Moon of Alabama Brecht quote
April 01, 2023

Ukraine Open Thread 2023-77

Only for news & views directly related to the Ukraine conflict.

The current open thread for other issues is here.

Please stick to the topic. Contribute facts. Do not attack other commentators.

Posted by b on April 1, 2023 at 16:18 UTC | Permalink

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I urge folk to go and have a look at this: https://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/?p=267093
It paints a diametric opposite picture to the one I had in mind about Russia and Ukraine and, if true, a very very depressing one.

Posted by: Ken Tucky | Apr 1 2023 16:24 utc | 1

Ukraine news via southfront:

Adveeka isn't as surrounded as some thought, the russian unit in that attack was damaged, and ukraine pulled back but russia wasn't able to move in. Advances in the open areas north is still ongoing.

Bahkmut had reported a Ukrainian attack to start unblocking it to the south, but ukraine can't get artillery into the city to fire without fast counter battery action and is losing territory there.

Ukraine is hinting it'll attack everywhere like some sort of tet offensive. Something screwy about that, but seems like melitopol and the land bridge is the primary goal.

Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | Apr 1 2023 16:34 utc | 2

The more the West loses on the ground, the greater the Propaganda bleating by CIA/MI6 shit stirrers.
Austria lawmakers walked out on Zelensky speech last week. Zelensky was crying about losing Bachmut. Z foolishly thinks Xi will accept his invitation to Kiev. Perhaps Xi would see Z on Chinese soil.
No more "Shock and Awe" attacks on weak 3rd world countries, it is now street fighting in the mud and the blood and the beer. Russia will not and cannot lose this fight, no matter how many fits Bastard Biden has, nor how many Quisling Schultz's Europe has on their bench.
The USD is the mirage in the desert, Europe is heading straight back to its Neaderthal roots, Berlin just told her "the world is going to end because of CO2 climate mange babies" to find another cause du jour.
Awe, the smell of rotting U.S. Exceptionalism is hard to wash out.

Posted by: kupkee | Apr 1 2023 16:40 utc | 3

@2, don't forget the Ukrainians are just as just as stupid, greedy, and self serving as the Russians. They're basically the same.

The difference is the professional help nato countries supply. The weapons training commands about where to fire.

Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | Apr 1 2023 16:43 utc | 4

"I urge folk to go and have a look at this: https://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/?p=267093
It paints a diametric opposite picture to the one I had in mind about Russia and Ukraine and, if true, a very very depressing one.

Posted by: Ken Tucky | Apr 1 2023 16:24 utc | 2"

Meh

There would not be total collapse of Russian government unless they loae Crimea. And theyw will not lose Crimea without usimg nukes.

I guess everything is possible. But this scenario described above has very little chance of becoming reality.

The nuclear scenario is much more likely.

Posted by: Comandante | Apr 1 2023 16:48 utc | 5

Ken Turkey @ 2
Ha ha you'l have to try better than that on here.
That's putting the Ukraine Kiev problems and suggesting Russia is suffering them.
Just another desperate attempt for the US to spin and blame shift.
Desperate people do desperate things.
Go back back to Qanon or Langley Colonel Saunders.

Posted by: Mark2 | Apr 1 2023 16:50 utc | 6

I urge folk to go and have a look at this: https://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/?p=267093...

Posted by: Ken Tucky | Apr 1 2023 16:24 utc | 2

A load of editorial bombast, free of facts... sorry, not convincing

Posted by: Dee Plorable | Apr 1 2023 17:05 utc | 7

Ken Tucky, I suspect a huge pile of manure from the link and stopped reading 1/3 through.

What's presented without evidence can be discounted without evidence.

Posted by: Longtrail | Apr 1 2023 17:11 utc | 8

I'm not as much pro Russia but vehemently anti Nazi.

Posted by: Longtrail | Apr 1 2023 17:12 utc | 9

So this looks good.
Russia chairs the UN for the next month, due to normal rotation.
A Russian spokesmen promised to head a discussion on....
'A new world order'

Posted by: Mark2 | Apr 1 2023 17:13 utc | 10

The racist Nazi mentality is a cancer metastasis in NATO.

Posted by: Longtrail | Apr 1 2023 17:15 utc | 11

The BRICS+ and SCO Nations should be sitting in the Security Council.

Posted by: Longtrail | Apr 1 2023 17:21 utc | 12

Old PCR has come up with an interesting explanation for why the Russians seem totally disinterested in their SMO (Slow Motion Operation, as others call it) in Ukraine. Basically Russia can't be bothered with Ukraine because Russia knows that the WAR is going to be settled with nukes.

https://www.unz.com/proberts/does-america-have-a-future-3/

Well its true that the West can't beat Russia conventionally, and its true that the West can't beat China conventionally. So the only way for the West to beat Russian and / or China is with nukes or with something else of similar destructive capability that the West has up its sleeve. Many have been trying to fathom just what exactly the West has been up to for the last decade or 2. The West is committing suicide through various means. First is the business of sending all the industry, manufacturing and technology to China. Then its the Green Energy which ensures that the West can't resume its industries, then its the whole LGBT, BLM, woke business which weakens the Western population. And of course while the Westerns proper are discouraged from procreating the West is being flooded by everyone from everywhere else. Then there is the Covid vaccines to kill more of its own population and the lack of effective military development over the last 2 decades while Russia has just been making advance after advance after advance on the tank, missile and nuke side of things, with a pittance of the money that the West has available for its military development. So the West is killing itself, purposely killing itself. But why would the West kill itself just so that the Russians and Chinese can take over? That doesn't sound plausible.

The only explanation is that the West is depopulating and de-developing itself so that there will be a smaller more compliant population for the elites to manage effectively and ruthlessly, while at the same time having some plan to destroy Russian and China at the press of a button. Many are saying that this plan to destroy Russia and China is to be implemented soon.

Posted by: gT | Apr 1 2023 17:25 utc | 13

🚨🚨🚨 Ready to meet the enemy!

In the Zaporozhye direction, engineering and sapper units of the RF Armed Forces carried out a thorough work on mining the area.

It remains only to wait and watch how the militants of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will climb and take off when the Fuhrer ZeReich sends them to the slaughter. Express to Bandera is waiting for the Nazis.

By the way, the locals asked "to mine everything here so that not a single Bandera bastard crawls through!"

Mining was carried out with the help of several units "Object-318" or GMZ-3 - caterpillar minelayers.

This combat vehicle of the engineering troops was put into service almost 40 years ago - in 1984. Designed for mechanized anti-tank mining during the battle. Mining is carried out on the ground surface without camouflage or in the ground with camouflage.

During mining, mines from a cassette (4 mines TM-52, TM-57, TM-62, TM-62PZ and TM-89 with contact and proximity fuses are placed in the cassette) located in the middle part of the body are fed to the issuing mechanism and then on the trigger conveyor with a mechanism for transferring mines to a combat position. A plow device with reverse mouldboards allows deepening and masking mines.

GMZ-3 provides for the early installation of minefields in the expected tank-dangerous directions, as well as in the direct repulsion of attacks by tank and mechanized enemy units. A platoon of minelayers, consisting of three combat vehicles, within 30 minutes establishes a minefield that is practically impassable for armored vehicles along the front up to 2.5 - 3 kilometers.

The navigation equipment available at GMZ-3 provides not only the development of the course, but also the digital indexing of the installed mines, which makes it possible to fix the minefield on the topographic map.

After all, after the liberation of our native land from the Nazi abomination, we still have a lot of work to do to clear the South Russian lands and restore the national economy.

Vladimir Rogov
https://t.me/NovichokRossiya/27435?single

Posted by: unimperator | Apr 1 2023 17:27 utc | 14

@ Ken Tucky

A quality site, filled to the brim only with carefully curated, top notch, gold standard journalism. /s Such as:

“Materialism is Coming Round The Mountain in a Flaming Chariot Being Drawn by Six Priapic Rainbow Demons.” - Mar 27, 2023

"Tin Foil Hat — Wear It Proudly" - Mar 26, 2023

"March 25 – Woke Banks Fall First" - Mar 26, 2023

“AND You Won’t Be Sailing Long on The Ocean of Nonsense… Unless You Have a Bicycle Pump Attached to Your Nipples.” - Mar 20, 2023

Watch “11-Year-Old SILENCES School Board As He Reads From DISTURBING Book Found In School Library” on YouTube - Mar 17, 2023

“The Flat Earth Movers at The Demolition Derby Were Plowed Under so God Left Them a Rose on the Grave of Their Mind.” - Mar 16, 2023

Apologies all, could not resist ... sorry.

Posted by: Outraged | Apr 1 2023 17:36 utc | 15

Responding to Ken Tucky 2
The last line of the article in question (translated) reads: "Our cause is just, we will win, the enemy will be defeated!" Anyone who knows Russia will have known to take the "party line" with a grain of salt.

