Posted by: S | May 25 2023 19:41 utc | 54
Posted by: Sushi | May 25 2023 20:59 utc | 65
Posted by: Sushi | May 26 2023 0:18 utc | 101
Don’t care. It’s a delusional plan. Anyone who thinks giving F-16 “drones” to Ukraine who will then use them to attack Crimea or anything else in Russia without Russia immediately destroying every one of them AND the airfields they fly from, regardless of where those airfields are, is delusional.
To emphasize, a drone F-16 can be shot down by Russian air defense just as well as a manned one. Yes, it can maneuver to 9gs – whoop-de-do. That does not outrun an S-300, let alone an S-400, or a Russian air-to-air missile.
The plan is bullshit. Pure speculation from people who have no actual evidence that it’s even being considered by anyone anywhere except fevered MoA posters.
If you want to dream, dream big: the US mounts nuclear bombs on those drones and blows up Moscow. See, I can bullshit, too.
Let’s reverse that: Putin orders the Poseidon fired tomorrow. England disappears. The East and West Coast of the US is flooded. My apartment in San Francisco is full of radioactive seawater.
Makes just as much sense as this other speculative bullshit.
Bottom line: Anything is “possible.” Very little that is “possible” will actually happen compared to what is “probable.” Don’t waste our time with random speculation.
Posted by: Golddiggr | May 26 2023 0:41 utc | 104
Presumably Ukraine thinks this would be a big “PR win”, since that’s the only kind they can achieve. Unless, of course, they put nukes on drone F-16s and blow up Moscow. Which, from the way people are pushing this bullshit, is apparently something these people want to happen.
As I’ve said many times, most people in the collective West are subconsciously scared that this war will turn out as I’ve said: with Russia dismantling Ukraine into Russia’s defensive bulwark, along with Belarus, and if NATO intervenes, decisively defeating NATO. So they spend their time dreaming up ways Russia can lose this war. Half the comments in these threads are from these sorts of people.
These are the people I refer to as morons.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | May 26 2023 0:55 utc | 103

” Sorry, could you really understand something erudite? Have you yourself ever been to a killing field, honestly? I guess not, brave keyboard troll warior.
Posted by: Anthony | May 26 2023 0:23 utc | 103 ”
Thats your great, much vaunted, counterattack ? Seriously ? Pathetic.

Posted by: Deplorable Commisar | May 26 2023 1:13 utc | 105

Posted by: Biden’s Not Enough | May 26 2023 1:09 utc | 107
I case you have not noticed, there is an American serviceman’s coffin draped with an American flag going back to US today from Bakhmut.

Posted by: KitaySupporter | May 26 2023 1:19 utc | 107

Like I said…
Russia signs deal to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/5/25/russia-signs-deal-to-deploy-tactical-nuclear-weapons-in-belarus

“In the context of an extremely sharp escalation of threats on the western borders of Russia and Belarus, a decision was made to take countermeasures in the military-nuclear sphere,” Russia’s state-owned TASS news agency quoted Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu as saying…
Moscow will retain control over the weapons and any decisions on their use, Shoigu said.
TASS quoted him as saying that Iskander-M missiles, which can carry conventional or nuclear warheads, had been handed to the Belarusian armed forces, and some Su-25 aircraft had been converted for the possible use of nuclear weapons.
“Belarusian servicemen have received the necessary training in Russian training centres,” Shoigu was quoted as saying.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | May 26 2023 1:24 utc | 109

Posted by: karlof1 | May 25 2023 22:32 utc | 87
As valid as my predictions, but as somebody who’s tracked this technology for three decades, one’s things for sure though, this field consistently has wrong-footed the theoreticians and their predictions.
As for proponents of F-16 drones, perhaps they need to read up on the Russian abilities to jam the data link between RPV’s and their control stations. Any kamikaze-style strategy will just cement the impression that Ukraine is losing.
Posted by: Simon | May 25 2023 23:57 utc | 96
Define artillery weapons, the AGS-17 Plamya has a sight for indirect fire, does that count? Again, bean counting your opponent’s loses as a compensatory tactic for being unable to counter the loss of key terrain, or gain the initiative, is a sure sign you are struggling to achieve anything more than a managed strategic decline.

