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June 9, 2023
Media: One Side “Says” – The Other “Provides No Evidence”

The recent reporting on the conflict in Ukraine in 'western' media has reveled a deceiving scheme in which baseless claims from Kiev are taken for granted while everything Moscow says, even when based on facts, is put into doubt.

Here are a few examples:

White House dismisses ‘ludicrous’ Russian claims US planned Kremlin drone strikes – Guardian – May 4, 2023

Asked about an accusation by the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, that Washington had ordered Wednesday’s strike, John Kirby, the US National Security Council spokesman, said: “One thing I can tell you for certain is that the US did not have any involvement with this incident, contrary to Mr Peskov’s lies, and that’s just what they are: lies.”
…
Earlier on Thursday, Peskov claimed the US had “dictated” the plan of what Russia said was a drone attack on the Kremlin intended to kill Vladimir Putin. Peskov did not provide any evidence to support the allegations.

What evidence did the U.S. provide?

Ukrainian forces advance on Russians, deny ‘counteroffensive’ has begun – Washington Post – June 5, 2023

Ukraine’s military made gains against Russian forces in multiple locations along the eastern front, the country’s deputy defense minister said Monday, as an increasing cadence in combat operations raised speculation that the much-anticipated counteroffensive was finally imminent.

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar wrote on Telegram that troops conducted multiple “offensive actions” in the eastern Donetsk region despite “stiff resistance and the enemy’s attempts to hold the occupied lines and positions.”

But Ukrainian officials denied claims by Moscow that they had launched the counteroffensive — and that Russian troops had thwarted it.

A spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry said Ukrainian forces had started the counteroffensive by trying to push through five areas of the Russian line in Donetsk but had been repelled. The statement by Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, in a video posted by the Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti, could not be verified.

The piece repeats the claims of "gains" made by the Ukrainian side but puts the Russian claim into doubt. How many of Ukrainian claims of victories "could not be verified" but were senselessly repeated?

Ukrainian Armed Forces say they have no information on “large scale offensive” in Donetsk region – CNN – June 5, 2023

Ukraine does “not have information” on the “large-scale offensive” that Russian claims was launched against them in Donetsk region, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian armed forces Bohdan Senyk, told CNN.

On Monday, Russia claimed they have repelled, killed and captured multiple Ukrainian units in the region, but did not provide any evidence of the fact.

Next case:

Key Ukrainian dam blown up, Kyiv blames Russia – Politico – June 6, 2023

Ukraine blamed Russia for explosions at a key dam, which unleashed massive flooding and threatened 80 settlements in what Kyiv says is a last-ditch attempt to derail its counteroffensive.

In a statement, Ukraine's Southern Operational Command said "Russian occupation troops blew up the dam" at Nova Kakhovka, in the Kherson region in eastern Ukraine.
…
The Russian-installed mayor of Nova Kakhovka, Vladimir Leontiev, denied allegations the dam had been sabotaged by the Kremlin's forces and claimed Ukraine was responsible for the damage, according to Russian state media. Leontiev did not provide any evidence for his claims.

Neither did Ukraine for its claims but there is not even a hint in the piece that Kiev may be lying.

And another one:

Ukraine Mounts Multiple Attacks on Russian Occupiers – New York Times – June 8, 2023

On one side – just flat out statements taken for granted:

Three senior U.S. officials, as well as military analysts, said that a long-awaited major Ukrainian counteroffensive appeared to be underway, after months spent mobilizing and training new units, and arming them with advanced Western weapons.
…
Kyiv said little about the intensified fighting, neither confirming nor denying Russian claims, and Ukrainian officials have said they will not discuss details for reasons of operational secrecy.
…
A Ukrainian deputy defense minister, Hanna Malyar, said a battle was underway in the area of a larger town about 10 miles away in the neighboring Donetsk region, Velyka Novosilka, but it was unclear if she was referring to the same clash.

The other side's claims are depicted as dubious:

The Russian war bloggers, who have become a major source of information from the front lines, said Ukraine’s forces had suffered heavy losses, though such claims could not be confirmed and in the past have often been exaggerated.
…
The Russian account, like most claims about what was happening at the front, could not be confirmed independently, but videos verified by The New York Times showed a Ukrainian armored vehicle near Velyka Novosilka hitting a land mine.

I could add a dozen more pieces that follow the scheme. Ukrainian or U.S. claims lead the piece without being put into doubt. Russian counterclaims come a few paragraphs down and are immediately said to lack any evidence.

By the way: What the New York Times claims to have confirmed via video is just one of many screw ups on the Ukrainian side that can be seen these days.

Over the last 48 hours I have watched half a dozen drone videos of Ukrainian vehicles rumbling in tight columns over open fields, without minesweepers, without smokescreen or artillery cover, only to get blown up in minefields and massacred by anti-tank missiles.

No seasoned platoon or company leader would plan and execute attacks like that but, watching those videos, I doubt that the Ukraine still has any of those.

Then we have this:

Ukrainian forces have suffered losses in heavy equipment and soldiers as they met greater than expected resistance from Russian forces in their first attempt to breach Russian lines in the east of the country in recent days, two senior US officials tell CNN.

One US official described the losses – which include US supplied MRAP armored personnel vehicles as “significant.”

Did any of the U.S. or NATO leaders really think that the Ukrainian forces would have a f***ing chance by senselessly running into well prepared Russian defenses? Really???

Posted by on June 9, 2023 at 08:25 UTC | Permalink
Comments

The Pentagon position generally is that Kyev should be believed.
. .Pentagon Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, June 8:
“When it comes to characterizing those particular operations, or talking about those operations, that’s really something that’s best left to the Ukrainians.” . .here

Posted by: Don Bacon | Jun 9 2023 15:03 utc | 101

99 – Note the idiot in the comments saying the Ukrainians are “shaping the battlefield”. I am sure that is a comfort to the ones getting killed or wounded doing the “shaping”.
On July 1, 1916, thousands of British Third Army troops were killed, wounded or captured at Gommecourt. This was a diversion for Fourth Army’s main attack further south on the Somme, much of which foundered spectacularly, with huge losses. But even decades later, some of the survivors of Gommecourt refused to believe that all they had been doing was a diversion. One of the British generals involved at Gommecourt was sacked for not pushing his men hard enough, even though it was supposed to be a diversion.

