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May 6, 2023
Ukraine SitRep: Bakhmut – Prigozhin – Counteroffensive

Some 10% of Bakhmut/Aryomovsk, with two distinct areas, are still in Ukrainian hands.


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The northern area consists of single dwellings amongst gardens and trees. The southern area is full of high-rises with little green in between.


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Yesterday the head of the Wagner mercenaries Yevgeny Prigozhin published a video. Standing in front of a number of dead corpses he publicly attacked the Russian minister of defense over an alleged lack of ammunition. He claimed that it had caused those casualties. A day before those troops had tried to further penetrate the upper area and got caught in an ambush. Bad for them but not a cause of serious concern.

'Western' media like to see such Prigozhin tirades as a sign of infighting within the Russian military apparatus. I have long stopped to listen to Prigozhin. Militarily the Wagner troops are just a part of the Russian army and under its command. Prigozhin's concern is marketing for his Wagner enterprise and for the large share he receives from the monthly bill his company sends to the Russian Ministry of Defense. Politically there is no roll for him.

That his claims of lack of ammunition had been just a show was proven some 12 hours after he published his video.

Here are drone shots of the Bakhmut high-rises still in Ukrainian hands after the received a visit by incendiary missiles.


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The same view in infrared. The white spots are burning hot.


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Video of the attack can be seen here and here.

So there is your lack of ammunition. Anything that was outside of the high-rises, trucks, soldiers and supplies, was likely destroyed.

Prigozhin troops have been in the fight for quite some time. They need some rest and will soon move out. The Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov admonished Prigozhin for his public stunt. If needed his troops will replace the Wagners and finish the Bakhmut fight. Meanwhile the attention will move to a different front.


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The long announced Ukrainian counter-offensive will probably start on Victory Day, May 9. One axis of the attack will be in the Zaporizhia region towards south in an attempt to reach the sea. But the first important aim is likely the retaking of the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant near the city of Enerhodar south of the Dnieper basin. Its economic importance to Ukraine is immense as it can easily sell the electricity the six reactors generate to Europe. There is little other income the Ukraine still has.

The Russian military has asked civilians in 17 towns within 50 kilometer (30 miles) of the current frontline to evacuate the area. The Russian army has also prepared defense lines and moved reserves to the south of the region.

The success of the Ukrainians will depend on the gadgets its 'western' supporters have supplied it with. We may see some unexpected weapons or longer range missiles in the field. There is likely also some new bridging equipment that will help with crossing the Dnieper in the Kherson region for a secondary axis. A third axis, or perhaps a diversion, in the northeast towards Soledar is also possible.

The first days of the new fight will be confusing with lots of false claims and propaganda from both sides. We will all have to sit back and wait until the fog of war rises enough to paint a picture of the new situation.

Posted by b on May 6, 2023 at 16:38 UTC | Permalink
Comments

BIG things happening on Monday. Will put last week’s events into perspective.

Posted by: Johnny Law | May 7 2023 2:45 utc | 201

Posted by: ArmoDude | May 6 2023 17:50 utc | 20
You are a beginner so I can give you some slack. But if you want to keep the job, you must become more familiar with what has already gone down. This is no place for amateurs.

Posted by: casca | May 7 2023 2:47 utc | 202

@Posted by: Inkan1969 | May 7 2023 2:34 utc | 198

Nobody who cares about the lives of people would ever say they need a Stalin, under any circumstance. The Soviets didn’t need any Stalin to win WW2. They were motivated to defend their homeland and themselves against an enemy devoted to annihilate them. They didn’t need a totalitarian despot to motivate them.

Without the mass industrialization of the USSR driven by Stalin in the 1930s the USSR would not have stood a chance, it would have been a rerun of WW1 with the same outcome. I agree that Russia does not need a Stalin, Putin is doing a good job given the circumstances, but there is no need for ridiculous historical revisionism.

Posted by: Roger | May 7 2023 2:49 utc | 203

Exactly. I’m sick of hearing pro Russia commenters online exult about what Medvedev babbled. What effect did anybody Medvedev say in the last year influence a single thing? As I also said a couple of days ago, this “red lines” rubbish has to stop. Either crack down hard to punish “red line” crossings or stop mentioning them at all.
The (now defunct) Junkyard Of The Faker used to keep copiuming about this: “revenge is a dish best eaten cold”, “the enemy will keep wondering when and where retribution will come”, etc. No it isn’t. This isn’t a 19th century novel by some overrated Victorian writer. In war, you either hit the enemy where it hurts or you shouldn’t start fighting at all.
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | May 7 2023 1:31 utc | 187

The reality is that the US will only launch the nukes if there is a nuclear attack on it. Russia can glass Poland, Romania, Finland, invade the Baltics, and it will only call the West’s bluff, because the US will still not launch — they know that means their own end.
Not just that — multiple high ranking Russian officials and generals have talked about how Russia can glass even the UK and the US will still not launch everything. The UK can in fact be realistically taken out — you need to tail two or three subs and sink them, and they’re done, as they have no air defense, let alone ABM defense, and no ground launchers.
But we are not even talking about these things, we’re talking about decapitating the Ukrainian leadership, shooting down drones in the Black Sea, paralyzing the transport infrastructure in Ukraine, taking out the entry points of weapons into Ukraine, etc. much less escalatory steps.
So there is absolutely no need to talk about red lines and then accept direct attacks on the Kremlin without a response. Worse, the longer this goes on, the more damage will be done on Russia itself. We saw direct attacks on the nuclear triad already, and guess what — nobody is making Tu-95MS and Tu-22M3 planes anymore. At least they resumed Tu-160 production, but that fulfills its own distinct role, while the Tu-22M3s in particular are irreplaceable right now. What happens when sleeper cells inside Russia start drone attacks on Snezhinsk and Sarov, or heavy kamikaze drones launched from ships damage the Sukhoi plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur? Because that is coming.
Something is very, very deeply rotten here.

Posted by: shadowbanned | May 7 2023 2:53 utc | 204

Removing civilians from hostilities is a standard of international law and humane behavior. And you generally want to remove civilians before the situation is dire. Unless Russia plans to stand to the last man along the southern lines, evacuating civilians is the appropriate and humanistic thing to do.
Posted by: Lex | May 7 2023 2:42 utc | 203

True, but we would be feeling much better about it if there had not been the precedent from September-November…

Posted by: shadowbanned | May 7 2023 2:55 utc | 205

Posted by: Melaleuca | May 6 2023 22:55 utc | 138
As with all American “strategy” it begins with a child’s Comic Book grasp of Europe, especially Eastern Europe.
Poland never was and never will be the counterbalance to Russia that Germany was intended to be by the U.S. brain trust. And the Poles that are salivating to be incinerated by Russia are a minor, political rump. Most of the Polish population have a begrudging, live and let-live attitude towards Russia and Russians. Life under the Soviets wasn’t a cakewalk but life under Hitler was, shall we say, extreme.
Russia is never going to let Poland have direct access to the Black Sea, and ultimately, with Turkey owning the cork in the bottleneck, the Black Sea is over-rated as a Military asset.

Posted by: kupkee | May 7 2023 3:01 utc | 206

Ukraine/SBU/Gonzalo Lira:
I’ve watched and re-watched the released video & have a lot of questions:
1) who filmed it? Was like someone in the hall when they knocked on the door?
2) The place didn’t even look like anyone lived there, one like single chair? A glass table top desk with a computer. A couple of very convenient books, one of them “Putin”…
3) The most 3-4 politest police in an arrest I’ve ever seen, no yelling, all courtesy, all masked up, all “giving him his “space”
No couch, no dishes, no beer bottles or coke cans anywhere, no pictures, no clothes anywhere.
And whoever filmed “all” of it, was never told to stop filming, even though they have passed laws against filming now, but they’ll just let someone stand there and film the whole thing and post it too.??
I’ve no criticism of Gonzalo, or his vids, I just think that is the strangest “arrest” I’ve seen in awhile.
And maybe that is his apartment, but doesn’t reflect actually living with someone else, or living at all there.
Anyways, just was “off”.

