re: De-Dollarization

Should be a fascinating Monday and rest of week; given the US bank run last Friday. Wonder how Foreigners react ?

Posted by: Exile | Mar 12 2023 14:11 utc | 1

Absolute, incomplete, low-ball KIA(only) 415+ ... Translated:

Summary of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on the progress of a special military operation (12.03.2023)

◽️ In the Kupyansk direction, artillery fire of the "Western" grouping of troops during the day struck AFU units in the areas of Masyutovka, Dvurechnaya, Pershotravneve of Kharkiv Region and Novoselovskoye of Luhansk People's Republic.

◽️ In addition, the actions of five sabotage and reconnaissance groups were suppressed in the areas of Stelmakhovka of the Luhansk People's Republic, Sinkovka, Liman First and Berestovoye of the Kharkiv region. Casualties of the enemy in this direction for a day amounted to 45 Ukrainian soldiers, two armored fighting vehicles and four vehicles.

◽️ In the Krasno-Limansky direction, active actions of units, strikes by assault and army aviation, artillery fire and heavy firing systems of the Group of Forces Center hit the enemy's manpower and equipment in the areas of Ploshchanka of the Lugansk People's Republic, Terny, Yampolovka and Hryhorovka of the Donetsk People's Republic.

💥 Up to 100 Ukrainian servicemen, an armored fighting vehicle, four pickup trucks, a D-30 howitzer and a Gvozdika self-propelled artillery unit were destroyed in this direction during the day.

◽️ In the Donetsk direction as a result of active actions of the units supported by the artillery of the "Southern" group of troops during the day more than 220 Ukrainian servicemen, an infantry fighting vehicle, three armored combat vehicles, seven vehicles, as well as a D-30 howitzer were destroyed.

◽️ In the South Donetsk and Zaporizhia directions, artillery fire of the Vostok Group of Forces hit AFU units in the areas of Ugledar, Prechistovka and Zolotaya Niva settlements of the Donetsk People's Republic.

◽️ Also in the areas of Novomikhailovka of the Donetsk People's Republic, Levadnoye and Marfopol of the Zaporizhzhya region, the actions of three sabotage and reconnaissance groups were suppressed. During the day more than 50 Ukrainian servicemen, two armored fighting vehicles, four vehicles and a D-30 howitzer were destroyed in these directions.

◽️ In the Kherson direction in the course of the counterbattery fight the self-propelled artillery unit "Gvozdika" was destroyed.

💥 Operational-tactical and army aviation, missile troops and artillery of groups of troops (forces) of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation during the day hit 81 artillery units of the AFU at firing positions, manpower and equipment in 157 areas.

💥 The command posts of the 111th Brigade of Territorial Defense and the 25th Airborne Brigade of the AFU were hit in the areas of Krasny Liman and Drobyshevo of the Donetsk People's Republic. An ammunition depot of the AFU group located on the territory of the Ukrenergochermet enterprise was destroyed near Zaporizhzhia city.

💥 Two Mi-8 helicopters of the Ukrainian Air Force were shot down by anti-aircraft defense forces in the areas of Temirivka (Zaporizhzhia region) and Dvurechnaya (Kharkiv region).

◽️ In addition, seven HIMARS and Uragan MBRLS rockets were intercepted during the day, and a Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle was destroyed near the village of Chervonyi Mayak, Kherson region.

📊 In total, since the beginning of the special military operation destroyed (losses over previous 24hrs(+?)):
400 aircraft, (Daily avg 1.1)
220(+2) helicopters, (Daily avg 0.6)
3,385(+1) unmanned aerial vehicles, (Daily avg 8.9)
411 surface-to-air missile systems, (Daily avg 1.1)
8,275(+11) tanks and other armored combat vehicles, (Daily avg 21.8)
1,055 multiple rocket launchers, (Daily avg 2.8)
4,326(+5) field artillery and mortars, (Daily avg 11.4) and
8,879(+22) special military vehicles. (Daily avg 23.3)

Comment:

Increase in OP tempo of ~50% compared to preceding 48hrs.

AFU held in contact all along FEBA, by RF superior direct & indirect Fires & rolling RuAF & Army Close Air Support(CAS) & air strikes. AFU under sustained localized offensive OPs & disadvantageous attrition on five fronts. Further double envelopments developing beyond Bahkmut, especially re pseudo-fortress Avdiivka.

RF Bahkmut outer defense lines & flanks being expanded upon & developed in-depth re possible AFU counter-attack re attempted relief of 'doomed' Bahkmut.

Posted by: Outraged | Mar 12 2023 14:18 utc | 2

https://t.me/ukraina_ru/137144

Humanitarian aid in Ukrainian depot. A manager offers to smuggle anything out for a reasonable fee. Nothing interesting, actually, stereotypical украинский прапорщик, kind of those who corrupt Soviet army and armed LDPR armies in 2014, because they "know what real life is".

Curios thing is dried peas bags. They are western humanitarian aid to Ukraine... And they are "made in Ukraine". Aidy aid ;-)

Posted by: Arioch | Mar 12 2023 14:32 utc | 3

live ua is showing the donetsk water plant under russian control. Any of you telegram folks got info?

Posted by: neofeudalfuture | Mar 12 2023 14:37 utc | 4

@2 outraged, bahkmut is stalled. Ukrainian reinforcements have stabilized the line there and russia should really, really be ready for anything. Ukraine didnt throw conscripts to tie up Russian troops just for fun, it was for time for a counter strike.

I also believe russia is looking to envelop ugledar and mariinka as well by pushing through the open fields. Not tomorrow but ukraine is lacking troops to cover the space between them. Defending ugledar hasnt been all russians dying in the fields. Theres been a lot of ranged strikes there and its not a big town.

Posted by: neofeudalfuture | Mar 12 2023 14:46 utc | 5

Ukraine Cocaine - Interception (Z) - (Open/public Telegram)

Foreign cartoon about the essence of the current Bandera Reich.

It is correctly reflected that Ukrainian nationalists are traitors to their people, who love not Ukraine, but their power over Ukraine.

Shout-out to @ Oldhippie re your previous thread animation links. Thank you.

@ neofeudalfuture | Mar 12 2023 14:46 utc | 5

Stalled ? The trapped AFU troops are running out of everything, including food, ordnance & medical supplies. Zero functional MSRs.

Posted by: Outraged | Mar 12 2023 15:00 utc | 6

Ukraine didnt throw conscripts to tie up Russian troops just for fun, it was for time for a counter strike.

Posted by: neofeudalfuture | Mar 12 2023 14:46 utc | 5

They couldnt "counter strike" after retreating first and saving thousands of life's?

What happened to "if it saves even one life its worth it"?

Posted by: Vikichka | Mar 12 2023 15:02 utc | 7

Posted by: Outraged | Mar 12 2023 15:00 utc | 6

somewhere today are pictures of Wagner troops in the center of town. It's all downhill from here

Posted by: jo6pac | Mar 12 2023 15:05 utc | 8

It is important for all to remember that the gleaning of facts in war is to establish pattern above all else – evidence that can make predictions. The prediction of the current war in Ukraine is that it will end in world war, and we may already be in the early stages (making it even harder to stop). History does have a constant: wars are fought for power and all empires eventually face the conflict they are trying to avoid. Another constant is: they never see it coming. To change the course of history it is necessary to see its true nature.
https://patternofhistory.wordpress.com/

Posted by: peter mcloughlin | Mar 12 2023 15:06 utc | 9

Our source reports that the President of Moldova, Maia Sandu, has postponed for the time being the idea of organizing a provocation and starting a military case against Transnistria for one simple reason.

- The Armed Forces of Ukraine are stuck in the Bakhmutovskaya meat grinder and suffer huge losses - this is a bad sign. Sandu promised Zelensky she would join, but now she seems to have made an amendment, indicating that she will join only after, or at the moment of a successful offensive by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Now Sandu is busy with three things:
1. Preparing for war, importing weapons and "asking" the West for air defense, etc.
2. Tries to discredit the protests in order to hold on to power.
3. Tries to clean up the information and socio-political field of the country in order to win the elections.

All our sources are sure that the Transnistrian case depends on the development of events in the Ukrainian crisis.

Posted by: Down South | Mar 12 2023 15:12 utc | 10

Colleagues - this is UPAB-1500B-E, flies for 40 km, in other words, the strike on Avdeevka was somewhere beyond Khartsyzsk.

Add an interesting feature here, that for the last three to five months, the RF Armed Forces have been hunting for air defense / radar in the first line of defense. We wrote about this often. The Russians did this so that the planes could safely reach the maximum height and drop such bombs.

They hit well-fortified positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which they set up over the last 8 years of the war in Donbass, but they are almost useless against such bombs.

Here is the answer to why the APU has recently increased losses.