Posted by: Theophanes | Apr 1 2023 17:55 utc | 16

Ken Tucky @2:

Have read a lot of doomer takes along these lines. They're disquieting, & may very well include well grounded coverage of some really fucked up and absurd shit, which by the way is feature of wars in general.

By all means, such things should be explored and investigated, and we have seen--as in all wars--even senior commanders being replaced for poor performance. And by all means, if there are any additional preparations or is any incremental threat awareness that flows from this, let it be so.

Perhaps the most concerning is the suggestion, which is *not* incredible, that there is a fifth column of elites either actively working towards Russia's defeat, or to ensure that it does not succeed too well. I think they may exist; but it also seems as if their position is not stronger and is likely considerably weaker than before the SMO. They might regain some degree of power if events turn decisively against Russia.

But let us stipulate, for a moment, that *all* of the specific events (if not the secret intentions and agendas) in this account are roughly accurate; then the main point is that Russia is quietly succeeding and NATO noisily failing **in spite of all this** across multiple domains (which should be considered in tandem as elements of total warfare): military, defense-industrial, logistical, strategic commodity access, technology, sustainability, diplomacy (outside West), geopolitical alliances, currency, finance, economy, domestic support...

Insofar as this general picture is true, in its totality and in almost all of its particulars, this is the diametrical opposite of what Western 'strategic planners' anticipated, publicly forecasted, & bet the farm on.

From this, at the very least, we can infer that the general premises and foundational concepts underpinning Western strategic planning--things such as GDP, financialized vs industrial economies, military spending as a reflection of or proxy for military strength, reality based analysis vs self-defeating propaganda (e.g., lack of respect for Russian military, industry, technocracy, technology), a war of territorial gains, battlefield symbolism & information warfare vs. macro-strategic thinking, logistics, & attritional warfare--should by now be greetied with ever increasing skepticism.

Conversely, we might at least seriously entertain the possibility--without lapsing into Copium--that the Russian strategic planners are better--indeed vastly better than the doomer view would support, and considerably better than we have seen from the West to this point.

Let's take these fucking bridges for example. Why would anyone imagine that a Russian strategic-planning team that is at least holding its own against (if not humiliating) a 50-country Western adversary, does *NOT GRASP THE IMPORTANCE OF BRIDGES*? Assuming, instead, that they are not far more stupid than we are, and that they do understand, then, either:
a) they don't think they can take the bridges out (if so, case closed);
b) they don't want to take them out.

Why wouldn't they want to take them out if they can (and still assuming they aren't stupid)? Is the next best explanation traitorous or corrupt intent?

Is there a broader strategic vision in which this would make sense--might even be strategically clever?

Better strategic minds than mine might conjure better scenarios but here's one:

Arguably from the before the SMO, or at least soon after, Russia recognized itself to be at war with NATO--indeed a NATO that was brashly talking about crushing Russia's economy, crashing its financial system, triggering a Moscow Maidan (or more likely a Palace Coup of Atlanticist elites) while it launched a long-term NAZI mujahideen guerrilla campaign after the inevitable quick & bloody Russian victory. A victory that in the NATO mind would have required a full-frontal tank assault on the massively fortified Maginot line built over 8 years in the Donbass, & likely at the cost of something on the order of 150,000 to 200,000 Russian KIAs, or more if the standard 3:1 attacker:defender ratio were also reflective of casualty ratios.

Let's just say that Russia has given them something very, very different. Overall, an economy of force operation and war of attrition.

Though Russian losses are hard to calculate (and Ukraine's impossible with any precision), the only credible Western source with a plausible & announced methodology is the BBC's survey, producing evidence for only 16,000 burials. Conversely, not only is there now nearly universal recognition that Ukraine losses are staggeringly high (anywhere from 120k to 350k KIAs), this represents something even more than demilitarization per se, but the elimination of an increasing proportion of the mobilization potential from which the 20-year, stay-behind, nazi guerrilla campaign would be drawn.

As for the war of attrition, it's now clear that Russia more or less on its own is winning that war against a 50-country Western block that includes 30 of the world's highest-GDP per capita economies.

If Russia's planners are fools, knaves or traitors, they're doing it wrong.

I would argue that almost from the beginning Russia has been conducting the war in such a way as to essentially counter and overcome the West's advantages--real but also falsely imagined--and exploit its weaknesses.

Russia has managed to a remarkable degree the pace and escalation of conflict, such that the West, rather than being terrified and spurred to full wartime mobilization by an overwhelming display of Russian power, has instead conducted a remarkable campaign of maskirovka on itself. (Russia weak, corrupt, incompetent, stupid--sound familiar?)

As a result, instead of joining its full NATO forces to the Ukraine military that was at full strength a year ago, the West has watched that UKR military broken twice, then seen thousands of mercenaries and weapons fed into a buzzsaw in the Donbass like those sushi boats we see being floated down to hungry customers at the far end of a sushi counter.

If you decided you must be ready for a NATO (or coalition of the willing) attack at any time--especially after a battered Russia had lost 200k KIAs in a frontal assault on the Donbass--WHERE would you choose to fight? Close to the Russian borders in the East & South or at the end of a 1000k logistical train (across the Dniepr BRIDGES) in Western Ukraine?

Meanwhile, by slowing the pace of engagements, Russia has been able to fully restart its defense-industrial complex, and partially mobilize without sacrificing the civilian economy to the war. New weapons systems and tactics are being steadily tested and deployed. The mobilized are clearly receiving intensive training, likely in new doctrines. The Russian technical education system--already strong--is being upgraded.

And of course, this overall building of war fighting strength, should be seen to include military backing available from allied countries (Iran, China & perhaps NK) and keeping other major economic partners onside.


Indeed it could be speculated that *from the beginning* the primary constraint driving Russia's choices from a menu of strategic and operational options is to fight only at a pace and in a manner that *increases* Russia's overall war readiness in comparison to NATO's in the event of a NATO attack.

This, after all, is exactly the time-biding strategy Russia was pursuing before the SMO and why they delayed an incursion as long as they did. But instead of letting the war interrupt this process--they have accelerated it, with the forces that weaken the West now in overdrive, and Russia now a year ahead at least in actual mobilization for large-scale combat.

Posted by: Paul Damascene | Apr 1 2023 17:57 utc | 17

~1900 the British invented the concentration camp in S Africa, killed half the Boer women and children and General/Lord Kitchener got a city named after him. ~50 years later the US killed a full quarter of the population of North Korea, millions. <50 years later the US was back killing millions in Vietnam and Cambodia. <50 years later the US was killing kinetically and with sanctions "modern day siege" more millions in the middle East. 500,000 Iraqi children was "worth it" according to Madalyn Albright. Well the evil US bully is back at it only this time Uncle Sam picked on someone who was more than capable of fighting back. In the meantime the US and the UK are rotting from the inside out. The European elites have chosen/were coerced to stand with the empire. Their Rentier extraction classes rape of world is ending the way it began, with the sword. It won't be missed in many places.

Posted by: Bob | Apr 1 2023 17:58 utc | 18

BAKHMUT

Russia continues to make significant advances in Bakhmut.

For weeks now I thought that Russia would physically encircle Bakhmut to cut off the Ukrainains off ammo, food, water, mecial, heat, etc. Perhaps, this is the case because the roads have once again become so muddy hindering movement in the open fields with heavy equipment.

Physical encirclement did not and has not happen. I guess the Wagner forces were not too concerned about Ukraine providing added support to Bakhmut. Or maybe, the Wagner forces were confident that little would make it into or out of Bakhmut since the Russians have fire control on all the roads in/out of Bakhmut, that is operational encirclement.

Instead the Wagner forces have continued to eat up one chunk of the city of Bakhmut after another. It looks like Russia will take yet another 5% of Bakhmut this week according to Weeb Union's and others recent videos.

At this rate of advance, Russia will take the remaining areas of Bakhmut within the next couple of months or less.

As what remains of Ukrainian controlled Bakhmut is reduced, this allows for more concentrated artillery fire upon AFU positions which results in the Russian meat grinder becoming even more deadly in the Bakhmut cauldron (kettle).

After Bakhmut falls, the pace of Russian advance in the Donbas could increase significantly. We will soon see. If the Russian advance quickens, this means Russia chewed up a signficant amount of Ukrainian resources in Bakhmut and other over the last months.

Until then, the fog of war initally looms upon the zero line and where it will go and when it will go. However, the great reporting from Weeb Union, the Duran, the Military Summary channel, Defense Politics Asia, the New Atlas, Levan, NWE, History Legends and many others usually helps clear out that fog and bring better definition within a few days.

Posted by: young | Apr 1 2023 18:01 utc | 19

the Collective West is silent on UKR snuffing ot Freedom of Religion. It breaks the cochlea:

Dispicable.