Posted by: Trubind1 | May 7 2023 3:19 utc | 207

Pepe Escobar sums up: “ For Moscow the state of things is swell; non-stop sinking of NATO weapons and finances into an immeasurable black hole. Cue to the Kremlin casually asserting yes, we will respond, but when we deem it appropriate. Now that, Dear Comrade Prighozin, is the ultimate maskirovka.”
https://strategic-culture.org/news/2023/05/06/prighozin-file-twilight-of-gods-or-maskirovka/

Posted by: Lubica | May 7 2023 3:32 utc | 208

“Standing in front of a number of dead corpses…”
I would’ve been considerably more worried if he’d been standing in front of living corpses.
(Sorry, couldn’t resist.)

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | May 7 2023 3:47 utc | 209

I’ve watched Prigozhin. And it’s a real masterpiece. Not some Trumpian level “3D chess” – which never happened – but a piece of really smart propaganda.
First of all, his complaints are most likely on point. BUT the timing and the indications are no accident. Not to “hit” the Russian government/army leadership at an inconvenient time. But for maximum effect.
To make it short, consider the video to be “true” but the intention to cause the wrong kind of conlusions. Why? Because it’s the smart thing to do. And these are smart people.

Posted by: Brocken | May 7 2023 4:03 utc | 210

@ Anonymous @92
1. This is a glacial pace. How many months have they been in Bakhmut?
2. How many times have we heard the “any day now” from this corner? I have seen Bakhmut about to fall posts for several months now.
3. From a Ukrainian point of view, the key thing is that they still hold the line at the town. Who cares if it’s 90% or 10%? The main thing is that the Russians haven’t washed over the town and moved on to the next one.
1. The USA was in Afghanistan for 20 years. Afghanistan is just about half the size of Ukraine. The state armed forces in Afghanistan were helping the USA, not fighting against it. Eventually Washington declared the war ‘militarily unwinnable’. Possess yourself with patience, Grasshopper.
2. How many times have you heard ‘any day now’ from the Russian government or the Russian Armed Forces? Who’s fighting this war, anyway? Nobody who posts here.
3. Where do you live? Let’s pretend it’s Los Angeles. If the Mexican Army controlled 90% of Los Angeles and you lived there, would you say, who cares? If you ain’t got 100% and are marching on Long Beach, you ain’t got it? The Ukrainian forces no longer hold any ground strategically suited for projecting power or advancing, and are setting up in former civilian high-rise apartment buildings – something they screeched that Russia was doing, as well as damaging them with bombs and missiles.
At this point it seems pretty clear to me that Russia is in no hurry at all to take Bakhmut. Senior US military officers recently observed that the Russian Armed Forces are stronger now than when the SMO started – not a particularly difficult assessment to arrive upon considering they called up another 300,000 reserves and haven’t committed them to battle yet. These officers further observed that Russian ammunition stockpiles were ‘massive’. There’s apparently no shortage of soldiers or ammunition. Why haven’t they taken Bakhmut? Is it still your position that it’s because they can’t? The Ukrainians in their high-rises over 10 blocks or so of a couple of streets are still too strong? Come on.
It would not take very much to provoke a direct intervention by NATO, and many suggest it is for this eventuality that Russia is saving most of its strength, because it believes it will happen or simply because only fools push ahead on the basis that it won’t, maybe. But it certainly would be a lot more likely if Russia inflicted a massive blow that crushed Ukrainian resistance in a matter of hours. It certainly – at least it seems so to me – seems much less likely to happen so long as NATO can be jollied along with the impression that it could still win, that all it would take would be a reversal, a counteroffensive, a miracle.
Ukraine has burnt through a couple of armies already, and most agree it is now on the third incarnation of the UAF, containing ever fewer and fewer actual Ukrainians. Russia, by the estimates of its worst enemy, is stronger than when the war started. How, exactly, do you see this ending?

Posted by: Mark | May 7 2023 4:06 utc | 211

Posted by: Mark | May 7 2023 4:06 utc | 221
1) You’re comparing the whole of a military operation (Afghanistan) to one battle. (Bakhmut).
2) Actually, we’ve heard it regularly from the RAF
3) Well the Mexican army spent a lot of time taking the Alamo, and eventually did take it. But that led to their big loss in San Jacinto…
Thousands of Russian soldiers are dying; it should be enraging for Putin to be “in no hurry” while these troops die. Why do you assume these 300,000 will be any better than their predecessor? You seem to be hanging on a dubious belief that NATO will intervene directly. The threat of nuclear war that’s prevented a direct intervention from already happening is still there.

Posted by: Inkan1969 | May 7 2023 4:15 utc | 212

Helsinki Times Front page
“Detaining Gonzalo Lira: Another blow to the freedom of press in Ukraine”
Didn’t Finland just join NATO?
https://www.helsinkitimes.fi/world-int/23512-detaining-gonzalo-lira-another-blow-to-the-freedom-of-press-in-ukraine.html
Also like to compliment : DunGroanin | May 4 2023 20:46 utc | 122 for a great post.

Posted by: Bartholomew Cubbins | May 7 2023 4:20 utc | 213

Posted by: PaulaFoxu | May 6 2023 17:57 utc | 26
Once again, the only useful comment in the thread, except for karlof1’s… And of course, the Martyanov hater has to weigh in one more time…like anyone gives a shit what he thinks about Martyanov or anything else.
Who cares about the Ukrainian “offensive”? Talk about maskirovka… Where I come from, it’s called “Ukrainian bullshit”.
I agree with The Duran’s and Johnson’s take on Prigozhin: 1) no military in the world would let him talk like that, and 2) he needs to go before he ends up in prison or fucks up the morale of the Russian forces. Kadyrov’s take was right: STFU.
The only thing I wish for is that Russia manages to find a way to kill 2-10 times more Ukrainians than they are at present, so that it becomes painfully obvious to even the morons that Ukraine is no longer a factor. Hopefully this so-called “offensive” will make it more obvious.
Someone asked fictional character Mack Bolan how many people he killed. He said, “Not enough.” This should be Russia’s attitude.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | May 7 2023 4:22 utc | 214

Thousands of Russian soldiers are dying; it should be enraging for Putin to be “in no hurry” while these troops die. Why do you assume these 300,000 will be any better than their predecessor? You seem to be hanging on a dubious belief that NATO will intervene directly. The threat of nuclear war that’s prevented a direct intervention from already happening is still there.
Posted by: Inkan1969 | May 7 2023 4:15 utc | 222
Not to mention civilians in Donbass being killed everyday, the infrastructure there being destroyed everyday, and now Russia itself is getting drone and sabotage attacks destroying some of its infrastructure and maiming and killing its citizens.
If the goal was to save the people of Donbass, Russia has to put much more effort in than mainly sitting back and allowing these militia’s to grind themselves out.

Posted by: MiniMo | May 7 2023 4:25 utc | 215

Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 7 2023 2:55 utc | 212
Don’t let those bastards grind you down. Everyone who gives a shit knows that was not you.
All that’s good about this place is a couple of honest posters who have something true.
My appreciation of all of us old fuckers, men and women, keeps me coming back to scroll through acres of crap to hear something worthwhile from DeAnander, long gone, annie still here hi annie, you Peter, Debs who says what he thinks, now I won’t start listing our peeps but we know who we are.
Me in western canuckistan knows a bit about our southern neighbor who calls itself america, but the americas is pretty big and also pretty far away from y’all.
Anyway going to stop now but for god’s sake lets not let these son of a bitches fuck up our conversation.

Posted by: jonku | May 7 2023 4:25 utc | 216

Inkanazi 1969 says
“His name is the Saker”.
His name isn’t even Andrei Raevsky, which is what he calls himself. He’s a half Dutch Swiss living in Florida whose only connection with Russia is that his maternal great grandfather was a tsarist refugee after WWI.
Inkanazi 1969 also claims:

How is ““at a time when, after the imminent loss of Artëmovsk and the almost guaranteed failure of Ye Olde Greate Springe Offensive” any less “hopium spewing” than anything Saker wrote?

Maybe you can go fight alongside your fellow swastika tattooed Hitler saluting Waffen SS pride parading blueyellow ragwagging nazis in the trenches? I’m sure they could recapture Artëmovsk and take Crimea with your help. Over a year ago I challenged you to go join your nazi friends in the trenches. Why didn’t you?

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | May 7 2023 4:28 utc | 217

Hopefully nothing bad happens to Gonzalo Lira, but a foreigner who has a safe home (or two) in another country (or two) yet deliberately stays in a war zone and publicly posts (to the scale of becoming a minor celebrity) and criticizes the governments and militaries has chosen put himself at risk. He is just very mysterious, and you can’t rule out that he is some kind of spy and/or gets off on living on the edge.

