@mjc | May 22 2023 0:40 utc | 211
The following is an example of the type of “external kindling” which the people of Donbas received https://sputnikglobe.com/20230509/mariupol-residents-reveal-how-kiev-nazis-turned-sacred-may-9-victory-day-into-massacre-in-2014-1110164374.html

Posted by: cirsium | May 22 2023 1:14 utc | 203

maybe a different person.. that one died in 2017…

Posted by: james | May 22 2023 1:16 utc | 205

ed
just propaganda bs… the world is awash in it..

Posted by: james | May 22 2023 1:22 utc | 207

logistics in danger . . .from Warrior Maven

(Washington DC) Tanks, rockets, artillery and ammunition are all being fast-tracked to Ukraine by boat, convoy and perhaps even airplanes to Europe, an intense and dangerous task taken on by thousands of Army soldiers with the 21st Theater Sustainment Command, a key part of Army Europe.
The logistics, sustainment and maintenance required for this task are simply massive, and US Army soldiers are moving supplies with the clear, real recognition that equipment lines could be attacked or sabotaged anytime.
Maj. Gen. James Smith, the Commanding General of the 21 Theater Sustainment Command, said his soldiers are trained to be ready for what he called “contested logistics,” meaning the possibility of an attack, ambush or saboteur intent on targeting weapons shipments.
“We always have to keep the context of contested logistics in mind.. We move with the sense that supply lines could be affected and we take that into consideration,” Smith told reporters.
Specific modes of transportation and routes or navigational details regarding the shipments to Ukraine are naturally not available for security reasons, yet the transport of critical weapons and supplies requires extensive collaboration between the US Army and its European allies.
“Our job is to get it from the port of debarkation to wherever we are going to transit into Europe and Ukraine. This is an opportunity to work alongside our host nations and allies. Host nation support is helping us move munitions,” Smith said. . .here

Posted by: Don Bacon | May 22 2023 1:38 utc | 209

WANTED!
The following individuals…
ICC Criminal Court Judge and Prosecutor, Khan Karim Asad Ahmad and panel members Tomoko Akane, Rosario Salvatore Aitala and Sergio Gerardo Gerardo Godinez
Charges include: 1) For issuing an illegal arrest warrant for Vladmir Putin, President of the Russian Federation. 2) For wrong doing in the International Criminal Court
Russian Federation

Posted by: HERMIUS | May 22 2023 1:51 utc | 211

Zalhuzny.
Twitter says:
>…”Zaluzhny has allegedly been found (left). He appeared on the video call. His last public appearance from April (right).
https://twitter.com/OlgaBazova/status/1660297119175933955
Twitter Comments:
§ “The biggest questions that I have are:
He couldn’t show up for a VERY important call with NATO in the middle of the most crucial phase of the conflict, but he found the time to show up for some mundane Day of Science event in Odessa?
When you are losing Bakhmut, which Zelensky proclaimed was the most important battle of this whole conflict, but you’re nowhere to be found as Commamder-in-Chief in the middle of it? /serious doubts”
§ “Looking at the video, it’s really difficult to say if it’s a truly recent vid or perhaps a vid from last year’s conference being posted now. But, it’s hard to believe that he didn’t join the call with NATO officials and found time to blabber at some shindig in Odessa.”
§ “Given today’s live deepfake technology this proves nothing.
> And thus “allegedly”.
§ Blurred background – hospital ?
Bakhmut falls yet he has time for this
Smiling on the day Bakhmut fell?
Bit weird
§ Rybar in English
>…”Schrödinger’s Zaluzhny – The AFU Commander-in-Chief finally appeared on video at a conference for Science Day. There were rumors that Zaluzhny was killed or seriously wounded, possibly on May 8 during a Kinzhal strike on a bunker in Mezhirichi.”
https://twitter.com/rybar_en/status/1660328815753609216
The vid: Jump to :44sec
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXCkzVA0hBY
>…Comments are turned off [😂]

Posted by: Melaleuca | May 22 2023 2:17 utc | 213

@Melaleuca | May 22 2023 2:17 utc | 226
In the course of a missile attack on military infrastructure facilities in the Dnipropetrovsk region, this command post was struck by a precise hit by a Russian cruise missile. As a result, a large number of high-ranking Ukrainian military personnel were killed and wounded, including General Zaluzhny. . .here

Posted by: Don Bacon | May 22 2023 2:28 utc | 215

Don Bacon | May 22 2023 2:28 utc | 228
Euroweekly. Weren’t they the ones that broke the Profumo scandal? LOL

Posted by: TRDtherealdeal98@gma | May 22 2023 2:33 utc | 217

Posted by: Eighthman | May 22 2023 2:29 utc | 229

If nearly everyone is deluded, how could it be otherwise?

