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March 2, 2023
Ukraine Open Thread 2023-52
Comments
Ed @96
I wonder if the “state of emergency” provides Biden with the cover to do things like destroying pipelines and foreign infrastructures?
Quite possible. As neither the US Congress nor the Supreme Court have done their job as co-equal branches, and bitch-slapped the addled octogenarian-in-chief, these executive orders have no limits on the sort of criminal activity they “authorize.”
Posted by: Chris | Mar 3 2023 2:16 utc | 101
@Likklemore #78
There are many in Europe who agree with Orban on the need for a European ‘NATO’ ….
Part of US strategy with this proxy is to also destroy European MilitaryIndustrial and replace it with US thus preventing any possibility of a European NATO.
I have long been in favour of a Trade and Security Agreement between EU and RF — sadly the US has poked that wheel for reasons we are familiar with – it keeps its landbridge in Western Eurasia … and prevents close cooperation between Europe, RF and China.
Posted by: Don Firineach | Mar 3 2023 2:19 utc | 102
The G-20 meeting couldn’t avoid Ukraine/Russia given those attending, so no joint declaration was arrived at and in its place is this Chair’s Summary and Outcome Document, (PDF) the chair being India. The following three paragraphs are good based on what Lavrov reported:
“Meeting under India’s G20 Presidency, with the theme ‘Vasudhaiva
Kutumbakam’ – ‘One Earth. One Family. One Future’, the G20 Foreign Ministers
deliberated upon current global challenges. They brought focus on strengthening
multilateralism, food and energy security, ambitious climate and environmental
action, deepening cooperation on sustainable development, counter-terrorism,
counter-narcotics, global health, global talent pool, humanitarian assistance and
disaster risk reduction, as well as gender equality and women’s empowerment….
“5. The existing international governance architecture has played a key role in
promoting international cooperation on global issues. The global order has
however undergone dramatic changes since the Second World War due to
economic growth and prosperity, decolonization, demographic dividends,
technological achievements, emergence of new economic powers and deeper
international cooperation. The United Nations must be responsive to the entire
membership, faithful to its founding purposes and principles of its Charter and
adapted to carrying out its mandate. In this context, we recall the Declaration on
the Commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations (UNGA 75/1)
which reaffirmed that our challenges are inter-connected and can only be
addressed through reinvigorated multilateralism, reforms and international
cooperation.
“6. The need for revitalized multilateralism to adequately address
contemporary global challenges of the 21st Century, and to make global
governance more representative, effective, transparent and accountable, has been
voiced at multiple fora. In this context, a more inclusive and reinvigorated
multilateralism and reform aimed at implementing the 2030 agenda is essential.
We will step up efforts to make a meaningful contribution for the success of the
SDG Summit in September 2023, COP28 in December 2023, and the Summit of
the Future in 2024. We are supportive of further deepening cooperation between
the G20 and regional partners, including African partners.”
There’s more, of course, and makes for a good afternoon read.
William Schryver – Imetatronink – has a new, pretty short, Substack up in which he also discusses the alleged “big arrow” offensive that doesn’t appear to be in the cards. He suggests that perhaps what Russia is going to do is lure the Ukrainians into starting a significant offensive in an attempt to seize Crimea – and then destroy them just as it looks like they’re going to succeed.
I’m inclined to doubt it, because the Russians are not into playing games, but anything is possible. And anyway, the Ukrainians probably will try it regardless of whether the Russians make it look easy in advance, and the Ukrainians will still get smashed. So it’s 6 of 1 and half a dozen of the other.
Ride Across the River
Give ’em what they want, then take it all away.
https://imetatronink.substack.com/p/ride-across-the-river
Of course, this is all simply a thought exercise; a rumination, if you will. It very likely contains logical flaws and evidences of logistical ignorance I have not perceived. If so, I have no doubt many of the more militarily educated of my readers will rush to point them out.
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Mar 3 2023 2:25 utc | 104
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Mar 3 2023 0:35 utc | 92
So your counterargument is that China does not like cheap energy? This from the guy that swallows whole MoD propaganda? Russia would be a lot more stable if the war was ended now or better if they had not entered it in the first place.
Russia’s military potential was at its peak one year ago. It has since lost many of its elite units and much of its newest weapons and equipment. It is running out of precision-guided missiles and is low on both artillery and ammunition. The fundamental flaws revealed during its failed attempt to conduct a “Blitzkrieg” last year are still just that: fundamental flaws. Having suffered tremendous losses, the motivation of the Russian soldiers is running low. Russia suffered more than 21,000 KIA in January alone, the highest number of casualties yet. Russian territory is being attacked.
Putin’s regime – not Russia – is fighting for its existence. Its decision to invade Ukraine, however, has put the very existence of Russia at risk.
Posted by: Longhorn | Mar 3 2023 2:31 utc | 105
The excellent Simplicius76 reports on the nazi terrorist attack inside Russia. Just as in Chechen War 2 when after the loss of Grozny, Shamil Basayev, Khattab, and the other Western backed separatists began conducting terrorist strikes inside Russia, the same time will happen as the nazi organised forces crumble. It’s only a matter of time before Moscow itself is hit with high profile strikes, probably on soft targets like schools and supermarkets.
The also excellent yalensis of Awful Avalanche writes about the new pro Russian battalion formed from volunteers from among the Ukrainian PoWs. At this time it is still nascent, with a strength of two platoons (approximately 70 men).
Big Serge speculates that the Russian mobilisation and military restructuring ran indy problems that are hindering any grand offensive plans. This is disputed by Larry Johnson, mostly on the strength of Simplicius76’s writing.
Meanwhile the rancid bag of septic tank gas Martyanov continues to repost other people’s writing and act as the supreme oracle.
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Mar 3 2023 2:33 utc | 106
Belgrade would supply ammunitions to Kiev.
https://twitter.com/AlArabiya_Brk/status/1631351218202181634
Posted by: Lycan | Mar 3 2023 2:36 utc | 107
@longhorn 106
“Russia suffered more than 21,000 KIA in January alone, the highest number of casualties yet.”
I believe there’s a comedian’s slot available now that Elensky is occupied with other matters. You could audition for it.
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Mar 3 2023 2:37 utc | 108
⚡️🇷🇺🇺🇦⚔️ #Chronicle of the #SMO for 2 Mar 2023⚡️
🔹#Russia’s Hinterland:
▪️ In the #Moscow region, an explosion was heard in the evening in the suburbs of #Kolomna. The reasons for the incident are currently unknown.
▪️ In the #Tula region, a Ukrainian drone crashed near the village of Berezovsky, Kireyevsky district, and a crater was formed at the site of the crash. Presumably, the target of the attack was the Shchyokinskaya TPP.
🔹#Russia’s Border Areas:
▪️ In the #Bryansk region, a Ukrainian terrorist SRG attacked the villages of #Sushany and #Lyubechany. Two men were killed and one boy was taken to hospital with gunshot wounds.
➖ Concurrently, the AFU hit a PS and a gas station in the village of #Sushany and fired a mortar at residential buildings in #Lomakovka.
▪️ In the #Kursk region, the enemy terrorists launched a massive attack on the border districts. Shells damaged civilian facilities in the village of #Tyotkino and the villages of #Troitskoye and #Begoshcha. Two men were wounded and one of them died of his injuries.
▪️ In the #Belgorod region, the AFU terrorists shelled the village of #Ustinka. A residential house and a power line were damaged. Civilians were not harmed.
🔹#NorthUkraine (MAP):
▪️ The Ukrainian command conducts forced evacuation of residents from the border settlements of #Kharkov region.
▪️ In the #Sumy region, several enemy SRGs operate along the border.
▪️ In the #Chernigov region, the AFU is relocating additional equipment, including MLRS and howitzers, to the settlements.
🔹#Starobelsk Direction:
▪️ There are no significant changes on the frontline. Artillery duels and positional fighting continue along the line of contact.
🔹#Soledar (#Bakhmut) Direction (MAP):
▪️ Wagner PMC assault squads have reached the western outskirts of #Bakhmut and engaged the enemy in the hills north of the #Artyomovskoye settlement.