Posted by: MiniMo | May 7 2023 4:30 utc | 218

Melaleuca #183
..they can still achieve their longer, long term objectives.
Which is neutering Germany and installing Poland as the primary European power. There is still a rump in Germany resistent to a kinetic war with Russia.
Poland is salivating and straining on the leash, all too eager to be sooled on.
Depopulating Ukraine works well in the Stratfor plan. The annexation of western Ukraine to Poland is a nice jigsaw piece for the Intermarium.
The Intermarium is a new Iron Wall partitioning Europe from Russia (and China).
Thank you and I get that but Poland is no big producer and some sectors are a tad vulnerable to energy price all the more so since its gas comes from high price west these days NOT Russia.

Poland – Industry
Leading industries in 2002 included food processing, fuel, metals and metal products, chemicals, coal mining, glass, shipbuilding, and textiles. Industrial production increased by 14.5% annually during 1971–75, but in the late 1970s, the growth rate began to fall. During the 1980s, it grew at an annual rate of 1.1%. With the destabilizing effects of the dissolution of the Soviet bloc and central planning, industrial production initially fell by 26% in 1990 before returning to positive growth between 1991–98. In 2000, the leading industrial performers were oil products and derivatives, the automotive industry, and the wood and wood products sector. In 2001, however, Poland produced 387,058 automobiles, a 23% decrease from 2000. In 2000, Poland produced 3,150 heavy trucks.
Poland produced 10 million tons of steel per year in the mid-1990s. Sulfur is another important industrial commodity; production totaled 1,901 tons per year. The cement industry turned out 12.3 million tons during the same period. All these totals were lower than in the 1980s, however. Light industries were long relegated to a secondary position but, since the 1970s, Poland has increased its production of durable household articles and other consumer goods. In the mid-1990s, Poland produced 401,000 automatic washing machines, 584,000 refrigerators and freezers, 841,000 television sets, 307,000 radios, and 21,000 tape recorders and dictaphones per year.

Source: https://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Europe/Poland-INDUSTRY.html
IMO Poland alone is no industrial powerhouse relative to Germany and EU generally. And they are declining relative to Russia and China and India who keep hold of low cost energy.
However the emerging northern alliance includes Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark etc, and these are strategic as the USA/westies have their eye on encirclement and strangulation of Russia’s strategic transport routes.
Plus the struggle for north pole resources and North West passage access and the encirclement of Russia in the very north. The great game in the past may have played out South of Russia but today it is mirrored in the north.
This game, right now, is for the next century at least and I gather Russia is absolutely aware of the stakes. The UKUSA/westies will never stop this belligerence until smacked down.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 7 2023 4:30 utc | 219

Lol, @Hack 224 doesn’t even dare mention me by name. Hilarious how cowardly Hack is. Not eager to tour Donbass any more than your love Martyanov is, and see how things really are on the ground, are you?

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | May 7 2023 4:32 utc | 220

His name isn’t even Andrei Raevsky, which is what he calls himself. He’s a half Dutch Swiss living in Florida whose only connection with Russia is that his maternal great grandfather was a tsarist refugee after WWI.
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | May 7 2023 4:28 utc | 227
I thought he was 1/2 Dutch and 1/2 Russian but grew up in Switzerland. ‘Raevsky’ is not an ethnic Dutch name, so on his father’s side there’d have to be some Russian/Slavic too.

Posted by: MiniMo | May 7 2023 4:34 utc | 221

MiniMo @228
Lira used to follow my 8th account on Twitter and I got very strange vibes off him. He used to keep posting misogynistic stuff alongside claptrap like “if you’re an atheist/if you support abortion you’re going to hell.” All this does is contaminate pro Russia material by association. One time after I’d tweeted how to mass block NAFO scum (by using an add-on to block not just them but all their followers) he DMed me saying that I shouldn’t do that because pro Russia people could be blocked along with NAFO. Why should any pro Russian person follow a NAFO? That’s apart from why, even after being arrested and released, he made no effort to get out of Ukranazistan and made himself liable to rearrest by keeping up his rhetoric. I’m not saying he was used by one group of Ukranazis and arrested by another due to a failure of communication, or that he thought he had more licence than he did and went too far. But as I said I got very strange vibes off him.

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | May 7 2023 4:39 utc | 222

@MiniMo 231
No, he specifically said he called himself Raevsky in memory of his great grandfather.

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | May 7 2023 4:41 utc | 223

@ Inkan1969 @222
1. I’m afraid your point here has eluded me. What was the war in Afghanistan if it was not a series of battles to overcome the enemy? One battle, one entire military campaign – I’m afraid I don’t see the difference here. The USA attempted to win for 20 years and did not win; are we agreed on that? And Bakhmut seems to have sucked all the air out of the room – nobody wants to talk about anywhere else, nothing much seems to be going on anywhere else, and Ukraine has committed to holding Bakhmut – with the commensurate expenditure of valuable resources – after its allies said it should let it go.
2. Could you show me where? I mean, from someone in a big-picture capacity who might actually be involved at the tactical level, not “Ivan, a mortarman with the 112th infantry”. Line troops, particularly those involved in combat, rarely have much of a grasp of what’s going on more than a few hundred yards away.
3. You lost me there, but it’s probably my fault, I mentioned the Mexican army in a purely notional capacity because they are an adjacent country, and Canada was a non-starter; you could probably stop it by throwing a huge wet tablecloth over it. It just seemed to me an unfair perspective; okay, the Russians control 90% of it…but they haven’t got it all.
Nobody knows how many Russian troops have died, and Ukraine’s figures are comical crackhead dreams. That any Russian soldiers are dead is of course tragic, but I don’t think anyone has invented a way to do a hot ground war without anyone on their own side getting killed, although Russia did try with its effort to get Ukrainian forces to surrender, with the promise that if they did so they would not be harmed. Laugh at that as naive if you will, but there are a couple of hundred thousand Ukrainians who would have been better off to have taken that advice. Moreover, if the west had accepted Russia’s demands for security guarantees – most of which would have cost it nothing – there would not have been a war at all.

Posted by: Mark | May 7 2023 4:45 utc | 224

”There are reports of drone and missile attacks at Zaporozhye, Nikolaev, Dnepropetrovsk regions as well as drone sightings in Kiev and Kharkov regions”
” Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Reznikov, says the expectations for the Ukr counteroffensive are too high, 🤨”
https://t.me/CyberspecNews/29918
Regarding the Wagner – Bakhmut situation
Podolyak (adviser to Zelensky) says that the “Moskals” have no shell hunger, there are no changes in Bakhmut, and everything that is happening is an attempt to provoke Ukraine into an uncontrolled offensive right into a trap.
” Alexander Permakov, who planted the explosives under the car of Prilepin has been arrested. It’s reported, he is originally from Ukraine but moved to Russia and recently got Russian citizenship…he was recruited and paid by Ukr Intelligence”
@Cyberspecnews/Tg
” 🚀 The attempt to attack Sevastopol in Streletskaya Bay failed
Air defense successfully intercepted a whole swarm of Ukrainian drones.
@DDGeopolitics”
Thining out ukro’s again before attack.

Posted by: unimperator | May 7 2023 4:50 utc | 225

Posted by: bevin | May 6 2023 22:28 utc | 128
https://covertactionmagazine.com/2023/05/05/taking-the-capitalist-road-was-the-wrong-choice-for-ukraine-says-ukraine-expert/
From the article:”The only social force in Ukraine that has the massive numbers to end oligarchic power is the organised proletariat.”
I read the whole thing. He means the proletariat that hasn’t been organised yet. It won’t be organised anytime soon either. Mearsheimer was right, Ukraine has been wrecked. That’s what comes of being borderland, caught in the crossfire of competing powers.
So the question for bankrupt Ukraine is; would it be better off being rebuilt (and largely owned) by ‘the west’ or the Russian Federation. At this point in history, the RF is the better option for most of the territory. Common language, and largely common cultural values count for a lot.
Overthrowing oligarchs will have to come later for the proletariat. Getting the basics like sewerage and plumbing sorted out will have to take precedence.

Posted by: GT Stroller | May 7 2023 4:52 utc | 226

Mark #221

Ukraine has burnt through a couple of armies already, and most agree it is now on the third incarnation of the UAF, containing ever fewer and fewer actual Ukrainians. Russia, by the estimates of its worst enemy, is stronger than when the war started. How, exactly, do you see this ending?