Posted by: Down South | Mar 12 2023 15:14 utc | 11

Our source reports that the Russians are hitting the only highway from Bakhmut/Artemovsk, which leads to a daily loss of 20-30% of the vehicles that move there. Plus loss of manpower.

That is, in order to deliver 5 armored personnel carriers to Bakhmut, you will immediately lose one at best. The situation is aggravated by the weather. At the same time, discontent is growing among the soldier corps, which is actually sent to the slaughter.

Posted by: Down South | Mar 12 2023 15:15 utc | 12

◾ Ukrainian War Crimes:

◾Only a few days ago, a group of Ukrainian conscripted soldiers decided to surrender to the DPR troops, but they were shoot in the back by their own colleagues.

◾In the video 4 Ukrainian soldiers advance towards Russian positions with their hands up, one of them is holding a white flag. Suddenly heavy machine gun fire from the Ukrainian side hits the group killing them. The footage has been posted in Ukrainian channels as a warning for other Ukrainian deserters.

Same video in Twitter

https://twitter.com/EliasHaimbili/status/1634935207521570817

Posted by: Down South | Mar 12 2023 15:20 utc | 13

Sandu, voievodine of Moldova
" Tries to clean up the information and socio-political field of the country..."
Posted by: Down South | Mar 12 2023 15:12 utc | 10

In information field, that means shutting down opposition TV stations, but what is "cleaning socio-political field", mass arrests? Russian word for "cleaning" refers to laundry, but also to "purge" in political sense.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Mar 12 2023 15:21 utc | 14

@peter mcloughlin | Mar 12 2023 15:06 utc | 9

The prediction of the current war in Ukraine is that it will end in world war, and we may already be in the early stages (making it even harder to stop).

Posted by: Norwegian | Mar 12 2023 15:21 utc | 15

Hey, Nistad aka Norwegian, how is the winter offensive going for you?

Posted by: Fnord73 | Mar 12 2023 15:23 utc | 16

Curios thing is dried peas bags [in] western humanitarian aid to Ukraine... And they are "made in Ukraine". Aidy aid ;-)

Posted by: Arioch | Mar 12 2023 14:32 utc | 3

As you can imagine, tax revenues in Ukraine are much lower than expenditures, economy contracted by ca. 50%, and taxable profits/incomes probably even more. So purchases of Ukrainian products with aid funds is necessary. At least half of the aid is for daily expenses of the government.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Mar 12 2023 15:27 utc | 17

@Fnord73 | Mar 12 2023 15:23 utc | 16

how is the winter offensive going for you?

Posted by: Norwegian | Mar 12 2023 15:27 utc | 18

AZ 🛰🌏🌍🌎 @AZgeopolitics
🇷🇺⚔️🇺🇦AFU militants show one of the last dirt road for moving equipment and supplying Bakhmut, which is under fire control of "Wagner",demilitarised vehicles can be seen on the road

Video embedded in Tweet

Posted by: Down South | Mar 12 2023 15:28 utc | 19

Reportedly dozens of US/NATO officers killed in big Russian missile strike..https://www.theburningplatform.com/2023/03/12/putin-just-changed-everything-with-this-move-and-nato-cant-do-anything/

Posted by: pyrrhus | Mar 12 2023 15:29 utc | 20

We have a new doomsday troll.
Posted by: Norwegian | Mar 12 2023 15:21 utc | 15

How do you think this will end? With Biden giving Putin a hug on live TV and saying this was all just a big misunderstanding?

Posted by: Vikichka | Mar 12 2023 15:29 utc | 21

@Vikichka | Mar 12 2023 15:29 utc | 21

How do you think this will end? With Biden giving Putin a hug on live TV and saying this was all just a big misunderstanding?

I also think it is likely the end of NATO and EU.

Posted by: Norwegian | Mar 12 2023 15:34 utc | 22

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Mar 12 2023 15:21 utc | 14

I used the Translate function on Telegram.

Below is the original Russian

3. Пытается зачистить информационное и общественно-политическое поле страны, чтобы выиграть выборы.

Posted by: Down South | Mar 12 2023 15:34 utc | 23

Ukraine didnt throw conscripts to tie up Russian troops just for fun, it was for time for a counter strike.

Posted by: neofeudalfuture | Mar 12 2023 14:46 utc | 5

"Mud, mud, glorious mud!"

https://www.magrigg.co.uk/blog/flanders-and-swann-the-mud-song/

Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Mar 12 2023 15:46 utc | 24

Burn them all
https://stateofthenation.co/?p=159419

Posted by: Andrew | Mar 12 2023 15:46 utc | 25

How do you think this will end?
Posted by: Vikichka | Mar 12 2023 15:29 utc | 21

If I knew that I could make a killing on the stock market.

The Russians pursued the French army to Paris. The Russians pursued the beaten German army to Berlin. But that was before the hypersonic missile.

Posted by: Passerby | Mar 12 2023 15:49 utc | 26

@ jo6pac | Mar 12 2023 15:05 utc | 8

AFU prospects minimal. They retreat across open muddy fields, without vehicles or heavy arms, under RF harassing fire, or as per @ Down South | Mar 12 2023 15:15 utc | 12 & Down South | Mar 12 2023 15:28 utc | 19

Cannot find the image, maybe another poster can assist. Cheers.

Followup to my @ Outraged | Mar 12 2023 15:00 utc | 6

The first episode of an intended animation series, apparently:

An insulting cartoon about Zelensky was released in Europe

The media write that French animators have launched a new animated series Ukraine. Inc, in which the president of "Ukraine" Vladimir Zelensky became the main character. The cartoon reflects the grim realities of the political regime in Ukraine. Zelensky, in order to increase his own rating and increase financial capital, as shown in the cartoon (in episode 1), throws his people into a meat grinder. Everyone is sent for slaughter without exception: men, women, children and the elderly.

Meta: seems suddenly a flood of telegram channel posts, hard to keep up/sift through 'em ...

Posted by: Outraged | Mar 12 2023 15:52 utc | 27

The Russians will win in 404, that much is clear, and that is not doomsday.
I also think it is likely the end of NATO and EU.

Posted by: Norwegian | Mar 12 2023 15:34 utc | 22

By all means, I've reserved my best bottle of single malt for that day, but hard to see how the people who run both NATO and EU will simply accept defeat.

Posted by: Vikichka | Mar 12 2023 15:57 utc | 28

I also think it is likely the end of NATO and EU.

Posted by: Norwegian | Mar 12 2023 15:34 utc | 22

---

Which is the exact opposite of doomsday. :)

Posted by: Nobody | Mar 12 2023 16:06 utc | 29

Our source reports that the Russians are hitting the only highway from Bakhmut/Artemovsk, which leads to a daily loss of 20-30% of the vehicles that move there. Plus loss of manpower.

Posted by: Down South | Mar 12 2023 15:15 utc | 12

They also hit the railway near Slavyansk/Kramatorsk.

https://twitter.com/BDooher/status/1634890731721732098

For some reason they only realized they can do that now. It clearly took it out of action for at least a couple days -- an accurate hit right at the rails.

Logistics could have been disrupted that way a long time ago...

Posted by: shadowbanned | Mar 12 2023 16:09 utc | 30

Posted by: Vikichka | Mar 12 2023 15:29 utc | 21

It will NOT end. There is no ending.

This is the New Normal. There will be two Armed Camps in Europe - the US in its Occupation Zone and the Russian Federation. Ukraine will be a de-populated wasteland without electricity or infrastructure except in the Novorossiya regions.

No doubt Chinese officers are in Russia observing and learning NATO tactics.

This is THE NEW WORLD. There will be reduced living standards across the US Empire as energy and food costs drive down real wages and cause a collapse in the price level as Consumption is skewed towards necessities..........politics will become more unstable and European countries will break up

US has basically destroyed the EU and NATO and its vassal states in Europe which will implode as social tensions cannot be bought off.

Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Mar 12 2023 16:10 utc | 31

It seemed like at least half a year since I last saw a Soviet flag. Here is one again:

https://twitter.com/200_zoka/status/1634911319466954752

Which is good news -- the regular army may be about the enter back in action in more significant numbers.

P.S. I've never seen Wagner fighters with a Soviet flag, which I find quite curious. It's only the regular army and the L/DNR forces. And since it's been mostly Wagner all that time, there were no Soviet flags. I was kind of worried they have been banned from on top, good to see that is not the case.

Posted by: shadowbanned | Mar 12 2023 16:12 utc | 32

Posted by: Vikichka | Mar 12 2023 15:57 utc | 28

"Forget Ukraine, now the problem is about Taiwan" is a possibility.

Posted by: Colin | Mar 12 2023 16:13 utc | 33

@5
Bakhmut is stalled. Ukrainian reinforcements have stabilized the line there and russia should really, really be ready for anything. Ukraine didnt throw conscripts to tie up Russian troops just for fun, it was for time for a counter strike.

