⚡️🇷🇺🇺🇦 Ukraine outgunned 10 to 1 in massive artillery battle with Russia
The Ukraine war has become a ferocious battle dominated by artillery and Ukrainian forces are operating at a huge disadvantage: Russia has numerical superiority of 10 heavy guns to every one at the disposal of Kyiv. Furthermore, Ukraine is running low on ammunition and requires urgent supplies of shells, Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s government has warned.
On the Luhansk front, at one of the Ukrainian army’s advanced positions in the area around the occupied city of Kreminna where the fighting is particularly intense, an artillery brigade is busy tuning a TRF1 howitzer cannon installed amid their sodden trenches.
They received the French 155mm gun a few months ago and it is proving key to repelling Russian troops. But as the war enters its second year, Kyiv is in desperate need of fresh materiel. “We need more; we need all the ammunition they can provide. And we need it now,” says Sergey, the brigade commander, anchored next to the cannon in the mud.

https://t.me/intelslava/45379

🇺🇦🇪🇺 Ukraine asks EU for 250,000 artillery shells a month
Ukraine has appealed to the EU to send Kyiv 250,000 artillery shells a month to ease a critical shortage that it warns is limiting its progress on the battlefield.
In a letter to his counterparts in the 27 member states on Friday, obtained by the Financial Times, Ukraine’s defence minister Oleksiy Reznikov writes that his country’s forces are only firing a fifth of the rounds they could because of lack of supplies. The request far exceeds the help the EU is discussing sending, underlining the size of the task facing Kyiv as its war with Russia enters a second year.
Reznikov writes that artillery plays a “crucial role in eliminating the enemy’s military power”. On average Ukraine was firing 110,000 155mm-calibre shells a month, he says — a quarter of the amount used by Russia.
“If we were not limited by the amount of available artillery shells, we could use the full ammunition set, which is 594,000 shells per month,” he said, referring to the capacity of the artillery systems available to Ukraine. “According to our estimates, for the successful execution of battlefield tasks, the minimum need is at least 60 per cent of the full ammunition set, or 356,400 shells per month.”

https://t.me/intelslava/45380

Posted by: Down South | Mar 4 2023 3:03 utc | 103

Pepe Escobar on TW:

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.

Posted by: Sektion2B | Mar 4 2023 3:06 utc | 105

Down South #126

On average Ukraine was firing 110,000 155mm-calibre shells a month, he says — a quarter of the amount used by Russia.
“If we were not limited by the amount of available artillery shells, we could use the full ammunition set, which is 594,000 shells per month,” he said, referring to the capacity of the artillery systems available to Ukraine. “According to our estimates, for the successful execution of battlefield tasks, the minimum need is at least 60 per cent of the full ammunition set, or 356,400 shells per month.”

Thank you. I guess to the casual observer there seems to be a high level of wasted shelling on random residential areas of cities especially Donetsk and suburbs. That spiteful behavior is unlikely to stem the Russian tide of freedom but it sure could annoy suppliers.
Maybe after the Kiev capitulation the attitude could change.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Mar 4 2023 3:14 utc | 107

@ Biswapriya Purkayast | Mar 4 2023 0:48 utc | 95
Mr. Prigozhin more and more reminds me mr. Poroshenko back in 2014, violently shaking bunch of passports (like a polaroid pictures) in front of the world, claiming RU invading Ukraine. Mr. Prigozhin’s thighs moving around his axis in circles while he addressing Ukrainian president. He’ll be better of, to enter mud fight contest with Victoria Nuland, televised world wide. Three prisoners are not making convincing case. Wagner, as whole is so much complex and different to mr. Prigozhin’s personality

Posted by: Alex Vadim | Mar 4 2023 3:20 utc | 109

🇪🇺 The European Union is preparing to transfer the economy to war footing – Financial Times
European Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton calls for the production of more weapons.
📝 “I believe the time has come for the European defense industry to shift to a wartime economic model to meet our defense manufacturing needs,” Breton said.
💰Europe has become involved in a new profitable business for itself: to drag out the conflict and dispose of more shells, and at the same time Ukrainians😄
Zin Note: This will be difficult considering they have been de-industrialized for 3 generations and now have to buy oil and gas at a massive premium over what they’ve gotten used to…

https://t.me/Slavyangrad/35783

Posted by: Down South | Mar 4 2023 3:22 utc | 111

@105
Your blather would be more effective if it was reasonably accurate, for example, Trump is not a Jewish name. It is a made up name to replace the original German Jewish name Drumpf. The Trumps are “hidden” Jews. I grew up with
3 Hidden Jewish brothers in Texas and in the 60’s they changed their name back
to the Jewish version, it was rebellious times.