The leaders know it for sure!
You / we should just not know it

Posted by: theo | May 22 2023 2:37 utc | 219

Wagner lost six million soldiers in Bakhmut.

Posted by: Wokechoke | May 22 2023 2:54 utc | 221

A Russian top official claimed on Friday that a radioactive cloud is moving toward Western Europe, but the Polish Press has no such news.

Posted by: Don Bacon | May 22 2023 3:03 utc | 223

Posted by: mjc | May 22 2023 3:04 utc | 237
i disagree, you made several specific claims and haven’t provided any evidence for any of them.

Posted by: pretzelattack | May 22 2023 3:11 utc | 225

Posted by: mjc | May 22 2023 3:13 utc | 240
Kiev has claimed from the first that Russia was interfering with Donbass. hardly an admission against interest for a pro Kiev site to claim the same. useful distraction from losing on the battlefield, though.

Posted by: pretzelattack | May 22 2023 3:18 utc | 227

Posted by: mjc | May 22 2023 0:40 utc | 211
I think the level of popular support in the Donbas for armed uprising *may* have been a minority for at least the first few months, suggesting a need for external kindling.
The first act generating popular support in the Donbass for armed uprising WAS a ground strafe attack by a UAF Frogfoot against the civil administration building in Slaviansk after Russian speaking citizens dared to voice their displeasure with the overthrow of their duly elected government in Kiev, and the ascension of AZOV thugs to power.
Eight citizens lost their lives on the building steps due to Frogfoot cannon fire. I can attest to this fact as video of the attack, filmed from the windows of an adjacent high rise was posted to YouTube (since disappeared). You could observe the cannon fire shred treetops in the adjacent park as it marched across the park toward the bunched civilians. Additional footage showed the deceased crumpled on the steps, the blood still spilling down.
A second event generating great popular support was the massacre of Russian speaking Ukrainians in Odessa. Contemporaneous footage of this event was also viewed by me on YouTube. It included scenes recorded inside the fire gutted administration building. One image still haunts me. This was a human form, charred and black, coils of telephone cord wrapped round her neck to suffocate her, her body positioned with legs spread so as to make evident what took place shortly before, or after, her murder. Having handled burn victims in a prior occupation I can attest it would be impossible to position a burned body in this way after the fact – the tissue would simply flake away and the remains crumble to dust.
None of this footage would today be permitted on YouTube. There was no need for “external kindling” of dissent. All of the critical provocations were delivered by the US endorsed government of the day.
I am not a Ukrainian and have no degree of attachment to Ukraine. But I urge President Putin to do all that is within his power to bring the guilty to justice and ensure these inhuman acts are recorded for posterity.

Posted by: Sushi | May 22 2023 3:46 utc | 229

Just as scary as the prospect of an all-out nuclear war is the capacity of Western MSM to lie. It is happening on a massive scale and happening right now.

Posted by: Jonathan W | May 22 2023 3:54 utc | 231

Eighthman #3:16 utc | 242
“They’re lying without even trying.”
It is almost as if Pompeo’s boastful admission grants licence to overt lies.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 22 2023 4:06 utc | 233

Wokechoke #2:54 utc | 234
“Wagner lost six million soldiers in Bakhmut.”
Doing better than last time then;)

Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 22 2023 4:11 utc | 235

the ascension of Azov thugs to power in February 2014 preceded March 2014. initial kindling.