Which is basically like saying that the water level in a punctured tub is stable because you keep pouring in water from a container that contains a finite amount of liquid.

Even assuming that you are right (and you are not, since the Russians keep expanding their zone of control and have began their advance inside the city itself) you are making the mistake of treating what would clearly be a dynamic sort of equilibrium as if it was a static one.

This is the same kind of mistake that the western propaganda has been making all these months: since the frontlines didn't change much, they kept saying that the war was basically stalled, while in fact the Russians were degrading the UAF much more than they themselves were being degraded, slowly turning the tide in their favour.

Posted by: Leonardo | Mar 12 2023 16:13 utc | 34

@ Down South | Mar 12 2023 15:28 utc | 19

Here's the same clip re the only partial, under RF direct Fire Control, Bahkmut MSR on Telegram (Public/open browse-able)

Recommend viewing either. The Bahkmut Muddy Track of Death ?

&

German authorities do not sign contracts with factories for the production of ammunition for Ukraine - Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba

He also urged to start training pilots of the Armed Forces of Ukraine "already now", so as not to waste time on this later (if Germany provides aircraft to Ukraine at all).

&

In the near future, Ukraine will not receive planes from the West, said Foreign Minister of the Kyiv regime Kuleba.

According to him, deliveries are impossible due to logistical and technical difficulties.

No linked source refs. F6.

Posted by: Outraged | Mar 12 2023 16:19 utc | 35

The “war”/SMO will continue until the objectives are complete and it will be won by China and the WEF. Already we see across the western world the willingly accepted censorship/silence of non-compliant media; social and main. During the “covid” crap it was done and accepted under “health” authority measures. Since the Canadian truckers mass exposure event, the media censorship being implemented by most western nations has come under the threat of “Russian misinformation”.

While we talk about the meat grinder of the SMO and the nonsensical stalemate China and their WEF plans are implemented, unmentioned, without resistance. The real war might already be over, we’re just watching the clean up of non compliant actors.

Posted by: MervRirchie | Mar 12 2023 16:21 utc | 36

Posted by: Vikichka | Mar 12 2023 15:57 utc | 28

Don't we have plenty of examples of what the "Empire of Lies" does when it loses in Korea, Vietnam, and Afghanistan among others? We still have idiots wandering around certain we "won" those engagements.

Posted by: SwissArmyMan | Mar 12 2023 16:23 utc | 37

SVB Bank failure because of inflation / rising interest rates... but, but, I thought Russia's economy was collapsing, not ours !

More lies about Bahkmut U.S. Generals claiming Russia needs a pause because of massive losses ... OR since Russia has fire control over the ONE road left to Ukraine, they can sit back and blast anything that moves in and out of that city.

Posted by: Christian J Chuba | Mar 12 2023 16:25 utc | 38

Posted by: SwissArmyMan | Mar 12 2023 16:23 utc | 37

Well yes, but none of those led to the end of NATO and the EU.

Posted by: Vikichka | Mar 12 2023 16:28 utc | 39

Posted by: MervRirchie | Mar 12 2023 16:21 utc | 36

Such a very western-centric viewpoint to adopt. Maybe try looking outside your diminishing bubble for a more realistic outcome?

Posted by: irish al | Mar 12 2023 16:39 utc | 40

Looking at TG reports today, it seems Kamyanka (NE of Avdeevka) and almost Krasnogorivka (N of Avdeevka) are almost taken. They say the Ukrainian defense line north of Avdeevka is nominal or non-existant. But to cut off Avdeevka, they still need Orliivka to the west, after that it's fields only as a supply route.

Posted by: unimperator | Mar 12 2023 16:40 utc | 41

Syrskyi was the general responsible for the historic Ukrainian victory at Debaltsevo, IIRC. He’s in charge of Bakhmut so it’s probably a good plan, this defending to the last and then attempting a late relief offensive.

And the Doomers cry about how bad the Russian general staff is.

Posted by: Lex | Mar 12 2023 16:40 utc | 42

It amuses me to see people here refer to the "USA", the "Collective West" when this is really about a battle for resources between Nation States such as Russia and China and Corporate States acting through their proxies in NATO and the US Military Intelligence Complex.
Those Corporate States asre who were behind the "Trans Pacific Partnership" which would have formalised the De Facto Sovereignty of Corporate States in The USA and Western Europe.
In my view Ukraine is a proxy of a proxy, if you disagree please tell me how the inhabitants ( Not Citizens, that went away when Habeas Corpus did) of the USA benefit from the current insanity...
The USA and Western Europe are ruled byn the same people that ran Russia in the 1990's, the USA has had 17% of the World's Covid deaths with a little more than 4% of the World's population, 20
% of those imprisoned World Wide are in the "Land of the Free" and life expectancy is dropping for all but the rich in almost a straight line.
Joe Biden is President, a viciously corrupt racist warmonger with dementia who delights in cruelty and who molests young girls on Camera to prove what a big man he is.
I have followed Kamala Harris since Herb Caen first mentioned her as Willie Brown's mistress, protecting child raping priests, trying to cover up a lab scandal as DA which resulted in hundreds sof convictions being reversed, jailing single Mom's whose kids missed too much school, sometimes because of chronic serious illness...
And as Attorney General deciding not to prosecute Steve Mnuchin and One West Bank when they got caught red handed fabricating the documents used to foreclose (Steal) 1,000 California Homes.
It is not an accident that these two are "In Charge", this is what "Neoliberalism" results in.
Marianne Williamson said it well when she said that there is a "deep spiritual darkness at the root of Neoliberalism, it does not care".
It is in Biblical terms the worship of Mammon, of greed without limit or constraint.
And it will destroy all life on Earth unless stopped.

Posted by: Tom Stone | Mar 12 2023 16:48 utc | 43

Christian Chuba no. 38

Sly news is reporting civilian bodies lying in the streets. No-one can reach them as the battle rages.

Posted by: ThusspakeZarathustra | Mar 12 2023 16:50 utc | 44

Posted by: Vikichka | Mar 12 2023 16:28 utc | 39

Difference is that this time there will be Zircons, Khinzals, Islanders, Sarmats and others, right on the Polish and Romanian borders. Few minutes flight time to all European capitals. US, as principal owner of NATO, will have nothing to counter this. At the same time, deep deflation, worst that the Great Depression, will rage. Governments will fall one by one, and minority neocon elite will be chased out. That will practically be the end of NATO.

Posted by: Milos | Mar 12 2023 16:50 utc | 45

This is not propaganda & not trivial.

It is why competent modern Armies seek to limit a units time on the Line, especially so re high-intensity conflict, to a maximum continuous 60 days, otherwise...
As stated before, AFU holds brigades in the line for over five months or until bled-white, & if necessary enforced by OUN-B Nazi 'Blocking Detachments'.
Hence non-wounded & recoverable WIA, become additional irrecoverable WIA, non-combat-effective, regardless ... add the poor bustards to extant AFU casualty counts .

AFU in unsustainable casualties replacement JIT, death spiral ...

Traumatic stress, an invisible wound, hobbles Ukrainian soldiers - The Washington Post, Mar10'23

Summarized commentary:

Post-traumatic stress disorder(PTS), panic and suicides - contrary to the propaganda statements of Kyiv, a real psycho-pandemic has begun in Ukraine. The Armed Forces of Ukraine classify information on the statistics of unauthorized abandonment of units and desertion, journalists of The Washington Post write.

However, according to the American publication, the problem of demoralization of Ukrainian militants is massive and already irreversible.

— Ukrainian soldiers experience severe symptoms of psychological stress, including nightmares, poor sleep, guilt, anxiety and panic attacks, according to interviews with military personnel across Ukraine and their psychologists. Some soldiers turned their weapons against themselves, committing suicide. <…> This problem is debilitating, widespread and excruciatingly difficult to treat in a country that - even far from the battlefields - is under constant threat of attack.

Although often invisible, widespread fatigue and mental trauma among soldiers is another difficult challenge for the Ukrainian military to face.

Referring to sources among officers, journalists note that the militants of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are increasingly leaving their positions or surrendering to the Russian army. And those who are injured in military hospitals are trying to retreat from medical institutions, fearing to be on the Russian front again.

According to the publication, the spread of suicides, acute panic attacks, unauthorized abandonment of combat units is only part of the big problem of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Militants of the Armed Forces of Ukraine abandon weapons and flee to the Carpathians - or seek asylum in Poland and the Czech Republic, where Ukrainian refugee communities exist.

@ Lex | Mar 12 2023 16:40 utc | 42

There have already been failed minor counter-attacks towards Bahkmut in last 48hrs. Weather forecast is crap for coming week, highly restricting possible avenues of approach, attack frontages and basic traffic-ability given ground conditions.