Posted by: SwissArmyMan | Mar 4 2023 3:33 utc | 113

Anti Spiegel has posted this translation of a letter from the director of a military history museum in Rostov on Don to the German ambassador in Moscow:
“To the Ambassador Extraordinary Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Germany in the Russian Federation
Mr. Géza Andreas von Geyr
56 Mosfilmovskaya Street, Moscow
Dear Herr von Geyr!
We noticed that while Defender of the Fatherland Day was being celebrated in Russia, many German citizens showed an unexpected interest in Russian armored vehicles. In the news, we saw Berliners laying flowers at the T-72 tank on display in front of the Russian embassy in Germany.
We cannot remain indifferent to the outbursts of emotion of the German population and we officially invite you, Mr. Ambassador, all employees of the German Embassy in Moscow and their family members to visit the Military History Museum on the Don at 8 Uchkhozovsky Lane, Nedvigovka village, Rostov region, where you can see and even drive WWII tanks and other armored vehicles.
We look forward to arranging a very interesting tour with you, because at our place soldiers and officers of the SS Panzer Divisions “Wiking”, “Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler”, “Das Reich” and “Totenkopf” fought forever in the country of the Don were abandoned and forgotten. Our exhibits include a German T-6 “Tiger” heavy tank, a T-3 medium tank and a T-2D light tank used by our fathers and grandfathers in the battles against the Nazi invaders at the Mius- Front when trophies were captured. We can organize trips to places where the Nazis still lie by the thousands in ditches and craters overgrown with grass.
We have the honor of enclosing 50 official invitation cards for the employees of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Moscow and are prepared to offer permanent tours of our museum for German diplomats if required.
In exchange, as a gesture of goodwill, we ask that you send us at least one working “Leopard” tank from the stocks your government has made available to the neo-Nazi Ukrainian regime. It is very expensive to deliver a burned-out “Leopard” from the front and restore it for our visitors to sit in, take pictures of and even drive around in. A place for the “Leopard” exhibit has already been designated on the site of the Military History Museum on the Don!
Best regards,
Director
I.Y. Strelyayev, director of the Military History Museum on the Don”

Posted by: the pessimist | Mar 4 2023 3:58 utc | 115

Please forgive, B, I,just posted this on yesterday’s blog by mistake. It is for today.
From RT’s top article today. RT, by the way, is still accessible in the US:
“One of Europe’s top right-wing extremists’: Who is the neo-Nazi behind this week’s Ukrainian attack in Russia’s Bryansk Region? The organizer of the terrorist incident near the two states’ shared border moved to Kiev in 2017 and has a long association with far-right violence.. ”
This article discusses the huge following of Neo-Nazi events in Russia, Europe and UkraiUkraine. Included are soccer, combat events, and other activities.
It does not sound small. Very, very racist agenda for these groups. I was quite surprised. On one hand I thought this might be a reason for Putin’s slow and cautious approach. On the other hand, I rather
think that a “White” hating group can no longer get very far in the Western world. Also, these groups provide a clear and simple reason for the Global South to support Russia in this conflict.

Posted by: HelenB | Mar 4 2023 4:03 utc | 117

@ psychohistorian | Mar 4 2023 1:32 utc | 106
Same here friend. Lotsa plane flights, tap-dancing, wagging of fingers & flapping of gums. Cheers

Posted by: Outraged | Mar 4 2023 5:07 utc | 119

There is a posting up at ZH with the title
Washington Post Lets Hersh’s Dangerous Cat Out Of The Bag
Drip, drip, drip, whoooooooosh

Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 4 2023 5:19 utc | 121

❗️🇷🇺 This is what coastline defense in Crimea looks like from a satellite
3.6 km of trenches and concrete pyramids on coast of Evpatoria, Crimea
https://t.me/Slavyangrad/35764
Same video on Twitter
https://mobile.twitter.com/skadefron/status/1631783954775678977
Posted by: Down South | Mar 4 2023 3:18 utc | 133

This is a better-be-caught-with-than-without situation, but still, it is deeply, deeply humiliating.
When is the day the US will start building such fortifications along its coastline? Yeah, that tells you all you need to know about how well things are going…

Posted by: shadowbanned | Mar 4 2023 5:30 utc | 123

For those really pro Russia but angry at why Russia don’t do simple things like mass tank charges here’s the reason why. The Eye in the Sky that sees everything.
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/usnato-isr-addendum-deep-dive-into
Posted by: Surferket | Mar 4 2023 5:12 utc | 149

All those war gaming exercises from the years prior to the war that always showed Russian defeating NATO assumed unrestricted rules of engagement, meaning that AWACS planes go down within the first minutes, and the most important satellites are destroyed/blinded.
They didn’t assume a proxy war with extremely restrictive rules of engagement for Russia, where it is not allowed to strike at NATO C4ISR.
However, that is very much a self-imposed restriction — OK, don’t have S-400 shooting down AWACS planes over Poland and killing the crew as first step, that would perhaps be too much of an escalation, but at least the damn RQ-4 drones around Crimea should have been shot down the latest after the sinking of the Moskva. Iran did it, Russia can’t?