Posted by: pretzelattack | May 22 2023 4:14 utc | 237

Posted by: mjc | May 22 2023 3:13 utc | 240
Atlantic Council press releases? That’s seriously like quoting Goebbels if he was asked to provide information on how WWII unfolded.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 22 2023 4:22 utc | 239

Posted by: mjc | May 22 2023 4:24 utc | 262
Bellingcrap uses “open source” imagery too. Have you looked at Google Maps recently where Crimea is concerned? Again though, who cares if some Russian assistance units were in the Donbass which is right on their border, was threatening to join NATO, develop nukes and was embroiled in a civil war of NATO’s creation? What would the US have done if it were Mexico and Russia-or-China? Give us a break already.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 22 2023 4:49 utc | 241

Do wonder if S-300 systems have pre-programmed Foe ID such as F-16 signatures integral. Might it be possible to get Ukrsinisn S-300 to shoot down F-16 over Rimania or Poland ?

Posted by: Paul Greenwood | May 22 2023 4:51 utc | 243

mjc | May 22 2023 4:03 utc | 251
Was the first shot of the upcoming Ukrainian civil war just fired?
March 26, 2014
https://thesaker.is/was-the-first-shot-of-the-upcoming-ukrainian-civil-war-just-fired/
Extracts:
§~ 8) The upcoming (in May) presidential elections are going to head for disaster in one way or another: there is simply no way, no way at all, that the current regime would – or even could – organize even minimally decent elections.  
They cannot let Milkail Dobkin run or, if they do, they would have to dramatically “correct” the number of votes he will get. 
They probably cannot let Iarosh run either.  Dobkin, being under house arrest, could not run a normal campaign either way, as for Iarosh, he might be the next to be assassinated by the SBU/cops. 
No matter what the modalities or he outcome, the next presidential elections will be a farce which most people will simply not accept. 
The resulting “President” and government will have zero legitimacy. {[Poroshenko won]}
§~ 10) Last, but not least, there is already overwhelming evidence that the revolutionary regime is lying about the circumstances of the death of Aleksandr Muzychko who appears to have been executed by a special SWAT unit. 
The order to kill him apparently was given or, at least, approved, by the CIA station in Kiev who, according to many reports, is basically running the revolutionary government from the 4th floor of a building in central Kiev.
§~ …… “triggers a crisis between the pro-US oligarchs and the neo-Nazis which would allow the former to try to get rid of the latter in the name of “democracy” and “anti-Fascism”, hence something which would not only be applauded with both hands in the West, but also give the oligarchs some anti-Nazi credentials and thus help to erase from the collective memory of the TV-zombified morons the fact that this regime only came to power thanks to the violence meted out by these neo-Nazis.
§… The bad news is that the Russian military does *not* want to intervene in the Ukraine. 
At the very best, the Kremlin might be forced to move the Russian military into eastern and, possibly, southern Ukraine to protect Russian-speakers from the violence resulting from a breakup of the Ukraine, but that would be an option of last resort as the Kremlin fully understands that the imbeciles in charge of the major powers in the West could do something truly stupid in reaction to such a Russian move. 
Thus, from the Russian point of view the best solution is by far, and I have said that many times here, to have a more or less stable, more or less prosperous, more or less “not anti-Russian” and independent Ukraine as a good neighbor.
When Putin told the Russian Federal Assembly and the rest of the world in his historical speech that Russia did not want to occupy or annex the Ukraine, he was not lying to cover up an imminent invasion, or trying to appease the West or showing how generous and good the Russians are – he was stating a basic reality of Russian pragmatic self-interest: Russia neither needs nor wants the Ukraine, especially now that it got Crimea back. 
What Russia does not want is a neo-Nazi Ukraine with NATO bases.
So if the Empire’s leaders had any common sense at all, they would understand the basic truth that this is not a zero-sum game and that Russia’s interests are quite compatible to the West’s as long as the West gives up its crazy idea of setting a neo-Nazi regime in Kiev surrounded by NATO bases. 
That crazy shit Russia simply will not accept. 
But an independent Ukraine?!  Of course – please, they will even help pay for it as long as it avoids a much more dangerous outcome resulting in a civil war.
Alas, all the signs are that Obama and his EU minions are just not going to accept anything short of a total victory – thereby securing their own total defeat, but at the cost of a complete destruction of rump-Ukraine and a horrible predicament for the people of the Ukraine.
§~ Short of a miraculous change of mind of the AngloZionist plutocracy, the bullets that killed Muzychko might well have been the (CIA’s) match which will start a fire capable of burning down what is left of the Ukraine.
*= mjc
Some of us, here and at percipient (but now defunct blogs), have been observing the USNATO instigated Ukraine/ Russian war for almost a decade now……
I know I’m now jaded and exhausted, having spent 8 or more years “explaining” to Rip Van Winkles, who just woke up, the how, why and who of the Maiden and events since 2014.
If you really are genuine in wanting insight into the spore of the SMO, start here, @bar MoA, and read the 2014 archives.
Read The Saker Archives of 2014- 2020 (after about then he lost the plot)
Read RH Ausländer. “An Incident on Simonka”. And also, “Sevastopol: The Third Defence”.
Ausländer lives in Crimea and took part in The Resistance. He was a sporadic, but always enlightening poster at The Saker. He always had first hand info on what was actually happening there 2014-2021. (He stopped posting for opsec reasons, I think).
As a Crimean resident Ausländer left readers in no doubt the rejection of the illegitimate Ukrainian government was organic and in response to the violence inflicted by the CIA-Ukrainian government on its Crimean citizens.