Posted by: Milites | May 26 2023 1:26 utc | 111

Posted by: Biden’s Not Enough | May 26 2023 1:09 utc | 107
“Joe Biden managed to field thousands troops without a single western one. He managed to conquer Ukraine without a single western soldier dying. He also heavily armed a country that will do terrorist attacks in Russia for the upcoming decades.”
Is that your best shot? Biden buggered all of them “fielded” troops in the ass before sending them off to die. America the beautiful commits the oldest sins in the newest ways. We brag about it.
Yeah, we fuck everybody before we screw them permanently…but the karma train is running full speed like a one way Kinzhal in the night. Gonna be a reckoning.

Posted by: Just Observing | May 26 2023 1:49 utc | 113

Joe Biden managed to field thousands troops without a single western one. He managed to conquer Ukraine without a single western soldier dying. He also heavily armed a country that will do terrorist attacks in Russia for the upcoming decades.
The western bloc is winning in Ukraine in case y’all hadn’t noticed. That’s literally its wet dream : Killing Slavs by using Slavs.
Posted by: Biden’s Not Enough | May 26 2023 1:09 utc | 107
————–
By that logic the British won big arming the Confederates. The US Federal government was critically weakened, its army was a shell, and it couldn’t control the insurgent problem in the southern states.
Oh wait the exact opposite happened, it finally lanced a festering generational separatist boil and was more powerful than ever…
I imagine the Kremlin is willing to pay the relatively low price of fewer dead in a year of fighting than many a Napoleonic battle. In order to recover lands with millions of people & a long-term union with Belarus. Whilst permanently discrediting Banderite ideology & to a lesser extent NATO.
Without it’s feelings being hurt that “Biden” got what he wanted.

Posted by: Urban Fox | May 26 2023 2:40 utc | 115

Posted by: Milites | May 26 2023 1:26 utc | 114
“Russian abilities to jam the data link between RPV’s and their control stations.”
Good point I forgot.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | May 26 2023 2:49 utc | 117

Mike, Earl Gray is now missing according to someone on his YouTube channel. . .too much!

Posted by: Geoff | May 26 2023 3:03 utc | 119

Organ Harvesting
Persistent rumors that that Israeli Hospital Team sent was part of organizing a organ harvesting enterprise. Also, rumors for many years that Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo and Metohija is used as a transit center.

Posted by: Exile | May 26 2023 3:42 utc | 121

“Ajamu Baraka wrote on his social networks that Zelensky is not eager to return to Kyiv because of the fear of retaliation after the emergency with drones near the Kremlin.” That was posted on the Salvyangrad Telegram today.
While that fear likely has affected Zelenski, I don’t think that Putin would have hime targeted for it. If Putin wanted him pushed out of a window, he’d do it himself.
Zelenski was hiding in his basement until PM Bennet of Israel told him the Putin wasn’t going to have him killed. The next day Zelenski emerged from his basement to give his “I am not afraid” speech.
Zelenski isn’t actually contributing to the Ukrainian war effort. He could easily be replaced by another trained monkey. The hardcore Nazis aren’t going to let him survive, anyway. He’s just trying to survive as long as he can. He’s not really a victim because he agreed to his role, and understood when he accepted it that his final scene had already been scripted.

Posted by: barstool | May 26 2023 4:41 utc | 123

…he loves children, but do they really? I think of the Donor Parasites that control the government and wonder if they love their children–even Neocons have children which I find astonishing…
Posted by: karlof1 | May 25 2023 23:33 utc | 92
Look to the Jewish religion where many believe that they are the only ones born with souls, the rest of humanity are just animals and can be rightly treated as such, little different to putting down cattle. When you separate yourself from the rest of humanity and believe absurdities like this or something similar, acting as a beast is only our perspective, they believe they act justly.
For clarity, all humanity has a soul, we would be neither alive or self conscious without it, however some people have a need to feel superior as such these supremacist sects will always gain some traction.