Ukrainian Court Decides to Forcefully Deliver Hospitalized Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Vicegerent to Hearing

The vicegerent of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra is currently at a hospital after being placed under a house arrest in Kiev earlier in the day. The spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church, Vladimir Legoyda, condemned the house arrest, saying it had been issued under false accusations and represented yet another example of lawlessness in Ukraine.
A Ukrainian court has decided to forcefully deliver vicegerent of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Metropolitan Bishop Pavel to a hearing on Saturday, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) stated. 

"After announcing a break until Monday, the court rescheduled the court session... The session will take place [on Saturday] at 18.30," the UOC said in a message on the Telegram channel. 
Metropolitan Bishop Pavel is currently at a hospital after becoming ill during a court session. Given his condition, the court had decided to postpone the session to Monday, April 3.

On Saturday morning, the vicegerent said that he had been placed under house arrest and summoned for interrogation by the Ukrainian authorities over alleged collaboration with Russia and incitement of inter-religious hatred for criticizing the schismatic Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU).

"The placement of Metropolitan Pavel under house arrest on far-fetched accusations is, alas, a natural continuation of the lawlessness being exercised today by the Ukrainian authorities. Such is the 'dialogue' with representatives of the largest Christian denomination in Ukraine," the spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church, Vladimir Legoyda, said on Saturday.
[.]

https://sputniknews.com/20230401/ukrainian-court-decides-to-forcefully-deliver-hospitalized-kiev-pechersk-lavra-vicegerent-to-1109036269.html

if this guy, dressed with a kipah, was a Cantor or Rabbi....can you hear it?
Listen carefully to the howls of condemnation and sanctions.

A Minyan (not of the tribe) is waiting for Zelensky.

Posted by: Likklemore | Apr 1 2023 18:04 utc | 20

Bob | Apr 1 2023 17:58 utc | 19

50 years later the US was killing kinetically and with sanctions "modern day siege" more millions in the middle East. 500,000 Iraqi children was "worth it" according to Madalyn Albright

It was worth if to most in the US. Cheap oil is more important than dead children. Few gave it a second thought.

Posted by: circumspect | Apr 1 2023 18:04 utc | 21

" Russian soldiers from the "Storm" unit, consisting of both convicts (and likely some mobilised), formed by Russian MoD, published a video revealing they were purposefully sent into slaughter during the assault of Vodyane while blocking units prevented their retreat. The unit consisting of 161 people initially, has only several dozen men left alive. They claim that soldiers are being "taxed", and those who refused to pay are sent straight to the zero line, and if they get wounded, they'll be removed from hospitals with unhealed wounds and sent back. "

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1639390679670374403

Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Apr 1 2023 18:04 utc | 22

" The only explanation is that the West is depopulating and de-developing itself so that there will be a smaller more compliant population for the elites to manage effectively and ruthlessly, while at the same time having some plan to destroy Russian and China at the press of a button. Many are saying that this plan to destroy Russia and China is to be implemented soon.

Posted by: gT | Apr 1 2023 17:25 utc | 14 "


Then why is the "West " concurrently flooding itself with tens of millions of recalcitrant, young, combat age men and women ? That doesn't indicate that the elites want smaller populations in the West. There is another option however.

Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Apr 1 2023 18:12 utc | 23

Phew! I'm glad other more seasoned commentators here take the same view as I do, that, the article in question is utter bollocks.
Just had to check out what others thought. Thank you.

Posted by: Ken Tucky | Apr 1 2023 18:14 utc | 24

Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Apr 1 2023 18:04 utc | 23

Ukrainians are definitely using blocking detachments from Azov and Kraken nazi battalions and sending wounded back to the front. Summer-Fall last year, there were also claims that Kraken guys had welded Ukrainian tank crews inside their tanks to force them to attack, a lot of this was going on in the Kherson operation, but other places too.

The Russians probably don't generally, they don't include convicts in army units. Wagner might have a bit different rules since they are convicts and they signed a contract to exchange sentence to freedom.

Posted by: unimperator | Apr 1 2023 18:15 utc | 25

I'm posting this to the new thread so it gets the exposure it deserves:

Outraged @411--

Thanks for finding and posting that item. That the troll laments the new policy is expected. Curious that the Kremlin hasn't posted an official English translation of the document, just the outline provided by Lavrov at the Security Council meeting. Of course, one exists because Sputnik published it yesterday.

ThusspakeZarathustra asks about our Third World War--IMO, it's ongoing in Hybrid form, when it began precisely is hard to say, but most certainly since 24 Feb 2022, although I go back further to the moment the Outlaw US Empire declared its goal of attaining Full Spectrum Domination (FSD) of the planet in 1996, and perhaps even further back to the formulation of the Wolfowitz Doctrine in 1992, which formed the basis for seeking FSD, which was reiterated in 1999. 911 provided the rationale to attack the entire world--with us or against us. So, as you see, there are many variables when addressing that question, although we're certainly in a Hybrid Third World War NOW, with the NATO Bloc replacing the Fascist Axis and RoW again being the Allies. Do take note of these two passages from the new Foreign Policy Concept. From Point 8:

"A common form of interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states has been the imposition of destructive neoliberal ideological attitudes that contradict traditional spiritual and moral values. As a result, the destructive impact extends to all spheres of international relations."

And from point 19.9:

"In order to facilitate the adaptation of the world order to the realities of a multipolar world, the Russian Federation intends to give priority attention to....

"[The] consolidation of international efforts aimed at ensuring respect for and protection of universal and traditional spiritual and moral values (including ethical norms common to all world religions), neutralization of attempts to impose pseudo-humanistic and other neoliberal ideological attitudes that lead to the loss of traditional spiritual and moral guidelines and moral principles by mankind;"

IMO, that sets forth the core reasons for the War. And when you study Neoliberalism and understand its innate destructive nature, you can understand why it must be expunged just as Nazism must be expunged--again.

Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 1 2023 18:20 utc | 26

" “Local officers of the “DPR” abandoned their positions, only the mobilised Russians remained” the mobilised from the 504th tank regiment recorded another appeal with complaints about the “DPR” command. They previously published an appeal in mid-February. "


https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1639732472064663552

Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Apr 1 2023 18:20 utc | 27

Re, Deplorable Commissar on Apr 1 2023 @ 18:04 #23
Good sourcing there on Twitter. What's that old cartoon from the New Yorker? Oh yeah, On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog.

Posted by: Quid Me Vexare | Apr 1 2023 18:21 utc | 28

@Paul Damascene
All very good points.

Posted by: Ken Tucky | Apr 1 2023 18:21 utc | 29

" The Russians probably don't generally, they don't include convicts in army units. Wagner might have a bit different rules since they are convicts and they signed a contract to exchange sentence to freedom.

Posted by: unimperator | Apr 1 2023 18:15 utc | 26 "


Did you even watch the video or are you just spewing copium ? Its been obvious for a long time now that there's something very off about this " non-war "and these kinds of videos just provide more evidence of that.

Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Apr 1 2023 18:23 utc | 30

Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Apr 1 2023 18:04 utc | 23
----------------------------------------------

You really are a deplorable troll. How do you authenticate this? Are do you sign on to anything that the CIA and NED throw out there? Propaganda is a 24/7 thing; it never stops, and twitter is a primary source for US propaganda. Are these POW's, actors, Ukies in Russian uniforms? Do you know?

Posted by: Ed | Apr 1 2023 18:25 utc | 31

@ Deplorable Commissar | Apr 1 2023 18:04 utc | 23

PATHETIC FAKE. You are a consistent & persistent TROLL.

NEW Clean fatigues, NEW Clean kit, Clean boots, Clean & fresh-faced, all alert well-rested & focused. Fucking Zero signs of combat fatigue or recent action. Let alone driven to slaughter over weeks of combat backed by 'Blocking Detachments". No personal arms, no weapons, not even mags.

PATHETIC Ukie FAKE.

Posted by: Outraged | Apr 1 2023 18:26 utc | 32

Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Apr 1 2023 18:20 utc | 28

There is no such unit as "504th tank regiment" in RU armed forces. If you google it, you can find that there was a 504th panzer battalion in the German armed forces in WW2, though. Wonder where do they come up with these?

Posted by: unimperator | Apr 1 2023 18:29 utc | 33

" You really are a deplorable troll. How do you authenticate this?

Posted by: Ed | Apr 1 2023 18:25 utc | 32 "

'
By Russia's performance on the ground Mr. Ed. There's a reason why Berhard and Saker decided to disappear. They either got offers they couldn't refuse or they know whats coming.

Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Apr 1 2023 18:30 utc | 34

By Russia's performance on the ground Mr. Ed. There's a reason why Berhard and Saker decided to disappear. They either got offers they couldn't refuse or they know whats coming.

Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Apr 1 2023 18:30 utc | 35
----------------------------------------------

So, your job is done here. See you in the next US Imperialist War: Taiwan perhaps?

Posted by: Ed | Apr 1 2023 18:34 utc | 35

Paul Damascene | 18

That was very well written Paul. I was very impressed with how you structured your narrative. I even checked your choice of wording.

"copium (uncountable) (Internet slang, neologism, derogatory, humorous) A fictional or metaphorical opiate taken in order to cope when one is faced with loss. The humorous implication is that copium gives energy to denial in those that consume it".

Look forward to your future postings which are informative like many of the other good posters on this site.

Paul Damascene (Pauline conversion)

Note: The Pagan Christ - Tom Harper 1929–2017

Thank you sir

Posted by: Angelo | Apr 1 2023 18:40 utc | 36

" So, your job is done here. See you in the next US Imperialist War: Taiwan perhaps?

Posted by: Ed | Apr 1 2023 18:34 utc | 36 "


My job is to ensure Slavic victory no matter who the enemy, This is why Russia's bizarre performance in this war is infuriating. If Russia loses this war all my people will suffer.

Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Apr 1 2023 18:42 utc | 37

Angelo @37

What a kind and generous reading of my post. Thank you. As you note, there are many good posts here, which is why we keep coming back.

All the best to you.
Warm regards.

Posted by: Paul Damascene | Apr 1 2023 18:47 utc | 38

Posted by: gT | Apr 1 2023 17:25 utc | 14

"The only explanation is that the West is depopulating and de-developing itself so that there will be a smaller more compliant population for the elites to manage effectively and ruthlessly, while at the same time having some plan to destroy Russian and China at the press of a button. Many are saying that this plan to destroy Russia and China is to be implemented soon."


Russia will not lose the tremendous advantage of a first strike. Before the West launches, Russia will launch first to obtain the advantage of the first strike. With better delivery mechanisms than the West, Russia will raze the USA with fire within one hour.

Most likely the USA is the last day's "Mystery Babylon the Great" written about by the Apostle John in Revelation. If so, it will be destroyed within one hour with fire. The only thing that I am aware that could cause that is a massive nuclear strike.

Daniel 7 provides a summary of the last day's sequence of empires by defining 4 beasts. The first beast is a lion with wings. This could be the UK (the lion) joined with the USA (the wings). According to Daniel 7, the wings (USA) will be severed from the Lion (UK). This happens when the bear beast (Russia) arises to devour much flesh (Daniel 7:5).

I think the bear (Russia) will clip the wings off the lion as soon as it has 3 ribs in its mouth. Those 3 ribs could be Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk.

The wings of the lion could be clipped in 2023. That means the end of the Western world as we know it. That means the time of Jacob's trouble will begin.

The West has become decadent and corrupt to such a degree that such times may be more imminent than most realize. There is a time of falling away. After that, comes judgment.

Posted by: young | Apr 1 2023 18:47 utc | 39

Christelle Néant of Donbas Insider writes:

"..The special military operation has revealed to what extent those Western media claiming to be objective and neutral are nothing but propaganda relays of NATO, ready to report any false information or to approve the most despicable crimes so as long as they are directed against Russia. The alleged massacre in the small city of Bucha in March 2022; the accusations of mass rape against Ukrainian civilians, including against children and the elderly; claims that Viagra was distributed to Russian soldiers; threats of future ethnic cleansing in Crimea against the territory’s majority Russian population – all the skeptical whiffs published in Ukrainian media have been happily repeated by the Western media.

"This year of the special military operation has also been a catalyst of revelations for Russia. False patriots have shown their true colors by fleeing the country. Flaws in Russian army planning and operations have been revealed, allowing mistakes to be corrected and strengthening measures to be taken. The people’s militias, the ‘Akhmat’ (Chechen) Battalion of Russia’s National Guard and the ‘Wagner’ battalions have shown the way forward for 21st century military strategy. Russian journalists have set an example of what the fourth estate should be by bringing problems to the attention of the heads of state for solutions and by showing to all the Western propagandists of the entire world that there is much more freedom of expression in Russia than in the West. Finally, the overwhelming majority of the Russian people have shown by their actions that Russian patriotism is still alive and well.

"In Ukraine, the special military operation has revealed the full horrors of the Kiev regime. A forced military mobilisation of the entire male population of the country has taken place and Ukrainian soldiers are being used as common cannon fodder. The numbers of Ukrainian casualties are being concealed so as avoid paying compensation to their families. Ill-treatment and even outright execution of Russia prisoners of war have been revealed. Civilians in the cities recovered by the Ukrainian army have been killed or otherwise punished upon the slightest suspicion that they received Russian humanitarian aid. Civilians are used as human shields by Ukrainian soldiers. There has been systematic destruction of everything Russian in the formerly multinational country. Plans for a Ukrainian military offensive against the people of Donbass were exposed. Among the other war crimes of the Ukraine side are widespread use of chemical weapons, provocative bombings of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, and, above all, the disclosure of the extremely dangerous work of dozens of Ukrainian biological laboratories, financed by the United States...."

https://socialistincanada.ca/russias-special-military-operation-in-ukraine-is-a-year-of-revelations/

Posted by: bevin | Apr 1 2023 18:48 utc | 40

>>I urge folk to go and have a look at this: https://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/?p=267093
It paints a diametric opposite picture to the one I had in mind about Russia and Ukraine and, if true, a very very depressing one.

Posted by: Ken Tucky | Apr 1 2023 16:24 utc | 2

What is going on is that the new smart munitions have greatly reduced the ability of either side to make advances against a determined defense. The body count in an assault is just too high to be tolerated. The result is that armies are back to WW I style trench warfare. A regrettable slugfest with lots of death and destruction.

Posted by: Jmaas | Apr 1 2023 18:50 utc | 41

My job is to ensure Slavic victory no matter who the enemy, This is why Russia's bizarre performance in this war is infuriating. If Russia loses this war all my people will suffer.

Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Apr 1 2023 18:42 utc | 38
------------------------------------------
Sorry, but I'm not buying it. Your Slavic cover is blown, the emperor has no clothes.

Posted by: Ed | Apr 1 2023 18:51 utc | 42

Russell Bently just made a video message (only 5 miles from the front). Recall his article ( https://www.greanvillepost.com/2023/03/30/the-bakmut-diversion-and-the-donbas-defense-a-view-from-donetsk/ ) according to which Gorlovka and Makeevka are some of the more likely targets for UAF.

Russell seems to think that the decisive battle of SMO will be right here. That's one theory of course where they are going to attack, but there is the merit of why they would attack in this place.
https://t.me/TXDPR/5988

Btw, there were supposedly 10 Leopard tanks near Ugledar, reported by Military summary and other sources on TG.

Posted by: unimperator | Apr 1 2023 19:01 utc | 43

The war on the ground is misdirection for the strategic war.

Diplomacy, economic developments, agreements, alternative currency structures, western public's attention, western political cycles, take time to work and to develop.

The ground war keeps the pacing on Russia and China's side, while the west has to walk in place with no options other than extending in escalations and stewing in its politics.

Posted by: Cine Tee | Apr 1 2023 19:01 utc | 44

@ karlof1 | Apr 1 2023 18:20 utc | 27

Most welcome. Thread needs some content & your valued contribution, given the serial troll is defecating all over the carpet. Always with lies & deceipt. Still Steel

@ Jmaas | Apr 1 2023 18:50 utc | 42

What is going on is that the new smart munitions have greatly reduced the ability of either side to make advances against a determined defense.

False.

The body count in an assault is just too high to be tolerated.

False.

The result is that armies are back to WW I style trench warfare.

False. Static trench warfare is all that the depleted shattered AFU can even barely sustain.

@ Cine Tee | Apr 1 2023 19:01 utc | 45

Snared in a catch-22 Bear-Trap, by they're own choice. Poetic.

Posted by: Outraged | Apr 1 2023 19:05 utc | 45

What's really happening in ukraine war and let's hope that Russia troops found this soldier before ukraine does. Second vid.

https://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/2023/04/saturday-and-no-jokes.html

Posted by: jo6pac | Apr 1 2023 19:05 utc | 46

" Sorry, but I'm not buying it. Your Slavic cover is blown, the emperor has no clothes.

Posted by: Ed | Apr 1 2023 18:51 utc | 43 "


The only reason you're not buying is because I'm not selling anything. Either way, I suspect the decisive battle will be fought very soon, hence all the pro-Russian bloggers are slowly
" disappearing ".

Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Apr 1 2023 19:07 utc | 47

What a joke this ICC arrest warrant is.
https://thegrayzone.com/2023/03/31/iccs-putin-arrest-state-dept-report/

The arrest relies on a report from Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL).