➖ Russian forces came close to the Chasov Yar – #Artyomovskoye route, entrenching themselves within half a kilometre of the highway.
▪️ In #Bakhmut, fierce street battles continue. Russian units are advancing steadily, increasing their zone of control.
➖ In the north, the fighting is taking place in the Ilyinovka district and the blocks adjacent to the Artyomovsk non-ferrous metal processing plant.
➖ West of the Champagne factory, fighters of the Wagner PMC are advancing towards the motorcade near the bank of the Bakhmutka River. In the south of Zabakhmutka, the Wagner fighters have gained a foothold on Boris Grinchenko Street.
➖ Russian forces continue to storm AFU positions in the southern districts of Budenovka and Sobachevka. At the same time, Wagner PMC units approached the territory of School No 2 and the Samolet district.
▪️ Southwest of the city, clashes continue in the southwestern outskirts of #Krasnoye, as well as near a section of the #Bakhmut – #Konstantinovka road.
🔹#Donetsk Direction:
▪️ In the western part of Maryinka, Russian servicemen are storming the enemy’s defences. There is constant artillery and tank fire on AFU positions.
▪️ Ukrainian terrorist formations shelled #Donetsk agglomeration’s populated areas again.
➖ In the capital of the DPR, residential buildings in the Petrovsky district have been hit, one girl was wounded.
➖ A man was killed in #Nikolskoye as a result of a shelling.
🔹#Zaporozhye Direction:
▪️ Overnight in #Zaporozhye a missile hit an apartment building and destroyed several floors, Four people were killed, more than ten injured. According to preliminary reports, the munition was fired from a S-300 system as a result of another error by Ukrainian air defence forces.
🔹#Kherson Direction on #SouthFront:
▪️ Artillery duels continue along the entire line of contact, with Russian forces hitting enemy concentrations in #Kherson, #Antonovka, #Chernobayevka and #Berislav.
➖ In turn, the enemy terrorists shelled the left bank of the #Kherson region. Residential buildings in Novaya Kakhovka, #Tavriysk and #Korsunka were damaged.
Posted by: Down South | Mar 3 2023 2:54 utc | 109
@ Chris | Mar 3 2023 2:16 utc | 102
Don’t forget the secret FISA court, which has been accused of secret Constitutional findings.
Posted by: John Kennard | Mar 3 2023 3:09 utc | 110
@ Likklemore | Mar 2 2023 21:12 utc | (47)
“ Inching closer to formal declaration of war NATO v. Russia – the conditions now exists.
Medvedev: Delivery of NATO Aircraft to Kiev Will Mean Alliance’s War Against Russia”
NATO aircraft to Ukraine has been planned for months. Kirby and others have hidden behind the fig leaf of the time it takes to train Ukrainian pilots on NATO equipment. Yet funding for such training was approved in July 2022 by the US Congress.
https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2022/07/15/house-authorizes-training-for-ukrainian-pilots-to-use-us-aircraft/
Posted by: Ciaran | Mar 3 2023 3:28 utc | 111
@ bevin | Mar 2 2023 22:48 utc | 76
@ Tom_Q_Collins | Mar 3 2023 0:32 utc | 91
Vietnam was a Catholic war (I call it “Cardinal Spellman’s War”, although his dear friend, Diem’s brother Archbishop of Vietnam Ngo Dinh Thuc, played a central role as well), doubly so both to defend the Vietnamese Catholics (an elite under French Colonial rule) and as Cold War proxy-war, the Cold War itself largely Catholic.
The hand of the Vatican seems operating from Galicia East via its Uniate proxy.
Posted by: John Kennard | Mar 3 2023 3:42 utc | 112
Meanwhile the other “rancid bag of septic tank gas” continues to post links to articles others have already posted while contributing nothing of value of his own.
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Mar 3 2023 5:04 utc | 113
Re: Cost to Produce Oil in Russia ?
Exxon-Mobil in 1Q2022 said it could cover all costs, CAPEX, debt service, and hefty dividends at $35/barrel crude.
Posted by: Exile | Mar 3 2023 5:04 utc | 114
I find all of the elaborate theories and posturing in the western oligarch owned lying media a little ridiculous and the false gibber attributing anything but evil to the Zelinsky vassal state of the American war criminals and their #Davos filth.
Quite simply we have a merging of the Nazism and Imperialism in the heart of Europe again in a corrupt disgrace NATO owned nation of what can only be simply described as fascist mental shit that needs to be addressed for the sake of humanity.
Sadly this can only be done as in the case of 1945 by the destruction and dismantling of these #NATO war criminals militarily and culturally.
The ripping to pieces of every aspect of the coup Ukronazi regime and the removal of the American mass murdering nation from the very aspect of Europe is the only real solution in the long term.
Only when the American genocidal shit are removed completely, #NATO generals and their vassal Axis EU political pigs are in prison (or hung if you want to save money) will the world be free of the oligarchy thieving American class.
Let’s not make the same mistake again and it starts with the removal of the American shit from Europe – all actions and policies should have the sole intent of isolating and flushing this globalist mass murdering Biden shit.
Posted by: Timbo | Mar 3 2023 5:37 utc | 115
Posted by: Longhorn | Mar 3 2023 2:31 utc | 106
Ever since the Ghost of Kiev, “victorious assault on Snake island”, nor after the “heroic “go f##k yourself warship” -garrison of Snake island” and the guy who was awarded hero of Ukraine for shooting down a fighter jet with a shotgun (why not a slingshot?), no one with a minimally functioning network of braincells can take Ukraine or any information coming out of it seriously.
Posted by: unimperator | Mar 3 2023 5:49 utc | 116
Colin@21
Habermas supported the 11 week bombing campaign of NATO against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1999. For Habermas, NATO actions represented not only a paradigm shift from the Westphalian power politics of nation states but also progress towards what he claims is the moral politics of a cosmopolitan society. He claimed the bombing by NATO signified “a leap from the classical international law of states to a cosmopolitan law of global civil society.’ Habermas made the extraordinary claim that the US does not act from realpolitik but from humanitarian concern and with NATO this constitutes a new cosmopolitan law of global civil society. Habermas is an apologist for US and NATO hegemony. He has written another commentary recently which proposes not the defeat of Russia but the prevention of a Russian victory. This is a purely tactical re-positioning by Habermas given the impending defeat of the Ukrainian fascists on the Dnieper. Suddenly realpolitik has hit Habermas. The German ruling class, a fraction of which Habermas articulates has come to the obvious conclusion that the defeat of Ukraine is inevitable. The result of the war is over. How to end it is their problem. An ideologue like Habermas is necessary to sugar the bitter medicine which must be swallowed.
Posted by: Paul McGrory | Mar 3 2023 5:55 utc | 117
Rybar has a great couple of videos. How to Kill an Abrams. And How to Kill a Leopard 2. The Abrams, if it reaches the Ukraine will be useless and same applies to the Leopard.
https://julianmacfarlane.substack.com/p/how-to-kill-an-abrams
With Bakhmut virtually cut off and sure to fall, the Ukrainians are desperate resorting to terrorist attacks. There is speculation that they might attack Transnistria. The Russians COULD respond. An attack on Transnistra would require Moldovan cooperation The Russians could then attack through Moldova (4 million, half pro-Russian). Or just leave it. Since they naturally want to liberate nearby Odessa eventually. Locking down UAF troops in Moldova/ Transnistria weakens the UAF elsewhere.
https://julianmacfarlane.substack.com/p/a-new-front-in-the-smo
Posted by: julianmacfarlane | Mar 3 2023 5:58 utc | 118
Posted by: David O’Donnell | Mar 2 2023 23:32 utc | 85
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/germany-ukraine-war-debate-habermas-schwarzer-wagenknecht-by-helmut-k-anheier-2023-02
Posted by: Colin | Mar 3 2023 6:08 utc | 119
Posted by: Paul McGrory | Mar 3 2023 5:55 utc | 118
Habermas is completely advocating neoliberal ideology, just like other “Marxist accelerationists” who advocate that neoliberalism and globalization can “accelerate social progress”.