Posted by: Waldorf | Jun 9 2023 15:11 utc | 102

THE FUTURE OF THE SMO – INSTALLMENT 6
END DATE
“We are the dead. Our only true life is in the future. We shall take part in it as handfuls of dust and splinters of bone. But how far away that future may be, there is no knowing.”
– George Orwell
We cannot know how far away our individual future may stretch. But it is a mathematical certainty that our future is finite and diminishing with each passing day.
The future of the UkroReich is also finite and it too diminishes with each passing day. Once the UkroReich has no more living that it can turn into “handfuls of dust and splinters of bone” it too will cease to exist and the SMO will end. This post seeks to estimate that end date.
The UkroReich has a 687 mile (1,522 kilometre) mile border with the RF.
. . . the Ukrainian Army has said that they have a front width of 2,450 kilometres (1,522 miles) of which 1,105 (687 miles) are active fighting. By active fighting, I assume that means the area from Kharkov to Severodonetsk to Kherson. The border with Belarus is 891 kilometers (554 miles), which I assume is part of the “inactive area.” The Ukrainian border with Russia is 1,974 kilometers (1,227 miles). Anyhow, not sure exactly how this active front is calculated, but I will use the Ukrainian Army figures for now (until I get the energy to pull out a ruler and painstakingly measure it myself).
So, 200,000 troops divided by 1,105 kilometers is 181 men per kilometer.
SOURCE:
http://www.dupuyinstitute.org/blog/2022/06/23/density-of-deployment-in-ukraine/
181 men per kilometre equals 112 men per mile of active front or 47 feet between each individual in uniform. Note that this calculation only gives a total for necessary border protection. It does not include any personnel collected for an offensive schwerpunkt.
The inactive front of 554 miles bordering Belarus is left undefended in this calculation. Given the presence of RF forces in Belarus the UkroReich must maintain some form of force presence along this border. Using the above estimate of 112 individuals per mile of front the Belarus border is estimated to require a further 62,048 individuals for border protection and control.
The UkroReich also maintains a border with Poland. According to Wikipedia the present state border between Poland and Ukraine has a total length of 428 km (266 mi)(subject to future modification). The border with Hungary is 103 kilometres (64 mi) long, Moldova 939 kilometres (583 mi), the border with Romania 169 kilometres (105 mi) on the south and 362 kilometres (225 mi) on the west for a total of 330 miles, and the border with Slovakia 90 kilometres (56 miles).
SOURCE:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Ukraine
The length of these various other borders comes to a total of 1,333 miles. There is likely a lesser standard of presence on these borders. For the purpose of the present calculation it is estimated these borders are staffed at 25% of the level of the UkroReich / RF border. This amounts to 28 persons per mile for an estimated total of 37,324 persons. Adding this figure to the 62,048 person estimate for Belarus results in an estimate of 99,372 persons engaged in border protection on inactive, or “peaceful,” borders.
When this estimate is coupled with the 200,000 troops required on the active border with RF the total force estimate is 299,372 persons.
Dima of the Military summary YT channel maintains a spreadsheet of UkroReich losses. This spreadsheet commences on 2022-07-11 and runs up to the present day (2023-06-06) Dima tabulates 164,888 UAF losses in this 350 day period or 164,888 / 350 = 471 individuals lost per day
SOURCE:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18WfJv1_DOlFOzvjh6iT1N8ltDvaCeWu1cPK_eaHKCR4/edit#gid=0
This “casualty rate” accords with “Clobber List” data delivered by Dima, and by Down South, rumod report, and others on MoA.
West of England Andy | May 27 2023 17:22 utc | 3 gave losses of 495. This degree of loss occurred on a day when:
“In a statement on Telegram, Ukraine’s Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said Russian forces have continued attacking but that “overall offensive activity has decreased”. Emphasis added.
On a day of reduced RF offensive activity the UkroReich’s Deputy Defence Minister asserts losses greater than the 471 daily losses estimated using Dima’s spreadsheet data as cited above. This gives some confidence in the accuracy of the 471 daily loss figure.
These estimated losses have been greatly exceeded by recent losses on the Zaporizhia front. In 3 days of attacks the UkroReich lost a reported 4,000 individuals or 1,333 casualties per day. This scale of loss is unsustainable; it amounts to the loss of an entire brigade, a military formation which consists of a few battalions and anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 soldiers
SOURCE:
https://www.defense.gov/Multimedia/Experience/Military-Units/Army/
For the purpose of this estimate we will estimate 4,000 soldiers in a UkroReich brigade. The recent losses were sustained by an offensive force assembled for the express purpose of attacking and achieving territorial gains against RF defenders.
The total size of this offensive force has been estimated:
Why am I not sure that Ukraine is already in the lowest combat effectiveness level? It has something to do with the alleged 70,000 western trained troops who are prepared for the Ukrainian offensive. I believe that Ukraine now has some 200,000 combat ready troops left, of which 70,000 are western-trained. The rest are mobilized, untrained or poorly trained troops, directly caught on the street and briefly prepared and sent to the front to hold the line.
SOURCE:
link removed due Typepad constraints
In 2014, when I was at NATO . . .So, to compensate for the lack of soldiers, the Ukrainian government resorted to paramilitary militias. They are essentially composed of foreign mercenaries, often extreme right-wing militants. In 2020, they constituted about 40 percent of the Ukrainian forces and numbered about 102,000 men, according to Reuters. They were armed, financed and trained by the United States, Great Britain, Canada and France. There were more than 19 nationalities — including Swiss.
SOURCE:
“>https://www.thepostil.com/the-military-situation-in-the-ukraine/?s=09>
Apart from recent reports of Polish personnel operating against Belogrod it is believed the majority of this 100,000 foreign mercenary troops have either been destroyed in the Artyomovsk battles or they have departed the UkroReich.
Some numbers to remember:the leaked combat power build blueprint from the Pentagon called for nine western trained brigades with a total of 253 tanks, 381 IFVs, and 480 APCs.
At 28 tanks per brigade, they are significantly understrength and will get burned through quickly.
Given that, with 52 tanks already destroyed according to the Russian MoD, they’ve already burned through 20% of their tanks in less than a week. That means they’ve got about roughly 20 days left of tanks, at current attritional rates.
SOURCE:
Posted by: Ghost of Zanon | Jun 8 2023 20:12 utc | 145. Emphasis added.
The nine NATO trained brigades have been estimated to contain up to 70,000 soldiers. This is the number estimated by Simplicius The Thinker and Black Mountain Analysis (Ibid). This does not account for the tooth to tail ratio.
A lower figure is given by Mark Sleboda:
Well, it came. Right where I said it would Kiev finally kicked off the big one. Well over 20k troops & mechanized forces.
10:49 am · 7 Jun 2023
SOURCE:
https://twitter.com/MarkSleboda1/status/1666457446162874374
Colonel Douglas Macgregor estimates the total size of the NATO trained force package to be between 30 and 35 K. I believe this to be an accurate estimate. Macgregor also provides an estimate of UkroReich sustaining 4,000 casualties in 3 days of “probing attacks” on the Zaporizhia line.
SOURCE:
https://youtu.be/creY2YHYDSY
Douglas Macgregor – Russian Probing Attacks on Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Ukraine was left with virtually no indigenous offensive power – the only way it can conduct offensive operations is with a mechanized package built from scratch by NATO.
SOURCE:
Big Serge: The Battle of Bakhmut: Postmortem June 2
If we accept Macgregor’s estimate of 35,000 (his high end estimate) for the NATO trained force package essential for any UkroReich offensive and we divide this by a casualty rate of 500 losses per day we arrive at the following:
35,000 / 500 = 70 days
Since the UkroReich has already sustained an estimated 5,000 casualties since the start of the current offensive the corrected calculation is:
30,000 / 500 = 60 days
This suggests the UkroReich will be unable to prosecute any offensive by August 9th 2023. This estimated end date does not account for the accelerated casualty rate incurred in the present UkroReich offensive.
Should the UkroReich continue to sustain losses of 1,000 per day the revised calculation is:
30,000 / 1,000 = 30 days
This implies an exhaustion of the UkroReich’s capacity for offensive action by July 9th, 2023 which is 2 days before the NATO confabulation commencing Tuesday, July 11th, 2023 in Vilnius.
In actuality any military unit which looses 50% of its force structure loses operational integrity and is unable to continue to function in the field. This implies a significant loss of UkroReich capacity by June 24th, 2023
30,000 / 2 = 15,000
15,000 / 1,000 = 15 days = June 24th, 2023
I believe the RF may launch its own offensive on or around this date. Since I do not see any UkroReich officer with the defensive skills of General Gotthard Heinrici it is entirely possible the SMO may be successfully concluded before July 11th, 2023.

