. It’s a curious paper that was made to be rejected by the Outlaw US Empire. Broad, general guidelines are there, but again it differs little from what Russia’s proposed before and what current international law says.
psychohistorian @263–
Yes, it further establishes the cred of Good Cop China. Although it appears somewhat neutral, the paper is the third broadside fired at the Empire this week; the fourth if we count Wang Yi’s MSC speech. All for RoW’s consumption.
Good news!
Ukraine suffered more data-wiping malware than anywhere, ever
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/02/ukraine-suffered-more-data-wiping-malware-than-anywhere-ever/
Ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion, cybersecurity researchers at Slovakian cybersecurity firm ESET, network security firm Fortinet, and Google-owned incident-response firm Mandiant have all independently found that in 2022, Ukraine saw far more specimens of “wiper” malware than in any previous year of Russia’s long-running cyberwar targeting Ukraine—or, for that matter, any other year, anywhere. That doesn’t necessarily mean Ukraine has been harder hit by Russian cyberattacks than in past years; in 2017 Russia’s military intelligence hackers known as Sandworm released the massively destructive NotPetya worm. But the growing volume of destructive code hints at a new kind of cyberwar that has accompanied Russia’s physical invasion of Ukraine, with a pace and diversity of cyberattacks that’s unprecedented.
“In terms of the sheer number of distinct wiper malware samples,” says ESET senior malware researcher Anton Cherepanov, “this is the most intense use of wipers in all computer history.”
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Feb 24 2023 4:37 utc | 287
It seems IMO a landing SW of Odessa is not viable at all. There will be anti ship missiles and mines on the coast etc. It’s what Nato is expecting and wanting. The only thing that’s really viable and long-lasting is collapsing and routing UAF in Donbass, leading to weakness in depth in the west side of Dneper and Odessa, leading to longer lasting solution for corridor with Transnistria. That seems to be the plan.
Posted by: unimperator | Feb 24 2023 4:39 utc | 288
@ Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Feb 24 2023 0:07 utc | 225
The obvious comeback is to simply arm EVERY man and woman over 14. They should all have weapons training by now. Transnistria has always been an obvious target. Don’t blow up weapons, USE them.
At this point, the lack of a 2nd amendment in all of Europe is telling. Wives and mothers complaining about their sons and husbands being dragged away. Anyone think that shiite would go down in US backwater towns? Hell no. Think that would go down in the inner cities? Really?
Cops can’t even arrest simple robberies in most large cities now.
An armed populace is a guarantee against tyranny.
The US probably has more hand guns than the rest of the world combined.
Transnistria should follow suite. Make every house a question mark for entry. Learn to make IED’s with all that ammo. Iraqi’s figured it out in a few months. Should be plenty of plans available. Every empty car could be an Irish car bomb. See what happens when you drive by it. Every sewer cover could be a land mine. Every light pole could have a Claymore mine on it.
Posted by: BroncoBilly | Feb 24 2023 4:43 utc | 290
Julian #249
Yes the UKUSA plan long and certainly do stick at it. But their public not so much and even though they both have rigged democracies, there is always a risk of upset. BTW I don’t include Trump in that but perhaps Corbyn gave them pause for thought – momentarily.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Feb 24 2023 4:46 utc | 291
⚡️🇷🇺🇺🇦⚔️ #Chronicle of the Special Military Operation for 23 Feb 2023⚡️
🔹#Russia’s Border Areas:
▪️ In the #Kursk region, Ukrainian terrorist forces again shelled #Troitskoye, #Tetkino and #Gordeyevka . Civilian buildings were damaged with no casualties resulting from the incident.
▪️ In the #Belgorod region, the enemy terrorists struck Novaya Tavolzhanka, #Voznesenovka and #Borisovka, in the latter an elderly woman was killed and her daughter wounded by the shelling. In the villages, infrastructure and homes of local residents were slightly damaged.
▪️ A Russian Aerospace Forces Su-25 crashed due to a technical malfunction in Valuysky urban district, the pilot did not survive.
🔹#Starobelsk Direction:
▪️ Both sides are not conducting any offensive action, artillery duels are taking place along the entire line of contact.
🔹#Soledar (#Bakhmut) Direction (MAP):
▪️ North of #Soledar, Russian forces conducted a reconnaissance battle at the #Zaliznyanskoye – #Vasyukovka line. An advance in this direction would threaten the enemy’s rear in the #Seversk agglomeration.
▪️ In the northwestern suburbs of #Bakhmut (#Artyomovsk), Wagner PMC fighters have taken control of #Berkhovka, through which several important routes for the enemy’s defence run. Control over it will cut off the AFU’s supply lines in the area and allow increased pressure on the northern outskirts of #Bakhmut.
▪️ The enemy has withdrawn to Dubovo-Vasilevka and #Yagodnoye village, which the “Wagnerians” continue to storm. Fighting in the settlement is taking place in the area of the Bakhmut nursery.
▪️ The enemy is trying to hold the #Yagodnoye – #Stupki area in #Bakhmut until a new defensive line is set up near Chasov Yar.