Some bits from Grayzone's story:
Yale HRL’s work was funded and guided by the State Department’s Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, an entity the Biden administration established in May 2022 to advance the prosecution of Russian officials. [..]

As the report says, “Many families in Ukraine do not want to publicly share their [camp or school] experiences because they fear they will be seen [by Ukraine] as collaborators with Russia.” [..]

As his report states, “Yale HRL does not conduct interviews with witnesses or victims; only the specific information available in open source is collected. When analysts are unable to identify public information about whether a child has returned home, it can be difficult to ascertain the current status of the child. Similarly, Yale HRL does not conduct ground-level investigations and therefore did not request access to the camps.” [..]

The paper acknowledges that, in fact, “Many of the children who have attended these camps appear to return to their families when scheduled.” [..]


When asked why his research team did not attempt to visit any programs inside Russia like the Donbas Express, Raymond said, “We’re persona non grata. We’re considered extensions of US intelligence by the Russians.”

Though he acknowledged working closely with US intelligence and the State Department, Raymond denied that Yale HRL’s focus on alleged Russian atrocities at the exclusion of those committed by Ukraine was driven by US government funding.

Posted by: Roland | Apr 1 2023 19:07 utc | 48

Ken Tucky @ 30
Thanks for getting back to us.
An explanation for my harsh words....
For the last 2 months every weekend we get an influx of trolls on this site, obviously coordinated.
Starting at the beginning of the thread.
I noticed your name here in the recent past so you may or not be a troll. You decide.
So I did let rip.
If your not a troll good luck and stick around.

Posted by: Mark2 | Apr 1 2023 19:11 utc | 49

I've no idea about the reality of that Twitter vid but when I hear crap like wounded pulled from hospital beds and send back to the front with shrapnel still in them my spidey sense lights up. Sounds too much like babies being dumped out of incubators, in fact, sounds exactly like babies dumped out of incubators. If you read through that tweet's rancid comments you see immediately who is drawn to it and who it was designed for.

Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Apr 1 2023 19:16 utc | 50

In response Deplorable Commissar@38,

Be honest with yourself. Your contribution, such as it is, to this Slavic victory would have landed you in front of a firing squad in any of our previous struggles.

https://rusdozor.ru/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/699975_2000.jpg

Posted by: Skiffer | Apr 1 2023 19:19 utc | 51

A few more, for good measure.

https://вязники.рф/app/uploads/2021/06/za-rasprostranenie-v-voennoj-vremya-lozhnyh-sluhov....jpg

https://cdnn1.inosmi.ru/img/22093/80/220938029_0:0:1996:3120_600x0_80_0_1_da23e52f563dac5ec5c4a475ae980504.jpg

https://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/6709/51667439.37d/0_d98b1_4eefbd36_orig

The choice of moniker is ironic in a poster courting demoralization rather than enforcing discipline as his name would suggest.

Posted by: Skiffer | Apr 1 2023 19:30 utc | 52

According to the source, Zelensky in today's telephone conversation asked French President Macron to put in a word about the Ukrainian crisis at a meeting with Chinese leader Xi (the formula for peace is indicated in the official report) and, of course, call Vladimir Alexandrovich.

Macron will even deliver a message from Ze to Xi. We wrote about this on March 29th. We are waiting for the Western press to write about this.


https://t.me/legitimniy/15071

Posted by: Down South | Apr 1 2023 19:32 utc | 53

the Russian forces destroyed the ammunition depot of the Ukrainian forces, causing a power outage and heating failure in almost the entire Kharkov region.

https://twitter.com/Spriter99880/status/1641943538504966144

Posted by: unimperator | Apr 1 2023 19:33 utc | 54

The source reports that the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Bakhmutov meat grinder have a lot of missing soldiers.

The source points out that earlier the Armed Forces of Ukraine perfectly used high-rise buildings as defensive firing points, placing snipers, grenade launchers, crews with ATGMs and MANPADS on the floors, but now the Russians are massively hitting high-rise buildings, stacking them. This leads to the fact that many dead soldiers remain littered (buried under the rubble of walls and bricks).

But many soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are angry that military officials are transferring such dead soldiers to the rank of missing. There were cases that there were even witnesses to the death of a soldier, but the officials of the Ministry of Defense refused to recognize the death in order not to pay money to the family.


https://t.me/legitimniy/15072

Posted by: Down South | Apr 1 2023 19:33 utc | 55

The West has long understood that private military or intelligence companies are much more efficient than state structures, they are able to perform the necessary tasks in any part of the world without involving governments in conflict situations.

Outstanding representatives of private structures in the United States: RAND Corporation is a private military research company and Stratfor is a private intelligence and analytics company, Barron's Magazine in one of its articles called the company "the shadow CIA". Among the private military companies known: Academi (formerly Blackwater), Military Professional Resources, FDG Corp - they all work for the US.

In Russia, they decided to use Western experience and created a dozen PMCs (Wagner is just a rumor), private intelligence companies, and now the time has come for private information companies that carry out the tasks of the Kremlin. We wrote about what such activity is connected with, why there was a trend for cognitive and psychological operations in Russia.

In Ukraine, there is a big problem in this area, Kolomoisky tried to create a PMC three years ago, but the Office of the President was afraid of the consequences and decided to cover up the topic.

Regarding private intelligence or private information companies, we went the other way, all this is supervised by Bankovaya through TsIPSo, SBU and GUR in this way, control over the entire process with an autonomous vertical is maintained. Thanks to the help of the West, we quickly built a model of work in the information space, but every month the situation is changing.


https://t.me/legitimniy/15073

Posted by: Down South | Apr 1 2023 19:35 utc | 56

◾Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to the head of Zelensky's presidential office, said that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church should be "physically cleansed," "as well as everything pro-Russian":

- a unique chance to be able to resolve everything completely and quickly was during the first 3-6 months of the war. Then you could have a lot of pro-Russians and just physically clean them up. Today it's a little more difficult, but again - "a little", it does not mean "impossible".

- And today we are legally motivated to harshly follow this path. And in Ukraine there should be, I emphasize once again, a single canonical Ukrainian church.

◾ The Ukrainian authorities are working towards a Ukraine with only one language, only one church, only one political choice, and imprisoning and murdering hundreds of people to achieve it.

◾Ukraine is a failed Fascist state and there is no more denying, when a Presidential advisor goes live on TV to talk about ethnic cleansing.


https://t.me/sitreports/6573

Posted by: Down South | Apr 1 2023 19:37 utc | 57

IAEA head Rafael Grossi arrives for the second time at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The inspectors have assessed the damage caused to the nuclear power plant by constant shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. They will determine the degree of safety systems' efficiency and check the working conditions of the plant's personnel.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said the other day that Russia was allegedly holding the plant hostage. We have refuted this fake. In fact, the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia NPP has been repeatedly shelled by Ukrainian troops, using drones, heavy artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems as well. As a result, almost all power lines from the plant have been damaged, so electricity is not generated at Europe's largest nuclear power plant and is going nowhere.

The Ukrainian side is using the factor of control over the only line feeding the NPP's cooling and monitoring systems as a tool of nuclear blackmail.

Russian experts have shown the strikes' impact sites and shrapnel from Ukrainian shells that have exploded on the plant's territory. A safety net was installed over the spent nuclear fuel storage facility to protect it from shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Grossi also saw it with his own eyes.

In addition, Renat Karchaa, advisor to the director general of Rosatom, showed Grossi armored vehicles standing on the Zaporizhzhia NPP site borders that had been converted into laboratories to monitor the radiation, chemical and biological background in and around the plant's territory.

The ZNPP management drew the attention of the head of the international nuclear agency to the fact that these were not military hardware but, in fact, a military laboratory. Earlier, Ukrainian propaganda regularly spread fakes that the Russian military was using the plant as a parking site for military equipment.


https://t.me/sitreports/6579

Posted by: Down South | Apr 1 2023 19:38 utc | 58

" Be honest with yourself. Your contribution, such as it is, to this Slavic victory would have landed you in front of a firing squad in any of our previous struggles.

https://rusdozor.ru/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/699975_2000.jpg

Posted by: Skiffer | Apr 1 2023 19:19 utc | 52 "


Interesting, you conflate Slavic victory with a Khazarian controlled Soviet Union. Very telling in itself . Shalom my internet acquaintance.

Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Apr 1 2023 19:40 utc | 59

About the atmosphere in Bakhmut: "Once you are scared, you are dead!"

The atmosphere in Bakhmut is like nothing else. The vapors of the earth are mixed with gunpowder gases, the smell of diesel fuel, and bandages soaked in blood, and this whole hellish bouquet hits right into the brain. Sometimes it makes you sick, but that's likely the aftermath of the sprint runs, which is the way you have to move in this inhospitable place.