Posted by: Outraged | Mar 12 2023 16:54 utc | 46

Do you remember the 'Debaltseve Cauldron'in 2015 when the forces of the Donbass surrounded 20-30000 Ukropa soldiers? When 'Porky' Poroshenko ran to mama Merkel & Macron for help stopping his army smashed? This resulted in the ceasing of hostilities as ordered by the deceived Vladmirovich Putin and the 'Mirsk I Agreement'..Now I know why Putin will not talk to the 'French midget'at all, he even regrets stopping Givi and Motorolla from finishing off the problem that grew bigger and complex as witnessed by the resistance of the 'nato trained and equiped 404 army.
Back to my point.

The commander of the operation that resulted in the heavy casualties and the cauldron, is none other that the current commander 'Oleksandr Syrskyi' This is the current commander of Bakmut hahahahahah! Now Bakmut is about to be sewn-up in a cauldron but not just that, but a 'meat mincer/grinder'

Credit telegram channel: @AZgeopolitics with the following link
https://espreso.tv/u-bakhmuti-mozhlive-povtorennya-debaltsevogo-komandir-pidrozdilu-zsu-yaroslavskiy

On another interesting article
2nd Kinzhal Attack Hits NATO’s Western Command Center 80 meters Underground, 40 Killed
written by INTEL-DROP March 9, 2023
This should explain the usage of the 'Kinzhal' in the latest raids.

Posted by: Stalinwasagenius | Mar 12 2023 17:01 utc | 47

As soon as the Russians take control of the road to Khromovo, Bakhmut will begin to gradually turn from a fortress to a big communal grave.

Posted by: AI | Mar 12 2023 17:10 utc | 48

Good read, 3 days old. [True?] - Some excerpts:

IN western Ukraine a Russian Forces Kinzhal struck a bunker extending to 80 metres deep. The RF believes this bunker near Lvov was a NATO strategic command point used to control anti-aircraft systems. It’s still early days but the RF assumes there were up to 300 personnel in the bunker, 40 of which were high ranking foreign specialists...

Four battalions comprising largely international fighters have entered the service of the RF. The RF forces are being supplied with long-range equipment including modernised tanks. The RF tank operators are becoming bored and are complaining that the long overdue Abrams and Leopard tanks are taking their time. They are looking forward to the target practice.

It appears that the replacement troops entering Bakhmut are fresh from NATO training camps in Poland. Their uniforms are squeaky clean. The Germans are operating the self-propelled tanks as they are non user-friendly complex equipment. The Ukro forces comprise a majority of Polacks and a mix of German, Canadian, US and French mercs. The Ukros have been thinned out. The German government is paying 5000 marks to return the bodies dead Germans but the Euro is no longer being accepted. [/s]

[AND FROM ANOTHER THEATER]: The Turks and the Iranians want to build a railroad to the emirates and China wants to become involved.

Posted by: OttoE | Mar 12 2023 17:15 utc | 49

I watched the recently posted Patrick Lancaster video where he catches a ride from the rubble of Soledar down to a village on the edge of Bakhmut and walks around with a couple of Wagner guys. I posted some of this on a forum that is mostly made up outdoor extractive wildlife type of guys (many blue collar types) living in North America so some is already known to MoA people.

Some impressions from the vid. One of the Wagner guys has the longest "banana" mag in his rifle that I've seen. If its a 5.45mm, must be more than 40 rounds but maybe its a 40 round 7.62x39.

A couple of dead AFU soldiers laying around on the street, even with temps in the 30s, they might start becoming ripe. Wagner PMC has done a number of videos where they pack up AFU dead in plain wooden coffins and truck them to a "neutral" area and give them back to the AFU but obviously not in this area yet.

A number of spent Americans LAWs and a couple of Javelins, one LAW looks like it got hit by shrapnel. The problem with "one-shot-and-its-done" type of munitions is just that, better have scored a good hit with the shot.

The Wagner guy nonchalantly throwing partially full American .50 cal ammo cans up from the trench towards the end of the vid.I would be concerned if they had been booby-trapped by the Ukies when they left but perhaps they didn't have time to configure a couple of armed grenades in among those boxes.

A note about Russian fighters never showing their full faces online compared to the AFU guys on videos. They must be under orders not to show their lower faces because I've almost never seen any of the various Russian forces do so. I have heard that the Ukies, probably with a lot of back room help of their 5 EYE friends, are using facial recognition software and searching Russian social media for matching photos of soldiers and then harassing their families. The AFU do this with any Russian dead they get in their possession. The Russian supporters like to show Ukie and foreign ID cards of dead AFU (and friends). I guess that's the new norm in 5th generational warfare...

Posted by: DakotaRog | Mar 12 2023 17:24 utc | 50

We have a new doomsday troll.
Posted by: Norwegian | Mar 12 2023 15:21 utc | 15

If you believe there isn't going to be world war 3 then you're not paying attention.

The world is already at war at the economic level. Between the South American countries proposing a continents own currency as alternative to the dollar, Russia-China, Russia-India doing non-dollar trade through currency swaps, Iran getting closer to Russia, China offering the gulf states to buy oil in Yuan at the gulf summit, Saudi-Iran-China peace deal, the proposal from BRICS for an alternate precious metal backed basket of currencies as an alternative to the dollar, the expansion of BRICS involving all the mentioned countries, China openly supporting Russia and officially declaring the US hegemony as a threat to world peace, the WHOLE non-western world is waging a coordinated and concerted war against the US global hegemony.

Try as they might, the deep state, the neo-cons, whatever they're called, can't take them all. They're hardly/barely (depending on how it goes) able to overthrow the Georgian government to continue the proxy war against Russia. They can't pull off color revolutions in so many countries from Turkey to India to Saudi to Iran especially when that strategy is beginning to be openly called out.

It's only a matter of time, when the US hegemony is faced with a checkmate in economic terms. At that point the deep state has only one move left: flip the chess board than accept defeat.

One could always hope that once that checkmate is placed, rather than flipping the chess board so to speak, the deep state from Nuland to Bolton to Soros to Pompeo to Burns to Blinken and the whole cabal would pack up and find work at McDonalds serving fries.

But who would think, that is realistic.

PS. I don't think world war 3 will end in human extinction, just a 100 to 400 million dead out for 8 billion . As for the rest of the 7.5+ billion, life goes on after recovery.

Posted by: FieryButMostPeaceful | Mar 12 2023 17:24 utc | 51

@ Vikichka | Mar 12 2023 15:57 utc | 28

Boris Johnson as new NATO procurator will whip those weenie European colonies back into shape.

Posted by: John Kennard | Mar 12 2023 17:25 utc | 52

Irish MEP Mick Wallace sums up US/NATO - must view - very brief

Is that Terrorism? When are you going to grow up and start living in the real world?

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rSshfYwvftM

Hi sidekick Irish MEP Clare Daly is not bad either

Posted by: Don Firineach | Mar 12 2023 17:40 utc | 53

At the same time, deep deflation, worst that the Great Depression, will rage. Governments will fall one by one, and minority neocon elite will be chased out. That will practically be the end of NATO.

Posted by: Milos | Mar 12 2023 16:50 utc | 45

I think I need to polish my crystal ball. I can't see the things you see in your crystal ball.

Posted by: Vikichka | Mar 12 2023 17:41 utc | 54

@ John Kennard #52

Canadian/Ukrainian rabid Banderite supporter Freedland being lined up for that job.

Posted by: Don Firineach | Mar 12 2023 17:42 utc | 55

PS. I don't think world war 3 will end in human extinction, just a 100 to 400 million dead out for 8 billion . As for the rest of the 7.5+ billion, life goes on after recovery.

Posted by: FieryButMostPeaceful | Mar 12 2023 17:24 utc | 51

I'm sorry - that is a moronic thing to say. Nobody survives a nuclear ww3.

Posted by: irish al | Mar 12 2023 17:44 utc | 56

Posted by: DakotaRog | Mar 12 2023 17:24 utc | 50

With all the recording equipment available all the horrors of war are there for the world to see. At the beginning of the operation I was shocked by a soulless SOB who phones the mother of a dead soldier and begins the conversation with the slava ukraine salute, using the dead soldier's phone. From that day on I've tried not to watch gory stuff of which there is plenty going around. It is just plain scary how cruelty to the nth degree is a feature of the sad human condition. I could post the link to that MF evil guy but it is not worth watching.

Posted by: Paco | Mar 12 2023 17:45 utc | 57

Soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are drowning in mud - the long-awaited spring has come to Ukraine

The spring thaw has reached the trenches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The footage shows that the soldiers of the square are literally buried in the mud. At the same time, the fighters themselves comment on it like this - “spring is in position, knee-deep in water.”