I see the abject and total capitulation of the Ukraine. Its return to the Russian Federation.
Its third army destroyed/demoralised and its remnants likely unhappy and vengeful after being forced to the front.
I see a narrow band of severe destruction in the current front with sporadic, limited destruction to the west.
April will have 40 days and May will begin on the 10th.
NATO will be in total disgrace but the USA gang won’t really care as they dont do ‘disgraced’ and anyway they will be busy with the UK manipulating opinion for their rebound, rules based, even newer world order. Colour revolutions will continue as do weeds in a garden or thorns on a rose.
The dead will be many but the westies will likely have an eager bunch of Integrity Initiative stenographers rewriting events and before a year is out their populace will believe the Institute for Statecraft publications that AZOV was a Russian force that supported Wagner in the oppression of Ukraine’s new freedom and other BS.
Watch that space and remember the lies, inventions, cancellations, insults and threats that cowed the western ‘civilisation’ for the past two centuries at least.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 7 2023 5:02 utc | 227

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | May 7 2023 4:32 utc | 230
Lol, @Hack 224 doesn’t even dare mention me by name.
But you don’t mention anybody by their names, ever. Instead you have to put up pet names instead.
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | May 7 2023 4:28 utc | 227
Over a year ago I challenged you to go join your nazi friends in the trenches. Why didn’t you?
You can throw a comment like that back at you and note that you haven’t volunteered either. You once wrote that your suspension of writing your novel was a big sacrifice you put in to commit to following this story.

Posted by: Inkan1969 | May 7 2023 5:06 utc | 228

Posted by: Mark | May 7 2023 4:45 utc | 234
One battle, one entire military campaign – I’m afraid I don’t see the difference here.
That seems like an apples and oranges comparison. The details behind one specific battle can be unique compared to the entire campaign.
Ukraine has committed to holding Bakhmut – with the commensurate expenditure of valuable resources – after its allies said it should let it go.
You lost me there,
Texas rebels committed to holding the Alamo. They inevitably lost. But the time it took for Mexico led to its ultimate loss of that war.

Posted by: Inkan1969 | May 7 2023 5:10 utc | 229

jonku | May 7 2023 4:25 utc | 226
Thanks. The username usurpers really mess up a thread.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 7 2023 5:17 utc | 230

Re: how this war ends
Barflies – to repeat;
Eurasia‘s goal is a dismantling of the NATO/Washington military. Washington‘s goal is the dismemberment of the RF ( and eventually the PRC afterwards) .
Eurasia succeeds when Washington is bankrupt and can no longer fund military expenditures by selling cheap debt.
Washington succeeds when Putin is overthrown.
Therefore. The Ukrainian Civil War is a mere sideshow to the main event which is TBD. This is gonna‘ take many years to flesh out. We are just beginning the 2nd inning.

Posted by: Exile | May 7 2023 5:17 utc | 231

Biswapriya Purkayast | May 7 2023 4:39 utc | 232
He obviously has a relationship with an intelligence agency, the only unknowns being which one and which nation. I would guess the British and MI6 based on circumstances. He clearly receives preferential treatment from the Ukrainians, theatrical arrest videos notwithstanding.

Posted by: rk | May 7 2023 5:18 utc | 232

Peter AU1 | May 7 2023 5:17 utc | 240
Any chance you’d like to meet for drinks?

Posted by: johnku | May 7 2023 5:20 utc | 233

Posted by: Exile | May 7 2023 5:17 utc | 241
Washington succeeds when Putin is overthrown.
Wrong.
Putin is merely a manifestation of the Russian Federation’s will to sovereignty.
Only when that will is broken does Washington ‘win’.
And even then, such a victory will make Washington’s prior nightmares look like pleasant dreams …

Posted by: Arch Bungle | May 7 2023 5:49 utc | 234

The constant dribble of ” Nazi here, Nazi there, Nazi everywhere ” is getting irritating. According to the many clown posters here Poland are Nazis, Ukraine are Nazis, the Jewish Oligarchs are Nazis, The US administration are Nazis, the British are Nazis, the French government are Nazis and so forth etc, ……. forever.
Therefore, I challenge anyone here to list the basic tenants of National SOCIALISM. Additionally, list what they were striving for, and finally list their accomplishments both negative and POSITIVE. This should be interesting.

Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | May 7 2023 5:54 utc | 235

@ Revelo | May 6 2023 18:32 utc | 37
—
Gonzalo Lira is the dollar store Princess Radziwiłł of our times.

Posted by: too scents | May 7 2023 6:08 utc | 236

@ Deplorable Commissar | May 7 2023 5:54 utc | 245 who keeps trashing the bar
Hey newbie that does all but add value to the conversations!
Why don’t you shut up and read comments here for a few years. Humanity is in a civilization war over public/private finance with China representing the public side and empire representing the private side.
Do you ever read any of the Michael Hudson links that karlof1 provides on a regular basis?
Why don’t you find another bar to vomit your BS in. I have noticed you have worn out your welcome here with others but must be getting paid to be a schmuck.
Hey Peter AU1! Think about the lives of these losers like DC here and whoever is trying to piss you off with nicking yours. You and I have led long productive lives and these losers are going to have a rough time in the world where merit is all that counts. Can you see these folks describing what they are good at on their resume?
I can obfuscate
I can talk down to people
I can bully people
I can lie, cheat and steal and if I don’t get caught then it must be ok
The future is not evenly distributed and when it catches up to these folks it will make us smile Peter, even if we are in our graves.

Posted by: psychohistorian | May 7 2023 6:22 utc | 237

GT Stroller | May 7 2023 4:52 utc | 236
That article linked by Bevin. Couple the level of corruption to the brainwashing Ukrainians have received, especially in the last eight or nine years. The brainwashing of the western public in that time. That Alina Lipp interview I mentioned earlier in the thread and her speaking about how the mindset of Germany had changed since 2014.
There was also the Patrick Lancaster interviews with people from the Kherson region. Somewhat divided. The referendum there was I think 86% in favor of joining Russia, and without Kherson city, that seems to have gone up to around 90%.
There is much commenting about the slow progress of the operation. Putin ordered a slowdown of the operation when Mariupol was locked in and negotiations with Ukraine were making progress.
Although the negotiations ended/failed, that order has not been changed.
I watch why Ukrainians are fighting and dying and it is for their rights to kill ethnic Russians. The power of propaganda and brainwashing. Lavrov’s speeches and that Lavrov article karlof1 linked the other day. Poland and the Baltics. Russia has settled in for a long period of warfare on its borders. US and UK were very quick to move into the post soviet space. National identities now based on a hatred for Russia. The rise of fascism in Europe. Those that are successors of WWII fascists now in government and positions of influence.
The Islamic extremists. Not much other choice than to kill them. The power of brainwashing.
he power of propaganda in todays western world is very dangerous.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 7 2023 6:24 utc | 238

Not much other choice than to kill them.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 7 2023 6:24 utc | 248
—
It is funny how historically people have accepted the extermination of an underclass but as the killing rises up to the level of their own class it becomes morally wrong.

Posted by: too scents | May 7 2023 6:29 utc | 239

I am very disappointed and annoyed by the constant troll accusations and the ad hominems that go along with it. Many of the comments read like they were written by grumpy pensioners…

Posted by: Verdant | May 7 2023 6:33 utc | 240

Posted by: Arch Bungle | May 7 2023 5:49 utc | 244
Thanks for answering, good point; sloppy writing on my part; perhaps better said:
Washington succeeds when Putin is overthrown and pliable leadership is installed facilitating a breakup of the RF into mini-states facilitating a return to the 1990s easy pickings for Wall Street

Posted by: Exile | May 7 2023 6:38 utc | 241

Arent we all a little bit Nazi?
You will finally come to the conclusion that everything and anyone is a Nazi. Because the alleged crimes of the national socialists never were true to begin with. So the constant twisting of truth made everything Nazi. Enjoy your headeache. You dumb imbeciles.

Posted by: Shadowbanned | May 7 2023 6:40 utc | 242

@Melaleuca | May 6 2023 23:13 utc | 147

…There is a movement afoot in the US and in some of the EU countries to bring charges against people who write or blog in ways that counter the official narrative …
Yep. Is why Saker (not a US citizen, resident in U$) ceased and desisted.
He didn’t say this ^ was the reason. But it was among the reasons. A primary reason.