Posted by: Melaleuca | May 22 2023 4:55 utc | 245

Do wonder if S-300 systems have pre-programmed Foe ID such as F-16 signatures integral. Might it be possible to get Ukrsinisn S-300 to shoot down F-16 over Rimania or Poland ?
Posted by: Paul Greenwood | May 22 2023 4:51 utc | 266

Out of range unless shooting from Belarus into Poland.
Also, even S-400 right on the Belarus border cannot close the sky over the whole of western Ukraine — the range is 400 km and that still leaves a narrow safe zone along the Romanian border.
It’s a damn large country…

Posted by: shadowbanned | May 22 2023 4:58 utc | 247

@Melaleuca | May 21 2023 23:23 utc | 191

No apologist for Stoltenberg.
Yet. There was not a single armed security guard on the island.
Why would there be?
Why would anyone expect there to be armed security for a teenager holiday camp?

Ask the police, who trained for this exact scenario in this precise location the days before, as it was reported in Norway’s largest newspaper Aftenposten (long since erased). By the way, Stoltenberg referred in a speech in 2018 to the shooters on the Utøya Island in plural form, even though supposedly ‘Breivik’ killed 69 of Stoltenbergs younger party members (who the day before called for a boycott of Israel) all by himself.

Posted by: Norwegian | May 22 2023 5:02 utc | 249

Posted by: mjc | May 22 2023 5:01 utc | 272
I can’t see microscopic text on this screen but they aren’t “tools” they are standard 30 year old HTML tags. Come on.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 22 2023 5:11 utc | 251

Posted by: mjc | May 22 2023 4:08 utc | 253
oh a “survey”. never mind the history of Ukraine neo nazis persecuting russian speakers, you have a survey. and you quote Atlantic Council and Bellingcat sources to “reluctantly conclude” that Baud is lying. we weren’t born yesterday, and we’ve seen this act of yours before.

Posted by: pretzelattack | May 22 2023 5:14 utc | 253

Posted by: shadowbanned | May 22 2023 5:11 utc | 277

You sure you really know what the Banderites think about yellow people with epicanthic folds?
The following is a real quote, and not even a recent one, but from 2014:

So you’d like the entire Ukraine, including non-Banderites to be converted to the same ideology?
You think it’s a win for China if millions of Ukrainians with good will towards China now embrace Bandera?
What happens when villages of people who’ve never had a negative thought against an Asian get flattened by Chinese weapons?
You’d like to pump adrenaline and fuel into the relatively limp efforts of the neocons to start a kinetic war against the PRC?

Posted by: Arch Bungle | May 22 2023 5:22 utc | 255

Arch Bungle | May 22 2023 5:07 utc | 275
I thought I’d made it clear I was extracting directly from Saker’s 2014 piece…
——-
Since Day 1, there’s been An Argument that Russia should have stepped in immediately and just sorted shit out.
And here today we have a New Arrival pushing the case that Russia did just that…

Posted by: Melaleuca | May 22 2023 5:28 utc | 257

surveys are often not useful even if the outfit conducting them is legitimate.and once again, you’re playing coy with sources and cites. i think the troll community is in disarray after Ukraine’s major loss, not sure what narrative line to take.