This is precisely why I know that his claims represent the attitude of some parts of German ruling class.
Posted by: Colin | Mar 3 2023 6:12 utc | 120
from sputnik . the interesting bit is everyone seems to know about the Transnistria invasion plans. carry the salt shaker just in case
DONETSK (Sputnik) – A base of Ukrainian submariners in the city of Nikolaev, where UK military instructors had been preparing drones for attacks on Russia’s military ships, has been destroyed by the Russian military, a member of local resistance in Nikolaev has told Sputnik.
“We have done a little work and learned that the Nazis had decided to establish a submarine sabotage unit on our island of Maisky,” the resistance fighter said in a video sent to Sputnik.
“British instructors had been sent there to train how to use underwater drones. We passed the coordinates of this training base to the proper place, and the Russians hit the target on February 25.”
He said the explosion was very powerful and was “detonating for a long time,” adding that the ammunition warehouse had been completely destroyed, and many premises of the base had been flooded.
According to the fighter, the underwater drones had been being prepared for an operation related to alleged Kiev’s attack on Transnistria.
“These were to attack Russian ships in the Black Sea near Odessa and at the base in Sevastopol during an attack on Transnistria,” he said.
Posted by: hankster | Mar 3 2023 6:14 utc | 121
And, I don’t think that the ruling class represented by Habermas is only now opposing intervention in the war in Ukraine. It’s one thing to bomb Serbia to strengthen the EU, it’s another thing to be forced to fund Ukraine and lose cheap Russian gas to the detriment of the German bourgeoisie.
Posted by: Colin | Mar 3 2023 6:18 utc | 122
Posted by: Longhorn | Mar 3 2023 2:31 utc | 106
Ukraine’s current stalemate is entirely funded by high NATO money, and once that is lost, nothing will be the same.
There is no point in looking at Ukraine’s fictitious death toll and battle stories, care about military spending, that is the real source of power.
Any country will dilute its initial elite units in a prolonged war, but considering that Russia has barely mobilized much, it is clearly Ukraine that has lost much more.
Posted by: Colin | Mar 3 2023 6:24 utc | 123
Once upon a time the Ukraine was invaded by a vicious army that overran the territory; committed genocide; killed 8m people; overwhelmingly united Ukrainians in resistance, victory, and humiliation of the enemy in his own capital.
That particular heroic Ukrainian identity lasted for… (checks watch) 45 years.
Given the Ukrainians won’t even win this war, it is unlikely there will be any decisive change in the regional identity. The Ukraine is not defined by the current brainwashed generations.
Posted by: Browser | Mar 3 2023 6:44 utc | 124
The ukranazis ENDSIEG is coming again!
„Situation in Ukraine :
Kiev sees chance for victory by the end of the year
Updated 03.03.2023-06:42
Ukrainian defense minister expresses optimism. However, he does not rule out a fall of the fiercely contested city of Bachmut. Meanwhile, Washington apparently wants to put together a $400 million military aid package.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Olexiy Resnikov sees the possibility that the Russian war of aggression could still end in victory for his country this year. “I am an optimist, I see the situation on the battlefield, I see the development of support and I really see that there is a chance to end this war this year with our victory,” Resnikov told Bild newspaper. He gave as a goal “the liberation of all our temporarily occupied territories to our internationally recognized 1991 borders.”
He rejected calls for negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He said that his president, Volodymyr Selenskyj, had made that clear. He reacted cautiously to “security assurances” for Ukraine after the end of the war raised by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. “Ukraine must receive real security guarantees,” Resnikov said. He did not rule out a fall of the embattled city of Bachmut. However, Russia would only achieve “a small victory” with this.“
Translated with http://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
source: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (The FAZ is generally regarded as a bourgeois-conservative medium.)
https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/ausland/ukraine-krieg-kiew-sieht-chance-fuer-sieg-bis-ende-des-jahres-18719510.html
Training Ukrainian soldiers in Germany : anti-aircraft training in the forest — for the war in Ukraine/B>
3. März 2023 um 06:00 Uhr
Air defense is considered one of the most important means in Ukraine’s defensive struggle against the Russian aggressors. Visiting Ukrainian soldiers currently being trained in Germany on the “Iris-T” air defense system
…“At one table sit three Ukrainian air force officers: Mychailo, Anatolii and Dmytro. They have one “Iris-T” system so far in their country, which is two and a half times larger than Germany, from which it follows: The airspace is also two and a half times larger. They would need at least twelve “Iris-T” systems to turn this war around, Mychailo says. He talks about the “high motivation” of the Ukrainian army. “We don’t have internal leadership, we have internal forces,” he says, alluding to a principle of the Bundeswehr: Innere Führung. Russia, the aggressor, has a “poorly motivated army,” the weapons systems are outdated, and the tactics date from the World War II era. “Iris-T” is four times faster than a comparable Russian system, he said. “We are strong. A hundred times stronger than Putin thought,” who believed he could overrun Ukraine in three days. What’s good about Germany? “It’s very pleasant to sleep for eight hours,” Mychailo says. But they are “not here as tourists”; rather, “we have a mission here: to learn and get back as soon as possible.” Assuming Ukraine and Russia were two soccer teams, how would things currently stand in such an endgame for the country’s existence? “The ball is in our half, but we are now going forward, on the offensive. We are winning,” says Anatolii. Recently, during their weeks in Germany, they heard a fire alarm, a siren, like an air alarm in Ukraine. But it was just the fire department, not an approaching missile. “Talking is much easier than fighting,” Mychailo says at the end of the conversation. He wants to get out of the forest in Germany quickly, back to Ukraine. To fight. And win.
Source and full post here:
https://www.saarbruecker-zeitung.de/nachrichten/politik/inland/ausbildung-ukrainischer-soldaten-in-deutschland_aid-85946759
Posted by: BonfireNight | Mar 3 2023 6:54 utc | 125
“Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky and the New President of Brazil Luis Inácio Lula da Silva spoke today for the first time. During the talk, the Ukrainian president invited Lula to visit Kiev. Lula expressed willingness to visit the city and stressed that ‘Brazil defends Ukraine’s territorial integrity against Russian invasion’.
The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, thanked president Lula for supporting the country during the United Nations General Assembly resolution against Russia”
Posted by: rk | Mar 3 2023 7:06 utc | 126
BREAKING!
A huge number of units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have been “withdrawn” from Bakhmut. There are many seriously wounded and dead, and the hospitals are overcrowded.
Assault units of the PMC “Wagner” press the enemy every day more and more.
— Archangel Spetsnaz
There might be so few survivors in Bakhmut left that it might be moot whether it’s taken into encirclement or not. UAF has taken probably as many losses trying to reinforce Bakhmut as inside the city itself.
Posted by: unimperator | Mar 3 2023 7:36 utc | 127
Posted by: unimperator | Mar 3 2023 7:36 utc | 128
So congratulations to Zelensky for avoiding “encirclement” by methods of standing to the last man. Nothing left to withdraw – no problem
Posted by: unimperator | Mar 3 2023 7:38 utc | 128
You know what they call uni-polar worlds in history?
Pax.
You know what they call multi-polar worlds in history?
Great Power conflicts.
Posted by: Old Fart Legion | Mar 3 2023 7:39 utc | 129
Posted by: Longhorn | Mar 3 2023 2:31 utc | 106
Can you kindly stop vomiting talking points from the pederasts in CIA/MI6 and fuck off from here? Nobody likes a low IQ spammer like you
Posted by: Humbert Humbert | Mar 3 2023 7:48 utc | 130
Confessions of a U.S. Senator
We staged a coup d’état in Ukraine.
Zelensky is a puppet. He does what he is told to do, when he is told to do it. He is entirely and completely a product of the media.
https://twitter.com/ivan_8848/status/1631390460009668610
Posted by: unimperator | Mar 3 2023 7:53 utc | 131
Old Fart Legion @ 130
You know what they call uni-polar worlds in history?
Pax.
Such an assertive statement from one so ignorant.
“For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many (Mark 5:6–9)”
…Chossudovsky introduces to Global Research a documented study by James A. Lucas on the number of people killed by the uninterrupted series of wars, coups d’État and other subversive operations executed by the United States from the end of the War in 1945 until now – a number estimated at 20 to 30 million victims.