It should be noted that mudslides are already observed along the entire front line, which means that in the near future both our offensive and the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be significantly hampered.

Same video on Twitter

https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1634917231741083648

Posted by: Down South | Mar 12 2023 17:51 utc | 58

Mexico has applied to join BRICS+ which now surpasses the G7 in levelized GDP.

Posted by: Hermit | Mar 12 2023 17:53 utc | 59

Pyrrhus #20

Yes a nice vid of Scott, but the actual reference page for the putative 80 metre strike is "DISASTER: RUSSIAN HYPERSONIC MISSILES WIPE OUT US/NATO SECRET COMMAND IN KIEV, DOZENS OF TOP US OFFICERS VAPORIZED" on web site www.theburningplatform.com
Saw it last night on telegram, originated on "IntelDrop, neither site I had visited before.

Kinzhal Mass times velocity squared. And factoring types of war head (say tungsten component) and delay from initial impact of HE, wow, could be quite the badger. Possibly orders of magnitude more effective than Kaliber for buried targets (and an order of magnitude probably more expensive). Barring some massive data leak a la Chelsea, it will be a long time before we know yes or no on this. The strange flight of a B-52 with a possibly simulated run of nuclear attack on St. Petersburg and possibly circling Kaliningrad would be a theoretical response to a Kinzhal strike of such magnitude.

But - it really needs to be taken with a very large grain of salt.

Posted by: paxmark1 | Mar 12 2023 17:59 utc | 60

@Paco | Mar 12 2023 17:45 utc | 57

I had an interesting conversation with a young Ukrainian man yesterday. He is out of the country but spent two years there in Kiev a couple years back. He said the price for a contract killing in Kiev then was $100. The economy has been deteriorating for years and the employment prospects for young men in legitimate enterprises making a living wage were not plentiful. It wouldn't surprise me if, before the war, a third of the male population (particularly in urban areas) was under or unemployed or was working for a criminal enterprise. Drug use and alcohol abuse were common and the overall level of corruption had been increasing since 2014. He has seen the videos of Ukrainian soldiers having Russian POWs dig their own graves before being executed (as well as others of the same ilk) and he likened the war to a couple of fighting dogs that have been starved and teased and then set at each other to explain the level of brutality seen in some of the videos.

Posted by: the pessimist | Mar 12 2023 18:04 utc | 61

Syrskyi was the general responsible for the historic Ukrainian victory at Debaltsevo, IIRC. He’s in charge of Bakhmut so it’s probably a good plan, this defending to the last and then attempting a late relief offensive.

And the Doomers cry about how bad the Russian general staff is.

Posted by: Lex | Mar 12 2023 16:40 utc | 42

Well, Syrsky is ethnic Russian, and not even ethnic Russian born in Ukraine (which is what the majority of Ukrainians really are), but ethnic Russian born in Russia...

So it is a Russian commander failing here once again...

Posted by: shadowbanned | Mar 12 2023 18:10 utc | 62

Mariupol was taken within twelve weeks.
After seven months, Artyomovsk hasn't been fully-occupied yet.

I thought PMC Wagner was competent forces but seems like not.

Posted by: Clémence | Mar 12 2023 18:19 utc | 63

The build up continues. I'd wager all those Abrams tanks streaming into Europe arent meant for the Ukrainians, but keep going slow Russia.

- 4,500 Georgia soldiers deploying to bolster European allies -

https://www.foxnews.com/us/4500-georgia-soldiers-deploying-bolster-european-allies

Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Mar 12 2023 18:20 utc | 64

I had an interesting conversation with a young Ukrainian man yesterday. He is out of the country but spent two years there in Kiev a couple years back. He said the price for a contract killing in Kiev then was $100. The economy has been deteriorating for years and the employment prospects for young men in legitimate enterprises making a living wage were not plentiful. It wouldn't surprise me if, before the war, a third of the male population (particularly in urban areas) was under or unemployed or was working for a criminal enterprise. Drug use and alcohol abuse were common and the overall level of corruption had been increasing since 2014. He has seen the videos of Ukrainian soldiers having Russian POWs dig their own graves before being executed (as well as others of the same ilk) and he likened the war to a couple of fighting dogs that have been starved and teased and then set at each other to explain the level of brutality seen in some of the videos.

Posted by: the pessimist | Mar 12 2023 18:04 utc | 61

Some basic truths that the average ignorant Westerner out there doesn't understand at all:

1) Putin has such support in Russia because of the experience of the 90s. Which was in many ways more traumatic than even the Great Depression in the USA in the 1930s, but nobody in the West really grasps that, nor do they want to learn about it, because they are quite directly responsible for it -- their prosperity during that time was directly linked to the deprivation of Eastern Europeans, as the resources that supported the modest by quite comfortable lifestyle under communism were redirected to refloat Western economies (which were going bankrupt in the 1970s due to resource shortages). The idea that Western prosperity is the result of ideological superiority is much more attractive than having to face the stark reality that it was in fact achieved on the back of bribing elites elsewhere to sell out their people.

2) However, while Russia recovered somewhat, in Ukraine the 90s never ended.

3) This is directly linked to the rise of Ukrainian nationalism -- in Russia the oligarchs were placed under some degree of state control, in Ukraine the oligarchs got in cahoots with the West and pushed Ukrainian nationalism precisely in order to not allow anything like that to happen there.

So the barbarity, atrocities and complete disregard for human life that you see in Ukraine now are what Russia escaped from. And conversely, it is what the West has in store for Russia too if the war is lost.

Posted by: shadowbanned | Mar 12 2023 18:21 utc | 65

" Mexico has applied to join BRICS+ which now surpasses the G7 in levelized GDP.
Posted by: Hermit | Mar 12 2023 17:53 utc | 59 "

South Africa, Brazil, and now Mexico. Pretty impressive.

Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Mar 12 2023 18:22 utc | 66

What's happening in Moldova:

"Months of rallies, organised by the party of the fugitive pro-Russian oligarch Ilan Shor, have been condemned by the government as a Kremlin-sponsored campaign to destabilise the country. The oligarch is believed to have fled to Israel after being convicted for involvement in the theft of $1bn (£830m) from Moldova’s banks."

At Sunday’s protests, Shor party leaders shouted “Down with Maia Sandu”, Moldova’s pro-European president, “Down with dictatorship” and “Down with the police” on the microphones, as they encouraged demonstrators to break police cordons.

Posted by: ThusspakeZarathustra | Mar 12 2023 18:23 utc | 67

" With all the recording equipment available all the horrors of war are there for the world to see.

Posted by: Paco | Mar 12 2023 17:45 utc | 57 "

And this is why a war must always be concluded as quickly as possible and not drawn out stupidly.

Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Mar 12 2023 18:24 utc | 68

A delicious bit of irony.

So I was following news stories back to their sources to check the details, as one does in these days of propaganda and censorship, and I found that the story is misrepresenting the source. Big surprise right? But I also found something amusing.

So google news aggregator had some stories about Putin losing control of the Russian information sphere due to Kremlin infighting.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2023/03/12/ukraine-russia-war-live-updates/11459301002/

Source ISW (Institute for the Study of War) So I hunt down the ISW story, which wasn't linked:

https://understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-march-11-2023

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova confirmed that there is infighting in the Kremlin inner circle, that the Kremlin has ceded centralized control over the Russian information space, and that Russian President Vladimir Putin apparently cannot readily fix it.

..

During a panel discussion Zakharova stated that the Kremlin cannot replicate the Stalinist approach of establishing a modern equivalent to the Soviet Information Bureau to centrally control Russia’s internal information space due to fighting among unspecified Kremlin “elites.”[3]

Now, since ISW is open source intelligence, OSINT, it lists its sources at the bottom of the page. So I scroll down to find links [2], [3], and [4].

[3]
https://kazan.bezformata.com/listnews/rosinformbyuro-net-edinoy-informatcionnoy/115103152/

Machine translation:

You propose to do the same as the Kyiv regime, where there is only one channel, - Zakharova was indignant.

"No, I propose to do what Stalin did,” Ashmanov answered.

"Then we will turn into exactly what we are opposed to" said the the representative of the foreign ministry.

So ostensibly independent ISW is a western propaganda machine that is deliberately misrepresenting the Russians. Yeah, I know, everyone is shocked. Now here is the funny bit. The links at the bottom for the Russian sources are all broken.

The USA friendly links are all correctly formatted like this:

http://www.goteamgo.com/subfolder/story

But the Russian links:

http://www.ruskie/ dot /subfolder/story

It took me awhile to figure out why. I can easily type the link in manually so that's not much of a deterrent. Oh, ISW can't put Russian links in its posts or the search algorithms will shadow ban it.

ISW had to use a workaround to prevent the censorship bots from sending its pro-western, 180 degree misrepresentation of the facts, propaganda to the bottom of the search queue.