I have the same understanding, and interpreted the Saker departure in that light. It was obvious. I am also of the opinion that the turnaround here on a certain “medical issue” was the result of similar pressures.

Posted by: Norwegian | May 7 2023 6:41 utc | 243

” perhaps your illiteracy of my handle gives you away
Posted by: AleaJactaEst | May 6 2023 20:45 utc | 99 ”
You expect me to deeply ponder the stupid ” handle” of every two-bit poster here ? I asked you a simple question, dont waste my time.
Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | May 6 2023 20:55 utc | 106
Considering how he managed to misspell his own handle I’d say you might be forgiven.

Posted by: armalyte | May 7 2023 6:52 utc | 244

@Jsv | May 7 2023 0:01 utc | 161

Russia has fucked it up.. everybody knows.

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows

Posted by: Norwegian | May 7 2023 6:57 utc | 245

There are no Bolsheviks waiting in the wings now, that’s the problem.
We of course don’t have all the inside info to fully evaluate the situation, but based on what we do have, Putin is not acting the way he should be.
However, if you are to try to replace him, you will fulfill the wishes of the West, as there is no prepared structure to take over after that, and the country will descend into chaos. Precisely what the West wants.
So the only useful move is to apply pressure on Putin to start fighting seriously. But who can apply that pressure is not clear.
Posted by: shadowbanned | May 7 2023 2:40 utc | 202
This is actually quite correct and insightful.
Marxist-Leninist foreign policy as dictated by the CPC in the form of the three-worlds-theory (Zedong, most probably actually Enlai) means you must support even Bourgeois nations against aggression from the superpower/s, and that Second World has common interests with Third. We are seeing this enfold. This may be promising.
There is no effective revolutionary movement in Russia the way there was during World War I. The very best we can hope for is nationalist Bourgeoise fighting globalist capital. While that’s a rather sad state of affairs it’s better than nothing.
I may be expressing myself poorly but there you go.

Posted by: armalyte | May 7 2023 6:58 utc | 246

The biggest of the Baltics is Lithuania. Population peaked at 3,704,000 in 1991, when Lituania became independent. Today Lithuania’s population is 2,862,380. These countries are small, and under US rule, becoming smaller.

Posted by: Passerby | May 7 2023 7:00 utc | 247

Shadowbanned | May 7 2023 6:40 utc | 252
How many people look at another group, culture or nation as subhumans. That is what modern day propaganda and brainwashing does.he sort of thing that was openly talked about on national television in Ukraine since the US installation of a nazi government. The Odessa killings posted to social media, the killing of prisoners and “collaborators” posted to social media.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 7 2023 7:04 utc | 248

Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 7 2023 5:02 utc | 237
What bothers me the most about modern propaganda is the way Google de-ranks and excludes the “unwanted” narratives, and how Wikipedia accepts certain “sides” of history and then locks efforts to correct it under claims of “controversy”.
The outcome is that present and future children and students get false history, one-sided perspectives, as if it is The Truth.
Sure, the real truth might be out there … IF you search deeper. But most people don’t. They type in simplistic queries, Google offers similar inquiries, then off you go to some AI-written crock of shit composed of populist narratives.

Posted by: The Dolphin | May 7 2023 7:06 utc | 249

China should time its Taiwan reunification with Ukraine’s counteroffensive.
Posted by: Jason | May 7 2023 2:21 utc | 195

Not going to happen as Taiwan have yet to cross China’s red lines. However, recent events have lit a fire under China’s backside; thus the increased naval exercises around Taiwan and South China Seas. As far as I know, the politics in Taiwan *seems* to be moving in Beijing’s favor. Time will tell.

Posted by: Ian2 | May 7 2023 7:18 utc | 250

too scents | May 7 2023 6:29 utc | 249
My comment @Peter AU1 | May 7 2023 7:04 utc | 258 was very much thoughts based on your and shadowbans comments.
If US starts a war with China, Australia will join it. Our military will travel over there to attack China. They will be destroyed. I know from the people around me that they will believe china is the aggressor even though it is us that will have attacked China.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 7 2023 7:18 utc | 251

Posted by: Verdant | May 7 2023 6:33 utc | 250
“Many of the comments read like they were written by grumpy pensioners…”
That would be me. And being sick this past week has made me very much grumpier, so I wouldn’t push it if I were you.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | May 7 2023 7:22 utc | 252

Posted by: too scents | May 7 2023 6:08 utc | 246
>Gonzalo Lira is the dollar store Princess Radziwiłł of our times.
The stuff he posts about the Ukraine war just confirms what I know from Ukrainian friends. Namely, a lot if ordinary Ukrainians are disgusted by the nationalists and government but can’t do anything to change the situation. It’s all his manosphere ranting before he switched to Ukraine that marks this guy as a disgruntled crackpot and attention whore:
http://www.youtube.com/@crparchive3491/videos
Also, it’s possible he has prominent family in Chile and CIA connections. Hunter Biden has prominent family in USA and met with lots of big shots in Ukraine and USA. So? Clown with prominent family connections is still a clown.
As for his future, play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Same lesson Ukrainian nationalists who invited USA military into Ukraine are going to learn.

Posted by: Revelo | May 7 2023 7:26 utc | 253

Gonzalo Lira has been protected up to now by strong players in Ukraine, maybe through his (supposed) Ukrainian wife and her family? After all if they really have children Ukraine would see tolerance of Lira’s blustering as protecting their own. How else could/can go on and on as he does. Ukraine is full of clowns. Maybe the two Alexes can can throw light on Lira’s fate..

Posted by: Quentin | May 7 2023 7:27 utc | 254

The Martyanov hater isn’t worth mentioning by name.
Besides which, his stupid name is hard to cut and paste, let alone type. It makes him sound like some Tantric Buddhist with a hard on for George Bush. Which is probably why he hates Martyanov – he probably posted on Andrei’s blog and Andrei told him to GTFO with his ignorant bullshit.
Fucking joke shop, the lot here.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | May 7 2023 7:27 utc | 255

@Thurl | May 7 2023 2:19 utc | 194
Thank you for the link to Brian Berletics post on The New Atlas talking about Gonzalo Lira and even showing the SBUs ‘evidence’ against him, i.e. him saying the Ukrainian authorities are supported by Nazis and have been shelling the civilian population in Donbass since 2014, killing thousands. Those are simply facts.
But as we know “In a time of universal deceit — telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
This is indeed a time of universal deceit.

Posted by: Norwegian | May 7 2023 7:29 utc | 256

Well I find that a bit astounding. To claim Prigozhins ammo claims were false simply because there were large attacks the following day! That’s ludicrous. Does not follow at all. I didn’t expect that kind of thing from b.

Posted by: abrogard | May 7 2023 7:29 utc | 257

Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 7 2023 7:04 utc | 258
Nice try at diversion/strawmanning.
Shadowbanned’s point was that we ARE ALL a little bit nazi (I happen to agree) especially when the “subhumans” are our (proxy or real) enemies in a war (ie, legalised killing).
It is a thin line from patriotism > nationalism > ultra nationalism > fascism > nazism. Also, from mild dislike > intolerance > intense dislike > hatred > to singular murder > mass murder and genocide.
Where in a man’s heart is that line of sactioned “let’s kill the bastards”? Yes, we’d both like to see Zelensky out of presidential power and happily condoning his SBU’s daily terrorism upon the innocents, but to say “kill him” instead of “pack him off to Florida” is just a little bit Nazi, Peter.

Posted by: The Dolphin | May 7 2023 7:37 utc | 258

Bucha.
You either believe it, you are an imbecile.
Or you dont believe it, but believe in gas chambers, you are an imbecile.
Which one is it?

Posted by: Shadowmoon | May 7 2023 7:38 utc | 259

Dima speculates that Ukraine may try to use some of their brigades to cross the Dnepr river on a broad front based on their locations. If they have some bridging equipment, theoretically, it’s possible. Hopefully the RU intelligence is mapping what’s going on.
Of course, if they fail to cross the river, their Zaporizhe offensive will be much weaker and basically doom that offensive for good, probably Zaporizhe itself too, along with hopes of any further river crossing in the future.