Posted by: Sushi | Jun 9 2023 15:13 utc | 103

Posted by: ostro | Jun 9 2023 11:02 utc | 25
BBC appears to think that the British are foolish enough to trust what it says…
Unfortunately the majority of the British public (like the public in other countries) trusts what their MSM says – particularly when what the MSM says matches their preconceived ideas – many people also wish to comply with the accepted narrative within their social group
Independent thinking is rare – trying to see both sides of the story and making up your mind based on logic and evidence is far from common in all societies

Posted by: Aslangeo | Jun 9 2023 15:15 utc | 104

Posted by: Observer | Jun 9 2023 8:54 utc | 4

To be fair, MoA often presents Russian (and Chinese, and Iranian) claims as if it can be assumed they’re the gospel truth.

No, it’s not fair to compare a compulsive liar to a normal person.
To be fair, 90% of anything uttered by US government sources is bullshit, and their Ukrainian stooges have an even worse track record.
To be fair, how many, if any, outright lies can you document from the Russian government in the last two years?
Given that track record, to be fair, any intelligent person would give Russia the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise, while assuming the uS is full of shit until proven otherwise.

Posted by: The Owl | Jun 9 2023 15:18 utc | 105

@ Sushi | Jun 9 2023 15:13 utc | 103
thanks sushi… simplicius had the number of tanks at ukraines disposal much higher… also, it is unlikely the course of action will go in some predictable way as is implied in your post… there are too many unknown factors to come to the kinds of conclusions you come to.. but i appreciate your efforts regardless.. cheers james

Posted by: james | Jun 9 2023 15:25 utc | 106

@ Sushi | Jun 9 2023 15:13 utc | 103
re: 200,000 troops divided by 1,105 kilometers is 181 men per kilometer, etc
All troops are not on the FEBA, they must be supported by others in depth.
Some consider a ‘teeth to tail ratio’ of 7:10 to be ideal, i.e. seven combat soldiers being sustained by ten support personnel. Those figures are not certain, some say it’s more like 1:10 for more sophisticated military units.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Jun 9 2023 15:26 utc | 107

@ The Owl | Jun 9 2023 15:18 utc | 105
thanks for saying all that.. truth is the first casualty of war, and the truth likely lies somewhere in the middle ground..

Posted by: james | Jun 9 2023 15:26 utc | 108

west trying to pull it all ..refocus… UKR forces back together????Redefine their battle tactics
(which seemed a bit out of date to me…. )
In the area of the western coast of the Black Sea, increased activity of NATO aviation is recorded.
At the same time, the British RC-135W Rivet Joint reconnaissance aircraft and the American Lockheed EP-3 Aries II, an electronic warfare aircraft developed on the basis of the P-3 Orion patrol aircraft, are working.
#source
Join Slavyangrad chat. Your opinion matters.
https://t.me/+B6ixfOM5VkxhODQx
@Slavyangrad
Join SLG 🔺 Intelligence Briefings, Strategy and Analysis, Expert Community

Posted by: Jo | Jun 9 2023 15:35 utc | 109

Posted by: Sushi | Jun 9 2023 15:13 utc | 103
Just wondering whether the Pentagon papers leaked were underestimating the amount of tanks, and something else too. They might try to be clever with maskirovka. No one really seems to know how many Natostani troops are in Ukraine. There had to be more than 270 tanks or 2
whatever too.

Posted by: unimperator | Jun 9 2023 15:36 utc | 110

@ unimperator | Jun 9 2023 15:36 utc | 110
further to that – deception is the name of the game… even leaks may be intentional to create more fog.. here is the quote from simplicius yesterday..
“Most of you are probably wondering, “Jeez, how many tanks does Ukraine have left?” Well, to be honest, if I were to have guessed previously I would have said only 200-300 give or take. But the Pentagon leaks actually stated the exact number, and though it’s hard to know how accurate they are here’s what the leaks had for total Ukrainian main battle tanks:
In storage: 495
Fielded: 802 (433 delivered)
Destroyed: 468”
i definitely can’t vouch for accuracy here..

Posted by: james | Jun 9 2023 15:39 utc | 111

Elementary military theory, shown here:
On the left is what many think a defensive line looks like: One unbroken line manned by forces ready for assault.
On the right is how an actual defensive line (more accurately, the contact line) appears. The space in between these two lines is known as the “grey zone, controlled zone, no man’s land” and other terms. This is the space where the forces meet in combat.
What you’re looking at is vanguard forces on the line of contact and active reserves behind them.
On offense, one is not actually attacking a point of the vanguard, but a point which they feel the reserves can not respond to. One can also attack such a point to divert the reserves over, then attack another point once the reserves are distracted.
This is military theory 101. The theory revolves around where these reserves are committed to and where they are positioned. One must assault a point knowing full well that any reserve unit nearby may or may not be deployed to enforce that position – and when you potentially breach that position, the reserves may then meet you behind the line.
Combat operations revolve around destroying reserve units, either by direct engagement (committing ones reserves until they commit theirs) or by diverting them and punching through elsewhere.
This is not what Ukraine is doing. Ukraine is attacking in multiple directions (seemingly near random) and being repelled. That is, they are not drawing Russian reserves into a particular point (by which another point would be made vulnerable), but simply bouncing off, reforming, and assaulting only to bounce off again.
As I write this, they may have finally committed to the Rabotino point. By basic logic, active reserves may currently be drawn into this point of attack now – but the problem remains: if you lose the vanguard in the offensive and then commit your reserves, then what are you going to conduct operations with behind the line if your reserves are now your vanguard?
-Gleb Georgevich Gerasimov
@Slavyangrad

Posted by: Jo | Jun 9 2023 15:39 utc | 112

Anyone else know anything about this???
Posted by: Dr. George W Oprisko | Jun 9 2023 9:44 utc | 18
——————————————-
Must be another unidentified weather balloon.
I was stationed at Camp P. and did my boot at Sand Diego. I can visualize your concern.