Posted by: pretzelattack | May 22 2023 5:36 utc | 259

Re: A three front war
Von Der Leyen is pushing secondary sanctions on China. As a junior partner of the War Party, VdL is the perfect person to promote this dangerous provocation.
The War Party is actively driving towards a 3 Front War against Russia, China, and Iran simultaneously.
Watch this space

Posted by: Exile | May 22 2023 5:37 utc | 261

Posted by: mjc | May 21 2023 23:38 utc | 195
Not a studious Russia-watcher but this is what I know:
There were anti-Maidan protests throughout east Ukraine in late 2013 and 2014. After the coup, and the return of Crimea, many east Ukrainians figured they too would be accepted into Russia if they held referendums. Local administrative and govt. buildings were seized; Russian nationalists and relatives of Ukrainians crossed the border to help the process. There is no indication of Kremlin involvement.
Later as the indiscriminate ‘anti-terrorism operation’ was launched the Russian govt founded ‘Wagner group’ in Lugansk as a legal way to feed in advisors and trainers to help the locals resist. Donbass residents refer to this euphemistically as the ‘North Wind’ which blew away the ukro-nazi army.

Posted by: Browser | May 22 2023 5:54 utc | 263

Posted by: mjc | May 22 2023 4:08 utc | 253
and by most you mean the vast majority. misleading. and i hope by “working through it” you don’t mean you’re researching more from Bellingcat and the Atlantic Council.
here is something for you to work through, how did Crimea become a part of Ukraine in the 1990’s when it tried to declare independence?

Posted by: pretzelattack | May 22 2023 5:59 utc | 265

@Melaleuca | May 22 2023 5:17 utc | 280

Port Arthur initial reports had two shooters… quickly reduced to the low-IQ guy they jailed without trial. (A trial would be toooo stressful for the victims. Apparently.) It also meant the many anomalies and contradictions and eyewitness accounts need never be addressed.

Surviving witnesses on the day reported several shooters. The police image of the alleged lone Breivik on the island did not resemble very well the image of him in the trial that was held the year after.
An extremely compressed version of the alleged events is that ‘breivik’ rented a farm at Åsta (~160 Km north of Oslo, near the Rena military camp). He supposedly there created a fertilizer bomb and put it in a rented van. On the big day, he supposedly drove the van to the Government house (I know the exact place because a family member worked in the department of Finance) and blew it up almost 911 style, killing ~8 people (it was a slow Friday afternoon). The government had wanted to demolish the building before. Lots of theatrical injuries on the sidewalks, many details skipped. Then he supposedly used another car parked nearby and drove another 40 Km to Utøya, took the ferry to the island where Stoltenberg’s Labour Party holds its political summer camp every year and where both Stoltenberg and former PM Gro Harlem Brundland (WHO) were scheduled to speak, but were not there during the shootings. He then allegedly proceeded to kill 69 of Stoltenberg’s party members, some of which had banners calling for boycott of Israel’s handling of Palestinians.

Posted by: Norwegian | May 22 2023 6:11 utc | 267

The disappearance of Zaluzhny, the further escalation of the conflict by London, and the media activity of Budanov – does this have a connection?
There is no doubt that something is wrong with the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The inability to provide at least some evidence of his health makes Kiev suffer great reputational losses. But is everything so unambiguous and is Bankovaya saddened by the loss of De Gaulle of the Farmer’s Spill?
Recall that for a long time, there has been a struggle between London and Washington for influence over the office of the president, while traditionally the Ministry of Defense was an independent patrimony of the States. There was even an opinion that Zaluzhny, controlled by the White House, was seen as an alternative successor to Zelensky. At the same time, the American media have for a long time sculpted a national hero from an amateur to chat with girls on Instagram.
Now that Zaluzhny is probably injured, and seriously, there are many theories about how this happened. According to many sources, he became a victim of an artillery (or missile) attack by the Wagners on Chasov Yar. The fact of an attempt to eliminate the commander-in-chief is not denied by Yevgeny Prigozhin, but he does not disclose the details and results of the operation. Thus, we can say that the location of Zaluzhny was most likely leaked. And here, recalling the old “games of Kiev thrones”, the question involuntarily arises: who benefited from this drain?
Zelensky, led by Yermak and London, had a different view of the defense of Bakhmut from the general. If the president demanded to fight to the last Ukrainian, then Zaluzhny insisted on withdrawing. By the beginning of May, it became obvious that Bakhmut would fall, and against this background, the commander-in-chief could receive very high political points, which did not suit either Zelensky or London.
The British have long made no secret of the fact that their “specialists” are working on the front line, and in the event of trips to the front line of Zaluzhny, they would probably know about them. It is not difficult for the British intelligence services to leak the coordinates of the general to the Wagners through third parties.
It is noteworthy that at the same time, Britain begins to actively get involved in the conflict and play to raise the stakes – statements about assistance in the supply of F-16s, the use of Storm Shadow, and other similar actions by London at the time of the mysterious disappearance of Zalugny are very similar to attempts to seize the initiative in management Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
It is obvious that the Americans, having lost their main trump card in this battle, hastily began to look for a replacement. And a powerful media wave aimed at forming a new national hero from the head of the GUR Budanov is just part of this concept of finding a replacement for Zalugny. Budanov is an exceptionally pro-American figure, although he is often presented as an MI6 agent. It is possible that the daring ambush on Russian aviation in the Bryansk region was a kind of revenge for the neutralization of Zaluzhny.
Naturally, the above is only one of the possible conspiracy theories that justify what happened. However, there is no doubt that after the loss of Bakhmut and Zaluzny, very turbulent times are coming for the office on Bankovaya.