It kind of made my day in a funny sad sort of way.

Posted by: team10tim | Mar 12 2023 18:26 utc | 69

Isnt it peculiar how Turkey has gone totally silent since the earthquakes ? Erdoğan seems so humble now.

Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Mar 12 2023 18:27 utc | 70

Mariupol was taken within twelve weeks. After seven months, Artyomovsk hasn't been fully-occupied yet.

I thought PMC Wagner was competent forces but seems like not.

Posted by: Clémence | Mar 12 2023 18:19 utc | 63

Mariupol was cut off within a couple weeks of the initial invasion, and that was greatly helped by the fact that it is on the coast. It didn't have to be surrounded from all four sides.

The better comparison is Lisichansk/Severodonetsk. Those were taken in about a month without having a coast to provide half of the encirclement, and together they are triple the size of Bakhmut. And yet it was a very efficient and well executed operation.

That is where things stalled.

Bakhmut is only one symptom of the more general problem -- it taking so long is the result of the geniuses in the Russian high command deciding that the West pouring 100B+ worth of weaponry into Ukraine is no big deal and not much is necessary to be done to stop it, while also refusing to mobilize. When Mariupol and Severodonetsk/Lisichansk were being taken, the first Ukrainian army was largely defeated. But the next one was being assembled and that was not prevented.

Well, these are the results.

And they still haven't mobilized properly -- 300,000 is nowhere near sufficient, they need 5X that.

Posted by: shadowbanned | Mar 12 2023 18:28 utc | 71

@shadowbanned | Mar 12 2023 18:21 utc | 65

"2) However, while Russia recovered somewhat, in Ukraine the 90s never ended."

Ukraine was recovering from '95 until 2000. The 2004 election and the gas wars with Yulia Tymoshenko's clan stopped the upward trend and signaled the acceleration of the US campaign to ruin the country.

Posted by: the pessimist | Mar 12 2023 18:29 utc | 72

" The world is already at war at the economic level. Between the South American countries proposing a continents own currency as alternative to the dollar

Posted by: FieryButMostPeaceful | Mar 12 2023 17:24 utc | 51 "

That is exactly what those in control wanted from the get go. Divide the world into regional blocks as they will be easier to take over and dominate then dozens of separate nations. At first each block will use its own , digital, currency. Once each block is fully taken over, they will all be integrated into a single entity with one global , digital, currency and with one global government/ control structure. Yet, the peons keep on cheering these " fortunate " developments.

Problem, reaction, solution. Look it up.

Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Mar 12 2023 18:33 utc | 73

@ Don Firineach | Mar 12 2023 17:40 utc | 53

Dog damned right on both counts. Cheers.

@ Hermit | Mar 12 2023 17:53 utc | 59

Marvelous, is it not. :))

&

US Army is moving to get tanks to Ukraine ‘as quickly as possible’ - DefenseNews, Mar8'23

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army is already executing on a plan to send M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, the Army’s acquisition chief said Wednesday.

The Pentagon announced early this year it would send General Dynamics Land Systems-made Abrams tanks to Ukraine. Since then, Defense Department officials have said they were weighing a variety of options, including building new tanks or drawing existing older tanks from U.S. inventory.

But speaking at a webcast hosted by Defense News, Doug Bush said Wednesday the Army already has a plan. “We’re executing it,” he said. “We just can’t talk about the details.”

...

“There are longer timelines involved, but I think there are options that are less than two years, less than a year-and-a-half,” she said.

...

Posted by: Outraged | Mar 12 2023 18:35 utc | 74

🇺🇸🇬🇪🇺🇦🇷🇺The Georgian Prime Minister said that the authorities will not allow the opening of a second front

Georgian Prime Minister Garibashvili: the ruling government will not allow the opening of a second front for Kiev

Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said that the ruling Georgian Dream government will not allow the opening of a second military front in the country.

Earlier, the Deputy speaker of the Georgian Parliament, Gia Volski, said that against the background of the protests, a group of supporters of ex-President Mikhail Saakashvili who fought on the side of Ukraine arrived in the country to implement a revolutionary scenario.

"I know that several dozen people have come from Ukraine. I want to address them – let you have no illusions and expectations that something will happen here. Nothing will happen, brothers. I want to wish all the fighters in Ukraine to return to their families healthy, but I urge you not to succumb to dirty provocations. We know a lot more than they can imagine. The state is at the highest level today... as long as the Georgian Dream is in power, we will not allow a second front, it is excluded," Garibashvili said in an interview with Imedi TV company.

Ukraine has sent former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to his homeland to destabilize the situation in Georgia and involve the country in military operations, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said on Sunday on the Imedi TV channel.

"The beginning of the war in Ukraine was expected back in November [2021], maximum in December. We had information about this, including I knew from our colleagues, partners. When did Saakashvili arrive in Georgia? The first of October. Saakashvili was sent in an organized manner, the main goal was to arrange a coup here and include the countries in the war at the right time. We have no doubt about it today," Garibashvili said. According to the prime minister, "it would probably be a kind of relief for Ukraine if Russia shifted its attention" towards Georgia. According to Garibashvili, if the opposition party "United National Movement" founded by Saakashvili had been in power, Georgia "would have turned into a landfill" and the country would have received a "second Mariupol".

🇬🇪Georgian Prime Minister Garibashvili:

The decision we made to revoke the law on foreign agents was the most correct and reasonable state in this situation. The goal of the instigators was chaos, the preservation of constant destabilization, unrest. They might have killed a few young people themselves for their own purposes. We said that with this step we are worried about the most important thing for all of us, about the stability of our country, the world.

Posted by: Down South | Mar 12 2023 18:36 utc | 75

Posted by: shadowbanned | Mar 12 2023 18:21 utc | 65

I would take your argument a step forward, I fear that's what the elites have in store for Europe, I saw a picture today of a flea market in Kiev with a guy that looks just like Nyemets in the great Balabanov's film The Brother -Брат-, the 90's was a catastrophe of cosmic proportions while it was sold in the west as the arrival of "democracy" to Russia, with the idiot Gorbachov advertising Pizza Hut. Putin pulled that country from the abyss and somehow restored some well being and pride, but the jackals never let it go and we have this new round that in my humble opinion is the last one, this time around Russia wins or we all are going to smoke, Putin said it plainly, a world without Russia is not in his plans just as he said that if the fight is unavoidable better hit first, just what he did. The problem is our media, the pinnacle of degeneracy, save for the fingers in a hand, Assange, Hersh, Pilger and maybe a few more.

Posted by: Paco | Mar 12 2023 18:37 utc | 76

Posted by: MervRirchie | Mar 12 2023 16:21 utc | 36

Such a very western-centric viewpoint to adopt. Maybe try looking outside your diminishing bubble for a more realistic outcome?

Posted by: irish al | Mar 12 2023 16:39 utc | 40

That is what is commonly called “as-hominem”, not addressing any details or debate of my statements. Most reply with a further insult of the commenter. My comment reflects the evidence all can observe. Please tell me what specific statement you have an issue with, which I can then defend, should I choose.

Posted by: MervRitchie | Mar 12 2023 18:48 utc | 77

Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Mar 12 2023 18:24 utc | 68

Dear Commissar, you're truly deplorable, get your StarWars glowing saber and do it is a nanosecond. Its the whole west against Russia, I would say it is remarkable that they are standing and I have no doubt who will be still standing when this pauses because the end it's not near.

Posted by: Paco | Mar 12 2023 18:48 utc | 78

The thing is, in the grand scheme of things, this war is cheap for Washington, economically and politically. All to do is support Kiev until Russian soldiers leave - Sooner that happens is better but equally training and hardware would take time, that's going to feel like that's dragging at points. Especially at times like now when Kievan forces couldn't do much maneuver warfare due to the mud - Hence a petty city to fight and tie enemy resources up.

Why is this cheap ? In 2014, Washington screwed up and let Moscow successfully use salami-slice strategy, again. When Kievan forces wiped them out at Hostomel, when Russian logistics was a traffic jam visible from space... An irresistable opportunity arose, one which would demonstrate to authoritarian regimes, now and tomorrow, that salami-slice strategy wouldn't work. All this takes is pushing Russian soldiers back to Russia's official borders.

In the beginning of 2022, no one was even close of sending M142 HIMARS, joint direct attack munitions or tanks to Kiev but FIM-92 Stinger and FGM-148 Javelin. For a while, Washington and its vassals discussed not sending things and now, Kievan forces had those. These days, Washington is discussing what jets that couldn't be sent to Kiev - Which would mean Kievan forces might have F-16 Fighting Falcon soon, if previous trends are followed.

These days, Russian officials are talking about peace and how the other side won't come to the peace table. Why would Washington ? Everyone already knows that Moscow won't give the territories up - Anytime wasted talking about peace or ceasefires is just time for Moscow to repair and resupply, whether that's a few weeks of peace talks or another eight years of ceasefire, the peace won't last and Washington knew that.