Posted by: Organic | May 26 2023 5:26 utc | 125

Posted by: Sushi | May 26 2023 4:54 utc | 127
“If the F-16s have no possible military application for CAS or Counter-Air then what is the intended use case?”
Sigh. If, as you point out, this has been discussed repeatedly, then obviously it was discussed that the point, as Alastair Crooke said on Napolitano today, is to extend the war. As Crooke pointed out, first they said Ukraine needs to achieve something by September or thereabouts before the US and NATO will be forced to reduce its support. So then Biden says, “Well, F-16s…over the next year”. The point is to extend the war because, as Crooke also says the neocons don’t want to do anything more than start a “Long War” against Russia under the presumption (erroneous) that they can bleed Russia of resources and eventually cause a “revolution” – like that idiot Prigozhin was babbling about the other day – and a collapse of the Russian state.
The F-16s are just “more of the same-old” as Javelins, HIMARS, Stryker AFVs, Abrams and the Patriot.
If you can’t imagine that, while imagining bullshit theories about drone F-16s, then your imagination appears to be limited to conjuring up alleged (however imaginary) threats to Russia.
I wonder why that is – except as I said earlier, I already know. Of course, you could simply be limited to the usual attitude of simply talking to hear yourself talk which afflicts quite a few here.
“You walk into the room and dismiss the MoA community as a bunch of morons.”
No. I dismiss you and the clowns promulgating a fantasy theory dreamed up out of your own head as a bunch of morons.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | May 26 2023 6:12 utc | 127

Not to mention that the use of drone F-16s, as I noted earlier, are subject to the same problems as manned F-16s, namely Russian AD and Russian aviation.
So what the hell does it matter if they are manned or unmanned? The plan still fails miserably. Unless, as I suggested, the US puts nukes on those “drones”.
Which results in the total destruction of the US and Europe. Maybe that’s what Sushi wants? Or is it, as Elwood Blues once said, “just…bullshit?”

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | May 26 2023 6:23 utc | 129

On undermining the dam in the Donetsk region, very interesting information.
The dam was mined; The Kiev region will not let you lie, it is still drowning everyone there because of the explosions that the Armed Forces of Ukraine staged in 2022.
So, according to rumors, she either exploded herself, or there was an exact arrival and 4 tons of TNT detonated.
Just from the arrival of the rocket, the dam would not have turned out like that.
Now the villages of Galitsinovka, Zhelannoye-1 and Zhelannoye-2 are under the threat of flooding.
Most likely, the explosion happened by accident, since the dam is of military importance – this is one of the roads along which the supply of Ukrainian troops in the Donetsk direction was carried out.
If deliberately, then in this direction the General Staff weakens the deployment of military groups, but insures itself by complicating logistics for the enemy in advance.

https://t.me/legitimniy/15439

Posted by: Down South | May 26 2023 6:33 utc | 131

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | May 26 2023 6:23 utc | 132
Stop talking to yourself.
Read the post:
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2023/05/ukraine-open-thread-2023-125.html?cid=6a00d8341c640e53ef02b751a5e779200c#comment-6a00d8341c640e53ef02b751a5e779200c
If you are competent raise a rational objection.
If not competent remain silent.
Cheers!

Posted by: Sushi | May 26 2023 6:51 utc | 133

Posted by: karlof1 | May 25 2023 20:37

IMO, history tells us why the Outlaw US Empire won’t use nukes on Russia as it had excellent opportunities to do just that but demurred, and most such plans emerged from the UK.

Whilst I usually agree with you, this seems to me like flawed logic.
US is the only country to use nukes in anger. Full stop. So it has a precedent that no other country does.
The rest of the argument is just saying, they haven’t done it before, so they won’t do it.
The modern day world is filled with decisions that have never been previously taken. That argument is not worth anything at all and seems like a bowl full of hope on your behalf.
Not that I mind such hope, but an adage that I have lived by and has served me well is:
The majority of people are not only stupider than you believe, but are stupider than you believe is possible.
Decisions in the US by and large are made with ONE motive. GREED. The entire country is built upon it and it is the driving factor in this situation. And the populace as well as the people in charge are stupider than you believe possible.
JustAnotherAussie.

Posted by: JustAnotherAussie | May 26 2023 7:11 utc | 135

Posted by: Sushi | May 26 2023 6:51 utc | 136
Reduced to blathering, I see. Well, fuck you. I read your post back when it was posted. The F-16 plan was bullshit then, it’s bullshit now. And as I said above, it’s irrelevant because it won’t work anyway, regardless of your speculations that “if everything goes right and the Russians are wool-gathering, they can blow up the bridge.”
Bullshit, as I said.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | May 26 2023 7:16 utc | 137

If the F-16s have no possible military application for CAS or Counter-Air then what is the intended use case?
Posted by: Sushi | May 26 2023 4:54 utc | 126
Like I’ve said before, they’re for nukes.
If you don’t believe me try this from yesterday: “Medvedev considers it quite likely that the US and the EU will supply Ukraine not only with F-16 fighter jets, but also with nuclear weapons.”