Posted by: shadowbanned | Mar 4 2023 5:47 utc | 125

Btw, both Russia and China are doing everything they can to stop WW3 that US is desperately trying to start. So both are acting very prudently and not reacting in manners that US is trying to provoke them into doing.
You might have some hidden vault to live out your days of nuclear winter but practically everyone of us don’t.

Posted by: Surferket | Mar 4 2023 6:02 utc | 127

“This is a better-be-caught-with-than-without situation, but still, it is deeply, deeply humiliating.
When is the day the US will start building such fortifications along its coastline? Yeah, that tells you all you need to know about how well things are going…”
Posted by: shadowbanned | Mar 4 2023 5:30 utc | 152
Russia is double deeply humiliated, and not doing well. That was a tell, surely you see that. Crimea was not Russian territory ten years ago, and the country is fighting a war.

Posted by: veto | Mar 4 2023 6:16 utc | 129

@ psychohistorian | Mar 4 2023 5:19 utc | 150
It is quite obvious that RU “Gas fo Roubles” strategy “detonated” NS2.
https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/why-paying-roubles-russian-gas-and-oil-might-matter

Posted by: Alex Vadim | Mar 4 2023 6:25 utc | 131

Not shooting down RQ-4s in April 2022 has made a nuclear war much more likely, not less likely.
Posted by: shadowbanned | Mar 4 2023 6:06 utc | 157
That’s an opinion. Given the psychos running the show shooting down any NATO shit in international airspaces is just the excuses they needed for outright military intervention.
Btw, the Iranians shot down the US drone on the edge of their airspace, and not the P3 that’s linked to it just beyond. Shooting that down would have forced US to retaliate with missile barrages at Iran target. And then Iran shuts down the whole Middle East oil shipping lanes.
https://www.wired.com/story/iran-global-hawk-drone-surveillance/

Posted by: Surferket | Mar 4 2023 6:33 utc | 133

Here’s another very good analysis that explains why Russia is moving “too slow” in Bakhmut. It’s those open plains and thin forest belts.
https://bigserge.substack.com/p/russo-ukrainian-war-schrodingers

Posted by: Surferket | Mar 4 2023 6:42 utc | 135

@LightYearsFromHome | Mar 3 2023 18:40 utc | 7

CNN, citing its sources in the Ukrainian General Staff, reports that as of February 28, 2023, the losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine amounted to:
-259,085 people killed, who died from wounds and diseases
-wounded, crippled 246,904
-deserted, as well as missing – 83,952
-captured – 28,393
https://t.me/vicktop55/13226

I did some “fact checking”

https://t.me/vicktop55/13231
There is no data on Ukrainian casualties on CNN, I deleted the post.

Posted by: Norwegian | Mar 4 2023 6:46 utc | 137

@ psychohistorian | Mar 4 2023 6:43 utc | 165
“Gas for Yuan” goes back to “Power of Siberia” contract. It is not the same case… The year old article, that linked is still valid, especially on third argument. RU currency, despite all odds, proceeded to dramatic recovery. However we shall agree to disagree on our views for the sake of knowledge, that is still yet to surface.

Posted by: Alex Vadim | Mar 4 2023 6:58 utc | 139

@56 Lightyearsfromhome
I had a look at the photos and followed the photo credit to Getty Images where I found more, including posters and patches featuring the “controversial Ukrainian World War II independence fighter Stepan Bandera”.

Posted by: Dadda | Mar 4 2023 7:07 utc | 141

We’re looking at easily a daily toll of 1 thousand dead and wounded.
⚡️🇷🇺 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: Surferket | Mar 4 2023 7:16 utc | 143

Orban’s most interesting statements from the interview in Weltwoche.
Hungarian Prime Minister Orban gave a very interesting interview to Swiss Weltwoche. Here I quote what I consider to be the most interesting statements by Orban.
Abstract :
The biggest problems for Hungary
“Weltwoche: Prime Minister, how is Hungary coping with the Ukraine war? What are the major challenges for your country?
Viktor Orbán: The hardest hit are the EU sanctions against Russia. They drove up oil and gas prices. We have recently massively advanced the industry in Hungary. We have to import the energy that is needed for this. In 2021, that cost us 7 billion euros. In 2022 it was 17 billion euros.”
Read more ( right click translates it for you )
.
https://www.anti-spiegel.ru/2023/orbans-interessanteste-aussagen-aus-dem-interview-in-der-weltwoche/

Posted by: mo3 | Mar 4 2023 7:44 utc | 145

I know the story. I also know how it ended — the US backed down (although several months later Suleimani was assasinated).
That was with Iran.