Posted by: unimperator | May 7 2023 7:38 utc | 260

Posted by: Verdant | May 7 2023 6:33 utc | 250
“Many of the comments read like they were written by grumpy pensioners…”
Talking back to your elders. That’s a paddlin’.

Posted by: Patroklos | May 7 2023 7:38 utc | 261

⚡️🇷🇺🇺🇦⚔️War Map and the Situation on the Fronts in the Evening of 6 May 2023; pub. 00:59⚡️
🫡 The Russian Pilots who were captured in #Ukraine last spring returned from captivity today. The exchange negotiations had been going on for more than a year because the 404 refused to return military pilots in particular to the end. Lieutenant Colonels Maksim Kryshtop and Sergey Kosik and Major Sergey Malov are already in #Russia, where they are receiving all necessary assistance.
⚔️ Situation on the Fronts for the past Day
🔹#Artyomovsk (#Bakhmut) Sector:
▪️ Our forces continue to dislodge the militants from the western part of #Artyomovsk. The “Musicians” have advanced up to 170 meters in 24 hours, despite a shortage of ammunition. Along Pobeda Street and Tolbukhin Street we have broken through the AFU defence, and fighting is also taking place along the Liberators of Donbass Street.
🔹#Donetsk Direction:
▪️ The Russian army is fighting in the area of the railway near #Novobakhmutovka. Also, ours attacked in the #Pervomayskoye area.
➖ The assault on the western part of the Town continues in #Maryinka.
🔹#Zaporozhye Direction:
▪️ Russian aviation has been doing a good job on an AFU temporary deployment point near #Novoandreyevka, #Zaporozhye region. Also, the Russian Defense Ministry announced strikes against militant units in the #Gulyaypole and #Ugledar areas.
💥 Our Antiaircraft Gunners once again worked excellently. In #Crimea, the air defense forces shot down an Ukrainian OTRK “Grom-2” missile. The ballistic missile fell into a field, there were no injuries or damage.
The ballistic missile fell in a field, no casualties or damage.

https://t.me/sitreports/8279

Posted by: Down South | May 7 2023 7:41 utc | 262

⚡️🇷🇺🇺🇦🤚 Situation in #Bakhmut/#Artyomovsk on the Morning of 7 May 2023⚡️
1. On the reasons for the withdrawal of the Wagner PMC forces from #Artyomovsk:
🎻 Prigozhin has published a long list of answers to questions about the reasons for the withdrawal of the Wagner PMC forces from #Artyomovsk. In fact, he summarized his previous statements before the impending rotation in #Artyomovsk and rolled out a final report. He did not specify where exactly the Wagner PMC will operate after the #Artyomovsk operation.
* * *
2. On #Artyomovsk:
🔹1. The Wagner PMC continued to storm the town. According to Prigozhin’s statement, our forces now control 95% of the city. In fact, there is very little left.
🔹2. Rotation will begin on May 10. Akhmat special forces units will be brought into the city. Ramzan Kadyrov sent a corresponding request to Putin yesterday. Also, units of the RF Armed Forces from other areas will be moved to the #Artyomovsk direction.
🔹3. The RF Armed Forces carried out intensive strikes against enemy reserves and positions in the #Slavyansk – #Kramatorsk agglomeration overnight. The enemy retains the ability to rely on the Ray-Aleksandrovka – Chasov Yar – #Konstantinovka line to carry out local counterstrikes to stabilize the front.
🔹4. The AFU Command claims that Prigozhin is bluffing and that up to 20,000 shells per day are being fired at the AFU in the #Artyomovsk sector.
📜 Boris Rozhin; 7 May 2023, 08:28

https://t.me/sitreports/8307

Posted by: Down South | May 7 2023 7:43 utc | 263

Our source reports that the current nighttime UAV and missile strikes are more testing of Ukrainian air defense, which is aimed at several things.
1. This is an attempt to find a gap
2. This is an attempt to identify air defense
3. This is an attempt to create a shortage of air defense missiles
4. This is an attempt to force the Ukrainian leadership to always keep a significant part of the air defense in the rear
5. This is testing a variety of new toys. From new modified UAVs to new products among missiles of various classes.
6. These are attempts to keep the aircraft of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in good shape, which must take off from airfields so as not to be blown up, and also take off to intercept UAVs, but no closer than 200 km from the line of contact, so as not to be shot down.
7. And only in the last place is a blow to the identified warehouses. Usually in such cases there is a targeted massive strike against one target, as was the case in Pavlograd.
All strikes are local in nature, Russia continues to accumulate military resources.

https://t.me/legitimniy/15284

Posted by: Down South | May 7 2023 7:44 utc | 264

Russian Soldiers behead Ukrainien POW.
You either believe it, you are an imbecile.
Or you dont believe it, but believe in jew soap and skin lampshades, you are an imbecile.
Which one is it?

Posted by: Shadowcock | May 7 2023 7:46 utc | 265

There are no more roads to Bakhmut, we are forced to supply the city through the only field that is under constant enemy fire. The video clearly shows how the reserves of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have to get to Bakhmut.

https://t.me/rezident_ua/17636

Posted by: Down South | May 7 2023 7:46 utc | 266

An anti-crisis was launched at Bankovaya, given the negative scenarios of a possible counteroffensive. Everyone understands that if the Armed Forces of Ukraine fail to cut the land corridor to the Crimea, then the counteroffensive was in vain.
Expectations from Ukrainian counter-offensive are overestimated – Defense Secretary Reznikov for Washington Post
“Most people are waiting for something big, which can lead to emotional disappointment. Western partners told me that now they need the next example of success, because we have to show it to our peoples … But I cannot tell you what the scale of this success will be “10 kilometers, 30 kilometers, 100 kilometers, 200 kilometers? Ideally, the offensive should cut the rear lines of Russian troops and reduce their offensive capabilities,” the Ukrainian minister said.

https://t.me/rezident_ua/17640

Posted by: Down South | May 7 2023 7:48 utc | 267

The Dolphin | May 7 2023 7:37 utc | 268
There are many different cultures that can be lived with in peace especially in todays world. Ideology/cults are a different matter. Ukraine has moved into that zone with its nazi ideology.
We see Russia releasing Azov in the prisoner exchanges and many complain. Russia does not have the death sentence and would have to look after them for life or the length of their sentence. The majority of them will go back onto the battlefield where they will be killed.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 7 2023 7:51 utc | 268

You dumb imbeciles.
Posted by: Shadowbanned | May 7 2023 6:40 utc | 252
Take a break. Read more. Go back to school.
The expression is: per se NOT per say, referring to your uneducated previous post.

Posted by: RB | May 7 2023 7:52 utc | 269

Arent we all a little bit Nazi?
You will finally come to the conclusion that everything and anyone is a Nazi. Because the alleged crimes of the national socialists never were true to begin with. So the constant twisting of truth made everything Nazi. Enjoy your headeache. You dumb imbeciles.
Posted by: Shadowbanned | May 7 2023 6:40 utc | 252

That isn’t me, someone is impersonating.

Posted by: shadowbanned | May 7 2023 7:54 utc | 270

Fucking joke shop, the lot here.
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | May 7 2023 7:27 utc | 265
A lot of username hijacking. I guess it is someone with a nasty attitude.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 7 2023 8:00 utc | 271

something theres little discussion about is if Erdogen loses the election and the EU/NATO poodles get in. They already get talked up by MSM for their progressive views and how many constitutional changes will occur to bring the nation into EU values. oh boy we know what that means , trannies and austerity with a helping of looting

Posted by: hankster | May 7 2023 8:05 utc | 272

@254
you make two asumptions which negates your entire edifice:
That I’m male and my grasp of latin stretches to understand that both i and j are interchangeable, muchlike b and v in spanish.
Now go play on a roundabout.

Posted by: AleaJactaEst | May 7 2023 8:06 utc | 273

@ 259 the dolphin
thus the need for critical thinking…. if a person or culture doesn’t cultivate this, then google, wikipedia and etc etc are wonderful brain washing tools used for this very purpose…. this is the byproduct of the internet-technology information age – narrative control and misdirection.. if you are unaware of it, you are much like an animal that has unknowingly walked into a trap – one fatal to your sanity and clarity..
i guess they don’t teach this sort of thing at university anymore.. following moa might be the next best thing..