Posted by: rk | May 26 2023 7:26 utc | 139

Sushi #136
Perhaps the F16, fly from Moldova across Transniztria into Ukraine and launch missiles then hasty retreat. I would not put that past the nazi backers.
It would give them some cover, close approach to Crimea, easier pilot recovery in the event of hot pursuit. Worst case – One F16, one shot then ditch if necessary and all under cover of the NATO exercises. It is UKUSA at the helm.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 26 2023 7:38 utc | 141

Oui | May 26 2023 7:38 utc | 144
Tell Medvedev, it’s a quote.

Posted by: rk | May 26 2023 7:39 utc | 143

I don’t usually express an opinion because I know nothing… but here is my current thinking anyway 🙂 The war has been harder than Russia hoped, but easier that they feared. They hoped Europe could be persuaded to talk; they feared full on NATO war. They got war, but it has been a lot easier than they thought because of catastrophic strategic incompetence and miscalculation by NATO, whose penchant for grandstanding has been cruelly exploited by Surovikin, leading to the massacre of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, and NATO pissing all their armies and equipment up a wall.

Posted by: Tim | May 26 2023 7:59 utc | 145

Zelensky managed to convince the partners to start transferring air-to-air missiles in order to use them during the offensive to hunt the planes of the Russian Armed Forces, which are bombing the 40-55km kill zone with FABs.
Canada will give Ukraine 43 AIM-9 missiles to protect the sky. This is a melee missile. It all depends on its modification. The radius of destruction is 18-55 km, just enough to hunt Russian aviation.
We continue to be sure that 2 planes and 2 turntables were shot down by precisely such newest missiles, which the West most likely handed over to the OP for testing (the Ukrainian crisis is a training ground), and not as leaked to the media that this is Patriot air defense work and they want to convince everyone in that.

https://t.me/legitimniy/15446

Posted by: Down South | May 26 2023 8:11 utc | 147

Posted by: James M. | May 26 2023 8:15 utc | 149
“So, no Ukraine isn’t getting any nuclear weapons. It’s just hyperbole by Medvedev.”
I agree. However, that isn’t the question. The question actually is: will the US use nukes? We know Russia won’t because it’s against doctrine. The US has no such limits. The US has already decided that first-use even against non-nuclear countries can be done. And Russia is a nuclear country.
Of course, the immediate follow-up question is: How? Again, this is not how war is fought. You don’t try to “sneak” a handful of nukes against an enemy. Too risky. A limited op can go wrong in all sorts of ways. The only safe use of nukes is large-scale or decapitation. Decapitation doesn’t work against Russia – it has a “dead hand” system that launches everything if command is taken out.
Large-scale doesn’t work either both for the same reason and because Russia will detect and retaliate as soon as it is certain it is a large-scale attack. This is called “Mutual Assured Destruction” and it’s worked for 75 years.
The problem comes with the following: 1) a successful first strike that neutralizes the bulk of the Russian (or US) arsenal. Problem with that is the nuclear triad: 1) missiles, 2) planes, and 3) of primary importance, submarines. Both sides have all 3 and especially submarines, some of which are always on patrol with enough warheads to severely damage the attacking country.
But the US has been placing Aegis Ashore installation near Russia precisely for the use case of taking out Russia’s retaliatory and command capability within a short time frame during or immediately preceding a massive first strike. This is precisely what Putin understands and why he is so adamant about getting those Aegis Ashore installations out of Poland and Romania. And why I say this is the number one motivation for the Ukraine war.
The real problem is not the “how”; it’s the “why not?” Because the people running the US government, as Martyanov constantly harps on correctly, are fucking imbeciles who don’t understand the complex nuclear war calculations that US think tanks spent decades wrangling over since the 1950’s. They think they can “finesse” a nuclear war. All the latest US nuclear doctrine is about “finessing” the use of nuclear weapons. Russia, on the other hand, has clearly stated this is a non-starter and nukes must never be used except in retaliation for a nuclear attack (or an existential threat to the Russian state – which is exactly what the Aegis Ashore installations are for.)
So that’s the risk: That the morons running the US government think on the same level as the morons on MoA who dream up bullshit plans. And that the few people in the Pentagon and NATO who understand that this is all bullshit don’t have enough pull to talk the morons down.
Like I don’t have enough pull to talk the MoA morons down.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | May 26 2023 8:43 utc | 149