Approximately twice the number of deaths from the First World War, the centenary of the end of which has just been celebrated in Paris with a Peace Forum.
Apart from the deaths, there are the wounded, who very often find themselves crippled for life – some experts calculate that for every person killed in war, ten others are wounded. This means that the number of people wounded by US wars should be counted in the hundreds of millions.
From 1945 Until Today 20 To 30 Million People Killed By The USA
https://www.voltairenet.org/article204021.html
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Mar 3 2023 8:01 utc | 132
i know the Romans liked to call it a pax. not so sure about what all the peoples they conquered called it. and what other periods of world history deserve to be called peaceful, pray tell? certainly not the one since the end of world war 2.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Mar 3 2023 8:07 utc | 133
“The oligarch Oleg Deripaska has said Russia could run out of money by next year unless the country secures investment from “friendly” countries as western sanctions bite.
Deripaska, an energy and metals tycoon who was once Russia’s richest person, told an investment conference in Siberia on Thursday: “There will be no money already next year. We will need foreign investors.”
(2 march, Guardian)
More MSM propaganda????
Posted by: ThusspakeZarathustra | Mar 3 2023 9:09 utc | 134
135 putin stated in a speech not long ago that the time of oligarchs is over , there will be no more looting the motherland for personal benefit when that benefit leaves the country on lavish expenses and is not re-invested in the nations future . loose paraphrased. so that Oleg guy would be in the class of say anything to save his neck and fortune.
Posted by: hankster | Mar 3 2023 9:21 utc | 135
The Ukrainian military fired at ZNPP security officers during the rotation of IAEA inspectors, Karchaa, adviser to the head of Rosenergoatom, said
Posted by: rk | Mar 3 2023 9:29 utc | 136
From a Swedish newspaper 3-12-1952:
East ornaments in USA Christmas tree conspiracy!
WASHINGTON Dec. 3 (TT-Reuter)
The Communist countries have flooded the United States with Christmas tree decorations – one of their “most diabolical conspiracies,” Senator Wiley of Wiscontin said yesterday.
The sale of these will bring in up to 7 million dollars, and this entire amount will thus go to communist countries, Wiley continued. The decorations have entered the United States fully legally on ships of various countries, including American ones. Only a boycott can prevent this red trade conspiracy from succeeding, he concluded.
Posted by: Uhp | Mar 3 2023 9:50 utc | 137
Posted by: ThusspakeZarathustra | Mar 3 2023 9:09 utc | 135
well, your source is the Guardian, so yeah.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Mar 3 2023 9:57 utc | 138
134:
“Solitudinem faciunt et pacem appellant” is reportedly (by Tacitus) attributed to a British rebel chief. Overall the then Roman world seemed to be rather satisfied with Pax Augusta.
Zelensky’s senseless feeding of fodder to the meat grinder begs a question:
Are there some small prints in his agreements with Blackrock, Monsanto et al? What would those small prints be?
Was reading on RT about how Alija Izetbegovic, the “father” of the Bosnian Muslim nation, had been jailed after WW2 for supporting the Bosnian Muslim Waffen-SS. So these Muslim SS supporters, together with the Catholic Croat SS supporters, fought the Serb Orthodox with the help of the West to destroy Yugoslavia. So in Yugoslavia it was Nazi supporters against the Orthodox Serbs.
https://www.rt.com/news/572283-attack-on-serb-wedding-party/
Now the same thing is happening in Ukraine, with Nazi supporters against the Orthodox Russians in Ukraine. And the West is supporting the Nazis in Ukraine, exactly how the West supported the Nazis in Yugoslavia. Except that killing Russians is a bit of a suicidal move for the Banderite Nazi supporters in Ukraine. With the West supporting the Nazi Banderites in their actions in Ukraine, it follows that the West is committing suicide also, because Russia is a beast which is loath to stop once it has gotten clawing.
Posted by: gT | Mar 3 2023 10:20 utc | 140
@133
“Such an assertive statement! Don’t you know you can find all answers in this book?”
Still on the outs with Asherah, yah?
Buddy, for that 2nd point to stick, you have to make a comparison.
Posted by: Old Fart Legion | Mar 3 2023 10:24 utc | 141
Armed Forces of Ukraine are shelling Energodar, at least seven explosions were heard in the area of the industrial zone near the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, Rogov said.
Posted by: rk | Mar 3 2023 10:25 utc | 142
Posted by: Catilina | Mar 3 2023 9:59 utc | 140
When BASF bought Monsanto I knew Europe was done.
Posted by: Paco | Mar 3 2023 10:35 utc | 143
The people I’m referencing immediately jump to “but you can’t have a legitimate/accurate poll in a country where people fear for their lives!” or “these polls must have been conducted by Russia friendly agencies!” Neither, of course, are true.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Mar 3 2023 0:26 utc | 90
I’ve met those kind of people as well. Some fun can be had by pointing out the Crimean people actually exercised their right of self-determination. I can almost hear the mental crunch, akin to mistiming a double de-clutch on a constant-mesh gearbox.
If I’m feeling particularly mischievous I’ll follow up by couching the situation in terms of Scotland voting to leave the UK, then immediately joining the EU. Nobody in their right mind would claim the EU annexed or invaded Scotland.
Needless to say, the atmosphere can get a bit prickly…
Posted by: West of England Andy | Mar 3 2023 10:40 utc | 144
Prigozhin with a shocking video, kids and old men is all there is left fighting in Artyomovsk, asks Zelensky to let them go.
https://t.me/vladlentatarsky/19713
Posted by: Paco | Mar 3 2023 10:42 utc | 145
BASF bought Monsanto
Posted by: Paco | Mar 3 2023 10:35 utc | 145
Really?
Posted by: Vikichka | Mar 3 2023 10:42 utc | 146
Posted by: Vikichka | Mar 3 2023 10:42 utc | 148
Actually it was Bayer, and Bayer has sold parts of it to BASF, antitrust laws they say. But I knew it, toxicity was dump in Europe, the consequences are here. Germany is a colony, and the rest of Europe a colony of the colony, all we have left is becoming a huge Disneyland and hope Cninese tourists are generous with their tips.
https://www.agriculture.com/news/crops/what-basf-bought-from-bayer
Posted by: Paco | Mar 3 2023 10:50 utc | 147
The Ukrainians put Keir Simmons on their hit list which raises the question whether NBC will admit that and whether the presstitutes elsewhere will complain about it – both of which are highly unlikely since it disrupts the narrative about “democratic Ukraine”.
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Mar 2 2023 19:19 utc | 26
I don’t know how successful NBC will be in trying to hide the news about Keir Simmons’ hit-listing. Typing “NBC journalist hit-listed by Ukrainian website” into a search engine produces a good number of hits, albeit mainly alt-news sites, but including links to a couple of Reddit threads. Anyway, the story is out there, in circulation.
Tightening my tin foil hat, it would not surprise me if some arm-twisting takes place behind the scenes to get Simmons off the hit-list, together with a quietly-murmured but meaningful “Hands off!”, implying a ‘horses head in a bed’-type situation for anyone trying to enact the hit-listing.
Posted by: West of England Andy | Mar 3 2023 11:07 utc | 148
Our source reports that all professional groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are being withdrawn from Bakhmut / Artemovsk, leaving the mobilized to defend the city, who will have to “run away” last.
As the source says, recruits (mobilized) are not a pity, but there are not so many pros in the army, their price is worth their weight in gold.
Now they are undermining bridges around the city and trying to partially mine them.
Posted by: Down South | Mar 3 2023 11:30 utc | 149
“The oligarch Oleg Deripaska has said Russia could run out of money by next year unless the country secures investment from “friendly” countries as western sanctions bite.
Posted by: ThusspakeZarathustra | Mar 3 2023 9:09 utc | 135
“Deripaska enriched himself on previously state-owned assets that were privatized in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union.”
“He has been characterized as a victor in the “aluminium wars” in Russia during the 1990s, which were frequently violent conflicts between businesspeople to obtain state-owned assets.”