So, for Western officials, keeping the war going until the last Russian soldier in Ukraine is dead or captured is the only solution. Sooner is the war ends, better is for everyone but if that's to Moscow's advantage, the war would end but pause and everyone knew that now.

Posted by: Firebirdharris | Mar 12 2023 18:53 utc | 79

Posted by: MervRitchie | Mar 12 2023 18:48 utc | 77

Hi, I did somewhat assume that you meant ww3 would be nuclear based on you saying that "It's only a matter of time, when the US hegemony is faced with a checkmate in economic terms. At that point the deep state has only one move left: flip the chess board than accept defeat." if you meant some other form of action, it was not clear nor stated.
If you did mean nuclear, I stand by my statement.
Otherwise, we can talk...

Posted by: irish al | Mar 12 2023 18:56 utc | 80

"Well, Syrsky is ethnic Russian, and not even ethnic Russian born in Ukraine (which is what the majority of Ukrainians really are), but ethnic Russian born in Russia...
So it is a Russian commander failing here once again..."

Posted by: shadowbanned | Mar 12 2023 18:10 utc | 62

Now this is a commitment to Doomerism not often seen outside the Strelkov corners of the Russian blogosphere. Maybe he's a Russian asset, still after all these years. Not only are those ethnic Russians incompetent and generally failures but they're incredibly devious too. Look at their dear leader, Putin, and they way he alternates between ham-fisted, violent incompetence and being a Bond villain able undermine American democracy with just 1,000 internet trolls.

Posted by: Lex | Mar 12 2023 18:56 utc | 81

Oh, Merv, it is a very western-centric point you make - where do you see the RoW fitting into your China/WEF vision?

Posted by: irish al | Mar 12 2023 18:57 utc | 82

Posted by: the pessimist | Mar 12 2023 18:04 utc | 61
"I had an interesting conversation with a young Ukrainian man yesterday. He is out of the country but spent two years there in Kiev a couple years back. He said the price for a contract killing in Kiev then was $100."

People say the darnedest things. I hope you don't believe everything you hear.

Posted by: Elmagnostic | Mar 12 2023 19:06 utc | 83

" Dear Commissar, you're truly deplorable, get your StarWars glowing saber and do it is a nanosecond. Its the whole west against Russia, I would say it is remarkable that they are standing and I have no doubt who will be still standing when this pauses because the end it's not near.

Posted by: Paco | Mar 12 2023 18:48 utc | 78 "

Dear Paco. I thought it was the whole West against Russia, China, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Belarus, and a couple of others. Seems you havent been following the discussions here at the bar.

Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Mar 12 2023 19:07 utc | 84

@team10tim #69

One of the directors of ISW is a certain Mr. Kagan, brother-in-law of a certain Toria Nuland ... the latter married to arch-neocon Robert Kagan

Posted by: Don Firineach | Mar 12 2023 19:08 utc | 85

@ Outraged | Mar 12 2023 16:54 utc | 46
Although often invisible, widespread fatigue and mental trauma among soldiers is another difficult challenge for the Ukrainian military to face.

We're talking here about men and maybe women of all ages who are living, eating, sleeping, not brushing their teeth but peeing and shitting in a ditch in the ground if they receive some food of some sort subject to noisy exploding warheads that sometimes find that ditch in the ground and cause limbs to be lost.
It would be surprising if someone retained their mental health considering all that.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Mar 12 2023 19:09 utc | 86

Avdiivka is in the process of being encircled. THIS IS HUGE. Once Avdiivka is liberated, Ukraine will no longer be able to shell Donetsk City.
I predict that once Avdiivka falls, the entire Ukraine front line will collapse quickly!

Posted by: Anton Gorbatow | Mar 12 2023 19:14 utc | 87

Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Mar 12 2023 18:24 utc | 68

I usually do, but tend to skip deplorables and comissars, there is so much info all around. I'll grant it to you, yes that list you provided is with Russia, not sending advisors, weapons and mercenaries but designing a new economic system that will put an end to printing funny looking green papers that go mostly to waste, ridiculous weapons and ridiculous financing of idiots to puke in bars like this one.

Posted by: Paco | Mar 12 2023 19:14 utc | 88

Avdiivka is in the process of being encircled. THIS IS HUGE. Once Avdiivka is liberated, Ukraine will no longer be able to shell Donetsk City. I predict that once Avdiivka falls, the entire Ukraine front line will collapse quickly!

Posted by: Anton Gorbatow | Mar 12 2023 19:14 utc | 87

It will not stop.

They've been shelling deep into the LNR with HIMARS, including today when they struck near Alchevsk.

Now they got JDAMs too though they haven't yet dropped one on Donetsk, but that day isn't far off. Meanwhile it remains a mystery where the hell the S-400s that are supposed to make sure any JDAM drop is the last flight for that plane are.

The shelling of Donetsk will only stop when the front line reaches beyond the DNR border. It is about 70 km to it. In other words, another year perhaps.

P.S. No idea what the plan is for Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod given that there is no indication there is any intention of taking Chernigov, Sumy and Kharkov any time soon.

Posted by: shadowbanned | Mar 12 2023 19:21 utc | 89

https://vk.com/wall701885602_62108

I appeal to esteemed readers with a request to carefully study the draft document, which is important for me, and express their comments and suggestions on it. I ask you not to ask questions yet by whom it will be signed and where it will be placed.

"We ...... carefully analyzing the current military-political situation after a year of the so-called special military operation, came to the following conclusions:

1. Special military operation (SVO), announced by the President of the Russian Federation Putin V.V. February 24, 2022, failed. During the year of active hostilities, none of the main goals of the SVO, proclaimed by him then in the Address to the Nation, has been achieved - the shelling of the territory of Donbass has not been stopped, the demilitarization of Ukraine has not been carried out, and its denazification has not been carried out either. Moreover, it came to the attacks of the Ukrainian army on Russian territory and infrastructure, including nuclear. On the territory of the Russian Federation, as a result of strikes by the Ukrainian army, peaceful Russian citizens are dying. Over the Crimea, Donbass, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, the threat of a large-scale counteroffensive by the Ukrainian army with the support of the United States and other NATO countries hangs. President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin was forced in the Address to the Federal Assembly to publicly acknowledge the threat of a strategic defeat for Russia and, moreover, the possibility of her death as a sovereign independent state. And in a couple of days to declare the possibility of the death of a single Russian people.

2. The course of hostilities clearly showed low combat capabilityArmed Forces of the Russian Federation, their unwillingness to conduct active combat operations in the conditions of the war of the 21st century. The Russian army was unable to carry out strategic offensive operations to encircle and defeat the enemy, reducing everything to a positional war of the 1916 model near Verdun. Apparently, the military-political leadership of the country has taken the course of a "war of attrition", which in the current state of the Russian economy, and primarily its industry, is like death and is leading us to disaster.

3. The largest de-industrialization in the history of the country, deliberately carried out over the past thirty years, has led to the destruction of thousands and thousands of enterprises, including defense ones. As a result, the industry was unable to meet the needs of the army in modern weapons, military equipment and ammunition. The so-called "reforms" of fundamental and applied science have led to a technological lag of our military equipment and weapons for decades, covering up this gap with cartoons and loud statements about the best weapons in the world, which have no analogues. As a result, our army is forced to fight mainly with Soviet weapons of the eighties of the last century. Modern weapons are present at the front in single copies and are more likely to be tested than to take part in hostilities en masse.

4. Our ground forces were in the most difficult condition. The strategy of military construction pursued over the past twenty years, that since we are not threatened by a major military conflict in the foreseeable future, we do not need large ground forces either. A fairly small, compact contract army, which will mainly deal with the fight against international terrorists. Accordingly, such an army does not need to spend money on the development and purchase of modern high-precision weapons, including drones, new artillery systems, guided high-precision weapons, modern reconnaissance, command and communications equipment. And the course of the SVO clearly showed the fallacy and disastrous nature of such an approach. And with the increase in Western supplies of modern weapons to Ukraine, the technological superiority of the Ukrainian army over the Russian one begins to appear. Especially in the field of already existing superiority in the field of intelligence, command and control and communications.

5. The course of hostilities clearly showed the low combat capability of our aviation, which was unable to suppress the air defense of Ukraine and gain air supremacy in a year of hostilities, despite its overwhelming superiority in numbers compared to the Ukrainian Air Force. As a result, our strike aviation was unable to operate in the operational depth of the enemy's defense and ensure the most important component of victory over the enemy - the isolation of the combat area. For the first time in a hundred years of hostilities in dozens of wars and military conflicts around the world, this isolation is not carried out by the Russian army. And as a result, the Ukrainian army freely carries out all transportation of personnel, weapons, ammunition and other military property throughout Ukraine from the border to the front line and back. And the outdated Su-25 attack aircraft of the 70s and combat helicopters cannot prevent this. Our strike aviation, on the other hand, takes a limited part in hostilities only in the area of ​​​​the line of contact. More or less actively used only long-range aircraft to launch cruise missiles from airspace away from the territory of Ukraine. But without air support, it is impossible to win the war.