Read this (PDF download) in connection with my last post…
Strategic Parity or Why “American” Arms Control Is Not Interested In Russia
https://www.marshallcenter.org/sites/default/files/files/2022-04/SI72_Strategic_Parity_Starchak%2020APR.pdf

In 2007, Vladimir Putin declared that deployment of the U.S. missile defense system in Europe can be compared to deployment of Pershing missiles in Europe in the early 1980s. The threat is absolutely the same, and the U.S. missile defense units deployed in Europe are an integral part of the U.S. strategic nuclear weapons.54 He repeated it in 201655 and in late 2021.56 According to Putin, ballistic missiles are most vulnerable during launch, and that is why it is better to have the interceptor as close as possible. In other words, U.S. missile defense in Europe is an attempt to upset the strategic nuclear balance.57 Therefore, even the potential ability of missile defense to shoot down ballistic missiles can reduce or affect the nuclear parity between Russia and the United States.
For Russia, it is about the fact that missile defense systems can be quite effective at protecting the initiator of a strategic nuclear exchange from a retaliatory strike. The latter strike is carried out by strategic forces that include naval and land-based ballistic missiles survived by the first attack. If just a few missiles are left, say a few dozen, then missile defense systems can at least hypothetically minimize the damage from retaliatory use of strategic nuclear missiles to an “acceptable limit.” In these circumstances, both sides of a potential conflict may conclude that in an escalating armed confrontation the most “rational” strategy, from the purely military point of view, may be to launch a massive nuclear strike first. This, in turn, is a factor that destabilizes the strategic balance and ruins mutual nuclear deterrence….
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has shown that Moscow is ready to implement the so-called military-technical responses to the West and to achieve strategic stability as it sees it. In the speech, anticipating the recognition of the independence of the DPR and the LPR, President Putin said that the medium-range missiles being developed by the United States will definitely appear in Ukraine. This means that the missiles can hit objects throughout the European territory of Russia, as well as beyond the Urals, and the time of their approach to Moscow will be reduced to 4-5 minutes.59 Later, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin is angry at those people in Ukraine who want to be part of NATO in order to place U.S. nuclear missiles on their territory.”60 This underscores that the threat of losing strategic parity with the United States became one of the key reasons for the invasion of Ukraine. In an effort to demilitarize Ukraine, Russia seeks to prevent the appearance of shock weapons capable of threatening Russia’s strategic potential. The invasion of Ukraine is an attempt by military means to achieve what failed diplomatically.
Moscow sees an opportunity for the formation of a new world order. According to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the current crisis is a fateful moment. This is an epochal moment in modern history. It reflects the battle over what the new world order will look like.61 The purpose of the special military operation, according to Lavrov, was the desire to receive security guarantees that will be based on the principle of indivisible common security for Ukraine, for Russia, for all European countries…
Nevertheless, Russia apparently managed to achieve something with the war with Ukraine. There will be no NATO in Ukraine, and there will be no missiles threatening strategic parity. However, Ukraine is only part of the problem, since Ukraine is like the next candidate for the appearance of missile threats to the Russian Federation, as Deputy Minister Andrei Rudenko said in December. “We have other countries bordering the Russian Federation, where the approach time of the strike systems is 4-5 minutes,”65 Rudenko said. In these circumstances, the Russian president will be forced to look for other ways of escalation to achieve his goals and conclude the necessary agreements. In a couple of years, Vladimir Putin may gain strength and launch an invasion of Finland in order to prevent its entry into
NATO. The director of the Foreign Ministry Department, Sergei Belyaev, is already threatening that the membership of Finland and Sweden in NATO will entail military and political consequences.66 Finland, like Ukraine, is located on the border with Russia and was also part of the Russian Empire, the deployment of U.S. strike weapons on its territory will also threaten strategic parity.

The author’s conclusions following this part of the article are basically Western bullshit. But his description of the situation from the Russian point of view as described above is spot on – and Russia is correct in this assessment.
Once again, this is why the Ukraine war is happening, and why, as Martyanov has pointed out, Russia has been enhancing its military capabilities in areas such as air defense and hypersonic missiles both on land and sea: nuclear security for Russia has been reduced by the actions of the US.
So it’s not that nuclear weapons will be given to Ukraine NOW – but that they were guaranteed to be installed in Ukraine at some point in the form of Aegis Ashore installations – and the intended seizure of the Sevastopol naval base in 2014 by Ukraine was to remove the Russian Black Sea Fleet threat, thus leaving Russia at the mercy of NATO. Russia has seen all this very clearly, as referenced by Putin’s statements over several years, as pointed out by Ray McGovern in his speech to the Boston church peace group a month or so ago, and also referenced in this article.
This is what matters: the morons in the US were and are seriously planning to attack Russia with a nuclear first strike after decapitating Russia’s primary retaliatory and command capability – REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THAT WOULD ACTUALLY WORK!