Posted by: Ed | Jun 9 2023 15:40 utc | 113

Posted by: Observer | Jun 9 2023 8:57 utc | 10
Reminds me of the intercepted radio transmissions the US said “proved” Assad had gassed “his own” people.
And the intercepted radio transmissions that “proved” Russia shot down flight MH 17.

Posted by: Sushi | Jun 9 2023 15:40 utc | 114

Yeah, it’s actually pretty frustrating. If you want to have even a chance of getting to the truth, well, sometimes you have to get creative.

Posted by: Josh | Jun 9 2023 15:43 utc | 115

hmm…Aussie going to add fuel?
🇦🇺Remember, the Australian tax payer (YOU) paid A$4.668 billion for these fighters.
🤯If approved, the transfer would be Australia’s largest-ever single transfer of military equipment to a foreign power in Australia’s history.
👔Now the weak Albanese Government is about to cave into pressure from Ukraine to give our reserve F/A-18 fleet & 59 remaining Abrams Main Battle Tanks for free to the Ukrainian Zelensky regime!
👍Congratulations Albo. You will go down in Australian history as the Prime Minister who successfully disarmed & demilitarized Australia.
🇨🇳China’s reaction = 🍿 👀👏😏
🎙Follow @AussieCossack

Posted by: Jo | Jun 9 2023 15:49 utc | 116

BTW…thanks Sushi for analysis

Posted by: Jo | Jun 9 2023 15:50 utc | 117

Try to think of all the broadcast communications that the public is exposed to as being a communicative energy field that just so happens to operate within the electromagnetic frequency bandwidth range that the human optical and auditory nervous system is accustomed to operating at. Then, try to think of what an actual bad guy would do if he just so happened to control such a broadcast network. Things start to make more sense after that.

Posted by: Josh | Jun 9 2023 15:53 utc | 118

Jo no. 116
But wait, you’ve got all those nuclear submarines on order from the brits/usa.

Posted by: ThusspakeZarathustra | Jun 9 2023 15:54 utc | 119

I can confirm here in my country people are waking up and fast. The once anti Russian popular are discussing at work on the unbelievable media bias. The longer this goes on then the more and more people are turning against the government. I have hope the tide is turning. Slowly but it is. Keep the information going as we prepare for the ultimate collapse of Ukraine then they will have nowhere to run.

Posted by: Scot1and | Jun 9 2023 15:54 utc | 120

Aslangeo | Jun 9 2023 15:15 utc | 104
—————
The important part is this in that post.

It is actually good for Russia, when the ‘western’ people think that way. It is excellent that BBC, CNN and such like continues with that ‘disinformation.’. The disinformed are easy to conquer… 🙂

Posted by: ostro | Jun 9 2023 16:00 utc | 121

COULD IT BE?
Could it be that the West knew the current Ukrainian offensive would be a failure before it ever began?
Could it be that the West was putting pressure on Zelensky to launch the current offensive not so much to win but to give the West an excuse to signficantly increase major escalations against Russia.
Could it be that the West needed a decisive Ukrainian defeat before NATO launched its NATO “Air Defender 23” exercise between June 12th to June 24th?
Could it be that the NATO “Air Defender 23” exercise will bloom towards full blown NATO attacks upon the Russian Federation?
Could it be that nuclear war is soon coming?

Posted by: young | Jun 9 2023 16:12 utc | 122

Scot1and | Jun 9 2023 15:54 utc | 120
—————
Britain should collapse too, together with Ukraine. No, not into England, Scotland, Wales or such, but collapse completely. Today’s Britain is living off stolen wealth of the Asians, Africans and others for last few centuries.

Posted by: ostro | Jun 9 2023 16:12 utc | 123

Rogozin reckons Ukr might have another 600 tanks waiting for an opportunity of a main attack….maybe that is why west surveillance planes are up in the air assessing and planning next moves ….

Posted by: Jo | Jun 9 2023 16:12 utc | 124

Over the last 48 hours I have watched half a dozen drone videos of Ukrainian vehicles rumbling in tight columns over open fields, without minesweepers, without smokescreen or artillery cover, only to get blown up in minefields and massacred by anti-tank missiles.
Why would you post a paragraph like the above and not refer to any source?
To get you to get off your fat ass and look them up yourself!!
INDY

Posted by: Dr. George W Oprisko | Jun 9 2023 16:14 utc | 125

Posted by: james | Jun 9 2023 15:39 utc | 111
Here’s what Mark Sleboda said in his article back in January. No idea how accurate that is, but this is what he referred to.

The army that the Kiev regime started 2022 out with, was the second largest in Europe, after Russia according to Western military assessments, and included some 250,000 active duty troops, and a large arsenal of capable Soviet-legacy military hardware – 2,600 tanks, 14,000 armored vehicles, 3,000 artillery pieces, 500 multiple launch rocket systems, 90 ballistic missiles, nearly a thousand total air defense systems, over 300 military aircraft, and a large drone fleet. This army had been built up for eight years with NATO funding and training, and was dug into heavy fortifications and trenches constructed over the same period.
That military was largely destroyed by Russian forces by the summer.

https://marksleboda.substack.com/p/ukraines-three-armies
It’s very possible that Ukraine did have 2600 initial tanks. They would have received probably something like 500 – 800 various T-72 / T-64 / T-54/T-55 tanks, mainly from Poland, and Czech, Slovakia, various other countries. Then they also received anywhere between 100 – 300 Leopards and Challenger tanks from legacy Nato countries. In addition, those Ukraine storaged / mothballed tanks, some of them were restored in Czech and Poland.
So Ukraine could have (this is very optimistic) actually cumulatively had up to 3700 tanks by now.

Posted by: unimperator | Jun 9 2023 16:15 utc | 126

the “elites” in washington:
1. live in alternate reality and thus
2. basically act like they’re always on twitter “irl”.
anyone with facts gets blocked, anyone with supporting bullsh_t gets “yassssss queen!”
it’s always been this way; did they ever give any hard evidence for “derp the wigger ginosides in chynah !!!11!!” and did they ever give credence to china’s denials? hell no. do they ever call the “israelis” on their bullsh_t or believe the palestinians? nope. they double down and shut down facts with “derp ‘antisemite’!!!”
these are barely people we’re dealing with at this point. it’s an entire empire run by that guy who was in the jungle thinking WWII was still going 50 years later.

Posted by: the pair | Jun 9 2023 16:25 utc | 127

derp the wigger ginosides in chynah

Yeah I always thought wiggers were annoying, Eminem comes to mind, but to genocide them is a bit harsh.

Posted by: aquileia | Jun 9 2023 16:33 utc | 128

❗️🇷🇺💥🇺🇦🏴‍☠️🇺🇸🇬🇧🇪🇺 It became known that the 47th Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which suffered heavy losses near Orekhovo, has been trained by NATO forces throughout Europe over the past few months and has been equipped with Western weapons, including 50 American M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, 28 Slovenian M-55S tanks and Panthera armored vehicles. T6.