But most of all, I was struck by the acceptance of death that comes after staying on the frontline for five days in a row . You're surrounded by death here from all sides, and eventually it forms a comfortable cocoon that protects your consciousness from overload. Corpses are everywhere. There's a funeral team carrying a KIA (killed in action) in their arms. But turn around the corner, and there are three Ukrainians lying there, killed by a direct hit. Their corpses become a kind of landmark. More than once I heard phrases like: "You get to that faggot with no legs, then go left, and in 300 meters you will be at my place." "Faggot" is an international slang term at the SMO. We call them this, and they call us this. And how can you not call what is happening here a civil war?

The assault troopers working in Bakhmut have long accepted the chance of becoming KIA in the next raid (assault). A death or an injury to your new friend here is not taken to heart anymore. You bury this data in the depths of your consciousness, and you keep on moving. Soaked in Bakhmut's atmosphere, I realized that only in this state of mind can a soldier become an assault trooper. The other fighters are trying to stay alive, but these only want to win. Those are completely different motivations, but one can only understand them after several assaults on the frontlines. There is no fear, and there will be none. Once you're scared, you're dead. That's what they say and think in Bakhmut, and this axiom is working.

Alexander Kharchenko


https://t.me/Slavyangrad/39952

Posted by: Down South | Apr 1 2023 19:41 utc | 60

The departure of Western grain traders from the Russian market will strengthen the geopolitical influence of the Russian Federation and increase its profits, according to Bloomberg.

According to the agency, the exit from the Russian market of the grain trading company Viterra and the American supplier of agricultural products Cargill "strengthens Russia's control over global food supplies."


https://t.me/Slavyangrad/39971

Posted by: Down South | Apr 1 2023 19:43 utc | 61

@ Down South | Apr 1 2023 19:33 utc | 56

The source points out that earlier the Armed Forces of Ukraine perfectly used high-rise buildings as defensive firing points, placing snipers, grenade launchers, crews with ATGMs and MANPADS on the floors, but now the Russians are massively hitting high-rise buildings, stacking them. This leads to the fact that many dead soldiers remain littered (buried under the rubble of walls and bricks).

Has been occurring with increasing intensity since ~Mar13'23, especially Bahkmut & Avdiivka, and to lesser degree elsewhere. AFU defenseless re such.

Cheers.

Posted by: Outraged | Apr 1 2023 19:47 utc | 62

The traumatic things I have to sift through to bring you updates

https://t.me/DonbassDevushka/51866

I need to unwatch this!

Posted by: Down South | Apr 1 2023 19:48 utc | 63

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBhPCxv-fkw

Smoothiex - The SUN (BRIT)

Tariq Tahir - Ursala vonder were the Loins Are

"Russia has used Belarus as a staging ground to send troops into Ukraine since the invasion began on February 24, 2002, and Moscow and Minsk have maintained close military ties."

"Before the war began, back in November 2021, Lukashenko demanded Russian handover nuclear weapons to deploy in the south and west of the country."

Is this Tariq confused. Must be confused with the 20 year occupation of Afghanistan by his own nation and their allies/bosses.

I'm in Canada. I was hoping OTAN (360 degree Orangutanization) would take Christin (Bandera) Fruitland. She shakes as much as Stottenburg and her legs are as thick as his head.
.
Anybody remember Tarig Aziz. https://www.ebay.com/itm/234653114548
You can buy him for $9.75 at Ebay

Posted by: Angelo | Apr 1 2023 19:49 utc | 64

OOPSIe was doing the Marley. Wrong post

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/21846286/putin-nuke-kyiv-nato-cities-moving-missiles-belarus/

Posted by: Angelo | Apr 1 2023 19:51 utc | 65

Deplorable is as Slavic as I am Khazarian...lol

Posted by: Arcticman | Apr 1 2023 20:00 utc | 66

"Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Apr 1 2023 18:20 utc | 28

There is no such unit as "504th tank regiment" in RU armed forces. If you google it, you can find that there was a 504th panzer battalion in the German armed forces in WW2, though. Wonder where do they come up with these?

Posted by: unimperator | Apr 1 2023 18:29 utc | 34"


LMAO

Deplorable Clownisare

Posted by: Comandante | Apr 1 2023 20:15 utc | 67

Military summary update. Some Ukrainian sources (albeit most pessimistic sources) claim that Russians have taken the central part of Bakhmut on the east side of the railroad. The railroad station itself is under control of Ukrainians, and crossing the railroad isn't easy due to wide open spaces. Nevertheless, the Russians control SW part, so they are already defacto on the west side of the railroad.

They have three fortified areas in the west and NW side of the railroad stations, if any one of them would fall, it would signal the taking of Bakhmut within a few weeks. Also, Ukrainians might make a breakthrough attempt out of Bakhmut when they realize the game is up, and, as in Mariupol a year ago, no relief is coming.

Albeit you could argue that with the forces in Ivanovske they could be able to occupy Russian artillery enough to allow someone to walk west from Bakhmut. Or maybe not.

Posted by: unimperator | Apr 1 2023 20:17 utc | 68

“(TG) ... massively hitting high-rise buildings, stacking them. ...”

Posted by: Outraged | Apr 1 2023 19:47 utc | 63

Sounds like stacking=collapsing. Does that mean FABs from fighter-bombers?

Posted by: anon2020 | Apr 1 2023 20:19 utc | 69

[Die Linke] German lawmaker says US soldiers and nukes must leave her country

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYGiTj_0hcA 24mins Geopoliticaleconomy

Posted by: Don Firineach | Apr 1 2023 20:47 utc | 70

The difference is the professional help nato countries supply. The weapons training commands about where to fire.
Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | Apr 1 2023 16:43 utc | 5

If this drags on, and NAFO continues their own open assistance, China will eventually decide to openly assist Russia.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Apr 1 2023 21:08 utc | 71

Down South @61 & 64--

I understand 100%. 25 years ago, I came across a website that featured artworks by WW1 vets depicting the sorts of horrors now seen in videos. I printed some of them to use as supplemental teaching material when covering WW1; I later used them to tag warmongers in commentaries when I went by EnemyofWar. Unfortunately, the computer I had the site saved to got infected and I was unable to find it again or I'd use it now for there's really no difference aside from the temporal. The imagery, smell, PTSD bouts suffered by victors and vanquished are essentially the same for such is the HELL of Total War. Fortunately, I do remember the name of one artist, the German Otto Dix. Here's one result from a search using his name and the title of one of his famous works, The Trench, here. IMO, it's actually good that we cannot post images. Here's another I used often, and one more.

The images had the desired effect as they ought for all wars are just as brutal. The Russians know better than any people on the planet of those horrors and brutalities in a manner that's the opposite of those living within the most vicious warmongering nation on the planet whose Civil War horrors are too far removed to be relevant, while experiencing very little relative to the other combatants in the two World Wars.

And Down South, thanks again for the work you do to bring us your updates. It's a very sad fact that it must be done.

Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 1 2023 21:14 utc | 72

The war on the ground is misdirection for the strategic war.

Diplomacy, economic developments, agreements, alternative currency structures, western public's attention, western political cycles, take time to work and to develop.

The ground war keeps the pacing on Russia and China's side, while the west has to walk in place with no options other than extending in escalations and stewing in its politics.

Posted by: Cine Tee | Apr 1 2023 19:01 utc | 45

Well spoken. There's been a lot of pundits all over the place, including some here at moa, that's been frustrated by the seemingly slow Russian pace. Rome wasn't built in a day, as we say over here.

Posted by: blueswede | Apr 1 2023 21:15 utc | 73

ALERT

re: Deplorable Commissar

On the previous thread I became p1ssed off with this poster as he made clearly racist comments on citizens of India

On perusing this thread I have come to a plausible conclusion -

Initially I suspected that he might be a sh1tstirring, mammy-r1ding, sonofaWestend cockneyprossie troll .... but ... on reflection ...

More likely a disruptive motherfu€k1ng sonofab1tch sh1tstirring Troll from the arze-hole of West Texas

Best ignored.

Note: No offence intended for genuine Cockneys and downtrodden Texans.

Posted by: Don Firineach | Apr 1 2023 21:16 utc | 74

@2 Ken Tucky

The Ukrainians have a far different view of the battle according to a former Aidar Battalion Company Commander quoted by The New Voice of Ukraine, so perhaps they are enjoying tremendous accidental success which is depressing the Doomers, but of which they are unaware! According to the interviewee, if the Russians roll up Bakhmut - which the Ukrainians are constantly shifting forces to to prevent it although some sources suggest the Russians are already in the center of the 'city' (which is actually just a medium-sized town), then the Ukrainians will have to retreat to the next four towns, three of which are bigger than Bakhmut but all of which the Ukrainians expect to be taken or at least wiped off the map.

https://news.yahoo.com/bakhmut-protecting-four-near-front-100000055.html

Quite how this is supposed to be accomplished by attacking forces which are losing a thousand men a day and are exhausted and depleted is not guessed at. Not to mention where the evacuated from Kostyantynivka, Kramatorsk, Slovyansk, and Siversk are supposed to go. Perhaps there will be a real 'Battle of Kyiv' after all, but if there is I don't expect too many Ukrainians to be dancing about in a pugnacious ecstasy and punching the air after it is over.