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | May 26 2023 9:10 utc | 151

§§§§§§§§§§§§§§
UPDATE: iEarlGrey
John Mark Dougan:/ MASHA and MIKE MISSING on the FRONT LINES… NEVER MADE it BACK! Let’s all PRAY they are OKAY…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNitApoiIco
Masha and Mike never made it back to their base of operations yesterday.
They were last on the front lines near Bakhmut and Soledar, bringing humanitarian aid.
–John Mark Dougan, posting as an iEarlGrey channel Editor

Posted by: Melaleuca | May 26 2023 9:22 utc | 153

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | May 26 2023 8:43 utc | 150
If the bar for US nuclear use is so low that this conflict qualifies for it then we’re all pretty much screwed and it doesn’t matter what we do.
That said, the reason there is a first use policy is for deterrence. Will they or won’t they use them keeps opponents guessing. But it’s not a policy that will be seriously implemented.

Posted by: James M | May 26 2023 9:27 utc | 155

Here’s also an interesting series of articles someone posted here earlier on how Russia is actually outspending US in military production as a result of several different metrics, and how western statistics significantly lowball the value of the Russian economy in terms of dollar equivalent and exchange rate, and physical goods produced, and the cost of individual items produced by Russia. One thing that also has an effect is the dual-use design of Russian economy i.e. civilian and war industry may use the same inputs, and everything is produced domestically with low costs. Even if there were any sort of drop in export demand, domestic demand has partially replaced it.
This is the third part of the series, but I’d recommend reading the first two as well.
https://aaronlee.substack.com/p/one-trillion-dollars-in-2023-how-74e

Posted by: unimperator | May 26 2023 9:54 utc | 157

Military Summary channel/ Dima reports there was heavy Ukrainian missile strikes into Donetsk city and fatalities and casualties. He does not give other details.
John Mark Dugan has updated a report on the iEarlGrey yt channel.
Still no contact with Mike Jones or Marsha.
They were delivering humanitarian aid near Donetsk yesterday.
The Polish Thru the Eyes of channel says she has attempted to whatsapp Mike and no reply. She says he has not been active on the app since around 8am yesterday.

Posted by: Melaleuca | May 26 2023 10:32 utc | 159

28 CGI with walking naturally is hard . extra big bucks for the time. everyones swagger is different so matching that isnt worth weeks for the few seconds clip shown .

Posted by: hankster | May 26 2023 10:53 utc | 161

Katharina | May 26 2023 10:32 utc | 159
A link to the vid is posted in this thread.

Posted by: Melaleuca | May 26 2023 11:03 utc | 163

155 shoplifter . commonly known as a five finger discount. id give one middle finger to that garbage, did ya NAFO handler really take that much acid he sent you the old talking point file

Posted by: hankster | May 26 2023 11:11 utc | 165

A question for the barflies. Does anyone know the approximate distance from downtown St. Petersburg to the edge of Russian territory air space over the Baltic? Most Americans know shit about the geography of Russia so I was going to give some people an example of what it would be for a foreign long-range bomber to be flying off of say Long Island and heading towards NYC. Thanks in advance.

Posted by: DakotaRog | May 26 2023 11:55 utc | 167

Intelligent Dasein: But surely you realize that while it’s a loss for the Western governments, it’s a guaranteed bonanza for Western and primarily US arms manufacturers.

Posted by: malenkov | May 26 2023 12:07 utc | 169

approximate distance from downtown St. Petersburg to the edge of Russian territory air space over the Baltic?
Posted by: DakotaRog | May 26 2023 11:55 utc | 168
No idea, but it’s about 80 miles or so the the border of Estonia to the East and the border of Finland to the North.
Here is a distance calculator that might help: https://www.distancefromto.net

Posted by: Katharina | May 26 2023 12:18 utc | 171

malenkov | May 26 2023 12:07 utc | 170
*** Intelligent Dasein: But surely you realize that while it’s a loss for the Western governments, it’s a guaranteed bonanza for Western and primarily US arms manufacturers.***
And of course its replacement improves the “economic activity” figures.
…. a thoroughly deranged example of contemporary economic orthodoxy.