Posted by: Colin | Mar 3 2023 11:44 utc | 150
@130
You know what they call uni-polar worlds in history?
Pax.
Too clever by half. I doubt all the folks the Romans crucified would call it peace, nor would the Carthagians.
Posted by: Chris | Mar 3 2023 11:48 utc | 151
Re: Russian economy needing outside capital or it will-run-out-of-money.
The Russian Economy has been cash flow positive for a number of years. It’s doesn’t need outside capital to grow. Period
Posted by: Exile | Mar 3 2023 12:00 utc | 152
@ 153
You do realise that trapped soldiers can fight like cornered rats dont you?
Leading to an extension of the battle, such as was seen earlier in the war and in Syria.
An escape route obliges them to expose themselves by moving through open terrain. Whilst abandoning heavy equipment in a rout.
Posted by: Urban Fox | Mar 3 2023 12:06 utc | 153
@153
You should stop being silly.
Or just go there and smell the blood and clean the trenches from the dead and wounded. Both Wagner and the Russian Army itself fight to win but not to massacre the poor Ukrainian souls thrown into that hell. Their ethics are far, far above those of the keyboard aggressors here. Prighozin himself is setting new standards for warfare, take heed and learn.
Posted by: Anthony | Mar 3 2023 12:09 utc | 154
Just guessing and filling in blanks, but in some cases it might be faster to “push” out. UAF spent lot of effort and vehicles etc. trying to supply Bakhmut and they took a pretty large toll out of those supply efforts. By pushing out, and while they are withdrawing, they are still taking a large toll out of withdrawing troops.
By gaining control of Bakhmut faster, they can straighten/shorten that part of front quicker, and they can bring all the air strikes and artillery to bear to focus on the next stronghold, Chasov yar. The new Nato assets (Leopards) etc. might be somewhere around Chasov yar which would be next prize targets.
Posted by: unimperator | Mar 3 2023 12:20 utc | 155
Posted by: unimperator | Mar 3 2023 12:20 utc | 159
Also there were reports in TG that the Ukraine troops in Bakhmut complained that they had called artillery support, but they only got silence in response. This just confirms that they withdrew all that artillery to somewhere behind Chasov yar longitude. So instead of having to waste that many more strikes in Bakhmut they can be used in next area.
Posted by: unimperator | Mar 3 2023 12:23 utc | 156
Biswapriya Purkayast | Mar 3
2023 2:33 utc | posted THIS:
“Meanwhile the rancid bag of septic tank gas Martyanov continues to repost other people’s writing and act as the supreme oracle.”
C’mon man, PLEASE cool down. I really appreciate some of your posts, but let’s vent our personal dissatisfactions/frustrations elsewhere. I see the MoA bar as unique place for friendly, relaxed (but sometimes bit OVERCHARGED) discussion and exchange of IDEAS, clean of our personal attitudes to people who don’t participate in the discourse.
Posted by: LongCovid | Mar 3 2023 12:25 utc | 157
The Ukrainian military worked out 2 options for a counteroffensive , – NYT.
As part of the exercises in Germany for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the United States is developing a strategy to counter the Russian Federation for the coming months:
▪️Surge in the north-east or east of the country, including in Donetsk and Lugansk.
▪️The attack on the land corridor that connects the mainland of the Russian Federation with the occupied Crimea.
Posted by: Down South | Mar 3 2023 12:25 utc | 158
Having asked for guns, ammo, missiles, tanks, planes, Zelensky is now proposing that American troops should fight the war for him. Because he has damn few troops of his own. It is over.
Just as we are sending less and less ammo because we simply do not have it, US does not have combat troops that would make any difference. And could not transport them to the battle in any useful time frame.
What we do have is mischief makers. Special ops and mercenaries and terrorists. Who all train as terrorists. Mischief will be made until it is no longer possible.
Posted by: oldhippie | Mar 3 2023 12:27 utc | 159
@ unimperator | Mar 3 2023 12:20 utc | 159
‘Pushing’, faster & quicker incurs higher unnecessary RF casualties … the rest will follow regardless.
Off topic,,
Sadly, things haven’t changed much since this song came out in the late 60s. It perfectly describes our “leadership” and the “elites”
Give a listen: https://extrachill.com/creedence-clearwater-revival-fortunate-son-meaning
Fortunate Son Lyrics
Some folks are born made to wave the flag
Ooh, they’re red, white and blue
And when the band plays “Hail to the Chief”
Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord
It ain’t me, it ain’t me
I ain’t no senator’s son, son
It ain’t me, it ain’t me
I ain’t no fortunate one, no
Some folks are born silver spoon in hand
Lord, don’t they help themselves, no
But when the taxman come’ to the door
Lord, the house lookin’ like a rummage sale, yeah
It ain’t me, it ain’t me
I ain’t no millionaire’s son, no no
It ain’t me, it ain’t me
I ain’t no fortunate one, no
Yeah, some folks inherit star-spangled eyes
Ooh, they send you down to war, Lord
And when you ask ’em, “How much should we give?”
Ooh, they only answer, “More, more, more, more!”
[Chorus]
It ain’t me, it ain’t me
I ain’t no military son, son, Lord
It ain’t me, it ain’t me
I ain’t no fortunate one, one
[Chorus]
It ain’t me, it ain’t me
I ain’t no fortunate one, no no no
It ain’t me, it ain’t me
I ain’t no fortunate son, no no no
It ain’t me…
Posted by: ctiger | Mar 3 2023 12:28 utc | 161
There are many topics to discuss between Biden and Scholz in the next hours: Nord Stream, course of war in Ukraine, tanks, China sanctions, Inflation Reduction Act.
“This time the chancellor has no journalists with him, nor is a press conference planned. Scholz wants to concentrate entirely on his talks with US President Joe Biden”, said ARD.
As if anything of the circumstances had been Scholz’s decision. In addition to the journalists, even the consultants are left out. Biden and Scholz will meet privately in private. “Then you have to be able to trust each other,” says the German press. Is Scholz really that easy to play with?
Posted by: Konrad | Mar 3 2023 12:32 utc | 162
Posted by: Iktome | Mar 3 2023 10:34 utc | 144
Putin himself said in the first weeks of SMO that the Ukrainian military should take over and come to the negotiating table. Ever since then it’s been obvious that RF is attempting to preserve a nucleus of the political, military, security and oligarchic factions to stand as a post-conflict government and bulwark against the chaos of outright collapse.
Abramovich as negotiator, Gerasimov injured on some ill-conceived secret mission, very restricted missile targeting, often ridiculous prisoner exchanges, and all your examples, support this thesis better than your own.
Are you going to warn us off Surovikin and Prigozhin next? …. Because that would amount to anecdotal evidence in their favour =)
Posted by: anon2020 | Mar 3 2023 12:33 utc | 163
A comedian who speaks his role, Coerced, full of desperation – boredom!
ON MARCH 3, 2023 BY THE FUGITIVE STAG
Yes. Summed up in a few words by Georg Trakl, the sad soul that is V Zelenski. As a priest, I see them as his lament, beyond ‘A-cry-for-Help’, even.
The saddest of images? A comedian or clown beyond redemption, maybe? Or, at least, indifferent to salvation.
The front-man in a ‘bad play, staged on graves, corpses’.
The coloured pictures which life paints,
I see them gloomily only by twilights,
Like frizzy distorted shadows, cloudy and cold,
Hardly born, already defeated by death.
And since the mask fell from everything,
I see only fear, desperation, disgrace and plagues,
Mankind’s heroless tragedy,
A bad play, staged on graves, corpses …
A comedian who speaks his role,
Coerced, full of desperation – boredom!
(From Georg Trakl’s Confiteor ‘I Confess’)
Posted by: Geraint ap Iorwerth | Mar 3 2023 12:39 utc | 164
@ oldhippie | Mar 3 2023 12:27 utc | 163
All true, yet was ‘over’, foregone, six months ago at least.
Stood on his piano playing d*ck when he stated American sons would have to fight & die in Ukraine. For amoral corrupt Slav Nazi’s ?