Posted by: james | May 7 2023 8:12 utc | 274

Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 7 2023 6:24 utc | 248
US and UK were very quick to move into the post soviet space. National identities now based on a hatred for Russia.
In UK, rich Russians buying property portfolios in posh parts of London was an accepted part of the cosmopolitain scene. No-one seemed to hate them, or Russia as a country. Even now, opinion is mixed and not fervently held. The MI5/6 spooks seem to have had more success getting Ukrainians to hate Russians and Russia. The people of Britain have been trained not to hate anyone, find their feminine side, and be super-tolerant of the aberrations in the multi-culti experiment which result in the murder and rape of our youngsters.
The power of propaganda in todays western world is very dangerous.
Agreed. And not just in the matter of attitudes to other nationalities either. Net Zero is the death wish of the west.

Posted by: GT Stroller | May 7 2023 8:25 utc | 275

Whoops, unclosed italics tag – apologies.

Posted by: GT Stroller | May 7 2023 8:26 utc | 276

GT Stroller | May 7 2023 8:25 utc | 285
Everything about the post war Anglo world was about keeping Russia down. Much wealth flowed out of Russia to the UK and US. Putin put a stop to that. I knew nothing about geopolitics at the time, but I very much remember the media about Yeltsin appointing Putin president. He was head of FSB, before being appointed PM. The Islamic extremism. He said we will kill them on the john, we will kill them where we find them. And he hit the CIA proxies hard. Appointed as acting president he continued on that note. It was only after he was elected as PM that he destroyed the oligarchs and that cut off a lot of the flow of Russian wealth to the west.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 7 2023 8:39 utc | 277

Everything about the post “cold” war Anglo world ….

Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 7 2023 8:40 utc | 278

Maybe Davydov and Serdukov had to join Wagner to get out of jail.
And I don’t think it’s correct to say we all knew they had run out of ammo. I don’t know anything for sure just read and absorb and wait and watch.

Posted by: Inki | May 7 2023 8:45 utc | 279

Posted by: GT Stroller | May 7 2023 8:25 utc | 285
You are a real joker !
rich Russians buying property portfolios in posh parts of London was an accepted part of the cosmopolitain scene. No-one seemed to hate them,
These were parasites who had looted post-Soviet space and bought access through donations to Conservative Party –
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/conservative-party-russia-donors-ukraine-invasion/
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/feb/23/oligarchs-funding-tories
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1574370/Russian-oligarchs-linked-conservative-party-tory-donor-evg
https://www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/gay-tory-mp-faces-renewed-questions-over-russian-links-7217983.html
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/24/boris-berezovksy
https://www.alexandertemerko.co.uk/en/about/
https://www.theglobalist.com/london-grad-under-how-much-russian-influence-is-the-british-capital/
“Hand Back the Roubles, Dave” screamed the front-page headline of the Daily Mail, Britain’s best-selling middle class tabloid. It was a reference to the oddest tennis game ever in England – and a matter of concern to Prime Minister David Cameron. He needs the Daily Mail’s readers to vote Tory — if he is to win a second term in 2015.
Also: The Globalist’s
Top Ten on Russia
What had happened? At a Conservative Party fund-raiser, Mr. Cameron had offered to play a doubles match, partnered by his rival Boris Johnson. That enticing offer was taken up by the wife of a Russian oligarch and former Putin minister. Mrs. Lubov Chernukhin paid $250,000 (£160,000) for the privilege. >/I>
Even Vladimir Putin mocks London as the place where “the oligarchs have bought Chelsea,” a reference to Roman Abamovich, the owner of the top soccer club. Another oligarch, Evgeny Lebvedev, is the owner of two key newspapers, the Independent, and the respected London Evening Standard, as well as a London TV station.
One in ten of all London homes with a price exceeding $1.5 million was bought by a Russian last year. Mrs. Chernukin and her husband, Vladimir, a former director of Aeroflot, live in a $12 million dollar apartment.
Another Russian donor to the Conservative Party, Andrei Borodin, has fled to London after accusations of a $370 million fraud in Russia. He lives on a $235 million estate near London and paid $67,000 for a portrait of Margaret Thatcher at a Tory fundraiser last year.
The UK Electoral Commission reports $1.5 million in donations from rich Russians to Conservative funds last year. The UK has given visas to 433 Russians since 2008 who invested more than $1.5 million in Britain.
Russians send their children to be educated in elite private boarding schools. The daughter of the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, is a student at the London School of Economics.
People in UK have ZERO say what the Overlord Class do with their Russian Oligarch sponsors. It is as “representative” a “democracy” as in 1765

Posted by: Paul Greenwood | May 7 2023 8:46 utc | 280

Our source in the OP said that the Office of the President cannot reverse the negative track with Ukraine’s accession to NATO / EU and now the scenario of general elections in the fall is being considered, since the situation in the spring of 2024 will be unfavorable for Bankova.
At the moment, there is only one problem, if Zelensky resigns, then he cannot run for a second presidential term, but this article can be quickly changed under public pressure and total control of the information / political landscape of the country.

https://t.me/rezident_ua/17641

Posted by: Down South | May 7 2023 8:53 utc | 281

Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 7 2023 8:39 utc | 287
The Islamic extremism. He said we will kill them on the john, we will kill them where we find them. And he hit the CIA proxies hard. Appointed as acting president he continued on that note. It was only after he was elected as PM that he destroyed the oligarchs and that cut off a lot of the flow of Russian wealth to the west.
People in the UK have had to put up with the importation of wahabbist extremism and its promulgation through the mosques. It’s been the price of alliance with the KSA. The population doesn’t realise it’s had MI6’s pet ISIS Jihadis billeted for R&R in the muslim areas for years now. Occasionally, one of them goes mad and blows themselves up along with as many people as they can.
We proletarians should be better organised to sack the politicians and their secret service handlers. And the uncivil serpents.

Posted by: GT Stroller | May 7 2023 8:55 utc | 282

“It is better to save the army than win the battle. In Artemovsk today, almost 95% of the territories have been taken, the remaining 5% do not play any role in the development of the campaign further to the west.
ㅤ
PMC “Wagner” has no ammunition. I keep PMC “Wagner” in the form in which it is.
Two square kilometers does not affect the course of the military operation in any way.”
Yevgeny Prigozhin responded to those who criticize the Wagner PMC for leaving Bakhmut, emphasizing that he has no ambitions to remain in history as the man who took the city.
Operation “Bahmut meat grinder” ended due to a lack of ammunition.

https://t.me/Slavyangrad/44884

Posted by: Down South | May 7 2023 8:55 utc | 283

Posted by: Paul Greenwood | May 7 2023 8:46 utc | 290
These were parasites who had looted post-Soviet space and bought access through donations to Conservative Party –
People in UK have ZERO say what the Overlord Class do with their Russian Oligarch sponsors. It is as “representative” a “democracy” as in 1765
Sure, but not many are bothered about it, or even aware of it. Have you noticed the UK Labour party working overtime to rile everyone up about it? I certainly haven’t. I’ve campaigned for years in UK politics and never once had anyone on the doorstep going on about “Bloody Russians, coming round here, buying our football clubs.”
They have more pressing issues to worry about.

Posted by: GT Stroller | May 7 2023 9:11 utc | 284

265 – I wouldn’t say I hate Martyanov, but I definitely dislike him, especially since he called Tatarsky a “scumbag” after he was killed in Petersburg, presumably by the Ukrainians. Perhaps I am naive but I like commentators to exhibit a certain common decency, especially when they are no nearer the theatre of operations than Seattle.
More generally, I think Martyanov has no worthwhile insights to offer and also runs no obvious risks, which does not seem to be the case with Gonzalo Lira.