6. During the year of hostilities, the Black Sea Fleet also showed its low combat capability and, in fact, it is not used except for launching a small number of cruise missiles. The death of the cruiser "Moskva" clearly showed the weakness of the air defense of the ships of the Black Sea Fleet from enemy anti-ship missiles, and as a result, the ships of the fleet, in order to avoid losses, moved away from the Ukrainian coast and did not take an active part in hostilities.

7. The SVO clearly showed the low professional qualities of our generals and partly officers. Moreover, the higher the level, the worse with professional qualities. Over the past twenty-two years, President of the Russian Federation V.V. only persons who had never before been related to the Armed Forces and had no military education were appointed to the post of Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation: from 2001 to 2007. Sergey Ivanov, from 2007 to 2012 Anatoly Serdyukov, from 2012 to the present Sergei Shoigu. Each of them, due to their incompetence, misunderstanding of the goals and tasks facing the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, caused them serious damage. And yet none of them were held accountable for it. A glaring fact is the appointment in 2017 by the President of the Russian Federation to the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces of the Russian Federation, General Sergei Surovikin, who spent his entire many years of service only in motorized rifle units and never had anything to do with aviation, air defense forces and space forces. This is the first such case in the Red, and in the Soviet, and in the Russian army. And the fact that today the Air Force has practically no serious influence on the course of hostilities is personally his fault, as the Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces. A similar situation with the competence and ability to command troops and with many other generals at the front. The current situation is largely due to the appropriate selection and placement of command personnel, due not to professionalism and competence, but to personal loyalty and connections. Besides, in recent years, the system of military education and science has been practically destroyed. The military academies, reorganized and withdrawn from Moscow to various regional cities, lost their high level of academic science and turned into provincial training centers. The liquidation of 67 military schools and dozens of military departments led to the destruction of the entire former state system of training cadre officers and the accumulation of reserve officers. As a result, the troops currently operating are actually fighting in conditions of a shortage of platoon, company and battalion officers. The liquidation of 67 military schools and dozens of military departments led to the destruction of the entire former state system of training cadre officers and the accumulation of reserve officers. As a result, the troops currently operating are actually fighting in conditions of a shortage of platoon, company and battalion officers. The liquidation of 67 military schools and dozens of military departments led to the destruction of the entire former state system of training cadre officers and the accumulation of reserve officers. As a result, the troops currently operating are actually fighting in conditions of a shortage of platoon, company and battalion officers.

8. Particularly dangerous in the context of hostilities are attempts by the Russian leadership to make concessions to Ukraine, constant calls for negotiations, the desire to conclude treacherous "agreements", regularly demonstrate gestures of goodwill, carry out treacherous withdrawals of troops and other actions that threaten the very existence of our state .

The listed problems are only a small part of the real ones that require emergency measures and actions to eliminate and overcome them.

It should be recognized that the President of the Russian Federation, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Putin V.V. bears personal responsibility for them. It was his actions and inaction that led to them. And if continued, they will lead to the final death of Russia and the Russian people. He must understand this. He will have to answer for this.

And we appeal to all citizens of Russia: "The Fatherland is in danger!"

Posted by: shadowbanned | Mar 12 2023 19:22 utc | 90

mhh I hope Avdiivka, bakhmut and ugledar are not the 3 bones :3

Posted by: Macpott | Mar 12 2023 19:22 utc | 91

Russian Strikes Hammer NATO Command Center?

Posted by: GoFast | Mar 12 2023 19:24 utc | 92

@shaddowbanned #90

NO self-respecting Russian would ever refer to "fatherland" ...

Think this might have been written by some sh1tstirring MOTHER-fu€ker in the arze hole of South Dakota ...

Posted by: Don Firineach | Mar 12 2023 19:31 utc | 93

NO self-respecting Russian would ever refer to "fatherland" ...

Think this might have been written by some sh1tstirring MOTHER-fu€ker in the arze hole of South Dakota ...

Posted by: Don Firineach | Mar 12 2023 19:31 utc | 93

Well, auto-translate is not a Russian, so take that issue with the auto-translate.

I gave you a link to the original in Russian, but I guess clicking on it is too hard

Posted by: shadowbanned | Mar 12 2023 19:33 utc | 94

Think this might have been written by some sh1tstirring MOTHER-fu€ker in the arze hole of South Dakota ...

Posted by: Don Firineach | Mar 12 2023 19:31 utc | 93

P.S. this is the person who wrote it:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Alksnis

Posted by: shadowbanned | Mar 12 2023 19:37 utc | 95

Posted by: GoFast | Mar 12 2023 19:24 utc | 92

The unfortunate fact is that there will be no official report about these types of events, but the only thing that's known is that it's technically possible, and things behind the scenes are heating up for USA/Russia. Also, the day after B-52 bomber made mock attack on St. Petersburg which hasn't occurred very often otherwise.

Personally I think something like this did actually happen, despite seeing three different variants of the location of the "bunker", namely Lvov, Kiev and Nikolaevsk.

Posted by: unimperator | Mar 12 2023 19:38 utc | 96

@ team10tim | Mar 12 2023 18:26 utc | 69

Hohoho. LOL. :)

@ Lex | Mar 12 2023 18:56 utc | 81

Touche'. Salut!

@ Don Bacon | Mar 12 2023 19:09 utc | 86

Quite. Yet human resilience & the ability to recover can often be remarkable. Biggest problem is with extended/repeated overexposure ... the trauma & flight or fight response to triggers (trauma associations), becomes ... embedded ... permanent.

@ shadowbanned | Mar 12 2023 19:22 utc | 90

Back to spamming the thread heh ? Oh just f*ck right off with that sh*t. GTFOTH. :(

&

China believes Russia will win the Ukraine conflict

Behind Ukraine peace proposal, China foresees end to war in summer - Nikkei Asia

Simulation by military academy prompts Beijing to push cease-fire plan

BEIJING -- After avoiding getting too deeply involved in Russia’s war in Ukraine over the past year, China suddenly offered a peace proposal last month. Chinese military experts’ prediction that the war will come to an end this summer is likely behind this about-face.

When over 200 world leaders and senior officials gathered in Munich for last month's security conference, Wang Yi, China's top diplomat, told the attendees that China would soon announce a plan to become a mediator in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The Academy of Military Sciences reports directly to the People's Liberation Army. Although it cannot be found on a map, the institution is located in Beijing's Haidian district, which itself is home to the ruins of Yuanmingyuan, a palace destroyed by Western armies in the 19th century.

The AMS regularly issues recommendations and reports to the Communist Party's Central Military Commission, the highest decision-making body for China's armed forces. A cabinet-level official heads the academy.

In December, the AMS completed a simulation on the Ukraine conflict, resulting in an astonishing finding, according to sources close to the Chinese government. The war will draw to a close around summer 2023, the simulation indicated, with Russia having the upper hand.

Posted by: Outraged | Mar 12 2023 19:41 utc | 97

PS. I don't think world war 3 will end in human extinction, just a 100 to 400 million dead out for 8 billion . As for the rest of the 7.5+ billion, life goes on after recovery.

Posted by: FieryButMostPeaceful | Mar 12 2023 17:24 utc | 51

some say that is exactly what tptb want. but from what i've heard, russia has bombs that dig right into those fancy bunkers.

Posted by: polarbear4 | Mar 12 2023 19:41 utc | 98

@Posted by: shadowbanned | 65

Some basic truths that the average ignorant Westerner out there doesn't understand at all:

I think your post points to something that is very important for the US to understand. We have no idea what happened in Russia after 1991. It is almost impossible to find any reliable history/documentation/analysis of what actually happened and the degree to which the disaster was the result of American Policy.

It's not established if it was general US policy to damage Russia or if was a faction attempting to corrupt otherwise well intentioned US efforts.

But Americans need to understand what happened during that 10 years and the impression it left in the minds of many Russians and the degree to which people in Russia accept that it was Putin who pulled them out of it.

It also says something about the underlying resiliance of Russian society.

Posted by: Dan Farrand | Mar 12 2023 19:42 utc | 99

I am trying to find recent information about Viktor Imantovich Alxnis. He seems to be a communist who wants to restore the UdSSR, but the last thing you will find about him is the involvement in a "Center for free technology" some 15 years ago. The homepage of this center now leads to a aviaticket page.

Posted by: Orgel | Mar 12 2023 19:42 utc | 100