As always, highly selective, incomplete, manipulative false ‘assertions’, or simply consciously deliberately defective omission & wilful ignorance, hm ?
Then Iran, 5 days after the Gen Soleimani assassination: executed Operation Martyr Soleimani on Jan082020, where IRGC launched over 12 ballistic missiles at the US Ayn al-Asad airbase in Al Anbar Governorate, western Iraq, as well as the US airbase in Erbil, Kurdistan Iraq:-

“Satellite Photos Reveal Extent Of Damage From Iranian Strike On Air Base In Iraq”. NPR. Geoff Brumfiel; Welna, David. 8 January 2020.
“Military aircraft, runway among damage at Iraqi base struck by Iran missiles”. Newsweek. LaPorta, James. 9 January 2020.
“U.S. Air Force Ends Predator Operations”. Aviation International News. Donald, David. 25 January 2020.
“As Iran missiles battered Iraq base, US lost eyes in sky”. news.yahoo.com. 24 November 2021.
“‘Surviving was a miracle’: Iran’s missile attack on Iraq base”. France 24. 14 January 2020. (Or an intentional, mercy ?)

US again, backed down, shut down & shut up, and has done nothing in response to those multiple, overt, forewarned, precision MRBM strikes on it’s ‘Sovereign’/Extra-territorial military bases in Iraq. Hm ?
And no, this does not in anyway support nauseating criminal/inhuman ‘Assassinate them!’/’Nuke ’em, it’s the only way!’, conditioning/concern, re Ukraine conflict, BS.
Relentless Psyops concern, omissions, misinformation, thread spamming, Troll.

Posted by: Outraged | Mar 4 2023 7:57 utc | 147

Posted by: John Schmeeckle | Mar 4 2023 7:13 utc | 171
It is somewhat amusing that Ukraine suspended the EU-Accession Treaty negotiations because IMF required a 40% increase in domestic natural gas prices………….the coup in 2014 after Maidan because of suspension of EU Accession deal ……..led to Yats regime which then increased domestic gas prices by 50%
Ukraine has an external foreign debt of >$54 bn which it can never repay. IMF has become a US Slush Fund to bribe Yeltsin Crew and now Zelensky Crew at the expense of the Developing World. IMF works completely contrary to the original conception especially as it failed to impose Tariffs on Japan and Germany through GATT because of Persistent Trade Surpluses – and failed to admonish USA for Reagan Deficits ballooning under every successor……….
IMF is so US dollar fixated at to be an irrelevance

Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Mar 4 2023 8:22 utc | 149

@Surferket 172
The number of zeks in the Wagner ranks was probably wildly inflated in any case. Not only did Prigozhin put conditions on who could volunteer (no drug or sex crime related convicts), not that many prisoners would willingly put their lives at risk even from those eligible (you can be sure no white collar financial criminals would sign up under any circumstances). Of those that did and survived, a goodly number have nowhere to go in the civilian population and no job waiting for them so they’ll more likely than not sign on again as regular Wagner troops. Add foreign volunteers and it isn’t at all clear that Wagner needs to recruit from prisons any more anyway.
Though I would absolutely love to see Navalny conscripted to a Wagner storm unit.

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Mar 4 2023 8:28 utc | 151

@ Haassaan | Mar 4 2023 7:44 utc | 177
It, is ‘selectively’ demonstrably knowledgeable/informed, yet it intentionally misrepresents/misinforms. It has no wish to ‘consume’ or ‘learn’ anything at all on MoA, that’s not why it’s here, only spamming/shitting on the carpet, going back months now, 7 days a week. ‘Tis it’s duty/role/mission & is probably salary dependent. 🙁
Peace
@ Don Firineach | Mar 4 2023 7:32 utc | 174 & 186
Indeed, ’tis so, 100%. Figures, in fact likely low-ball, IMV. Thanks & cheers.
@ Biswapriya Purkayast | Mar 4 2023 8:21 utc | 181
Oh, good grief, Charlie Brown. Good for you … 🙁
So much ‘feels‘ on display re this issue by a number of posters.
See: Admiralty Code, re formal evaluation & assessment of sources Credibility & Reliability. It is how all sources are ‘formally, professionally’ supposed to be evaluated & assessed on a rolling, continuous, dynamic re-assessment basis. Also see: Curveball, Iraq War, WMD, when that process is intentionally undermined/avoided/alternately determined by ‘feels’ & ‘confirmation bias’, and subsequent consequences of doing so …
@ Paul Greenwood | Mar 4 2023 8:24 utc | 183
On a formal diplomatic mission, to meet/parley, initiated by KSA proxy on behalf of US. Indeed, an abhorrent criminal perfidious trap.
&
Translated, minor edits re nuance/clarity, ‘INTERCEPTION (Z)’, (TG)