https://t.me/Slavyangrad/47218

Posted by: Down South | May 22 2023 6:26 utc | 269

HERMIUS #1:51 utc | 224

WANTED!
The following individuals…
ICC Criminal Court Judge and Prosecutor, Khan Karim Asad Ahmad and panel members Tomoko Akane, Rosario Salvatore Aitala and Sergio Gerardo Gerardo Godinez
Charges include: 1) For issuing an illegal arrest warrant for Vladmir Putin, President of the Russian Federation. 2) For wrong doing in the International Criminal Court

Excellent news. The countries that appointed them should revoke their standing and appoint fresh judges or perhaps avoid the pox ridden kangaroo court altogether.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 22 2023 6:53 utc | 271

Proof of Russian forces in eastern Ukraine in 2014: Armata tank seen with Buk launcher that shot down MH-17.
Proof of Russian forces in eastern Ukraine in 2014: Yars strategic missile TEL seen with Buk launcher that shot down MH-17.
There is your “open source photographic evidence”, barfingcat.

Posted by: William Gruff | May 22 2023 7:02 utc | 273

Will the Armed Forces of Ukraine counterattack on Donetsk? Do they want to turn Donetsk into Mariupol and Artemovsk?
On the night of May 20-21, a large consignment of armored vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and NGU drove into Avdeevka through the Kurakhovo railway station. During the last 72 hours, wave after wave of enemy manpower arrived in the specified city, incl. and personnel of the so-called. “assault brigades”. In addition, there is a sharp increase in tanks and other military vehicles of Ukraine on the territory of an old brick factory in Krasnogorovka.
They dug underground passages to Donetsk and infantry will pass through them? Which will capture high-rise buildings?

Posted by: mishin05 | May 22 2023 7:17 utc | 275

Posted by: Arch Bungle | May 22 2023 5:01 utc | 273
The videos were viewed by me within days of the events in question. This was the YouTube of ten years ago. There were no YT “minders,” no YT content policies that I remember, and YT Downloaders were not yet a thing.
I regret not having made screen captures. This is how history is shaped. A private entity can eliminate evidence and create bias in the historical record. A pity about the “Don’t be evil” corporate motto.

Posted by: Sushi | May 22 2023 7:34 utc | 277

Posted by: UWDude | May 22 2023 6:53 utc | 312
Sorry Dude. I have not followed this argument but to an outsider your posts come across as frothy mouthed slander and mjc comes across as measured and reasonable.

Posted by: Tim | May 22 2023 7:42 utc | 279

I surely hope Helmer is wrong.
If previous events are anything to go by, and presuming if Helmer knows/thinks NATO is planning something nefarious, then so does Russia’s MoD.
Which means, just as they have before with alleged false flag nuke attacks and other such provocations, they usually preempt it by announcing it to the public and follow it up with military to military communications aimed to deescalate and prevent the unthinkable.
I’d say in the time between now and June 12 when the operations begin, that will be the one thing to look out for.