Posted by: Jo | Jun 9 2023 16:33 utc | 129

Posted by: james | Jun 9 2023 15:39 utc | 111
To be honest, the numbers only matter if they are used to create exploitation forces, if all Ukraine is going to do is launch the armoured equivalent of a 1916 assault they can have 2,000 tanks, it still won’t matter. The calculus favours the defender so heavily now, in the 21st Century, that attacker needs to maximise the initial shock of the attack, hence the 24-48 hour metric for success, otherwise any gains will be at the mercy of a counter-offensive (the real meaning of the term). Why will that be devastating and why will it resurrect the glory days of armour? Because the Ukrainians will have depleted attacking forces having to set up hasty, barely coordinated defences. This is where armoured manoeuvre warfare can rapidly create pockets and dislocate an entire front, witness the collapse in ‘42 that only stopped at the Volga. If the Ukrainians burn through their reserves, especially armoured units, they will be virtually powerless to stop a drive for the Dneiper bridges, threatening all the forces to the East (shades of ‘43).
Armoured forces remind me now of the French heavy knights in the Italian Wars, if used traditionally they would suffer due to technologically driven changes in tactics, but if the conditions were right, if their ability to manoeuvre was supported they could be devastating when charging home, often from unexpected axes. We also have not had any displays of a Russian speciality, air assault units supporting armoured spearheads, apart from a few rather lame attempts in the early stages. I would not be surprised to see a Russian move, whilst the Ukrainian offensive is still continuing, if they judge the conditions right.
All this might be academic as the Ukrainian state could very well implode under the pressure of an obviously failed-offensive that has psychologically boosted people’s resilience. Removing the slim hope of a military solution, threatens the state existentially and the purpose of the military, so for my last historical precedent, as guide, 1917: an exhausted army, commanded by an increasingly unpopular government, decides enough is enough.

Posted by: Milites | Jun 9 2023 16:37 utc | 130

Media logic
A = Trump “Provides No Evidence”
B = Russia “Provides No Evidence”
→ (implies) Trump ≡ Russia

Posted by: Petri Krohn | Jun 9 2023 16:39 utc | 131

Pigeon shooting:
https://t.me/vladimirtupin/29927
Attrition is going on.

Posted by: Quo Vadis | Jun 9 2023 17:00 utc | 132

Pigeon shooting once again:
https://t.me/vladimirtupin/30110
Attrition is going on.

Posted by: Quo Vadis | Jun 9 2023 17:08 utc | 133

Posted by: james | Jun 9 2023 15:25 utc | 106
Agreed.
My estimate was based on the principles of mutatis mutandis and ceteris paribus.
The RF is now given an opportunity equal to what they enjoyed in Artyomovsk. The opponent launches endless frontal attacks which result in its near certain destruction. As has been said: Never interrupt the enemy when he is making a mistake. I do not see the RF altering its operations until such time as 404 has exhausted its offensive capacity; I believe it likely RF will commence its own offensive at this time.
The UkroReich lacks any form of agency. They must demonstrate “success” or their backers will cease all support. The current UkroReich attempt at success is demonstrating the total inadequacy of NATO weapons systems. This must be of considerable concern to the respective NATO militaries. Not only is NATO equipment deficient in the face of RF military capacities but NATO states have, all of them, depleted their war stocks – the NATO cupboard is empty. The industrial capacity to replenish NATO war stocks must itself be rebuilt before restocking can even commence. We are talking of years if not decades.
Lastly, the NATO militaries are insufficiently “woke.” What Western individual will enlist if there is no guarantee for transgenderism in the ranks? What if you must confront some beasty Slav who fails to use your correct personal pronoun? Look at the clothing issue – blotchy olive drab when it should exhibit rainbow flag colours. Even the music is nothing but Oom Pah Pah and repetitive tubas. NATOstan is out of touch with reality if they believe their youth will go to war under these excessively harsh conditions.
To sum up – RF has no need to alter its operational plan; they are proceeding with de-Nazification. The UkroReich has a multitude of problems number 1 being they are led by a man whose greatest skill – playing the piano with his penis – is of no particular relevance in the current conflict. And NATOstan is revealing itself to be an out of touch collection of old white men who think Oom Pah Pah and repetitive tuba solos are the route to final military glory. Until you get rid of the Former Colonial Powers and their stuck in the neolithic past failure to appreciate the 1812 Overture and its homophonic textures, you can expect there will be no change.
As has been said: “The shitshow will continue until it doesn’t”
Oom Pah Pah. Oom Pah Pah.
There are but two powers in the world, the sword and the mind. In the long run the sword is always beaten by the mind
– Napolean Bonaparte

Posted by: Sushi | Jun 9 2023 17:09 utc | 134

What is presented without evidence can be discounted without evidence. — Caitlin Johnstone.

Posted by: Longtrail | Jun 9 2023 17:19 utc | 135

What is presented without evidence can be discounted without evidence. — Caitlin Johnstone.
Posted by: Longtrail | Jun 9 2023 17:19 utc | 135
https://caitlinjohnstone.com
And especially:
https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2023/06/04/15-reasons-why-mass-media-employees-act-like-propagandists/

Posted by: Quo Vadis | Jun 9 2023 17:23 utc | 136

The thing is, Russia doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone in the so-called western world. They are more or less eternal enemies.

Posted by: ostro | Jun 9 2023 17:27 utc | 137

What is presented without evidence can be discounted without evidence. — Caitlin Johnstone.
Posted by: Longtrail | Jun 9 2023 17:19 utc | 135
Hitchens’s razor is an epistemological razor that serves as a general rule for rejecting certain knowledge claims. It states “what can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.” The razor was created by and named after author and journalist Christopher Hitchens (1949–2011).

Posted by: Phil R | Jun 9 2023 17:35 utc | 138

Posted by: ostro | Jun 9 2023 17:27 utc | 137
Exactly.
Hence the ukronazi PR army repeating time and again that Russia is weak, does not reply when red lines are overstepped, that ukronazis are winning, and so on.
The exact same speech we hear on western msm day and night. Not one minute without a lie.
Who will translate this book into English:
https://www.amazon.com/Russie-Occident-une-guerre-mille-ans/dp/2940523185
“Russia and the West: a thousand years old war.”

Posted by: Quo Vadis | Jun 9 2023 17:44 utc | 139

Sorry, Mettan’s book is available in English.
https://www.amazon.com/Creating-Russophobia-Religious-Anti-Putin-Hysteria-ebook/dp/B073ZPMZ95/ref=sr_1_1?crid=DW44DZBM1EYR&keywords=guy+mettan&qid=1686332820&s=books&sprefix=guy+mettan%2Cstripbooks-intl-ship%2C238&sr=1-1

Posted by: Quo Vadis | Jun 9 2023 17:48 utc | 140

In my view, the most construct approx is to avoid media that are biased and use that time for other activities.
It does not make sense to dwell on bogus media – though I agree it makes sense to point it out from time to time.
Pretty sure that tomorrow, the NY Times is going to publish disinformation about Ukraine, US Politics, Global Warming, the US Economic conditions, the Stock Market, local crime, China, … I know I am forgetting some things, but you get the idea.
It will not bother me at all – I won’t even notice.
There is no actual reliable source of news in the US any longer (maybe there never was).
The fact that the public is becoming aware of this and the whole censorship thing is having some positive affect – from time to time they make a perfunctory effort to balance some of their B/S with a moment of acknowledgement of reality. But it does last long and only when it doesnt really matter. Like sometimes it seems they realize that the lies about Ukraine are just to blatant and ridiculous so they grudgingly let slip a little truth so that they can claim not to be complete worthless morons – of course they know and we know that they are in fact worthless morons, but they need to fantasize from time to time – what they would do if they were working a real and worthwhile job.