From the field it is reported that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are gradually starting to withdraw units from Khromov (6 km west of Artyomovsk).
According to the Military Chronicle, there is no talk of a complete withdrawal from the village, just yet – territorial defense formations and units of the 93rd Motorized Brigade are still in position and are attempting to mine as many roads as possible in order to complicate and slow down the advance of the “Orchestra” & RF forces.
The enemy has sustained heavy losses. Executing a quick retreat, the main body, most capable of the Armed Forces of Ukraine do not have equipment, so the infantry is trying to retreat in the open (on foot), without the cover of suppressive tank or artillery fires.
A huge amount of weapons, including foreign arms, are abandoned in Artyomovsk itself.

Posted by: Outraged | Mar 4 2023 8:46 utc | 153

@ Biswapriya Purkayast #187
Thanks.
Sachs is citing CNN, which is citing its sources in the Ukrainian General Staff, …

Posted by: Don Firineach | Mar 4 2023 9:01 utc | 155

@ Biswapriya Purkayast | Mar 4 2023 8:44 utc | 187
A majority inaccessible non public Telegram Channel ref ? Sigh.
@ Don Firineach | Mar 4 2023 9:01 utc | 190
Please See following:
Here, is the Francais/English ‘PRIMARY’ source data, including ‘CNN Live – Francais’ broadcast screenshot Slavyangrad, Telegram post, open public access in a browser, no Telegram required.
Content, live-stream/broadcast screen capture @ 4:09 PM, Mar032023:

CNN, citing its sources within the Ukrainian General Staff, reports that as of February 28, 2023, Ukrainian Armed Forces casualties are:
– 259,085 people killed, died of wounds, illnesses – 246,904 injured, crippled, – deserted, as well as missing – 83,952 – Captured
This is an alleged screenshot of the previously referred to broadcast.
This information has also been posted by Jeffrey Sachs:
https://www.youtube.com/@JeffreySachsOfficial/community

See: Admiralty Code …

Posted by: Outraged | Mar 4 2023 9:06 utc | 157

Senator Biden, 1997:
“And then the Russians say to me, ‘You keep expanding NATO, we’re going to make friends with China. I almost burst out laughing, I could barely contain myself, I said ‘good luck to you guys. If China doesn’t work out, try Iran”.
https://twitter.com/NomorWhitey/status/1631214295290638336
Posted by: Irish | Mar 4 2023 0:50 utc | 96
That’s aged well for Joe Tzu

Posted by: jpc | Mar 4 2023 9:42 utc | 159

Posted by: Surferket | Mar 4 2023 5:12 utc | 149
An interesting article, but it’s conclusion is not as strong as the ‘evidence’ it presents. If Ukraine had access to such a system, it’s doubtful the Russians would have made the progress they have. Their command centres and rear areas would be constantly targeted and their artillery systems having to be in a near-constant state of relocation, so as to massively limit their effectiveness. Conversely, their opponents would always be able to maximise their combat potential, whilst evading strikes, and greatly reducing their impact. Neither of these situations is evident across the front, so why the disparity between capability and reality.
1. Like most of the claims about the efficacy of Western weapons deployed against the SMO, it’s a clever combination of real abilities and propaganda. Footage of net-centric displays, reinforced by selected hacks, designed to create an illusion of omnipotence that greatly boosts any real effectiveness, the ‘Tiger tank syndrome’.
2. The system works as designed, but only at a strategic and operational level as the tactical platforms are seriously compromised by Russian EW. This might explain the inability of Ukraine to launch effective counter-attacks, after positioning itself in an operationally advantageous position.
3. The system works at all levels but has nowhere near the coverage suggested, if the system worked as advertised, the amount of data generated would overwhelm the operators, a common failing of net-centric technology.
4. Related to 3). The system makes wide use of algorithms to manage the data flow and these algorithms can be fooled by phantom movements of high priority targets, which might explain the Twitter footage of heavily laden trains moving around.
5. Russia’s use of decoys and ‘phantom’ units, coupled with her ability to camouflage key units, has seriously degraded the complex, generating false pictures of the battlefield.
6. The all seeing eye’s capabilities are being exaggerated by the Russians to deflect criticism, by blaming it for the slow operational tempo and mis-steps in task planning and execution.
7. The system works, but the efficacy of Russian counter-measures seriously restrict it’s ability to act as a force-multiplier, which has huge strategic ramifications.
8. Just as Russia is operating under geo-political restraints, in it’s conduct and prosecution of the SMO, so is NATO, meaning the IRS complex is not assisting The UA to it’s full capabilities
9. All of the above.