Posted by: Waldorf | May 7 2023 9:18 utc | 285

URGENT: PMC “Wagner” received a combat order, the group should be given everything necessary to continue the assault on Bakhmut
E. Prigogine:
Tonight we received a battle order for the first time for all this time, in which, if you remove the secret data, the bottom line is as follows: they promise to give us ammunition and weapons as much as we need to continue further actions, they swear to us that everything will be on the flank exposed, which is necessary so that we are not cut by an adversary, we are told that we can act in Artemovsk as we see fit, and they give us Surovikin, as the person who will make all the decisions.
As part of the hostilities PMC “Wagner” interaction from the Ministry of Defense, and this is the only person with the star of an army general who knows how to fight, among those with this star is an army general.
And another important detail, yesterday I was in our closed chats specifically asked a question to all the commanders of the junior link, which immediately brought to the fighters, if someone wants, he can move to other military formations. Everyone unequivocally answered no, and in obscene, of course, characteristic of PMC “Wagner” form.

https://t.me/Slavyangrad/44888

Posted by: Down South | May 7 2023 9:23 utc | 286

Life and death for the approval of the West – Minister of Defense of Ukraine named the true goals of the promised offensive
The Hour of X is approaching, and Ukrainian speakers are increasingly engaged in their favorite business – selling faces in foreign media. It is clear why they are doing this – after all, independent officials say directly that country 404 exists for the approval of the West. If you don’t believe me, ask Reznikov.
In an interview with the Washington Post, Ukraine’s defense minister told reporters that the country must “assault” its importance to the EU and the US: “Western allies told me that now they need a new example of success – we must demonstrate it to our people.”
Suddenly, a completely logical statement that is not characteristic of this giant of thought – without any success on the battlefield, the value of the Ukrainian project in the eyes of European bureaucrats and American congressmen tends to zero. In the eurozone, rallies of those dissatisfied with the insane spending on Kiev at their own expense are already raging, and in the United States, political opponents will actively attack the “young and active” candidate for Biden’s re-election.
Ukraine performs two functions for the West – an anti-Russian battering ram and a domestic political key capable of opening doors to high offices. But, as soon as it becomes clear that everything was in vain, the independent project will immediately fly into the scrap.
And our task is to speed up this process.

https://t.me/Slavyangrad/44907

Posted by: Down South | May 7 2023 9:25 utc | 287

Our source in the OP said that the Office of the President instructed the General Staff to focus on the capture of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, while preparing a counteroffensive into Crimea.
By capturing the nuclear power plant and Energodar, we will be able to get the first significant victory, which can block possible negative scenarios for a counteroffensive in other sectors of the front in the Azov operation.

https://t.me/rezident_ua/17642

Posted by: Down South | May 7 2023 9:27 utc | 288

We proletarians should be better organised to sack the politicians and their secret service handlers. And the uncivil serpents.
Posted by: GT Stroller | May 7 2023 8:55 utc | 292
The power of the US and British media. In Uk your have those who gather around the royals.They have a lot of power. They control the media and I find British media different to American media. It is odd here in Australia because the heredity monarch is head of state yet we are totaly tied in with the Americans so we get both the UK propaganda tied into the royalty and the American propaganda. Two masters.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 7 2023 9:27 utc | 289

In Uk your have those who gather around the royals.They have a lot of power.
[299]
You are weird in your Australian isolation………you know ZILCH about UK media. Try Rupert Keith Murdoch – born as a rich kid in OZ – very ANTI-Royal and ANTI-British – known as “Dirty Digger” for his bottom-sniffing newspapers and his Phone Hacking proclivities
Then look at Lord Rothermere owner of Daily Liar (“Mail”) who lives in France – and whose paper sponsors Meghan Markle for titillation much like National Enquirer
Then try Guardian run by US-aligned Katharine Viner with a circulation of 150,000
Then try Independent owned by Lebedev, gay son of Russian Oligarch
You overrate influence of royal family which would not need to employ London’s Libel Barristers and Solicitors if they actually had power over Trash Tabloid Media imported from Australia

Posted by: Paul Greenwood | May 7 2023 9:38 utc | 290

Trolls play an important part for every blog and web site. Counterpunch does not allow comments to Trolls and anyone else. I hate it…..
Posted by: Ed | May 6 2023 20:50 utc | 103
How about the following suggestion:
put the “Posted by:” at the top of the post, followed by a button “Next post”. You stil can read the post if you want to, and nothing stops you from replying if you feel like it. But you can easily move on to the next post if that is what you wish. This does not stop trolls from posting; it merely makes it easier to ignore them.

Posted by: Passerby | May 7 2023 9:42 utc | 291

Posted by: GT Stroller | May 7 2023 9:11 utc | 294
You must get out more………
You really think Labour is not on the payroll ?
You must think Starmer is wonderful…………
The political class have been bought by Chinese or Russian Oligarch funds or by US Oligarchs
Why would anyone in Wigan give a sh*t about Ukrainian and Russian Oligarchs buying homes in London ?
How many homes does Poroschenko own in UK ? His son lives there to keep safe from flying bullets !
Which of her homes did Olena Zelensky stay in last night ?
Why didn’t you list which politicians have been bought ?
As for Abramovich – who cares ? Why is Chelsea important ? Berezhovsky was more dangerous but Abramovich proved him a liar in The High Court –
How many of these idiots get iced in London ?
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/mar/03/ukraine-born-oligarch-mikhail-watford-found-dead-at-home-in-surrey
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/04/12/late-oligarch-berezovskys-aide-likely-strangled-to-death-in-london-bbc-a73557
https://www.mirror.co.uk/all-about/boris-berezovsky
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10227881/Was-oligarchs-wife-killed-Kremlin-Friends-demand-MI5-investigate-Russian-socialites-death.html
https://apnews.com/bdaf4761929f4babb26e6c0954224799/UK-opens-murder-probe-into-death-of-Russian-Nikolai-Glushkov
https://metro.co.uk/2023/04/25/russian-oligarch-mysteriously-dies-after-secretly-getting-uk-status-18669759/
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/russian-deaths-uk-history-spies-murder-sergei-skripal-alexander-litvinenko-a8242061.html

Posted by: Paul Greenwood | May 7 2023 9:47 utc | 292

Paul Greenwood | May 7 2023 9:38 utc | 300
I have met those locked into British Royalty. I see our media.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 7 2023 9:55 utc | 293

it’s incredible the success of prigozzi’s claims in the most naives of war “experts”. an example here is the neofeudalfudure user, whose forecast never verified and now he drinks all that prigozzi says. too bad the Ukraine and usa decisors weren’t as stupid as neofeudalfudure, otherwise they would surely began the counteroffensive sooner, to get slaughtered by both wagner and chechens

Posted by: giandavide | May 7 2023 9:56 utc | 294

Posted by: Paul Greenwood | May 7 2023 9:47 utc | 302
You must get out more………
You really think Labour is not on the payroll ?
You must think Starmer is wonderful…………
The political class have been bought by Chinese or Russian Oligarch funds or by US Oligarchs
1) Judging by our posting ratios on MOA, I get out more than you do.
2) Labour is on Dale Vince and the greenblob’s payroll.
3) I think Starmer stinks.
4) Which is why, as I said, we proletarians need to get better organised to sack the politicians, their secret service handlers, and the uncivil serpents.

Posted by: GT Stroller | May 7 2023 9:59 utc | 295

Posted by: GT Stroller | May 7 2023 8:25 utc | 285
All views on propaganda are flawed by the lack of acknowledgement of existing collective spirits in human groups.
Only when you understand these do exist can you master propaganda and effectively address your message to the group spirit.
Think about the computing model of hardware/software. Do you believe in it? Does software exist? Where is software located in the real world? Is there any software “alive” in a shut down computer?

Posted by: Greg Galloway | May 7 2023 10:10 utc | 296

Passante 301
you should do as I do, i.e. start from the last post and go back up so I have the opportunity to read the nick of the troll and skip it completely

Posted by: A.cagliostro | May 7 2023 10:12 utc | 297

The Ukrainian people hate Russian people because the Russians stole Crimea in 2014 and have been funding a rebellion in the east ever since. Thinking the people of Ukraine have been tricked or brainwashed is way off base.
When Prigozhin complains about ammunition, the Russians unleash hell.
When Nato says Russia or Ukraine or anyone is out of weapons they lie.
A different opinion is not a troll post,trying to silence everything you disagree with is the same thing our governments are trying to do right now.

Posted by: OohCanada | May 7 2023 10:19 utc | 298

Greg Galloway | May 7 2023 10:10 utc | 306 “All views on propaganda are flawed by the lack of acknowledgement of existing collective spirits in human groups.”
That has been very much mastered, especially amongst countries with weak leadership.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 7 2023 10:25 utc | 299

Posted by: GT Stroller | May 7 2023 8:25 utc | 285
Western ukrainians are not even ukrainians but former members of Austro-Hungarian empire.
Lvov is nothing but Lemberg.
Russia means what?
The Kremlin?
The Kremlin does not like the Donbass rebellion and has fought it from day one (oligarchs vs commies). Now trying to swallow it and digest it.

Posted by: Greg Galloway | May 7 2023 10:31 utc | 300

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