Posted by: jared | Jun 9 2023 17:52 utc | 141

“Former NATO Head: Some Countries Considering Troop Deployment in Ukraine
by Kyle Anzalone | Jun 7, 2023”
https://libertarianinstitute.org/news/some-nato-countries-are-considering-sending-troops-to-ukraine/
Posted by: Exile | Jun 9 2023 8:55 utc | 7
—————————————-
This was your second posting of this story which was first posted on June 7: It must have made a big impression on you.
I wonder how many tactical nuclear missiles would be necessary to take out Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia? May be five? I also wonder if the world would demand an NATO article 5 retaliation. Are these tiny Baltic States worth a worldwide nuclear confrontation? I doubt it.

Posted by: Ed | Jun 9 2023 17:55 utc | 142

English Outsider | Jun 9 2023 13:13 utc | 61
EO – I have similar observations, many or most Germans are still not able to comprehend the concept of Nazism in Ukraine (and in the West in general). Poles are also not quite able to see what Russians are seeing – and the concept that Nazi regime was defeated in WW2 has been so deeply hammered into the minds – that it is difficult to understand how the Ukrainians are fighting for their freedom – but under the nazi insignia…and to boot with a Jewish leader. It takes a lot of introspection, for a Caucasian to ‘get it’. I myself had a ‘mental journey’ to get it.
The Poles – who have memory of Bandera’s genocide of Poles – have different, maybe a bit easier way to ‘get it’. But Poles themselves were not free of prejudices against Germans, Russians, or Asians in general. I recall that there was a joke in Poland, that “Asia begins on the other side of the Vistula”.
So, there are graduations – from the simple “shirt is closer to body”, to prejudice such as antisemitism, or hatred of Arabs by some Israelis, to murderous acts of hate on members of other tribes.
Ethnic Germans are still in the learning curve. Frau Wagenknecht also still talks of Putin being wrong by starting the war – as if the war was started by him, and not by the West in 2015.

Posted by: fanto | Jun 9 2023 18:02 utc | 143

Posted by: b | Jun 9 2023 11:36 utc | 31
Pls put your references in the same article as your analysis, so a reader has the info at hand, in context.
I expect a higher standard of “evidence” than a reference with vague attribution, but including refs is the least to be done, unless it’s obvious, which in this case it was not.
(Readers are still going to struggle to make sense of these comments because this platform, while being charmingly simple, sucks at helping connect the dots.)
The reader still has plenty of work left to do to make sense of your refs, as nothing reported today can be trusted at face value. Authenticity on the web is a joke. The only rule of thumb I have is that fakery is usually harder work than just saying what happened, so there’s entropic bias towards reality. But AI is disrupting the cost of fakery. But your diligence still matters. If you expect your readers to just trust you, then you’ve got lost down same rabbit hole as MSM. If you believe there’s some responsibility and integrity involved in reporting, apply it in your own work.
In same vein, if you go to the trouble to obtain and carefully read the print NYT and WSJ, you’re going to get a much richer journalism than if you skim their .coms. That doesn’t justify their lifestyle swill, but they know that many readers don’t care and they’ve got product to sell.
Thanks for your site and its contributor insights.
Carry on

Posted by: Arrnon | Jun 9 2023 18:03 utc | 144

All good now:

Yevgeniy Prigozhin:
“I want to congratulate on my own behalf and on behalf of the Wagner PMCs team, from the [Wagner]fighters and from the [Wagner]commanders, to congratulate those who destroyed enemy equipment in the Zaporozhye direction: the very “Leopards” that are now widely dispersed in the media and social networks.
Thanks guys! Well done! 58th army, gunners, motorized infantry, who from the trenches struck at the enemy, at the manpower, finishing them off, and the Russian Aerospace Forces , who supported them from the air. We still have a lot of work to do to restore the former glory of the Russian army and the brilliance of Russian weapons.”
https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/68198

Posted by: Norwegian | Jun 9 2023 18:12 utc | 145

In Hong Kong, the biography of Zelensky was put alongside with the biography of Hitler. https://t.me/NSDVDnepre/3668

Posted by: ostro | Jun 9 2023 18:23 utc | 146

So, Dan brought us through the criminal war against Vietnam and the Nixon presidency. — from Norman Solomon’s “War Made Easy” — How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Jun 9 2023 14:15 utc | 85
——————————————————-
JFK was assassinated on November 22, 1963. The Zapruder film was not available to the American public until the mid 1970’s. Until then they had to take the word of people like Dan Rather as to what happened that day. Rather was one of a few people who had a viewing of the Zapruder Film before it was bought and locked away from the American public by Life Magazine. Once Americans were finally allowed to see the Zapruder footage of JFK’s assassination, Rather would be proven a liar for his earlier comments.
The Zapruder Film was finally aired for American TV viewers in 1975 on a late-night talk show thanks to the efforts of unwitting JFK sleuth…..Geraldo Rivera? The public airing of this footage killed the Warren Commission’s earlier whitewash efforts and necessitated the House Select Committee on Assassinations whitewash of the late 1970’s.
https://jfkplayersandwitnesses.wordpress.com/2013/01/06/dan-rather-lies-to-americans-about-the-jfk-assassination/
I wonder what war Mr. Rather thought the US was fighting in 1963. and all the years afterwards?

Posted by: Ed | Jun 9 2023 18:24 utc | 147

I love your work. Been a fan for years. Which is why it pains me to see that you’ve included a completely unnecessary obscenity to your otherwise spot-on article. Yeah, I know that you put *’s in the word, but it still comes off as low-class. And you’re better than that. Please don’t do it again.

Posted by: RNSAKAANA | Jun 9 2023 18:27 utc | 148

How many more weapons, how many more soldiers can Ukraine afford to lose before they’ll be unable to stop a Russian counteroffensive?
How strong are Ukraine’s defense positions in the Zaporitscha region?

Posted by: Marvin | Jun 9 2023 18:37 utc | 149

Posted by: Observer | Jun 9 2023 8:54 utc | 4
To be fair, MoA often presents Russian (and Chinese, and Iranian) claims as if it can be assumed they’re the gospel truth.
———————————————
Observer, there is a solution. Allow people with different viewpoints to be a part of ALL the discussions on important issues, for example, the USNATO proxy war. God knows that the trolls (people who disagree with the majority here at MoA) have a microphone to make their point of views known. Why can’t MSM do the same?