Posted by: Et Tu | May 22 2023 7:47 utc | 281

Our source in the OP said that Syrsky is again convincing Zelensky of the attractiveness of his plan, which should allow the Armed Forces of Ukraine to surround the city, and then the Russian troops will leave it.
The commander of the ground forces is confident that Wagner’s withdrawal will allow him to quickly take the enemy’s positions, which means that the counteroffensive must be continued after the rains.

https://t.me/rezident_ua/17906

Posted by: Down South | May 22 2023 7:50 utc | 283

UWDude | May 22 2023 7:16 utc | 321
…”I further think Putin lied about helping Donbass
FWIW. I don’t think he helped, and thus, didn’t lie.
My understanding is the Eastern Ukraine/ Russian border, up to 2015-16 was more porous and open than the current U$ Mexican “border”.
That is, Ukrainians and Russians moved back and fro with ease. Russians lived in “Ukraine” and Ukrainians lived in Russia. Family members lived either side of this nominal boundary. No body really cared.
Once the illegitimate CIA-Ukrainian government began an extermination against its Russian speaking, Russian sympathetic citizens, then the issue of nationalism grew in importance.
Ukrainians and Russians in Russia began to help their Ukrainian and Russian family and friends in Ukraine.
The Kremlin did fuck all, and this greatly angered the Russians in Ukraine and the Russians in Russia neighbouring the Donbass.
Minsk 1+2 were supposed to resolve the issue and get Putin off the hook… he really didn’t want to get involved.
USNATO of course DID want to escalate… and eventually the killing of Russians in Ukraine became a white hot issue…. And then, in February 2022, at the Munich Security Conference Zelensky said Ukraine would be reactivating it’s nuclear capability.
That lit a fire under Putin’s arse.
And here we are.

Posted by: Melaleuca | May 22 2023 7:52 utc | 285

Mark2 | May 22 2023 7:46 utc | 326
So where is the contamination cloud
What “contamination” cloud.
There’s no contamination cloud.
Why would there be a contamination cloud?
The BBC CNN has not reported any contamination cloud.
So. There’s obviously no contamination cloud.
You… might *think* blowing up a depot of depleted uranium might lead to a contamination cloud.
But, you wouldn’t want to be considered a conspiracy theorist, right?

Posted by: Melaleuca | May 22 2023 7:56 utc | 287

Col from OZ #2:21 utc | 227
Further thoughts after checking out the Chris Busby interview
https://www.bitchute.com/video/iSPw64WMPumB
The Polish and German people are extreme foolish to ignore this but I am sure they will be attacked, gaoled, cancelled and probably gagged and prosecuted in closed courts through the new pandemic health provisions for sowing denialism.
All the state need do is roll out a couple of scientists as paid shills to say “all is good, all is safe” then they will unleash silencing laws on deniers.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 22 2023 8:02 utc | 289

@ Sushi
I want to type: “I love you, sushi”. But that would be silly and inappropriate, and would probably be misconstrued, especially on an anonymous internet blog such as this.
So I wont.

Posted by: Melaleuca | May 22 2023 8:06 utc | 291

President Joe Biden said Sunday that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy assured him personally he won’t use F-16 fighter jets to attack Russian territory.

Posted by: shoplifter | May 22 2023 8:13 utc | 293

Chris Busby has a web page:
https://greenaudit.org/
He has not published any of his Khmelnytsky thoughts there yet and is considering a utoob report.
and a facebook page but I don’t go there.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 22 2023 8:15 utc | 295

Melaleuca #8:06 utc | 338
re Sushi love fest… seconded

Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 22 2023 8:21 utc | 297

Posted by: julianmacfarlane | May 22 2023 6:56 utc | 314
“The victor always writes history (WWII is an exception to this aphorism).”
This references the fact the German military high command, those not executed after Nuremberg, were hired by the US military to learn details of their operational doctrine and how to battle the Soviets.
The Wehrmacht elite used this platform to write self-serving history blaming Hitler for every failure and exonerating themselves while obscuring the exact nature of their crimes against humanity.
It was not until the collapse of the Soviet Union that the Russian archives became available to researchers such as David Glantz who has since written a revisionary history of the Ost Front in a series of volumes.

Posted by: Sushi | May 22 2023 8:31 utc | 299