Severe self-inflicted damage that will be weaponized & not forgotten. The chained slave does not command his Master, nor send his Masters sons to slaughter in the Arena.
You know what they call uni-polar worlds in history?
Pax.
Posted by: Old Fart Legion | Mar 3 2023 7:39 utc | 130
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar%27s_civil_war
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronology_of_warfare_between_the_Romans_and_Germanic_tribes
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman%E2%80%93Persian_Wars
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis_of_the_Third_Century
Don’t ever tell this man what the Roman Civil War is, and don’t remind him of America’s historical civil war and the current “national divorce”
Posted by: Colin | Mar 3 2023 12:42 utc | 166
Estonian foreign minister said that Ukraine should be given nukes. That’s a heavy admission of Nato defeat, not that we need it on paper from these idiots.
Posted by: unimperator | Mar 3 2023 12:45 utc | 167
Catilina @ 140
“Solitudinem faciunt et pacem appellant” is reportedly (by Tacitus) attributed to a British rebel chief. Overall the then Roman world seemed to be rather satisfied with Pax Augusta
Chris @ 154
I doubt all the folks the Romans crucified would call it peace, nor would the Carthagians.
Plunderers of the world, when nothing remains on the lands to which they have laid waste by wanton thievery, they search out across the seas. The wealth of another region excites their greed; and if it is weak, their lust for power. Nothing from the rising to the setting of the sun is enough for them.
Among all others only they are compelled to attack the poor as well as the rich. Robbery, rape, and slaughter they falsely call empire; and where they create a desolate wasteland, they call it peace.
Tacitus, Calgacus’ Speech from Agricola
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Mar 3 2023 12:47 utc | 168
Source: “Rebellion by ukraine troops ongoing in bakhmut….”
Posted by: HERMIUS | Mar 3 2023 12:51 utc | 169
“Pax” Romana was very bad times. Roman slave owners increased the exploitation of their citizens: the wealth tax of the early Roman Republic was abolished; Caesar’s populist policies were reversed; slave owners maintained even large numbers of unproductive slaves just to show off their power, while Roman citizens died prematurely in too small houses; the bread of the “bread and circuses” was not enough to make ends meet, but the people were led to believe that Roman citizens were “welfare queens”.
Roman citizens had to choose between rampant unemployment and performing humiliatingly menial work, because slave owners could always get their slaves to do the work. Vote buying was always rampant, but in times of peace in Rome, elections became a complete pendulum.
However, Walter Goffart wrote: “The volume of the Cambridge Ancient History for the years AD 70–192 is called ‘The Imperial Peace’, but peace is not what one finds in its pages”.
The first known record of the term Pax Romana appears in a writing by Seneca the Younger in AD 55.[7] The concept was highly influential, and the subject of theories and attempts to copy it in subsequent ages. Arnaldo Momigliano noted that “Pax Romana is a simple formula for propaganda, but a difficult subject for research.”
The trade benefits regarding Pax imperia are just as false as the benefits of neo-liberals advocating global free trade and the free flow of (financial) capital.
Posted by: Colin | Mar 3 2023 12:53 utc | 170
China likes cheap energy.
Posted by: Longhorn | Mar 2 2023 21:27 utc | 48
USA likes cheap energy, EU likes cheap energy, UK likes cheap energy.
Posted by: RB | Mar 3 2023 12:58 utc | 171
Too clever by half. I doubt all the folks the Romans crucified would call it peace, nor would the Carthagians.
Posted by: Chris | Mar 3 2023 11:48 utc | 154
Apparently the descendants of the Jewish kingdom (i.e. the ancestors of the current Palestinians, not the ancestors of most Jews) do not think so.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Jewish%E2%80%93Roman_War
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_Kokhba_revolt
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitos_War
Posted by: Colin | Mar 3 2023 13:01 utc | 172
Pax Augusta meant the end to those endless Roman civil wars. It was never meant to encompass the Totus Orbis Terrarum.
As to the unipolar vs multipolar Roman Empire from the third century on the Empire was regularly split into usually three parts, and Diocletianus formally divided it into two and then four. That was a practical necessity for effective administration. Rome didn’t die 476.
Just admit you have no information, no insight, no special knowledge of events on the ground. Most of these meandering threads consist of persons trying to imply a secret knowledge of Russian intent or resources. It is ridiculous. Russia has been remarkably good at being discreet which has reduced Western Media to being purveyors of rotten meat from Zelensky’s Kvartal 95 Production Team.
Not one of the US posters tells us how in the “Land of the Free” they are going to engage with Washington to effect policy change………not one of these Sons of Liberty can say how he is going to influence his Senator or Representative…………
Somewhere there is an off-sheet SIV called Europaisches Friedensfond with €5 billion borrowing capacity where Germany carries most liability……..how much is Germany coughing up to buy tanks from Poland to give to Ukraine ? How much of Borrell’s €1 billion for 155mm ammo is Germany contributing ?
Uk is using the Foreign Aid Budget to buy weapons from the British Army and give to Ukraine……30% Foreign Aid Budget is now paying for refugees INSIDE UK………and not one NGO is complaining !
It is as if NGOs are lobbyists for policies governments want to pursue and SIVs are how politicians load future taxes onto voters without them noticing
Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Mar 3 2023 13:12 utc | 174
Colin, Paul.
It really is good to see Habermas exposing himself and his fauxlosophy for the special pleading that it is.
The swollen boil of anti-communism is being lanced and it is being seen for what it always was, not a concern over liberty, an agonising about the proper balance between individual and collective rights or duties, but an apology for the ancient crime of living off the avails of prostitution.
Posted by: bevin | Mar 3 2023 13:40 utc | 175
Though being quite OT:
@ Paul Greenwood | Mar 3 2023 13:12 utc | 179
…
It is as if NGOs are lobbyists for policies governments want to pursue and SIVs are how politicians load future taxes onto voters without them noticing
…
Only many years way back NGOs could be thought of as spheres of civil societies’ emancipation from the repective state’s determining the fate of its citizens by omnipotence.
First in the realm of development cooperation since the 1980’s, NGOs since then more and more had turned into mere agents of the state in order to implement neoliberal policy & ideology in the »beneficiary« countries subject to western »developmental« assistance. Meanwhile the NGO-sector virtually & in general being the sphere of state power covertly promoting its interests (the resp. state being the »principal«, with those NGOs & their employees as its »agents« ), already in the 1930s Antonio Gramsci had outlined even »civil society« in its entirety & in itself being nothing else than kind of »extended state«.
Posted by: Yogi | Mar 3 2023 13:56 utc | 176
Just heard the good news from Hollywood, Sean Penn will play Zielinski in a made for tv movie……Dick, The Piano Player.
Cheers M
Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Mar 3 2023 14:09 utc | 177
A request to b. Is it possible to do a piece on cost of materials spent used destroyed in the smo till now? Is USA using air dollars to make new materials at home or at allies’?
Posted by: RealBeast | Mar 3 2023 14:20 utc | 178
The recognition that NATO’s capability for serious warfare is a shadow of what it once was is slowly starting to percolate through the strategic community, which hasn’t been paying attention for the last generation or so, because its eyes have been fixed on Afghanistan and Iraq. But in fact the situation is a lot worse than that, and as often the real problems are hidden away in the technical complexities. I’ll cover some of those very briefly, to explain why NATO intervention in Ukraine is not really possible, if it were possible not desirable, and even if it were desirable totally ineffective, and even dangerous. Since I don’t have a military background, I’ll leave that part to the experts, and concentrate on the wider issues.
https://aurelien2022.substack.com/p/you-and-whose-army
Ordinary life would effectively have come to a halt, because mobilisation would have required all of the resources of the nations involved. That’s what modern “war” actually means: why should the Russians agree now to some arrangement that causes us less trouble? Why should they agree to some kind of “war minus,” limited only to Ukraine?