Posted by: Cynic | May 26 2023 12:19 utc | 173

169.
No, it’s not stupid. You just haven’t grasped how much of the Maerican defense industry is welfare for the military industrial complex. It’s all pork barrel corruption which is how you get the f35 a 200 million dollar jet that can’t fly in the rain, when the wind blows, etc.
Mawrican military technology is overpriced garbage with a handful of exceptions. Getting the vassal states to pony up for new shitty and expensive weaponry helps keep the struggling Maerican economy afloat and C suite defense execs in hookers and blow.

Posted by: Doctor Eleven | May 26 2023 12:22 utc | 175

James M @ 156

If the bar for US nuclear use is so low that this conflict qualifies for it then we’re all pretty much screwed and it doesn’t matter what we do.

It’s not about Ukraine, which in itself would be pretty minor if overly bloody, it’s about ~50 rich countries governed by criminals and frightfully compromised people corralled and lead by USA and UK using all their military, economic, political, and cultural power to back Russia into a corner so that it cries uncle. Hopefully Russia with a little help from its friends who are all aware of the stakes can avoid that outcome, but if not and Russia chooses not to cry uncle then the bar very suddenly gets raised to the top rung.

Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | May 26 2023 12:43 utc | 177

From the unintelligent troll: “Lost equipment is a loss, not a gain. If you give away a howitzer, a tank, or a fighter jet that gets destroyed, it either has to be borne without in the future or it has to be replaced by spending money we don’t have.”
Who is this “we”, kemosabe? Retread is stupid enough to confuse himself with capitalist military procurement industrialists. What a turd-brain!
Your government will continue to print money and give it to rich oligarch owners of industry. They will pretend to make weapons with that money while pocketing most of it. This printing of money will eventually debase the value of the currency, but the rate the rich are raking it in is greater than the rate at which the currency is debased, so it works out as a net gain for them while you end up paying a buck each for the eggs you suck.
Come to think of it, the piecework “contractors” for SOCOM’s MISO (social media disinformation) operations could be considered part of the military, and so with a bit of a stretch to our imaginations we could say even the lowest grunts in the military hierarchy (you trolls) are parts of the Military Industrial Complex (MIC). Armed with this “inclusive” (we know your type likes that word) definition of the MIC, then perhaps “we” is correctly used in the troll’s post?
No, unintelligent troll, dollar wage-earners and imperial vassals pay for the weapons while the capitalist elites roll in the wealth. Note I said “wealth” because the capitalists are smart and cash in their cash for tangible assets (farmland is very popular lately) as soon as they have that cash in hand… usually even before.

Posted by: William Gruff | May 26 2023 13:00 utc | 179

I believe the USA nuked Japan as a threat to Russia and to exhibit their prowess in weaponry. I surmise that they will likely repeat the crime as they believe they are unimpeachable. It might not happen in these times although they are insane enough. I appreciate your dismal addage.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 26 2023 7:24 utc | 140

As a threat to the USSR and also to force surrender before the Soviets took over much of Japan. It could well have been split the way Korea is now, or even fully Sovietized, if it wasn’t for the nukes dropped.

Posted by: shadowbanned | May 26 2023 13:05 utc | 181

AFU ORGAN HARVESTING caught on camera
(Edited – This video is like an episode of the X-Files).
A GoPro found on a KIA AFU soldier, reportedly contained footage showing what appears to be organ-harvesting happening in an AFU field hospital.
The video is very short and as a result lacks context, therefore it is difficult to verify what it is we are seeing. Careful audio and visual analysis of the video reveals the following:
1. The cameraman is an armed soldier (his rifle is visible). He is looking for someone named “Skiff”.
2. The surgeon who yells at the soldier speaks in heavily accented German (Bavarian or Austrian). The surgeon is clearly holding a human organ in his left hand.
3. The “patient” on the operating table appears to have a couple of IV drips attached to him, indicating that he is not (yet) dead.
4. Behind the surgeon there are containers, at least one of which is clearly an icebox, similar to those used to transport organs for transplant.
5. The operating room is guarded. The guard is wearing Peltor active hearing protection which indicates that this facility is at or very close to the front.
6. The soldier appears not to understand what is happening, otherwise the ending of this video may well have been a mass shooting event.

https://t.me/Slavyangrad/47840
Subtitled video in link

Posted by: Down South | May 26 2023 13:15 utc | 183

AFU ORGAN HARVESTING caught on camera
Posted by: Down South | May 26 2023 13:15 utc | 184
—
How the sausage gets made ==> https://www.google.com/search?q=normothermic+machine+perfusion&tbm=isch

Posted by: too scents | May 26 2023 13:22 utc | 185

Rattus @ 187

The choice of location for the recent G7 conference was intended as a symbolic reminder to Russia of that event.