Posted by: Mark | Apr 1 2023 21:23 utc | 75

reposting from previous thread - may be of interest to some ...

from The Postil https://www.thepostil.com/ [which I find informative at times ...

The true face of this world war is the neo-liberal world order of the plutocrats which sees Russia as standing in the way of ultimate domination of the world, and therefore this liberalism is now in its deadly phase, as Alexander Dugin explains

Liberalism is more Dangerous than Ukrainian Nazism

https://www.thepostil.com/liberalism-is-more-dangerous-than-ukrainian-nazism/

Blind Liberalism

A Comment on Alexander Dugin’s “Liberalism is more Dangerous than Ukrainian Nazism.”

The immanent untruth within liberalism, even at its finest, which is to say classical liberalism, was always its idolization of abstractions, beginning with the unassailable primacy—the fundamental rights—of liberty and property. Ideologies may single out aspects of life to valorize them, but life is ever dependent upon relationships, most of which we simply do not recognize (but take for granted) or fathom tacitly, and hence only vaguely notice. The collision of an abstraction with reality always requires remaking or redefining reality to fit the still certainty of a fixed principle. Hence as liberal societies have evolved over time, the founding principles had to be adjusted to the real relationships and the various conflicts of interests that are built into the division of labour, necessary for economic prosperity and development and the diverse claims made by individuals and groups for the protection and accruement of resources (including recourse to the law and police force) provided by the state.

https://www.thepostil.com/blind-liberalism/

Our Interview with Seymour Hersh

https://www.thepostil.com/our-interview-with-seymour-hersh/

The Terminal Phase of Modernity

Friedrich Nietzsche provided a thorough-going critique of modernity, because he saw that it had veered into a terminal phase. Whether Nietzsche’s analysis is correct or not is not as essential as the direction towards values which transform action that he provided as a method of analysis.

https://www.thepostil.com/the-terminal-phase-of-modernity/

@Pacifica_Advocate | Apr 1 2023 16:53 utc | 427 [on previous thread]

Keep up the good work. Smith was essentially a moralist.


Posted by: Don Firineach | Apr 1 2023 18:28 utc | 433

Posted by: Don Firineach | Apr 1 2023 21:27 utc | 76

Karlof1 no. 27

I was referring more to the "peacekeepers" than the third WW.

As in here:

"On Friday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said that European powers are close to discussing the deployment of “peacekeeping” forces in Ukraine as the US-NATO war with Russia escalates."

But right, we are already in a third world war; most of it aimed at nature. And anyone with a modicum of intelligence and/or observational powers can see, nature bats last.

Posted by: ThusspakeZarathustra | Apr 1 2023 21:31 utc | 77

Time for a French Brandy - still some neat stuff in the Declining West ..

Here's to the Russian Federation's prime resource - TIME

And an old song to go with it ... wouldn't be a bar without a song or a little brawl


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG2tZNOQWAA [TIME Pink Floyd]

Enjoy!

Posted by: Don Firineach | Apr 1 2023 21:36 utc | 78

@Ken Tucky | 2

"I urge folk to go and have a look at this: https://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/?p=267093
It paints a diametric opposite picture to the one I had in mind about Russia and Ukraine and, if true, a very very depressing one."

We really have to admit that we have no way of knowing whats really going on. We can only watch for results.

I do tend to judge that the Russian Army has not proven itself yet. Yet, with that said, it seems like they are winning the war.

As to the bridges: It's not easy to take down a well built railroad bridge. Cruise missiles etc are probably not appropriate weapons. Look how hard it was to finally bring down the big Bridge leading into Kherson and even then it was the retreating Russians who did it.

Taking those bridges down would probably require aircraft carrying heavy precision guided bombs. Assuming the bridges are defended, there would be losses. However the fact that none of the bridges has even been attacked seems to suggest, the decision has been made not to attack them. Why ? Unknown, but corruption while not the only possibility must be on the list.

As to why the electricity grid is targeted. I think the best theory is a) it does degrade transport capacity, Ukranian economic capacity and imposes constant burdens on the populace. b) those are targets Ukraine has to defend so air defenses are concentrated to defend them which allows the Russians to attack Air Defenses and Forces Ukraine to expend missiles. US AWAC's allow Ukraine to keep their radars off for as long as possible. But if there is a target you have to defend, you ultimately have to light them up.

I dont think its unreasonable to worry. Russia is indeed movings at a snails pace. There are good arguments on either side to explain it. We just cant know, we can only wait for the final results.

Posted by: Dan Farrand | Apr 1 2023 21:49 utc | 79

Karlof1 no. 73

Interesting painter Otto Dix:

"Otto Dix was a remarkable artist of the 20th century Germany. He occupied a lead position in the New Objectivity movement, turning away from the ideas of Romanticism and Expressionism toward a more acidic and non-sentimental perspective to reflect the harsh realities of the interwar German society."

Perhaps easier than the society in which we now find ourselves.

Posted by: ThusspakeZarathustra | Apr 1 2023 21:51 utc | 80

Yesterday during a conference call with German newspaper FAZ Melnyk admitted that the nazis need much more weapons:
"That means, of course, that you would have to step on the gas, that they didn't just send us these 18 Leopard 2 tanks that we just got last week. But, unfortunately, we need much, much more. We cannot win this war with these weapons that have been delivered to us so far. We are preparing a counteroffensive. But the impression that is sometimes created, also in Germany, is as if everything is already done, as if the war will soon be over, and unfortunately that is not true. Unfortunately, that is not true. We have to do much more. We still need support with the air force, of course. Without the fighter jets from the U.S., from Germany, from other European countries, we can't launch this offensive successfully."(machine translation 6:40-7:32)
"We do not want to launch a counteroffensive that is not prepared. So we just about now have 50-60 battle tanks from the West, but the Russians are still able to build or repair ten tanks every day and that means we won't be able to gain a decisive advantage on the battlefield for a long time and that means that military assistance... ammunition is critical here as well."(machine translation 28:48-29:16)
youtu.be/XrgBCC8Qco4?t=400

Posted by: p3t3r | Apr 1 2023 22:02 utc | 81

There is supposed to be hundreds of thousands of Russian troops in Belarus, hundreds of thousands of troops held back elsewhere, and the Russian government is adding another 150k. These men have weapons. I guess that knocking down what's left of the UA is the safest strategy on the ground, but at some point they will move forward.

Does anyone know the long-term strategy for invading and occupying the rump state of Ukraine?

Posted by: Bob In Portland, Ore | Apr 1 2023 22:14 utc | 82

ThusspakeZarathustra @81 & 78--

Thanks for your replies. Yes, I do now recall your questioning NATO "Peacekeepers." IMO, Medvedev's answer is close to mine.

If you viewed the three examples I provided, you'll see what Dix tried to convey about the war. His other works reflect the Era. The Gallery I referred to had many other ex-soldier artists who tried to put their PTSD nightmares to canvas in an attempt to purge them from their minds. Some were very ghastly as one might imagine, brutal in their authenticity and depiction of gore. Fortunately, I was engaged in teaching adults at a Junior College, not High School students whose parents might voice objections to such realism.

The fatalism described in the last paragraph cited @61 was portrayed well by Steve McQueen's character in Hell is for Heroes.

Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 1 2023 22:16 utc | 83

Don Firineach@77

Smith was as you point out, primarily a moralist. But he came from a tradition, which included many Scots, in which amoral ruthlessness -prefiguring the invisible hand- was seen as leading to the most desirable results.
In other words Smith is ambiguous, which is one of the reasons that I didn't cite him (so far as I recall).
As to the rest of the Fathers of Liberalism- James Mill, Bentham and their less well known but probably more influential disciples they were not just confused but pragmatic- they made it up as they went along, assisted by borrowings from racist theories and medieaval rationalisations of class hierarchies, taking the line of least resistance and saying what their patrons wanted to hear, while the clerical work of turning practice into theory was shared amongst them.
Essentially Liberalism was an ideology cooked up over time to justify the rise of the capitalist class. It was as crass as that.
I don't see a big difference between what the Liberals did at home and what they did abroad in the empire, formal and otherwise. In fact I believe that here they were very consistent. Where liberalism broke down was at the point that its hypocrisies became undeniable: hence the Lloyd George budget, Hobson on imperialism, Lib-Lab politics, the Fabians and all the other shards of the movement left over when it hit the rock of reality, or rather the reef of realities, starting in Ireland.