So you have to wonder whether any of the nonentities who talk about being “at war” with Russia have any idea what that means, and understand how these days even the most basic mechanisms don’t exist to make it possible. For a start, war is not just something we do to others. This is not waving goodbye to the boys as they set sail to do battle in foreign climes, this is picking a fight deliberately with someone who can hurt us a lot more than we can hurt them. There are a host of practical implications here: let’s just pick out a few…
Posted by: Arioch | Mar 3 2023 14:26 utc | 179
Outraged @ 169
In normal reality it was over Feb. 24, 2022. What Russia did that day would have convinced any sane parties to the conflict it was time to sue for peace. Most parties to the conflict are not sane.
Posted by: oldhippie | Mar 3 2023 14:26 utc | 180
Paco | Mar 3 2023 10:35 utc | 145
Posted by: Catilina | Mar 3 2023 9:59 utc | 140
When BASF bought Monsanto I knew Europe was done.
Yes, that’s pretty much the sentiment I had. Alas, Poor Europa, I knew her Paco !
Posted by: Sarlat La Canède | Mar 3 2023 14:28 utc | 181
An unasked question about the Russian “offensive ” is whether it is to Russia’s advantage.Keeping the fight in the East creates a “polygon” in which to destroy Ukraine’s fresh units. Without subjecting new territory to destruction. Operating aircraft is a little risky but very expensive. Artillery shells are risk free and comparatively cheap. The capacity to deploy and more importantly produce cruise missiles serves as a warning to NATO. Crimea is secure, losses are low. How is Russia not getting what it wants?
Posted by: Tesshu | Mar 3 2023 14:30 utc | 182
Paul Greenwood @ 179
No US posters or persons are going to effect policy change.
Last time I indulged in a antiwar demo there were snipers on the roofs. That was 18 or 19 years back. Passing shoppers were overheard remarking the snipers made them feel safe.
It is simply going to fall apart. Quicker or slower. The competencies required to continue normal life here in the States are gone.
Posted by: oldhippie | Mar 3 2023 14:34 utc | 183
Posted by: paxmark1 | Mar 2 2023 17:17 utc | 8
Entered, retreated, dead child.
Minor terrorist acts are the desperate signs of an army barely clinging to existence.
The Ukrainian army is done if they’ve sunk this low.
Stick a fork in it.
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Mar 3 2023 15:01 utc | 184
For the commenter at the beginning of the thread, thank you so much for the link on Big Serge, he is excellent, re reorganizing RU army and the situ.
I am an oldish lady following this conflagration and disaster, have very little knowledge of the military aspects and all, this info is amazing for me.Also there is Simplicious on Substack I follow.
Thank you to disciplined and quietly provoking B- who is owner of this bar. And other barflies for an excellent info, of course I am on the Rossia side. Karloff, thank you for the enlarged perspective.Believe me, the world is following, at least 85% of it is on the right side. I am in Croatia, but I am not the only one.
Posted by: stranger | Mar 3 2023 15:04 utc | 185
I am no fan of Mercenaries and dislike that Wagner guys antics. Hes mostly a clown.
But his request to Comedian to withdraw was a pretty good move. Puts the Comedian in a corner. He cant publicly retreat now or he will look like a fool. And if he doesnt retreat he will be viewed as a crazy heartless leader by many.
Posted by: Comandante | Mar 3 2023 15:05 utc | 186
@ oldhippie | Mar 3 2023 14:26 utc | 185
Quite, forces/capability comparison no question day one, then considering human/resources/industrial capacity … yet one sometimes feels compelled to offer a limited sop somewhat to reduce the pile-on, perhaps ? 😉
Your latter, indeed, puppet executive & agencies/institutions captured by delusion/false beliefs and refusal to tolerate facts/advice/intelligence to the contrary.
Ie the likes of Petraeus, Pompous, Clapper, Burns, Austin, Milley, etc. As a consequence an accelerated demise & harder landing. Did not have to be this way. Knew we were profoundly doomed going forwards re immediate response to 9/11.
Personally, continually stunned at the pace of change over merely past twelve months since Feb24’22. Simply astounding.
@ oldhippie | Mar 3 2023 14:34 utc | 188
‘Tis so. 1787 & Truman’s rigged candidacy v Wallace post FDR were the nails in the coffin IMV. What are the polls now, something like 61% anticipate Civil War ? Those numbers become self-fulfilling re perceptions/possibility …
@rk | Mar 3 2023 7:06 utc | 127
Thank you so much for pointing out Lula is bending once again to Western and, specifically, US demands. It has been extraordinarily frustrating these past few months trying to explain that the new president of Brazil is a useful idiot played by the CIA, the Democratic Party, and the corrupt Brazilian oligarchy itself. Despite all appearances, and much to my educated predictions about Brazil, Lula is trapped into pleasing Washington. Should he not, he will be replaced by his very americanophile Vice-President Alckmin, and he knows it – doing so would be the easiest thing in the world, the man is corrupt to the bone and involved in dozens of potential new financial scandals.
Posted by: Ajax | Mar 3 2023 15:29 utc | 188
Posted by: Catilina | Mar 3 2023 13:11 utc | 178
Obviously, the fact that there is no peace under the empire can be conveniently excluded by defining civil wars as not unipolar, which is unpleasant to the outlaw US empire.
The war against Persia, the war against the Palestinians and the war against the Germans during the narrowly defined Pax Romana were wars, not peace, no matter how you define it.
If you admit that Pax Romana does not extend to the whole world, does the Roman-Persian wars show that a bipolar structure like the Cold War is also “Pax” so uni-polarity isn’t needed?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman%E2%80%93Parthian_War_of_161%E2%80%93166
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trajan%27s_Parthian_campaign
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman%E2%80%93Parthian_War_of_58%E2%80%9363
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthian_war_of_Caracalla
As many scholars have said, this entire era was rife with wars, and the “Pax Romana” concept is nothing more than a contemporary fiction rationalizing British hegemony and American hegemony.
Considering that the significantly multipolar 19th century Pax Brtiannia also belonged to the “Pax”, we obviously cannot deny that multipolarity could be as peaceful or more peaceful.
Posted by: Colin | Mar 3 2023 15:46 utc | 189
Another day of 500+ wounded or killed on the Ukrainian side. I suspect that with the Bahkmut causalities, Ukraine is bleeding close to 1000 killed/wounded per day. No wonder that they are grabbing people off the streets, of course if you are a male above 12 and under 8o you probably should not be in public.
Forwarded from
MoD Russia
⚡️Russian Defence Ministry report on the progress of the special military operation
(3 March 2023)
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation.
◽️In Kupyansk direction, the active operations, conducted by the units of the ‘Zapad’ Group of Forces, supported artillery, have resulted in the neutralisation of the AFU manpower and hardware near Kurilovka, Pershotravnyovoye, Masutovka (Kharkov region), and Novosyolovskoye (Lugansk People’s Republic).
💥The enemy losses were over 100 Ukrainian servicemen killed and wounded, 1 tank, 3 infantry fighting vehicles, 2 pickup trucks, 1 Akatsia self-propelled howitzer and 1 Grad MLRS vehicle.
◽️In Krasniy Liman direction, the attacks, launched by aviation and artillery of the ‘Tsentr’ Group of Forces, have resulted in the neutralisation of the enemy units near Torskoye, Yampolovka (Donetsk People’s Republic) and Chervonopopovka (Lugansk People’s Republic).
💥The enemy losses were over 200 Ukrainian servicemen, 3 infantry fighting vehicles, 8 armoured fighting vehicles, 2 pickup trucks and 1 D-20 howitzer.
◽️In Donetsk direction, the active operations of the ‘Yug’ Group of Forces, as well as the attacks by air strikes, artillery, and heavy flamethrower systems have resulted in the neutralisation of over 210 AFU servicemen.
💥In addition, 5 armoured fighting vehicles, 3 motor vehicles, 1 Polish-manufactured Krab self-propelled artillery system, 1 Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system, 2 Grad MLRS combat vehicles, 2 D-30 howitzers and 1 D-20 howitzer have been destroyed.
💥1 mobile communications center of the AFU 110th Mechanised Brigade has been destroyed near Avdeyevka (Donetsk People’s Republic).
◽️In South Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions, the active operations by Ground-Assault and Army aviation and the artillery of the ‘Vostok’ Group of Forces have resulted in the neutralisation of the AFU manpower and hardware near Vodyanoye, Privolnoye and Ugledar (Donetsk People’s Republic).