Posted by: Milites | Mar 4 2023 10:09 utc | 161

Rheinmetall planning to open tank factory in Ukraine by 2026. That sounds completely crazy, but the most likely explanation is they are offered some EU subsidies.
That will be a nice target for Mr. Kinzhal.
Posted by: unimperator | Mar 4 2023 9:25 utc | 182
.
.
Well maybe also because the Ukraine would take hundreds of them (financed by US)!
But even if the first LEOS were burning, hardly anyone would buy them!
Example howitzer 2000 …. all ALL orders for these were canceled !!!
In the event that this burns or does not show the desired effect and reliability, the Leo will behave similarly as in advertising videos.
But Ukraine buys (must) then buy everything… er, if YOU can figure these out???

Posted by: mo3 | Mar 4 2023 10:20 utc | 163

Posted by: Milites | Mar 4 2023 10:09 utc | 184
Modern weaponry at the time of WWI, just made war static for years, until it was no more the case starting with 1918 German offensives in France.
Expect same thing with current trend.

Posted by: Greg Galloway | Mar 4 2023 10:30 utc | 165

General Dominique Trinquand said the version of events put forward by Hersh was credible (…)
The UTube link would be useful
Posted by: Don Firineach | Mar 4 2023 8:28 utc

Here it is. No English subtitles.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NEXTgy7s9bg
In Frankrijstan, General Dominique Trinquand is considered an expert since he usually doesn’t say anything other than what all the other so-called Frankrijstani experts say. Unprovoked aggression, failure of the Russian army etc. People who think differently are not invited to come and debate.

Posted by: Leuk | Mar 4 2023 11:14 utc | 167

Others have mentioned Jeffrey Sachs, who certainly knows something about Russia: He was the genocidalist who, together with Anders Aslund, imposed “Shock Therapy” on the Russian economy in the early 1990s.
Posted by: John Schmeeckle | Mar 4 2023 10:55 utc | 170

Sachs is a very curious case.
He talks about what he did in the early 1990s as a mistake he regrets, but, most importantly, supposedly it wwas an honest mistake. As if he didn’t understand the consequences of what he was doing.
That doesn’t make it any better — if he really didn’t understand the consequences and he was acting in good faith, that means he is both a complete idiot that can be easily fooled by even the simplest con scheme, and he also doesn’t know anything about economics!
Because it was obvious to everyone with a room temperature IQ and above what that kind of shock therapy would do. Some of us watched it live and remember it very well — it was predictable and predicted.

Posted by: shadowbanned | Mar 4 2023 11:20 utc | 169

Interesting video on WarNews of Progozhin making an appeal to Zelensky to allow his forces to leave. What’s interesting are the three “soldiers” who appear on the video after Prigozhin. Looks like Ukraine is really scraping the bottom of the barrel. The article is in Greek. I’m putting it up here just for the video.
https://warnews247.gr/chaotiki-ypochorisi-ton-oukranikon-dynameon-apo-to-bakhmut-anatinaxan-dromous-gefyres-dekades-nekroi-aichmalotoi-egklovismenoi/

Posted by: Kellen Cramer | Mar 4 2023 11:40 utc | 171

Posted by: Humbert Humbert | Mar 4 2023 11:56 utc | 176
A couple of 800kg drones in some US facility would be entertaining coincidence.
That said, there is an actual red line somewhere, but the point in making statements is to dissuade US from actually approaching said red line (which is probably something that’s not advertised aloud).

Posted by: unimperator | Mar 4 2023 12:01 utc | 173

Why do you think you know what is the real red line for Russia? Its tedious to wade through your meaningless prognostications since you know nothing.
Imo, any attack on unique military plants will be a really good excuse for the Russians to drop a nuke on US or their vassalages. Plenty of targets as well.
Posted by: Humbert Humbert | Mar 4 2023 11:56 utc | 176

Do we need to know what the red line is?
Is the US planning on stopping the escalation or on escalating even further? Quite clearly it’s the latter, so whatever the red line is, it will be crossed at the some point, unless the escalation is cut off early with a decisive conventional response.
P.S. Nuclear strategy says there will be no demonstration nukes against NATO. Everything will be launched with total annihilation as the goal with no warning. Then you hope to be able to sink as many subs as you can before they launch (though unfortunately this isn’t the USSR with its enormous navy), shoot down as many of the SLBMs as possible, then shoot down however many you can of whatever MIRVs get through, and have the population in shelters on time (though that clashes a bit with the no warning requirement). There will still be hits, but hopefully it’s not complete destruction and you don’t lose all of your cities.
Demonstration strikes in Ukraine are a different matter, e.g. sealing the tunnel under the Carpathian mountains, severing all road and railway links with Poland, etc. Arguably should have been done already (but only as a third step of escalation after an underground test, and then a surface test from an actual ICBMs launch and if the first two didn’t work).