Bentham spent years trying to sell his ideas, including the panopticon, to governments as various as Catherine the Great's and Pitt the Younger's. James Mill and his son John Stuart spent years as salaried officials-in the public relations line- of the East India Company. Then there was Bentham's executor and former secretary John Bowring.

Posted by: bevin | Apr 1 2023 22:22 utc | 84

At Martyanov's, he has a video some need to see. Here's Andrei's text related to it:

"For those who want to see the actual video with heavily wounded VSU soldier and how he asks Russian drone for help and Russian drone operator and the guy at the battlefield communicate, including talking to this wounded guy, almost talking like to own brother or son, I know there is an English CCed version on VK....

"Even the way Russian soldiers use the diminutive term Leggy (Footy--Ножка) instead of leg and recognize that the guy didn't want to fight, and you can hear Russians' despair and calling on medevac to get to the guy ASAP, speaks volumes. This is the every day occurrence at the front."

I don't have any words aside from being glad I'm not there.

Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 1 2023 22:33 utc | 85

I don't know what to make of this --

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2023/04/ukraine-open-thread-2023-77.html#comments

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1639390679670374403

Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Apr 1 2023 18:04 utc | 23

"Russian soldiers from the "Storm" unit, consisting of both convicts (and likely some mobilised), formed by Russian MoD, published a video revealing they were purposefully sent into slaughter during the assault of Vodyane while blocking units prevented their retreat. The unit consisting of 161 people initially, has only several dozen men left alive. They claim that soldiers are being "taxed", and those who refused to pay are sent straight to the zero line, and if they get wounded, they'll be removed from hospitals with unhealed wounds and sent back."

//

It all seems so utterly unlikely, but those soldiers, in turn, seem to be so utterly believable.

We desperately need to find, somewhere, unbiased and trustworthy witnesses to each of the various levels that are said to be involved. This has to be resolved, and quickly.

Posted by: AntiSpin | Apr 1 2023 22:44 utc | 86

Holy sh*t. Another friggen Ukro-NAZI war crime, right there on video.

The Russians were clearly waving a white flag and yet were still shot.

https://twitter.com/PaulJawin/status/1642116702132420609

Posted by: LGB! | Apr 1 2023 22:49 utc | 87

In response to Deplorable Commissar@60,

Implicit in your reply is the denunciation of the Red Army in its stand against German fascism. If raising the Soviet flag over the Reichstag counts as a Slavic defeat in your mind, your efforts to support a Russian victory, even if well-intentioned, are ultimately misguided even by your own logic. Besides, Russia is a multi-ethnic federation, where even its Slavic majority population is considered a mongrel breed by the brightest minds in East European race science. In other words, you're betting on the wrong horse, ol' chap.

Better to direct your efforts at Ukrainian message boards, where an objectively grim assessment of battlefield realities, shared among like-minded individuals, might actually save a life or two. Or, better yet, lead to glorious victory over the invading Mongol hordes and a 1000-year Reich, establishing a Slavic ethnostate across the former Eastern bloc.

Posted by: Skiffer | Apr 1 2023 22:57 utc | 88

Many are saying that this plan to destroy Russia and China is to be implemented soon.

Posted by: gT | Apr 1 2023 17:25 utc | 14"

If anything, I would suspect that the plan is to destroy the United States so that the country is easy pickins.
So far the plan seems to be proceeding.

Posted by: osi | Apr 1 2023 22:59 utc | 89

As to why the electricity grid is targeted. I think the best theory is a) it does degrade transport capacity, Ukranian economic capacity and imposes constant burdens on the populace. b) those are targets Ukraine has to defend so air defenses are concentrated to defend them which allows the Russians to attack Air Defenses and Forces Ukraine to expend missiles. ...Russia is indeed movings at a snails pace.

Posted by: Dan Farrand | Apr 1 2023 21:49 utc | 80

c) to encourage more people to leave Ukraine for good (which I believe is a major goal of this entire business, one desired by all sides in the 'conflict'). Almost half have already done so. Would be interesting to know the demographics of who has remained, what percentage of those under 50 have left versus those over etc. I seem to recall a comment here a few days ago citing a very high percentage of young folks have left. Perhaps this conflict should not be measured geographically.

Posted by: Scorpion | Apr 1 2023 23:01 utc | 90

Posted by: Bob In Portland, Ore | Apr 1 2023 22:14 utc | 83
Hey, Bob in Portland... I'm in Astoria.
I'm supposing there has to be some acceptable # of killed Russian soldiers that determines how hard and fast the SMO goes. All cheers and hooray for a 10 to 1 kill ratio, but those one's kinda add up after awhile. Let's say a half million Ukies get mulched in the meat grinder, even a 30 to 1 kill ratio means 33 thousand russian lads are no more.
Historically, "as many as it takes" is the answer to existential Nazi threat. I personally would like to see NATO driven to the sea, I hope all the goals of SMO come with as little loss of Russian lives as possible. What metric the General Staff operates under is way beyond me.

Posted by: comrade simba | Apr 1 2023 23:11 utc | 91

@ anon2020 | Apr 1 2023 20:19 utc | 70

Yes. Concentrated 203mm arty & 240mm Mortar barrages & from Mar13'23 precision guided FAB-500 & FAB-1500 glide bombs as well as.

Posted by: Outraged | Apr 1 2023 23:14 utc | 92

Paul Damascene @18

Thank you very much for your thoughtful analysis; you are very appreciated.

Posted by: Elbereth | Apr 1 2023 23:17 utc | 93

, there were also claims that Kraken guys had welded Ukrainian tank crews inside their tanks to force them to attack, a lot of this was going on in the Kherson operation, but other places too.


Posted by: unimperator | Apr 1 2023 18:15 utc | 26


I saw 2 separate videos of this at intel slava z. Then it seemed to stop, I'm guessing because in 1 of the videos, the trapped Ukes turned the gun toward their "leaders", backed up the tank to the Russians & surrendered. The video showed the them cutting open the tank.

Posted by: Mary | Apr 1 2023 23:32 utc | 94

Karlof1 no. 84

"whose parents might voice objections to such realism."

The realism of reality. Too much to bear for most.
(An extraordinary book about WW1 entitled "Three day Road" by Joseph Boyden.)

Posted by: ThusspakeZarathustra | Apr 1 2023 23:41 utc | 95

@2
It's not necessary to insist this is disinfo.

These are two very rich men lamenting the deals they won't be able to do in the future. The vacations they won't be able to take. Yes the initial approach to the war was a mistake, but it was a mistake that lead them to making the right move, which was mobilization, and defensive warfare.

Posted by: Cresty | Apr 1 2023 23:44 utc | 96

" Holy sh*t. Another friggen Ukro-NAZI war crime, right there on video.

The Russians were clearly waving a white flag and yet were still shot.

https://twitter.com/PaulJawin/status/1642116702132420609

Posted by: LGB! | Apr 1 2023 22:49 utc | 88 "


The twitter post is a snippet of a video from the same area I posted about several days earlier which showed an attack by about 30 Russians on a small trench. To refresh everyone's memory, the Russians attacked through an open field and were decimated by artillery and an armored counter attack. This new video shows that same trench, several days later, after it was eventually captured by the Russians.

Shockingly, after losing so many men to capture it, why did the Russians just leave a few troops there without any kind of support ? No artillery, no anti-armor, no air support.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CombatFootage/comments/127rxxc/the_return_of_the_tshape_position_by_k2_of_the/

Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Apr 2 2023 0:00 utc | 97

Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Apr 1 2023 18:42 utc | 38
> My job is to ensure Slavic victory no matter who the enemy, This is why Russia's bizarre performance in this war is infuriating. If Russia loses this war all my people will suffer.

Nonsense, all Western and Southern Slavs are already firmly incorporated in EU/NATO framework. Majority of Slavic nations are lined up against Russia. The only one that supports Russia is Belarus, but that is basically Russia too.
So who knows what people are you talking about. I bet you don't know either.

Posted by: hopehely | Apr 2 2023 0:07 utc | 98

Posted by: Ken Tucky | Apr 1 2023 16:24 utc | 2

With air superiority Russia would need 12 motorised divisions for a northern offensive to succeed: i.e. a breakthrough from Belarus towards Jitomir then Vinnitsia to cut off Ukraine forces supplies to the east.

Dont expect 80,000 Ukraine troops to be able to do the same from Zaporozhie to Melitopol without air support and under superior Russian artillery fire.

Posted by: Greg Galloway | Apr 2 2023 0:07 utc | 99

Bob In Portland, Ore | Apr 1 2023 22:14 utc | 83
Does anyone know the long-term strategy for invading and occupying the rump state of Ukraine?

No.

No one beyond the Russian security council + ?military?

Posted by: Melaleuca | Apr 2 2023 0:10 utc | 100

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