Posted by: Ed | Jun 9 2023 18:37 utc | 150

I love your work. Been a fan for years. Which is why it pains me to see that you’ve included a completely unnecessary obscenity to your otherwise spot-on article. Yeah, I know that you put *’s in the word, but it still comes off as low-class. And you’re better than that. Please don’t do it again.
Posted by: RNSAKAANA | Jun 9 2023 18:27 utc | 148
——————————————
Who are you talking to? It is a courtesy here at MoA to identify who you are commenting about or replying to.
And you’re better than that. Please don’t do it again.

Posted by: Ed | Jun 9 2023 18:42 utc | 151

Posted by: RNSAKAANA | Jun 9 2023 18:27 utc | 148
Please indefinity who you are talking to or responding to: It is considered a common courtesy here at MoA,
and I am sure that you’re better than that. Please don’t do it again.

Posted by: Ed | Jun 9 2023 18:46 utc | 152

“Jo no. 116
But wait, you’ve got all those nuclear submarines on order from the brits/usa.
Posted by: ThusspakeZarathustra | Jun 9 2023 15:54 utc | 119”
The weapons that Australia ships to Ukraine will be replaced by newer American weapons systems so as to militarize Australia for Ukraine War 2.0 against China–which the Anglo Americans will deliberately try to provoke as they have done with Ukraine War 1.0.
The Anglo-Saxon Axis nations are by far the world’s leading war criminal nations in the world.

Posted by: ak74 | Jun 9 2023 19:05 utc | 153

Sky News on You Tube has declared: “99 % sure it was Russians who blew up the dam” based on seismic evidence from Norway.

Posted by: Ed | Jun 9 2023 19:13 utc | 154

@Ed | Jun 9 2023 19:13 utc | 154
Sky News on You Tube has declared: “99 % sure it was Russians who blew up the dam” based on seismic evidence from Norway.
Lol! Only a Rupert Murdoch rag could state such pseudo-scientific garbage. How could seismic “evidence” give a signature that was uniquely Russian? And I’d love to see how the 99% confidence interval was derived. Given the evidence is from Norway and Rupert Murdoch, I’m 99% confident it’s bs.

Posted by: zeke2u | Jun 9 2023 20:27 utc | 155

Posted by: Martina | Jun 9 2023 12:57 utc | 51
People believe what they want to believe.
For what we believe to have any relevance or usefulness it takes intelligence, diligent fact-checking, disciplined control of biases, corroboration with established reference sources and a knowledge of historical context.
All of which I find at this bar. Thank you b and fellow bar flies for everything that you provide.

Posted by: Lev Davidovich | Jun 9 2023 20:51 utc | 156

Posted by: Ed | Jun 9 2023 18:46 utc | 152
That comment was addressed directly to b for using the term “f****ing” or whatever in the article. Must be a very old person who is easily offended by even curse words with asterisks in them. Ridiculous.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 9 2023 20:58 utc | 157

@ unimperator | Jun 9 2023 16:15 utc | 126 and
@ Sushi | Jun 9 2023 17:09 utc | 134
thanks you two for the ongoing posts and analysis.. i really appreciate it.. cheers..

Posted by: james | Jun 9 2023 21:38 utc | 158

Re: António Ferrão | 20:51 utc | 104
Aksyonov’s private armies – Crimea and the Black Sea Cossacks

Posted by: Oui | Jun 9 2023 21:40 utc | 159

STILL WAITING for any MENTION of the CONSPICUOUS absence of surveillance video of the Kokhovka dam breach. There is a DRONE video from AFTER the break, which clearly shows water pouring over the dam in TWO SEPARATE LOCATIONS.
The Rooskies control the dam, so they have security video but are not showing it.
Makes them look guilty and makes anyone look suspicious for NOT EVEN ASKING about this OBVIOUS DECEPTION BY OMISSION.
Hay Vlad, watups widat dam video?

Posted by: SIXTUS V | Jun 9 2023 21:56 utc | 160

QUEBEC FOREST FIRES ARE PROVEN ECO – TERROR
JUST AS ADVOCATED BY JOHN KERRY & GRETA ET AL
https://gregreese.substack.com/p/all-of-south-quebec-simultaneously
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKUkZ2oOFF0
———————————————————————
SATELLITE SHOWS all 20+ QUEBEC FIRES
* STARTED SIMULTANEOUSLY *
———————————————————————-
PLANNED ORGANIZED DELIBERATE TERRORISM
20+ at once = conspiracy = not lone arsonists = NOT NATURAL
FULL – ON COORDINATED ECO – TERRORIST OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN
NOW UNDER WAY RIGHT UNDER YOUR NOSE

Posted by: SIXTUS V | Jun 9 2023 21:58 utc | 161

Almost everything.

Posted by: Lev Davidovich | Jun 9 2023 22:01 utc | 162

Remember the unvaxxed firefighters Turdeau fired ?
They are volunteering to help out now.
NO REPLY FROM TURDEAU.

Posted by: SIXTUS V | Jun 9 2023 22:03 utc | 163

The only truth is victory.
Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | Jun 9 2023 13:02 utc | 54
################
Agreed. Many of us get hung up on talk rather than action.
The winners write the histories. The losers are scapegoated and vilified.
Every. Single. Time.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jun 9 2023 22:28 utc | 164

I love your work. Been a fan for years. Which is why it pains me to see that you’ve included a completely unnecessary obscenity to your otherwise spot-on article. Yeah, I know that you put *’s in the word, but it still comes off as low-class. And you’re better than that. Please don’t do it again.
Posted by: RNSAKAANA | Jun 9 2023 18:27 utc | 148
##############
Definitely file for a refund. You should not be compelled to pay for such low class work. You’re entitled to better than that.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jun 9 2023 22:30 utc | 165

Posted by: RNSAKAANA | Jun 9 2023 18:27 utc | 148

I love your work. Been a fan for years. Which is why it pains me to see that you’ve included a completely unnecessary obscenity to your otherwise spot-on article. Yeah, I know that you put *’s in the word, but it still comes off as low-class. And you’re better than that. Please don’t do it again.

Well his team is losing due to incompetence, he is upset about it. I can understand his frustration.
I bet he thinks he would do much better job. Under his command those Leopards and Gepards would roll over Melitopol by now.

Posted by: hopehely | Jun 9 2023 22:38 utc | 166

“The winners write the histories. The losers are scapegoated and vilified.
Every. Single. Time.”
LoveDonbass@164
Not in this case-the Bandera nationalists were comprehensively defeated, eradicated with the exception of the remnants that fled west.
Far from being villified and scapegoated, they have been dictating the course of events in Ukraine and far beyond- as well as putting up posters, renaming streeets and tearing down war memorials, to the victors- for almost thirty years.
And the same is true of the EU, now dominated by the lineal descendants of the collaborators, the Quislings and the Mannerheims, the Blood and Soil ‘Greens’, the Lavals and the rest, who were tried and punished after the war.
The truth is that in a neo-liberal imperialist era, the heroes of earlier iterations of liberal imperialism, which include Hitler, are exumed, prettified and deodorised while the descendants of the victories over fascism are massacred in Odessa. In Berlin they are jailed for telling the truth. In Patis they are beaten and blinded for defending pensions. And in Frankfurt and the British media they are villified as ‘anti-semites.’
History is shaped by class wars not cliches.