Good point.

Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | May 26 2023 13:40 utc | 187

” Grab the popcorn boys/girls/its, and strap in!
Posted by: Suresh | May 26 2023 4:11 utc | 124 ”
And this addressed my points how ? You should keep quiet before you hurt yourself.

Posted by: Deplorable Commisar | May 26 2023 13:51 utc | 189

@ shadowbanned, §182:
As it is, the Soviets got:
(i) the Kurils (offered for free by Roosevelt), strategically closing off Yezokai (the Sea of Oxotsk)
and
(ii) Saxalin (Karafuto), Japan´s fifth main island and, unlike the other four, rich in oil & gas.
And they picked up Inner Manchuria (Manchukuo), with a lot of Japanese heavy machinery, until they returned it to the newly communist China in 1955.

Posted by: John Marks | May 26 2023 14:06 utc | 191

Alerts about missing Mike Jones (iEarlGrey) and translator Masha are spreading across telegram and twitter.
They took Mike’s buhanka to locations near Soledar and Donetsk to deliver humanitarian aid and contact has been lost for well over 24 hours.
Lots of concern.

Posted by: Melaleuca | May 26 2023 14:12 utc | 193

Yevgeny Prigozhin is testing Putin.
recent headlines:
>Wagner Group boss, “Putin’s butcher,” says Russia at risk of losing Ukraine war and facing a “revolution”
>Wagner Group Chief Admits Ukraine War Has Completely Backfired
>Wagner chief warns Russians could revolt if invasion continues to struggle
>Pro-Kremlin Journalist Fired After Publishing Frank Interview With Prigozhin
>Wagner Boss Admits War Is ‘Not Shaping Up’ in Russia’s Favor
>Russians confront the realization that Putin’s invasion has absolutely failed
…from Mark Sumner at anti-Russia Daily Kos:
“Prigozhin still hasn’t had a stairwell accident, an unfortunate illness, or a visit to an open window despite months of increasingly blatant disdain for everyone and everything involved with Putin’s personal war on Ukraine.”

Posted by: Don Bacon | May 26 2023 14:27 utc | 195

Drones sent to remove Turkstream pipeline defenses

On May 24th a Ukrainian unmanned naval drone, stuffed with high explosives, headed for the Russian intelligence ship Ivan Khurs. That ship was on duty guarding the Turkstream pipeline. The Russians fired at the drone and it exploded in dramatic fashion. The Russians say there were two other drones, which they claim its warship destroyed.
Pro-Ukrainian sources are saying that the Ivan Khurs was damaged and is returning to port. There is a video that alleges it is from one of the drones that hit the ship, but it has not been confirmed and may be fake. The only place this video could have come from would have been the Ukrainian drone operators, yet it did not appear from a known source.
The assumption is this attack was intended to remove the Russian protective cover for the pipeline so Ukraine could blow up the Turkstream pipeline unimpeded. There would be no other reason to launch such an attack, in the author’s view.
…One of the customers for Russian gas from this pipeline is Hungary. It would deal a substantial blow to Hungary if Turkstream were destroyed, and that could lead to a government upheaval in that country. Hungary, under Viktor Orbán, is regarded by Washington as pro-Russian. . .here

Posted by: Don Bacon | May 26 2023 14:39 utc | 197

Posted by: Don Bacon | May 26 2023 14:27 utc | 197
https://t.me/remylind21/2604

🚨⚡️Evgeny Prigozhin announced the Wagner PMC project. “Second Front”.
ㅤ
“The Motherland needs protection, including from those who are trying to deceive the population and claim that everything is perfect here, and thus help the enemy to defeat us, weakened, swollen with fat. And we will fight against it.”
…

Kinda amazing that Lapin is a key player in this latest incident, the true situation could hardly be easier to discern.

Posted by: anon2020 | May 26 2023 14:56 utc | 199