Posted by: shadowbanned | Mar 4 2023 12:21 utc | 175

This piece at Politico about the Oral History of US & Western officials reaction from about 2021 April onwards to the beginning of the military escalation is quite a read.
Now it matters very little if the words and sentiments by any of the main actors were as reported. I can’t even begin to figure out what is NOT reported. Fact checking is somebody else’s business still. But the intent of painting a picture of these hard working diplomats and military experts pulling all-nighters just to understand what was going on is obviously for an HBO Max mini series or some such thing. Perhaps it’s being produced already, found footage style. Looking forward to Season 2 about drones and satellites blowing up tanks, boats and pipes. Get yer popcorn ready.
p.s.: it’s a long read, take a break by watching puppies and/or kittens frolicking or something..

Posted by: Fuzzy Wuzzy | Mar 4 2023 12:32 utc | 177

It appears possibly, the US is recognizing the the assault on Russia is not producing nor will produce the desired results it would like to move on to the matter of China in what should prove to be the crowning acheivement on the neocon to-do list. It can leave the matter of Ukraine to the diplomats to work out an acceptable definition of “winning”. The fun and excitement have gone out of it, surely the malignancy will continue for some years.
I suspect the objective in Taiwan is much the same as that in Hong Kong – not expecting to go to war some much as make China appear and agreesor and reinforce military association in Japan and S Korea and others. It makes some people very wealthy and powerful and increases the coherence of the empire, but I think the downside is that vassals to not perform as well as sovereigns and will soon become liabilities – house of cards.
Most of us will likely not see the resolution. Better maybe to work on the garden and leave it to the pros.

Posted by: jared | Mar 4 2023 13:09 utc | 179

@ Posted by: CommiesGOFY | Mar 4 2023 12:48 utc | 182
Yes, well the curious thing is that the motivation is the industrial decline of the west and using political friction and then war and then want as a motivation to reindustrialize.
They might have simply begun efforts to become competitive, but cant seem to pull it together so rather start breaking things.

Posted by: jared | Mar 4 2023 13:16 utc | 181

Financial Times interviewed a participant in the terrorist attack on Bryansk villages
The British Financial Times published an interview with Denis Kapustin (Nikitin), a neo-Nazi employee of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine, one of the participants in the terrorist attack on the Bryansk villages.
Nikitin stated that the raid was coordinated with the Ukrainian authorities. Otherwise, he said, the group would not have been able to cross the Russian border.
He confirmed that about 45 people participated in the raid.
Earlier, incidentally, the Kiev authorities claimed that what was happening was a civil war inside Russia, which Ukraine had nothing to do with.

Posted by: Sektion2B | Mar 4 2023 13:17 utc | 183

@ Posted by: Accidentshappy | Mar 4 2023 13:11 utc | 185
Yes and they might also join the Mickey Mouse Club and Russia would be powerless to stop them.
Joining NATO, for little, weak countries in particular, is simply a case of yielding sovereignty and security to a foreign buraucracy. Some people will become more wealthy and feel more influencial. Ukraine is active demonstration of the benfits of NATO membership.

Posted by: jared | Mar 4 2023 13:25 utc | 185

A huge amount of weapons, including foreign arms, are abandoned in Artyomovsk itself.
Money shot!
A leopard tank would make a nice war trophy.
On the topic of Europe setting their remaining “industry” on a war footing, let’s get real.
Europe is populated with soy bois and beta males better suited to work as manicurists than do hard work in factories.
They would have to press gang Muslim refugees, and that would not end well for the sissies in leadership positions.

Posted by: Chris | Mar 4 2023 13:58 utc | 187

194:
“Europe is populated with soy boys and beta males better suited to work as manicurists than do hard work in factories.”
Quite recently a bunch of CS-players complained that the meals serviced in tournaments was too bad and tasteless so they had to buy adequate meals from outside on their own. I heard it on a train while returning from a chess tournament where loaves of bread with margarine and slices of sausage were serviced and heartily consumed with coffee.

Posted by: Catilina | Mar 4 2023 14:29 utc | 189

“ It would seem that the Ukrainians had sought publicity before they discovered that they had massacred their own troops.
Posted by: Elmer Fudd | Mar 3 2023 23:08 utc | 63 “
[Surrender or] “die, no escape allowed should be the policy. This has dragged on for too long.
Posted by: shadowbanned | Mar 4 2023 1:10 utc | 89”
Russian soldiers are not as bloodthirsty as the computer games Hollywood tough guy automatons. However It is natzo policy – no native Ukrainians left to reclaim their lands from the Finks of Blackrocks who will own vast GM fields to control famines in the Collective Waste they are creating.
Let’s not forget it is natzo command and control operating the weapons from far behind the front lines.