💥The enemy loses were over 70 Ukrainian servicemen, 2 tanks, 2 armoured fighting vehicles, 2 pickup trucks, 1 Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system and 1 D-20 howitzer.
◽️In Kherson direction, the enemy losses were up to 60 Ukrainian servicemen, 6 motor vehicles, 1 Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system, Giatsint-B and Msta-B howitzers, as well as 3 D-30 howitzers destroyed.
💥Operational-Tactical and Army aviation, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have neutralised 92 AFU artillery units at their firing positions, manpower and military hardware in 212 areas.
💥Fighter Aviation of Russian Aerospace Forces have shot down 1 Su-24 airplane of Ukrainian Air Force near Krasnoarmeysk(Donetsk People’s Republic).
💥Air defence facilities have shot down 1 projectile, launched by U.S.-manufactured HIMARS multiple-launch rocket system, and 18 Ukrainian UAVs near Varvarovka, Krasnorechenskoye, Kremennaya, Kuzyomovka, Stelmakhovka, Zhytlovka (Lugansk People’s Republic), Yegorovka, Ivanovka, Kirillovka, Nikolskoye (Donetsk People’s Republic), Alyoshki, Golaya Pristan, Krynki, Novaya Zburyevka and Chervonopodolye (Kherson region).
📊In total, 394 airplanes, 212 helicopters, 3,313 unmanned aerial vehicles, 407 air defence missile systems, 8,129 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,048 fighting vehicles equipped with MLRS, 4,262 field artillery guns and mortars, as well as 8,680 units of special military vehicles have been destroyed since the beginning of the special military operation.
Posted by: ctiger | Mar 3 2023 15:48 utc | 190
Posted by: Ajax | Mar 3 2023 15:29 utc | 193
Lula is a progressive leftist and Brasil will become now more accommodating to his ideological kin that currently holds the reins in the US and Europe.
I doubt however if that goes beyond PR, lip service and maybe some brinkmanship with China/Russia at conferences. Brasil has its own optimal path long term and yeah, internal politics swing violently. It may be otherwise in a few years.
Posted by: alek_a | Mar 3 2023 15:51 utc | 191
But his request to Comedian to withdraw was a pretty good move.
Posted by: Comandante | Mar 3 2023 15:05 utc | 191
You can’t take Prigozhin seriously.
Just one ago he said the opposite:
https://mobile.twitter.com/MyLordBebo/status/1621547639622754306
It all a game. Trolling. Whatever makes you happy.
Posted by: Vikichka | Mar 3 2023 15:57 utc | 192
Also about peace, I should talk about the difference between negative peace and positive peace.
“Peace is not merely the absence of some negative force—tension, confusion, or war; it is the presence of some a positive force” – Martin Luther King Jr., from “Love, Law, and Civil Disobedience,”
Pax Romana only served the peace of a very few Roman slaveholders, just as Pax Americana served a very few bourgeoisie.
Posted by: Colin | Mar 3 2023 15:59 utc | 193
It seems that many rent-free people believe that unipolarity does best bring negative peace, but in reality it is only an ideological construct that serves American hegemony after the Cold War.
During the Cold War, the most popular opinion was that bipolarity was most conducive to peace. Prior to World War I, the most popular opinion was that multipolarity was most conducive to peace.
Obviously, this is all just a rationalization of the system at the time, so it is not evidence.
Posted by: Colin | Mar 3 2023 16:07 utc | 194
Vikichka | Mar 3 2023 15:57 utc | 197
Prigozhin/Kadyrov outlandish(?)/ill-disciplined(?) public statements = Strategic Psyops ? Neither accidental nor rogue IMV. Maskirovka sub-element.
Distraction, misdirection, confusion, false-hope/belief. Mirrored objective, non-kinetic, of Ukie Kherch(?) bridge bombing, modded soviet era target drone harassment strikes, cross-border DRG terrorism, UK supervised naval drone harassment strikes, etc … YMMV
“You can’t take Prigozhin seriously.
Just one ago he said the opposite:
https://mobile.twitter.com/MyLordBebo/status/1621547639622754306
It all a game. Trolling. Whatever makes you happy.
Posted by: Vikichka | Mar 3 2023 15:57 utc | 197″
Like I said. Hes mostly a clown but hes undisputed leader of Wagner who are wiping the floor with Ukranians in Bakhmut. So he has to be taken seriously.
Just like Comedian. Is also a clown that changes his tune. But hes leader of Ukraine. So must be taken seriously.
Posted by: Comandante | Mar 3 2023 16:18 utc | 196
Distraction, misdirection, confusion, false-hope/belief. Mirrored objective, non-kinetic, of Ukie Kherch(?) bridge bombing, modded soviet era target drone harassment strikes, cross-border DRG terrorism, UK supervised naval drone harassment strikes, etc … YMMV
Posted by: Outraged | Mar 3 2023 16:12 utc | 200
I assume all that with the cook is about keeping the honey trap there going as long as possible. (“See, they are arguing over their failures, we’ve got to keep going …”).
Since the cook is part of the Russian military …
I suppose that could even be seen as one advantage of having “contract soldiers” and groups like the Chechens and Wagner, you can have “disputes” with yourself.
Posted by: Bemildred | Mar 3 2023 16:19 utc | 197
Ajax @193
Thank you so much for pointing out Lula is bending once again to Western and, specifically, US demands…
Pepe Escobar’s take on Lula, seems spot on. I don’t think Lula is a WEF villian I think they have his balls in jar. Life as President has to be better than life in prison.
The Americans are going no holds barred turning Brazil into a Trojan Horse at the heart of BRICS. For the moment, absolute success. Yet Moscow and Beijing are perfectly aware of what’s goin’ on.
https://t.me/rocknrollgeopolitics/6334
So Lula was on the phone with the Kievan Scarface. He said, “Brazil defends Ukraine’s territorial integrity against Russian invasion.” Lula recited the imperial script without a teleprompter. So far, the American plan to install a Trojan Horse inside BRICS is a winner.
https://twitter.com/RealPepeEscobar/status/1631546252784533510?t=vZpuWkPhOI9ZxHkMRgJj1Q&s=35
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Mar 3 2023 16:20 utc | 198
194:
Parthia/Persia was never a major player worth of a pole of herself, neither was Germania. They were nuisances, not players. Even in her decline Rome could militarily beat barbars to extinction in a pitched battle. When the West could no more pay their salaries things started to crumble. Remember that Alaric himself _was_ a Roman general who above all, besides being paid, wanted the prestigious title of a Magister Milituum that was as well as promised to him.
In that Whatifhistory-land I’m ever tempted with the idea that Ataulf hadn’t got himself killed and his and Galla’s son had lived.
Posted by: Yogi | Mar 3 2023 13:56 utc | 181
Yes but it goes in reality far further than that. NGOs are the key to shaping the public towards desirable outcomes, meaning in practice influencing elections.
A political apointee in government, with of course a hard ideological preference, subsidizes a few NGOs to put certain issues that are ideologically aligned with the appointee in the public sphere. With public money of course.
These NGOs share human resources with influencers and the media. The public discourse is heavily influenced by them, both the direction and the eventual topics that are promoted. The people working there are smart and well paid, so they do a good job.
It is not who wins the debate, it is what topics prevail the discussion before an election. It is orchestrated.
Elections come and the apointee’s party wins. There are now more apointees. There is even more money for the NGOs.
These new political apointees subsidize their own NGOs and simply recycle the old scheme again so as not to have one NGO too influential. Otherwise it is easy to spot. The people stay always the same, revolving door politics.
The apointees later abandon politics and join a NGO themselves.
This is how democracy has been subverted and why trust in public institutions and media is at an all time low in the West.
Most of these schemes are done by progressive leftist. The right is really bad at this.
The worst is of course when the appointees comes from the intelligence and security branch of the government. Matt Taibbi has been documenting the snake nest of government and NGOs censoring speech and selecting which topics may and which may not be allowed in public.
Posted by: alek_a | Mar 3 2023 16:24 utc | 200