Posted by: bevin | Jun 9 2023 22:56 utc | 167

History is shaped by class wars not cliches.
Posted by: bevin | Jun 9 2023 22:56 utc | 167
##################
When has your class ever won a war? Serious question.
I dislike arguments oriented around class. Individuals act, not groups. Individuals lead, not groups. Individuals accomplish, not groups. Any correlation of individual action with group action is sloppy thinking, IMO.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jun 10 2023 0:29 utc | 168

@Aslangeo | Jun 9 2023 9:36 utc | 17
Russians who grew up in the Soviet era were taught self-criticism, which largely precludes the acceptance of “BS” which was invented, patented and is still produced largely in, by and for the USA. In comparison, all other “BS” is vastly inferior, although the USA’s proxies are doing their best to market their knock-off products using the same techniques with varying levels of success, largely limited to the extremely gullible populations of Poland and the Baltic States.

Posted by: Hermit | Jun 10 2023 0:44 utc | 169

“I live on the south shore in Ma. next to a county airport. For a county airport there has been much military movement regarding military helicopters off on loading and conducting military operations. This same airport during the Obama era was a training base for the Air Force in drone operations. I used to see 5-10 drones being launched and being landed almost daily. In the skies above they were everywhere. People used to think I was crazy talking about these drones until I captured them on video one day at the airport. It sure shut up the doubters. How can the military use a civilian airport to conduct training exercises? Isn’t that in our constitution that we do not have a standing army in civilian areas?
Posted by: gringo | Jun 9 2023 12:01 utc | 39”
Well, aren’t there massive fires north of you in Canada, and the US is sending all kinds of equipment, helicopters, water scoopers north?
Have you looked outside lately?

Posted by: daffyDuct | Jun 10 2023 1:25 utc | 170

LoveDonbass | Jun 10 2023 0:29 utc | 168
*** Individuals act, not groups. Individuals lead, not groups. Individuals accomplish, not groups. Any correlation of individual action with group action is sloppy thinking, IMO.***
Within any group the chances are that some individuals will perform well or badly compared to others. Which either way does not mean they aren’t part of that group.
But in politics / governance of “NATO” countries it is very much a psychological war by those who visibly rule (on behalf of others higher up) to get as much as possible of the public to conform to, and ideally to internalise, the rulers-chosen perspectives.
Lies, induced panics, amplified anxieties and stresses … exploiting wishful thinking and delusion … “education” … subliminals … whoever controls the mass-media (including most social media) can sufficiently steer the sentiments of the general public into conformity with what that public is led to think must be right.
If a majority fear isolation through being outiders to the (controlled) herd, how high a percentage will either conform or pretend to conform to what the rulers decree is “reality”– hence jettisoning their own alleged “individuality”? Self-censoring critical ability?
Is that not how cults operate — relying on members *not* wanting to become (what they are trained to think of as) isolated individuals?
Yes, individuals may ‘accomplish’ — but so can groups, and group action can be far more drastic than individual action.
Are the morons who think it’s “Putin’s unprovoked war” against the nice people from Galicia truly “individuals” any more?
Do those who see the excesses of the “trans” lobby, or the unlimited-immigration lobby, but stil (in defiance of visible and logical reality) gibber on about ‘tolerance”, still count as “individuals” — yet they will do things, enable things, and block others from stopping things … but their thinking is programmed by higher (ie. more powerful and controlling) stratas of society. So exactly *what* thinking is it — that of the individual, or of the remotely-guided automaton?
Surely the “class” model fits better than claiming everyone acts as “an individual” with genuine “free will”?
In the UK, the mentally warped, bought and rabidly self-deluding garbage in parliament are certainly not the top level.
They obey orders from the higher strata, as do most technocrats and academics; so surely such compliant individuals effectively constitute an intermediate level, or “class”….
Above them are an effective overclass level comprised of, for instance, big-corporate and banking executives, Oligarchs and those who represent certain ‘superior’ foreign powers.
Most of the population is powerless, deferential or clueless, anyway. Above them, layered and networked interests dictate the agendas.
So what, other than an updated “class” model could, overall, be used to describe the present situation?
Apologies in advance if that’s just a superficial ramble — I’m very tired.

Posted by: Cynic | Jun 10 2023 2:31 utc | 171

#1 Ukraine lobbyist Boris Johnson was effectively forced to resign his seat in UK parliament today, 6/9/23. Odd since he’s been so successful at getting US elites to divert US tax dollars to Ukraine war. He did a US tour 2 wks ago funded by CEPA lobby, targeted Texas lawmakers & fat cats, elegant paneled meeting room in Dallas. Also met w. G. Bush, Pompeo (the worst), and Trump. CEPA head tells us, “Johnson is “very much seen as the architect of the Western policy” on Ukraine, Polyakova said.” Politico. US elites don’t even try to hide how honored they feel to sell out US taxpayers to the UK monarchy…5/23/23, Politico “Send for Agent BoJo! Boris Johnson dispatched to Texas to shore up Republican support for Ukraine”

Posted by: susan mullen | Jun 10 2023 3:47 utc | 172

Posted by: hopehely | Jun 9 2023 22:38 utc | 166
Yes, that is probably the next spin to expect from MSM.
Then: The Ukies fail because of inferior, old russian gear.
Now: The Ukies fail because they are too stupid, slavic Untermenschen!1!!
I wish the world had made me less cynical than I am now.

Posted by: TomD | Jun 10 2023 6:44 utc | 173

Posted by: young | Jun 9 2023 16:12 utc | 122
Could it be that the West was putting pressure on Zelensky to launch the current offensive not so much to win but to give the West an excuse to signficantly increase major escalations against Russia.
Why would the West manufacture an excuse for it’s own suicide?

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Jun 10 2023 9:40 utc | 174

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Jun 10 2023 9:40 utc | 174
*** Why would the West manufacture an excuse for it’s own suicide?***
Because “the West” (those who rule, the Overclass and its bought sycophants) does reckon it will win — and meanwhile, the “Western” rulers’ addiction for sadism and destruction can be temporarily satiated.

Posted by: Cynic | Jun 10 2023 14:43 utc | 175

THIMC: This ‘armchair general’ once was an officer in a German tank battalion, well trained in the movement and tactics of combined arms warfare. I can thus judge and call out amateur level deployment of troops when I see it.

by: b | Jun 9 2023 11:36 utc | 31
🤣🤣🤣 I’ve been waiting for the reaction to that post. I was thinking that should piss him off quite thoroughly.

Posted by: David G Horsman | Jun 10 2023 18:18 utc | 176

In western media Ukrainian claims are reliable, Russian claims “supply no evidence” (even when they do). Another tactic is the sneaky ‘Live’ page that the Guardian, BBC and others employ – they can post a stream of spurious headlines that people see and believe, but the stories themselves disappear and can’t be found later or linked to

Posted by: Ali | Jun 11 2023 22:35 utc | 177

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