Posted by: DunGroanin | Mar 4 2023 14:39 utc | 191

“Ukraine needs 600 to 800 tanks to win”

Armin Papperger → Link to Wikileaks, head of the Düsseldorf armaments group Rheinmetall, wants to build a tank factory in Ukraine. He demands 300 billion euros from politicians for the Bundeswehr and praises it Defense Minister Pistorius. He is happy about the rise to the Dax. (…)
The Düsseldorf armaments group Rheinmetall is negotiating with the government in Kiev about the construction of a tank factory in Ukraine.
CEO Armin Papperger (60) hopes for a decision in the next two months and speaks of a possible investment of 200 million euros. (…)
A Rheinmetall spokesman recently said that Russia’s attack on Ukraine had strengthened the company’s positive economic prospects. “We have years of strong growth ahead of us.”
With around 29,500 employees, 15,000 of them in Germany, Rheinmetall is Germany’s largest armaments group. The company has added jobs over the past year.
On Friday evening, Deutsche Börse announced that Rheinmetall would be included in the leading German index, the Dax. The Düsseldorf-based company will replace the dialysis specialist Fresenius Medical Care AG in the first German stock exchange league from March 20th. FMC then descends into the index of medium-sized stocks, the MDax.
Rheinmetall currently has a market value of more than 10.8 billion euros. The share price has almost doubled since the Russian invasion of Ukraine a little over a year ago.

For €200 million in investments you can already built a “tank factory” in Ukraine? I doubt that. Sure, the country is ruined, but this looks more like a Leopard I and II maintenance facility that would always be a legitimate Russian target. Anyway, it is a future plan and the thought alone counts: the NATOnalization of this war construction called “Ukraine” continues and the and the German elite are losing their minds.
“Ukraine needs 600 to 800 tanks to win”
Allegedly, the Ukraine is said to “already be in possession of 500 to 600 Russian tanks,” as German Think Tanks are still claiming. With an additional 180 Leopards I and II, that should be enough for a win. True, that’s mockery from my part, but it’s also sad how people work with illusions. Anyone who is reading here has known for months that there is a lack of artillery for the Ukraine.
Armor giants in 2018- Rheinmetall ist just a dwarf compared to the big money league:
https://www.bild.de/ig/c6e3271f-f913-4072-ae75-3a20bc333d01/mobile/mobile.gif

Posted by: Konrad | Mar 4 2023 15:10 utc | 193

The biggest unknown (at least to me) is how will Russia and China respond when Iran is attacked? And at the moment, it is possibly the only true unknown preventing such an attack from happening.

Posted by: thecelticwithinme | Mar 4 2023 15:35 utc | 195

The biggest unknown (at least to me) is how will Russia and China respond when Iran is attacked? And at the moment, it is possibly the only true unknown preventing such an attack from happening.
Posted by: thecelticwithinme | Mar 4 2023 15:35 utc | 202

They’ll welcome it (unless it’s a nuclear attack, of course). That might even be the trigger for China taking back Taiwan and perhaps for North Korea finally taking over South Korea. By that time the US might be at the point where it has to be sending its own troops to Ukraine too if it is not to be fully lost.
Make the US fight on four fronts, three of them land wars (at which they have never particularly excelled historically).

Posted by: shadowbanned | Mar 4 2023 15:42 utc | 197

Few American know and are unaccquainted.
Lookie at this map: Putin annexed vast territory without lifting his pinkie.
Russian Deputy UN Envoy Renames US, UK After Biden Spox Calls Russia ‘People’s Republic of Russia’

Biden press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has a reputation for putting her foot in her mouth. At a press conference on Friday, she announced that President Biden and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen would be discussing ways to “address the challenges posed by the People’s Republic of Russia.”
Russian first deputy permanent representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyanskiy did a bit of light trolling of Biden’s press secretary over her new name for the Russian Federation, coming up with a couple alternative names for the United States and the United Kingdom.[.]
The Russian diplomat wasn’t the only one to notice the new name for the Eurasian nation. “I guess the two countries merged when nobody was looking,” one person quipped, implying the ‘People’s Republic of Russia’ may be a reference to Russia and China. “The woman is a prophet. The People’s Republic of Russia is acquiring contours in the world’s imagination,” another joked. “The People’s Republic of Russia’ has already happened. [.]
Source: LINK Sputniknews

I’ll leave it there.

Posted by: Likklemore | Mar 4 2023 16:00 utc | 199