🔹#Donetsk Direction (MAP):
▪️ In #Marinka, positional fighting continues in the centre of the city. Due to the difficulty of the attack, the RF forces are trying to cover the city from the south and north.
▪️ Implementing this plan, Russian forces launched an offensive from the tyre repair factory in #Maryinka southwards towards the settlement of #Pobeda and managed to break into the settlement itself.
➖ Later, the troops, who received no support from other units, had to withdraw and take up positions on the road to #Pobeda southwest of #Maryinka. Fighting in the area continues.
🔹#Kherson Direction, #SouthFront:
▪️ RF Armed Forces hit Ukrainian army facilities in and around #Kherson.
The enemy responded by shelling Novaya Kakhovka, #Kakhovka, #Alyoshki and other liberated towns in #Kherson region.
🔹#Crimea:
▪️ Near #Simferopol, a section of railway has suffered track damage close to the village of #Pochtovoye. The nature of the damage is currently unknown, but traffic was restored within a few hours.
Posted by: Down South | Feb 24 2023 5:01 utc | 292
How does one ‘tactically’ nuke the Dollar?
… and then game over.
Posted by: Don Firineach | Feb 24 2023 0:47 utc | 238
Bernanke nuked it already and the shockwaves are still spreading outward. The resulting vacuum at the center means the debris will soon return to the the Eccles Building.
Posted by: Opport Knocks | Feb 24 2023 5:07 utc | 293
Our source reports that the Office of the President has plans to attack Transnistria, but without the consent of Chisinau, this will be difficult to do and will cause image, legal and public damage to Kyiv.
Ukraine will turn from a victim into an aggressor, which will untie the hands of the Kremlin on many things and turn many allies away from Ukraine. Not to mention public opinion in the West.
Kyiv is preparing, gathering a group, while pressing on Sanda, through the Western lobby, to start the Transnistrian case. Banking needs a second front. This indirectly confirms the rumors that things in Kyiv itself at the front are not as rosy as they are trying to present to their partners.So they want to draw Chisinau into the war.
The risk that Moldova, due to Kyiv’s plans, may turn into a hot spot with thousands of dead and completely destroyed infrastructure is growing. But there is still no understanding whether the players are ready to raise the stakes at the table.
Posted by: Down South | Feb 24 2023 5:13 utc | 294
Our source reports that the APU situation with ammunition remains critical. This case will not be resolved in the near future. (Most likely it will never be decided based on information coming from different directions).
The source adds that there is information that our dear partners are declaring the expansion of the production of ammunition allegedly for Ukraine, but in reality, only 30-40% of the ammunition produced for Ukraine reaches Ukraine itself, the rest of the ammunition is shipped by the West to its military bases in the Asia-Pacific region, specifically to the Philippines. Preparing in advance for the Taiwan crisis, but under the guise of “needs for Ukraine.”
Sources in expert circles are confident that the Taiwan crisis may begin in the next 2-4 years. The United States now has 5 military bases in the Philippines and has also received approval for four of its secret military bases this year – this all confirms the fact that Washington is preparing for the Taiwan crisis, which means that the Ukrainian crisis will soon have to be “frozen”.
Posted by: Down South | Feb 24 2023 5:14 utc | 295
” Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Feb 24 2023 3:06 utc | 275
You must channel Sun Tzu, grasshopper…..
Posted by: Drinky Crow | Feb 24 2023 4:33 utc | 288 ”
Thats the best you have ? I want my money Back.
Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Feb 24 2023 5:17 utc | 296
🇺🇦🇷🇺”Ukraine can now strike at 100-150km, and even a little more” — Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Olexii Danilov and former Lugansk racketeer and licensed veterinarian
P.S. his 3 sons are not in involved in the war…
https://t.me/azmilitary11/38906
Posted by: Down South | Feb 24 2023 5:17 utc | 297
In the 1990s MI5 security service documents, released under the 30-year civil service rule, identified Orwell as an MI5 agent (…)
Posted by: zeke2u | Feb 23 2023 23:00 utc | 204
Große Lüge. You’re a Stalinist liar a la Goebbels.
Posted by: Leuk | Feb 24 2023 5:18 utc | 298
🇬🇧🇺🇸🇪🇺Boris Johnson is ready to lead NATO: “I consider [myself] as a candidate – this is a very important position.”
https://t.me/azmilitary11/38911
Posted by: Down South | Feb 24 2023 5:19 utc | 299
” I don’t disagree with you Mr. Deplorable in principle, although you conveniently sidestepped the role of the US in destroying the UN as a “democratic” international voice for humanity.
Posted by: Ed | Feb 24 2023 3:20 utc | 277 ”
No Mr. Ed, you just totally missed my point. The UN was never meant to be some voice for humanity, it was designed to be a trap and prep work for the next trap of globalization. The votes there are just legalistic
” showfare ” and dont mean crap because there is no enforcement possible. Ask Israhell.
In fact what would happen if a nation wanted to leave the UN ?
” You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave. ”
Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Feb 24 2023 5:29 utc | 300